I Played EVERY Dynasty Warriors Game... (And Ranked Them)

*This video was made BEFORE Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires released*
This started out as a personal quest to play every game released in English, and then I just decided to record my experience. I never found a way to play Dynasty Warriors Next, but it is Vita exclusive so did anyone really play it?
Video Chapters:
Intro: 0:00
Dynasty Warriors: 1:10
Dynasty Warriors 2: 3:06
Dynasty Warriors 3: 6:10
Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends: 10:48
Dynasty Warriors 4: 11:50
Dynasty Warriors 4XL: 16:16
Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires: 18:14
Dynasty Warriors (PSP): 21:49
Dynasty Warriors 5: 24:57
Dynasty Warriors Advance: 28:36
Dynasty Warriors 5XL: 29:50
Dynasty Warriors 5E: 32:49
Dynasty Warriors Vol 2: 33:58
Dynasty Warriors DS Fighter's Battle: 35:35
Dynasty Warriors 6: 36:27
Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce: 41:14
Dynasty Warriors 6E: 42:51
Dynasty Warriors 7: 45:40
Dynasty Warriors 7XL: 50:55
Dynasty Warriors 7E: 52:40
Dynasty Warriors 8: 56:25
Dynasty Warriors 8XL: 1:00:53
Dynasty Warriors 8E: 1:02:10
Dynasty Warriors 9: 1:04:41
Tier List Ranking: 1:09:55
Music:
Birth of a Hero 9 (DW9) 0:01
Zhou Yu (DW1) - 1:10
In Flames (DW2) - 3:06
Chase The Wave (DW3) - 5:02
Opression Ver. 2 (DW3) - 6:10
Power & Glory Ver. 2 (DW3) - 7:43
Tyrant (DW3) - 9:36
Theme of Lu Bu - Big Fat Mix (DW4) - 10:48
The Wall of Fate (DW4) - 11:50
In Full Bloom (DW4) - 15:31
Heavy Gauge (DW4) - 16:16
Your Dynastic Line (DW4E) - 18:14
Interceptor (DW4) - 21:49
Great Red Spirit (DW5) - 24:57
Dual NRG (DW5): 27:52
Commander Battle (DWA) 28:36
Breakthrough (DW5) 29:50
Memories (DW5) 32:49
Overdrive (DW5) 33:58
The Great Wall (DWDS) 35:33
Memories (DW5) 36:10
Under Pressure (DW6) 36:27
Welcome to China (DW6) 39:11
Chaotic Field V2 (Strikeforce) 41:14
Intention Selection (DW6E) 42:51
Kizuna (DW6E) 44:41
Crush 'em All (DW7) 45:40
Hide Emotion (DW7) 48:32
Teary Edge (DW7XL) 50:55
The End of War World (DW7E) 52:39
Entrusted Hope (DW7) 54:53
Capricious Wind (DW8) 56:24
Trio The Beryl (DW8) 1:00:06
Theme of Lu Bu (DW8) 1:00:53
Huge Council (DW8E) 1:02:10
EAT 'EM ALL (DW9) 1:04:42
Slash it; Thrash (DW9) 1:07:57
FORCE OR FLOOD (DW9) 1:09:04
Finish Them Off (DW5) 1:0955
Flying Cloud (DW7) 1:1227
Majestic ALTERED BLUE V. Crossroads (DW8) 1:1730
Final Destination (DW9)1:2042
The Last Battle (DW7) 1:2704

[@WildcatWeather]

Some important clarifications about the video. Big thanks to XthemastaX (who also has Warriors content on their channel). - In Dynasty Warriors PSP, there is an option to toggle overhead enemy health display. - Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires is the only Dynasty Warriors game with AI on versus mode. - Dynasty Warriors 6 through Dynasty Warriors 8 XL were played on Playstation Now, and PS Now is mostly to blame for any performance issues or graphical issues you might see.

[@a_goblin22]

2.2k views king, lets hope you get more

[@steve5123456789]

You're wrong. Dynasty warriors 3 has AI on the versus mode as well.

[@MidnightBlackandVictoria]

Wait....Your project to create all unique characters in 8 Empires, was that on a Koei forum??? I began a project with someone I met on their to do all generics as unique, but I had health issues and left it to a person I had met online towards the end of it who was intelligent, talented at creating as well. We also had people contribute creations, and got a pretty positive response.... Was that you??? Because if so, hey! Long time, man. I forgot what screen name I used on there at the time, either MengHuo or Midnight (I would have to look), but if that WAS you, wow! Small world! Absolutely going to do an "All unique" with 9 Empires. Also, I cant confirm or deny, but there are a couple articles going around that state the return of the eng. cast from DW 8 for the most part. Since 9E is going to be full priced (instead of the usual Empires price of 39.99 US) and these are two very different platforms stating the same thing, as well as the extended time between localization, there may be some truth to this. Man, I hope so. No english dub really hurt 8's sales. Some of us dont mind, but the average player DOES mind. Lets hope. It would have helped if you would have had this platform during our project recruitment. Aside from you and maybe 5 others, we had to uh, politely decline alot of contributions HAHA! But you always uploaded yours ahead of time on the website to gain critique before committing. Something I wish more people would have taken note of and done.

[@WildcatWeather]

@@MidnightBlackandVictoria It's great to hear from you! I was actually on the Koei forums, one of the big contributors if you remember me. But yes, I am creating a project for 9E that's inspired by your original project. Unfortunately 9E is missing a lot of features to really make the new project a reality though.

[@MidnightBlackandVictoria]

@@WildcatWeather Of course I remember you! Man, when I got to that part of the video I was saying "No way!" It really is a small world! So what is missing with the new one? It may just be that until all edit parts are available, it would be impossible. You know, they say imitation is the highest form of flattery, so our project must have been well liked, because I have found at least 10 versions of our project in the online features, but under different claims of ownership. I would download them, and head straight for my Wen Chou or your Xiahou Shi (because different versions replaced different characters, but those two, it seems were NEVER touched) to see if they were ours and sure enough. It made me happy that alot of people got to enjoy all that effort we put in!

[@jackwei22]

DW3 is arguably the most important game of the series as it was revolutionary that changed the whole series forever.

[@Minhyung0424]

The greatest hits on PS2!

[@knox7945]

DW3 is the best

[@TheTestBeuh]

It is the best DW free

[@shiroineko13]

DW3 Xtreme legends was our first game and will never forget the blast we had!

[@Muramasa1794]

DW3 was the first one that got me hooked

[@KCZ20]

You're patience is worthy of a true warrior of the three kingdoms.

[@Atarios]

Everybody in internet uses "ur" as short form from "you are", when it's short form from "your" and I find it pretty irritating because the proper short form for "you are" is "you're" or "u r". Meanwhile you achived something impossible. You have used "you're" as "your". How?

[@thatpersoneveryoneknowsbut7533]

@@Atarios how about this ur weird bud

[@darbling311]

he played 5 levels in dynasty warriors 1. 5.

[@blackberry197]

I know that

[@blackberry197]

@@Atarios no one cares

[@16maze]

Personally 3 and 4 were my all time favorite. I remember playing these for hours and replaying them today. The music, the maps and content was amazing.

[@goddesssalem4842]

Same

[@HyusKays]

PS2 era was the best

[@infiniteoneness2573]

I wanna play 3, I grew up playing 4 + expansions but I've never played 3

[@MK0437]

Agreed, those two were the best imo.

[@bbboywaxr]

Absolute classics. agreed.

[@nmemichael1043]

DW3 was so much fun for me. That even when I wasn’t invested in fighting the battles myself, I’d set the mode to hard, and go watch the peons Duke it out with each other from a distance. Shit was mad entertaining watching a major hit his mousu on a general and win.

[@whoisaiahmoore9100]

Haha same ! My brother and I would let her bodyguards fight for us.

[@nmemichael1043]

@@whoisaiahmoore9100 yeah man. I had so many hours logged into that game. I honestly think DW got lame the moment they made the peons just disposable. If they went back to DW3/4 peons, I feel like the game would be revitalized.

[@QC1cold1canadien1kid]

As a kid I played a lot of dw5, I remember staying up late at night reading all of the encyclopedia on my retro tv.

[@zacflemo1994]

Did that in Dw4 all the time!

[@Raiden-the-Goat32]

Same!

[@lonelyservant1898]

@Takeda Shingen me too

[@Mizoo1992]

Always good music in the encyclopedia!

[@dyzzee7861]

Dw5 extreme legends is hands down my favorite entry in the series.

[@yeezynapkins2970]

The PS2 releases will always be special to me. There was nothing like them at the time and it really tried to showcase what the system could do.

[@ricky8466]

i agreed, Story Mode in DW PS2 can unlock character, these brings some different feeling for players, hope in next DW, Developers is not focus too much on graphic, but on important features like unlocking character, sadly i dont see unlocking features on DW 8 : Xtreme Legends... :(

[@KazShiro]

And its says alot the koei has a track record of releasing their games as launch titles. Like Dynasty Warriors Psp, DW 2, Samurai Warriors Chronicles for the 3ds and Warriors Orochi Hyper for WiiU

[@KingOmnifarious]

​ @WildcatWeather They need to remaster DW5:XL, DW7:E, & DW8 so bad!

[@Echo_of_Tragedy]

Mad respect moving DW3 up to B. 3 is probably the most nostalgia i have from the series, and it's also the one i use to guage the other games. Which is usually me picking 5/8 empires over it cause they're more enjoyable with the customizations and quality of life improvements to the games.

[@Travybear1989]

I personally think that 3 is S-rank. It's the only title in the series that I still regularly play to this day. Sure, 5 and 8 are great but 3 just feels more balanced. In 5 the bases are annoying and the maps are meh and in 8 the enemies are basically dirt and you play a vacuum cleaner (like all the modern DW games). Dynasty Warriors 3 has the best maps, an amazing soundtrack, great gameplay, and isn't bloated with nonsense. I do prefer 8's story though as it's very in-depth and the Lu Bu campaign is brilliant.

[@8Smoker8]

@@Travybear1989 no way dude, that's just nostalgia. You're ignoring the IMMENSE improvements in 4 and 5.

[@Travybear1989]

@@8Smoker8 Totally not nostalgia because I own 2-5 for the PS2 and have played all of them within the year (and play them yearly as well). 3 just has the best maps and largest amount of enemies which makes it feel more like an actual battle instead of just a skirmish.

[@8Smoker8]

@@Travybear1989 nah it's nostalgia Bro no way in hell 3 is better than 4, let alone 5. The combat is very clunky, graphics are way more dated (and I don't usually care about graphics but you can really see the difference). 4 and 5 have better soundtracks than 3 btw. Arguably even 6 does.

[@Travybear1989]

@@8Smoker8 I prefer 3 over all the other games and I own all of the PS2 titles as well as 6, 7 , and 8 on PC with their XL versions. 3 is just my personal favorite overall.

[@zhengwenyu1587]

I believe what makes Lu Bu so scary in older game mostly owes to how they lack new mechanics like dodging or indicators of powerful attacks that gives you time to get out of the way. Also, his grapple in DW4 and PSP is mostly guaranteed to one shot you.

[@danielwijoyo]

in DW5, if I meet lubu, I ran away 😂

[@ChaolaoFueChi]

​@@danielwijoyo Yo my man. In Dynasty Warriors 4, if you've ever messed with Diao Chan, then be prepared to be chased for life around the map.

[@danielwijoyo]

@@ChaolaoFueChi unfortunately I didn't have a chance to try DW4 in the past, probably will try it in the future if have time :)

[@ChaolaoFueChi]

@@danielwijoyo Yah, that's all fine, bring Xetream Legends too! It's really fun and extends the game a lot more. Hopefully you'll eventually fear true fear.

[@jonathanllewellyn5053]

@@ChaolaoFueChi I haven't played a DW game in nearly 20 years, and to this day, the words "Hu Lao Gate" give me PTSD. And when I have calmed down my Autistic brain starts to play the opening objective to the yellow turban rebellion level 😂 "The Wei forces will attack from the south, while Sun Jian attacks from the east. The volunteer forces will break through the middle, and join the other two forces" - Yuan Shu (iir 😅). Man I need to get my X360 out and find my Xbox original game in the attic.

[@MrDark086]

DW4 LuBu is the closest you can get to feeling like a demonic god of destruction in video games. His reach is very long, excellent crowd clearing, a LOT of AoE moves, his shout can literally kill, and his damage is outright oppressive with a violent movement to tie it all together. His default triangle grab is nearly a free kill on a general reliably. I dumped a ton of hours just to unlock and max him out for even more cruelty

[@orangeyellow9695]

I remember the days when I just ran and ran and ran

[@kss7178]

the default triangles some characters had was one of the many issues I had with that game haha. So broken.

[@Okuni_]

@@kss7178 yeah the grab triangle was, is and will always be total BS

[@AzureToroto]

It was always that moment when you hear his theme, you know to run for the other side of the map. I miss when he was a intimidating force in the older games, he lacks that kind of difficulty in the more modern ones.

[@JoJoBeast]

Lmao facts

[@SirHugsalot13th]

I remember being obsessed with DW4 before high school, and would visit it periodically during. It was fairly old by the time I received it, so I also remember being dumbfounded about the existence of... ALL these other versions, let alone all the sequels after. Never played any other one besides the GBA version; I wonder if I would have, had I discovered them early enough? DW4 was also my exposure to the secrets games could hold. A vacuum salesman and his assistants came to our house when I was in the middle of my obsession. One of the assistants noticed I was playing it, and he gave me a bunch of advice, like how to unlock the more secret characters, and especially how to get Xiahou Dun's level ten sword (he was my favorite character), as well as the level ten sword of my custom character (the BIGFUCKINGSWORD). My mind was BLOWN by these secrets. Kept me playing for ages after. Good times....

[@jaredbrooks1651]

DW4 was my first segway into the series and it's what got me into hack and slash games entirely. For me its the soundtrack that makes the game, and I still go back and play it at least once a year just to hear some of those songs alongside my battles.

[@chype986]

wassup fellow xiahou dun gigachad

[@dongshenghan1473]

DW4 is definitely the best imo.

[@cameronbeach2581]

I remember the GBA version of DW4 well. At least for a handheld of that time. It also had one of the best boss themes in my opinion and it's an under-rated track despite it being a midi.

[@yesfinallygot1]

lol the 4 in the title didnt tip you off that there might be 3 other ones before it?

[@chrisw6164]

Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires was my personal favorite, by far. The strategy dynamics and the way the main world map worked was great, the gameplay was cool and the base-capturing was well realized. Outstanding DW entry, I played the heck out of it.

[@christopherscott932]

None of your the officers can take bases on the map without your help or they die. That kills the whole game for me right there.

[@chrisw6164]

@@christopherscott932 They will take a base on very rare occasions. But you’re 99% right. But that’s part of the reason why I wished the DW series would have built upon this foundation. They were so close.

[@christopherscott932]

@@chrisw6164 DW6 Empires isn't bad with a friend and neither is DW6.

[@sicknsaneofficial8646]

Only thing that REALLY bugged the shit out of me was that it removed the Defence and Attack bases that were part of the base game. The empire game's battles would have been sooo much better if they kept them.

[@kingdodgearcane]

I stand with you, fellow DW5E lover.

[@ZA-tl3qz]

3 and 4 are legendary! The peons are hard because both games scale the more you play, for example in 4 Cao Cao gets a sword with vorpal orb which 1 hit kills peons later on. The games are hard at the start but your character improves, they are progression based games. I remember killing Lu bu with Dian Wei and his first axe, that fight no joke took like 10 minutes alone! but man it had a huge rewarding feeling.

[@MK0437]

Definitely the best two imo

[@supersasukemaniac]

I love how the dialog changes too, I think in DW 3 if you beat Lu Bu, the first message from Yuan Shao is "Do not pursue Lu Bu. If you beat him ge replies "...ok you can pursue Lu Bu." It's becone an achievement (with the same "Ok, you can pursue Lu Bu line) in the modern games to beat Lu Bu when you first meet him.

[@jamesdagiantpeach]

Dynasty Warriors 3 will forever be in my heart ❤️ that games had such an impact in my early life and it's so amazing.

[@shirayasha]

Same, DW3 is always going to be the king of the series for me

[@hotpopcorncake]

it's good that I ran across this video due to feeling running with a lot of people that haven't played yet and like the game. because I love DW2 and 3

[@thisisairdrow7437]

DW3 forever💯💯💯💯

[@erics.k.cheung2237]

DW3 was the most well balanced DW I've ever played, which is why the series has been a tragedy for me honestly.

[@BruBoyz]

Me too! love that game

[@occamsbutterknife9186]

I played DW 4/5 so much when I was younger. Every character maxed, their best weapons maxed. I was addicted! Every other DW hasn't compared since.

[@zacflemo1994]

FACTS!!!!! I haven't been invested into any dw games since 4 but dw 6 emp was great aswl

[@darkenedpsynoid]

Yepp my thoughts exactly

[@lamonimita3422]

DW3 will always hold a special place in my heart - Being the first DW game I played. DW5, 5XL and 5E are hands down the best chapters in the DW series. I still manage to dust off the ole PS2 and play these games a couple times every year. I spent hours as a kid maxing out every character and unlocking each 4th Weapon.

[@MK0437]

I’d have to disagree there. Imo, DW3 and 4 (including XLs) were better than DW5 + XL. Enemy AI, overall challenge, 5th weapons, bodyguard units, and overall more focus on army vs army than 1 vs 1,000 all make those games better than 5 to me. I really hate 5XL didn’t have 5th weapons and destiny mode is way too short per playthrough to make up for all the shortcomings. 5 is so easy and 4th weapons are so easily attainable there is no reason to even keep making your characters more and more broken as 5XL allows imo.

[@detestable_one]

Nothing beats DW5XL Xtreme mode for me. Roguelite long before they were calling it that, with some serious challenge if you make a deep run. 2 players once you hire your first officer made for hours of replayability with friends. I still go back to Xtreme mode to this day. Only WO2/3 ever get me coming back nowadays other than DW5XL, but yes I'd agree 5 is the best

[@HunterX57]

DW4 was the closest I came to 100% clearing a Warriors title. I think I had less than 5 characters not maxed with all level 4 weapons unlocked and every stage cleared on extreme. Truly a fun game that can be harder by playing higher difficulties with unleveled characters or not equipping certain stat boosting items. The difficulty was designed around the fact that leveling could “max” your stats, but the equipped items could raise beyond that cap, and you could multiply that end result with x2 attack powerups mid battle, as well as a certain item that doubles while your hp is in the red. I hope you get to the end game chapters when you revisit it, they have a lot of unique stage gimmicks. As for the one game where you played a stage twice, and Cao Cao only retreated once, there is typically events tied to which bases or locations you travel to at certain times, and/or which allied or enemy officers are still alive. (I.e. Pang Tong, and Zhuge Liang, as well as Huang Gai, need to be alive in order to light Cao Cao’s fleet on fire in The Battle of Chi Bi, which can result in Cao Cao fleeing rather than fighting to the end.)

[@DanteLovesPizza]

DW4 definitely did everything the best in my opinion, and I just couldn't stick with others nearly as long. The fact that repetition didn't feel bad because of the Tales in Musou mode was nothing short of amazing. It created a perfect balance between replayability, achievements and difficulty. You didn't feel like you were grinding because, come on, you played through each kingdom two or three times, and that was all that was needed to unlock everything. The fact that different events in different stages lead to different events is just brilliant. Zapping is insane to do, and like original RE2, it just deserves every praise. The weapon levelling system was also brilliant. You basically play a stage with set requirements to get the fourth weapon, and this could be very very different to how you usually play that stage, which then potentially unlocks different events that you never knew about. This also includes those special items you unlock once. Character design being minimal was also good in my opinion, since any MMORPG player knows, as soon as you bring complexity to it, people will spend hours on it, and that becomes straight up annoying. "You don't have to spend that long," but you do, because it's a compelling thing. Basically, it didn't feel repetitive, encouraged replay, and it was super simple, like there was essentially nothing complex about the game. You just had to know what to do to unlock certain things, which created a different challenge. Music was also the best of the bunch by a large margin as well. No one can tell me Lu Bu's theme from DW4 is not the best DW music across the entire franchise. Honestly, I couldn't find nearly as much enjoyment after DW4. They just didn't hit the same. It's unfortunate really.

[@lipsontajgordongrunk4328]

I kinda liked the grittier realism of the older games. They felt like they tried to be fun but also be somewhat accurate in emulating that time period you were fighting in. That’s the one thing I kinda missed from newer games and actually liked that they tried to bring back in DW9, despite its other numerous flaws.

[@Carsakusaku]

You just described why I think DW2 is superior to the recent games in terms of game design : the soldiers actually fight. Nowadays you just fly over maps killing everyone without any challenge, with stupid RPG elements that are useless because you don’t need them in battles.

[@Ray-pu4vr]

Dw 8 xl soldiers actually fight in ultimate mode that's why you need some kind of fear or thorns elements on your weapon so that you won't get interrupted to much while doing combo.

[@darbling311]

you know how much footage was the soldiers running around doing nothing in DW2? Nearly every clip. The game is easy, they just damage sponges.

[@Carsakusaku]

@@darbling311 come on. DW 2 is notoriously difficult. A bodyguard starts a combo on you and you’re good for running around for 10 minutes and a dim sum somewhere.

[@Ray-pu4vr]

Dw 2 is difficult but to say it's more difficult than recent game like dx 8 xl esp ultimate difficulty i beg to differ. I've finished all story mode on ultimate mode with max stat character with 6 star weapon full element. And it's hard af. The soldier is constantly hitting you. And the officer is constantly spamming musou midair. And if you're also midair while they use musou you will get instakilled if you don't have musou also

[@Carsakusaku]

@@Ray-pu4vr Yeah on Ultimate mode. DW2 was already hard on normal mode.

[@WilliamShinal]

To add some details about Dynasty Warriors Advance: 1. There is a cycling meter filled by taking enemies out. Each character has a different layout and these buffs can be applied twice at Level 1 and Level 2. Enemies can knock these out by 1, either by a lucky arrow or the end of a 3 hit combo. The real fun begins when you have a lot of these buffs active. Oh, and Zhao Yun is a glass cannon, watch out. 2. The turn system moves as follows: You, Allies, Extra, Enemy. Extra is achieved by gaining a Victory or Triumph during high morale (as far as I can tell), and lets you act again, though you can't fight again if the next arena has enemies on it. Enemies and allies initiate battle the same way you do, presumably as an optimization measure to replace real-time developments. 3. The game has a victory ranking system. It is a timer that is tied to the amount of enemies present, and a present general bumps it up higher to account for otherwise impossible Triumphs. It ranks as follows: Triumph, Victory, and Close Call. Triumph nets you a health boost and an Extra turn if in high morale, Victory nets you the Extra turn without the health boost, and Close Call provides no benefit. This incentivizes you to NUKE the enemy ASAP for gains, though Victories are still acceptable. 4. You can search previously visited areas for supplies, but not right after a battle during Extra turn. This makes up the resource hunting you see in the 3D Dynasty games, though you can find supplies mid-battle as well. 5. Special events do still happen. For example, Liu Bei's son goes missing in one mission, and finding him nets you a fast Musou recharge for the rest of the mission. You also draw out Lu Bu into an ambush. 6. What surprised me was the sheer amount of WEAPONS at your disposal. Presumably because they couldn't wrestle weapon upgrades and leveling into DWA, they opted for weapons that are a split between straight upgrades and native elemental advantages like how Strikeforce does it (minus the native elemental advantages, they used orbs for that.) At any time your turn is on, you can switch weapons without burning said turn in case you know who you're up against. 7. This game DOES have a bit of voice acting, but it's just your characters announcing the defeat of an enemy officer, and it's a tad generic. No "another has fallen to my spear" type comment from Zhao Yun here.

[@hoodedman6579]

Advance was the first game I played, and it was so jarring when I first won a battle as Lu Bu and, instead of saying something like "Enemy officer defeated" like everyone else, he said "Who else seeks death?". I love his campaign in that game, he just kills everyone, it's so ridiculous and so great. At Hu Lao Gate, he kills the entire allied forces, then decides to oppose the entierty of Dong Zhou's army by himself, and then he procedes to just kill everyone (while recruiting Zhang Liao to sit in the main camp). His Chi Bi was also great, he shows up what is normally the end of the battle and basically says he's joining the allied forces there against Cao Cao, then you kill Cao Cao (while the standard "final officer of the map" theme plays), and then he declares war on the allied forces and then wins from the awful position that Cao Cao was just in. Also, the game's Free Mode didn't account for what officer you were at all, so playing his story mode had him as the guy who sits in the main camp instead, even if you were playing as him. Lu Bu and his clone take over the world. There's even a custcene later on where he kills someone (Zhuge Liang, I think?) and, in Free Mode, it has Lu Bu watching you kill the person, even if you are Lu Bu. I love that game, it's so weird.

[@chrismulkey7341]

The thing I loved about 3 the most, is how the troops mattered. Pushing up alone could actually cause problems. But pushing with your troops was far more logical. Now days, the only thing that matters is the kill count, and officers.

[@IrieIA.I-ky3ow]

Not to mention the goofy weapons and costumes they started adding in.. It used to look more authentic and historically accurate but they went way overboard with that whole "anime" style look.. They really dumbed it down.

[@MK0437]

Miss this so much. Progression was great because of it too. It felt good going from a relative weakling that had to rely on your army to a powerhouse that could dominate the flow of battle (with some skill). Now they are just braindead stupid easy from the jump starting with DW5. Smh

[@chrismulkey7341]

@@MK0437 Couldn't agree more. Basically why I stopped playing as much. Dynasty Warriors thing was the feel of being in a war, like no other game. Now I feel like an power lifter being surrounded by kindergarten kids trying to fight me.

[@MK0437]

@chrismulkey7341 Facts man. If only they could focus on recapturing that feeling of being on a battlefield in a massive war. This niche is just begging to be filled since warriors games just randomly abandoned it for 1 vs 1,000

[@hoodedman6579]

@@IrieIA.I-ky3ow Zhang He and his claws did not look less silly in Dynasty Warriors 3, this franchise has always looked silly and had silly weapons, though I would agree that the propensity of silly weapons has gone up over time, and being able to instant kill like 40 guys in one basic swing certainly feels a lot sillier than how the older games did it, even if they're also not remotely realistic at all... Yeah, I pretty much agree with you now that I think about it, though I do actually like the newer games.

[@CoffeeSuccubus]

5 is extremely fun. The one thing they improved on is the movement. Unlike 2-4, you can move around with your attacks and control the direction. Many weapons are not cloned either. Everyone felt different

[@andrewhutchinson3074]

Its a hard choice between 4 and 5 for me, but i feel you on that to the fullest.

[@ian2714]

DW4 Empires was the first to do this.

[@kontrebassman]

DW3 let you move freely with attack, it was 4 that locked you in place.

[@whocares9033]

They've pretty much ALL had some form of auto-lock-on The only difference is how annoying it was for each entry

[@aaronbaker3062]

I hate how 5 took away "Stab" skills. Like Triangle with Lu bu, Zhou tai, Gan Ning etc.. Oh and Duels haha

[@benjaminwells8653]

Now we need a Dynasty Warriors soundtrack tier list and why Dynasty Warriors 4 would be in its own S+ Tier.

[@PaulFarrerMusic]

DW 4 Soundtrack is simply God Tier

[@dproductions7293]

dw3-4-5 best ones dw6-9 normal dw7-8 seriously? rock in old china?

[@Muramasa1794]

6 had good soundtracks

[@zacflemo1994]

Yessss!!! dw4 soundtrack is insane

[@concludedhail40]

*Starts up DW4 and goes into battle* Me: "Yeah! Imma beat an entire army and win the battle!" *The music suddenly changes to The Verge Of Dispair as the enemy gets reinforcements twice the size as before, their morale rises as my side falls and Half of my force betrays me* Me: "Wait what? NO!" *Music gets twice as loud as the rest of my army betrays me, Cao Cao's army appears to join the enemy side, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Diao Chan appear right next to me as random enemy reinforcements, and all enemy officers now have a blurring aura and are now fixated on attacking me only* Me: *"NOOOOO!!!!!!"*

[@scottlaux9539]

Fantastic video. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you for making it. These games meant so much to me growing up. I started with 3, and stopped with 6, as life got in the way. I know this video isn't necessarily new and you've probably developed your techniques since, but whatever you did to develop your script here was perfect. The video clips matched perfectly with the script and it seemed to me like you hit the highlights, both good and bad, of each game. It was well researched and executed. I'm really looking forward to watching your SW video next. Thanks again for making this. I wish I knew someone with whom I could play this series.

[@WildcatWeather]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mrenteryourname7409]

DW 3 had amazing battle cut scenes that affected the battle further. I remember Taishi chi's death still. I remember being full rage mode fighting to avenge his life, you really underestimated DW 3. It was so good and emotional

[@whatablake]

When 9 was announced I was so excited. Then I heard the voice acting, then I saw all the clone movesets, then I read the horror stories about the voice acting process. I have no idea what Koei as thinking with 9.

[@Unethical.Dodgson]

Honestly I don't get voice acting snobbiness most of the time. It's not even that the VA is bad that people are upset. It's that the whole cast was completely changed. Some of the Voice Acting is actually rather good. Also given how Koei just wants to not have to deal with English at all (Has there been an Empires game since SW2E and DW6E(if I recall it had English?) ) that has English voice acting at all? Sure. The voice acting isn't up to the same standard as a lot of AAA games but we're talking about an entirely Japan based company here. It's not like the Voice Acting was any worse than their previous games. People remember the old games really fondly but there's a LOT to question. Even from big names who are normally fantastic in other works. A product of having little to no real direction from an English Voice Director. It's basically RE1 all over again... only nowhere near as bad. Though you'd think they'd managed to make a Neil Breen production in a video game if you would listen to the so-called fans. Also remember. A great voice actor with a shit line, little to go off, no context, and a bad director = a not great line read. (Hello Steve Blum as Sun Jian in earlier games!)

[@Justlilmonster]

What do you mean by voice acting process?

[@sagepirotess6312]

Honestly shows how little gamers know what's happening in real world. At the time of dw9 making their was a voice actors globally strike. Thus your favorites choose to walk then make money and fans happy.

[@ezakustam]

@@sagepirotess6312 Nice post otherwise, but you have a shocking lack of understanding about why people strike. When corporations treat their workers terribly, it's sometimes the only way people can get decent working conditions and decent pay.

[@sagepirotess6312]

@@ezakustam nope. I just seen workers globally. There's one thing to be abused, locked up for such. And as Americans think .... I am entitled to. A company gathers resources and redistribute them for products, staff as and community. A worker can always find a different job.

[@Ironmaidenportugal]

In DW6 I really liked the Lu Bu's Campaign, which is basically one guy versus everyone, and on the maximum difficulty is really hard, but is so satisfying! but i can understand why people disliked Dw6 Overall, but is still fun.

[@andyvoong1657]

Loved DW6 as a kid first game I grinded

[@gryffindorftw6198]

DW6 was my first Koei game so I have more fond memories of that game than most people did, at least in DW6 they finally started pronouncing Cao Pi’s name correctly.

[@dante0599]

@@gryffindorftw6198 me too, dw6 is my first dw game in series, then i tried playing dw5, i think lubu armor in dw6 is the best, it look cool

[@skykillerxxx]

I love dw6 and dw5..most of time play dw5 during ps2 era..lubu is fucking strong in dw5,2 or 3 hit u can die especially in hard mode..i rather face lubu in dw6..but i can easily beat lubu in dw5 using zhou tai from wu,that east samurai is crazy with its fast slash combo,combine with freeze orb..u can freeze lubu every hit and deal ton of damage to him..

[@PancakesTsuki]

DW6 still holds up in graphics even today even on psnow shame the movesets are kinda unfun to play nowadays tho

[@JumCuggler]

Banger video! Thanks for taking the time to do the legwork in finding the gems in the series for us.

[@Dano1819]

Thank you for the time you put into this. up to 4 was pure nostalgia and everything after made me wanna dig back in

[@sultanmuwaffaq6173]

I remember as a kid buying DW6 instead of DW5 because, you know, 6>5, and i played a TON of it. When i finished almost every musou mode of 6 and got a bit bored, i then bought DW5 and boy was i surprised by how 5 is soo much better than 6

[@josueayala1249]

For me, 8 XL will always be the best. I never really played the games growing up (aside from the GBA game, strangely enough) and have been snatching up every game I could through a retro game shop near my house whenever they're available. Your character is definitely overpowered, but I like how you can very much build the character to suit your tastes, almost like a Diablo-lite. The battles also feel fairly lively (though certainly not to the level of 3, where they felt the most "alive" and overall like you said, 8XL feels like the most definitive package to me. I can see why 8 and 5 are the most beloved. And funnily enough both precipitated the most controversial titles in the franchise...

[@MrManiac360]

The 4 is better than the 5, he didn't play it enough to understand why the 5 is annoying over time the map design is made redundant by a identical base system in each map. In the 4 each fortress had a unique design, no premade fortress with the same enemy for each map, they probably got lazy and didn't want to design everything.

[@joelmartinez7036]

@@MrManiac360 I played 5 for a little, I almost completed 4, with the exception of some level 10 weapons, they're both good in my opinion, but I mostly played 4 and 5 empires

[@Devilmaycry-Joker]

Totally agree with you

[@dylandesrosiers8787]

Yeah, I’m the same, only I kinda played warriors games. Not Koei tecmo games, but Devil Kings made by capcom, doing research into that led me to dynasty warriors and dw8 Xtreme legends complete edition was on sale on ps store so I picked up and loved it. Not that you care, but hey, if you take the time to read this, hi….. sorry for wasting your time???

[@Makkaru112]

4 had great cinematic scenarios too and it was also cool how you could include data from the past game to unlock stuff in 4 ! And it went vice versa for the new game in 5 too I believe where you could transfer data around and unlock things.

[@TaylorCoffman87]

I am working on some game development today and I am pumped to have this playing in the background! I can't wait to check out some more of your content.

[@erykszymanski9167]

Great video. Very nostalgic seeing the older games and getting insight into the newer games I never played. Would love to see a similar video for the Samurai series.

[@AWanderingSwordsman]

For me the characters ARE the weapons so once they let you switch, they really killed a lot of motivation to play other characters. I mean basically every character can be lu bu so even if you don't use it, the presence of it still weighs on me and brings down 7 and 8 a lot for me. I personally think 4 is better than 5, but 5 XL is better than 4 and is the best non empires game. I also feel like they've powered up the main character and decreased the power of enemies so much that many parts of a battle feel pointless. I always wanted to just feel like one strong unit in a large battle but often times it feels like I'm a one man army blasting through everything with ease. On harder difficulties it feels the same but becomes incredibly tedious. I think a good solution is revamping morale and making your actions affect the battle more by affecting morale more and then toning you way down. You taking out 2-3 key officers and 200 soldiers could be enough to turn the tide of the battle. I know the system exists in the game already but it just doesn't do nearly enough. I also really like optional unique battlefield strategies that you can try to fulfill and can radically change how battles play out. 4 and 5 handled that great IMO.

[@Manrikitabako1]

Couldn't agree with you more!

[@mytimeharris5087]

Yesss!!! This is the one!

[@ShadowOfCicero]

That's part of the reason why I generally set the rule, "Use at least one EX weapon". Ironically, sometimes I used the ability to change weapons to give characters back the weapons they had in previous games. Han Dang's short pike was an acceptable replacement for Zhang Liao's DW4 weapon, and I gave Dong Zhuo's bomb to Huang Gai because it seemed wrong for him to not have access to one. But yeah, the endgame has started the second you have the Bow of Destruction. Seldom do you not have access to a character that's not 4-star compatible with it.

[@Mawsdtheking]

DW4 was my entry into the series and I loved it. Me and my brother would play the versus mode for hours on end and trying to unlock Lu Bu was a main goal of mine. Not to mention the different ways battles would turn out depending on who you killed first to give the game extra variety, definitely made 4 my favorite.

[@MK0437]

Same, though 3 especially with XL is right there with it. Those games were just exceptional.

[@truecauseofchaos]

I haven't played any since DW4, I have all the ones prior. Great video, glad to see they got even better! One note, just because a sequel has less, doesn't mean it was taken out. Sometimes when the engine gets updated things need to be rebuilt from scratch, and devs can decide not to do so if they didn't feel it was important.

[@MichaelMusou]

Just a note about dw2, you used Sun Shang Xiang who has the lowest starting stats. You're also supposed to put the game on easy difficulty until you level up a bit more, it even says so in the manual :P. It's a shame some people don't give dw2 longer play because 1 hour isn't really enough to understand much about the game. There are actually a lot of features in it that were not in any later game.

[@WildcatWeather]

Thanks for the info! In hindsight, I'm not all too pleased with how I covered DW2 (not even trying a second character out for example). I'm going to have to go back to it and give it another shot sometime.

[@RoxasFIN]

@@WildcatWeather I agree with Michael, i personally think that starting with any of the Wu officers is a bad choice. Going with anybody else is much better. I don't think i myself ever used Easy mode as i sucked with English back then and didn't know about it's existence, but i still could progress forward well with most of the characters.

[@tynao2029]

DW2 is one of the 3 best DW games

[@MichaelMusou]

@@RoxasFIN Yeah it's perfectly doable on Normal of course. I was just suggesting Easy because it seemed too hard for the player in the video.

[@MichaelMusou]

@@tynao2029 It's my favorite

[@a_goblin22]

An hour and twenty minutes, you outdid yourself king. How does this not have more views?

[@spiritualman7544]

I love dynasty warrior and I love your patience to do this. Definitely sending a like cause your energy and honesty is amazing

[@cauliflowerconnoisseur2710]

A year late, but your point on how weak allied generals felt in DW5 is very accurate. In 4, allied generals felt like they actually did something. They could defeat 100's on troops and solo half the army ( morale pending ofc) and like, in 5, i swear sometimes 10 enemy troops could beat half my allies. It was such a strange addition to the game. Especially in Empires mode where you had to rely on your allies to go off to other bases. Sometimes i could clear half the map and the 8 generals i had with me would struggle to take over just one base. It is an annoying addition that has followed in every game since.

[@SakuraShuuichi]

I forget which DW game it was where the allied officers hp also scaled with difficulty, causing the easiest mode to be nearly as difficult to complete as higher difficulties due to ally deaths.

[@MK0437]

Yeah, to me, 5 is where the games started to change and decline. 3 and 4 were peak

[@hoodedman6579]

It's been a while since I played 4 but my experience was the opposite; in some final battle between someone and Shu, I remember seeing the message "Zhang Fei got 50 kills" or whatever and then getting annoyed that apparently my allies just never did that. The only exception I can remember was when I did the Nanman Campaign on Hard with the "get 1000 kills" method, which ends with Zhuge Liang at max morale fighting tons of peons with 0 morale, which naturally led to him getting some kills. Meanwhile, I'm playing 5 now, and I routinely see allies get 50 or more kills. They're still not very useful but they feel more useful than in 4 at least. I'm also playing 7 and they seem to actually do things more often than they ever did in 4; I feel i can't overstate just how shitty I thought the allied officers were in 4.

[@MK0437]

@@hoodedman6579 I’m sorry but I fail to see where offscreen allied KO count factors into this. Having 100%ed all 3 games recently (all characters and items maxed, all weapons (4th and 5th weapons in 3 and 4, and 4th in 5), I can say that 5 has by far the weakest enemy ai and peons of the ps2 games. Progression is extremely easy in that game and less rewarding imo, and all the 4th weapons are an absolute cake walk. Also pissed they don’t have 5th weapons. Really see the shadow of switching to 1 vs 1,000 in DW5 vs Army vs Army as well, which removes a lot of the fun factor for me. That’s what I meant by 5 declining. It’s the start of the weak AI and games becoming too easy and focused on you demolishing thousands by yourself even from an early level. It is certainly the most casual friendly and not a bad game by itself but the signs were there imo.

[@ShadowOfCicero]

By DW8, your allies are so incompetent, the game has to specifically tell you when you can count on them to hold. That would be on two occasions across all campaigns. Also, there is one mission in the Jin campaign where the secondary objective is to finish without losing any officers. Is the solution to play as Zhuge Dan so you're where the fighting is the fiercest and you can protect your officers? No. You play as Wang Yuanji, blitz your objectives, and force the event triggers to obliterate the ambush troops lest you literally be left waiting for them with nothing to do.

[@pikablu9375]

Really enjoyed this video! I really liked hearing your input on the series, and I appreciate the hard work that went into the creation of this video. Subbed!

[@loneronin6813]

I'm a huge fan of Ancient Chinese history, especially when it comes to the Three Kingdoms and the various Hero Generals. The first game I played in the Dynasty Warriors series was Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends. (I don't know why they spelled it that way) but I also went back to play Dynasty Warriors 3 and then 2. Ever since then I've played all of the main entries into the series as well as their Empires spin-offs. I also have a love of Feudal Japan so I'm also fond of the Samurai Warriors games, but Dynasty Warriors is still slightly preferred. I won't deny a lot of it is clearly nostalgia, but I also really loved reading through Romance of the Three Kingdoms when I was thirteen so long story short I guess you could say I hold the series as well as the subject matter in general pretty close to my heart.

[@calebgoodman3028]

Fun Fact: Koei actually considers Dynasty Warriors 1 to not be part of the series and considers it a standalone game. Which makes a lot of sense since Koei numbers the games different in Asian territories with DW2 being SSM1, DW3 as SSM2 and so on.

[@ShinOrochi]

That's because DW1 and DW2-9 aren't even part of the same franchise aside of both franchises being based on Romance of Three Kingdom and having similar sounding titles ("Sangoku Musou" for DW1 and "Shin Sangoku Musou" for DW2 and so on), hence why the gameplay in DW2 vastly "changed" so much from the first game lol.

[@facundosterzerforino1704]

@@ShinOrochi shin(new) is usually for sequels, is not a far off translation to call it dw2. Translators are unable to know if is a sequel or an entire new franchise lol

[@NoOne-xk3lg]

@@facundosterzerforino1704 Depending on how it’s written, “shin” could also mean “true”

[@tbr2109]

​@@NoOne-xk3lgYep. The "shin" in Shin Sangoku Musou is written "真" which means true, real, or genuine.

[@supersasukemaniac]

Yep the only Sangoku Musou game is Dynasty Warriors. After that it is Shin Sangoku Musou. So DW2-9 is SSM 1-8

[@ashharkausar413]

Watched from beginning to end, your voice is very soothing to listen to. I hope you keep making videos!

[@Minhyung0424]

Besides the iconic DW3, the 5th title is probably my personal favorite. My brother and I used to tear it up on CO-OP, taking down every officer for each mission and grinding our main characters (not also to mention farming for the best ultimate weapon unlocks, fourth or fifth and light over heavy.) It was a blast. What a nostalgia...

[@DWFTW]

Your assessment of DW2 is perfectly fair, but man as my first DW game I still love just going back to it every now and then exactly FOR that slow pacing. You feel like you HAVE to advance as an actual army and not just a one man army. It's definitely different from later games (more different the later you go really), but it honestly gives it a unique charm to me. A shame you only did 2 battles, because Guan Du is one I'd definitely have recommended trying as well. The actual progression routes through battles are one of the highlights I'd say (of course Shangxiang was never going to do Guan Du) As for DW3, it feels like some of your issues were just your approach. Rather than rushing at bosses, it was often better to rush gates and secure them to stop enemy spawns, then push forward with your troops. It's true officers didn't engage all that often, but the troops tended to be decent enough backup a lot of the time, if not just to keep the regular enemies off of you. You did need to play well through, DW3 was probably the game I most had to rely on true musou spam or running to gates to get health from near them. You also REALLY needed the play the morale game. Yi Ling in particular I always found bad for this, but you'll want to carve up Lu Meng's troops to lower his morale before fighting him. Did DW3 have the star based morale system for each character...? It's been a while, so I can't remember specifically how it's displayed, but there was some gauge of it for sure. ...Or it might've just been battlefield morale, but in either case once you chip down the morale the battle becomes a lot more manageable. Conversely, if Wu gets their fire attack off as Shu it becomes pretty hellish to deal with and may be my most failed Warriors game stage, so there is that. Your opinions on 7 and 8 are really interesting for me as a long time DW fan though. It kind of pins my issues with them where I wasn't actually sure where they lay. 7 was the strongest the story has been in my opinion, but something about that game just never quite meshed with me overall, and it wasn't on the single character selection per battle, though it didn't help. 8 I enjoyed it though I can't say much else about it. It's one I've still never finished and is the only Warriors game aside from SW3 and SW4 I've played yet never finished even all kingdoms's musou modes at least once (and I have replayed old ones and finished SW5 so it's not about age or general enjoyment of these games - SW3's issue was it's console more than anything else)

[@WildcatWeather]

Thanks for the great comment. As I mentioned in the comments before, I'm not very satisfied with how I covered DW2. I am already planning on giving DW2 a separate video covering it a lot more extensively.

[@tagnah4186]

bro gotta get those combos keep em in the sky! DW3 was my favorite and what introduced me to the series. great video!

[@TompLaFuriaDeBalaho]

Awesome video!!! Thank you for all the info, my personal fav is the 5th one. I really enjoyed your video congratulations for the dedication

[@carlroy]

I remember first time I played Warriors 3 was in a Toyaurus demo. At my young age this game made me do research on the three kingdoms era. For what it was at that moment in time, Dw3 was really a good game.

[@senk72]

As someone who played all of these games, and to 100% completion, DW3 and 3XL are still some of my funnest and fondest memories. Getting all 5th weapons in 3XL is one of my proudest gaming achievements, with almost no 2 player help. Strikeforce is much better than it was reviewed here. 9 is the worst. Hate when fighting mechanics are messed with for systems with less options. Great vid overall, just keep in mind you cannot fully appreciate a DW game in a mere few hours. They are grinding games. Slow burn.

[@trashtv6138]

100%! To praise DW9 as better than or more enjoyable than 7 or 8 is absolutely absurd.

[@Havie]

Amen brother. DW3:XL and the secret Lu Bu tactics outfit is the jizz

[@DBtheGhost2]

Yeah! Nice! I played tons of 3 and 4. I don't know if I 100% either of them but I had so much stuff in 4. The purple elemental damage orb took forever for me to get. I only got to play 5 and 6 for a little while so I can't say anything about them. That's why I thought it was weird when he said 1 - 2 hours per game or just 2 maps.

[@kodyreppart7918]

Nothing beats dw3. The different stories from all the characters. The different cut scenes. The item and sword finding. It was just awesome!

[@8Smoker8]

My dude that's nostalgia speaking. For me the most nostalgic game would be DW4 but I recognize DW 5 is just the best overall (and 5XL/Empires are even better). I never got to try 7 Empires though.

[@invertbrid]

Dont forget the "so bad its good" voiceacting xD.

[@mrhamburgler480]

man first thing to do in DW3 is grind out til you can snag Cao Cao 4th weapon then getting most others weapons is a breeze. setting up two controllers while playing solo to proc specific events, and snagging hi lvl items or characters 4th weapons on hard whenever you can get one shot was such a rush lol

[@kodyreppart7918]

@8Smoker8 for me it was every officer having a story and they're own cut scenes. It really just drew you into the game and brought to life each character. I loved 5 too

[@8Smoker8]

@@kodyreppart7918 yep that was great

[@lordcbh]

Excellent video. It's hard for me to pick a favorite, but I'd say the ones I enjoyed playing the most were 4 and Next on the Vita. Never played the PSP ones.

[@AhsokaTano36BBY]

Great video! I give huge credit to the series for trying so many different things. You would expect that by now they would know how to make the perfect DW game by taking what's been great and discarding everything bad but they still haven't. After the classic era it's never been the same, DW 3,4,5 are still very loved today. I'm personally a very big fan of the tough AI so that's why DW3 will always be my fav to play.

[@liesandy291]

typical koei tecmo one step forward, ten step backwards. for selling those DLC.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

Great summary, the only thing I feel you left out was Dynasty Warriors 4 weapon system, 4 uses an EXP system where the more you combo with your weapon it levels up with the Level 10-11 weapons being unlocked via meeting some victory conditions (very hard ones in Xtreme Legends case) . I've never liked picking up weapons in other games because I always end up with far far to many and have to keep swapping them out.

[@MK0437]

Having gotten all weapons in every DW and expansion that had them from 3-8, I can say that 4XL def has the hardest weapons to get imo. Expert is no joke officer AI wise and the levels with no item and/or bodyguard restrictions were hell. DW3XL Very Hard was never bad cuz requirements were usually simple and you had items and bodyguards. I’d say I’d rather pick up a weapon box then have to do all the 4XL lvl 11s again lol. They had much harder requirements on average too

[@zondor8123]

I love the Destiny mode, it feels like real with your own ranks and the fodder is actually fighting back, and you have your own army following you DW5 XL is the best DW koei ever made

[@Daredevil792Thefinalfantasy]

i only watched the tier list section and you are a real reviewer its so detailed

[@RougeMephilesClone]

This is well put together enough that I'm suspecting you have some video-making experience before what few videos are currently on the channel. Thanks for this service, I was curious about a lot of the older Dynasty Warriors titles.

[@WildcatWeather]

You'd be correct. I've always dabbled in content creation but could never find the right topics until now.

[@sethandrews4608]

Hey man great video. I’ve played every game but the first and 8 and 9. 4 is my favorite since I started with it as a child but dw4 XL is probably tied. 5 is great too. Amazing first video man good job.

[@allanpedro2483]

Damn, great video. Was trying to find a review for the PS2 ones

[@Angelic_Materia]

Perspective is a funny thing because I started out with six so it took me ages to understand why it was the most hated for a while. To me it was every other game that felt weird and nothing could live up to my weird mutant child. Great video by the by. I subscribed from the fun iceberg videos and I'm glad to have stuck around. ^_^

[@minhnguyenquang7220]

I love how you enjoyed Destiny mode as much as I am, people don't talk about it enough but it's such a fun mode and the replayability is there.

[@Geo35z]

Literally came to the comment section to say exactly the same thing ! I was in love with this mode as a kid but at one point thought I had dreamt it as couldn’t remember which DW it was in and no one ever talks about it.

[@j-rod4600]

DW 3, 3XL, DW4, 4XL are the ones I used to play all the time. Got my friends and family hooked on them as well. Used to play Romance of the Three Kimgdoms on SNES. I miss playing them.

[@ArbiterLibera]

Got yourself a new sub. That's some dedication.

[@xplodegg]

Wow what an effort you did for this video. Well done mate

[@PaulFarrerMusic]

Great video dude! In regards to my favourite game, it's Dynasty Warriors 4, with DW 3 a close 2nd. From the gameplay to the music, which makes up the bulk of covers on my channel, it is just superb. Would easily pay for a re-master of DW 4.

[@damagedcatdad]

This is such a great comprehensive video on the DW series! Really hope you do one for Samurai Warriors, I definitely prefer this series.

[@polygonparade4083]

Rediscovered these as looking through Tecmo's steam sales and thinking of grabbing orochi 4. Not sure im keen on orochis environment designs though as sam waz 4-2 and dyn waz 8/9 where quite good from a design perspective. Great vid and good to see dyn waz 4 up there!

[@KunoichiPeri]

DW4 would have to be my favorite! So many memories. Although, I will say DW2 also holds a special place for me, I will never forget firing up my PS2 for the very first time to play DW2. Yes that's right, DW2 was the first game I ever played that wasn't on a Nintendo system!

[@MrNorskgamer]

never before have i been more happy to hear someone say the destiny mode DW5XL is the highlight of that game, i remember doing a ton of playtroughs trough it, i loved that you could more or less build your character however you wanted, and it gave a nice excuse to try out all the different weapons (if you dont like playing certain characters using that weapon), and that when you beat it, you get to choose between the weapon choices you have available then and there which one your character will keep using in the other modes. the only nitpick i have on that one (and i dont know if its just me who kept messing up) is when you do the double agent tactic, you dont return to your original officer, you instead get put under the kingdoms strategist (zhuge liang/zhou yu/sima yi)

[@DWFTW]

Yeah, pretty sure whoever suggested the defection is where you'd end up. Was one of the reasons I rarely actually went back to my original faction unless I already had a weapon I really liked when I played. That mode was amazing though, definitely was a treat to hear someone talking it up so much. it's not one you hear talked about all that often. It did a similar thing I liked from Samurai Warriors 1s edit mode, letting you build up based on your own performance, but streamlined it and gave a lot more direct engagement and progression (SW1 only had you in a training facility functionally)

[@Chaddymacmac]

I really enjoyed this video! I’m an old school DW player, my brother and I have been renting DW games since DW3 from blockbuster. Great review, thanks for the entertainment

[@jonathanburger7777]

That's awesome. DW4 was my first dw game. I remember my fav warrior was xu zhu

[@Chaddymacmac]

@@jonathanburger7777 bro I was such a grinder back then I beat the game with every character and for me that was one of the worst character for my style…. 😂 too slow for me, back when you used to run through most of not all the maps.

[@xynester]

Im so glad you actually mentioned destiny mode on DW 5 XL, people kept sleeping on this mode because the slow beginning.

[@BastosFC2]

You just made me go back to the classics for a nostalgia trip, gonna try 5 XL it's only OG I never tried

[@VideoGameVillians]

Very good coverage. If you cover any of the side series I will certainly check it out. I've been playing nearly all the games in the franchise (spin-off side franchises included) even since I was introduced to 4 while it was still pretty new.

[@NachoLemon]

DW4XL and DW5XL both gave you damn good reasons to play their modes too. Those eleventh weapons in DW4 were sooooo op. There's a lot of good items in 5XL, which looking back on is a shame they didn't do 5th weapons.

[@kjaerdian7864]

You have saved me a lot of time, this is fucking epic, thanks man. Also, would really appreciate it if you put the platforms you are playing each game on in the description for ease of reference dude, that would be mega Edit: Made it all the way through, nice one man, great coverage, look forward to more, subbed What do you reckon to covering the Total War Series?

[@adamyohan]

This content is my dream come true. Thank you. Subbed.

[@eggman421]

The normal soldiers being competent fighters is why I loved older games so much, blitzing through crowds even on the hardest modes gets boring considering all they do is just stand there and swing a sword randomly.

[@whocare8260]

IKR, i seen soldiers in DW3/DW4 doing 8 hit combo, charge attack, ride horses, jump attack/charge, even musou. Even the archer has charge and musou attack.

[@Sauza_io]

They messed up dw9E with this issue again, first dw i'm doubting i even want, i wanted and got 9, 8e, 8xl, 7e, 6e, 6, (i played dw3 cuz of my older siblings, i was way younger at that period). Now, i don't think i even want dw9e

[@Sauza_io]

I played ultimate on dw9, i literally ran to a group of enemies, and wasted time to hit me, the first soldiers attempt was a miss even tho i was just standing still for them, stood for them for like 5 secs till i got hit

[@deathstar6998]

I agree but it also makes the game tedious, why would I want some peon to knock me on my butt after I combo the enemy, it should be difficult and troops should do things yes but they shouldn't make the game hard by instinctively making it painful to play. There is a difference between difficulty and tedium.

[@Sauza_io]

@@deathstar6998 Thats why the franchise is going down more and more since dw3, the challenge keeps reducing with corresponding increase in unrealism(k.o rate, killing plenty weak ash soldiers). The reduced challenge and high K.O rate doesn't fit the context of the game. If they keep going this road, dw10 will be their last because fans' experience will reach the limit, no one will find any point in continuing again.

[@Martyn-fon-Rosenberg]

What strange about the lack of voice acting in 8's hub before battle is it was definitely planned at some point. There is two guys in fan Castle that has voice acting when you talk to them in Shus side. Great video hope you do the same for samurai warriors.

[@WildcatWeather]

Definitely planning to do Samurai Warriors!

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Dynasty Warriors 4 for me was the absolute best in the franchise as the music, the map design, the flexibility of character selections, the different “tales” that you’d unlock depending on which stages you chose to do and not to do, the progressive moveset, the weapon upgrade experience aspect and literally every part of the game was simply peak in my opinion. DW4 was a life changing game for me when I was growing up and I still play it to this day on my PS2 occasionally.

[@christianalbertjahns2577]

In defense of DW 6, barring the Renbu system and lack of branching combos, I will say it has a very great combat system. In DW 6, there are some significant parts in combat : combos (that's Renbu), dodge, parry, and grab attacks. this combat variety alone makes it the best combat system in DW series. Alongside (in my opinion) the best combat system, they also implements (imo) best base takeover, adds siege, and makes doing tactics interesting by adding volleys, rockfall (which is great in heights), and fire (which is great in bases). a very revolutionary game. gameplay-wise, the most enjoyable DW games in my opinion (if not the best DW game ever made) about Renbu, removing characters from Musou mode, removing characters from the game, and making majority of the roster into clones... yeah there is no defense for those things

[@juansandoval2735]

Also, DW6 has a good character development system, having not all characters in the game have same statistics and skills

[@darklyger64]

Didn't they used real martial artists to do the attacks? I remember, I wish they added branching attacks on top of the unlimited basic attacks. Their attack system would be better, nonetheless I had good memories about DW6. The only bad memory about DW is the DS game and the mobile game. They weren't fun at all, even I had fun with the GBA version, used to own it now I have lost it. Played a ton during traveling as a kid.

[@christianalbertjahns2577]

@@darklyger64 I don't know for sure, but we can believe so (assuming wushu practitioners qualifies martial artists). Take Lu Xun's wushu moveset for example, considering how smooth is flow of attack is, it's plausible they use motion capture with wushu (specifically jianshu) practitioner

[@Tortie300]

DW3 was by far my favorite! Spent countless hours playing it all night with my fam and ignored my homework to the point of truancy lol

[@vivimusjenos8174]

Gotta say dw2 remains my favourite to this day. I liked the difficulty as it made the game feel like a challenge instead of what we have now and the fact that you actually have real ranks from private to general was great. I also miss that Lu Bu was practically unbeatable when you met him for the first few times😊

[@robertfigueroa9719]

I agree I liked d2 only because you can’t rush in like the other ones and you had bodyguards I wish you can have your units by your side and lieutenant doesn’t make sense to me that it says you have troops at your command but you are by yourself and I would like to see the morale and troop numbers matter

[@evanmarksubramoney3135]

100% agree, Burned through hours of my childhood perfecting stratergies to take on Lu Bu early on in the game, Also agree with @robertfigueroa the fact that you have the upgradable support of your bodyguards when your taking on a battalion is defintely a plus unlike the latter successors. Not to mention the funny and a bit rare sight of a peon elite guard after playing 2 battles with a new hero.

[@waffeltje]

Its slow pace makes it the best in the series imo, bc u feel u are really fighting in a war together. They should make DW Sim or something.

[@lukeirwin7046]

Fully agree with this, I used to shit myself anytime I went near him. I’ll never forget one time in DW2 every ally general ended up fighting him, and he was killed by them. Came up on the screen saying “Lu bu has been killed by …..” and I was nowhere near it. Surely a 1 in a million chance of that happening.

[@Ravell52]

Agreed. DW2 is my favorite. The intro is still fire.

[@r.a.acosta6528]

I noticed you mentioned peons being tough a lot in the early game. Pro tip is to focus on enemy Gate Captains so enemy peons don't keep replenishing.

[@darklyger64]

Truth, I remember always killing the gate captain, remembering which pot I haven't broken, doing over a 100 combo per officer so I can get +8 bonus, because some as a kid I thought that was efficient (it was not). My favorite character was Sun Ce, being the eldest with 4 other siblings. It made me care more about my brothers. I did love Sun Ce on DW6 as well even though he lost his tonfa.

[@karmabombshell8373]

I love this video! My personal S tier would be DW3! You should deff do the spin offs with this list like Warriors Orochi. Cause Warriors Orochi 3 ultimate is my next favorite warriors series

[@WildcatWeather]

Warriors Orochi is coming soon. :)

[@dalancer]

Thank you for the video. I skipped Dynasty Warriors 9 as well, but the upcoming Empires version has me excited. My own personal favorite games are Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends, and Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires. Doing a couch co-op playthrough of the Empires games usually is a blast with a good friend.

[@SpawnOfJenova]

Man, I remember getting DW3 and not knowing a thing about these games. IT was so good, I had kids from all over the neighborhood coming over to play and eventually we would all end up picking up the sequels in the series.

[@codyhoward1007]

Not sure if you'll see this, but I immediately looked for your review on 9 Empires and would love to hear your thoughts on it. I enjoy how you speak concisely and get to the point of each game. You should totally make that video if you haven't started already. I'll wait. I won't even watch someone else.

[@M-und-M]

DW5XL is definitely my favorite too, working up the Ranks was a lot of fun, especially when you can then use your skills (ambush, etc.), which then also attracts attention from the opponent, which in turn leads to what you said (defection, double agent). I wish they would bring that back.

[@sirskeevs4766]

DW4 was my introduction into the series. I absolutely love it. I missed out on 5, but i have played 6 and 7. I never played any of the XL games and 9 empires is the first empires game I have played. I am having fun with 9 empires but I am disapointed that there isn't an english version of the game as of yet. I downloaded a fan made patch and the text is buggy to say the least. Hopefully once they release an english patch i'll find new life in the game. Lu Bu best boi. i've love his character since I got crushed back in dw4 all the time by the dude.

[@MasterSonicKnight]

Great vid! I haven't played much from the DW series because i never got to try them out, but i gotta agree that DW5XL is absolutely amazing, and destiny mode is by far my favorite, i remember playing it so much that all of my custom character slots came from characters i made in destiny mode. i gotta say tho, DW5XL is the first game i ever got to play and only recently i got to play another DW game other than it, which is DW8XL complete edition (from steam), and personally? other than the lack of a destiny mode (and any custom made character) i've been trully rly enjoying the game, and for the first time i'm actually having a better sense of how the story went, even with it not being exactly the same that happened historically. DW5XL didn't really do a good job at explaining the story imo (idek if it was meant to tbh) i personally do welcome the affinity weapon triangle mechanic on this game, it might feel annoying at first but it's the one thing that keeps me from going on Lu Bu-like rampages with every single character (well, besides archers, balistas and juggernauts/pyrocannons, these last 2 in particular feeling pretty darn op imo. balistas straight up stunlock u for like 3s unless u're doing a musou atk or u're on a horse. juggernauts/pyrocannons are a real burden to deal with, there's no way to damage them without being damaged unless u're doing a musou or u have some longer range weapon, and those things hurt A LOT, having to fight 2-3 of them at once is almost as scary as fighting Lu Bu) talking about Lu Bu, i actually rly like enemy Lu Bu a lot more in DW8XL than DW5XL, in 5 Lu Bu never felt like anything special imo (unless u're playing with him, then his basic strong attack is straight up OP broken since it's straight up unblockable iirc), but in 8? with the affinity mechanic, enemies with an advantageous weapon don't flinch when u hit them, so they can just start attacking u while u're comboing them. *Lu Bu is like that even when he's with a disadvantageous weapon, and i legit almost died to a single combo from him on normal while i had an advantageous weapon, the only reason i didn't die to him was because i used my musou attack to break free from him.* there's one issue about him tho, his AI is kind of a dummy. apparently if u have multiple allies helping u against him (or even with u have some specific characters? idk) he'll do nothing but block, so after a minute of slowly draining his HP u kill him easily, but there are other instances where he's a true monstrosity, on the first battle of Cao Cao's story (where he escapes from Dong Zhuo) i went with Cao Cao alone to fight him, and OH BOI HE RLY FIGHTS BACK ON THIS CIRCUNSTANCE, it was the first time i had to use block on the game, and i had to be very careful about when and where to atk him from, and i couldn't believe i was abt to lose to 1x1 direct combat while playing on normal (completely different from my experience from DW5XL) all in all, i've been rly enjoying DW8XL so far, probably more than DW5XL, tho i think that a big factor is me understanding the story just makes me feel much more immersed comparatively. the literal only thing i miss is the destiny mode, other than that it's an amazing game imo

[@hoanquan2483]

Nice content, keep 🆙 the good works!

[@harrymasononvacation]

For me, 5 and Vol. 2 are my favorites. I've put more hours into Vol 2 than any other in the series. Something about the progression in that game is really, really addictive to me.

[@theonlycreativeurge]

I thoroughly enjoyed this review. I am a huge fan of this series and I appreciate your time and dedication. I wasn’t a huge fan of 8 either honestly. I’d be curious about your opinion of the orochi spin offs. They’re super cheesy and over the top but I love them! I think 3 is my fave

[@michaelbandada9887]

The Warriors Orochi series basically put together the finest warriors of the Three Kingdoms Era and Sengoku Jidai. Also, it’s cool to see Cao Cao meet his “twin”, Oda Nobunaga!

[@andysamaa]

dang i straight up watching this without skipping a sec. What a good reviews and game ranking overall. and i agree with the most of it.

[@quipopenan5780]

Great work ! sounds long at first time but finaly I follow everything, thxs ! (It could be even better with the support (PS2... PS3...) inscruted with the name of the game during the video) (It could be perfect with the analysis comparing the final tier list and the games selled in different countries, maybe another videos)

[@WestSide1207]

Cool video, and I applaud you for giving each game a try and ranking, however, you cannot judge a game by just playing it for an hour or less. Some games I played for an hour I thought were garbage, but then ended up loving them also true vice-versa. I think 8 complete is the best in the franchise, followed by 5 and then 4.

[@WildcatWeather]

That's a fair point. For 8 specifically, I had beaten the entire game prior to this video. Revisiting the game for this video was very disappointing for me though.

[@sherrdreamz7232]

8 complete is the best of the modern form of DW. However I still think 4-5 were the best in the series overall. I'm not a fan of the corridor combat of the modern era nor how pointless having peon soldiers feels in 6-9. In DW 2-5 the low rank soldiers could still at least fight back.

[@bloody4558]

@@sherrdreamz7232 5 was extremely addictive, it was by far my favorite before 8 was released. As for 8 I think it's the best but I can see the problem with it being easy, however the reason why I don't consider it a demerit is because the reason why this game is easy has nothing to do it being really souless. But rather the game simply gives you much more control over your character's power. So it's easy because of actual gameplay progression instead of the game being truly easy. A kind of "suffering from success" example. And that makes it way better than a game that is just easy because it is.

[@omu6740]

I grew up playing 4 till 7 AND the Warriors Orochi games pretty religiously in grade school and middle school. My dad and I would play together and talk about which characters we liked and used. I know lots of people don't dig how repetitive the gameplay is, but not thinking much and just casually rampaging through a hoard of enemies will always feel satisfying once and a while. I always liked the characters, too. Sun Shang Xiang will always be my girl :")

[@treygraphicsfte6747]

great job a lot of us can tell that you put a lot of time and effort into this video and glad the views shows and i got value from your opinion on the series watching in dec 2023 years later I hope KOEI gets in touch with what made them successful and do a remaster of 4 or 5

[@ttora]

Congraturation for dwelving back to the DW games. As an old time fan, I understand your point of view... What is better? Clunky and outdated mechanics or shallow but confortable gameplay? That's the debate fans have been having for years: Classic DW VS modern DW... Personaly, I just can't play the old games prior to 7, there's just too slow and clunky. Enemies have too much HPs. Modern games are too easy but at least, you feel like a killing machine on the battlefield and you don't feel like wasting time with damage sponges. Anyway, that's your opinion and I respect it, even more with your efforts to make that video.

[@Chourtaird1]

Personally I like both old and modern DW. My personal favourites ar DW 8 and DW5.

[@BleedForTheWorld]

That seems like a false dichotomy. Just because it's clunky and outdated doesn't mean it's necessarily better than comfortable gameplay. It's hardly shallow since it adds on the old tried and true classic that is DW4. Even DW9 expands on the fighting system by a large margin and that one is easily the worst DW in the modern series.

[@ttora]

@@BleedForTheWorld Yeah but DW9 is out of the question since it changed drastically the gameplay. The debate is more about Dw4-5 VS Dw7-8.

[@BleedForTheWorld]

@@ttora and? No, really. It's still a DW game and one that has a main number on the cover. The weapon advantage system that exists in 8 added something that wasn't present at all in the older titles. My point is that old and clunky is and has been bad. Thing is, I don't know how OP played these games but in every single DW game, the point was to see who your new favorite character was, get familiar with the game, and try to get their final weapons. These are like RPGs where part of the goal is to collect the best and coolest stuff in the game. Then again, who am I kidding? This is the same tier list that places 9 above 8. That tells me that a lot of what they like in these games isn't the same way I look at part of the series at all.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

I prefer the "slow and clunky" style, I don't like super hollow games with low replay value, generally.