Bannerlord Vs. Warband

[A Mercenary]

To clarify right off the bat I own neither of these games but I would like to buy one of the two. I came here hoping the people that own the games could shed some light on which game has more to offer. I don't care about the older graphics of Warband in fact I enjoy older graphics more than more modern ones but what I'm wondering is besides the technical aspects which game is more fleshed out and supported with mods if and when I feel its time to install some. Also, If I buy Warband I'm planning on purchasing the Viking Conquest DLC with it. Any input would be appreciated :)

[Aven]

Native vs. native, Bannerlord is basically Warband+. It's better graphics, more fleshed out systems, more depth, larger battles, more items and gear, and a few new systems added over its predecessor.

That being said, if you have any interest in modding, it is my opinion, based solely on the state of the peanut gallery section of the forum as well as having never attempted to mod Bannerlord myself, that you should hold off on purchasing Bannerlord for 6 months to a year.

[Ruffio]

Sheep is like a used car salesman who try push a old car on you, pushing the idea of with the right mods and tune up it will be good -)

There is enough "lets play" of both on youtube. Check some out, make up your own mind of what you see.

If graphics, size of battles and such is a selling point for you. Do Warband would be a bad choice.

[Twinkletoes]

Warband is complete and fairly flushed with mods.

That being said Bannerlord is new and is still being developed so it is a bit of an unfair comparison. Both games have merit of their own, as Ruffio said. Look em up and see which one calls out to your the most.

If you are going to mod Warband. I recommend Perisno, although you should note MOST mods (Perisno, Prophecy of Pendor and Nova Aetas included) generally make the game HARDER. So having some time in native to get your baring is recommended.

[Core]

You see here[i.imgur.com] battle(which i will have to quit) in single player, soldiers are slashing the stones of a building, because enemy has clipped inside. This is a base "feature" which happens in half of the battles and like soldiers teleporting to get into battlefield, consequently falling from top of objects; Bannerlord is full of these, provided it doesn't crash(which are still being patched every now and then).
Warband is too old in every aspect and I'd suggest that you go for Bannerlord in a 6 month to one year time if at all. And check if modders managed to breathe some life into this counterintuitive sandbox like they have in warband.

[Donauwelle]

If you want a finished game with plenty of mods/fullconversions go Warband+VC
If you want graphics and/or dont mind waiting 1-3 years for the game to be fully finished and mods on warband level go Bannerlord

Id say right now you get more playtime out of WB+VC due to the mods.
Prophecy of pendor for example can easily take up to 100hrs for one full playthru

Bannerlord is despite the "Full release" basicly still in beta...
Lots of features announced in previous Dev-blogs are still missing/placeholder/or work in progress, but sooner or later you want Bannerlord....
But right now... WB+VC +Mods gives you clearly more to do then BL

[Annihilator]

I care not only for the grapichs but for the engine. For example on the ladder, on warband, you like walking. In the bannerlord is different.

[HercDaMerc]

Warband is much better.

[Rikimaru]

Do Warband first OP! That Prophesy of Pendor mod is perfection.
There's no feeling I've had like charging with my army of 200 elite knights against the legendary peasant army of 1000+. One of the most fun battles I've had.

I have both games and reading all these replies, I think I'm about to install Warband again, not Bannerlord.
And I love Bannerlord! It's just not in the right place yet.
Also, I'm not sure if it still does this, but if Bannerlord updates and you use mods, you have to wait until they all update too - and you may have to completely restart your save every time too. That's why I stopped playing Bannerlord anyway. Everything else was great.

The strat:
+ Try the older game for a much cheaper price. Explore the mods (There's a samurai mod, a Warhammer mod, Star Wars etc). Very easy to set up. Experience the gameplay that made this series legendary
+ Bannerlord when? LATER - It'll be a fresh experience after Warband and it'll be cheaper than it is now

[~ Fabulous ~]

bannerlord have big battle, nuff said

[Razorblade]

Anyone who thinks vanilla Warband is better hasn't played enough vanilla Warband. Vanilla in both games is an unfinished but fun proof of concept, but Bannerlord has the advantage of at least having better combat, which is the gameplay mechanic you're going to be engaging with 90% of the time. Viking Conquest has a few improved mechanics that may make it more palatable than either of the two vanilla games, but when suggesting an M&B game to a new player, Bannerlord is by far the safest option.

[Razorblade]

Originally posted by Sheepify:

Originally posted by Razorblade:

Bannerlord has the advantage of at least having better combat

I wonder what people making this claim are smoking, and where I can get that myself.

What do you like so much about Warband's combat? Is it the complete lack of physics, or the single-ladder sieges?

[Acrom]

interestng but nah

[Slyke]

In terms of technical aspects, the biggest differences are:
- Better physics in Bannerlord. Bodies move a lot more naturally both in combat and outside of combat. Especially big differences for horses that are a lot more "wooden" in Warband.
- Everything that makes your character stronger is learned by using related skills in Bannerlord, which includes non-combat stuff like trading. In Warband only weapon proficiency is learned that way and it only affects weapon handling. Everything else is done by allocating points you get every level from combat.
- Bannerlord has optional aging and procreation. You can die of old age and choose an heir (if you had one) that may have inherited some of your qualities.
- Large scale combat with maneuvering big formations looks and feels a bit more natural in Bannerlord, but both games have big issues in this area if you don't use mods.


On the subject of mods, Warband has a huge selection of total conversion mods (Warhammer, Game of Thrones, Lord of The Rings, Star Wars even, historical periods from antiquity to wild west, you name it) and Bannerlord barely has any despite it being two years after release.

In other words, base game has seemingly more depth in Bannerlord (a lot of that new depth has underlying issues and somewhat falls apart or becomes a hindrance in late game, though) but base game is essentially all you get.

[Twinkletoes]

Originally posted by Sheepify:

I wonder what people making this claim are smoking, and where I can get that myself.

Opinions.

I know what you mean, all these people talking about how Prophecy of pendor is fun when it is one of the most boring mods I have ever player.

A.I can be a bit jank but other than slightly worse depth perception(hard to make out how long and far your weapons reach) combat seems about the same.

[A Mercenary]

Thank you everyone for your responses, I didn't realize id be opening my Steam to 15 replies but I'm glad I've gotten all of your input. I've looked into both of the games on Youtube and from what I see both have their merits. On one hand the combat of Banner lord looks maybe a bit better than War band but that could probably be argued and I personally haven't experienced either so who knows. On the other hand I find older jank games have a unique charm to me and I enjoy spending times in their worlds, especially since it in a strange way justifies a lack of depth in locations where as Banner lord from what I've seen has locations that you can explore but are otherwise baron and full of bland cookie cutter NPCs at least in my opinion. Now War bands cities probably aren't very much better but I know for a fact that because of how new Banner lord is the fact that it looks nice but is otherwise hollow in an exploration aspect will definitely burn my balls. The next question is how much do the battles really affect my experience which from everyone's input seems like basically the main aspect of the game. From the Banner lord game play I've seen the AI is basically all retarded on although big pretty battles are neat I prefer substance over looks. Speaking on Banner lords lack of depth I did see a couple of mods that fix the AI and make them a bit less boring and stupid. Now with how well War band in modded I can see a lot of the shortcomings fixed and although the fights may not be as big as Banner lord from what I've seen the scale is adequate at least in my opinion and the Viking boat battles look dope as hell. Another concern I have with Banner lord is the from what I've seen, bland over world menu that looks like a tedious grind that detracts from the combat aspects of the game. Compiling everything I've brought up above I believe that at the Time War band is at least personally, a better choice for me at the time although as some of the nice contributors above have mentioned, Banner lord is in development and in a years time will probably be a more solid game that I'd be willing to buy. I'm gonna be waiting a day or two before I make a final decision on the game since at the time the game cost the same amount and the Banner lord sale will be up for a while, You're all more than welcome to continue to contribute to this thread and although I'm leaning towards War band I'm always willing to change my mind if anyone can dispute the impressions I have of Banner lord. And once again, thank you all for taking the time to help me :)