In the doldrums of winter, I have turned to means of solace, which, for me, means Chinese historical dramas. And while elaborate costumes and overly sweet romances are nice, sometimes a girl wants something with a little more teeth. Dynasty Warriors: Origins He has given me exactly what I needed.
Dynasty Warriors: Originsdeveloped by Koei-Tecmo's Omega Force, adapts the famous Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms in knockdown and drag battles, 1v100 style. This is the tenth game in the series and comes at a time when the dynasty warriors franchise had earned a reputation for being rancid. After all, there are only so many times you can retread the same story with the same characters and the same general gameplay without getting a single grade. Dynasty Warriors: Origins, However, it is a welcome refresh from its predecessors.
after releasing Warriors of Dynasty 9 In 2018, Omega Force took a break from the series to work on licensed games such as Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Person 5 strikersand Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. That detour through games that I felt were excellent applications of Omega Force's type of hack-and-slash action gave the studio the fresh perspective it needed to return to its signature franchise and change this.
In OriginsInstead of jumping between different characters during certain battles like you did in previous games, you witness the story through a single character called Wanderer. You have no memories of yourself, and as you progress, you slowly regain your memories and special powers. The Wanderer can use any type of weapon, which is another welcome change from previous games that locked weapons to a certain character. Each weapon has skills that you unlock through continued use, and the Wanderer himself has skills and perks that he unlocks through skill trees.
Fight in Origins It's easy to understand. You have a light attack and a heavy attack that you can modify using your dodge or jump. There is also a set of skills that consume a resource called “bravery” that you gain by hitting your opponent. Finally, there are lock-and-parry mechanics and an ultimate ability called “musou” that is used when you are impossibly surrounded or need to deal additional damage to an enemy general.
While this all sounds like a standard hack-and-slash game, I was glad Origins He made me work for my victories. Even on standard difficulty and with years of playing experience. warriors games, I couldn't just blindly make my way through enemies. The generals hit surprisingly hard, and if I wasn't using my various abilities to mitigate or counter their attacks, they would continually generate shields that I would have to keep chewing on to take them down. Unfortunately, your allied generals, whose deaths can result in an automatic loss, are made of tissue paper, so the longer enemy generals are alive, the better your chances of losing a battle.
Battles take place on large, winding maps filled with bases to take and enemy generals to defeat. Although defeating the enemy leader and keeping your own leaders alive is generally the only condition for winning, I believe that beloved be a completionist When my allies were screaming in panic for help, it was fun to rush to their defense even if helping didn't end the battle sooner. Made me feel like a big fucking hero. And isn't that the goal of a game that allows you to fight alongside legendary figures from Chinese history?
Playing the hero is the best part of Origins and what is so missing in the franchise. Previous games were loaded with unnecessary systems, such as the atrociously slow open world of Warriors of Dynasty 9 or pressing buttons without thoughts and with a head empty of Warriors of Dynasty 8. but in OriginsPerforming a special ability brought you to an elaborate cutscene with animations that look like they came straight out of a wuxia movie. My choices in the game's story moments allow me to build relationships with characters I have loved so much across many different media.
I understand other criticisms' criticism of the vagabond. As a character, he has no personality to speak of and his quest to recover his memories is unconvincing. But I can easily overlook it because this is dynasty warriors. All I'm here for, and what this game has given me in spades, is eating meat buns and chasing Lu Bu, and I'm out of meat buns.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins It is now available for PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
