Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi | Samurai Game Review

Previously I reviewed "Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence", a fantastic Samurai strategy game, yet now I return to the series to take a look at it's most recent entry (as of July 2020). Does "Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi" live up to it's predecessor? Let's dive in and find out!
For this review I once again asked my good friend Ian to come take part in it.
Nobunaga's Ambition is developed by Koei Tecmo Games.
All music used is from the Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi soundtrack Produced by Masako Otsuka, and is the property of Koei Tecmo Games.
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#Samurai #Game #Review

[@MorphyVA]

If we could just combine Sphere of Influence, Taishi, and Total War into one game, we'd have the ultimate Samurai strategy game!

[@jeanMvang]

That sounds like an amazing game. Let's throw in some nice cinematics to that too! Lol

[@gentlesirpancakebottoms6692]

​@@jeanMvang Kessen got that part så lets put Kessen into the equation too then:P

[@zhugedai1279]

But Sphere of Influence sucks compared to Iron Triangle.

[@a.m.pietroschek1972]

I really think a fantasy variant, adding orcs, dark elves, hobbits, and dwarves is overdue, as `AD&D Oriental & Runequest - Land of Ninja´ were tabletop sources that deserved such. 🤗

[@snakeenjoyingacanofbeans5219]

Another thing Sphere of Influence has that this one doesn't: Different endings depending on your ruling ideology. After establishing the Takeda shogunate for 20 years of games, in Sphere I actually saw an Imperial restoration instead due to Shingen's traditionalist policies.

[@TheShogunate]

Very true and Awesome!

[@grandstrategist3133]

Here's a funny thing when I play Nobunaga Ambition Sphere of influence When I conquer about 30% or 50% of Japan I get bored and start a new game

[@KopeknKedi]

Same and this trend has been going on since way back...

[@dimas3829]

it's an issue for both games. Micromanagement becomes tedious and enemy clans are not efficient in their coalition efforts to bring you down. There needs to be some sort of mechanic for them to make last stand like Realm Divide in the Shogun 2.

[@monsterkitty6921]

It's important to note (And sad for westerners) that Taishi was massively overhauled in the Japanese version, and even had an expansion pack released for it. (As usual with all of Koei's strategy titles).

[@khal7702]

I hate that they do that, sell lesser version the PUK it. Then never sell that version for English speakers

[@KopeknKedi]

@@khal7702 So non-Japanese version always get the complete one? I'm jealous if that is the case because I have had to purchase PUK for most of the time...which obviously sucks.

[@khal7702]

Been waiting for this!!

[@nobunagaoda6605]

Okay- Now you gotta do Nobunaga's Ambitions: Ascension xD

[@neroatlas9121]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[@Chris_MarMar]

A great game imo though I would just include it as an expansion of SOI

[@thierrybarroca7364]

I agree with most of what you say. SoI is overall the best game (economic, diplomatic and developping systems are better designed even if Taishi has some really good ideas but poor designs). Taishi though, is a better military game than SoI in a sense that there IS a sense of a "military season" limited by weather or lack of food (which is crucial in Taishi, less so in the previous one) and battles are way more interesting in Taishi than in SoI as the system was very unbalanced when you had a general with the Pierce skill (or his affiliates like Dragon Cutter by Honda Tadakatsu which is easily the most broken skill of the entire game). Imho, the best game would be a fusion of the two, with the strategic system of SoI and the battle system of Taishi. Anyways, great review and awesome channel !

[@manjitahzan9577]

Nobunaga Ambition are definitely my favourite game series especially Iron Triangle. However, all of them got one thing that got me frustrated. When you want to play the game exactly like the true history of Sengoku Jidai, the game literally won't let you do that. When you play the game sometimes you can get certain Historical Events and sometimes you don't. This can be happening because sometimes the other clan that required for certain Historical Events has already been destroyed, the officer in certain clan defecting to other clan, officer got killed in a unrelated event, maiden got married with another officer, and so on. And all of this cannot be controlled by the player, and happen randomly throughout the game. I really wish that the next Nobunaga Ambition series will fix this matter so that we can enjoy the full historical events in a single play through of any selected clan.

[@Banjomike97]

At that point what is even the point of a game if you know what's gonna happen? there has to be a randomness for it to be interesting

[@manjitahzan9577]

@@Banjomike97 I agree with you about the interesting randomness. But what I meant is when I want to follow all the Historical Events. I have played the game for a lot of time and never get all of it no matter what I do because of the reasons I have stated before...

[@maskedmildew5437]

@@manjitahzan9577 I understand where you're coming from. Honestly, I've had the best luck recreating the historical events in Nobunaga's Ambition 2, lol... but that was a much more simple game. I think if they added something along the lines of "historical mode" or something... that would be interesting. Where what you, the player, does is self-controlled and everything else evolves as it normally would in that time period until you do something out of place.

[@manjitahzan9577]

@@maskedmildew5437 Yes, of course. That's definitely my points !

[@neroatlas9121]

Ogigayatsu uesugi campaign XD Note: my joke was cause the ogigayatsu uesugi begin with 3 awful castles, right besides the hojo and have almost no way to expand, that along with all your allies refusing to help you when youre attacked by the hojo, theyre personally worse than some of the one castle clans, even the oyumi ashikaga and koga ashikaga are somewhat better. Also in the hojo storymode they have SOME semblance of significance.

[@Flankymanga]

I think that Taishi when compared to Spheres of influence is a beginner game. While i enjoyed playing it i knew it is nowhere near the complexity of Spheres of Influence.... I played for Date clan :)

[@neroatlas9121]

Personally taishi is inferior in politics but superior in a military sense.

[@Flankymanga]

@@neroatlas9121 eee I don't know... In Taishi if you destroy the will of command unit - you don't even have to wipe out all the infantry and you have won the battle. And this is very easy to do once got used to it. I believe that true battles were not that simple. I believe spheres of influence have more realistic battle system.

[@ThejollyFrenchman]

I'd highly recommend you check out the game Sword of the Samurai. It's an old pc game that is generally really cheap on Steam, and doesn't take too long to do a full playthrough of. The premise is that you're a low ranking samurai, and you basically fight and plot your way up to being a daimyo's retainer, then a daimyo, and eventually Shogun. It's a great game that's basically forgotten these days.

[@khal7702]

Remake of that game would be epic! I've bought it but didn't play it since I don't know controls.

[@hanchiman]

I prefer Nobunaga Ambition over Shogun 2. Due to NA show detail (and romanticized) of the famous personalities, warriors, and Daimyos during the Sengoku period. A bit shame Taishi never released the English version of the DLC due to the game flopped in the International market, as the DLC had more campaign and also added in William Adam, Nioh version. Also interesting detail is that all of the samurais from Nioh were based on the same look from NA which is good, as I prefered the NA depiction and artwork

[@cameronthompson5516]

No wonder it flopped on release, I would have to pawn off body parts too afford it, I'm still waiting for it to go on sale in my PS market.

[@Banzaiiii2223456]

Shogun 3 could benefit much from 3k's systems tbh. They could implement the character and diplomacy system and add in romance mode for all I care as the Sengoku Jidai is partly romanticized, call it legends mode where the samurai could be one unit entities or historical mode where we get the traditional total war setup. In that way we can play a variety of clans plus like 3k they could have dlc scenarios like Nobunaga's rise to power or at his height where you either play as him or the Anti-Nobunaga coalition. I have the same gripe about Shogun 2, there's no historical figures in it, only the daimyos are real but the generals aren't, it's just randomly generated general name #1 #2.

[@just-ze-soup-plz2105]

@@Banzaiiii2223456 The Master of Strategy mod adds more historical generals to your clan from the start. For example as the Oda you have Shibata and Maeda Toshie/Keiji You also start later at 1562. It has a brutal “unrest/happiness” mechanic though. I recommend it if you’re ever bored from the NA series. Imo Shogun 2s battles can’t be beat.

[@narutoMK]

I enjoy both SOI A and taishi. I prefer Ascension because I like being an officer and helping my lord unify the land. Also, when you finish the game, your life scrolls through. It feels so personal I love it. Sadly I only have a console so I can't use a keyboard and mouse. I also never finished taishi because of time reasons, but I think it's a solid game.

[@SeanHiruki]

MY FAVORITE NOBUNAGAS AMBITION!

[@khal7702]

So it seems Nobunaga's Ambition SoI Ascension is the way to go for me.

[@TheShogunate]

I need to play Ascension some more!

[@pvblivscornelivsscipio]

Iron Triangle is also really good if you can get your hands on it.

[@nccudog98]

@@pvblivscornelivsscipio Iron Triangle is my absolute favorite NA. Too bad 13 never was released here in English. There is a patch out there, but the non-Steam copies of the game on PC require a Win10 fix which isn't available outside of the aforementioned Steam version.

[@Nick-de2ml]

What's the verdict on ascension?

[@khal7702]

@@Nick-de2ml seems people don't like it as much as Sphere of Influence but if u want to play as a retainer n rise trough the ranks to become a Daimyo that's the way to go.

[@SuperSteve180]

Thanks for your in depth review of both games, I think I'm gonna go with Sphere of Influence.

[@christophermoore5657]

Good job on the review, I'll be waiting for episode 36 of the sengoku jidai series.

[@multimeter2859]

Thank God for Mississippi

[@Steven-cf1ty]

Playing a Taishi campaign as Otomo Sorin, I found that not only was I able to rather quickly win by the arms ban but that no part of the game posed a real challenge or made me really have to think about my actions. The most thought I put into my campaign was studying terrain when I reached central Japan, where my attacking army could field far fewer men than an enemy's defending army. At that point, though, I could easily just beat the enemy army once in a better location and they wouldn't be able to recover before I had totally smashed them. This wasn't tricky so much as it was tedious and I had already offloaded most tasks to the ai since I couldn't feasibly improve over the decisions made by the ai.

[@pog15r]

dude, you need to play Nobunaga's Ambition: sphere of influence-Ascension. it is the best of the Nobunaga's Ambition games.

[@ChrisX0408]

I'm planning to buy my first Nobunaga's Ambition game and I'm torn between this and Sphere of Influence - Ascension. Because of this review I'm buying sphere of influence. BTW i'll be playing the game via PS4 Pro.

[@snakeenjoyingacanofbeans5219]

I love this game and I think the only thing it lacks are in-battle deaths and a 1600 (and 1614) scenario. Lord of Darkness is old, but it did so many things right. It's probably the best Nobunaga game of all time.

[@carlosnieve1225]

Sorry to hear that you’re struggling with Nioh. Is it a bad time time to start requesting a Sekiro review? 😅

[@TheShogunate]

definitely after nioh!

[@KillChaos7]

@@TheShogunate I wish you touched Nioh 2 too... The second game feels more japanese and more historical than the first one.

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

And Sekiro is definitely more a Ninja game than a Samurai one.

[@KillChaos7]

@@fernandozavaletabustos205 Agreed, it plays and feels more like a Shinobi action game.

[@dimas3829]

Personally, I'm puzzled not only by the steps back of this game in comparison with Sphere of Influence, but SIGNIFICANT bypass of the importance of the temples during that era represented by both games (at least in Shogun 2 religion does play a role in the unfolding events and provide you with some extra unit variety and tensions). Not only warlords had lands of their own, but different sects too and they paid very large role in the events of the period starting from Ikko-ikki revolt and ending with Nobunaga being killed at the temple.

[@toshiie4478]

i hope the Taishi Power Kit fix and improve the game, just like Sphere of Influence

[@d.o.islife8244]

They’re never going to drop the pk

[@passthemike6186]

If you like this, I recommend playing the Mount & Blade Warband mod: "Gekokujo". Diplomacy and skill with a sword will truly be the way to play!

[@pvblivscornelivsscipio]

I mostly agree with you two on the review, though I'd be even harsher giving it a 6/10. The lack of quest system really made me disappointed.

[@tenchimuyo69]

I sure hope their next title implements multiplayer somewhat well. I thought SoI could have done it fairly easily depending on if they made autoresolve an optional thing or not. Or make a seperate mode for campaign and battle multiplayer. Soi practically seemed like it was designed for it already and I was kind of surprised to see it absent.

[@achillenero3135]

I have both of them, i'm not sure which one is my preferred. But probably it is taichi. Because i love the pace of the game, and i suppose is somewhat more realistic. If u want to invade a clan, u front to a long preparation, then u march and there is a single big battle, not a bunch of unity scattered in the map like soi. And if u fail, u have to try again maybe next year. This pace of game is really slow and i love it, i suppose is quite unique all strategy games around too. In my opinion both games are 9/10, even if the gameplay experience is so different, they are both good. Sorry for my english i m not native speaker.

[@gentlesirpancakebottoms6692]

Despite the mixed reviews on Steam and the half measures this game seems to take I really would like to try it for myself. I have played Sphere of Influence a lot and loved it. And I have no doubt after watching this video and others about Taishi that SOI is the superior game overall. But the more "grand" clan based focus and diplomacy of this game looks like it could be fun and is a nice change of pace from SOI after playing that game to death. Too bad that Koei hate having these games on sale though, as 40$ is way to expensive for this game. Especially since it's 5 years old now.

[@billycausey4277]

in many ways I like Taishi more than sphere of influence, as the simpler structure and faster pace makes for a better play for me since I have much less time to game these days. I also kind of dig the semi turn based play as it makes you have to commit to your decisions. I've always wanted a Nobunaga game to go for a true turn based langrisser type combat. but eh..

[@alexlee8376]

Also graphics seems better in SoI than Taishi for some reason

[@TheShogunate]

I agree! Almost mentioned that in this video

[@viettrungtran4500]

Can't wait for you to review Rise and Fall of the Samurai.

[@B_Moristio]

Nobunaga Ambition "Rise to Power" and "Iron triangle" still the best...

[@maskedmildew5437]

Love this... I still can't decide whether I should get Taishi or Sphere of Influence, seeing as I'm still pretty new to these more complex strategy games. I'm sure I'll get into it easily enough... but if Koei ever releases Taishi on the switch in the west, i'm definitely getting it!! Also, Idk if you're doing a no-spoiler run of Nioh or Nioh 2, so I won't say too much, but godDAMN there's a character that shows up near the end that got me so hyped. And I didn't realise it was a Koei Tecmo game until I [Spoiler alert:] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- saw what their nobunaga looked like LMAO

[@Closgoncrazy]

Will you be doing a video of the difference between Sphere of Influence and Sphere of Influence - Ascension?

[@TheShogunate]

I will probably make a video on Ascension at some point!

[@Closgoncrazy]

Awesome, thank you for the reply.

[@pog15r]

@@TheShogunate looking forward to it.

[@S1lvermoon]

If you want a challenge beat everyone as the suemori oda clan I did 70+ tries before I nailed it with a lot of licking the takeda and imagawa to survive while doing a dirty tactic to beat nobunaga&saito it’s just hard at the start but then after beating nobunaga & saito it’s just a normal oda campaign

[@Maioly]

10:43 and it DID become good!.... in the PuK/expansion that we never got in the west... despite taishi actually seeling really well here... I fucking hate Koei Tecmo sometimes... Edit: seriously, from what I've managed to find on the PuK it fixes all the issues brought up here, and people downright say its the best game in the series as a result... for fucks sake Koei, why no western release -_- !?

[@Seraphil1]

Taishi is the first NA game I regretted buying full priced. The faults of the battle system just killed my enjoyment of the game; not just the bogus battle meter system, but the "red light green light" feeling you get where the turns are ridiculously short and you have to reexamine and give new orders to everyone, get some tiny progress, then stop and repeat. It makes battles a slog to get through. None of the other systems in the politics stage were enough of an improvement over SoI or Tendou to make up for it.

[@kallas9318]

I want to start with these games. I never played something like that. Would Taishi be the best beginning in this series to "learn" the kind of game? I think I will need many tutorials.

[@Chris_MarMar]

I’d go with sphere of influence. It has a nice balance of being both beginner friendly but also good depth and satisfying complexity.

[@neroatlas9121]

Sphere of influence is better, I agree. Also could we speak about the cutscenes in taishi, theyre so weird man, like theyre so quick that you dont even know whats going on, they feel more like show offs of effects rather than dedicated story cutscenes.

[@EternalVirgin]

For me, I think I can give Taishi's combat system a pass. It is fair that you can still defeat a significantly larger army because you managed to break their morale since you have better tactics, positioning, or lay of the land. Just like what Nobunaga did at Battle of Okehazama, where he routed out the larger Imagawa army.

[@JMrealgamer]

I’m getting this to the Switch right away.

[@makkusanzetto1988]

Is this game a prequel or sequel. Also does the game have an easy mode. I like the look of the game just want to try and I don't want the game to be too difficult.

[@3n1x9]

eu gostei muito do seu video mais ainda nao joguei esse jogo so joguei os do playstation 2

[@toshiie4478]

recomendo só jogar pela curiosidade e ter como falar sobre, mas acredite, não vale a pena.

[@kanetsugu100]

o taishi é péssimo vai por mim é praticamente impossível jogar com clãs pequenos

[@steve5123456789]

You could try the game Inindo for the Super Nintendo. You might find it interesting it's a alternate history. If you're looking for another game to add to the series.

[@NightmarishWaltz]

Dear Shogunate, please try out Sekiro: Shadows die twice, i would love to see one of your excelent videos about the game, and it will surprise you how different is from Nioh, good luck.

[@ZackIsCody2024]

I know I’m late to the party but I can’t find any help online with this game. It honestly makes no sense to me. Beyond council meetings it feels like I’m not doing anything. Develop a trade route, check agriculture decisions, check diplomacy, end turn. Every single turn. It feels like nothing is happening. So I try following the first quest of the Hojo who I am playing. Send my brother to defend the castle only to have it marched upon by an army triple the size of mine. An army that proceeds to stand still and dwindle to zero due to lack of supplies. Then the quest changes and suddenly it seems like I failed because defending the castle is no longer a goal but the game never said I succeeded or failed If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’m not supposed to know what’s going on. Everyone else seems to understand this game so intuitively as to never need to explain anything, and it’s starting to make me wonder if I rode the wrong bus to school every day

[@Vaalmont-]

OMG thank you for mentioning the stupid broken morale meter. I've had so many people try and defend this mechanic. I got so frustrated with it I almost quit playing even though most of the rest of the game I enjoy.

[@calikk26]

Where's the Nioh review?

[@youngking5328]

Does any one know when the power up kit is coming to ps4 in english?

[@khal7702]

I don't think it is...PUK only showed up twice that I know of in English Nobunaga's Ambition. That's why SoI is sooo good. ..PUK

[@youngking5328]

Will there be and power up kit for the west?

[@d.o.islife8244]

Don’t get your hopes up

[@Infinitebrandon]

I just ordered my 1st ps4. Which nobunaga's ambition games are multiplayer for ps4?

[@dirkdurchfall7350]

still no nioh review

[@ww93421]

I agree, SOI overall is the better game, but of all the Nobunaga's Ambitions I've played, Iron Triangle is the one I enjoy the most

[@samuraiblue3901]

The Taishi released in the west is the one contains Power-up Kit together?

[@lokterzin]

it doesn't

[@privateterry2885]

I've been playing nobunagas ambitions crossover game pokemon conquest

[@jspicecue1463]

What

[@privateterry2885]

@@jspicecue1463 it's a game pokemon game called pokemon conquest it has characters from nobunagas ambition it's a ds game if you want to know

[@jspicecue1463]

@@privateterry2885 thanks for the clarification! Unfortunately got no ds

[@paulanderson3772]

Many thanks.

[@viniciustgoes]

review of takeda game of magitech, and play like as red samurai

[@Asiandynamo]

You have a character named Mifune Toshiro?🤡

[@clockworklemon9243]

The most attractive man who ever lived. Prove me wrong.

[@crazycasey1ify615]

Honestly no bernadas ambition rise of power was a lot better than this one