Dynasty Warriors: Origins - Xbox Review

 

Dynasty Warriors: Origins by developer Omega Force and publisher Koei Tecmo GamesMicrosoft Xbox Series X Review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.

Reading time: 8 minutes

Back in 2018, Developer Omega Force tried to do something different with the long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise to very mixed reception. The series has long had its fervent supporters and dismissive detractors for a variety of reasons, but the large majority of gamers seemed to be in agreement that the series was in need of a shake-up. However, opening it up to a more open-world environment didn’t work for everyone (in our review, we found it flawed, but still enjoyable). 

Now we have the newly released Dynasty Warriors: Origins which again tries to breathe some new life into an old series, and I suspect it will be much more warmly received this time around. Again some changes were taken with the tried and true formula, but they feel more carefully thought out and executed. The end result is a game that has familiar, enjoyable trappings, but enough new wrinkles to create something that feels both fresh and comfortable at the same time.

I fell in love with the tale of Romance of the Three Kingdoms back when I first played it on the NES back in the 80’s, and have since played numerous games (the self-titled strategy series, Destiny of an Emperor, Kessen II, Total War: Three Kingdoms and the Dynasty Warriors games to name several). I've even read the book which is a more fantastical retelling of the historical novels Three Kingdoms. I go way, way back with this tale, making me an ideal demographic for these games right out of the gates.

One of the issues that I think faced Dynasty Warriors 9 was that the open world format felt unfocused. There was this wide open world filled with the potential for encounters or discoveries, but oftentimes it felt dull and lifeless. Certain spots and locations were visually interesting and historically important, but so much of the remaining landscape felt like filler at the time. It is worth calling out that there is something of an open world / exploration element to be had in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, but it’s handled far more cleanly and in a more streamlined fashion. You have an oversized representation of your character (and other characters you can talk to) on a sort of overworld map as you visit villages, find items and open up new passageways that lead to continuations of the story. It’s actually quite lovely to look at and doesn’t feel as empty and dull as the unfocused approach of Dynasty Warriors 9.

Here Dynasty Warriors: Origins takes a decidedly different approach, and puts the focus on story, and more importantly on our primary protagonist. You can name the character whatever you like, but generically he’s referred to Ziluan and serves as our gateway into the story here. What’s interesting is how this character is handled like a bit of a blank slate. Instead of choosing from among the many generals of legend from the story to play, you can customize your skills and pick different weapons for the protagonist, crafting him to match your preferred play style. There’s probably room in future installments to take this formula and add a character creation system, maybe even allowing for female protagonists as well, but what’s here is still an excellent start.

There are times I felt a bit like I got a bit of Final Fantasy spilled onto my Dynasty Warriors here. The visuals, both the characters and environments, with loads of symbolism and style are a cut above anything else the Dynasty Warriors series has provided to date. There’s a few other parallels too, like how varied the music can be. There are plenty of scenes where we get a more traditional-sounding Chinese score, but then when the fighting starts you have heavy metal guitar riffs to compliment the one-to-many beat-‘em-up action that the Warriors games are known for. It’s also worth grinning about the moniker our amnesiac protagonist goes by: Guardian of Peace. It's one of the weaker elements of the story, the all-too-familiar forgotten memory trope that allows our main character to learn with us. He asks the questions we might not know, while being a blank slate of skills to develop the way we like. That combined with the occasional faint glowing light they exude had a very Final Fantasy Warrior of Light vibe that I couldn’t help but recognize.

It's interesting that our primary protagonist is treated a bit like a forgotten remnant of time. He is positioned to participate in so many of the major events told in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, starting his adventure by meeting the legendary Guan Yu shortly before the Yellow Turban Rebellion sets the stage for the story to come. That said, there’s a bit of agency given to our protagonist, as he isn’t given voiced lines (unlike many of the other characters in the game), but you as the player get to choose some response choices along the way. By and large, these appear to be mostly cosmetic, as I replayed some scenes and tried some different options and it mostly just resulted in different dialogue responses, but nothing that majorly impacts the narrative. I will say ‘most of the time’ as there are some alternate endings that can be seen, which is a rather nice touch.

However, as much as I love the story told here, and appreciate the fresh perspective of following this single character through it to experience it through their eyes, there is some pretty clumsy dialog and times. While I appreciate that there’s English voice acting, it can be rather stiff for some the characters as well. It’s not bad, it’s just not always great either. That being said, while there’s plenty of cut scenes and some exploration to be had, the focus of the Warriors games tends to be the combat. And fans of Musou combat won’t be disappointed.

There’s numerous weapons to be found and learned, and there’s two leveling systems at play here: one for the character and one for their weapons expertise. At first glance, combat seems quite similar to what has come before, and weapons all have light attacks that are functionally pretty similar as you can clear out dozens and dozens of the simple enemies that come at you in waves. Those familiar with the series will not be surprised to see that it’s in the heavy attacks the weapons tend to differentiate themselves with charge or combination attacks having a different sort of weight and impact on how they carve through the masses. Again the basic peon doesn’t offer a whole lot of resistance, but when you start encountering the more powerful named generals, that’s where things get interesting.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins does bring some effective new wrinkles to the mix, with blocking, well-timed parries and careful dodges can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Throughout the majority of the series, there has been a legitimate argument made that you can button mash through the entire game with little to no effort, especially on the lower levels of difficulty. While this tactic still does in fact work for the majority of combat, the more powerful generals of the game also use these defensive tools more than in years past, and not just as blocks, but a means to set up counter attacks that can have devastating consequences. I won’t go so far as to say that the combat’s overly technical and tactical, but I did find myself using these defensive maneuvers more in this release than probably any of the mainstream Warriors titles of the past. Sure, you can still button mash your way to success a lot of times, but there are more layers and nuance than we've seen from the series before, and it does help to stave off potential button mashing monotony.

During the battles, there are still the tactical and goal elements to be considered and those are generally pretty well managed through the UI, the pre-battle briefings and morale adjustments. The focus of the combat, like the story, is on your protagonist. There are some moments where you can do a quick switch to a companion character, but it’s short-lived and always part of a bigger special attack. While these are not entirely new concepts, they are as well-executed (or better) as ever and help to give the Warriors titles their distinctive flavor from other more traditional beat-‘em-up / brawler games.

From a technical standpoint, I want to call out how solid everything is. I already mentioned how much I enjoyed the visual style and music, but it’s worth noting that the engine seems better optimized here than it has been in years. Watching massive waves of opposing soldiers smash into one another is appropriately epic, and the framerate and field of depth hold up despite the insane number of moving characters and background effects taking place on the screen.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins deserves its flowers here. It’s a dramatic improvement over the last release in the series, managing to find the right balance between being comfortably familiar while providing a fresh experience as well. There’s room to grow from the new framework provide here, and a few rough corners that can be polished up, but the overall experience is one that fans of the long-running series should love, and I believe appeal to those who might be coming to Dynasty Warriors new as well. 

 

Score: 8.75 / 10

 

 

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