It doesn't get any better than this for DW fans. Seriously.
I immediately went straight for the character edit mode, which you can create your own personal character from a slew of options. While not as deep as say an online MMO like EverQuest, the creation mode offers a nice share of options at the start, and many more clothing options will be unlocked during your game time. The armor sets are definitely more impressive than the physical feature choices. Moving on, I created a giant, deep voiced tyrant named Dagon, who borrowed his weapon and move set from Zhou Tai. I save, and begin my journey.
You start off on a map which has every province of ancient China separated by boundary lines, and each of those is currently under the rule of a leader (the current leaders vary depending on which time line you choose. I begin in the early years during the Yellow Turban and Han days.) Every area has it's own array of shops; a forge to upgrade weapons using gold and rare gems you collect during gameplay, stables to buy a horse, a shop to acquire more gems, or a trainer to upgrade personal stats (think post-victory stat tree ala DW6 but smaller). Now it's you turn to pick what to do for that day. You can either A: take on a local mercenary mission (they range in difficulty and offer the chance to meet new officers, acquire gems and gold, and collect exp and treasure) which include things like 'save the villagers' or 'defeat the bandits' B: move to another place on the map which offers different shops to browse C: join faction with the leader of the province you are in. If you pick C, then you begin in service to said leader.
Once you are serving a leader, you will begin as a lower general in his ranks and work your way upward should you choose to stay around. You cannot move locations once you are serving, and will only have access to the shops within that leaders territory. At this point, you will be issued orders every few months (one month = one turn) which may include but not be limited to, defending your borders against invaders, invading someone else's land, or performing a mercenary like task (escort Yue Ying to the docks, etc). The more victories you complete, the higher in rank your leader may promote you. Earning higher promotions gains you voice at the council, which occur every four months or so. If your leader suggests an invasion, you may speak out and protest your own opinions on the matter, sometimes swaying the chain of events. If however, you decide to defect, usurp power, or just downright leave, the choice is always an option. I got tired of my job, so I went off on my own, deciding to serve Meng Huo, and it wasn't long before my first officer Zhen Ji (she joined me in an earlier battle where I had saved her from an ambush) convinced me to take control for myself, so I had an uprising and rose to power, gaining my own land in Nanman territory. The game then gave me the offer to marry her (very nice).
While all this is going on, every other faction is fighting to gain control of each others territory. In my game, Dong Zhuo and Zhang Jiao were pretty much the dominating forces on the map, though there were at least 8 more leaders in the mix. Now comes the hard part. Trying to expand your empire is very difficult from the ground up. I only had one additional officer whom I recruited after my rise to power battle from the Nanman army. Established leaders will have a whole slew of seasoned officers defending their boundaries, each of whom will not 'die' during a battle, because of the way fights work. During a battle, when an enemy officers is killed, he or she will respawn again shortly there after for another crack at your skull. Only by completing strategic points in the round (ie taking over supply bases which are linked to your own base via a new base linking grid system) will enemy onslaughts be halted, allowing you to complete rounds. In DW6, you would have 70+ minutes to finish a map which took roughly 15 minutes if you took your time. In DW6:E you will have 40 minutes to complete a round which takes 60 if you hurry up.
The strategic choices you make and the time within which you make them are key elements to a successful battle. As you win, you gain the chance to recruit more officers into your ranks, giving you more power on the battle field. Each of these officers can be given orders during the battle, which include but are not limited to defending key bases, invading enemy bases, attacking specific enemy officers, or protecting other specific officers within your own ranks. There is also an 'auto' feature which lets them decide what is the best action to take at that time. This is alright if the ball is deeply in your court, but otherwise you'll want to keep a close eye on your officers to ensure a victory. The more officers you have the better chances of taking a battle, however, each of them requires a monthly salary, which may be hard to maintain early on. Sometimes a few good men is all you need.
Officers also come with their own 'cards' which may be played before a battle. These are similar to table-top RPG card game cards in that they offer some specific effects to the battle. For example, Huang Gai's card would give an attack bonus on invasions for that month, which would equal one battle. Another card may give a higher chance for an enemy officers to defect during the next battle. There is a huge amount of cards which offer a lot of interesting things. Playing a card will cost you a 'resource' to use, some more than others. Resources are limited at the start but will grow eventually, allowing you to play more cards for a combined battle effect. Of course, the effects of all cards is not a guarantee though, which means that just like a real battle, anything can,and will happen.
Another fun feature I thought I'd mention is the soundtrack. Every fan of the series knows the electric guitar tracks by heart, and most of them can be downright annoying. In DW6:E you have access to every music track from the DW games. During the battle loading screen, you have the option to pick your own battle track from previous games. Want to do battle while listening to the track from the Encyclopedia screen from DW3? Done. These are the little bonus' that Koei threw in that make you feel they didn't just pull another sequel out of their a**. The gameplay as a whole is honestly much above par from what I had expected. What I thought I'd be doing is creating a character and be spending my time running around the same missions from DW6. What I got was a complete strategic experience with enough depth to keep strategy fans intrigued, and with enough action to keep non-strategy fans slashing away (though maps themselves are mostly areas we've seen before.) I think the combination of the elements used here is spot on, and though I've only put in about ten hours of gameplay into it so far, I can for see the reply value being very high for any DW fanboy or girl.