I'M ACTUALLY SHOCKED | TOTAL WAR PHARAOH DYNASTIES REVIEW 

thats good to hear. Im super hyped to play tomorrow, and then get mad and quit lol.

It's gross that you have this "i told you so" tone when all of this was already in the roadmap. Instead of thanking CA Sofia you play gamingchair CEO and tell them business. If you ask me, you owe the people at CA Sofia a huge apology.

@@zarahandrahilde9554 Its the ridiculous idea that you think CA should just be allowed to produce and sell half made games, for them to only finish it months later, or in this case 9 months.

Oh gee i wonder where you got that opinion from. Thanks Andy you foster a great community.

@@dominiclasagna3094companies require profits in order to fund the next project. I speculate that Troy was a half baked development of a Bronze Age trilogy, Pharaoh completed some of the development pieces and left others open for a Babylon payday/release to complete. Then all three would be combined ala Immortal Empires but now is Dynasty WH had a 8-10y life. Because of the outcry, Bronze will be less than 5y. This is not good for CA and that isn’t good for us if Total War doesn’t get the funding to make the next thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if CA doesn’t drop historical projects all together and just partners with fantasy franchises going forward

What’s not historical enough about this game? Relative speaking to old tw games like rome

​@@HistoricalWeapons I think he was talking about CA's following the Warhammer trilogy for like a decade now. Where vast majority of resources are going compared to historical ones.

nope, there are plenty of good or epic mods, super historical. :) DEI, europa barbarorum e.g.

@@HistoricalWeapons most of the game is historicaly acceptable or understandable aesthetic conjecture. We only have so few sources after 3000 years... But the addition of melee cavalry is entirely ahistorical, it did not exist for another 500 years after the game era. Horses were still too small to handle a rider with armor, so they were only used for scouting or raiding. But mostly pulling royal or elite chariots, since the cost of maintenance for horses was too high to just hand off to randos. Also there was no real saddle, so no "knights" or lancers since you would fly off the horse in the shock of collision. Mounted skirmishers were the best possible "cavalry", and mostly in mesopotamia or early persia.

@@muchasgracias5577 brother the rome2 engine is an unoptimized mess and the gameplay-ui is the same slop as tw warhammer. Rome1 remastered is a mobile game, enough said. No mods can change that. The only good recent tw game was shogun 2 but i played it to death already. Look up the video 'Rome total war leaks'. You will see a detailed list of all the features you lost in every tw game since rome 1. Don't start telling me i just want the same game over and over, tw warhammer 123 is the same game over and over for 10 years now...

Thank you my friend! The suffering is over (for now)!

@@AndysTake Over? Still has this cartoonish/mobile game vibe. Those cavalry charges.. makes me miss 3K. Anyhow, thanks for letting us know about the update.

Refreshing? It's nothing new to total war

@@jlih6271 Halfwit.

Family trees would be useless in empire and napoleon so I get it why they were left out of those games

So your aware the Sofia team is token in comparison to the W3 team and they have zero say in their projects

Honestly, this is how you regain respect and loyalty from customers. They not only improved the game during a time when most devs would have just written it off as a failure and loss, but they also made the game cheaper and the updates free. What more could you ask for? Excellent job, CA. For that, you have earned my dollars.

It's a start but it's a PR campaign to repair their image which they damaged. This is the abusive father buying you an ice cream cone

Sofia has done a good job. I'm very happy with them after this

I'm not 'buying' it. The story, I mean. I do not trust this company's management. I fully believe they are staring at the sheets and finally said, "fine lower the price" and "fine, release it for free", only because they know that "sales" and "reviews" are the only thing that will look good to future investors. If they don't release a new engine, it's not a new game in my opinion. It's a mod "total overhaul" but it's still Rome 2, for the 8th time.

Now I wish they’d listen to the people who played TW:Arena and bring it back

It's a PR campaign because they got owned by ex-CA team members, they're going to have to do better than that before I trust them enough to give them money again

​​​​​@@KvltKommando Theure owned by ex-CA devs yeah but they're also not under the discretion of corporate overlords anymore. 90% of these games that you see that feel hollow and predatory aren't the fault of the devs. Devs want to make good games, they don't get paid based on the amount of profit the games make outside of the leads maybe in some cases. They're forced to only do what the investors or majority owners tell them to do, and most of the time, that isn't to make a good game, it's to make them as much money as possible. Now that it's just owned by the devs. They can actually make the games how they want.

Mine too. I had all but give up on CA, but I will try out Pharao. Downloading right now and will try for two hourse to see if I should refund or not.

@@larryredenbaugh6854 When I said they were owned, I don't mean in terms of "ownership" I meant it in terms of slang, as in they got embarrassed by ex-CA devs in the several tell all articles that those ex-CA team members published, and they may have replaced some higher ups due to poor performance but as far as I can tell they're still totally controlled by SEGA and the corporate taint will always be there until they become an independent studio. In other words, there is no reason to believe the new boss isn't just as bad as the old boss.

It's really not.

Not at all, the fact that they pulled cavalry out of their asses really killed the game for me

@@CsStokerwhat? Egyptians and Hittites literally had chariot forces at the time. LOL

@@sanjnamous Exactly, chariots. They had no cavalry because their horses weren't suitable for riding.

@@CsStoker Good point. They should've used cavalry as an excuse to add Aryan factions, who were among the earliest horse nomads.

I got over 500 hours out of Pharaoh pre-dynasties, so I thought it was pretty good to be honest. Nothing compared to bigger titles obviously.

Everyone was on the ‘this is just Troy but Egypt’ wagon, apart from CA. Until, of course, they reduced the price and admitted they were 🤡

It's literally Troy with egyptians

Assassin's Creed Origins isn't set in the bronze age. It is set in Egypt during the Roman conquest of the region, literally centuries after the bronze age

@@kevo_1408 no origins is 47 bc bronze age ended 1170 bc

@@mariusbehm9874 so it ended over a thousand years before Origins

​@@kevo_1408i hate origins timeframe... "we could have a game during egypts heighday, but... Caesar and Cleopatra!"

@@mariusbehm9874 ...so it is not set in bronze age

Same, just bought and downloading the game right now. Can't wait to be a KANG!! 😁

And it runs like a dream too! CA Sofia have done a great job!

I recall one of the CA members actually admitted that Pharoah WAS supposed to be a DLC for Troy. Better late than never i suppose.

​@@Torag55Yeah an expansion for Troy. Not sure if there is a difference between dlc and expansion.

@@michaelh878 I guess now it's overtaken the position of being a DLC and now Troy feels like a DLC for it.

Rome 2 and I think Attila has this aswell

@@psychodoxie6987 oh i didn't know.

3 Kingdoms has it two

It's in most Total War games, Shogun 2 as well (but they look like small castles/forts)

empire total war as well

Since 2010.

@@user-vj6us1nn9q TBF thrones of britannia was decent, their sieges were amazing, but it was so localized in the British Isles that lacked variety.

@@user-vj6us1nn9qput sum respect on 3K. It wasn’t that bad

@@Cholimao ToB was also appropriately priced or what it was.

Three Kingdoms was good and it released on 2019.

What? I didn't see anyone who was positive about it.

​@@michaelh878This channel

I haven’t heard a single positive review. They did mention strong points, but they focused heavily on the short comings

Are you too fucking high? Cody Bonds, Jackie fish, Andy, Milk and Cookies TW, almost every big TWtuber was praising the game up until release for god sake, and a week or two after, they started shitting on it, some a bit earlier, certainly, but they were in the minority

Always trusted my favorite ones, but then I always verified. Best approach pal 👍🏾

Always wondered how the hell does he have 50 children canonically ? Did the Trojans practice polygamy or is Priam 89 years old.

10 women are least ❤ ​@@releca3735

Bravo 👏🏻 👏🏻

Yeah I'm not sure why they have that modern looking ui with no ui skins based on your faction.

@@kh2375.2Pharaoh will add a lot of new cultural and faction specific UI with this update, so it looks different when you play Ramses compared to Seti compared to Greeks or Babylon or Assyria etc.

You can change to 2D unit cards, it looks much better.

Are you blind? All cultures have themed UI already.

​@@kh2375.2what you said is outright false

Absolutely right! And to me, AI plays a crucial role; both for challenge and immersion. What's the use of cool features, if it just plays like cardboard puppets because of poor AI?

😂😂

same honestly!

I just don't see them bringing anything new to make it worthwhile. Only point will be mods looking better than the mods for medieval 2.

It's on sale right now on steam

It worths the price right now!

Go to instant gaming and pay 12€

its 28 Euros man

Worth it right now on steam. Just got it myself

I love Troy, and I've been playing pharaoh since day one. Pharaoh is EXQUISITE, you're going to love it.

Troy was really good, I loved historical mode

Troy is lne of the best newer TW titles. I didn’t even bother with TWW3.

@@rpersen And the optimization is on another level compared to TWW3!

Didn't they say this is the last update for Pharoah?

@@Torag55 I don't know to be honest, I haven't followed the developer commentary, if it is then I think that's a missed opportunity.

And you'll pay $1200 for that Paradox Total War after all the DLC drop. Don't worry, they will break the game with the DLC, its a Paradox tradition. Oh, and all you'll get from a DLC is a button to click, as everything else from DLC 2 will be erased by DLC 5 and the free part of DLC 7. And yes, you for sure will notice not having the DLC as that content will be right there looking you in the face, but behind a grayed out button you can't click without paying $15. Oh, and the unit models for the faction DLC you just bought? Yeah thats another $10, and another $10 for the music.

How's the combat in manor lords? I'm more about combat that city building tbh.

@@HellsYeah8 total war is simillar look at total warhammer lmao

@@GeraltofRiviaa88 It's more like the Caesar series than it is total war. I mean the combat feels like Total War, but it's mostly a city builder. You wouldn't enjoy Manor Lords fully if you're mostly interested in the warfare aspect. In my experience the battles are quite small (like 200 soldiers), they aren't that common and they're not that rewarding. I mostly fought against bandits (they set up camp in your region and steal your stuff, you gain some resources by defeating them). I find it to be more tedious than an enjoying aspect of the game. Don't get me wrong I like Manor Lords as a city builder. It's a good competitor to Banished, the Caesar series and perhaps Cities Skylines, but it is NOT in the same category as Total War or Age of Empires.

@@kurrwa believe it or not, Warhammer is about half the price of stellaris. It's also 3 games. Also, no dlc is required to get the full experience. In paradox games, you will have a dlc that requires you to buy a separate dlc to actually be able to access, and nowhere on the store page will it say it. It is insane how many total war players say, "I'm going to start playing paradox games" whenever CA does something shady with dlc. Especially since at one point, playing eu4 felt like I was playing WoW since I was paying $15 amidst every month for a third of a dlc. In other words, imagine if a total war dlc only gave you the lord and his mechanics. If you wanted the new units, you would have to buy them seperate, or look at generic units. If you want the music to go with it that is another dlc. Eu4 has a dlc you have to buy just so you can access a button. They hid a base game mechanic behind that button after the dlc came out, meaning if you wanted to discover America you had to manually click each ocean province with your ships to get there. The dlc used to add a bunch of trade stuff, but all of that was actually removed completely by another dlc and it's accompanying free update. They still sell that dlc, that only gives you a single button for $15 too. If you don't buy that one, base game mechanics and the second dlc stuff that you bought cannot be accessed. In comparison, you bought the ikkit claw dlc, but you didn't buy his unit dlc, so you just have the base game skaven roster. Since you didn't buy the voice pack, ikkit sounds like a generic empire lord. Since you didn't buy the dlc previous, you also don't get to access the workshop, as it's hidden behind the button that only that dlc provides. Even better, the random new world generator for eu4 hasn't worked properly for 6 years, but they still sell it. The converter for a CK2 to EU4 campaign hasn't worked since CK3 came out, but they still sell it. Imperator Rome was released as an empty dlc factory (obviously missing everything from assets to mechanics, but having the ui already having the conspicuous empty spots for the shiny new buttons), drawing legitimate criticism for stripping features as a game changing dlc was announced a week after release. They abandoned that game very quickly. Look at all the dlc for city skylines alone. Every single game paradox publishes will be a dlc he'll where eventually it is assumed that all players have all dlc and f you if you don't because base game features are either being removed or hidden behind a pay wall.

Troy and 3K are two of my favourite recent TW’s.

I refunded Pharao, just didn’t feel like fun. Battles two arcady and fast, hard to see what is going on.

You are absolutely right, remember all these RU-vidrs tried so hard to sell us Pharoah as an excellent game?! Yeah these are the same people who get paid to promote anything

@@alifarsani2469 I honestly haven’t paid much attention to Pharaoh since the early announcements because I just didn’t like what I saw, so I can’t really speak to whether this is a longer trend or not, but halfway through the video it did start feeling like someone with Stockholm syndrome latching on to any improvement, like “you can select your heir!” Bro you’ve been able to do that for like 15 years. Play something other than Warhammer.

100% We punished them hard and they responded.

It definitely is.

Everyone is going to complain because CA ripped the TW fanbase in half with warhammer, and there’s no good way to separate the WH dna from historical TW games as they use a modified engine for both fantasy and historical

nOo wEee will conTinUe TooO coMpLaIN!!! >:(

@@moose9211 ofc we will continue to complain, pharaoh is a big scam yes they created few good updates so now this is a small scam, congrats

who is we?

@@revolversnake126 Your beautiful mother and I.

Definitely Pharaoh, it's an improved and updated and much much bigger version of Troy that's in pretty much every way a lot better (except if you like monsters because Pharaoh doesn't have that obviously) and has many new features and mechanics like family tree that Troy doesn't have. And in terms of variety just look at the map, Troy only has Greece and a small part of Anatolia. Pharaoh has Greece, all of Anatolia, Egypt, part of Nubia, Canaan, Mesopotamia, so a much bigger map with a lot more cultural variety, even Italians (from Sardinia) are in it.

I'm sure it, to some degree, is about the optics; but the truth is that the game is now actually a good value for the money; which is something I can't say for many recent TW's. Even if CA management is completely cyncal about this move, the devteam has put in good work and I honestly couldn't care less about the motivations of a AAA studio so long as the result is a good game. CA isn't my friend, they're a company selling a product that is now finally worth buying even at full price. (and I couldn't say the same about any TWWH game or Pharaoh's original release)

CA Sofia did something great with Troy, I really liked it so will give Pharao a chance now.

@@rpersen Troy had really bad battles on release and that turned a lot of people off, but it also had a lot of good things going for it; it was probably the best TW coop experience I ever had.

I've cleared my schedule 😂

Pharaoh never had semi invincible heroes with godlike powers, that was in Troy. In Pharaoh they were just "immortal", meaning they didn't die of old age and if they died in battle (which could happen pretty fast) they would just be wounded for a few turns and then come back, so like Caesar, Octavian etc. in the Rome 2 campaigns that were also immortal in that way. Also they always had bodyguard units like regular generals. But to answer your question yes this update now adds an option to have mortal characters/faction leaders again, so every character now can die of old age or (permanently) die in battle like in the older TW games.

@@lp4514 Thank you. That is all I want. A simulation like the good old days. The latest installments have really put me off them and I have bought nearly ever single game they have made since the first.

Looks like they left out the chief IRL adversaries of Ramesses III as well: the Meshwesh and Libu who invaded Egypt several times during the Ramesside Period, and ultimately took over the country. “But Greeks….”

@@snailrancher Funnily enough, the Libu are actually present as a culture that you can recruit from if you build the appropriate native recruitment chain buildings in their land.

The game is actually really impressive now, and that for a very low price (25-30USD); probably the best value for money of any TW game now, and one of the most imressive TW's in general. I also really like that they gave us a lot of customization options, like leting us disable "lethality" (which, while a good idea, is completely unbalanced at the moment), adjusting turns per year and making terrain effects more impactful.