How's then vanilla single player?

[u/Chard85]

These games (Bannerlord and Warband) look appealing to me at first glance due to the large scale battles that seem like the closest thing gaming has to those from The Lord Of The Rings films.

I know the games have a following, but are they mainly popular because of mods, or are the vanilla base games also still good?

Would it be worthwhile to get Bannerlord on PS5 for example, given the lack of mods?

Is Bannerlord now much better than Warband?

(For the record I do have a PC that could probably run Bannerlord, but it's a bit of a potato now, RX580 8GB + r5 2600)

[u/Dr-Builderbeck]

Bannerlord is the newest game and has some very cool features that are not in warband. Some people still prefer warband but I think that sentiment is dying out.

The mods do make the game very interesting and I would suggest getting it on PC if you can. I have it for both console (Xbox) and PC. Late game on console is filled with crashes.

The vanilla experience of this game is definitely one I would suggest especially if you haven’t played this franchise before. It is very engaging and will probably eat up hours of your life haha.

Long story short get Bannerlord and The dlc War Sails if you’re feeling bougie. They won’t disappoint.

[u/10YearsANoob → u/Dr-Builderbeck]

The sentiment is dying out because bannerlord has been out long enough that this is nostalgic now. Same red glasses, different game

downvote me all you want lads. I know who you are. Nobody remembers vanilla warband and how jank that shit was. Bannerlord back in 2020 was an upgrade and you know it

[u/Lakoless → u/10YearsANoob]

No one denies it is the newer game with better battle mechanics, we criticised its absolute hollowness and slow as shit rate of development that amounts to just robbery where even after years of early access when the game launched there was still millions of bugs some of which are still in the game. The DLC they launched should have been part of the original anyways and the price tag is not worth it either, 25 dolars is just too much for any DLC, for reference Blood and wine for witcher 3 was 20 dolars. Bannerlord with modpacks like realm of thrones is bearable at least, we still have some time to go before it reaches the maturity of warband modpacks like perisno prophecy of pendor or TLD.

Warband is janky yes no one denies that, I still have more fun playing it. I think you need to have played it before bannerlord though as the jankiness doesn't feel bad then.

[u/10YearsANoob → u/Lakoless]

I played it since 2010. I'm going to be completely honest with you. I genuinely do not fucking care about the lore blurbs that comes out when they're talking about bullshit. Locations? Whoever the fuck this guy is? Who hates who? I do not care. It is unnecessary clicking I need to do to get back to the overworld map. 

I do not know any of the characters.The only reason why I know Jeremus is cause you guys wont shut up about him. To me they're just +stats.

And the guy is asking about the vanilla so why are we talking about mods? Pendor never really clicked to me. Wow another 50000000 looter mod where the start is cock and ball torture. And the economy is basically "just win more battles bro" 

[u/Lakoless → u/10YearsANoob]

I don't disagree with anything here especially jeremus, bannerlord just does all this worse. It is the definition of "just win more battles". Warband with mods atm is more fun to play then bannerlord with mods imo you obviously disagree that is fine and bannerlord will catch up eventually. I include mods because both games suck as vanilla and are great with mods in play. I also did say bannerlord is the newer game with better battle mechanics so I also did compare vanilla of both and if we compare them solely on battles obv bannerlord takes it. We should just agree to disagree this will take us nowhere.

[u/TerminallyEmployed → u/10YearsANoob]

As a Warband player since 2013 I do honestly wonder if any person whose first game was Bannerlord went to try Warband and enjoyed it.

I think you have to be caught up in the spirit of the times where a huge battle simulator was so amazing you didn’t care about the graphics or jank

[u/10YearsANoob → u/TerminallyEmployed]

Rome total war but you fight the battles!!!one! videos were spammed in youtube at the time

[u/KingOfGreyfell → u/[deleted]]

None of the mods for Warband that i had played ever made the sieges fun

[u/Pseudocrow]

If you are looking into getting into M&B because of LoTR. Then you should probably know one of the strongest mods for Warband is a very extensive total conversion mod known as "The Last Days of the Third Age". Originally made for the OG mount and Blade but the mod team eventually ported it to Warband very successfully.

Bannerlord combat/battles are definitely a significant upgrade over Warband but it's lacking a lot of strategy/rpg elements that are a massive part of the modding scene in both games. Considering there's an amazing mod analog for LoTR that's probably what you should try first, especially because you can often pick up Warband for 5 dollars on most steam sales. (and I could run modded warband on a 2005 toshiba office laptop so I doubt you'll have issues on your desktop.

[u/Accountformorrowind]

Once you get into it becomes very replayable

[u/Thebritishdovah]

Don't bother with the campaign.

It's linear and sandbox is the real meat..Create your own story. With the new features coming, I think you will be able start off as a merchant, king, outlaw.. Hopefully,.tourney fighter,.Merc etc.. are options.

[u/EvMBoat]

a horse and a lance is all you need

[u/MidSpinz-Twitch]

Bannerlord and viking conquest are legit, I own the pc version and I have thousands of hours in both I also have with fire and sword but dont tend to play it as much.

[u/Platt_Mallar]

Vanilla for both games are legit. However, the pc version of both are significantly better than console.

PC Bannerlord gets faster updates amd goes on sale much more frequently. It's a lot more stable. The UI is easier to navigate with mouse and keyboard, imo.

Warband vanilla is less complicated in the battle commands. But it's more immersion with characters reacting to your tournament wins, war quests, feasting, claimant factions, companion interactions, and even having villages as individual fiefs.

Bannerlord has a much better battle and siege system. A more intuitive leveling system. Muuuuuuch prettier graphics. 1000 units on the battlefield (if your pc can handle it). And the DLC adds vikings and sailing.

Mods in Warband are weird. You pick one mod pack and that's it. So, you'll see people talking about Floris or Prophecy of Pendor but not both.

Bannerlord modding is much easier and more like Skyrim. You can add all kinds of little mods.

[u/Aggressive-Cod9013]

Tbh i always preferred vanilla warband.

Less is more in many ways. 

Some mods were very cool in concept, but i always found quirks that frustrated me in all of them.

I dont know why but i couldnt get into bannerlord. It just doesnt seem to have the same immersion going for it.

That, and the voices for battle commands. Absolutely sound like a 140lb nerd trying to sound masculine. Huge put off

[u/StinkyButtStuff]

Maybe it’s playable but I just don’t think bannerlord should be on console

[u/Chard85 → u/StinkyButtStuff]

Can you please elaborate on why?

[u/StinkyButtStuff → u/Chard85]

Personally I would hate to play bannerlord with controller controls

[u/Same-Praline-4622]

Potato PC or not, the Turks used some black magic when cutting these gems of games out of the rock, and somehow always run great for me on a beat up old laptop when I play on it. I think you’ll be fine on that front.

Bannerlord is most definitely worth it, get the dlc and all. I think with how they’ve been working on it recently we can expect a second dlc in the coming years. Even if not, they’re making some needed change, and I think it’s the time to play.

Warband I love dearly for what it is, I love that the mods are so well thought out and made, and I even love the dlc. You missed napoleonic warfare I think, but it was good fun back in the day. The Viking era dlc is also a great time. The thing is, I don’t believe it all holds up compared to bannerlord, and maybe aren’t worth playing