![]() First, the maps have been enlarged, to give more of an epic feeling to the fights. It was exactly what I didn’t want out of Total War tactics.Ī few major changes for Three Kingdoms seemed to exacerbate all of Total War combat’s bad habits. A good 15-20 minutes later, with the room emptying and no end to the battle in sight, I just quit. ![]() So I just had him ride from enemy unit to enemy unit, slowly routing them. Almost all the generals were defeated, except for Zhang Fei, who was 90 percent dead yet no enemy could actually seem to stop him. Units were scattered across the map, routing and reforming and routing again. A few minutes into the battle, roughly halfway though my fight (or so I thought), the press in the preview room got told that the time was up, and to get ready to clear the room for the next batch of people. Toward the end of my preview, I, with an army led by Zhang Fei and with some generic sidekicks, faced a perfectly average, evenly matched, midsized fight against the local Yellow Turbans. Unfortunately, in my preview event, the battles were far, far, far too likely to turn into interminable slogs for me to get excited about the tactical side of Total War: Three Kingdoms. When it worked, it was fantastic, but it could sometimes take a little too long in a campaign to get there. Total Warhammer improved matters, especially with higher-level armies, but far too many of its early-game battles (especially with the Old World factions) ended up with several minutes of infantry slowly chasing down cheap archer units. The disastrous Rome 2 turned fights into rugby scrums, with little resembling formations or pacing. The latter has been an issue with Total War games, especially in recent years. ![]() The sweet spot tends to be fights that last 5 minutes to a quarter of an hour. But more importantly, they have to be satisfying, where the tactical decisions you make throughout continue to feel important, instead of just busywork - especially busywork that takes far too long. But it also needs to be snappy, as a campaign will have dozens if not hundreds of battles, so excess fighting turns into a slog. It needs to be tactical, where the player feels like their decisions matter but they’re not overwhelmed with choice in real time. The Total War series has almost always struggled with getting the balance of combat right. Since the battles are usually the more important half, let’s start with them, and why I’m skeptical. The big differentiating reason to play Total War, from Shogun to Warhammer, has always been its battles - epic slugfests over bridges, brilliant cavalry charges to turn defeat into victory, or skillful use of terrain to force overwhelming enemies into Pyrrhic victories that win wars even if they lose battles. Second, have a best-in-class real-time tactical combat component. It’s gotta be good enough to not make the player lose motivation, but it’s not the primary reason that people play. First, have a solid, if possibly unexciting, strategic campaign mode that serves as a backbone, a foundation. Total War: Three Kingdoms doesn’t look like a huge change for the Total War series, but it might unintentionally be the most radical installment the series has ever had, in ways both exciting and annoying.Ĭreative Assembly’s Total War series is nearly 20 years old, roughly a dozen games in, and it’s always had strong formula. Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23.
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