Dynasty Warriors 8 Review | gamrReview

gamrReview's Joseph Trotter: "For all its obvious faults, the basic premise of Dynasty Warriors is still fun; hack as many people as possible using semi-mythical god-like warriors until your fingers bleed. This formula was correct as of Dynasty Warriors 2, so to see the series effectively treading water since then is disappointing."

[Pope_Kaz_Hirai_II]

lemme guess its the exact same game again... lol

[Hicken]

Lots of people not into the franchise/genre tend to review the games. I'm never surprised when I see scores like this, but I don't take them to heart, either.

[MattS]

You can always tell when a critic only spent 10 minutes playing a DW game before reviewing it.

There ARE big changes in this game, and if you play it on a higher difficulty level it is NOT just hack-and-slash.

Also, the person that wrote this might want to check up on his history, the characters in this game are not semi-mythical. They were real people.

[ChipChipperson]

I don't think the reviewer was necessarily debating whether the characters were real as people, but more of the power/skill and certain events attributed to them and how Koei takes certain liberties to creating the story to contain that "magic" and "strength" behind the warriors to help form the Warriors series' gameplay.

It's like the Samurai Warriors series. They used real generals and warlords from feudal Japan, but do take certain liberties to making them seem more involved for gameplay's sake. Like Magoichi and Hanzo for example, they're not completely historically accurate, but the devs take enough from the real thing to create their own characters with unique fighting styles and the lore needed to create a tale for them.

But, the reviewer didn't seem to take the time to honestly review the gameplay. So far, 8 looks like it takes the best of 7 and improves more on the concepts. Who doesn't want more fighters, who all finally have their own ex weapons again?

[MattS]

Chip - then the critic has misused "semi-mythical."

Semi-mythical refers to people who historically *probably* existed, but the literature that was written around them attributes them with mystical powers or demi-god status or whatnot to such a point that it's impossible to separate the reality from the fiction.

Achilles and Hector of Troy, for instance, were both likely really people, but they were not the magical Supermen of War that the epic poems of Troy suggest.

King Arthur's and Merlin are other examples - those people really existed, but Excalibur was not a magic sword, and Merlin did not have the power to see the future.

What is *not* semi-mystical is when a game developer takes real people and gives them super-powers. That's a game developer being lose with historical accuracy.

From memory (admittedly my memory's a little hazy on the book) The Romance of the Three Kingdoms book was a fairly dry interpretation of history. Sure the various warlords were idolised or villainised as appropriate, but they weren't running around on the battlefield throwing fireballs and leaping over battlements with a single jump.

[ChipChipperson]

Yes, which is exactly why I'm agreeing with you. I mean, we can't exactly expect much from the reviewer if one of his complaints really was, " Over-the-top character models, a woeful script and painful voice-acting are tropes of the series, but the joke is beginning to wear thin. In Dynasty Warriors 3 it was mildly amusing, Dynasty Warriors 6 a trope, now it is just annoying."

[PS3Freak]

I never listen to reviews for DW games.

A niche game is more often than not going to be reviewed by a non-fan.

If you are a fan of the series, you already know you'll love this game.

[Master-H]

Matts if u have a copy of the game i wanna ask you something , would you say this one is more similar to DW7 or DW4 ? if you've played them. because i haven't decided whether to buy this or not yet.
and i liked DW4 infinitely more than 7 for some reason.

[MattS]

Master-H - in terms of the mechanics, it's basically Dynasty Warriors 7, but perfected. The game's differences to DW 7 have more to do with reworking the way the story and battlefields work to better effect.

That said, there is some differences - weapon types are stronger or weaker against certain other weapon types. A bit like the Fire Emblem rock/ paper/ scissors structure, and that adds a bit of tension to the general's duels.

It's like the difference between Assassin's Creed 1 and Assassin's Creed 2, really. Similar core mechanics providing the cement, but the overall buildings look very different.

I can't directly compare to DW 4, sorry. I've only been playing the series from 6 onwards (plus the ports on the PSP). But I do know that 8 is the best package of the lot so far that I have played.

[Master-H]

hmmm ok thanks for the reply, i guess i'll get it when it's discounted a little

[DragonKnight]

6.4? First of all, .4 is not a score. Don't care what anyone says. Acceptable scores end in whole numbers or .5s not .4.

Second, clearly not someone who is A)Into the series to begin with, and B)Actually gave the game any real chance.

DW8 is awesome. I'm loving the weapon element system because it can turn grunt officers into a problem if you have weapons that are at a disadvantage to the weapon your enemy is using. I love how DW3's system of saving officers in a stage will have that officer replace someone else in a later stage. I love how there are side stories but that you don't really know about them until you play through multiple times.

Basically, this game takes elements of DW3, DW5, DW7, and adds some totally new stuff as well. My biggest issue with it is the frickin' camera.