Ma Chao’s conviction to serve Liu Bei is actually justified in this game (though not many people see it) if you defeat him and Ma Dai quick enough before Li Hui can approach to talk to him. Doing so will cause Ma Chao and Ma Dai to be captured, instead of defecting, meaning the dialogue that Liu Zhang has about Ma Chao siding with the enemy, along with Ma Chao trying to convince Liu Zhang to accept defeat and surrender is gone, if the player decides to go with this scenario. The dialogue turns into this instead: Ma Chao: “I have been defeated by Cao Cao and now by you. I have lost everything; I do not deserve to live.” Zhuge Liang: “Then take your life, and give it to Lord Liu Bei’s cause. Walk with us, towards a righteous goal.” Fa Zheng: “The loss of the Ma family has hit them hard. Some soldiers are fleeing the castle.” Zhuge Liang: “Lord Liu Zhang, this battle is all but over. There is no need to shed more unnecessary blood.” Liu Zhang: “Liu Bei has shamed us all. We are blood, and yet he turns against us!”
Ma Chao’s conviction to serve Liu Bei was really downplayed in DW7 and DW8. You don’t even get to fight him at Chengdu in DW9 as he has already joined Shu prior to the battle.
Ma Chao’s conviction to serve Liu Bei is actually justified in this game (though not many people see it) if you defeat him and Ma Dai quick enough before Li Hui can approach to talk to him. Doing so will cause Ma Chao and Ma Dai to be captured, instead of defecting, meaning the dialogue that Liu Zhang has about Ma Chao siding with the enemy, along with Ma Chao trying to convince Liu Zhang to accept defeat and surrender is gone, if the player decides to go with this scenario.
The dialogue turns into this instead:
Ma Chao: “I have been defeated by Cao Cao and now by you. I have lost everything; I do not deserve to live.”
Zhuge Liang: “Then take your life, and give it to Lord Liu Bei’s cause. Walk with us, towards a righteous goal.”
Fa Zheng: “The loss of the Ma family has hit them hard. Some soldiers are fleeing the castle.”
Zhuge Liang: “Lord Liu Zhang, this battle is all but over. There is no need to shed more unnecessary blood.”
Liu Zhang: “Liu Bei has shamed us all. We are blood, and yet he turns against us!”
The Dragon will soar above the hills of Yi, with the feather of the fallen Phoenix scattered around.
Ma Chao’s conviction to serve Liu Bei was really downplayed in DW7 and DW8. You don’t even get to fight him at Chengdu in DW9 as he has already joined Shu prior to the battle.