Tenchi o Kurau II: Shokatsu Koumei Den

"An Improvement over the Original"

Destiny of an Emperor Two is the sequel to Capcom's first attempt at a Three Kingdoms-related RPG. As luck would have it, the first manifestation of the series was a solid and innovative game, so the designers had high standards to meet in making this sequel. And, for the most part, they have succeeded in either meeting or exceeding these standards, creating a very good RPG in the process.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Destiny of an Emperor 2 (DoE2) follows the story of Liu Bei, arguably the main character in Luo Guangzhong's novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Liu Bei raises himself from humble beginnings to eventually forge a kingdom that challenges two others to control all of mainland China. The player controls Liu Bei (and his followers) as he expands his influence over China by fighting in battles against other warlords. Battles are generally familiar 8 bit RPG fare with a few basic differences.

Like the first game in the series, DoE2's characters have a specific number of soldiers instead of hit points. Unlike its predecessor, however, the battle mechanics have been refined so that the amount of damage a character does is very closely correlated to the current amount of soldiers he has at the time of the attack. This actually adds another level of strategy to battling, because it becomes much more important to closely watch the strength of all your characters.

The game also greatly expands upon the number of battlefield tactics that are available in and out of battle. Admittedly, however, many of these aren't necessarily the most practical. Attempting to lower the enemy army's speed, for example, is hardly a wise use of a character's turn.

Outside of battle, the amount of items and equipment have been upgraded to that of typical RPGs - weapon, armor, shield, helmet. The designers have expanded the characters in the game to be able to equip or not equip certain items, and have also included an agility stat as well as a terrain stat to indicate where the general excels in combat. These factors help to add a bit of depth to the game.

A final note to mention is the inclusion of training gyms spread throughout the game. Probably one of the best (yet underappreciated) ideas for RPGs, these gyms allow you to automatically gain levels at certain spots in the game for a price. A particular gym only allows you to raise your abilities to a specific level. Basically, these training areas ensure that your generals are always leveled to the bare minimum they need to be in order to progress in the story. The level is set low enough, however, so that the game still maintains a decent challenge.

Overall, the gameplay is very well done and has a variety of improvements from the first installment in the series. The game does suffer a little early though because for some unknown reason, the designers made your characters move at what is basically a crawl. Not long into the game, however, you receive an item that doubles your walking speed, which makes walking around much more enjoyable.

Story

Like DoE1, the game follows (loosely) Liu Bei's story in the Three Kingdoms novel. The story thus does have some substantial overlap between installments. The designers have minimized this, however, by having the player begin somewhat later in the narrative in this version of the game. Of course, neither version really follows the novel extremely closely, although DoE2 is probably a little closer to the text. Players who are counting on a very similar tale, however, will likely be disappointed.

That aside, the story (of both the novel and the game) is quite interesting and gripping. The designers have implemented many of the twists and turns of the narrative into the game quite well, and the overall effect is a long, involving story, especially for such an old RPG. The game also improves greatly over its predecessor in how actual plots in the novel are put into the game's actual battles.

For the most part, the only person who will be disappointed by the game's story will be someone who is searching for a very strict reincarnation of the novel, which this game admittedly is not.

Sound

Well, no game is perfect. The sound in DoE2 is probably a step backwards from the first installment. The overworld music, while not annoying, is probably not as good as in DoE1, and they have reduced the amount of themes from 3 or 4 to 1 tune for the entire game. Battle music has shown some regression as well, and, although it probably won't explicitly annoy you, it will very likely not impress you. The game has also lost some of the great boss themes that were in the first installment. Battlefield sounds for tactics have, however, slightly improved from the first game, with the addition of sound effects for boulders dropping on enemy units and other events in battle.

If you bear in mind that this is a regular NES game, however, the faults in the sound department are a little more forgivable. Still, DoE2 is in the lower 50% of NES RPGs as far as music goes.

Graphics

The graphics in DoE2 are also somewhat of a mixed bag. What the game has greatly improved from the first version to the second are the officers' portraits - more officers have unique portraits, and those portraits are more detailed than in the first game. On the other hand, however, the sprites for your characters on the main overworld map and on the battle screen are very, very poor, even by NES standards. Guan Yu looks like a purple blob.

In battle, the designers have added some animations for the different tactics that range from a boulder falling on the enemy to a column of fire rising from underneath them. In all honesty, these aren't bad for an 8 bit RPG.

Overall, I was very impressed with the portraits, and at least somewhat impressed with the battle animations. Unfortunately, I got a headache from squinting so much trying to make the purple blob that is his avatar look like Guan Yu. There are plenty of other reasons to play this game that are not the graphics.

Replay Value

DoE2's main source of replay value comes from the fact that it is just a solidly made game. Although it does have some hidden secrets and weapons, like most RPGs of its time there are essentially no sidequests or other distractions that might make you come back to play it again for completion's sake. Basically, if you like the game you will very likely pick it up again, but it might not be for some time after you've completed it. You can always choose from a variety of characters to use during the game, so at least on second playthroughs you can have different characters in battle.

The Verdict

DoE2 suffers on peripheral factors, particularly graphics and sound, but more than makes up for it with solid gameplay and storyline. Almost anyone who is interested in either the Three Kingdoms period or RPGs in general will certainly appreciate this game. Even if you are a casual fan of RPG games and don't mind playing an older game, give this a try if you can somehow find a version of it; you won't be disappointed.

8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/04