Gore

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I was thinking about this earlier today. I realize CA can't show to much blood + guts due to the game ratings, and I fully understand that. But I think the game still needs to be realistic. For example, if a guy gets hit with a arrow and falls over dead, why not be able to see the arrow sticking though him?

I believed Samurais always had 2 swords on them in battle just in case one broke (which happen a lot from what I read), correct me if I'm wrong. In that case, if one Samurai loses a sword by stabbing/killing a guy with it and having it break in half at the same time, or just him ditching it, have the sword be shown sticking out of the dead guy with a little bit of blood coming out.

Thoughts?

[A Nerd]

I liked the blood pools and the gurgle sounds the samurai made when they died in STW. I miss that. I also wish arrows would not dissapear. Perhaps a video option that allows you to keep them rather than modding the game, which I cannot do due to my lack of computer skills. I don't care about dismemberment or anything graphic like that, but clean kills, ie. no blood or anything that would relate to a death in combat seems somewhat lacking in a military game, at least to me anyway. The game is already rated mature anyway, isn't it? At least a blood option or the like like that which is available in alot of FPSs would be good in my opinion. It would just add to the atmosphere, which is what the videos and screenshots of STW2 seem to be showing off as of late.

[Tuuvi]

I'd like it if there was blood and gore in the new shogun, but I want it to be realistic. No fountains of blood shooting out of a samurai's neck stump or anything like that. It would also be really cool if arrows didn't disappear.

[Phog_of_War]

This has been sugested for every game since Medieval. If we havent got it by now, I'm sure the Devs aren't gonna do it now. Which is really too bad. I'd love to see it but its probably too much to hope for.

[LadyAnn]

I dont care about the guts spilling out of the little guys.
Bring me back the head of the enemy's general! That's all I care about!
Annie

[hoom]

I just can't understand how any ratings agency can possibly give any Total War game kiddie ratings.

Its about waging massive war, conquering the population of big chunks of the planet & slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people!
Whether they have blood spurting or not should have really only the most minor impact on the rating.

By the same logic you could make a game all about genocidal racist paedophiles but still get an M rating because you used cute fluffy bears and no blood.

[Gregoshi]

In the vision I have of what makes a great TW game, gore has to be near the bottom of the list of features. If there are some S2TW programmers twiddling their thumbs after all the bugs have been fixed and all the features have been tweaked to perfection, then they can go ahead and knock themselves out on added realistic blood splatter physics to the game.

[Nelson]

I have no interest in battlefield gore at all.

[Togakure]

As has already been pointed out, battles are managed zoomed out; in this view, details like blood spray aren't even seen. Sure, when the battle is in the bag, it's sometimes fun to zoom way in and trip on the cool animations and effects. But that's such a tiny part of the game for me; the majority is coordinating my army. Such details should be left to the end of the to-do list, when all the critical game play and balance issues have been addressed.

[caravel]

By the same logic you could make a game all about genocidal racist paedophiles but still get an M rating because you used cute fluffy bears and no blood.

That would also mean that 99% of games would require an 18 rating. The distinction is graphic violence vs non graphic violence. For example, some FPS games have depictions of eviscerations, bodies being blown to bits by explosives and body parts and blood flying around covering walls etc. Personally I don't see anything like this (beheadings, running through, dismemberment etc) as being fundamental in TW game design, because that is not what the games are designed for. In my view, that's more total warrior than total war.

[hoom]

That would also mean that 99% of games would require an 18 rating.

and they probably should.

But how can Genocide be a less bad thing than a bit of blood??? Half the population is seeing blood once a month minimum anyway.

[Tempiic]

As long as the trail corpses remain I am happy. That way my soldiers and me can find our way home and I can save up the breadcrumps to actually feed them :)

[Togakure]

How about the battle summary screen showing a charicature of you, sitting on your war stool with your lieutenants kneeling and smiling in admiration in front of you, while behind you are stacked a wall of salted heads--the number corresponding exactly to your kill count. Some dripping and flies for effect. We could have screenie contests on who has the highest wall of all time in a single game etc. And it'd be even cooler if we could each upload our own "head" image, and if we lose our gen, the opponent who killed you gets your head in his stack for that game. Then Gregoshi, Elmo, Kage, and I could show off how we got MagyarKhan's, KocMoc's, Swoosh's, and AMP's heads all in a single game. Wow, that'd be really something!

[/pipedream]

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I love that idea Toka!

[Gregoshi]

Then Gregoshi, Elmo, Kage, and I could show off how we got MagyarKhan's, KocMoc's, Swoosh's, and AMP's heads all in a single game. Wow, that'd be really something!

Unless you are smoking some really good stuff in that pipedream, I think you have it backwards...and they'd never collect my head. The voice-over when I rout is slightly different than the standard one. Our distinquished opponents would hear this:

The enemy taisho is running from defeat. Look at him go!!

BTW, great idea Toga.

[antisocialmunky]

Med2 had a fair amount of blood. Really just the ability to red things up would be adequate.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I can do with a modest amount of gore.


Games are sold to me on strategic finesse, not on the fanciest presentation of maimed corpses.

However, this being a wargame, my inner genocidal maniac will need to be satisfied too.


Somewhere between these two conflicting emotions CA will have to find a balance.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I can do with a modest amount of gore.


Games are sold to me on strategic finesse, not on the fanciest presentation of maimed corpses.

But it makes it more fun though!