One of my favorite companies -- Koei

[SoulBlazer]

I probaly should have done this during Tribe Week, but having just traded for a few more of Koei's games this last weekend, I thought I would post a note.

Koei does'nt get much love. I have'nt even seen them mentioned here on the forun much. A lot of their games are more cult based and won't be Greatest Hits material, but it's just another reason I love them.

I've been a fan of Koei ever since a friend showed me some of their early PC games in 1987. I've always enjoyed strategy and war and history games, so their stuff was right up my ally. These kinds of games really were'nt possible (with a few exceptions) for eariler systems, so these games also came at the right time for me -- another reason I like the company so much.

Next year I bought Nobunaga's Ambition for the NES (a game I had not previously played) and fell in love with it. The SNES remake is still one of my all time favorite games.

Since then I bought almost every game that Koei has released in the States. They had some great strategy games like Genghis Kahn for NES and Gemfire for SNES. PTO II is my all time favorite WWII game, another area I'm a expert in due to my history studies. GI Jockey for the PS2 is one of the best horce racing games I have played. Dynasty Warriors helped to bring in the masses due to the hack and slash game play, and Dynasty Tactics is a very good tactical game. And, of course, there's the long lasting running Romance of the Three Kingdom games.

Yes, some of Koei's games take time to get into -- they can be daunting at first, and a little complicated, and you need to spend a few hours learning it. Get over the hump and almost every game is a tresure trove.

Not all of their stuff comes over to the States, sad to say, but I feel fortune enough to get my hands on the stuff they do release. I don't see them as ever being a manstream company, but I'll keep on singing their praises for as long as they are around. Nobody else can match the quality and depth of strategy and war and history games.

[ubersaurus]

PTO 2 is fantastic, and is one of my favorite strategy games of all time. Operation Europe wasn't half bad, either.

Koei does get pretty overlooked, I'll admit...but they are still known as the kings of historical strategy games, at least to me.

[EnemyZero]

Koei is a pretty damn good company, im partial to Hudson myself

[v1rich]

KOEI games sell well and hold their value well in my opinion.

[junglehunter]

Gitaroo Man? Best....Koei....Game....Evar!

[kainemaxwell]

I never really thought much of them until the Dyantasy Warriors series came out.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Both of the Dyantasy tactics games kick major ass. Has anyone ever even played and liked those games besides me?

[adaml]

Koei NES games give me nightmares. I'm not that good at those strategy sims and out of the handful of NES games I haven't finished, around 50% of them are by Koei.

I have to give them credit for making them though. They couldn't have sold too many copies of them, as those strategy sims only appeal to a certain few, but they put a ton of effort into them and you can actually learn a lot about history through them. I remember Nobunaga's Ambition going for about $70 at Toys R Us back in the day.

[kainemaxwell]

It was a niche market that koei definitly appealed to and those fans who supported them allowed Koei to survive to this day to bring out the DW series.

[jaybird]

The thing I love about their games is how well they hold up over time. All their cartridge based games still are fun today. Even some of the early NES releases keep me intrigued.

To this day, I'm still trying to finish a set of all their SNES realeases, complete with box, manuals & maps. It's easier said than done.

[Psycho Mantis]

koei makes great games. they make dynasty warriors, crimson sea, mystic heroes
and their best game: Gitaroo man. that game is a good enough reason alone to buy a ps2. that game has so much replay value, you'll be playing it all day!

[Psycho Mantis]

gitaroo man! it's a good enough reason alone to buy a ps2. that game has so much replay and great music, you won't want to stop playing!

[Snapple]

I think Koei is a fantastic company. Nobody mentioned the Aerobiz series though. I love those games, as boring as the concept sounds. Build your airline empire from the ground up. Start in any city you like, whether it's New York City or Backwater Africa.

My favorite Koei game of all time, though, is Gemfire. Not a historical game, but I just love it to death, and I've played it to death. I even took my 12 years of Gemfire knowledge and wrote a FAQ about it a few months ago.

Surprisingly though, I never really got that into the Romance games. I might try one of the newer ones though.

I've heard their horse-racing games are pretty good, although they're JP only, not surprisingly.

[Lord Contaminous]

I'm all about Brandish (SNES). Then again it's technically it's really not a Koei game.

[DynastyLawyer]

Koei are heros. If I had 50 bucks, a guy pointed a gun to my head, and said: "Buy yourself a good game. If you don't enjoy it, I'm gonna shoot you..." I would always go for either Koei or Sega. Koei's edge is that it frequently makes games that are educational. Dynasty Warriors got me reading Chinese Lit, I kid you not. Likewise, it's always good to see a company that sticks to it's guns and doesn't give into zeitgeists. You will never see Koei attempt to do a violent first-person shooter, or a bloody GTA type game. Regardless, Koei makes fun games, and even when they emulate things (Saiyuki to FF Tactics, Guitaroo Man to Parrappa the Rappa) they manage to put in their own spin and they turn out to be fun games.

I'd like to thank SoulBlazer for being a badass and starting up this thread. But his having time away from Xenosaga 2 to type up his tribute was probably reward enough.

[ubersaurus]

I'd like to thank SoulBlazer for being a badass and starting up this thread. But his having time away from Xenosaga 2 to type up his tribute was probably reward enough.

Nah. Look at the date he posted it.

[BigGeorgeJohnson]

Both of the Dyantasy tactics games kick major ass. Has anyone ever even played and liked those games besides me?

I've been thinking about picking one of those up, how do they compare to other tactics style games?

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Both of the Dyantasy tactics games kick major ass. Has anyone ever even played and liked those games besides me?

I've been thinking about picking one of those up, how do they compare to other tactics style games?

Besides a steeper learning curve and all sorts of chinese history babble they don't. But the games also have some of the coolest battle systems ever in a SRPG series, atleast IMO. especially since you can combo your enemies to death if your good anuff. You see for ever move you make, you'll move your opponent in a certain direction with the possible of pushing him into one of your alleys, thus leading to even more damage and the possible of the ememy joining your forces.

[Bratwurst]

Nobunaga's Ambition for the SNES is the only video game I can get my father to play with me. Quality strategy games through and through, but I can only stomach them once every year or so. I prefer my war games to be more straightforward ala Risk or Military Madness.

What I can respect most about Koei is that they didn't dwell on Japanese history exclusively- they covered the Napoleonic era, American Revolution, Ghengis Khan, etc.

[BigGeorgeJohnson]

Both of the Dyantasy tactics games kick major ass. Has anyone ever even played and liked those games besides me?

I've been thinking about picking one of those up, how do they compare to other tactics style games?

Besides a steeper learning curve and all sorts of chinese history babble they don't. But the games also have some of the coolest battle systems ever in a SRPG series, atleast IMO. especially since you can combo your enemies to death if your good anuff. You see for ever move you make, you'll move your opponent in a certain direction with the possible of pushing him into one of your alleys, thus leading to even more damage and the possible of the ememy joining your forces.

Should I just get 2 or is part 1 important? In other words if I only get one which should it be?