Yet another year passes and another Romance of the Three Kingdoms is released, this time for the PC. I finally got a copy of this last week and I started playing with a fury. I must have been deprived of it since the big skip from RTK6. The game is about 1.2 gigabites and runs quite smooth on my old computer. As I turn it on and select my character I realize the interface has changed a lot. I owned RTK10 for awhile but didn't like it much. I don't like playing officers in another person's army. This one goes back to the idea of being a warlord in the warring states of China. I picked Sun Jian, my usual pick for my first go around. Of the three big warlords, I usually pick him because he has so much room to expand and you basically can just take empty cities in the south and south east.
Now during the city months there is much to do. They have Action Points for every action and Technique Points that are rewarded to you once you complete a deed. For every 1000 TP you can upgrade your weapons on the tech-tree. Development of farms and markets are similar to development of land plots in Civilization 4. I totally like the new idea. It's different, but you can actually see the farms next to your cities. Additionally, you can destroy enemy farms and barracks before ever attacking the main city itself. Another thing you do besides raise troops, build infrastructure, and employ new officers is that you have to perserve "order" in the city. This needs to be done by inspecting the town, a new feature. Cities with low order will lose moral and troops will leave monthly.
The battles are not on a different screen but happening on the world map. I hesitate, but it's one of the most enjoyable battle systems so far. All the old tricks are put into play: attacks, tactics, and strategy. Some tactics from Dynasty Warriors: Tactics (PS2) are used here as you can do class-specific attacks like Rake and Onslaught. You can confuse armies with your advisors and also do co-ordinated attacks by adjacent armies with the "surround" command.
The Emperial ranking system is still in play. This limits your use of huge armies. It also makes use for characters with lower stats like Yuan Shu and Liu Biao - if it weren't for their ranks, I would have sent them to my rear towns long ago. I haven't dealt much with the system as of yet, but the "auto-set" feature is quite handy. I'll trust it for now.
Lastly, and most hilarious of the game is the intellect duals that have been added on. Characters sometimes enter "debates" where they battle each other with facts and ponderings which seems like life or death verbal volleys. I think it's just so funny! Here's a screenshot:
I have much more work to do in this game, but for now it's eaten about 10 hours of my time.
