Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: Re: expansion pack question

[quote name="curst"][quote name="K. Thor Jensen"] hey, craig - wanna buy DW3 and/or the expansion but i'm a litle curious because people told me that the expansion is playable as a stand-alone game? is that true? or do i have to buy both? <a href="http://www.shortandhappy.com">ktj</a>[/quote] DW3:XL is a stand-alone game, but - and I have no idea how this works in a technical sense - if you have DW3 & XL both, then when you run DW3:XL, you're given an option to load all the game data from the original DW3 DVD-ROM into the PS2's memory. (You'll have to do this every time you start up DW3:XL - when you reset/turn off the PS2 the memory of course gets wiped out, but I don't think that's a big deal since it only takes about thirty seconds.) I think Nobody covered most if not all of the reasons why you really want to get both simultaneously in detail, so I would just say that DW3:XL has better game mechanics - combo bonus point system, worthwhile bodyguards, one of its unique items is indispensably great and in turn makes horses somewhat useful, which they aren't in the original game... But the original game has a lot of great intangibles - it follows the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms story pretty closely, many more nifty little cutscenes, it has as many unique, unlockable items and weapons in it as DW3:XL does... as such it honestly adds a great deal to DW3:XL. I've seen both games combined going for $40 in the used section of stores, and IMO that's a no-brainer.[/quote]