Review: A Total War Saga: Troy

Music provided by Epidemic Sound

[manueltheplebb]

Saggat Roy is my fave Street Fighter character.

SBH: "videogamevideogamevideogame"
Me: "Uh huh, uh huh"
SBH: *SUDDEN BICAMERAL MIND*
Me: "And theeere it is"

[OlOleander]

I'm still not sure if he's pronouncing "saga" that way on purpose.

[SinanZee]

1:30
After 'comparishon' there is now 'sahgah'
Online bullies start your engines

[Kuddochan]

"Actions determined by dice rolls like assassinations are pre-determined at the beginning of a turn." Just FYI this isn't true, it's pre-determined at the beginning of an action. I.E: if you try to assassinate someone with a spy and fail, then reload to just before that attempt and do it again, then yes you will always get the same result. But if you first grab another army or agent and have them make a move somewhere on the campaign map and *then* re-try the assassination, it'll make a new dice roll, even if it's on the same turn. And as far as I know, that's the way it's always worked in pretty much every other Total War game as well

[Calintares]

The Myceneans did have writing, Linear B. it was used to carry diplomatic messages and quite a bit of it has been presserved, including letters talking about a troublemaker called Piyamaradu who was undermining hittite influence in western Anatolia. Linear B dissappeared entirely after the Bronze age collapse, but that was about 200 years after the trojan wars are supposed to have taken place

[specknacken]

If you listen closely you can hear Georges wife and children upstairs yelling at him:
"Dad turn off the history channel for christs sake!"

[chilldude]

That bicameral mind theory seems like the kind of shit my weed dealer would tell me when I can't get him to leave

[princeniccolo]

What excites me most, is to see how much of the good elements from Troy get into Warhammer 3, which is the purpose of the Saga series, to test mechanics for future titles. Since this is made is the Warhammer engine, it sets the groundwork for the excellent new maps to make their way into warhammer 3.

[dWHOHWb]

This entire video is just an excuse to say "sa gatroy" over and over (which as far as I know means nothing but presumably sounds funny)

[breedlove]

I love how "a George game" has come to mean "pseudo-edutainment exploring the cognitive evolution of human beings" (This, Ancestors, and perhaps to a certain extent Death Stranding)

[itzzaamia]

Gonna miss George talking about how much he’s looking forward to “Total Roy Troy”

[mujajajajajaja]

The way you transformed this review from talking of mechanichs to then transform it on theories about mythology and different points of view that exist (transforming our pereceptions of it) is just amazing. Not only it makes an irrefutable argument for the usefulness of videogames and its place in media but also is a masterful piece of criticism.
Not only videogames are art, George, YOU are a piece of art.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[cincymutt]

Bicameralism is a fascinating concept, however I can't say I'm convinced of it as fact. Still, I'm gonna check out that book you mentioned.

[kimarous]

20:15 "I'm also still waiting for someone to make a rock opera movie out of the Iliad." OMG I NOW WANT THAT SO BAD!

[flimpeenflarmpoon]

Was I supposed to be looking at the user score cause I was thrown off by 80 being great and 75 being not so great lol

[josha]

I found a similarly interesting relationship between fantasy and fact in AC Odyssey
If you go to a deep cave it's referred to as "entrance to the underworld", or you find an abandoned hut with some chickens and it's called "Alektryon's rest", because anyone who saw those places would just assume thats what they are from the myths that they fully believe to be true, and that since you're travelling with Herodotus and this concept of "history" suddenly exists, you're basically playing as the last demigod Greek Hero at the end of the pre-truth era

[DickerProblemBaer]

George, you consistently impress me with the insights you communicate with your videos. You make it seem absolutely effortless to blend an honest, insightful review of a video game with concepts like the bicameral mind hypothesis. This was the first time I heard of it and I can't wait to read up on it, and that's why I'm writing my first youtube comment today to tell you that you produce absolutely outstanding content, one of kind in my opinion and I love it and appreciate your work a lot.

[themilo]

I'm somewhat of a hardcore Total War player. The type that only plays on Hard or Higher on a self imposed Ironman. So, it was pretty interesting to see a more outsider perspective on Troy. A game I wasn't exactly hyped for but did end up enjoying quite a bit anyway. Probably not as much as Three Kingdom or Warhammer, but way more than I expected. In particular, I find your observations about the somewhat outdated and clunky nature really intriguing. I recently got into playing Panzer Corps 2 (Which I REALLY recommend) in a big way, and I do think part of the reason why that game plays as well as it does is because of the rewind button. So, I would not mind if it becomes a feature in a future Total War game.

I also found your observations on the weird "Truth behind the myth" theme the game got going to be really interesting. At first I honestly wasn't that fond of it, and would have rather had a Age of Mythology esque game with actual Warhammer style monsters in it. But I do think it is a somewhat interesting, if a bit silly, take on the entire conflict. And Ii there is one thing I can praise the game for it's that it did the thing all good adaptions should do; It got me interested in the source material. Not just the Iliad and the surrounding legends, but also a lot of the real history about the Bronze Age. Especially the Bronze Age collapse, and the possible connection that might or might not have to the collapse of the real Troy. It even got me interested in writing my own adaption of the Trojan war.

On a final note, I am curious if you have played Rome 2 recently. Because while the game was a absolute disaster on launch. It has really managed to turn around since then and I do think it's worth playing, especially if you like the time period. Then again, i'm the kind of person that likes Thrones of Britannia. So you might want to take my opinion with a grain of salt.

[Shadesofone]

"I'm also still waiting for someone to make a rock opera out of Illiad" - have you heard the 15 minute long song "And then there was silence" by Blind Guardian?