So this came out yesterday for us Brits and i took a gamble on picking it up. A gamble because, well, I've never played a Dynasty Warriors game and I've.............never reeeeally played a Zelda game. However, I always enjoyed the character design in Zelda games and the thought of those characters fighting in these huge battles sort of made me excited - even if I'm getting 0% of the references.

Anyway, the game is incredibly fun to play. The movesets of each character and weapon are just incredibly satisfying to use and running around sending little dudes flying across the field is not getting old. I also love the way it looks, and sounds! I recognize a few Zelda themes here and there. Framerate is also pretty solid. I feel if you were looking forward to this game you won't be disappointed in the slightest.

Now I'm wondering how this game feels for dynasty warriors veterans.

As someone who loves Musous AND Zelda, I'm pretty hyped for this. Glad to see that people who haven't really gotten into either enjoy it, it makes me even more excited to get my hands on the game.

Yep. I never play through games twice, but I finished Legend mode last night and just started going through all the levels on Hard. It's pretty good!

Well, by common video game logic, that makes you insane and/or a deviant, possibly of the sexual variety.

Sorry. Can't enjoy a Dynasty Warriors game. That's the rules. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm going to get it

Yeh don't trust half the reviews. A lot of reviewers would of come at it at the perspective of it being tainted as more dynasty warriors, I mean I can't entirely blame them i've been a bit cool on the formula for a while, but I do find it annoying when the tone is dismissive from the start.

I would recommend most people who haven't played a dynasty warriors game who are Zelda fans to give it a shake from what I have seen of it.

I would say for veterans such as myself it will definitely feel familiar from the get go, but the reskin and what looks to be some cool mission design and bosses looks like it would go a long way. I would consider picking this up to play coop with the wife if I owned a Wii U (her main complaint with DW8 was the metal tiring her out, and she isn't as interested in the characters and setting, but she loves zelda.) I doubt I will be picking up a Wii U any time soon though.

It's certainly the best Musou game visually, but it's lacking some of the more in depth features of the DW games.

If any game is a good introduction to this genre, this is it.

A little less than week until the North American release. I am envious of the Warriors fans on the other side of the Atlantic.

I tried that One Piece dynasty warriors game on ps3 splitscreen recently. Anyone played that and how does it compare?

It's an interesting era for Nintendo, where they are all "fuck it, just put our characters into your games." I guess it's a reaction to the fact only Nintendo games typically sell on Nintendo systems.

But uh, I played the demo at a Future Shop, it seems fun enough, though I'm more a DW fan than a Zelda fan. Though I wouldn't say I'm much of a DW fan. But it's been so long since I played one of those games that I remember what I once, long ago, enjoyed about the genre and there is a certain charm to the running around a battlefield killing certain guys to conquer areas and what not that does indeed work.

I like it a lot! The Adventure Mode is pretty fun and is what I have been playing mostly

Instil have problems with the Dynasty Warriors camera, but that's really my only complaint. It's a lot of fun!

And that they have no third party exclusives to speak of anymore.

Looking forward to it next Friday!

Just played some co-op, and it kinda sucks in that area. It becomes a mess of aliasing and frame drops. The Wiimote controls are surpisingly functional, though.

I don't really care because the single-player stuff is so bloody engaging, but it's there.

I've been trying my hardest to love it, but every time I feel like I'm about to fully understand why people love these games, another little thing I dislike about it pops up.

I'm sure if you'd played a bunch of these it would be incredible, but every so often I feel like the game just expects me to know how to go about doing things. My only other experience with a game like this is Basara, and I never felt overwhelmed, but this is constantly popping shit up everywhere and I'm not entirely sure what I should be attacking, retaking or hunting for. I just end up doing the main objectives, but I often finish stages feeling like I've missed a ton of things I was meant to do.

Maybe this just isn't for me. I dunno. It looks beautiful and the music is great until that metal version of a Zelda song loops around for the 50th time, and then I want to stab myself in the ears... At least I got that scarf though.

How you proceed is up to you. So long as you complete the primary objectives and keep your base safe, it's simply your choice on whether you want to take that base in the corner or high-tail it to the Gold Skulltula or what have you. Even if all you focus on in a stage is the primary objectives, there's nothing wrong with that. You're free to explore the stage again later if you want to take more time to hunt for its secrets.

Played this game all day yesterday and I am having a blast. Never played a Dynasty Warriors game before but I'm a big Zelda fan so that's what got me to buy it. I think I'm getting close to the end and it's been pretty easy so far even though I've been playing on Hard from the get-to. I like that the crafting system/leveling up system is pretty straight forward so I don't have to spend too much time trying to compare what's going to be best.

While it isn't out in the US yet, I dropped by a local store earlier today to try out a demo kiosk. The experience wasn't terribly positive, but I blame that more on the environment than on the game itself. I just don't like playing games at demo kiosks where there are people all around me. The game seems like it could be kind of neat for just shutting off my brain and hitting X for a while. I'll probably maybe pick it up if there's a price drop or two in the future.

That scarf is pretty sweet.

@hailinel: I gave it a go trying not to care about any of that stuff. I had a better experience with it. Sometimes they throw two or three objectives at you at once and it feels like if you pick the wrong one you might as well start over. Some of the timing on that stuff is pretty strict. I've found some of the extra challenge levels with heart containers seem to be impossible to "100%" in one playthrough as going for both heart containers is going to result in your base being bombed or overrun. I've just stopped caring about the Skulltula's.

I guess you have to get used to some of its Warriorsyness.

Can the game be played with the Pro controller? I don't know about anyone else, but I've never really been a huge fan of the GamePad.

As to reviews, I've learned that with this series, most minds have been made up and nothing will change them, at least in the media. Seriously, the GB crew were saying in that CD-I video that they thought this would be worst than Faces of Evil. If that's not a sign of pre-made minds, I don't know what is.

Yes, it can be played with a Pro controller.

Is it possible to get game audio out of the Gamepad via headphones? I play at night so for Wii U games that's kind of a make or break thing sadly. :-/

I know that Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 both allowed gameplay audio through the GamePad. So unless someone from Europe says otherwise, I'm pretty sure it's possible.

@kishinfoulux: Yeah it is, usually how I play though it's not idea since it means the map is tiny and can make staying aware of where allies are can be a bit tricky.

I streamed it for about an hour on Friday.

That first hour had better/more coherent storytelling and characterisation than Destiny. I knew who I was, what was happening in the moment, who I was allied with and who I was pitted against. I knew the names of people and what they looked like and I knew where I was. It's also possible that that first Hyrule Warriors cutscene was longer than most of the Destiny ones put together, it also showed stuff happening, unlike the Destiny cutscenes.

I think I'll play some more soon.

After I hit level 28 in Destiny...

Has anyone tried out co-op yet? That was a bit of a draw for picking up a copy for me and my partner to play. Do I have to use the new Wii U version of the pro controller, though?

Just to be clear I don't mean playing the game entirely on the Gamepad's screen. I mean playing on my TV, but having the audio come through the gamepad. I know Wind Waker didn't have this, which was a bummer.

Man, when the story splits off into three directions and you get to play as Lana the game becomes super fucking anime.

@kishinfoulux: Yeah I'm pretty sure it does..I had to dial down the sounds as it gets annoying after a while.

I like Impa and Sh..sh..riek?, I keep forgetting and will probably be screamed at for spoilers if I name the character, are fun to play. I've only just unlocked the Goron? dude..but I hate slow moving characters in DW games. Needs more Zhou Tai...or Kabuto...or Kuzan..or Rei..

I think it's a step down from Pirate Warriors 2 and Orochi 3 but it's fun and colourful. The colour and the glorious music go a long way to making the game far better than it has any right to be. Haven't touched the other modes but they look amusing. Also locking characters to levels in Legend mode feels like a step back. Link and Lana are a drag to play and it hurts my enjoyment of the levels.

Should note that I have a distinct dislike of all but Wind Waker when it comes to 3d Zelda games..I love the gb and gba/snes games though..but I have very little connection to any of the themes/characters. I just enjoy mindless DW type games sometimes.

The framerate is unplayably bad in Co-op and it drops the resolution a lot as well. You do need a pro controller.

@jazz You'll probably enjoy Fi then as she's the fastest character in the game.

Is "Legend mode" this game's challenge mode, or is that the English name for Adventure mode? Because I was planning to level them in Adventure as best I could before their turn in story. I know I've been doing that in 8XL ambition mode.

Actually, I'm really hoping this does well enough to justify a Hyrule Warriors Xtreme Legends. I'd love to see the introduction of more modes in the game.

Never even touched a Dynasty Warriors game before, jumping directly into the fire on Friday after work. I'm throwing up a hail mary here, hopefully I don't get burned out of my 70 bucks.

@yukoasho: Legend Mode is the campaign. I detailed the four modes in my review, though the 1000 word limit made it quite difficult to go into as much detail as I wanted in any area, including the modes.

Also thanks for giving me an opportunity to stealth-shill my review.

Love Zelda, couldn't be more indifferent to Dynasty Warriors, and I'm getting really close to buying this.

So... Your character levels are locked in the story mode? Odd....

Not really. Like in Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8, the story mode is structured in a way where you're locked into a subset of characters to choose from per stage, and you transition between characters as the story progresses. You can still play as any character in any stage in Free Mode.

I'm not sure I understand your question. You can level up your characters in any mode, I think. You unlock certain characters in Legend Mode and certain characters in Adventure Mode, but I honestly have no idea if the Legend Mode ones are unlockable in Adventure Mode since I stuck with Legend Mode until I was done. In Legend Mode, you can only use certain characters on each level/stage/map, but that restriction is lifted in Free Mode.

Ah, I was wondering, because @kishinfoulux made it sound like characters couldn't be leveled. I don't mind being restricted to specific characters as stories dictate. Makes it so that you can't just stick to one the whole way through.

I don't believe you.

I've never played a dw game, but I've played drakengard and some other similar games. So i picked this up and have been playing it constantly, Its just really carthartic, i can kinda zone out, watch or listen to something and still have some fun playing.

Although there are some things that are kinda annoying and I wish there were more characters and weapons, and maybe some balance issues. I can kinda see why people either love/hate dw games.

Although I am still never gonna play dw.

Just finished Legend Mode, and holy shit, this game is great! Not only does it do a good job of taking Zelda and turning it into a Warriors game, but the mission structure and fighting can get really intense. The game also makes some really smart use of checkpoints, so if you do die, you don't have to start the mission all over and can jump back in from the last checkpoint, or a hard save if you made one. I don't generally use temp saves in other Warriors games, but Hyrule Warriors makes them a real blessing. (*COUGH*FINAL BOSS *COUGH*) I've unlocked Heroic difficulty, which is basically Warriors Chaos mode, which is sure to be a big step up on the challenge scale.

But yeah, this game is pretty much what I hoped it would be since it was first announced. I'm happy about that.

Yeah, that checkpoint system is a fucking godsend. I was literally about to turn my system off because I didn't feel like going through an entire level all over again (especially while I'm practically dying in real life thanks to the worst cold ever) then the menu popped up and I'm all like "restart from checkpoint? the fuck? i hope this shit doesn't put me all the wa- OH MY GOD THANK THE BABY JESUS IT CHECKPOINTED ME RIGHT HERE."

I came for the Dynasty Warriors side of it since I'm not a huge fan of Zelda outside of Wind Waker and Minish Cap and, since it's a really really good Dynasty Warriors game, I can safely report than I am also happy with my purchase. I mean, NIntendo could've hooked a brotha up with a playable Medli or a King of Red Lions cameo or fuckin somethin, but still, I'm happy.

Gonna start playing this on Monday, thinking of starting on hard, is this a horrible idea? I've never played a DW game before, but I know they can be a tad on the easy side. I know the combat is going to get monotonous, so I'd at least like a stiff challenge to keep me interested. Is playing on hard working against this idea? Do the enemies turn into damage sponges, thus sapping all the fun out of it?

I've sometimes found you have to be the right distance from a boss before they'll try to strike you with the move that leaves them vulnerable. (For example, Gohma would only use its eye-beam attack if I'm at a distance.) The humanoid bosses, from my experience, don't need to have their weak points smashed frequently to be defeated. When that's been troublesome, I just try to stay with them and use the dash/dodge move to keep from getting hit while waiting for an opening. I've found Volga's weakpoint particularly hard to get a bead on, but even that being the case, I can still get in and break his weak point on occasion by being patient while also just hitting him when I can.

The boss fights in this game work very differently from other Warriors games because of the whole weakpoint system. The boss patterns have some fair complexity to them that's at a level appropriate for this sort of game and demand more specific strategies.

If this is your first time with a Warriors game, I'd play it on Normal to start with and get a feel for that. If you feel you could use more challenge, give hard a shot. You can change the difficulty level to whatever like before each battle.