keeveek: Empire and Shogun are both brilliant games, but i would say go for Empire. Because in Shogun 2 variety of units is very limited and AI is just dumb, especially on sea fights.
And I would say, screw Total War, buy Europa Universalis Chronicles, but it's only me :P
Because, you know, Total War games have nice battle system, but on the world map, there's nothing interesting to do, it's too simple for me.
I prefer EU3 complexity over Total WAr beauty.
I would disagree, Empire Total War was pretty damn complex and much more involved than EU3. However, if you only auto-play battles in Total War, EU3 is a much better option.
I agree though that Shogun 2 had a distinct lack of unit variety. You'd think Empire would, with only guns and horses, but it felt diverse.
So it comes down to three things:
-Which Period and Context?
-Empire had scope and complexity, and a feeling of epicness, Napoleon had much more refined gameplay but that lack of epicness (no grand campaign really), and Shogun 2 had what Empire had really, and had some really nice art design put into it.
-Whether you like old games (a stupid question if you're on this forum I guess). Rome and Medieval 2 aren't as technically proficient as the rest, but I easily spent the most time with Rome Total War. Plus, if you're into Lord of the Rings there's a LotR mod for it which is pretty cool, called Third Age