The English PC edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI came out for the PC today -- that's right, Romance of the Three Kingdoms Eleven. The very complex and intricate strategy series has been around for about 20 years now, originally released for the pre-PC, Amiga computer. Recently, in branched off into the more action-orientated Dynasty Warriors.
If you haven't played any of the roughly 30 other titles in the series, here is a really brief encapsulation: you play as a Chinese warlord between 100 A.D and 300 A.D, trying to take over a good chunk of China. The substance of the game is based on the mega-epic influential series of books of the same name, written by guy named Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century.
There are very few games that are as complex and deep as Romance, that you are likely to come across. You have to be on top of many elements of your empire, including food production, economy, politics, grand strategy, and stuff like that. Personalities also play a big role in the game: there are tons of different characters with their own stats that you can assign to different jobs in your empire. You'll not want to confuse your Xin Ye's with your Hu Yang's, trust me.
While this game is focused on China, it is actually made by the Japanese company Koei. The Japanese version of this game came out in '06; but that just goes to show how many lines of dialog needed to be translated to English.
If you like deep, super complex strategy games, you might want to check out the free demo here. Once you take the time to figure the game out, things just might get fascinating for you. My theory is if a game gets past the ole 'ten' hump, it must have good things going for it.
But if you're not into complex strategy games -- well, ya, you're not going to like this game probably at all.
Here are a bunch of videos from said product:
The trailer:
A look at some elements of strategy:
Check out your helpful and handy Han Dynasty pals and politicos:
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