/vst/ — Nobunaga's Ambition: Awakening

>>2421668 (OP)
It's really neither paradox or tw.

>>2421681
A mix of pineapple and pizza produces neither pineapple nor pizza.

>>2421735
Yeah but this is from koei and they've been iterating on the series for decades so consider it also well marinated in gamersupps and mayonnaise onions sauce.

>>2421668 (OP)
Japs can't design complex and autistic games, they consider learning curves rude to the audience.

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>>2421668 (OP)
I love Koei games. I find (some of) them better than Paradox or CA games and the focus on characters makes them more compelling for roleplay.
Out of all their games, Sphere of influence is probably the best with a good mix of war and management but the learning curve is pretty steep. Make sure you read the guide that comes with the purchase.

I'd also recommend ROTK 14 if you like a game purely focused on war and logistics or ROTK 13 if you really like roleplaying as a Chinese officer during the 3 kingdoms.

>>2421668 (OP)
Awakening is also great but the AI doesn't joke aroound and will fuck you up. Sphere of influence is more casual

>>2422048
I see there are two versions of it, Sphere of Influence-Ascension and just Sphere of Influence, which one do i buy?

>>2422046
Recommend me some good entry level KOEI because i really like their art style and vibe in general but dunno what's really worth.

>>2422056
Ascension lets you play as a single officer instead of a whole clan, pretty cool if you want to roleplay as a dude going up the ranks.
Sphere of Influence is better in everything else though, management, warfare etc.

>>2422060
Then my choice is clear. Thanks a lot, anon.

>>2422060
>>2422061
Just a little question, is this game Real time with pause or turn based? I don't like Rome total war, and the battle looks similar, i want something more paradox-y

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>>2422057
First you have two series to choose from. ROTK which takes place in ancient China and NA which is in 17th century Samurai Japan when Europeans started introducing firearms there.

Then there are two distinct playstyles. One focuses on controlling a whole kingdom like in other strategy games and the other is about controlling one character and living your life in this world.

I personally prefer the Kingdom management ones as they are more in depth but the ones that lets you control one character also give you the option to become king/emperor.

Sphere of influence and Awakening are the best two games imo and I would start with either. They don't have roleplaying.

If you like ancient China like me I'd go either 13 if you want a game heavy on roleplay where you can become a merchant, a bandit, an assassin and plenty more career paths (you need the xpac) or 14 if you want a game purely focused on warfare but that does it well and unlike any other strategy game.

8 remake is also good and you get a bit of everything but it's a remake of an old game so the gameplay can get repetitive quite fast.

The classics are also great but I wouldn't start there.

>>2422062
Some are real time others are turn based. Sphere of influence is a mix of both where you plan stuff during council and then it switches to real time for movement and combat.

>>2422061
Enjoy. Honestly such an underrated series in the west but maybe you'll become one of the few hardcore western fans this series has lol

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Nice, a Koei thread!

>>2422056
Sphere of Influence is faction play and is more in line with the usual NA games where you build up your forces and go around conquering neighboring castles until you are powerful enough to declare War Ban.

Ascension is a new game that was built on top of SoI with 2 main appeals being the 1615 Scenario and its historical events, and the option to play as individual officer instead of a whole faction. The individual officer is kinda false marketing though and it's more like playing as a head of a clan, slowly building up your domain until you score enough merits to be given your own castle, then it's just SoI with extra stuff. Infamously has some unfixed game-breaking bugs because new gameplay elements don't mix well with the existing SoI ones.

>>2422062
NA games since the PS2 days are real time, but you are free to pause mid-combat at anytime. Taishi has a weird mix of turn-base and real time where you give out orders in Strategy Phase, then the units try to fulfill the order by themselves in the Action Phase and you have no choice but watch things unfolded on their own until the next Strategy Phase where you can give out orders again.

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>>2422057
I'm gonna focus on just 2 Koei series that's still survive to this modern date for convenience sake

>Romance of the Three Kingdoms
IX: Faction play. Domestic affairs are kept to the minimum and gameplay is a lot more combat-focus. Things take place in one single map of China. Combat is a weird auto-battle thingy where you assign a destination to a unit in Strategy Phase, then in Action Phase, the unit will try to get to said destination but will act on its own during the journey. When got into combat, officers assigned to the unit can randomly activate Battle Tactic, and other officers in the same unit have some small chance to follow up depending on several factors. The game is a bit of RNG-fes, but working your way through the RNG is part of the fun.

X: Officer play. Objectively the most in-depth roleplaying game in the series. You can take on side quests in taverns, build your own vagrant armies and randomly jump into battles to assist one of the two forces involved, swear brotherhood with a ruler just so you can betray him and create your own force later. VIII and XIII are good too, but X has a faster and easier to get into game pacing.

XI: Faction play. China is one whole single map again, but combat is completely turn-based. Has an emphasis on keeping a good supply line of food and military arms so you can keep pushing the frontline border without needing to invest time to rebuilding things. Officers have special traits associated to them, and factions can learn technologies to buff the strength of units, so team building so team-building is more in-depth than previous games imo.

14: It's a mix of IX and XI. For better or worse, it takes both the good and the bad of both IX and XI. Also, has some gameplay elements held hostage by the DLCs. I like this one so that's why I'm listing it out, but probably not a good entry point.

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>>2422276
>Nobunaga's Ambition. Note that all games listed below are faction play
Rise to Power: Has a big emphasis on base building, where one fief is one big map that you can build various facilities in, and these facilities can be directly damaged and destroyed during sieges, so you have to either risk battling your enemy on more equal ground in an open field battle, or wait for a more advantageous siege battle but the risk of the castle town being ravaged. Difficulty is on the easier side though.

Iron Triangle: My personal favorite. Japan is one single map and time advance dynamically, but you can pause at anytime to do domestic stuff instead of needing to go through the Strategy-Action Phases cycle. It's also a bit of a mix of ROTK IX and XI. Similar to ROTK IX because combat is also somewhat auto-battler thingy, but you can control when the unit activates Battle Tactic, and the chance to chain tactic is clearly displayed when you're building up the units. Similar to ROTK XI because there's also Technology Tree that you need to research to power up your force, though there are more requirements to research a technology, forcing you to carefully consider your resources more.

Sphere of Influence: Probably the best entry point to the series. Not exactly because it's the best installment, but because it is the easiest to understand mechanically, and introduces very in-depth quest lines to major factions, helping to ease you into learning the Sengoku period.

Awakening: It's actually more about you playing as the Ruler than as the entire faction, because you only have direct control over the castle the ruler resides in. Development of other castles depends on the stats and characteristics of the officers you assigned as overseers. Battles also can only occur when the Ruler unit is in the vicinity. Has very aggressive AI, and the Ruler-only gameplay limitation brings a bit of a learning curve so it's probably not the best entry point, but it's very good.

Oh neat a new nobunga's got announced. I assume we won't get it til the PUK is released though

Awakening is by far my favorite entry, currently doing a Mogami run and that entire region and clan are underrated.

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Which ROTK game should I play? I love Dynasty Warriors and Kessen 2 and have no real preference for Officer or Ruler gameplay

>Sphere of Influence...introduces very in-depth quest lines to major factions
Said questlines kill off your companions and generally make things harder for you, instead of rewarding you. You are often better off not doing them, unless you want the challenge and story.

>>2428419
SoI is piss easy compared to other games anyway. Plus for every event that kills off your officers, you got 3 events that give you free officers plus castles.