Did you really think you could overcome this base?
Did you really think you could overcome this base?
They're trying to take the base, stop them!

A really great entry in the DW series, I'm fond of the vast majority of it, such as the individual story modes, good OST, hack n slash fun, new characters etc.
However there's a few things that weaken this one going back to it. I think the weapon system is one of the worst in the series, why they got rid of 4's i will never know. But the stupid Heavy/Medium/Light weapon thing was an extremely stupid idea. It's so frustrating to have a new weapon appear, with much better stats, combos etc, only to find it's a heavy one, and now i have to play in slow motion. The fact you almost exclusively find weapons in the wooden boxes means it breaks up the gameplay badly, and you have to run around box hunting when you want to be hacking and slashing.
There's also the addition of the bases, which personally I'm not a fan of. They're repetitive, and make levels sort of blend together, it's a feature that should stay in the Empires series.

While 4 is usually the favourite from what I've seen, for me the clear peak of the musou formula is in DW5 and its expansions. Even further tweaks to gameplay were made that saw the removal of the lock-on effect during combos (the best change) giving you more fluidity in your combos which were extended to like 9 hits or so. This provides more options and a more dynamic gameplay experience which, lets face it, does become a little mundane even for hack and slash enjoyers. The movesets are so tight and feel so unique to each of the characters. The way they're executed is reflected really appropriately for the character's personalities which all feel very fully realised in 5 as well as their look and design. In spite of these gameplay elevations it is really the story that takes centre stage in 5 for me. While it clearly follows the same narrative throughout the franchise over and over again, the presentation of the storyline feels fully realised here.
There are some gimmicks like the god-mode powerup thingy I don't even know what its called, and the joint-musou attack with your bodyguard, that do make this game substantially easier just across the board. Though, I don't mind it as for me bearing witness to this game's iteration of the characters and story always made this Dynasty Warriors the real treat for me.
To discuss some flaws, mounted combat still sucks and going into the arrow shooting mode feels as trivial and pointless as usual. Also the artstyle in this game is great albeit very dusty(?) Honestly if you've played the game before you'll know what I mean. It just looks very dusty all the time lolllll. This will always be my game though <3