This ambitious sandbox RPG is will appeal to all fans of the genre.
As a precursor, I could probably make peace with some of these nations in my original game. But, truth be told, I have yet to scratch the higher-level diplomatic mechanics of this game.
And, in some ways, that is essential to get ahead. While you can be like me, a TeacherGamer happy to put a few hard hours slaughtering careless lords and making frenemies wherever I go (do you have any tasks for me? No? Then prepare to die!), you really need to be building yourself an economic empire to fund your quests to be king. But my lack of economic nouse demonstrates this game's greatest strength - it leaves so much up to the imagination of the player. Both the heroes and men under my command have their own stories untold by the narrative, albeit usually one of being raised as a recruit and dying as a sergeant.
The Oblivionesque battle system works wonderfully well. The variety of weapons, and grades, means you can equip yourself with a wicked battery of authentic blades, while the intuitive battle orders give you some control over the chaos of fighting. Unlike the total war series, you don't have the benefit of an eagle-cam or infinite pauses to consider your next move (should that be your thing.) Rudimentary tactics rule. Usually you call for your men to hold certain parts of the battlefield while you lead your cavalry to strike at the flank or rear. Seeing as the battlefields are procedurally generated, and distinct depending on the map terrain where the battle is instigated, these tactics never grow tiresome.
It should be said, though, that actually hitting a man in the face with a sword while riding a galloping horse is not exactly easy. In that sense, this RPG is realistic (unlike, say, Morrowind's windstrikes). Still, when you do connect with a blade, the results are immensely satisfying.
The epic conanesque soundtrack is constant yet sufferable - rather like the gameplay's mechanics. For example, at my level of experience, I was able to somehow take a lightly defended castle with 80 men, only for it to be besieged by 500. Without diplomacy, this was the pattern of my gameplay. Take a castle. Have it taken. Repeat. Annoy someone. Get annoyed myself. Ride out into the wilds. Attack someone. Feel happy.
In doing all these things - recruiting men, levelling your heroes, attempting to improve your economy and diplomacy - there is a real sense of time passing. Days move into nights (a day takes about 3-5 minutes to pass), and you quickly have weeks go by. Testament to the enticing freedom of this ambitious RPG, such time passing is akin to the passing time in real life as you play it!