Shogun 2: Total War

[DarthParametric]

3rd June, 2010
Total War returns to Samurai warfare
LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (June 2nd, 2010) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. proudly announce Shogun 2: Total War™, the sixth instalment of The Creative Assembly’s multi award-winning Total War™ strategy franchise on PC. Shogun 2: Total War returns to Feudal Japan 10 years after the release of the original Shogun: Total War™, and sees Creative Assembly using a wealth of new ideas and development experience to make Shogun 2 the revolutionary strategy game that their first title has proven to be.

It is the middle of the 16th Century in Feudal Japan. The country, once ruled by a unified government, is now split into many warring clans. Players take on the role of one Daimyo, the clan leader, and will use military engagements, economics and diplomacy to achieve the ultimate goal, re-unite Japan under his supreme command and become the new Shogun – the undisputed ruler of a pacified nation.

Shogun 2: Total War will feature enhanced full 3D battles via land and sea, which made a name for the series, as well as the tactical campaign map that many refer to as the heart and soul of Total War. Featuring a brand new AI system inspired by the scriptures that influenced Japanese warfare, the millennia old Chinese “Art of War”, the Creative Assembly brings the wisdom of Master Sun Tsu to Shogun 2: Total War. Analysing this ancient text enabled the Creative Assembly to implement easy to understand yet deep strategical gameplay.

“Developing Shogun 2: Total War gives us the opportunity to use recent technology to portray one of history’s most exciting civil wars.” commented Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War franchise. “Ever since we developed Shogun: Total War 10 years ago, the team at The Creative Assembly has always dreamt of using our accumulated experience to revisit Total War in Feudal Japan.”

Shogun 2: Total War will be released exclusively for PC in 2011.

Official site - http://www.totalwar.com/shogun2

[Sabretooth]

Sounds great - the series did need to go back to a more uncomplicated era, where weapons where sophisticated unlike these crude muskets.

But more importantly, I'd like to see how they innovate. What little I played of Medieval II and Empire felt a lot like redressed Rome.

[Astor]

Awesome (although that's not surprising coming from me, being a massive CA fanboy ).

If true, i'm glad that their next game is not going to be 'Rome 2' as everyone keeps expecting. It'll be nice to go back to Japan after ten years.

[Sabretooth]

I still think that they're missing out on some very hot historical property like China and the Mongol invasions.

[Ping]

Hell yeah!

@Sabretooth: I'm kind of in agreement with you there, but the last game did feature the Mongols in it. I'm actually hoping that the Korean invasions are going to be featured.

[DarthParametric]

It has now been officially confirmed. Hurrah!

IGN has a first look article - http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1093664p1.html - along with a very brief teaser trailer:

YouTube Video

[SW01]

Interesting indeed - I know nothing at all about the period in which it is set (and didn't play Shogun), but I'm very willing to give it a go. I agree that it might be a good thing to strip away a lot of the complication in terms of mass of units, though some uniqueness between factions (if history allows it), even in terms of appearance would be nice.

Still hope Rome 2 comes after this one, though!

[Astor]

I think I just had a wargasm.

Of course we'll need to see more, but i'm encouraged by IGN's reporting of a return to a simpler approach. I loved both Empire and Napoleon (mainly because I love the period), but the 'feature creep' was apparent, and was probably what lead to the former being such a bug-ridden atrocity upon release.

Not sure about those Hero units, though.

Originally Posted by SW01

and didn't play Shogun),

*swoons*

[SW01]

Originally Posted by Astor

bug-ridden atrocity upon release.

Yes...a phenomenon that CA can hopefully do away with this time round. It doesn't really help opinion, getting the game new, running into appalling bugs and having to think 'oh well perhaps that will be dealt with in the first patch.'

Not sure about those Hero units, though.

Yeah, it's a bit Age of Empires-ish. I didn't mind the 'heroes' thing too much in Alexander or Kingdoms, but they didn't have the ability 'to hold a bridge single-handed' - just an elevated rally power or something similar.

*swoons*

Didn't play the original Medieval either - only got into it with Rome.

I'm still going to be allowed to post in Total War related threads, right? :P

[DarthParametric]

Wow. So you didn't play the two best TW games. Does that earn a site-wide ban?

[Prime]

I'm so psyched for this. I'm a big Sengoku period history buff, so this will be great. Hail the Takeda Clan!

[Astor]

Originally Posted by SW01

I'm still going to be allowed to post in Total War related threads, right? :P

Of course! But you're on probation.

Seriously, though, you *must* play both of them. There's really no excuse with them being so cheap, and just downright excellent.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

I know of someone who isn't pumped up by this: dad. He has been a Total War fan for longer than I have but he just doesn't like anything that escapes an european centered scenario.

How do you convince someone who generally frowns on japanese related games to give it a chance? I suppose I could say it's still Total War....

Originally Posted by SW01

Didn't play the original Medieval either - only got into it with Rome.

I'm still going to be allowed to post in Total War related threads, right? :P

I think you might find somewhat weird that your armies and agents will not be able to freely move through the map. You just place them on adjacent territories and that's it, very similar to a board game. Other than that, the original Medieval had an unique charm. I still remember the soundtrack of the campaign - what little there was.

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by Ctrl Alt Del

I know of someone who isn't pumped up by this: dad. He has been a Total War fan for longer than I have but he just doesn't like anything that escapes an european centered scenario.

How do you convince someone who generally frowns on japanese related games to give it a chance?

Tell him he's racist.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Originally Posted by Sabretooth

Tell him he's racist.

He doesn't seem to care.

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by Ctrl Alt Del

He doesn't seem to care.

Well tell him that you get to nuke Japan, then.

[Astor]

Interview with James Russell, TW Lead Designer. Mostly seems to be all things we've heard already, but still interesting.

Originally Posted by James Russell

We really want to make Shogun 2 a thing of beauty, and the most immersive Total War game ever. We are focusing on pushing gameplay depth and polish rather than raw ‘size’ or scope: doing more with less.

Maybe it's just me, but I keep seeing 'polish' being thrown around by developers a lot recently, and it worries me slightly.

[Astor]

Some E3 screenshots of the graphics and interface -

Show spoiler

Show spoiler

Show spoiler

Looks pretty good, and I really like the interface and unit cards.

[SW01]

That second shot looks intriguing...can't really make out what it is, naval combat or some kind of amphibious assault.

I'm looking forward to seeing the night-battles again. And another form of naval combat, of course!

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by SW01

That second shot looks intriguing...can't really make out what it is, naval combat or some kind of amphibious assault.

It can't be both?

I'm guessing you'll be able to make amphibious attacks with ships, and to counter such attacks, you can use your own defensive navies.

I foresee a Mongol invasion DLC.

[DarthParametric]

Ooooh purty.

[Litofsky]

Originally Posted by Sabretooth

It can't be both?

I'm guessing you'll be able to make amphibious attacks with ships, and to counter such attacks, you can use your own defensive navies.

I foresee a Mongol invasion DLC.

Originally Posted by Mark O'Connell(aka SenseiTW)

Several Japanese vessels sit just away from the shore, having landed a number of troops for a seaborne invasion of the province. Here the brand new elements of combining the land and sea is seen in full effect, a first for a Total War game.

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...s-from-E3.html

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Originally Posted by Astor

Maybe it's just me, but I keep seeing 'polish' being thrown around by developers a lot recently, and it worries me slightly.

Perhaps, but on this case it seems they mean it. Since going back to the Warring States after being centuries on the future on a game that staged practically all of the world seems like a huge step back, it'd look like they're trying to make up for it introducing more depht on what they have.

Originally Posted by Astor

Looks pretty good, and I really like the interface and unit cards.

The first one looks especially gorgeous, nice storm effects.

Originally Posted by Litofsky

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...s-from-E3.html

Oh, I think I know what he means.

Campaign map: A fleet lands in a coastal city and deploys the army it was ferrying. It should trigger this kind of battle scenario.

[Ping]

Originally Posted by Sabretooth

I foresee a Mongol invasion DLC.

Same. I'm also hoping for the unlikely scenario that they'll add the Koreans and Chinese in the game.

[Astrotoy7]

Ive always been partial to the TW series.

I know a little bit about Heian period but I dont think they'll be going that far back in this. I did read the Takeda clan is featured in the game, who came in Late Heian on through to Sengoku.

I'd love for the mongolians to be a playable faction I havent played S1 so dont know if it was covered in that. Amazing story, the Mongolian Invasions of Japan.

Will definitely give the game a go.

mtfbwya

[DarthParametric]

Originally Posted by Astrotoy7

I'd love for the mongolians to be a playable faction I havent played S1 so dont know if it was covered in that.

It was covered in the expansion pack, and yes they were playable - http://pc.ign.com/articles/166/166609p1.html The question will be whether CA wants to retread that same ground in a similar expansion, or if they follow the recent TW trend of doing a whole new game. Either way, it seems highly unlikely they'd feature in the base game.

[Astrotoy7]

Interesting. I didn't even know there was a XPack to the first one! Will keep an eye out for it

mtfbwya

[DarthParametric]

A new trailer apparently based on all in-game footage:

YouTube Video

Saucy! Although the horses seem oddly low detail compared to some of the foot troop models.

[Astor]

Originally Posted by DarthParametric

Saucy! Although the horses seem oddly low detail compared to some of the foot troop models.

The animations don't look as natural as they did in Empire or Napoleon (not that they were perfect, but they looked a little more fluid).

It's probably an early video anyway, so hopefully they'll improve on the quality of the horses.

[SW01]

Much of it looks very impressive indeed - the weather effect, the surroundings and the one-on-one fighting animations particularly.

Hopefully we'll get to see some more of the naval warfare element soon, I can't wait to see how that is implemented, or indeed how 'natural' it looks.

[Prime]

Looks great to me. Can't wait!

For those of us interested in samurai (especially a more realistic portrayal) there is not much to fulfill that. Something like this will be most welcome.

[Astor]

Originally Posted by Prime

Looks great to me. Can't wait!

For those of us interested in samurai (especially a more realistic portrayal) there is not much to fulfill that. Something like this will be most welcome.

I hope that the renowned Total War modding community takes to this game with the same passion that it has with the previous games, and that we will see some of the usual realism mods.

Although this game will be interesting for me because despite playing the original, I know very little about Japan and the Samurai (barring one awful Tom Cruise film), so I look forward to learning about a new period.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by Astor

I know very little about Japan and the Samurai (barring one awful Tom Cruise film), so I look forward to learning about a new period.

And you won't learn much from that film either. While enjoyed it, it has very little basis in reality both in terms of events and portrayals of samurai. It is extremely idealized.

In any case, the events of that film are designed to reflect the end of the samurai period when the Emperor ended the shogunate in 1867 and the end of the samurai class was at hand.

This game takes place largely in the 16th century, when clans fought each other constantly and there was much intrigue. It is an awesome period of time for games.

[Jeff]

That latest trailer looks awesome. I haven't really played any of the Total War games (even though I own them all >_>) but I will almost definitely get this.

[Sabretooth]

Originally Posted by Jeff

I haven't really played any of the Total War games (even though I own them all >_>) but I will almost definitely get this.

Why would you own them and not play them, it's like the opposite of piracy.

[Astor]

Screenshots!

[DarthParametric]

They look to be from the battle the trailer was made from, so most of them aren't new. Some nice details in some of them though. Wonder what sort of a beast you'll need to run it at max settings.

New vid:

YouTube Video

[DarthParametric]

Assassination video & campaign map preview:

YouTube Video

[Astor]

I like that campaign map, and the agent animations. And, ROTATION!

The video looked good, too, although I think even the deepest of sleepers might have woken up if someone fell over them like that.

This levelling mechanic sounds very interesting.

[Ctrl Alt Del]

The battle video looks pretty amazing, as expected. But aren't the warriors dying a bit faster than usual? I know the video was fast-fowarded multiple times and that it's pre-alpha, but I've seen several one-hit deaths there. That cavalry charge was especially powerful.

Originally Posted by Astor

I like that campaign map, and the agent animations. And, ROTATION!

The map looks superb indeed. Empire's looked so bleh and featureless, even worse than Medieval's. But is rotation really such a huge deal?

This levelling mechanic sounds very interesting.

I'm not sure if there's any difference from the subterfuge system.