(ThyBlackMan.com) Back when Tecmo Koei Games was still two separate companies, Koei games came up with a polarizing game named Dynasty Warriors. Back then, it was very simple and the gameplay was repetitive. The setting was something interesting, the three kingdoms era in China. In 1997 when the game first came out, it was pretty exciting, yet over the years, with eight sequels and multiple spin off series, why are these types of games still so popular?
The Reason Why They Are So Fun
There isn’t much to the gameplay of the game. Mash the attack button while killing hundreds or thousands of rank-and-file enemies. Maybe break out your musou attack against a tougher opponent. Rinse and repeat until you win the battle. Sure, there is slightly more strategy involved and a level of difficulty to it but if you know what you are doing, you can easily win any round.
The story is also fun. Sometimes it is cool to know about the outcome of important battles throughout that time period. Seeing the battle through different people’s eyes is a nice touch. In later games, they started doing “what if” scenarios that saw Koei creatively change history depending if certain things happened in certain battles.
To me, the main appeal of Musou games is the fact that they are mindless fun. Subtitles are a good substitute for usually bad voice acting. With that, you don’t really have to listen to the sound at all once you know how a battle sound. Get you a podcast to listen to, listen to something on YouTube, or even listen to that new or old album that you still haven’t got around to listen to.
The Reason Why They Are Hated
This answer is very simple. They are really repetitive and don’t change much from year to year. The story barely changes also, with only minor differences overall. If you brought the second and fifth Dynast Warriors game, other than a clear graphical upgrade and maybe one added system would be the difference. I think that people hate the fact that the game comes out every two or three years and still have dedicated fanbase while better games don’t sell as much.
The Reason Why They Are Still Relevant
The Musou games have been around for over two decades and show no signs of letting up. Why is this? There are a few reasons why, but the main reason is that they adapt well to changes in tastes. What this means is that they had spinoff series of the main line game that changed things up and once again, made the Musou game interesting again.
Some examples of this are the Samuri Warriors series games. Take almost the exact same game as Dynasty Warriors and instead of it being set in the three kingdoms era of China, put it into feudal Japan, change the character models and settings, and boom, you have a fresh game with a new story that you can have come out on offset years on the Dynasty Warriors series. Add the “Extreme” series to the fold which is basically a small expansion that add a few new characters and a few new story missions and you can be sold the same game multiple times.
If this isn’t interesting to you, how about Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, which is just as it sounds, Dynasty Warriors with Gundam fights instead of regular fights. One Piece: Pirate Warriors which is a One Piece anime tie in to the series. Hyrule Warriors, a collaboration with Nintendo to put the famous Zelda series in the traditional Dynasty Warriors style. Fire Emblem Warriors… you get the idea.
They have been able to show people that the real fun in the game is the gameplay loop more so than it being repetitive. Almost all of their spin off games has been met with more acclaim than the core series despite it being the same game with different characters and stories. I, for one, has been guilty of buying multiple Musou games knowing that they were the same thing.
Staff Writer; Tardell Swift
This brother is new to writing yet has many different interests such as gaming, hip hop, wrestling, and manga.
You can follow him on Twitter; PhirewoodGaming and keep up with his thoughts there as well.