The game was made by a couple in Sweden apparently.

The graphics are horrible. The animations are horrible(mostly). Some of the game's features are barebones as is the interface. I wish to all that is holy that the environments were a bit deeper(such as the castles).

But I'll be damned if the gameplay isn't top notch. I'll admit I've always been a fan of the "raise your own army and do your best to micromanage it" genre, but they've really done it gracefully here. Environment is pretty freeform, and you can choose which kingdom(or kingdom(s)) to ally with, or just go your own route. Siege take over territory and cities for your kingdom. Recruitable NPCs from the taverns in each city(random spawn) that you can fully outfit with gear and fix up their stats(even buy them a good mount). Eventually you can start owning villages/cities/keeps and manage them(provided you have a character with the proper engineering skill, otherwise it takes forever).

On top of that there are already a number of mods out, including one that professes to be centered around the Peloponnesian War. Haven't tried modding it yet, but I think there's potential for it.

All I can say is, get the demo from Steam. If you decide to buy it, I'm pretty sure Steam is overpricing the full game right now at 30 bucks(was 15 bucks at sale time, yay what a sale sell the game for the normal price!), as you can buy a key directly for 15 bucks via the demo's link.

Personally, it took me a little longer than level 7 for the game to grow on me. And it REALLY grew on me at the point where I was managing a larger force with the customizable NPC recruits.

I was honestly very surprised, because during my first hour or so of playing the game I thought I was going to delete it from my hard drive after a few more minutes. Something stirred in me and I pressed on, and I'm glad I did.

This game is pretty awesome. I didnt even find the graphics that bad. The controls make more than up for it anyhow.

Have you managed to get another Commander to join you? I quit when i had a pretty big empire and got swarmed on by little POS armies. Can't fight everywhere at the same time alone. That got annoying.

And is it just me or are the infantry armies really shitty? Those mongol horse armies take 10x longer to kill than nords/swadians that you can just steamroll with a knight army even if outnumbered badly.

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I'm not quite that far in yet, I'm still trying to get enough of a force together to take out a castle by myself.

I've sieged several and won(going inside the castle itself and so forth and winning) but it wouldn't give me the dialogue to request from my king that he give me the castle. So I finally just said screw it and went after a city on my own with about 50 troops. It took a few deaths.. I would immediately attack after they released me from being prisoner =D Anyway, I finally won and requested the king give it to me... but no, he said I didn't deserve it, and gave me "900 denars for my noble efforts". Ughhh.

Needless to say, I've had a few "wipes", but my char is level 26 with some decent armor so I can face some pretty uneven odds and still come out good. Right now I'm just building up cash.

I got tired of getting outrun by sea raiders and even mere bandits, so I'm keeping my army down to about 30 people until I decide to raid somewhere.

Also the sound is surprisingly not bad as well, orchestral battle music is actually decent.

I've played this game for the last few years on and off. The gameplay is what sold me. I love the way it handles lances and swordplay on a horse. Is it even possible to play a character that isn't on a horse and have any chance of winning a battle?

Nord Huscarls ftw

I'd say it's quite possible yea. I mean, you can't really mount in siege battles I don't think, and you can win there. It would just take a longass time to finish up battles is all. Tougher field battles would be a lot harder without a mount too.

Right now I am campaiging with no mounted fighters other than me. If I run into good mounted archers I struggle. If nooone is mounted you have big issues fighting named guys because they won't move towards you, so you end up crawling 10 steps at a time towards them and that always ends up costing. Next I think I'll try out something like good mounted Archers coupled with lancers.

ha I got this game when it was $4.95 from their website. Sure was fun, I got my fill of it though, but an enjoyable game for sure.

i guess steam has it for 7.50... thinkin about it, looks interesting
Linky:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... id=1148345

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