In late 1500s China, Seaman Mee Koy and a man named Hai Bum must each escape their own bad situation and link up at a remote island called Piaotow-Zi. There, they build an army of expatriate dissidents, wanderers and natives to depose The False Emperor - the usurper of the Forbidden Throne of China- in favor of The True Emperor. They must have allies from mystic cults and from the great nation of Nihon. Depending on the choices you make and the strategy you adopt, you will have to overcome the Himalayas and the False Emperor's powerful army, or the China Sea and his formidable fleet and harbor defenses - or perhaps both. You may also have to deal with some pirates. Just before victory is attainable, there is a surprise or two. Comments/reviews are welcome.Enjoy. OldGrex
Playability: 4.5
What you were supposed to do was largely intuitive, but I got confused trying to get Nihon to work and restarted a few times to try different things. I couldn't actually get through the mountains though, not sure if that was intended.
Balance: 4.5
Not particularly challenging or easy, though my personal preference is for challenging. The only criticism I have is that some of the things you have to work relatively hard for (Nihon), while the reward is minor in terms of how much it helps you in the scenario. If resources were more constrained (like you don't get villagers and have to rely on trading posts), 4 yumis would be a bigger deal. Alternately, if they gave you a motaru thingy, that would be more valuable since you can't get any siege units.
Creativity: 5
Choices are nice, but usually pretty inconsequential, and there is really no way of knowing what they will do accept by trial and error. The pace of the game is very different though, I like how limited the military scale is (i.e. you didn't give me 150 units from the beginning). The limitation forces you to think outside the box instead of playing conventionally, and encourages exploration. Also, there aren't enough TaD scenarios out there.
Map Design: 5
I can't define it but I know it when I see it.
Story/Instructions: 4.5
I'm not a big story person, but I like historical stuff, and it was pretty cool by RTS standards. The overall aim was clear, but having separate secondary objectives for the support of each faction instead one big objective would make it easier to keep track. A few times I wondered if what I had done counted or if there was more I had to do for a faction.