Second game for the Dynasty Warriors franchise and this is where the series really found its footing. While Dynasty Warriors 2 was fun, it had some deep flaws. This game patches a lot of that up with gusto. First was the addition of more overall content. Eleven new characters (technically 13 but i'll talk about that later) fill out the roster to match a greatly expanded Musou mode which filled in a lot of moments missing from the original game, helping to make the story as a whole feel more rounded and complete.
On top of that are a few RPG-lite mechanics, levelling characters up through item drops and from equipping items that are found. Its a basic mechanic and while the original had some of these elements, it does build to having the game feel more rounded. Expanded character movesets are now also present and some defensive options are now in such as Somersault recoveries.
The game is still brutal though at times. Enemies are VERY aggressive in this game but thankfully the additions of items and recovery options make things much easier to deal with in the past. Its still tough but its a lot more doable than before.
That said, the game isn't without its downsides. While combat as a whole isn't anywhere as unfair as the previous game could be, the same cant be said for some of the ally objectives. There's many a moment where the game will cry out things like 'Liu Bei is in Danger' and then less than 5 seconds later you suddenly get a game over because Liu Bei died before you had a chance to react. This is a problem in a fair few Warriors games but here it feels worse because the levels as a whole are sometimes HUGE... Unreasonably so at times. Levels can take forever and a day to get through (thank goodness for the mid-level save option).
To sum it up - this is a marked improvement over the first game... Just be sure to keep an eye on allies, lest they go all Leeroy Jenkins on you.
On top of that are a few RPG-lite mechanics, levelling characters up through item drops and from equipping items that are found. Its a basic mechanic and while the original had some of these elements, it does build to having the game feel more rounded. Expanded character movesets are now also present and some defensive options are now in such as Somersault recoveries.
The game is still brutal though at times. Enemies are VERY aggressive in this game but thankfully the additions of items and recovery options make things much easier to deal with in the past. Its still tough but its a lot more doable than before.
That said, the game isn't without its downsides. While combat as a whole isn't anywhere as unfair as the previous game could be, the same cant be said for some of the ally objectives. There's many a moment where the game will cry out things like 'Liu Bei is in Danger' and then less than 5 seconds later you suddenly get a game over because Liu Bei died before you had a chance to react. This is a problem in a fair few Warriors games but here it feels worse because the levels as a whole are sometimes HUGE... Unreasonably so at times. Levels can take forever and a day to get through (thank goodness for the mid-level save option).
To sum it up - this is a marked improvement over the first game... Just be sure to keep an eye on allies, lest they go all Leeroy Jenkins on you.