Sun Ren

[vortex]

I don't understand the special attention to detail this character gets. She's the only female Vanguard in the game. She's the only Vanguard who can use a sword. She has a unique voice. She has unique skills.

Meanwhile Sun Ce and Sun Quan sound and operate like any other Vanguard and Commander, respectively.

Sure Zheng Jiang is unique too, but Zheng Jiang is a faction leader. Sun Ren is third in line for the throne and isn't even playable until well into the campaign. So why all the attention to her?

[Cryme Tyme]

zheng jiang is a mere 1 sentence in the 3k lore, whereas sun ren is a decent part of the story. plus she has a pretty good ability.

[DarkFenix]

It's based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Ren was one of the notable female characters in that, so CA gave her the 'unique general' treatment. As far as RTK goes, she's only actually significant because she married Liu Bei to secure that alliance, but since Liu Bei is one of the main characters that's enough apparently.

[Remosu37]

Tbf she's a very colorful character and so she often is prominently featured in most ROT3K games (she's often the main female headliner in Koei games for example)

Not too many princesses of the era who are obsessed with weapons and martial arts, turn their household maidservant into an armed retinue, who married the protagonist of the novel, then tries to abduct the crown prince whom she took a liking to on her way back to her homeland

In retrospect, she was doing Shu a favor..

[vortex]

Originally posted by Remosu37:

Tbf she's a very colorful character and so she often is prominently featured in most ROT3K games (she's often the main female headliner in Koei games for example)

Not too many princesses of the era who are obsessed with weapons and martial arts, turn their household maidservant into an armed retinue, who married the protagonist of the novel, then tries to abduct the crown prince whom she took a liking to on her way back to her homeland

In retrospect, she was doing Shu a favor..

Sure, but she could of done all of that as a sentinel with the same voice lines any other female sentinel gets.

It's not that it really bothers me, except I don't understand why there are no other female vanguards, and why so many special rules apply to her (weapon her class can't normally use, unique voice, etc). I mean both Sun Ce and Sun Quan led the kingdom, and Zhou Yu came up with the strategy that won the most important battle of the era, but none of them gets anything beyond a unique appearance.

[RCMidas]

Sun Ce led for all of five years before dying of sickness whilst obsessing over being haunted, so he claimed, by the spirit of a Taoist monk he had killed for defying him. Sure, he earned the title of Little Conqueror by subduing the local region, but beyond that he simply did not have the time to do much else.

Sun Quan, other than leading the kingdom when Chi Bi occurred, was also notably in his father's shadow - and actually, until Chi Bi, in his brother's too.

Sun Ren, for the most part, is more of a colourful character than either of them, well living up to standard set by her father. Plus, she's the best fit for a canon female general that actually tried to get things done.

Zhou Yu...I got nothing.

[The Mailman Thinks I Am Gay]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

Zhou Yu...I got nothing.

some angry guy who get blasted by Zhuge "4d chess" Liang

[REhorror]

Feminist pandering. She was nothing but a tomboy princess in ROTK.

Zhou Yu and Lu Xun are easily more relevant.

[Egro]

She the only female character from the novel who can actually fight so of course she get all of the attention. In a way she is a pretty unique character.

[BastardSword]

Sounds like the only female general who should actually be a general. I really like her cruise missile special bow shot. Wish other characters could get it but it seems to be unique to her.

[REhorror]

Originally posted by Egro:

She the only female character from the novel who can actually fight so of course she get all of the attention. In a way she is a pretty unique character.

Nah, there's no indication that Sun Ren can actually fight in the novel, she just like weapons and has armed servants. The whole female general Sun Ren is a KOEI invention.

[RCMidas]

Technically, I agree with REhorror in that she was historically "just a tomboy princess". Still pretty good for the time though. Makes sense to include her as a major character. At the expense of her brothers and such luminaries as Zhou Yu or Lu Xun, who were more influential though in terms of realpolitik?

Eh, it happens. You've only got so many resources to spread around. Having an actual canon and historical female character, as opposed to a mostly-fictitious composite in Zheng Jiang? Yeah, I can see why they focused on her for Wu. Besides, on second look, isn't Zhou Yu a strategist with the stats of a commander or sentinel? That's pretty unique.

[REhorror]

Past TW games have princesses to act as diplomat or political marriage-er, which is THE role that the historical Sun Ren plays.

But putting her ahead of actual relevant characters like Zhou Yu and Lu Xun is not acceptable, as said, it's just pandering to the feminist crowd.

[Gamer de esquerda]

In the novel, she is quite good, and not only because she married Liu Bei, but she actually helped him get away from a murder plot from her own brother and his strategist Zhou Yu, escaping with Liu Bei back to his lands.
Not to mention it is quite awesome how she turns her maids into deadly guards.

When Zhou Yu sent generals after her, she shames them and send them away. It goes to the extreme that Sun Quan send his generals to behead both her and Liu Bei, but they manage to escape while Zhuge Liang humiliates Zhou Yu (Zhuge Liang was such a troll, while they went off on a boat, the soldiers chanted "Zhou Yu lost his men and his princess as well")

Not to mention she has always been one of the main Wu characters in Dynasty Warriors games

[Remosu37]

Eh, there's a long tradition via Koei for ROT3K games for making princesses be combat ready generals so I had no issue with that. Rot3k games have been doing that since the early 90s.

[Poljanan]

Because as far as the novel was concerned, Sun shangxiang was the leading love interest if you consider Liu Bei as the main character. Her popularity is mostly based off on how relevant she is in popculture, like Lu Bu and Diaochan.
It's not that hard.