Done With #4: Dynasty Warriors Origins

After sitting on it for a few days, I've come to a conclusion that Dynasty Warriors Origins is definitely a dark horse this year. Despite it's many flaws, Omega Force successfully reinvented the wheel and evolved upon the Musuo formula after a long and tedious 20 years.

I admit that I have not completed all possible routes, but after spending 60 hours with the game (which is filled with content), I think I am qualified enough to give my opinion on this heck of a game. 😔

I think it's low-key genius to restructure how the game plays. For the first time in the series, we play as one unnamed protagonist, which allows Omega to tell the story of The Three Kingdoms through the most neutral lens possible. The game does an amazing job selling the three leaders to you, but also does not shy away from showing their flaws which really humanise them as they're usually portrayed as larger than life. This also prevents you from feeling like there's "right choice" or canon route.

Humanizing is seriously the name of the game. Relationship system in this game explores these characters who were previously one dimensional or treated as jkes/stereotypes add so much depths to them, and really honoring these characters that we often forget that are actual historical figures.

It's also not a surprise to see a lot of flirting going on between our unnamed pretty boy and... essentially everyone. Omega Force, after multiple collaboration with Fire Emblem team, was provided with some writers from FE's team. This leads to some hilarious and rather awkward flirting moments, but hey I ain't complaining.

As for the combat, it's mostly the same old Dynasty Warriors with its focus on big scale attacks to capture that 1vs1000 feeling for the players. However, the additions of skills and Tactics system which allows you to command your army as you please is a game changer and adds layers of depth never seen in this franchise previously.

And while you can't really select a character, we are able to momentarily play as our side kick once we fill our Musuo guage. Which I do think is quite a misopportunity, especially when I think about the game's flaws in general.

There are three that I'd like to point out:

1. While I love our cute silent protag, he has nothing going on for him. He's too much of a vessel for the player to see everything first hand, but his own origin story is sadly rather lacking. Without spoiling too much, it's hard to care for the guy when it's shoved to the side.

2. Cutscenes are awesome, but it also leads to some awful pacing problems. Between combats, you are most likely spending 15 to 20 minutes in cutscenes, either the main story cutscenes or the relationship cutscenes (as they're timed in most cases since characters do die as stories go along just like the real story). Being constantly taken out of action can be really annoying, especially toward the end of the game.

3. They might as well allow us to play as the 12 companions once we beat the game the first time around. The framework is there to play as them and it's such a no brainer as a fan service and additional content. It confuses me as to why Omega Force didn't think that's the case.

I mostly spent my in game time on the Steam Deck, and this game is actually perfect for the handheld. While it's rather harsh on the battery if you're trying to force 45fps/90hz, it easily lasts 3-4 hours at 30fps locked. There's no FPS dip otherwise and the game is incredibly stable with FSR 3.0.

While I'm a bit bummed out over the endgame and lack of freeplay, what I got is a complete package and a true return to form for the franchise. It's fast, it's fun and for the first time in the series's history it has a coherent campaign. Such a satisfying game to play. Big number goes boom.