is the second installment in the ''Sangokushi Eiketsuden'' tactical role-playing series developed by
Koei
Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...
.
Story
This release loosely describes the events of Zhuge Liang's life as depicted in
Luo Guanzhong
Luo Ben (c. 1330–1400, or c.1280–1360), better known by his courtesy name Guanzhong (Mandarin pronunciation: ), was a Chinese writer who lived during the Ming dynasty. He was also known by his pseudonym Huhai Sanren (). Luo was attri ...
Unlike its predecessor title, the player's skill and success for each battle are a major factor in determining how ''Sangokushi Kōmeiden'' will end. In addition to having decisions at the beginnings of most stages that affect troop placements for both sides, event triggers, and the items found in armories and granaries, the game also tracks the player's overall record by monitoring the character's physical health and counting the number of times the player has retreated from battle and restarted a level. Taking too many turns to reach a certain point in the story, or restarting battles too many times, will severely affect Zhuge's health and, if he becomes too weak, he will die before the decisive Battle of Wuzhang Plains takes place. However, if the player's skill is adequate, Zhuge Liang will feign death, luring his nemesis,
Sima Yi
Sima Yi ( ; 179 CE – 7 September 251 CE), courtesy name Zhongda, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
He formally began his political career in 208 un ...
, into the open. The game will then continue to the last chapter in a series of final battles against the kingdoms of Cao Wei and
Sun Wu Sun Wu may refer to:
* Sun Wu (), the birth name of Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist of the sixth century BC and the author of ''The Art of War''
* Sun Wu (), an alternative name for Eastern Wu
Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Midd ...
.
Another notable feature in this release is that Zhuge Liang's son, Zhuge Zhan, is a playable character in the final chapter of the game. The player is also able to choose throughout the third and fourth chapters how Zhuge Zhan's character statistics will be allocated whilst he is growing up. The player is then able to determine Zhuge Zhan's unit class before he becomes playable. The
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
,
Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
and Game Boy Advance versions offer additional stages and minor storyline alterations. For example, it is possible in said versions to save Pang Tong, which in turn allows the player the opportunity to rescue Guan Yu. Successfully rescuing Guan Yu will prevent the disastrous Battle of Yiling from ever taking place, thus sparing Shu Han from one of the kingdom's greatest defeats and causing Liu Bei to pass away much later than normal (shortly after Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign, in fact).
The Game Boy Advance version of ''Sangokushi Kōmeiden'' uses character portraits exclusively taken from another title in Koei's Three Kingdoms-based series, '' Dynasty Tactics''.
The PC version is a
Mixed Mode CD A mixed mode CD is a Compact Disc which contains both data and audio in one session. Typically the first track is a data track while the rest are audio tracks. The most common use for mixed mode CDs is to add CD-quality audio to video games on a ...
that combines data tracks onto audio CD. If the CD is not in the CD-ROM drive during gameplay, the game will not have background music.
Koei
Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...