Romance of the Three Kingdoms

**mollipen** · 14 Mar 2005, 01:20 AM

I've always wanted to get back into this series - loved Rot3K III, tried to play IV I think it was on Saturn, but the horrible load times kept me away. Finally, last week, I broke down and picked up IX.

I'm getting my ass handed to me in battles, but I sort of expected that at first.

My question is, should I have picked up VIII instead? I read about all of the non-battle options that were included in VIII, and then I play IX, and there's not a whole lot going on beyond the battles. I like the "community building" factors better than the war factors, so I'm wondering if I made the wrong choice. I also like how it sounds like how in VIII, you can play other parts besides being ruler.

For those who have played both VIII and IX, is VIII the better choice?

**asixcents** · 14 Mar 2005, 03:35 AM

Yes! A RO3K fan! I grew up with that game back when I was living in Japan. I live in Hawaii now, but I still want to play that game.

Let me ask you, are you playing the Japanese version on American PC? If so, how did you do it? I really want to buy that game, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that I can't use.

Thanks dude, and good luck in battle.

One more thing, can you take at a look at my thread? Here's the link: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...ad.php?t=35359

**mollipen** · 14 Mar 2005, 10:15 AM

No - I'm playing the PS2 version.

**Scourge** · 14 Mar 2005, 10:28 AM

This is so weird. I've never played any Romance games and decided last week I wanted to try to find VIII this weekend for some reason. I went all over the place looking Saturday but couldn't find it, so I picked up VII, which after getting used to a bit, think is pretty cool.

Then Sunday I went somewhere and found VIII accidentally. I took it home and I gotta say, the difference between VII and VIII is pretty big. VIII seems to be, I dunno, more action packed, with more drama, and being able to play as several people or play multi-player is really cool.

I didn't consider picking up IX because how much I'd read was removed gameplay-wise.

**StriderKyo** · 14 Mar 2005, 11:49 AM

Yes, VIII is the superior game in my mind. There were a couple of features I missed from VII (Fame, the sages gathering to discuss the world every year), but overall it was a much better game, probably the best in the series. In IX they tried to streamline the fighting, which is a shame because I've always thought the series would benefit from even more detail in the battles & city management.

This doesn't mean it's bad or anything, but fans of the series generally consider it a step back. You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about the series and more at this pretty cool forum: The Scholars of Shen Zhou.

Kongming's Archives is also a bountiful source of info on pretty much every 3 Kingdoms related game ever published.

You should read the books if you're into asian culture, 'doshi (full length, no cheesy abridged versions!). It adds a ton of understanding to what's going on in the game - pretty much every one of the hundreds of officers plays some kind of role in the story, which is ridiculously epic and spans decades.

**kingoffighters** · 14 Mar 2005, 01:47 PM

Thank you Kyo for the information. I played the heck out of the original RoTK 1 on NES. I spent 3 months playing that game and wrote down all the generals I acquired on paper and compared the stats... I have always wanted to get back into it, I think I will pick up either VII or VIII this week!

**mollipen** · 14 Mar 2005, 02:19 PM

So, basically, I should have gotten VIII instead of IX. Damn.

I'm not too hot on the combat in IX, to be honest. Get enough battles going, and it can turn into chaos. At that point, I have a hard time figuring out which units are which when they are all bunched up together. That's part of the reason I'm getting my butt kicked currently.

**alan_fatima** · 14 Mar 2005, 11:46 PM

I liked VII a good bit more than VIII, since it seemed to fit my playstyle better.

In VII, I preferred to be a frontlines Warlord, I'd go to where the action was, manage things during peace, then when the battle started, I'd be asked to be the tactician. Couldn't do that in VIII, if I remember correctly.