Compile wasn't entirely done with the series just yet, but their next game would take the game into a somewhat different direction. Rune Master III: War Among Three Kingdoms is a huge departure in many ways from the system laid down in Rune Master II. As the title suggests, the story now takes place in ancient China during the Three Kingdoms era, which has been popularized in video games by Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dynasty Warriors. All these games are based on the historical novel by Luo Guanzhong.

The game now consists of 3 disks, which are connected through a continued storyline. Each of the disks represent a certain era of the war, and the cast of characters to choose from changes depending on the chapter. All the characters are based on the real historical figures from this often told saga.

Yellow Turban Rebellion

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was a 184 AD peasant rebellion against Emperor Ling of Han. It is named for the color of the scarves which the rebels wore about their heads.

Rise of Shu Kingdom

One of the Three Kingdoms competing for control of China after the fall of the Han Dynasty, based on areas around Sichuan which was then known as Shu.

Tripartite Confrontation of the Three Kingdoms

The tripartite confrontation was formed in the 20s of the 2nd century. In 220, Cao Cao's son Cao Pi deposed Emperor Xian and ended the Han Dynasty.

In this game, the choice of character makes a lot of difference on the adventure. There are now many stats such as wisdom, luck, reputation and power. Reputation is especially important. Along the road you meet warriors whom you can ask to join your army. Depending on your reputation and the potential warrior's stats, he will accept or refuse. This is how you grow on strength overall in the game. While you still have towns with shops that sell weapons, they mostly add bonus points only, and extra dices are generated according to how many warriors you command and their individual skill level, along with the defense stats. This adds an element of strategy to the game that was not found in the earlier games.

While the first 2 games had horrendous AI when it came to your rivals, they are now the complete opposite. Right from the get go these guys know exactly what to do and will most likely leave you in the dust only to watch them slay half of China and take down the bosses one by one while you're stuck fighting mutated fungus. It gets to the point where your only real option is to control all 4 characters in order to see and experience the whole game.

The shop aspect has been downgraded, too. The elders are gone and the shops are rather limited. The inn still acts as a place for health refill, but HP is no longer increased by purchase. As mentioned, the weapons don't make much of an impact on your power stats and the armor store was completely removed because this time around, your stats are mostly defined by the strength of your party members, which can be picked up along the way through the various events that take place.

They didn't get rid of gambling, though. In Rune Master II we had the chance to bet on turtles crawling at 0.005 mph and wait in excitement to see if you would get showered with the price money. But this is ancient China, surely they wouldn't sit around and watch turtles race each other while dressing them up with polka dots and ribbons? In fact, I will ask that gentleman over there about what they do for fun here in these war ridden times. What's this? Monkeys you say?! Now that's my kind of gamble, watching our furry ancestors climb those trees. I'm definitely up for the bet, and I'm in still in need for some new shoes. I'll bet on that weird mutant green colored monkey in the middle.

You got to be kidding me, what's wrong with that silly monkey?! I lost even more money and it's not even the same game this time. Never again will I trust these animal handlers and their rotten games.

There's more of a direct rivalry in this game compared to the others because you can now wreck havoc onto the other players. In the shop you will find items such as scrolls and books, which send a random curse to any character you may please. This can be anything from instant death to incredibly tough enemies. But because of the aggressive AI, you'll probably be on the receiving end of those, too.

The game is filled with events, so many in fact that it seems every square will make something happen. Hermits beg for money, warriors join your party, ambushes drain your HP or peasants ask for assistance slaying wild tigers. It makes the game such a time consuming effort that one disk will probably take you an hour or so to beat. It's also tiring to see the same events happen again and again.

Graphically and musically the game blows the other ones out of the water, though. The colors are very warm and suiting to the locations and characters, while the music creates a great atmosphere with fitting melodies and a distinct Chinese flair. I personally prefer the visual style used in Rune Master II just because of the primary colors and more upbeat mood, but this game offers some of the best visuals seen on MSX at times.

The translation isn't complete and the game runs extremely buggy in the English patched version. One can immediately tell that a lot of dialogue has been cut, because some of the events make no sense whatsoever and more often than not there'll still be traces of kanji in the dialogue. On the second disk, the patch makes it so you instantly get 9999 gold per enemy, and they are all killed in one hit, making that disk the easiest game of all time. However during the last part of disk 2, the game freezes at a boss because of some characters in his name apparently, rendering the disk broken and impossible to beat. The patch was made in 1993, in a time when fan translation was at its toddler stage, so it's understandable it has some rough corners. Hopefully another group will one day redo the work and give us a more comfortable ride with this game. In total there are 12 endings to the game, an individual conclusion for each character per disk. The endings play even if the CPU wins the game.

It's a big game, there's no denying of that. But just like when you play a real board game, it's more of a wish for a more instant and short term experience than an multiple day affair. The problem that this game has is that the length makes it so tedious. You've seen it all before, the battles become the same and the locations look the same. The events pop up so frequently and they never offer much change either. While Rune Master II was certainly longer than its predecessor, the length was extended more with the different routes and various short side quests that added replay value and depths, whereas here it just goes on and on and on. For fans of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I'm sure this game offers a unique way to experience the story through different time periods, but for fans coming in from the earlier Rune Master titles, I'm not so sure if it works too well.

This was the last board game RPG Compile ever made, and their focus shifted to Puyo Puyo after its release in 1991. Other companies were inspired enough to create their own titles in the same style over time however, though it was fairly short lived as the board game style could not compete with the booming JRPG scene throughout the early '90s.