It is a welcome addition i would say. However the ending is ficticous whereby Cao Cao unify the whole of China by conquering Shu and then Wu. Koei cannot be blamed for this ficticious ending since all if not most players will be disappointed to spend time playing and in the end Cao Cao passed away historically without conquering Shu and Wu. 40 battles in all. Same increase goes for the weapons and armor which will enhance their lethality and armor plating.
Artifacts play a part too and they bestow their respective users added abilities.
The game is entirely based on warfare with narrations and conversations driving the interesting storyline. Although the game is pretty linear, Koei has added the option of allowing the player to choose between two options to spice things up a bit. Options like whether to attack in full force or spilt the army into two, breaking through one of two passes. What i meant by triggers are like triggering off computer reinforcements when you reach a certain terrain on the battlefield. Purists might be put off by this game as certain attacks like poison attack, change weather, draining the life points etc are magical attacks.