''Martial Kingdoms'' () is a 2003 Taiwanese

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

strategy video game developed by T-Time Technology.Products page of T-Time website
The plot is based on ''

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

'' novels and set in the '' wulin'' (martial artists' community) of 16th-century China. It has a sequel, ''Martial Kingdoms 2'', which was released in 2007.

Gameplay

The player chooses one from 13 martial arts sects to play as, and must conquer the other sects to rule the '' wulin'' (martial artists' community) and win the game. At the start of the game, each sect controls at least one base out of 20, all located on a map of China. A sect is conquered when it loses all its bases or when its leader is killed. There are different ways for a sect to increase its strength and power: * Recruiting and training new members * Taking control of unoccupied bases or conquering bases controlled by other sects, so as to acquire more resources such as gold, wood and iron ore. * Upgrading its factories to produce weapons, equipment and medicine of better quality * Discovering and learning more powerful skills through studying and gaining experience from battles * Forming alliances with other sects * Attracting special characters (seven in total) to join the sect The player can manage the sect members and arrange their daily schedules to determine how much time each member spends on a certain task (e.g. collecting resources, making items, training) and what skill the member will be learning.

Plot

The game is set in 16th-century China during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. Deceived by the corrupt

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Yan Song Yan Song (; 1480–1567), courtesy name Weizhong (惟中), pseudonym Jiexi (介溪), was a Chinese politician and regent of the Ming dynasty. He was notorious for being corrupt and for dominating the Ming government for two decades as Grand Sec ...

, the emperor fears that the martial artists' community will pose a threat to him. He sends the

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

to stir up conflict among the various sects in the hope that they will destroy each other. There are four storylines that the player can choose from. In each storyline, the number of bases occupied by each sect at the beginning is different and some sects appear only in certain storylines. The player also has the option to create and play as a new sect. The 20 bases are: * Qilian Mountains *

Mount Hua Mount Hua () is a mountain located near the city of Huayin in Shaanxi Province, about east of Xi'an. It is the "Western Mountain" of the Five Great Mountains of China and has a long history of religious significance. Originally classified as ...

* Mount Heng * Shuntian Prefecture * Changbai Mountains *

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the '' Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

* Mount Song * Wudang Mountains *

Yingtian Prefecture Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Mount Emei Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...

* Wu Mountains *

Dongting Lake Dongting Lake () is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the lak ...

Huangshan Huangshan (),Bernstein, pp. 125–127. literally meaning the Yellow Mountain(s), is a mountain range in southern Anhui Province in eastern China. It was originally called “Yishan”, and it was renamed because of a legend that Emperor Xuanyu ...

Tiantai Mountain Tiantai Mountain (also Tí Taî in the local language) is a list of mountains in China, mountain in Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Province, China. Its highest peak, Huading, reaches a height of . The mountain w ...

* Wuyi Mountains *

Lingnan Lingnan (; Vietnamese: Lĩnh Nam) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as modern northe ...

* Liuzhou * Jiaozhou * Dian Lake *

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

The 12 default sects featured in the game are: * Demonic Cult () *

Beggars' Sect The Beggars' Sect is a fictional martial arts sect featured prominently in works of ''wuxia'' fiction by writers such as Jin Yong, Gu Long and Wolong Sheng. The sect has also found its way into martial arts films such as ''King of Beggars''. The s ...

() *

Shaolin Monastery Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...

() * Wudang Sect () * Emei Sect (), *

Mount Hua Sect The Mount Hua Sect, also known as the Huashan Sect, is a fictional martial arts sect mentioned in several works of ''wuxia'' fiction. It is commonly featured as one of the leading orthodox sects in the '' wulin'' (martial artists' community). It ...

() *

Mount Wu Wu Gorge (), sometimes called Great Gorge (), is the second gorge of the Three Gorges system on the Yangtze River, People's Republic of China. Formed by the Wu River (Yangtze River), Wu River, it stretches from Wushan County, Chongqing, Wushan ...

Sect () *

Dongting Dongting Lake () is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the la ...

Sect () * Taiyi Cult () * Baoxiang Monastery () * Heroes Sect () * Shennong Sect ()

References

External links

* {{in lang, zh}
''Martial Kingdoms'' official website
2003 video games Video games set in the Ming dynasty Video games set in the 16th century Chinese-language-only video games Video games developed in Taiwan Windows games Windows-only games Wuxia video games Single-player video games

Gameplay

Plot

See also

References

External links