Let me guide you through the character unlocking process - this approach will save you a lot of time since i've seen many players get stuck trying random methods.

For the latest entry, you'll want to start with liu bei's storyline, which makes sense historically since he's such a central figure. Complete his chapters through 1-10 and you'll naturally unlock several officers along the way (this actually mirrors how liu bei gathered his followers in the romance). After that, focus on liu shan and guan yinping's chapters, because they serve as gateways to later-game characters. When you reach zhong hui and deng ai's storylines, you're on the final stretch - these two are crucial since they lead to wen yang, who's typically one of the last unlocks.

For the older games in the series, there's a pretty clever system at work. Starting with the main faction leaders (like cao cao for wei) gives you the most efficient path, since their stories naturally branch into other characters. Each faction has these key story triggers that unlock specific officers - for instance, beating jiang wei at tian shui isn't just a random battle, it's designed to show how he switched allegiances (and that's why it unlocks him). Here's something interesting: completing at least one storyline from each major kingdom actually makes historical sense, because it helps you understand why certain characters made their choices.

Remember to focus on story progression before anything else - grinding random battles won't help much here (i learned this the hard way back in the day). And keep in mind that some characters only become available after you've seen multiple perspectives of the same historical events, which is pretty clever game design when you think about it.