Category Archives: Musou

Warriors Orochi 3: One Hundred and Forty-Five Warriors Worth One Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand

One of the interesting things about the Warriors Orochi series is quite how many playable characters each installment has had on the roster. And, of course, this is a number that has only expanded over time.

In fact, the most recent installment at the time of writing, Warriors Orochi 4, scored itself a fairly meaningless Guinness World Record for “most playable characters in a hack-and-slash video game” thanks to its 170 cast members. Warriors Orochi 3 isn’t far behind, though, with a full 145 peeps to take charge of in the Ultimate release of the game.

But when presented with that many playable characters, what exactly do you do with all of them? Are you expected to level them all up? Where do you start? Let’s talk progression!

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Warriors Orochi 3: First Steps in a Ruined World

I, if it has not already been made abundantly clear, love the Warriors series as a whole. And I’ve found myself particularly enjoying the Warriors Orochi branch.

Warriors Orochi’s core appeal is that it successfully divorces both the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors casts from their original contexts, allowing them to break free from the stories they’ve been telling since the PlayStation 2 days. Instead, they get the chance to have a bit of fun.

Well, “fun” might not be quite the right word, given that Warriors Orochi 3 starts off with all of them (except for three, conveniently) dying horribly. But it’s certainly fun for us.

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Warriors Orochi 2: Building a Better Warrior

There are an awful lot of Warriors games on the market today. And while many may superficially seem quite similar to one another, delving into each of them reveals their unique qualities.

In many cases, the people who brand all Warriors games as being “the same” are likely just looking at the most well-known component: the real-time, hack-and-slash, large-scale brawler action that has been the series’ hallmark since its second installment (well, first if we’re being really picky here — but that’s a tale for another time). Even there, though, each Warriors game provides its own twist on the two-button combat thanks to its selection of characters, and numerous mechanics laid atop that.

Where Warriors games truly distinguish themselves, however, is in their progression systems. Powering up your characters is where the longevity in Warriors games come from — and Warriors Orochi 2 has plenty of ways in which you can do just that. So let’s take a closer look.

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Warriors Orochi 2: More of the Same?

I love me a Musou. So naturally, with the new hotness being Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity at the time of writing, I thought it was high time I continued my journey through the completely unrelated Warriors Orochi series.

Longtime followers of my work will recall that a while back I did a full playthrough of the first Warriors Orochi over on YouTube, and that ended up being a rather enjoyable experience that I learned a lot from. Having called time on long series playthroughs in video format — the short-form, single-episode “variety” format seems to work much better for everyone, including me — I thought I’d explore the sequel in written form over the course of a few articles, much like I did with the excellent Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition a while back.

So today we kick off with a high-level overview of what Warriors Orochi 2 is, my impressions of it to date, and the things I’d like to learn a bit more about it. Hit the jump and let’s begin our journey!

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Warriors Wednesday: Shu Warriors vs Orochi – Warriors Orochi #44

Well, the Shu warriors have finally reached the end of their journey: Koshi Castle, home of the dreaded Orochi.

This is what it all comes down to! Everything the team has been fighting for culminates in this final battle. And perhaps… just perhaps, if they’re lucky, they’ll finally be reunited with Liu Bei after a very long journey!

Although if you’re accustomed to how Liu Bei looks in more recent Warriors installments, be ready for a bit of a surprise!

Warriors Wednesday: I’m On Fire Today – Warriors Orochi #43

We’re closing in on the end of the Shu campaign of Warriors Orochi now, with only two more side missions and one more story mission to go.

Today, Zhurong and friends decide to turn their attention to the peasants who are suffering under the yoke of Orochi’s oppression. She helps them escape in her own inimitable fashion — and is very keen to make sure we’re aware of her accomplishments at the conclusion of the battle.

I’m going to be sorry to leave this particular gang of misfits behind — they’ve been a lot of fun to play as!

Delving Into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition – #5

So far we’ve talked in great depth primarily about the Story mode in Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition. Today it’s time to start seeing what else the game has to offer.

Specifically, we’re going to take a look at Ambition mode, a complementary, mechanics- and progression-centric way to play that is designed to be enjoyed alongside Story mode.

Can you impress the Emperor? That remains to be seen. Let’s make camp and get started.

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Delving into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition – #4

All right. Let’s talk about mechanics — some of them, at least.

So far, as previously noted in the last three parts of this series, I’ve been primarily exploring the Story mode in Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition for Nintendo Switch, and that is still the case — though I have now at least dipped my toes into Ambition Mode. More on that another day though.

During the Story mode, you have the opportunity to get a feel for a variety of characters and get started on progression. So let’s take a look at how all that works.

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Delving Into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition – #1

I remember a day when people used to take the piss out of Capcom for adding all manner of prefixes and suffixes to their games, but I think Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have actually had them beat for some time now.

Yes, today we are indeed looking at Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition, a recent release for Nintendo Switch that combines the content from the original Dynasty Warriors 8 game, its standalone expansion pack Xtreme Legends, plus all of the DLC that was subsequently released for both of them. By all accounts, it’s a tremendous value package with enough content to keep you busy for months if not years. And you can play it on the go, which is just fabulous.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d poke at it over the course of the next few weeks and see what it had to offer over and above other Warriors games I’ve been fiddling with, including Warriors Orochi and Hyrule Warriors.

Continue reading Delving Into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition – #1