

Not really into this but I guess I'll make a list as well, because I think I should give credit where credit is due and some of these things I have not seen been addressed by any youtuber or commentor yet:
Positive elements:
- the battle map. From the mountains in the background to the floating lanterns in the sky (I was wondering what multitude of people had a party/funeral/event that required them just before the ambush but they are so beautiful I just don't care about the logic behind it), it is all beautiful. The trees, the grass, the water. All of it is excellent and I believe it even surpasses warhammer 2's maps. It reminds a lot of a remastered shogun 2 battle map, and I love the care put into it.
- the arrows. Not only the 'arching over forests' thing, but also the look of them. They look like a proper cluster of arrows unlike anything I have seen in a total war game yet. How they cluster and spread out looks extremely reaalistic and it makes it look like a proper arrow volley, especially those flaming arrows which reminded me of scenes in movies.
- the implementation of an escape mechanic for an ambush. I can see how such things can be exploited, but it's a great addition to the possibilities. I am curious to see whether the AI will try to escape or if they will always stand and fight.
- the models look great, a lot better than warhammer's 2016 graphic models, as should be expected. There is little face variation I notice though, but I am sure such things will be addressed in later builds.
- the way that the characters attack regular units is rather nice. I would have preferred them to use only matched combat, a more fluid form, but since there seems to be no real splash damage (weapon attacks only seem to affect 1-3 models at a time, and are a lot more effective, killing them in 1 blow most of the time) the immersion is not affected. I like how they ride around the field and staying mobile, riding from one spot to the next within the 150-man unit they are fighting. It is nice to finally see that kind of horseback fighting in a TW game. The inability for a cav to move through units or have mobile attacks after the charge is done in past titles really affected the immersion, but it seems it has been resolved.
- I like the duel animations that are in this build, and it seems less jarring between animations than the E3 demo's duel
- I love the number of lanterns that are present in each unit, as well as the flagbearers. In the E3 demo I saw flagbearers' flags completely disappeared when the model went into combat. I would prefer to see it on their backs when they are fighting an opposing model, though that could have already been fixed. I would like to know whether the flags represent rank like in shogun 2, because that would be great. I especially love how flags get stuck in the ground when the bearer dies, as well as the lanters. It really shows the devastation of an engagement to see equipment and banners laying about (still doesn't beat the 5-30 second death animations from shogun 2 imo, but it is better than any post-Rome 2 battle aftermath)
-I love how visially stunning the formations are. They square formation with the flagbearers in the middle is really nice (and would look even better if they represent rank, because then the higher the rank the more flagbearers in the center, a noticeable difference of power that would be a nice visual clue in multiplayer battles)
- I love the addition of death animations. Post-Rome 2 games have been really lacking in death animations, which usually take a maximum of 3 seconds if that (note I do not mean matched animations). I noticed that 'trying to crawl away' animation, though I do not see others. It is really great for immersion and I would love to see more of it in future builds.
Negative elements
- probably the worst part of this demo for me is the combat itself. Looking closely, it appears that you have increased the attack animation rate, but it also looks like the animations themselves are at x2 speed, and it seems rathe clunky. I also do not think individual model health is a good thing in a historical title, whether it be visible (like in warhammer) or not (like in any post Rome 2 historical title).
In real life, there are just too many factors involved to determine how damaged a person has to be before they die, and things from the type of attack to where the attack hits are major elements in that. Seeing the same 1 or 2 animations from a unit type swipe another enemy until they have a heart attack was never really immersive for me, though it still seems like an improvement from the static combat of Rome 2-styled titles.
I was personally hoping for a brand new engine other than warscape, one that would allow fluid animation combat while maintaining good fps, though I guess technology is not there yet. I hope you consider changing your engine for a future title, since TW has the potential to be so much grander, but just seems to be tied down by a faulty engine
- the voice acting. Whether this battle is scripted or not, a quest/historical battle or not, or has a cinematic general speech or not, Sun Ren's speech was just not to a very high standard. I can get over using accented english instead of mandarin, but I could not handle listening to that general speech. There needs to be a lot more emotion, she just realized she is being ambushed and instead of at the very least yelling in a commanding voice quickly, she slowly and calmly explains the 2 options.
After exclaiming that it is an ambush, she should have used said commanding voice and say something alongs the lines of 'We have been betrayed! Hurry brother, we must choose! We can escape through the pass or stand and fight these cowardly traitors! Act swiftly, for our lives, and the lives of our kin depend on it!' I can think of many ways the speech could have been said and expressed better to bring us into the battle.
- although the animations themselves for the duels are pretty good, the shuffling and spasms that are between them are the most obvious and jarring I have seen. It sort of reminds me of For Honor, where people change their stance (left, right, or high) so quickly it looks like the character is having a seizure, or bugging out. That is what these characters look like before syncing up. In a duel there is only 1 model against 1 model, so there shouldn't be the need to de-sync and sync again. Each animation should end in the exact same spot (if the character is posing, have the animation actually have them stop the pose and return to neutral position, rather than ending the animation at the pose and going through the automatic 'model to neutral position' animation. That way, it'll be less unsettling and you might be able to remove most of the shuffling.
Also, the duels require a lot more animations, because so far I only saw 4 unique animations in each duel. If there is to he such an emphasis on duels, then go all the way and have many animations for each combination, I'd say a dozen per combination would be a good number (combinations include sword vs sword, sword vs spear, sword vs halberd, spear vs spear, spear vs halberd, halberd vs halberd, that is all of the hero weapons I have seen thus far). Yes it is quite a bit of animations, but you should put maximum effort into them since you are going the character-heavy route. One of the things players will zoom into the most are duels, and since that is such a major part of battles, you need to make sure they don't get bored with the animations.
I think that is everything. I will not comment on the campaign map since we have not seen an official flyby and walkthrough of it (can't wait for gamescon. What I will say is that it is beautiful so far, by far the best campaign map I have seen. The warhammers may have more diverse environments, but the graphics for the mountains and the plains are just amazing), but I am excited to see what new features will be added to the campaign, and what old features will be discarded (if any).
Overall I'd say this build suffered from being a really early build, and that most of the issues I raised will be fixed in the coming months. Best of luck in your production CA, and you've made good progress so far