Apart from the Romance of the Three Kingdom (RTK) series, this has to be my favorite next in line of the historical series introduced by KOEI. Compared to RTK, Nobunaga's Ambition 2 maybe a little easier to play but also easier to comprehend.
The game takes place is medieval Japan, in the era where everyone was at war with everyone. Similar to other games from KOEI, the aim of the game is simple: Conquer the whole map...with you as the supreme ruler.
There are many main characters here where you can choose from.
Favorites can be seen from there statistics naturally...the higher their stats, the bigger chance their role in the game. The game usually revolves around these characters: Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, the Hojo Clan, the Miyoshi Clan and the Mori Clan. All these people possess the greatest forces and highest ambition to "change the lay of the land"...other "Daimyo" or Japanese warlords, only act as "additional features".
My favorite character was (naturally) Oda Nobunaga...or sometimes Takeda Shingen. Though honestly, my main reason in choosing characters is if they choose the "hero" kind-of-look.
Like most strategy games, the way to win is to understand the many factors in that particular game. In Oda Nobunaga's Ambition 2, these elements consist of: Military Might - Naturally,
the more samurai you have and the more soldiers your samurai have, the more you can enforce your strength to other Daimyo's. A fief or province can only hold 20 samurai, so sooner or later you need to expand your realm. Each samurai has a maximum of 100 soldiers. Numbers however, are not enough. You need to train your samurai - a force of 100 trained samurai can defeat 500 untrained samurai. This also goes for arms. A sharp katana will do more damage than a rusty chop stick!
Food is an essential factor in war. Make sure to go into battle with rice bags fresh from the field...it is dishonorable to retreat from the battlefield due to an empty stomach. Unit types also provide an edge in any battle. There are only 3 unit types here: The Infantry, the Cavalry and the Riflemen. Infantry have the ability hide in forests and ambush unwary approaching enemies, conflicting devastating damage. Cavalry can charge any unit in hand to hand combat, reducing numbers of the enemy in an ongoing onslaught. Rifleman inflicts the greatest damage to any unit brave enough to come to close to its firing range. Make sure you castle is at maximum defense while you’re at it...
Diplomacy - Allying yourself or sending gifts to other Daimyo's is essential in survival. Although, in my experience, I have never actively used Diplomacy as it made little difference in the gameplay. Diplomacy was something more what other Daimyo's did to you. Often they offer money, request alliances or even request your daughter's hand in marriage. You never seem to run out of daughters by the way.
Espionage - What the samurai cannot do without dishonor, the Ninja comes to take the role. Espionage consists of gathering information of other fiefs, spreading war rumors to incite the locals, or even assassination of an enemy Daimyo. Either which, success depends on the ability of the recruiting samurai or else his ninja may get caught in the line of duty.
Economy - Nothing is more important than the flowing of gold coins and rice from paddy fields. You can develop agriculture or town centers. Money comes in every March and the harvest comes in every September. The cycle makes it easier to focus on which to develop first. Developing increases local support, while high taxes lower it. Taxes (money or rice) are always done manually, which is very important as it always seems to be a different need every year. Developing towns increases your fief's cultural value. The higher the culture, the higher stats your samurai will receive when doing personal training.
Leadership/Samurai Development - My favorite feature. Recruiting samurai from other Daimyo's is like killing two birds with one stone: (1) Gaining more samurai while (2) Lowering the number of samurai for the other Daimyo. Make sure their loyalty is rewarded by gold, or their service with you maybe brief. No matter how good looking a samurai is, you can't ignore his stats. Low politics makes him slow to recover his body points, low war means you can't rely his abilities in combat. Thankfully, the great feature in this game, is you can develop their stats to the maximum able. The development of your samurai is highly influenced by the cultural level your samurai resides in and by the most intelligent samurai residing there. A samurai can only learn a 5 point difference from the smartest samurai. So if you have a samurai with 100 war, his pupil can only achieve a maximum of 95...which is more than enough!
Overall, the game is completely re-playable. Random events always make the game a completely new game every time. The features as I said are easy and simple enough to comprehend.
The Bad
Simple is a good thing, but when you've mastered the game to a certain level...you can't help but think that you'd wish there were more features of complication.
One of the most irritating things you have to do before playing this game is to pick a ruler. After that you have to randomly choose his stats. Being a perfectionist in this area, I can't seem to pull myself to receive any less than his maximum stats. So, unless you’re forgiving, one can spend a lot of time waiting for that perfect stat for your Daimyo.
I've noticed you can lose if you’re "caught unprepared". This means that an enemy Daimyo attacks you when your body stat is 0. The problem is, there is no way for the other party to know your body stats. But somehow, they always know every time. This takes out the "realism" from the game.
The Bottom Line
This game helps me memorize almost every Japanese samurai clan there is as well as the name of the provinces. Funny to know that Suzuki and Honda are samurai family names. An A-rated historical strategy game that I still play today!
