GameLight - Dynasty Warriors 7

Official English Site: http://www.dynastywarriors7.eu/uk/index.htm

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

DYNASTY WARRIORS 7!  It's coming out late March early April with new combat systems, new characters, extra timeline, and returning character and weapons Koei took out in DW6.  I am so excited about the new Dynasty Warriors, and I'm sure long time fans are too (especially those wanting everything that was great about DW5 and previous ones before everything changed in DW6 back in DW7).  Dynasty Warriors has had a long history of being a repetitive hack 'n slash with no depth and purpose by critics and the gaming community.  Only those who have followed the Dynasty Warriors series for the past 10 years have been praising Koei for their hard work and dedication to the series each time they revamp the game.  Other past complaints have been Koei's tendency to come out with expansions to each DW game such as Xtreme Legends and Empires.  Most argue that the expansions should have been in the original game to begin with for the full experience of the game.  Spin-offs have started having their own series and iterations of games including Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and Dynasty Warriors Gundam, Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage.

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/dynasty-warriors-7-returns-to-reclaim-the-hack-and-slash-throne/

So even after so many iterations and low ratings by critics, why am I still excited about a 7th installment of Dynasty Warriors?  Besides having followed Koei since their Romance of the Three Kingdom days watching my dad play on the NES and having great interest behind the history of the Three Kingdoms era, I am hoping for something truly great from Koei after they had some experience creating a few more games on the Playstation 3.  The combat system for Dynasty Warriors 6 truly was shallow compared to the extensive combo mechanics Dynasty Warriors 2-5 was so well known for and the change in character weaponry with copy animations a la fighting games (like street fighter's Ryu and Ken or Smash Bros. Melee's Marth and Roy) was a great disappointment.  There were interesting changes in DW6 that made the game fresh, but some of the changes took quite a bit of what was great about the game out of it.  Well, here are some of the things to look forward to in Dynasty Warriors 7 that has hopefully improved the game:

Source: http://darkaquamarine.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html

Rise of the Jin Dynasty
Unfortunately, my Ancient Chinese history isn't up to snuff and so I can't say for sure in what time period the Jin Dynasty took place.  As far as I understand, it's sometime near the end of the Three Kingdoms era (Three Kingdoms 220–280 / Jin Dynasty 265–420 - Wikipedia).  So this means new storylines, new characters, and new battles.  I already like the character Wang Yuanji based on her description and her musou on the video up top at 1:12.  With such a large difference in time periods, will the story in the Jin Dynasty be separate from the Three Kingdoms era entirely?  Sima Yi (usually of Wei) is seen in the characters list of the Jin Dynasty, and it also possesses decedents of those who fought in Wei such as Sima Yi's son Sima Shi, Zhuge Liang's family decendent Zhuge Dan, and Xiahou Yuan's son Xiahou Ba.  From what I remember in the actual history, it was one of Cao Cao's decedents that ends the long war between the Three Kingdoms.  Perhaps it has something to do with the Jin Dynasty?  Not sure, I should really learn the actual history or at least read the translated version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

New Weapon System
According to the description on Koei's site, every character has access to almost all the weapons and can equip two weapons at the same time like in Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce (Koei seems to implement new systems and game mechanics every time they tried it out on a spin-off).  From the screenshots, it seems many players of Dynasty Warriors 6 complained about the characters losing their original weapon and thus losing the entirety of what made the character unique and special because each character holds a weapon they used to use prior to DW6 and a 2nd weapon that they wielded in DW6.  The fact that any character can use any weapons really worry me.  If that's truly the case, what's the point of playing any other character if one can do it all?  If it's just the story that's different, then there's a big problem.  Doesn't that just ask players to play with the same character throughout the entire game since they'll practically be the same?  I really like the idea of new weapons and being able to switch between two of them in the middle of battle, but there's a lot of concern about being able to wield any weapon.

Switch Attack
Since characters can hold two weapons in battle now, a special attack called a "switch attack" grants the player with an effect that aides the player in fighting such as a bolt of lightning spreading everywhere or swords flying around the player while they attack after switching weapons in the middle of a combo.  The idea sounds cool, but I wonder how smooth the transition between switching weapons will be.

Musou Attack and EX Attack
Each character has two different musou or "hyper" attack for those who don't know what a musou is.  One is used on the ground like usual and the other can be used in the air.  This could come in handy for certain situations against large groups of enemies or generals that ride on mounts.  The EX attack sound similar to the combo system used in the Samurai Warriors series where an extra Triangle or "heavy attack" can be chained to cause a stronger or longer attack or combo.  I'm hoping that it changes the way combos are done because constantly mashing on the square button with the occasion of the triangle and circle was pretty boring with only 2 different heavy strikes compared to DW5 and below's 7-9 different combo chain.

Growth/Upgrade System
The skill trees, upgrades, weapon looting and such are back.  I didn't mind the implementation of the skill tree since it was much like an RPG game with skill branches and gave the player more control of where to grow in power.  All the items, weapon looting, skill trees, seals and all will implement really well with the additional mode they're adding to DW7.

Conquest Mode
I am super excited for Dynasty Warriors 7 with this additional mode being one of the reasons.  It's a free roam map with mixtures of Adventure, RPG, Strategy, and of course Action Hack 'n Slash.  If anyone has played Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends on Xtreme Mode, you'll probably get a kick out of Conquest mode.  Xtreme Mode in DW5XL was sort of like a one time RPG adventure where the player chose between three missions upon completion and upgraded weapons by going to blacksmiths while staying replenished with the army by going to the shop.  There will be similar aspects in Conquest mode as well as those from the Empires expansion (which I never played but have seen).  I'd say that Conquest Mode is one of the biggest attractions to the next iteration of the series.

Source: Youtube Channel KOEIWarriorsMedia

Well, there you have it.  Here's hoping for an awesome game~