Originally Posted by
Nowake
Oi there,
My two cents
The best choice for the next Total War game is a sino-centric theme. Title should sound something like
Mandate of Heaven Total War
All right.
What I will argue is:
a) Our (Western) mixed reaction to a sino-centric theme is not all that important to Creative Assembly.
b) Our (Western) preferences should be ignored for the good of Creative Assembly.
a) Our (Western) mixed reaction to a sino-centric theme is not all that important to Creative Assembly.
Why? Because, of course, the game would finally be marketable to the asian public for once, a public more numerous and with a proven proclivity for PC and console gaming.
And yes, I presume you will now point the obvious: Shogun is an asian-themed title and it is not making waves there. And I shall point out what I thought should be just as obvious: Shogun is a japanese-themed historical game.
I.e.
- it cannot be efficiently advertised anywhere in south-east Asia outside Japan. Doing the marketing for Shogun in South Korea or China is identical to trying to win over israeli gamers in Tel Aviv with a product about the Reunification of Germany. "Wouldn't your friend David here want to imagine himself in the boots of a prussian junker?" The atrocities comited by the japanese during the first half of the twentieth century in the whole Far East, especially in countries like Korea and China, are identical to the ones comitted by the germans against the jewish people, with the difference in policy in regards to the end result. Extinction versus eternal enslavement (of inferior races). Should the chinese have been a minority or should the germans have been surrounded by jewish countries, that one probably wouldn't have existed either. The whole south-east Asia still reels from the civillian massacres comited by the japanese, and tensions run high at every opportunity. And I'm not speaking here of events like the huge international scandal which surrounded the visit of a japanese temple comemorating their fallen by the japanese prime minister, which took months to defuse. No, there are strong national uproars even for minor issues such as the use of chinese actresses in the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", which inflamed the press in both countries for months and caused the chinese government to cancel the release of the film completely. You simply can't attempt to sell japanese history in south-east Asia.
- its one Far Eastern market, Japan, is already overwhelmed by samurai-based entertainment. The media runs movies on the period 24/7, manga abound, festivals commemorating men like Takeda Shingen etc. are commonplace, re-enactment is an art and totally facilitated by the exquisite preservation of a plethora of items dating from the period. You can still have a katana crafted in Japan after all by traditional smiths. You don't really see that in Europe, do you? And anyway, more importantly, games regarding samurai abound as well. The competition is cut-throat.
Now, China and Korea on the other hand have not yet developed an electronic entertainment industry themed around their history much, especially military history. Mandate of Heaven Total War would not really have a term of comparison really.
b) Our (Western) preferences should be ignored for the good of Creative Assembly.
The initial Shogun was not a game aimed at immersing us in Japanese culture. They wished to present an engine and the mechanics for an attempt at recreating military encounters and they needed a good setting. What they aimed to achieve was solid gameplay.
Once they picked up their second setting, eventhough their intentions were the same, Creative Assembly stumbled upon a new audience; reenactors, board-game types, miniature-soldiers collectors and what not. They slowly discovered the series and flocked to it, engaging along the way every one of those narrow-minded history buffs who still see the world through nationalistic eyes and would want to play a game where their ancient or medieval ancestors get to crush their traditional enemies on their way to dominating the continent.
And the developers drifted slowly, corrupted by the simplicity of the business model that was opening up to them. What gameplay, what multiplayer, all you have to do is abort every year a semi-functional piece of software that contains shiny armor models copied from history albums. It does not even have to have an exhaustive list, you can be sure it will get modded like crazy until it will showcase all three types of belts thieves in Scotland were said to have had in some apocriphal chronicle from the olden days.
And here is why I think it would be better for Creative Assembly to ignore this public's wishes somewhat and go for a sino-centric title. Multiplayer is now easy to set up and brings a ton of cash if done right. You do not need a recognizable setting if the game is good and it is compatible with being played in public. Millions of people play and watch Starcraft, and I can assure you they had heard nothing of the protoss, terrans or zerg until they were invented, as opposed to having heard about chinese history. Because Starcraft has superb gameplay and is extremly entertaining to watch. And if the Total War series has tremendous potential in any area, that's its potential to entertain a passive public through it's graphics and realistic recreation of battlefield conditions. All it needs is solid gameplay and investment in a decent Battle.net like multiplayer system. Remember that BBC programme using the TW engine, think it was called Time Commanders?
And which country has developed a business model for presenting a PC game as a spectator sport? Korea; with the original Starcraft mind you. And the gamers of which other country watched that evolution avidly, partially participated in it and are demographically a superb target? Yep, China.
Refocus on gameplay, treat multiplayer seriously for once and one gains access to a demographically immense audience of experienced asian gamers who were never yet serviced with products appealing to their own countries' history yet.
Oh and in my opinion Shogun 2's expansion should focus on the Imjin War (the two invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598). Superb theme from all points of view, including the arsenal of weapons and ships employed by both sides, from Hwach'as to Korean advanced composite bows (superior to japanese bows), breech-loading cannons, panokseons and Turtle Ships and what not.
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