Cheap Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (Video Games) (PlayStation2) Price

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Customer Reviews of Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX

Not so great...
...but I must confess that I can't put much stock into a reviewer who took this back to get "The Suffering". I mean, are there two more different games?
However, I do agree with some of his sentiment. I think that KOEI tinkered with this series, and their changes leave me a bit baffled. Think of this as RTK stripped down. No more can you play as any character appearing in the book "Three Kingdoms"; you are now confined to play as a ruler again, harking back to RTK4 (which, incidentally, I love).
The problem with this game is resource management. The computer takes every opportunity to attack you, no questions asked. There is little diplomacy from their side; they seem indifferent to the fact that you could just as easily win battles as lose them. Any decent player will see through the tactics in a matter of a game or two, and this is bad, in my opinion. RTK VII suffered from a similar malady (in that you could essentially make your army indestructible by waiting until they attack, allowing them to take four supply depots, and finally sweeping behind them and cut their lines, drastically reducing morale). While the pattern is not the same here, it is similarly easy to wipe out the computer with good use of tactics. One perk, though, is there are many bonuses to be had by destroying the computer with a certain flair.
Also, there are some interesting additions. Most notably is the inclusion of "mini-missions" of sorts. I found some of these to be quite challenging. Many are hidden, which means you must fulfill certain requirements to open them. Probably the best change to the ruler scenarios is the real-time in which the armies move. I always found it silly in the RTK series that armies moved across China in one month, no matter how far apart the provinces travelled were. In the new installment, armies take time to move, and the further they move, the longer it takes. This is the one change that injects some realism into the game.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable title, but I doubt it will satisfy the hardcore fans. This isn't as good as RTKVIII and it certainly isn't as good as RTKIV. Have fun!

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Great!!!
I was never a fan of deep strategy games, but this game had me playing it every day. The gameplay is a lot of fun and the graphics are very good. Having a huge army couldn't be more fun. There are a lot of nice strategies and plots. The only thing that bothers me is that it takes long to get your units somewhere. But that's realistic. Everything else is great. I suggest trying this game.

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Hardcore!
First off, I was surprised this game came out already. It seems like only yesterday that I was getting into Romance of the three kingdoms VIII. I loved Romance VII and VIII for their ability to see the world through the eyes of a specific officer, which enabled you to have many different kinds of game experiences. This game however has chucked all that out the window. It's as if the series is trying to return to it's roots. You can only play as the ruler. Furthermore, if your forces are defeated the game is over. That's a drag. In the previous two games you could still continue to play even if you were defeated,as a ronin or a common officer. There's nothing more annoying than playing with a group of people and getting eliminated early on and then having to watch every one else not suck like you just did. I only mention this because this game is hard and it is easy for your kingdom to come down with a bad case of dead. The computer is far more aggressive in attacking than in previous installments and will attack immediately if they even sense a weakness in your lines. Not only that, but they will actively send reinforcements from other cities. (Defeating Cao Cao in the later scenarios is quite the task indeed.)The most annoying thing about the game however are the barbarian tribes. They add another degree of difficulty to the mix. I could do without them, that's for sure.

On the positive side,thestats have been simplified greatly. Instead of having gold and food supplies for each individual city you have a lump sum of gold and food to distribute as you see fit. This is good because you don't have to worry about transporting gold and food constantly throughout the game. The combat is fun as well, if hard and it is satisfying when you actually win a battle. Defeating Gongsun Zan never felt so good!

In summary this game is a great game despite its difficulty and hardcore nature but I still prefer 7 and 8. It's the most realistic strategy game out there. I think I'll subtract one half star for the difficulty, another half star for the barbarians. Can't stand 'em! Can't stand 'em!