Reviews - Rebel674

(DISCLAIMER: This is based on my experience with 0.97, as such this may no longer apply.) A content-rich mod created by one of the most dedicated and imaginative mod teams out there. Falls short of perfection, but only by the tiniest of margins. With some polishing, this mod stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Warband mods out there and is clearly one of if not the best mod for Warband.

Pros:
+Reams and reams of pure quality content, from factions to quests to troop trees and even the insane size of the map.
+Some surprisingly beautiful landscapes and environments made with care and attention to detail.
+Increased options available to vassals and heads of state - the endgame feels less like herding cats and more like leading a kingdom.
+Better balanced combat, archers are less cheesy in sieges and cavalry isn't an unstoppable rapetrain on an open field.

Cons:
-Some awkward dialogue.
-A few cities/forts have bugs which make them unconquerable outside of autobattle. (As of 0.97)
-Peasant rebellions have a tendency to accumulate in Egypt for some reason (can be fun but still technically an issue).

Final Word: A must-play for big fans of Warband and anyone interested in this historical time period. Obviously has its limits in terms of accuracy but still hits the mark in a very satisfying way. I am looking forward to playing the final version of the mod and maybe dropping the remainder of these cons and bumping the score up to 10.

EDIT: After going back and replaying ShoC with AMK, I've revised my score of this mod upward from 8 to 9 and altered some of my pros/cons. This really is a fantastic mod and though I'd like to see the problems I listed fixed it is still an amazing mod.

Pros
+ Many of the new textures and weather effects are incredible. I particularly like the heavy fog weather effect.
+ The damage system makes firefights frantic and rewarding.
+ Most of the new weapons are exceptional, and I like the fact that some of the more exotic weapons (for example the M14) are one-of-a-kind (the way it probably would be in the Zone).
+ Ukrainian dialogue with English subs is the way this game was meant to be played.
+ The stamina system, contrary to popular opinion, is well balanced and accurate. Anybody who is criticizing it for being unrealistic needs to go take a jog with 35kg (75 lbs) on their back.

Cons
- Mutants and ambient effects in anomalies (radiation, poison, etc.) have been buffed and are (IMO) too powerful. A dog charging into you knocks out a solid third of your health.
- A lot of the vanilla meshes were not fixed. For example, the AK's ejection port is still on the wrong side. This is a major no-go for me with a realism mod.
- The Sniper class is very underpowered. 7.62 7N1 ammunition is so rare you will almost never have enough of it, so you end up using assault rifles and shotguns anyway until you can get a VSS.

Final Word:
My main problem with this game is really just a host of small design flaws that seem to screw up the overall game experience. There is no trader in Pripyat, but repairs now cost money - meaning that eventually you're going to run out of money in Pripyat and have to head back. Moving between zones - especially to Pripyat - is prohibitively expensive. Additionally artifacts don't seem to spawn properly for me (e.g. not at all) so I am left with few options for making money. Overall this is a great mod but a few of the decisions left me scratching my head.