Tausret Part 1 - Campaign Gameplay - Total War Pharaoh

[@HeirofCarthage]

Make sure to share your thoughts and tell me what else you want to see. Thanks for watching!

[@edwingibson7]

Do you know if any faction Can Fallow Bastet: the Goddess of Cats, Pleasure, Protection, and Fertility. if any faction would be able to get her as a Goddess to fallow. I would assume Tausret would be the one. Being the closest to that Goddess in style and theme.

[@Routa02]

Love ya Heir gave this a watch even though it killed my soul on the inside one cause I wanted to give you some support and 2 I had to see for my own eyes does the game deserve the hate... Truth be told opening cut scene was sooo corny and played out like a cartoon. Map looked ok, was surprised it actually had 72 factions on the map but I feel they will all be ground down fairly quickly. Definitely looks like a troy clone! Then I wrote the game off after watching the chariots path find just as bad as Warhammer... Considering chariots are gonna be bread and butter units, while yes they shouldn't be having a hippodrome rac tear through streets and corners like fast and furious....you took so many casualties from your lord going derp and your chariot units going extra extra derp. You definitely helped me reaffirm it was the right move walking away from CA, Company of Heroes 3 was junk, Warhammer is in Chaos (and not the fun Archaon kind) And pharaoh looks like another dumpster ready to be lit on fire! But hey again I definitely appreciate the early access check out and definitely will keep watching your other vids going forward not related to Warhammer or Pharaoh.

[@senshibat8920]

pharaoh vermantide can we spend the budget and summon ushabti now?

[@billhaskill2343]

Hi and Thanks for your posts. Before I spend $100+ CND., what are in the 4 DLCs. In WH3, when a unit of 120 touches just 1 man from another enemy unit, every one stops what you gave orders to do. So far in Pharaoh that dose not happen as much.

[@simone21939]

Finally I hear somebody not hating on Troy, I thought I was the only one on earth liking it. I loved battles in Troy, way more micro management than just throw front lines against each other like other TW games. Pharaoh looks fine but one thing I don’t love about it is the heavily scripted campaign (like also Attila was, which is more of a major historical title). I like my historical games more “sandboxy” instead of playing knowing there’s a scripted “endgame crisis” and 99% of the game is basically getting ready to fight that

[@HeirofCarthage]

Agree

[@madwellmusic8995]

Micro managing is fun from a gaming standpoint, but the possibility to use tactics makes the whole total war experience. Battle lines are boring sure, but that's when you sit back and enjoy the hard dev work of combat animations and cinematography of battle simulation. Battle line is meant to anchor the enemy, or defend a position to prevent missiles from being directly assaulted or redirect flanking units, buying your center more time. Certain raider horde type factions are fun micro becuase the unit roster supports those actions. Other factions with heavier defensive units are meant to march en masse, shoulder to shoulder slowly bogging down enemy while javs and arrows deplete the reserves. That require less micro and more unified cohesion. These are the spefici diverse details certain games need. CA needs to embrace more diverse mechanics in unit behavior to make battles that much better. Weaker less trained units should have limited attack animations, or lower combat effectiveness. Professional troops, veterans and warriors should have their own animations and stances actually reflected in unit behavior, not supplemented with Stat modifiers.

[@michaelforsythe4335]

I adore Troy. Love it to death. I don't understand the hate either.

[@awarren26]

Excited for the customization path they are taking for the campaigns!

[@HeirofCarthage]

Me too

[@ThomasPetermann.]

yeah if that will ever get used again is the other question @@HeirofCarthage

[@Yas-ii3hu]

I wish they had an attempt at the ancient languages for voices in the cinematics

[@senshibat8920]

THE PHARAOH Tawosret: names interesting. .Her birth name appears to have been Two-sret (setep-en-mut) which means "Might Lady, Chosen of Mut". Her Throne name was Sit-re Mery-amun which means "Daughter of Re, Beloved of Amun". Tausert becomes known to us as the wife of Seti II, and apparently a very beloved wife at that, even though she was not his first.

[@2009VandA]

Okay I got to say that was probably the funniest campaign intro I have seen in a while.

[@rosswilson3612]

Love the idea of customisable campaigns. I am totally bamboozled with the campaign intro however. He is like some old ridiculous disney character. The whole thing with the grape is bizarre.

[@rosswilson3612]

Also, it's been so long since Rome 2 and the unit collision is still horrific. Rome 1/medieval 2 collisions were excellent by comparison to games 20 years newer than them. CA needs to get their passion back in their games.

[@MrFlexeeh]

Love your videos been watching for over a decade. Thanks for what you do! Hope you are doing well in life

[@TheWarpGhost]

On the battles, Troy was the first TW game since the gunpowder Empire/Napoleon/FotS where I've actually enjoyed battles. I can see where the lack of cavalry and artillery options did flatten things down a bit, but they did a really good job with the variety of infantry and the light/medium/heavy system. A presumably bigger emphasis on chariots here and porting in a version of Europa Barbororum mod's excellent native/faction troop system will be an even bigger positive, so I expect the battles to be even better than Troy. Heir, what do you think of the constant negative comments claiming this game is "half of Shogun 2"? Do you agree with that assessment? Because everything I'm seeing is that this game is *at least* twice the game Shogun was, in size, scale, mechanics, factions, depth, and everything else. The hate this game is getting just doesn't match what I'm actually seeing shown

[@LordAlpharius]

People who say this is half of Shogun 2 are utterly delusional and are obviusly not arguing in good faith.

[@jaredmccain7555]

Honestly I like the lack of calvary I've relied so much on having strong and fast hammers in warhammer and doing the same thing every time. This makes me think more about troop placement and a gap in the line matters more as my hammer the javelin are more vulnerable. The slower movment and ranged distances being shorter contirubite to that. I like total war games more when the calvary type units are weaker, like shogun 2. I like it when the games actually incetivize having reserve units, I never really put much thought into how I spaced units out in warhammer sp.

[@GCOSBenbow]

@@LordAlpharius This game has the least content wise of any full TW release... its a Saga game with the price of a AAA title. I think the delusional one here is you.

[@warbacca1017]

5:57 can we just take a moment to appreciate how different that man is built? Gets stabbed with a spear and pulls the uno reverse card

[@prismpyre7653]

This seems very much like harkening back to Rome in the game structure- the old Pharaoh is like unto the Roman Senate that you're eventually going to supplant even though you and your rivals are 'on the same side' at the start... looks fun! I love that they are expanding on court intrigue as a feature of strategy/gameplay.

[@madwellmusic8995]

Courts played a huge role in the admistrative efforts of the ancient world. Glad they captured something textual and converted it into gameplay. It's a little flat to me. It'd be cool if the court system had progression depending on how focused your faction is on mitigating populations. It would make it so much more impactful. Maybe I'm missing some details though.

[@the3rdid485]

The Chariot pathing looks like some good old-fashioned CA "whatever just release it. It doesn't matter if it works, they already paid for it."

[@tyrelcook5136]

This game looks visually phenomenal. I just can’t bring myself to pay full price. When this goes on a major sale sometime in the future I may pick it up. Thanks for the preview of the game!

[@rafalst]

Yeah same. Full price is rough. But it seems good if it was like, 33% or more cheaper

[@tyrelcook5136]

@@rafalst Totally. If this went on a 50% off sale sometime down the road I could be convinced to pick me up a copy. I guess I am looking at Pharaoh as a SAGA price game which was cheaper. 😎

[@andrew6815]

@@tyrelcook5136 agreed 100%. This IS a saga game. I will wait until the price accurately reflects the good being sold.

[@tyrelcook5136]

@@andrew6815 Exactly. Saga through and through.

[@JarloftheAppianWay]

Hot dang here we are! Lookit that customization

[@HeirofCarthage]

Yea it is a huge expansion of campaign options. Hope you are well and life is good!

[@billhaskill2343]

LH, was talking about how a charge was not as hard as he thought it should, BUT, said about other charges were good. ONLY 1 charge. I think he had a light unit charge a heavy.

[@oliverclayton442]

Hi Heir, Can you switch to the 2D Rome 2 style unit cards? We haven't seen much of those yet.

[@HeirofCarthage]

I can try to remember to show them. Thanks!

[@tommysalty5864]

I'm so excited that we can watch your playthrough of this game :) was itching for some historical Total War:)

[@wackpendejo3000]

You have a chick with a bow and arrow wearing flowers going into battle...... LMAO "HISTORICAL"

[@tommysalty5864]

@@wackpendejo3000 ok, Mr Historical Purist, what I meant is a Total War game that is set in our world with some liberties taken ;)

[@wackpendejo3000]

@@tommysalty5864 isn't that three kingdoms?

[@tommysalty5864]

@@wackpendejo3000 good point. Also, isn't it all Total War games?;)

[@wackpendejo3000]

@@tommysalty5864 no? I don't remember chicks as generals in medieval 2

[@solomonreinman7452]

This looks like a good game, but I don't think it's for me. I love the old school grittiness of Rome II. The new games feel a little too much like RPGs, with the huge emphasis on your leaders. I loved the emphasis on your faction and dynasty of leaders in Rome II. It felt so much more like a sandbox. Finally becoming Emperor as Rome, for instance, and reminiscing about the newly coronated Emperor's great-great-great grandfather fighting and dying fighting Carthage, added so much flavor that you don't really have with the predefined characters. Again, this looks like a solid game, and I think my tastes are probably pretty old-fashioned, but thought I'd throw my opinion in the ring nonetheless.

[@madwellmusic8995]

That's the copy and paste effect versus open world civilization builder. Impacts replayability as all the features in the this game are there for look, but no one will use them as they won't function the most effective. Unless you role play into making terrible characters, rather than working around randomized traits determined by genealogical basis that family tree mechanic offers. Classic CA, 1 step forward 2 steps to the side to pivot issues and functions that made older titles last so long.

[@solomonreinman7452]

@@madwellmusic8995 Apt interpretation...what a bummer

[@DaveFrags]

Hey Heir, no Lionheartx10 just said that some of the charges of units lacked the weight and crunch on there collisions that is all brother :) he was ok with the battles but certain units just seemed to walk into each other rather than smash like they do in other total wars :) hope that helps you get a clearer picture ❤ On a side note! Love your work brother and ty for your video

[@HeirofCarthage]

Thanks! Was trying to understand better what the thoughts were from them on battles.

[@DaveFrags]

@@HeirofCarthage you my friend are always most welcomed! ❤️

[@Francesco-gf2qu]

Excited!! Did anyone else feel like the intro cut scene was a little weak? Yes, it's great to see the extensive customization!! The chariots moved well in the battle; I like the battles.

[@rafalst]

Yeah, but there isnt much they could do i think. It did its job tough, explaining why there is a "fight" for the "crown"

[@HeirofCarthage]

The customization is definitely nice.

[@DamosLexicon]

Grandpa off his meds again and playing with his food

[@eliu868]

I honestly really liked the cutscene

[@thebrokenmask8304]

My issue with battles in Troy, 3k and probably this too isnt that they arent good per say. In fact yes they run super smooth and actually feel good to play. Thing is for some reasons all of them have the same issue for me. Once I did like 6-7 battles in a campaign then they all feel almost the same because every factions have almost the same units doing the same things.

[@davidstansbury9309]

Warhammer ruined us when it comes to unit variety.

[@alexmcd378]

So far I'm most impressed with how fluid things look on the battlefield. Change commands and the unit flows into the new order, where in old games there was often some latency, like you could hear their GPS say recalculating.

[@theredduke4638]

See I struggle with if I like that or not. I kind of liked how in Med 2 it felt like after I gave an order an officer had to give the order then the unit reacted. But at the same time, for micro ability having them instantly react is a lot nicer. And it looks like ranged units respond better in this than in WH3.

[@alexmcd378]

@@theredduke4638 I can see that for infantry for sure, but in my mind cavalry is to far and fast to wait for the general's commands. So it's the unit CO giving me orders as the situation changes and the men reacting in a practiced fashion. Plus it looks so darn good.

[@madwellmusic8995]

​@theredduke4638 I'm with you. One on end, unit response is everything as older titles would have a few men trickle through while the rest do the cha cha slide. On the other end, newer titles look like flock of birds, moving in telepathic symmetry. Looks fake becuase there's no consideration for mass. Units move through each, when older games they'd stand by to wait for others to walk by. Or slide in rank when marching. None of that here. Battles now look like ants scurrying in a hundred directions at times, and other times a big floaty clumped up mess. Which is realistic for sure, just doesn't have that weight like the hack and slash of the good Ole clunky days

[@DerrickYeo]

Troy (and possibly pharaoh) has really fun battles. Each unit has their niche and without cavalry, you have to know your units well (what they are good at and bad at). It's not really a focus on unit type, more of focus on the unit themselves

[@HeirofCarthage]

This is how I have felt as well.

[@tommysalty5864]

I think Troy is a very good game and I've had lots of fun with it

[@nicheva417]

Sure if you like arcade games. If you like thinking - then no.

[@tommysalty5864]

@@nicheva417 What a hot take... :P I like having fun. I have no issue with you liking different kinds of fun.

[@louie97ation]

@@nicheva417what makes it arcade?

[@Speederzzz]

The map movement around 52:20 feels so trippy XD The straight borders feel wrong though. I know the desert is empty and all lines drawn there are fake, but this just feels too modern and artificial.

[@madwellmusic8995]

It's the difference between Peter Jackson and Amazon. One had a smaller budget and filmed real geography to capture Middle Earth, while the other had hundreds of millions to use Adobe painter and green screens.

[@Dommomos]

Game looks bloody great! Ill definitely be picking it up. I cant really understand what people would whine about. The campaign looks rich with things to do (and seems like therell be a lot of variety there faction wise even if not so much on the battlefield), and it seems like theyve done quite a lot to tone down powergaming/sweep tatics that earlier titles suffer from. Cant wait to play!

[@willdoescollege]

This comment didn't age well

[@Dommomos]

@@willdoescollege what because of the review bombs on steam that have 1 hour playtime?

[@Trigkas]

Please play with 2d unit cards, they feel much more historical and more immersive 🙏

[@gatzt3r]

I'm glad they added those. I loved the ones from Rome so I was hoping to see them again.

[@Hybrid980]

No

[@Hybrid980]

How obnoxious and insufferable, clearly he left it as is because that is how he prefers it, do it in your own game if you feel it's better that way.

[@BigMamaJama]

@@Hybrid980Whoa. Whats your problem? Rock in your shoe? Stick in your rectum? Small PP syndrome?

[@meilinchan7314]

Plus they're easier to distinguish from other units - a far cry from Rome 2's system.

[@Egyptian_Cobra]

Ancient Egypt is a badass civilization!! I love the look of the game from the cultures and art of this game especially with the 2D unit card artwork is stunning! Can’t wait to play!

[@marcus3457]

Hey Heir, great video. I'm actually a fan of the mechanics they added in, and would love to see that for myself. Frankly if they cut the price in half (yes, I said half), they could stand to sell a lot more units. As it stands however it's just not worth the $90 for the dynasty edition. And that's really unfortunate because I with I could play this. Troy was practically DOA because of the silly decision to make it Epic exclusive, and now they are pricing nearly everyone out of Pharaoh. I really hope CA or Sega, whoever is making these decisions, wakes up to a little reality. Yes, there's inflation. But it's also outpacing wages, so people's disposable income is going down. I'm fortunate that's not enough of an issue and I could pay for the game if I wanted to, I just refuse to pay that much for a reskin of a Saga, and while the mechanics are great they're just not worth the money. That said, I did very much enjoy this video and hope to see another one. Thanks, and all the best.

[@NRSGuardian]

Rather than there being a quick deal button, you select the sort of treaty you want down at the bottom and it shows which factions are most willing to make that sort of treaty, whether it be peace, non-aggression, and so forth. Rather like in Troy.

[@theSleepingSaxon]

I was initially put off on Troy at first, but I grew to appreciate it after a short while once I got my hands on it. Troy's battles have been quite enjoyable. I'm looking forward to Pharaoh.

[@HeirofCarthage]

Exact same thing for me. When I came back to it after Mythos I realized how cool it was.

[@blebcat]

@@HeirofCarthage Was it Mythos that you enjoyed, or did the hype surrounding Mythos make you try it again?

[@chrisshergie1030]

you suffer from the same thing i do when commenting: redundancy. im guessing you're a really smart person thats just trying to make sure people understand what you're saying. u might even be a sagitarius lol just kidding

[@JuliusGeezer447]

I've been generally looking forward to Pharaoh and am quite pleased with what's been shown so far. My financial situation means I will have to wait for xmas and/or a sale before I buy, but that isn't a reflection on the game as such. I also quite liked Troy's battles after they had received some patches, and especially enjoyed how beautiful yet well optimised the game looks. The same seems to be true for Pharaoh.

[@HeirofCarthage]

Speaking of optimized...I have a high end system (R9 5950 CPU, RX6900XT) but Holy crap. I get average of about 140FPS on ultra settings and 1440p resolution on battle benchmark and 200FPS on campaign benchmark. This game runs smooth so far.

[@JuliusGeezer447]

@@HeirofCarthage My system isn't quite as beastly but it seems like it should still run the game decently enough. I will say though that CA's PR handling of WH3 has made me a little bit less excited for Pharaoh than I otherwise would have been, which is a real shame as I imagine I'm not the only feeling that way, and it's hardly the Sofia team's fault.

[@polonavarro]

same boat, game looks beautiful

[@kmorton54]

I was waiting for Heir to do a Pharaoh campaign 😊

[@SmedleyDouwright]

I want to see SUPPILULIUMA's campaign. That name is intriguing.

[@HeirofCarthage]

Exactly...never heard of him but a name with that many syllables has to be taken seriously.

[@craniusdominus8234]

@@HeirofCarthage Well he definitely needs to be taken seriously :) As to why he's a mystery, it's probably because the Hittites are not really that well known to the average person with an interest in history. Despite the fact that we've had access to their own written records that span virtually the entire history of their civilization, the Hittites just never got as much visibility as the Egyptians or the Babylonians did. Probably has a lot to do with the facts that they were forgotten for a good three thousand years, and they weren't featured on any list of the 7 Wonders of the ancient world. But, anyway, I knew Suppi was going to be in the game the second I finished watching the release trailer. For anyone interested, there's a really good documentary about how historians rediscovered the Hittite civilization that I watched on TV maybe 15 years ago, and someone (well, I suppose multiple someones) uploaded it to youtube. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJime6SjeclpkJY

[@meilinchan7314]

Anyone who's played AoE : RoR will recognise him instantly :)

[@MrBentalton777]

troys problem is collision was nonexistent units could pull through other units without you even telling them too like they didnt exist. as if you are holding your ground and a unit you are fighting routs your units more often than not will chase them even if it means pulling through other units they are still engaged with saw it happen so often that i quit playing the game as it can easily cost you the fight or simply make it feel to arcadey.

[@madwellmusic8995]

That's how I felt about Empire. My God did the combat in that game suuuuuuuck. Hasn't gotten much better, but ain't nothing worse than that utter mess

[@MrBentalton777]

@@madwellmusic8995 only good thing about empire imo was the naval combat lol

[@tater8651]

You're spot on. I love the battles in Troy (I still play Troy). These battles look great, the faction mechanics look engaging, and all the Egyptians were Pharaohs over the course of a short period (I bet we see Siptah and Setnakhte (two other Pharaohs before Ramesses III) added as part of the Faction DLCs). I love the Bronze Age, and the Bronze Age Collapse is a perfect way to experience it in a Total War game. I hope we see Mesopotamia added as the Campaign Pack that's forecasted (this would add Assyria, Babylon, and Elam - all of which were an integral part of this period). Further down the road, if Pharaoh is successful, I'd love to see a Mycenean (Greek) DLC. This should take place immediately following the Trojan War, after the assassination of Agamemnon by his wife. This result would have been a power vacuum for control of Mycenae, ultimately requiring a militarization of the palaces throughout Greece. This internal conflict fits well with the TW Pharaoh 'Civil War' mechanics. The Myceneans would be attacked by the Sea People and/or Dorian Invasions as the world approaches collapse. This is such a recipe for success, I hope CA can capture it. Great video ;)

[@tater8651]

Oh! And as incentive to purchase both TW Troy and the Mycenean DLC, CA could add "Old Odysseus" (or another character that survived the Trojan War, and returned to Greece) as a free character in TW Pharaoh for anyone who owns TW Troy and Mycenean DLC. I'd love to play that campaign.

[@aaronmaher8882]

those egyptian peasents are jacked

[@Darkprinc315]

Love your videos

[@dogebestest7187]

I'm interested to see how the ai behaves in this one. Does it facilitate fun gameplay, gives players exciting battles, dares to siege and storm strongholds etc, or is it like in wh3 either ganking with overwhelming numbers or forcing the player to wackamole them and only try to snipe unprotected settlements?

[@t-rexwrecks2388]

I like the look and feel of Pharaoh... I think Total War Warhammer spoiled us for battle effects. But battles happen so FAST in Warhammer. Lack of magic can be a good thing.

[@mikeboix3315]

Looking good. I would just like an additional config option to make battles last longer and that would sell it to me.

[@aarone4813]

The game features some interesting mechanics and graphically it looks great, but the AI really holds it back. Wow.

[@Rupertssons]

I feel like Total War has always had pretty bad AI tbh

[@jaywerner8415]

When DOESN'T the AI hold back a total war game? That has been the one consistent problem, and people are noticing it more and more as of late.

[@BiNumLi]

Perhaps chariots in town? Would get congested in narrow streets. These units excel in wide flat open spaces. Not likely a pathing issue.

[@nathandavis435]

I won't lie, even as someone who appreciates the turn back towards the historical, I feel like the Mythos pack that Troy had would be an amazing idea for these going forward, scratching the itch for those that were introduced to the series through the Warhammer games, while giving the historically minded players a chance to either turn it off or not purchase it in order to keep their preferred style of play.

[@MrGatonegroish]

If we could put GIFs on here, I'd put Count Dooku's "I've been looking forward to this...!"

[@HeirofCarthage]

Hope you enjoy it. Let me know what other stuff from the game you want to see.

[@ancienthistorygaming]

Chariots are good on flat open ground

[@the_superior_nerd2439]

This is going to be epic

[@gatzt3r]

I'm with you Heir. I liked the battles in Troy and likewise, the battles here look smooth. Troys endgame fell flat. (Never got invaded by the Greeks playing as Hector). I'm hoping the endgame here works as intended.

[@Maniac3194]

Unit movement and collision felt like crap in Troy. Enjoyed the campaign map but even now after all the patching I tried to go back and play it and lasted like two battles.

[@Tanuvein]

What the crap is going on Heir? Thanks for the preview, I try to avoid spoilers so this is the only thing I've watched and it was enough for me to pre-order the game. The battles look good, and they were good in Troy. I think people might be too used to Warhammer at this point which is fun and full of action but not as focused on actual tactics.

[@SOTURICAT]

I think the battles are very smooth compare to Rome 2. It's very good that CA has made customization enable very deep:)

[@WinningByMason]

they look smooth but also boring imo

[@WinningByMason]

arcade games are usually smooth

[@kalzhae]

@@WinningByMason well they're more in line to what we had back with rome 2 or atilla, definitly more boring than WH 1-3 but it's also not the same kind of game, and it's also juste the eary game, eary game in WH is pretty slow and boring too depending of the faction

[@markhadley9859]

I personally loved a lot about Troy, what I did not like was it seemed a little directionless. To explain it was so hard to focus on the storyline. The AI factions which surrounded you would attack for no reason. So many campaigns ended in a mess of small wars. Really hoping that it is not repeated in Pharaoh.

[@madwellmusic8995]

That's the total war formula. It's to complex for the ai to maganage systems, so they are just designed to not let the player win. Which means it's all the factions vs you and the ai can utilize every faction against. It reacts off the players actions. Thankfully, it is not self determined.

[@michaelforsythe4335]

17:50............. couldn't agree more. I started playing Total War with Troy and came to love it. Moved on to Warhammer II and loved that too, but they are quite different. How can you not get jazzed for a battle in which you get to have Cerberus on your side ???

[@Jules4878]

Looking great so far I'm excited about the civil war mechanics. Would be great to have multiplayer campaigns with more than 2 players in that!

[@micahmackinnon99]

It's not true that CA alters these demos for the streamers so that the experience is skewed from actual gameplay like Heir seems to suggest at 55:16, right? Because that's almost as bad as what Blizzard did with Warcraft 3 Reforged.

[@NRSGuardian]

I am more of a fan of the battles from Rome 2, Medieval 2, and Empire where they were slower paced and you had time to position your units for devastating flanking attacks and where you had to set up chain routs and they weren't just given to you by army losses. From Shogun 2 on I feel like the battles have gotten faster and shorter, some battles in Troy and Pharaoh you seem to spend more time loading into and out of the battle than you do actually fighting it. Also, I like the various special formations and abilities units had like being able to deploy stakes or take up phalanx, schiltrom, or testudo formations. I think if there was more of that it would make up for some of the lack in unit diversity. Also, maps could be bigger, so that faster armies can actually kite slower opposing armies without them being able to deploy from one side of the map to the other and block your army from running around them. While I didn't hate the battles in Troy, they didn't blow me away either, and it felt like in Troy once you got yourself an army of high level units you could just steam roll through any opposing army you faced. The early to mid-game was fun and challenging, mostly because you couldn't be and defend everywhere at once, but once you built up your settlements and got some allies or vassals to help defend against enemy armies so you could concentrate on offense and just pushing into and systematically eliminating threats it became rather easy and all threat from the opposing AI went away. Other than the late game feeling super easy there was just something about battles in Troy that just seemed to be missing something, but I can't put my finger on what that is.

[@madwellmusic8995]

I'll take a guess. Unit locking. Multiple units can't gang up on a 3 v 1 scenario. They can only die by kill animation. And of course, the direction of animation style. Highly exaggerated romanticized gentlemen duels, not hack and slash of old. Or floaty blobs that auto target the same unit space so 20 guys blob up in a singular space. Spacing. Old total war had issues, when only a few dudes in a regiment would actually engage the enemy, rather than a cohesive charge. But there was a consideration for mass, and caution. Unit behavior in older titles reflected human emotion. Newer games are soulless Stat modifiers. Movement. Notice in newer titles, units move like a school of fish. Simultaneously move in the direction, unlike falling in line movement of older titles where the person behind follows the person in front. Physics. The biggest culprit imo. They can add all the sound they want, collisions and mass still plague the urgency of newer titles. There's no weight behind the combat. No shoulder to shoulder, shield on shield shoving. Rather than a collection of units acting on one accord, it's a group of organized dudes acting individually. Which is fine for some cultures, and absolutely awful for others. And that's where CA falls short every time. What's diversity and variety if there's no real identity.

[@luigisaguier8336]

The smallest campaign map + the lowest playable factions count = FULL PRICE for some weird reason. I've decided not to allow myself to be taken advantage of by CA any longer.

[@madwellmusic8995]

They take rudimentary concepts, and spice it up with top notch tech. Like a corrupt energy company that monopolize housing companies to use solar panels so real estate can bump up mortgage by 15 grand a pop. And they all shake hands. No one asked, we all can afford light bill, but now everyone is cornered into buying "modern," expensive energy provider.

[@CptSlow89]

Love the campaign customization. Especially if we can lower AI cheating.

[@Георг-л5л]

Just hearing your Voice give me rush of nostalgic times

[@Yews]

Twosret’s face in the loading screen is both creepy and hilarious.

[@robnoel9306]

Very sceptical, but i'll watch because it is you.

[@MercuryKnight5]

Pharoah is exactly what I wanted Troy to be: Bronze Age Total War!

[@iansauvageau5736]

If I had money, I’d buy this game.

[@michaelmcnamara3190]

This is very very cool 😎!

[@Teutoborg]

about the battles i think people are just unhappy about the fact that with full army of 20 units. the battle takes only like 5 minuts.( that the time for a battles is less long since newer total wars) did not check that last one but you have more experience in total war and did do more campaigns. so you can compare with the onces you played from previous total wars.

[@haf1872]

Hatshepsut is pronounced as Hat-sheep-soot or the Heir way, "Hot Sheep Soup".

[@HeirofCarthage]

Excellent lol thanks!

[@meilinchan7314]

Do you think a WW1 Total War would've been a better bet? or do you think it's too late for CA, because Petroglyph beat them to it?

[@DerrickYeo]

By the way, quick deals should be the row of icons below the factions (to the right of negotiate). The predicted weather is also a dynamic thing, not so much of it will change if you pressed wait (although it still will), but the weather will change mid-battle. So for that siege with a sandstorm, the predicted weather was no change, so your whole battle would be sandy throughout the entire battle. Great video, glad to see gameplay that isn't ramesses. Keep it up

[@HeirofCarthage]

Thanks for the info!

[@rhuanrizzi]

I've been unable to truly enjoy Total War games ever since Medieval 2. I don't know exactly what it was, if it was the sound design, the physics or what else, but the combat in that game had a certain weight, a certain impact, literally speaking, when the units clashed, that all other games I played since lacked, and it doesn't feel as satisfying anymore

[@emissara6512]

I agree with the battle. It's bc there not all the warhammer stuff going on. Guns, flying, explosions. Simple Acient and smooth warfare.

[@jaywerner8415]

From everything iv seen and heard, Pharoh has alot of things going for it. But at the same time, their isn't MUCH to be excited about, its just kinda "meh". Most of the Features and additions are returning features, and what few features that have added, don't sound particularly interesting. The armor degradation is interesting in the sense your troops will loss some of their armor as the fight goes on, and the "stances" is a interesting change but not the most interesting (beyond the fact your troops can now move backwords while keeping facing). But then you see these videos, and you get hopeful, excited even. Politics, Civil War, Outposts, Culture, The Bronze age collapse, all of it is GOOD STUFF. Sadly i just came from a video uploaded today showing the AI at its WORST, like Rome 2 Launch levels of BAD! Its 2023, that should not be possible. And bear in mind the game comes out in 18 days, so hopefully the AI isn't quite that Awful at launch. At least since its running on Troy's Engine as noted the Gameplay and FPS are SMOOTH. Like "A smooth Criminal" smooth. Other then that, the general sentiment is "this is a full priced Saga title". Not sure how true that is, but i can see why people would think that given the smaller scale of the game, large as its map may be when you get "down to earth" with it. Plus not everyone is into Bronze age Egypt. The people want Medieval 3, Empire 2, Rome 3, Shogun 3, ectera ectera. So you could say "no one asked for this".

[@thomaskinyon2984]

The ui, and art syles look rather nice! I'm surevthis one will go over similarly to thrones of britannia; people won't buy, those that do will cry, and after several patches & updates, then it'll surely be a great experience in its own right.

[@a_roach8513]

Hey, do you know if Pharaoh has simultaneous turns in multiplayer like WH3?

[@branwhite5141]

Love the combat. I’m a long time TW head. Infantry combat stands apart from all other games.

[@jonathan-kh3zy]

I played EA and my only complaint for now is the absence of our beloved crocodile bros

[@Flamingbannas]

This is just a nit pick but the woman on the right at 0:54, she looks a lot more Greek to me then Egyptian. I may not be the best to determine ethnicities but i remember my childhood friend's mother was Egyptian and she definitely did not look like that.

[@zackthedragonknight6101]

also why no historical battles?

[@Ghostwarrior3500]

I don't know if the steam troy is different to the epic store but it feels better on steam for Troy. After sitting in my library for a while started Troy again and love it so I will be getting pharaoh

[@4Pickledonions]

Heir of Carthage, lion hearts video is about bugs with the battle ai. Not the optimization of the battles

[@rafalst]

I really dont understand why some people are angry at the fact that there is a small focus on the faction leaders. Besides them being immortal, its no different than shogun 2 and their faction leaders.

[@abhinandanbanerjee5471]

Shogun 2's faction leaders were not wrecking ball single entity units. Shogun 1s single entity unit was dangerous but also easy to kill. If you really made this comparison then you haven't really played Shogun 2 that much.

[@Carnakrox]

About the imortal thing for a 6 turn per year game this make sense, a campaign of 120 turns is only 20 years.

[@rafalst]

@@abhinandanbanerjee5471 the faction leaders arent single entity... and the general units in shogun 2 were VERY VERY strong. If you dont know that, you havent played shogun 2 and you havent even looked at this game... soo please, dont come with bullshit comments.

[@rafalst]

@@Carnakrox yep. And all the "deaths" in battle could always just be bad injuries that the general recovers from. Its a game after, not really that fun to lose to your "main character"

[@DerrickYeo]

​@@abhinandanbanerjee5471wrecking ball single units? Pharaoh doesn't have that?????

[@Theunislb]

Who are the playable leaders?

[@zelikris]

I wish you would have zoomed in to the individual unit animations

[@HeirofCarthage]

I will try to show some matched combat in the next video

[@zelikris]

@@HeirofCarthage Thanks!

[@CrèmeTropBrûlée]

Looks good

[@senshibat8920]

Chariot horses union rep complains about track conditions before the leader tries to mountain bike a settlement barricade. Where is that preist with my Nehekt for the men

[@madwellmusic8995]

I can't say whether battles are lack luster, up close it looks great, and from far away it looks like medieval 1, floaty dots. Combat does seems romanticized in terms of kill animations. Cnt get a sense of that battle line grind, but it works really well for raid and skirmish mechanics as units seems to all float around doing their own thing rather than coehesive formations. And thats where i believe the lack luster comes in. Not becuase the game is bad, but because it offers nothing substantial. Collisions, weapons, all sound great but it doesn't quite resonate in action. On paper, the campign mechanics are awesome. Detailed and inclusive. For a game. Where does the history part come in? Its a balancing act, and they did a terrific job. Im more curious about their process of conception more than anything. Why this? Why not that? What can or cant be achieved due to technical limitations. How much could actually have gone into making an epic game vs historical interpretive project.

[@ciruelo5921]

AI is in a terrible state apparently. Do you think it will be fixed before launch?

[@eliu868]

It’s frange there no flyover voice, I think that’s a bug. Ramesses has it

[@DB4331]

I'm assuming there will be several DLCs that will unlock much more of the bronze age map like Greece, Mesopatmia and maybe even the Indus Valley. I feel that with map merging like in WH they discovered a huge potential cash cow. Like those old Transformer toys where each individual robot was a piece of much larger super robot. "$$$ Collect them all !! $$$". In Rome 2 you bought additional factions like the Greeks to be playable by the user, but you could still fight against and conquer greek lands. Now I bet we're buying pieces of the map.....so we can't even fight those factions unless we cough up more cash. That will probably be normal in TW going forward now 😞. At some point you gotta say "No more...the thing you're trying to sell me isn't nearly as valuable as it used to be." I probably won't buy this game until it's older, has had 103 patches applied, and the complete bundle is much, much, much cheaper. But I have been binge watching a lot of documentaries about Bronze Age empires on KZbin, so I'm actually really interested in this time period now. So if you do a bunch of Let's Play campaigns with this game, I'll for sure be watching.

[@Equilibruim77]

I feel exactly the same. The way they have divided things up really rubs me wrong

[@madwellmusic8995]

A major component total war has been missing is how the immersion was actually educating you. You wanted to figure out the purpose of things, more than just 10% bonus to this, and negative impact to that. You actually wanted to read, and the depth of exposition offered more than just game progression. The royal decree system is great, I'm curious if those decrees were actual laws passed by these old kings. That'd be a nice feature if they actually included real documentation of decrees passed and enforced by their main characters.

[@sunburst12341]

I’ve just purchased Troy on the steam sale. So far so good. This looks very similar - not particularly appealing but if on sale may check it out

[@BladePHF]

I think CA saying "pls no review" is naff. OK dawg, I'll just do the marketing for you then, get the hype going, move copies. Good enough to be showcased to aid sales, not good enough to be reviewed? Slimy. To be clear - No shade towards Heir.

[@HeirofCarthage]

The No Review at first embargo is standard on everything CA releases and most all games. They usually hold all that till a day or so before launch. This embargo basically allows us to show you anything in the game with a few exceptions. Certainly they are hoping it will market itself. Reviews or not I think folks will be able to watch and get a good idea. Only thing I cut out of these videos is occasionally a turn end or load screen. Hoping it allows people to make the decision that is right for them. Thanks for watching and leaving your thoughts! Always appreciate people sharing their view. Helps put together a bigger picture.

[@BladePHF]

@@HeirofCarthage Thank you for the reply. I get it, but it's weird - if they're handing people copies of the game and those copies are unlikely to change much before the review pseudo-embargo lifts (have they ever?) then I feel that functionally it's a bit of control I do not think they should exert. Doesn't it complicate things a bit for people in your role - you want to show stuff off but you need to play a low-key game of He Who Shall Not Be Named-ing actual critical thoughts and opinions? Then, at a later date CA chooses you can drop a review. It feels like they want an uncritical representation of the game shown to YTbers audiences /before/ the YTbers get a shot at maybe tempering expectations or pointing out flaws and caveats - this would anchor some part of the audience in a if not uncritically positive first impression then certainly a mostly uncritical one in general. And that doesn't sit right with me. Again, want to be super clear here, I like your content and I am not upset that you do this, it's just the overall mechanism feeling a bit sus to me.

[@kilerman12971]

No music during battles? Maybe that’s why people feel like they are lackluster

[@HeirofCarthage]

There was no music? Didn't notice. I will check again and see. Certainly a miss if it isn't there.

[@kilerman12971]

@@HeirofCarthagegoing back it sounds like there’s some music. I couldn’t hear it while watching on my tv.

[@zackthedragonknight6101]

I like the battles

[@johnstanley7114]

I’ve always loved the more out of pocket games so like three kingdoms and warhammer but I’m excited to have the game be set in Egypt and Mesopotamia

[@sebbityswooty2097]

Looks interesting I think I will pick this one up and try it out. Wasn't a huge fan of troy but I think this might be a bit more interesting

[@bos2134]

My biggest and probably only two issues are the time of the battles, and look. I want to feel like there is an actual struggle going on between units not where they crumble in 30 secs. The look, or the graphics for me personally doesn’t fit the historical vibe. I want the brutal feel that Attila can give (yes I know that that system ran poorly) and I can only imagine how amazing they could make units look without a color saturation and cartoon feel that I feel from this game. The second point is totally my personal preference but the first is just not entertaining from a tactical and struggle like battle that mods like DEI for rome 2 can provide or darthmod for napoleon.

[@MedjayofFaiyum]

You can charge the saturation via the photo mode. That will help on the gritty look. As for length, mods

[@fugas2.0]

more please more..2 episodes per day :D

[@Jocw27]

12:32 TIL chariots have hooves

[@JarloftheAppianWay]

The campaign map seemed kinda dull until you scrolled over and showed it covers all the way to Turkey as well!

[@thearab2569]

no scorpion king? :(

[@imtoospartan1134]

I feel the same way about Troy styled combat

[@YonexCC]

What I enjoyed about Total War Saga was how smooth both the campaign and battles were and how sleek the visuals and graphics were. What I disliked about TW Saga was how relatively small and short the campaign was. The biggest downside was the lack of unit differentiation and factions in TW Saga. There was like what, two unit differences between factions/cultures and that was it. Not only that, but the unit models and decor on them are so lack luster. Literally everyone looked the same, just piece of armor, weapon, and shield. When you look at TW Rome 2, TWW ,etc etc, you see the attention to detail to each unit from each faction. TW Pharoah looks just as lack luster as Saga. Honestly, if they took the visuals and smoothness from TW Saga and Pharoah and incorporated that into a true, TW series, I would orgasm. I will ALWAYS be a TW fan, but I think I will wait for proper reviews and YT videos post release before swiping for the game early on. I'm going on a rant here, but I really hope the next ACTUAL Total War remake (we are WAY overdue for a remake of Medieval TW, Shogun, TW, and Rome TW) does not disappoint as much as Three Kingdoms, TW Saga, and what this looks like it might be.