Takeda 3

**Martok** · 02-20-2009, 08:28

Magitech has announced that Takeda 3 will be official releaseed Feb. 27. Have any of you guys played the first two Takeda titles, and if so what did you think of it/them? I'm particularly curious as to how it compares to Shogun.

**frogbeastegg** · 02-20-2009, 15:07

I remember hearing about the original Takeda; at one point I was considering buying it. Never did. It seemed to suffer badly by coming out after STW; it was left behind in too many aspects. IIRC the battles were 2D and closer to Age of Empires than STW. It was smaller budget, more limited in scope, less ambitious. Add a pinch of salt. As I said, I never tried the game.

I didn't know the series had continued after that. The screenshots of 3 on the official site make it look a lot like STW.

**The Marcher Lord** · 02-26-2009, 00:22

Give the Takeda 3 Demo a go http://www.ezgame.com/Takeda3/downloads.html

Quite liked Takeda 2 myself, its not at all easy and has a certain charm about it. While the graphics may look dated by todays standards the gameplay is good and somewhat more historically accurate than STW was. I particularly like being able to select historically accurate formations for the troops which actually influence the outcome of the battle. You also get the impression that applying Sun Tzu tactics in this game actually count for something.

**ShadesWolf** · 05-30-2009, 00:20

Has anybody taken a detailed look at this.
From the game web site it looks amazing, some very gud detail.

**Martok** · 05-30-2009, 05:15

There's a pretty good review over at the Wargamer. While it doesn't pull punches with the game's flaws, overall it's a very positive review.

It's written by a guy whose opinion I generally respect when it comes to strategy games -- he too has been pushing me to try Paradox titles

-- so when he says a game is good, I'm inclined to believe him. He's a pretty big fan of STW & MTW (for whatever it may be worth), and he's personally told me he feels the Takeda series is actually superior to Shogun in a number of ways. You don't get quite the same epic scale of battles as in the Total War series, but otherwise it sounds like the game does most things very well indeed. I'm hoping to pick it up later this year, once I've (hopefully) gotten through at least a couple more of my other games.

**frogbeastegg** · 05-30-2009, 12:56

That review makes it sound a lot like STW + 1. How I miss good old Shoggy; it hasn't worked for years now.

Gamersgate's upcoming release list has Takeda 3 on it, so I shall give that demo a go. It didn't look like the game was getting a UK release so I didn't bother before.

**frogbeastegg** · 06-17-2009, 16:19

Takeda 3 is now available on gamersgate. Anyone still thinking of giving it a try?

Sango 2 is also available. It's the same thing but based on the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'.

**frogbeastegg** · 07-16-2009, 17:19

Takeda 3 is gamersgate's deal of the day. 50% off. Offer expires at midnight.

**Togakure** · 07-16-2009, 23:10

If anyone else has tried the demo and has something to add to the commentary here it would be greatly appreciated (before midnight would be super).

**frogbeastegg** · 07-17-2009, 17:26

I brought it. Still in "Yay! First pay cheque from my new job!" mode, and there was enough good hinted at that I'm willing to try it for £9.99. I really want a good strategy game set in feudal Japan; if this doesn't fill the spot I'm left with no resort but Samurai Warriors 2: Empires, which is entirely a different beast.

It's downloading now as I didn't have time last night. I shall report back once I've had a read of the manual; a good manual should go a long way to resolving the qualms mentioned after the demo. When I shall play it, that's another matter entirely. I am playing too many games at present and need to polish off a couple before starting something else. Fortunately I'm nearly done with Chrono Trigger DS and The Secret of Monkey Island remake won't take terribly long.

**Togakure** · 07-18-2009, 01:07

Oh cool, I look forward to hearing what you think about it. I decided to pass until I hear more from credible sources. I google'd up reviews and found some forums as well, and the comments raised issues that didn't make me feel comfortable about investing at this point, even at %50 off.

**frogbeastegg** · 07-18-2009, 16:32

The manual is very good. 66 pages of solid information; nothing looks like it has been skipped over or left as an outline. The information in it combines quite well with the review Martok posted a link to; I can see the sections in the manual explaining how the various aspects mentioned in the review work.

Battles have a tonne of depth. It's not too great an exaggeration to say that they receive more pages in Takeda 3's manual than there are total in most strategy game manuals. If STW veterans can get adjust to them there should be a lot on offer. From our various reactions to the demo I think that is a very big if.

The strategy map side looks like it can be described as rather Paradox-seque. Lots of detail, lots of options for interacting with other clans. It looks robust enough to stand as a game alone, so auto-resolving all the battles won't leave it feeling like half a game. I hope.

I hope it holds up to the promise offered by the manual and wargamer review. I need a feudal Japanese strategy game! Heh, I picked up Samurai Warriors 2: Empires as well, just in case. By golly, if I can't conquer feudal Japan with grand strategical style I shall settle for middling strategy blended with running about on foot doing most of the killing in the battles myself! Plus if Takeda3 is good then Sango 2 beckons for Romance of the Three Kingdoms conquering fun.

Now all I need is an afternoon to play Takeda 3.

**Yoshitsune** · 08-06-2009, 17:21

The strategic map looks a bit flat and Risk-like in some of the screenies I found - just like the original S:TW. Is this the case or do you have things like roads and mountainous terrain to restrict/enhance movement?