Shogun 2 Multiplayer Expectations and Wanted List.

[Sp00n]

Multiplayer was the main part of the the original for me, what are are our expectations and hopes for the multiplayer of the upcoming remake? Heres some from me.

1, I like NTWs MP but its missing a MP chat room that Shogun had with public and private conversation options that the community used, which im kind of lost without as its taken a lot of the personal side of the MP away for me.

2, Online Campaign.

3, Lone Wolf and Cub as a hero unit? sorry getting into fantasy samurai mode here.

4, Balanced Units.

[Kagemusha]

Multiplayer campaign would be dream come true.

[Vladimir]

Multiplayer campaign would be dream come true.

Agreed. Something where You don't have to fish for a saved file. I understand it will be slow but that will make it more like a grand chess game.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Balanced units and a online ranking system like the original had.

[Reenk Roink]

I hope that there is a little more variety between factions in terms of units for MP. One of the best things about R:TW MP was the decisions you'd have to make with the variety of units.

[Terazawa]

- A return to the tactical structure of the original Total War games. Less units, faster gameplay and a simple yet effective rock-paper-scissors. It's amazing how a simple sword>spear, spear>cavalry and cavalry>swords can be fantastically fun. This is by far the major appeal of the game.

- Every Total War game brings to the table its own brand of role-playing. MTW had its knights and castles. RTW had its democratic clans and raw nature. Shogun's setting is all about honour, loyalty and the art of war. I hope STW2 is able to recapture the mood of the STW community as it once was. Remember the Honour Society someone? Remember the total respect people had for their 'daimyos'?

- Online foyer and chatroom.

- Last but not least, one of the biggest challenges of STW2 will be upgrading the visuals, going 3D and all that without losing gameplay. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened with Rome: Total War that made at least half of the STW/MTW1 online community quit. Recapturing the 'feel' of the game is far more important than just upgrading the bells and whistles.

KenchiTera

[AggonyDuck]

Well for me the main priority is to get a working general chat lobby back, similar to what we had prior to Empire. As to the other things, I would just hope that they wouldn't follow the demands of all those faction diversity goons and keep the units simple. We don't need difference between factions to make the game interesting...

[IncubusDragon]

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/109/1093664p1.html ...I'm actually getting a good feeling about this, and I'll have broadband again by then, so it'll hopefully be like the good old days... but with better graphics and sea battles - I just hope my PC can handle it

[PanzerJaeger]

I've long since given up on them actually improving the game. If they can just stop messing it up more and more upon each release and get it back to where it was 10+ years ago, I'll be happy. Hell, go back to 2d if that helps.

[Swoosh So]

As excited as i am about shogun2 i wont actually buy it without a mp foyer for chat, i like ntw alot but i cannot get into it because of the lack of a foyer it just makes the mp experience so bland and shallow.
That said ntw is a good game and im sure stw2 will be a good game.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Multiplayer campaign would be dream come true.

If they don't make multiplayer campaign then at least hotseat(a la M2TW) option should be made available.

[Kagemusha]

If they don't make multiplayer campaign then at least hotseat(a la M2TW) option should be made available.

Agreed completely.

[Kagemusha]

From Totalwar.com game description of Shogun 2:

"A complete single and multiplayer offering:

Play through the Main Campaign in single player or invite a friend online to play competitively or cooperatively in Campaign Multiplayer mode. Join 8-player multiplayer battles with your own upgradable avatar and climb the online Leaderboard to show the world who reigns supreme. Also including exciting new modes of team play for clans, a first in the Total War series."

[Reenk Roink]

This is too good to be true but I am gonna bet it's all true and well done to boot!

[Tera]

- Co-Op/online campaign
- Return of the 4v4
- Return of the online scoreboard

Some screenshots from the game is what we need now.

Looks good.. :)

[Orda Khan]

Less is more. No need for more fancy graphics, PJ is spot on, 2D would be fine if the game was balanced and reliable.
We used to do 4v4 on 56k so 4v4 should be expected. What about 5v5 or 6v6?
Online lobby with the atmosphere of STW.
Nicest of all would be a return of of all those old names.

[Subotan]

It appears Shogun has quite a reactionary fan base.

These TV Tropes articles come to mind (but hopefully not this one...)

[Swoosh So]

Did i mention a foyer?

[LittleGrizzly]

1) rock-paper-scissors, balance!

2) MP foyer

3) 4v4

[InsaneApache]

Are they going to bring back the ladder? That was a good incentive to improve your MP tactics and change them from time to time. Besides which I once hit the dizzy heights of being 95th* or summat.

*Out of 30 000 -ish.

Oh and yes please a foyer in MP. I have vivid memories of chatting to friends and enemies alike. It really held the MP community together.

[Sp00n]

Did i mention a foyer?

Lets mention it again.

[Jack Dionne]

Now that the technology exists for units to dismount and mount their horses, I would like to see General units with the ability similar to NER.

Plus a variety of other units as well.

[Swoosh So]

Dont worry about mp campaign its on the fact sheet.

"A Complete Single And Multiplayer Offering: Play through the Main Campaign in single player or invite a friend online to play competitively or cooperatively in Campaign Multiplayer mode. Join 8-player multiplayer battles with your own upgradable avatar and climb the online Leaderboard to show the world who reigns supreme. Also including exciting new modes of team play for clans, a first in the Total War series."

"Also including exciting new modes of team play for clans, a first in the Total War series" This sounds interesting although im not sure what it will be :)

[General Malaise]

If there is indeed a multiplayer campaign, as I read somewhere, I hope there's various co-op type options, including allowing more than one player to play the same faction somehow or perhaps certain scenarios/objectives (or those mini-campaigns consisting of battles like in Warlord) where you work together with different factions.

I'm curious as to how they could implement a multiplayer campaign without either having to auto-resolve all the battles or without it becoming very long and slow-moving. (Co-op would be less of a problem here too though, not that I don't also want a competitive MP campaign).

Most of all though I'd like balanced and individuated (by which I mean each is uniquely useful) units as others have already said.

EDIT: LOL, have to read whole thread next time, just saw the above post says there will be co-op style. Interesting, wondering how they will implement this then. Shared decisions or each controlling different aspect of the faction?

[Jack Dionne]

I have my doubts with the Hero units however. I was hoping it would be historical.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

They promised mp-campaign in ETW as well when they were advertising ETW. And where was it?
These I hope to see in S2TW:
1. MP battles
2. Hotseat campaign
3. MP campaign

I personally prefer hotseat campaigns over mp ones.

[Marcus Caelius]

Actually i think balance has been a false obsession.

There is a very simple way to ensure balance along with variety with different sized armies, differently matched armies and different types of terrain.

The way to do this is to have one player set up the battle choosing the two sides factions and gold values and who is attacker and who defender (which ought not necessarily be the same) and the battle map, be it siege, mountains or whatever.

Then this is hosted as a battle offer, and the person who accepts the game gets to choose which of the two sides he/she will play.

This will allow totally varied battle types, yet nonetheless, balanced overall since the chooser will typically go for the side they think can win and so the battle creator will avoid having one side obviously stronger since he/she will inevitably be left with the weaker side.

in addition this possibliity will allow finely setup battles as part of an offline campaign without much work by CA