Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

[frogbeastegg]

The PAL release is this Friday, but it has been out everywhere else for ages. Has anyone played it and if so is it any good? I hear promising things, plenty of strategy, requires thinking, lots of micromanagement, many features. Of course it is strategy console style, but the very occasional title does do strategy well...Dynasty Tactics is fun in speed chess kind of way. No rival to TW but it does sound quite complex with plenty to fiddle with.

[Leet Eriksson]

Well i have it,and its pretty good,although the battle backgrounds look pretty similiar,and seiges are not seperate(unlike VII),this new version has new units also new playable officers and scenarios.

This game requires a lot of managment,you can play a Leige(person in control of certain faction),warlord(the guy who helps th leige,sometimes giving advice,if you play as him,he acts like a prefect but with more power),prefect(person in control of city),officer(person who serves a prefect,warlord or leige depending on wich city he is in)or Independent(no affiliated to a faction,mercenary of sorts).

The domestic part is where you improve the city in various ways,like farming,trading,researching and so on,also its where you can visit other cities and interact with officer and offer banquest and hunting invetation to improve your relations with them.Also if you happen to be a leige the domestic part is vital to extend your borders,becuase once a city improves it can support larger armies,and can help them in a prolonged campaign by supporting them.

the strategy part is complex,the terrain plays a vital part in your strategy be it defence or offence,mountainous and forest terrains effect your cavalries preformance,they also allow triggered traps to be more effective such as rock falls and fire traps(there are other but i won't spoil it).

Also this time around,there will be a few region specific units that after acquiring the region they are based in they would act as mercenaries to aid you(ie Qiang Cavalry preform very well in mountainous terrain for example).

Also if your officer happens to die of old age you can continue as his son.wich extends gameplay time considerably,allowing for complex and varied results.

hope that helped :)

[Kekvit Irae]

I especially enjoy the fact you can play a roaming officer that has no affiliation with any faction. You can join the fray later on if you want.

[Leet Eriksson]

when independent you can improve your stats,like war,politics,intelegince and others without the fuss of doing tasks for your prefect/warlord/leige,its a pretty good choice,also as an independent you can create your own force(faction).

[frogbeastegg]

Very handy, thanks. I shall search out a copy, I fear it may be hard to find though as even Amazon.uk doesn't have it listed.

[Dramicus]

you guys are playing an old game 9 is already out...

review

[Kekvit Irae]

Interesting... IX looks like a variation of CivIII

[frogbeastegg]

From what I hear VIII is better than IX anyway, something about IX being simplified and losing a few features. I haven't taken much notice, since VIII is all we get until further good fortune hits PAL land.

I was right, PAL 3 kingdoms does appear to be a very limited print run. I preordered the only copy destined for the main games shop in my city, one copy in a shop that sells thousands of games with a specialty in oddball like this. Mean people had it in the shop but wouldn't sell until Friday...so near and yet so far. Usually they sell games as soon as they get them, that's how I got VI several days early.

[Leet Eriksson]

RTK IX is much simpler than 8 in the domestic department,but the strategy part is SOOOOO complex even more than 8,in IX you can't play an officer,but a whole force,and there now only 1 screen,wich has everything on it.

in IX you'll have to actually plan your strategies carefully,one slip up and you might be doomed for the rest of the battle.