Winners / Losers in 9

[ingosupercute]

What are your personal positive or negative surprises in the roster of Dynasty Warriors 9? Who rose in your favour, who fell off?

My winners:

Xingcai - She has been my favourite character ever since she got introduced. I was a bit worried how her moveset would hold up in the new combat system and... it transisted so incredibly well! She is straight up a beast in this title. So since she managed to become my favourite yet again she is def the biggest winner.

Cheng Pu - When I saw the artwork of long years awaited Cheng Pu I thought mhm that's one really cool looking old dude, I really want to play him! And the old chap didn't let me down. He is not only extremely cool and grumpy, his fighting style also looks ace and he performs very well. I think he shot from zero to straight up my favourite male character.

Cai Wenji - The little harp playing girl never caught my interest before. I mean I played her one, maybe two times in 8 and thought she was kinda meh. But look what they turned her into in 9! Her face looks completely different now, she is so pretty I want to die when looking at her. And she also is one of the best characters I've tried out so far. The way she juggles, the way she gap closes and swiftly deals a sheetload of damage are simply impressive.


My Losers:

Pang De - He used to be my favourite male in 5 with his axes, then again in 7 and 8 with his giant mallet. Well he kept the mallet but he just straight up sucks in 9. His attacks are too slow and even using wind gems the AI dodges most of his charged up in a line attacks effortlessly on chaos. Furthermore he has a problem with being stuck in attack animation while the finisher symbol appears, and I've found mysefl a lot of time fighting the controls to cancel somehow or get to the enemy just to miss the window of opportunity. And lookswise... well he is too tall that's for sure. It looks a bit goofy. I like his face and beard though, very manly.

Sun Jian - He was one of the characters I had at max level in 8 and I did not have many. But after playing through his story I can confidently say he won't reach max level in 9. I just don't like his RB trigger attacks. Too much fighting in the air. And the one where he swings his giant ringblade as if it was a one pound knife is just so ridiculous. Speaking of the ringblade, the constant ringing of that thing drives me nuts. And lookswise he also worsened. He looked very dashing daddy in 8, but turned into an old wrinkly man who hides most of his head beneath a helmet yet again.

Deng Ai
Deng Ai was cool. He used to have a lance and pummeled people left and right with it. Now they gave him an axe and, well the damn thing doesn't hit properly. For some reason, unlike other giant weapon characters, he is lacking roundabout attacks - which would be typical for using an axe - and mostly attacks in a straight line. Too easy to miss, too easy to dodge. And to complete the misery he has also got the two worst musou attacks I've witnessed so far: Ground grapple, air grapple. You almost never hit the right dude with it! I've even stood right infront of a single person and somehow managed to miss the air grapple. Pure frustration. At least he looks cool.

[AllG]

Since I've been taking this game really slowly, this is all subject to change, and I can't really compare or go into details with playstyles just yet. Anyways...

Winners:

Yuan Shao - I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my old favorites from 3-5 finally get a story with some substance for the first time since they turned him into a comic relief. His campaign may not have as much as it should, but it puts the last 3 games' to shame.

Bao Sanniang - A cute new look and one of the most pleasant English voices in this installment. Perhaps the latter is helped by her being the most minor character in the game with only a few lines. Either way, she's been upgraded from being overlooked in previous games to top tier waifu to me.

Losers:

Guo Huai - Liked him in 7. Didn't like his voice in 8, but put up with it. His voice here though...yeesh. That on top of losing his unique weapon gives me all the reason to avoid him as much as possible. I didn't want to fill this list based of voices, so I'll leave it at this one.

Zhang He, Cao Pi & Zhenji - What happened to their personalities?

Wen Yang - Who?

[Everybody do the flop]

Originally posted by Quagora:

Wen Yang - Who?

More like:
Wen Yang - The most annoying character to unlock.

[ingosupercute]

Originally posted by Everybody do the flop:

Originally posted by Quagora:

Wen Yang - Who?

More like:
Wen Yang - The most annoying character to unlock.

Jesus... people nonstop complain about difficulty being too low. Unlocking everything requires nothing at all. It already was easy before they made it even easier. What did you do in those older DW parts where certain characters required you to google on the internet what conditions you had to fullfill on what difficulty in which mission at which timelimit

[Everybody do the flop]

Originally posted by ingosupercute:

Originally posted by Everybody do the flop:

More like:
Wen Yang - The most annoying character to unlock.

Jesus... people nonstop complain about difficulty being too low. Unlocking everything requires nothing at all. It already was easy before they made it even easier. What did you do in those older DW parts where certain characters required you to google on the internet what conditions you had to fullfill on what difficulty in which mission at which timelimit :Tokyoquestion:

They complaints are mostly because Koei said that you could unlock all characters by playing as 2 characters, even though before the patch the minumum was 3.
Plus my issue is that I played as Liu Shan, completed his story and THEN the patch happened, so I had to play as 4 officers to unlock everyone.

[ingosupercute]

Originally posted by Everybody do the flop:

They complaints are mostly because Koei said that you could unlock all characters by playing as 2 characters, even though before the patch the minumum was 3.
Plus my issue is that I played as Liu Shan, completed his story and THEN the patch happened, so I had to play as 4 officers to unlock everyone.

I still think you should not be so whiny because of it. Like it's really easy. And most players belong to either cathegory of a) don't like the game that much, don't care about who they unlock anyway or b) like the game and want to experience many of the 90+4 characters anyway, so the unlock happens automatically. I will admit, it sucks a bit for players who fell in love with just one single character and want to play no one else anymore, but how many people do that?

OH and BTW DUDE: Since you are already here you might as well give your winners & losers. Because I want to know.^^

[Everybody do the flop]

Originally posted by ingosupercute:

Originally posted by Everybody do the flop:

They complaints are mostly because Koei said that you could unlock all characters by playing as 2 characters, even though before the patch the minumum was 3.
Plus my issue is that I played as Liu Shan, completed his story and THEN the patch happened, so I had to play as 4 officers to unlock everyone.

I still think you should not be so whiny because of it. Like it's really easy. And most players belong to either cathegory of a) don't like the game that much, don't care about who they unlock anyway or b) like the game and want to experience many of the 90+4 characters anyway, so the unlock happens automatically. I will admit, it sucks a bit for players who fell in love with just one single character and want to play no one else anymore, but how many people do that?

OH and BTW DUDE: Since you are already here you might as well give your winners & losers. Because I want to know.^^

I've only played as 5 characters so far, so:

Losers:

Pang Tong - His moveset is very defensive, but has low HP and low attack, so he's not that great to use, though he does have interesting moves, but some of them cause him to stop have a combo. I haven't completed his story yet, so I can't say much on it.

Xin Xianying - Has awful voice acting in English and her story ends way too soon and she should have been cast as a Wei character, as she's only in one Jin fight. She also doesn't participate much in the story actively and the little that there is, revolves around her father.


Winners:

Zhong Hui - Despite only being in two chapters, his story didn't feel very short and I enjoyed his awful personality. I miss his floating swords, but his current weapon is somewhat similar enough for me to forgive it. He's one of the few interesting parts of Jin, as he's so smug and arrogant, he brings actual character to one of the Jin forces. Too bad he wasn't in enough cutscenes though.

Cao Cao - I enjoy the Yellow Turban conflict and other earlier parts of the pre-3 Kingdoms era and since Cao Cao's the only character I've played as so far to live through that, he's under winners. I really like seeing officers join Cao Cao's side and even when he loses officers, new ones come to his side. This is why I enjoy the first half more so than the second half, as by the time Cao Pi dies, there's mostly only pre-established characters left and many, many (unmentioned) deaths.

Somewhere inbetween:

Liu Shan - Liu Shan's story is quite sad, as his starts after his father's death and eventually Zhuge Liang dies too. Also sucks that late Shu is filled with bitter defeats against the giant army of Wei (Jin) and at the end Liu Shan just gives up and the people of Shu are seen throwing rocks at him. Liu Shan definitely has the bad ending in the game and I can't make up my mind if I like it or not. One of the biggest issues with late Shu, is most characters by Chapter 12 are just generics and there are only about 3 non-generics by the end. As for his weapon... it's similar to what he had in DW8, but I liked his DW8 Empires weapon more.

[ingosupercute]

Originally posted by Everybody do the flop:

at the end Liu Shan just gives up and the people of Shu are seen throwing rocks at him. Liu Shan definitely has the bad ending in the game and I can't make up my mind if I like it or not

Aww man, I didn't know his ending yet but if it comforts you... his future can't be all bad, for reference play Xingcai's ending. :)

[Darth_Roxs]

Winners:

Guan Yu - I've loved Guan Yu since I started playing Dynasty Warriors back on the PS1 and I think this is the best he's ever been. His moveset is amazing and I love his design too.

Zhou Tai - I was afraid I was going to hate Zhou Tai but I love him. I just beat the game with him yesterday and my only complaint is that his story (so far) is the worst story I've played in the game.

Cao Cao - Cao Cao is another one of my all time favorite characters and I love everything about him. His voice (japanese), moveset, and story is probably the best one I've played so far.

Yuan Shao - He's finally relevant again and has an actual story. Thank you Koei!

Losers:

Sun Ce - My favorite Wu character has been ruined and is a clone now...

Zhang He - My favorite Wei character has been ruined again. His new fighting style isn't horrible, but I prefer his claws.

Pang De - He's too slow and sluggish and it's hard to hit crap with him. He used to be better imo.

[ingosupercute]

Originally posted by Drakulus23:

Winners:
Yuan Shao - He's finally relevant again and has an actual story. Thank you Koei!

Thanks for recommending Yuan Shao. I started his story yesterday and spent some extra time in every stage so far because he really is very good and fun in 9.

[AllG]

I have a few additions to my list now.

Winners:

Zhang Liao - Already one of my all-time favorites, but between the new combat flow and elemental enhancements, I find him more satisfying to play than ever. Using a combination of wind and lightning pretty much turns him into a sentient hurricane. Added in a touch of fire as well so that he can "burn the land of Wu" just like the good old days.

Cao Xiu - Replaces Zhang He as the stylish workhorse of Wei.

Sima Zhao - The game lets me surf Ma Su's body all the way down his silly little mountain, enough said.

Loser:

Ma Chao - Once the splendid spearhead of justice, now relegated to Wang Yi's plaything (maybe a winner depending on how you look it). All while Ma Dai gets a bigger spotlight throughout the overarching story.

[Nero]

Originally posted by Quagora:

I have a few additions to my list now.

Winners:

Zhang Liao - Already one of my all-time favorites, but between the new combat flow and elemental enhancements, I find him more satisfying to play than ever. Using a combination of wind and lightning pretty much turns him into a sentient hurricane. Added in a touch of fire as well so that he can "burn the land of Wu" just like the good old days.

Loser:

Ma Chao - Once the splendid spearhead of justice, now relegated to Wang Yi's plaything (maybe a winner depending on how you look it). All while Ma Dai gets a bigger spotlight throughout the overarching story.

I was rather disappointed that both and all others do not have their beginning covered. Zhang Liao does not start off with Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu instead you begin as a follower of Cao Cao. Same with Ma Chao you do not fight at Tong gate instead insta jump to being a follower of Liu Bei.

I'd rather the characters have a bit more in depth story and would have liked to sacrifice the OTHER characters for example.

[jerryfanfan]

Biggest Loser must be Wang Yuanji, in DW8 her damage output was up there with Lu Bu, due to fast ranged multitargeting piercing attacks, but now she's below average.

@ OP Cai Wenji is an even bigger loser if you knew how to use her from the strategy guides, basically Cai Wenji was the strongest character in all of DW8XL, with her area damage horse attacks, and with that taken away now she's just another average character.

[Otterly Confused]

Originally posted by jerryfanfan:

Biggest Loser must be Wang Yuanji, in DW8 her damage output was up there with Lu Bu, due to fast ranged multitargeting piercing attacks, but now she's below average.

@ OP Cai Wenji is an even bigger loser if you knew how to use her from the strategy guides, basically Cai Wenji was the strongest character in all of DW8XL, with her area damage horse attacks, and with that taken away now she's just another average character.

Don't remind me. I slotted in her playstyle during DW8E for a laugh and fell in love with how OP it was. Seeing her lose that just makes me depressed. :<

[moonpig]

In my 150 hours of playthrough, I can only say the following so far.

Winners:

Cao Cao - always has been, preferred his older VA but this one is good enough. He has a decent moveset and is generally fun to play as. They make him a bit more likeable in this game in terms of portrayal during the Wei segment (albeit also demonising him in others).

Yuan Shao - holy crap, I never cared for him much in previous games and even went out of my way to avoid him, but this portrayal and his new VA quickly became one of my favourites. I just love how snobby and superior he acts. This has to be perhaps the only game where Yuan Shao was actually utilised so extensively that he mattered.

Dong Zhuo - generally never cared for him beforehand, and although I prefer Richard Epcar voicing him, this portrayal does make you want to hate him, namely because he's so vile, piggish and generally disgusting yet also comical.

Loser:

Zhenji - perhaps my favourite female character, now I find wanting her to be cut because of how pathetic she comes across. Mother of second Wei emperor, husband of the first, and yet, she barely says anything in her own bloody story, she just randomly appears in a lot of scenes and yet... not a word. She's got the personality of a dishwasher... But at least she has a nice ending, if a bit of a troll from Koei's part, seriously.

[Nero]

Originally posted by BritishTeapot:

Zhenji - perhaps my favourite female character, now I find wanting her to be cut because of how pathetic she comes across. Mother of second Wei emperor, husband of the first, and yet, she barely says anything in her own bloody story, she just randomly appears in a lot of scenes and yet... not a word. She's got the personality of a dishwasher...

Historical accuracy.