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[nenjin]

I believe it has. People were just talking about it at work.

And I'd say Romance of the Three Kingdoms (and there are a lot of them at this point, for various consoles and such) doesn't really scratch the itch. KoDP is a narrative-driven, multiple choice format management game. Rot3K is basically a 4x game, for lack of a better term. It's got battles. It's got province management. It's got diplomacy. All in the 4x format. Later games, beyond the Super Nintendo, maybe they've evolved? I haven't played anything in the series in a while.

But what's nice about KoDP is that it's very straightforward, direct, quick. Management is a couple clicks and you're done. Then you're just giving responses/making choices/reacting/gobbling up the delicious lore. Rot3K is neither straightforward (it's a big game with a lot going on), direct (you've got half a dozen things to do in one turn, from recruit troops to fighting battles to promoting staff to managing provinces to spying on your enemies) or quick (all of the above and it turns just get longer as you go, like a 4x game.)

[sambojin]

Yeah, but it was all I could think of that's vaguely similar. I also do notice the irony of me semi-defending Arcen Games and then immediately suggesting something by a developer that specializes in shovel-ware sequels :-)

If you don't mind an absolute snail's pace, Battlemaster has a single character but MMO feeling like that, at the grand pace of two turns a day (but most things you do are messaging and RPing your character). There was a slightly active community on bay12 a fair while ago, but I don't know if anyone's playing it these days. Free to play, with more character slots available with subscription ($1 a week from memory), but you don't really need them.

Battlemaster link:
 http://battlemaster.org/

[EuchreJack]

And I'd say Romance of the Three Kingdoms (and there are a lot of them at this point, for various consoles and such) doesn't really scratch the itch. KoDP is a narrative-driven, multiple choice format management game. Rot3K is basically a 4x game, for lack of a better term. It's got battles. It's got province management. It's got diplomacy. All in the 4x format. Later games, beyond the Super Nintendo, maybe they've evolved? I haven't played anything in the series in a while.

Depends which one you're talking about.  Most aren't similar at all, but Six and Eight have several cinematic scenes that tend to run and change things (with cute, albeit bad, scenes).  Eight especially has a narrator character than comes along if you're all alone and asks you what you want to do.  And if you're an officer for someone else, you might have your ruler take you under his wing and ask you to improve yourself in exchange for a promotion.  The PC version of Eight even allowed the character to birth and raise their own child based on an event system.

Probably the area where I'd see ROTK and KoDP is the growth and reliance on others: ROTK in officers (especially Six and it's duel skill system, a travesty that even Ten wasn't as good) and KoDP in the ring members.

Country management is the area where they differ the most.  Try to treat people in KoDP like you do in ROTK and your tribesfolk will leave you to die...

[thepodger]

If you haven't played it yet, Darklands puts out similar vibes as KoDP.  Very heavy and arcane statistic personalities that influence the results of an insanely  complex simulation engine resulting in very personal narratives for your party.

[moocowmoo]

PTW... KoDP is such a quirky game.

[MoLAoS]

I think a major issue with kodp is that it has rather unique lore. You just can't get that feel from medieval games, their background just cries out for 4x or tbs. The populations are too large for kodp gameplay.

Probably most of KoDPs charm is in how fresh and non-serious the lore is.

[thepodger]

Or how deadly serious it is about its nonseriousness.

[nenjin]

I think a major issue with kodp is that it has rather unique lore. You just can't get that feel from medieval games, their background just cries out for 4x or tbs. The populations are too large for kodp gameplay.

Probably most of KoDPs charm is in how fresh and non-serious the lore is.

We playing the same game? I think KoDP's lore is about as serious it gets. There are moments of levity, but once you start undertaking the Tribal Quests and get into the lore.....it's all pretty serious, and grim stuff. Plus KoDP really embraces the concept of the mythic cycle, just like primitive cultures do, where you're not just re-enacting parts of your heritage, you're reliving them for the sake of your people.

I dunno. "Not serious" is just not a descriptor I would have ever stuck next to KoDP. It takes its lore more serious than most games, to the level of Elder Scrolls. And in some cases, the low-tech delivery of it only makes it stronger.

[EuchreJack]

I think a major issue with kodp is that it has rather unique lore. You just can't get that feel from medieval games, their background just cries out for 4x or tbs. The populations are too large for kodp gameplay.

Probably most of KoDPs charm is in how fresh and non-serious the lore is.

We playing the same game? I think KoDP's lore is about as serious it gets. There are moments of levity, but once you start undertaking the Tribal Quests and get into the lore.....it's all pretty serious, and grim stuff. Plus KoDP really embraces the concept of the mythic cycle, just like primitive cultures do, where you're not just re-enacting parts of your heritage, you're reliving them for the sake of your people.

I dunno. "Not serious" is just not a descriptor I would have ever stuck next to KoDP. It takes its lore more serious than most games, to the level of Elder Scrolls. And in some cases, the low-tech delivery of it only makes it stronger.

Could be referring to tricksters. 

Or how deadly serious it is about its nonseriousness.

Yup, when you're trickster dies in a duel versus an offended party, or those cattle you punished your trickster for trying to give away burst into abominations, it gets serious again.

And I agree that nothing makes the lore seem more serious then when you fail a Hero Quest.  Drought, maps destroyed, people die, the lore is deadly serious.

[thepodger]

I think he meant that its not stodgy Tolkienesque high fantasy nonsense.  It's folk mythic, which incorporates a lot more just downright strange or ridiculous elements (doom ducks, choas cows,) if not outright bawdy body humor (how many events include farting, vomiting, drinking, belching, drinking, eating, drinking, or drinking more?).
It's Rabelais vs. Milton.  Both are completely earnest.

[nenjin]

I think he meant that its not stodgy Tolkienesque high fantasy nonsense.  It's folk mythic, which incorporates a lot more just downright strange or ridiculous elements if not outright bawdy body humor.
Rabelais vs. Milton.

Ah, I'm with it now. I don't know if I'd go that far but yeah, that's why it stands out so much. If you subtract out the mention of Duck Men and other fantasy elements, it's sometimes easy to forget it's a fantasy setting.

[Schaep]

A game I haven't seen here yet is 7 grand steps, part board game part text adventure. It's not as good as and even more repetitive than KoDP but it manages to scratch a similar itch. Worth a shot, there's definitely a good 10-20 hours of fun to be had exploring all the different text lines, spanning ages and social classes, before the repetitiveness wears you down.

[woosholay]

KoDP devs are making another game, 'spiritual successor' of sorts http://sixages.com/

Perhaps it deserves its own thread, but there's not much to talk about just yet. http://sixages.blogspot.cz/ - dev blog

[Mephansteras]

Huh, that is good news!