I'm lost . Should i buy Sphere of Influence or the Ascension version ?

[ErrosFB76]

Hello.
I know there is already a few subjects about that, but i still don't understand the differences between this two versions.

I know in Ascension, we can play from the point of a retainer.
But is there any content of "Sphere of Influence" removed in this "Influence" version ?
If i buy the Ascencion version, Can i still play the content of SoI if i want ?
I'm quite curious about playing from the point of view of a simple retainer, but it might happened that after playing i don't like it. (i love roleplay and that's why i'm attracted to this one)

If not, now i'm asking what's the best between this two ?
Knowing that my only previous experiences in strategic games are the Age of Empire games, Civilization games (from IV to VI) and Stellaris.

Edit : To add a little more to what i'm trying to say.
I've seen people suggesting to buy Sphere of Influence rather than Ascension, even if they are the same at price while saying at the same that Ascension is the same game than SoI with more content. I don't understand why ?


Thank you.

[STAVKA]

Ascension is basically an expansion pack for Sphere of Influence, meaning that you really only get additional content in the form of Siege of Osaka scenarios, which were more motivated by Koei cashing in on a TV series about Yukimura Sanada at the time (the Spirit of the Sanada Samurai Warriors game is the same) than anything else. Ascension lets you play as a vassal, but based on the reviews that out there, this is broken and not a fun experience. I would suggest going with SoI.

[Circumpolarity]

Let's just say that Ascension is a not-perfectly upgraded version of SOI, yes Ascension has some bugs here and there but it has more content, the game can still be fun.

Let's see. . .you want to know if everything from SOI is available, so here's the contents from SOI that are not available in Ascension (from what I can remember) :

- Event Gallery
- Ability to 'retire' as a Daimyo and leave everything to your selected heir (In this game, you have to wait until your character dies, and then proceed to select his/her relatives whom you want to play as next, or you could just create a custom event.)
- Ability to give detailed 'order' to your created provinces (such as sending/requesting resources.)
- Limited/Purchasable Horses and Muskets (In SOI you have to buy 'em first before you can use 'em. While in Ascension you're not required to do that.)
- Some BGMs
- Some Extra/Unlockable Characters

[Vasquez]

SOL is an awesome game. But Ascension is superior imo.

[Usagi]

The biggest issue is not being able to send/request resources in ascensions. So the ai never upgrades anything except if he already has iron and wood income if memory serves.

[曹操]

Originally posted by Vasquez:

SOL is an awesome game. But Ascension is superior imo.

Exactly, coming from someone who barely played both games

Moving on, Sphere of Influence is the better game, Hizen Kashima already pointed out some of the issues in Ascension. SoI has better AI, better gameplay, you get access to basically all of Ascension's content through my mods... Just go for it, reviews don't lie in this case. Ascension is an expansion gone wrong, SoI is the complete package.

[Usagi]

What mods? I thought it wasnt possible to mod this game.

[Nox]

Originally posted by 曹操:

Originally posted by Vasquez:

SOL is an awesome game. But Ascension is superior imo.

Exactly, coming from someone who barely played both games

Moving on, Sphere of Influence is the better game, Hizen Kashima already pointed out some of the issues in Ascension. SoI has better AI, better gameplay, you get access to basically all of Ascension's content through my mods... Just go for it, reviews don't lie in this case. Ascension is an expansion gone wrong, SoI is the complete package.

As someone that has played both for +100 hours I agree with him in saying that ascension is better imo.

[曹操]

Originally posted by Nox:

As someone that has played both for +100 hours I agree with him in saying that ascension is better imo.

Can I ask why? Don't take this the wrong way, I'm genuinely curious about on what grounds is Ascension without a shadow of a doubt superior to SoI. What was wrong with SoI wasn't fixed in Ascension, in some cases it got even worse, and some great features like retiring good removed.

Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it. Especially when the officer play in this game is nothing to die for... but as they say, love is blind :D

[曹操]

Originally posted by Nox:

As someone that has played both for +100 hours I agree with him in saying that ascension is better imo.

Can I ask why? Don't take this the wrong way, I'm genuinely curious about on what grounds is Ascension without a shadow of a doubt superior to SoI. What was wrong with SoI wasn't fixed in Ascension, in some cases it got even worse, and some great features like retiring were removed.

Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it. Especially when the officer play in this game is nothing to die for... but as they say, love is blind :D

[Midnight Fenrir]

Originally posted by 曹操:

Originally posted by Nox:

As someone that has played both for +100 hours I agree with him in saying that ascension is better imo.

Can I ask why? Don't take this the wrong way, I'm genuinely curious about on what grounds is Ascension without a shadow of a doubt superior to SoI. What was wrong with SoI wasn't fixed in Ascension, in some cases it got even worse, and some great features like retiring were removed.

Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it. Especially when the officer play in this game is nothing to die for... but as they say, love is blind :D

When it comes to polish, playability, and being a finished product, Sol undoubtedly beats Ascension.

Anyone whose played Ascension for any length of time has to admit, the game has a strong feeling of being unfinished, like they just abandoned it and moved on. (Which is exactly what I think happened)

If you'll take a look at my profile, you'll see I have a huge amount of hours put into Ascension when compared to Sol, not because it's a better game, but because I strongly prefer to play as an officer vs. a Daimyo.

"Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it" - 曹操

This sentence is the best way I can describe why I love playing Ascension over Sol. I without a shadow of a doubt believe Sol is the better product, but the officer play in Ascension is the single defining reason I prefer Ascension to Sol.

[ErrosFB76]

To in a certain way close the subject, i finally decided to buy Ascension.
Currently i'm enjoying my first playthrough as Sanada Yukimura.
But if i'm not mistaken, i thought we can play with our own custom officer, isn't it ? Because i haven't found how to do it yet.

[曹操]

Originally posted by Levi:

Originally posted by 曹操:

Can I ask why? Don't take this the wrong way, I'm genuinely curious about on what grounds is Ascension without a shadow of a doubt superior to SoI. What was wrong with SoI wasn't fixed in Ascension, in some cases it got even worse, and some great features like retiring were removed.

Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it. Especially when the officer play in this game is nothing to die for... but as they say, love is blind :D

When it comes to polish, playability, and being a finished product, Sol undoubtedly beats Ascension.

Anyone whose played Ascension for any length of time has to admit, the game has a strong feeling of being unfinished, like they just abandoned it and moved on. (Which is exactly what I think happened)

If you'll take a look at my profile, you'll see I have a huge amount of hours put into Ascension when compared to Sol, not because it's a better game, but because I strongly prefer to play as an officer vs. a Daimyo.

"Unless you're someone who absolutely loves officer play and hates daimyo/sovereign play I'm not seeing it" - 曹操

This sentence is the best way I can describe why I love playing Ascension over Sol. I without a shadow of a doubt believe Sol is the better product, but the officer play in Ascension is the single defining reason I prefer Ascension to Sol.

Thank you for being honest and impartial! It's hard to find this kind of qualities these days. They moved on to ROTK XIII PUK, then they moved on to Taishi... and I don't know what's happening with Koei lately. They are prefering to make these "incomplete" games and that shows on the reviews and the quality of the games. Hopefully some competition from Total War will wake them up a little bit

[Circumpolarity]

Originally posted by ErrosFB76:

To in a certain way close the subject, i finally decided to buy Ascension.
Currently i'm enjoying my first playthrough as Sanada Yukimura.
But if i'm not mistaken, i thought we can play with our own custom officer, isn't it ? Because i haven't found how to do it yet.

Your custom officer must not be a ronin (unemployed), they must belong to a clan (as a retainer), then when you choose a scenario, you can see them available in whichever clan they belong to.

[Legoras]

Originally posted by 曹操:

you get access to basically all of Ascension's content through my mods

More info, links?

[曹操]

Originally posted by Legoras:

Originally posted by 曹操:

you get access to basically all of Ascension's content through my mods

More info, links?

Have fun and thank me later, officers, portraits, everything is there...

http://s13.zetaboards.com/koeiwarriors/topic/9018813/1/#new