History VideoGame / RomanceOfTheThreeKingdomsKoei

* VideoGameLongRunners: The first game came out for MS-DOS, NES and other systems in 1985, and has run on for over 11 games in 21 years. The latest in the series, XIII, has been released on 2016.

* CharacterShilling: Played with in ''XIII''. While the game uses events from the novel as its base, some details in the original novel which shilled Shu characters like Liu Bei / Zhuge Liang or had characters do questionable/illogical stuff were removed. [[spoiler: E.g. Zhuge Liang was not shown using fire attacks at Bowang or Xinye; his first assignment (just like in history) was becoming Liu Bei's emissary to Sun Quan in order to forge the anti-Cao alliance. Liu Bei also did not drop Liu Shan after Zhao Yun's exploits at Changban. On Wu's side, Zhou Yu was depicted as solely regarding Zhuge Liang as a threat to Wu's plans, leaving out the personal jealousy which was rampant in the novel. Lu Su was depicted as a competent advisor, and not the bumbling fool from the novel; Zhuge Liang did not invite him on board the boat during the attempt to "borrow" the 10,000 arrows from Cao Cao, and the whole part where Zhuge provoked Zhou Yu using the two Qiaos was left out.]]

** Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers. The youngest officer you can play (Cao Chang in Three Visits) is 12.

* LittleMissSnarker: In "Three Visits" event of ''VIII'', Zhuge Liang has a girl servant who, after Zhuge Liang told her that he's too busy to meet Liu Bei, snarks that his "business" is just go fishing with Huang Chengyan (his father-in-law).

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: In ''XIII'', name any female officer whom you can play as, and it is almost guaranteed that their male relatives are more famous than them. A possible exception is Pang E. [[note]]She is famous in her own right for avenging her father by killing the murderer in February 179 C.E.. This was after her brothers had all died from illness. Even more incredibly, she turned herself in to the authorities and refused to be let off the hook. The magistrate, noting the groundswell of public opinion supporting her, ''forcibly sent her home''. She was declared innocent after a general amnesty soon after. Her son Pang Yu later became a general under Cao Wei, and was noted for his loyalty and bravery.[[/note]]

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: In XIII, name any female officer whom you can play as, and it is almost guaranteed that their male relatives are more famous than them.

* LadyOfWar: Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers, you can play characters such as Sun Shangxiang. XIII is also the first game where you can play as (almost) any female character whom appeared in the time period.

* BerserkButton: Elephant units in ''X'' will lose control of itself and will attack any nearby units, friend or foe, if it's attacked by or around the vicinity of fire attack.

* KidHero:
** Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers. The youngest officer you can play (Cao Chang in Three Visits) is 12.
** In ''X'', the youngest officer you can play is 14.

* LadyOfWar: Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers, you can play characters such as Sun Shangxiang.
* LittleMissSnarker: In "Three Visits" event of ''VIII'', Zhuge Liang has a girl servant who, after Zhuge Liang told her that he's too busy to meet Liu Bei, snarks that his "business" is just go fishing with Huang Chengyan (his father-in-law).
* MookLieutenant: In ''X'', an officer can command more than one unit but they can only directly lead one. Other units under their command will be led by their unnamed "Lieutenant".

* PlotArmor: In X, as long as the story is still relatively on track, some forces (namely, Liu Bei) get attacked very infrequently, compared to how weak their cities are. Reinforced by the fact that, the minute the plot goes off track, they are instantly steamrolled by another force (namely, Cao Cao).
** In XIII, there is an option to enable or disable this. It explicitly states that, if enabled, AI will try to follow the history.
* RelationshipValues: In XIII, in addition to the game's traditional loyalty mechanic, you can have Rapport with your ruler, fellow officers, or even officers or rulers from other forces.
** In the installments where you play as a character, such values often determine the mileage and leverage your character gets with other characters.
* RPGElements: VII, VIII, X and XIII are all from the viewpoint of one officer whom you control. Other games in the series allow skill point upgrades as well.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: In an event of ''VIII'', a stranger named Dan Fu visits Liu Bei in his house and claimed that Liu Bei's house is cursed, so he should sell it. He then asked Liu Bei if he agreed with him. If Liu Bei gave the correct answer[[note]]In case it wasn't obvious or if you're not familiar with [[NiceGuy Liu Bei]], the correct answer is "no".[[/note]] and noted that he doesn't want to sell a cursed house to other people, Dan Fu happily revealed he was just testing him to see if Liu Bei is truly a benevolent man like everyone said or not. The man's true identity is also revealed to be none other than Xu Shu, who would be Liu Bei's first strategist, and he decides to serve Liu Bei afterwards.

* WalkingTheEarth: One of the possible endings in ''X'' if China is unified ([[ArtificialBrilliance by computer-controlled Emperor]]) while your character is a free officer.

** Some officers have to be recruited this way, although in some certain cases, a debate is used instead of a duel. [[note]]Scholars usually require the debate, while military-orientated officers will require the duel.[[/note]]

** If you play a vassal and unite China in the name of your lord, you may wind up being executed because the lord fears your great ability if you have a poor relationship with him.
* EasyLogistics: Especially in the later games, quite well averted. In XI, for instance, you need to take food along with your army on trips, and occasionally gold (if you intend to rest your troops somewhere) to pay your officers. If you don't do the former, then your army will slowly starve to death, and if you don't do the latter, officers will lose loyalty. [[note]]While your marching troops requiring food has been in-game for a very long time, paying officers' salaries with gold is a relatively new addition. Also (at least in XI), you have to arrange for a convoy to transport anything that is not your officers, be in gold, troops or armaments. Good luck if the journey is long or you're waylaid by hostile forces.[[/note]]

** ''X'' subverts this a bit by making that gold is only used to built base (camp, outpost, fort, or maze).
* FameThroughInfamy: The games have 'fame' for each characters, but what most players may not know that some games ''also'' have 'infamy' or 'bad fame'. Unlike fame whose points are usually displayed, infamy is essentially invisible from the players. There are various ways to know infamy exists and is recorded throughout the game. For example, observing military barracks may sometimes let you know that some soldiers gossip something bad about your character. Or if you visited enemy city and attempted to talk to someone in the castle, you'll be turned down and the guard will tell you that you have notorious reputation. What increase infamy points are, needless to say, doing immoral or ruthless things like pillaging other cities, executing prisoners, refusing civillians' request, etc. Naturally, doing benevolent things like sparing prisoners (especially after they refused to join your forces) and helping civillians will decrease your infamy and increase your fame.

* WalkingTheEarth: One of possible endings in ''X'' if China is unified ([[ArtificialBrilliance by computer-controlled Emperor]]) while your character is a free officer.

The series initially began with the player as a ruler controlling an entire force. Starting from ''VII'', some installments allow the player to play as a character other than a ruler. These can range from a "free" officer with no allegiance, all the way to a viceroy managing several cities on behalf of the ruler.

* BadassArmy[=/=]EliteMooks: In ''X'', Cao Cao (and by extension, his eventual successors) has a special unit that is only available for their forces: Qing Elite.

** Some officers have to be recruited this way, although in some rarer cases, a debate is used instead of a duel.

* ImplacableMan: Generally speaking, you can create custom officer by maxing out their stats (though they may still suck in certain conditions such as duels and debates if they didn't have powerful duelling or debating skills). Creating a custom kingdom that is filled by these officers? You beat the game laughably easily.

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', which is a fictionalized version of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu actual era in Chinese history]]. [[note]]However, the [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese and Chinese versions]] were sold under the name '''Sangokushi/ Sanguozhi''' (''Record of the Three Kingdoms''), which is the name of the historical record compiled by Chen Shou[[/note]] It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

* BadassArmy[=/=]EliteMooks: In ''X'', Cao Cao (and by extension, his eventual successors) has special unit that is only available for their forces: Qing Elite.

* EasyLogistics: Especially in the later games, quite well averted. In XI, for instance, you need to take food along with your army on trips, and occasionally gold, if you intend to rest your troops somewhere, to pay your officers. If you don't do the former, then your army will slowly starve to death, and if you don't do the later, officers will lose loyalty.
** In XIII things went back a bit. Even though gold and food are kept in each city individually, you only have to click a few buttons and they will be transported to another city instantaneously. A later patch even automates this for you, feeding troops passing through your cities automatically with other city's food.

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', which is a fictionalized version of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu actual era in Chinese history]]. [[note]]However, the [[MarketBasedTitle Japanese and Chinese versions]] were sold under the name '''Sangokushi/ Sanguozhi''' (''Record of the Three Kingdoms''), which is the name of the historical record compiled by Chen Shou]][[/note]] It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', which is a fictionalized version of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu actual era in Chinese history]]. [[note]]However, the [[Market-Based Title Japanese and Chinese versions]] were sold under the name '''Sangokushi/ Sanguozhi''' (''Record of the Three Kingdoms''), which is the name of the historical record compiled by Chen Shou]][[/note]] It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', which is a fictionalized version of the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu actual era in Chinese history]]. It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms novel, which is a fictionalized version of the actual era in Chinese history. It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

The platforms which support the various installments are listed below: [[note]]Due to the various version of Windows, emulation of older Windows versions may be required to run the games.[[/note]]

* ''I'': Amiga, MSX, NES(1985), Game Boy (1992), Windows (2003), mobile phones; different version: MSX2

* ''X'': Windows (2004), PlayStation 2 (2005)

A series of strategy games by Koei. It's based on the Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms novel, which is a fictionalized version of actual Chinese history. It also spawned an action game spinoff, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors''.

* KidHero: Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers. The youngest officer you can play (Cao Chang in Three Visits) is 12.

* WalkingTheEarth: One of possible endings if you play as free officer in ''X''.

* BittersweetEnding: If the game is ended while you're playing as low-ranked vassal, it is stated that you character retires, lives a humble common life, and doesn't get as many reward/privilege (if any) as other high-ranked vassals get from your emperor.

* BlackComedy[=/=]HypocriticalHumor: In X, be a ruler and conquer a city. Then execute any captured enemy general who has in-game family member as officer, who will eventually hold a grudge to you to no end in a YouKilledMyFather fashion. Then, attack another city where said officer is stationed. If he's captured, try to recruit him but of course since you killed his family before, he will refuse ("Serve you!? YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe! I'd rather die!"), so you will only have two available options left: release him or execute him. If you choose the latter, there's a chance that he will scream a BigNo as if forgetting that earlier he said he'd rather die.

** Again with XIII, the DLC contains two AlternateHistory scenarios: one where [[ ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated reports of Dong Zhuo's death were greatly exaggerated]], and his reappearance forces Cao Cao and Yuan Shao into an EnemyMine situation; and one where Emperor Xian was killed in the chaos following the death of Dong Zhuo, leading to the emergence of three rival emperors vying for power.

** Again with XIII, the DLC contains two AlternateHistory scenarios: one where reports of Dong Zhuo's death were greatly exaggerated, and his reappearance forces Cao Cao and Yuan Shao into an EnemyMine situation; and one where Emperor Xian was killed in the chaos following the death of Dong Zhuo, leading to the emergence of three rival emperors vying for power.

* LadyOfWar: Possible in XIII, where you can play individual officers, you can play characters such as Sun Shangxiang.

* ContinuityNod: [[NobunagasAmbition Nobunaga's Ambition]] (a similar game set in Japan) characters have their portraits available to you in the Create an Officer mode if you beat the game in some versions.

* BadAss: Many characters are statted to be in line with their fictional counterparts. Lu Bu is a demon on horseback and in later games, when dueling is brought into the series, can easily defeat an enemy general in one hit.
** In XI, Lu Bu also gains the unique trait of being unable to be one-shotted in a duel due to his WAR stat [[UpToEleven being treated as if it's above 100]], [[NoFairCheating even if you modify his stats to be lower]]!