How does this game differ from Souzou?

[Qai]

Is anyone able to provide a bit more information as to how this game is different from Souzou? This is what is written on the store page:

The latest installment has numerous enhancements and features to it's predecessor "Nobunaga's Ambition: Souzou" by expressing the Warring era's highlight, the "Battle of Sekigahara" in the highest quality ever to date in the franchise's history. Also the numerous in game procedures required in making progress towards unification has seen a major revamp in all areas.

I have Souzou and enjoy the game a lot. However, the above information is a bit vague. Is there anything substantially different in SoI than Souzou, or would SoI be considered like Souzou v2? Is SoI simply some improvements to Souzou, or is it a completely new game? I see that a lot of the game art and in-game screenshots seem exactly identical between the two games.

I know Souzou on Steam is not in English and that SoI is in English. However, language is not an issue for me and that's not what I'm interested to know. I am interested to know specifically about the gameplay between the two games and what I would get in SoI that's not in Souzou. Any information would be much appreciated.

[Motrini]

It's Souzou with Power-Up Kit, the English Steam page is a bad and incomplete translation of the Japanese one.
Power-Up Kit added a lot of features and contents by the way.

[Qai]

Thanks for the reply. So what you are saying is that SoI is simply the English version of this bundle of Souzou products?

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/73346/

[Ogami]

Exactly.

[Commissar Xainath]

I've also heard the Souzou is very buggy, I'm hoping KT has fixed at least some of the issues.

[Motrini]

Originally posted by Qai:

Thanks for the reply. So what you are saying is that SoI is simply the English version of this bundle of Souzou products?

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/73346/

Pretty much, although it's more like Japanese WPK version (you can see it only if you put the Japanese region code in its URL and you're not logged in) which has both the games and the free DLCs in one package.

[Qai]

Thank you. This certainly cleared up a lot, but is not very encouraging. Having bought Souzou day 1 when it was released on Steam, even if I were to buy the PUK on sale I would still end up paying more for the game than people who would buy SoI on day 1 release =/

Also there's the possibility as mentioned that SoI might have bug fixes that could still exist in Souzou. I love the game a lot - it's fantastic - but this situation is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. It puts into question the long-term support for a released product, i.e., instead of continued support the company seems to be just re-releasing the same game + DLC + bug fixes as a completely new product and charging full price as if it is a whole new game instead of continuing support for the game already released.

I know Japanese companies do this all the time (re-releasing the same game + DLC and charging full price as if it was a completely new game) and it's pretty off-putting to say the least. Hence my original post asking. I had my suspicions that SoI is pretty much the marketing norm of Japanese gaming.

[Commissar Xainath]

Well seeing as I haven't played souzou due to me not wanting to fiddle around with a language I don't know in game format stumbling around trying to figure something out (Thank you Langrisser II.) Throwing an english version over here is rather nice.

[Qai]

Originally posted by Xainath Rothgarr:

Well seeing as I haven't played souzou due to me not wanting to fiddle around with a language I don't know in game format stumbling around trying to figure something out (Thank you Langrisser II.) Throwing an english version over here is rather nice.

Oh of course. It's great that the game can reach a much wider audience, that's for sure. This could have been achieved by just providing an official translation of Souzou into English and continuing to support that game. At least now the people who were complaining about Souzou when it was released without having English support can play the game! I just don't particularly like how the the littlest excuse to improve an already-released product is used to re-release that same product as something completely separate and new when it doesn't have to be as such.

[Commissar Xainath]

I know how you feel. It's almost similar to PA: TITANS. Not opening that can of worms, I'm hoping that they'll also throw out hotfixes for souzou as well IF they have quelled any bugs for the american release.