Historical Context

[I'm Poppy]

Hello! I`m a fan of the Total War series but have never really sunk much time into this game due to my lack of knowledge in Asian culture/history. Does anyone have any good documentaries on youtube or articles on wiki that give me an understanding of the game better?
Thanks

[CHE]

Originally posted by Constantine:

Hello! I`m a fan of the Total War series but have never really sunk much time into this game due to my lack of knowledge in Asian culture/history. Does anyone have any good documentaries on youtube or articles on wiki that give me an understanding of the game better?
Thanks

Hmmm... I learnt from watching Star Wars ("A New Hope" is partially based on the Kurosawa film "the Hidden Fortress", and the Star Wars stories have many references to Asian culture - e.g. Jedi are like Shaolin monks, the Force is like the "Tao" or "ki", and Darth Vader's helmet looks like a samurai helmet),

from ninja movies (e.g. "Enter the Ninja" and "Revenge of the Ninja"),

from the 3 original "Karate Kid" films,

from watching the original series of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoons and the original 3 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" films,

from this children's book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1709451.Sword_of_the_Samurai

from this book by Stephen Turnbull: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1347858.Samurai_Warriors

from this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Ninja-Peter-Lewis/dp/0831704772

from this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/975953.Time_of_the_Dragons

from Akira Kurosawa samurai movies, especially "Yojimbo", "Sanjuro", "the Seven Samurai", "Throne of Blood" and "Ran"

from the "Samurai Trilogy" of films about the great Japanese swordfighter, Miyamoto Musashi:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Trilogy

from this documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqGjsrcZiY4

[traveller]

Here is a guide that might help you.

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?137395-Frogbeastegg-s-Guide-to-Total-War-Shogun-II

[CHE]

The manual for the original Shogun Total War has a summary of the historical context of both games. The summary is written by Stephen Turnbull, an expert on feudal Japan:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32210680/Shogun-Total-War-manual#scribd

[CHE]

You might like this YouTube video, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnmZgYc8wJw

[I'm Poppy]

Wow thanks all i love all the information yall have brought to my attention! Much Love all!

[meyeroldmaan64]

Alot of the hobby stores hav ebooks on different ancient cultures that provide information

[Killer007]

wikipedia have a lot of useful information, you can read about the sengoku jidai or boshin war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sengoku_period
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boshin_War

[rory.b.p]

You could spend several months watching and reading up about just one of the various daimyo they were all fairly interesting characters.
I personally loved the on going rivalry and respect Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen had for each other also Nobunagas supposed reaction upon hearing of Uesugi Kenshin's death (he died after Takeda Shingen).
Saito Dosan (although his faction isn't playable) much like Hideyoshi started from humble beginings and had a very intersting life eventually dieing in a rebellion led by his son for many and varied puported reasons.
The history of the Shimazu is also interesting and it stretches right on up to the setting of FOTS and the Satsuma rebellion in 1877.

You would probably be best just starting a new campaign and then googling the daimyo off that faction.

[Sentient_Fool]

I would also recommend http://www.samurai-archives.com/, it is run by a passionate and knowledgeable group of Japanese samurai euthusiasts. They also have commented on TW in the community. It has a wikia so you can jump to specific events and individuals.

*Although, Shogun 2's internal wiki and cinematics do a fair job as well.

Originally posted by CHE:

The manual for the original Shogun Total War has a summary of the historical context of both games. The summary is written by Stephen Turnbull, an expert on feudal Japan:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32210680/Shogun-Total-War-manual#scribd

Turnbull's work is good, although I think it is due to the fact that there are very few English authorities on Samurai. His works do contain some minor inaccuracies. If you are more inclined,
Mikiso Hane wrote a survey of Japanese history, though his prose is dry as hell, there is also Jansen and Gordon.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2050818?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
(*this literal first page is a good summary of what the Sengoku period was perceived as.)

[CHE]

You might also enjoy this documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NbdgMdAxuY

[CHE]

Originally posted by Sentient_Fool:

I would also recommend http://www.samurai-archives.com/, it is run by a passionate and knowledgeable group of Japanese samurai euthusiasts. They also have commented on TW in the community. It has a wikia so you can jump to specific events and individuals.

*Although, Shogun 2's internal wiki and cinematics do a fair job as well.

Originally posted by CHE:

The manual for the original Shogun Total War has a summary of the historical context of both games. The summary is written by Stephen Turnbull, an expert on feudal Japan:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32210680/Shogun-Total-War-manual#scribd

Turnbull's work is good, although I think it is due to the fact that there are very few English authorities on Samurai. His works do contain some minor inaccuracies. If you are more inclined,
Mikiso Hane wrote a survey of Japanese history, though his prose is dry as hell, there is also Jansen and Gordon.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2050818?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
(*this literal first page is a good summary of what the Sengoku period was perceived as.)

What are Turnbull's inaccuracies?

[Samurai08]

Movie wise, the last samurai is very good for this and otherwise books are written by many Asian Generals about war, the most popular being the book of five rings which is about fighting with two swords, and the art of war which is pretty self explained.