Ben-DutkaYes, they’re doing another Dynasty Warriors . No, it probably won’t be that much different from previous entries in the enduring franchise. However, fans of the series can expect a ton of characters, upgraded visuals, and a few appreciated tweaks to the combat mechanic. Dynasty Warriors 8 was released on February 28 in Japan and will be coming to North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in mid-July. The good news is that, much like many recent releases, it’ll be available in both digital and physical format.
The latest series entry boasts no fewer than 70 characters and although they’re reusing the same engine from Dynasty Warriors 7 , developer Omega Force is placing on emphasis on extra content and longevity for DW8. Once again, the many factions in a fantastical version of feudal China are at war and at the outset of battle, you’ll have to pick a side. The designers have, however, instituted a new story mode for “Other” faction, so that might hint at some player customization. Does that mean we can make our own faction…? Anyway, each stage in the Story Mode will be bigger and longer, so freedom of movement will definitely be a highlight.
Another new feature is the “what if” stage, which lets you change the events and ultimately, the results, of the stage based on your decisions. This is a nod to this past generation’s common trend of giving the player important choices that will impact the outcome of an adventure. Furthermore, as you’ll most likely want to play with a friend, you can experience the lengthy and in-depth Story Mode in classic cooperative fashion, both online and offline. This is another nice little upgrade as this option wasn’t available in DW7. In addition to the Story, Free Mode returns after being notably absent in DW7, which further enhances this game’s appeal.
Plus, we get new battle mechanics that are based on commander affinity. So awesome abilities like Variable Counter (sacrifice your weapon for a randomly chosen new one) and Awakening Action (skill booster) will bolster the action, while at the same time broadening the strategy aspect. We even get an additional Musou attack, and each character will now have a unique EX weapon type. Sun Jian has a new nine-ringed blade, for instance, which generates damaging sound waves to nail the enemy. Lastly, a weapon’s type features an affinity (Earth, Heaven or People), and this creates a triangular relationship which will determine the nature of that affinity.
So as you can see, it’s not all same ol’ same ol’. Not only are there system and technical upgrades, but we get a brand new gameplay mode, too: It’s called Commander Mode, in which the player must build bases for peasants. These bases are called Bronze Peasant Towers and you must work to raise the status of each Tower, which is done by participating in three kinds of battles. There’s Skirmish, Raid and Large-Scale; doing them all brings in new recruits, grants resources for building, and increases fame. The end goal is to raise the Tower’s status so the Emperor will want to come for a visit. This sounds like a different sort of experience, right?
If done correctly, Dynasty Warriors 8 could be the largest and most satisfying installment yet.
I wish they would go back to fighting genre.
Dynasty Warriors 1, while a basic fighting game, is still a game I go back to often. They did a lot of things right and it's a much better game to me than those hack 'n slash Dynasty Warriors they have now.
And more mindless AI hack n slash?
This is one of the greatest action rpgs series EVER! I also played the Gundam version of this too. No game gives you more for your buck! These types of games give me great refuge from sissy Final Fantasy games!
End of Line.
The warrior games aren't a action rpg. They are hack n slash.
Coffeya, I'd have to disagree with your comment. Your right in that it would be considered hack n slash but if you think about what an actual action RPG, you'll see DW can definitely be classified as one. I don't think I really need to break that down for you but if you disagree, feel free to say so and I can explain.
It doesn't matter what elaborate explanation you come up with. Both core fans of the series and developers realize in no way this is action rpg. The warrior games are hack n slash dealing with large groups of enemies. @ethird1 is just trolling about FF and if warriors was a action rpg. It would be the worst action rpg on the planet. Especially compared to Kingdom Hearts.
Yea I get tired of people complaining "same old, same old" in regards to this series. It definitely gets a lot of undeserved negative attention, most of it coming from those who aren't even fans of the series.
There are a lot of differences between the games even if they use the same style fighting system. Also lets keep in mind that even though there are the same battles in each game, they upgrade and change all the maps a great deal in each installment. Look at any sport game… the graphics are atrocious by present standards and any update they make to gameplay is pretty gimmicky IMO.
Dynasty Warriors 7 was extremely good and would probably rank as my second favorite in the series behind DW3. It was loaded with seamless action and really picked up the pace of the game which was a welcome change especially from someone who has a full time job, part time job, and a side business – No wonder I still haven't beaten Dishonored yet nor touched Journey 🙁