I have well over 200 total hours when taking into account my console play time. I have a lot to say:
First, the positives:
1. The strategy, at it's core, is very solid. The turn-based element works fantastically, and the balancing between officers is unmatched. While some officers (Namely Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Zhang Fei, and others) are substancially better than the average officer, that should be expected. Koei has never shied away from giving the best officers overpowered stats and abilities.
2. Overall, the replay-ability is fantastic. While certain scenarios get boring after a few in-game years of gameplay (such as the Yellow Turbin Rebellion and similar campaigns), the majority of each scenario is refreshing considering most the officers stay in the same forces with the same stats barring deaths. Each scenario offers something pretty unique in terms of events and forces powers. My personal favorite way to play is to choose Liu Bei on the "Three Visits" campaign, as it offers an extraordinary challenge of fending off Cao Cao's relentless assault whilst trying to hire Zhuge Liong.
3. *DLC* Now I wish Koei made at least 50% of this DLC free, as the base game without it is pretty jarring in comparison. In actuality, I don't recommend purchasing this game if you're not willing to spend another 40$ on the DLC, as things are more limited and the game feels unfinished. Despite the negatives of having to spend nearly 100$ to truly experience ROTK 14, once you DO purchase the DLC, a myriad of new campaigns, officers, scenarios, and even customization options become available, which truly elevates this game.
4. The entire premise of being able to create your own forces (and eventually edit original base-game officers with the DLC) is a truly fantastic idea. I've always had fun creating 10-15 of my own unique officers and scattering them among the cities.
Negatives:
1. The price for the base game is incredibly steep considering how unfinished it feels without the DLC which is expensive on it's own.
2. The balancing of tactics and formations you can send your officers out in is the biggest issue in my opinion. There are tons of formations you can choose to use for your officers in this game. Out of all of them, Fish is the best for hand to hand combat. Goose is the only ranged unit so it automatically gets a good rep, and you can make use of Awl, siege machines, and situationally snake and ring. But here's the issue. You cannot change officer's base loadout of formations. For instance, Gan Ning, one of the best dualists and offensive officers to not have the disadvantage of the reckless trait, is locked to being a situation arrow and snake unit. You cannot give him goose or fish, so his talents feel completely wasted. The same can be said for any other offensive-based officer that lacks either goose or fish formations. The tactics are another issue. Now I personally don't have an issue with Lu Bu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Cao Cao, and others getting really busted abilities. The cooldown isn't too bad, and when playing on extreme mode, it's somewhat unlikely for you to even get the tactics off during a battle. It makes sense that the best officers have the best abilities, but I will say they feel a bit too cheap at times. Lu Bu will be on 500 troops when I have him cornered with well over 10,000 of my own troops, yet he manages a lucky tactic before he dies and takes out my forces with him. I wish I could edit the abilities strength levels. In contrast, there are tons of unique tactics that simply happen to be absolutely terrible. A little more balance would have gone a long way.
Overall though, the positives easily outweigh the negatives.
Game grade without the DLC: 5/10
Game grade WITH DLC: 9/10
