| Title | Ten times I fell in love with Shogun 2 |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Features |
| When | March 21, 2011 |
I haven't been terribly fond of Creative Assembly's recent games, such as Empire: Total War or Napoleon: Total War. All that is changing with Shogun 2 (read my 1up review here)..
Read the full articleTom, you make me want this in the worst way... I've always loved (and sucked at) strategy games, and this one looks to be AMAZING. I have cursed you before and I shall curse you again. Curse you.
Tom,
Good to know that the AI can find the high-ground. But, how is the AI at attacking you? Does it even attack, or does it always find a position to defend, and expect you to attack?
Oh, the AI definitely attacks, Mr. 2000! It's just that it doesn't attack blindly, like it used to do in Empire. In the hill scenario, I actually lured him down by harassing him with cavalry and archers so that he had to attack. And I regularly lose close matches. It's not a perfect AI, of course, but it's exactly the AI it needs to make Shogun 2 a viable single player game.
Maybe 10 things you hate in Shogun 2?
Like broken multi,first loss because of money cheat,all the same clans,all players are Dishonorable Cowards....etc.
Just for balance :)
I'm still playing on normal difficulty but the AI is pretty solid. It still sometimes does stupid things and I've won battles I should have lost as a result, but when you are pushed to the limit by an army 2/3rds your size you know the AI isn't a pushover.
Ruskov, yeah, the multiplayer was really screwy over this past weekend. Before then, I hadn't been having problems, so I'm hoping it's just some sort of server end junk they'll work out soon. I couldn't care less about that "dishonorable coward" thing, since a) everyone has it, and b) I can't figure out where we're supposed to see another general's profile anyway.
What's the money cheat? I haven't run into it.
Defeating an enemy with morale rather than attrition is central to King Arthur too. It makes capturing battlefield locations key. Not that morale worked quite the same way. Sadly, they are moving to a more TW system for KA2.
Sounds like the best Creative Assembly game in a long time. Maybe they finally got serious on making good games, instead of (only) pretty games. I can't wait to try it out.
Wow! Tom Chick loves a Total War game? I got to get this now. I was quite hesitant to take the plunge with Shogun 2. But listening to Bill Abner's initial impression and your positive impression of it, just placed my order with my local retail store.
Shogun 2 is easily my favorite of the Total War series, just edging out Rome. The narrowed scope really allowed the developers to communicate a specific theme and context. There's a cohesiveness here that just wasn't possible at the scale of some previous entries. I'm surprised that I like it so much because I thought I had no interest in the setting at all, but the narratives that emerge while playing really stroke the imagination of a virtual daimyo.
The money cheat is when some people can purchase army for 10k while the limit for the other player is 5k.
You can see another player's profile in lobby when you click on their steam portrait.
Tom, you need to ambush something with Kisho Ninja. That could be number 11.
They throw explosives and can blow up units, it's ridiculously awesome. Better, when defending a stronghold use them as range attackers on the parapets (or whatever the equivalent is) against the approaching hordes.
Tom,
I agree. The campaign is much more entertaining, and much more difficult, than any of the previous games. Creative Assembly has done a great job in refocusing their attention
Quick and easy haiku, using your words:
Flags tatter and flash
Soldiers melt like dew in sun
Their morale broken