KOEI Tecmo Warriors

 Critic: Shaun Player
 Date of Review: Aug 15th, 2018
 Version: PS4
 File Size(s): 810.3MB
 Region: PAL
 Game Page: Dynasty Warriors 9 Game Page

Note: For our original review of the base game Dynasty Warriors 9, click here.

We knew, that even before the release of Dynasty Warriors 9 back in February 2018 that there was a miriad of DLC planned for post-release. The meat of this DLC Season Pass was the allure of the ‘Additional Scenarios Pack’, the last pack that released back in June. We announced back then that we planned to review these four new stories as an addition to our original review of the base game.

To start us off, there are four characters that have now been granted with unique storylines. These are the four characters that have been unique NPCs up until this point; Hua Xiong, Dong Bai, Yuan Shu and Xiahouji. These four stories take on a more loose fictional take on history, to try and add some fun and flair to their story arcs.

Right off the bat I want to say that these four characters are clones, with Hua Xiong donning Xu Zhu’s Club moveset, Dong Bai using Dong Zhuo’s chain flail, Yuan Shu using Yuan Shao’s rapier and Xiahouji using Xing Cai’s Sword & Shield. However each character has their own unique musou attack and special flow trigger attack (much like what differentiate the current clones in the base game). So really you aren’t gaining much from a gameplay perspective here.

So if you are hoping to come into this DLC with hopes of gaining new movesets and gameplay with these characters, then turn away now. This is not for you. If you are coming into this DLC wanting to experience some new fun story arcs focused on these characters, now that is where you might get some worth.

Each character has their own unique missions spliced within the missions you see in the other characters stories. Hua Xiong’s is setting out to prove he is the mightiest warrior, and his missions start out purely just bashing a bunch of bandits around to prove himself. Throughout his story he grows a bigger rivalry with Lu Bu, whom barely even acknowledges his existence. Giving slight twists to scenarios such as the Dong Zhuo Coalition. His moveset fits him rather well – considering we are stuck with clones – with a slow brutish pace.

Dong Bai is a very fictional focused story, where after initially doing deeds for her grandfather Dong Zhuo, she goes on a massive pursuit for revenge against Lu Bu. After losing everything, her army, her officer Zhang Liao, and the wealth of the Imperial army – she strikes out to recoup her losses and destroy Lu Bu. Her unique scenarios tend to focus on revenge plots or little missions that are dealing with the rowing Guo Si and Li Jue – who at the time are striving to take over Dong Zhuo’s legacy. Her moveset really doesn’t match her, she is slick and fast but the flail she wields just feels tacked on, and only using it purely because it matched with Dong Zhuo.

Yuan Shu (who out of the four has been the best experience) is a greedy tyrannical moron. He thinks very highly of himself and always fails to get what he wants with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao constantly one upping him. His unique scenarios start off with focusing on the Ten Eunuch rebellion, where you alongside the forces of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao eliminate the tyranny of the Eunuchs. It is quite interesting how things play out, and helps that Yuan Shu’s attitude exudes strongly throughout. His moveset, although does seem tacked on (and actually is the weapon I gave him during my Empires creations) does seem to fit him well. If Omega Force were to continue forward with Yuan Shu it would be nice to see that he has the Rapier and Yuan Shao is given different treatment.

Xiahouji (who I found to be the weakest of the set) is as fictional as you can get, and very much relies on the mainstay scenarios that are already included with many of the Shu characters. Her unique scenario is mainly using her meekness to pursue Zhang Fei’s affections. With her just randomly joining in during Shu focused scenarios only to have Zhang Fei tell her off. Repeat ad nauseum for a good while. When she becomes an official officer of Shu it just repeats the usual scenarios you expect during those chapters. It gets boring pretty fast, especially when a lot of Shu’s scenarios are a slog already. Her moveset, which is saved by that the Sword and Shield is rather fun to play using works well. Though it doesn’t suit her personality or style at all.

All in all, each individual character’s stories are of a fair length, normally being 2 or more chapters. There are a lot of scenes that are missing voice acting, which just screams a lazy cop out, but maybe that is for the best when it comes to the English VA. But the real question is, is this worth checking out? If you bought the Season Pass, sure is. It’ll add a fair amount more play time, and some of the characters moments are genuinely decent. However if you didn’t, do NOT spend the ridiculous high price tag for the pack alone. It is certainly not worth that.