Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII

Developer(s)

Koei

Publisher

Tecmo Koei

JP Date Released

January 2016

EU Date Released

July 2016

US Date Released

July 2016

Genre:

Strategy

Game modes:

Singleplayer

ESRB rating:

Teen

Platform(s):

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Windows

Media:

BR / DVD

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII (Sangokushi 13 三國志13) is the 13th installment in Tecmo Koei's long-standing Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, following 2012's Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII. This installment celebrates the 30th anniversary of the series.

The English version was released on 5 July in the USA and 8 July in Europe.

Product description

Based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII has been developed in celebration of the franchise's 30th anniversary. The game uses the tale of a collapsing dynasty and the power-hungry emerging factions to set a complex chessboard on which players can follow and influence the fateful events leading to the unification of 2nd century China.

Fans of strategy games will find this exceptionally detailed title to be a challenging and rewarding blend of deep strategy and historically accurate warfare, regardless of their familiarity with the rich story of the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. Cities can be built and developed; alliances can be fostered or broken; armies can be mustered and deployed. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII prides itself on offering a wide selection of options for conflict resolution, the most impressive of which are the armies. A wide variety of army units can be recruited and trained, including foot soldiers, cavalry, artillery, and navy, while special care has been taken to incorporate diplomacy and personal relationships, giving the player an extra incentive to build a stable and loyal network of friends and allies.

RTKXIII screenshot 01 — Sun Quan versus Huang Zu

This comprehensive and exceptionally detailed strategy title features two compelling gameplay experiences: the Campaign mode, which stays true to the most profound of strategy games by allowing players the freedom to choose a starting year and customize the board to their liking before attempting to beat the game, and the Hero mode, which acts an in-depth tutorial, closely following historical events while teaching players all of the game's mechanics. In Hero mode, players familiar with characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series can also enjoy an alternative way to relive the exciting lives and adventures of those heroes before proceeding to leave their own mark on history!

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII players have near endless customisation choices, as they can take on the mantle of one of 700 historical characters (including such fan- favourites as Zhao Yun, Liu Bei, Cao Cao and more), or create their own unique character and try to climb the proverbial leadership ladder.

Gameplay

The game features two main modes:

Hero Mode

Hero Mode
Main

The Hero Mode tells the story of the Three Kingdoms through several short battles and events, whith its first half serving as a tutorial. After that, the Hero Mode takes more of a fixed scenario/challenge approach. The Main mode traditionally offers a set of scenarios which you can pick to play. The main aim of the game is to stabilize your territory, gain more officers, conquer more territory, and ultimately unify the land, under the flag of Han, Wei, Wu, Shu, Zhong, Jin, or another force.

To achieve this, the game offers very menu driven gameplay with several options and sub-options to increase your territory domestically and militarilly. If you wish to improve your territory domestically, you can do so by appointing yourself or one of your men to the tasks Commerce, Farming and Culture. Commerce gives gold, which can be used to pay your officers. Farming feeds your men. Culture attracts people. To improve militarilly, you can try to Hire new officers, Train new Spear-, Horse- or Bowmen, or Patrol. Patrolling increases Fealty, which results in attracting more men to your cause.

These options are just a rather small percentage of all the options available in the game. At first it may seem as if the game offers a very deep micro-managing system, however after having played the game for several hours the game felt rather shallow to me. A good city needs to excel in all domestic and military options, not just few. There is no real point in having a city focus primarily on Farming, and another on Commerce, for example. You're best of having all of them upgrade Commerce, Farming and Culture.

RTKXIII screenshot 13 — Sima Yan, the son of Sima... Shao?

On a sidenote: another thing I noticed was that the translation of the game is inconsistent and contains quite some errors. I've seen the city Chang'an also written as Changan and Chang An. Usually the cutscenes uses Chang An (or Yan Jin, Le An, etc), whereas in game you'll see Changan (and Yanjin, Lean, etc). It's as if different translation teams were used for the cutscenes and the ingame sections. Furthermore, the founder of Jin, Sima Yan, is now a son of Sima Shao, and no longer a son of Sima Zhao, and Sima Shi is no longer the first son of Sima Yi, but is now the first son of Sima Hui, "Water Mirror". Pretty silly translation errors.

Battles

Battles in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII are quite like those in its predecessor.

RTKXIII screenshot 10 — Shu versus Wei in an AI controlled battle.

When your character encounters an enemy force you can choose to take control of the battle. If you decide not to, the AI will decide the outcome. If you choose to take control of the battle, you will leave the world map and enter a more detailed battle map. How it looks depends on where you encounter your opponent; on the ourskirts, near a city, in a forest, on water, et cetera.

RTKXIII screenshot 05 — Naval battles are pretty straightforward. The surroundings don't offer much for strategy.

Scenarios

Yellow Turban Rebellion

Lu Xun using a Fire Technique
Anti Dong Zhuo Coalition
Warlords
The Battle of Guandu
The Three Visits
Yi Subjugation
bonus scenario

Trophies

Trophy/Achievement	Trophy type	Description
Master of the Three Kingdoms	Platinum	Achieved all records.
Opener of Ages	Gold	Cleared all scenarios of the main game.
Witness of History	Gold	Viewed all the history events.
Cleared Yellow Turban Rebellion	Silver	Cleared the scenario "Yellow Turban Rebellion."
Cleared Anti Dong Zhuo Coalition	Silver	Cleared the scenario "Anti Dong Zhuo Coalition."
Cleared Warlords	Silver	Cleared the scenario "Warlords."
Cleared the Battle of Guandu	Silver	Cleared the scenario "The Battle of Guandu."
Cleared the Three Visits	Silver	Cleared the scenario "The Three Visits."
Cleared Yi Subjugation	Silver	Cleared the scenario "Yi Subjugation."
Warriors Past and Present	Silver	Won 100 duels.
The Greatest Orator	Silver	Won 100 debates.
Masterpiece collector	Silver	Carry 50 Specialities in one turn of play.
The Path of the Conqueror	Silver	Cleared all stages of the Hero Mode.
The Way of Advancement	Silver	Advanced from a free officer to 1st Rank.
True Leadership	Silver	Achieved a Clan Mission at "Very Difficult" as a Ruler.
Competent Viceroy	Silver	Achieved a Province Mission at "Very Difficult" as a Viceroy.
Good Governor	Silver	Achieved a City Mission at "Very Difficult" as a Governor.
Scenario Cleared	Bronze	Cleared a scenario for the first time.
Testimony of a Warrior	Bronze	Won a Duel for the first time.
First Step to Debating	Bronze	Won a Debate for the first time.
The Path of the Warrior	Bronze	Cleared a stage in the Hero Mode for the first time.
Forged Bonds	Bronze	Created a Bond for the first time.
Testimony of Friendship	Bronze	Obtained an Invitation for the first time.
The First Assignment	Bronze	Completed a mission for the first time.
#1 Deeds	Bronze	Achieved the first place in deeds for the first time.
To Lead the Charge	Bronze	Achieved First Strike honors for the first time.
#1 Achievements	Bronze	Achieved highest honors for short term force merit for the first time.
Signs of Friendship	Bronze	Gave a Gift for the first time.
Absolute Trust	Bronze	Appointed as a Viceroy for the first time.
One Well Trusted	Bronze	Appointed as a Governor for the first time.
Testimony of Trust	Bronze	Appointed as a Minister for the first time.
An Offering of Thanks	Bronze	Induced another officer into the "Gratitude" state for the first time.
Making Friends	Bronze	Induced another officer into the "Interest" state for the first time.
To Treat with Awe	Bronze	Induced another officer into the "Respect" state for the first time.
Charmer	Bronze	Induced another officer into the "Charmed" state for the first time.
Matchless Strategist	Bronze	Successfully completed "Spy" mission as an agent for the first time.
Peerless Negotiator	Bronze	Successfully created "Alliance" as an agent for the first time.
Superior Negotiator	Bronze	Successfully completed "Placate" as an agent for the first time.
Negotiating Basics	Bronze	Successfully completed "Endorse" as an agent for the first time.
Officer Collection	Bronze	Collected over 50 people in the Officer List.
Witness to the Birth of Heroes	Bronze	Viewed the "Battle of Hulao Gate."
Witness to the Final Battle	Bronze	Viewed the "Deadlock at Guandu."
Witness to Chibi	Bronze	Viewed the "The Battle of Chibi."

Downloadable content

Fame and Strategy Expansion Pack

coming soon

List of specialties

View the complete list HERE.

Selection of character portraits

More portraits are stored HERE.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII re-uses many of the portraits used in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII (which you can find here). Mainly the more prominent people were given new portraits. Some even have multiple portraits, for example Liu Bei, who has a portrait in which he appears young, another one in which he appears old, another one where he wears a mianguan (emperor's headwear), et cetera.