Dynasty Warriors: Origins Review – Musou All The Way Through

Dynasty Warriors: Origins It makes a lot of bold claims, and more often than not, it lives up to them. First and foremost, it attempts to reboot a 28-year-old series, still developed (as always) by Omega Force and published by Koei. It promises a completely new approach the Dynasty of warriors formulaOne move for a thousand like you’ve never seen it before. It aims to be an ideal entry point to the series for newcomers, but it also aims to please longtime fans with its complex tactical gameplay and new spin on a familiar story.

It’s all wrapped up in a neat little package, which is most technically impressive Dynasty of warriors game ever released. It finds the perfect balance between silly, mindless combat and complex real-time strategy This is, in its greatest moments, extremely satisfying and a lot of fun. But at its worst moments, it’s repetitive, dull, and boring. The lows don’t detract from the highs, but they can distract from them. However, it maintains enough of the classic ones Moso Charm to carry it through.

Classic Musou combat evolves in Dynasty Warriors: Origins

A familiar formula with new twists

the Dynasty of warriors The series has always been built on the idea of ​​1 vs. 1000, throwing the player into epic battles in which they control a single character who must fight massive enemy hordes. Never before has a game fully delivered on this promise Dynasty Warriors: Origins – Armies have become terrifyingly large with the addition of the new Large Force mechanic, where large numbers of soldiers and officers gather in one area.

It’s extremely rewarding to break down these large forces piece by piece, send enemies flying through the air with your powerful attacks, and eventually watch the entire army dissipate while you focus on its leader. Battles are intense and chaoticwhich is both positive and negative. The intensity forces you to focus and choose your next move carefully, and the chaos of it all means you’re often blindsided by unblockable, near-lethal attacks from outside your field of vision.

still, Dynasty Warriors: Origins It gives you a whole new arsenal of special attacks to deal with that chaos. Your powerful attacks fill slots in your Bravery meter, which you can use to unleash powerful special moves. They may have any number of effects: controlling crowds, breaking defenses, or interrupting incoming attacks. I had a lot of fun learning and trying out new moves throughout the game, customizing my arsenal for each different weapon type (and eventually each specific battle).

Of course, morale, the Musou meter, and Rage mode from previous games return, and work much as they always did. Later in the campaign, Players can give orders to a small retinue of their soldiers. Although these vary in their usefulness, they greatly expand the strategic aspects of each battle. Speaking of strategy, both the player and the enemy team will sometimes activate grand strategies, massive attacks, or massive advantages that they can only execute if they achieve a certain goal within a time frame. This adds a huge sense of time pressure, forcing you to make quick decisions.

One of the most divisive aspects Dynasty Warriors: Origins is its focus on a single main character rather than a wide range of playable characters. To compensate, the player’s eponymous protagonist, nicknamed Ziluan, Fully customizable down to the last gameplay detail (Although not in appearance). Players can choose one of seven weapon types, each of which completely changes Ziluan’s playstyle and basic combos. They can also choose his special moves and team tactics, level him up using the skill tree, and find or craft accessories to grant different perks.

In other aspects, Ziluan is a poor replacement for countless playable characters in previous games. It’s just as fun to play, but it doesn’t have as much personality. Unlocking each new type of weapon is always great, but it doesn’t compare to the fun of unlocking a completely new character in other weapons. Warriors games. While one mechanic allows you to assign companion characters to certain quests late in the game, your options are severely limited, and you can only control them briefly.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins has a hit or miss story

A closer look at the Three Kingdoms

Dynasty Warriors: Origins Positively huge In scope, it is not unlike its source of inspiration, the classic Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It’s a huge epic tome, however This game only covers about half of itWhich gives him a greater opportunity to delve into details Regarding its people, places and pivotal events. The game is divided into five different chapters, each focusing on a different part of the saga.

Related to

Hyrule Warriors has the perfect blueprint for other franchises

Hyrule Warriors brings Toei’s Warriors formula to the Zelda series for a winning combination. Other chains could benefit from the same decision.

Origins“Adaptation Romance of the Three Kingdoms It spans from the rise of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, to the formation of an alliance between the three warlords Wei, Wu, and Shu, to the dissolution of their alliance and the opening salvo of their struggle for power. But its ever-changing focus causes inconsistency in the storyThis makes some chapters engaging and action-packed, while others are slower and more predictable. However, the characters always remain interesting, and the conflict between their hopes and the thorny politics of the Three Kingdoms period is what drives the narrative forward.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins She has too a personalityBond system modeledAllowing you to deepen your relationships with your companions. These scenes are a lot of fun and go a long way in fleshing out some of the characters involved. It also makes the pain more difficult when those characters die, or have to turn against them. Depending on how you look at it, the character development is either helped or hindered by the cheesy voice acting. For me, that was part of the magic: Sometimes, the line deliveries evoked a poorly dubbed martial arts movie in its grainy seriousness.

In the second half of the match, The story branches a bit when you choose whether you want to hitch your wagon to Liu Bei, Cao Cao, or Sun Jian – The heads of what eventually became the titular Three Kingdoms. Although I only had time to explore one path during my campaign, this looks like an interesting and changing system that lends the game a lot of replay value, completely changing the face of the late game depending on which side you choose.

But in the face of the high stakes, the epic saga of the Three Kingdoms, Ziluan’s personal journey is slow and banal by comparison. At its center is an overused RPG trope – the protagonist suffers from amnesia and a terrible fate to fulfill, if only he can remember what it was like. This kind of generic storytelling allows it to seamlessly fit into various branching storylines, but it doesn’t do its momentum any favors.

Exploration and side content fill in the gaps

A completely open world

once again, Dynasty Warriors: Origins It’s positively huge, and gives you a fair amount of freedom in deciding what to tackle next. between battles, You find yourself wandering around in an RPG-style miniature worldOr choose to stop at towns, fight optional battles, or talk to NPCs on your way to the next chapter of the story. I very much enjoyed my time on the world map. You get small doses of open-world-style exploration as you collect materials, search for hidden secrets, and chat with NPCs, but without the inherent bloat and limitless FOMO that comes with actual open-world games.

You can also choose (or choose not to) to fight optional battles as you wander the overworld. These range from simple and reckless to complex and strategic. but, Side content can be repeated; There’s not much to do other than watch cutscenes and fight, and optional battles tend to reuse the same maps and enemy types repeatedly within the same chapter. I had a lot of patience with the side content, as the satisfaction of sending hundreds of enemies flying across the map never diminished, but I did see some players getting annoyed by the repetition.

There’s some variation in the win conditions to keep things interesting: kill all the enemies, capture the base, escort so-and-so to the extraction point, etc., but it’s nothing you haven’t already seen in the main mission. Of course no one forces you to give 100%. Dynasty Warriors: OriginsBut by the mid to late game, You’ll start lagging if you don’t deal with at least some of the side content. You need the extra points toward your weapon mastery and skill tree to keep up with the recommended ranks for the game’s toughest fights, which is frustrating and disruptive to the story.

Final thoughts and review points

Screen Rant gives Dynasty Warriors: Origins A 7/10

Dynasty Warriors: Origins It is, for me, a complex game to evaluate. I can admit its flawsBut I’m willing to put up with them to enjoy their strengths. I have a passion for quiet voice acting, and I also seem to have a limitless patience for its repetitive side content. But I can easily see these two things getting on other players’ nerves. However, I can’t justify its inconsistent story, and I have mixed feelings about its choice to squeeze huge rosters out of former Dynasty of warriors games In one cute playable character.

But in essence, Origins He is a Dynasty of warriors Game through and through. The exhilarating rhythm of a successful narrative, the irresistible chaos of a large-scale battle, and the overall satisfaction of a well-executed strategy are all completely intact. If you have ever enjoyed it Warriors game, or even thought you would enjoy it Warriors game, you’ll find a lot to love here. In this regard, Dynasty Warriors: Origins Makes a more than worthy successor.

Your changes have been saved

7/10

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

Reviewed on PS5.

Pros

• Great balance between combat and strategy.
• New mechanics like Large Force are very satisfying.
• It’s easy to engage with new and existing fans.

cons

• Side content can be repeated.
• What Ziluan lacks in personality, it doesn’t quite make up for it with many playable characters.