*UPDATE* Dynasty Warriors 9 - New Character and Details revealed

[ChupathingyX]

Koei have just recently unveiled a bunch of new information regarding Dynasty Warriors 9, which was announced last year in December [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.945333-Dynasty-Warriors-9-Officially-Revealed], in the most recent Famitsu issue.

As of now only a low quality image is available.

More scans have been released.

Spoiler

Some higher quality screenshots can also be viewed here. [https://www.famitsu.com/news/201705/11132652.html]

The following information comes courtesy of twitter user BlackKite [https://twitter.com/bk2128?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor].

One of the bigger announcements is the introduction of Dynasty Warrior's newest member to the roster: Cheng Pu (?-210). Cheng Pu was a Wu general who achieved much success during his service under Sun Jian and Sun Ce, and later during the early years of Sun Quan's reign.
His weapon will be a "Double Pike".

That aside, Koei have revealed a bunch of new gameplay information:
- castle sieges will be a feature.
- the bow system from PS2 games will be returning.
- real-time weather changes that affect visibility.
- significant battles will appear on the open world map and completing them will cause the world to progress. They will apparently be hard but the difficulty can be lowered by completing other related battles. Main battles can seemingly appear simultaneously in different areas.
- the 'State Combo System', which seems to be the new combat system. Involves entering combat with a particular attack, then executing a string and ending with a finisher. It can change depending on surrounding enemy conditions.
- You can interact with objects and weapons in the field during battles.
- You now have access to a grappling hook which can be used to climb walls and mountains.
- Swimming has returned, and you can ride boats across larger bodies of water.
- Storylines will be character based (like DW5) and will not feature hypothetical 'what-if' stages. The start date of the open world will change depending on which character you pick.
- There will be a fast travel option.
- All characters will have new designs which will be more grounded in design.
- You can hunt animals and fight various tribes around China.
- It is unclear if character switching (like in SW4) will be featured.
- There will be over 10 unique cities (Luoyang has been confirmed) plus a bunch of other smaller towns and villages.
- The game is about 40% done and may possibly be released sometime during winter, 2017.

 

[balladbird]

I'm kind of surprised it took so long for us to get a non-npc Cheng Pu. He was a pretty important figure in the sun jian and Ce days, even being the one to find the imperial seal.

Digging what I e seen or the new game, but then, I e always been in the DW NICHE

 

[Saelune]

They need to add Yuan Shu! If DW6 added new characters, he would have been one. Seriously though, ADD YUAN SHU!

I also wish Liao Hua was added instead of Zhou Cang. I get they want more Guan Yu, but Liao Hua is neat cause he was also a Yellow Turban, thus giving them another guy for zest, while also lasting till the end of Shu, giving them a late era guy.

They talk of this open world thing...but I still doubt it will replace their standard story mode. They have been building an open-world side thing though for awhile, so I suspect it is the culmination of things like DW7's Conquest mode, DW8's Ambition mode, and that mode from Samurai Warriors 4 where you are trying to write everyone's biography.

Must wonder if character creation will be in this.

Edit: Also like that they supposedly are making more "grounded" costumes. As cool as DW8's costumes were for...a fantasy world, they dont say "Ancient China", like say, DW5 did.

Edit 2: I want Sanada Maru's aging thing to become a standard thing in their games. They finally now have characters like Xiahou Dun have both eyes, then lose it, instead of him just always having an eyepatch, so...

 

[BrawlMan]

Just got done playing DW8:XLC an two hours ago. Ambition Mode is surprisingly addicting. KT, please bring character switching in the next installment. SW4 worked wonderfully using this, as it was easier to fly across the battlefield and get multiple objectives done. I know HWL had it too, but I am not shelling out more money for what should have been included as an update for the Wii U version. Before Hyrule Warriors, I was never a fan of DW/Musou games, but convincing from Jim Fucking Sterling made appreciate some of those games. HW I got new, but DW8 and SW4 bought used.

They talk of this open world thing...but I still doubt it will replace their standard story mode. They have been building an open-world side thing though for awhile, so I suspect it is the culmination of things like DW7's Conquest mode, DW8's Ambition mode, and that mode from Samurai Warriors 4 where you are trying to write everyone's biography.

Must wonder if character creation will be in this.

Edit: Also like that they supposedly are making more "grounded" costumes. As cool as DW8's costumes were for...a fantasy world, they dont say "Ancient China", like say, DW5 did.

Edit 2: I want Sanada Maru's aging thing to become a standard thing in their games. They finally now have characters like Xiahou Dun have both eyes, then lose it, instead of him just always having an eyepatch, so...

SW4's chronicle mode felt more like a board game, than a semi-open world mode.

As for the later installments' fantasy look, they've got nothing on Sengoku Basara. It makes you wonder if KT was trying to compete with Capcom in looking more flamboyant and over-the-top. It was noticeable when comparing Samurai Warriors 3 to Sengoku Basara 3.

 

[Saelune]

Just got done playing DW8:XLC an two hours ago. Ambition Mode is surprisingly addicting. KT, please bring character switching in the next installment. SW4 worked wonderfully using this, as it was easier to fly across the battlefield and get multiple objectives done. I know HWL had it too, but I am not shelling out more money for what should have been included as an update for the Wii U version. Before Hyrule Warriors, I was never a fan of DW/Musou games, but convincing from Jim Fucking Sterling made appreciate some of those games. HW I got new, but DW8 and SW4 bought used.

They talk of this open world thing...but I still doubt it will replace their standard story mode. They have been building an open-world side thing though for awhile, so I suspect it is the culmination of things like DW7's Conquest mode, DW8's Ambition mode, and that mode from Samurai Warriors 4 where you are trying to write everyone's biography.

Must wonder if character creation will be in this.

Edit: Also like that they supposedly are making more "grounded" costumes. As cool as DW8's costumes were for...a fantasy world, they dont say "Ancient China", like say, DW5 did.

Edit 2: I want Sanada Maru's aging thing to become a standard thing in their games. They finally now have characters like Xiahou Dun have both eyes, then lose it, instead of him just always having an eyepatch, so...

SW4's chronicle mode felt more like a board game, than a semi-open world mode.

As for the later installments' fantasy look, they've got nothing on Sengoku Basara. It makes you wonder if KT was trying to compete with Capcom in looking more flamboyant and over-the-top. It was noticeable when comparing Samurai Warriors 3 to Sengoku Basara 3.

I just mean they have been progressing towards things.

And I always prefer Koei's more "historically accurate" version than Basara's fanfic affair.

 

[ChupathingyX]

The full scans, including Cheng Pu, have now been leaked. The Famitsu site [https://www.famitsu.com/news/201705/11132652.html] also some more screenshots.

 

[Saelune]

That Xiahou Dun is almost lifted right out of Dynasty Warriors 5. Guan Yu also looks more DW5ish, but then, Guan Yu has a more established design anyways.

 

[ChupathingyX]

That Xiahou Dun is almost lifted right out of Dynasty Warriors 5. Guan Yu also looks more DW5ish, but then, Guan Yu has a more established design anyways.

Guan Yu's design is quite reminiscent of his RTK13 design [https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dynastywarriors/images/5/50/Guan_Yu_3_%28ROTK13%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20160206090824], which would make sense considering they're going for a more 'grounded' look, which I don't have a problem with. That said, I would like some of the more flashy characters like Zhang He to stay the way they are.

 

[Saelune]

That Xiahou Dun is almost lifted right out of Dynasty Warriors 5. Guan Yu also looks more DW5ish, but then, Guan Yu has a more established design anyways.

Guan Yu's design is quite reminiscent of his RTK13 design [https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dynastywarriors/images/5/50/Guan_Yu_3_%28ROTK13%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20160206090824], which would make sense considering they're going for a more 'grounded' look, which I don't have a problem with. That said, I would like some of the more flashy characters like Zhang He to stay the way they are.

I just want it to look like Ancient Fantasy China. I dont want it looking too traditional, cause then it looks more like DW3 and earlier, and I dont much care for those designs. And I dont mind themes, like having Zhou Tai look more like a Japanese Samurai than a Chinese Warrior. Atleast dont make him look like The Lord of Evil! like he did in DW6 and 8.

Edit: And Koei has been pushing a sort of universal design for their characters, since they have almost a monopoly on Three Kingdoms China games and Sengoku Japan games. Even Nioh has the character designs be based on Samurai Warriors.

 

[jademunky]

So, am I the only one that thinks that everything looks (and will almost certainly play) exactly like every other Dynasty Warriors ever?

I am aren't I?

Alrighty, so what new aspects of the yellow turban rebellion shall we be seeing in this iteration?

 

[Odbarc]

I've been hating some of the changes made to the series they've had in a few of the releases.
From armor sets and costumes that look too J-pop and teenage cosplayers trying too hard when I really like/prefer medieval or practical armors being worn by warriors.
I wouldn't mind alternate weapons for each character that they ACTUALLY used in the lore in addition to the usual fighting style.
Dian Wei supposedly used Dual Halberds (Ala Pang De in... 4 or 5?) instead he has some kind of giant yellow turban's hand axe... because he threw one once?

I dunno. Something I disliked about the campaign was being forced to use characters I didn't want to play with their crazy anime hair and speech patterns. I think a new change up would be to switch between any of the Commanders (the playable ones at least) to dominate the battlefield in the time and place that's needed most without having to travel the entire map or break momentum to get something done. Instead of just switching at the place you are, you'd switch to the place on the map the alternate commanders were. Maybe give them rudimentary commands like "wait at ____" or "take _____" between times you're not playing a specific Commander so they don't run off away from a door you're about to open for them.

What would be kind of neat is if your weapon would upgrade as you level up and change shape according to masteries you've unlocked with the Commander who uses it. Slowly gaining prestige and fancy stuff on it as you play to see and feel some progression. It wouldn't be bad if the same thing happened with your armor. Start off with robes and leather, end up with armor and plate mail?
Maybe include an armor slot to compete with the weapon slot?

There's plenty that could be done with the series in terms of polish outside of the game play.
One thing I thought would be cool is to have a few strategists suggest in-battle events to help you alter the battles in your favor. Maybe have a rock slide or fire arrows get set up that may or may not occur depending on success, counter strategies that may emerge and if you even picked specific strategies to begin with.

One thing I wish they would do (and never do... because money?) is include the dang Empires eventual-addon into the vanilla game already. It seems like a specifically held back repetitive feature that's rarely changed or different enough other than a single extra game mode DLC or extra disc and just delay the game by the length of time it would take to create it to ship together.

Lastly, it would be nice if the thousands of same-faced nameless soldiers had much more variety to their faces. I should be do-able by modern technological advancements, should it? There's like... 5 NPC faces. There's more variety in Storm Troopers and they're literally clones.

Lastly, and obviously, CAW. Too much weeabo stuff and not enough variety in armor pieces you might actually expect to encounter without using the same 2~3 pieces. It's fine and 'cool' to have the weird stuff as options but it usually takes up like 80% or more of what's available and most of it seems to clip over itself if you use a specific weapon because of how they stand and such.

All in all, I expect too much.

 

[Saelune]

So, am I the only one that thinks that everything looks (and will almost certainly play) exactly like every other Dynasty Warriors ever?

I am aren't I?

Alrighty, so what new aspects of the yellow turban rebellion shall we be seeing in this iteration?

Actually this one seems to want to massively change alot of how the game works. I mean, presumably the hack n slash part will be the same as every other (minus DW6), but then, us fans want that. They occasionally touch up it in some way though (Samurai Warriors 4 added a dash attack that I hope comes to this).

As for looks, well, it looks nicer than 8, but the main thing with looks for us fans are the character designs/costumes. They have become more Final Fantasy looking lately, which while I do like the costumes, I like remembering I am playing a game in ancient China. A fantasy version of it with magic, sure, but still.

I imagine the Yellow Turban rebellion will be atleat slightly expanded on with the addition of Zhou Cang, though this "open world" thing really throws a wrench into any real expectations. I just hope 9 is more a positive change, unlike DW6, which while I liked it, still was not really handled well and took DW7 AND 8 to fully fix. (Removing characters and not adding new ones? New characters is one of the main draws of new DW games for us fans)

 

[ChupathingyX]

The official website [http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou8/] has now been uploaded. Interestingly enough, there is an English version available strait away, which may suggest a simultaneous woldwide release.

They occasionally touch up it in some way though (Samurai Warriors 4 added a dash attack that I hope comes to this).

I hope you're not referring to hyper attacks, because those were a terrible addition. Then again, they were terrible primarily because they screwed with pre-established movesets, and if DW9 has completely revamped movesets then I guess it won't be as bad.

 

[BrawlMan]

The official website [http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou8/] has now been uploaded. Interestingly enough, there is an English version available strait away, which may suggest a simultaneous woldwide release.

They occasionally touch up it in some way though (Samurai Warriors 4 added a dash attack that I hope comes to this).

I hope you're not referring to hyper attacks, because those were a terrible addition. Then again, they were terrible primarily because they screwed with pre-established movesets, and if DW9 has completely revamped movesets then I guess it won't be as bad.

I loved the hyper attack in SW4. The main problem with it was that the mechanic was easily spammable most of the time, but it was great to get across the battlefield real quick. SW4-II did nerf hyper attacks to be less powerful and spammy, but 4-II had so much less content going for it and other minor fixes, that it did not justify the price, and should have been just a patch or DLC pack for the new character and additional mode. I don't know why they removed Chronicle mode, as Tower mode wasn't even that fun. In fact, there were a lot of problem with 4-II; which is why I prefer the vanilla version.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I loved the hyper attack in SW4. The main problem with it was that the mechanic was easily spammable most of the time, but it was great to get across the battlefield real quick.

Horses fulfill the role of transport just fine.
My biggest problem with hyper attacks was that their introduction led to the removal of various attacks for characters that were changed into hyper styles (such as Ginchiyo and Masamune) without any real positive gain. Normal types get extra normals and power attacks to go with them, power types get extra power attacks and power attack chains, special types get a little bit of power chains and extra power attacks? Hyper types, however, don't get any extra normals, or power attacks, or specials and instead just get a few extra hyper attacks, some of which are just repeats of other attacks, for barely any gain. The first 3 or 4 hyper attacks are generally good enough to wipe out anything, so having a bunch of extra ones barely adds anything to the character.

Now, if something like hyper attacks were designed alongside DW9's new 'revamped' movesets and combat system, they could work out alright, but I certainly won't be saddened if they aren't featured at all.

 

[BrawlMan]

I loved the hyper attack in SW4. The main problem with it was that the mechanic was easily spammable most of the time, but it was great to get across the battlefield real quick.

Horses fulfill the role of transport just fine.
My biggest problem with hyper attacks was that their introduction led to the removal of various attacks for characters that were changed into hyper styles (such as Ginchiyo and Masamune) without any real positive gain. Normal types get extra normals and power attacks to go with them, power types get extra power attacks and power attack chains, special types get a little bit of power chains and extra power attacks? Hyper types, however, don't get any extra normals, or power attacks, or specials and instead just get a few extra hyper attacks, some of which are just repeats of other attacks, for barely any gain. The first 3 or 4 hyper attacks are generally good enough to wipe out anything, so having a bunch of extra ones barely adds anything to the character.

Now, if something like hyper attacks were designed alongside DW9's new 'revamped' movesets and combat system, they could work out alright, but I certainly won't be saddened if they aren't featured at all.

I agree on the horses, but it's a nice alternative or if you just want to get to someplace real quick that's not that far away. Now just to let you know, Samurai Warriors 4 was my first Samurai Warriors game so I never knew about the previous gameplay features from the previous games. Thanks for let me know about the gameplay mechanics. So now I know why you feel that way. I think Dynasty Warriors 9 could use hyper attacks or something similar to what was done in Samurai Warriors but more refined. I wouldn't mind if they added it but I would definitely hope they​ added character switching.

 

[jademunky]

I imagine the Yellow Turban rebellion will be atleat slightly expanded on with the addition of Zhou Cang, though this "open world" thing really throws a wrench into any real expectations. I just hope 9 is more a positive change, unlike DW6, which while I liked it, still was not really handled well and took DW7 AND 8 to fully fix. (Removing characters and not adding new ones? New characters is one of the main draws of new DW games for us fans)

Oh wow, I was actually just being snarky when I asked, that actually sounds interesting. Admittedly DW5 was the last one I ever played so yeah, PS2 era.

 

[Saelune]

I imagine the Yellow Turban rebellion will be atleat slightly expanded on with the addition of Zhou Cang, though this "open world" thing really throws a wrench into any real expectations. I just hope 9 is more a positive change, unlike DW6, which while I liked it, still was not really handled well and took DW7 AND 8 to fully fix. (Removing characters and not adding new ones? New characters is one of the main draws of new DW games for us fans)

Oh wow, I was actually just being snarky when I asked, that actually sounds interesting. Admittedly DW5 was the last one I ever played so yeah, PS2 era.

I figured, but I dont care. I love Dynasty Warriors and want to talk about it more than I feel I get to.

 

[jademunky]

I imagine the Yellow Turban rebellion will be atleat slightly expanded on with the addition of Zhou Cang, though this "open world" thing really throws a wrench into any real expectations. I just hope 9 is more a positive change, unlike DW6, which while I liked it, still was not really handled well and took DW7 AND 8 to fully fix. (Removing characters and not adding new ones? New characters is one of the main draws of new DW games for us fans)

Oh wow, I was actually just being snarky when I asked, that actually sounds interesting. Admittedly DW5 was the last one I ever played so yeah, PS2 era.

I figured, but I dont care. I love Dynasty Warriors and want to talk about it more than I feel I get to.

Yeah, I get it, I'd be fanboying even harder if anyone ever announced a genuine sequel (or even spiritual sequel) to ActRaiser.

 

[BrawlMan]

Yeah, I get it, I'd be fanboying even harder if anyone ever announced a genuine sequel (or even spiritual sequel) to ActRaiser.

If you ever feel the neeed to get back into the swing of things DW, just get DW8:XLC Edition. The Xtreme Legends Edition is on PS3/PS4/Vita (comes with cross saves), and PC.