My FIRST Impressions of Pharaoh. BEST Total War EVER

[Paddy]

Alright i'll try to keep this short and sweet as i've only played around 5 hours of this game. I just want people to know especially if you have read my posts that i was one of the biggest critics of this game even going as far as calling it a Troy Reskin. Is it? Well i can say after diving in for a good few hours that this is easily the BEST Total war i have played yet and i'll explain why below. What they done with this game and at a similar scale to Three Kingdoms it is in my opinion a step above Three Kingdoms. Anyway i'll give a brief explanation below what i think and why.

Graphics and Optimisation: For me it has similar graphics to the likes of Troy which is fantastic. Total War game have always had the best graphics out of any game in this genre and this is more of the same. There are a few more graphical features that do spruce it up. In terms of Optimisation, again i'd say it's similar to Troy. I have a RTX 4080, 5800X3d, 16GB ram and i'm able to maintain 60fps and above in 4K with units set to extreme. That's impressive however the only time it really drops is in battles where 10 units cards are engaged with another 10 and it's one huge mosh. In this game the FPS does tank if you have the camera right over it however if you zoom in and angle the camera the FPS shoots back up to 60fps and this suits me fine as i love to watch the battles up close anyway.

Campaign: This is the area that impressed me the most. It builds upon Troy's resource system so it is very much a juggling act to maintain the right number of resources and regions are more strategic so this isn't really new but a mechanic i'm glad and hope CA stick with as it adds a layer of depth. What impressed me most however was the number of different mechanics. Like Three Kingdoms that added a layer of depth that even may Paradox fans complimented it on. Pharaoh does the same and goes even further. The court system and being able to manipulate, threaten, embezzle, gossip, aid etc Characters in different positions is something that impressed me not to mention you can put yourself in a court position and use it to push others out or benefit from it's position whether it be financial, military or political. There are also a great number of events in the game which keeps things interesting. Very few turns will have no events at all. You can also choose to be King of the Canaanites of Pharaoh and go down the route which gives you access to a number of entitlements. To enter into civil war or accept the many different mini objectives which gives you resource bonuses if you manage to complete them in a number of turns. The outpost systems add another layer of depth. This is MUCH more like Three Kingdoms than Troy and i feel all of you guys will be pleased. It is a very deep game and the Campaign map is HUGE. As big as Three Kingdoms. Does anyone else remember the ULTRA aggressive Ai that declared war on you in Troy if they sensed any sort of weakness even though you were much more powerful.? Well this is not here at all and again i feel the Campaign Ai here much along the same line as Three Kingdoms. it keeps you on your toes and you in the Campaign menu before you start a game you can enable or disable SO many mechanics and options similar to Warhammer 3

Battles: My favourite part of any Total War game and i have to say i did not expect battles in Pharaoh to be this good especially after watching other people's first impressions months ago. It is in no way like Troy, in fact Three Kingdoms battles are more similar to Troy than this game. There are no super duper moves or super hero Generals. The unit clashing i feel is the best yet and the combat animations is a mix between mostly synced combat and some non synced combat to keep the battles looking intense. They are the tightest animations yet, unit clashing is among the best in the series and my favourite aspect is that there are NO unit blobs even when most of your army is engaged as one unit against the enemy army in a choke-point. Soldiers stay close together but there is no clipping like in Attila and units stay in relative formation where the front line is constantly engaged. As for battle Ai, it is similar to the most recent titles. I felt the Ai in the most recent games was fantastic and pretty much can always give me a run for my money if i take my eye of the ball. The battles Ai in this game will have you watching all aspects of the battle or you will get caught out quickly, the Ai will exploit any weakness. Weather effects are not something i noticed that much as it mainly just effects both parties so the penalties you and the Ai suffer are the same. Perhaps have it where certain factions don't suffer from certain penalties so it can have a significant effect on the other party. In terms of battle length i found they mostly last anywhere between 10-20 minutes and these were battles consisting of weaker morale militia units. I'd imagine it being longer with more elite units in both sides. By far the BEST battles in the entire series. A big shout out to Sofia for bringing combat animations back and making them the best yet. No more swirling leg kicks or sword strikes. It looks and feels more real

Sound: I have to say before Pharaoh i felt Troy had the best sound effects in battles and overall music. The campaign ambience was second to non however for me Pharaoh tops it as being the best in the Total War series. Then in battle the clashes of units, the sound of different weapon sounds hitting shields is also something i noticed. Not all weapons hitting shields sound the same. I'm not sure if this is the same in other total war games but it just added another layer of immersion.

As for things i didn't like or would like to see in the future. Ahhh..... BLOOD. I felt this feature was missing the most, i feel it should be standard at release as a DLC to keep parental rating down but please don't make us wait too long. Blood adds a layer of immersion especially when you can use it to tell if someone has been hit. Battles just don't feel as immersive or real without it. Also i dislike when you hover over units that a unit card of information pops up on the middle of the screen. I'm not talking about the in-depth unit information which is on the side which you can turn off. This information instead is much more generic but it is right on the middle of the screen and just blocks your view

[IonizedMercury]

Escrito originalmente por degumuto_berseg:

cavalry is the hearth of any total war game I really miss medieval area

False of course. The mix of turn-based campaign and RTS battles is.

[Berserk Belta]

Escrito originalmente por Nero:

lol a TW game with no cavalry and no ships and no unit variety at all is the best ever???

I agree about cavalry. Thing is, we already know that stuff about the game. So if people take their time to post how it is for them in detail it just adds to the information we have about it.

Look at user reviews, where a gamer can say they don't like the game because it has feature x, but you like the sound of feature x. Or they seem like a similar/dissimilar kind of gamer to you, or whatever.

[Dupond]

Escrito originalmente por Nero:

lol a TW game with no cavalry and no ships and no unit variety at all is the best ever???

You are wrong, there is a lot of unit variety and chars that replace shock cavalry + fast infantry that replace light cavalry. It seems you didn't play the game, that's why you are biased about it.

[Rathi401]

Nice that you play for about 5h and tell us "best total war game". gj

[Ancient History Gamer]

I actually did 60 turns several times and usually I go another faction before 30. This game is a lot better than all the past titles.

[Nats]

Just cannot trust these sorts of posts.

[Paddy]

Escrito originalmente por Rathi401:

Nice that you play for about 5h and tell us "best total war game". gj

Lol five hours is more Than enough. I felt similar with Three Kingdoms and I ended up playing that for almost 200 hours

[MACIORELLA]

Isnt map too small?

[TheOrangeBox]

Escrito originalmente por MACIOREX:

Isnt map too small?

You'll have bigger provinces and territories to battle than lets say any other previous released map.

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por MACIOREX:

Isnt map too small?

It looks it, but its alot bigger than one might think. Settlements are pretty spaced out and there the same number of regions as Rome 2, Attila and Three Kingdoms....

The shape might be a factor for some people since you can cross by sea or go up Canaan, Then there is the geographic area and obvious exclusions (Aegean / Mesopotamia) that people are very aware of. So i can certainly see why people would say this.

[B_TUGS_5]

Thank you. I appreciate thoughtful commentary.

[Emperor_Koda Uzumaki]

Its so nice to read a good post at last. So many just jump on the hate train, its so sad. For myself i was skeptical at first but to make a choice a good choice information is requierd.So i waited and waitet and looked watcht all of there stuff, finaly i preorderd it. And the EA weekend. Suprised me i cant wait for release now im hyped so damn hyped. Truly one of the Best total war invation titels.And for all who dislike pharaoh . Pharaoh is a good foundation to build on futur medivals or empiers or or or. I Just feel bad for the Developers. They put so much effort and love into this, sure not everything is perfect. But they dont deserv that much hat from peopel who do not know anything and dont even try and learn about it.

[Wubbinz]

Escrito originalmente por Nats:

Just cannot trust these sorts of posts.

Yeah, they lay it on way too thick. Throwing around phrases and words like "perfect, best ever, revolutionary" and more. The gameplay that I've seen doesn't support this high praise, not even close. Not saying it looks awful but it looks mid, no real big jump forward here.

[DarkGlam]

Escrito originalmente por Paton:

Escrito originalmente por Nats:

Just cannot trust these sorts of posts.

Yeah, they lay it on way too thick. Throwing around phrases and words like "perfect, best ever, revolutionary" and more. The gameplay that I've seen doesn't support this high praise, not even close. Not saying it looks awful but it looks mid, no real big jump forward here.

Seems like you didn't play EA and read the menus with options or tried some. I did and I know the game is the best total war ever made, with systems than are amazing never seen like this before: revolutionary.

1)Every culture has courts, legacies and different pantheons of gods than matter once you level a god worshipping them. No more playable cultures because should had to be made up, fans no one a made up culture or fill this kind of mechanics with everything made up.

2)Mesopotamia and Aegeans could be there as playable in future DLCs but not historically accurate as hittites, canaanites and egyptians.You should know this: after Sea people time frame (50 years from the starting point of this game) archeologically or historically we have a black hole of darkness than lasted 200 years. But I had to read in the forums why we can't have dynasties for centuries, LOL, I am sure they dont want 100% made up things in a history game because we know nothing.

3)Management of resources in Pharaoh feels very reallistic and fun, trade agreements help control resource incomings and are reflected in the top of the screen, very easy system, but your incomings are variable in three things: your good relantionships with other factions you do trade agreements with, the state of the columns of your civilization (not be in crisis or collapsing), and the builldings with the population than creates your base incoming because you could have gold mines but if the population is scarce you are not going to be able to work in gold mines and will need to be repaired. Depth of this game is revolutionary.

4)Generals and their bodyguards die pretty pfast, no superheroes at all, is not a silly idea to attack the last or the safest way, once he gets better equipment and levels up a bit will be more durable. Winning battles, unlocking epic titles (like Bane of Seth and things like that) and devoting your general to a god (and leveling the god building temples/sanctuaries) will reinforce him for being a zealot.

5)For first time to win battles is not just about having elite units, is more important to use each type effectively and praise to your favorite god in sanctuaries of outposts before going to battles. Or having the right influence in the court, this can help you win battles.

6)Unit types are a lot more diverse than most thing, and you can only recruit them going with the general to the right regions where they historically were. Also, agents are gone, now outpost help your single army or your secondary army to travel very fast across the map (like 50% speed distance increase) and is very fun because the map stills very big.

I can go on with longer list, but this game is truly revolutionary and you are judging it just by the cover, wich it seems to only have 3 cultures but is a lot more rich in sandbox options than ever, and historically/reallistically more accurate than ever before

Total war: Pharaoh is a revolutionary total, with the best mechanics, some we never have seen before, not so well done.

[Wubbinz]

Escrito originalmente por DarkGlam:

Escrito originalmente por Paton:

Yeah, they lay it on way too thick. Throwing around phrases and words like "perfect, best ever, revolutionary" and more. The gameplay that I've seen doesn't support this high praise, not even close. Not saying it looks awful but it looks mid, no real big jump forward here.

Seems like you didn't play EA and read the menus with options or tried some. I did and I know the game is the best total war ever made, with systems than are amazing never seen like this before: revolutionary.

1)Every culture has courts, legacies and different pantheons of gods than matter once you level a god worshipping them. No more playable cultures because should had to be made up, fans no one a made up culture or fill this kind of mechanics with everything made up.

2)Mesopotamia and Aegeans could be there as playable in future DLCs but not historically accurate as hittites, canaanites and egyptians.You should know this: after Sea people time frame (50 years from the starting point of this game) archeologically or historically we have a black hole of darkness than lasted 200 years. But I had to read in the forums why we can't have dynasties for centuries, LOL, I am sure they dont want 100% made up things in a history game because we know nothing.

3)Management of resources in Pharaoh feels very reallistic and fun, trade agreements help control resource incomings and are reflected in the top of the screen, very easy system, but your incomings are variable in three things: your good relantionships with other factions you do trade agreements with, the state of the columns of your civilization (not be in crisis or collapsing), and the builldings with the population than creates your base incoming because you could have gold mines but if the population is scarce you are not going to be able to work in gold mines and will need to be repaired. Depth of this game is revolutionary.

4)Generals and their bodyguards die pretty pfast, no superheroes at all, is not a silly idea to attack the last or the safest way, once he gets better equipment and levels up a bit will be more durable. Winning battles, unlocking epic titles (like Bane of Seth and things like that) and devoting your general to a god (and leveling the god building temples/sanctuaries) will reinforce him for being a zealot.

5)For first time to win battles is not just about having elite units, is more important to use each type effectively and praise to your favorite god in sanctuaries of outposts before going to battles. Or having the right influence in the court, this can help you win battles.

6)Unit types are a lot more diverse than most thing, and you can only recruit them going with the general to the right regions where they historically were. Also, agents are gone, now outpost help your single army or your secondary army to travel very fast across the map (like 50% speed distance increase) and is very fun because the map stills very big.

I can go on with longer list, but this game is truly revolutionary and you are judging it just by the cover, wich it seems to only have 3 cultures but is a lot more rich in sandbox options than ever, and historically/reallistically more accurate than ever before

Total war: Pharaoh is a revolutionary total, with the best mechanics, some we never have seen before, not so well done.

Nice sales pitch but nothing you've listed hasn't been in previous titles. Nothing revolutionary here. Number 5 just tells me you've never played Shogun 2 or anything that came before it.