Everybody said play Total War: Warhammer. So obviously I played Total War: Something else. It's great, but strange. Let's dig in.
First, to set some expectations. I have played a lot of Total War before, but the latest games I played were Empire and Napoleon. And the one I played the most recently was Medieval 2. Because that's a classic and I love it to death.
And so Three Kingdoms looked absolutely gorgeous at first. Medieval China is a brand new world for me, and I chose to play on romance mode, which means your generals are combat beasts (well, most of them) who can chop down enemy soldiers by the dozens. The campaign map is beautiful (including some tool tips for natural beauty sites). The combat maps are also enchanting renditions of the Chinese countryside, and include destructible elements such as forests that go up in flames if you shoot flaming arrows into them (or out of them, which was an unwelcome surprise for the first time). There are new units, of course, except for the poorly armed peasants which were I guess a mainstay of all medieval armies. New mechanics abound as well. And here's where it gets rough.
The tutorial mission gives you the basics, but then you are on your own. And boy was it hard to figure out all the little things a character can do.
Characters are generals. This limits the number of troops you can take in an army. Also there are no armies without characters. Raising an army from scratch is completely different than previous editions.
Characters are spies. There are no dedicated spy and assassin type units, your named guys and girls do everything.
Characters have a satisfaction meter which you must manage. This gets exponentially harder if they are abroad spying. You can give them titles and functions to make them more satisfied, but you will also be paying them more.
Characters like and dislike each other. As they develop personality traits, they will suddenly like or dislike each other. When your best army with its 3 best characters suddenly has a 3-way rivalry, you are in trouble.
Characters are ministers (or hold a whole lot of other possible functions), and which character does what counts a lot in your growing empire.
Oh, and they each have an inventory to manage.
Add to this the fixed technological advancements which you can only guide; the brand new construction system and the way territories (called commanderies) work; water travel which works kind of automatically; the brand new population satisfaction mechanics; the inability to set tax policy by region, and thus unable to lower taxes in just the problem areas; the new diplomacy system. I consider myself a veteran gamer, but I was swamped. It took several tries to get a reasonable empire going. And I just decided to pick the conqueror-type protagonist and sustain myself through war. At least that hasn't changed much.
Oh, and because everything is foreign sounding, at least to my European ears, I could never remember who's who. When you are suddenly negotiating with another ruler, and you have no idea who and what you are dealing with - where on the map, how powerful, etc - well, that is another layer of inconvenience.
But all in all, I found the experience rewarding. After a while, I developed a fondness for my main characters. I felt sorry for Sun Jian, who died before seeing his dream come true. I cheered for the bond his children - Sun Ce, Sun Quan and Sun Ren - developed. I pondered my list of available characters for marriage opportunities, wishing to give each of them the best possible match. I hired underdogs and equipped them in mighty wargear, seeing them triumph in impossible battles.
And most of all, I grew angry at treachery. Yes, it's always the same. As soon as my empire grew, all my former allies turned against me. Any trade partners and neutral parties suddenly stabbed me in the back. I waged a desperate multi front war. I gave away territories for just a small reprieve. I tried to be merciful, only to have several lesser princes executed. From then on, I executed every captured enemy general. Every. Single. One. I raised mighty armies with the best available soldiers, and repaid each and every insult.
And in the end, I won. Sun Ce became emperor.
I was way too exhausted to go for another playthrough. But the one I did complete remains a cherished memory.
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