Just spent this weekend playing Sengoku, one of the most anticipated games (for me anyways).
My feelings are rather mixed. (doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the game, I'm just being critical of what could have been)
1. Managing Bloodlines and Heir Breeding.
Very fun managing your bloodlines, like breeding and grooming a champion dog. It's practically the most important feature of the game. Which is why my feeling is mixed..
When you're spending so much time on these screens, wouldn't it be justifiable to make these screens easier to manage and navigate? A simple Hierarchy chart from the Total War Series would help tremendously navigating which Son/Grandson/Great grandsons/daughters. UI really needs some work here.
2. Names
Look I'm not Japanese and I can't read Japanese. So Japanese names aren't exactly the easiest thing to get a hang of. However, when you're dealing with a UI that needs work, your sixth Oda Akitsune from your fourth son, third wife, 7th son and his 2nd wife isn't exactly 'fun' to look for.
Other than the UI that needs to be fixed (it looks like a recurring Paradox problem for all your titles) a quick fix could be to allow name edits within the game. As it stands I'm editing the savegame and naming my sons after Japanese food, and my grandsons after Japanese companies. All my daughters and wives have Japanese AV names.
All this just so I can, at a glance, know whose who. My heir I'm grooming always has a distinctive name just so I know he's the one i'm 'looking out' for.
3. Combat
Combat is typical of this series, I was however hoping for something along the King arthur series or heck even TW. I would love to play the bastard child of Sengoku and TW: Shogun 2.
Otherwise, combat is MOTS. My one gripe is that I think armies recover too fast and it allows you to comp stomp Japan by 1500.
Levies regenerate too fast and so do your retainers. The whole reason for armies was that once you defeat the main army, it's essentially a mop up. However, armies regenerate so fast you're facing another 10k stack right after you defeated the first.
Mopping up becomes a whack a mole affair. Just not fun.
4. Plots.
I'm trying to enjoy plots, i like the idea of plots. The Sengoku era was all about plots, back stabby daimyos. But it's just so damn hard to plot and get anybody to join you. I believe it's an acknowledged bug atm, so here's hoping it'll be fixed. Together with the compy stompy combat, I can skip the whole plotting feature for the whole game. In other words, I'm hoping plots become integral to becoming shogun.
5. Waging War.
I think waging war is just too easy. I don't see a war exhaustion (maybe have more ikko ikki uprisings for an over taxed population?) If you have money you can 'buy' honor and wage more war. I just feel that in the end, this makes waging war far too easy after hitting a certain amount of money in the bank.
6. Messages
Back to the UI again, there needs to be more communicative messages that pauses the game whenever it fires. I'll like to know if Grandson X dies, especially if he's the son of my heir.
7. Territory
I've read about this somewhere on this forum or another. War was waged not only for the Shogunate but also for much needed resources to reach the shogunate. Mines, Fertile Fields, Manpower, Horses, etc were sort after resources and was why certain regions were favored for conquest first. For example, Imagawa lands were known to be rich and fertile and were the envy of it's neighbors. Which eventually led to it's downfall when Takeda and Tokugawa 'plotted' to divide it's lands between them.
Territory should also have territorial integrity. At the moment, I'm allowing everybody and anybody to march around my lands. I don't think any lord or daimyo would like to have 20,000 troops from another clan camping in your home province?
I think there's another missed chance here, allowing another clan marching rights would add another dimension to diplomacy.
8. Trade
Where is the trade? Trade was one of the major factors of the breaking up of the Ashikaga shogunate. Trade with China generated wealth for the Daimyos which in turn allowed the Daimyos to demand more autonomy over their holdings. This in turn weakened the Shogunate's hold on it's vassals. Which resulted in the Sengoku jidaii.
Trade is sorely missing, especially with China and with the Western powers. Both generate extra wealth, and the western powers provided gunpowder weapons.
9. Diplomacy
I have to applaud the diplomacy in the game. It's not bad. Few games ever include a more robust diplomacy feature. The Civ series tried and failed many times. I think Diplomacy could be much improved. For example while you can affect how a character likes you, you can't affect how you like a character. I strongly think an option should be given to increase this factor.
It should also be easier to invite people to your Clan. Especially when you're high in Honor and Power. As it stands (maybe it's the bug) it's very difficult to invite anybody to your clan. Which brings me to the issue of Honor.
10. Honor.
Pretty much the currency of the game. But wouldn't waging unjust wars lower honor? If memory serves the EU system had a bad boy factor for well...'bad boy's who waged unnecessary wars. I think there's a huge gap between waging war and acquiring land through peaceful/ninja means. Which brings me up to ninjas.
11. Ninajs
Too damn hard to find, and when you do find them and acquire their services, they go back to shinobi land. As it is your masters take forever and a day to find a ninja clan. (yes i've built the theater in the province i'm searching) While I think Ninjas should be found...they should stay found instead of disappearing from your screen. In fact, leave them there and show their status as employed or unemployed.
I think the whole concept of Ninja's is a little lost and wasted. More could be done to create a very important, integrated and required feature to the game.
12. Ronin
I love Ronin and the concept of Ronin. I think it was done very well in the game. However i feel that again it's too damn hard to find Ronin like it is to find Ninja. You should be able to look for Ronin anywhere and everywhere. Maybe even have an event to show the Ronin event. Anyways, I've searched for Ronin for pretty much the length of my first Leader's rule and found...one...ronin. I feel that;
- Able to search for Ronin anywhere.
- Increase percentage of finding Ronin right after a major battle and a lost of a clan/dynasty.
13. Vassals
or the lack thereof. It's hard to find any vassals or courtiers from other clans. One of the fun things about the Sengoku era is managing the expectations of the differing clans under your 'kingship'. As it stands, I'm literally at the moment marrying into minor clans just so I have some flavor in court. It just felt so un-sengoku when your entire court consists of people from Oda.
Again i feel a big opportunity was missed. There could be events created with new Courtiers coming to your court seeking to be courtiers or even vassals, generals, etc. Instead, the closes thing is looking for Ronin and having your wife's family come over when her former liege got 'pwn'd' by the AI. In my case, Mom-in-law came to my court and promptly joined one of my son's court right after. (The rest of the family was dead except her Mom).
Overall I give the game a 7/10. It's fun, but there's alot of 'could have been' and alot of stuff that needs some spit and shine. It should have been a 5/10, but i'm giving one extra point for the smoothest paradox release ever. No CTD, (though I did get one corrupt savegame) and one extra point for a rocking soundtrack.
My feelings are rather mixed. (doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the game, I'm just being critical of what could have been)
1. Managing Bloodlines and Heir Breeding.
Very fun managing your bloodlines, like breeding and grooming a champion dog. It's practically the most important feature of the game. Which is why my feeling is mixed..
When you're spending so much time on these screens, wouldn't it be justifiable to make these screens easier to manage and navigate? A simple Hierarchy chart from the Total War Series would help tremendously navigating which Son/Grandson/Great grandsons/daughters. UI really needs some work here.
2. Names
Look I'm not Japanese and I can't read Japanese. So Japanese names aren't exactly the easiest thing to get a hang of. However, when you're dealing with a UI that needs work, your sixth Oda Akitsune from your fourth son, third wife, 7th son and his 2nd wife isn't exactly 'fun' to look for.
Other than the UI that needs to be fixed (it looks like a recurring Paradox problem for all your titles) a quick fix could be to allow name edits within the game. As it stands I'm editing the savegame and naming my sons after Japanese food, and my grandsons after Japanese companies. All my daughters and wives have Japanese AV names.
All this just so I can, at a glance, know whose who. My heir I'm grooming always has a distinctive name just so I know he's the one i'm 'looking out' for.
3. Combat
Combat is typical of this series, I was however hoping for something along the King arthur series or heck even TW. I would love to play the bastard child of Sengoku and TW: Shogun 2.
Otherwise, combat is MOTS. My one gripe is that I think armies recover too fast and it allows you to comp stomp Japan by 1500.
Levies regenerate too fast and so do your retainers. The whole reason for armies was that once you defeat the main army, it's essentially a mop up. However, armies regenerate so fast you're facing another 10k stack right after you defeated the first.
Mopping up becomes a whack a mole affair. Just not fun.
4. Plots.
I'm trying to enjoy plots, i like the idea of plots. The Sengoku era was all about plots, back stabby daimyos. But it's just so damn hard to plot and get anybody to join you. I believe it's an acknowledged bug atm, so here's hoping it'll be fixed. Together with the compy stompy combat, I can skip the whole plotting feature for the whole game. In other words, I'm hoping plots become integral to becoming shogun.
5. Waging War.
I think waging war is just too easy. I don't see a war exhaustion (maybe have more ikko ikki uprisings for an over taxed population?) If you have money you can 'buy' honor and wage more war. I just feel that in the end, this makes waging war far too easy after hitting a certain amount of money in the bank.
6. Messages
Back to the UI again, there needs to be more communicative messages that pauses the game whenever it fires. I'll like to know if Grandson X dies, especially if he's the son of my heir.
7. Territory
I've read about this somewhere on this forum or another. War was waged not only for the Shogunate but also for much needed resources to reach the shogunate. Mines, Fertile Fields, Manpower, Horses, etc were sort after resources and was why certain regions were favored for conquest first. For example, Imagawa lands were known to be rich and fertile and were the envy of it's neighbors. Which eventually led to it's downfall when Takeda and Tokugawa 'plotted' to divide it's lands between them.
Territory should also have territorial integrity. At the moment, I'm allowing everybody and anybody to march around my lands. I don't think any lord or daimyo would like to have 20,000 troops from another clan camping in your home province?
I think there's another missed chance here, allowing another clan marching rights would add another dimension to diplomacy.
8. Trade
Where is the trade? Trade was one of the major factors of the breaking up of the Ashikaga shogunate. Trade with China generated wealth for the Daimyos which in turn allowed the Daimyos to demand more autonomy over their holdings. This in turn weakened the Shogunate's hold on it's vassals. Which resulted in the Sengoku jidaii.
Trade is sorely missing, especially with China and with the Western powers. Both generate extra wealth, and the western powers provided gunpowder weapons.
9. Diplomacy
I have to applaud the diplomacy in the game. It's not bad. Few games ever include a more robust diplomacy feature. The Civ series tried and failed many times. I think Diplomacy could be much improved. For example while you can affect how a character likes you, you can't affect how you like a character. I strongly think an option should be given to increase this factor.
It should also be easier to invite people to your Clan. Especially when you're high in Honor and Power. As it stands (maybe it's the bug) it's very difficult to invite anybody to your clan. Which brings me to the issue of Honor.
10. Honor.
Pretty much the currency of the game. But wouldn't waging unjust wars lower honor? If memory serves the EU system had a bad boy factor for well...'bad boy's who waged unnecessary wars. I think there's a huge gap between waging war and acquiring land through peaceful/ninja means. Which brings me up to ninjas.
11. Ninajs
Too damn hard to find, and when you do find them and acquire their services, they go back to shinobi land. As it is your masters take forever and a day to find a ninja clan. (yes i've built the theater in the province i'm searching) While I think Ninjas should be found...they should stay found instead of disappearing from your screen. In fact, leave them there and show their status as employed or unemployed.
I think the whole concept of Ninja's is a little lost and wasted. More could be done to create a very important, integrated and required feature to the game.
12. Ronin
I love Ronin and the concept of Ronin. I think it was done very well in the game. However i feel that again it's too damn hard to find Ronin like it is to find Ninja. You should be able to look for Ronin anywhere and everywhere. Maybe even have an event to show the Ronin event. Anyways, I've searched for Ronin for pretty much the length of my first Leader's rule and found...one...ronin. I feel that;
- Able to search for Ronin anywhere.
- Increase percentage of finding Ronin right after a major battle and a lost of a clan/dynasty.
13. Vassals
or the lack thereof. It's hard to find any vassals or courtiers from other clans. One of the fun things about the Sengoku era is managing the expectations of the differing clans under your 'kingship'. As it stands, I'm literally at the moment marrying into minor clans just so I have some flavor in court. It just felt so un-sengoku when your entire court consists of people from Oda.
Again i feel a big opportunity was missed. There could be events created with new Courtiers coming to your court seeking to be courtiers or even vassals, generals, etc. Instead, the closes thing is looking for Ronin and having your wife's family come over when her former liege got 'pwn'd' by the AI. In my case, Mom-in-law came to my court and promptly joined one of my son's court right after. (The rest of the family was dead except her Mom).
Overall I give the game a 7/10. It's fun, but there's alot of 'could have been' and alot of stuff that needs some spit and shine. It should have been a 5/10, but i'm giving one extra point for the smoothest paradox release ever. No CTD, (though I did get one corrupt savegame) and one extra point for a rocking soundtrack.
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