Anyone here likes three kingdoms saga, the age where china was divided into 3 kingdoms, Shu, Wei and Wu. The chaotic era that inspires many aspect of social, political maneuver and war strategy for generations ahead. I lilke the part where Wu formed alliance with Shu, defended their teritory against invasion of Wei Kingdom, creating the monumental battle of chi bi (red cliff), the same film depicting that battle is "Red Cliff" to be released a 2 part featured films.

Let's discuss it everyone

I like theree kingkom and I played the game. I like Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu. How about you??

GBU

yeah, i'd knew about it since i was a child..my uncle is a budhist, he had so many books of chinesse stories and philosophies, i found "the three kingdom" on his wardrobe..three kingdom also called "Sam Kok" Sam is three, and Kok is Kingdom...
that's so interesting for me..Guan Yu?well, he's a tough guy..i like his character..

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Wow,.. Nice post,...
I know all the history of three kingdom,..
I like the leader style of Cao-Cao,..
Smart n genius,..
But it too long if want to share the story,..
So it's better if we discuss who is the smartest and genius to build a strategi,...

I like CaoCao too, I like kind of character who has high ambition, and ready to do anything for it. Actually the nove Romance of Three Kingdom is not historically accurate, it's a novel so there is many dramatization
BTW I just watch "Red Cliff" today

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I always the fan of guan yu or some people called Koan Kong. I am not a fan of leadership but I always adore someone who is loyal and have a big heart like him.

yeah, cao cao was great yet his army was so huge, and his ambition for ruling China. It's too bad if i'm not mistaken, he always lose when he faced Zhuge Liang. And the new dynasty of China wasn't from his bloodline, instead his primary advisor Sima Yi, his bloodline becaming the new dynasty of China after the Three Kingdoms era.

BTW are any of you ever read the comic (manhua) 'ravages of time', it's about 'Three Kingdoms' too, and it provides a new fresh view point about the era.
Just a review:
[Review] The Ravages of Time (火凤燎原)

The Three Kingdoms Revisited -- in a refreshing manner.

We all made mistakes, some big and some small. Some terrible, and some inconsquential. One of the gravest mistakes of my life was steering clear of 火凤燎原 (The Ravage of Time). If not for the timely introduction to this series by my classmate (Hi Tapwater!), I wouldn't be occupied by it day and night.

(Before going on, let take a stab at translating 火凤燎原. The brute force, inelegant manner of simply rendering each Chinese character to its own word will yield "Fire Phoenix Burning the Plains". For simplicty's sake, I just stick to "Fire Phoenix".)

When it comes to Chinese games, no other setting, no other novel, no other materials, have been reused over and over again when compared to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The ideas, characters and events of this novel have been recycled, repackaged, retold and reiterate in countless games and in one too-long and poorly-acted Chinese serial. The other contender is of course Jin Yong's novels -- only second behind in the numbers of games based on them.

Though Romance is a good and timeless story, eternally relevant and exciting, the games did not do much to go beyond the usual interperations. Take for example, Koei has done 11 games on Romance, and each time the characters look more or less the same. That goes even for other Chinese games based on Romance. Liu Bei is usually the good but blur person, Zhuge Liang is a strategist with peerless foresight and Zhang Fei is always drunk and ocassionally dumb.

One of my friends told me that it is hard to design character concepts for a Romance games because the characters have been pigeon-holed. Guan Yu = Long Beard, Green Robes, and that Crescent Dragon saber of his. Zhang Fei = Stubby Beard, Snake-headed Spear, Dumb and Drunk Guy who only knows two things -- drinking and killing.

I was inclined to agree with him till I bump into 火凤燎原.

By the time I read the series, Fire Phoenix was already into its 17th volume. Within a span of three months, I spent over $50 and devoured what took the author 3 years to put out, and was left craving for more.

Why is that so? For despite being someone who have read the original Romance over and over again, I was still caught totally off-guard by the plot twists. Chen Mou (the author) has introduced a fresh new view into Romance. Instead of adopting the usually impersonal tone adopted by Luo Guangzhong, the comics zoomed into the details.

Picture this scene. Two armies drawn up facing each other. One side flies the flag of the House of the Liu. The other formation was headed by Ji Ling, whose master Yuan Shu had just declared himself Emperor. Ji Ling rode forward, and shouted, "You ignorant and baseless people! Open your eyes and see; the Han Dynasty has ended. Why persist in fighting?"

In the good-old fashioned Romance, Liu Bei would have ride forward and partake in this meldoramatic exchange. Indeed, Dynasty Warriors' cutscene are full of such weightly, dramatic exchanges, usually occupied with sweeps of arms and weapons.

But in Fire Phoenix, Liu Bei just told Guan Yu, "It's always like this; that same old line again. And me giving that same old reply."

Guan Yu looked foward, and answered, "Then let me simplify it for you then!" and charged forward.

Beside the details, Chen Mou gave a radical make-over to many of the well-known characters. Not what Koei has done to poor Zhang He -- who literally became a transexual in their Dynasty Warrior games. For instance, Zhang Fei does not have a beard. Nor is he dumb. According to latest historical research, Zhang Fei might have been a good tactican and an artist as well! And in the comics, he's a cunning tactican who has the unique ability to mimick the handwriting of anybody. What he used for ability for we leave it to the aspiring reader to find out.

Besides that Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Guan Yu, Pang Tong and especially Dong Zhuo are given a much-needed facelift. In order not to spoil anything, let just leave it to that Lu Bu survived mainly not because of his brawn, but because of his wits too.

All sort of non-entities in the original story (and in most games) are elevated too. The comics introduced the Eight Engimas, all of them gifted strategists and advisors. Among them numbered Guo Jia and Xun Yu. Poor Xun Yu, in the original novel, usually is delegated to the role of giving Cao Cao golf claps when the latter said something brillant. In the comic, you got the sense of OMG, this guy is smart!

One of the inherent problem with Romance is the large number of characters, but the comics did a great job with it. Almost all the characters which appeared have an unique appearance. Each of them has their own 'style' as well, especially for the Eight Engimas. For instace, Jia Xu is known as the "King of Formations"; Guo Jia has the interesting nickname of "King of Last Resort". Generals, likewise, has titles too -- Xiahou Dun was known as the "One Who Kills from a Thousand Li".

Yet another achievement of the comics is how it tie in three seperate storylines. In the novel, the narrative was split between the fortunes of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and the Sun family (more or less, but there are some exceptions). One way which the comics achieved is to have that darn Sima Yi turns up (almost) everywhere.

What is unusual is that Sima Yi played somewhat of the role of anti-hero in the comics. He's the boss of a powerful merchant family and an assassination group. He's involved when Dong Zhuo took over the capital. He had a hand in overthrowing Dong Zhuo. He's there when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou. In an indirect manner, he helped Sun Ce to conquer Jiangdong. Almost every events involved an appearance of Sima Yi or his trusty assassination group.

Talking about events, the comics take liberity with the details of each battle, but the events do happen in their timeline -- so no such nonsense like Zhang Jiao coming back from the dead. But the devil is in how the events happen. Yes, Dong Zhuo in the end was killed by Lu Bu; but it looked impossible when you read the comics. Yes, Liu Bei did take over Xuzhou, but in a way you would never have guessed. If you are a Romance buff, you will know what are the next main event which is going to happen, but you be hard-pressed to figure out how.

This is because the comics delve a lot into tactis and counter-tactics. There are strategies, then there are counter-strategies, then are there counter-counter-strategies. The tactical feints and manuevering are intensely real -- there's almost none deus ex-machina situations. If the tide of the battle does change, it changes because of something real, or soemthing mentioned in the previous chapters. And it's a heavenly thanks goodness that the tactics are usually grounded in reality. There's no magic, no saints wandering the world and or such things. And usually when a strategy is revealed, you get the feeling of "OMG< they are so smart!"

posted by Extrakun at 9:51 AM | 1 comments

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it's not based on history isn't it? I've read a japanese manga in a weekly magazine, I forgot who's the hero name, Shiro or something. I don't like it at all, it was very absurd and messed the whole dramatic history.

Actually it's based on history, just creating another viewpoints, like ZhangFei is not dumb, so is LuBU, and the ChanMou (man who make this comic) have good excuse with it, like actually in the real history (not novel) ZhangFei is not depict as dumb, but he is a scholar who is good at caligraphy and painting. They don't messed with important fact like the death of characters. It's more like a secret history of Three Kingdoms, sort like conspiracy theories.

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Wew no ones talk about Lu Bu.. Honestly i know this story which its famous called "Sam Kok" in my family, is from comics n game. I have played all RTK series n Dinasty Warior, but its make me more interesting.. And for me the great warior is Lu BU.. N if we talk about 3 kingdom, i like Liu Bei because.. hemmm.. i can feel his charisma, that make anyone veru loyal to him like Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Zhang fei.. Like at its fil Red Cliff .. I cant wait fo part 2 of this film.. But must wait until January 2009 T_T

Lu Bu, considered the mightiest warrior among all heroes of Sam Kok. that's bad he died in vain.
He always rides the fastest horse in the legend rite?