Summary
Sharpen your weapons, great warrior; it’s time to battle.Dynasty Warriorshas a long legacy, with games spanning decades. A long legacy will have games that stand out for being more experimental, for better or worse. With Dynasty Warriors Origins, it’s time to look back at the previous release and see how the two stack up.
How has the series grown between the two games? Does Origins feel like a massive departure from the previous game, or was Dynasty Warriors 9 the more experimental game that dared to step out of its comfort zone? Which one was the better game after the dust settled? You’ll get all that and more below!
7Voice Acting - Dynasty Warriors Origins
Though It’s Closer Than You Think
Let’s face it. If you’re a longtime fan of the series, you already know going in not to expect award-winning narration and voice acting. You’re coming for the fast-paced action and explosive Musou attacks. Dynasty Warriors 9 took this philosophy and ran it to a new low that was quickly met with backlash from fans.
Conversely, Origins takes steps in the right direction with its enormous leap in quality voice acting, but it’s still nothing that will win awards. It serves its purpose of hyping you up for your next battle or explaining why you must take down the next stronghold. Sometimes, that’s all you need it to be.
6Characters - Dynasty Warriors 9
It Comes Down To A Numbers Game
Dynasty Warriors Origins is a reboot for the series, taking it in a new direction. Origins brings the focus down to just a single protagonist who serves as your vessel inside the battles of the Three Kingdoms. It’s a departure from being able to choose from thelarge cast of fighters, but there are still a few that you can summon on the field.
Still, it makes Origins feel significantly empty without the likes of Liu Bei, Sun Ce, or even Zhenji dominating the field with her infamous flute. They may be added sometime down the line or in another installment, but we’ll have to see what the future holds for now.
5Maps - Dynasty Warriors Origins
A Return To A Focused Field
The most experimental and controversial choice Omega Force made for Dynasty Warriors 9 was to implement an open world for its primary campaign. It sounds like a good idea on paper: you and your warrior traverse action-packed forests and open trails while defending yourself from the Yellow Turbans or other enemy forces. In action, it turned out to be anything but.
Luckily, Origins learned from Warriors 9’s missteps and condenses the world map into an overworld map with nodes you farm your materials from instead of a massive map you can travel literally hours on. It puts you back in action that much faster.
4Story - Dynasty Warriors 9
Nothing Like Having The Original Heroes
The power struggle between Wei, Shu, and Wuhas been told and retoldfrom many different perspectives over several different installments throughout the years with gusto. Though Dynasty Warriors 9 has its issues, this fact remains true. The focus on the heroes in its narrative is its strong point compared to Origins, and we’ll explain why.
Ziluan’s introduction to the narrative throws off the chemistry of most of the cutscenes in Origins. The character himself is fine, but the lack of dialogue doesn’t allow the characters to play off each other like the ones who have a literal history together.
3Graphics - Dynasty Warriors Origins
A Welcome Upgrade For The New Generation
When the nicest thing someone says about the game’s graphics is ‘this looks like a PS3 game’ when you’re a current gen, you might be in trouble. 9’s lighting was all over the place, glitches made the map nearly unplayable in some areas, and the frame rate was all over the place when too many enemies would be on the screen. It was hard to look at in general.
Now, Dynasty Warriors Origins still has some of the same graphical quirks that the series is known for, but it brings a polish with it that’s a sign that the series is moving forward in its redemption arc.
2Boss Battles - Dynasty Warriors Origins
The Largest Improvement In The Game
Clashing weapons with the likes of Cao Cao or the iconic Lu Bu were the cornerstone of the experience of playing the Dynasty Warrior games. They were tough battles because you were facing off against powerful foes and had to go against hundreds of enemies and sometimes an uncooperative camera. You felt a sense of accomplishment once you felled your foe in battle.
The boss fights in Origins, however, are an event. Sure, you might have some trash mobs that you might have to swat away, but these bosses demand all of your attention and require tactics and more strategy than just saving up your Musou attack. You can tell they’ve put a lot of care into them and were inspired by quite a few modern games in a positive way.
1Conclusion - Dynasty Warrior Origins
The Beginning Of Something New
Admittedly, it wasn’t a fair fight from the start. Dynasty Warriors 9 was released to less-than-stellar gameplay, graphics, world map, and everything else. The only things it had going for it were the expansive roster that fans knew and loved, and the story did the heavy lifting trudging through the game.
While Origins is far from perfect, it shows that Omega Force and Koei Tecmo is taking Dynasty Warriors' redemption arc seriously and are dedicated to returning the series to its original form of pure adrenaline-inducing fun.
