(Even the PC version has a tough learning curve in this regard.) And it's certainly never so bad that it takes away from the sheer fun of the eight multiplayer modes featuring up to 32 players besieging castles, fighting deathmatches, or simple dueling one on one. Yet even that doesn't solve other issues, such as the way I frequently found myself accidentally pressing the left thumbstick, triggering a disorienting perspective shift between first- and third-person. It's fixable: a menu option lets you sacrifice much of the combat depth that sets Warband apart by automating the choice of attack angle. Since the camera's mapped to the right thumbstick that's also used to direct these actions, I sometimes found myself checking out the clouds when hoisting an axe over my head instead of keeping my eye on my opponent. Multiple commands share the same buttons, which complicates the fun of the combat system that lets you attack from the left, right, or overhead. Control problems frequently frustrate the combat as well. This is clearly a game designed for mouse and keyboard, and though it occasionally makes thoughtful use of the gamepad (such as the selection boxes for buying gear before multiplayer matches), it more often resorts to the mouse-style cursor that pops up while selecting multiplayer servers, and that’s never a good experience. That's far from the only point where Warband struggles to fit gamepads into its world. It doesn't help that elements of the UI sometimes get lost off the edge of the screen. On Xbox One, I found it hard to control my warbands most of the time since barking orders at them requires using the D-pad to open one menu and then another, all while the opposing bandits or other opponent rains steel and wood on the confused masses.
“Battles should be tough, but the controls make fights difficult to manage for the wrong reasons. More specifically, you're going to need a warband. As with many things in life, to survive in this cruel world you're going to need some help. The frequent autosaves for the single save file per character heavily punish mistakes or just bad luck, such as getting overwhelmed by too many enemies in chance encounters as you gallop across the world map. You’re not a superhero in this world, so captivity and failure happen often in the early hours, sometimes pulling you from near-greatness to crushing poverty within minutes.
Nor is it a place where a single dude can forge a place for himself in the world with pluck and plot armor alone. In contrast to the relatively static land of the Elder Scrolls, this isn't a place where the inhabitants wait around for you to do something before pursuing their own self-interests. All the while you're out clearing bandits for lords or delivering letters for kings, the diplomatic relations of the surrounding kingdoms are shifting and evolving, possibly making once-comfortable jaunts a risky prospect but a few in-game days later. Few other combat-driven RPGs do such a great job of creating the semblance of a living world. “One of the best parts about Mount & Blade: Warband is that it's not just about you.
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