The next game in the total war series?

[vartan]

Regardless, I think Shogun 2 is actually a good choice simply because it will be quite a change of pace for the series as of late.

If I was religious I would pray with you brother. We can only hope and be disappointed as usual. Pessimism prevails yet again.

[Seneca]

I have no faith in this. Sure, the graphics will overwhelm us, the battles will be epic and the whole thing will feel refreshing for the first week, but after that it will be like ETW all over again and we will be disgusted by the boring gameplay and low complexity.

I'll keep waiting for EBII instead, no mater how long it takes. Best thing out there.

[vartan]

I have no faith in this. Sure, the graphics will overwhelm us, the battles will be epic and the whole thing will feel refreshing for the first week, but after that it will be like ETW all over again and we will be disgusted by the boring gameplay and low complexity.

I'll keep waiting for EBII instead, no mater how long it takes. Best thing out there.

Logic phail. EBII ain't the best or worst thing out there, cause it ain't out there, wherever "there" is. It escapes me, but there was some terminology used to describe that phenomenon wherein your thoughts or predictions of something or some event shape your eventual perception of it. You expect the worst in the new release? Then you'll get the worst. Expect the unexpected (i.e. something new and not in any other TW game)? Then you'll likely get something exciting.

[krste]

What i find the most intriguing is this :

"The game's AI is being programmed according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. As one of the core foundations for this kind of mix of melee and ranged warfare, Sun Tzu is an obvious starting point, but what was particularly revealing is how much Sun Tzu talks like a programmer. If, for example, you outnumber the enemy more than five-to-one, Sun Tzu recommends an enveloping move. If you outnumber the enemy two-to-one, he prefers a direct engagement."

Does this means no more Artificial Idiot ?

[Krusader]

What i find the most intriguing is this :

"The game's AI is being programmed according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. As one of the core foundations for this kind of mix of melee and ranged warfare, Sun Tzu is an obvious starting point, but what was particularly revealing is how much Sun Tzu talks like a programmer. If, for example, you outnumber the enemy more than five-to-one, Sun Tzu recommends an enveloping move. If you outnumber the enemy two-to-one, he prefers a direct engagement."

Does this means no more Artificial Idiot ?

I think CA has written something along the lines for every TW game they've released.

As for heroes, personally I think we'll see heroes with anime-abilities.

[bobbin]

As for heroes, personally I think we'll see heroes with anime-abilities.

I hear the Akira unit will be a real tide turner in battle.

[mlc82]

They've said that same thing from Medieval 2 on. "We realize the AI sucked before (nevermind no major reviewer seeming to notice), and we're going to make it just like a human player this time!". Something very close to that was in an old PC Gamer Medieval 2 preview. Same was said for Empire yet again. Now for the newest game.

[Starforge]

What i find the most intriguing is this :

"The game's AI is being programmed according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. As one of the core foundations for this kind of mix of melee and ranged warfare, Sun Tzu is an obvious starting point, but what was particularly revealing is how much Sun Tzu talks like a programmer. If, for example, you outnumber the enemy more than five-to-one, Sun Tzu recommends an enveloping move. If you outnumber the enemy two-to-one, he prefers a direct engagement."

Does this means no more Artificial Idiot ?

Call me a cynic but that's called marketing. Read the paragraph again and see if anything tangible is actually promised or if it simply sounds good. Yet, somewhere, I guarentee there's a kid out there thinking.......Sun Tzu! cool!

Edit: Heroes? Seriously? I wish CA would make a good game and not have a bunch of execs sitting in a room trying to second guess what the 14 yr olds will buy. Then again - I'm not 14 so maybe I'm just not the target audience :D.

[Hannibal Khan the Great]

Edit: Heroes? Seriously? I wish CA would make a good game and not have a bunch of execs sitting in a room trying to second guess what the 14 yr olds will buy. Then again - I'm not 14 so maybe I'm just not the target audience :D.

I am 14 and I disagree with the idea of hero units in a Total War game...

[paleologos]

Hero units?

That would be World of Total Warcraft, wouldn't it?

[Starforge]

I am 14 and I disagree with the idea of hero units in a Total War game...

No offense meant to 14 yr olds. It's the middle age game execs (and movie directors) who try and second guess what they think 14 year olds will like I reserve some contempt for since it's usually based only on an interpretation of what has sold in the past.

[Phalanx300]

What i find the most intriguing is this :

"The game's AI is being programmed according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. As one of the core foundations for this kind of mix of melee and ranged warfare, Sun Tzu is an obvious starting point, but what was particularly revealing is how much Sun Tzu talks like a programmer. If, for example, you outnumber the enemy more than five-to-one, Sun Tzu recommends an enveloping move. If you outnumber the enemy two-to-one, he prefers a direct engagement."

Does this means no more Artificial Idiot ?

I found that most interesting as well. Hopefully it will work out. Then again we don't want an Sun Tzu AI kicking our asses all the time do we?

[vartan]

I found that most interesting as well. Hopefully it will work out. Then again we don't want an Sun Tzu AI kicking our asses all the time do we?

Sure we do. If the AI is good enough I might give it a spot in the future tournaments (=

[Brennus]

Neanderthal: Total War.

Really quick to make cos you have a limited technology tree and small unit sizes.

Factions: Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo Sapien Sapien

Emergent factions: The Vulcans (like in Shogun with the Dutch and Portugese they bring new technologies but these technologies can really upset the balance of power).

[Arkhis]

Logic phail. EBII ain't the best or worst thing out there, cause it ain't out there, wherever "there" is. It escapes me, but there was some terminology used to describe that phenomenon wherein your thoughts or predictions of something or some event shape your eventual perception of it. You expect the worst in the new release? Then you'll get the worst. Expect the unexpected (i.e. something new and not in any other TW game)? Then you'll likely get something exciting.

Wise words. I always hope for something interesting when a new TW game is on the way.

I wonder how this game will turn out, though. What will the map be like? Most importantly, how will they give the factions a unique flavour? The latter is important for a video game, but alas, the various daimyos fighting for power during the Sengoku Jidai have essentially the same army make-up.

I'm not sure about these Hero units , though.

[Apázlinemjó]

Wise words. I always hope for something interesting when a new TW game is on the way.

I wonder how this game will turn out, though. What will the map be like? Most importantly, how will they give the factions a unique flavour? The latter is important for a video game, but alas, the various daimyos fighting for power during the Sengoku Jidai have essentially the same army make-up.

I'm not sure about these Hero units , though.

HEROES!!! :O

[mountaingoat]

oh what would be nice ...

-multiple animations for each unit (they already have skins )

mostly for the elite type units .. where you would of had a wide array of personal weapons brought onto the battlefield .. like watching a group of dismounted knights in mtw2 all carrying swords and shields.. or an entire unit of 2h swords .... having a mix of 1h and 2h weapons and different type of weapons would be nice with fitting animations ..

-advanced animation collision etc

more "flowing" i guess when units are attacking each other .. instead of this great pause with the units standing behind .. i can understand a certain disciplined unit of phalanx or spearmen holding a formation ... but maybe something different from just standing behind .

updating the way animations interact during combat with possibly "pushing" motions ? multiple units attacking single units ( when available) , as now we always have that constant dueling going on for the most part.


-animations effected by their weapons and surroundings

it always seemed strange to me how (when you get bored and start looking closely at the details ) of how a group of spearmen would attack well in a confined space whilst on a wall .. it seems as though there would hardly be any room for this spear and shield to move and thrust a weapon .. *shrug*

-breaking weapons/changing weapons?

how about when horses charge , there is a chance for the lances to break .. instead of having them charge with a lance effect over and over ?

an option to force units to change weapons instead of some sort of automatic processes that calls for them to change from spear to sword etc, and top that off with more than 2 weapons per unit maybe or at least the option to mod this =P


that should do for now lol

[WinsingtonIII]

how about when horses charge , there is a chance for the lances to break .. instead of having them charge with a lance effect over and over ?

an option to force units to change weapons instead of some sort of automatic processes that calls for them to change from spear to sword etc, and top that off with more than 2 weapons per unit maybe or at least the option to mod this =P

Well, the breaking lances feature was actually in M2TW. Your cavalry had to wait for their lances to "recharge" (you can pretend they're being resupplied by squires or something I suppose) before they could charge with them again. Plus, you can already change weapons by using the alt-click attack key, but it can be quite glitchy. It would be really nice to see a variety of weapons and animations in a unit.

I have no faith in this. Sure, the graphics will overwhelm us, the battles will be epic and the whole thing will feel refreshing for the first week, but after that it will be like ETW all over again and we will be disgusted by the boring gameplay and low complexity.

I'll keep waiting for EBII instead, no mater how long it takes. Best thing out there.

I think you're being overly pessimistic. To be sure, Shogun 2 will hardly be perfect, and the AI probably won't be great, but it will probably be a step up from Napoleon and Empire battle AI simply because Total War battle AI seems to do much better with melee battles than gunpowder fights. I'm not claiming RTW battle AI is good, but it does a better job than Napoleon or Empire.

Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, I believe the relatively small scale of this game (in the grand scheme compared to other Total War games) actually allows more focus on complexity and detail. And even if it is a quite flawed game, which is always a possibility, you cannot deny that it will be a change of scenery, considering that this is the first time since the first Shogun that a TW game is not focused primarily on Europe and the Middle East (ETW is somewhat of an exception, but not really, as most of the playable factions are European).

I'd rather they focus their efforts on better campaign AI than battle AI to be honest. As long as the battle AI is mediocre like in Rome or Medieval 2, it won't be that horrible, but they need to work on campaign AI. If the computer can actually behave well on the campaign map the game will be much more challenging than if it behaves well on the battle map but does little campaign wise.

Pessimism prevails yet again.

Pessimism only prevails because you let it.... We have no idea what the game will be like, why not be optimistic? To me it doesn't make sense to complain about how bad something will be before it even comes out. Seems like wasted energy to be honest.