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Monday 27 July 2009

M&B Europe 1200

Title:
Europe 1200
Type:
Mod
Game:
Mount & Blade
Download Link:
http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=1&lid=1219
Forum:
http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/board,132.0.html
Website Excerpt:
"Europe 1200 is a mod that aims on recreate Europe in the 13th century. A lot of factions are represent in this mod, and they do all have a good variety of items and troops..Please report any bug you find."

A game like Mount & Blade already provides a great base for any Medieval style mod but this mod really goes out of it's way to prove itself. This is shown through the impressive feature list which is shown and expanded on below.

Feature List Expanded:
  • Forget Native's mere 5 factions; this mod outdoes itself with 16 historically accurate factions battling over a large realistic map of Europe
  • As mentioned before the Mod's map is a realistic and incredibly large map of Europe. While the map feels quite rough at points it still greatly enhances the immersion over other mods which don't stray from the Native map.
  • There are plenty of new items to enhance your characters appearance. With 16 new factions comes armour for each faction that greatly improves your armies appearance in battle.
  • The Mod's dedication to realism comes across greatly in the nobility where each noble (whether they be Lord or King) are named after real figures that belonged to those factions in the actual time.
  • The Mod also expands the banner list so people looking for a new banner to represent their character will be pleasantly surprised by the selection.
  • This mod also provides a rudimentary Kingdom Management system which I personally have not encountered much while playing the mod despite renouncing my oaths and keeping my fiefs on more than one occasion but the system sounds promising and I will be sure to give Kingdom Management a go in future releases.
  • You can now challenge Lords, Companions and even Kings to friendly duels which provides an extra fun feature for those epic 1v1 battles that this game excels at.
  • 16 completely new companions that you can recruit to join your army. So now if you want Robin Hood amongst your fine English Longbowmen laying death upon your enemies you can.
  • Every faction has unique troops that relates to the actual historical faction. Whether is be the legendary Teutonic Knights or the feared English Knights you can experience a realistic fighting experience where you carry your French Banners into a long campaign against the Holy Roman Empire.
  • You can now speak to Guild Masters and Village Elders through the Village/City menu which veteran Native players will know can be a time consuming experience if you have to walk around the Village/City.
  • A new autoloot option which means you can progress even faster to your next battle without spending too much time taking your just rewards.
  • Two new combat features are the ability to brace spears in order to halt a cavalry charge which prevents cavalry from dominating infantry too much in open maps and battle morale which gives the chance of either side fleeing from battle if they get badly beaten which adds extra elements of danger in a battle.
  • It also adds the popular custom battles mod where from a menu you build two armies and then battle them against each other which is a good way to test out the different units and to provide an interesting side feature to the game. A good option for players that just want to jump into a big battle and discover why Mount & Blade is legendary for it's intense gritty battles.

Pros

  • The large detailed map expands the epic scale that Mount & Blade already had and gives the player a large area to explore and conquer.
  • With 16 historically accurate factions players get a wide choice of who they want to work with. It also means that war is everywhere and it becomes common to stumble across a large battle between two large factions going on.
  • The mod is incredibly accurate in it's portrayal of Europe in 1200. It is obvious that a significant amount of work was put into the research for the Mod.
  • A refreshing change from Native; you'll find yourself getting sucked into this mod. Whatever faction you choose to support will throw you into a dangerous world where war can happen anywhere and you closest neighbours can quickly become your worst enemy.

Cons

  • While wars occurring between random nations can be a good thing in some cases; having a random nation on the other side of the map randomly declaring war on your faction causing your faction's Marshall to decide he wants you to join him on a long expensive campaign on the other side of the map where anything you take is likely to be retaken quickly because it is too far from your nations main areas.
  • Kingdom Management can be a big headache, it is difficult to acquire Lords for your kingdom and you'll find yourself consistently being hounded by other kingdoms Lords.
  • Some quest's don't work. For example I was given a quest to meet a Lord's spy in the city of Durham so I successfully sneaked into the city and discovered empty city streets, there were no peasants around so I was unable to complete the quest and lost relation with that Lord. In another case I was asked to eliminate a bandit hiding out in a small Irish village (the name escapes me) and upon arrival at the village I spent a large amount of time scouring the village for the seemingly non-existent villain and ended up losing relation with another Lord.

I would sincerely recommend this mod to any Mount & Blade player as it is a fun mod with a refreshingly new background for long-time players of Native. Just a quick warning when starting out; avoid the damn sea raiders!

Mod Score: 8/10 (Though I expect this will go up in the next release of the Mod)

4 comments:

  1. As for the empty street.. your doign it during night it gonna be empty at night. So either camp or pay for a night then try again during the day. As for the second i really don't know...it possible you could had gone to the wrong villge...mistake happen. The bandit is the only person carrying a sword and is standing beside the villager elder

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  2. err.. i ment those 2 are the only people that is standing around while all other walk around.

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  3. Europe 1080, on exilian... Any reviews for that?

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  4. http://s9.zetaboards.com/exilian/topic/7198150/1/#new

    http://s9.zetaboards.com/exilian/topic/7188217/1/#new

    Those 2 reviews are availible for Dimos's mod; Europe 1080.

    ReplyDelete