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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2753 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 9, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I've been really enjoying Total War: Three Kingdoms, and naturally, it got me interested in the historical period. I'm even thinking about trying one of Koei's games. Are they worth playing?

Also, is the actual novel (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) worth reading? I'm a bit concerned it might feel too simplistic or one-sided by today's standards. I'm more interested in the politics, economics, culture, and social context than the actual events themselves.

This video goes through some of the available Three Kingdoms TV and film adaptations, which are probably the best entry point. As far as Koei goes, I've tried some of the Hyrule Warriors spin-off games, and there's a certain kind of mindless fun to be had there in limited doses. I'd probably stick to adaptations and not the novel itself if you want to get a sense for the cultural role of the Three Kingdoms setting in modern China and Japan, and then read an actual history book if you feel like you need more details about army composition or whatever.

Koei publishes both action games ("musou" is the name of their "slaughter hundreds of enemies at once" franchise, of which Hyrule Warriors is a spinoff), and historical simulation games of which the long-running series Romance of the Three Kingdoms is an example.

I used to play some of the older Romance of the Three Kingdoms games back in the day. They were kind of odd, because they assumed you were already familiar with the plot of the book and I... really wasn't. So I'd be playing it like it was this hardcore military strategy wargame, and suddenly a character would betray me for no reason because he was "supposed" to go to one of the other dynasties. It's a funny mix of like a strategy wargame and dating game/visual novel. I guess it was a good way to learn the plot and setting of the book, though.

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