12 11 10
It’s still the Total War you know
In spiteofallofthesebigsweepingchangestothecoredynamic,Classicmodewill
stillbetheTotalWaryouknowandlove.Youwon’tbeabletorattlethroughdozensof
enemiesata time,norwilltheybeasimpervioustodamagefromregularunitsasthey
arein theRomanceoffering– in fact,generalswillcomewithbodyguardsin theClassic
configurationtobetterdepicthowthesecharactersweretreatedatthetime.Elements
ofThreeKingdomssuchasrandomevents,theappearanceofcertaincharactersand
theimplementationofbroaderelementsfromtheRomanceoftheThreeKingdoms
novelwon’tappearin a Classiccampaign. If you want your campaign to be pure, the
option is certainly there for it.You’ve got to
have class
Eachofthe11 charactersavailablefalls
intooneoffivedistinctcharacterclasses- Commander,Champion,Sentinel,
StrategistandVanguard.Eachofthese
effectivelyoffersa differentplaystyleand
thereforea differentwaytotackleTotal
War.You’llneedtoutilisetacticsthat
bettersuityourchosengeneral,keeping
aneyeoutforuniqueitemsandmounts
tomakethemevenmorepowerful.Each
commanderhastheirownskilltree,letting
youadvancefiveactiveandfivepassive
abilitiestobettershapetheirversatility
in thefieldasyouseefit.Thiswillhavea
hugeimpactin theRomancecampaign,
wheregeneralscanbethedifference
betweena winanda loss,thoughtheir
poweris mitigatedin the traditional
Historic campaign.
Romance is a
new way to play
“Youcan’treallytellthehistoricalstoryof
theperiodwithoutthepersonalstories
fromthenovelaswell.Thecharacter
relationshipsareimportantin bothgame
modes,it’simportanttothehistorical
background,”Waltertoldusand– wait,
twogamemodes?That’sright,Three
Kingdomsfeaturestwoprimarywaysto
play,RomanceandClassical.Romanceis
wherefactandfictioncollide,asCreative
Assemblylookstodrawonthelarger-
than-lifepresenceoftheheroesthat
dominatedthestories– theirmythand
legendshapingthewaytheyimpactthe
battlefield.“InRomancemodeyouget
toknowthecharacters,”saysWalter.
“Theywillhavea bigimpact,whereasin
Historical/Classicmodeit’smoregrand-
scale– thefocusis onbigarmies and
manoeuvring your forces.”You can strip
it back if you
want to
It’sworthnotingthatwhilea lotofthefocus- particularlywhenit comestothewaysin
whichCreativeAssemblydemosthegame–
hasbeenontheRomancemode,thestudio
is keentostressthatClassicmodeis stillthe
TotalWargamethatyouveteranplayers
knowandlove.There’sstilla lotoftime,
careandattentiongoingintothiscoreway
toplaythegame.If anything,it putsmore
attentionandfocusonsomeoftheminutiae.
Forexample,theartificialintelligencehas
beenoverhauled,requiringa clearattention
todetailandsharpreactionstofendoff
encroachingarmies;theenginecannow
renderoutthousandsofauthentically
designedwarriorsonscreenatonceand
there’sa day/nightcyclethat changes the
composition of battles.
TOTAL WAR