[Malthaussen]

It's interesting that you say it's not an RPG in the "traditional sense" of the term. I reckon it depends on how you define "traditional." Remember Akalabeth?

I haven't played MB yet, though I've ordered it, solely because of the raves on the game's board, which indicate that this is a game much-loved by its supporters. And it's an indie game, which always attracts me.

While I agree it appears mostly to be about the combat engine, it also seems to be quite similar to the real old-school CRPGs, many of which (like Akalabeth) did "drop... [you] somewhere random on the map with basically a dagger and a little food. From there it's up to you what happens." ie, it is not a Bioware-style "the story plays you" RPG. But aren't the quests in most CRPGs repetitive? Kill boss, Fedex this, find the Shard of Everlasting Thermonuclear Doom, etc, etc, etc? "The meat of the game is about running down other squads and defeating them for loot and renown." How does BG2, eg, differ from this? Hack and slash is what most CRPGs are about, there is usually minimal other interaction. Even the "love stories" in BG2 are pretty feeble compared to the hack/slash stuff.

I press this point only because the trend in CRPGs has been towards limiting what the player can do. That is, you have to "Find and Kill the Big Wazzoo," you really have no other options, and anything you do on the way is just incidental. It appears, from what is said about MB, that you are not so limited in that game, and that you can decide which faction (if any) to support, which to destroy, or abstain from politics altogether and just kill things. (Or run around trading, but from the forum it appears you're not alone in finding that "boring.") It also appears that the extremely active modding community is adding all sorts of interesting stuff, although apparently a lot of the mods are not up to speed for the latest version.

Do you think this is a game that should be more widely-known, and supported?

-- Mal