Total War: Shogun 2 Review
- Thread starter Steve Butts
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The graphic's in this game is beautiful i'll give it that. And the battle's is fun to play, how the AI try to outflank you and try to position it's archers on high ground.
But when you play the campaign-map all you need is a few monks and a few ninja's. Seriously i took all of japan with them going from city to city. Using monks to start a rebellion in several places at once. Then using ninja's to halt the enemy's army so they cant intercept the rebellion in the other provinces. And for some reason the AI dont like going into a province that they lost. So in my army go to take a free province.
But when you play the campaign-map all you need is a few monks and a few ninja's. Seriously i took all of japan with them going from city to city. Using monks to start a rebellion in several places at once. Then using ninja's to halt the enemy's army so they cant intercept the rebellion in the other provinces. And for some reason the AI dont like going into a province that they lost. So in my army go to take a free province.
Me and you must be the lucky ones, it's not crashed on me either, only shitty steam has crashed in me, which is a given really.
But like you, I'm in love with this game at the moment. It seems......harder than other itterations, especially on the campaign map. I don't know how many goddamn ambushes I've walked into so far! And I thought these people were supposed to be honourable.
But like you, I'm in love with this game at the moment. It seems......harder than other itterations, especially on the campaign map. I don't know how many goddamn ambushes I've walked into so far! And I thought these people were supposed to be honourable.
Loading times are longer, but I think other criticisms are a bit harsh, in terms of bugs/performance. I've not had any performance problems, and though there do seem to be some issues with multi-core computers, on the whole it seems pretty good. I've had two crashes, but then I've also played it A LOT. I had far more on Medieval 2 (many of them corrupting my saves, forcing a restart).
Bug-wise, it also currently seems much more polished than previous iterations - although pathfinding can be an issue yes - at least you address the bugs though: I've seen so many reviews (PC Gamer particularly) which completely ignored (and even refused to acknowledge them in the face of letters complaining to them) massive, game-breaking bugs of previous CA titles.
The campaign map is much more manageable than Empire or previous, much more detailed, and seems to have much more of an effect on the game. Crucially, it can be used to much more tactical effect. Heavy amounts of forest mean that setting up ambushes is easy - I've launched more ambushes in Shogun than all previous titles put together - and been a victim of a few as well. The way agents work is also vastly improved, so that its not pot-luck as to whether they die on the first mission or not.
The AI is also a tough one, particularly in the battles. What's thrilling (and devastating) is that it really uses speed to its advantage. The amount of times its swung cavalry round my flanks, then suddenly dived somewhere vulnerable and terribly killy, the cavalry charge launched so quickly that I can't react... well, its awesome.
Bug-wise, it also currently seems much more polished than previous iterations - although pathfinding can be an issue yes - at least you address the bugs though: I've seen so many reviews (PC Gamer particularly) which completely ignored (and even refused to acknowledge them in the face of letters complaining to them) massive, game-breaking bugs of previous CA titles.
The campaign map is much more manageable than Empire or previous, much more detailed, and seems to have much more of an effect on the game. Crucially, it can be used to much more tactical effect. Heavy amounts of forest mean that setting up ambushes is easy - I've launched more ambushes in Shogun than all previous titles put together - and been a victim of a few as well. The way agents work is also vastly improved, so that its not pot-luck as to whether they die on the first mission or not.
The AI is also a tough one, particularly in the battles. What's thrilling (and devastating) is that it really uses speed to its advantage. The amount of times its swung cavalry round my flanks, then suddenly dived somewhere vulnerable and terribly killy, the cavalry charge launched so quickly that I can't react... well, its awesome.
i love the Total War series, but especially after Empire (which was a step in the worng direction imho) i'm waiting till the mod community adds some realistical depth into the game and finetunes the combat as i'm not a big fan of the Vanilla gameplay. In contrast to the reviewer i want my TW experience to be filled with an huge amount of different units.
Huge amount of different units adds nothing, IMO. Here, the emphasis is on tactics, and the slight differences you get from veterancy, from regional bonuses, and from faction specialities. The tactics here are actually more involved than games with more units, as it forces you to use units in appropriate roles, rather than getting unit x, y or z and steamrolling, which is what many different units eventually ends up as. I much prefer this version to those that had loads of units (it also means i don't keep restarting to take advantage of other units...)
its a great game for sure but it has lots of small bugs and the graphics are not updated and are not shown in their full glory before a major patch
bugs include AI not working properly, your online avatar not showing as he should as your general but as your opponents general, faulty registering of matches won/lost when someone disconnects or doesn't etc.
and general hardware to software issues; for me it was no water at all for instance which was easily solved by going back a few drivers
the game itself has much more immersion then the last two, despite the shaky realm divide feature and the lack of hotseat (mod please
)
wow I sound a bit negative but that's what you can expect in addition to a truly awesome and must buy game
bugs include AI not working properly, your online avatar not showing as he should as your general but as your opponents general, faulty registering of matches won/lost when someone disconnects or doesn't etc.
and general hardware to software issues; for me it was no water at all for instance which was easily solved by going back a few drivers
the game itself has much more immersion then the last two, despite the shaky realm divide feature and the lack of hotseat (mod please
)wow I sound a bit negative but that's what you can expect in addition to a truly awesome and must buy game
Best TW i've played and i've played most of them, exception being Shogun1 and Medieval1. i have a really beefy rig and for the first time i can play the game on ultra settings and OMG is it an orgasm for the eyes. Watching No-dachi samurai charge into a rank of bow samurai and completely owning face never gets old!
Sounds good I will definitely check this out at some point, I've only just started playing Empire and Rome Total War. I have to agree with the reviewer the main problem I've had with the total war series is keeping track of all the stats in the strategic mode as an avid Civ player I have found the menus in total war to be incredibly fustrating and find the in game tutorials have are not very clear or helpful.
I now have the game 2 days and I must say that I totally love it.
Loading screens are taking a hell of a time to actually load though.
But I find it rather easy and nice.
I had a rough time with Empire to actually get money or be powerful though.
At the moment, I think Medieval 2 and Rome are my favourite but maysbe after playing more, Shogun 2 will also be there. Though I am more of a conquer Europe kind of guy.
Still need to try multiplayer though.
I'm gonna lose SO hard
Loading screens are taking a hell of a time to actually load though.
But I find it rather easy and nice.
I had a rough time with Empire to actually get money or be powerful though.
At the moment, I think Medieval 2 and Rome are my favourite but maysbe after playing more, Shogun 2 will also be there. Though I am more of a conquer Europe kind of guy.
Still need to try multiplayer though.
I'm gonna lose SO hard
Beyond the improvement to grapics, and making sieges more fun I found this game to be a huge step backwards from Medieval 2.
The scope of the game is just waaaaaaay smaller. A medieval 2 game could take me weeks to complete, same for Rome:TW, but in shogun I can finish one in a couple of days on the longest setting on the hardest difficulty. (I never played the empire ones since they didn't seem appealing, and from what I read they weren't as good either.)
The improvement to the way buildings are constructed (no more tedious queueing) has actually resulted in more boring gameplay despite being a good change. Why? Because now, instead of waiting for buildings to complete, we get to wait for the stupid tech trees to finish their tech advancements. I've lost count of the number of times where I've sat there pressing NEXT TURN over and over again to get a new advancement I'd need, while my gold piles up to the tens or hundreds of thousands.
The worst part for me, though, is how every single faction is basically identical. The Medieval or Rome games had wildly different factions in wildly different starting locations that played completely differently depending on their religion and units, while in Shogun 2 every faction is basically identical, the only real difference being some very minor differences to basic units. I'm pretty sure I can list every unit in the game off the top of my head right now after playing it for a week, and I've seen every area of the map. In Rome or Medieval, I played the games for months before I even saw half the world map.
Also, the Shogun 2 events are far less interesting than those of medieval. In shogun 2 you randomly get more food or income, in medieval the mongol hordes invade and destroy your entire empire if you're not prepared, and the "realm divide" event is far less interesting (since it's compeltely predictable and does the same thing every time) than having to deal with the pope in Medieval. That guy really had it in for me.
There are also many obnoxious limitations that don't make any sense except from a balancing-perspective, like how units can't be retrained or how disbanding decade old veteran units and training new ones from your, now upgraded, regions results in more experienced units with better equipment (bonus accuracy/morale/armor/weapons). At one point I realized that disbanding my veteran katana samurai and simply replacing them with normal ashugari (with +6 experience, +4 melee attack and +2 armor) resulted in more powerful units at a lower cost...
Overall it's not a bad game, but except for the (admittedly significant) improvements to how the battles look, the game doesn't begin to compare to Rome or Medieval 2, which is pretty disappointing.
The scope of the game is just waaaaaaay smaller. A medieval 2 game could take me weeks to complete, same for Rome:TW, but in shogun I can finish one in a couple of days on the longest setting on the hardest difficulty. (I never played the empire ones since they didn't seem appealing, and from what I read they weren't as good either.)
The improvement to the way buildings are constructed (no more tedious queueing) has actually resulted in more boring gameplay despite being a good change. Why? Because now, instead of waiting for buildings to complete, we get to wait for the stupid tech trees to finish their tech advancements. I've lost count of the number of times where I've sat there pressing NEXT TURN over and over again to get a new advancement I'd need, while my gold piles up to the tens or hundreds of thousands.
The worst part for me, though, is how every single faction is basically identical. The Medieval or Rome games had wildly different factions in wildly different starting locations that played completely differently depending on their religion and units, while in Shogun 2 every faction is basically identical, the only real difference being some very minor differences to basic units. I'm pretty sure I can list every unit in the game off the top of my head right now after playing it for a week, and I've seen every area of the map. In Rome or Medieval, I played the games for months before I even saw half the world map.
Also, the Shogun 2 events are far less interesting than those of medieval. In shogun 2 you randomly get more food or income, in medieval the mongol hordes invade and destroy your entire empire if you're not prepared, and the "realm divide" event is far less interesting (since it's compeltely predictable and does the same thing every time) than having to deal with the pope in Medieval. That guy really had it in for me.
There are also many obnoxious limitations that don't make any sense except from a balancing-perspective, like how units can't be retrained or how disbanding decade old veteran units and training new ones from your, now upgraded, regions results in more experienced units with better equipment (bonus accuracy/morale/armor/weapons). At one point I realized that disbanding my veteran katana samurai and simply replacing them with normal ashugari (with +6 experience, +4 melee attack and +2 armor) resulted in more powerful units at a lower cost...
Overall it's not a bad game, but except for the (admittedly significant) improvements to how the battles look, the game doesn't begin to compare to Rome or Medieval 2, which is pretty disappointing.
Also, the character talent trees are boring. Every one of my generals basically end up the same, and the same goes for the rest of the characters. In the previous games the characters would develop in fairly random ways that made them feel like they had personalities. When a new son comes of age and he starts with the genius trait I knew I had to make that guy my future warlord, not to mention the sheer hilarity of seeing the ruler of the most powerful empire in the world possess a trait like
"Lacks Manhood: So short on self respect is this man that those who bed his wife laugh about it to his face... Just before passing water on his shoes. -4 Authority."
And the guy would have 10/10 authority in spite of it due to having cut a bloody path of genocide through the entire middle east. Now THAT is amusing, THAT makes me care about my characters. That they'd age and die rather swifthly also played a big role.
In shogun 2 I haven't had a general die to anything other than in battle. Even the clan leader would be alive and happy when 1600 rolls around, not that it'd matter anyway. They guy had 5 stars and maxed loyalty... but so does the heir... and the next 3 replacements in line. In rome/medieval I caerd about my faction leaders because it was bloody difficult to nuture a powerful leader. In shogun 2 all I need to do is throw some random dude into a half a dozen battles and he's already a legend. In medieval or Rome, a powerful general dying in battle, or even to old age, was a tradgedy, because it was fairly hard to get them to that level of expertise. In Shogun I don't really care when a general dies. Takes barely a handful of battles to get anyone to the same level as the guy who just died. Whatever.
Not that I have any choice in the matter. Apparently generals get better at managing TAXES by leading battles, for reasons beyond me.
"Lacks Manhood: So short on self respect is this man that those who bed his wife laugh about it to his face... Just before passing water on his shoes. -4 Authority."
And the guy would have 10/10 authority in spite of it due to having cut a bloody path of genocide through the entire middle east. Now THAT is amusing, THAT makes me care about my characters. That they'd age and die rather swifthly also played a big role.
In shogun 2 I haven't had a general die to anything other than in battle. Even the clan leader would be alive and happy when 1600 rolls around, not that it'd matter anyway. They guy had 5 stars and maxed loyalty... but so does the heir... and the next 3 replacements in line. In rome/medieval I caerd about my faction leaders because it was bloody difficult to nuture a powerful leader. In shogun 2 all I need to do is throw some random dude into a half a dozen battles and he's already a legend. In medieval or Rome, a powerful general dying in battle, or even to old age, was a tradgedy, because it was fairly hard to get them to that level of expertise. In Shogun I don't really care when a general dies. Takes barely a handful of battles to get anyone to the same level as the guy who just died. Whatever.
Not that I have any choice in the matter. Apparently generals get better at managing TAXES by leading battles, for reasons beyond me.
ARGH! One thing bugs me about this review and every other Shogun 2 review I've seen so far. EVERYONE talks about how Empire had such huge variety of units and such. NO IT DID NOT! It had Line Infantry, Line Infantry and some more Line Infantry. It had terrible variety, all the european nations were almost identical, with the Marathas and Ottomans being unique in that they had really crappy Line Infantry. Compared to Medieval 2 or Rome, where most factions play drastically different (compare playing Romans, Bretons and Greeks in Rome, or Russians, Spain and Turks in Medieval 2) Empire was atrociously monotonous. It was one of the game's many shortcomings.
Sorry about the rant, it's just something that grates on my nerves every time I read/hear it...
Sorry about the rant, it's just something that grates on my nerves every time I read/hear it...
OH DEAR GOD IT'S BEEN THAT LONG ALREADY CHRIST I'M SO OLD
I remember how I played Shogun at my friend's house... I was under 10, so I didn't like it, it was too complicated and shit. Tried playing it recently, couldn't handle the low-res graphics. No, not the graphics themselves... It's just that the game doesn't recognize the new OS like Vista and 7. And probably XP as well. So I couldn't play in even half of my native resolution OR use windowed mode.
Oh well. Now I can make up for it.
I remember how I played Shogun at my friend's house... I was under 10, so I didn't like it, it was too complicated and shit. Tried playing it recently, couldn't handle the low-res graphics. No, not the graphics themselves... It's just that the game doesn't recognize the new OS like Vista and 7. And probably XP as well. So I couldn't play in even half of my native resolution OR use windowed mode.
Oh well. Now I can make up for it.
Bought it and have been playing the SH!T out of it.... and alls I can say is wow. The level of detail in the combat is insane, the next time you storm a keep watch you units really closely. You will be amazed at the kind of moves being pulled in the combat.
Saw a rider getting hit with an arrow and instead of horse/rider dying on the spot like most total war games the horse keep moving forward and the rider fell off the back... the little gremlim at the controls in my brain leapt for joy.
Thus yet I havent encounterred any major problems apart from the fact that your men seem to be incapable of taking orders to charge through broken down gates. One unit can hold a gateway alone for ages this way as unlike some of the other total war games your men will not pile through. You can climb the walls if you wish but losing about 25% of the soldiers from climbing up an uncontested wall is a bit silly imo.
Naval combat is a bit meh (empires was far better due to your ships toting cannons) as alot of your ships have bowmen and not cannons. Ive been playing one campaign for a good few hours and I still havent reached cannons yet, theyre pretty far down the tech tree.
Small bit of advice, the AI is far better in the campaign and battles. Get used to the game before you crank up the difficulty.
Very happy with my purchase.
Saw a rider getting hit with an arrow and instead of horse/rider dying on the spot like most total war games the horse keep moving forward and the rider fell off the back... the little gremlim at the controls in my brain leapt for joy.
Thus yet I havent encounterred any major problems apart from the fact that your men seem to be incapable of taking orders to charge through broken down gates. One unit can hold a gateway alone for ages this way as unlike some of the other total war games your men will not pile through. You can climb the walls if you wish but losing about 25% of the soldiers from climbing up an uncontested wall is a bit silly imo.
Naval combat is a bit meh (empires was far better due to your ships toting cannons) as alot of your ships have bowmen and not cannons. Ive been playing one campaign for a good few hours and I still havent reached cannons yet, theyre pretty far down the tech tree.
Small bit of advice, the AI is far better in the campaign and battles. Get used to the game before you crank up the difficulty.
Very happy with my purchase.
Guilty of that aswell.... BANZAIIIIIAzmael Silverlance said:
