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Only people who use their heads need apply!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: April 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Enjoy Chess? You might like this game.
Enjoy planning and deciding on strategy? You might like this game.
Only want mindless slaughter that requires little to no thought? STAY - AWAY - FROM - THIS - GAME. This game is NOT Dynasty Warriors 3 or 4. This game is all about the tactics. Hence the name: Dynasty TACTICS.

You are a warlord in ancient China. You want to conquer China. Enemy warlords stand in your way. What do you do? CRUSH THEM UNDERFOOT LIKE THE DOGS THEY ARE, of course.

You organize armies made up of various generals who command troops. Each general's troops are like their hitpoints: once the troops are all gone, the general is defeated and limps off home, to organize more troops (recover HP) so that you can send them off to battle again.

You then send your armies made up of generals and their troops to various parts of China in order to complete objectives (that the game sets for you, unfortunately). When your armies meet enemy armies, BAM, a battle begins.

Battles consist of your generals (and their troops/hitpoints) facing off against enemy generals (w/ troops/hitpoints). The battlefield is a map divided up into a grid pattern. Depending on the types of units your generals command (which you can change only outside of battle) the units can only move so fast across certain kinds of terrain, certain units are better at attacking other types of units, (cavalry is strong against archers, but weak against pikemen, for example).

The meat of the battles is Tactics, though. No, not tactics, but Tactics. With a capital T. Tactics are special "moves" that each general knows. Rather than simply flat out attacking, Tactics allow you to attack, defend, move about the field, etc. much more powerfully and effectively. Its hard to explain, but....for example: Flank is a tactic that can only be used when your unit faces the side of an enemy unit, it damages the enemy unit, and forces the enemy unit forward one square. THEN, for example, you could have several units surrounding the square where the enemy arrives after being flanked, ready to execute even more tactics, like Pincer, Aid, Charge, Raid, etc. Tactics executed consecutively, which is to say one after another automatically, do more damage to the enemy.

The best way to beat the enemy and win the battle is to take out all their generals with chain-reaction tactics. Do something to one enemy unit that causes them to move where you want, right into an Ambush, a Fire Attack, a Volley attack, whatever, that causes them to move yet again into ANOTHER Ambush, maybe a Raid attack, a Charge attack, whatever. Simply Attacking is no good - it doesnt do enough damage, and leaves you open to enemy Tactics (the computer can do some mean combos).

In order to fully enjoy the game, hell, to even SURVIVE the battles to the end, you really, really, really, REALLY need to think. You need to plan. You need to strategize, conceptualize, prioritize, ponder, put on your thinking cap, deduce your enemy's plan, come up with your own, and TROUNCE the enemy, grind them under your heel with superior force, strategy, and tactics.

If you get stuck in this game, you can't just fight random battles until your characters get enough experience and levels to beat the Boss. This isn't your kiddy RPG. This game is TOUGH, and will eat you alive unless you use your head. But its FUN. I've spent many an hour grappling with the computer-controlled generals, struggling to win the battle. And, because its so difficult, when you DO win, its MUCH more satisfying than a lot of other games I could mention.

Like the title says: Only people who use their heads need apply.

Give this game some love!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have now run through KOEI's new "Dynasty Tactics" twice, and I can honestly say that this is the most solid offering the ALWAYS solid KOEI has ever delivered. As everyone (at least that is reading this review!) knows, KOEI is the maker of the fantastic RTK series, as well as the Dynasty Warriors games. Although the title of this closely resembles Dynasty Warriors, that is where the similarities end.
You have the option of playing the game as either Liu Bei, Cao Cao or Sun Ce, so from the beginning, you have three entirely separate gameplay options. Your goal in each case is to unify China through a series of Ogre Battle-like scenarios. The battles themselves are great fun, relying on so-called tactics to defeat your enemies. Although the ins and outs of this tactics system are difficult to explain here, in short, a player must use his brain to develop strategy in order to chain these tactics together for devastating combos.
This in itself would make for a great game, but the REAL surprise is after you beat one of the scenarios. Then you may view a history screen which shows all of the movies you unlocked during the game. The kicker, you say? You will have only unlocked about a sixth of all of the possible options! That's right; you have three scenarios to begin with, and each scenario has five or six different endings, which may be reached through fifteen or so different paths. KOEI, you have outdone yourself.
Again, this game is not for everyone: those expecting Dynasty Warriors, or ever RTK, will be disappointed. However, if you are a player who enjoyed Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, or the like, you are in for a real treat here!

Chinese Version of Final Fantasy Tactics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: September 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you like tactical RPG type of games like Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Vandal Hearts, and so forth, PLUS you like Chinese themed games, you will LOVE this one. Basically, you can choose to be either Liu Bei, Cao Cao, or Sun Ce. I wonder why Sun Ce, since technically the Three Kingdoms period do not begin until Sun Quan became king of the Wu Kingdom. Nevertheless, you get to strategically manuever your units on the battlefields by moving them through boxed grids. You could build numerous combos, and if you can build them in consecutive orders successfully, the opponent unit will take more damages and you may recover your special attack (called tactics in the game, hence the name "Dynasty Tactics").
If you are a fan of Dynasty Warriors but you do not like tactical games like Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc, you may lose patience on this game since in this game you have to plan your moves carefully.
Overall, a really great game with really cool graphics and strategy elements!

Solid, but repetitive

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: October 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Like the various iterations of the Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, this game is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story. Game mechanics-wise, however, this title bears little similarity to those other games. I can't think of a game that's remotely like this one. Ostensibly a tactical game (like Final Fantasy Tactics), your main goal in each battle is to position your troops in such a fashion as to unleash a successive number of special moves (tactics) on one or more opposing units.

The game requires a certain degree of patience to play effectively, and is probably not for more action-oriented gamers. For those who aren't bored by this type of game, there's a fair amount of replay potential thanks to the scenario system (somewhat similar to Onimusha 2). Each kingdom (Wu, Shu, and Wei) has 4 different scenario endings, which can vary greatly in terms of how much of China you end up with. However, battles can be repetitive, as they only really differ by terrain and the generals involved. Also, although not strictly necessary, trying to recruit as many generals as possible through the use of diplomats also tends to really slow down the game.

Overall, KOEI has developed a solid and relatively unique game which can use a little more variety during battles, and a little less trying to send diplomats all over China to recruit new generals. Hopefully some of these annoyances will be addressed in Dynasty Tactics 2.

It finally came to the US...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I first played this game while I was in Japan during the summer, and I totally fell in love with it. It's just about the same thing as Dynasty Warriors, because it's also made by Koei (yey ^^) and so it stars all the characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms! But it's kind of a mix between Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle. It has a fun plot and great gameplay. And did I mention the awesome graphics?

good strategy game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I would give this game 4.5 stars if I could. Overall, the game is pretty good. The strategy in Dynasty Tactics is much different from the strategy in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. Although this game is turned based it plays much faster than most turned based games. It is definately possible for battles to be won in one round. The strategy system can be complicated, but is made very simple by the user-friendly control menus. The graphics during the battles and cut scenes are excellent. The game allows you to use different rulers with each having multiple endings which makes for good replay. What this game is missing that Romance of the Three Kingdoms had is diplomatic strategy. Most of the strategy in this game is confined to the battlefield. The artifical intelligence is also lacking which doesn't make this game very challenging. This game is a blend between strategy and faster game play. Strategy purest might consider this game really simple. Gamers that are looking for the hack and slash action seen in the Dynasty Warrior 3 will probably consider this game too slow. Those who are fans of the story and like strategy, but aren't the most patient might like the faster game play.

Impossible to tell on this little bar that they gave me.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 18
Date: August 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Like the title said, it is that good. I have not played the full game, but went to e3, and that was the only screen I stared at for the whole convention. The title says it all. Tactics, must be used or you will surely fail. The way I might be able to give you a visual clue is if you think of the battle screen in the ROTTK games. But, the great thing is that it is totally 3D, and the graphics are on the same limb as Final fantasy ( and im talkin about the movie sceens baby) From what data I have gathered on the game, Koei opebed one whole shipment of whoop-ass on this game. Count on some editing of this review to give you more details. And to al those Koei lovers, I solute you.

Wow. What a terrible game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: March 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Okay. So I read the reviews here on Amazon, and I decided I would pick up this game for two reasons. One, I am really big on DW3 these days. Two, I am also very HUGE on games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle 64, both of which were compared to DWT in these Amazon reviews.

TO EVERYONE READING WHO IS THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS GAME: Dynasty Tactics bears little resemblance to EITHER Dynasty Warriors 3 OR Final Fantasy Tactics/Ogre Battle.

Dynasty Tactics is much slower paced than either FFT or OB, and it lacks the personality that made those games so easy to get into. Dynasty Tactics also plays out on a much larger scale, and there is this remarkable detachment that you feel from your characters in the game. In FFT and OB you managed armies of units, but each unit was a person that was tangible and that you could manipulate. DT is more like Civilization, except the units are named for their leaders (familiar names like Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and et cetera) and they gain levels. Civilization is actually a much more apt comparison when talking about DT; DT has more in common with Civ than with FFT/OB.

I didn't give this game much of a chance once I bought it; I sat through the intro and the first few battles and was utterly repulsed. It struck me as so not worth my time to even try learning how to play (the system of tactics and skills is rather convoluted and not very friendly to newcomers). In short, Dynasty Tactics is by far outshined by the games it's being compared to by its other reviewers: Dynasty Warriors 3, Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle 64. My advice: rent this game first. If you like it, good for you; if not, check out one of the other games mentioned above (three different games from two different genres, but all well worth the money spent).

An excellent strategy game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a great strategy game. Of course I've always liked strategy games so my opinion may be somewhat suspect. My favorite strategy games are the Romance of the three kingdoms series. This game is more like that than Dynaty warriors although it is exceedingly less detailed. You might think of Dynasty tactics as Romance of the three kingdoms lite. The emphasis is on combat as opposed to the other games which considered things like politics and civil affairs(though to be honest the whole reason I played those games was for the combat anyway) Combat is simple to learn, thanks to the tutorial but hard to master. It took me at least three times through the game before I felt I had learned all the nuances. For example, the ability to send spies onto thefield of battle to assist your army was a recent discovery. Granted, I could have learned that from reading the instruction manual but I don't read instruction manuals. That's just the way I am.
Probably my favorite part of the game is the multiple storylines. It gives you a reason to go back and play the game over again to see how many different endings you can unlock. The RPG elements of the game aren't as developed as the romance series obviously. There are only three stats. Strength, leadership and intelligence. Your characters attributes increase depending on what unit they are commanding. Brigadiers increase strength, Builders increase intelligence, etc. etc.
The graphics are good but are oviously not as good as some games. The on field characters could look better. Instead of seeing your characters the guys on the battlefield are a bunch of generic looking soldiers. True, they probably couldn't animate every individual officer but they could have at least done the main players right. (Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun ce) but that's a minor gripe.
I haven't described much of the actual gameplay but needless to say their is a lot of intricate detail into pulling off the best tactics. You can read some of the other reviews and you'll figure it out.
Another thing, this game is long, especially if you plan on playing as Cao Cao. It took me thirty some hours to beat it one time. Liu Bei and Sun Quan don't take quite as long but are harder to play since they don't have quite as many armies. Liu Bei in particular has some hard levels. That's another thing. This game is difficult. But rewarding. At any rate, if you like strategy games like me then you might like this game. Just don't expect it to be anything like Dynasty warriors. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go delver a much needed beat down to Sun Ce. That punk. I hate him so much.

Dynasty Tactics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Best game I've ever played. I love this game it makes you feel like all of China depends on you. I enjoy the strategy and the several different endings. Once you figure out the combo's it's just a matter of time before you occupy all of China.
I can't waite for #2 to come out and start all over again.
If you are going to buy any game I would buy Tactics 1&2.
It's way better than Romance of the three Kingdoms 7&8.

BUY THIS GAME.

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