Thoughts on the Demo?

[Pigeon_Senpai]

Feels like this game took steps back from SW4 imo. Spirit charge is now one of those R1 skills and the game in general is stiff. Nobunaga's moveset is dry as well. Musou bros where did things go wrong?

I remember the days of DW8, SW4 and WO3U. Ahh, I miss those days.

[Autista de familia]

The demo doesn't run via proton :(

[Qvnt]

Hm. I quite enjoy the changes to Combat as it makes Officers much more engaging to fight against - speaking of, play the Demo on Hard to get a better feel for Guard & Perfect Guard. Its very satisfying to me but that's also a game mechanic that I am quite fond of.

That being said, the intensity of Combat seems to have suffered because of the possible focus on Perfect Guard.

The presentation of SW5 is next level though so I am very intrigued - though honestly burnt as I'm expecting a re-release a year later.

[rikiohipman]

I like the change of the direction this game took, i like art style and the fact that its a reboot, feels fresh, almost Sengoku Basara-ish.
I would like to see DW10 done in a similar way.

[Tusnayoshi]

Combat is the most dynamic and engaging of the series. By dynamic, I mean that a variety of situations happen, instead of the old stunlock that used to add zero to no action to the gameplay. We asked for active troops, they are starting to make them more aggressive. I've always played Musou games at Hard difficulty at start, despite that not being recommended due to gear lv. Anyway, this was the best Hard difficulty start in any Musou game, balanced with constant pokes from troops, enough to make you worry a little about your HP.

Don't get me wrong, officers will still display an easily counterable pattern, but it's fun to play. To me, dodging feels slightly better compared to SW 4-II. Paired with the slightly more aggressive IA, dodging becomes useful to engage good spacing and control.

The game is certainly slower than SW 4, but better in my opinion. It's not a crazy frenzy where you understand little of what's going on. Now you can juggle higher officers using Hyper Attack, as long as you know when to use that.

Lastly, you can select other characters, this is a demo, so you'll get to play as Oda first, but the game does tell you will be able to select other characters.

Game is great.

EDIT: I've never liked the idea of Skills that boost stats. In my opinion, they overpower us, making it too easy for the player to succeed. Personally, I never equip those to help the game's balance and have a better combat experience THAT WORKS FOR ME.

[Nipukka]

I hate hitting an officer who doesn't have their guard up, only for them to eat my attack and hit me in return. Then I end up flinching and getting hit for a good chunk of damage. I've now died twice in the first level on hard because the enemy officers just poise through hits like crazy.

The 'perfect block' mechanic doesn't have any distinct sound when it's successfully activated either which really bothers me. Blocking direction also seems really unforgiving. I don't enjoy using lock-on but it almost seems like a necessity in this game because if you're not facing the enemy officers straight on while blocking, you're going to get hit past your block.

I'll just keep playing for a little bit longer but right now I'm very lukewarm on this.

[XthemastaX]

To me, it's DW6 at home. It's a good and bad thing. Except it's more bad, since it's deriving from a good game (imo). Like how the horse combat is lifted straight from Dynasty. Well, at least I can actually tolerate playing this for a longer period of time compared to Orochi 4 and Dynasty 9.

[Tusnayoshi]

Originally posted by Nipukka:

I hate hitting an officer who doesn't have their guard up, only for them to eat my attack and hit me in return. Then I end up flinching and getting hit for a good chunk of damage. I've now died twice in the first level on hard because the enemy officers just poise through hits like crazy.

The 'perfect block' mechanic doesn't have any distinct sound when it's successfully activated either which really bothers me. Blocking direction also seems really unforgiving. I don't enjoy using lock-on but it almost seems like a necessity in this game because if you're not facing the enemy officers straight on while blocking, you're going to get hit past your block.

I'll just keep playing for a little bit longer but right now I'm very lukewarm on this.

Your army needs more morale to be better able to flinch the target. Observe the red and blue zones in the map. Each color has 2 levels of intensity: light and strong. If more of your troops occupy the spot you are battling or you've done a fair amount of damage to the enemy's morale, you'll be able to fight better against enemy officers. I believe the non-flinching thing is intentional, so we don't really raid officers only but actually play the stage properly.

I found it pretty encouraging to gather together with your army and advance, instead of just going anywhere in the map alone killing everyone. Now it makes a lot more sense.

[Nipukka]

Originally posted by Tusnayoshi:

Your army needs more morale to be better able to flinch the target. Observe the red and blue zones in the map. Each color has 2 levels of intensity: light and strong. If more of your troops occupy the spot you are battling or you've done a fair amount of damage to the enemy's morale, you'll be able to fight better against enemy officers. I believe the non-flinching thing is intentional, so we don't really raid officers only but actually play the stage properly.

I found it pretty encouraging to gather together with your army and advance, instead of just going anywhere in the map alone killing everyone. Now it makes a lot more sense.

Interesting. The game did briefly explain something about the morale system in the second stage and it seems to be more in-depth than I initially thought. Once I unlocked the 'ultimate skills' I was able to pressure officers much more efficiently.

I could launch an officer, then do the leaping attack ultimate skill to land behind them and continue my combo by attacking them from behind. Even activating self buff skills briefly stuns the officer and there's some kind of escape mechanic that uses the spirit gauge.

The game definitely opens up massively with the ultimate skills and it was far more fun to play after that. I may just end up buying this game now.

[KomdivCCCP]

Graphically it looks much worse than DW9, but at least it runs at stable 60fps now, gameplay is fun but still - its so outdated already. I hoped that they will improve DW9 formula and will make an open world but with lots of different quests and events.

Also music is great.

p.s. Also im not sure if antialiasing option in the settings works, cause everything is unbelievably jaggy.

[Tusnayoshi]

Originally posted by Nipukka:

Originally posted by Tusnayoshi:

Your army needs more morale to be better able to flinch the target. Observe the red and blue zones in the map. Each color has 2 levels of intensity: light and strong. If more of your troops occupy the spot you are battling or you've done a fair amount of damage to the enemy's morale, you'll be able to fight better against enemy officers. I believe the non-flinching thing is intentional, so we don't really raid officers only but actually play the stage properly.

I found it pretty encouraging to gather together with your army and advance, instead of just going anywhere in the map alone killing everyone. Now it makes a lot more sense.

Interesting. The game did briefly explain something about the morale system in the second stage and it seems to be more in-depth than I initially thought. Once I unlocked the 'ultimate skills' I was able to pressure officers much more efficiently.

I could launch an officer, then do the leaping attack ultimate skill to land behind them and continue my combo by attacking them from behind. Even activating self buff skills briefly stuns the officer and there's some kind of escape mechanic that uses the spirit gauge.

The game definitely opens up massively with the ultimate skills and it was far more fun to play after that. I may just end up buying this game now.

Glad to hear it enhanced your experience! I think now it is starting to make sense defeating troops and clearing certain paths where there is no objective. It changed my attitude when passing through troops clashing: now I have a reason to stop and help them, pushing forward with my army.

I would love it if dodging had small i-frames, like really small. Anyway, I like the direction it is taking.

[Orbital Føroysk 🪐]

Not going to lie, I got bored just from those two levels. I used to play the hell out of SW4 and even previous Koei Warriors games.

Still got a little hype for Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires though as I love being able to make custom officers and replace existing ones. Hopefully DW9:E has loads of cutscenes in it like DW7:E.

[Tusnayoshi]

Originally posted by Lion of Kyoto:

Not going to lie, I got bored just from those two levels. I used to play the hell out of SW4 and even previous Koei Warriors games.

What difficulty setting? And what aspects bored you the most?

[N-X]

It keeps crashing at more or less the same spot in the second stage for me. So far it plays as expected, except for the hyper attacks seeming to have been gimped.

[Orbital Føroysk 🪐]

Originally posted by Tusnayoshi:

Originally posted by Lion of Kyoto:

Not going to lie, I got bored just from those two levels. I used to play the hell out of SW4 and even previous Koei Warriors games.

What difficulty setting? And what aspects bored you the most?

Normal. I don't know, maybe the fact that literally nothing has changed from SW4 except that tiny feature from Pirate Warriors 4 where you slot 4 abilities.

Or maybe I'm just bored of hack n' slash Koei games now.

[Tusnayoshi]

Originally posted by Lion of Kyoto:

Normal. I don't know, maybe the fact that literally nothing has changed from SW4 except that tiny feature from Pirate Warriors 4 where you slot 4 abilities.

Or maybe I'm just bored of hack n' slash Koei games now.

Probably the last one? I am gonna be honest and tell you that I was expecting it to be SW4-II with new art. Even when I first entered the game, I heard the same FX, followed by "I knew I was right, it's the same game" in my mind. I did have a negative mindset coming to this game. There are small changes that makes the game more solid (just a tiny bit, but it does), and to me that's the best part of it.

Have you tried to spend more time defeating troops and turning the map color to your favor as you advance? Maybe you could find it nice that your troop is advancing with you, while rewarding you with advantage in further zones. You could also try Hard difficulty. It's not like in past entries, where you are basically one shotted while still lv 1, so probably you can have some more vibrant action, Lion of Kyoto.

Regarding skills, I only equipped the one you use to attack, so I don't get OP in relation to enemies.