Total War: Shogun 2

[Trash]

The new patch with the rather huge change list is out. Directx11 support, all kinds of neat graphical toys, lots of bug swatting and gameplay and stat fiddling. With it come again quite a few new bugs though. Crashed, wierd graphical issues and distorted screens. Ouch.

Also a new unit. Namely Battle Nuns. Double ouch. Not only that, several units that weren't used in the game before but were unlocked by modders have been locked again by CA. Probably for their upcoming Iko Ikki faction DLC. Which seems to have little more than that faction with those units. A DLC which one modder presumably has already unlocked. Triple ouch.


PS: Solved my problems with my screen being out of sink with my mouse by putting my game resolution to that of my desktop. Not elegant, but it works.

 

[Santander02]

Can you run DX11 on a DX10 card on this game? I know it is technically possible with only a few features being disabled, but how exactly are the graphics/performance affected when compared to runing the game with a full DX11 card?

 

[oscar]

I'm a bit concerned about how unmoddable Shogun 2 seems to be. Rome: Total War and Medieval II had tons of excellent mods done for them that were so comprehensive they effectively turned into different games.

 

[Trash]

Modding those games was possible because part of the code was released and because a lot of files were unprotected. That all stopped with Empire and it seems CA worked even harder to close everything down in Shogun 2. They're effectively killing the mod scene in order to sell more DLC. Shortsighted? Absolutely. Part of what made the TW games so popular was the amazing mod scene. Suits are fucking it up as usual.

 

[Orgasm]

Marketing sells games and makes em popular, not "modability". And no, platform, genre, target audience dont make a difference. You'd think you would have learned it by now.

 

[Trash]

Short and long term, smartypants.

 

[Orgasm]

Doesn't matter. Reputation does not exist in game bzn.
Well, its degenerated cousin created by marketing and carried by fanboys does, but a real reputation for good games and good deeds does not. And if it did, it would not carry over to sales. Stop being naive. You are too old for that.

 

[Trash]

Doesn't matter. Reputation does not exist in game bzn.
Well, its degenerated cousin created by marketing and carried by fanboys does, but a real reputation for good games and good deeds does not. And if it did, it would not carry over to sales. Stop being naive. You are too old for that.

Read a little more in your marketing book. Customer relations and reputation management are also important aspects of keeping the sheeple buying your shit. CA's continued hammering on them wanting to improve the stability, QA and AI of their next game after the shitstorm regarding Empire shows that.

 

[Orgasm]

Dont go off on a tangent. You made it sound like modability mattered for popularity and sales. It doesnt, not short-term, not long-term, not anyhow. Statistically even ratings by our beloved payed reviewers barely correlate with sales. Of course thats from a time when print still had some integrity.

Look at Steam stats. A majority of players doesnt even finish the shit they buy. Hell, MutliHeadedFuckface or whats his name, buys a ton of games, plays 2 hours, throws them away. He doesn't give a shit about anything. Developed by who? Who gives a fuck? The informed, critical consumer exists only in theory. One in a million, literally. The rest are sheeple gobbling the payed advertisements on IGN right now. And then the 13 year old army goes to spread the good "word of mouth" about the latest innovashun they've seen in their game of the year.

I even already know that you are a part of the herd, designation dumbass, by your choice of good games, why am I talking to you? Why did I write all of this. Oh God WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY MEDS?!!!

 

[Raghar]

I just won Shogun 2.

One stat was: 48 successful assassinations from 53 attempted.

They added too many gamistic features. The skill tree also ceases to work at higher levels. Traits for Medieval 2 agents actually worked somehow better, as they were likely to learn what they were doing. In current system low levels actually give skills quickly, while high levels are giving skill incredibly slowly. Because they can conserve these skillpoints to use them for high level skills, the whole system feels to unrealistic. Also causes for rebellions are too explicit, you always know how many points you need to quell them before happens. Sieges are taking set point of time. Previously both attacker and defender lost some troops each season, and how long it took to force surrender on defenders depended on size of castle and number of defenders. (Basically you were forced to attack the castle, or be screwed up, in certain situations.)

The whole we are trying to make game, not simulate over the top implementation of Japanese conflict harmed Shogun 2 the most. (Also AI cheating was retarded, and realm divide should be done differently.)

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Dont go off on a tangent. You made it sound like modability mattered for popularity and sales. It doesnt, not short-term, not long-term, not anyhow. Statistically even ratings by our beloved payed reviewers barely correlate with sales. Of course thats from a time when print still had some integrity.

Look at Steam stats. A majority of players doesnt even finish the shit they buy. Hell, MutliHeadedFuckface or whats his name, buys a ton of games, plays 2 hours, throws them away. He doesn't give a shit about anything. Developed by who? Who gives a fuck? The informed, critical consumer exists only in theory. One in a million, literally. The rest are sheeple gobbling the payed advertisements on IGN right now. And then the 13 year old army goes to spread the good "word of mouth" about the latest innovashun they've seen in their game of the year.

I even already know that you are a part of the herd, designation dumbass, by your choice of good games, why am I talking to you? Why did I write all of this. Oh God WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY MEDS?!!!

Hey! Hey. I played 5 hours of Shogun 2, ok.

 

[Serious_Business]

I just won Shogun 2.

One stat was: 48 successful assassinations from 53 attempted.

They added too many gamistic features. The skill tree also ceases to work at higher levels. Traits for Medieval 2 agents actually worked somehow better, as they were likely to learn what they were doing. In current system low levels actually give skills quickly, while high levels are giving skill incredibly slowly. Because they can conserve these skillpoints to use them for high level skills, the whole system feels to unrealistic. Also causes for rebellions are too explicit, you always know how many points you need to quell them before happens. Sieges are taking set point of time. Previously both attacker and defender lost some troops each season, and how long it took to force surrender on defenders depended on size of castle and number of defenders. (Basically you were forced to attack the castle, or be screwed up, in certain situations.)

The whole we are trying to make game, not simulate over the top implementation of Japanese conflict harmed Shogun 2 the most. (Also AI cheating was retarded, and realm divide should be done differently.)

These points would resonate more only if Medieval 2 wasn't a piece of shit compared to Shogun 2

 

[spectre]

Agreed.
Although it's a shame the old trait system had to go. Say what you will, but seeing that your best general degenerate slowly into boy-chasing, drunk had its charm.

 

[Trash]

Actually your generals still get traits apart from the skill tree. They're just a lot less, they're harder to get and they lack the impact of the ones in previous TW games.

Anyway, CA released their first Shogun 2 DLC. It's indeed the faction and units that were already in the game and were unlocked by modders and later on locked away again with a patch. It lets you play as a faction of religious fanatical monks with cannon fodder forces that do have a high morale and are good at getting the population behind them. The mechanics of playing are quite different from the usual clans you play as, so that's nice and a new unit of fighting females which I don't care about. Not really worth buying on its own but not a complete waste either. At least a new faction that actually brings something new to the formula is better than the endless lame units expansions they had with Empire and Napoleon. Still, buy it when it goes down in price or when its part of some bigger deal since it really isn't that special to be worth 3.50 on its own.

 

[Orgasm]

Jesus, what happened in Coppenhagen Trahs?
First you were like "suits fucking shit up"
And now you are all like "BUY premade DLC!!!"

 

[Trash]

Buy? I specifically state that while it's not completely worthless it's not worth buying as it is. Don't get your panties in a bunch, sweety.

 

[praetor]

finally a dlc that is worth paying for? let's hope so.. i'm skeptically optimistic[/url]

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Damn, I'm close to deciding whether this is worth getting. I really don't want to be burned again... and I don't know if I can turn my back on Paradox (this feels like a betrayal).

 

[Quilty]

Damn, I'm close to deciding whether this is worth getting. I really don't want to be burned again... and I don't know if I can turn my back on Paradox (this feels like a betrayal).

I'd say go for it. It's a great game.

And damn, that dlc actually looks good. CA reaching full incline?

 

[praetor]

Damn, I'm close to deciding whether this is worth getting. I really don't want to be burned again... and I don't know if I can turn my back on Paradox (this feels like a betrayal).

I'd say go for it. It's a great game.

And damn, that dlc actually looks good. CA reaching full incline?

nah. from the looks of it, it's basically the same thing only with different looking units (plus 1-2 actually new), different clan colours and mons. IF they actually include some new mechanics and especially new siege maps (by far the worst "feature" of the new TW. so boring and monotonous and boring and fucking excruciatingly utterly boring. every fucking siege is the same) THEN we can start talking about "full incline". this seems like a step in the right direction, but i guess we'll see

i think the Imjin wars would've been a better choice and would've made an really cool, meaty, substantial DLC with plenty of new features and actually different faction(s) and could've easily sold for at least double that money. hopefully this DLC is just a prelude to a Mongol Invasions 2 kind of deal (since they're not even 100 years after the Genpei war, one can dream...)

 

[praetor]

Damn, I'm close to deciding whether this is worth getting. I really don't want to be burned again... and I don't know if I can turn my back on Paradox (this feels like a betrayal).

I'd say go for it. It's a great game.

And damn, that dlc actually looks good. CA reaching full incline?

nah. from the looks of it, it's basically the same thing only with different looking units (plus 1-2 actually new), different clan colours and mons. IF they actually include some new mechanics and especially new siege maps (by far the worst "feature" of the new TW. so boring and monotonous and boring and fucking excruciatingly utterly boring. every fucking siege is the same) THEN we can start talking about "full incline". this seems like a step in the right direction, but i guess we'll see

i think the Imjin wars would've been a better choice and would've made an really cool, meaty, substantial DLC with plenty of new features and actually different faction(s) and could've easily sold for at least double that money. hopefully this DLC is just a prelude to a Mongol Invasions 2 kind of deal (since they're not even 100 years after the Genpei war, one can dream...)

But bros there are four new agent types....I will now describe two of them that sound identical to Ninjas/whores and metsuke.

Honestly I just wish they'd make a new game now. S2 is repetitive as shit and they've foreclosed the possiblity of any quality mods, so they might as well just keep the money train a-choo-choo'ing.

well, it's not like agent types have significantly evolved ever since the first TW game so that's hardly a complaint. they were always basically reskins/recombinations. if they really want to improve on shogun, they need to (re)introduce a couple of things: a hillier, more diverse campaign map + the battlemap generator from past games (so that it actually matters where i choose to fight my battles. an important strategic component), more varied siege maps, more faction-specific stuff, reintroduce some diplomatic options (like giving away regions), and make a fucking Korean or Mongol Invasions campaign so that it's not stuck to samurai/ashigaru/monk vs samurai/ashigaru/monk.

 

[kris]

finally a dlc that is worth paying for? let's hope so.. i'm skeptically optimistic[/url]

Minamoto Yoshitsune. I am in.


EDIT -

Onna Bushi Heroine – Armed with Naginata and bow, these female Samurai are versatile cavalry units who excel in melee. Do not doubt the courage of a woman…

:D CA at their best.

 

[praetor]

Onna Bushi Heroine – Armed with Naginata and bow, these female Samurai are versatile cavalry units who excel in melee. Do not doubt the courage of a woman…

:D CA at their best.

it's very likely based on Tomoe Gozen. don't see the big deal. CA have done far FAR worse

 

[kris]

Who said it is a big deal?

Its just stupid as usual.

 

[Trash]

DLC doesn't really seem to offer much new. I still remember the original Shogun expansion that added the mongols overrunning Japan, the Viking Invasion expansion that turned the whole MTW game upside down into a desperate struggle for survival with small forces instead of the slow growth of the stock game, the Barbarian Invasion expansion that went straight to the fall of the Roman empire and introduced the horde mechanic which made the game insanely tense and even the Kingdoms expansion that gave a shitload of small campaigns and gameplay additions.

This one looka just as a cynic attempt at milking the customers with another utterly unambitious and tiny expansion. It may be at least a bit more substantial than yet another 'elite' unit DLC but that ain't saying much.