DW5: Empires
Aaaand to absolutely no one's surprise, Dynasty Warriors 5:Empires is a reality. Game hits Japan on 3/23; 3/28 for the U.S. version. I have to admit, I'm pretty happy about it - DW4: Empires was my favorite of the ever-increasing number of Dynasty Warriors games so far. I love the ability to make my own empire. <3 I hope they keep the little side conversations and scenes characters have; the little spats between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi make it entirely worth having two characters with a very similar move-sets in my ancient chinese empire.
There's a lot of griping about it, as there is with every DW, that Koei is milking the series (and they are, but at least they're milking it semi-creatively), and they should just get on and make DW6 already. But I'm rather happy about it - I think the Empires expansions are the ones that really unleash the potential of the series. One can only play through the Wu Zhang Plains and Chi Bi so many times before it gets really boring; even new editions don't hide that. The Empires series, on the other hand, is a whole bag of fictional what-if fun, which is appropriate considering DW is kind of Romance of the Three Kingdoms-lite anyway. It really isn't meant to be accurate to the novel.
I wonder if there'll be any new characters in this one? I kind of doubt it (do they usually put new ones in the expansions? I came into this series kind of backward), but if they do, I hope we'll see Liu Chan, though I doubt it, he's pretty well hated; but still, I think if he's important enough to have FMV cut scenes, he's important enough to have a freakin' unique character design. Or perhaps Sima Yi's wife; he's the only main strategist to not have one...(Unless Zhang He counts, but he's always seemed more of the courtesan type to me ;)) and he's one fo the few characters who has no personal connections to any other characters. Besides, Wei just really needs girls; not counting Zhen Ji, their whole side is one huge, scheming sausage fest. I suppose putting in his sons would work just as well, but then again, you have the problem of a relatively-young character having adult children. (Of course, the generational divide gets weird at points anyway; Xiahou Yuan is Xing Cai's great grandfather or grand-uncle.)
In other news, am getting bored with this layout. Will probably switch it around soon, so if the journal looks weird,that's because I've been messing around with it.
There's a lot of griping about it, as there is with every DW, that Koei is milking the series (and they are, but at least they're milking it semi-creatively), and they should just get on and make DW6 already. But I'm rather happy about it - I think the Empires expansions are the ones that really unleash the potential of the series. One can only play through the Wu Zhang Plains and Chi Bi so many times before it gets really boring; even new editions don't hide that. The Empires series, on the other hand, is a whole bag of fictional what-if fun, which is appropriate considering DW is kind of Romance of the Three Kingdoms-lite anyway. It really isn't meant to be accurate to the novel.
I wonder if there'll be any new characters in this one? I kind of doubt it (do they usually put new ones in the expansions? I came into this series kind of backward), but if they do, I hope we'll see Liu Chan, though I doubt it, he's pretty well hated; but still, I think if he's important enough to have FMV cut scenes, he's important enough to have a freakin' unique character design. Or perhaps Sima Yi's wife; he's the only main strategist to not have one...(Unless Zhang He counts, but he's always seemed more of the courtesan type to me ;)) and he's one fo the few characters who has no personal connections to any other characters. Besides, Wei just really needs girls; not counting Zhen Ji, their whole side is one huge, scheming sausage fest. I suppose putting in his sons would work just as well, but then again, you have the problem of a relatively-young character having adult children. (Of course, the generational divide gets weird at points anyway; Xiahou Yuan is Xing Cai's great grandfather or grand-uncle.)
In other news, am getting bored with this layout. Will probably switch it around soon, so if the journal looks weird,that's because I've been messing around with it.