Can you say REDEMPTION?
It was probably due to the horrid trade system, bad interface, AI that knew what your orders were immediatly after you clicked, and overall a totaly glitchy and broken game.
Graphics/Animation: Superb. Gorgeous, whatever word fits. Everything from the misty clouds, rain, grasses swaying in the wind, little clearings in the middle of a forest with beautifull flowers adorning the clearing, puddles collecting in the rain, sunlight shining off your samurai's laquered armour.
Animations are beautifull all the martial arts moves are motion captured, so aside from a rare moment where two soldiers will clip (Go through) each other.... the combat from above looks like hundreds of men clashing against each other, and the combat below reviels soldiers squaring off one to one when the odds are even, with an occasional assist from a comrade when an friendly squadmate gets stuck in the enemies formation. Death animations are suprerb, with a unique mix of psyycis(Or whatever) and pre-defined animations you'll see everything from soldiers writhing in pain after being struck in the leg with an arrow, to a man flailing around thirty feet in the air after a grenade tore his unit apart, only to see him land and roll down the hills near your castle.
Music: Good Japanese music, nice Citar and ect, or whatever they always play in Confucious park NYC..... Its not the best, but its annoying or repetitive. And suprisingly I don't feel the need to turn it down when blasting rock on media player. It kinda just sits in the background nicely while Led Zeppelin rocks it out.
Gameplay: The gameplay/controlling of units feels so much more fluid then any other game. Instead of having to click on some units, give an order while pasued, and then press the "r" key to make them run, all orders are automaticly assumed to be run orders. And lets be honest that helps in combat. You dont want your spearmen walking over to assist your general :D
Naval Combat is superbly better. Instead of cannons(You can get them later) your boats have archer units which act like old time Marine's, firing from your ships at the enemy ships. Frequently battles will end with boats set aflame and arrows covering the deckhouse of the boat. OH, and speaking of arrows, they stay, forever, during naval or lan combat. Remember how your general got shot in the chest with an arrows? No? Well go back and look at the five arrows in his chest after combat settles down.
Units: They simplified the unit structuring a bit, BUT DONT GET SCARED. You'll actually have a larger choice of units then you did in Rome, Medevil, or Empire. Every clan can recruit any unit. There are no specialised units, just "superior units". So for example.... Instead of the normal elite horse guard, the Takeda clan"Masters of the Horse" get the Takeda Horse Guard. The same with Shimazu swordsman, Oda ashigaru, ect....
So in essence you can choose from 30-50 different units as opposed to 20-30 units per nation like in Medevil War. ANd you won't have the problem of getting your ass whopped on by French Genedarms because they are the only ones who can recruit them.
Sound: Perfect, Everything from the rumbling of the ground as thousands of men run over it, to the chirps of birds off in the sky chasing each other around. Crunches of snow as soldiers walk over the terrain. Nuff said?
Diplomacy/Family/Trade: Nailed it. In previous games such as Rome, and Medival you could marry out family members to gain new generals, or create a tighter bond between two nations. This has been improved on and his very usefull. Marriages are important. Your son and heir died of natural causes? Oh no!, well just promote your best general and have him marry your daughter, and make that child heir to the throne. Or just make that general heir to the throne, just hope that he doesnt have a rival admist your ranks who thinks he should be heir, instead of his percieved lesser. But no problem, once hes about to become too disloyal you can order sepuku or have him redeem his honour by trying to single handidly trying to take out a whole katana unit :D (Pro tip: He dies usually).
Trade is alright,not amazing but it actually works. Land tarrifs on trade,ect, are all displayed in detail. Why am I not making 1000 per turn anymore, oh its because my upkeep costs in this army are staggering and all they do is sit around and drink. Well disband them.....
Diplomacy is alot better then any previous title. Have a problem witha double alliance next door? Gain the trust of one, and convince him that he would better as your vassal, under the condition he breaks his alliance to a future enemy of yours. He might agree, either way heads will roll. Its just a matter of whose first.
Honestly I wouldn't have taken the time to write this if I did not think this game was worth my 49.99. Its everything I wanted it to be and more. I have utter faith in Creative Assembly after they axed the idiots who made Empire: Total War. The only good thing that game did was give them money to make this game, and experience with ballistic units so we could have AMAZING gunpowder units going up against charging samurais!