is a series of strategy games for the Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

. The titles are set in the same time-period as several of Koei's other series, including the action-oriented Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors

is a series of tactical action video games created by Omega Force and Koei. The award-winning series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, based loosely around the Chinese classical novel of the same name. The first game titled Dynasty Warriors,...

series and the strategy Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. Dynasty Tactics allows players to play as Liu Bei

Liu Bei

Liu Bei , also known as Liu Xuande, was a warlord, military general and later the founding emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history...

, Cao Cao

Cao Cao

Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...

 and Sun Ce

Sun Ce

Sun Ce was a military general and warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was the oldest of the children of Sun Jian who was killed during the Battle of Xiangyang when Sun Ce was only 16. Sun Ce then broke away from his father's overlord, Yuan Shu, and headed to...

, while Dynasty Tactics 2 adds Lü Bu

Lü Bu

Lü Bu was a military general and later a minor warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, Lü Bu was highly-skilled in horse-riding and archery, and was thus nicknamed "Flying General"...

 as an unlockable playable character.

Overview

The series is set in China, during the Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms

The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...

 period. Players take command of one of the three kingdoms and its leaders in a quest to unite all of China under a single ruler. Individual scenarios, with objectives such as conquering certain cities or capitals, are strung together to form a longer campaign (one for each kingdom). In most cases, any generals (and their associated experience levels) acquired during a previous scenario/mission can be carried forward to the next.

Each turn, players plan the moves for multiple units (armies) between locations on the larger strategic map. Players may also use generals to attempt to recruit unaligned generals or to attempt covert operations. During the resolution phase of the turn, any units coming in contact with enemy forces initiate a smaller tactical battle, consisting of some number of friendly and enemy generals, each in command of thousands of troops. Combat typically proceeds until one side has been eliminated, although enemy generals usually slip away when their unit is destroyed, rather than being killed.

With the exception of basic supply line management (i.e. troops caught behind enemy lines cannot replace casualties), the titles contain no additional resource management, research, or city building aspects.

Combat

The bulk of the gameplay revolves around the tactical battles between armies. Each general in an army heads up a number of troops, initially equal in number to a thousand times his or her experience level. Troop types can be adjusted during the strategic planning phase, but each unit consists of a single troop type, such as infantry, cavalry or archers. Units also possess a morale value, which can positively or negatively affect their performance.

Generals (and their troops) move individually according to a fixed order, rather than moving as an entire side at once. Once issued, each order or attack is resolved immediately. If a unit is reduced to zero troop strength, it is eliminated from battle. While normal attacks are possible, the majority of attacks in the game are made through the use of tactics.

Each general in the game begins with certain tactics, and can also learn additional tactics. A certain number, based on the level of the general, can be readied for use in battle ahead of time. Once a tactic is used, it normally cannot be used again for the remainder of the battle, although tactics can be restored through various means. Tactics consist of a position and orientation for the initiating unit versus the target unit, as well as an effect. For example, a "Charge" tactic might require that one be next to and facing an enemy unit, and the result might be that, after damage is dealt, the friendly unit moves forward one space while the enemy unit moves backward one space. While the majority of tactics are offensive, some tactics are intended for use on friendly units, for example, to raise the morale of all adjacent units. The effectiveness of a tactic depends on the statistics of the general using it.

When tactics inflict damage, they almost always inflict more damage than a normal attack would. However, in order to increase tactic effectiveness, they can also be chained together. A tactic chain is initiated by using a tactic, and in doing so, causing the pre-condition for the tactic of a nearby friendly general to be fulfilled. Thus, an archer "Volley" tactic might drive an enemy unit backwards into another general who has a ready "Charge", automatically activating this tactic. As the chain increases, the damage done by each tactic also increases. In this way, careful planning can lead to massive amounts of damage being dealt to the opposing force.

Differences between titles

Dynasty Tactics 2 generally expands upon the original Dynasty Tactics, with relatively little of the original game being replaced with entirely new mechanics. Released just a year apart, the graphics are similar between the two titles, although Dynasty Tactics 2 does add Dolby Pro-Logic II

Dolby Pro Logic

Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo was originally developed by Dolby in 1976 for analog cinema sound systems...

audio. Some of the other additions include:

• Additional tactics - The newer title includes roughly twice as many tactics as the original.
• City exploration - When in a city, ability to visit training schools and mystics.
• Evaluation system - Play performance evaluation based on various criteria.

External links

• Sangokushi Senki
• Dynasty Tactics (IGN)
• Dynasty Tactics 2 (IGN)
• Dynasty Tactics (GameSpot)
• Dynasty Tactics 2 (GameSpot)