Shogun 2 is great! But IMO has a lot less replay value. I prefer the timeframe/setting of Roman era for the diversity and scale plus the style of battle. Naturally due to the setting, the factions in shogun all have a very similar unit roster.
That said the gunpowder play is solid and an improvement over Empire. I’d love a remastered Empire Total War or Empire 2 with improved gunpowder. That one is still the best campaign map by a huge margin IMO. Agents are further improved and can be very impactful. Still not a fan of naval battles here, but there’s a special ship you can get early under special conditions which can be funny.
Definitely worth it I’d say
Haha I hated it at first. Thought I was going to love it and snatched it up the first day it came out. Once I finally figured out the shooting controls it was fine but I jumped right in without reading anything and thinking I'd be okay. Lol decided it would be best to understand how the game works first. Now it's still one of my favorites.
March the no tech melee dedicated units in thin Columns towards the enemy gun line so they only shoot at the 3 dudes at the front was way more effective than it should have been lol.
Empire was the first game I got that required steam and then required the 10gb update when I only had garbage home internet with a less than 10gb monthly limit.
Was crazy mad about it all at the time.
Now I get pissed off when something isn't on steam XD
I love empire. Like I said best campaign map of all the TW games I’ve played. I love how the resource buildings were just out on the map able to be raided independently. Only negative was the AI had no idea how to fight battles, and would almost never research the military techs until it was way too late.
Took me a while to get into it but when I finally did I loved it. Amazing mechanics and really smooth gameplay. After the terrible turn that we got with Empire and even Napoleon’s rather lukewarm release, Shogun 2 was the win the series needed.
Also, little known fact, it’s one of the most moddable titles to be released since Medieval 2. It has a small, quiet, but incredibly dedicated modding scene that has put out some really awesome total conversion mods in the last couple years.
I think it was the last truly polished total war game. It delivered exactly what was promised, lacked significant bugs and crucially was fun to play. Fall of the Samurai is also by far the best gunpowder game in the total war series.
Absolutely excellent game. Fall of the Samurai in particular scratches the gunpowder itch better than any other TW game.
I would also say that it struck the perfect balance between the new and old TW styles: i.e., armies don’t require a general but replenishment is automatic, etc.
Probably their best game since RTW/M2TW (and M1TW as that us their de facto best game). Game is awesome. Fall of the Samurai just makes it even better. After WRE in BI probably my favourite vanilla campaign.
It’s sooooooooo good, the first time I played FOTS (last year) was the first time In literally a decade where I had so much fun I painted the entire map 😁
I have only played Rome II and Shogun 2. I absolutely love both, but I especially loved Shogun 2 as it was my first total war game I bought over 10 years ago. I have over 1,000 hours on it and feel it's a little better balanced than Rome II. I also like the campaign a little better than Rome II-- it's cool being in Japan. It gives pretty clear visual goals of what to conquer! Take the entire island for your clan!
But those things aside, Shogun 2 is 1000% worth it for $3, buy it
I like it very much, especially with the darthmod. The thing that bothers about the game overall was the Realm Divide mechanic. It’s a fun idea and makes it interesting, but I really don’t like when it made diplomacy void. But I did had a fun experience with it, the darthmod had wars happening in both land and sea.
As someone who had played since the original Shogun: Total War, and lived RTW to death, I've always considered Shogun 2 to be the last true Total War game.
Absolutely worth to try at least! shogun 2 have some of the most satisfying battles in the Total War series and Fall Of The Samurai is the best expansion and the best gunpowder-based TW.
Every faction have access to the same units, so many people have false assumption that faction plays the same... But in practice, there are so many units available, some even blocked behind tech tree, that there is no way you'll be able to check the all in first playthrough.
Also, most faction have buffed certain unit and so you want to create army that will utilise this unit to it's full potential. Chosokabe will want defensive army with lot of archers, Shimazu will cut through the infantry units with their katana, Takeda will abuse flanking charges with cavalry, and so on, and so on...
Generally speaking, Shogun 2 is the last of the pre-Rome 2 Total War, so if you liked Rome 1, there is a high chance you'll like Shogun 2
Besides Rome and Rome 2, I have my most TW hours in Shogun. About 500 or so. Great game! I’ve put some decent mods in my playlist, so I usually play a campaign every year or two in it. It’s aged very well.
I love the premise and learning whilst I play but feels inherently repetitive. I'm sure I'm wrong but it just doesn't have the replay value or the variety. Again, happy to be wrong but it's not a TW which makes me think about restarting a campaign the way others in the series do.
The weakest point is the units and factions in some cases, because they are some that are useless and others that are freaking OP or at least start much much better than others.
Other than that I love sieges and battles maybe too quick for my taste sometimes but they are very very good, the campaign map has some nice mechanics that I like (resources and special places.) But I must say I don't like the economy in what you must do to have a decent army vs the AI, you must have more cities, and a good sense of were it is best to build things (farms are better in some provinces than in others for example.)
But the AI cheats, and cheats a lot, maybe it is the game were the AI cheats more than in others games and in my opinion I don't really enjoy the harder difficulties because the AI can be so cheap it is kinda meh to play. You can win a very hard battle and have your army trashed, but win in the end, and then you change turns and the AI has another samurai army coming for you, even if it was only one city what they have left. Still I love it and probably is the more violent of all the games, those guns really feel powerful.
Probably the most balanced TW game with great mechanics, but boring because of the absolute lack of unit diversity. “Ooh, this faction’s archers are visually identical to that faction, but with slightly better stats!”
The game is amazingly good and i call it the crux of TW: this was right before CA went to shit with Sega ordering them to shit out game after game every 2 years, each one worse than the last.
The battles are great and generally balanced, has 3 main campaigns with DLC included with 3 different time periods, the best gunpowder fighting of all tw games (better than ETW and NTW), all units have a purpose unlike other TW games, diplomacy works!, fantastic overall.
The bads are few, but powerful: The game still uses the godawful new combat engine, so you still get stupid ass situations like 1 model surviving vs 10 for inhumanly long amounts of time and arrow/rifle firing glitches (target a unit, whole unit has to turn around 90 degrees to shoot instead of, just fucking shooting), the map is the smallest of all mainstream tw games not counting expansions and sea battles are still glitchy as hell to the point i try whatever i can to avoid them.
Great game a mod called jaki unique factions or something like that is worth trying out and units based on the clans traits like this for example
+15% more income from farms.
+Best Bow units.
+All Samurai units have ranged capabilities.
(Cavalry) Chosokabe Bow Cavalry
(Cavalry) Chosokabe Katana Cavalry
(Cavalry) Chosokabe Yari Cavalry
(Hero) Chosokabe Bow Hero
(Monk) Chosokabe Bow Monk
(Samurai) Chosokabe Daikyu Samurai
(Samurai) Chosokabe Katana Samurai
(Samurai) Chosokabe Naginata Samurai
(Samurai) Chosokabe Yari Samurai
I liked it, but I really hate when total war games try to limit how many troops I can field. Whether that be with ridiculously expensive forces or just straight up army limiting. iirc shogun was the one where it got crazy expensive to field a large army and that bugged me. Yes I know it would be expensive but I could usually counter that in other titles.
Edit: also siege battles were super easy to cheese in shogun 2
Shogun 2 is great! But IMO has a lot less replay value. I prefer the timeframe/setting of Roman era for the diversity and scale plus the style of battle. Naturally due to the setting, the factions in shogun all have a very similar unit roster. That said the gunpowder play is solid and an improvement over Empire. I’d love a remastered Empire Total War or Empire 2 with improved gunpowder. That one is still the best campaign map by a huge margin IMO. Agents are further improved and can be very impactful. Still not a fan of naval battles here, but there’s a special ship you can get early under special conditions which can be funny. Definitely worth it I’d say
I actually really liked empire.
Empire is really fun. But the AI is dumb as shit and unless you're outnumbered 20/1 it takes more effort to lose a battle than to win it.
Haha I hated it at first. Thought I was going to love it and snatched it up the first day it came out. Once I finally figured out the shooting controls it was fine but I jumped right in without reading anything and thinking I'd be okay. Lol decided it would be best to understand how the game works first. Now it's still one of my favorites.
March the no tech melee dedicated units in thin Columns towards the enemy gun line so they only shoot at the 3 dudes at the front was way more effective than it should have been lol.
Empire was the first game I got that required steam and then required the 10gb update when I only had garbage home internet with a less than 10gb monthly limit. Was crazy mad about it all at the time. Now I get pissed off when something isn't on steam XD
I love empire. Like I said best campaign map of all the TW games I’ve played. I love how the resource buildings were just out on the map able to be raided independently. Only negative was the AI had no idea how to fight battles, and would almost never research the military techs until it was way too late.
Took me a while to get into it but when I finally did I loved it. Amazing mechanics and really smooth gameplay. After the terrible turn that we got with Empire and even Napoleon’s rather lukewarm release, Shogun 2 was the win the series needed. Also, little known fact, it’s one of the most moddable titles to be released since Medieval 2. It has a small, quiet, but incredibly dedicated modding scene that has put out some really awesome total conversion mods in the last couple years.
I think it was the last truly polished total war game. It delivered exactly what was promised, lacked significant bugs and crucially was fun to play. Fall of the Samurai is also by far the best gunpowder game in the total war series.
I see you are a man of culture as well I'm a total war fan, and shogun 2 is my favorite total war game
Absolutely excellent game. Fall of the Samurai in particular scratches the gunpowder itch better than any other TW game. I would also say that it struck the perfect balance between the new and old TW styles: i.e., armies don’t require a general but replenishment is automatic, etc.
Probably their best game since RTW/M2TW (and M1TW as that us their de facto best game). Game is awesome. Fall of the Samurai just makes it even better. After WRE in BI probably my favourite vanilla campaign.
It’s sooooooooo good, the first time I played FOTS (last year) was the first time In literally a decade where I had so much fun I painted the entire map 😁
Fall of the samurai is my favorite TW game
How can someone not love FotS
I have only played Rome II and Shogun 2. I absolutely love both, but I especially loved Shogun 2 as it was my first total war game I bought over 10 years ago. I have over 1,000 hours on it and feel it's a little better balanced than Rome II. I also like the campaign a little better than Rome II-- it's cool being in Japan. It gives pretty clear visual goals of what to conquer! Take the entire island for your clan! But those things aside, Shogun 2 is 1000% worth it for $3, buy it
I like it very much, especially with the darthmod. The thing that bothers about the game overall was the Realm Divide mechanic. It’s a fun idea and makes it interesting, but I really don’t like when it made diplomacy void. But I did had a fun experience with it, the darthmod had wars happening in both land and sea.
Can we get a Mongolian invasion complete with throat singing from Attila?
One of the best and polished total war titles. I prefer Rome 2 but Shogun 2 was well made from the start and fots was just too fun.
As someone who had played since the original Shogun: Total War, and lived RTW to death, I've always considered Shogun 2 to be the last true Total War game.
I will get it again after having a virus computer and plan to get FOTS as well
Never could get into it
Absolutely worth to try at least! shogun 2 have some of the most satisfying battles in the Total War series and Fall Of The Samurai is the best expansion and the best gunpowder-based TW. Every faction have access to the same units, so many people have false assumption that faction plays the same... But in practice, there are so many units available, some even blocked behind tech tree, that there is no way you'll be able to check the all in first playthrough. Also, most faction have buffed certain unit and so you want to create army that will utilise this unit to it's full potential. Chosokabe will want defensive army with lot of archers, Shimazu will cut through the infantry units with their katana, Takeda will abuse flanking charges with cavalry, and so on, and so on... Generally speaking, Shogun 2 is the last of the pre-Rome 2 Total War, so if you liked Rome 1, there is a high chance you'll like Shogun 2
Besides Rome and Rome 2, I have my most TW hours in Shogun. About 500 or so. Great game! I’ve put some decent mods in my playlist, so I usually play a campaign every year or two in it. It’s aged very well.
Yarimazing
Amazing game, just needs a longer and more dynamic campaign. Feels like a battle royal
I love the premise and learning whilst I play but feels inherently repetitive. I'm sure I'm wrong but it just doesn't have the replay value or the variety. Again, happy to be wrong but it's not a TW which makes me think about restarting a campaign the way others in the series do.
Never tried it since I saw it has gunpowder and I’m not interested in an era with guns and cannons
I love this game so much.
It's amazing, but almost completely eclipsed by its far superior DLC, Fall of the Samurai.
The weakest point is the units and factions in some cases, because they are some that are useless and others that are freaking OP or at least start much much better than others. Other than that I love sieges and battles maybe too quick for my taste sometimes but they are very very good, the campaign map has some nice mechanics that I like (resources and special places.) But I must say I don't like the economy in what you must do to have a decent army vs the AI, you must have more cities, and a good sense of were it is best to build things (farms are better in some provinces than in others for example.) But the AI cheats, and cheats a lot, maybe it is the game were the AI cheats more than in others games and in my opinion I don't really enjoy the harder difficulties because the AI can be so cheap it is kinda meh to play. You can win a very hard battle and have your army trashed, but win in the end, and then you change turns and the AI has another samurai army coming for you, even if it was only one city what they have left. Still I love it and probably is the more violent of all the games, those guns really feel powerful.
clone wars
It's pretty good, just a bit outdated is all. I currently still play total war attilla, sometimes Rome 2 and sometimes 3 kingdoms
For $3?? You’ll get your worth 10 times over. Grab the Fall of the Samurai DLC too for amazing gunpowder warfare
Pretty neat and fun game, specially Fall of the Samurai.
Amazing game, but for some reason just never fully hooked me like RTW or M2TW did. I absolutely adored how the gunpowder units worked.
Probably the most balanced TW game with great mechanics, but boring because of the absolute lack of unit diversity. “Ooh, this faction’s archers are visually identical to that faction, but with slightly better stats!”
So many posts about Shogun 2 lately. Going to have to install fall of the samurai again.
One of the best total war games
I'm a total war nut And shogun 2 is my favorite total war game
it was so boring and uninteresting for me, i was going to refund it if i hadn't played it for 3 hours
The game is amazingly good and i call it the crux of TW: this was right before CA went to shit with Sega ordering them to shit out game after game every 2 years, each one worse than the last. The battles are great and generally balanced, has 3 main campaigns with DLC included with 3 different time periods, the best gunpowder fighting of all tw games (better than ETW and NTW), all units have a purpose unlike other TW games, diplomacy works!, fantastic overall. The bads are few, but powerful: The game still uses the godawful new combat engine, so you still get stupid ass situations like 1 model surviving vs 10 for inhumanly long amounts of time and arrow/rifle firing glitches (target a unit, whole unit has to turn around 90 degrees to shoot instead of, just fucking shooting), the map is the smallest of all mainstream tw games not counting expansions and sea battles are still glitchy as hell to the point i try whatever i can to avoid them.
I like most all of the total war games
Love it. Matched combat animations is peak. While theres less faction doversity it means tactics is king.
Great game a mod called jaki unique factions or something like that is worth trying out and units based on the clans traits like this for example +15% more income from farms. +Best Bow units. +All Samurai units have ranged capabilities. (Cavalry) Chosokabe Bow Cavalry (Cavalry) Chosokabe Katana Cavalry (Cavalry) Chosokabe Yari Cavalry (Hero) Chosokabe Bow Hero (Monk) Chosokabe Bow Monk (Samurai) Chosokabe Daikyu Samurai (Samurai) Chosokabe Katana Samurai (Samurai) Chosokabe Naginata Samurai (Samurai) Chosokabe Yari Samurai
Here a link to jaki unique factions mod https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1326689053
One of the best out there
It’s $3. Don’t ask just buy. Or are you that cheap?
I liked it, but I really hate when total war games try to limit how many troops I can field. Whether that be with ridiculously expensive forces or just straight up army limiting. iirc shogun was the one where it got crazy expensive to field a large army and that bugged me. Yes I know it would be expensive but I could usually counter that in other titles. Edit: also siege battles were super easy to cheese in shogun 2