tennoarashi

Apr 11 2008, 07:49 PM

This is my first, and when it comes down to it, one of my favourite games in the franchise. It's just so incredibly fun and - to me - difficult. I remember the first time I ever played the Nanman Campaign; Zhuge Liang was one hit away from death and I ended up sticking close to him for the entire time. The level of fun tension was enormous to me, and it still ranks that way on a personal level.

SnowMan

Apr 11 2008, 07:57 PM

The map wasn't bad, but you can't come off of DW4's amazing battle and call DW5's worthy.

tennoarashi

Apr 11 2008, 08:03 PM

SnowMan

Apr 11 2008, 07:57 PM

The map wasn't bad, but you can't come off of DW4's amazing battle and call DW5's worthy.

Exactly! I remember coming to it in DW5 and was like "....That's it?". I was totally geared up for a super-difficult and fun battle that would take around 1 hour at least. Instead it had... secret passages. Which are fun and all, but still.

Instead, the DW4 stage was deceptively simple looking at first... until you realized it was just a giant trap, and you're screwed either way. That stage really solidified my appreciation for the Nanman characters.

I also miss the three final battles - Jian Ye, Xu Chang and Cheng Du. Cheng Du's specifically was pretty neat in terms of layout because it was literally the two previous Cheng Du stages stuck together.

Granted, some of the stages I felt were rather plain comparitively - I never thought Chi Bi was anything to write home about, neither was Xia Pi.

Shu

Apr 11 2008, 08:41 PM

DW3 is better in my opinion 

SnowMan

Apr 11 2008, 09:08 PM

Shu

Apr 11 2008, 08:41 PM

DW3 is better in my opinion 

I strongly disagree, but I respect your opinion. DW3 to me was a fun game that couldn't hold it's own weight in the DW game franchise. Nothing before 4 to me is considered a "great" game. Was it fun? Hell yeah. Was it great? It was good, not great.

I just got finished playing it and I forgot how agressive the enemy A.I. is in the game. I played the Yellow Turban Rebellion on easy with a barely leveled up Xiahou Yuan, and I came close to death a couple of times. The soldiers are so agressive, they'll hit you constantly. Sometimes to the point where it gets annoying. I could rarely hit Yuan's C1 without getting hit out of it.

(Does anybody remember Si Shui Gate? I love that whole thing with Hua Xiong thats in there.

Yuan Shao - "Is there any warrior that can stand up to Hua Xiong?"

After you kill him:

Yuan Shao - "Hua Xiong has been slain? By whom?"
Your Character - "I have slain Hua Xiong!"

Too bad they ruined that for DW5 by taking it out and making Hua Xiong the commander of the battle. )

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Another thing that I forgot to mention in my first post. I really enjoy the VAs in this game that didn't make the DW5 cut. Guan Yu, Cao Cao, Xu Huang, & Huang Gai were all amazing and I was sad that they didn't reprise their roles in DW5. Huang Gai might have sounded like one of the generic officers and Xu Huang might have sounded a little like Yuan Shao, but they should of stayed.

Shu

Apr 11 2008, 09:58 PM

However, the kingdom musou mode wasnt very good. Like I said before, playing the same levels over and over again sounds stupid to me  <_< .  I would be fine if it was in future releases as another mode for the Empires expansion.

I like DW3 better because the Stages were pretty awesome, and the japanese voice acting was great as well.

SnowMan

Apr 11 2008, 10:55 PM

Shu

Apr 11 2008, 09:58 PM

However, the kingdom musou mode wasnt very good. Like I said before, playing the same levels over and over again sounds stupid to me  <_< .  I would be fine if it was in future releases as another mode for the Empires expansion.

I like DW3 better because the Stages were pretty awesome, and the japanese voice acting was great as well.

If you think about it, with individual musou modes you're basically playing the same battles over and over again too, though not to the extent of kindom musou modes.

As much as I hate DW3's English voice acting, I have never and will never use the Japanese VAs. It's like this for me:

I'm American, and therefore I speak English. The DW games are based in ancient China. There is also a Japanese VA option. Since I speak English, I want the game to be in English. Japanese would be the last option I'd choose because it has nothing to do with me or the game. If there was a Chinese option, I'd probably check it out. It's like something I saw on Chinese television earlier this year. A Chinese lady was in England and she was speaking Spanish. That's too confusing and unecessary. Basically what I'm saying is, IMO Japanese VAs are a pointless 3rd party to this franchise.

I will agree with you about some of the DW3 maps though. Hu Lao Gate was the best map there, and it could quite possibly be the best map that battle has ever had. There were some more maps that I liked too, such as the Nanman Campaign.

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@Manji_Ninja - I agree, DW4 really explained the story very well and in a manner that was entertaining. DW3 just throws you in battle. I also spent most of my time with DW4. 2 whole summers plus a couple extra months in fall for me. I'd say I put 9 months worth into it.

A long time ago after I bought DW4, I went back and bought DW3 and I also agree, comparing the two, DW3's graphics are atrocious.

Taunting needs to come back. I don't care how pointless it was, it just needs to return. I love taunting so much.

@LDZ - I really liked the fictional aspect of this game. Without it, all of those hidden battles would never be there. I liked how DW5 took a historical approach, but I like a little bit of fantasy with these games. It helps keep the game fresh, since there are only so many times you can play the same historical game with the same historical outcomes without getting bored.

SnowMan

Apr 12 2008, 05:05 AM

@Shu - I agree that they could add on to Kingdom musou mode, but to tell you the truth, I don't really like your ideas. The space used to explain every single characters' defection would be wasted for me since I never use a character on the wrong side. I ALWAYS use the correct force for my character. And the Guan Yu thing is a little out there, too much so for my taste.

And I just realized that kingdom musou mode is a lot more deep than you think. There are so many "tales" stages that you can branch it off, and you have 2 different branches for chapters 5 & 7 for each force. Which would make 3 or 4 play throughs with the same force completely different.

Wei Tales 1: Eliminate Zhang Jiao!
Wei Tales 2: Guan Yu’s Escape
Wei Tales 3: The Yuan Family’s Pride
Wei Tales 4: The Stalwart Ma Chao
Wei Tales 5: Lu Bu’s Revenge
Wei Chapter 5a: Fall of Wu OR Wei Chapter 5b: Fall of Shu
Wei Tales 6: Dong Zhou Lives!
Wei Chapter 7a: The End of the Three Kingdoms OR Wei Chapter 7b: The End of the Three Kingdoms

^That's just for Wei, Shu & Wu also have a lot of branching missions. Along with the main missions, you can branch off and do these battles. Or, you don't have to. That doesn't seem to be the same to me.

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Now that I've re-reviewed kingdom musou mode, I like it more than I did before. I forgot about how many ways a story can branch off into a different battle. I remembered that if you're given more than 1 battle to play on a certain chapter and you don't play all of them, there will be consequences for not doing so on the main battle.

- Like in chapter 2 (Alliance Against Dong Zhuo) if you don't play at Si Shui Gate, Hua Xiong will appear in your main camp during Hu Lao Gate and attempt to defeat Yuan Shao (since you never killed him at Si Shui).

- Chapter 4 for Wu. The battles are Xia Kou, Defense of Nanman, & Chi Bi. If you don't play at the Defense of Nanman, You'll have less allies during Chi Bi and Zhou Yu will say "We'd have more allies if not for the Nanman threat."

That's just plain cool. I forgot all about this aspect of the mode, and it's appreciated. With branching battles, "tales" battles, and battle ramifications, KOEI put more effort into kingdom musou mode than I originally thought.

LittleDragonZ

Apr 12 2008, 02:29 PM

Some taunts really were annoying - namely Cao Cao's ''Mindless Fodder.''

Repeating that to taunt someone or player 2 ten times over is just very bothersome.

SnowMan

Apr 12 2008, 05:05 AM

Now that I've re-reviewed kingdom musou mode, I like it more than I did before. I forgot about how many ways a story can branch off into a different battle. I remembered that if you're given more than 1 battle to play on a certain chapter and you don't play all of them, there will be consequences for not doing so on the main battle.

SnowMan

Apr 12 2008, 05:37 PM

@Spike - Yeah, I hated playing through that battle too. But, I got through it and I never have to play it again.