Oh Noes!

Note: This isn't related to WoW. Those who think I'm sticking to just WoW related topics are mistaken. Sorry.

So a few days back I'm browsing through the net and I discover that Dynasty Warriors 6 is slated to release the 19th of this month. Given as how I don't actually own a 7th generation console (Wii/Xbox 360/PS3) I won't be getting the game any time soon. In this case I decided to check out Youtube to see how things were from the Japanese release. Based on videos, I have made some conclusions.

The Good

• You can call for your horse.
• You can level up mid-mission.
• The story isn't a complete rehash of it's predecessors, but does in fact have some changes.
• No "fog of war" in the distance.

The Bad

• Significant changes to the characters' fighting styles were made.
• Some notable characters are no longer playable.
• The issue with enemy mobs fading in and out of reality still exists.

Now this is just me, but I really like the old school character designs. I applaud Koei for trying to mix things up a bit on a franchise that's suffered from stagnation, but in doing so, they killed some of the life the game had. In the previous games many characters had several unique and interesting styles of play. In this game it feels homogenized in my point of view. Many of the unique weapons were replaced with a spear or other polearm.

Here's a vid of the new character designs:


Those who've played earlier versions may recognize some of the changes. I'll make a couple examples for those who didn't.

Here's one of my favaroite characters, the astoundingly flaming Zhang He on the right. As you can see, he's got arm claws and makes WoW's paladin look like the most masculine entity in the world. Need proof? I refer you to the video below.



See that? Fruity. In retrospect I sort of understand why not only did I like this character, but also why I raided with a paladin in WoW. I may be on to something. At any rate, in this new game they removed his "cat fight" claws and gave him another generic polearm. You can probably pick him out in the video shown earlier. He's the fruity looking one. It's hard to miss. Really really hard to miss.

Personally, the one thing that got me was the change to Pang Tong. I loved that guy. His move-set, his design, everything. Then I saw the new design along with his moves. Now he's just some yeti...............thing that waggles a stick around. Suffice to say I'm disappointed. I'll just stay content with my older version while waiting to see what Sucker Punch does to Sly Cooper 4. There's still hope.