All things Musou!

[womblingfree]

In the spirit of the Yakuza thread, that being much loved games that are about as popular in the West as hemorrhoids, I figured we may as well have a single thread for Musou games.

The latest and apparently greatest is Warriors Orochi 3 which just scored a 7 in Edge. Like the Armored Core games these seem to either score well or terribly depending on who's reviewing them.

http://www.edge-onli...orochi-3-review

It features guest appearances from Ayane and Ryu from Ninja Gaiden and 120 overall, including more guests appearences from other games.

I was about to get Gundam Musou 3 before spotting this, which also looks pretty good.

Despite being thought of as button mashers the best have a lot of subtlety to the combat. I love them because it feels like I'm somehow bringing order to the overcrowded chaos of the battlefield. Like gardening, but with magic and the powers of a God.

[Kayin Amoh]

Shame Rachel and Momiji weren't in it. I'd have bought it outright had that been the case. (Yeah, me and Ninja Gaiden and blonde women with massive hammers are still tight.)

On my Lovefilm list - I've never trusted the Musou games as they do look like there's very little to them. I've heard some buzz about Orochi 3 though, so this might get me interested in the series. We'll see!

[womblingfree]

I think the first one I played was Dynasty Warriors 2 on the PS2. I had no clue what was going on, but realised it was a bit special when I got to a point I was hunting down some guy over miles on foot and horseback, seemingly going and doing whatever I wanted, any way I liked. Next one I played was 3 (or 4??), again on PS2. It was a huge leap in terms of things to do, with an excellent training mode and special missions for each character outside of the main game.

Haven't gotten into one on PS3 yet, gave the first PS3 DW a try but found it not as good as those I'd played on PS2. Played both the Gundam ones, and loved the second, but never got round to finishing it.

I'll pick up Orochi 3 and give it a good go. Looks great.

Edit: 9/10 from Gaming Age.

Seems there's a new bonding system between characters, with bonds being made in a tearoom, or romantic one-on-one moon-viewings as well as the battlefield.

[Dandy_Sephy]

40 hours of head exploding Musou goodness.

One Piece musou sold 650,000 copies on the first week, which was 615,000 more copies than the second best selling game that week.. Out here in September I think

[mr_woo]

Apparently whilst One Piece did sell well it got absolutely slammed by the fans afterwards after they played it for a while. Not sure the reasons why but I remember hearing it on a podcast, think it might have been that Red Sun Gamer podcast. Saying that Fist Of The North isn't popular either and I really like that

I do like musou games quite a bit but there's just no need to buy every single one that comes out, especially with all the releases of even a single game that can appear, unless of course you're a die hard musou fan which I'm not. Right now I just own Fist Of The North Star and Sengoku Basara/Samurai Heroes 3. I play them now and again and I'm happy with that. I'll probably pick up Warriors Orochi 3 on the cheap sometime as well.

[Gabe]

I like the idea of Musou games but the actual playing of them gets boring very quickly and so as a consequence I never bother any more. The last Musou-style game I played (and did enjoy) was Warriors: Legends of Troy. It was a lot more structured, had plenty of character customisation options and some entertaining challenge modes.

Admittedly, ancient Greece holds far more interest than that of China (and I don't like anime at all, so the Gundam series doesn't appeal), but it felt a lot more coherent and focussed than my experiences with the Dynasty Warriors series.

I was always a little sad that Bladestorm wasn't a proper medieval take on the formula (being, as it was, a rather detached affair), as that could have been interesting.

[Timmo]

I used to love these games, starting with Dynasty Warriors 2. Played that, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (along with a few of the others like Samurai Warriors etc) quite a lot before it all got a bit much. I think the turning point was when other games started to have fighting with crowds. That was the big pull back in PS2/Xbox days. As soon as Dead Rising came, the novelty of having a screen full of fodder was no longer an exclusive novelty and the games lost their appeal for me, especially since Dead Rising let you be so much more creative with your slaughter. And then even traditional fighters have more and more going on on screen but with much more technical systems underneath.

I can still see the appeal in methodically changing a mini-map of red to one full of blue, but it's not enough to make me hoover up these games like I used to.

[Jackson]

Played Dynasty Warriors 6 for a bit and thought it good for a drunken laugh, but the combat felt quite simple. Is this Warriors Orochi 3 likely to be varied in terms of mission design and combat mechanics? I'm really tempted by the trailer, and have no idea why.

[Yartek]

I'd played DW4 on PS2 ages ago but recently got back into the games when Warriors Orochi 2 was in a PSP sale last year. (Unlike Dynasty/Samurai Warriors, the PSP WO2 is a proper port, not a cut down, simplified version) and ended up buying the 360 version cheap, then Gundam 3. I did the sme with DW:Strike Force, picked it up on PSP cheap and later got the 360 version.

Something about the games just appeals, especially on PSP i can just pick it up, spend twenty minutes doing a mission or grinding for weapons and not have to think about it too much. Very tempted by WO3, evne though I'm far from finishing off WO2, but all the new bits and pieces sound fun.

[Taurus]

I was always a little sad that Bladestorm wasn't a proper medieval take on the formula (being, as it was, a rather detached affair), as that could have been interesting.

As much as I love the Musou series, making a Bladestorm a straightforward Musou game would, however, have robbed the world of one of its greatest games.

[Gabe]

As much as I love the Musou series, making a Bladestorm a straightforward Musou game would, however, have robbed the world of one of its greatest games.

Yeah, quite possibly (I admit to only ever having tried the demo for Bladestorm). But something like a change of setting and mechanics are needed if this series is ever to make serious sales in the West (I know they sell great in Japan), and watching the trailer for this one again shows that the only addition is more characters, essentially.

The Xbox Kingdom Under Fire games showed how you can take the Musou template and do something a lot more interesting with it, and Warriors: Legends of Troy showed how you could wrap the action around a central story and keep it engaging.

I'd just like, for once, for one of these games to actually add something really progressive and new.

[Broker]

Apparently whilst One Piece did sell well it got absolutely slammed by the fans afterwards after they played it for a while. Not sure the reasons why but I remember hearing it on a podcast, think it might have been that Red Sun Gamer podcast.

What?!?!? It's my most anticipated game this year, what's wrong with it?

[womblingfree]

As much as I love the Musou series, making a Bladestorm a straightforward Musou game would, however, have robbed the world of one of its greatest games.

Wait, Bladestorm is good? A great game? I bought a promo copy off the back of the Edge review years ago and stumbled around with it for a few hours, ultimately deciding it was terrible.

As it's a promo copy I've never been able to sell it. I love musou and strategy games so I'm willing to give it another go. Any tips?

[Jackson]

Gone ahead and ordered Orochi 3, the edge review swayed me. It's only £30 from Tesco Entertainment using the code: '5OFF35', not too bad at all.

[AnimeExpert2003]

I need Warriors Orochi 3 in my life. Da Ji and her spinny ball things was just best.

Also why the hell did I ever sell Bladestorm. Utterly brilliant game.

[Taurus]

As it's a promo copy I've never been able to sell it. I love musou and strategy games so I'm willing to give it another go. Any tips?

Well I guess the most important one is: remember that it's a strategy game, not a musou game. You'd be better off thinking of it as an RTS with a novel control scheme - more like Pikmin than Dynasty Warriors.

[Jackson]

Does the difficulty in these games change whatsoever when playing coop? Amount of enemies or anything? (Orochi 3 specifically if it's different)

[mr_woo]

What?!?!? It's my most anticipated game this year, what's wrong with it?

Scratch that, I dug out the podcast again and they just mentioned about how many second hand copies they saw in the shops and how well it sold in the shops. There was nothing specific about what was disliked about the game. Basically they sound like a lot of folk, don't like musou games hence they're rubbish etc. (the podcast itself is generally pretty good though)

http://redsungamer.com/ (podcast 35)

[Yartek]

I've been plaing Warriors Orochi 2 on and off for months and I've only just found out I can call a horse at any time using select. The number of times I've traipsed from one side of the map to the other...

[Kayin Amoh]

Hooray! Rachel's in the PSP version, so I'll be buying that: http://andriasang.com/con0y1/musou_orochi_2_psp/

Not entirely sure how the gun's going to work, mind.

[Yartek]

A bit surprised they're doing a PSP port, but certiny not complaining. Be interesting to see f it gets a localisation.

Spent much of the long weekend bashing away at Warriors Orochi 2 on the 360, completed all the storylines, only had one real sticking point on the third Samurai mission. Now I'm messing around in Free Mode, levelling up my favourites and farming the first Samurai level on Chos difficulty for level four weapons. Da Ji's my first to hit level 99 and she's just an unstoppable beast (most of the time) and Ginchiyo and Ina are currently in the eighties. Trying to unlock everyone's abilities too. Gives me an excuse to at least try out every character at least once.

Going to order WO3 next week, it's going to be wierd though as I hear they've just subtitled it this time and I'll actually miss the d odgy, cheesy dubbing. I burst out laughing when Dong Zhou actually said "I pity the fool." during one level.

Need to get back to Gundam 3 as well, the way they handle the seperate storylines and plans and licences confused me a bit at first but I've just not tried to think about it too much and just enjoy stomping about.

[womblingfree]

Managed to track down a copy of Gundam 3 finally.

It actually feels much more like a mech game now rather than just Dynasty Warriors with a different skin thanks to all the customisation. Partner attacks, friendship bonds, bonkers musou-moves are all present and correct, and about that customisation, it's pretty simple at first but due to the variety of mods and the sheer number of Gundam mechs and characters available it could become almost infinite. Feels very RPGy.

The role-call of characters and mechs is off the scale, and the way they're integrated into the story is crazy. Want to play the bloke from Gundam Unicorn piloting a Zaku II, partnered with Char Aznabar against Amaro Ray? Your wish is our command, and not as a bespoke option, as part of the main story! For the uninitiated that's like Chewbacca teaming up with Grand Moff Tarkin to fight Princess Leia who's piloting a Scout Walker.

Almost as weird as that is the way that when you start playing there are no options, nothing, just choose Continue or New Game with Continue not being selectable. So no way of changing the X/Y Axis, change the sound or anything. BUT complete a couple of maps and suddenly hundreds of options appear including the ones I just mentioned.

Anyway, having a great time, wish you were here, seriously. If you try and go online you may as well just go out and buy a lottery ticket as the odds are about the same. I doubt there's more than one person searching for an online game in the entire country at any one time. Made even worse by the generous amount of maps on offer. Shame you can't link up to the Japanese servers where I suspect the lobbies are rammed.

Anyway, good game.

This review sums it all up quite nicely.

http://www.gamechronicles.com/reviews/ps3/dwgundam3/dwgundam3.htm

[Girth Certificate]

Jesus, DW7 seems really poor abysmal framerate and they've chucked out the combo system from 6

edit: nevermind, it's actually good

edit: actually pretty great, the story is handled a bit better as well

[Girth Certificate]

Fuuuuck

I played through two of the campaigns before i found out you could upgrade the characters. Fail

[Yartek]

Finally got round to playing Warriors Orochi 3, having had to lay off the games for a bit due to eye surgery. I eased myself back in with Lego Harry Potter 2, then moved onto this. Absolutely loving it. The engine's a significant upgrade from 2 and although the dynamic draw distance can be a bit disconcerting when enemies pop up out of nowhere, it does keep the frame rate up.

Love how the story is going

opening with the failed final battle then continually travelling back in time to rescue people so you have a bigger army for the final battle, sometimes going back and playing a battle for the second time, but with different objectives because the past has changed

and I think I'm maybe two-thirds of the way through so far.

I was a bit worried they'd keep a lot of stuff back as DLC and they have, but most characters have two alternate outfits and two wallpapers to unlock. I grabbed the Samurai costumes pack as it was only 80pts for over thirty characters.

Favoured team so far, Ginchiyo Tachibana (as good as ever), Zhurong (who's got a completely new move set) and Ayane (nigh-on unstoppable), but I've played around with a few others, mainly to unlock bonds to unlock more missions and characters.

My favourite little thing is in the gallery, where you can not only view every character and costume you've unlocked, but also try out their moves, a bit like Bayonetta's loading screens.

I'm not missing the traditional dodgy/cheesy dub as much as I'd expected. While i miss "You truly are a hero of our times!" and "I'm as tough as they come!" I've gotten used to it.

Difficulty's fine, I've had a few defeats, split between a massive combo from Himiko or Kunoichi that I've not reacted to in time, or not getting to someone quick enough. The latter happened three times in one mission and it was getting to me as everytime the character I needed to get to was in sight.

[Rudderless]

Yeah, Ayane's a killer. It's a great game. I'm sad I've not had time to go back to it since I reviewed it because there's still so much stuff left to do.

[womblingfree]

I need to get hold of Orochi 3! There seems to be one PS3 copy at CEX which pops up randomly at different stores around the country. When it gets within the M25 it's mine.

[mr_woo]

What would be the best handheld Musou game to date on PSP, Warriors Orochi 2 maybe ? Was thinking of maybe getting one for my Vita and was wondering which one people would recommend. I know Warriors Orochi 3 is making it's way to PSP in Japan but goodness only knows if that'll appear over here. I know there's Dynasty Warriors Next but I get the impression it's not the best one.

[Jolly]

Heh - just coming in to post much the same thing mr_woo! Never played any of these and it's pretty baffling to find a place to start. I think I'd rather a handheld version, but I would be happy to give one on the big screen a whirl if it's got that winning combination of being good and available for peanuts.

[moosegrinder]

I enjoyed Ken's Rage, except the spikes with bosses. They could do with dragging some of the game design out of the Ps2 era.

Giant Bomb have One Piece down for November for some reason. If that's true I'm buying the shit out of it.