I have a friend from Japan who says that Shogun total war was quite off the mark
It sold poorly in japan

Konami has a more mature game of that time period

Looks like I'm going to buy the physical version of this game, as the Steam download does not come with the bonus stuff.

Which is a bit screwy, as after I install the game I'll have to use steam anyways to play. :doh:


I can't even remember the last hard copy of a PC game I bought...

Konami always makes arcadish game. I really doubt Konami has built anything even close to Shogun 2 Total War.

Of course Japanese being familiar with Sengoku history will probably demand an accurate representation of such game which will not happen due to its complexity and time required and hardware limitation. But the funny thing most Japanese play console games than PC games. And console games mostly are arcadish.

I've tried the demo. I like it but still feel it lacks the original Shogun soul in it. Perhaps the soundtrack is not as daring. Some ninja actions are without video too!

It's an advantage as it means you'll probably never lose your copy due to broken or lost disc.

It's much easier to find online match as well

Not konami, my bad
i meant Koei
this game:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobunaga's_Ambition
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bition_gen.jpg

Note that its also released by sega

Same thing sad how it has become I used to enjoy Nobunaga's ambition on CGA PC in the 1990s.

I've noticed that Japanese like to exaggerate things and they tend to exaggerate characters fiction or historical.

The same thing happens with the Chinese as their movies suggest. Exaggeration of character feats even historical ones. I mean why can't they view historical figures as just a human being instead a super human. Now Chinese movies often lack the humanity needed to portray their character as a human being instead the typical super human one man army.

I can guess the reasons to all these tendencies. I believe they are ashamed of their recent or modern history and hence making blown out exaggeration and dramatization of their glorious middle age history. A period which they take pride in. Just a guess though but if true that would mean they have a relatively low self esteem in today's time they are uncomfortable with themselves and their current state of civilization and look favorably into the fantasy super human world that their movies suggest as an escape to the not so sweet reality they have to deal with everyday. It means in short that they are unhappy people generally.

But a few notable Japanese movies seem to suggest otherwise though that they are sensitive to the more humane side of a character as shown in Twilight samurai, Zatoichi and the Hidden Blade. But Zatoichi is a classic. Older movies have more humanity in them. Today's movies are so out of touch with reality in terms of character mostly for being shallow and weakly portrayed and thus making the audience not able most of the time to relate to the characters in it even Hollywood seem to be plagued with this. All fanciful hack and whack without character strength even when they try to make it to the contrary but it all feels fake in the end. Fake, too much simplified and shallow.

Try watching Ran from Akira Kurowasa which is adapted from Shakespeare's King's Lear and it will shake you to your foundation. The message is strong, the portrayal believable even when its being dramatic and it will make a lasting impression on you instead a 20 minute one.

I know, I'm rather fond of steam, 90% of my PC game purchases throughout the last 3 years have been via steam.

It's just aggravating that I have to go out and buy the disk version just to get the special items, even though the game will require steam.

Umm it will install much faster, the next time too! :DL

I really like the armor in Shogun 2 so bad ass. My only complain is the music. Shogun 1 had better music.

this:yep:

Is it just me, or or you think that Japanese games focus too much on Character development?

In most of the Koei games, the armies were less important than the general. Troop types were "rock paper scissors" like, and it didn't matter, as long if you had a good general

Total war probably lacks in this regard. The generals in Shopun 1 had only stars to differentiate between skill. The ones in Medieval 2 were more "3d" but still lacking compared to the ones in the later installments of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga's Ambition

Other than this, I really can't see why Shogun wouldn't be hugely popular in Japan.

Also, thanks for recommending the movies

I'm not the only one with that conclusion. In Japanese games the generals could charge electric powers or what looked like it. Just like electric eel :O:

It's not only arcadish but outright ridiculous to merge fantasy and historical theme imo

Speaking of good samurai movies, Ran is good, Zatoichi is also good imo. Shogun assassin or lone wolf and a cub is also good. All of them are Japanese classics or classics remake.

I bought Ran and Kagemusha both from Akira Kurosawa and Zatoichi (2003 version) along with Shogun 2 copy. Not sure about Kagemusha but it's Kurosawa's work and a faithful portrayal of historic events during the immediate two year after Takeda Shingen death and one of his two epic movies so I took my chance. Akira Kurosawa is like the George Lucas of Japan or Steven Spielberg of Japan.

Thanks for the recommendations, Looking for them now

The Shogun demo in game battle music seems to be lacking the critical drums.
Perhaps they want to build a zen like atmosphere but really in battle you should hear drums and more drums! :DL


Like this,



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUI_q...eature=related

Not the best recording quality but
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLldAZBJHAc

Some screenshots from the demo Sanuki's battle. Click view entire album to see them all. Nothing extraordinary just to view some of the available units.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...534?tab=public
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...65/?tab=public
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...48/?tab=public

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...94/?tab=public



http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...44/?tab=public

^ direct images not showing up for me. :hmmm:

Turns out the demo has the complete(?) in-game encyclopedia thingy. Can find just about everything in there. I get the impression they really did improve the game, at least in gameplay concepts. We'll have to see how the campaign AI turns out though.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/ARConSt...31/?tab=public

Hey I'm unable to view the encyclopedia. They will be just all black in my demo :hmmm: