The whole point is the characters.

[Jimby]

The concept of 1 player character is a huge shot in the foot for this series. Despite so many poor technical choices, generic level rehashes, uninspired combat systems, and misc downgrades over the years, the variety of character content was always the saving grace that made it feel like the content was never-ending, even if the gameplay could be repetitive.

And of all the things I've seen players critique and ask for over the years, decreased character count was never something that was asked for or positively received. It doesn't even sound cool on paper like "explore the 3 kingdoms as one giant open world level along the way".

KOEI has always been a little deaf-eared to critique and DW has always had it's share of jank and poor development decisions, but this just feels like such a huge gutting of what made the series shine in spite of itself.

[Kryneo77]

Character gonna be dlc 20$ i can feel it

[Maghnus Opus]

dynasty warriors 3 on ps2 is still the best dynasty warrior game in the series and to this day have never been contested. I would take a remake of DW3 over a new game at this point.

[Stone]

I haven't really considered pre-ordering it yet just because of the lack of characters, let alone the fact that my main is missing lol. I mean it looks like an extensive character roster isn't the point of this game, but like you said, roster size is the saving grace for musou. It might be the main reason I play them tbh

There seems to be a trend of reduced content when considering DW9E & SW5 compared to their predecessors, so I really hope it doesn't extend to this game too (even though the roster is already off to a bad start, so not looking great)

[Horrible Marksman]

I certainly do enjoy the large character pools of the other warrior games. That said, in the end, it usually just means I try everyone once and then stick with 4 or so characters for any significant length of time. As long as the weapon sets are enjoyable, even if I don't like the lack of weapon variety, I don't consider the lack of character variety a game breaking loss. That's assuming they compensate for it elsewhere. Variety of units, mounts, skills, etc. Also, any version with CaW options basically meant I only used the historical characters when needed for unlocks, which mostly turned everyone into a moveset and rendered the characters irrelevant to some degree.

This game feels a bit like a mixture of destiny mode very lite + DW 6. For all the hate 6 gets, the battles and maps really were some of the most interesting of the more recent series for me. The combat was just too simplified even for a warrior game, which killed it even beyond the lack of variety, but actually using tactics to win? Burning bases, ambushing, etc? That truly entertained me. I like that this game at least tries to make it feel like you're an officer and not just a a God of War.

I only buy the fantasy warriors games these days and this is the first historical version I'm considering buying since Samurai warriors 4, which was an insane disappointment due to how stupid easy the game was. This game? Enemies actually attacked me in the demo. Legitimately, they tried to kill me. I can't remember the last time I played a historical warriors variation after 5 where anything was an actual threat and at that point it was already getting easier, especially compared to 3 with those demon archers hiding in the fog. This demo though, between the enemy officers using tactics and the sheer number of troops on screen, while the officers are spamming their attacks? I actually had to pay attention and play the game. That last fight in front of the gates where you've got a swarm on swarm battle with officers/vets/etc going at it? It was legitimately fun.

Also "explore the 3 kingdoms as one giant open world level along the way" does appeal to me. I've wanted a true Rotk warriors experience where I can play as a free officer or in a faction and the closest they ever gave me was dynasty warriors 5. Rotk 7, 10, 13 systems with dynasty combat? My inner child can only dream. Kind of makes me want to play Bladestorm again...

I haven't decided if I'll buy it yet, but it was a hell no until I played the demo and now it's a maybe. *shrug*

[Iron Maiden]

Originally posted by Maghnus Opus:

dynasty warriors 3 on ps2 is still the best dynasty warrior game in the series and to this day have never been contested. I would take a remake of DW3 over a new game at this point.

Nah the DW game is 5 with extreme edition, it had the best balance, had extreme best extra mode ever in a DW game,the maps were better designed and it was all just more polished as well.

But the best warriors game overall is Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate.

[chaosdemon122]

Originally posted by Iron Maiden:

Originally posted by Maghnus Opus:

dynasty warriors 3 on ps2 is still the best dynasty warrior game in the series and to this day have never been contested. I would take a remake of DW3 over a new game at this point.

Nah the DW game is 5 with extreme edition, it had the best balance, had extreme best extra mode ever in a DW game,the maps were better designed and it was all just more polished as well.

But the best warriors game overall is Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate.

Nah. The best was 4

[Ensign]

Can i ask a question as a non fan of the series? To OP and all the series vets here.

DW:Orgins only has one character yes. Would it have made a difference if we had all the generals of the past games unlocked and playable here? They would all play the same wouldnt they?

That is to say, there would probably be 20+ Short Sword characters who all play similar to eachother, 38+ Spear characters who all play like eachother ect.

Did officers have unique skills? Abilities? If they did, wernt some more OP than others? Sort of "power creep" thier way as the only usable characters. Perhaps past games had a rating system on every level, necessitating a guide to figure out the most optimum character to achieve the best rating on a certain level.

Rather than be mad that all the officers arent available, shouldnt you all be mad that we cant make OUR OWN character?

[Horrible Marksman]

Originally posted by Ensign:

Can i ask a question as a non fan of the series? To OP and all the series vets here.

DW:Orgins only has one character yes. Would it have made a difference if we had all the generals of the past games unlocked and playable here? They would all play the same wouldnt they?

That is to say, there would probably be 20+ Short Sword characters who all play similar to eachother, 38+ Spear characters who all play like eachother ect.

Did officers have unique skills? Abilities? If they did, wernt some more OP than others? Sort of "power creep" thier way as the only usable characters. Perhaps past games had a rating system on every level, necessitating a guide to figure out the most optimum character to achieve the best rating on a certain level.

Rather than be mad that all the officers arent available, shouldnt you all be mad that we cant make OUR OWN character?

When they talk about wanting the old characters they are likely referring to their unique variants. DW6, as an example, had pretty much all the characters up to that point, but they made most of them clones with only a small variety of weapon variations. In most cases each weapon type had 3-5 clone characters. Most characters basically had one attack combo that was truly unique and the rest were identical. Those attack strings could have vast power disparity between them, especially depending on the base element granted to that Ex attack. Huang Zhong, for example, was an archer with built in Ice effect. He was a god. His fellow clone Xiahou Yuan? Not so much. That game was pretty widely criticized because of that and the Renbu system. I won't bother to fully describe that but it was a significant simplification of an already simple combat system. Cool animations though. So yeah, if they had added the characters in, they likely would just be clones anyway, which partly defeats the point.

They do have abilities these days and they are usually fairly unique to a character. Some of them are incredibly overpowered though. Lu Bu turns into a woodchipper with his attack power/speed buff. Xu Huang is functionally immortal even at level 1 on a max stage in chaos difficulty with his defense buff. Anyone with a grab turns any officer fight into a joke. Etc. So yes, they are not all equally powerful, but the games are not difficult enough for that to really matter anyway, especially with how broken weapon attributes like brilliance can be. That said, I didn't play 9 so I don't know if that part has changed since then.

Not being able to create our own character is one of the things leaving the game in the maybe category for me. They often omit the feature from the games so I'm kind of used to it, but it would fit perfectly with this particular style of game which makes it an odd choice. One would assume they wanted to save time/money on animations and such which is unfortunate.

[arks]

I hate reading essays (wall of texts) on videogames, like it or hate it. It is not one of the numbered main installment game think of it as a spinoff.

[ArcaneMaverick]

Originally posted by Maghnus Opus:

dynasty warriors 3 on ps2 is still the best dynasty warrior game in the series and to this day have never been contested. I would take a remake of DW3 over a new game at this point.

Honestly. Me too. Best music, best voices, best designs (for most). Archers were an actual threat. There was reason to equip different items than the same old attack, defense, reach, charge stuff.

[Jimby]

Originally posted by Ensign:

DW:Orgins only has one character yes. Would it have made a difference if we had all the generals of the past games unlocked and playable here? They would all play the same wouldnt they?

That is to say, there would probably be 20+ Short Sword characters who all play similar to eachother, 38+ Spear characters who all play like eachother ect.

Yes it would make a difference. It is the very nature of the series.

If you are looking for well rounded gameplay and complex combat, Warriors was never a solid option. The best it ever improved on complexity was the Empires take, which improves strategy mechanics, not combat mechanics.

Sure, over the years there were some minor improvements and setbacks to combat mechanics and weapon leveling (I prefer item hunting to item leveling, for example), but it's basically the same old school beat em up throughout the series.

It has always been a beat em up, with light to heavy strategic elements, and a ton of variety and aesthetic context.

The best entries made each character feel like you were experiencing a different part of the historic context, even subtle changes like one character has a side story in Battle at Castle Foo made a difference, and encouraged you to experience all the players in the campaign mode.

If you don't care about the context and you just want more variety, you are probably an Orochi fan. For me, I couldn't care less about character fan service mashup, and once you cross that line, the variety becomes meaningless, and the characters do feel cookie cutter because there is no meaningful context to enhance them.

But in the context of the 3 kingdoms story, the massive, branching path, multi-generational narrative makes DW shine in it's own way compared to classic arcade beat em ups, which are still revered, despite their bare bones variety, simple move-sets, and repetitive level structure.

Rather than build on that, it's seems like they are making the budget call to say, "well we can improve visual jank and immersive level design (longstanding issues and complaints with the series), but only if we gut the rest of the game."

That might have been cool for a one-shot LuBu game, or any character who wasn't "nameless hero", for the sake of building the engine to lead into a proper DW title. I would support that.

But gutting the series, and hand-waving on it with a flashy tech demo, I'm not buying it.

Originally posted by Ensign:

Did officers have unique skills? Abilities? If they did, werent some more OP than others? Sort of "power creep" thier way as the only usable characters. Perhaps past games had a rating system on every level, necessitating a guide to figure out the most optimum character to achieve the best rating on a certain level.

Yes, some characters are OP, and it plays to the variety and historical context. The game is not all about being OP, it's about the personality of War from the highest lord to their weak lady 3rd cousin, and the rebel souls who weave throughout the narrative forging their own allegiances.

That skill-level / difficulty variety is heart and soul of the 3 kingdoms games. The romance series gets savaged by fans on entries where they can't i.e. hard mode creator themselves as some geisha slave turned diplomat general.

Originally posted by Ensign:

Rather than be mad that all the officers arent available, shouldnt you all be mad that we cant make OUR OWN character?

I don't care about the character creator, but yes, no creator and no variety is a dead end in my opinion. Character creation is an option in many of the titles and expansions, and IMO it really for the Empires (tactics) expansion or when you've run down the content and are looking for more hours.

[Crash]

Okay thanks!

[thorin.hannahs]

With all the characters that were in DW8XL I only remember Yu Jin as I thought he was very well done in every category. SW2 I remember far more characters but I always played Hanzo and Kojiro.

I can't recall one of the previous entries that diluted the roster I think they took away Zhang He's unique weapon and I wasn't having it.

It seems there are two design paths that would make work load manageable. 1 each character has a unique to them move set/weapon or 2 make the move sets tied to the weapon and be able to equip the weapon to whoever. The devs seem to have opted for option 2 this time around and it doesn't bother me as much because I am not Zhang He (Captain Claw) with some dumb ass spear I am an original character that is a god of war so I can use all weapons as a god of war should.

I don't have a full grasp of the game yet but do companions have their own move sets or battle arts? I got to power bomb a dude as Huang Gai and as much as I'd like that to be available to "claws" I also like the idea of it being unique to Huang Gai.

[[ODT]Piccolo]

I can always go back to playing Dynasty Warriors 9. I'm sorry but Origins have it's own flaws despite IGN giving it a 9/10.

[RUMBAHB]

I don’t mind the single character, but it would be a thousands times better if we can customize him from his physics to outfits like the “empire” series