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

[WarMaster GoreHowl]

I just watch a bunch of streamers from EA and the AI can't even barely handle a flat open field with like one house on the middle of it that it has to maneuver around... and the sieges are even worse.

So if they have fixed all that jank by the time its in our hands ( i doubt it) i will be very happy to see that. TBH from what i have seen total war fans show on streams ( its not impressive ) I respectfully think you are basically writing this to thank CA for a free copy of the game or something. Because this game isn't going to be good.... and I am one of the people who would MOST like to see that same statement be wrong.

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por WarMaster GoreHowl:

I just watch a bunch of streamers from EA and the AI can't even barely handle a flat open field with like one house on the middle of it that it has to maneuver around... and the sieges are even worse.

So if they have fixed all that jank by the time its in our hands ( i doubt it) i will be very happy to see that. TBH from what i have seen total war fans show on streams ( its not impressive ) I respectfully think you are basically writing this to thank CA for a free copy of the game or something. Because this game isn't going to be good.... and I am one of the people who would MOST like to see that same statement be wrong.

Battle AI has never been great in any total war game in my opinion. I remember shooting generals of their horse in Rome 1 where they stood there like lemons.

I played the EA and i didn't notice this AI to be any worse than previous iterations of series, for me they seemed to be alot more aggressive which i personally liked.

Earlier settlement battles looked like the AI would send out individual units to attack but in the bigger battles i was noticing them blockade entrances and then coming out in force when they needed to.

I still think there needs to be work on the AI, sometimes it did notice it procrastinate going round an obstruction like a cliff rather than committing to a route.

[black]

troy aint bad if you want a small scale TW. but i don't like the scam attempt they are going to pull off with this one.

instant no.

[DarkGlam]

Escrito originalmente por black:

troy aint bad if you want a small scale TW. but i don't like the scam attempt they are going to pull off with this one.

instant no.

You are wrong, Troy wasn't enough for me, was smaller scope, but Pharaoh is bigger than you think .

At other hand, Pharaoh is like if the game were about North America, Europe and South America of those ages. Yes, it may seem Asia, Africa and Oceania are missing but is not a small scope.

These 3 countries have lots of cultures inside, this was also the case of egyptians, canaanites and hittites, more than 7 cultures were inside each of their domains.

And even these cultures did have different warfare and are represented in this game with different units than are mot just reskins, every unit could have different abilities or unique skills.

[IonizedMercury]

Escrito originalmente por black:

troy aint bad if you want a small scale TW. but i don't like the scam attempt they are going to pull off with this one.

instant no.

Where's the scam?

You are told upfront what you will get and at which price.

If you want to accuse them of criminal actions, you better show some evidence. Falsely accusing others for crimes is in itself a crime after all.

[Foulcher]

Are the graphics improved from TW WH3 ?

And is the UI as bad as Troy ?

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Are the graphics improved from TW WH3 ?

And is the UI as bad as Troy ?

I think the graphics are better than Warhammer 3.

I really liked the UI, not everyone does though. Cant remember in regards to Troy, ages ago since i last played it.

What part of the UI don't you like? and i might be able to answer it.

[Bakala]

Thank god for the Empire 2 mod

[Foulcher]

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Are the graphics improved from TW WH3 ?

And is the UI as bad as Troy ?

I think the graphics are better than Warhammer 3.

I really liked the UI, not everyone does though. Cant remember in regards to Troy, ages ago since i last played it.

What part of the UI don't you like? and i might be able to answer it.

Maybe it’s not called « UI » but I dislike tiny icons which prevent me to really distinguish factions etc.

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

I think the graphics are better than Warhammer 3.

I really liked the UI, not everyone does though. Cant remember in regards to Troy, ages ago since i last played it.

What part of the UI don't you like? and i might be able to answer it.

Maybe it’s not called « UI » but I dislike tiny icons which prevent me to really distinguish factions etc.

OK, do you mean the icons in battle? If so, this is fixed in Pharaoh, You can have the traditional faction banners now.

You can adjust size of the banners, switch them off or go back to the crap ones from Troy.

[Jack Greedy]

Oh thats cool thing about banners, i didn't notice that.

[Foulcher]

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Maybe it’s not called « UI » but I dislike tiny icons which prevent me to really distinguish factions etc.

OK, do you mean the icons in battle? If so, this is fixed in Pharaoh, You can have the traditional faction banners now.

You can adjust size of the banners, switch them off or go back to the crap ones from Troy.

Thanks that was more or less that. But also in the campaign map I could not really see where the borders were and who was who.

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

OK, do you mean the icons in battle? If so, this is fixed in Pharaoh, You can have the traditional faction banners now.

You can adjust size of the banners, switch them off or go back to the crap ones from Troy.

Thanks that was more or less that. But also in the campaign map I could not really see where the borders were and who was who.

On the campaign map i found it OK, you can scroll out to have clear coded regions.

Its a bit more advanced but you can pin the coloured overlays on to the campaign map so that all regions are coloured when zoomed in if you want to. The coloured overlay can be changed to whatever options from the overlay tab you want, faction, political (Neutral / foe / ally), resources etc etc.

[Foulcher]

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Thanks that was more or less that. But also in the campaign map I could not really see where the borders were and who was who.

On the campaign map i found it OK, you can scroll out to have clear coded regions.

Its a bit more advanced but you can pin the coloured overlays on to the campaign map so that all regions are coloured when zoomed in if you want to. The coloured overlay can be changed to whatever options from the overlay tab you want, faction, political (Neutral / foe / ally), resources etc etc.

Thanks, great news. I will see if I purchase it. Honestly I am not a CA hater, this is mostly because I have too many games and especially Cities Skylines 2.

[Defmonkey]

Escrito originalmente por Foulcher:

Escrito originalmente por Defmonkey:

On the campaign map i found it OK, you can scroll out to have clear coded regions.

Its a bit more advanced but you can pin the coloured overlays on to the campaign map so that all regions are coloured when zoomed in if you want to. The coloured overlay can be changed to whatever options from the overlay tab you want, faction, political (Neutral / foe / ally), resources etc etc.

Thanks, great news. I will see if I purchase it. Honestly I am not a CA hater, this is mostly because I have too many games and especially Cities Skylines 2.

Yeah that's OK. Wanted to answer as factually as i can for whatever purchasing decision you decide to make in future. Cities Skylines 2 does look good though.... but is going to have the Paradox DLC model to consider.