So I've been looking at getting Mount & Blade, the original one, is it worth it? Can you actually be anything from an adventurer to merchant? if so that sounds freaking awesome! as well are there many mods for it? if so what would you recommend?

Edit: Not talking about Warband, that's to much for me haha, I don't have the extra 5 dollars

Yes it is possible to be a merchant too a little bit difficult though if you ask me as there is a lot of bandits around, as for mods the only mod I ever really used is the western mod which adds a western setting with guns and what not gotta love the stray bullets! but yes the game is as awesome as you say

By the original, do you mean Mount & Blade Warband or the just plain "Mount & Blade" original? IIRC there's not much reason to get plain old Mount & Blade over Warband, if they even still offer it.

I've barely played Mount & Blade: Warband but from what I've read it's superior to the original in every way, including quality and quantity of mods but don't take my word alone.

The game of thrones mod is pretty sweet. I think it's for Warband now. You'll need a good graphics card and computer to run it though. You can be a trader/merchant, in between being a warrior. Lots of bandits out there, but most merchants in the middle ages were armed anyways. Still, you could make a living off of transporting goods between cities. Each city has a different economy than the other. Really recommended game, even without mods.

As for as mods go to Warband I've read great things about Prophecy of Pendor and Floris but as always it might be wise to play vanilla game (without mods, not the first game) first.

If you get it cheap or as a part of a bundle (such as bundlestars - who are also selling warband pretty cheap) then its probably worth it.
Both native expansion and sword of damocles add a fair amount (making it much more like warband) including some new factions and the likes.
Be warned it IS a sandbox game though, so no inbuilt narrative / storyline / "main campaign", but there are some mods that take care of that I believe.

I probably played about 100 hours of it (through various mods) before warband even came out, and always found it to be compelling.

Avoid Fire and Sword though. Terrible.

Never understood why so terrible. I haven't played it yet, I'd just like a reason on why it might be terrible.

the firearms work better in the mods for M&B than they did in this is one complaint. It feels entirely rushed and also, much like the combat differences between Medieval Total War II and Empire Total War, the combat lacked any real punch. I think it would have had a better reception had they removed Mount & Blade from the title as well.
havent tried it with any mods, but after an hour of the base game I didnt see the point. I was bored to hell with the idea of it.
I think to enjoy it you'd have to be one of the people that pestered for a release with firearms and primarily played native and warband with firearm mods, and I haven't seen too many good comments from those people either.

oh, and i remember something odd about the look of it too. like washy textures or something.

It is sold as an expansion to "Warband", but in fact it's a professionalized mod of "Mount and Blade" which was ported to Warband at some point of its development. As a result, it does many things worse than Warband, several gameplay options are reduced or removed, and the story/setting is hit-and-miss - some players like it, others see it as restrictive. For a while, the biggest selling point was the introduction of guns, but I think the Napoleon expansion did that as well. In general, it's a bit questionable why "With Fire and Sword", which is basically a mod, is sold as a commercial product, when many other mods provide more and better gameplay.

actually it's standalone as far as i remember, but yeah, i otherwise agree!

BTW: heres a list of deals on the M&B games for several sites (UK prices are purely currecy conversions though).
Doesnt show Warband on bundlestars at £5.10 either, but may be of some use!
http://www.cheapshark.com/browse?storeID=0,1,2,3,5,10,11&sortBy=Price&title=mount%20&%20blade&onSale=1

I would highly recommends waiting for a good sale if you can. Warband feels like such a big improvement over the original. it also has as a far more active modding community so you'll get a lot more out of it in the long run.


Btw, have you tried the Mount and Blade demo?

Yeah I enjoyed it, I might wait for warband but isn't that the one with gun's in it?

Nope. Fire & Sword is the one with guns.

Warband is the first sequel. It added many small refinements as well as more political options and the ability to start your own faction. It also added multiplayer.