The Tragic Tale of the Best Strategy Game Ever Made - Total War: Shogun 2

Genius SEGA gigabrains decided to bury Total war after the peak which was a game about Japan, their country. Truly a masterplan worthy of Nobunaga himself.

I am now convinced that Jeff Van Dyck is the only reason for total war's greatness His music is so powerful that it inspires the devs to deliver a masterpiece no matter the hickups.

Shogun 2 really shows how actual accessible games are made rather than as an excuse for corner cutting and cheap aesthetic appeal. The presentation and game mechanics were a carefully chosen and assembled set from previous games with elements all its own such as realm divide. This made a good game that people played a lot of though in differing degrees due to time allowance and if they felt the itch to play it rather than a previous game in the franchise instead. Which in turn created a game of wildly varying skill levels. Also in turn creating probably the most overall skilled community the franchise would ever have since it was the easiest point in the franchise to play an multiplayer or singleplayer battle or campaign without feeling fatigued or bored, ready to play the next. Every game post rome 2 which itself was a bait and switch as many expected it to be the next shogun 2, has been controversial among fans of the games to say the least. Each game only able to appeal to certain aesthetics which alienates anyone else, creating the toxic situation of fans turning on each other for the changes of aesthetics or just giving up on the franchise overall despite having a personal favorite. The symptoms of a dying fan base.

I remember the first time I killed someone in BF1 because I noticed their bayonet sticking out of a corner. There's no need for a debuff to accuracy, mobility or something, the drawback is organic. It's just good design. It's a shame Total War took the opposite direction.

A realm successfully divided and united.

When I was younger, I really hated Realm Divide, but the older I've gotten the more I've come to appreciate it. I think my only gripe at this stage is that vassals take the Realm Divide diplomatic penalty when you've created them prior to Realm Divide, but don't take the Realm Divide penalty if you create them after Realm Divide has hit, creating a really gamey situation. It'd be better if vassals were just exempt from the Realm Divide penalty, I think.

Shogun 2 plays really well, and I think the gameplay design is at the core of it. Any unit, like ANY single one, can be crazily effective if used right, yet can be dog shit if used wrong, especially in the Avatar Conquest game mode. Just literally any unit, for real. 200 koku katana attendants, with some upgrades/buffs, used right, can kill like 300 archers, ezpz. or they lose to any melee fighters, really. 355 koku yari ashigarus, securing their flanks, with some upgrades/buffs and yari wall, they can push like 500 enemies in melee. or they die to 2 volleys of matchlock fires. 720 katana sam, when minmax right, they can easily kill like 500 attendants or ashigarus. or you can waste them by getting charged by some light cav. .... i mean it goes on and on and on. Even some joker unit like ninjas or bandits (the invisible archers), can still be super effective, if used right. (for example, some bandits on top of a hill in the forest, snipping off opponent's range units). It was so much fun. SO MUCH FUN! I had crazy fun with: Yari Ashigaru, bow ashigaru, matchlock ashigaru, naginata attendants, sword attendants, yari samurai, katana samurai, naginata samurai (oh geez give them 2 atk 2 defence, they are like the iron man in my ranks), and bulletproof samurais, i mean, matchlock monk, naginata monk, nuns, bow monk, they are all so much fun, bandits, wako raiders, bow cav, gun cav, donderbuss, the list goes on Even european cannons, I mean, the joy of a single perfect volley from the forest killing the enemy bow gen and effectively knocking out the opponent's mind with a shocking surprise. I had so much fun in Shogun2. seriously. For this sole reason, shogun 2 is the most fun total war game I played. SHAME ON CA REMOVING CHAT. SHAMEFUL DISPRAY!!!

@Dishonorable_Daimyo Code of S2 was basically heavily modded Empire engine. It was supposed to be thrown away after S2, so we had reeeally a lot of freedom to make changes - because everything was supposed to be rewritten for next engine version:) So no one from higher ups cared what is being changed/rewritten. I remember one graphic programmer I worked with - I thing Chu was his name - got a nickname "Ninja" after S2 because he coded/hacked a lot of things into the engine:)

The siege section of the video is probably provides the best showcase for modern TW players who have not experienced the amazing S2 sieges. If you have access to Troy, load up the Mycenae map and see how far the series has fallen in that respect. Even the more unique Troy maps with interesting features like that elevated position outside the castle in the S2 map in your video seem gutted by design: there is a forested hill near one section of the outer wall that could be used to enfilade the defenders on that section and support a direct attack with siege equipment (ass ladders most likely but whatever)... eeexcept it's just outside bow/sling range, and a taller part of the cliff that would actually overlook the city is simply off limits - part of it arbitrarily impassable terrain and part is simply demarcated by the border of the playable area of the map. There's a bunch of other interesting parts of that same map, and dozens such cases on other siege maps that were simply handwaved by the developer as inaccessible, even though the map modelers put in the work to create all that terrain only for it to get sectioned off for some reason. It cannot be coincidental because it's nearly ubiquitous across the walled city maps. The same thing happens to dockable walls - very rarely do cities get more than the single outer layer of wall, and if they do it's usually just a short stretch that never completely encircles an area or even creates a useful defensive position - again I assume it's because they have trouble coding 'what constitutes inside/outside for any given area of wall' in warscape and/or teaching this concept to the AI. The poster child for this is the actual siege map for the city of Troy, which does kind of have an inner wall defending the acropolis - except only a few narrow unconnected stretches can be manned, and there are no gates, just gaps in the wall that act as choke points. The best defensive feature of the acropolis is the impassable terrain of the mountain/outer wall the acropolis is on, which doesn't let you man the outer facing walls - but that's ok, you don't need to because the entire outside area of the map is out of bounds and the attacker can only come so far to the side before hitting an invisible wall and being forced to attack the nearest section of the outer wall or it's nearest gate. I suspect this was done to force every map into the same 'maze of city blocks' pattern that takes attackers forever to traverse and is relatively easy for the AI to navigate, both "tactically" and in terms of basic pathfinding.

Can we just mention that the trees in shogun 2 are realistic in size! such a minor thing but I love it.

A lot of people don't know about Yari & Shot. It brings Europe, India, north Africa and middle east map to the vanilla campaign

I can almost always find myself when bored coming back to Medieval 2 Total War or Shogun 2, but I cant say the same for any modern TW game outside of MAYBE Attila, and that's just because I'm a sucker for the late western Roman Empire. I can't believe that all these years, CA still hasn't fixed some awful changes like the dumbing down of diplomat/agent units, and removing the ability to move units on the map seperate from a general, and don't even get me started on how much worse the blood & gore effect packs have gotten since Shogun 2. In Shogun 2 you see blood spurt from the necks of enemies, and it even covers the screen, in every game since Rome 2 it just seems like soldiers will randomly accumulate red paint on themselves rather than actually bleed on units or cause bloodshed, it is so un-immersive and low production for no reason.

I used to live and breathe Rome 1 and Medieval 2. Still love M2 unlike any other game out there. Empire soured me so bad on the Total War series that I skipped pretty much every game since then before I finally got back into it and picked up Shogun 2 just for the hell of it. I feel it is the absolute most you can get out of that fucking engine without making it absolutely gimmicky like in the fantasy titles. It has some strengths compared to M2 but also some weaknesses but it absolutely is the last actual accomplishment of CA with the possible exception of Attila. Warhammer games don't really count, those are fun for what they are, but they are pretty much just fanfics and normie bait.

Crucially, Shogun 2 stands as the last "true" Total War game, to me, because there was still focus on making it a simulation game. Shogun 2 is the last game to use a logical and immersive armour and damage calculation method. With Rome 2 and the new engine, along with many other stupid changes, armour and damage was revamped completely to simplify combat. This was done, of course, by increasing the health pools of units and weapons would get a set damage value they would deal each time they strike, continuosly draining hp from these health pools. Don't even get me started on the new armour system with a flat % damage reduction or the god forsaken AP that ignores armour entirely. It's idiotic. This was when their focus shifted from creating authentic Total War games, which were about realistic and immersive simulations of battles, to creating something more like traditional action RTS games. That's when the series died, and calling every title after "Total War" is a joke.

I love the Uesugi, specifically Kenshin. In the game they have my favourite colour scheme and I like the "traditional" buddhist warrior monk theme. In history he is also ky favourite. He used a Nagamaki (a blend of katana and naginata) and was seen as the reincarnation of the god of war Bishamonten. He was really young in the beginning of his carerr, but not behind in cunning, administrative skills and honour. He even cared for civilians of his enemy (e.g. sending salt to Takeda provinces after the Hojo cut them off of the sea) insisting war is done by soldiers on the battlefield, not by starving civilians. He actually fought Takeda to a standstill at Kawanakajima AND beat the Oda in battle (not Nobunaga tho) at Tedorigawa. Nobunaga was actually afraid of him marching on Kyoto and there is the urban legend of assassination in the uesugi latrine. 😅 Although it was probably a stomach cancer from drinking and stress. Above all that there is even the theory he was in fact a woman. He had no wife, was very handsome (feminine) sent to a monastery early on (to disguise her) and had regular strong stomach cramps every month around the same time. Although once again that is more proven to have been that cancer..

It's amazing how, even after spending hundreds of hours, I still feel driven to experiment with army organization in Shogun 2. The game excels at presenting dilemmas, where you seldom have a clearly right or wrong choice to make.

Numberwang indeed. I've been reflecting on the illusion of sophistication given by convoluted UI, and the Matrix-grade flood of symbols of obscure meaning, something which is commented on in the first Matrix film itself: the Wachoskis explicitly calling-out the iconic green waterfall of data that represents the system from outside the simulation. What represents the Matrix to those who don't experience it directly, is something purposefully designed to be meaningless but look like it's meaningful and yet obscured. What we have here is a representation of something that common sense says can't be represented: something which Lovecraft and writers inspired by his work call 'horrors beyond comprehension, to the point that to look on them is to go mad'. Combine this with Terry Pratchett's observation that the most common delusion and form of insanity there is, is the belief that you are sane. Anyone who looks on the Numberwang of modern game design splits into two groups: the sane ones who question their sanity because what they see is nonsense, and the insane ones who don't doubt at all what they're seeing, and see a game that is so intricately designed that even the UI 'makes it look complicated'. They're looking at the writhing, wriggling form of the Leviathan, and seeing beauty in what is actually ripping away at their senses.

As always, a very thoughtful and persuasive video. In the wake of Total War's collapse, I've started playing a lot of turn-based wargames and what's really intriguing is that a lot of these games also have very deep unit stats with tons of spreadsheets' worth of information to digest if the player so wants to. But all of that is irrelevant because at the end of the day, a tank shooting into the side of another tank is probably going to kill it, and a knight charging into the flank of a line of spearmen will roll up the spears like a freakin' carpet. Numbers in these games aren't supposed to dictate the experience, but rather provide context and incremental advantages and disadvantages to define factions. A unit of Teutonic Baltic Levies in Field of Glory 2: Medieval will lose to more organized, professional spearmen, but still function as a capable meatshield unit while the more elite knights crash through the enemies. And all of this happens even if you don't necessarily understand the Point of Advantage system entirely; it's intuitive that even trash spears will usually win against most other melee units while holding a significant uphill advantage. You don't need the numbers. Total War was supposed to replace games like Field of Glory 2 by marrying deep tactical simulation, engaging action, and stunning presentation in one concise package. Now, Total War is basically just a really pretty version of Warcraft 3, without any of the tightness in design that makes that game engaging, and without any of the actual challenge of fighting other players. It's a complete system failure and we may never see a true successor to Total War ever again, so 30 years from now Total War will just be a blip in gaming's history instead of being a defining series of it. That's a shame. It was nice while it lasted, I guess.

My first Total War game was Medieval 2, as I was still in school many years ago. I still remember the first time Ive play it and using a spy... I was so surprised, seeing suddenly a little movie popping up, where my spy knocked out a guard and then starts (blindly) wandering around in the former guards armor. And the first battle as I zoomed in, some people where actually fighting each other, not just poking each other with their weapons. This love for details really had me enjoying these game series with Shogun 2 having become my favourite. And some of these details are even from an UI perspective helpfull like you explained: In Medieval and I think Shogun 2 also, you have traffic on the roads and sea routes, which not only make the world more living, but also gives a direct view on how weathly a province/trade is. One thing you missed, are Agents. Shogun and Medieval both managed to have an Ai, that uses Agents, but do not send annoying waves of them. Sure, the pope sending an inquisitor to your realm, who tarts burning all of your merchants, generals and even priests was annoying too, but an actuall threat you could come by. Being reliant on Ninja to harm your oponent and suddenly an enemy army has 1 or 2 Metsuke could really cause trouble for you. Agents where balanced and a reasonable threat. But since Rome2, Agents started coming in waves, again and again. That changed them from a threat to overcome to just an annoyance, that slows you down, without one being able to do something against them. In contarary, the reason why they started to bind armies to generals completely was because of the unit spam. Sure it might gave more strategical dept, but gameplaywise the Ai didnt managed to use split units well or too well, depending how one might see it. Having constantly single unit armies running around, destroying farms, harbors or plundering just became annoying and chasing them (even more in late game, where you have other things to do) just became tedious. And its strange that they didnt even manage to get this feature right even after 10 years... as for quite some time just generals or low unit armies running around plundering the own territory... while being allied with you. Dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an enemy army raiding, just how it was established was rather annoying. But it seems that the series develops more towards quick arcade games, than slower strategical and tactical advancement with an eye for detail.

My beef with Shogun 2 is the fact that matchlock ashigaru are so late in the tech tree. Also the tech tree in general. It's so damn low to research unless you go on a quest to conquer all the library province. But don't conquer too quickly or the realm divide trigger and now there's only war. And of course by divide it's more everyone vs you...