This game is simply amazing! End of story.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms won the Best Strategy Game Award for 1988, and I can easily understand why. The commands are easy to learn, the strategy aspect is overwhelming, and the game is as addictive as they get. Allthough the game might seem simple, it is far from it. This game started a revolution in the strategy genre, and started a series that has been the flagship for KOEI since its founding in 1988 to this day.
Don't get scared by the fact that the screens for this game only comes in three colours, as the game comes with EGA graphic as well. But you will need real DOS in order to see that. Unfortunately I only have DOSBox, and can only get the CGA graphics running.
Everything in the game is controlled using numeric commands and enter. As with almost every strategy game by KOEI, you have a lot of different options at your disposal. Everyone who loves good strategy games should try this gem, and especially those who love the newer games in the series or the brilliant Kessen series for Playstation. This is the game that started it all.
The game supports multiplayer up to 8 players.
In order to get this game running in DOSBox, you will have to edit the DOSBox config file and set machine=tandy