Total War Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai Review 2021 | Retrospective 

The best part about FOTS is that the battles - and the naval gunfire that you can bring in battles. Also, the MUSIC was 10/10 it made you really feel japan was changing

4:10 Empire had this feature where you had to manage your ministers. To be honest, Empire's campaign mechanics have insane amount of depth compared to even the latest historical game - 3K. CA kept removing features which were great in Empire.

Would've LOVED to see a US Civil War version of FotS. I just don't think CA has the talent anymore to do it justice.

I like how the alliances you make in this game have an underlying political purpose. In Shogun, every alliance is temporary.

Shogun 2 Total War Fall of the Samurai, Truly the Panicle of Total War. The Graphics, the Sounds (Guns and Cannons never sounded so good or since), the Music (Seriously best music in TW game iv played, while im sure its the same stuff from shogun 2 it works), It all just pulls you into the setting and the way the entire map changes between seasons also adds to the immersion. Their is just something about "Transitional" periods that meshes well with Total War, be it Fall of the Samurai or Attila with the end days of the Roman Empire. The clash of the Samurai vs the Western style of Rifles, Cannons and Saber cavalry just FEELS SO GOOD! The Art for the unit cards and that old photograph look for buildings Looks amazing. While you cant upgrade the ROADS in this (though you do get a railroad), you can upgrade the TOWERS for the castle and the first time i saw the range on those cannon battery towers my jaw hit the floor, they covered the entire map. While the castles do get old it is nice to see them progress from a FORT with archer towers to a STAR FORT with cannon batteries and Gatling guns. This is also the first game where your navy is more then just a Water Taxi/Trade Defense fleet with the ability to provide fire support and Bombard the shore. The port battles are also pretty fun. However the game does have its flaws (mostly AI related), like you said their aren't that many maps though i can't say i ever noticed it, though i did notice their are only 4 or 5 siege maps. The Defensive Naval AI is frustrating beyond belief with how it just sits in spawn waiting for you to get into firing range (sadly this ai seems to have spread to the OTHER game periods as well, which makes those battle less fun then they should be). And just like in Shogun 2 the siege ai will just climb the walls while getting shot up by your troops, its even EASYER to defend in FotS the it is in Shogun 2, unless they bring artillery and Ship bombardment.

"The Satsuma look kind of like the faction from 'Last Samurai'" - well, they are the faction taking part in Last Samurai. The Satsuma rebellion started the boshin war and they were the main supporters of the emperor. ;)

2:01 Bruh, no. The Shogun was embracing modernization in the waking of Chinese defeat agaisnt the Brits (1st Opium War). The Emperor was the one calling to "expel the barbarians" (which was only a propaganda piece since both side argees modernization is important).

The best Total war. Very worth to buy.

Arguably the most OP unit in FOTS is the Tosa Riflemen. I had about 6 or 8 of them garrisoned in a city which was attacked by one of Aizu’s full stacks. I auto-resolved and practically wiped out their army with virtually no losses to my garrison :)

as a matter of fact the general you see in the last samurai is your commanding general in fots saigo takamori. he conquered the whole of japan and then got betrayed by the emperor and had to make a last stand in satsuma aka what we refer to as the last samurai battle scene.

I love FOTS, unfortunately the campaign is too fast to fully appreciate some of the final technological advances, like cannon towers. The geography of the map also means 2 well equipped stacks will be enough to eat up the whole maps. Open battles in FOTS are a camper's dream and IA artillery can be easily tricked into uselessness with almost zero casualties. Having artillery always permits you to use defensive strategies because the IA will ALWAYS advance against your artillery. Also, if you think a cavalry charge can solve your enemy artillery issues like in every other TW title, you are in for a big shock😭 Damn I've spent way too many hours on that game...

Fots is probebly my favorite total war even if i play warhammer more. I just love the time period and its the closests we´ve come so far to victorian warfare. Will sadly have to say though that i still prefer the cannons from napoleon and empire more. Theres just something statifying seeing cannon balls bounce all over the place

Quick thing to remember while factions start out equal the shogunate side as a whole has the majority control over Japan meaning playing through as an Imperial faction is more difficult as more clans are prone to picking fights and being overall more hostile in diplomacy.

One thing is that when you auto resolve traditional samurai army vs modern rifles, traditional samurai units are always losing. somehow they made it that way. So if your modern rifle army has some traditional units (samurai Calvary etc.) and you auto resolve the battle with another army which has some modern rifle units, you will lose all of your samurai units in your army. This forces you to fight the battle to win instead so you won’t lose the samurai units.

2:17 Funny, satsuma was the first one I could learn without butchering it because we have oranges called satsuma in the UK ...lol

Naval bombardments and ship schematics are incredible. This is the most complete total war game ever released

My first game on steam when i started gaming on pc seriously 10years ago. Never did i hate this game or never did i stop playing it❤️❤️❤️

the satsuma look like the once from The Last Samurai because they are you can Look up the satsuma rebellion

Some of the clans in fots are descendants of the ones from vanilla. I mean the Satsuma family have the surname Shimazu, Choshu-Mori

The only real issue I had with fots was how easily ships, even the ironclads catch on fire and rout

I tried Atilla 3 times and never played more than a few rounds..it feels so weird to me. Fall of the Samurai is my Second favorite one (after Napoleon) And now I am waiting for the Last Alliance Mod :D

Actually I don't agree with you on naval battles in this game. They are borderline unplayable thanks to the AI that when attacked will ALWAYS just camp at the edge of the map, with sides turned to you and will not move ever.

I checked your review at Steam about this game and came to the link address, what a very good review than what I expected! (I'm subscribed!) :>

The best Total War game for me, I just miss the Bayonets on certain units.

One thing I was bugged about was bayonets that were never included but thankfully mod fixes that.

Not sure how I missed this video of yours considering FOTS is my favorite piece of Total War content EVER! Great video my man 🤘

total war attila is the best man, everything about it I love it , and the thing i notice if you play on very hard difficulty for example the strong faction lets say easter empire dont lose the teritories, for example is i play as aksum and i attack sassanid empire, rome easter empire dont lose the west part from macedon agaist the hords the game is exceptionall very well concept , everything is perfect from the diplomatic way up to , let me give you another example if you are in good terms with a faction and you send a monk to covert the enemy area , automatically they start becoming aggresive towards you , anways what i want to say is buy total war attila guy amazing expericen even after so many years i still brake it i just lose my notice of time in it.

How is attacking siege AI ? Vanilla attacking siege AI for Shogun 2 was rubbish.

I hoped after FOTS there would be an American Civil War game since it had similar tech.

The best total war, by far. FOTS deserves a video only for its mods.

Wish we had a WW1 Total War Game, Naval battles would be awesome

when i played FOS only with traditional units.. it was one of the coolest gaming experience ever

Currently my favourite TW. Do wish you could trade provinces though. Coastal defences are both good and bad. Depending if you are attacking or defending.

Best gunpowder total war ever not even questionable

I suck so bad at this game but I love it haha I always fail because I suck at keeping an economy I either run out of money or rice......

I like trains

Nice; I love FotS, it’s maybe my favorite Total War in general. It’d love to see CA really push the envelope with the gameplay from here, blur the lines between the battle and campaign maps, and jump into the 20th century with WWI and the beginning of the end for the colonial era. I guess it could be Empire’s FotS. They’d have a lot of innovation to do, but I think it could work, and is just the kind of shot-in-the arm revolution the series needs.You could simulate the rhythm of the war and the change in technology and doctrine with the tech tree: suicidal frontal attacks give way to long term defensive investment on the campaign map as you try to hold out long enough to get the tech tree and unit requirements to break the deadlock with combined arms, fire and move tactics supported by creeping artillery. What are your thoughts? I say it’s all there in FotS in seed form.

I think shogun 2 is by far the best total war ever made it was their baby and they treated as such with updates post release content everything. I don't think no other total war has had the care and love put into it as shogun 2 has had put into it.

Shogun is the number one total war in my opinion. Everything is perfect 💯

Thanks for the review Andy. I also watched your Shogun 2 in 2022 video. What do you suggest, should I grab Fall of the Samurai (with DLCs) or Shogun 2 on Steam? I thought Fall of the Samurai was a DLC for Shogun 2 but that doesn't seem to be correct and I'm confused now.

After playing Rome 2 I cant go back to old games. Waiting forever for new units to join your army kills it for me. However an Empire 2 that takes the mantle from FOTS would be great

Oh yes, i can remamber dad playing this game on his potato laptop, but he was a hsrdcore player, he did never play multiplayer but when i grew up, that was 6 or 7 years ago by the way he kept both the CDs for the game. He now is very buisy so when i saw the cds still there i was like waw new tw game!!! I got the CD key on a paper and got the game from steam with all the DLCs he got the game and all thoes on his birthday in 2012 and i got to play the game, it was cool just got a short campaigns on medium to see how is the game on rise of the samurai (DLC) with it took me about idk but i remamber 5 hours as mostly a new tw player and still i am

My major gripe with the game is the INSANE level of anti player bias on hard difficulty and above. Basically every clan will switch to the opposite of your allegiance. Republican is pointless because you're fighting the entire map anyway.

It's Last Samurai the game (basically yeah). I'm 99% certain every dev had watched it when making Fall of the Samurai. I wonder if there's a mod that uses TLS soundtrack.

I used to be a big fan of TW Napoleon for it's gunpowder warfare, then I played TW FotS. Let's say I am not as a big fan of Napoleon as I used to be. FotS is so much more fun!

a last total war game with emphasis on tactics and strategy not on having a blob with better stats

Got a bit tired from 10th anniversary mod... Then remembered that I didn't play fots in ages, all in all, i spent the better part of the last two days in conquering all of shikoku, then make my landfall on honshu complete through harima (the province to which you can move from the tiny eastern island) and beyond... Now I'm daijin daijo within the imperial court

nice review, subbed

should i buy fall of samurai in 2021?hell yeahhhh!!!!

Nice! Fine entertainment for the train back from the cabin

6:58 lucky unit

I really lvoe the feel of the military coalition youre building ... feels meaningful. Not like in Napoleon where as Prussia for example youre busy fighting the French and suddenly the Russians decide to backstab you lol - thanks for nothing..

this is the best total war shogun 2

FotS, like the base Shogun 2 remains the best TW interface for me, not just the look but the way you play the game both by controls and building new structures make more sense compared to the newer and older games. Remains my most played TW and probably always will be so.

0:54 actually, shogun 2 vanilla is anachronical. Though it does give prominence to the bow, spear and arrow, it takes place during the sengoku jidai, the era duiring which the japanese realized that you don't bring a katana to a gun fight

It was such a good DLC that the beings of pure greed that administer CA are selling it as a full game now, 10 years after it's launch, by the price of a full game, they are calling it a "total war saga" now.

best total war, but also the worst because it is so good and crashes every time when Ioading for a battle : (

the buildings, units, tactics, tech etc.... are different from Shogun 2, it deserves its own stand-alone game.

can't wait for shogun 3, a mix of the historical gameplay with the character focus like 3kingdoms. ooooo the dream

I don’t wanna spend another 30 bucks tho I’m not Elon musk

It mis only bayonets and squer formations in game also more units can be also edet with uniq weapons like old blonderbes and such

This I my favorite one tbh and attilla second

Been able to PFS the Artillery was epic

whats the dei of this game. The complete better vannila experience mod for this game?

I'd like to buy FOTS, but not for 30$ Steam...

This was a joy to watch!

Decided to do a brand new FOTS campaign as the Satsuma and I managed to get all the pro emperor clans to be alive by the time of realm divide. And I only had to Make the Saga and Choshu vassals. Stupid Jozien navy invasions.

amazing review subbed

As more realistic and modern FOTS feels, I was never able to accept its' design over the original Shogun 2 as superior. Shogun 2 was beautiful in every aspect and very lively compared to FOTS where it just felt very...bland to me. The battles are great but it wasn't anything special to look at on the map itself.

I like FOTOS the most :)

Downloading it right now (again).

Great Retrospective -ty😍

Just the music i could listen to that for days

The only game I ever preordered, and I didn't regret it :)

My favourite total war game ever, I felt like they finally got the formula they had been working on since at least empire perfected and then…. They completely abandoned the whole thing and really just started going downhill

FOTS was peak histroical total war. Shogun 2 set such an amazing precedent and then everything seemed to go downhill from there. Warhammer is good yes, but that's because they are contracted to hold it to the same standard as the Warhammer franchise itself. I wish they'd give the love they put into Shogun2/FOTS and Three Kingdoms into a new Empire game

FOTS is why I want a total war game set from 1500-1650 IMAGINE THE GUNPOWDER

you can play as Obama. What else do you want

You cant play this anymore f steam

Total war civil war I want ir

I love it and I started recently to stream it on twitch Masterpiece

Maybe one day they'll make another Historic Total War with this level of details, maybe...

Ay first play through I alway have difficulty defending my castle towns, especially when my forces are outgunned. Then I started placing all of them around the castle, with line infantry forming a square formation around the castle structure with support units behind them all away from the walls that the enemies climb on to. This way the enemy units will be tired once they reach the top, and when they do thet trickle in one by one allowing my ranged infantry to pick them off from a distance compared as to engaging them on the walls where the defending players suffers more casualties. Some melee units do get a chance to charge at my riflemen but with the right placing of other units to support them they can fend of a charge before breaking it completely. Gatling guns at the far corner of a castle covering a wide stretch of wall ensures casualties, provided of course they don't get hacked to death by charging enemies.

I remember the excitement i had for this DLC when i first saw the trailers, my first TW game was Empire and Napoleon(got them together in one box) and it got me into the whole era of gunpowder, and i remember being so hyped for this DLC when i saw the trailer, i kinda wish i could experience it again

1:46 yup, totally not gonna become completely obsolete fairly soon... The line inf was already beginning to become obsolete thx to cheaper medthods of rifing, reloader, corn-shaped bullets and precision artillery. The advancements in industry and weaponry will prove the tactics used in Napolenic era completely obsolete as the Confederate charged into the firing range of Gettysburg.

The game has high replayability value. I reinstalled and replay FOTS more than I did with other TW series

Honestly, this dlc is my favourite campaign of all time. And that won't change for a while

HOW HAS IT BEEN 2YEARS!!!

SOLD! I do wish they would re-make Empire and not have to rely on mods

Been playing shogun 2 since release yet for whatever reason I never touched fall of the samurai this video has totally convinced me however

Still appreciating this game and your videos featuring it. Thanks

I prefer close combat with swords.

This and napoleon/empire really made me think that total war was leading towards The Great (total) War

Great video as someone who plays shogun and fall of the samurai I couldn’t have said it better myself keep up the great work

I like it ^^

gatling go brrrrrrr

Hey hey, I've been interested in trying out the Total War games for quite a while now and I've heard especially good things about Shogun 2 - would you say this game and its expansions make for a good entry point for newcomers to the series?

the battles in Empire Total War in early game are dynamic as well, but this will give dynamic a totally different definition. Defenetly wishlisted

Any link to download that game!!

The downside of this game is that all of the factions are virtually the same. I find it bizarre that as an Imperial faction that I could also recruit traditional units if I wanted. What's the point of it then if you can have both? The point of the game is to pit traditional vs modern not for both sides to have both types.