Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

"A review for those new to the world of ROTK"

Foreward:
There are two types of people that will read my review. First are the old vetrans of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms saga who own every game from the first to ninth and those in between (Dynasty Tactics/warriors). This includes great gamefaqs contributers such as Revalated and Carps Tail. The second group is none other than the newbies: meaning people who have been playing ROTK games for a year or less. I belong to the latter group, now onto the review.

Gameplay:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 plays very differently from its predecessor 7. Instead of having absolute control over every matter of state every turn, you will have a ''war council'' every three turns/months. In the war council as a Ruler you have 6 or more turns to decide things such as troop tranfer, drafting, subversive tactics, buying/selling food, etc. After this you assign jobs to your officers to improve the city. Basicly if you are a liege you have many options. But if you are just a vassal you still have a good degree of influence; this means that you get to ask the Ruler for a job you are good at, or advice the ruler to draft troops or any other city commands. Although the Ruler might not always agree to your demands, its a welcome change from ROTK VII: where it was near impossible to get the Liege to say yes.
For those accustomed to 7, this will take a long time to get used to. However, people who follow other Koei titles such as Dynasty Tactics/Warriors will come to like the war council for one important reason: it simplifies the gameplay, and lets your focus on character and story development. With three months between councils and plenty of things to do in town, the game takes on a distinct RPG feel that you wont get from any other games. Unfortunately, this is an addition that will most likely appeal to people new to the ROTK world. No matter who you are, after you get used to it, it becomes quite an enjoyable experience!
The battles have changed a lot since 7, instead of switching to siege mode, you can see the castle on the normal battle screen. This means you can march up and use siege weaponry to break the wall down (only siege weapons are effective). The battle is a little slow, but overall very enjoyable. You employ tactics like charge and harass to take out thousands of enemy troops. The battle system is deep and intiguing...as well as beautiful. Unfortunately battles are long as taxing, so strategy fans rejoice...this game will test your wits.

Graphics: In a word: beautiful. The city is wonderfully detailed and colorful. Filled with villagers going about their daily business and people working in the farms. Everything from the battles to the city is so beautiful it looks like a painting. Pure art. Those used to the usually poor graphics of hardcore turn based strategy games (civilization II, etc) will be very pleased.

Music: The music is just good enough. Luckily there are different tracks for some regions. But it just isnt enough. The battle and city music is just too short. Its all beautiful and fun to listen to, but you'll eventually want to put on some other music as you play.

Overall: Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a solid title and and excellent game. While not an improvement over 7 in any area but graphics, its still a worthwhile game. Anyone interested in strategy games should pick it up. I promise you that with a little patience you'll end up loving it. But just to be sure, you should also buy number 7 instead!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/03