The stories in Sengoku Musou (and this is where it's genuinely realistic), try not to stray from the historical time line and it's major players. Basara throws that out the window in favor of telling a character's story and might go through completely fictional paths for the sake of making a interesting story (this is the case of Hideyoshi's back story which is IMHO one of the best in the series).
In both games it's possible to have a character "represent" a entire clan and it's participation in several battles (in Basara's case, a good example is Mouri Motonari being present in Sekigahara despite the real one being dead long before that battle).
Both titles try to focus more on a character's story but the backdrop is always one major event (both SM1 and SB1 focus on the Honnouji Incident). Sequels bring more characters and thus open doors to re-enact more battles and events. Nonetheless, those events still appear in the sequels (SB2, SB3 and SB4 still have the Honnouji Incident).
Right now, SB4 is a "dream match". It's as the others and still has a series of battles named after real life ones but the premise is a total ass pull (Ashikaga Yoshiteru "restoring heavenly rule" is basically "whoever beats me gets the country").
SM4, as has been pointed out, is getting to DW's levels of TOO MANY GODDAMNED CHARACTERS and is going to tell clan stories instead of characters meaning many will get the short end of the stick. The sons and stepsons treatment is also probably Basara's biggest problem.
In both games it's possible to have a character "represent" a entire clan and it's participation in several battles (in Basara's case, a good example is Mouri Motonari being present in Sekigahara despite the real one being dead long before that battle).
Both titles try to focus more on a character's story but the backdrop is always one major event (both SM1 and SB1 focus on the Honnouji Incident). Sequels bring more characters and thus open doors to re-enact more battles and events. Nonetheless, those events still appear in the sequels (SB2, SB3 and SB4 still have the Honnouji Incident).
Right now, SB4 is a "dream match". It's as the others and still has a series of battles named after real life ones but the premise is a total ass pull (Ashikaga Yoshiteru "restoring heavenly rule" is basically "whoever beats me gets the country").
SM4, as has been pointed out, is getting to DW's levels of TOO MANY GODDAMNED CHARACTERS and is going to tell clan stories instead of characters meaning many will get the short end of the stick. The sons and stepsons treatment is also probably Basara's biggest problem.