I’m showing my age again to some of you young bucks, but when I mention my favorite classic RPGs, this one probably elicits the most blank stares. Destiny of an Emperor was released by Capcom way back in 1990 for the NES, and was a fairly typical JRPG. There were a few key differences, and those differences are what make the game one of my all-time favorites.
HISTORY! Sort of.
The game is set roughly in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, which many of you will be familar with from the Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. DoaE takes even more liberties with that history, having the game star Oath Brothers Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu in a struggle to save their village, then eventually save all of China. Instead of hit points, you have soldiers. This is an interesting change as how much damage you do to the enemy armies can vary based on how many of your troops are left. Tactics replace magic in much the same way.
You dare defy me?!
The gameplay is your typical exploration + random fights, sort of a mix of Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, though there’s a twist – you encounter enemy generals in those random battles, and you can recruit them! Your lineup typically includes 5 generals, with one in reserve, and one tactician. Most of them are generic dudes, though, with random looking portraits. You can tell the badasses when you spot a unique portrait. As you advance through the game, only the best generals keep gaining soldiers (the Five Tiger Generals, their sons, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei). So while there may be times you are better served with other guys, they are your go-to crew. The story is interesting, with a few translation ‘quirks’. Visually it’s about what you expect for a NES RPG of the time period. The music is solid and did not bother me while playing.
I have good memories of this game, and it holds up well on replay. I can still feel the tension of the final battle against Si Ma Yi, which took me several tries and I still just barely won. It felt like a huge accomplishment. Hey, what can I say, I’m a big nerd. You are probably going to have to play it via emulation, if you want to give it a try, hit me up on Twitter if you need help. Enjoy it, won’t you?
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