Civilization Rises and Falls : The Process of Unifying China Through a Musou Game

“The Empire, long united, must divide; long divided, must unite.”

image source : https://www.gematsu.com/2024/05/dynasty-warriors-origins-announced-for-ps5-xbox-series-and-pc

Have you ever thought that a game, that we played for fun, might have something serious underlying behind it?

That is exactly what I thought after playing this game for some time now. Koei Tecmo really did a great job, mixing the story narrative of the game from historical and fantasy perspective, e. With their newest game, Dynasty Warriors : Origins, they bring us to the era of ancient China. We see the fall of the Han Dynasty, one that was founded by the infamous Liu Bang, into a new era.

This time, instead of playing as different characters, we are given a new point of view. This time, we play as a mighty wanderer from a village, Ziluan. Its a fascinating way to let us immerse in game as our own character, yet again, making the game adding itself to the list of Self Insert Protagonists based game.

They still provided several key characters as companions, however. So for old players, like me, this is definitely a new kind of experience, and honestly, I like the taste of it.

Alright, enough with the game review. Lets dive deeper into the core reason why this game has managed to touch the deepest thing in life: The rise and fall of civilization.

there is a fascinating fact about a civilizations that has risen and has fallen before us. That is : None of those lasted longer than a millenia. The unwritten rules also applies to those of the kingdoms in ancient China.

The core problems of the old civilizations back in the late Han Dynasty is the fact that the emperors no longer have the quality to lead the people. They let corruption and ruthlessness to be a part of their regime. It infects, debilitate the people and the authority above it, killing the trust people had to the empire. Thus, cracks beginning to form everywhere. The Yellow Turban rises everywhere with a comon cause:

“The Blue Heaven Is Dead, The Yellow Heaven Must Rise!”

img source :https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/JP0106-PPSA15972_00-DWORIGINSADDDLC1

Koei Tecmo nails the details now by putting the Chinese transcriptions on the banner in game, its very satisfying to see that the game developer really had a good source to rely on.

This uprising, is then quelled by some key characters. Marking their slow, but sure, power uprising. Those who are moving because the empire orders them to, beginning to question if their empire’s time is up; and that its time to start a new rule with their own ideologies. This belief, fragments the land into many regional states, with each held their own warlords, who then will clash, and divide the land with more strife and conflict.

The irony is, they are trying to stop the conflict by bringing more conflict

this thing, applies in the modern world as well, with different, more clever approaches. this raises a question and a fact:

One day, our civilization will meet its demise. then, another one will take it. Who will have the capability to rule then?

only those who survive will know the answer.