Little Conqueror
04-23-2008, 05:41 PM
I'll probably be the only person in the forum who cares about this, but.
The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series by KOEI has been one of the longest running strategy games series in history. While KOEI is more well known for Dynasty Warriors and such games, and this series is set in the same exact time period, ROTK has been a very high quality strategy game, and each release has been a brand new type of experience. While it's not as in-depth and grandiose as, say, the Civilization series, the series is more rooted in actual history. You won't find pikemen attacking tanks here, but you will find a very enjoyable representation of ancient Chinese warfare, coupled with the fact that what matters in the game more than what units you can produce are the officers you employ. One brilliant strategist is all it takes to turn the tide of battle, and one mighty warrior can charge and slay the enemy's most talented officers.
The series hasn't been on the PC in English since ROTK4: Wall of Fire. ROTK5 was never even released in English, and every other game since then has been on a console, where the smooth button-based interfaces are made much more awkward. On the PC, however, the series runs smoothly, and menus are much easier and more intuitive to navigate.
I had actually attempted to translate the Traditional Chinese version of the game into English with a hex editor - and I had permission from KOEI to release a fanmade patch for the game, though I could not include any of the actual game assets in the patch - but it never got anywhere.
Here's a picture of what the game looks like (partially translated):
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/sanguoshishi/San11EnglishShot.png
Though the graphics aren't absolutely incredible, they're very stylized and pleasing to any eye that respects the fact that the game can run on PC's that are several years old. There's over 600 characters in the game, each with their own 3D model, portrait, skills, and personalities. There's duels, debates, diplomatic options, treasures, historical events, and a ton of really interesting things that separate this game from any other strategy game out there.
To top it all off, the game's only $20. Sadly, it lacks online multiplayer, which is a huge shame, but it supports up to 8 players on the same machine (or you can e-mail your saved game to your fellow players, though games tend to take forever this way).
I figured I'd raise awareness about this game. Having headed a petition to try to get it released on the PC in English about a year ago (and actually receiving response from the company stating that thanks to my petition, they were actively contemplating a PC release), I feel greatly vindicated. It comes out on July 20 this year, has an MSRP of $20, and is, in my opinion, the greatest turn-based military strategy game in recent history.
The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series by KOEI has been one of the longest running strategy games series in history. While KOEI is more well known for Dynasty Warriors and such games, and this series is set in the same exact time period, ROTK has been a very high quality strategy game, and each release has been a brand new type of experience. While it's not as in-depth and grandiose as, say, the Civilization series, the series is more rooted in actual history. You won't find pikemen attacking tanks here, but you will find a very enjoyable representation of ancient Chinese warfare, coupled with the fact that what matters in the game more than what units you can produce are the officers you employ. One brilliant strategist is all it takes to turn the tide of battle, and one mighty warrior can charge and slay the enemy's most talented officers.
The series hasn't been on the PC in English since ROTK4: Wall of Fire. ROTK5 was never even released in English, and every other game since then has been on a console, where the smooth button-based interfaces are made much more awkward. On the PC, however, the series runs smoothly, and menus are much easier and more intuitive to navigate.
I had actually attempted to translate the Traditional Chinese version of the game into English with a hex editor - and I had permission from KOEI to release a fanmade patch for the game, though I could not include any of the actual game assets in the patch - but it never got anywhere.
Here's a picture of what the game looks like (partially translated):
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/sanguoshishi/San11EnglishShot.png
Though the graphics aren't absolutely incredible, they're very stylized and pleasing to any eye that respects the fact that the game can run on PC's that are several years old. There's over 600 characters in the game, each with their own 3D model, portrait, skills, and personalities. There's duels, debates, diplomatic options, treasures, historical events, and a ton of really interesting things that separate this game from any other strategy game out there.
To top it all off, the game's only $20. Sadly, it lacks online multiplayer, which is a huge shame, but it supports up to 8 players on the same machine (or you can e-mail your saved game to your fellow players, though games tend to take forever this way).
I figured I'd raise awareness about this game. Having headed a petition to try to get it released on the PC in English about a year ago (and actually receiving response from the company stating that thanks to my petition, they were actively contemplating a PC release), I feel greatly vindicated. It comes out on July 20 this year, has an MSRP of $20, and is, in my opinion, the greatest turn-based military strategy game in recent history.