Escapist, I find your lack of Shogun 2 topics disturbing... so I'm starting one of my own! How is the latest member of the Total War family treating you? Liking it? Hating it? Do share!
For me, it's a step forward from Empire. The game feels a lot more polished out of the box than Empire did with all the patches and they went back to a more melee-oriented era of warfare. The whole firearms thing never really worked well in the TW engine IMO. There's a ton of tiny improvements that I just adore. For instance, the attrition of armies spending winter in hostile provinces is awesome and forces you to time your conquests as well as inflict losses on the enemy if you can strand them in your own lands (hint: Ninjas can help with that). The mini-missions and the clan buffs are also well integrated, as are the clan events that can also provide a variety of beneficial effects.
There are some aspects of the game that rub me the wrong way, though. Namely, the lack of unit variety. It got pretty bad in Empire (with Line Infantry, Crappy Line Infantry, Elite Line Infantry, Imported Line Infantry, etc.), but in Shogun 2 you are pretty much playing the exact same clan no matter what you pick. Sure, there are some unique bonuses for each clan, but they are barely noticable for the most part. Empire already sacrificed most of the cross faction uniqueness, Shogun buries it. Yeah, I know it makes sense for that period, but a few unique units wouldn't hurt...
Another is that while the AI is somewhat less retarded than normal, the Diplomatic side of things still feels like all the AI clans are giving you the cold shoulder while having a big circle-jerk with each other. For instance, while playing my Chosokabe campaign, I couldn't get a single clan to trade with me. Not a one. Even the ones that liked me wouldn't agree to trade despite me offering to bankrupt my clan with bribes. And it made even less sense since I controlled almost all the foreign trade which provides unique resources all players need to construct advanced buildings. Other clans should be lining up to trade with me, but instead they laugh at me when I offer them all my cash, my daughter as wife and my son as a hostage (you can exchange hostages now, it's pretty cool).
I'm a bit split on some points, like the somewhat dodgy morale system in battles (units tend to rount for no reason, or fight to death against overwhelming odds, seemingly at random), the inability to rapidly reinforce depleted units (they reinforce automatically, but slowly) and the harsh difficulty. The RPG-style leveling is also something I'm not quite sold on. It's a nice try, but it's easy to determine the "good stuff" and just go for it on all generals/agents. I miss the old Total War Generals, with their homosexual lovers, drunken rages, and other such traits.
I have to admit, I'm still trying to get a handle on the game. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't seem to make the correct calls on when to expand and when to build my infrastructure. Getting those opening builds is only a matter of time though...
For me, it's a step forward from Empire. The game feels a lot more polished out of the box than Empire did with all the patches and they went back to a more melee-oriented era of warfare. The whole firearms thing never really worked well in the TW engine IMO. There's a ton of tiny improvements that I just adore. For instance, the attrition of armies spending winter in hostile provinces is awesome and forces you to time your conquests as well as inflict losses on the enemy if you can strand them in your own lands (hint: Ninjas can help with that). The mini-missions and the clan buffs are also well integrated, as are the clan events that can also provide a variety of beneficial effects.
There are some aspects of the game that rub me the wrong way, though. Namely, the lack of unit variety. It got pretty bad in Empire (with Line Infantry, Crappy Line Infantry, Elite Line Infantry, Imported Line Infantry, etc.), but in Shogun 2 you are pretty much playing the exact same clan no matter what you pick. Sure, there are some unique bonuses for each clan, but they are barely noticable for the most part. Empire already sacrificed most of the cross faction uniqueness, Shogun buries it. Yeah, I know it makes sense for that period, but a few unique units wouldn't hurt...
Another is that while the AI is somewhat less retarded than normal, the Diplomatic side of things still feels like all the AI clans are giving you the cold shoulder while having a big circle-jerk with each other. For instance, while playing my Chosokabe campaign, I couldn't get a single clan to trade with me. Not a one. Even the ones that liked me wouldn't agree to trade despite me offering to bankrupt my clan with bribes. And it made even less sense since I controlled almost all the foreign trade which provides unique resources all players need to construct advanced buildings. Other clans should be lining up to trade with me, but instead they laugh at me when I offer them all my cash, my daughter as wife and my son as a hostage (you can exchange hostages now, it's pretty cool).
I'm a bit split on some points, like the somewhat dodgy morale system in battles (units tend to rount for no reason, or fight to death against overwhelming odds, seemingly at random), the inability to rapidly reinforce depleted units (they reinforce automatically, but slowly) and the harsh difficulty. The RPG-style leveling is also something I'm not quite sold on. It's a nice try, but it's easy to determine the "good stuff" and just go for it on all generals/agents. I miss the old Total War Generals, with their homosexual lovers, drunken rages, and other such traits.
I have to admit, I'm still trying to get a handle on the game. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't seem to make the correct calls on when to expand and when to build my infrastructure. Getting those opening builds is only a matter of time though...
