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Other policies run from refreshing lost troops, improving the land, mining for wealth, hiring various mercenary groups, forming alliances, and practicing tea ceremony. There's actually a whole sub-list of cultural activities that improve the characters involved, though earning only a few stat points doesn't make it seem worth it, even after unlocking the eight man (or woman) tournaments. There's a large amount of character improvement to be had here though, from raising up their stats, buffing up their chosen weapon, to earning passive skills, which can also be purchased in the shop, along with wandering ronin and mounts. With the way the maps are, however, horses seem unneeded most of the time, and even leveling one up isn't a big advantage.
Sadly, the maps overall don't feel suited to this base-claiming gameplay, and sometimes you can find yourself or your main base practically out in the open, and easy pickings. Another problem inherited from Samurai Warriors 2 is the terrible camera, where you can lose sight of your opponent in mid-combo. This is especially troublesome here when enemy generals will run for the hills when low on life, and letting them slip away means they'll be back soon, fully healed, to harass you further. If they couldn't make the camera work, they could have at least provided some sort of lock-on system, but as it is, your best bet is to keep a general buddy by your side at all times to help you chase down stragglers. Spear users are best for that, but then they're best for anything in this game, where their additional range makes it much easier for them to clear our enemy forts, or get the first hit in against an enemy general.
A general that ninety percent of the time will be a generic, so get used to killing the same faces, and hearing the same taunts over and over. The problem is that SW2 doesn't have nearly as many unique figures as the Dynasty Warriors series, and in a game taking over all of Japan, only about half of them seem to show up, with some putting in brief appearances before their own fledgling empire is broken. This could have been helped by the Create A Warrior mode, but the CAW here is severely lacking in variety compared to the one in DW5E. The only models you have to chose from are those of the bodyguards from SW2 and generic generals. Besides the three new weapon sets, you'll only be able to arm them with some of the moves of the well known warriors. Male fighters are forbidden from female weapons, and some weapon styles can't be chosen no matter what gender you choose. So if you want to make an army of Shibata clones, you can forget it. It might not have been historically fitting to throw in models and weapons styles from the Dynasty Warriors series, but it would have gone a long way from keeping this option from being nearly useless.
Koei has a lot of projects in the works lately, and it feels like SW2: Empires just suffered at being put at the bottom of the list. The presentation is distinctly lacking, the spare cut-scenes lifeless compared to DW5E, and worst of all losing the special endings that showed your army enjoying themselves after a well deserved victory. There are still frame scenes between various warriors that help liven up the proceedings, but it feels like a bumper sticker trying to cover over a rushed paint job. In the heat of battle, always hovering on the verge of defeat with a friend in co-op, little things like this won't seem to matter, but after hearing 'now I can plot my revenge' a hundred or so times, this game just wears too thin too soon. |
