What's the romance option for the game about?

[Bastila Shan]

I see streamers talking about a romance campaign but what is it and how does it differ from a normal non romance campaign?

[lefty1117]

romance is like super powerful heroes that plow through rows of enemies at a time. records is more for the sim crowd

[way2co0l_2003]

Personally records sounds more like how I'll want to play but I wonder how duels are handled for it.

[Barrelguy]

The game has 2 main modes of play- "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Records of the Three Kingdoms."

The Romance mode features powerful larger than life hero generals. These are single character units that can, depending on hero type and skills, take on multiple units on their own and go on heroic duels (think Dynasty Warriors or heroes in Total War Warhammer).

The Records mode is somewhat more historical and has traditional Total War style generals with bodyguards. Certain fictional events/choices also don't show up in campaign. I also think that fatigue plays a somewhat bigger role in battles.

[bagelboi1]

ro·mance
/rōˈmans,ˈrōˌmans/
noun
1.
a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.
"in search of romance"
2.
a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.
"the beauty and romance of the night"
synonyms: mystery, glamour, excitement, colourfulness, color, exoticism, mystique; More
verb
1.
DATED
court; woo.
"the wealthy estate owner romanced her"
2.
another term for romanticize.
"to a certain degree I am romancing the past"

[reevestone]

Originally posted by way2co0l_2003:

Personally records sounds more like how I'll want to play but I wonder how duels are handled for it.

Duels as discrete, active events that lock two heroes in combat until one of them dies or flees aren't in Records Mode. But, if two or more characters attack each other in Records mode (in which they're all essentially different forms of heavy cavalry units), the relevant generals will make their way through their bodyguard units to find and attack each other.

[Roflberries]

Originally posted by reevestone:

Originally posted by way2co0l_2003:

Personally records sounds more like how I'll want to play but I wonder how duels are handled for it.

Duels as discrete, active events that lock two heroes in combat until one of them dies or flees aren't in Records Mode. But, if two or more characters attack each other in Records mode (in which they're all essentially different forms of heavy cavalry units), the relevant generals will make their way through their bodyguard units to find and attack each other.

It actually does count as a duel, and will display as such in the post battle screen. 20:11 is the timestamp of an example.

https://youtu.be/xQ7Jkjzp4cY?t=1211

[way2co0l_2003]

Originally posted by reevestone:

Originally posted by way2co0l_2003:

Personally records sounds more like how I'll want to play but I wonder how duels are handled for it.

Duels as discrete, active events that lock two heroes in combat until one of them dies or flees aren't in Records Mode. But, if two or more characters attack each other in Records mode (in which they're all essentially different forms of heavy cavalry units), the relevant generals will make their way through their bodyguard units to find and attack each other.

Appreciate the information. I assume that the character items you can give them still apply though? Say something like Red Hare. Would that effect the entire retinue, only his specific character, or just not a part of the game in that mode at all?

[Subzero]

its apart of the game and affects the entire unit of said genearal so lubu bodygaurd will get buffs

[IlluminaZero]

Considering the setting hyper competent frontline generals might not actually be that absurd actually. Many of the soldiers were basically conscripts and many generals of this era were expected to lead from the front. It was actually kinda a problem for Wu in particular since Sun Jian was killed in an ambush, Zhou Yu was shot during campaign, and Sun Quan had to be forced to stop risking his life on the front-line. Sun Ce was so absurdly gung-ho about his martial strength that he actually had multiple successful HISTORIC duels - In his case he is oddly the exception in that he didn't have issues on the frontline but was essentially assassinated while hunting.

Generals like Zhao Yun actually served on the front line even into extreme old age as well. Zhao Yun historically held the rear-guard during a retreat during Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns - And if he is older than Liu Bei as many speculate then he would have been absurdly old at that point.

[way2co0l_2003]

I agree about the fighting from the front line being realistic. They were highly skilled especially when compared to the farmers with spears thrown into their hands. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to perform very well against that.

I don't think it's realistic to expect them to decimate an entire unit in a single charge though. Abilities that destroy half a unit in a single swing just are kinda meh to me. I understand why some people would like it but I'm glad the records option is there. I want them to be strong and capable, but not taking on an entire army of hundreds by yourself kind of OP that some have shown to be capable of doing. Zhang Fei held a bridge but it was because most were too afraid to try to cross with him in the way. I'm ok with that. Lu Bu standing in the middle of a mob of several hundred peasants poking him with a spear just seems silly to me. No matter how skilled, once you're surrounded and have a hundred people trying to poke you, sooner or later one of them will succeed.

[IlluminaZero]

Originally posted by way2co0l_2003:

I agree about the fighting from the front line being realistic. They were highly skilled especially when compared to the farmers with spears thrown into their hands. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to perform very well against that...

Barring experience I suspect there is something to be said for proper conditioning, diet, and armor as well. Especially highest quality armor. Armor tends to get vastly underrated - Especially as many treat swords in particular as light sabers in movies. In contrast I suspect a sufficiently strong Glaive user might be effectively unblockable in many scenarios due to simple leverage.

But while I suspect that their effectiveness on the front may actually be underrated by those seeking extreme "historic accuracy" it would be a bit ridiculous to take it to Dynasty Warriors levels in particular.

[reevestone]

Originally posted by Roflberries (3/4 pos):

It actually does count as a duel, and will display as such in the post battle screen. 20:11 is the timestamp of an example.

https://youtu.be/xQ7Jkjzp4cY?t=1211

True, I suppose that was extremely poorly worded. I mostly meant the Duel mechanic as its been shown off in previews (where one character challenges another, they race to fight each other, and then go into matched combat where they're ignored by all other units until one of them dies or flees the field, obviously excepting the Disengage option) isn't a thing in Records mode. It's less of a big, flashy and obvious thing and much more subtle in its application.

Originally posted by way2co0l_2003:

Appreciate the information. I assume that the character items you can give them still apply though? Say something like Red Hare. Would that effect the entire retinue, only his specific character, or just not a part of the game in that mode at all?

Yes, the items you give them and how they affect their stats will affect the hero, but in Records Mode the stats of a hero will affect the hero's entire bodyguard unit rather than just the hero model themselves. So for example having a high Instinct that increases Damage will increase the damage dealt by that hero's entire bodyguard rather than just the hero himself.

Given how heroes will seek each other out in general-on-general fights though, it seems fair to assume that the way these stats affect the hero personally is also very relevant in Records Mode for general sniping. There are some things related to this that I'm not actually sure of... it seems that Resolve ("health") increases the number of bodyguards you have in Records Mode, so does it affect the health of your actual hero model at all? Does this mean that in Records Mode a Vanguard with cracked-out damage will be very good at hero-sniping a Champion with high Resolve that manifests as a larger bodyguard unit when they seek each other out in combat? These are things that I honestly don't know, admittedly partially because I'm not as interested in Records Mode as in Romance (though I want to do my best to help those that are), and because there's been a lot less gameplay/information on Records as compared to Romance.

[IlluminaZero]

Actually if generals actively seek each other out I wonder if that will make Liu Bei effectively OP. In the Koei games the strongest martial generals for dueling tend to be Lu Bu -> Guan Yu -> Zhang Fei -> Zhao Yun -> Ma Chao. Not only are 4/5 part of Liu Bei's faction but Liu Bei always has Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and should give Zhao Yun extremely early.

Ma Chao comes so late that him being associated with Shu is basically novelty, but still...

Cao Cao's best dueling generals tend to be his bodyguards Dian Wei and Xu Zhu who were never as promminent as figures like Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, and Zhang Liao.

Wu is just underrated when it comes to martial generals overall. Sun Ce should be a dueling monster, Lu Meng should be a monster since he served as Sun Ce's bodyguard and served at the frontline for much of his career, and Gan Ning was terrifying as well.

[way2co0l_2003]

Yeah I've had a tough time finding streams of records that I've enjoyed. I'm checking one out for Kong Rong right now that's entertaining but I do wish there were some more but I understand most people really want to see the flashier side of things where the mechanics are more obvious. But again I appreciate you taking the time to share what you could considering. :)

[way2co0l_2003]

Originally posted by illuminazero:

Actually if generals actively seek each other out I wonder if that will make Liu Bei effectively OP. In the Koei games the strongest martial generals for dueling tend to be Lu Bu -> Guan Yu -> Zhang Fei -> Zhao Yun -> Ma Chao. Not only are 4/5 part of Liu Bei's faction but Liu Bei always has Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and should give Zhao Yun extremely early.

Ma Chao comes so late that him being associated with Shu is basically novelty, but still...

Cao Cao's best dueling generals tend to be his bodyguards Dian Wei and Xu Zhu who were never as promminent as figures like Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, and Zhang Liao.

Wu is just underrated when it comes to martial generals overall. Sun Ce should be a dueling monster, Lu Meng should be a monster since he served as Sun Ce's bodyguard and served at the frontline for much of his career, and Gan Ning was terrifying as well.

It very well might? But it's really hard to say with the more limited information on records. Though I think it would be easier to counter their influence because you could more effectively pin them down and keep them from your own generals by using less valuable units or just keeping units in between them. As they aren't the superheroes they are in romance mode they won't be able to just run straight through to get at whoever they want and can presumably be killed much more easily so you have to take more care. That might actually diminish their advantage a good deal.