Buy NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: Sphere of Influence

30+ hours now.. and I have decide to do a review for this...

I will go straight to the point! This is a hardcore Grand Strategy game that's the newest "Nobunaga's ambition".
It's got wonderful graphics, Smooth Economy controls, Engaging sound, Historial Event and Light Battle field strategy...

It may look very simple on the outside but does have alot indepth hidden strategy that you need to employ to end the Sengaku Era Japan.

The indepth tactical element is much simpler then Crusader Kings 2 but it's more complicated then all previous Romance of the Three kingdoms or Nobunaga's ambition games.

Each turn in this game is 1 month instead of of seasons or years make the game feel very slow at times but once combat is on.. it feels very fast at times...

Everything was done really well but it will feel very repetitive to any new comers of this game serie.

I have played over 30 hours now but i only unified less then 1/4 of Japan on my very first game. So this game will probably rack up the same amount of hours I have played for CK2 sooner or later.

There is a in game achievement system but it doesn't have steam achievement.

Price of this game is also very high like most japanese game that's landed in Steam store.

8.5/10 but I can only recommend to veterns of this serie and hardcore grand strategy lover... Since it's not very friendly to new comer of the serie and it's very pricey(and you won't get a 25% discount for a long time)...

This game is very disappointing.

Let me start off by saying that i have been playing Koei games since I was a kid and played Noabunaga's Ambition on Nes. I have played all the RTK games from part 1 and up that had been put out in English so I was excited when this came out in English because Koei has been skipping English releases of its war games lately and all we have gotten is DW crap.

Why is it disappointing ya might ask? Well its just a basic game, its like they took all the basics that a game like this needed. Sure theirs some fighting and some diplomacy and you can build in your cites but its all at basic levels.

The fighting is so limited all you can really do is pincer attack to in cress damage and use each officers one combat ability they get. Thats it, other then that you just mostly sit there and watch the troops run at each other until its over. No real "grand strategy" built into this so called Grand Strategy game. Pretty much every other game out there has more depth to its combat which is a real shame because this game has next to nothing else in it but the combat.

The only thing that has any depth is the city building and truth be told it don't have much to it either. Most cites start out with a few plots of land mostly set in groups of three and you can pick what to build on them. Crafts, farm, or conscripts and wach of these plots of lands can build a few different things that in cress what resources you get. If ya build the right stuff and have big enough city you can pick a "epic" type building for your castle that gives extra bonuses but nothing that special.

Diplomacy is pretty shallow, you end an officer to talk to a kingdom every turn to build up your trust and at certain levels you can ask for troops, ask for an alliance for a few months to a year and at 100% offer to marry the two clans together for an alliance that lasts as long as they stay married. AND thats it.... Yeah really thats it, nothing ever really becomes of the alliance you still have to spend trust to ask for help from each other and nothing to ever suggest two people from your clans are married or any talk of their kinds they have together. Recruiting an officer works pretty much the same way, you send a guy to talk to them for months till they build up enough discontent to turn on their current plan. At 40 they agree not to fight for for 3 months, at 80 they agree to join you if they faceyou in combat within a set amount of months and at 100 you can just get them to come straight over to you. Their is a thing with low end tribes where the clans oaround them can buy them off to pay for them to fight for them and thats it.

Family is just the same as diplomacy you have random kids and they grow up to be officers or of they are females you can make them officers or pick to have them be maidens to marry off. Theirs no real since of it being a clan or family at any point in the game. Just hey we are a clan... then a whole lot of nothing else about it, which is soooo disappointing since clans and family are such a big part of that era in japan's history.

Thats pretty much the game. Yeah thats it..... Even in the Nes Noabunaga's Ambition had more depth, you could plot and hire nija's to assassinate people or set fire to their supplies or cause riots but in this one you can't do any thing else.

Why are their so many good reviews about the game with very little to say about it? Well people wana talk it up to get others to buy it, they want to show koei that their really is a market for other games besides DW in English and like me they was willing to spend $50 for a sub par game in the hopes that we will get better ones some day. But in all honestly the game is not worth it enless do you want to support other English titles, its just so lacking and boring in every area of the game. <shrugs>

Koei needs to up their game. Their games have much potentital, but they really need to aim higher in order to compete with AAA tittle games.

1. Cutcenes are dated - simple pictures with voiceover or subtittles.
2. Diplomacy depth - simple, no intrigue, in some cases I had taken towns from AI and yet their stance towards me was normal vs hostile.
3. Graphics - the main strategic map looks okay, but most other animation/graphics is subpar.
4. Battles - is there any strategy to them at all? It has been so dummed down a 5 year old could play it.

This game would be amazing 20 years ago. Times have changed, and Koei on many of its titles has failed to keep up.

Finally the price - ridiculous for what you are getting.

ROTK 13 english western release, please!

got 339 hours in the game and played many a night with almost no sleep " youst one more round " and a nother and so i spend sometimes a whole Saturday with the Game.

If Nobunagas Ambition came with a MP mode it would be one of the most if not the most fun game i have played in a long time but even without it it glued me to my Monitor.

So far i " only " have the Progressiv and Nobunaga endings and one scenario completed still a lot to do and a lot to Learn ....

Extremly high replay value and nice Historical Clan/family related quests for the Great Clans like the Oda/Mori/takeda and many more plus differnt start dates make the Sengoku Jidai era come to live if you enjoy Japanese History /politics and Campain Planing seasond with some tactical warfare the game is worth your time and every penny you pay for it .

Tenno Heika Banzai !