Dynasty Warriors 9

[James]

The gameplay is still very much on the "universal accessibility" rather then challenge on normal mode, no idea about harder modes but it is usually a lot easier then when I was younger. Your allies do well if you get the events right and their morale is up, otherwise they are chocolate teapot level usefulness (though ally CiC's do tend to take time to die)

Thanks... guess I'll keep an eye out for thoughts from players in the group when it comes out. I suppose in either case I've probably got a fair amount new to enjoy given how long it's been since I've played an installment.

What do you think about gameplay in recent installments, if you've been playing? How long does it hold your interest? How repetitive vs. original, varied, and exciting does it seem?

[Dong Zhou]

Overall it is... fine. Diablo 3 showed me how much stronger it could be though. Going to kingdom mode really helped stop the "I'm bored" as no longer did you do 50 Wu Hefei's with the exact same events and a bad story for 90% of them. You do most battles once, some twice if they have a hypo condition/been affected by it, and only doing 10 stories (Wei, Wu, Shu, Jin, Lu Bu with a historical and hypo) helps with storytelling (though quality varies widely).

In terms of the non story mode which varies game by game (I feel more becuase they have struggled to find something they are happy with then anything else), I play in short bursts. I like getting the individual dialogue pairings but think I would get bored if I kept doing the mini battles for, say, a fortnight

[LiuBeiwasGreat]

Yeah, while I really liked the fact that they put in more events and missions into the new Dynasty Warriors games it does kinda sacrifice re-playablity a bit. Unless you are the kind of person who must beat a level in every difficulty you probably won't play each level more then 3-4 times in my opinion.
You will probably play through once to get through it, another time to make sure you succeed in every objective, one time messing around trying to win while failing every objective and perhaps one more time in case you really liked the level, perhaps on another difficulty. At least that is how I did it, some of you might enjoy replaying them again and again.
I mean I replayed the Shu story line a couple of more times to make sure I got all of the missions done, but I only played Yi Ling twice total. I got all of the objectives but do I really want to lose and barely survive again and again? Same with Wu He Fei, unless you are going to hypothetical route where you win do I really want to flee from Wei over and over again after I finished it?

I am hoping the new game will let us experience battles that we have never done before both with minor warlords and during the later time periods but with Zhao Cang being the new Shu character I have my doubts. I am with Kinghtofhonor, I would have liked Liao Hua. He would have been fantastic as he would be eligible for the early missions and the latter missions as his novel version was involved from the beginning to the end of Shu-Han

I will try to keep an open mind about the open world (get it ) and wait for more information to be released. I will be disappointed if we get Cheng Pu, for Wu and like Cao Hong for Wei cause then I will know that they aren't bothering to expand the latter years battles which is what I really want. I want more Jin v Wu, I want Jiang Wei's disasters northern campaigns!

[Dong Zhou]

I think DW were right to go down the "only need to play 2/3 times depending if you want 5th/6th weapons", it was no fun having to do stages 20 times. 2/3 keeps the fun and that some battles change widely depending on the conditions, that provides surprise. I do think adding in "fight battle that your going to lose" is a good idea, having the odd one where the objective is simply to get out of there alive does allow for variety.

Same with Wu He Fei, unless you are going to hypothetical route where you win do I really want to flee from Wei over and over again after I finished it?

If your a Wei fan, yes

Most in the west would have liked Liao Hua including myself from what I can tell. I was hoping for latter Wu expanding myself and yes, would be nice for matter latter Shu.

I will try to keep an open mind about the open world (get it ) and wait for more information to be released.

excuse me while I release the hounds

[LiuBeiwasGreat]

Perhaps you are right, grinding levels just to get through the campaign did get tiring in the earlier games, however I feel like I stop playing the newer ones faster then I did the old ones.
As for the fights where you lose, I guess Shu shouldn't have the only missions where you do that Now that I think about it each faction as at least one battle that involves running away. Chang Ban, Wan, Hei Fei, and.......you know my mind if blanking on the name of the Jin mission but the one where you invade Han Zhong and are forced to retreat.
I did find that one silly while playing it though, as I was cutting through Shu-Han forces at every step and didn't feel like I really needed to run away.

Liao Hua makes sense in every way because he gives you a ton of freedom in missions due to his novel self being involved so long. Sure he tended to lose more at the end but everyone in Shu-Han did at the time

[Dong Zhou]

Perhaps you are right, grinding levels just to get through the campaign did get tiring in the earlier games, however I feel like I stop playing the newer ones faster then I did the old ones.

I think that is the trade off. Less repetitive but shorter in terms of storymode so they hope that their other mode (always changing) keeps one engaged

As for the fights where you lose, I guess Shu shouldn't have the only missions where you do that Now that I think about it each faction as at least one battle that involves running away. Chang Ban, Wan, Hei Fei, and.......you know my mind if blanking on the name of the Jin mission but the one where you invade Han Zhong and are forced to retreat.
I did find that one silly while playing it though, as I was cutting through Shu-Han forces at every step and didn't feel like I really needed to run away.

Yeah that is when those battles can feel a little silly "but I'm on the verge of wiping them out, why go to escape point?" but I do enjoy the change of pace when your on the backfoot and having to cut way through

Liao Hua makes sense in every way because he gives you a ton of freedom in missions due to his novel self being involved so long. Sure he tended to lose more at the end but everyone in Shu-Han did at the time

Indeed

[LiuBeiwasGreat]

Bring back Destiny mode! I want to be a nameless grunt who works his way up and can backstab Wu over and over again (i tease I tease)
Though with an open world game the ability to join factions and them leave them for other ones would work well in that kind of setting in my opinion. So I do want the return of destiny mode

[Xu Yuan]

Destiny Mode was an awesome idea and they could have really expanded upon it in future games had they continued to develop it, but it's just like Koei to leave good ideas on the curb and ignore them in future installments. The open world does lend itself more to this sort of air though, admittedly.

[Sun Fin]

Destiny Mode was my favourite mode in any 3K series ever. I would definitely love to see it explored in more depth in an open world setting.

[Dong Zhou]

Destiny Mode was fun but needing building up, I also liked the way the officers would treat you in their own, sometimes flirty, style.