Additional details on Tecmo Koei’s newly revealed Shin Sangokumusou 7 ( Dynasty Warriors 8 ) has surfaced.
Thanks to a community member of the fansite, Koei Warriors, we know that the game will boast a hefty lineup of characters, over 70. Two new Wei generals have also been confirm:
Yue Jin (Wenqian)
General under Cao Cao. Despite having small body, he still had proved much to be recognized as one of Wei’s Five Great Generals.
Weapon: Twin Hookswords
Seiyuu( voice actor ) : Kentaro Ito (aka. Choji in Naruto, Renji in Bleach)
Li Dian (Mancheng)
Wei general who is most famous for his calmness. He tried to warn Xiahou Dun for traps in Bowangpo, and managed to reconcile Zhang Liao & Yue Jin in Hefei.
Weapon: Wheel Halberd
Seiyuu ( voice actor ) : Kosuke Toriumi (aka. Kiba in Naruto, Captain Ash in Mobile Suit Gundam AGE)
Returning characters:
( Shu ) Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, ( Wei ) Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Dian Wei, ( Wu )Zhang Liao, Sun Shangxiang, Zhou Yu .
Additional notes:
-The game system is mainly based on DW7, hence the quicker development cycle
-DW8′s concept is “Infinite Deepening” rather than “Evolution”
-The most major difference from DW7 is renewed costumes
-There will be a Very Easy setting dedicated for casual players which will have a specific control type designed to be able to unleash variety of combos with just a single button
-Online play is said to be put more effort compared to past games
-The Deferred Lighting technique is being used to draw the graphics here, which hopefully will reduce the jarring framerate drop from DW7 as much as possible
-Story Mode is still faction-oriented and has seamless cutscenes ( online co-op is unconfirmed at this point )
-Jin kingdom will return
-DW8 will have more freedom in the stage’s progress route, unlike DW7 which had a quite preset progress route
-The stories are being rewritten from scratch
-There may be also what-if stories
-Free Mode is returning
-There will be also another new game mode for the replay value
New Gameplay Systems:
-Weapon switch system from DW7 is returning
-All DW7 weapon types up to DW7E will be returning along with more brand-new weapons
-Weapons now have affinity which corresponds to the weapons the opponent is holding
Storm Rush
-Activated if player’s weapon has better affinity to opponent’s weapon
-Breaks enemy guard, allows more combo attack, and increases attack speed
Variable Counter
-Activated if player’s weapon has worse affinity to opponent’s weapon
-As the name suggests, it’s a counter attack that will make weapon switch at the end
-Both Storm Rush & Variable Counter will also blow away surrounding enemies
-The gameplay is designed so that even casual gamers can also enjoy them, but expert players will also find them crucial on clearing high difficulty stages
Awakening
-This system is reminiscent to DW5′s Awakening Rage
-Activated when certain requirements are met
-During Awakening mode, the Musou gauge that is usually composed of multiple blocks will be unified into a single bar like past DW games
-Stats are greatly increased, and Musou attack will be changed to Awakening Musou attack
-When a lot of enemies are beaten with this Awakening Musou, it will evolve even further into True Awakening Musou
-The merit of using Awakening Musou is that enemies beaten will drop better stat-up items
Kudos to BlackKite for the information!
Shin Sangokumusou 7 is scheduled to debut in Japan for the PS3 next Spring. A western release is TBA.
