History AwesomeMusic / TotalWarThreeKingdoms

'''At first they gathered at Mengjin,'''[[note]]Mengjin was a ford where [[Literature/FengshenYanyi the lords of Zhou came to form an alliance against the Shang]]. This line is allegorical.[[/note]] '''While their hearts lay at Xianyang.'''[[note]]Xianyang was the capital of the Qin dynasty. This means the coalition warlords were aiming at the capital.[[/note]][[labelnote:In the trailer]]Cao Cao and Yuan Shao witness the war atrocities, then battle against Dong Zhuo's troops.[[/labelnote]]\\

And the beans in the cauldron wailed:[[labelnote: In the trailer]]Sima Yong shells the city with trebuchets, Sima Ai gets snuffed by BIG ASS FIREBALL.[[/labelnote]]\\

--->'''In Guandong there were righteous men, raising their troops against the evil-doers.'''[[labelnote:In the trailer]]Cao Cao and Yuan Shao sit down for a match of weiqi in what appears to be the coalition's headquarter.[[/labelnote]]\\

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4D42vMUSIM The announcement trailer]] contains the ballad "At Fifteen I Joined the Army on Expedition" ("Shíwǔ Cóngjūn Zhēng", 十五從軍征), turning it into an alternately triumphant and haunting battle hymn. This poem was given a full rendering in an episode of ''Series/TheAdvisorsAlliance'', where Sima Yi recites the poem to Cao Cao (then already the King of Wei). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIKt99trsRk The lyrics moved the warlord to tears.]] The bold line below has became the game's ArcWords.

--->'''At fifteen I joined the army on expedition, Only at eighty did I finally return.'''\\

[[GreatOffscreenWar Counless stories]], [[LegendFadesToMyth of the present and the past]], [[AllForNothing are all in their jests]].

-->When the Great Dao (Way or Method) ceased to be observed, benevolence and righteousness came into vogue.\\

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo7dmyj6tOk The "Mandate of Heaven" DLC]]'s trailer has a beautiful and grandiose performance reciting the 18th chapter "The Decay of Manners" from Tao Te Ching, which fittingly speaks of how virtuous examples of humanity still shine through in dark times.

How come we torment each other with such haste?" [[labelnote: In the trailer]] All eight princes come forward to greet Empress Jia, whose scheming directly led to the War of the Eight Princes. [[/labelnote]]

[[GreatOffscreenWar Stories great and small]], [[LegendFadesToMyth of the present and the past]], [[AllForNothing are all in their laugh]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnRSGkfHpO0 The trailer for the "Eight Princes" DLC]], based on the brothers of the Sima family warring with one another, uses a beautifully melancholic song whose lyrics based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quatrain_of_Seven_Steps Seven Steps Verse]](七步詩), a poem describing the bond between brothers and lamenting the idea of them fighting over petty reasons. The poem is called "Seven Steps Verse" because, according to legend (recorded in the historical/ historical fiction book ''Shishuo Xinyu'', "A New Account of the Tales of the World"), it was made by Cao Zhi, the younger brother of Cao Cao's successor Cao Pi. Cao Pi's distrust towards his brother grew to the point that he ordered Cao Zhi's execution unless the latter could compose a poem after walking seven steps. Cao Zhi nailed it and survived. Since Sima Yi himself later used infighting among the Caos' to seize power, [[{{Irony}} one would expect his descendants to know better]]. The bold line is repeated multiple times throughout the trailer.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4D42vMUSIM The announcement trailer]] contains the ballad "At Fifteen I Joined the Army on Expedition" ("Shíwǔ Cóngjūn Zhēng", 十五從軍征), turning it into an alternately triumphant and haunting battle hymn. The bold line below has became the game's ArcWords.

*** This poem was given a full rendering in an episode of Series/TheAdvisorsAlliance, where Sima Yi recites the poem to Cao Cao (then already the King of Wei). The lyrics moved the warlord to tears. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIKt99trsRk See it here.]]