Re: Dynasty Warrior 7 Empire Download
Pamula Harrison
Let me first explain the massive changes compared to Dynasty Warriors 9 and Empires. Gone is the open-world approach, smaller stages make a return with a big focus on attacking or defending castles. Empires feature a lot more strategy-focused gameplay too. You can be a good warlord who is loved by the citizens or an evil tyrant who plunders villages for resources. Keeping an eye on your food supply, money income and army health is important for having a long-lasting dynasty. Nice idea but the execution could have been better, more on that later.
A real highlight is the opportunity to create your own warrior and go fighting in marvellous costumes. I set up a character based on my cat, gave it my favourite Musou warrior Zhou Tai's move-set and quickly formed an alliance with the common first-bloods of the Dynasty Warriors universe - the Yellow Turbans. I happily followed the orders of crazed wizard Zhang Jiao and we expanded our territories with decent pace, but old Zhang Jiao has little love for his people, conferring the rank of DESPOT upon my feline swordswoman. This would not do at all. Nobody makes Monktonia a despot.
This kind of internecine drama plays out in the game's menu-driven Strategy screens, which display a situational map of China. The options can be overwhelming at first, but the structure is easy enough to follow - each action takes a month, and there are a set number of months before the next War Council meeting. Here, objectives for your faction are set, which can lead to a grand battle where a territory is won or lost. So as your faction grows (or not, depending on difficulty level), you have time to do your own thing. There are quickie quests for low-rank characters to pick up weapons and allies, and there are raids to weaken territories near your empire in preparation for takeover. You can also master the logistics of ancient warfare by raising and training troops and managing your generals, or undertake the aforementioned social development initiatives and job creation schemes. You can engage in personal PR, strengthening ties with internal compadres and external allies (or undermine and weaken them). Generals may fall for your incredible battle prowess and confess their love for you. You can marry and have children, who are a blend of their parents. After a few years, they'll even become generals in your army and you can fight alongside them.
Going solo is when the real fun begins. Either by establishing a faction or breaking away from another, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires throws open its doors and its true depths start to be revealed. Diplomacy and violence can be sole focuses, or they can be blended. But be warned - a rapidly expanding empire will expose a wider area to defend, and you could be repelling more invasions than you can personally conduct. Herein lies the balance to be found. The choice of where, and when, to invade can prompt quite a bit of chin-scratching, especially when there's always the option to sit still and strengthen your forces. Why not just consolidate and concentrate your power while other factions grind themselves into tactical vulnerability? Because one of them might get really big, team up with another strong faction and give you more than a little bit of trouble.
In many ways, the Empires titles are all about creating your own Three Kingdoms era story: they're about altering history as you see fit, and as such, they always provide a very customisable experience. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is the most customisable of all, however, as it throws in a plethora of new options that affect character creation, how scenarios play out, and how you develop your chosen warrior. It's safe to say that the series has never provided players with so much interchangeable content, and for fans, this latest instalment should provide hours upon hours of entertainment.
Whether you decide to conquer China as a high ranking officer or as a ruler, though, your tale will always be punctuated by some thoughtful little cutscenes throughout. These cinematics add some personality to your hero, or indeed, villain, and fans will definitely get a kick out of seeing their own original characters share screen time with some of Asia's most legendary warriors. When you're done, you'll even have the option of saving your custom character's history, which creates their own unique timeline based on key choices from across your playthrough. All in all, as far as personal involvement in an Empires game goes, role-playing enthusiasts will love these new additions.
Speaking of which, the series' RPG mechanics have also been improved. As you expand your territory, you'll be able to construct weapon forges and item shops, and the more that you have, the better your produce will be. There's an impressive amount of weapons on offer, with the most powerful armaments sporting some great passive abilities that'll give you an edge during combat, and they all look satisfyingly cool to boot. Meanwhile, items can alter your playstyle, providing simple statistical boosts, or allowing you to saddle up on trusty mounts. Animal collars also make a return, so you can head into battle alongside a pet tiger, or a loyal hawk that'll swoop in and cause trouble among enemy troops. On top of all this, the level cap's also been boosted, which lets you develop an extremely mighty warrior by the time that all's said and done.
@ShogunRok Okay, I'm finding the Co-op set up a bit confusing, does it only work when invading? If so that's pretty disappointing I'd love to bring a friend on raids and supply quests just like the empires before
@ShogunRok Do you think they will ever launch empires as dlc for the vanilla version of the game (in this instance dw8xl complete edition) I find it difficult to warrant the purchase when I already have that.
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires is the very first Empires game to hit Switch, and only the second Dynasty Warriors proper to arrive on Nintendo's console, following on from 2018's thoroughly decent Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends. We've been excited to get our hands on this one, then, eager to jump into some all-conquering action, cutting swathes through screenfuls of enemies whilst expanding our empire across the length and breadth of China.
@XenoShaun no, the only warriors games I've played are the Zelda and FE ones. wanted to pick up and try Samurai 5 but was holding off on it. I'll def take a look at your profile and read your review on Samurai 5
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