SHOGUN: Total War™ - Collection

The one that started it all. Rough around the edges, unforgiving, and with a UI that will test your patience - but none of that matters, because back in the date this felt like witchcraft. Commanding armies across feudal Japan with actual real-time battles was unlike anything anyone had seen before. It's clunky, yes. It's hard. And it's completely, unapologetically worth it, if only to pay respects to the game that built an empire. Pure nostalgia, wrapped in honour and steel.

Despite being bare-bones compared to modern entries, this game has the exact same addictive loop that defines the entire series. The design is minimalist featuring far fewer regions, unit types, and tactical options and the mechanics can be quite confusing for the first hour or two. However, the moment everything finally clicks, you are hit with an urge to never put it down. CURIO: During early development, the game wasn't a historical strategy title at all; the team was actually building a dark fantasy game heavily inspired by Games Workshop's Warhammer. When that concept fell through, they repurposed the engine into feudal Japan. This seems to have been fate as they would later gain a license to create Warhammer games years later.

This game did several things better than Shogun 2. + Arquebuisers and musketeers fire with the first three ranks automatically, no micromanagement + Full Japanese voice acting, done professionally with era-correct phrases + Archers have increased range depending on their elevation + Morale is much more punishing e.g. an ashigaru unit will rout quickly if you manage it extremely poorly. Tactics are much more important than numbers. + No unrealistic units. There is no katana samurai. There is a nodachi samurai unit, but it is a glass cannon. There is one hero unit called Sword Saint (in Japanese) which is probably not realistic, but also not efficient by any means. + No unrealistic unit abilities and micromanaging e.g. warrior monks already passively decrease enemy morale, because the enemy thinks its sacrilegious to fight Buddhas servants. Spear units already know how to fight effectively (no spear wall active ability like in Shogun 2). No fire arrows. + Archers and horse archers are powerful and are key units of any effective army in the early era + Gunpowder units are devastating. Getting access to them and building an army around them gives you an extreme advantage. On th…

Hi there, long time I am plaining this game: I love it

so fun

have the original board game from 1988 - but this is so much easier to play !