Dynasty Warriors DID It To Zhang He Again! (The Jimquisition)

[@Nightmster]

Local woman suffers from Apollo's infamous curse of prophecy

[@xenrusxenomorph2268]

Apollo really said those predictions will come true. Whether they like it or not.

[@AegixDrakan]

Steph is *truly* the Cassandra of Video Games. XD

[@piggysew797]

women?

[@PaulSoth]

@@AegixDrakan Cassandra Peterson of Video Games

[@Kaiaa21]

@@piggysew797 Woman dear. Women is plural.

[@ronicareviews]

What they DID to Zhang He!!! Is a phrase that now lives rent free in my head. Brilliant.

[@mufinmayn]

As a weekly viewer from the Escapist days, I have to say, it's kind of refreshing seeing Steph give us a borderline full game review in video form. I read the Jimquistion occasionally but nothing beats the team she has now in terms of sheer entertainment value. If she ever gets bored of yelling into the deep, dark void about the game industry's various atrocities, I for one would welcome uhinged rants about what they *DID* to some of her other favorite series. Keep up the good work, guys!

[@Tjoeb123]

Hey, me too! Been watching since around the episode "REVIVIFY THE COLD VITAE" once I realized they criticized more than just Steam. (yes, the first few videos I saw of them bashing Steam and I thought that's all they did at first)

[@goreobsessed2308]

Absolutely

[@Delightfully_Witchy]

The kind of person who thinks fans are demanding realism in the Dynasty Warriors franchise is the kind of person who thought people were demanding realism in the Garfield movies.

[@josueayala1249]

I will say, if you go on the Dynasty Warriors subreddit you will find fans who claim to miss the older games because they are more "realistic." The problem is that realism in this context is a nebulous term with no concrete meaning, and indeed in conversation with these fans, realism can mean anything from less elaborate character design, more conventional weapons (hate is especially placed on Huang Gai's boat), to enemies being generally more aggressive. I will note that I understand that none of these are realistic in and of themselves, and I know that Dynasty Warriors as a whole never was and never will be realistic, but my point is that fans (and apparently producers) will point to various elements and brand them as such.

[@vfaulkon]

Warriors Orochi. That's all I'll say about that.

[@NimhLabs]

Nobody wants realism in Garfield. What people want in Garfield would often involve the words "Kafka-esque", "Lovecraftian" and "Fortean"

[@Nodiee1]

look, all I'm saying is that cats shouldn't be eating lasagna. I have a cat and she doesn't eat lasagna. It just pulls me right out of the story.

[@starhaven1881]

Dynasty warriors is about the spectacle not realism, Got nuts go crazy make crazy weapons and campy characters and I'll love it all the more :D

[@madanotap6492]

THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!!

[@dr.chungusphd108]

They will.

[@Humster]

Only 1 way left! Send an angry email!

[@randomstuff-qu7sh]

As long as people keep buying it, they will keep getting away with it. Of course, if people stop buying it, there’s no guarantee they’ll learn the intended lesson.

[@aaron5364]

Read this in Jesse Pinkman voice

[@Maalstrom]

I know 1 dummy who bought it.

[@ethanhorn6093]

We used to have a kitty cat boi once upon a time with kawai eyes, a great sense of style, some long pretty claws... and then Sega said: "No the gays are loving him too much we must declaw him" and I've been meowing for him once a year ever since. Steph's longtime recurring love and commiseration for Zhang He's lost glory has been the only means from which I have been soothed.

[@mesektet5776]

Dynasty Warriors isn't about the claws, or the lack of shirts, or even the Romance Of The Three Kingdoms. Dynasty Warriors, is about CAMP! I like drinks cold, my TV loud and my Dynasty Warriors *FLAMING!*

[@darvinzoinks9336]

It's called "Three Kingdoms Extreme/Musou" for a reason

[@jamesclarkson156]

They will never out camp 3 though and it's Cow Cow.

[@DieselJoe]

It's about the enemy camp (it's possibly pretty?).

[@robbybevard8034]

I remember in one of the early games, they would let you customize the opening cinema by putting characters into the cinematics to make whoever you wanted to interact do something neat.... even if that was have an army of the same character fighting themself... but in one cinema you could put in Xu Zhu (the fat guy with the giant hammer)... where an ELEPHANT should be. It was amazing. That's a level of fun they just haven't allowed in years.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

It's like all the glorious camp in the early games was completely unintentional.

[@xenrusxenomorph2268]

I don't know how you make one of the most flamboyant characters who lived. And keep trying to straighten him up.

[@Gamer1990100]

We're in the age of game regression; less features, higher prices, more microtransactions, less QA testing, etc

[@mileshill7196]

So long as you’ll pay for it, this will always be the case.

[@Rystefn]

@@mileshill7196 And I am definitely buying fewer and fewer games because of it.

[@Krauser975]

Yarrr?

[@randomstuff-qu7sh]

It’s the capitalism MVP (minimum viable product) strategy: slowly take more and more away while raising the price. If the process is gradual enough, customers become accustomed to getting less for more and are less likely to mount any significant protest.

[@CoolMagmar]

@@Rystefn Same, for years I just playing indies and old games

[@modelmajorpita]

"It's not sustainable" usually means "investors and executives don't want to pay for us to do it anymore."

[@MoonLitChild]

Fuckin exactly. And yet they'll release all the stuff they didn't want to pay them to make as separate DLC.

[@meewec2091]

@@MoonLitChild just like nintendo did with pokemon

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Nintendo largely was hands off it was Game freak and their own execution that forced Nintendo's hand​@@meewec2091

[@Karonis124]

The ‘Cassandra of Videogames’ thing used to be funny, now it’s just sad statement about the industry.

[@l0rf]

Really wish Stephanie could be wrong about their predictions for once.

[@Kasukimuki]

6 years and nothing has changed. The wheel never stopping. AND WHAT THEY DID TO ZHANG HE.

[@thinman25]

Zhang He was my first main when I started with DW3. They de-fancied MY BOY! Put the fancy BACK into MY BOY!

[@NurseValentineSG]

It is so weird because Dynasty Warriors 8 is only 2 games ago when it comes to that specific franchise, and it was literally great? Fun missions, a massive amount of characters, new characters with really fun movesets (I really love the guy with the sword and rope kunai or whatever it is called? He can zip and zoop around the battlefield so fast, it's so fun), a story mode and an alternative mode where you make your own empire, just... actual stuff to do. And you would think that if they downsize the character roster and movesets, they would expand on those, but no. It just becomes more simple while all the spin-offs get to be actual dynasty warriors? It's just so weird.

[@Technature7567]

I find it weird that they say it's feasible to keep making new characters, weapons, and move sets. And sure, I can see that. But why have any less than DW8, a game with 83 unique movesets? Why remove instead of just not add? Obviously the answer is "DLC money :)", but it's still worth asking.

[@tenyokensekia8088]

You mean Xu Shu! He's my favourite!

[@RedSpade37]

​@@tenyokensekia8088 When I got back into the series, I wanted to play as one of the new characters, and I picked Xu Shu because "he's a SadBoi, just like me frfr" I swear I didn't know he was one of the best characters in the whole franchise! (Especially in Warriors Orochi 3! Literally unkillable!)

[@HokutoDynasty]

DW8 came on top of DW7, 7 Xtreme Legends, Empires, and Warriors Orochi 3. Without these games to lay the foundations for a good chunk of the roster, 8 would probably have had clones. 6, 9, Origins, these are all games that are attempting to bring changes to the fighting system, so they have to rethink and re-animate every character from the ground-up, or reduce the roster to a manageable size. I love DW8 too but I don't want to see the same recycled DW7 moveset in a game again. Like, Ma Chao has played almost exactly the same in DW7, 7 Xtreme, 7 Empires, Warriors Orochi 3, DW8, DW8 Xtreme, DW8 Empires and Warriors Orochi 4. He had the generic spear moveset that even ZHAO YUN had in 7 until he got his own variant in Xtreme. To cut it short, the "decloned" games that are DW5 and DW8 imported most of their moves from their immediate predecessors with minimal change or improvement. Every DW game infamous for "cloning" was trying to move the series forward one way or another (DW6, DW7 and DW9). You can see that in Origins, the focus was on making each weapon feel genuinely different, they feel like Monster Hunter weapons where they all have a very distinct feeling and don't rely on the eternal six basic/six charge moves formula.

[@pirateFinn]

@@HokutoDynasty DW5 in itself had a lot of games to back to, that game has a lot of its movesets harking back to many movements present all the way back to Dynasty Warriors 2. It's especially noticeable with Ma Chao Spear or the Pike (primarily Lu Meng) gameplay which is actually shared across a bunch of characters, though even Zhao Yun's moveset in DW5 shared a lot to its DW2 moves.

[@Release_the_Bees]

The way you feel about Zhang He is how I feel about Gan Ning. I want my chain blade thing back, damn it.

[@velentr]

Did they take his bells aswell?

[@Release_the_Bees]

@velentr thankfully no

[@tenyokensekia8088]

@@Release_the_Bees Well it would be cheeky if they did, considering its honestly his defining character trait, because in his words: "I want my enemies to hear me coming."

[@neat3468]

Zhou Yu was my favourite, until they got rid of his sword and gave him his weird spinning spear moves.

[@kamarrawlings6285]

River sword Gan Ning is the best.

[@The_Brainsturgeon]

2:05 - Laura's disapproving head shake should become an animated .gif.

[@jontanta5900]

I am SO GLAD SOMEONE still talks about Dynasty Warriors. Its been my favorite since 3 as well but boy oh boy I never put down a DW game so fast after starting 9.

[@matthewbreen1951]

What they DID to Zhang He absolutely contributed to Steph's villainous villainess arc.

[@kitmakin289]

Poor Steph. Gone from being the Cassandra of video games to someone who actually speaks reality into being! That's just so unfair. They deserved a heads up at the least!

[@pandacat17]

and it had to be a FRIGGIN SPEAR of course lmao. I was so excited to hear you when I learned there was news about dynasty warriors. ty for making a vid lol, takes the edge off Monday a nice bit

[@ttiagoox]

"Serious Lee" is one of my favorite visual gags and i am always happy to see it back.

[@CsBTransition]

On the other hand, I’m bummed there wasn’t an “Immediate Lee” pun.

[@FaultyGear9]

Same, I love it

[@htpkey]

I thought the joke was "Funny Lee" (enough)

[@ziggyinjapan]

InTyreLee got me rolling xD

[@Kyderra]

@7:20 Deluxe Editions~ I've started to call "3 day early accesses" what it is, "Regular release time access fee"

[@rickyl3819]

It's got to be one of the least enticing offers a game can make. Pay extra to play the game a few days early? I have games I bought on Steam 10 years ago that I haven't started yet. Clearly, being the first in line is not my priority.

[@MrJum987]

I have over 7,000 hours in Dynasty Warriors 3. Definitely the definition of "Can't beat the classics".

[@aaronravitz9454]

Never did I think I’d be so invested in the way Zhang He was done dirty in a game I don’t even play. I thank god for you every Monday Commander Sterling!

[@matthewbankey5547]

“Look how they massacred by boy… 😭”

[@cornflakeshumunculus8373]

“My boy” -Godfather

[@aeloswindrunner]

The running bit of what they DID to Zhang He always gets me. And the perfect timing of this with the callback is exquisite (though fr sorry for your loss)

[@MrHarryDGamer]

I feel conflicted about all this: - When Cao Pi was introduced in DW5 with his detachable double ended sword, I immediately fell in love. He's since been relegated to using ordinary twin swords and that's disappointing. - I'm also the weirdo who genuinely likes DW6 for many of the innovations it had (and then prompty dropped) like the siege mechanics and overhauled troop AI, including an overlooked feature (even Steph forgot about) where troops would surround you when fighting certain officers, triggering a duel without any flashy cutscene or cue. As someone who's also been playing Dynasty Warriors (and Samurai Warriors, Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors and Warriors Orochi) since the PS2 era, I've always dreamt of a DW game that walked a finer line between arcadey action and realistic open warfare, and DW:Origins looks like KT having another stab at making that sort of game, so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.

[@Kukakkau]

He got his dual blade back in 8 and I remember it being pretty good there

[@Rubberman202]

This reminds me of the video Stephanie did after their first year on the Escapist, celebrating a big milestone by talking about Dynasty Warriors... Though it was talking about how Dynasty Warriors was "the Citizen Kane of video games", which... Well, things change over the years... Like what the DID the Zhang He!

[@thrillhouse4151]

Wow I didn’t even know that was Zhang He, it’s even worse that he’s getting his ass kicked by someone that has more plastic surgery and instagram followers than him.

[@acolytexiv]

"They took away his everything" And all I can think about is how the historical Zheng He was a eunuch. Dammit Steph.

[@Sir_Goodwrench]

You're thinking of another Zhang He - the admiral who lived over a thousand years later.

[@FelisImpurrator]

​@@Sir_Goodwrenchahem, Zhang He was the general, Zheng He was the eunuch admiral.

[@acolytexiv]

​@@Sir_Goodwrench huh. Learn something new every day

[@thegrouchization]

I'm still waiting for the Pretty Cure Warriors game from that old poll.

[@DrErikNefarious]

The genericification of Zhang He can't keep happening. They can't keep getting away with this.

[@TouruZen]

I feel like Omega Force is going through the samething Squeenix did starting around final fantasy 12/13. Where they heard a bunch of people complain about their game (For squeenix it was JRPGs) and then they thought 'oh ... people don't want this stuff anymore' when it is was people who never enjoyed that style of gameplay to begin with. And so they try and reinvent the wheel every time alienating the people who do like the original games while trying to chase those people who complained about it.

[@CharlotteML1]

The inclusion of the new parry and counterattack mechanics make me wonder if some executive has seen the popularit of Soulsbourne-type games and decided that they need to make DW more like those games... Ignoring the fact that people who play Soulsbournes aren't going to want to play DW regardless. (Plus, I'm kind of tired of how many new games seem to have the Soulslike Dodge/Parry combat mechanics, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who will see that and think "no thanks")

[@HokutoDynasty]

@@CharlotteML1 Parries and counterratacks were a feature of the early games too. I think they've been trying to reinvent the series since after DW5. 6 wanted to do away with the "square/triangle" system and added more versatility to the movesets. 9 tried the same thing. The dodging in Origins is almost identical to how it works in Wo Long (another Tecmo Koei game) and I think the two games have a lot in common (maybe they brought in the madlads at Team Ninja to consult for DWO). Games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Nioh and Wo Long have, in their own way, advanced the hack n' slash genre. Some stuff is just straight up so good it would be a shame not to take inspiration from it, mechanics-wise at least. I don't think KT is trying to copy Souls games, they already have had pretty succesful soulslikes. They're just taking something that already works wonders (Wo Long's dodge/parry mechanic) and applying it to their newest Musou title.

[@chortlesg.3641]

@@HokutoDynasty Yeah, part of the Origins producer's claimed reasons for 6 were that 1) DW5 was supposed to be 'peak Dynasty Warriors' (e.g. 'most enemies ever on screen', most characters, et al.) and yet 2) 5 sold less than 4 did, so the sales downturn had ALREADY happened.

[@chortlesg.3641]

The producer of Origins has claimed that besides new gamers it's meant to targeted lapsed fans, however on his personal social media he seemed (to me) to imply that by the latter he meant people who DIDN'T care for 7 and 8 and the style of Musou game that the latter embodies -- he's said that he had nothing to do with 7, that it's 'not the kind of game I would make', and he's claimed that he'd already attempted some of Origins' ideas (such as the emphasis on reaction/counter-moves) back when he directed 6.

[@bloodmoon0746]

Things Stephanie Sterling should joke about. -Activision and Ubisoft collapsing. -Me winning the lottery -America not doing a fascism.

[@LurkinHandworker]

Maybe the prophetic powers will work on this world

[@josadison]

the Literal Fucking Nobody sight gag made me giggle

[@kudosbudo]

3:53 but thats Dynasty Warriors Empires!? Make your own character, hire characters from the world and have your own adventure. Thats not main game worthy.

[@chloeirnes]

And if possible; marry Cao Cao! ❤

[@guanyu8539]

​@@chloeirnesJust don't bring Cao Cao to a surprise visit to your uncle's house for a pork dinner! Or make sure everything is prepared ahead of time!

[@RedSpade37]

​@@guanyu8539 Had that not happened, I honestly believe Chen Gong would have stuck with Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms period would have been a much shorter affair, had it even gotten to a "Three Kingdoms" at all. Of course, I'm not sure how historically accurate that event actually was, but still. I think about that kind of stuff every once in a while. (And the brain tumor. Poor Cao Cao. In the end, his body betrayed itself, which is weirdly in character with a lot of his sayings)

[@guanyu8539]

@RedSpade37 Yeah, I love Chen Gong and Cao Cao together. It's a shame their team up was so short. Like, Chen Gong's reaction is absolutely understandable, though! I always thought a short horror film of the whole thing from his point of view would be great watch.

[@SharKing319]

I can't help but wonder if the "unsustainable" comments from the director are referring to Dynasty Warriors 8, where literally every single character specialized in a different weapon and thus had a completely different moveset by default. As I remember, the main reason they went this way was because of the "Weapon Switch" mechanic, where each weapon had its own moveset, and the characters only really added their EX and Musou attacks to it. Weapon Switch was added in DW7, and several characters wielded the same weapon type by default (especially the Sword), which made them feel about as homogenized as several of 'em did in DW6. In DW8, they worked around this by not just bumping up the character-specific moves with a third Musou attack (and a second EX attack in Xtreme Legends), but by having each and every character use a different weapon with its own moveset by default. Of course, that's part of why DW8 was so good, but it could also be viably seen as unsustainable to keep doing _that_ every game, especially given how gigantic the roster's gotten over the decades. That said, a solution to this does exist; in fact, it exists in the PS2-era games. In those games, some characters had similar weapons and movesets based on the same template, with minor (or even major) decloning involved. Perhaps my favorite example is Huang Zhong and Gan Ning; they both used swords, and the first three swings of their normal attacks were the same and told you which template they came from, but the rest of their movesets heavily diverged from there, in ways that suited their personalities very well. To me, that seems a more sustainable middle ground between the lazy route of just cloning movesets (6, 7, 9, seemingly Origins) and the unsustainable route of giving absolutely everyone completely different weapons and movesets (8). It's okay for some characters to have similar weapons, as long as they have at least _slightly_ different moves between them. And of course, as long as the more iconic characters (yes, including Zhang He) keep the weapons they're explicitly known for.

[@chortlesg.3641]

I've tended to believe that the producer meant 8, and that he believes himself vindicated by 9 (which had the same director and producer as 7 and 8). However, all of the games before Origins had characters' movesets work on (mostly) identical INPUT templates. As far as I know, Origins is the first basically-main game where, at least in the demo, every moveset fundamentally differs in ways more akin to a versus fighting game. (A mild exception may exist in the Serpent Spear, whose inputs were revealed in a hack to seemingly be a variation on the Podao's inputs.)

[@EmeralBookwise]

The thing about game executives saying a franchise isn't "sustainable" is that it's usually just code for can't make ludicrously obscene amounts of money which they can use to entice shareholders with the perpetual myth of endless growth. As Steph is so fond of saying, execs don't just want some of the money, they want ALL of the money. With Dynasty Warriors, the fact they routinely release DLC to put back in the features they keep stripping out of the base games should be proof enough. Especially when it's not even like this is one of those rushed annual franchises, so there really shouldn't be any problem with crunch.

[@PaulSoth]

"...yes, even him." Feeling called out as a Pang Tong player.

[@goranisacson2502]

We few, we proud, we who long for the Tong. They can take my stubby little staff-man from my cold dead hands, Pang-bangers do not go gentle into that quiet night.

[@JerichoMoon]

This makes me want to play Dynasty Warriors 5 again, because we'll never get individual story modes again for the entire roster.

[@buff00n3ry]

I watched that Jimquisition to remember what they *DID* the other week I feel like I jinxed something

[@cassiopeiawarrener9654]

Here's the thing - I actually do like making original characters in DW-verse, playing around with the inventive movesets ... which is why I like Empires spinoffs. The problem with trying to follow the history of the Three Kingdoms era with an OC is that they will never be able to do any of the cool stuff, you'll just be shepherding the real characters around so THEY can do the thing

[@MrElite354]

Not quite, I mean in the demo YOU are the who beats Hua Xiong for example, you didn’t have to ferry Sun Jian or Guan Yu there to do it, the game doesn’t even care if they lose

[@elwincastillo2362]

I just want Gan Ning with his sword back, running super fast with his Musou special. Im sick of seeing the guy with a flail.

[@RedSpade37]

That was so much fun back in the day! Weeeeee

[@neat3468]

I agree, I also preferred his brown hair, kinda like EIji from Toshinden. The blonde hair just seems weird to be honest.

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

6:32 I am almost disappointed by the non-existance of Simp Lee. Wouldve been funny to see what Zilla did with that.

[@ZMannZilla]

I DO have a graphic for "Simp Lee" and have used it in like 3 episodes. Have fun finding which ones! (Also I'm always gonna miss a Lees or few. There's logistic reasons for it, but pretend I do it on purpose so you the audience can imagine your own and share them in the comments!)

[@FixTheWi-Fi]

@@ZMannZilla ooh

[@whoisthisguy128]

@@FixTheWi-Fi To save you the effort (or maybe drive you to want to find it even more) it's a graphic of steph onscreen, with Lee kneeling with a wedding ring. It's a 10/10 goof.

[@ZMannZilla]

@@FixTheWi-Fi And I can only bow my heat grateful-LEE 💜🐼Z

[@r.f.switch5847]

We pour one out for Dynasty Warriors fans, who clearly need a hug after the last few games in the series.

[@r2kmoon2]

I dunno about y'all, but Warriors Orochi 4 was fucking amazing. I'm really nervous about playing 9, but if I'm getting it, I'm getting it SUPER CHEAP so if I hate it, then I didn't lose much.

[@HokutoDynasty]

@@r2kmoon2 If you can get behind what the combat revamp was trying to achieve and you're a massive 3K nerd, you'll probably like 9. The open world sucks a lot of fun out of the game though. Maybe 9 Empires would be more your thing. PS : Keep in mind that there is a free trial for 9 on consoles and PC, might be a good idea to check that out first.

[@Tolly7249]

I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY KEEP DOING TO ZHANG HE! Goddammit stop fucking around with the character who woke up my hormones, he deserves better. Those claws were fucking iconic and *he* was iconic.

[@SonicMTD]

Let it be known we will all be long dead and gone, and they will still be making Dynasty Warriors games.

[@raegun]

I literally spit out my drink at the "sneaky lee". Well played, Zilla.

[@FelisImpurrator]

Timestamp?

[@GuruCube]

​@@FelisImpurrator, watch the video?

[@FelisImpurrator]

@@GuruCube I did. You going to help or not?

[@GuruCube]

@@FelisImpurrator , I've watched the video already. So, one of us needs to watch it again so you don't have to? 🤔 I mean, I don't get why you're asking us to do it. 🤔 I guess it was done just too sneaky... Lee. 🤣

[@FelisImpurrator]

@GuruCube You know, you didn't have to comment this just to be a prick, but you went out of your way. You're not actually that clever though.

[@GC13]

I clicked on this because I was hoping to finally find out what they DID to Zhang He. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

[@Runeologic]

The steam community for the demo is currently at war with traditional folks who want hack and slash And git gooders souls gamers who are looking down on anyone who wants fun and don't want that easy 2 die lu bu nonsense at the end.

[@eldebo99]

The He Man kick the boulder clip at 4:11 had me in tears, no idea why, just perfect little combo ender there

[@chrisb9179]

The thing that I feel they lost is while the heros were OP and flashy they still felt like they were grounded soldiers. DW4 and DW2 nailed this balance for me. You weren't flying though the air like crouching tiger. You could still be downed by the regular peon if you were careless. Some may prefer the Godlike performance of modern heroes, but that just makes me question 'why bother sending a whole army when a single badass can do the job instead?'

[@Istar47]

Ah Steph, you truly are a true warrior of the three kingdoms.

[@Orklord666]

DW 3 and 8 are two of my all time favourite game's, and it's so sad to see what they have now become, i grew up playing them.

[@Everythingwillsurelybealright]

Wait wait wait, they’re pretending that creating your own character is a new innovation that can only be done now? They already did that! Dynasty Warriors 5 XL was all about creating your own character and picking which side you wanted as you went along the story - except you still had the entire roster as well! What are they talking about?

[@JediMimic]

Man this rings true. As a fellow traveller of old DW, albeit more of an empires cobber myself, I completely disengaged from the series after 8. I just don't understand what they think fans get out of the game. It seems that they think the key selling point of the game is the power fantasy and absolutely nothing else. The personality, the cheesey cutscenes, the customisability, all gone. Why can't I just make a custom character with a silly face and have them seduce someone while we annihilate an empire run by Xu Chu for no reason

[@LiohJuney]

The ending song!! I remember spending hours as a kid watching each character's different sequence. Zhang He performing was always one of my favorites along with the Qiao Sisters.

[@SyraxV]

Just when I was thinking it would be fun to play Dynasty Warriors again... look what they DID to Zhang He!

[@WizWiteKnight]

Hey Laura, thank you so much for your work! I appreciate subtitles that say what is being said and not random words that sound like and I have to try and guess with context. Hey Steph, thanks for hiring Laura.

[@weightycarlos]

They gave Diaochan a long sword...I'm as devastated.

[@noot1375]

You've been upgraded from The Cassandra of Video Games (constant correct predictions) to The Scarlet Bitch (has reality altering powers to make shit real)! Love ya, Steph

[@autumndidact6148]

I did like the latest Samurai Warriors as a franchise reboot. By focusing specifically on the life of Oda Nobunaga it was able to both cull the roster down, removing all the characters who would only become relevant later, but also introducing a lot of new characters who were suddenly promoted to greater relevance by the increased number of battles featured from this period. And the art style was shifted to be *less* realistic, becoming a gorgeous, vibrant, painterly style that felt a lot more coherent without sacrificing variety and individuality. And yeah, they changed up the gameplay a bit, but just in ways that kept it fresh and made it even more over the top anime nonsense. Weird how they're treating their flagship series so dourly by contrast.

[@neat3468]

I think Samurai Warriors series has been better than Dynasty Warriors after they messed up Dynasty Warriors 6. I remember when DW7 came out and it ran at like 25fps on PS3 and felt so unresponsive. Even the Musou spinoffs like One Piece/Fist Of The North Star felt better than Dynasty Warriors. I haven't played SW5 yet, I didn't like how they changed it.

[@KimFromTheCrypt]

holy shit a Greasy Strangler reference

[@Maleketh42]

I think it says a lot about the game that, after playing the Origins demo, the game I most wanted to play wasn't Origins itself, but DW8.

[@ChefNikuman]

I still haven't forgiven them for making Guan Yinping a Pang De clone in DW9.

[@SomewhatSlightlyBored]

Duels were in 6 as well, but they were done terribly. Also damn, that dw3 ending theme took me back. In the case of Zhang He there is also a sad fact we have to acknowledge. Koei wants to sell their game about Chinese history in China, and China bans anything they perceive as gay. I also wouldn't worry about the character models looking boring yet (with the exception of Zhang He, for above reasons), since the models will change with the characters' age over time. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei are all still dirt poor at this point in the story, so it makes sense for them to have more simple clothing this early on.

[@KSignalEingang]

Since I haven't seen anyone else mention it, I just want to say I appreciated the Groo cameo.

[@TheNeoVid]

Zmann: You missed out on showing Bruce and Brandon Lee as the gag for "A-parent-Lee."

[@antney7745]

That funny moment when Steph forgets she's the Cassandra of videogames.

[@steeeeeeev3]

0:58 not just last week. I was just watching your Pokémon episode where you were talking about how half the roster got put into the Pokémeatgrinder. And at the end you compared the series’ staleness to…Dynasty Warriors.

[@Woodborg]

The fuckers *DID* it again! Goddamn it Omega Force. Steph's point about sustainable development really got me thinking: the PS2 games really were a great example of it. Each game ran on similar/the same engines, tweaking bits between games and adding new levels and characters to a solid base. Kind of like what the modern Yakuza Devs do now honestly. The sonic comparison just keeps getting more appropriate...

[@Avarn_]

The music at the end took me by suprise. I haven't heard that in years... took me right back in that moment.

[@trowa8579]

Duels were 4, but removed from 5 because there were several duels that unless you juggled your foe perfectly or ran out the clock they were literally impossible, hell 1 of the duels with Lu Bu was literally impossible because even if you did juggle him for the full duration of the duel you didn't do enough damage to kill him. And losing said duel just made him stronger.... at least it'll put fear back into the game. I just miss my bald, beautiful, bad ass with a bull axe and was more loyal than a puppy.

[@KNGDDDE]

I miss the fighting game mode. I used to let my dad use Lu Bu to handicap myself. Dan Yan (twinblade dude) was unstoppable lol

[@trowa8579]

@@KNGDDDE If I wanted to be cheap Gang Ning was my favorite, but over all Dan Wei was my guy. Dan Yan was cool in 5 I like him.

[@tonyjoestar2632]

I WILL say, that 6 was absolute-Lee worse than 9. In 9 at least every character had their own story mode

[@gailjoe7217]

Thank God for 10 years of Stephanie Sterling

[@gamejtv]

Coming from the One Piece spin off series, I empathize with the disappointment over cut content. PW4 removed a lot of officers and stages from 3 that made the game super monotonous. However, I've been wanting a lot of Origins' features for a while now. Troop commanding, the higher emphasis on morale, more satisfying defensive options. As someone who isn't familiar with the core series cast, I'm fine with them getting sacrificed for these mechanics. There is always the chance that they use this as a springboard and bring em for 10.

[@Kaarl_Mills]

havent watched you in ages, yep still the biggest Zhang He simp ever, happy to see that hasnt changed

[@Dac85]

I was just thinking the other day "whatever happened to those Dynasty Warriors games?" and wondered if they would course correct after the last one. I do not know who these new games are supposed to appeal to.

[@JeannieLove]

Idk, I'm having fun with the demo. The easiest difficulty setting basically turns it into DW4. Playing on Hero I don't feel as helpless as I do on the highest difficulty of past games. I wish we could at least choose the gender of the wanderer.

[@Poever]

Omega Force is a mystery wrapped in an enigma

[@thomaskrogh1244]

Maybe someone will make a commander sterling as a wrestler action figure.

[@thomaskrogh1244]

Also fuck autocorrect for saying sterling is Ether spell incorrect or not a word.

[@bainick]

Gods that ending song took me back. Time to put Meng Hou in the singing position once more.

[@adamowen5347]

greasy strangler reference GREASY STRANGLER REFERENCE

[@RGisOnline]

9:38 Tiny correction, The last we saw duels was technically in DW6, but it was different than 4. It would happen more dynamic where troops and officers would surround you and the officer you are dueling and you were actually forced into the duel, but it was a cool system that they sadly kicked out in DW7, 8 and 9

[@djukor]

As someone who loves games like Bayonetta, Devil May cry or Ninja Gaiden this is the first Dynasty warriors games i genuinely enjoyed and didn't get bored of after 1 hour. Lu Bu kicked my ass and iv tried playing some warriors games for longer than 1 hour and ever had any bosses be a challenge to me. But at the same time i wonder if it alienates the fans who love the mindless button mashing. Almost as if they decided they dont want the core DW audience but rather the hardcore action game audience specifically people who like Nioh or Wolong or the recent rise of Ronin.

[@surprisebox920]

Didn't alienate us just boomers like this person

[@mrcaos999]

I think Worriors always had the problem to balance being simple without becoming to mindless and easy. Hence the best Installments of the Worriors Series have moment of legit challengs throwing in our elements like tactical decisions next to the buttom matching. Hence I think it's not a bad idea to include something like parry into the system. It's not overly punishing as we can see in the demo but still a nice way to just add a little more attention from the player. Besides this games do have a easy mode^^ The One Piece Worriors are most successful currently. And this games do have a little more challenge as the core games.

[@chortlesg.3641]

Based on a mix of the producer's comments and some of the positive reactions from people claiming to have last played DW in the PS2 days, it seems that by "the core DW audience" you mean people who stuck around for the series all the way through 8, and/or for whom 8 was the epitome of DW...

[@MMetelli]

in terms of generic redesigns, the one I'm liking the least is Cao Cao. How the hell do you not have the goatee handlebar combo that I imagined him having when he was six years old?

[@Daimando]

Considering that Koei Tecmo did a better job with Zelda and One Piece compared to Dynasty Warriors, that's saying a lot. Hell. You give them the Sonic or Warcraft franchise for their own Musou series, and they would do a better job at those.

[@elizabethnorris7654]

I married a Chinese lad and we now live in East Asia. I really enjoy telling people I know about "Cow Cow" and "Loo Boo" etc etc etc, but I did also find out that the song CIRCUIT is a Japanese person pronouncing Chinese very badly, which honestly makes it feel extra appropriate as a theme song for the series. Highly recommend playing it to Chinese speakers. I sometimes wish I could experience Dynasty Warriors 3 for the first time again, not knowing all the history/stories and such so I can feel that wonderful sense of befuddlement once again.

[@Missiletainn]

I remember the discussions about Fire Emblem Warriors about the sheer amount of clones (most of the DLC characters were just clones of base game ones, 3 characters per DLC pack, each pack had 1 new moveset and 2 clones, except for 1 pack which had 2 new movesets and 1 clone, but that was because the characters were bosses in the story mode and were in the files just not playable, it was awful.) Most of the discussion was rightly negative. The part I suggested was making the movesets class based to match Fire Emblem as a series if they were going to do clones, because the low amount of characters with clones was bullshit. 32 Characters, 19 movesets. As well as the maps being generic, inspired by but not actually places from the series, and some just random fields or forest, not a great game. Lo and behold, in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, they had a class based movesets, a lot were expanded versions of weaker classes but still, 45 playable characters, with about 28 movesets (if you include every minor variation 49 movesets), and it had a much better variety of maps as well, based on actual places, and had an actual story, essentially fully combining a fire emblem game with a warriors game and it was great. But because they burned everyone with the original, not as many people picked it up. It also didn't have any DLC, at all.

[@Aerinndis]

Three Hopes was also essentially left on a cliffhanger in regards to the war. Which was a baffling decision.

[@masterofdoom5000]

Sengoku Basara please save us all, Capcom you can do an okay job and corner the whole market!

[@Hartmansgrad]

I wish to return to the era when all anime got Warriors games...Berserk, Attack on Titan, One Piece

[@snorpenbass4196]

I used to play "This Bitch: The Audacity" way back in the day. Usually I played the more confusing splats, like "Wal-Mart Karen" or "Road Rager" because they had the best powers. Then a bunch of edgelords said I shouldn't play it like a superhero game and added extra rules to it, and now you can't even play it without special novelty dice that costs a lot.

[@subliminallime4321]

I agree that Warriors games feel like beat-em-ups & I just want a Final Fight Warriors crossover before I die.

[@piemaster1288]

Even if they had to use a smaller roster to avoid crunch and other abuses seen in the industry, they could still be able make the characters unique. Also, that realism argument is completely insane.

[@Battury]

As someone who hasn't played Dynasty Warriors since the PS2 days... I've been playing the demo and the gameplay is kinda fuckin fire? I keep dying to Liu Bu (duh) but I keep coming back for more. Am I disappointed I can't play as my boy Zhou Tai, but as far as a "turn your brain off and go to town on thousands of nameless enemies" goes, I'm having a great time.

[@cezardan01]

Well, I will admit that I did not get the Zhang He joke from last week. I didn't really know any of this was a thing that existed. Glad you helped clear all that up. Thanks Steph! :)

[@500werewolf]

Your prophetic powers know no bounds.

[@tonyjoestar2632]

AAAAHHHHHH THE ENDING SONG 😭 😭 I audibly said that. Out loud. Ugh I miss Dynasty Warriors. They need to remake at least 3 so I don't have to get an old console just to play it

[@aardvark123]

Chun-Li makes her appearance at 5:35.

[@TheCRX7]

I think the improved robustness of the Generals having more sophistication required to fight them, is specifically implemented to bust up the monotony of theJust-Smash-Shit-Up miasma. I don't think it's quite a step away from Dynasty Warriors DNA in that you're still mashing buttons but you do have to be more meticulous and reactive about it when approaching the generals, which by comparison to the sheer volume of fodder, is periodic, but necessary. The fact that it's implemented within the scope of a huge turn-my-brain-off skirmish, instead of making it a seperate "mode" altogether while STILL offering the duel system is definitely a step in the right direction going forward. We still have our scrumptious OG Dynasty Warriors as the main course, accompanied by a larger cuisine. This is a complete Dynasty Warriors package through and through (except the $89 thing....that's ass)