Total War games have had a brush with technical issues early on in their lifespan. One need only look at Total War: Rome 2 to see how unoptimized it was during launch, or the woes experienced by Total War: Warhammer. So, yes, it pays to be wary when a new title comes around.
Then, here comes Total War: Three Kingdoms, which throws all past problems out the window, so much so that I thoroughly enjoyed my 67 hours of playing, as you can see in our official review. I can state that this just might be one of the most polished offerings from the studio in recent years.
Before we continue with this technical review, let’s first look at the system requirements via the Steam store page.
A red sun rises, blood has been spilled… oh yeah, no Blood DLC yet, nevermind.
System Requirements
Minimum:
Recommended:
Author’s:
The first thing you’ll notice is that Total War: Three Kingdoms’ system requirements are extremely forgiving, so much so that I barely encountered any issues while playing the game at 1080p resolution. I was able to run the game on Ultra preset by default with hardly any problems. (Well, almost, and I’ll explain this later.)
Who Is The Advisor In Total War Warhammer FreeGraphics Settings And Benchmark
You can see the graphics settings I have for Total War: Three Kingdoms in the image above. The settings that have the biggest impact on performance are unit detail, screen space reflections, unit size, unlimited video memory, and anti-aliasing. For the last one, the game uses temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) which makes the foliage, vegetation, and backgrounds look stunning. Switching to fast-approximate anti-aliasing (FXAA) might lead to improved performance but it’s a lot uglier compared to TAA.
Total War: Three Kingdoms also has an in-game benchmark tool which you can run. One will pan over the campaign map, the other will look at a massive battle. I got an average of 63.3 FPS with my rig but don’t let that result fool you. The first few seconds of the benchmark contain wide, open-field shots that don’t necessarily have a lot of action or particle effects. You will notice some drops in bigger battles, but, thankfully, these aren’t too egregious.
My results for the battle benchmark (Ultra preset).
Performance
Here are a couple of screenshots (Ultra preset) with MSI Afterburner, RivaTuner, and HWinfo enabled:
Zoomed in on some archers.
Panning, zooming, and sweeping around the battlefield will noticeably lead to framerate drops, although this would generally climb back up to 55-60 FPS once you’re “fixed” at a position. You’ll notice that my GPU was also putting in the work.
Graphics Comparisons
Next up, let’s take a look at preset comparisons (low, medium, and ultra). This first set shows the Shu-Han army ready to do battle:
Medium preset. Click for a larger view. Dry stone walling techniques youtube.
This next set has a more close-up look at the lords of the Kingdom of Shu-Han:
Low preset. Click for a larger view.
Ultra preset. Click for a larger view.
Both the low and medium presets switch to FXAA by default, so you’ll notice the glaring difference in quality, especially with regards to the foliage and environment. Mix and match the different settings, while running the benchmark tool, to find out what suits you best for your rig.
Audio Settings
This is another feature of Total War: Three Kingdoms which truly shines. You already have your usual volume settings and mic/voice chat settings (in a second tab), however, you’ll notice the availability of Chinese language voice-overs for diplomacy and advisor help. It’s an amazing feature to include which only adds to the immersion and authenticity of the game.
Keyboard/mouse controls settings.
Controls And Camera
You’ll have your usual customizable keybindings here, as well as camera controls. One new addition is that basic controls are now readily seen when you pause the game (Escape key) which is very helpful for newcomers to the franchise.
Interface
These are your UI settings for the game. They’re mostly for the default settings when your units need to run, enter skirmish or guard mode, or toggle groupings. One more thing of note is that you can also hold the spacebar during battles. This will show you more options to toggle including unit/hero portraits, movement paths, auras, and even the ability to hide foliage in maps.
Advice settings.
Advice
This final panel lets you toggle advisor help and notifications during the campaign. If ever you’re already a veteran of the Total War series, then you might want to ignore some of the tooltips. Still, the information is very helpful since there are several new mechanics in Total War: Three Kingdoms.
Polished Like A Jade Dragon
As mentioned at the beginning of this technical review, I hardly experienced any issues while playing Total War: Three Kingdoms. That’s almost unheard of given the myriad problems that plagued previous games in the franchise. The biggest problem I encountered from a technical standpoint was during one battle when my game periodically froze whenever I had to group certain units (I had to restart my PC). Then, I realized that I forgot to update my Nvidia driver to the latest version which has additional support for this game. I haven’t encountered that problem since.
Overall, the system requirements for Total War: Three Kingdoms are very forgiving, especially for such a gorgeous game. Naturally, while it may be a tad demanding for higher settings, performance drops and technical woes are barely noticeable. It also bears mentioning that loading times are quite fast (around five seconds) when installed on an SSD. This might be, without a doubt, the most polished and technically sound Total War release in the past few years.
You can read more about Total War: Three Kingdoms in our official game review.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer
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'Our rules have changed; the only constant… is war.'
'Almighty Sigmar, saviour of the Empire, give me strength… For though I dedicated my life to eradicating it, it feeds, it grows: devouring all… There must be a final answer, to halt its advance.. But the tide of War seems endless - The brutal, unthinking bloodlust of the Greenskins, the twisted ambitions of the undead. And though the brave Dwarfen Kingdoms stand with us, truly, what hope is there? Against countless horrors that cannot be named, let alone fought by mortal means? And yet all this is nothing before what is to come… It whispers and roars, in the dark it is, against us, it is .. it is unstoppable (Demonic Possession).. I am unstoppable, I see it now.. the beast that will devour the world..'
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Total War: Warhammer is a Real-Time Strategy game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The game features the gameplay of the Total War series with the factions of Games Workshop's Warhammer series. Released on May 24, 2016, it is the ninth title in the Total War series and the first title in a planned trilogy.
The drums of war echo across the land, as the factions of the Old World prepare for ceaseless war. The Empire, formerly torn apart by the greedy and the selfish, are now united under their Emperor, Karl Franz, Elector Count of Reikland and Prince of Altdorf, the wielder of Ghal Maraz, the great warhammer of Sigmar Heldenhammer!
In the dark forests of Sylvania, thousands of undead warriors gather, commanded by their dark overlords, the mighty Vampire Counts led by the scheming and ambitious Count Mannfred von Carstein, self proclaimed Elector Count of Stirland and true Emperor of Man, hellbent on forever enshrining the terrible midnight aristocracy, and bring about eternal night!
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No longer hiding in their mountain holds, the braveDwarfen Kingdoms are under a resurgence underneath their mighty and noble High King, Thorgrim Grudgebearer, who intends to cross out every grudge in the Dammaz Kron, and restore the ancient Dwarf Empire to its once glorious self, no matter what it takes.
In the badlands, a particularly brutal Orc Warboss, Grimgor Ironhide, seeks to unite the squabbling Greenskin tribes, whether they be Goblins or Orcs, and form the biggest Waaaaagghhhhh!!! in known history, to crush any and all who oppose him, until only the strongest are left to fight on endlessly.
Stalking the black undergrowth of the Drakwald Forest, horrible tribes of mutated humans, known as collectively as the Beastmen, raid and pillage across the Empire solely motivated by their pure hatred of the notion of civilization, striking at the most vulnerable, and disappearing back into the dark depths of the trees, led by the Beastmen Warlord, Khazrak the One-Eyed, who seeks vengeance against his most hated foe, the Elector Count of Middenland, Boris Todbringer.
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In the dreary glades of the ancient elven kingdom of Athel Loren, the mystic Wood Elves, and ancient forest spirits awaken from their centuries of slumber to guard their forests from the invading mortal races, and Beastmen raiding parties that dare trespass on their sacred groves. Their leader, the demigod Orion, King of the Forest, blows his horn, and signals the start of The Wild Hunt!
In the chivalrous nation of Bretonnia, brave knights, and hordes of men at arms prepare for the ultimate crusade, an Errantry War of untold proportions, to finally end the enemies of the Lady once and for all, led by brave King Louen Leoncoeur, Duke of Couronne, and Grail Knight of the Lady.
In the cold and cruel tundras of the far north, The Norscan Tribes have been starving for challenges and riches for too long and thus decides to venture south in their desire to please their gods, with Wulfrik The Wanderer taking the charge of this main assault against the civilized world.
In the far twisted Chaos Wastes, dark creatures, and savage warriors marshal, mortal servants of the ChaosGods, the Warriors of Chaos, in insurmountable numbers, who intend to blot out the light of civilization, and finally bring about the apocalypse in the name of their dark gods, headed by the powerful and enigmatic, Archaon, the Everchosen of Chaos, and bringer of the End Times!
It is a dark and bloody age. An age of mythical monsters, an age of magic, an age of heroism, savagery, and endless war..
The gameplay differs considerably from previous games in the series in a number of ways, largely to be more in keeping with the Warhammer universe. Primarily, each faction plays notably differently from the others, with entirely unique unit rosters and a number of faction-specific strengths and restrictions that go far beyond those in historical Total War. Legendary Lords are major characters from the Warhammer lore that serve as your faction leaders and primary generals. They are functionally immortal (merely being wounded for several turns instead of killed) and thus lead your forces through the entirety of the campaign. Randomly generated, killable Lords much like earlier games' generals can be recruited as well. Agents have been replaced by Heroes, who perform similar functions but can also serve as powerful combat units on the battlefield. This is also the first Total War game to feature flying units, such as dragons and gyrocopters, and especially large, powerful units like Giants and the enormous Arachnarok Spiders. Other features, such as city-building, diplomacy and unit-building remain largely unchanged.
The first of the trilogy is set in the Old World and focuses on the factions of the Old World warring against each other for control over the titular landmass, before Chaos decides to kick start the End Times, and destroy everything. Playable Factions include The Empire of Man, The Dwarfen Kingdoms, The Vampire Counts, and The Greenskins. Four paid expansions, and one free expansion, added The Beastmen, The Warriors of Chaos, The Wood Elves, The Norscan Tribes, and The Kingdom of Bretonnia to the setting.
Many tropes that apply here also apply to Warhammer, and vice versa.
On September 28 2017, a sequel titled Total War: Warhammer II was released, which features The High Elves, The Dark Elves, The Lizardmen, The Skaven, The Tomb Kings, and The Vampire Coast.
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'War is upon us. It is unending.'
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