2010: 10 years Shogun Total War

[gollum]

Dear me,

when i first got my hands on this game 10 years ago i never had the slightest idea of what a huge part in my life it would play...

"The year is 1530, for 200 years the Ashikaga Shogunate has ruled japan from its capital in Kyoto. The recent Onin War has shown that..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXby75cye0Y

So many campaigns, mp battles, forums, online friends...

Its been quite a run, and i am very greatful to the then CA for making this sensationally atmospheric, strategically and tactically deep and most of all beautiful game.

I am especially greatful to John Mc Farlane for designing the original total war battle engine with the weather and environmental effects; http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmcfarlane, http://www.john.mcfarlane.name/cv/, and would like to wish him all the best with his family in Seattle :)

I still remember, the feeling of uncovering the game, and going through the manual (that was not very helpful, but that mattered little :), the first victorious (defensive, hadn't yet learned the ropes and was finding it hard to win on the offensive) battles in the campaign as Hojo (caught in a deadly stand off with the Uesugi). The seasons, the arrogant Portuguese trader and the thriller movie Jesuits, the long with-meaning speeches of the emmissaries, the passing over of power to a heir (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcDQ...eature=related), seppuku and funerals... what a game !!! The ninja videos and the legendary geisha... The advisor and all his quotes (i was actually thinking once to make an AAR in which to match all situations in the game to a relevant quote) from Sun Tzu's the art of war... and most of all the amazing feeling of fighting these intense battles in those amazing and amazingly atmospheric battlefields...

There are no words to express what joys this piece of software has given me, and although i doubt that it'll be as central as it has been in the past in my life, i'll most certainly remember it with great warmth.

STW has been superseeded by its offsrpings, and yet none of them was as intense, as involving and as fun as it has been - nor anything CA will make in the future will match it imo, simply because ca is too intent on commercial success and the unique blend and taste of STW as a project for a widish but informed audience will never again be repeated, by them anyway...

Thank you for all these wonderful times...!

[A Nerd]

I agree! Buddahs compassion go with you...

[gollum]

And you A Nerd

By the way notice in the intro video that the Shimazu aren't in in the original build - instead they were the Chosokabe, whom as we all know after all were left out as rebeles.

[TosaInu]

Shogun is easily the best game for me.

[ReluctantSamurai]

and most of all the amazing feeling of fighting these intense battles in those amazing and amazingly atmospheric battlefields...

That's what captured me! I had played through the tutorial and several years of a campaign just to get the feel of the game, but had fought no real battles. I decided to try one of the historical battles and settled on Okehazama. Oh my!!

The crashing peals of thunder.....the intense flashes of lightning...the pouring rain......the tension of having to wait for Imagawa's troops to move forward into the jaws of the trap.....the thunder of hooves as my cavalry raced down from the hilltop......

I was hooked, and still am.............

[gollum]

Okehazama - you played the game with MI first, right? Iirc that battle was not included in the original release.

It is indeed really well directed with the Imagawa army in the middle of the gorge and the Oda army ready to squish them by a ferocious flank attack in the midst of the storm!

The historical battle was fought right after the storm ended - it helped Nobunaga and his men to position themselves close to Yoshimoto's hedquarters without being detected. The Imagawa army was spread in a long column of many kilometres along the Dengaku gorge and Nobunaga's attack from the flank made good use of surprise and local superiority. The army melted once Yoshimoto was beheaded, because as most armies of the Sengoku period it was raised using the feudal system - and the connecting link was the person of the Daimyo all smaller lords owed fealty to. Once the word spread that he was gone they've just went left.

[chaouki]

happy birthday Shogun Total War, may you give the pleasure of winning campaigns an battles to the players for at least 10 more years ;)

even though i just played stw for about two months since i bought it (was playing rtw some years ago) i can't help but being astonished by the game and especially by the community here. it is a great pleasure to read especially the descriptions of campaigns backed up by screenshots. thx a lot

...and now gentlemen...let's raise our glasses...

...to Shogun

[gollum]

welcome to the org and the sword dojo chaouki, enjoy your stay

[caravel]

Probably the best game ever.

[chaouki]

welcome to the org and the sword dojo chaouki, enjoy your stay

thanks a lot , i will definitely enjoy it :D

[gollum]

And welcome back master camelier!, the org is not the same without you

[Kagemusha]

The best from the series by far for me.

[Togakure]

Shogun is still an all-time fave of mine. Don't think that's going to change any time soon.

[Martok]

Probably the best game ever.

+1

[Jef Costello]

I've come back to this game once again recently. Always worth a play and one of my favourite games ever.

[gollum]

welcome to the org jef, as well as back to STW.

Enjoy your stay

[sassbarman]

the only game I've ever played 17 hours straight. Truly epic!!!

[Durango]

Kyousei emono ken sono shunkan naniyori to-taru senka taitoru.

[A Nerd]

My compliments to a Swede that can speak Japanese (I asume its as Japanese, not speaking it myself). I'm 1/4 Swede myself (olson) on an aside...what does it mean might I ask?

[gollum]

wataksi wa Durango-san wakarimasen.

[Durango]

gollum: Don't understand? It's probably very garbled so that's no surprise

A Nerd: Hej Hej! Talar du svenska?

Anyway, I tried to say that Shogun is the second best Total War game (after MTW). Very closely, I might add, and it's just personal taste. STW
is arguably a higher quality game. I still remember being 12 years old and playing the demo back in 1999 on my old crappy computer....

It was a particularly tough mission where you had the task of (If I remember correctly) defeating Yari Samurai with your group of Samurai Archers.
I started out on the slope of a large hill, with the enemy ominously and steadily marching towards me near the horizon across a plain. Eventually they
drew so close as to fall within arrow range. Only a few measly volleys went off before they were upon me and kicked the snot out of my poor troops!

I thought about how to properly take advantage of the surroundings. On the next try, I spotted a small patch of wood atop the hill. Hmmm.... maybe
I could hide there and ambush the enemy at the right moment? Turns out, the trees gave me a morale bonus when charging so that my opponents
fled after a short and brutal fight!

I could never look at an ordinary strategy game again after that experience. But my young mind drifted off to other things at that time, so I sadly
missed the golden years of the Total War community. But, better late than never.

Shogun - The coy smile of the Geisha, the shadow of the Samurai in the dawn, the thunder of tempered steel clashing.

[A Nerd]

I think I understand...I'll yespond 'yes'...in American ;)

[The Unknown Guy]

I think Shogun's simplicity is what makes it attractive in no small measure. It might not have as many options as the more modern TWs, but what it does it does fairly well, and simpler graphics = better performance.

I like MTW-I as well, but I've problems running it on my computer, for some reason. Plus, they botched Shogun's weather system for no good reason :(