Poll: Dynasty Warriors: Is it really that bad?

[fedpayne]

I absolutely LOVED the first Dynasty Warriors that I picked up, I think it may have been 2? 3? But I haven't bought any since 4, which I didn't keep. There's no need. I do wish that they would try hard and make a new game that was fun, but stll Three Kingdoms, and still scythe through hordes of people. But to make a proper game, that would be sweet. Not too complicated, not too much troop control or anything. Still simple, still easy. Just good looking, with better voice acting, more idea of what the hell is going on, some more challenge on higher difficulty, and better AI. I have had some awesome fun with the game. On a higher difficulty level (with Zhou Yu - yes I was young and stupid) I was messing around, kicking it, killing some soldiers, and I suddenly realised almost my entire army had been totally wiped out. In sudden, desperate need, I rushed to Cao Cao's castle, and, somehow, sneaked in, avoiding most of his forces and jumping on the roofing, dropped down in the middle of his guard and unleashed my fury. Assassination! Also, Zhao Yun (had a spear? Am I remembering right?) held a bridge against wave upon wave of enemy soliders, then led a devastating counter attack.

I might just go see how much it is for PS2 these days.

 

[Altorin]

everytime I see "Dynasty Warriors" I just laugh and think about Spoony

"The OFFICIAL Dirty Dancing game - as opposed to all those other UNOFFICIAL Dirty Dancing games floating around, such as Dirty Dancing Dance Revolution, and Dirty Dynasty Warriors Dancing."

 

[WhyTravisFelt]

I'm glad to see such a good response for my post. I have a tendency with games with lots of playable characters (Fire Emblem) to pick A BUNCH of favorites, and the DW series was no exception. I do have to admit, however, most of my favorites were all on Wei (yeah, I guess they were kind of the bad guys). Zhang Liao probably had the best mix of speed and strength (strong enough to kill people quick, fast enough to not let them escape), Pang De could kill anybody in a few hits (if you could catch anybody) and was awesome on horseback, and Zhang He gets mega-style points.

Outside of Wei, I liked Pang Tong, he had that apathetic, cool-guy attitude and his jumping-triangle eliminated the need for a horse. And Zhu Rong was crazy hot and her musou absolutely detsroyed everything.

I understand most people's gripe about the games and I agree it's kind of frustrating that they add a swimming component into a game before they fix the slowdown problems, change combat mechanics (which, imo don't need changing) before they fix the disappearing characters/objects/buildings thing. But I don't think anyone addressed how nifty most of the features in Empires were, because the actual battles in that game weren't the main component (you actually had the option to skip any of them), it was the choosing tactics and recruiting officers that made the game fun.

I still like playing Goldeneye every here and again, albeit I'll agree the double-joystick of most modern FPS beats out having to use the C-pad on the 64 controller. Rogue Agent was alright (in the single player for whatever that counts for) until I got to the last level and all the enemies had instant death lasers and I lost interest. The multiplayer sucked.

But back to the main subject; I think Koei should take a break before the next Dynasty Warriors game. It'll give them time to actually improve on the gameplay, replace the aging dialogue, and fix the technical problems, and it'll give me time to save enough money to buy a PS3, which, if I'm not mistaken, are still around the price of a used car right now.

 

[almo]

I liked DW 2, then they broke the game. I picked up a weapon in DW 3 that gave me full musou after 1 or two swings. That meants all you had to do was swing twice, musou attack, repeat. Gone was the micro-selection of which combo to do depending on the positions of my enemies in DW2. I quit. I tried 5, and it didn't have the hacking feel I liked from 2, so I will probably stay gone.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I still want bloodspray, damnit, Koei.

 

[Archereus]

I know I'll never really be a 'snob' at anything. I always preferred Miller High Life over Heineken, I prefer Seagram's to Bombay, I prefer 7-11 coffee to Starbucks, I don't think I've ever liked an Academy Award Best Picture winning movie, heck, I even prefer tap water to bottled. When it comes to videogames, I guess I follow the same pattern. For instance, I'll take NFL Blitz over Madden anyday.

It just seems to me that nothing IGN ever says is good ever really is, and everything they say is mediocre is where my fancies generally lie. IGN has made me go out and blow my dough on titles that severely fall short on fun (I'm sorry for you Halo fans, but **blecch**, whatever happened to GoldenEye?), and then when I happen to end up with a game that provides me fun for months, I find that they gave it terrible ratings: Vigilante 8 (and Second Offense), NFL Blitz, NHL Hitz, they even have the audacity to criticize the Fire Emblem series? What's wrong with Fire Emblem?

But the point I'm coming to is that I went on their site today and saw they gave DW6 for the PS2 a 3.5. Now, I thought ratings like those were reserved for games like Elephantz: Poop-Scooping for Kidz and the related ilk of nonsense: low-budget third party games for people who don't know what to buy their grandchildren for Christmas. Now, I have yet to experience DW6 on any console, and I won't pretend to vouch for it. But I know the shortcomings of the Dynasty Warriors games going back to DW4 (my first experience with them); I don't even need IGN to tell me. Let me guess, co-op slows the game down like a b****, you can't see twenty feet in front of you and people magically dis-and-reappear around you. Hey, guess what? I don't have a problem with that. I'd rather play a game with those problems, than play one of those 9.8 point games like Halo 2/3, that are boring and monotonous.

But it got me wondering, so I checked out the review for Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, probably my favorite and most played of the series, to see it got a whopping five point nothing. Honestly? You have a huge cast of playable characters, not to mention you can create your own (albeit with somewhat limited options), you can build each one up as you see fit as you build up your nation and add people to your army, you get an array of tactics, you can be good or evil, and you have around ten different stories you can play, including the "randomized" play mode. All of that on top of the normal, run around and kill people gameplay. And when you're talking about putting it on the hardest difficulty with further options (lke limiting your officer count) to set the cpu against you, it's not like the game is devoid of challenge. What am I missing? Does this game really suck that bad? And, if so, how?

yes dynasty warriors is very repetetive yes it dosent bring much new stuff in each game and yes its a very big arcade based game but the game is still fun and chalenging even though its primarily the same map but with a different character. At least some things changed from character to character. I take the game to heart though i been playing since number 3 so

 

[Jamash]

Xiahou Dun ftw!

Guan Yu('s beard)>Xiahou Dun to be honest ;D

What? What? WHAT? (sorry, too much Dr Who)
Guan Yu is a freaking heffer. Xia would get in like half a dozen hits before Guan-dao (inside joke) even knew what happened.
Dont even get me started on Sakon Shima.

*runs back to the tardis*

*EDIT* Btw what is everyones fave character ?

Well, obviously Guan Yu & his beautiful beard, but also Dian Wei with his devastating slap-head & spinning axe!

Guan Yu & Dian Wei have been firm favourites of mine since DW2, also Zhou Tai is awesome. I like the characters who not only kick arse, but have strong, loyal characters too.

I'm still playing through Warriors Orochi 2 & to be honest, there are too many great characters to have a firm favourite anymore.

Nobunaga is awesome, so is Cao Cao, it would actually be easier to list the characters I don't like from the 90+ line up than the one I do like, they all have their individual charms & character traits, something that I think was overlooked in reviews of Warrior's Orochi 2...how many other games can boast 90+ different playable characters, each with unique weapons, move sets, personalities etc?

Has anyone played Bladestorm [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bladestorm]?

I actually find that even more fun than the Warrior's games, because of the 100 years war story & tactical aspect. There's something really cathartic about flanking a group of pikemen & crushing them with armoured Calvary or sneaking over a hill with a squad Men-at-Arms & decimating a group of archers...

 

[justnotcricket]

My favourite character would have to be Zhen Ji while she still had her flute because a) smacking people senseless with a musical instrument has neverending novelty value, b) she was pretty fast c) she had a bitchslap move that was entertaining if you actually killed a boss with it and got the slow-mo replay. Having said that, I also liked Zhou Tai and Zuo Ci. Since playing DW6, however, I've been a little disappointed. Everything seems kinda meh and the swimming generally just slows you down and gets you lost...they really need to bring in something actually NEW rather than cutting characters while still homogenising the ones left - seriously, if you're gonna cut one fan user (bye bye Da Qiao) why make two chain whip users (bye bye flute)?

 

[Kasil]

Yeah, I tend to have fun with games reviewers don't generally like.

However, I have one case where they ended up being right. I had Red Steel for my Wii, and really liked it, but then I got a 360, got spoiled by the awesome shooters there, and tried to go back to Red Steel during my Red Ring only to find out that it controls horribly.

And Halo 1 had a good single-player. Multiplayer is best in 3 with Forge and completely custom gametypes.

EDIT: Oh, and Xiahou Dun and Lu Xun FTW.

 

[ultimatechance]

I had fun with DW the first time i tried it out, being Dynast Warriors 3. It was simple, addicting, and actually had a decent amount of depth surrounding the gameplay. but midway during the game, it got a little boring, then i stopped playing.

One sequel later, I got pretty bored, and never got around to beating it.

50 sequels later, I tried out the latest one (Warriors Orochi 2, unless they released 2 more sequels since i last checked), wondering at how absurd it is that they can possibly release the same shit year after year, and still maintain a loyal fanbase.

 

[Marv21]

I am a fan, but they really need to improve the series. The core gameplay is sensible enough, but the graphics are bleed enducing the way they're done and the AI is so dumb. The immersion factor is low, you don't feel like your fighting in a battle, your just running around triggering missions.

They need to

1. Fix the goddamn stories written in one day.
2. Give us better voice actors/a japanese audio option (like in SW1)
3. Bloodspray.
4. The ability to command troops on the fly, and make allied troops and enemy troops more useful.

Rebalance it a bit. For instance, you should be able to slaughter through dozens of enemy troops, but you SHOULD be able to get hurt if you get ganged up on, making it more important to stay close to your units.

The scythe through wheat gameplay IS fun, and it's great feeling like your on a massive battlefield. However,

Yes!
Make it like Total War series with, commanding, and cruciality of how you need to command your troops. But your the commander, and you also fight in it too, that would be awesome.

 

[sanzo]

I think the whole IGN thing has to do with Koei's release schedule. They do release games fairly frequently, and most of them are pretty samey. I don't however, agree with that. Even though the games may be similar, they should be scoring the game based of the game, and not the previous installments. Obviously people who buy every DW/SW game aren't going to listen to the review anyways, so they shouldn't bias it based on the previous games. I mean, what if someone new to the whole thing wants to pick the game up? If they've never played any of the games before, how is that review at all helpful.

My only real gripe with the series is the horrible voice acting. It was awesome when SW1 had the original Japanese VAs as an option, but not in any other releases (Date sounded so badass). I wish they would do it for the DW games.

As for favorite characters:

Shu: Zhao Yun, but close second goes to Guan Yu and his beard
Wu: I kinda like Huang Gai, cause chucking bombs at people never got old
Wei: Dian Wei, just because a friend of mine decided to nickname him "Mr. Clean", and I just crack up every time I think about it

Samurai Warriors: Masamune Date, why they decided to replace his dual swords with rapier and pistol is beyond me. He was so much cooler before

 

[Bullfrog1983]

I liked the first Dynasty Warriors I played. I think it was Dynasty Warriors 2, but the games are almost exactly the same in every version that is released. I feel like whenever I do inevitably rent one it IS Dynasty Warriors 2. I know that new features come out every once in awhile that put a minor twist on the game but the lack of innovation in gameplay makes me avoid the game completely - that and the pathetic english voice acting which I always switch off. Hell, I could deliver better lines than those monkeys... but that's not saying much since a four year old kid could probably do better.

 

[sanzo]

I liked the first Dynasty Warriors I played. I think it was Dynasty Warriors 2, but the games are almost exactly the same in every version that is released. I feel like whenever I do inevitably rent one it IS Dynasty Warriors 2. I know that new features come out every once in awhile that put a minor twist on the game but the lack of innovation in gameplay makes me avoid the game completely - that and the pathetic english voice acting which I always switch off. Hell, I could deliver better lines than those monkeys... but that's not saying much since a four year old kid could probably do better.

It's like I said: Don't judge the game based on the previous games. Not everyone played all the versions of dynasty/samurai warriors, so to make any judgments based on that is just flawed.

Also, about the voice acting: Yes it is bad, but not all the VAs are bad. They don't get payed a set amount for their work, so if they're not getting payed much, why should they bother to produce good work?

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I know I'll never really be a 'snob' at anything. I always preferred Miller High Life over Heineken, I prefer Seagram's to Bombay, I prefer 7-11 coffee to Starbucks, I don't think I've ever liked an Academy Award Best Picture winning movie, heck, I even prefer tap water to bottled. When it comes to videogames, I guess I follow the same pattern. For instance, I'll take NFL Blitz over Madden anyday.

While some would definitely argue that your taste isn't all that "refined" (though I definitely wouldn't begrudge a liking towards the Champagne of Beers), I would point out that your preference towards tap water makes you more enlightened than most. There is little regulation of bottled water, and it is often less tasty and/or good for you than tap water. Plus, you have the whole "every bottle of water creates plastic waste" problem. So it's other people, not you, that have the problem.

However, when it comes to Dynasty Warriors... I have to say you're wrong. IGN might be a bit harsh, but they are awfully repetitive and unimaginative games. Sorry, mate.

 

[Fightgarr]

I enjoyed Dynasty Warriors when I was playing it in my early days at high school. I played 3-5 and I think 3 was my favorite so far. The others were too dark and gloomy for me. Although the level design was better in 4 and 5 and the character creator in 4 was pretty cool.

Dynasty Warriors is a hacky slashy game for mindless fun. You don't play Dynasty Warriors looking for a deep and interesting storyline and intense, complex gameplay. You play it to beat people the fuck up with your crazy techniques of mashing square and triangle until its time to hold down circle. If you want deep stories you don't go to this franchise... you go to Alone in the Dark.

 

[Valiance]

boring and monotonous

Because Dynasty Warriors isn't boring and monotonous.

Look, I'll be honest here. I like the games, but they are extremely similar and can get old relatively quickly for most people.

I enjoy different scenarios and stuff, but I can certainly understand why they're "boring" to some people...And pressing X pretty much does the work for you unless you're using people with really overpowered specials.