Graphics was in DIRE need of an update on original Mount And Blade. Game came out in ~2010, but the graphics felt like they were early 2000's.

Sequel did an 8/10 job on bringing those up to the late 2010's (despite its ~2022 release).

That said, the base game became unwinnable with how impossibly stupid the game AI became. They also tried to build in a "main story" which was busted in multiple fronts and virtually impossible if you ever experienced a party wipe (very common occurrence in the early game).

Even with cheats enabled, my best run at the sequel's primary objective (conquer the map), I only ever got ~25% of the way there after over 200 hours of game play.