Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII: Hands-On

Jul 25, 2003

Winner of the IGNPS2 Strategy game of the year in 2002, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII was a pleasant return to the classic empire-building elements of the olden days. Not quite as micromanagement heavy as some of the earlier installments, the seventh version of the story offered several new elements and techniques not previously seen in earlier episodes. More accurate in terms of the delegation of power between rulers, vassals, warlords, and similar rankings, Romance VII found a solid balance between the text-based manipulation of mayoral duties and the dreads of war. In short it was a terrific offering for fans of the genre and we liked it more than we suspected.

With that in mind and our attention thoroughly captured, we find ourselves face to face with the next sequential game in the fabled Three Kingdoms era, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII. Already released in Japan for over a year, this eighth chapter in KOEI's popular franchise has arrived on our tabletops just in time for an August 12 release. And though this newest version takes even more liberties in terms of additional steps, separation of officers, and similar elements that inflate the word count for the game's text bubbles, we're willing to bet that returning fans are going to like it; and that newbies may find themselves just as interested.

Now in the off-chance that you've never heard off or experienced a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game before, it's premise is actually quite simple. Based on the most popular book in all of Asia, the somewhat factual retelling of Ancient China's brutal Three Kingdoms period is among the pioneers of console strategy titles. A rather complicated city simulation that asks you to unite the warring territories from 184 A.D and beyond, Romance isn't geared for everyone; as action fans and the less patient of players may find their preferred slice of history alongside KOEI's other Three Kingdoms title, Dynasty Warriors. Covertly text-based with primitive graphics and a plethora of charts, this is a game that requires some reading -- and lots of it.

From the time we've spent with the finished version so far, however, it's become rather obvious how blatant KOEI was at striving to simplify things for new users. More complicated in terms of actual gameplay techniques and abilities, the front end has been completely revamped. There are detailed descriptions for every command in the game the moment you highlight them and a built-in manual and glossary can be pulled up at any time with the select button. Though this type of feature has been implemented in some of the past games, it was never as effective as it is here (and not as user friendly either). If you're not quite sure what a Rockslide Stratagem is, don't worry -- with this tutorial, you'll find out soon enough. And even if you did happen to know what it was, the additional info is just as valuable for returning vets and acts as a great "quick reference guide".

Admittedly we still have a long way to go in terms of truly exploring everything that Romance VIII has to offer. But even in the early going, the changes to the gameplay are already become apparent. For one, you can no longer attack your enemies at any time. Instead, you must attend your war council at quarterly intervals and approve a hostile act through them. If you're playing as a ruler, you have ultimate say, but if you're playing through as a lesser rank, you may not always get your wish.

In a surprising turn of events the level at which you can control the aspects of your town and empire have been significantly lessened (there appears to be a heavier focus on the allocation of responsibilities), and maximizing the use of all the officers in your empire is less automatic than RotTK7. Additionally, individual officers can no longer be upgraded into ultimate warriors (it's impossible for characters to get 100 in every category) and are now limited to certain caps based on the direction of their character. Also new is the skill and trait system that allows for truly specific and deliberate customization of characters. You can even set family lineages, get married, form brotherhood bonds, and adjust the motivations, personalities, and type of warriors you can create. Want to create a warrior who is motivated by power, acts like a coward, but shows proficiency in naval warfare? With a few clicks of the button you can do just that in the character traits screen.

Regardless of how powerful your warriors are or how well you run your city, battle is inevitable. Separated into three types of fighting (duels, regular, and what I liked to call, "Nobody's home"), there's all manner of ways to attack your opponent. Should a city you're attacking have only militia protecting it or if you're watching a battle between nations other than yourself, the "Nobody's Home" battle screen pops up and you'll be privy to a little movie based on statistics -- no control for you whatsoever. Attack an army that belongs to a Viceroy, however, and the real battles begin!

Much more detailed than in times past, the battle screen plays out like the turn-based action sequences we've grown accustomed too. Only this time, the visuals have been improved significantly and the tactics and special techniques on the battlefield play a far more important role here than they did before (not to mention the fact that up to five separate nations can battle at the same time). Sitting back and using fire arrow over and over again will no longer give you the automatic boosts that you need -- you need to play smart in order to defeat your opponent, or it will take advantage of you as soon as it can. The third battle type: duels. Are similar to the way they were in previous games, with officers competing in one-on-one battles with the loser losing everything, and the winner going home a very happy war general.

Speaking of happy war generals, gamers can now select their favorite scenarios from various eras of the Three Kingdoms period right from the start rather than having to play through a scenario completely. If they'd like to play from the beginning and try to unite all of China, they can do that too -- beginning at practically any interval. And whether or not you decide to run it historically, fictionally, or a mixture of both, no two games will ever play out the same way -- it's all reactionary to what your alter ego does and goes a long way towards convincing us that the replay value will be through the roof.

Not that there shouldn't be reasons to go back and play it again anyway: not only is your character given special goals and tasks to accomplish throughout their adventure, but their accomplishments can be viewed through two special menus as well. Allowing them to view their collected items ala Dynasty Warriors as well as providing a theater-type selector for reliving story-based and accomplished cinematic moments, the game literally challenges you with the task of finding everything. A feat that the dialog box claims is close to impossible. We'll see about that.

If we had any complaints at this juncture they'd fall into two categories: Menu navigation and computer A.I. -- For reasons unknown, switching between characters and selecting the commands from your control list proves quite the exercise in memorization and patience. There are a lot of button combinations to be remembered and some of the tasks you'd think would be easy aren't aren't have no documented in the game or in the manual to tell you how to perform them (like how to switch between characters). Also sketchy is the questionable intelligence of enemy expansionists. We'd noticed that they would invade highly populated adjacent territories where they were terribly outmatched while completely ignoring the weaker or empty provinces around them. Weird.

But who's to say that it's a permanent problem? We've only now begun to scratch the surface of what really makes Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII tick. With multiple difficulty levels, several scenarios, and various other goodies ready to be explored, there's plenty of stuff to check out before we pass final judgment in just a few weeks. During your wait, be sure and click on our media page below for the latest movies, screens, and art from KOEI's most prolific breadwinner. See you soon.