Which of the Nobunaga's Ambition games should I buy?

[Vantezzle]

I'm quite new to the KOEI strategy games, I've only played ROTK 13 and I love it, I also wanted to buy one of the Nobunaga's Ambition games, but I don't understand which one is the best, Sphere of Influence, Ascension and Taishi?(The others aren't available in english, so that's not an option)

[Wolfparable]

So for RoTK and Nobunaga each game typically plays mechanically different from the others so dont expect many similarities between individual games in the series

So Sphere has a more management based game where your officers are more individually important and battles are mostly done with the overworld map

Ascension is basically sphere but you play as an individual officer more like RoTK 13 BUT it also has some gamebreaking bugs and the siege battles are a pain (Probably my least recommended unless you NEED to play as an officer)

Taishi has the best combat system the best diplomacy system and a cool thing with individual rulers of clans having distinct personalities and ways of governing so different clans really feel different. The downside is the game isnt super well balanced and its faster paced than the other two

All in all Sphere is the most well balanced of the three and always a solid choice in my opinion
Taishi is second best and a lot better than the reviews will tell you. from what ive seen of the reviews a lot of folk went in thinking it would be like sphere and got all whiny when it wasnt

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Wolfparable:

So for RoTK and Nobunaga each game typically plays mechanically different from the others so dont expect many similarities between individual games in the series

So Sphere has a more management based game where your officers are more individually important and battles are mostly done with the overworld map

Ascension is basically sphere but you play as an individual officer more like RoTK 13 BUT it also has some gamebreaking bugs and the siege battles are a pain (Probably my least recommended unless you NEED to play as an officer)

Taishi has the best combat system the best diplomacy system and a cool thing with individual rulers of clans having distinct personalities and ways of governing so different clans really feel different. The downside is the game isnt super well balanced and its faster paced than the other two

All in all Sphere is the most well balanced of the three and always a solid choice in my opinion
Taishi is second best and a lot better than the reviews will tell you. from what ive seen of the reviews a lot of folk went in thinking it would be like sphere and got all whiny when it wasnt

Sounds like as a newcomer, Sphere should be my best bet then, safe and good. Thank you!
I didn't have the problem with ROTK because 13 seems to be the only English version heh.

Also, do you think Sphere is worth full price nowadays?How much playtime could you get?

[Wolfparable]

Well depends on the type of person you are really
i personally have played it hundreds of hours and will likely play it just as many more but i enjoy trying different weird approaches or randomizing the map or just taking oddball clans and seeing how far i can go

As for price it typically isnt on sale very often (I suspect because it did well Koei doesnt want to sell it cheaper) but if you have a ps4 or even 3 you can get a used copy from gamestops for about $15 these days and then if you like it you can buy all the dlcs

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Wolfparable:

Well depends on the type of person you are really
i personally have played it hundreds of hours and will likely play it just as many more but i enjoy trying different weird approaches or randomizing the map or just taking oddball clans and seeing how far i can go

As for price it typically isnt on sale very often (I suspect because it did well Koei doesnt want to sell it cheaper) but if you have a ps4 or even 3 you can get a used copy from gamestops for about $15 these days and then if you like it you can buy all the dlcs

Sadly, I'm limited to PC(Can't use a controller with my physical disability. The price on Steam is around 50$ in my region, though i'm still slightly unsure between Ascension and Sphere. If I could get a 100+ hours, I'd be more than happy, even full price.

How bad are the ascension bugs?

[Wolfparable]

a couple are fairly game breaking
They introduced metal and wood resources and your team (Specifically your own team and none of the others that ive seen) will sometimes (Possibly all the time) not build for those resources at all and since they cannot build more buildings without them they simply will not upgrade ever

Second one is if i understand correctly they inverted the stats for bows and muskets where bows actually do better than muskets but muskets are meant to be an expensive and powerful weapon