Week Three stands for Three Kingdoms, a very famous topic for Asian MMORPGs everywhere with the warfare, the strategy, and about years of turmoil and chaos in 3rd Century AD China. Many writers have made stories about these brave heroes, many movies, television and comics have recreated scenes (exaggerated or not), and today, we will put in three Three Kingdoms-themed Online games! (And these are legit Three Kingdoms-based games, not exactly slapping in Chinese names in random NPC’s and calling it a Three Kingdoms game.)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a very popular theme for many Asian-inspired video games (next to the Warring States of Japan in 16th Century AD.), is based on actual events which include honor, loyalty, ambition, and lots of backstabbing and bloodthirsty fighting. Aside from the hints of a huge bias to the Shu Kingdom, these mini-reviews and experiences feature my love for history and my impatience playing all of them in order to achieve true victory in the battlefield.
Except when crossing swords with every interpretation of this guy.
Chi Bi Online (aka Red Cliff, Heroes of the Three Kingdoms)
Country of Origin: China
Genre: Historical MMORPG
Company of Origin: Beijing Perfect World
Distributors: Perfect World (Global), Cubizone (Asia)
Current Gameplay Status: Dropped
Chi Bi Online, “Chi Bi†after the scenic location in China where a famous battle took place back during the Three Kingdoms Era, is Perfect World’s attempt to make a historically themed game using the old Perfect World engine.
I’ll tell you this. When this game was still Open Beta, I have to download an installer in order to play this without any interruptions (internet is bad here at the time) and then I got this weird message that Windows was shutting down unexpectedly. Every time I try to open the installer, it just shuts me down… then again, everytime I attempt to open anything it just shuts down. I did fix it, and decided to play the game. Took about more than 2 days just to find out what is wrong with the auto-shutdowns.
Like this, only the messge in the box was more annoying like “LOL YOU HAS VIRUS”
So in this game, you get to choose two “racesâ€: the common Yan, the people of the Han, and the Miao, representing the Nanman barbarians in the south (If you know the characters of Meng Huo and his wife Zhu Rong, these Miaos serve under them), with “Miao†being the Hmong dialect term for “free peopleâ€. Weaponry is many in this game, raging from melee, ranged weaponry, and even magical weapons which are unlocked every update.
It will give you strange impulses to create ROTK Original Characters with these beauties.
Since this is a Perfect World-made game, I’ll just be reviewing with the campaigns and not the gameplay. You know what I feel about PW’s gameplay system. But I have a problem with their EXP System where you yourself have to manually level up yourself when the green EXP Bar flashes.
The only game I know where EXP is done manually. Seriously.
Campaign battles are played slightly different from other Perfect World-titled games, since they are stage-based to match certain Three Kingdoms Battles. In other words, you fight alongside various Three Kingdoms Generals that is fitting within the scenario (sampling this is the player fighting Zhao Yun in the Zhao Yun’s Rescue Quest, and failing it when Zhao Yun gets routed by Cao Cao) and complete various tasks until the scenario ends. Though these scenarios are unlocked at a later level, and it really depends on the Kingdom you are serving in by means of reputation points.
Kingdom Heroes
Country of Origin: Taiwan
Genre: Historical MMORPG
Company of Origin: Userjoy
Distributors: AeriaGames (Global)
Current Gameplay Status: Dropped
How can a Three Kingdoms-inspired MMORPG with both naval and land battles, a pet system that replaces animals with soldiers, fricking siege wars complete with siege engines and weapons, and a kingdom-wide battle system, end up being a bit boring and forgettable at the same time?
This game has faced a lot of problems containing dated graphics, incredibly horrible translations, a laggy server whenever fighting in said grand-scale siege battles, and a very slow, draggy beginning level-up that do take forever to at least get through the more interesting parts of the game. I think that’s the problem with some Three Kingdoms-based games: They want to stall you before they give you the really good parts that History has brought us!
On seconds thought… boats!
The GMS and friends system weren’t helping much either, and guilds are possibly the only way you can ensure victory to the kingdom you serve. Between you and me, I’m not a competitive person (I’m more completist, actually). If you guys do love Mass-scaled PVP games complete with naval battles and siege weapons, it’s a pretty decent game, but I warn you of the really terrible (and confusing) lags and translations.
And yes, I am aware of TS Online, but I didn’t play the Philippine server version nor understood TS Online 2 because I was too late.
Dynasty Warriors BB (aka Dynasty Warriors Online)
Country of Origin: Japan
Genre: Tactical-Action MMORPG
Company of Origin: Koei-Tecmo
Distributors: AeriaGames (Global)
Current Gameplay Status: Playing
Well, folks. Your Koei fanatic appears with Dynasty Warriors Online, a famous Koei MMO based on the “hack and slash†game of the same name.
I did wait for this since its Japanese release on 2005, and it started as a Pay-to-play game, but it did grew into the “free with item mall†format that still exist today. Yeah, every young Koei fanatic has its dream to get the hands on this Japanese-only game at the time. And I’ve been watching videos of those lucky enough to understand Japanese and posted their gameplay videos. But it was a simple time where the PS3 has yet to be released and their latest Warriors game was Dynasty Warriors 5.
5 years later, AeriaGames, a MMO Company that distributed a few pretty decent titles such as Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, Twelve Sky 2, and Shaiya, has announced the release of Dynasty Warriors Online in English and accessible to players around the world.
Well, it’s wasn’t much, since Koei’s games were already past the PS2 Era that the game’s engine provided. No Renbus, no EX Modes, no weapon shifts in-game, those types.
The game is pretty simple: You make a character; choose which force among Wu, Wei, or Shu you like to join and maybe later which Dynasty Warriors character you want to serve. Then you participate in stage-based battles against other players from an opposing faction in order to gain Honor. The more Honor points you have, the more you are entitled to take a Promotion test. Pass it by killing a number of enemies, take a couple of bases by fulfilling whatever challenge the base gives you, and later on fight against your favorite Dynasty Warriors character and get promoted in rank in order to fight tougher, more difficult, and more rewarding battles. Yes, level numbers are replaced with soldier ranks!
But that does not stop the players to wait in the ever-dragging waiting room for allies and opponents.
Battles were also pretty different in this game, from a weekly Campaign mode which consists of 24 players battling against another faction in exchange for territory, to a more common melee mode where 4 players fight against four other players in a rival faction using the power of motives and objectives:
- Capture – Capture all the enemy bases, or all the bases on the battlefield
- Defeat – Defeat the certain number of troops in the time limit
- Confront – Defeat 10 enemy players
- Search – Bring 10 pieces of treasure back to one of your bases or supply base
Long story short, it is a Dynasty Warriors game (Most likely similar to Destiny Mode in the early Xtreme Legends expansion packs) only you can play it… ONLINE! Yeah I got nothing.
Tune in… after Toycon (since I’ll be busy with digital art school this week) when we will be doing some cute cartoony-based games (that are incredibly playable, mind you.)
… with more cute.