Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires Review
Combining the 1 vs 1,000 action of Dynasty Warriors with the addition of heavy strategic gameplay, including unit commands, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires sets players on a quest to conquer ancient China by both sword and strategy.
I highly recommend to skip the “easy” difficultly in the options as this really does not do the game justice. This game is best to be played on Normal or above otherwise the AI basically are lambs to the slaughter and you won’t see the games potential.
Combining the 1 vs 1,000 action of Dynasty Warriors with the addition of heavy strategic gameplay, including unit commands, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires sets players on a quest to conquer ancient China by both sword and strategy.
I highly recommend to skip the “easy” difficultly in the options as this really does not do the game justice. This game is best to be played on Normal or above otherwise the AI basically are lambs to the slaughter and you won’t see the games potential.
Few features:
- One of the most drastic differences between Empires and the base game is that the open world is thrown to the side for a smaller stage-like approach similar to previous titles..
- The create-a-character system has now been further enhanced to Nioh 2 style levels with extra options from that game’s system which may look familiar.
- The domestic side of things have been expanded even further. Character relationships change more frequently and have even greater effects on the gameplay than the earlier series.
- Feeling like your inner evil needs to be displayed to show your dominance? you can choose to rule however you wish to rule.
- Can start from the bottom of the ladder and climb the ranks allowing players to start as a wandering free officer, a loyal marshal, or a leading ruler.
- An affinity system returns, working somewhat like Dynasty Warriors 8. This one is tied to the officer class and not the weapon in hand, each character has been assigned a class; Infantry, Cavalry and Bow plus more (like bandits, bears, wolves & heavies) all of them share a similar relationship to the previous Heaven, Earth and Man system. There also are other benefits e.g. units of the corresponding type will follow and protect the player, Bow characters can command the archers to fire upon a targeted area etc.
Review
Dynasty Warriors 9 was a noble experiment by Omega Force to bring open world gameplay to the Warriors series. Sadly, it also fell flat with many fans, and did so in a big way. The good news for them is that Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is a more traditional Warriors experience, and I’m currently really enjoying it. I’ve played a fair few of the Warriors games but wouldn’t say I know the ins and outs. The game started slowly as I wrapped my head around the games politics and menus but as soon as I learned how to recruit new officers since i jumped into the games deep end as a “nobody”, I felt like I was actually in command. It did take a while before I adventured into the battlefield but this was expected since I had no armies behind me i’ll be sure to start a fresh game on a harder difficultly.
See, unlike the main Warriors games, where each battlefield offers up a story that follows along with a historical conflicts etc, and that meant that you were at its mercy, the Empires games are largely story free, and instead it allows you to write your own history of conquest and heroism. Where a historical battle, as depicted in a standard Warriors entry, might involve a fire attack at a certain point of time, or reinforcements arriving somewhere else on the battlefield, in Empires, you and your opponent both set tactical manoeuvres, and then clash on battlefields that are covered in bases and other key strategic locations. At its best – the moment-to-moment play represents the very best of the Warriors series, where you’ve got a half dozen different objectives in front of you, and you know that the success of the battle very much rests on your shoulders.
Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires doesn’t try to copy the open world that the base game introduced to the series, although you can stroll around it if you want to explore an extremely bland and plain-looking version of Three Kingdoms-era of China. Instead, it sticks to what has made the Empires series, which is the political manoeuvring and strategy that adds an extra layer of importance to each battle. As with past titles, there are a number of historical starting points for your campaign, so if you want to relive the Yellow Turban Rebellion for the 100th time then you can do just that, or you can create your own conflict from scratch with real or custom warriors at the forefront.
Backing this up is some light strategic elements that have been designed to appeal to people that wouldn’t normally play a in-depth strategy game. With only three resources to manage – rations, money and soldiers, and really the goal is to recruit as many generals as you can (as each brings new armies into your forces), while progressively conquering more and more of China. You are also have the ability to forge alliances and sabotage enemies, and you need to steadily build relationships with the generals within your own forces (else they might rebel). Eventually, the top three generals will become your sworn brothers, you’ll have a spouse (and more or likely a child to follow in you footsteps), and the emperor himself will offer to to step down from the throne in your favour.
Combat has never been the core focus of the series as its always been more about your strategy in the battlefield over mashing the cr*p out of your Square button like a mad-man and occasionally throwing in a press here and there of the Triangle button just to mix things up a little, its very samey. Instead Empires is about how your going to take the next group of archers out that keep on bombarding you or choosing to quickly destroy a battering ram that you can see is advancing towards your castle gates or maybe you will check you map and see that your trusted brother in arms could deal with the archers whilst you sprint for the oncoming battering ram. Strategy is key.
Along the way, you’ll also acquire a range of cards, which are earned by conquering territories, capturing generals, hitting milestones or levelling up. These cards represent a massive variety of battlefield tactics that you can take into skirmishes with you. You can equip four in total, and in battle, you can use them based on their charge times. These range from hurling ice arrows down on your enemies, to cards that will boost or heal you and your nearby allies. Brought together with the typical normal and special attacks, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires has a fluid, but highly customisable combat system that allows you to play surprisingly tactical, given how fast the action can be.
The “Easy” difficulty is the weaker side of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires
AVOID playing the game on Easy, it really does not do the game justice at all, I even changed the difficulty on first play through. The “Easy” difficulty is the weaker side of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires, though. On the lower difficulty levels, the enemy AI is so passive that not much strategic cunning is needed, and in combat the enemy might aswell fall off a cliff, its the same easy tactics and skills and you’ve just wiped out China. The gameplay really is so much better on a higher difficulty. Easy mode if you just want to kick back and mash buttons), but if you were to exclusively play that you could be forgiven for thinking that Empires lacks bite and I’m seeing some low review scores. Up the difficulty setting and suddenly commands like “sabotage”, which is a pointless waste of a turn on easy mode, become an essential tactic for preparing an invasion, and you’ll want to build alliances otherwise China will crush your Empire. Not to mention that you’ll find yourself actually preparing weapons and your cards for a more testing scrap in the battlefield. Basically, the higher you scale the difficulty, the more the tactical and strategic quality of Empires comes in to play and your every move matters.
Of course, the actual battles are only half of the Empires experience. Every choice the player makes, whether they are a ruler or a lowly officer making their way up the class system, impacts a number of stats ranging from bravery to benevolence and ingenuity. As these abilities rank up and improve, players have even more options at their fingertips both on the field and when playing the strategy system. Whether you want to be a kind ruler that is appreciated by the peasants or a tyrant that pillages for his own gain, there are positives and negatives to it. It gives players even more options as to how they approach unifying China and greatly improves an already endlessly repayable game.
Graphics
Dynasty Warriors has never been known for its graphics and Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is no exception. It doesn’t look bad, but there are a few issues.
You can start by choosing movie mode to prioritize resolution or action mode for frame rate. I tried both and in both the frame rate occasionally notably dipped when enemies filled the screen. If not more. I experienced screen tearing and occasional issues with pop in too. It wasn’t terrible, but it was noticeable. Clipping sometimes happens too – as one example, the first movie I saw had a beard clipping through clothes.
More generally, a lot of the textures aren’t great. Sometimes models can look quite nice, then you’ll notice a blocky pattern on their clothes which does lessen the experience a bit.
Loading times are an issue. Even at times when it’s loading a movie that lasts ten seconds, it can take almost as long to get it ready.
Verdict
This amount of depth has always been a strong point of this spin-off series and it has never been better than in Dynasty Warriors 9 Empire. There’s a real thrill in watching your dynasty expand, putting out vagrant uprisings, and overcoming a disadvantageous battle due to your own strategy working as planned. While the package is sadly extremely rough around the edges and isn’t the current-gen leap it should be, Omega Force has delivered an enjoyable strategy game with high points that are worth wading through graphical glitches and technical shortcomings for. If you like political strategy games where you create your path then I highly recommend as you will get immersed
