Shogun 2: TW Is On The Way

[oldmanpaco]

Shogun:TW and Rome:TW were masterpieces.
First Medieval was unpolished and I wasn't impressed by it at all, second Medieval was shit when it came out, but "Stainless Steel" and "Real Combat" mods made it an "okay" game.
Never played Empire and Napoleon games, and tbh, don't even want to.

RTW a masterpiece? Really?

The complete lack of historical accuracy didn't bother you at all? Anyway RTW with EB was a masterpiece.

Also MTW 1 is the best of the series. Glorious Achievement mode (or whatever it was called) really tied you into the game. I also enjoyed the board game style map more than maps that followed.

 

[deshields538]

Why the fuck would historical accuracy make or break RTW? I don't remember CA claiming it was or anything like that. Does that mean Age of Empires 1 & 2 are shit because of the inaccurate units they have?

Maybe it's because RTW gets some stuff right that people think they were trying to go all the way but you could have picked almost anything else to complain about, like the AI and diplomacy, and it would at least be valid.

 

[Trash]

I'm thinking about replaying both Shogun and Medieval but am afraid the graphics will be fucked up. Wasn't there a way around this posted?

 

[Shannow]

The complete lack of historical accuracy didn't bother you at all?

Nope. What bothered me was that you had to develop your country along historical lines, where I'd prefer a "here is you starting nation, make of it what you will" aproach.
But then, I wouldn't mind a complete fantasy setting with 4X elements. Design starting culture, aquire resources through owning the regions or trading for them, hold tradelines open or suffer higher production costs/famines/etc, research technology, equip your troops as you see fit with the balance being cost vs training time vs upkeep vs unit size vs resource dependency...

 

[Serious_Business]

The complete lack of historical accuracy didn't bother you at all?

Nope.

Faggots

 

[CrimsonAngel]

So they are making Rance 8 good to know.

 

[Panthera]

Fuck. I hate how people say how Medieval 2 and Empire failed to live up to Rome. Rome was shit. Rome was the worst in the series by far. You don't live up to Rome. You leave it in the ditch and forget it existed.

 

[Trash]

Rome was the start of the decline. It had actually become a decent game when the expansion was released. Medieval 2 only became decent through mods and Empire never ever did and never will since CA has locked it down to modding attempts.

Medieval with Viking Invasions was CA at its best though. Anyway, anyone knows how to work past the graphical issues that both Shogun and Medieval have with modern cards and drivers?

 

[A user named cat]

Also MTW 1 is the best of the series. Glorious Achievement mode (or whatever it was called) really tied you into the game. I also enjoyed the board game style map more than maps that followed.

I completely agree with you here. Been saying this for years now; the board game campaign map combined with the atmosphere was wonderful and addicting. I remember not being able to stop playing once I started. Now with the newer titles I get bored pretty quickly and grow tired of the clunky 3D map. All it added was long as hell load times, both when starting the game up and between turns especially later into campaigns.

I really wish those pricks would've released a patch so MW1 would be remotely stable on newer hardware. A shame how unplayable it is since it'll always eventually randomly crash due to graphic driver issues.

 

[Lim-Lim]

Anyway, anyone knows how to work past the graphical issues that both Shogun and Medieval have with modern cards and drivers?

I've been wrestling with the same issue myself, but there doesn't seem to be any solution to the problem at the moment.
The only way to run these on modern systems seems to be the software mode, which makes the games painful to play.

 

[Achilles]

Bah, Lim-Lim had the same avatar as me so I changed it. Anyway, I never played Shogun so this one will be fresh to me. I do agree with the rest that Empire was sub par and the next game better have overhauled AI.

 

[Trash]

Anyway, anyone knows how to work past the graphical issues that both Shogun and Medieval have with modern cards and drivers?

I've been wrestling with the same issue myself, but there doesn't seem to be any solution to the problem at the moment.
The only way to run these on modern systems seems to be the software mode, which makes the games painful to play.

How do you turn software mode on? It may be painfull but right now it's really unplayable. EDIT: Nevermind found the option ingame. Shame MTW doesn't have it.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

After Empire happened, I gave up.

Looking forward to Europa Barbororum 2 though.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Yeah, CA really fucked up in my estimation. Let's face it, the vanilla TW games from Rome onwards were mediocre, it was the excellent mods that surfaced that made them great. Taking out that ability... well, they can fuck themselves.

 

[oldmanpaco]

After Empire happened, I gave up.

Looking forward to Europa Barbororum 2 though.

The problem with EB2 is that Shogun will be out before it's finished. Or even a playable beta is released. I check their forums every month or two just to see if by some miracle they are making progress.

 

[PorkaMorka]

And on topic, I'm a little dissapointed by this announcement. Feudal Japan means a map with much less strategic depth and only nine factions. And this is supposed to be a good thing? I seriously don't get this obsession with Shogun. IMO the worst of the series. I can only expect that people who say it's the best let nostalgia cloud their vision or like the setting so much they overlook how rudimentary it is compared to later iterations.

The series went from having capable/decent AI in Shogun and Medieval 1, to completely non functional AI in the next gen iterations.

Town battles... ick.

Not to mention the micromanagement hell of the Rome style map.

If your game is only good with mods that is a problem. Shogun and Medieval 1 did not need mods to be decent.

I do agree that with the next gen style of Total War game, Shogun 2 will be extra boring, as you won't have the elegant simplicity and balance of the original, but you'll have a lot less content and diversity.

 

[JarlFrank]

Fuck them for not releasing mod tools for Empire.
Siege battles could be fixed by now. There could be so many total conversions in the works. The Great War mod could actually be properly progressed now.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Why did they decide to not release modding tools? I mean, I know if a game needs mods to be good that it is a criticism of the developers, but... well... CA does suck. The mods are the only things that made their games replayable.

 

[Trash]

For the same reason they decided to sell the napoleon expansion as a stand-alone and why most of their factions had unfinished unit rosters which were only partly remedied by DLC. Money.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Rome: TW was only good because of its originality. When I discovered that the campaign map was extrapolated into the battle map on the fly, I blew my load. (ie., not pre-rendered copypasta bullshit.) Sure, it was still rough and sparse, but fighting multiple battles around the same mountain, and seeing it from different sides, was awesome. Otherwise, I'm just as happy with a battle screen resembling this: (see image)
where the enormity of armies is implied, and not constrained to *gasp* 2500 men per team. (Don't forget the reinforcements-- you know, the ones that never show up.) Hell, if they rendered the terrain in 3D, made the groups of soldiers fluid polygons, and the gameplay real-time, I'd be as happy as I can be. I'm probably alone in my fantasies, since all this shit is not nExGeN enough to sell.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/377 ... .the.Bulge.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/313 ... the.Aegean

Dicksmoker, you get your ducks in a row before you start teaching them to dance. CA has never really done this, so 'less is more' in this case. The less the program has to use, the better is should be....in theory. But since I don't trust CA as far as I can throw them, I couldn't really care less. I won't be owning the game anyway..

I really..REALLY wish someone else would make decent, finished clones of the total war games, but nobody seems able to pull it off properly. CA is begging to have its (dubious) crown taken from it. Why is it so damn hard to do?

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Sengoku Rance > All TW games.

 

[laclongquan]

Yeah, Rance's consensual rapes for the win!

 

[Trash]

If you want a fun and challenging TW game go play Rome: TW with the Viking Invasion II mod. Then one of the factions other than and next to the norse juggernaut. Saving my Saxon kingdom with an ever dwindling amount of soldiers against the viking elite invader was some of the best gaming I did in ages. Every battle was a desperate last chance to turn the tide and just when it seemed that I had secured my borders a neighbour backstabbed and invaded my weakened lands. It's awesome so far.

 

[commie]

If you want a fun and challenging TW game go play Rome: TW with the Viking Invasion II mod. Then one of the factions other than and next to the norse juggernaut. Saving my Saxon kingdom with an ever dwindling amount of soldiers against the viking elite invader was some of the best gaming I did in ages. Every battle was a desperate last chance to turn the tide and just when it seemed that I had secured my borders a neighbour backstabbed and invaded my weakened lands. It's awesome so far.

Thanks for the tip Trash. I've been limiting myself to RTR and EB usually, waiting for a late empire mod to do the game justice and never really looked at other eras.