I'M ACTUALLY SHOCKED | TOTAL WAR PHARAOH DYNASTIES REVIEW

[@AndysTake]

Get amazing discounts on the games you want on Instant Gaming, and use my link to support the channel: www.instant-gaming.com/?igr=andysinstantgaming

[@penzorphallos3199]

Pharaoh is probably the only glimmer of hope for 'historical' tw fans. It is also great to see ca take into account their failures and have free content updates. Fans are fickle but goodwill earns you loyalty.

[@HistoricalWeapons]

What’s not historical enough about this game? Relative speaking to old tw games like rome

[@RubInWax]

​@@HistoricalWeapons I think he was talking about CA's following the Warhammer trilogy for like a decade now. Where vast majority of resources are going compared to historical ones.

[@muchasgracias5577]

nope, there are plenty of good or epic mods, super historical. :) DEI, europa barbarorum e.g.

[@penzorphallos3199]

@@HistoricalWeapons most of the game is historicaly acceptable or understandable aesthetic conjecture. We only have so few sources after 3000 years... But the addition of melee cavalry is entirely ahistorical, it did not exist for another 500 years after the game era. Horses were still too small to handle a rider with armor, so they were only used for scouting or raiding. But mostly pulling royal or elite chariots, since the cost of maintenance for horses was too high to just hand off to randos. Also there was no real saddle, so no "knights" or lancers since you would fly off the horse in the shock of collision. Mounted skirmishers were the best possible "cavalry", and mostly in mesopotamia or early persia.

[@penzorphallos3199]

@@muchasgracias5577 brother the rome2 engine is an unoptimized mess and the gameplay-ui is the same slop as tw warhammer. Rome1 remastered is a mobile game, enough said. No mods can change that. The only good recent tw game was shogun 2 but i played it to death already. Look up the video 'Rome total war leaks'. You will see a detailed list of all the features you lost in every tw game since rome 1. Don't start telling me i just want the same game over and over, tw warhammer 123 is the same game over and over for 10 years now...

[@thelineguy123]

Pharaoh being originally released in its original state has nothing to do with delays, it was explicitly because CA thought they could get away with cutting out a ton of stuff to trickle into content later. Sofia voiced their displeasure at that, but did the best they could, and were luckily given the opportunity to redeem Pharaoh with the Dynasties update.

[@RogueRanks]

Even just seeing a family tree UI makes me smile, historical fans have been suffering for so long even that is refreshing. Amazing review!

[@AndysTake]

Thank you my friend! The suffering is over (for now)!

[@PeterJambor-g2n]

@@AndysTake Over? Still has this cartoonish/mobile game vibe. Those cavalry charges.. makes me miss 3K. Anyhow, thanks for letting us know about the update.

[@jlih6271]

Refreshing? It's nothing new to total war

[@zenmastakilla]

@@jlih6271 Halfwit.

[@ForageGardener]

Family trees would be useless in empire and napoleon so I get it why they were left out of those games

[@AndysTake]

UPDATE! The weak general health was actually a bug, and has been fixed for launch! 🎉

[@josgretf2800]

thats good to hear. Im super hyped to play tomorrow, and then get mad and quit lol.

[@zarahandrahilde9554]

It's gross that you have this "i told you so" tone when all of this was already in the roadmap. Instead of thanking CA Sofia you play gamingchair CEO and tell them business. If you ask me, you owe the people at CA Sofia a huge apology.

[@dominiclasagna3094]

@@zarahandrahilde9554 Its the ridiculous idea that you think CA should just be allowed to produce and sell half made games, for them to only finish it months later, or in this case 9 months.

[@zarahandrahilde9554]

Oh gee i wonder where you got that opinion from. Thanks Andy you foster a great community.

[@jvoodoochild2755]

@@dominiclasagna3094companies require profits in order to fund the next project. I speculate that Troy was a half baked development of a Bronze Age trilogy, Pharaoh completed some of the development pieces and left others open for a Babylon payday/release to complete. Then all three would be combined ala Immortal Empires but now is Dynasty WH had a 8-10y life. Because of the outcry, Bronze will be less than 5y. This is not good for CA and that isn’t good for us if Total War doesn’t get the funding to make the next thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if CA doesn’t drop historical projects all together and just partners with fantasy franchises going forward

[@readmymind796]

Not only are they giving us such a massive free dlc but they have put the base game on sale as well. They are truly trying to make it up to the fans by listening to suggestions and constructively taking criticism. I have seen nothing but overwhelming support from the fanbase in return. Well done Sofia 👏🏻 well done.

[@fearan9406]

So your aware the Sofia team is token in comparison to the W3 team and they have zero say in their projects

[@brandt0]

Honestly, this is how you regain respect and loyalty from customers. They not only improved the game during a time when most devs would have just written it off as a failure and loss, but they also made the game cheaper and the updates free. What more could you ask for? Excellent job, CA. For that, you have earned my dollars.

[@KvltKommando]

It's a start but it's a PR campaign to repair their image which they damaged. This is the abusive father buying you an ice cream cone

[@DirtyCivilian14]

Sofia has done a good job. I'm very happy with them after this

[@JackChurchill101]

I'm not 'buying' it. The story, I mean. I do not trust this company's management. I fully believe they are staring at the sheets and finally said, "fine lower the price" and "fine, release it for free", only because they know that "sales" and "reviews" are the only thing that will look good to future investors. If they don't release a new engine, it's not a new game in my opinion. It's a mod "total overhaul" but it's still Rome 2, for the 8th time.

[@brandt0]

Honestly, this is how you regain respect and loyalty from customers. They not only improved the game during a time when most devs would have just written it off as a failure and loss, but they also made the game cheaper and the updates free. What more could you ask for? Excellent job, CA. For that, you have earned my dollars.

[@olivier38536]

Now I wish they’d listen to the people who played TW:Arena and bring it back

[@KvltKommando]

It's a PR campaign because they got owned by ex-CA team members, they're going to have to do better than that before I trust them enough to give them money again

[@larryredenbaugh6854]

​​​​​@@KvltKommando Theure owned by ex-CA devs yeah but they're also not under the discretion of corporate overlords anymore. 90% of these games that you see that feel hollow and predatory aren't the fault of the devs. Devs want to make good games, they don't get paid based on the amount of profit the games make outside of the leads maybe in some cases. They're forced to only do what the investors or majority owners tell them to do, and most of the time, that isn't to make a good game, it's to make them as much money as possible. Now that it's just owned by the devs. They can actually make the games how they want.

[@rpersen]

Mine too. I had all but give up on CA, but I will try out Pharao. Downloading right now and will try for two hourse to see if I should refund or not.

[@KvltKommando]

@@larryredenbaugh6854 When I said they were owned, I don't mean in terms of "ownership" I meant it in terms of slang, as in they got embarrassed by ex-CA devs in the several tell all articles that those ex-CA team members published, and they may have replaced some higher ups due to poor performance but as far as I can tell they're still totally controlled by SEGA and the corporate taint will always be there until they become an independent studio. In other words, there is no reason to believe the new boss isn't just as bad as the old boss.

[@legionofrome2967]

Bronze era is such an underrated era and I still think the only reason people say it is a boring era is wrong. it was just the quality of the game that let them down.

[@kevo_1408]

Assassin's Creed Origins isn't set in the bronze age. It is set in Egypt during the Roman conquest of the region, literally centuries after the bronze age

[@mariusbehm9874]

@@kevo_1408 no origins is 47 bc bronze age ended 1170 bc

[@blorb2120]

@@mariusbehm9874 so it ended over a thousand years before Origins

[@undertakernumberone1]

​@@kevo_1408i hate origins timeframe... "we could have a game during egypts heighday, but... Caesar and Cleopatra!"

[@LegioX_95]

@@mariusbehm9874 ...so it is not set in bronze age

[@francesco.virzi4]

Historical total war is back guys!

[@sedghammer]

It's really not.

[@CsStoker]

Not at all, the fact that they pulled cavalry out of their asses really killed the game for me

[@sanjnamous]

@@CsStokerwhat? Egyptians and Hittites literally had chariot forces at the time. LOL

[@CsStoker]

@@sanjnamous Exactly, chariots. They had no cavalry because their horses weren't suitable for riding.

[@zack2804]

@@CsStoker Good point. They should've used cavalry as an excuse to add Aryan factions, who were among the earliest horse nomads.

[@SeaIify]

Not gonna lie, and I thought I would never say this, but I'm genuinely excited for Pharaoh now. I didn't hate it when it came out, but I was on the... "This is just TROY, but with Egyptians. Pass" kind of wagon bit they've been adding more and more stuff and with the next update it honestly looks promising. Sure, is far from perfect, but all things considered, this looks legitimately appealing for me now.

[@Omni_Shambles]

I got over 500 hours out of Pharaoh pre-dynasties, so I thought it was pretty good to be honest. Nothing compared to bigger titles obviously.

[@hippieyoda1993]

Everyone was on the ‘this is just Troy but Egypt’ wagon, apart from CA. Until, of course, they reduced the price and admitted they were 🤡

[@bravozero6]

It's literally Troy with egyptians

[@mikemcguinness92]

Everything CA have done in the last few months has convinced me to pick up Pharaoh and give Dynasties a try.

[@EroticOnion23]

Same, just bought and downloading the game right now. Can't wait to be a KANG!! 😁

[@mikemcguinness92]

And it runs like a dream too! CA Sofia have done a great job!

[@luxborealis]

I thought they screwed me because I preordered it, but not only did they give me like half my money back while letting me keep the game, now I get to play Dynasties for free with the update. Loving it! Gorgeous game, and runs really well. Also some factions are crazy challenging.

[@Filip_Agrippa]

Pharaoh felt like a DLC for a bigger game, something similar to Charlemagne.

[@Torag55]

I recall one of the CA members actually admitted that Pharoah WAS supposed to be a DLC for Troy. Better late than never i suppose.

[@michaelh878]

​@@Torag55Yeah an expansion for Troy. Not sure if there is a difference between dlc and expansion.

[@ProierThanYou]

@@michaelh878 I guess now it's overtaken the position of being a DLC and now Troy feels like a DLC for it.

[@interstellarlapisthecccp4946]

This game is exactly what I wanted all along. I bought Pharaoh with the hope that they would expand the map into the first true Bronze Age Total War and stopped playing pretty early on when it seemed like it will exclusively be focused on Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant. It just felt incomplete and underwhelming. I went thru one Egyptian campaign and haven't touched it since. I was so pleasantly surprised when I came back to find that Assyria, Mycenaea, Babylon and all surrounding regions like Elam and Troy were added as well. I love this epoch in time and there really isn't much content out there when it comes to strategy games to scratch that Bronze Age itch. I personally think it would be a good idea to add a new mode down the line to the game that introduces a few mythical units but even without it I feel satisfied. Babylon, Assyria and Hattusa are the forgotten Empires every lover of ancient history fantasizes about, but all anyone in the mainstream is interested in is ancient Greece and Egypt. Now there is a game where you can explore and relive ancient history from every corner of the old world.

[@GothPaoki]

I don't think waiting for a year would change anything for it's release. Game had problems other than little time. It's the backlash that activated ca to put resources into it instead of trying to scam their customers charging 60 for a dlc.

[@quimble2177]

I won’t lie, Pharaohs launch gave me a severe distrust of TW KZbinrs. I’ll give it a couple weeks before i start properly listening to them, because when pharoah launched it took a couple weeks before they started calling out the issues.

[@michaelh878]

What? I didn't see anyone who was positive about it.

[@caseblue2232]

​@@michaelh878This channel

[@lukedumoulin8204]

I haven’t heard a single positive review. They did mention strong points, but they focused heavily on the short comings

[@quimble2177]

Are you too fucking high? Cody Bonds, Jackie fish, Andy, Milk and Cookies TW, almost every big TWtuber was praising the game up until release for god sake, and a week or two after, they started shitting on it, some a bit earlier, certainly, but they were in the minority

[@Lucpol1986]

Always trusted my favorite ones, but then I always verified. Best approach pal 👍🏾

[@12zxgglol]

This, this put a smile on my face

[@brandonzzz9924]

Thanks for sharing Andy, and also for mentioning some of the things Pharaoh still needs to work on. Lethality sounds like a great new feature, and I am excited to try out the dynastic policies with one of my favorite TW economic systems borrowed from Troy. It is astonishing to me that CA greenlit a free DLC that is twice the size of the base game, and I am waiting in anticipation after freeing room on my drive to buy this game solely from your review in this video (feel free to use this sale to persuade CA to officially sponsor you). I really hope this dlc does well enough that CA starts working on Empire 2, but at least we have a shiny new game that actually works until then...

[@Lekirius]

Wow! The city just outside the battlefield limit is something from way back in Rome 1!

[@psychodoxie6987]

Rome 2 and I think Attila has this aswell

[@Lekirius]

@@psychodoxie6987 oh i didn't know.

[@kingmarre9130]

3 Kingdoms has it two

[@Native_Creation]

It's in most Total War games, Shogun 2 as well (but they look like small castles/forts)

[@ethantwolfe]

empire total war as well

[@RIP_Greedo]

Re: the seemingly weak generals’ mortality in battle - isn’t that the point? The bodyguard unit is not supposed to be an OP killdozer unit, it’s just a bodyguard for the general. Committing the general himself to battles is supposed to be a decisive or last ditch move.

[@IslamistSocialist371]

damn , finally. a decent historical total war since 2018

[@JanielDavidAlfaros]

Since 2010.

[@Cholimao]

@@JanielDavidAlfaros TBF thrones of britannia was decent, their sieges were amazing, but it was so localized in the British Isles that lacked variety.

[@lukedumoulin8204]

@@JanielDavidAlfarosput sum respect on 3K. It wasn’t that bad

[@captainnyet9855]

@@Cholimao ToB was also appropriately priced or what it was.

[@nobblkpraetorian5623]

Three Kingdoms was good and it released on 2019.

[@fg6147]

CA woke up, cause I think us Historical TW thoroughbreds were about to jump ship and look elsewhere. Manor Lords was gonna take the crown for me as it scratches that Atila MK1212 itch but with City Building mechanics. Paradox is getting city building skills with Surviving the Aftermath and imao, it's only a matter of time they'll use their new game dev xp to make a historical TW competitor that will have superior political intrigue and perhaps city building/rts mechanics. Total War is seriously starting to get serious historical competition. I'm glad CA is getting their act together.

[@HellsYeah8]

And you'll pay $1200 for that Paradox Total War after all the DLC drop. Don't worry, they will break the game with the DLC, its a Paradox tradition. Oh, and all you'll get from a DLC is a button to click, as everything else from DLC 2 will be erased by DLC 5 and the free part of DLC 7. And yes, you for sure will notice not having the DLC as that content will be right there looking you in the face, but behind a grayed out button you can't click without paying $15. Oh, and the unit models for the faction DLC you just bought? Yeah thats another $10, and another $10 for the music.

[@GeraltofRiviaa88]

How's the combat in manor lords? I'm more about combat that city building tbh.

[@kurrwa]

@@HellsYeah8 total war is simillar look at total warhammer lmao

[@jelleschelfthout3636]

@@GeraltofRiviaa88 It's more like the Caesar series than it is total war. I mean the combat feels like Total War, but it's mostly a city builder. You wouldn't enjoy Manor Lords fully if you're mostly interested in the warfare aspect. In my experience the battles are quite small (like 200 soldiers), they aren't that common and they're not that rewarding. I mostly fought against bandits (they set up camp in your region and steal your stuff, you gain some resources by defeating them). I find it to be more tedious than an enjoying aspect of the game. Don't get me wrong I like Manor Lords as a city builder. It's a good competitor to Banished, the Caesar series and perhaps Cities Skylines, but it is NOT in the same category as Total War or Age of Empires.

[@HellsYeah8]

@@kurrwa believe it or not, Warhammer is about half the price of stellaris. It's also 3 games. Also, no dlc is required to get the full experience. In paradox games, you will have a dlc that requires you to buy a separate dlc to actually be able to access, and nowhere on the store page will it say it. It is insane how many total war players say, "I'm going to start playing paradox games" whenever CA does something shady with dlc. Especially since at one point, playing eu4 felt like I was playing WoW since I was paying $15 amidst every month for a third of a dlc. In other words, imagine if a total war dlc only gave you the lord and his mechanics. If you wanted the new units, you would have to buy them seperate, or look at generic units. If you want the music to go with it that is another dlc. Eu4 has a dlc you have to buy just so you can access a button. They hid a base game mechanic behind that button after the dlc came out, meaning if you wanted to discover America you had to manually click each ocean province with your ships to get there. The dlc used to add a bunch of trade stuff, but all of that was actually removed completely by another dlc and it's accompanying free update. They still sell that dlc, that only gives you a single button for $15 too. If you don't buy that one, base game mechanics and the second dlc stuff that you bought cannot be accessed. In comparison, you bought the ikkit claw dlc, but you didn't buy his unit dlc, so you just have the base game skaven roster. Since you didn't buy the voice pack, ikkit sounds like a generic empire lord. Since you didn't buy the dlc previous, you also don't get to access the workshop, as it's hidden behind the button that only that dlc provides. Even better, the random new world generator for eu4 hasn't worked properly for 6 years, but they still sell it. The converter for a CK2 to EU4 campaign hasn't worked since CK3 came out, but they still sell it. Imperator Rome was released as an empty dlc factory (obviously missing everything from assets to mechanics, but having the ui already having the conspicuous empty spots for the shiny new buttons), drawing legitimate criticism for stripping features as a game changing dlc was announced a week after release. They abandoned that game very quickly. Look at all the dlc for city skylines alone. Every single game paradox publishes will be a dlc he'll where eventually it is assumed that all players have all dlc and f you if you don't because base game features are either being removed or hidden behind a pay wall.

[@diegosolis9681]

They didn't wait because of greed. They are doing this not because they suddenly started to care about the games again, they are doing this because investing this extra money is cheaper than letting their original investment go to waste, they HAD to stick with the game. And trust me, Dynasties would've been DLC had the base game not under performed to badly.

[@sleepysteve111]

100% We punished them hard and they responded.

[@Joker-yw9hl]

The Bronze Age total war we've needed for a long time now. Rejoice

[@bored_zombie6675]

With this update and the Sega publisher sale on Steam right now (33% off) I went for it. Nice review.

[@Neidhard-von-Reuenthal]

I'm looking forward. I had my fun with Pharaoh and Dynasties is realy a great move from CA.

[@OneOkRockSamurai]

funny how CA's little echo chamber and yt fangirls couldn't save them

[@JA-lr5ix]

ight full stop. Everyone bitched, rightly so, that generals couldn’t die CA said: okay, gotcha, they’re normal like the old days. now you’re saying *they die too quickly*??? like bro. c’mon. thats what we wanted. your general is a normal dude- if you put him in combat its meant to be a very high risk older games like shogun 2 literally made it so your general could win you or lose you a battle if you used them incorectly if what your saying is true then CA did exactly what we wanted them to do point here is even when we get something we want we still bitch- no wonder we keep getting shit games and having the historical games get sidelined. medieval 3 would be torn apart by everyone and their insane expectations and incessant complaints

[@matthewaskins664]

Everyone is going to complain because CA ripped the TW fanbase in half with warhammer, and there’s no good way to separate the WH dna from historical TW games as they use a modified engine for both fantasy and historical

[@moose9211]

nOo wEee will conTinUe TooO coMpLaIN!!! >:(

[@АртурКолянский-о7н]

@@moose9211 ofc we will continue to complain, pharaoh is a big scam yes they created few good updates so now this is a small scam, congrats

[@revolversnake126]

who is we?

[@moose9211]

@@revolversnake126 Your beautiful mother and I.

[@CptSlow89]

I want historical UI back like we had in Shogun 2, Attila, Medieval 2, Rome 1..

[@kh2375.2]

Yeah I'm not sure why they have that modern looking ui with no ui skins based on your faction.

[@lp4514]

@@kh2375.2Pharaoh will add a lot of new cultural and faction specific UI with this update, so it looks different when you play Ramses compared to Seti compared to Greeks or Babylon or Assyria etc.

[@Omni_Shambles]

You can change to 2D unit cards, it looks much better.

[@HeloisGevit]

Are you blind? All cultures have themed UI already.

[@HeloisGevit]

​@@kh2375.2what you said is outright false

[@killerins1000]

At least this review is so much better and accurate and in depth which is so much better than the hate TheTerminator spewing out without going into details.

[@expressvpn8433]

😂😂

[@Raguel1984]

Was actually hoping for this update, because as much fun as total war warhammer is, we fell in love with the historical total wars and how many times can we play attila? xD

[@thewingedhussar4188]

Did the game improve the sea peoples? I thought a real clever thing that was missed, was the fact that the Sea People's could be that SURPRISE boss. With the sea peoples being a new hidden Rebel faction you can't negotiate with. When they show up, they attack you without even declaring war. An the rebels in your provinces can join them and survive by destroying cities/provinces. Like a walking/fighting delete force.

[@Metaldude1945]

I'm still not sure if I will pay the full price for this, but I might give it a chance whenever it's in sale.

[@francesco.virzi4]

It's on sale right now on steam

[@johnnybacca8185]

It worths the price right now!

[@rfigueiredomusic]

Go to instant gaming and pay 12€

[@mariusbehm9874]

its 28 Euros man

[@Alexander-fl7ii]

Worth it right now on steam. Just got it myself

[@kirilld6206]

This is cool they also made Deiphobos and Troilos as well, not only Hector, Paris and Aeneas they mentioned in devblog. Priam had 50 children I think. Would be cool to lead Ithaca as Telemachos or somebody else when Odysseus die.

[@releca3735]

Always wondered how the hell does he have 50 children canonically ? Did the Trojans practice polygamy or is Priam 89 years old.

[@SC.KINGDOM]

10 women are least ❤ ​@@releca3735

[@robertc8425]

Damn I rly want to play as Cymerian who are in fact Scytians, they are so bad ass, hope have some uniq skins or stuff, or some mods who will make them uniq, they plunder the north of Anatoloia, they punder and stop a siege of Babylon, they go even in Canan, they so coool. You can even to a full play with them in Pharoah, Rome 2 and Attila

[@codygantz377]

I haven't had this much fun in a historical total war since Atilla! So good

[@AndysTake]

same honestly!

[@matthewmorter7803]

I have this sitting in my library, waiting for this update, I knew it would come. I can’t wait to play this when I get back home! You’re review convinced me that they fixed what I didn’t like about it, I’m here all the way for good historical Total War. We should encourage them when they do good!

[@joshnovosad3414]

I never played Pharaoh due to all of the criticisms, but I will definetly be checking it out now. I never played Troy or three kingdoms so I am excited for all these new features.

[@rpersen]

Troy and 3K are two of my favourite recent TW’s.

[@rpersen]

I refunded Pharao, just didn’t feel like fun. Battles two arcady and fast, hard to see what is going on.

[@HamanFRD]

I loved everything about Troy TW and I think it is underrated And now I am so ready for Pharaoh!

[@CaseyTaylor138]

I love Troy, and I've been playing pharaoh since day one. Pharaoh is EXQUISITE, you're going to love it.

[@Emperor-Justinius]

Troy was really good, I loved historical mode

[@rpersen]

Troy is lne of the best newer TW titles. I didn’t even bother with TWW3.

[@HamanFRD]

@@rpersen And the optimization is on another level compared to TWW3!

[@zack2804]

I really wish they could add/or someone could mod the Aryan factions. I mean the Iranian plateau was home to hundreds of civilizations, and it's currently empty. The Bronze age shares a lot of similarities with the Dark Ages (Attila), where all sorts of tribes and peoples were migrating to new lands.

[@alifarsani2469]

Bravo 👏🏻 👏🏻

[@luxborealis]

I think they are probably gonna make that a DLC, adding the Medes and Persians in a new Iranian tradition. Maybe some new Armenian leaders too since they are just a minor faction right now.

[@ozgurpeynirci4586]

I guess Indo-Aryans weren't ancient compared to these guys.

[@zack2804]

@@ozgurpeynirci4586 What is "ancient"? The Indo-Europeans already existed during this time period. It's not like they just popped into existence. They were located in the steppes in Ukraine. By the late Bronze Age, the Yamnaya had mastered cavalry and the use of chariots, and that helped them disperse into every direction by mass migration. This game takes place in the 12th century BCE, when the Medes and Persians were already existing as tribes. In 200 years, the first Mede confederacy would become the first great power to compete with the Assyrians.

[@ozgurpeynirci4586]

@@zack2804 ancient is relative. Compared to factions in this game, persians and medes didn't even exist.

[@CredenzioStudios]

There is nothing like taking a break from game development and watching a video on the Total War Pharaohs update. Thanks for the great content.

[@roguewasbanned4746]

Sad they can’t have better ai so that chariots don’t charge head first into heavy spearmen. It’s not that hard. If I can edit a text file and make it so cavalry doesn’t charge into pikes in med2 (2005) then CA can do the little things to make the ai that much more competent.

[@miceliusbeverus6447]

Absolutely right! And to me, AI plays a crucial role; both for challenge and immersion. What's the use of cool features, if it just plays like cardboard puppets because of poor AI?

[@seraphx26]

I'm not going to lie I was on the hate wagon when Pharaoh launched, but I did buy the game on sale recently after learning about the Dynasties DLC, if the game had launched in this state I would have bought it at the time despite my frustrations with CA. I'm going to give it an honest try starting tomorrow when the update goes live, I want to like this game because I do like the time period, so lets see where it goes from here, I hope CA isn't throwing in the towel after this and will continue to develop the game more over time.

[@Torag55]

Didn't they say this is the last update for Pharoah?

[@seraphx26]

@@Torag55 I don't know to be honest, I haven't followed the developer commentary, if it is then I think that's a missed opportunity.

[@happycompy]

Great review man! I found myself nodding along with so many of your points. Dynasties is f*cking excellent 👌...but they need to fix the long turn times.

[@logandaley1544]

The Dynasties updat has convinced me to try Pharaoh so I’ll get it next pay day. I’m excited to experience Bronze Age Total War since I skipped Troy.

[@aceofspadesguy4913]

8:27 Not to sound overly negative, but all these family features look like the exact same as what we had in RTW 2 but with a few extra features.

[@alifarsani2469]

You are absolutely right, remember all these KZbinrs tried so hard to sell us Pharoah as an excellent game?! Yeah these are the same people who get paid to promote anything

[@aceofspadesguy4913]

@@alifarsani2469 I honestly haven’t paid much attention to Pharaoh since the early announcements because I just didn’t like what I saw, so I can’t really speak to whether this is a longer trend or not, but halfway through the video it did start feeling like someone with Stockholm syndrome latching on to any improvement, like “you can select your heir!” Bro you’ve been able to do that for like 15 years. Play something other than Warhammer.

[@jereboy2005]

The family trees, the map expansion. Plus changing the faction names to not being the leader names is a big plus for me too. I can barely believe my eyes seeing they added these in. I completely wrote this game off when they were revealing the game mechanics. Im definitely going to buy this now, i never thought they would turn my mind around on this.

[@Putti509]

i went back to this game and i have to say CA did a good job on this.

[@hamzam5394]

Bro they have been selling the same game since Rome 2, plus for every single of those games a million DLCs. The scale isnt anything spectacular, the graphics look the same, the combat looks the same, morale hits look the same, diplomacy looks the same. It literally looks like a modded Rome2. We still have a limit on generals, you dont have the Medieval and Rome mechanic, where you can create small scouting parties or raiding parties, which were some of the most enjoyable parts of the old games. We still dont have any AI improvement, has anyone ever had an ally actually respond to a war target? This game is shit like the rest. People want Medieval 3 or Empire 2 with the same mechanics just more polished.

[@krekk2751]

exactly, but this guy is sponsored by CA and SEGA. as we all know now.

[@Magyarpatriot-dk4mi]

+ the ui is boring, ugly and trash I miss the old ui which was way more immersive.

[@Ealdorman_of_Mercia]

14:17 How do you stop a regiment of cavalry that is charging towards you? With a leg kick of course.

[@sebastianasaro6254]

This is a good step, I hope CA see this, this is the right direction and listen to this man’s suggestions. #lethalitymodifier

[@Chillvibegamer]

I like the historical and the Warhammer games. I was super disappointed in 3 kingdoms. But love this one

[@Esti_Kornél]

I so agree. I do not like the game era... but man... as Attila and Napoleon are my fav total war games, this Pharaoh is now added to these 2 great titles in my preference. The campaign is fantastic, it looks great, it's well optimized, the battle reforms are great, the resources I love, everything is a massive development. Now you need to trade, some regions are important, you want gold, bronze, you don't just have money and it's all easy peasy. If this total war campaign experience stays and get developed .... I can see medieval 3 or Napoleon 2 would be a game I would buy instantly. Just if any of those would be as well optimized as this and does not need a nuclear power plant to run, aka make it nice but reasonable for a strategy game. Easily 8/10 for me, if missiles get somewhat weaker and bugs are fixed. I am so hyped, for me CA is back honestly. Some more diplomacy and more useful allies could be better, it's a little arcady, but honestly strategic depth in campaign really makes up for it. Attila was by far my fav campaign in any tw games, now it is even better for me.

[@Imperial_Legacy]

I'm really thinking of buying Pharaoh now, the only real problem I had with the original version was the limited map.

[@luxborealis]

Playing the Assyrian king with the long name I can’t remember right now. I’m on like turn 100 and I still feel like I’m barely hanging on despite controlling almost all of Mesopotamia and a bit of Canaan. Like every time I feel like I have a few turns’ breathing room to squash rebels, one of my idiot vassals or allies manage to get themselves invaded by some massive new enemy faction, be it Babylon or Carcemish or Troy, and I get sucked into war, raiding and resource shortages. Love the challenge! Reminds me of playing Achilles in Troy TW.

[@RuneR96]

CA Sofia working in the shadows to keep CA alive while it's eating itself alive. I hope passionate people from CA Sofia will get more opportunities to show their dedication and skill. They are our only hope now.

[@rpersen]

CA Sofia did something great with Troy, I really liked it so will give Pharao a chance now.

[@captainnyet9855]

@@rpersen Troy had really bad battles on release and that turned a lot of people off, but it also had a lot of good things going for it; it was probably the best TW coop experience I ever had.

[@cohortConnor]

I bought a steam code for the game at a discount from a third party site during the summer sale. After the dynasties update it was absolutely worth the price. I love it.

[@cristianiannello4689]

I bought the game as soon as they announced this update. I love the bronze age, but I knew they would fall short with Pharaoh. I'm glad I waited, now I would get to enjoy an amazing game the way it was meant to be.

[@metalltitan]

Now that Dynasties is out, I will reconsider getting Pharaoh TW (or Bronze Age TW). I loved the aesthetics of Troy, though some of the features were less good. But now we get it all in one package that's truly deserving of being called the next in a line of historical TW games stretching back to Rome and Medieval 2.

[@antwarior]

finally can buy this game, thanks for the update

[@danielshelden-aguilar4050]

I bought this when it first came out and haven’t played it since or seen any updates about it. Now I am trying it out again with dynasty’s.

[@maximilianhaas2052]

Well according to the footage shown (16:57) the bridges of the siege towers are still miles away from the walls^^ Which - to be honest - shouldn't be that hard to fix...

[@yoRimazing]

Great video as always Andy! It's been a while since I've played Pharaoh, life has been busy because of work. I've only gotten 5% progress of Tausret's campaign since release lol. I should definitely start a new one again with all the new and revamp features implemented in the game. Thank you!

[@jonapleseid7393]

Nah man I love the part that generals are weak. Makes them feel more human. But that's just my opinion

[@miceliusbeverus6447]

Well... I must admit it all sounds comforting. But a huge question remains: what about AI? IMO, it's more important, both for the challenge and immersion, than features themselves...

[@luxborealis]

The AI is okay, I’ve only seen it bug out on certain hilly battlemaps, but you can usually unstuck it by running a cav unit nearby them. It handles infantry OK and missiles extremelty well (their missile units will gang up and often prioritize working together to blast one of your missile units). It’s not very good with chariots, but is okay with horse cavalry (though a bit overly aggressive which means you can sometimes bait them into charging spearmen). On the campaign map the AI is extremely aggressive, usually operating one or two full stack and like half a dozen quarter size raiding parties burning down your outposts and pillaging the countryside to distract your armies. Garrisons have been boosted in size and quality, and the AI will try to retreat their raiding armies into friendly settlements if one of your full stacks are near. Challenging and fun on harder difficulties, especially managing trade to keep your armies suppliesd.

[@miceliusbeverus6447]

@luxborealis Man... That does sound interesting! I've been very tired of those self-imposed, barely realisable challenges, like never baiting the enemy, not using certain units which the enemy cannot effectively fight against... and so on. Now I will truly consider buying this game! Thanks, dude. 😊

[@O-soba_mask]

They can add an extension with « Qin and the Warring States » in China ! It’s the same vibe, but with more cavalry.

[@KingKrad]

I haven't followed total war games news since warhammer II. I mean, I didn't ignore it, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Basically, what I'm saying, is that you probably should've started by saying that dynasties is a free expansions before moving forward. I checked steam and was initially confused as to why there was no expansion for sale. Then I googled some and had my answer and only THEN did I continue watching and listening and you said so too. Just my two bits.

[@owusu369]

To be honest the base game wasn’t bad but with the new update the game is top 3 historical titles

[@dondiva4233]

Cant wait to start playing tomorrow. THX for the great vid!

[@The-One-and-only-Devilain]

if they do add a mythos mode where heroes can be Demi Gods again then I will finally buy it. All of these new implementations seem great. But the mythology of Egypt is too awesome to ignore. Having Troy(Greek) and Egyptian Mythos together would be awesome. Need some Anubites, Sphinx, Vermillion Birds, Followers of Bast or Bastet, Giant Scorpions and Scarabs, Undead(mummies and the like) Locust Swarms in some way or another maybe like a campaign map effect on settlements like plagues. The possibilities are myriad.

[@omeganism]

Now bring back the mythos DLC with different gods and goddesses to correspond with the culture!

[@robertgulbrandsen2075]

Omg, i have waited so long for this. Stopped buying anything from CA but i will try this now.😁

[@duncan4726]

This sounds like a huge step up from launch and a step in the right direction. Seems like it’s worth buying now!

[@santawashere4877]

Weak generals in shogun 2 were fine. I think it makes sense that you need to protect them. Like a king in a chess match.

[@Sisyphe987]

12:53 why troops are glitching when the chariot charge them ? Cavalry charge seems to look really bad.

[@ashjacky2561]

I personally like generals that can die, one of my fav things about the older TWs, although maybe they can make it an optional toggle so people can choose what they want.

[@andreslinares9507]

Video game fans have to read the Lean Startup and understand the concept of a Minimum Viable Product. Then, you'll understand why games are rushed to market

[@davebuikema4119]

Amazing video. Fully agree that the charges are still wack, hopefully CA or modders can fix that. The battles are the most important.

[@tylercc8370]

Adding mythos to this would be sweet! Even the truth behind the myth would be cool. I know it wasn't popular but I really liked it.

[@kimojinszo007]

It's such a beautiful game. I'm excited for tomorrow's launching.

[@CaseyTaylor138]

I've cleared my schedule 😂

[@piragintheevercorpulent1526]

I bought Pharaoh while it was on sale before dynasties dropped and I honestly was having a good time with it already. And then Dynasties dropped and now I'm having an AMAZING time. I've mainly been playing Warhammer TBH but doing bronze age stuff with just normal dudes is honestly a nice refresher after microing my lizard wizards to murder one thousand ratmen.

[@fallenswan1670]

About characters to die too easily in battlefield. ...in medieval times usually losing side had 5%-15% casualties for their side, and winning side usually half of that (since losing side lost most of men when they started run away). Probably in ancient times, or bronze age casualty rate would been higher, since there been less armour to protect soldiers. But reality is, that quite small amount of soldiers died to get maimed. Being in first line in battle was not certain death (if it would been, most of soldiers would deserted before battle). That also means that officers and high rank people in first battle line had quite chance to not die. Alexander the Great is probably easiest example. But they still had more chances to die, than those officers who did stayed in background, like G.J.Caesar, who did not even had sword (according his own writing about his war in Gallia, in one battle he was losing badly, and asked one of his centuries give him sword, and then he theatrically waved it - not really was going to fight himself, but encouraging his soldiers to fight harder. Quite lot of historical leaders been in battle, in first line, and not died. And also there are those who died in there. Just saying. Not telling how it should or should not be in this game.

[@NiskaMagnusson]

I just hope this isn't all about optics and they ACTUALLY want to keep the fans happy consistently, it seems that for historical fans the cracks started (in my opinion) all the way back during Rome II, I realize they are a business and need to make money, but greed and indifference will cost you the crown CA, really hope that Sega also doesn't use them to drain our wallets excessively and learn they need CA to have a strong, loyal fanbase

[@captainnyet9855]

I'm sure it, to some degree, is about the optics; but the truth is that the game is now actually a good value for the money; which is something I can't say for many recent TW's. Even if CA management is completely cyncal about this move, the devteam has put in good work and I honestly couldn't care less about the motivations of a AAA studio so long as the result is a good game. CA isn't my friend, they're a company selling a product that is now finally worth buying even at full price. (and I couldn't say the same about any TWWH game or Pharaoh's original release)

[@fearan9406]

PSA: the new dynasties is a seperate app/exe in steam you do actually get both if you buy it now

[@Balsiefen]

If I had a nickel for every historical Total War that had a disastrous launch, only to be restored to its original vision by a major update a year later, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[@myarbro909]

This went from feeling like CA created a clone of Troy, to Dynasties feeling like CA is pushing the boundaries of TW mechanics. Even if all these mechanics don't pan out, this is still a great step in the right direction.

[@Sir_Vinci]

It would be good if there were an event for all Greek factions calling them to besiege Troy like a crusade and if you don’t accept you lose relationship with the leader of the siege/faction

[@bottnovice1286]

I don't know men; but adding a "Romance Mode" on this game might change the player count problems they have. And adding normal, unique, legendary weapons/armors; and adding a unique horse example a fast horse, a stronger horse. And three kingdoms for me has close to a real life court and system of diplomacies. Which people know and enjoyed it for me. The problem in 3k is it's map is small; and you cannot travel on or by ships. The good on 3k is the generals has skills really differs on other generals, and can split them and battle on one on one. And when another general dies his closer friend general might rage and run though enemies. The generals on 3k has personalities and you might compare them by the way they fight styles.

[@bartek_ewertowski]

Great review! I'm a big Mesopotamia nerd so I instantly picked it up on Stream half way through the video.

[@gregorthechef8666]

CA Sophia have truly outdone themselves and created the ultimate gem of the series. You can see how much they wanted this title to be a success and I think they have succeeded (we'll see tomorrow). But I feel sorry for the people who won't appreciate this and will keep writing that it's rubbish and that they only want medieval 3 and empire 2...

[@captainnyet9855]

The game is actually really impressive now, and that for a very low price (25-30USD); probably the best value for money of any TW game now, and one of the most imressive TW's in general. I also really like that they gave us a lot of customization options, like leting us disable "lethality" (which, while a good idea, is completely unbalanced at the moment), adjusting turns per year and making terrain effects more impactful.

[@Newt211]

Thank you for this video. I love Egyptian stuff in general, and was let down by all the poor reviews complaining about copy and pasting the actual game. But in the end the game is on sale now, and watching this I think it is time for me to pull the trigger on it. Its on sale now on steam for 26 bucks, not that bad. Although word of the wise the dynasties download was 75 gigs and the base game was a little less. To install its rolls in around 120gigs +. Dollar per gig ratio LOL good

[@asfsqfiaheai4545]

I would have loved to see Persia in this update, but I understand the timeline doesn’t fit. Bronze Age was 3300 BC - 1200 BC, Cyrus the great was in the 500’s BC

[@Jazmillenium]

What is the song name used on the outro? The singing is nice!

[@GabrielIvančić]

Looks like there is still hope for historical total wars

[@Justen1980]

Love your videos! Pharoah is on steam sale till end of july ~ $27 US. I think i'll buy this now and check it out

[@Sup_bro23]

I am definitely considering buying this game and if they watch this and add some small improvements I’d definitely buy it

[@xjuliussx]

i wish they would expand the map so we can get a full high detalied in Greece in Italy so they can make a proper Peloponnesian wars!

[@taivaraanta]

I love map design in this game. It looks like a more complete and realistic i think, more lifely

[@azarisLP]

Steam is not even recommending Pharaoh to me on its front page. Pretty much every other CA game, just no Pharaoh. Like what are they even doing?

[@michaelh878]

It was recommended during the last sale.Very convenient that they announce the improvements after the sale was over.

[@SawShotz]

Does anyone know the theme playing at 17:00???

[@ahmetoler1652]

i imagine TOTAL WAR TEAM make medieval 3 ...and this game map will be very big like a pharaoh map

[@michaelh878]

I just don't see them bringing anything new to make it worthwhile. Only point will be mods looking better than the mods for medieval 2.