Mount & Blade: Warband Preview

AtomicGamer has hammered out their own GDC-based preview of Mount & Blade: Warband, even covering TaleWorlds’ plans to add player marriage to the expansion pack.

Most of the Mount & Blade community’s requests thus far have been fairly predictable changes to AI, balancing, additional weapons, etc. What’s surprising is that outside of combat, one of the most commonly requested feature additions in Warband is the ability to marry. This new system (which was not on display at GDC) allows players to become powerful in a way totally unrelated to defeating enemies on the field. As a male, players wanting to be married will have to jump through quite a series of hoops. First, they’ll have to find a viable mate by gaining invites to and attending feasts where groups of single females are likely to be. Next, they have to court their girl of choice either by winning tournaments or learning how to write poetry. Last, they have to approach the girl’s father and convince him they’re a worthy addition to the family. By contrast, as a female, the whole mating process is much simpler. Basically, you forgo all that stuff and just put your charms to good use in order to attract a powerful nobleman.