SAVING TOTAL WAR: SHOGUN 2 REVIEW - WORTH IT In 2022?

[@AndysTake]

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[@sandsiren4840]

Okay so I downloaded it and it’s so addictive! Haha thanks for the suggestion!

[@redterrorproductions1373]

Stop

[@AstonTheVillaFan]

What’s raid is it a phone version of total war?

[@mettwurstjesus]

@@AstonTheVillaFan its a cancer ass gacha bullshit game that targets people with addictive personality. Its trash and everybody who promotes it should really overthink their content and what they suggest their fans.

[@FrancoisMalan00]

Why do you shill for this raid shadow crap?

[@HungTran-gz5em]

Still the best TW game in my opinion. So refined, the quality holds up even to this day, and the tactics requires actually strategy , less like a MOBA like the newer tittles

[@AndysTake]

Glad you love it! What are your go-to factions?

[@nakagamiryou7286]

@@AndysTake The most fun faction without a doubt are ikko ikki, but the most satisfying I found was hattori on legendary for its really hard position on the map with a focus on using ninjas and a strategy to use christianity after converting to destabilize regions.

[@MkZuO12345]

Strategy? Yari ahigaru wall with bow monks will steamroll everything and anyone...

[@HungTran-gz5em]

@@MkZuO12345 Not in forest maps though? Everything has a weakness. That comp sucks in forest maps.

[@HungTran-gz5em]

@@AndysTake I play the Takeda the most. Cav flanking is very satisfying.

[@stevewalsh3001]

Realm divide is probably my favorite endgame mechanic. It's logical for the setting, encourages long-term planning, and eliminates the late-game grind.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah I actually really like it too! It’s just, it might be a bit rough for first timers haha

[@stevewalsh3001]

@@AndysTake True. It isn't auto-resolve friendly unless you're playing on easy.

[@herman1francis]

@@stevewalsh3001 the only thing I would change on realm divide is having the opportunity to prevent your vassals from betraying you. Other than that it's great

[@nyaheh5878]

@@herman1francis that’s why I never vassalize anyone, to avoid this headache.

[@583Thatguy]

@@herman1francis yeah I never thought it made sense that vassals betray you. Maybe it should have been like two or three vassals would stay loyal but the rest would betray you

[@MrMiniTakitos]

I would love a shogun 3 that incorporates other cultures such as Korea, China, and a return of the Mongolians. That, would be amazing. Also, I think Shogun 2s OST is the best in the series

[@AndysTake]

That would be amazing! I would love a shogun 2 with a bigger scope!

[@Red-S-267]

I don’t trust them to do a good shogun 3. Some of my fondest memories and enjoyable moments in Shogun 2 just aren’t possible in games after it. Armies being the big one. From what little experience I’ve had with Three kingdoms the armies I could build felt very restrictive and Rome 2 and up basically makes it impossible to just recruit units without a general from what I could tell.

[@Kogasengaha_Hishoshi]

Just play Imjin Mod 3.2 Land of the Morning Sun lol As I am, with Multiple other mods. You could also play the 1.2 version that involves the mongols and china. THE MAP IS FUCKIN HUGE, I do not exaggerate. Chinese Ming dynasty and Korean Joseon Dynasty.

[@cyanide7270]

As much as i would love a full Shogun 3 experience including the Chinese, Korean and Mongolian wars, looking at how bad theyve fucked up with Warhammer 3, im skeptical to let them...

[@Ryo517s]

I’d rather call it “shogun 2 2”

[@bobbybrad5154]

I just played a campaign the other month. I think this might be my favorite strategy game ever based on replay value. It's just pure fun. It is definitely worth it in 2022 imo.

[@AndysTake]

Glad to hear it, Bobby :)

[@samrester6254]

Man, I still remember my first playthrough that I was hit with Realm Divide in. What an experience. No clue it was coming and it really left it's mark on me. One of my all time favorite campaign plays.

[@AndysTake]

Indeed! :D I wonder if we’ll ever get a Shogun 3!

[@amp8295]

Same. Lost all my border provinces very quickly and managed to consolidate and counterattack, but it was a massive slog from then on.

[@arcanethink]

@@amp8295 That's actually why I ended up eventually dropping shogun 2. I loved it at the start and even after I managed to fight off the realm divide but it just became a gigantic slog later on when all there was to do was go from one fight to the next which had 90% of the same gameplay , units and maps. The game lost everything it had going for it.

[@waffle-waffle5416]

Shogun 2 is the game where you'll feel alone when you're finally reach the top, the feeling of thousand other people resenting your success and doing their best to dethrone you while all your friend is abstaining to help you even the closest ally would only stand and watch and then it'll only you against the entire of Japan and if you fail you're gonna fucked up hard but if you succeed the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming

[@AndysTake]

Damn straight, my friend

[@ha11oween]

This game still got it! After 11 years, this game is still surprisingly interesting to play.

[@AndysTake]

Indeed :)

[@AnalyticalReckoner]

It's also easier on the eyes compared to new games.

[@FlyingFox86]

I really prefer the simpler graphics of the Shogun 2 campaign map over the clutter that some of the other TW games have.

[@AndysTake]

I would agree, I really think one thing the pre-Rome 2 era of total war games did really well was offering clean and understandable visuals.

[@loowick4074]

Low poly but good textures. Modern games rely too much on fancy lighting and high polygon count which really doesn't look good at settings below high/ultra and give this play dough chunky look with horrible washout light. These are goodies for people with good computers. We can play the game at low but they do look very ugly.

[@89MazzaUK]

One little thing they did with this game that made it brilliant. Soldiers not insta-dying and crawling/rolling around. Such an awesome subtle touch, it's nice to observe the battlefield and sometimes see those dudes trying to get back up still. Question for me is, why they dropped this? Does seem in modern titles it's just not a thing.

[@JipFox]

Probably because its generally an overlooked feature. I absolutely loved seeing these animations too, as it shows the horrors of war and it makes the battlefield look amazing. But I guess not many people cared for this feature, nor talked about it much, so through time we saw less and less of injured warriors making an appearance on the battlefield. Makes sense I suppose, as whats the point of going to that extra step of adding injured soldiers in the battle if nobodys going to talk about it or appreciate it

[@sullafelix649]

The one thing I don't like about the realm divide is that your vassals you've had for almost the whole game also turn on you same with allies with marriage alliances/hostages. In real life the daimyos were able to maintain vassals and allies when claiming the shogunate. That's probably my single negative criticism of the game.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah you’re not alone in having issues with Realm Divide! It could’ve been better balanced for sure

[@gronndar]

Yeah. Had to add mod which gives bunch of diplomatic points to vassals, which negates RD penalty.

[@AndysTake]

@@gronndar what’s that mod called? And it’s only for your vassals?

[@gronndar]

@@AndysTake I think it was Realm Divide Mod v2.0 from twc. It actually added flat -50 - 100 diplomatic hit to everyone, which decreases every turn, so alliances and vassalge should keep intact. Good luck finding it though from that dying site. Too many dead links there.

[@AndysTake]

@@gronndar I truly miss the heyday of the Total War Center. What a hub of life and passion.

[@StalkRay]

My first Total War game, it has the best combat among any other Total War games and the fight animations absolutely nails it. For a game where diversity isn't great and majority of the clan plays the same but it somewhat offers a large amount of replayability where I still keep on playing in to this date. The music is awesome thanks to Jeff Van Dyke who really nails it, and it also has the best multiplayer as well, had tons of fun in Avatar Conquest customizing my generals and roster, its a shame that multiplayer in other Total War games is lackluster compared to Shogun 2.

[@AndysTake]

That’s an awesome first total war game! Glad to hear you love it!

[@secuter]

I agree. It's actually the only TW game where I played MP. Back when it came out I even suggested a couple times on their forums that they should make a "create faction" where you choose your flag/mon, start location and how your leader look etc. They could've based the roster and flag etc on the avatar make. It would've been amazing.

[@typhir5911]

This game has aged so gracefully and it was my gateway into the Total War franchise. I still go back to Shogun 2 even to this very day. Still one of my absolute favorite TW games. The later entries all have their merits, but there is still charm in this title that keeps me playing this one over a newer entry. Realm Divide was such a cool idea and it totally makes sense for the time period and setting, although it is a really harsh penalty if the player isn't ready for it. I still remember my first game where it surprised me and all my allies attacked me at the same time. That was quite the rude awakening.

[@Fenris8800]

The battle animations itself between the soldiers are so cool. A feature which is missing in later gametitles of TWfranchise...

[@AndysTake]

I know, they’re the best in the series!

[@loowick4074]

Battle animations apparently mess up troop formations according to many people something I myself have not noticed to any major degree. I feel like kill animations should still be there. Maybe not the long shield battering contests of rome 2 but atleast a synced slash or stab which just generally looks good but not super specialised.

[@Fenris8800]

@@loowick4074 understand what you mean. But this is what can happen in such big match ups. Makes the battles more immersive. Because even such formations turns into chaos in real life battles about time in battle. But I guess there are must be a lot of people who complains about this so CA have to react on this. But never thought this could be a problem. Because Srsly this interactions never mess up formations in my battles oO At least not that much to get a disadvantage out of it. Look for example TW WH3: Formations stands infront each other and there is nothing but some kill moves. Some Tzar soldier swing is sword and a enemy do a 360 and fall. That's it. No other interactions anymore. Troy and China are same case. Kinda boring in my opinion :/ Except big units or heroes of course. Makes the ketchup DLC pointless. Litres of blood but no cut.

[@loowick4074]

@@Fenris8800 there is no sync animation just unit animation. I.e, a unit has idle, several attack animations and one or two death animations. It warhammer it looks bad because the moves are too flashy like a jump sword chop or a brogue kick and the enemy unit dies over spectacularly by having its head explode or arm cut off and these are independent which means rhe death animation have no relation on the animation that kill them. So someone's arm could fall off because they got kicked or someone may get cut in the torso because someone hit them on the head with a shield. You can still make non sync combat look good of the animations were simpler. But any warhammer product without any excessive and grimderp animation is apparently not a warhammer title lol. Haven't play Troy or 3k so idk about them.

[@stix_0910]

@@loowick4074 ya 3k and Troy have the same terrible animations, like kicks taking off limbs, ppl flying in the air when hit by arrows etc. it just looks bad , sh2 did this nicely. I hope the next tw game they look back at previous titles as well as forward. Its def my least fav thing with many later titles.

[@jannevellamo]

It's 2022 and I'm still playing this. The only other games of this age I play are Skyrim and Mount and Blade, both of which are also classics.

[@darktrey50]

Man I JUST started my 200th otomo playthru and finally bought fall of the samurai. Underloved game.

[@AndysTake]

Oooh yes, I hope you have a great run! FOTS is amazing as well!

[@saltspeak]

FOTS is the best “expansion” total war of all time… I will die on this hill. Naval battles with dynamic lighting (check) Melee and ranger combat with scaling tech (check) Easy to use agents (check) Map specific elements that grow over time (check) Best expansion ever.

[@AndysTake]

@@saltspeak absolutely love FOTS, as can be seen in my review of the expansion ;)

[@theaztec-totalwar247]

Yes it's still worth playing. For me Shogun 2 is still, after all those years, best Total War :) Combat system is amazing, campaign is hard but fair. One thing I will change is Realm Divided that's why I use mods that help you save your alliance in end game.

[@blasty137]

Shogun battles are quite poor and uninteresting compared to RTW and M2TW. I would say that even Empire and Napoleon had better battles because they work much better with the Warscape engine than melee-oriented battles in Shogun 2.

[@sup1602]

There is another gunpowder ship in the game, the naban tradeship has cannons and is pretty much unstoppable when you get enough of them.

[@frankpurvis9189]

see as you mentioned navel battles i don't suppose you know how to fix the broken navel AI? its why i completely stopped playing otherwise shogun 2 would be one of my favorites. It doesn't even need to be good AI just make it do something and not get sail to the edge of the map and get stuck. Yes i know there is auto resolve but a hate using it.

[@sup1602]

@@frankpurvis9189 I wouldn't do boarding actions and wait till you get fire arrows. There has a been a bug since empire when boarding actions are taken the units end up falling in the water and just dying. Also keep your navel commander out of combat if you can, when they end up routing all the ships on the sea tend to rout too. Also like in empire put your toughest ship in the ship line in front while the weaker ones are in the back. I prefer the navel battles in FoTS and empire but thats just me.

[@frankpurvis9189]

@@sup1602 none of those really help but thanks for the tips I'm just tired of the AI not doing anything till I attack and then sailing to the edge of the map and getting stuck.

[@MedjayofFaiyum]

This game had more cutscenes than the newer games even have. A cutscene for every single important thing that happened. Rome II suffered heavily from a lack of this and that what keeps it back in my opinion.

[@mrfeicco]

My best multiplayer experience was with Shogun 2. I won purely with the crappiest FoTS units using a forest to hide my numbers and my positioning. By the end of the match my opponent had conceded because I managed to kill half his army due to careful ambushing and use of slight elevation changes. I had only one of seven units left that had ammunition when he conceded.

[@AndysTake]

That sounds awesome!!

[@sid.h]

I really recommend the Master of Strategy mod to all those coming back to Shogun 2 and wanting an expanded and more grounded experience. Great mod.

[@AndysTake]

Nice tip! What does it do?

[@sid.h]

@@AndysTake It generally expands the game. New buildings, an unrest system, new unit system, rebalanced economy, updated AI, new resources and new tech tree. New maps! It's a lot. edit: Reworked diplomacy too. Longer and rebalanced battles. Better sieges. I generally found the game more engaging and slower-paced.

[@borkozdravkovic4746]

@@sid.h does ralm divide in mos remain the same? I read somewhere that it only gives you -40 on diplomacy so that diplomacy is viable now? I heavily dislike RD but i dont wanna mod it out

[@sid.h]

@@borkozdravkovic4746 Yes, I think realm divide has been rebalanced.

[@tariqskanaal8187]

@@sid.h there is also a master of strategy version for fall of the samurai, however I forgot it’s name

[@christofersvensson370]

you did not mention the avatar of conquest multiplayer mode, wich was a great inovation! the ability to link multi player battles and customise your units and general was so much fun!

[@psychofury6485]

i believe around 9:10 you commented about the mini clips for assassination etc, commented it was taken inspiration from medievil 2, but i played the original shogun, and those scenes were actually always in the shogun series, other ones borrowed from it :)

[@AndysTake]

that's awesome, thanks for sharing :)

[@Mr.Roboto_]

"Sword Samurai have an advantage against spearmen." Me: (Laughs in Yari Wall)

[@matthewy2j]

I'm of two minds with Shogun, on the one hand it's still mechanically sound, has arguably one of the better Ai's, and it's Campaign structure and flow is really strong. On the other hand I feel there's a lack of faction variety. To be fair having the Campaign based in Japan rather than an entire continent limits variety. That being said have the unique units being standard, not DLC would have improved my opinion on the matter. Then again maybe the Fantasy side of things fried my brain in that regard, but then again Medieval 2 had pretty unique faction flavours while still retaining units that are common (Spanish swordsmen, English Longbows, French Late game units, Holy Roman Two Handed Greatswords). That being said I would highly recommend picking it up if you're new to Total War, particularly if you want to get into the Historical side of things. The game very much holds up as compared to some of it's compatriots around the same era (Empire and Napoleon being predecessors, and Rome 2 following).

[@vetiwearerdaimyo1592]

And than CA droped the ball, they shoul have made Rome 2 and Medieval 3 using Shogun 2 engine and heck why not even Empire 2

[@Siharyvani]

When I played Shogun: Total War, I was captivated by the intense world of feudal Japan during the Sengoku period. As a daimyo, I balanced economy, diplomacy, and alliances while leading my armies into exhilarating real-time battles. The sight of samurai charging into combat was unforgettable. I was so enthralled that I shared my experiences with friends, and they got just as hooked. Despite occasional frustrations with the AI and a learning curve with the interface, the game's sheer thrill made it an adventure we all dived into together.

[@plsjato]

You didnt even mention the multiplayer ^^. Because all have to same units the multiplayer battles where amazing. Customizing your army, unlocking new units and creating your own general.

[@AndysTake]

You’re so right! I sadly don’t have as much experience with the multiplayer myself, but I know so many love it!

[@secuter]

It's strange. In other total war games I'm like "uh, I need a bigger roster" or "different unique location and geography" or "unique buildings and faction mechanics". But here I am, and Shogun 2 is my most played Total War game, probably my favorite too. It's an amazing game. I also love the matched combat. Yes it breaks up formations a little, but it looks amazing.

[@AndysTake]

Maybe it’s because it really fits the setting and because everything just feels so good to play regardless? It’s just solid.

[@saintjames1995]

It's because CA has tricked you into thinking you need those things when you don't. Quality over quantity my friend

[@frankpurvis9189]

@@saintjames1995 no offense but with how broken the navel AI(either doing nothing or getting stuck on the edge of the map) is i can't exactly agree on the game being quality, seriously CA fix it already. I can deal with dumb AI like empire fort battles but make it do something and don't get stuck every battle.

[@rcrhinehart66]

On Steam sale for $7.49 thru May 16, 2022. Prolly worth it...

[@shadowwarriorshockwave3281]

Fots is hands down the best Gunpowder total war and the best DLC in total war history it’s basically its own game

[@elPacho_42]

Me and my best friend grinded so hard on multiplayer that we where able to mantain our clan in the first page just in two person. Best multiplayer in a Total War game by far, i was really disappointed that Sega didn't persecute that style of multiplayer anymore.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah a lot of people really loved that mode!

[@BACON-nf2rr]

Shogun2 was my first ever total war game and i like it to this day, i currently mostly play warhammer tho and am thinking about getting three kingdoms. The thing that i like the most about shogun is the matched combat which is also in medieval 2 i believe. There are some mods now in wh2 for matched combat but i dont get why ca stopped working on it, its like the removal of naval battles simply a step backwards on certain aspects for no reason. When it comes to infantry they could have mostly jist imported it, monsters and stuff dont really need the matched combat, as for naval battles they could habe also just imported them from previous games and slapped a new ship model. But overall i still love wh but would hope they bring these mechanics back into their agenda.

[@joeconte8475]

Not necessarily my favorite setting and time period but this is in my opinion without a doubt THE most well polished total war, and I’ve been playing since 2004. Mechanics, cinematics, look, performance, gameplay both solo and multi player. This game holds up so well. And has far and away the coolest expansion.

[@CBGBBB]

With American guns and cannons…the realm divide just gave more meat for my guns to hit!

[@Red-S-267]

Love this TW more than any other TW. Didn’t really care for Warhammer and Rome vanilla just… wasn’t fun for me. Most of what I played of Rome 2 was DEI Aurellian. As for factions I mostly played Shimazu Tokugawa and Chosokabe.

[@maashiyuuu8297]

I've really only started playing it this month, since I want to try different flavors of strategy games (I started with civ5, but I spend the most time in eu4, and I love eu4 XD) and I decided to go for this game. I also love it, definitely still beautiful despite its age. I'm glad this introduced me to the franchise.

[@AndysTake]

I’m glad you’re enjoying it! :D I kinda hope for a Shogun 3 now!

[@elkingoh4543]

@@AndysTake amin

[@MrMultiB]

This was the only Total War game where I enjoyed the Multiplayer. The avatar campaign was super fun. Levelling up your general and unlocking units based on provinces you captured was a really fun mechanic, while not newbie friendly, adds to the individuality of your armies. Units that performed well in multiplayer battles had a chance to become a veteran unit that you could customize their stats as their level up as well as needing to heal in between battles made each veteran so much more important. I remember there used to be Clan battles where players would bring in their entire customized armies to face each other on the battlefield. I really wish there was a offline version of the avatar campaign, that system was so unique.

[@RobertusMaximus]

I need to know. What was your battle result of the Hojo siege defense against the Oda stacks?

[@AndysTake]

Oh man, I lost hard. Since you can’t see where the enemy comes at you from before the battle starts, I had the majority of my archers in the wrong place to begin with! Gotta retry it… haha

[@trantrungnam612]

First TW game I have ever played. Got at least 3K hours into it between 2013-2016 just show you how replay-able this game was with a few mods.

[@AndysTake]

Haha awesome! Which mods did you use?

[@trantrungnam612]

@@AndysTake I don’t remember the name of all of them since the last time I played was back in 2017, but i remember Expanded Japan with much more factions and region. If you think the starting points of Oda or Ikko Ikki are hard, this mod just turn the game into a slugfest in Central Japan. Also, more turns per years mod is a must. Otherwise your beloved high ranking generals would suddenly die during their campaign lol.

[@Swaggaccino]

Shogun 3 definitely needs a Mongolian invasion theme or a standalone..... Call it Khan: Total War much like Attila Total War. Very rich period..... although I fucking hate horse archers man.

[@AndysTake]

Hahaha! YES, F horse archers!

[@Argroh]

I know this might be a bit much, but have ye ever tried Tecmo/Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition / Romance of the Three Kingdom titles?

[@ForeverEternalAPEX]

Andy, in a Date run, I am literally fighting a large Takeda force. Blue vs Red. So poetic

[@richardwolfangel4724]

I found the lack of units to be the reason I barely broke double digits in terms of hours played in shogun 2, one of my lowest played total war games to date. I always enjoyed the spectacle of watching the different factions fight with their different looking units in the Rome total war games for instance. To each their own though, I am glad people got so much fun out of this I wish I could have as well.

[@steffen2592]

I have Shogun 2 for years and never really got used to it. I barely spend much hours. I gave it a new try some months ago and played over 100h. I love it. Better then Rome 2.

[@zero3556]

I recommend the radious mod for a huge expansion of the roster but I wholly understand where you're coming from. Interestingly that's the exact same problem I had with troy and yet I still have 1200 hrs in shogun 2. If I had to guess I would say I didn't care for the lack of different looking units because of the amazing show the combat delivered up close. The newer titles all have amazing models but (for me) the combat is incredibly boring to watch up close because they seem to be just punching the air in front of them. In shogun however you had the whole first 2 ranks more or less dueling it out. God I loved that.

[@MorganThorgan]

Still love Shogun 2 but mostly play fall of the Samurai nowadays. Its amazing, I must disagree on your dislike for Empire and ship battles though. I happen to enjoy both.

[@cheatoliphaunt5464]

How anybody can prefer the newer fight “animations” compared to this gem is beyond me. Yes, I play zoomed in and enjoy total war games for all their glory even when playing competitively lol

[@MedjayofFaiyum]

In S2 your generals could defect from you - something that was kinda shown in Rome II but never had any big impact apart from a couple of generals betraying you. I don't know if this feature is even present in the newer total wars for today.

[@AndysTake]

Generals could also defect in Medieval 2, perhaps even Rome 1?

[@raven6560]

I believe it's possible in three kingdoms

[@FilipMoncrief]

Possible in Rome 2, Attila, 3K, and some factions in Warhammer

[@oprime0078]

Shogun 2 was, and still is my absolute favorite strategy game of all time, I got it almost the same year it released and have continued to always come back too it, I will always remember the days my friends and I played 3v3 Avatar conquest battles together or played the coop

[@steffen2592]

Had realm divide with Date and Oda pretty early with 16 provinces. Now playing Takeda, I'm allied with the Shogun and Oda and have 24 provinces. Oda has 25 provinces and they declared war to me and the weak Shogun to grab Kyoto. Seems like, diplomatic actions can influence realm divide more then I expected. Fun game, still play it, but the matchlock troops are borked. Most of the time they never shoot and get slaughtered.

[@AndysTake]

Nice way to influence realm divide :)

[@pcwildcat]

There's something so beautifully simplistic yet masterful about Shogun 2. Fitting for the Japanese setting. My only gripe with the game is the trade nodes. I find it tedious to constantly move and monitor your trade ships.

[@ASummersetproduction]

Whenever I think about Shogun and why I can never really get into newer Total War games has to be the level of planning I could go into in the campaign map. As Tokugawa or in the Rise of the Samurai, if I wanted to Roleplay the cunning faction that slowly expands without declaring war on factions, I could. So for example, if I wanted to gobble up territory without actually fighting a faction, I would just reduce the population happiness, incite a revolt, and wait for the revolt to take that territory and make it neutral, and then march my forces from the border to take it. Or that since Cav only stacks had farther movement than mixed stacks, I would send small expendable raiding parties ahead of my main forces burning farms or other buildings and laying pointless sieges to draw the AI away while my main army went in. With new games, I can't do any of that. In Three Kingdoms, if there's a revolt, the revolt will just chill outside the city and just... sit there. If I bleed the economy or the happiness to the point where they've been in the negative for ten turns, the enemy faction can still shit out three armies complete with top-tier units.

[@MedjayofFaiyum]

As soon as I saw the first trailer, I have no idea what happened but it made me want to play it. It was a great game, just can't bring myself to play it anymore now and I don't know the reason why. I remember playing as the Takeda and I had built this empire - it started with the elimination of the Akai (I can't remember the clan name but it began with something like that) and from there I had 3-4 wars with the Uesugi and once I finished them, I then fought the Ikko Ikki, which was a brutal warfare. After that I had built a small northern empire stretching from the borders of the Imagawa to Kyoto itself. But the main problem was the Oda and the other clans that fought against me. It was an era of realm divide but I had stretched myself too thin and was losing money. That was the moment I then stopped playing for some reason and this was back in 2011-2012. Good times

[@AndysTake]

Good times!

[@brakonierrr7067]

The Shogun 2 is the best TW game ever, but the 3 things missing in order to be even greater, the ultimate TW game are: population mechanic(although the growth mechanic is kinda playing the same role), historical realistic(unique) castles for deeper immersion and intriguing less predictable siege battles and Mongol Invasion expansion pack. By the way, I consider Rise of the Samurai superior in fun and immersion and deeper in a strategic aspect and overal more challenging than both original Shogun2 and Fall of the Samurai dlc.

[@AndysTake]

Oh damn really? What made you love ROTS so much? I need to know! I just couldn’t love the units that much since there were no real samurai as far as I remember

[@brakonierrr7067]

@@AndysTake First, lets make that clear - I am more of a Campaign player, rather than Battle player. Not that I dont like the battles, I do, but I enjoy more the depth of the campaign in TW. That little fact might be crucial for my prefference to RotS above the others And then, I will simply copy for you an answer to another TW youtuber regarding the same topic: "Of course, it is up to personal preferences, no argue about that. I just find everything you stated as a non negative trait. "unit variety is terrible" - the scarce unit variety is representing well the historic age in which the game takes place, imo. "levy units are completely useless on Legendary" Anyway I play only on Legendary, and I think that is exactly the point!! The uselessness of the levies (they are poor fucking half-naked peasants, what do you expect!?) is forcing the player to develop in military and gain acces to the higher warrior classes of the age. That idea is smartly implemented even in the title of the dlc. The levy peasants of the age should not be compared and should not be expected to match the semi-proffesional and well armoured(in later 16 c.) Ashigaru from Sengoku Jidai era. Actually, it is the minimalism and (arguably) historical accuracy what I find extremely enjoyable about RotS. :) And definitely RotS has undeniable pluses compared to SJ, like: unique building for every family, not available to others(Taira/Fujiwara/Minamoto palace), greater vаriеty of double-branched developing buildings, which makes the game more interesting and less repeating, might be simplified but still some kind of diplomacy/politic affair mechanic for peacefull subjugation, presented in no other TW game/dlc before - Requesting Allegiance, harder acces to strategic trade resources, wider use of agents, slower replenishment rate, hence more wise and careful planing which battles to fight and which not - more strategy involved simply said, and etc. RotS is overall harder and a bit slower than the vanilla Shogun2, which I consider а solid advantage for any die-hard and dedicated TW fan. :) " As a conclusion. I play exclusively on Legendary difficulty and I have no lost campaign on Fall of the Samurai(which I found the easiest of them 3), and have a few failure attemts on Shogun with the Uesugi clan(the most challenging clan imo), while on Rise of the Samurai are my most challenging and difficult campaigns I ever played on TW game. And the challenge goes with you almost through the whole campaign, not only in the begining. I remember a campaign with the Fujiwara Taira when I was in such a desparate situation, left with just 3-4 provinces, besigied by enemy clans from all sides. But my only vassal luckily succeded to carve a pretty large realm of his own, like 5-6 provinces, and gathered a serious military force, so he marched across the map and positioned his main army next to my besiged city and with his help I could finally lift the siege, defeated the bastards, and turned the course of the campaign in my favor :) Without my vassal's help I ws doomed. I felt so satisfied and excited, like it was as I am in a real historic moment. I have never expirienced something like that before in any other TW game in more than 100s of campaigns I've played through the years! Oh, and there are real samurais, for the love God :))) That's what the name of the dlc is all about. There are samurais, and they are more "real" than the ones in the original SHogun. The samurais in RotS are equipped with bow and sowrd and are well armoured, just like the real samurais were.

[@vuhieu5362]

This game never gets old, i still play it when i get bored with elden ring or souls games

[@basiliimakedonas1109]

The way to beat realm divide is what you can't hold make vassal and have a few strategic castles to hold. The vassals stay loyal long enough and provide you with much needed trade income. The vassals WILL betray you but they'll do one by one or two at a time, buying you time to beat the larger threats while the vassals being smaller ones, growing to 7 cities max. If you've grown your farms a bit before starting realm divide is important and more importantly you must play passively a bit so you'll decide when realm divide starts, not the AI and catch you off guard, need be sacrifice some border cities

[@King.Bojack]

CA just posted your vid on their page. Congrats!

[@AndysTake]

Thanks Don, I’m really happy about it :)

[@King.Bojack]

@@AndysTake keep up the awesome work man.

[@AndysTake]

@@King.Bojack Thank you my friend, trying my best, and thanks again for being a great supporter! :D

[@davidthewhitelizard3681]

Shogun 2 has probably best multiplayer,due to the Avatar Conquest and also faction unique units.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah a lot of people love the multiplayer! I never got to play it online actually, what did you love about avatar conquest?

[@davidthewhitelizard3681]

@@AndysTake I really like unit upgrades,with it you can trasform super cheap units into real powerhouses, plus I really like Avatar Customization through Retainers and also different gear.

[@Kristian-vb5dk]

I have been playing Total War games since the original Shogun and MTW. Shogun 2 is by far the most polished, challenging and fun to play game of the series. It also manages to maintain a historical atmosphere better than other TW titles, since the scale is limited inside the one country only, so you don't get that ridiculous empires showing up in campaigns.

[@Danymok]

Personally I think the ability tree for generals was a negative addition. I liked how in Rome 1 and Medieval 2, generals got traits based on their actions, which made a lot more sense, and made those decisions more important, because they'd affect your family

[@AndysTake]

True, I loved that too. Perhaps a mix of the two could be something.

[@Deailon]

I loved Shogun 1. I remember replaying demo for hours before it came out. Shogun 2 is great as well and I lost a lot of time in it :)

[@AndysTake]

Awesome to hear :)

[@AnthroTsuneon]

Everyone has plenty to say about both campaign and battles, but just.. Something about the graphics manage to hold up great despite being so old and not stylized to last. The best smoke/fire effects in the franchise, in my opinion. Seeing mists in little valleys or a line of smoke depending on how many units fired rifles changing the entire atmosphere of a battle as technology developed is stunning.

[@AndysTake]

I agree!

[@nutyyyy]

For me it's the peak. The scale is nice and stylised graphics look perfect. I hated in later games that cities are absolutely massive on the map. The scale just seems off. The graphics of Shogun always seem like they are brand new and cutting edge.

[@aydon1276]

This was my second ever Total War game. Coming from Rome 2 (albeit a patched one), I went in blind expecting it to be just as mediocre but was blown away by the RTS element. By far my favourite Total War game, beating out every new title. The only titles I have even half the playtime in are Warhammer 2 and Rome 2.

[@shugyosha7924]

"I really don't think time is real" I wasn't expecting such a high brow take

[@AndysTake]

well, that's what you get here at Andy's Take

[@gronndar]

Good game. Pretty difficult. Still remember co-op campaign, where AI did beat us. Had to start several times. AI asks friend to make an trade embargo on me. Agreeds and takes payment, tries to break it. But decision is locked. I in turn retreat from major battle where his force gets overwhelmed.

[@AndysTake]

Sounds exciting!

[@faravearvods2862]

The first time I played shogun was like when I was 15 and hitting realm divide was scary, like something you would have never saw coming, when I got the notifs that every clan declared war on me I was litteraly shitting myself lol. I instantly closed the game and went to the Web to find out how to stop it, alas my efforts were in vain.

[@AndysTake]

Hahaha! That’s scary indeed. One of the reasons why I liked the mechanic even though it can totally ruin a campaign.

[@martynhulland6252]

Nice video..and I must admit I agree on most points. Not my favourite time period or setting but I've had some of the best playthroughs with Shogun and it's DLC..so atmospheric and remains one of my favourite TW game's. Some great mods out there..I played through Darthmod with many submods added.. one which lessons the realm divide mechanic. It's easily the game I return to the most...I'd just wish they expanded the FOTS campaign to take in larger parts of the World Map..but then that's where an Empire 2 is needed!!

[@AndysTake]

YEA GIVE US EMPIRE 2. And thank you, man!

[@shesh2265]

realm divide. lose and gain 1-3 settlements every turn until eventually youve actually killed them all and just march down the rest of the map. beautiful challenge.

[@CrzBonKerz21]

I really hope Shogun 3 is the next historic TW title.

[@AndysTake]

I wouldn’t be opposed to that honestly

[@antoniomorenattijimenez7872]

I have been playing Shogun Total War with all the DLC'S for more than 2000 hours. It was the game with which I started playing the Total War saga. Apart from being one of the best games I've ever played, it also has some of the most complete downloadable content you can get; Shogun 2 fall of the samurai

[@AndysTake]

Glad to hear it :) both Shogun 2 and FOTS are awesome!

[@Corgilius]

Ideas for Shogun 3: Edo Period (right after the Sengoku Period). Gun powder is relevant, there’s still Dutch trade in Nagasaki, and Samurai are slowly declining before their downfall in Rise of the Samurai. The 1100’s-1400’s (including a lot of Asia, maybe even making the game Total War: Asia or smth, idk) with Samurai coming popular, China is in its prime, Mongolia is beginning to take a hold of its area, and more. Maybe some more on the Boshin war? Idk. Fall of the Samurai feels kinda limited compared to the base game. Personally: I do think it’s great, but there could’ve been more done. Also, Korea is a big factor of Japan’s history and never was introduced really. Even if (and when) Total War: WWI comes a thing: Japan deserves to be around or at least as a DLC.

[@madafakahakunamatata8269]

It might fail massively, but i wish Shogun 3 had a castle builder, where you could build your own stronghold. For examplw you could be given a space with a few mountains in it, and build a fort there. Or grasslands with a river flowing through it. You could be as creative as you can be. And i will never stop wishing for Empire 2 with all of Africa, Asia and South America included.

[@Neutral_1zed]

Without even watching the video, yes, Shogun 2 is worth it, even in five year I’d still say it’s worth a try, It’s like RTW 1 a few years ago to me, one of the most iconic face of the TW franchise and one of the best up until even now.

[@akooma3694]

Man I still play the MP most days, matchmaker usually as the server browser is usually ded. Best MP ever in a total war game, SO MUCH REPLAYABILITY! I have videos on my channel (terrible ones) teaching you how to insta level 10 and unlock all units for the MP

[@TotalWarlord1]

I really like to see more Asian focused tw like 3 Kingdoms and Shogun 2, but in a wider scope in terms of land area and maybe time for more diversity and replayability.

[@AndysTake]

Would love that too, it would’ve been great to combine Japan and Korea for example, perhaps even with the Chinese coastline or something.

[@secuter]

I don't know. I love Shogun 2, but 3K didn't stick with me, even if it is a very beautiful game.

[@Timer-Diegon1111]

I have a huge shogun 2 fos campaign right now. 50 unit armies with Darth mod means huge armies and many new units + features. Every battle I play is more than 20,000 men. Plays flawlessly compared to the newer total wars.

[@AndysTake]

Sounds awesome!

[@stealthyshiroean]

What???? You didn't care for the naval combat? I loved the naval combat in Shogun 2. Base game and Fall of the Samurai. I always found Empire to be kind of boring but I loved how each of the different boats in Shogun had different abilities. Really felt more tactical to me. I absolutely loved capturing the black ship or getting the Nihon Maru. That aside, Shogun 2 is definitely one of my faves and is the Total War I've put the most amount of time in. It's hard for me to go back to it these days, but I have such fond memories of the game.

[@AndysTake]

I loved the FOTS naval combat, but I’ve just never really gotten much into the close quarter naval combat stuff.

[@stealthyshiroean]

@@AndysTake Yeah, I guess I can understand that. Melee boarding was actually kind of boring. My favorite parts were probably maneuvering my small arrow ships around while my melee ships were doing boarding actions. Especially when I could use fire arrows. Such a lovely sight to catch an enemy ship aflame.

[@Howardone]

I loved this game but find it hard to play now as you can never trust the ai.... signed an alliance to be invaded by them the next turn.... Oda was my go to faction, converted to Christian and painted the map with rebels.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah, an untrustworthy AI can really make things difficult and less fun.

[@zerophoenix8312]

I picked up Shogun 2 about two weeks ago and spent 60 hours on it already. I dare say the battles are even better than some recent TW games. I just wish the game could run better on modern PC, or have fewer bugs and balance oversights.

[@mcsmash4905]

my fav thing about shogun 2 (other than the fact thati got it for free back in 2020) was that the ai often beat my armies of equal size or sometimes even larger than its own armies

[@ESFAndy011]

0:28 Wha?! Maybe I got a bias but how does Empire take one over Medieval 2?

[@AndysTake]

Hahaha I know, Empire sits at like 90 or something on metacritic if I remember correctly. It’s crazy. It’s a great game, but DESPITE it’s faults, of which there are many. Definitely not better than Medieval 2 though, imo.

[@jinglered8286]

The clash of gunpowder gunnery and traditional steel weapons really sells the game for me.

[@AndysTake]

Love it, especially in FOTS

[@jinglered8286]

@@AndysTake abusing levy infantry as defensive garrisons is bliss. You can virtually never lose with 6-8 levies in a province.

[@DillsyYourDaddy67]

@@jinglered8286 "Yari Ashigaru + Yari Wall = win game" Sun Tzu

[@jinglered8286]

@@DillsyYourDaddy67 yari ashigaru Spam in SOTS and levy infantry in FOTs

[@ZR-cj2fm]

As an avid fan of the TW series, I can confidently say that Shogun 2 is perhaps the best game in the series.

[@AndysTake]

I can confidently say that PERHAPS it is as well, lol, even though I like Attila more ;)

[@ZR-cj2fm]

@@AndysTake For me it's the mix of the era/asthetics. I'm not a weeb, but i've always been drawn to this period of japanese history. Combine that with some of the best gameplay, the fact it can be easily modded from the steam workshop, it has the most playtime hours of any TW game for me with TWE being second. (Though TWE is equipped with darthmod)

[@DevlinXIII]

The multiplayer aspect of Shogun 2 was unequal. You got to level up your units and general with different approaches in the skill tree made a lot of tactics choices. Pure perfection

[@MrBuckmaster01]

This game was perfect. Way collision worked with cavalry charges, to unit charges and when they engaged in sword combat where they blocked or attacked and the blades hit each other, or they would dodge or roll away. Arrows where perfect no tracers, and they flew and hit how they where supposed too. My favorite part avatars conquests making and customized avatars, making him into a commander/archer/or Legendary melee general.. I wish so badly they would remaster this game please keep it all the same just update the graphics. Don't touch anything else ahahah. Could maybe add more towns or faction add. Increase size of map. The avatar conquest is dam perfect. Wish you could bring them into campaign and play coop avatar conquest with your own generals would be amazing❤

[@TheGeneralScorpion]

Totaly agree that the game was the pure masterpiece and THE BEST Total War game that came out by far. I actually think that after Shogun 2 they started going downhill and downgraded a lot of things... like that "strategic manouver" cursors where you can order your troops to move forward whilst keeping formation or to turn left-right as much as you wish... all that just by clicking simple button :O i dunno what they did in Rome 2 when it came out but they removed that "manouvering arrows" and i always had to re-fix my overall formation every time my army moved... was insane...

[@machaiping]

One thing that you haven't touch upon is that while the faction lacks difference (barring DLC units) as they're from the same culture, the same couldn't be said for the units themselves, as not a single unit in this game is a copy paste of one another with different stats while fulfilling same role like many other Total War that people claimed to have more variety, but are just skin-deep in most cases when you look closely. To give an example; Town Militia, Spear Militia, Spear Sergeant, and Saracen Militia in Medieval 2; All of them are spear unit, the only difference between them is the progressively better stat and different cosmetic, but ultimately you used them the same way; Hold the line. So, once you get the latter two (Sergeant/Saracen) there's no reason for you to use Town or Spear Militia anymore as they perform the same role but worse. Compare that to Yari Ashigaru, Yari Samurai, Naginata Samurai, and Naginata Monk from Shogun 2 all of them are spear unit like the Medieval 2 example above, but none of them fulfill similar role in battle at all, to wit: - Ashigaru hold the line the best but terrible when out of formation and easy to get outmaneuvered or shot to pieces by archers. - Yari Samurai best use for Cavalry interception with their temporary speed boost to catch the Cavalry but not so good at holding the line and so-so on flanking attack. - Naginata Samurai has highest armor best used to taking shots from archers but average in holding the line and not so good at flank attack due to slow speed. - Naginata Monk is best at flank assault to break enemy line and causing chain rout by their demoralizing skill and charge, but will get killed quickly when bogged down in combat or shot to pieces by archers due to their low armor. You cannot use Monk to hold the line like Ashigaru, nor did you can expect Ashigaru to stop enemy cavalry flank attack or chase down Cavalry Archer like Yari Samurai. And thus, all of them had their uses regardless of how long the game progressed. The complains about seeing players keep using Ashigaru spam was not because other units are not viable or useless, but because tech tree locked other units away for quite a bit too long.

[@aeu569]

Shogun 2 was the game that made me feel at 34 like a new game used to make me feel back when I was a child. I am afraid for the last time.

[@Totalwar09]

FunFact: If the MP campaign desyncs, one player can send the other player their savefile to fix the desync :)

[@GoobNoob]

My cousin was a game reviewer before this game came out. They gave him like 8 keys to give away to friends and whatever, I asked him because I loved those kinds of games and don't have many games, he said no. He said it was an amazing game though, and explained in detailed, which kinda got me even more pissed lol

[@Mike0193Azul]

I still am waiting so unpatiently for a Total war Shogun 3 and new Medieval ☹️ I've played them all and Shogun 2 is still my favorite. The Warhammers are so fun as a different playstyle to historical but I def son want the more approachable arcade style to bleed into their historical titles. That said, I do like the hybrid style of the three kingdoms and Troy, the the battles themselves weren't as satisfying to me as Shogun 2.

[@butter5842]

This is my favourite strategy game of all time. It has many flaws and problems in my opinion but it's so fun with so many different playstyles and challenge runs you can come up with yourself. I love seeing numbers go up so my favourite clan is the Mori where I can establish a trade empire and buy my way out of any problem.

[@AndysTake]

Awesome :D

[@jjo3874]

This game was amazing imo the best historical tw, the legendaey campaings were great, the AI naval invading was amazing.

[@AndysTake]

Agreed :)

[@RoninMike-DR]

On Shogun 2 the AI waited over 10 turns to ambush me, I was moving my Daimyo with a few elites to another stack so about 1k (I play with everything on ultra) and the AI ambushed me with 14k Ashigaru units, mostly spears😱 I thought it was the end of my Daimyo, forgot to save so it was too late to go back further without losing momentum. First thing I did was move around the map a bit, that forced the enemy to follow and get tired, after that I was able to better analyze the terrain I found a spot where they bottlenecked for a little bit and I kept attacking them there to lower morale, then I would have to swing around multiple times, tiring the enemy. Finally once I saw that their morale was shocked, I dismounted some units at the bottleneck I found and swong the others to hit behind them and poof, those Ashigaru didn't stand a chance, I routed archers first then the spears, I dismounted some of the units because of the spears to hold a line while I took the rest to smash into their back line. I bought Shogun 2 in 2009, it was my first Steam game, I keep playing because more than what kind of units or how many units, tactics matters the most, that's what I want CA, that depth, so I defeated an army of 14k Ashigaru in an open field with only 1k elite units with tactics and it took a long time over an hour, why can't I get this from some of the other TW games, I'm looking at you WH and 3K.

[@flaggy185]

10:41 6 star General with full army sieging an important town Thats what happens when you mess with the Oda

[@redroomproductionstm9518]

Fantastic review!

[@yabs9642]

honestly my favorite total war ever. and thats hard to say cuz of the nostalgia of medieval 2 & that one being my first total war game ':D. id love to see the new mechanics of the hero single entities in shogun 2 as well. like similar to how 3 kingdoms has a 4 fun mode & a serious historical mode. let me live as anime oda nobunaga LOL would add even more replay ability. but honestly, medieval total war is long over due for a new one. and id LOVE IT if they did something similar to total war 3 kingdoms where you can choose a timeline to go in since THERES SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH going on in that period. or give us multiple roster set ups for when an age advances, and use the marriage/family tree system. once you OP general dies, he can pass off some of his traits to his son and abilities. (you can pick one or 2 the rest are random)

[@AndysTake]

Would love more ages or just a new Shogun 3, I bet Japan would look so beautiful!

[@pieterzwanenburg5450]

Shogun 2 is so well thought out , the gameplay is still awesome in 2023 !! Wish they would do a remaster !!! Just by improving the graphics and maybe a quality of living improvement such as when deciding on price during diplomacy, this will still be an awesome game even now !!!

[@Kokozaftran]

Had a thousand hours on this game in 2011-2015. Crazy.

[@Mogsey1972]

The best Total War game for me, only problem was that the Multiplayer campaign was plagued with horrible bugs at around Turn 130 ish. Also I Loved the campaign map style which looks far more appealing in it's simplicity compared to the eye-melting Warhammer Total War maps.

[@AndysTake]

Yeah the multiplayer desyncs that were never fixed piss me off :’(

[@Mogsey1972]

@@AndysTake It's the only reason my brother and I stopped playing.

[@Ray-lf1eo]

He spy cutscenes look more like a monty python skit