Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV Gets New Trailers, Video, and Gameplay Details

Today Koei Tecmo released three videos and new information about its strategy simulation game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV.

The first video comes from the Japanese side of the publisher, and it’s the launch trailer since the game just released in Japan.

It features the theme song and a look at the extensive cast of heroes and officers.

The second is a new trailer in English focusing on the features of the game and showing quite a bit of gameplay.

The third is a developer diary video starring producer Kazuhiro Echigoya as he talks about characters and their traits.

The accompanying press release also provides more insight on diplomacy.

“In RTK14, it’s important to have a large number of forces surrounding you, and actively pursuing relations with allies and the opposition is required to succeed in battle.

‘Goodwill’ with another army can be improved through gifts such as gold, supplies, or specialty goods — and as goodwill increases, relations will improve with a possibility of forming an alliance. Forming an alliance prevents the player from attacking their new partners or conquering their territory, but at the same time allows them to maintain their supply lines while passing through ally territory.

As the bond between the forces deepen, players can even request their ally to attack an opponent to help improve any dire situation. If an alliance isn’t working, or no longer useful, it can be annulled allowing the forces to be separated. 
 
Additionally, players can take advantage of ally units by using ‘Plots’. As the game progresses, this becomes a key way to weaken an enemy force. 

RTK14 offers players a total of five types of schemes: Hidden Poison, Estrange, Placation, Unattended Home and Dual Destruction – allowing different strategies to be used depending on the situation at hand. Hidden Poison lowers the development and public order of the targeted Force, and can cause bandits from foreign tribes to appear. Estrange lowers the loyalty of the target officer through bad rumors about their ruler.

Placation targets the people of free areas, or areas under the control of other forces, in order to gain control of the area core. Unattended Home incites a viceroy or governor into leaving their current Force and going it along. Finally, Dual Destruction spreads damaging rumors about one Force within the territory of another.

The success of any of these schemes can have a massive impact on the overall battle situation, though failure can cause relations with the affected force to grow considerably worse.

Increasing relations with foreign units is also important as only non-enemy units can be forced to surrender. Using the ‘Foreign’ function, players can request the return of captured officers as well as use the Order Surrender command. Careful planning and preparation are required to ensure that a surrender is successful.”

Romance of The Three Kingdoms XIV will be released in North America and Europe on February 28, 2020 for PS4 and PC.

If you want to learn more, you can also check out the first video of the developer diary series featuring Kou Shibusawa himself, alongside more screenshots and details, another video which explains how the game lets you paint the map to visualize frontlines and supply areas intuitively, the opening cutscene, and plenty of gameplay.