I can't stop playing Running With Rifles and I need something else to play before I go insane. I finished Owlboy recently, and whilst the art and soundtrack are both stunning, the gameplay is nothing special.
As far as new releases go, the only thing I can see myself playing is the new Walking Dead Telltale game. But I'm going to wait until all the episodes are out because having to stop and start all the time infuriates me.
Its funny you mentioned Nobunaga's Ambition. I recently found my copy of Kessen III (another Koei game about Nobunaga) on PS2 and have been playing through it again. It was one of the first strategy games I played, and it came out around the same time as Rome Total War. Both of those games made me start looking deeper into the genre.
I remember Kessen III! I actually didn't like how it handled that much, and preferred Kessen II (although I preferred Kessen I before that). They got progressively worse. :p Kessen II's story was basically a complete fabrication (OK, not complete, but holy shit they took some liberties), although the domestic/military planning phase things were fun. Although loading screens killed it, too many pauses to load, like just switching from unit to unit; or there would be a interruption in what you're doing to have two character whose units are about to fight say something to each other, and then you get the fade and another 2-3 second loading time. But it's otherwise fun.
My friend Mark is very big into the Total War franchise; I think he's played all of them since Rome. I remember Medieval I, where you can force your family to engage in incest and order your own assassination. Those were the days.
I can't really play online due to my internet. Jobes and Boukert both play Dota I think, you should ask them.
I've literally never played with or against other people yet though. I am not kidding when I say "scrub it up". But if I find the time, I'll ask. Thanks.
There are an ungodly amount of cutscenes in Kessen. Most of them offer no new information at all, and some of them are exactly the same with a different voiceover. Another thing that bugs me is your unit placement at the beginning of the battle makes no difference whatsoever to how the battle will pan out. Aside from that, it's a decent PS2 game.
Total War is probably my most played franchise aside from GTA or FIFA. There are a lot of cool games that have come from it too. If you have the time, look up Ultimate General Gettysburg. It's a Total War style game about the American civil war made by a guy who was one of the top modders for the early Total War games.
Its funny you mentioned Nobunaga's Ambition. I recently found my copy of Kessen III (another Koei game about Nobunaga) on PS2 and have been playing through it again. It was one of the first strategy games I played, and it came out around the same time as Rome Total War. Both of those games made me start looking deeper into the genre.
I can't really play online due to my internet. Jobes and Boukert both play Dota I think, you should ask them.