Well, i think it's all about combat system. Game offers a great mounted combat system and this alone makes M&B 'special'.
Also, native mod(vanilla) is just a placeholder. Just a demonstration of 'some' features. There are user made modules which are much much better and more complete then the vanilla. I think, you should really check them out. For now, since the new version has just been released, it is hard to find compatible mod versions. I'm sure they will pop up like rabbits with time though.
Moreover, the official campaign which will be completely diffrent from the native mod, will be added after the game engine is fully completed. Taleworlds is just a small team(just two programmers and two modellers), so they should prioritize some works.
But i must admit, it has lots of issues also. For example, maximum battle size is 40. This means, there can be only 40 people on the battleground at the same time. Another issue is the lack of troop formations. Without proper troop formations it's almost impossible to control your army.
Still, it's a good game for its price. I love it. :joy: (w00t)