Total War: Shogun 2 Review

[murphy7801]

Though I wont have much issue running this would be nice if they posted a spec of the machine they used in the video for the game footage to give people some benchmark to run off.

 

[Double A]

I'm only going to say this one time.

Shogun 2: Total War.

Heh, take it up with the devs. They decided to swap the naming scheme in this iteration.

I know, but it's just a pointless marketing move.

I'm only going to say this one time.

Shogun 2: Total War.

I don't know what you're trying to say here. If it's about the name, they changed the name because everyone refers to the series as simply Total war.

Yeah, but the name has always been first. I know it's not true for most games, but so what? Everyone has gotten used to it being Game: Total War. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I think only an idiot would think Rome: Total War and Medieval 2: Total War weren't in the same series. It's pretty obvious.

 

[Jamous]

And now I just have the joys of getting bootcamp to work properly for my bastard Mac, then I should be home free.

 

[Crimsane]

"...and then realm divide happens - the game suddenly stops being nearly as fun and turns into a nigh-impossible task of trying to hold off every single other clan, because suddenly they all hate you. Even your (now ex)allies." As least, on Hard and above it does.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I've enjoyed the later Total War titles more as they've moved away from mass faction specific units, making the battles focus on the tactics of position, manuever and considered force composition rather than spamming overpowered faction specific units and battering away at whatever's in front of you. Sure, you still could use all the tactical thinking in the older games but it wasn't encouraged by the gameplay because it'd let you ignore it all.

The diplomacy system is still off, though. Better but still buggy... I've found a few instances of other daimyo being pissy at me for being allied with their enemies when I've had no ally in the game so far (nor vassals) and some other odd shit. Getting the bastards to trade once you hit mid-game is a right prick, too. Vassalage works better now, too. Much prefer putting liberated clans in my pocket rather than having to strong arm long time allies.

 

[Slycne]

I know, but it's just a pointless marketing move.

Eh. The way I see it, they made the game and every other one in the Total War series. I think that means they are at least entitled to call it whatever they please.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

"...and then realm divide happens - the game suddenly stops being nearly as fun and turns into a nigh-impossible task of trying to hold off every single other clan, because suddenly they all hate you. Even your (now ex)allies." As least, on Hard and above it does.

Does that on all levels. Was dicking around on Easy to get a better grip on the economic system of the game and when I hit that point, my clan got gangraped... all my allies and most of my vassals turned on me, the ungrateful little shits and everyone pull massive armies out of their arses while all the broken agreements left me economically neutered and struggling to maintain my main force.

 

[Weaver]

I've found the AI in Shogun 2 to be a LOT better than previous installments (unless you play on easy of course).

It still glitches out from time to time, but I've had it do some surprisingly clever things.

 

[Alar]

I would've expected 4.5 out of 5 based on the problems that you mentioned, but it is your review, after all!

I may have to buy this for my dad. He loves this series.

 

[Xan Krieger]

According to steam since I bought the game on the 15th I have played it for 23 hours.
Also I once wrote as my facebook status
"If you don't yet have Shogun 2 Total War then get it. If you don't have the $50 for it then I'm sure you can skip 2 dinners this week. If you do have the money and you've made it to this point in my status WTF are you doing sitting there? Run out and buy it right now."

Best in the series so far and I wonder where the series will go next.

 

[chiatt]

Wow. Cinematic AND Compelling both within the first paragraph

 

[Double A]

I know, but it's just a pointless marketing move.

Eh. The way I see it, they made the game and every other one in the Total War series. I think that means they are at least entitled to call it whatever they please.

They are, but quite frankly, Total War: Shogun 2 sounds very awkward, even to non-fans.

 

[CrystalShadow]

(My desktop is hardly low end, and only has 1 gig of video RAM, and 2 gigs of System memory. (and a quad-core i5 processor). It's really not slow for all that.)

This game is highly processor and memory intensive. Especially memory. Every individual animation, texture, and model must be loaded into RAM. If RAM is not the issue then decreasing resolution or unit detail should help it run faster. If RAM is the issue then unit size should help.

The System memory is crucial and if you're running windows xp take 256MB off your system memory for the OS. If its Vista or 7 take off 512MB.

OK, I can believe this game is memory intensive. But that wasn't what I was getting at. What I was actually saying is I doubt my computer would struggle with running this, judging by how well it runs everything else.
So it seems a little bizarre that a laptop, which, within the given specs seems superior to my desktop should handle it so poorly.

It seems... Odd.

Also, saying a computer only has 4 gigs of ram, when the majority of programs (And games in particular) are still 32 bit applications (And thus can never use more than 2 gigabytes of RAM, the remainder only helps to deal with the OS or background applications.)

The most likely problem on a laptop is going to be something that wasn't mentioned in the review, which is a low-end graphics chip that just doesn't have a lot of processing power.

Anyway, I should check the demo of Shogun 2 really... At least then I'll know for sure if my suspicions are correct.
(Making statements about system requirements for games on PC is incredibly difficult, because there's no easily quotable numbers to use. What's better? An Nvidia 335? Or an Ati 6600? Is the GPU with 1 gigabyte of RAM guaranteed to be more powerful than the one with 512? Those things are always difficult to answer.)

 

[Simalacrum]

I adore strategy games. I am absolutely in love with the Total War series. As a series, its easily my favourite of them all.

And I have a Mac.

[HEADING=2]FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-[/HEADING]

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

I got the GrandMaster edition and i just couldnt be more happier. I started with Shogun 1 as a kid and i sucked at it But now im enjoying this baby soooooooooooooo much!
This game is so EPIC! The immersion is great. Sometimes i find myself talkin in ENG with JAP ACCENT! Im so into it!
Im yet to experiance any problems and im now worried cuz bugs got mentioned in the review :O

And the game is fantastic on ULTRA settings. Sometimes i just leave the battle to do tis thing and max zoom in to watch the samurai fight. its just glorious!

The multy player gives me some headaches since i cant find games....not sure what the deal is and the avatar exp thing confuses me even tho i did some battles.....but i guess those are issue that ill figure out in time.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Best in the series so far and I wonder where the series will go next.

Probably Rome 2 just to get the R:TW fans to finally shut up about it. Or they might pull a Napoleon:TW and focus on the campaigns of a single famous leader from around the same time period as Shogun... So possibly Total War: Nobunaga but I seriously hope not.

I'm still holding out for a Total War game set in the 3 Kingdoms period of China or, In my fanboy dreams, a co-developed project with Firaxis - Civlization: Total War.

 

[Poisoned Al]

The only thing I'll add is that some of the more extranious features aren't always implemented so well. I have really yet to find diplomacy and religion useful (at least in M2) - I can't really fathom how things work, and it all comes down to builing a huge army and stomping everyone else anyway, so I'm not really sure what the point is. The best use I've found for diplomats is killing the enemy's to train my assassins XD

Diplomats are gone in Shogun 2 and you can talk to any clan you've encountered at any time (thank god), and diplomacy actually works. Becoming friends and allies in Shogun is a lot more solid then it was Rome/Medieval 2. Honour plays a part in how the clans act, unlike the backstabbing European settings were you can sign an alliance one turn, and the bastard will attack you the next. Pulling that crap in Shogun will annoy the other clans. It's nice to have the AI run in to SAVE you, rather then stick the boot in for once.

 

[Telperion]

I honestly haven't noticed any performance hits, clipping or any of the other problems with the game. Then again my comp can run the game on high details without any problems, so maybe that's part of it. In any event, I agree that the AI still has some stupid routing problems and I really have to micro carefully, if I want my units to move from point A to point B in a logical way. Not that it bothers me that much in single player, but it is a problem in multiplayer.

Also....how can I make my cavalry and heavy infantry units move at the same pace across a field? The darn cavalry units keep charging ahead! Is it the formation I have chosen for my grouped units? I should look into that...

 

[Watchmacallit]

I got the game and it fucking owns. It is a really damn good games. Creative Assembly has failed to make a bad game...although the first Shogun was a little buggy. I give Shogun 2 a 10/10. It does what it is supposed to do with good graphics, beautiful scenery and a range of maps exploiting different tactics. The multiplayer is a little buggy in terms of the menu.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I'd like a game that works. The demo worked fine, but the full game will not load. The loading screen shows up and the computer reboots itself.