Blows and Bruises

I have continued my exploration of the online browser based first person medieval combat game Mount and Blade. My present character is a battered and bruised, but brave, minor noble who is wandering from town to town and back again, backing himself with his teammates in the arena wherever he goes so that one day he can hire henchmen and go and earn some real money as a warrior in the wilderness.

I continue to be impressed by the game. I have upped the difficulty level from the previous super-easy settings, mainly by raising intelligence of opponents and increasing the percentage of damage which I suffer from them from 1/4 to 1/2 (taking full damage makes the game too difficult for me at the moment).

I am gaining an increased appreciation of the detail of hand to hand combat in a way that no other game has made possible. In this game feints and defence are vital, observation of the opponent for clues of his intention becomes an art in itself, the importance of tactical cooperation with one's allies is reinforced by the remorseless life or death nature of the combats.

I won't write too much about this game on this blog as it lacks the intrinsic interest of the true MMPORG worlds, but it is great fun to play.

As long as you accept that life isn't meant to be easy!