The game is actually a very, very popular under-the-radar classic, far more than most people would realise.

There are no other games out there that combine role-playing, Real-Time Strategy and third/first person melee combat as well as this one, making for an extremely engrossing experience despite the flaws, and player-created mods have long since stepped in to address the worst issues.

Cult Classic: It's ugly, frustrating and has many Scrappy Mechanics, but it has a die-hard fanbase and for good reason.

Contested Sequel: Warband, the political model and multiplayer were long-requested and popular features, but the changes to combat are divisive, and the 'balancing' of cavalry and infantry for multiplayer purposes is very much hated.

Not only are all of them very good at their roles, the Sharpshooters and Knights also double as even more heavy infantry in a pinch and Huscarls have throwing axes.

Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Getting Swadian Knights, Rhodok Sharpshooters, and Nordic Huscarls, all 3 of which are on the same side of the map.

As the game and sequels became cheaper, members of the fandom who felt this way changed their minds and just purchased the now notably cheaper sequels.

There were vows to never buy or instead pirate the sequels as they felt they were cheated by the deal. A segment of the original fandom who had pre-purchased the game were then less then pleased. Instead they were made into addons that had to be purchased. The improvements were to include better combat, multiplayer, and improvements to sieges and management. However, once a publisher picked up the game, the promised improvements were never made to the original Mount and Blade.

Broken Base: Before Mount & Blade was picked up by a publisher, they were operating on a 'buy now, get a fleshed out version later without added cost' deal similar to Minecraft and Terraria (which was after the two, it's an industry standard 'Early Access' arrangement).

Author's Saving Throw: The much hated cattle jobs from the original Mount & Blade and Warband were finally changed in Fire & Sword by simply having the cattle follow you rather than herding them to the objetive.

Mount and blade warband winged hussars