Not only was it the first game to tie strategic and tactical gameplay together well, but it also was the first game to have a semi-realistic 3D battle engine that took things into account such as whether a unit was flanked, etc.

Plus, I thought this was neat since I'd never seen these cut scenes. Mine were all corrupted.

Nonsense. This game was THE classic, and the board game it was loosely based off of as great, too. Almost loses a star because it doesn't include the Ninja vs Geisha duels... took me 40 reloads just to ice one of those harpies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gim3Jb8XsLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFUkLOiMDFI

die

"Total War micromanagement" is almost an oxymoron when you compare it to Myth I and Myth II.

they probably will. just like we'll keep seeing reiterations of rome and medieval.

for the record, rome is still my favorite, however. probably just the setting.

Even better: the Empire Total War engine is almost done. Hopefully they use that for these purposes.

This is going to get real nerdy, real fast, but... I don't think a new Shogun would work. Now don't get me wrong, it was a fun game, and it had it's charms, but the scope is just too limited. In Rome and Medieval, you've got this whole range of kingdoms and cultures, with their own look and feel. It's not just "English knights hitting each other" or "Roman legions tromping across Gaul", it's Asiatic horse archers, Egyptian chariots, Indian elephants, Nordic axemen, longbows, crossbows, pike walls, hoplites, skirmishers, heavy shock infantry, naked Britons throwing lime-soaked heads, Sudanese mercenaries, Native American musketeers, and you're fighting with all these myriad units and tactics in the Alps, the Sahara, Armenia, Scotland, the Pripet Marshes, Sweden, Corsica, the Rhine Valley- there's just so much to do, there's always a new battle, a new campaign, and a new approach. But when you limit it to feudal Japan, what do you get? Oh look, ANOTHER battle where a bunch of samurai tear up a mass of peasant levies. Better hope those Portugese guns show up soon! Maybe if they made it Asia: Total War, and expanded the factions and campaign area out to Pakistan and Central Russia, but a simple "samurai vs samurai" game might end up ringing hollow after Rome.

I... I'll shut up now.

Answer: promise of sexiness. I think by now we know how perverted the Japanese are.

Thing is, geisha didn't put out. They just made pleasant conversation and played the biwa. I don't think that's worth the risk of getting a knife in the throat. The only comfort here is that I don't think geisha were ever actually used as assassins.

They might leave behind some used panties, though. You're not thinking like a Japanese man.