Shogun 2: Total war!

[Spike88]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1093664p1.html

Like its processor, the new game picks up in 16th century Japan during the aftermath of the Onin War. The battles between rival Shoguns have devastated the country and left the capital of Kyoto in ruins. Competing warlords in control of small pockets of power are each striving to obtain the blessing of the central emperor and legitimize their rule of the entire land. The player takes on the role of one of eight of these warlords, each with a unique starting position and different political and military strengths. Some may be located on remote islands that are rich in resources but far from opportunities. Others might be in the thick of the action immediately and able to use unique samurai units to carve out a more secure portion.

[Raptor1]

Bloody...

After the excesses of Empire, Shogun 2 is taking a Zen approach. Though the word "accessible" is often code for "plain," in the case of Shogun 2, it's clear that the designers want to maintain a tighter focus on the core elements and not give in to feature creep. The unit roster is a great example of this. Rather than massive roster of units found in Empire, Shogun sticks with just 30-40 basic units (20 or so per faction), each of which has a clear and obvious purpose. This should give the player a chance to focus more on tactics than on the slight variations between similar unit types. If you need to keep an enemy at bay, for instance, you'll know to call on your Ashigaru spearman. To help add a bit of variety, units will upgrade over time.

Does anyone even remember the complete lack of unit variations in Empire?

One particularly novel development is the introduction of hero units. These are warriors who have perfected a fighting art and can carve their way through enemy armies without much trouble at all. Based on mythologized historical figures like the warrior monk Benkei, hero units are a nearly unstoppable force on the battlefield, capable of holding bridge crossings against entire armies, or smashing through a battle line to engage the enemy general. You can counter heroes with the right tactics, such as filling them full of arrows, or by having your own hero units engage them in duels. The development team may even consider letting players use political manipulation to sway heroes away from each other.

...what?!

[Spike88]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

...what?!

It doesn't sound that bad too me. Especially if you can turn it off for realistic battles.


Although I totally see it being a Pre-order Bonus. Pre-order here and get Goku ! Everyone else will have to pay for him later.

[stabiz]

I hope Sega is forced to sell CA at some point. Other than that it could be good, even though the constant accessible-choir is turning me towards a life of emo-ness.

[stabiz]

Btw, the teaser trailer was cool as hell!

[Weiss Pinguin]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Bloody...Does anyone even remember the complete lack of unit variations in Empire?

Well, IIRC, (Haven't played shogun in ages), the original didn't exactly have a large roster of troops to choose from. However they were all fairly well balanced and setup in relation to each other.

[Dowly]

Cock (the rooster one) Shogun, give me RTW 2!

[Spike88]

I have to say I'm highly looking forward to this, for one I'm a big fan of Samurai era Japan. Night battles and 5 level castle sieges sounds awesome.

[Task Force]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Cock (the rooster one) Shogun, give me RTW 2!

Yea, I hope they do RTW next... I liked rome.

[Oberon]

Hmmm, not sure I like the idea of the Hero units. Still, imagine the mods, as with a lot of games these days, the mods will save them for the grognards amongst us.

Nice trailer though

One day...one day I will have a machine to play Empire and Napoleon...one day...
I'll be able to have multiplayer battles against that flying pig too

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Hmmm, not sure I like the idea of the Hero units. Still, imagine the mods, as with a lot of games these days, the mods will save them for the grognards amongst us.

Unless CA pulls the same thing they did with Empire and Napoleon and fail to release mod tools, in which case modding would be pretty rudimentary and never reach the levels that mods for earlier games were.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Unless CA pulls the same thing they did with Empire and Napoleon and fail to release mod tools, in which case modding would be pretty rudimentary and never reach the levels that mods for earlier games were.

....crap

[kiwi_2005]

Shogun 1 played on my Pentium 133mhz, 16mb ram, 4mb 3dfx Voodoo PCI gfx card. Computer already had a 4mb generic gfx card can't remember the name, with the voodoo you could SLI them to your original gfx. All up 8mb. Back then my PC was king.

Shogun 2

[Spike88]

I'm guessing this game is going to look awesome. Especially since Napoleon and Empire look great themselves.

[NeonSamurai]

I just hope they stick to the core of what made STW so great, and keep the highly immersive aspects of that game (or deepen them). Hero units might be a good thing, as long as they are not absurdly overpowered.

I have to say though I have really grown to despise the preorder and DLC stuff. I don't mind decent addons, but DLC like the infamous Horse Armor from Oblivion annoys me.