So, another year, another Dynasty Warriors game from Koei.
For the first time in a while though it's a pretty decent one. Visually it's using the character models and art style of 6, but they've thrown out the 'Renbu' combat system they put in that one, and gone back to the more tried and tested combo system of the previous games.
The main gameplay change here though is the weapons. Each character can carry two weapons at once, and tapping the shoulder button mid combo switches between them. When you switch it triggers an effect based on which weapons you're swapping between. For example, swapping away from the bow chucks out a few freeze arrows, wheras switching to the twin axes gives all your attacks wind element for a few seconds. You can also change which two weapons your character has equipped during the battle, from any you have available to you.
Each character does still have their 'preferred' weapon though, and if you're using that you get an extra 'EX' attack which triggers with an extra press of the heavy attack button. It's a bit like the 'heavy character' setup in Warriors Orochi, if you played that.
Characters eventually have two different musou specials available to them as well. They very from single attacks that do big damage (Huang Gai's are basically wrestling moves that do huge damage to a single target, officer killers basically), to the usual area effect ones.
Story mode takes a new approach this time. Instead of choosing a character and then playing through all the stages as that character, you choose a faction and the game will have you play a different character in each stage (some stages are split into parts, and you change character halfway through). There are four factions this time, completing the usual three unlocks the 'Jin' faction, which means they're going to the end of the source story for the first time.
This means that people are only present for the battles that they should be according to the source material, and that people die at the right times. It also seems you won't get to 'change history' by winning battles that that army lost in the source. In that respect, this is the best they've done at actually telling the three kingdoms story in any of the games.
Before each battle you sometimes have a section where you explore the starting base and chat to various characters. You can also buy and upgrade weapons here. When you talk to the character to start the battle it flows seamlessly straight into the fight.
The other main mode is 'conquest'. In this one, you have a map of China split into a hex grid, and each square corresponds to a battle. You can use any characters you've unlocked here, and I get the impression that this mode is where you have full access to all the characters (I'm halfway through the Wu story mode and past the point at which the two Qiao sisters would've figured, and didn't play as them, yet they crop up as playables in the conquest mode, for example).
The battles here are quite like those in the 'Empires' spin off games, in that they're shorter and have simpler objectives. As you fight you build 'affinity' with other officers and can eventually have them join you in battle. This also has online co-op, but I've not tried that yet.
I really like it. There's much more 'meat' to it than the pretty weak 6 (although not quite as crazy as 5, where every single character had a unique story mode). And the conquest mode makes me wonder if there's even going to be an Empires followup to this. And it's much more appealing to fans of the source material than before.
The engine is at least semi-decent now, but the draw distance still isn't fantastic (enemy cavalry have an alarming tendancy to fade into existence right on top of you).
Yeah, it's not going to convert anyone that doesn't like these ones anyway. But after the disappointments of 6 and Strikeforce, this is frankly outstanding. I thought they'd killed the franchise with those, but it appears not.
For the first time in a while though it's a pretty decent one. Visually it's using the character models and art style of 6, but they've thrown out the 'Renbu' combat system they put in that one, and gone back to the more tried and tested combo system of the previous games.
The main gameplay change here though is the weapons. Each character can carry two weapons at once, and tapping the shoulder button mid combo switches between them. When you switch it triggers an effect based on which weapons you're swapping between. For example, swapping away from the bow chucks out a few freeze arrows, wheras switching to the twin axes gives all your attacks wind element for a few seconds. You can also change which two weapons your character has equipped during the battle, from any you have available to you.
Each character does still have their 'preferred' weapon though, and if you're using that you get an extra 'EX' attack which triggers with an extra press of the heavy attack button. It's a bit like the 'heavy character' setup in Warriors Orochi, if you played that.
Characters eventually have two different musou specials available to them as well. They very from single attacks that do big damage (Huang Gai's are basically wrestling moves that do huge damage to a single target, officer killers basically), to the usual area effect ones.
Story mode takes a new approach this time. Instead of choosing a character and then playing through all the stages as that character, you choose a faction and the game will have you play a different character in each stage (some stages are split into parts, and you change character halfway through). There are four factions this time, completing the usual three unlocks the 'Jin' faction, which means they're going to the end of the source story for the first time.
This means that people are only present for the battles that they should be according to the source material, and that people die at the right times. It also seems you won't get to 'change history' by winning battles that that army lost in the source. In that respect, this is the best they've done at actually telling the three kingdoms story in any of the games.
Before each battle you sometimes have a section where you explore the starting base and chat to various characters. You can also buy and upgrade weapons here. When you talk to the character to start the battle it flows seamlessly straight into the fight.
The other main mode is 'conquest'. In this one, you have a map of China split into a hex grid, and each square corresponds to a battle. You can use any characters you've unlocked here, and I get the impression that this mode is where you have full access to all the characters (I'm halfway through the Wu story mode and past the point at which the two Qiao sisters would've figured, and didn't play as them, yet they crop up as playables in the conquest mode, for example).
The battles here are quite like those in the 'Empires' spin off games, in that they're shorter and have simpler objectives. As you fight you build 'affinity' with other officers and can eventually have them join you in battle. This also has online co-op, but I've not tried that yet.
I really like it. There's much more 'meat' to it than the pretty weak 6 (although not quite as crazy as 5, where every single character had a unique story mode). And the conquest mode makes me wonder if there's even going to be an Empires followup to this. And it's much more appealing to fans of the source material than before.
The engine is at least semi-decent now, but the draw distance still isn't fantastic (enemy cavalry have an alarming tendancy to fade into existence right on top of you).
Yeah, it's not going to convert anyone that doesn't like these ones anyway. But after the disappointments of 6 and Strikeforce, this is frankly outstanding. I thought they'd killed the franchise with those, but it appears not.
, DW6 never had this problem.. i guess its the price we pay for all these weapons being ready to use at anytime. Indeed, if you bump up DW games to the hardest setting then all those minions all take pot shots at you, interrupting rampages and quickly becomes frustrating getting nailed from range by arrows and juggled by the crowd, its not fun even on normal having Lu Bu chase you around like Resident Evil's Nemsis/Mr.X when escaping as Cao-Cao, hoping to go back and redo that one once i get some better seals for defense and HP.
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