With this Total War, the series still has the same problem: best things are better, and bad matters are still there.
I'm making the same with Medieval 2, but before completing the challenge of conquer constantinopla with Demmark, with 2 great campaigns played, all i see here are better graphics, an incredible graphics, but just this.
If this is the first TW game you play you'll feel like me with the next game (Napoleon total war?, please!), but if you've been playing for years you know what i'm talking about. I already say the good part of TW on Shogun, creator of the concept so i'm not going to say it again, all new stuff are just graphics and tech upgrades. The bad fact of this game is stil here:
AI, the computer, your rival, the enemy is unable to act as in a real way. Both on the battleground.
No, and after 4 games i'm fed up. I'll explain myself with examples, and this is a constructive critic, i want that next TW game becomes the better strategy game ever, and for that all this matters must be improved::
-On the battle, even at maximium difficult, your rival stands in front of you if you're army is on higher ground. And you can send your archers to fire over them, go to the kitchen, take a beer, see tv for a while and come back when your enemy is death, because it don't try to seek your flank, doesn't send cavalry to make a diversion tactic, nothing. Always act on the same way, so predictible than the battle is just a mere tramit, all are similar, all easy to handle if you have experience, so with a correct army is really hard to loose a battle. It's too easy and similar. When a true battle comes out i enjoy it but this is hard to find against the AI.
-On the map, the computer creates little armies that sieges cities or whatever, doesn't wait until having a great army and attack your most important point, no, it creates anything and send it against you in battles that are impossible to win, instead making a reasonable war-effort like your that with time easily conquers any country.
-A harder game for the IA means everybody against you even the more stupid conditions. I mean, you're defeating a country that only holds 1 territory, you offer a peace and say NO. You give him money, map info or anything and still say NO, NEVER. Why? A great army is next to your capital, you're going to dissapear, your end is near, you should be asking me for peace, not me, and even in this conditions the IA only fights against you because the game is at full difficult. No reallistic conditions on diplomacy, you can have an ally attacking your city without a reason, WHY? there's many "why's" on that question; i guess you know what i'm talking about.
-AI is sometimes stupid. Really. In my last crusade i formed the army and two turns later half of army disbanded because "i'm not getting results on the crusade". GREAT, can i at least go out of my country to try something.
-I MEAN that AI is making stupid decissions against you to make the game harder, but, if the IA would know how to fight and some strategy on the map the game can be really harder and you don't need to get angry due to the unreal situation many times TW offers.
YOU WANT TO MAKE THINGS HARDER? all you have to make is a game closer to the reallity. WHY after conquering an enemy castle i can build and instruct my units here? The people of the slayered region wishes to join the invasion army? do i teleport units from my capital? how can i make my own christian units on a conquered islam town? ... with this is easy to conquer with the same army. Conquer a city, rebuild it here, go to another and so on until you win. Where's the real warfare? What about the atrittion of being away from home?
Please, set different levels or options that enables the user to play from an easy battle-game to a challenger and reallistic champaign. I don't know if is hard to make the IA to work as it should, but this is the only one matter that separates this game from perfection. Battles are awesome, don't need to improve or get better graphics!!!
And for closing I'm also fed up of watching the other countries making stupid actions out of your turn. I don't care the merchants, i'm not interested on the princess life, all i want to see are the armies, but this is impossible because it takes too much time to move all units, you have to disable the option of looking the enemy that reduces the strategy. Things from Shogun total war are going better just in graphics and tech, the concept is still the same and needs an evolution to the next stage.