Early TW days

[Martok]

For me, it was that intro video for the old .com site. Some guy giving a speech about how his father had carried the sword in peace and now he carried it in war. Gave me chills. And then there were those nift animations of the No-dachi the CA and the arq.

That's exactly the trailer (although I don't know if it could truly be called that) I was referring to. The narrator spoke of how his neighors were now his enemies, etc. (I still wish I could find it and save it to my computer!) Never before had I been so excited about a game, and looking forward to playing it.

@Gregoshi: I agree with everything you've said, particularly the weather and voicework. The weather really lended a lot of realism and atmosphere to the battles. Creeping your way through the fog while searching for the enemy really got my heartrate going! It was stuff like that that really kept me on the edge of my seat. As per the voicework, you had to love it when the narrator would comment on how the general (yours or the enemy's) was killed or running away. Even the screams of the men as they fought and died sounded real. All that definitely upped the immersion factor.

It's also worth mentioning (although it's probably unnecessary for those of us who are familiar with Shogun) how marvelous the AI was. Not that it was perfect, of course--its actions on the campaign map sometimes seemed puzzling at best, and there were flaws in the combat AI if you knew what to look for. Even given that, however, it still provided the most challenging computer opponents I've ever faced in a game to date. I never came across a clan that was a pushover, and only a few of my victories came relatively easy to me. (And I never played on higher than Hard, either!)

Another thing that I should've mentioned is the seasonal turns. I loved that it affected the type of weather you were likely to fight in, and how it also forced you to budget your money carefully over the course of year. It was a very nice touch of extra realism that I appreciated.

EDIT: Heh, Quietus already beat me to it.