Another Next Total War Poll

[Quintus.JC]

Shogun II or Rome II.

[hoom]

Shogun 2.
Keep it small, keep it tight, make it work properly.

[PBI]

Ideally I would like Asia or WWI in that order, if they could be done right.

Realistically I seriously doubt either would be done very well, so maybe it would be better to go for Rome or Shogun 2; as hoom said, I would rather have a game which is not too ambitious in scope and which is well implemented than something which tries to be the "best game ever" and falls short. Also, I care sufficiently little about the settings that I won't mind giving it a miss if it's another mess, but enough that I would be interested in playing the game if it is good.

The only setting I would be really iffy about is Medieval 3, I don't see what could be added by revisiting the setting yet again. I would probably be inclined not to bother with it unless it turns out to be really great.

In any event I think the next game is likely the franchise's last chance; CA badly needs to repair the damage done by ETW, and I think breaking the series of progressively more unfinished games we have had since Rome with a slick, finished game with realistic ambitions is more important than the specific setting.

[Durallan]

IDK if I'd buy an asian total war, I might buy Rome Total War 2, but I think they should do Shogun 2 (or Asia) depends how far away the release date is, I guess itd be around 2011, so I'd probably buy it, buut I dunno, while I'd probably prefer something in europe or the entire world, I think all the people that really want the asia setting deserve something by now

[antisocialmunky]

East Asia or WWI.

[hoom]

In further explanation of my earlier statement: The prospect of a WWI:TW scares the crap out of me.
I can barely conceive of how that could possibly work, let alone for CA to execute such a massive change to the needed level of polish.

I could potentially go for a Greece:TW with Greek infighting, colonisation, Carthage vs. Syracuse (?), Persian invasion, Trireme battles etc.

I really don't want to see the TW series stagnate into doing the same periods over & over.
Its definitely too soon for a return to Medieval (M2 was already too soon!) & Rome but I think its best for the next one to 'rebirth' the series by going back to Shogun, probably Greece following after S2.

Shogun 2.
Keep it small, keep it tight, make it work properly.

[pevergreen]

Shogun if it looked awesome, or Rome.

[peacemaker]

I have a feeling it's going to be an Asian:TW. CA isn't going to want to put the brand new engine to waste, and This way they'll be able to implement some gunpowder units.

Keep it small, keep it tight, make it work properly.

And my E:TW folder is only what? 10gb? Look at the maps. That doesn't look like it's going to be too small.

[hoom]

I mean small as in the scope of the project ie plan something that can be relatively easily completed & made to work properly.

Part of the reason that CA is really the only company making TWish games is that nobody else is crazy enough to make games of such sweeping scale & many features that must pose massive technical/programming challenges.

They have mostly pulled it off in the past but the launch quality of Empire, residual bugs (including many lingering in previous TW games) & increasing fan hostility shows that they've been getting too ambitious so its time to cut back to something more manageable with more focus on producing a good game.

[IsItStillThere]

Shogun 2.
Keep it small, keep it tight, make it work properly.

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto!!!

I think as the series has evolved, the games have gotten bigger, more bloated, and more difficult to balance and program AI for.

[sassbarman]

shogun 2 for me to please.

Totally agree with the idea mentioned above about keeping it focused and tight, get the core game working right then maybe expand features and such with dlc.

[caravel]

*Sigh* the division of Asia/Shogun into Asia and Shogun II is pointless. They won't make Shogun II anyway so it should have been just Asia: Total War. Shogun II could easily have been the expansion or whatever. As it stands R2TW will win that poll.

Personally I'd like to see either S2TW or ATW. I would only buy if it were totally free of Steam and any other intrusive copy protection or "phone home" software.

[Krusader]

I'd wish for Shogun 2, but compared to Rome2 or WW1 it would not sell too much copies for SEGA's tastes.

[Fisherking]

Well, I guess we need to face it.

Once upon a time hard-core gamers were a force in the market. They bought the high-end machines and the games that ran on them.

There were a lot of studios but they all gradually dwindled. They were bought out, went under, or taken over.

Today it is the mass market and casual gamers that seem to rule the roost.

The time, effort, and heart are not going into these games. It is no longer the feel of the game but the dazzle of the graphics that matter.

Realism is just something for 3D shooters and Historical Accuracy only applies to the lines of Airplanes.

Most only have enough grasp of history and geography to know that Rome was a long time ago and Europe isn’t a province of Canada.

So, just expect Rome II and when they are up to it WWII...

[al Roumi]

Frankly, I don't mind -as long as they do this:

Keep it small, keep it tight, make it work properly.

...but I'm finding it hard ot be excited about another TW game right now.

Plus, what on earth would be the fun in a WW1 battle game? Inching your trench closer to theirs? Lets face it, the campaign strategy side of the game will be shocking compared to the alternatives, eg from Paradox.