Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence

[Kong Wen]

Really wish I had something to play this on.

No semi-decent gaming PC? Or is the likes of Steam not kosher on the mainland?

[Jordan]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.c ... 5A12B3AD4/

This is my current game. I'm the light blue faction smack in the center/south (nearby Hosokawa and Ashikaga). The early game was difficult but I slogged through it somehow by making an alliance of sorts with the Hosokawa. Once I took over the Saika/Saiga, things got a lot easier. I'm still kind of just a middle range clan. I can't compete with the big guys like Imagawa, Hojou or Ouchi, but I'm actually even with the Hosokawa right now and much stronger than the Ashikaga.

playing on normal mode.

[Humphries90]

Really wish I had something to play this on.

No semi-decent gaming PC? Or is the likes of Steam not kosher on the mainland?

I have a Mac which is on its last legs so I couldn't even run windows on that. My PS3 is in England and a PS4 is on the horizon after Christmas.

[Kong Wen]

PS4 is on the horizon after Christmas.

Woop! There's a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game coming out around Christmas as well, and I'm hoping sales of this Nobunaga game are good enough to prompt Koei to release it here. You could be in for double grand strategy trouble on your PS4 after Christmas.

[Niahak]

Real life has been keeping me from picking up this game - only had a few hours to play games here and there over the past few weeks, so I didn't want to dig into a new strategy game when I'm likely to have even less for the next month.

That said I'm interested. Didn't play the PS2 Nobunaga games all that much as I much preferred the older (pre-11) RTK game styles and NA had been going that new direction for a while, but I'm willing to give it a shot now that they've released it on PC.

$60 is a little on the pricey side for me now that I'm trying to keep to a budget, but it does look good enough to keep me busy for a while and there won't be many other new games I'm looking for until later in the year.

I'd really like to see the PS2-era RTKs put on Steam and translated, but I know that's a pipe dream!

[Kong Wen]

Real life has been keeping me from picking up this game - only had a few hours to play games here and there over the past few weeks, so I didn't want to dig into a new strategy game when I'm likely to have even less for the next month.

That said I'm interested. Didn't play the PS2 Nobunaga games all that much as I much preferred the older (pre-11) RTK game styles and NA had been going that new direction for a while, but I'm willing to give it a shot now that they've released it on PC.

$60 is a little on the pricey side for me now that I'm trying to keep to a budget, but it does look good enough to keep me busy for a while and there won't be many other new games I'm looking for until later in the year.

I'd really like to see the PS2-era RTKs put on Steam and translated, but I know that's a pipe dream!

I really enjoyed RTK XI (IMO the best of the "new" RTKs [VII-XI]), but I didn't play much of the PS2 Nobunaga games either. They didn't seem to hold together as well as RTK did or something. Tough to place it. That said, I think Sphere of Influence is quite good so far, although I've only been fumbling through it for a couple hours now.

Unfortunately, translated PS2 RTK games with PUK on Steam probably is a pipe dream. Speaking of pipe dreams, how come RTK IV got a release on eShop and PSN but there's no sign of II or III (my two faves in the series). If RTK II were ever released on e.g. 3DS eShop, I would never play another video game again!!!

[Niahak]

Subject: Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence

Unfortunately, translated PS2 RTK games with PUK on Steam probably is a pipe dream. Speaking of pipe dreams, how come RTK IV got a release on eShop and PSN but there's no sign of II or III (my two faves in the series). If RTK II were ever released on e.g. 3DS eShop, I would never play another video game again!!!

Yeah, it's weird to me that RTK IV is on but not RTK II or III (which were also my favorites - never owned II, though!). Also, New Horizons but not the first UW which was a pretty different experience. I think whoever is in charge of these decisions assumed the highest numbered entry would be the most desired.

I'd be curious to see the 3DS remakes of the RTKs, too. They're not selling too well in Japan, but I can dream

PUK versions of the ones we never saw would be really awesome. I've messed around with IX (my favorite PS2 one) with PUK in Japanese and some of the new features (like dynamically generated officers promoted from the ranks after particularly lengthy battles) are pretty neat. Makes the game even easier than it was normally, though.

[Jordan]

I actually think the 3DS is a very good platform for Koei strategy games. The touch controls and double screen both are excellent for something like ROTK or NA. I'd consider buying some of those games on 3DS if they were ever released.

I have some optimism for ROTK XIII. I like that they're going back to the officer or ruler selection. I also hope they borrow some ideas from Nobunaga's Ambition Sphere of Influence as far as providing historical quests for characters. Maybe they could even have branching hypothetical quests too.

I started a new game again in Nobunaga's Ambition. Third time's the charm in this case. I decided to play as Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) in the "War God Descends" scenario. It's 1561 or so and I've conquered the Hojo, Ashina, Date, Takeda and Asakura as well as a slew of smaller clans. I also married into practically everything else by using the distant diplomacy policy.

[Humphries90]

If they put Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII (with an editor) on the 3DS, life would be complete.

[Jordan]

I've actually put in 130+ hours into this game thus far. It has become one of my favorite KOEI strategy games, and I'm still playing it. I've won as the Uesugi and Ishida, and am now finishing a playthrough as the Oda in the Struggle for Power Scenario. Progressive policies are VERY strong in this game