Romance of the Three Kingdoms III: Dragon of Destiny is the third game in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series of turn-based strategy games produced by Koei based upon the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This version was released in Japan and North America for the PC, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Genesis.
Gameplay[ | ]
Upon starting the game, players choose from one of six scenarios that determine the initial layout of power in ancient China. The scenarios loosely depict allegiances and warlord holdings in the novel, although gameplay does not follow events after the game begins:
- Dong Zhuo's rivals unite (189 A.D.)
- The chaotic era begins (194 A.D.)
- Cao Cao's power expands (201 A.D.)
- Zhuge Liang plots strategy (208 A.D.)
- Liu Bei builds Shu kingdom (221 A.D.)
- Three kingdoms fight decay (235 A.D.)
The PC-Engine CD-ROM² version includes an additional scenario:
- (184 A.D.)
After choosing the scenario, players determine which warlord(s) they will control. Custom characters may be inserted into territories unoccupied by other forces, as well. A total of 41 different provinces exist, as well as hundreds of unique characters. Each character has several statistics (War ability, Intelligence, Politics, Army Command, Naval Command, Charisma), which range from 1 to 100.
The goal of the game is to conquer China. This is accomplished by holding every province on the map.