Let me preface my review by saying the original RotK VIII was easily my favorite game of the series and one of my top 10 games of all time. I have probably put 1000 hours on that game since it came out in 2003. I have played VII, X, XI, and XIII but always came back to VIII. I went into this release assuming I'd love it unless Koei completely dropped the ball.

My TL;DR is this: I rate it 8.5/10 and recommend it. If you loved the original: get this one. If you didn't, avoid this one. If you're new to RotK or played the ruler-centric entries and like the idea of role-playing as an individual officer, then it's worth checking out! Now onto the review.

When I heard about the remake, I wanted a few specific updates to the core game and got each one:

1. Updated graphics/portraits
2. Officer count and stats of the most recent releases
3. PUK style additions (marriageable officers, having kids, and editing of historical officers)
4. The re-inclusion of Jiao Province and Shi Xie (I played VII and was disappointed that they took them out in VIII)

The surprise addition is the Tales system. One issue I always had with the original was that once the scenario started, you couldn't follow the major story events from the novel & history. Specifically, things like the end of the Yellow Turban Rebellion with appropriate leaders being rewarded their respective territories, Sun Ce's journey from Yuan Shu lackey to conqueror of Jiangdong, and Liu Bei's movements across China. Tales allow you to pick and choose what historical events you would like to happen and in some cases, adds What-if's and alternate conclusions to certain events. My favorite was the Xu Province assault after Cao Song's murder. They provide an alternate route where Chen Gong persuades Cao Cao not to attack Tao Qian and to defend his rear from Lu Bu's assault. Instead of Lu Bu taking Chen Liu, Cao Cao fends him off causing Tao Qian and Lu Bu to join Liu Bei giving him a massive leg-up that he didn't historically have.

Tales also add alternate ways to end a playthrough. You are no longer required to unite all of China to finish a run. You can stop after amassing specific amounts of martial or cultural fame, notoriety, amassing a collection of treasures, or conquering specific regions and/or cities. This is huge for those who don't like mopping up smaller forces when the game is pretty much won and for those who want to role-play as unaffiliated officer and still want a way to "win" the game. Lastly, tales supply you with missions to marry special officers if you can't find one on your own or don't want to marry any of the historical officers.

Now for the cons. Multiplayer, hotseat or otherwise, is not included in this edition of RotK VIII. I didn't use it extensively but no longer having the option is a little disappointing. The battle system, while still turn-based on a hex map, is noticeably different to the original. Your tactics are limited to a certain amount of uses based on the level you have in said tactic. You no longer get stronger tactics by training and mastering them. It's not a massive issue by any means, but it is a notable change from the original and fundamentally changed how I approach battles in this game. Traits are a nice addition but they are limited in quantity, are in no way balanced, and only a tiny group of officers even have them. Some are effectively useless, like "old and strong" that only effects 60+ year old officers above 70 morale and gives them a 70 point power boost in battle while Lu Bu's "unmatched" is broken in that it gives +5 morale every turn and buffs the attack of all infantry, cavalry, and archery tactics by 120! Once his morale is full, you may as well give up because he will quickly dismantle your entire army turn by turn no matter how many quality officers and the troop count you have. The events, while interesting, get repetitive very quickly. Once you've done a few of the town missions offered by Tales, you've done them all and you'll find yourself quickly clicking through them to get to the reward. I personally don't mind too much, as the original game was far worse in that respect, but it is still an issue here. Lastly, the Japanese VA simply doesn't fit this game, as far as I'm concerned. They are VERY anime. Think over the top yelling, obnoxious laughs, and that gasping noise you hear a character make when they realize something horrible. The women are possibly the worst with all of the seductive moaning and gasping they do. It makes me feel like I'm playing an eroge instead of a historical simulator! Thankfully you can disable the voices or manually change the ones that really annoy you after you've unlocked historical officer editing (I'm looking at you "Alluring Woman", "Weak Man", and "Old Male Officer"). I'm hopeful that Koei will eventually add Chinese VA that isn't as theatrical.

Overall, as stated in my earlier TL;DR, I'd rate this game an 8.5/10 and definitely recommend it to those who have played and enjoyed the original or are open to trying a officer-centric version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Thanks for reading and I hope this review helps a few people.

KOEI fools me once, shame on KOEI.
KOEI fools me twice, shame on me.
KOEI fools me fifth times, I'm an enabler.

I've waited until this major update to give KOEI a fair chance.
Disappointed. That is my verdict.

目前的遊戲內容不值得這個售價，希望後續有改進像是
(1)經典戰役沒有搭配戰鬥植入劇情:
像是信長新生就有戰鬥帶入歷史劇情的環節，可以讓玩家更有沉浸感，舉例來說，選漢中之戰的劇本，卻沒有相關戰鬥的劇情，就只有佔領漢中稱王而已。而赤壁之戰及關羽被殺也就劇情走完，沒有實際戰役可以參與，然後有不同條件達成改變戰局或還原歷史。目前沒有玩到歷史的感覺。

(2)演義傳混入個人任務及歷史事件很雜，個人事件隨機性低重複感超高:
歷史跟個人事件可以分開八 要做再一起的話很多歷史事件都沒有if選項任務可以做，沒有在創造歷史或體驗歷史的感覺，個人事件就那幾個，超級無聊，然後不想做的事件該有個選項直接刪除之類的

(3)後期劇本沒有歷史事件及動畫:
前期劇本很多都有動畫，後期完全沒有，後面劇本事件也很少甚至沒有，給人一種趕工半成品的感覺。

(4)交友方式很單調，人物內建連攜資訊很不透明:
交友選項好少，為什麼過去拜訪鍛鍊的元素不見了，覺得改成這樣很無聊，然後沒有書信，介紹信，暗殺事件這些設計，電腦也不會發展自己的人際關係。系統自己內建的人物連攜資訊又看不到，像是李嚴跟費觀，要不是一起上戰場誰知道他們可以連攜。然後胡車兒跟張繡卻不會連攜，不太懂是漏設計還是亂設計... 然後相生也是隨機強迫觸發，應該要有選項或是給任務甚至限定達成條件給玩家來決定要不要去做。再來是交友隨機事件也太少了吧，重複感超重，有些武將來拜訪有的事件可以拒絕有的不行，沒有像過去可以暗殺或是去古蹟遊玩，打獵遇到老虎加名聲或是神獸之類的特殊事件。再來是相生應該要給選項要不要跟對方相生吧，不然一直莫名相生有時候覺得很煩，沒有自由度

(5)自由度不夠:
如前面所說，歷史事件有if選項的很少，假如玩呂布我能拒絕王允，把他殺了獻給董卓，這樣多有趣。拜訪武將能做的事很少，應該把暗殺事件加回來，酒家任務獎勵超少又無聊完全不會想去執行。各個職位應該新增一些獨特的演義傳任務，然後流浪軍團也應該要有獨特的功能與演義傳，以及投靠勢力的選項。

(6)AI智商太低:
會戰的時候AI的行為很固定，調整難度的影響也就金錢糧食及士兵量的差異，後期遊戲就變得很簡單無聊，應該要讓AI隨著難度提升而不是單純調數值，很沒意義。

(6)模組很醜:
極少部分武將有獨特模組，其他很多武將單挑及舌戰的模組都跟雜魚士兵文官長一樣，讓人感覺很偷懶，然後自創武將應該要能選擇人物模組。再來是玩家有名品的話要能反映在模組上，這樣才有RPG的感覺阿，也會讓人想花時間收集這些東西，不然就只是單純看數值，很無聊，這也不是很難做到的功能吧。

(7)部分立繪很像AI製圖很廉價:
有些立繪真的很醜... 然後手指怪怪的超像AI畫出來的感覺，給人偷懶的感覺。

對這次remake很失望，做的深度很低不夠細節很馬虎的感覺，覺得好的地方是人物選擇蠻友善的不錯，然後畫面變漂亮。良心建議還沒購買的朋友先等後續更新狀況再決定吧