Romance of The Three Kingdoms VIII

Recently a friend of mine here in Austin got me to play RTK8 (it's one of the few non-sport/action/adventure/racing/arcade games either of us owns for the PS2/PC). Now, this isn't the first time he tried to get me to play it, so I figured I'd give it another try.Now, I like turn based strategy games (despite my poor skills), but games that also include a lot of resource managing--like Birth of the Federation--always seem to kick my ass. Well, the Romance of the three Kingdoms games are turn based strategy and resource management games which is probably why, the last time I tried playing, I had a hard time understanding the game mechanics/logistics of the game and what I was trying to accomplish, which is one of the main reasons I've shied away from it since. This time I had a little better understanding of what was going on--I had watched Mike play it a couple times a few months ago--so I figured I wouldn't be as frustrated by it this time.

Well, as it turns out the officer I created for the game (you can play as historic officers or create your own) turned out to be a damn good warrior and ended up being promoted to Prefect and then Viceroy of one her (yeah, I'm playing as a chick) liege's (Kong Rong) regions--this I later found to be as much a curse as it was a blessing.

I quickly promoted Mike's character to be my Warlord (the best I could do at the time) and together we have been cutting a path through our liege's enemies in order to reunite China.

Last weekend I found a copy of the game (not an easy game to find) in Rochester for ten bucks at a Game Stop, so I picked it up. Well, I guess I caught the bug, 'cause I was up 'til past 3am playing the game (...must...conquer...one...more...region...) until I had once again reunited China (I had completed it once earlier that evening from a game I started Monday--the game plays much faster single player).

With more than 40 possible endings, 700+ playable officers, 54 scenarios, and free play mode (historical and fictional) the game has some decent replay value. Add to that the fact that you can play with up to seven friends (one at a time). All this adds up to me being glad to finally getting around to playing it and shivering with antici... pation for the newest RTK games to hit the PS2, Romance of The Three Kingdoms XI.

Note: Romance of The Three Kingdoms VIII was released in the US in 2003.