쇼군2 토탈워 토탈워 쇼군2 프리뷰

[RoastBullet]

The Encyclopedia offers a breakdown of each of the 67 Japanese provinces, 10 primary Clans, 43 Arts, 97 land units, 27 ships, 26 buildings types (not including several upgrades for each), 17 Ninja skills, 12 Monk skills, 13 Missionary skills, 13 Metsuke skills, 23 General skills, and 9 Geisha skills

http://www.thebattlespace.com/latest-issue/febmar-2011-issue/febmar-shogun2

http://www.ripten.com/2011/02/03/total-war-shogun-2-preview-aaronalex/

• Hands on With Total War: Shogun 2 – A Refined Experience

• FEBRUARY 3, 2011 12:11 PM
 
• AARON ALEXANDER
 
• 3 COMMENTS

Thanks to SEGA and the fine folks at the Creative Assembly, I was lucky enough to delve into the newest addition of the Total War series, Shogun 2.  I had access to one Historical battle, and several tutorial modes. One of which takes you through a sizable chunk of the campaign, giving me some insight as to how the final product will play.  I’m here to say that Total War: Shogun 2 will play very well and that it will please both veterans of the series and newcomers alike with smart UI tweaks, beautiful visuals and the brilliant tactical gameplay fans have come to expect.

Shogun 2 is not a dramatic shift for the series, instead it feels like the Creative Assembly refined and built upon the format you’ve come to expect from other Total War games. The main objective of Shogun 2, is to raise your Daimyo’s (leader of your chosen faction) status to Shogun, by conquering territory, using subterfuge and establishing your factions dominance in Feudal Japan.  To do this, you will have to master the Art of War on the battlefield and keep your populace happy and managed on the campaign map.

The Campaign Map has been streamlined for ease of use.

I’ve never been one for the Campaign maps in the Total War games, having to manage cities, spies and Armies has always felt a little clumsy and especially boring compared to the grand scale battles that the Total War series presents. In Shogun 2 however, the campaign map feels streamlined for brutes like me who just want to fight.  However, the depth is still there for the economists and dictators of the World.  It feels like the Creative Assembly have learned from the clean feel Civilization 5 presented, with big buttons that clearly explain what you’re upgrading or building, but if you do enough digging you’ll find the back alley menus that present all kinds of sliders and statistics for managing tax, public order and happiness. The Agent units such as the Ninja feel useful and their advantages are more clearly spelled out to you as a player, click a castle with your Ninja? Expect a neatly presented menu with options such as “Kill Leader” or “Sabotage Gates”, while none of these options are new, the menu also displays success percentages and failure doesn’t automatically mean death for you agent, He or She can escape and their is a cutscene for each and every scenario that will keep you guessing until the very end.

The Campaign Map feels alive, rather then static

The Campaign map however boils down to what it always has been – the place in which you manage what your cities are building, food and tax management, using Agents for Subterfuge and Diplomacy, recruiting more Warriors and Generals for your Army, managing your family tree, so on and so fourth. The Creative Assembly however have created a vivid representation of Japan, and while the landmass itself can feel a lot smaller then some of the other Total War titles (especially Empire, which spanned the Globe) the smaller landscape leaves the game feeling focused and alive, as they have packed more detail into every corner of the country. Of course, the campaign map will inevitably boil down into a staging ground for the battles, which is what every player comes to Total War for anyway, right?

Battles are truly a test of Strategy and Wit

The first time you enter a battle in Shogun 2, prepare to be blown away. Not at the 1000′s of units on screen, not at the slick combat animations or the smooth easy to use UI.  No, the game looks simplyAmazing. Even on the lowest settings, Shogun 2 looks great and on-par with current console games, however if you have the horsepower to crank the settings high, prepare for a visceral experience like no other. Everything on screen looks finely textured, the dust and smoke look smooth, the water ripples and reflections look convincing and beautiful, and the variety of the troop models help the game feel immersive and realistic, rather then presenting you with an army of clones.

The battles play out like they always have, where positioning your units correctly will often be the key to victory – You want your archers positioned on hills behind a line of spearmen, firing death down upon your opponents, rather than charging in with their swords, duh. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a very smooth and easy to use UI in the battle mode. For example, your Generals now emit a circular Aura, any friendly units within said aura will receive a buff in morale, and while the buff aspect is nothing new, the Aura itself helps with positioning and strategy. Each unit now has a unique special ability, Spear units can quickly get in formation to overcome horses, Archers can use their Skirmish ability to run away from battle when foes get too close and Generals can Inspire their troops, or Rally fleeing units. While it may sound like a lot to manage, the game does a great job of making everything obvious, and easy to navigate.

Those Archers might want to fall back..

Like with the aforementioned General Aura, the game also displays the range and line of sight for your ranged units. It’s really helpful to see how far your Archers can actually shoot, as well as where they’re looking. It’s additions like this that really make the battles in Shogun feel more about the combat itself, and less about managing abilities and different units (even though you still can if you so desire). Veterans of the series will still kick the breathing crap out of new players with these changes, but the newer players won’t be feeling left floating in the wind – It’s quite a smart interface.

I had the opportunity to try both Land, Siege and Naval battles and each had a fairly different dynamic to it. The Land battles are all about using the Art of War to your advantage. The Art of War (pioneered by Sun Tzu) feature allows the game to smartly position your units according to different Animal based styles. When locked in battle with an opposing enemy using a different formation, the differences in position really come to fruition. It cant be stressed enough that smart planning is key to victories in this game, if you make one minor tactical error, it could mean the pure decimation of your forces. I enjoyed this a lot, as with some of the older Total War games, you could crush opposing forces with pure numbers and sheer force. While that certainly remains possible, a smart tactician will put a giant hole in your unit count.

The Siege battles feel very hard, and take some amount of time – for good reason, you’re taking someones bloody stronghold. The goals remain the same from the last Total War games, get inside the walls, dominate the center.  Though in Shogun, most of the Fortresses are based upon mountains with small stairways leading in. Doing a pure numbers march through the gate will not win you battles, you simply cannot get enough units through the door to do any substantial damage (at least in the sieges I was presented with). In the older Total War games, different siege equipment meant life or death, once again the same can apply here, but you no longer need to bash the gates in to start killing inside. My most used strategy here was making my men climb (YES, CLIMB!) the walls from all different directions, drawing the occupying army into smaller, more manageable groups. This scenario could be tackled in so many different ways, though one wrong move and prepare to be fucking toast, the siege battles seem like they require the most attention and precision out of the three battle styles.

Just try get through that Bamboo wall!

Naval battles are quite enjoyable in Shogun 2, as the game encourages you to mix up your play-style on the open sea. The section I played had different types of boats, one that was extremely quick and effective at skirmishing, zipping around the ocean launching fire arrows setting my enemies ship alight. The larger ships are made to get up close and board, however they’re made out of wood, which burns up real quick, so it becomes a game of Cat & Mouse at some point. Visually this is my favorite battle mode, with the reflective ocean splashing from the battle going on above, men tipping and rocking out of boats from sudden shunts, or watching my enemies boats burn up into a pile of ash. The aspect of control remains largely the same as the land battles, positioning and managing your special unit abilities will be key in being victorious here.

From the sizable chunk that I’ve played of Shogun 2, The Creative Assembly have really churned out a refined and promising return to the original world that started the entire series off, Veterans of the series will feel right at home in the feudal lands of Japan, and new players will find peace among the Cherry Blossoms as the game does a fine job of teaching and conveying the games ideas and principles to you.

Shogun 2 will be released on March 15th for PC.

If you have any questions about the game, feel free to leave me a comment below or contact me directly via Twitter -@iamaaronalex, I’d be happy to help in anyway i can

http://www.gameshark.com/previews/3508/p_0/Shogun-2-Total-War-Preview.htm

Game: Shogun 2: Total War

Platform: PC

Publisher: Sega

Developer: The Creative Assembly

Genre: Total War

Release Date: March 15, 2011

Why You Should Care: Gorgeous graphics; familiar territory for developer; beta reveals the pieces are in place for a winner

Why You Should Worry: The beta was limited in game options; how will the AI hold up? Will multiplayer work as advertised?

---

Preview by: William Abner 

I started playing the Total War games from the beginning. I have seen the series, which started with the original Shogun in the summer of 2000, mature with multiple trips through medieval Europe that included an awesome Viking Invasion, jaunt through Rome and back again to Europe during the Age of Napoleon and now – back to feudal Japan. Sega provided me with a beta preview build of the Shogun sequel to get a feel for some of the new stuff The Creative Assembly has in store when the game drops on March 15th.

I should note, before we dig in, that the beta was limited in that I couldn’t play any multiplayer, and every other gameplay option was restricted to the tutorials. I couldn’t even use the advanced land or naval battle tutorials – so we’re talking pretty basic stuff here.

That said, I could play the campaign tutorial which dropped me on the gorgeous campaign map playing as the Chosokabe Clan. Other clans include the Oda, Shimazu, Mori, Tokugawa, Takeda, Uesugi, Date, Hojo, and Hattori. Each clan has strengths in both location as well as general makeup. The Chosokabe are expert archers, for example, and gain bonuses which reflect this in the form of cheaper recruitment costs, access to special archer foot units, and a boost in income from farming. The Oda, as a counterpoint, receive bonuses for Ashigaru recruitment costs and troop morale. Each clan is different in ways such as this – some are siege experts, some brilliant horsemen, and so on.

Each province is also special. Some are poor, some rich, some have vital resources such as quarries, rice paddies, or trading posts, while others offer great defensive positions for strongholds.

If you are at all familiar with the Total War series, the campaign structure will feel like a comfortable pair of shoes. The basic idea is that the campaign portion is played in turn-based fashion while the battles are epic real time slugfests with a whole slew of units in organized chaos.

In my role as Daimyo of the Chosokabe Clan, I rule a small province on Shikoku Island off the mainland. After a few basic turns of unit recruitment, instruction, and building improvement, a Kono Monk appeared at the doorstep of my stronghold and proceeded to cause a revolt; the result was that a rebel army suddenly appeared within range of my capital.

After a quick battle, in which I dispatched the rebels with fire arrows and a cavalry charge led by my general, I set my sights on the treacherous monk's home province of Iyo. The game didn’t let me try a full on stronghold attack so I had to “auto” generate the battle results, which seemed to be predetermined in my favor – being a tutorial.

Capturing Iyo gave me access to a Sake Den and, thus, ninja recruits. The ninja unit is capable of all sorts of nasty tricks, such as army sabotage (poisoning food and water supplies), sabotaging city defenses, and other ninja-like tactics.

Around this time, the son of my Daimyo came of age, allowing me to assign him a commission. You can assign family members (male ones) or generals one of four duties: Commissioner of Warfare which provides a recruitment discount and a cool down bonus for that person’s special combat power; the Supply Commish offers up an army movement bonus; the Finance Commish gives a tax rate bonus; and the Commissioner of Development offers a bonus to building costs. These bonuses go up based on the rank of the general in question, so a high ranking Supply Commish can get those troops hauling tail across the map.

With my ninja now en route to sabotage the stronghold inside the province of Sanuki, the game opened up the Mastery of the Arts menu. Here you can begin to personalize your clan a bit by selecting an Art path that contains two main options: Bushido (war) and Chi (government and economics). It’s set up like a research tree. For example if you select Bushido, your next option will be to select its offensive or defensive branch. From there you’ll see options such as Heaven and Earth (archer improvements), The Way of the Spear (Yari Ashigaru improvement), and so on. In addition to basic bonuses, certain buildings are unlocked only after choosing a certain path. Unlocking Bushido opens up the Sword School, for example.

The Chi tree focuses more on money, diplomacy, and general governance. Researching Zen leads to improved happiness. The Tea Ceremony improves diplomacy actions and provides your Daimyo +1 honor, which will help keep my generals loyal to the cause.

Unlike a game like Civ, where the duration of a research project is variable, projects in the Mastery of the Arts tree appear to be set in how long they take to research, so you’ll know exactly how many turns it will take until you can serve a better cup of tea.

With my wily ninja now inside the Sanuki stronghold causing all sorts of havoc, my newly replenished army was on the march. Sanuki fell with little resistance – again I’m thinking the tutorial made this a cakewalk, and I was then given my first mission. Missions pop up from time to time offering ways to make a little extra loot. This mission tasked me with conquering the adjacent province of Awa and its brilliant stock of warhorses. The reward was 500 gold in addition to any looting done after the assault.

Before the attack could take place, and while my army was restocking after the battle of Sanuki, the Clan page popped up. This page displays all sorts of information about everything you control: Food, units, provinces, religion, and diplomatic relations. The Family page shows your sons and daughters and their current role in your empire. Finally, the Record page recaps your current game – the dates and outcomes of battles, the number of units lost, money spent – everything that has happed since the campaign began. It’s a ton of info but those who enjoy games like this will eat it up.

In this tutorial of hot knife through enemy butter, Awa fell a few turns later. At this point in the tutorial it was time to view the diplomacy options. The diplomacy looks fairly deep, but it’s impossible to truly see how this is going to work in practice as the tutorial didn’t allow for much wrangling other than offering up a trade pact with another clan, which was accepted after I tossed in extra gold to grease the wheels of progress. Options for vassal states, trading/offering of hostages, marriage proposals, military treaties and access, and trade embargoes are all in place, but I’ll need to see how this works outside of the tutorial.

A few turns later my ninja gained a rank for both poisoning an army food supply and his underhanded sabotage of Sanuki. This led me to check out the skill system. Skills in Shogun 2 are assigned to every special unit type: Generals, Ninja, Geisha, Monks, Missionaries, and Metsuke (secret police). The number of skill options is impressive. For example, Ambusher is a General’s skill that enables night fighting and adds a command bonus when the General in question sets an ambush. The wealth of options here should allow users to customize their special units as they see fit. In my case our ninja became a level one Master of Disguise, which provides a 5 percent chance to avoid detection when he fails a mission.

Now that the southern island was officially Chokosabe Country it was time to set sail for the mainland. After constructing a vessel at one of my ports, I scouted the mainland and established a trade route, which was then attacked by pirates. This laid out another strategic option as, after the pirates were dispatched, the game allowed me to do a little sea piracy myself by raiding trade routes of various clans. You see which clans are using these sea routes so as not to upset those with whom you are friends; unless, of course, you wish to no longer be buddy-buddy.

Speaking of the navy, the sea battle tutorial was straightforward and I think fighting at sea will be a lot less involved (and less annoying) than sea battles in Empire Total War. There’s no wind to worry about, so that’s one less potential snafu. The tutorial was pretty basic, and I never got a chance to view the advanced sea tutorial, but sometimes less is more and I am hoping that’s the case here.

At this point I backed away from the scripted campaign tutorial, satisfied that I had a good feel for what the game was trying to do. Although the lack of a fully-engaged enemy AI prevented me from really seeing what the game has to offer, I'm cautiously optimistic about its prospects. For a lot of gamers, the ability of the AI to mount a competent challenge is the determining factor in Shogun 2’s success, so it must know how to play its own game. If the AI cannot put up a challenge on the campaign map, maneuver its units on the battlefield, use diplomacy, build armies, play aggressively, and basically do everything that the human player needs it to do, then this game will struggle mightily. If it can do all that and provide the player with a real challenge, then all of the pieces are in place for a brilliant return to this fascinating era. We will find out for sure next month.William Abner is the Editor-in-Chief of GameShark and is a regular on the Jumping the Shark podcast. He has written for publications such as GameSpy, The Escapist, and the long dead but forever in our heart Computer Games Magazine.Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/previews/58903/In-House-Shogun-2-Total-War-Preview/p1/c1

In-House: Shogun 2: Total War Preview - Page 1 of 3

Feb 04, 2011 at 12:05 AM - OhmWrecker -  0 Comments

Heads Up: Don't miss our Shogun 2 gameplay video on page three!

A little over a week ago SEGA approached us with an opportunity to get some hands on time with The Creative Assembly’s upcoming turn-based and real-time strategy game Shogun 2: Total War. As a fan of the series, I jumped at the chance to give it a go. First though I should probably explain where I stand when it comes to the Total War universe.

Medieval 2: Total War is my favorite in the series hands down, agree or disagree that’s the one for me. I’m sure some of the old school Shogun or Rome guys have their own reasons why the earlier games were best, but I thought Medieval 2’s era, diversity, and atmosphere was fantastic. I too was a little bit disappointed with Empire. I did find Napoleon to be a a good step in the right direction, but I still thought that Creative Assembly was missing some of the magic seen in the earlier Total War games.

  So needless to say, I was actively looking to see if any of the old formula came back in Shogun 2 as I played. I didn’t want to see another Empire like launch, where we had to wait for a semi-sequel to get a better game. After playing only a limited slice of the game, though, I'm happy to report that Shogun 2 is showing huge signs of improvement.

Thankfully, many beloved features of the old Total War games seem to be a priority again. For example, family trees are a much more important part of your campaign, seasoned generals gain significantly more value over time potentially to the point of becoming invaluable, and even the agents that serve you in the game can be tailored to fit your needs almost like an RPG. I would expect that much like we saw in the older Total War games players will grow genuinely attached to their leaders, family members, and agents in Shogun 2.

One of the first things most players will notice when they fire up Shogun 2 for the first time are the changes to the overall art style. It is all very fitting to the era though, so don’t take that the wrong way. A 16th-century Japanese art style and atmosphere is seen in everything from the main menu UI to unit cards, and of course in units, buildings, maps, and even vegetation. It’s extremely well done, very classy, and actually quite relaxing outside of combat.

  

However, even during times of war I’d still occasionally catch myself panning the camera around just to observe the scenery of the battlefield or seasides, even while arrows were flying and swords were clashing. I can’t recall ever doing that in a Total War game before, so it really speaks volumes about Creative Assembly’s attention to detail.

The tutorial campaign map only covered a small portion of Japan, specifically Shikoku island and parts of eastern Seto on the mainland, but it too displayed some unique aesthetic changes. Unexplored areas are hidden by an almost rice paper looking map instead of a black shadow or other kinds of fog of war seen in other games. As a player explores new areas the paper fades away seamlessly, revealing whatever is in visual range of the moving unit.

When you peel away the art and get more into the game mechanics though, much like Empire and Napoleon, the campaign map is littered with strategic resources, ports, and building plots beyond the protection of a city. From schools to machine shops, and even money generating rice paddies, a scheming AI or player can harass these key points and structures as a way to bait an enemy army out onto a more even field of battle. If certain resources are lost, then so too may be the ability to make certain units, or even construct specific buildings. As a result, it will be important for players to protect other key locations besides cities from opposing armies and agents alike.

  

Diplomacy is of course alive and well in Shogun 2, and offers a very good deal of functionality while also being streamlined in a way that makes data on clan relationships readily available. Players will continue to have a variety of options while conducting diplomacy, including trade agreements, trade embargoes, military alliances, open borders, hostage negotiation, arranged marriage offers, and even vassal demands. If peaceful diplomacy isn’t going the way the player wishes then he or she may even threaten the opposing clan as well, although it can obviously lead to worsened relations or even war.

Public order and happiness are managed with taxation primarily, although other influences do exist. Random events called dilemmas pop up on occasion, some of which will affect the happiness of the people. Choice of religion can also rock the boat, especially if Christianity is pursued for the sake of gaining access to European gunpowder weapons, cannons, and ships. If things are looking especially dire, players can entirely excuse a region from tax, construct buildings or pursue arts which reduce disorder, or even make changes to the clan family that will please the people.

Arts represent more of the global tech tree in the game, and play a big part in the overall direction that one’s’ empire goes. A player can focus on the arts of Bushido, Chi, or both. Bushido arts tend to be focused on military advancements, while Chi arts are more related to economic improvements or social order. If a player chooses to treat each path equally, then they may find themselves lagging behind on the field or economically, so it looks like it may be best to focus on one or the other at least in the early stages of a campaign.

  

Another hot topic that sprung up especially during the releases of Empire and Napoleon was AI behavior. When it comes to Shogun 2’s AI behavior I found myself surprised more often than not. On the campaign map there were times where the AI seemed to make decisions on how to best deal with outside aggression in a pretty realistic way. Also surprising was that it didn’t entirely feel scripted even though the tutorial had laid down very guided objectives. Despite that, in each of my tutorial games I experienced several unique interactions with the AI.

In one game the AI that I was at war with from the start attempted to negotiate peace, and when I wasn’t willing to accept it began utilizing agents to try to manipulate my own armies and agents. In another the AI actually flanked a city by sea while my forces were abroad and captured it, but not before causing damage to nearby structures first. Lastly, in my most recent play through of the tutorial I actually saw the AI reinforcing a soon to be besieged city with units from other nearby cities much like a human player. It was all very impressive, and seems to show that the development team is serious about addressing fan feedback.

The battlefield and seaside engagements are obviously a whole other beast compared to the campaign map, but I also experienced very good play from the AI in both. Land battles look great both on the open field and during fortified sieges. The AI was very good about adapting to my attacks, and would often not only counter properly but also try to pull off tricky flank maneuvers. During sieges the AI would also frequently set up lethal chokepoints, literally scrambling on me just as my men were crawling over a wall or rushing into a busted gate. Of course by the end of it all countless bodies litter the ground, arrows stay embedded in objects, and sometimes it’s hard not to just do a double take at how brutal some of the battles can be.

  

Seaside engagements are a little different, but still very satisfying. Sea mines are a very new threat, but most naval combat relies on the effectiveness of archers. Smaller ships have the benefit of utilizing fire in their attacks on occasion, whereas the larger ships tend to rely on safety through cover, brute force, or ship to ship melee engagements after boarding. While I will miss the epic first of the line battles of Empire and Napoleon, I still found Shogun 2’s naval engagements to be a blast. Not all is lost though, it looks like in the grand campaign players could attempt to capture European trade galleons including a very special “Black Ship”, although it most likely won’t be an easy feat.

While I didn’t get to check out multiplayer, it really sounds like the options in Shogun 2 will be among the most robust yet. Players will take part in at least some sort of persistent environment, earning experience with their generals, and even customize not just the general but also units as well. Standard combat engagements on both land and sea will be available, as well as versus and co-op campaigns with drop-in support.

Finally, I think it’s worth commenting on a couple other items that are sometimes missed in previews. First, the sound effects, voicework, and music in Shogun 2 are fantastic. After poking around in the game’s data files it looks like at least twelve voice actors were used, and they did a great job populating Shogun 2 with authentic Japanese and accented English. The music by Jeff van Dyck is also extremely well done, and a pleasure to listen to.

 

I also have to give props to The Creative Assembly for putting together a rich encyclopedia which can be accessed both in-game and outside of the game through any web browser. With the encyclopedia players can reference vast amounts of information on just about anything that can be done in the game. Additionally, the encyclopedia offers a breakdown of each of the 67 Japanese provinces, 10 primary Clans, 43 Arts, 97 land units, 27 ships, 26 buildings types (not including several upgrades for each), 17 Ninja skills, 12 Monk skills, 13 Missionary skills, 13 Metsuke skills, 23 General skills, and 9 Geisha skills. It’s a ton of information, and will no doubt please some of the folks out there that love to read up on their games.

As I wrap up my coverage I really have to contain myself from giving the tutorial one more run, only because it was so fun to play a Total War game again with so much personality. I’d like to think that Shogun 2 will restore the faith of fans who felt burned by Empire, assuming they’ll give it another chance.

As it stands right now though even with just a very small slice of the final game to play, the Shogun 2 media build was nothing short of an entertaining and exciting experience. I’ll be buying this one on day one.

In-House Shogun 2 Gameplay & Cinematic B-Roll Breakdown

Flash HD / Flash SD / Youtube

A gentle breeze finds its way through the now lovlosa trees on the snow-covered hill and makes me shiver to. When the clouds in the sky splits sparkles icicles, hanging from the roof of the little tea rooms which rests on the crest of the hill in the sun's rays. A welcoming scene after that for a short while ago, witnessed my enemies archers scathing castle's defenders without a moment's hesitation. When I close my eyes I see the blatant horse, each rider is no longer among us, who flee the battlefield with their hooves trampling spirit through the fresh snow.

Okay, enough war romance. It's just a press event for Shogun 2: Total War at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, which has been signed on. While it was nice to have both the tea ceremony and a short lecture on feudal Japan, it is even though the game itself, we are here to see and Creative Assembly's public relations manager Mark O'Connell - who I also had a talk with me - is the visits to guide us through the game's news, because there are a lot of, and most people seem to be in multiplayer mode, which is greatly expanded compared to previous titles.


What made you go back to feudal Japan?

Mark O'Connell: It is a decade since we did the first Shogun, and there are several reasons. One is that we simply enjoy this time period and the people behind the series have always loved it. There were lots of things we wanted to do with the original but could not do then. Graphics cards had just started to show up and we were far away from being able to battle and siege warfare as we wanted them. Before our 10th anniversary, we realized that the Shogun was what attracted.

Another thing was that we kept in touch with Professor Steven Turn Ball who helped us with the first game and many things we thought were a decade ago has changed in that more research has been done and he has written several books with lots of new things . We have taken his research and incorporated it in the game to give a good picture of the 1500-century Japan.

Will the people who played the first Shogun to recognize themselves or is it more like the Empire or Napoleon in a new guise?

Mark O'Connell: The primary is the same with a mixture of turn-based strategy and real time battles, now including naval battles. We have learned much in recent years and we have upgraded Empires engine, which also served in Napoleon, and optimized it to get more power so technically it is light years from the original. Multiplayer Mode is better than anything we have done and we have a big team who have worked with it. State stands up well against the single player campaign and we hope to get over people who only played alone before you try the multiplayer mode and all the new stuff.

Subject gaming world. You started with the relatively small island state of Japan and then take you on increasingly larger areas of land in the later games to now go back to "small" Japan. Do you think the players will feel trapped and with fewer options?

Mark O'Connell: You're right when it comes to geography. In Empire, we had Europe, America and India, but Shogun is actually no less when it comes to things in the game but it is Japan under a magnifying glass. Japan is large, the short campaign is for 120 rounds, which will span 30 years, I think. The long campaign, which is the normal length, is 220 rounds, which is comparable with the Empire and then covering up 55 years.

There are lots of potential playing time and be aware that there are nine or ten clans that are all different pure gameplay and you will not be able to see everything in one playthrough where you with the new technology tree will not be able to cover up all the different branches of a game. When you combine everything together, you have months if not years of playing time, if you count the multiplayer mode.

Regarding the different clans, players will find all too similar to each other or are distinct differencesbetween them? 

Mark O'Connell: Any clan can start at the coast without being contiguous with some enemies and will initially not have much of a problem, but they do not have many provinces and at first not very many resources. Or maybe start a clan who lives in central Japan to limit to three enemies and forced to fight from the beginning and it will be a completely different experience. Maybe start the game with a province with good breeding and thus have better cavalry that affect your playing style.

A more dynamic way to adapt your style of play simply?

Mark O'Connell: Exactly, and with adaptations and choices you can make it will be different every time you play. Then there are things that when Europeans show up with gunpowder weapons, if you choose to ally yourself with them, it might be a completely new game with other troop units that focus on the battle from a distance instead of close combat, and when you convert to Christianity makes it to your citizens will react differently. We have lots of options that will require several rounds of experiencing all.

Before we continue with the interview I'm going through a bit what we were told about multiplayer mode when it is substantially developed in the past. State has a full-fledged campaign and focuses heavily on the alignment of your army, General, and a cooperative mode where you can let your teammates help you to control parts of your army in real battles.

You start by choosing the look of your character and how your banner looks like and then buy your army. Then you're taken to a map of Japan, where each province are marked, a total of 64 countries provinces and twelve-sea regions. Some provinces have dojos, training camps, as if you conquer it offers improvements to the squad team that dojo is adapted. It can be cavalry, spear, or perhaps bow.
When you try to take over a province awarded experience points to your general well your army that can be allocated to various skills in different fields such as physics, management capacity and knowledge of when or distance combat. If you explore a province unlock the so-called retainers that gives your avatar advantages. They remind Thus most of the perks found in, for example Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Five concurrent retainers can be activated.

During your campaign, you can also unlock new armor and can appear randomly or by completing various missions. If you lock up a complete set of one kind of armor, you get new retainers to use. As units are also up in level and can be veterans that you can benefit so that they thus become stronger. Depending on what rank your General is, he can rule over a different number of veterans, the higher the rank, the more veterans.

There will also be leaderboards to keep track of how each player ranks against each other and you can take first place, you become a Shogun. It can only be a shogun in the world so that placement will not be easy to grab. But back to the interview.

You have clearly invested heavily in multiplayer mode. Will it affect the one-man campaign?

Mark O'Connell: It was like when we introduced the naval battles in Empire. We did not think it would just be a feature that looked good on the back of game case but which could stand on its own along with the campaign in the singles game. Includes everything in the regular campaign are in this situation, but with little different focus, such as adjustments to your avatar, leaderboards, clans, and more making a total of at least equal to one-man campaign.

Everything you unlock the multiplayer mode is persistent, anything you retain?

Mark O'Connell: Absolutely, the map has its provinces, and it may be that you fight for a province again and again, but no matter what happens, you get experience points and build up your character. So of course it is a persistent world.

All the elements of total war have been expansions. Will it be the same with Shogun 2 or less DLC pack?

Mark O'Connell: Maybe both. When we're done with Shogun 2, we consider what we want to do and if we get interesting ideas to add to the game world. It is a bit different to how we are doing. Right now, we extrapolate the Shogun second

Do you have any plans for the next Total War?

Mark O'Connell: Yes ...

Something you want to share?

Mark O'Connell: It will be called Total War ... anything. Personally, I would like to see some examples of ancient Greece and Egypt. I've been there and love their history. In the office we all have things we want to do and when you go through the rooms look to books about the Second World War, Vietnam War, Roman Empire, etc. We have all of history to choose from and we will never run out of ideas. Whoever wins arm wrestling may determine.

During the presentation, you mentioned earlier consoles. Will we see total war on the console?

Mark O'Connell: We have never ruled out the console, but it is more so because we want to get the full experience and not a stripped down and watered down version, it's about the interface, control and things like that. Console group which previously did Spartan: Total Warrior is working on something completely new. It is not Total War or any sequel but an entirely new thing. We are excited but can not tell what it is.

[Royal Eyelander]

빨리 나와라!!! 군대 가기전에는 꼭 하고만ㄷㅏ!!!!!!

[쿄쿄쿵]

맨위에 사진보니깐 시코쿠지방만 플레이할수있게 해놓은거로 데모같은데, 데모 배포 안할라나요

[Royal Eyelander]

나중에는 혼슈ㅡ 큐슈ㅡ 시고쿠 다 확대되는걸로 알고있음;;; 지역 평정해야 하는건가 봐요

[야나기]

데모 보다는 나폴레옹 토탈워 이탈리아, 이집트맵 처럼 따로 캠페인이 있는것 같아요.

[SmAcK]

요건 내가볼때 eb2같은거 만들기 쉽겟다

[▶◀가스가겐고로]

자~!! 이제 밑으로는 해석해주실 용자님만!!

[CSman]

자기 개인 깃발 문양도 에딧할수가있군요 ㅋ!!;;ㅋㅋ