Hehe, just to express what a game addict I am over my latest craze on Koei's Dynasty Warriors 5, I'm making this blog entry especially.
Just a quick note, all the images for DW5 taken from
Koei Warriors, a fan site.
<?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_boxcover.jpg', 'DW5 Box Cover', 'DW5 Box Cover'); ?> Dynasty Warriors 5 is a game based on the famous noval, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The game featured up to 48 playable characters and more NPCs that are featured from the noval. You can participate in historical battles, experience with different armous, weapons and skillset as well as change costumes for your characters. Xtreme Legend, the expansion pack even featured a Destiny Mode where you can create a custom office and joined an army and developed your military skills. I like the Destiny Mode especially.
In DW5 itself, I like Musou mode where I can use one of the many officers and played their storyline.
Characters I like to use alot are Zhao Yun, Ling Tong, Zhou Yu, Jiang Wei and Zhang He, especially the first two. Zhao Yun's spear is very good for clearing crowds and clocking that high "K.O"s. Scoring over 1000 "K.O"s per game is not too hard with his spear and Jiang Wei's trident as well.
<?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_zhaoyun.jpg', 'Zhao Yun', 'Zhao Yun'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_jiangwei.jpg', 'Jiang Wei', 'Jiang Wei'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_machao.jpg', 'Ma Chao', 'Ma Chao'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_caopi.jpg', 'Cao Pi', 'Cao Pi'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_zhanghe.jpg', 'Zhang He', 'Zhang He'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_lingtong.jpg', 'Ling Tong', 'Ling Tong'); ?><?php print theme('image', 'files/story/dw5_zhouyu.jpg', 'Zhou Yu', 'Zhou Yu'); ?>
Since there are mainly three kingdoms in the noval, it is the same in the game. Most of my favorite generals are in Shu and Wu, I seldom play Wei's campaign, except for using Zhang He. Yesterday, I had to play a Wei campaign and as Zhang He is an unlockable character, he's not in the default character list, so I used Cao Pi and he's not too bad. Once his weapon upgraded, his attacks were alot faster (plus I boasted his speed) and him on a horse is really not too bad at all. hehe. Pity, in history, he's a cruel man.
I like most of the spears using generals in the game since spears are the longest weapons with the longest range. I dislike Zhang Fei's spear though, his moveset is so, err, uncouth for a girl to play. haha. Blade users are generally faster than spears users with a shorter range. I like Zhou Yu's long blade (called Elder Sword) and Lu Xun's twin blades. Lu Xun's a very fast character but its hard to control his targets since his moveset hits a bit here and there. So far, still a pain to use, hopefully when I upgrade his weapon, this would improve.
I fell in love with Jiang Wei's weapon because its really one of the most useful crowd-clearing weapons around. I easily clocked over 500 "K.O"s within a few minutes. Next was Zhang He's claws, not the easiest to use but it was really interesting to use him. He flipped here and there and his claws literally shredded his opponents to pieces. Ok, not that I see pieces of flesh flying across the screen but still, being a claw user made him the fastest character in the game. Haha, and he talks funny. Really, over-using the words 'Beauty' in his dialogue, made him one of the most interesting and entertaining character to use.
Recently, I started using Ling Tong, a new character that Koei launched with DW5. He's a famous general of Wu, known for his feud with Gan Ning. Gan Ning killed his father since they were serving different armies then but later joined Wu. Ling Tong tried to kill him a couple of times but the King of Wu rebuked him. In the end, Gan Ning shot an arrow to save Ling Tong's life and thus he forgave Gan Ning and became very good friends with him. Ling Tong's weapon is a Nutkacho (sp?), like two wooden bars connected together with chain in the middle. Quite hard to use, if you asked me. But the weapon made him a very fast character and his charge attacks are not too bad. The only thing I didn't like was his Musou recovery is so laggy. Still I managed to use Ling Tong and clocked over 1000 "K.O"s when I can.
There are some female characters in the game that Koei put them in to appeal more to the players. I kinda dislike the female characters since historically, females generals are mostly unheard of and rare if there are any. If memory served, there are no female generals in ROTK except for the 'tribes' tribal Queen, Zhu Rong who's the wife of a tribal king, Meng Huo. She really can fight in history but was captured easily by Zhuke Liang. hehe. The other female characters there are really mostly like 'vase'. I do enjoy the interactions between the female characters and male characters in the game though. For example Zhenji would compliment her husband, Cao Pi when I used him to clock a high number of "K.O"s. She would say he's so handsome when he fight. hehe. Xiao Qiao (wife of Zhou Yu) would say something similar to Zhou Yu as well. Very cute.
I think the voice actors did a great job in general. The only voice I didn't like was Sun Jian's one. He sounded like he had flu or something in his throat and made Sun Jian sounded like a sissy. Sure, Koei made Zhang He a narcistic guy but he's funny and I can accept Zhang He's attacks with butterflies or even him wearing purple/pink. Not Sun Jian, hallow? Sun Jian's the head of Wu, even if he died young.
