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Thread: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

  1. #1

    Default At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    I've played every TW game since Shogun 1. I was a HUGE Dynasty Warriors fan, and I even spent years playing the old Three Kingdoms Online game which used to be around. I used to spend hours as a child in my garden pretending to be Zhao Yun, throwing a broom around pretending it was my spear. I am a massive fan of the time period.

    However, for some reason, I can't get into this game. I have been looking forward to its release since it was announced.

    I've started a Record campaign as Cao Cao (Never been a fan of one general killing 500 people in a TW game). I'm about 10 hours in to the campaign, and I'm bored. Turning the game on is a chore, and I don't know why. It is really frustrating because I WANT to love this game.

    For me, I just don't really care about the campaign. I play on hard/hard. All my generals are moderately satisfied. I make decent money. There are no huge threats on the map. All I do when a turn starts is build some stuff, maybe equip a new ancillary here or there, nab a trade agreement, move army, end turn. Again, and again.

    I can ignore the spying stuff, and the character relationship stuff completely, and still be successful in the campaign.

    Battles, I literally haven't lost a single battle yet. Not because I am a genius, but all the battles are on my terms. The AI never outmanoeuvres me. On previous TW games on hard, the AI was never quite this passive. The battles themselves are easy and boring, the same 4/5 unit varieties smashing into each other until I flank and win.

    Am I missing something? It certainly isnt an interest in the time period. Does the campaign really heat up later on? Is the Romance version a lot more immersive with characters on the campaign map as well as battles?

    I really want to find a reason to care and enjoy this game. But I just can't.


    Oda, A Rise from the Ashes of Obscurity (S2).


  2. #2

    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    I'm glad I passed on this one!!!

  3. #3

    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    Can't say I relate at all. It's unfortunate that you feel that way and have had a bad experience but I have been loving the game.

  4. #4
    JackDionne's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    It's obvious that we as individuals can only speak for ourselves. For me, 3K is the best TW game I have played to date in the campaign mode, I only play records. The multi-player for battles is no good to me because I don't play the Romance version and no Records mode exist yet for ranked battles.
    3K needs to have an Avatar Campaign!!!

  5. #5
    pajomife's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    This is another fantasy game, that's why,and you like the place and the Era, imagine if you don't.
    I'm just Waiting for Empire 2, and pray for a good old days game.

  6. #6

    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    3K is as boring as hell!!!! Why did i buy this utter poop of a game?

  7. #7
    Irishmafia2020's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    I pre-ordered this game, downloaded it, and have barely 1/2 hour of play time. I just hate TW games that lack unit diversity... maybe mods will improve that particular aspect of the game!

  8. #8
    Jurand of Cracow's Avatar History and gameplay!
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    Quote Originally Posted by NEXUS12 View Post
    Battles, I literally haven't lost a single battle yet. Not because I am a genius, but all the battles are on my terms. The AI never outmanoeuvres me. On previous TW games on hard, the AI was never quite this passive. The battles themselves are easy and boring, the same 4/5 unit varieties smashing into each other until I flank and win.
    The best BAI in the TW game is, currently, imo, the BAI in the DeI mod for Rome 2. It keeps reserves, it doesn't get a bait of fake attack, it uses the terrain features, it keeps the forces together. Especially those reserves on both sides are impressive: unless you've got much more troops you cannot attack a flank as it would smash your attacking forces from behind. It also unables cavalry encircling - again, you'd meet first the spears, not the backs of already fighting.

  9. #9

    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    Quote Originally Posted by NEXUS12 View Post
    I've played every TW game since Shogun 1. I was a HUGE Dynasty Warriors fan, and I even spent years playing the old Three Kingdoms Online game which used to be around. I used to spend hours as a child in my garden pretending to be Zhao Yun, throwing a broom around pretending it was my spear. I am a massive fan of the time period.

    However, for some reason, I can't get into this game. I have been looking forward to its release since it was announced.

    I've started a Record campaign as Cao Cao (Never been a fan of one general killing 500 people in a TW game). I'm about 10 hours in to the campaign, and I'm bored. Turning the game on is a chore, and I don't know why. It is really frustrating because I WANT to love this game.

    For me, I just don't really care about the campaign. I play on hard/hard. All my generals are moderately satisfied. I make decent money. There are no huge threats on the map. All I do when a turn starts is build some stuff, maybe equip a new ancillary here or there, nab a trade agreement, move army, end turn. Again, and again.

    I can ignore the spying stuff, and the character relationship stuff completely, and still be successful in the campaign.

    Battles, I literally haven't lost a single battle yet. Not because I am a genius, but all the battles are on my terms. The AI never outmanoeuvres me. On previous TW games on hard, the AI was never quite this passive. The battles themselves are easy and boring, the same 4/5 unit varieties smashing into each other until I flank and win.

    Am I missing something? It certainly isnt an interest in the time period. Does the campaign really heat up later on? Is the Romance version a lot more immersive with characters on the campaign map as well as battles?

    I really want to find a reason to care and enjoy this game. But I just can't.
    I've held off on trying to reply here for a long time because I wasn't quite sure what the root of your issues was. I put my general thoughts on the game in my review in the Eagle Standard, but I still had difficulty verbalizing a response to your question. After playing the DLC a bit, I think I know my reply though.

    I'll preface this by saying that I mostly play on VH, though my first campaign was just like yours, a Cao Cao H campaign, Records mode. Truth be told, it wasn't too challenging. However, I still had a great time playing it for the most part because I was less focused on "winning" and more about achieving a variety of objectives that just sorta...sprang up along the course of the campaign. It came with a lot of roleplaying, but also just a desire to indulge the game's oddities. I spent a long time trying to build coalitions with people I liked that I probably could've destroyed, refusing to declare war on people who hadn't wronged me, trying to get certain officers to serve me by vassalizing certain rivals so I could annex them, promoting people after victories, and generally trying to craft my ideal state rather than just beating the campaign. I spent a huge amount of time and money just to secure a marriage between Cao Pi and Sun Ren so I could have a Sun sibling grudge match when the inevitable north-south war started. When the realm divide triggered, it was almost on accident as I was trying to settle a feud with Yuan Shao that had been going on ever since he killed Cao Ang's wife. The last war of that campaign ended in something of an anticlimax when Sun Quan outright surrendered to me after a year and only a handful of battles, but I didn't feel robbed because I had spent a couple years before that doing nothing but prepare for the great southern invasion, so it felt good when the game outright acknowledged that it was completely outmatched and threw in the towel. It was like I had done Cao Pi's Red Crow campaign correctly.

    Cao Cao is one of the easiest campaigns (Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shu, and the bandits are much harder), but even with him, I think the answer comes when you start setting your own targets rather than just following the path the game sets out for you. There have often been times when the game mechanics lend me an easy out from a bad situation, but I refused to take it, either because I don't think that's what the character would do or because there's some secondary goal I want for roleplay purposes waiting waiting behind that decision. You don't have to indulge in espionage or guanxi, but I find that a successful mission, a properly balanced court, or settled grudges are a great reward, even if they aren't necessary. They usually make some great stories along the way, especially with the right timing.

    In my current campaign in the DLC, most of the fun comes not from trying to conquer, but by playing Sima Liang, the fourth son of Sima Yi, a veteran statesman, and the rightful regent of the empire who has finally found his courage. I spend my time dispensing of traitors and the empress's minions and try to make the other princes see me as the lawful sovereign. It's something of a "play tall" campaign, with lots of vassalizing and careful diplomacy, where war is a means to get the leverage to forge a particular outcome.

    There are things that this won't fix. Battles aren't going to become more interesting without some major additions and rebalances, and there's still a lack of administrative options. However, to answer your question as a whole, I'd say the campaign picks up when you indulge the game's esoteric and sometimes unnecessary systems to enact great, complex plans for personal reasons. Play it Art of War style.
    My Three Kingdoms Military History Blog / Military Map Project - https://zirroxas.tumblr.com/
    Ask me a question!

  10. #10
    JackDionne's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    Quote Originally Posted by Irishmafia2020 View Post
    I pre-ordered this game, downloaded it, and have barely 1/2 hour of play time. I just hate TW games that lack unit diversity... maybe mods will improve that particular aspect of the game!
    You knew the historical context yet you still ordered?
    3K needs to have an Avatar Campaign!!!

  11. #11
    Irishmafia2020's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: At what point does a 3K campaign get interesting?

    Quote Originally Posted by JackDionne View Post
    You knew the historical context yet you still ordered?
    Yup - I have thousands of hours of playtime on Total War games, easily it is my favorite game franchise! For all that I barely played several of their major titles - Shogun, Attila, and Britannia come to mind. At this point it is worth the risk to buy a title, try it, and then wait to see what the modders do. Rome 1 was amazing with the EB mod, and Rome 2 was rescued from disaster by the DEI mod - which I still play. Empire was amazing (to me) with mods, and Warhammer has been pretty solid as well. Most of those have a differentiation of units in their time period (not so much Empire/Napoleon) but the modders have added so much more that the games will remain on my PC for decades. RTK may prove to be brilliant with mods - it is inevitable that someone who loves the game adds unit packs and maybe revamps the gameplay in such a fashion that might will become an all time favorite. The preorder was worth the gamble for my favorite franchise. I found that 85% of all of my game purchases are wasted, and I only really like 15% or so - but with total war the ratio is more like 60% like, 40% meh. Those are good odds in my book!

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