Thanks to its continued success, Switch now plays host to even the most niche of genres. In fact, less than two years into its lifecycle, the debut of the Dynasty Warriors franchise on the platform isn’t even the first ‘Musou’ game to appear in hybrid form; everything from The Legend of Zelda to One Piece has been given the large-scale melee combat makeover. With the recent Dynasty Warriors 9 having embraced a less than popular open-world setup, it falls to heavily re-released entry number eight to do the series justice on Nintendo hardware.
With a title that’s likely to put a mid-tier Kingdom Hearts spin-off into fits of jealousy, Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition brings together the entire original game from 2013, including many of the graphical improvements made when it arrived on PS4 and Xbox One and all the DLC and expansion content released with and around the Empires and Legends versions. If you’re familiar with the franchise, that will make some sense to you, but if you’re completely new to Dynasty Warriors then all you need to know is this version is about complete as you’ll ever need it to be.
Ever since the first game began unleashing hell back on PS1 over 20 years ago, the Dynasty Warriors series has followed and re-enacted famous battles from the era of the Three Kingdoms – a period of time during China’s history where the country descended into civil war with various regions and territories locked in a perpetual feud for control of the country and the throne. You can select from over 80 characters, each with their own weapons, fighting style and special ‘Musou’ moves for clearing large numbers of enemies at once. Once you arrive on the battlefield, you’ll need to hack-and-slash your way around a sandbox map, killing enemy generals to earn XP, slaying gatekeepers to unlock gates and, well, obliterating everything that moves.
It’s an incredibly simple concept, offering a pleasing cross between tactical combat and button-bashing melee. While it’s had a few helpful technical improvements since the series embraced this formula with Dynasty Warriors 2 on PS2, Dynasty Warriors 8 is pretty much the same experience you may have played countless times before. That’s not a bad thing, because Dynasty Warriors 8 is still one of the best entries in the series and this edition comes absolutely overflowing with content. The rich Story mode is here in full, including all the additional missions introduced in the Xtreme Legends expansion.
Alongside the vast Story mode content, there’s a generous helping of game modes to test out. Ambition mode is all about building the most impressive camp in order to gain the support of the emperor himself, while Challenge mode forces you to meet certain objectives within a strict time limit and with distinct debuffs and characters. Free mode, as its name suggests, enables you to simply roam a large map and fight for control of the region without any objectives clouding your mind. If you just want to launch 30 goons into the air with your halberd ad infinitum, this is the Dynasty Warriors time-sink for you. Add in a Gallery and Encyclopedia for all you history buffs and there’s a frightening amount of content to unlock. You could sink over 100 hours into this title and still barely scratch the surface.
As far as porting goes, Omega Force and co have done wonders – the framerate holds together surprisingly well. In fact, it performs better on the whole than the versions first released on PS3 and Xbox 360 almost six years ago. The assets used are clearly mostly based on those versions, but with a smoother approach to optimisation and a handful of visual improvements from the Xtreme Legends expansions, the Switch port is far from inferior. With barely any knocks to performance when playing in handheld mode – especially when compared to other handheld-based Dynasty Warriors releases – this is the franchise’s best outing in Switch yet.
If you have played Dynasty Warriors 8 before in any of its various versions, this Switch version won’t surprise you with any new content. You can play through most of its modes in local co-op and there’s all the DLC the game has received thus far; you can also choose between Japanese and English voiceovers. It’s nothing particularly new, but it’s brilliant to finally see the series make the jump to handheld without sacrificing either content or performance.
Conclusion
While it might seem odd for Omega Force to opt to port the five-year-old Dynasty Warriors 8 over the more recent Dynasty Warriors 9, it’s by and far the right decision for Nintendo Switch owners. Not only is Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition the best version since Dynasty Warriors 5, it comes to the hybrid platform offering more stable performance than the versions that once graced PS3 and Xbox 360. Even when its framerate takes a knock when playing co-op, it’s a remarkably robust port boasting an obscene amount of content fresh out of the box.
Comments 37
In answer to your original question on FB, Yes you should bother.
Especially after what they DID, to Zhang He in DW9.
@FX102A Wait, is this THAT game? Noooo thank you.
@Kalmaro Actually that was 9; if we’re on the same page. I’ll amend to prevent future confusions.
@Kalmaro @FX102A Why are you two continuing some conversation from FB here?
"While it might seem odd for Omega Force to opt to port the five-year-old Dynasty Warriors 8 over the more recent Dynasty Warriors 9, "
Because Dynasty Warriors 9 is a mess on all fronts, and performance wise it even has issues on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.
Not played this game yet not a huge fan of the series though I loved what they did with Fire Emblem Warriors by far my favorite game of this type.
I don't really have any interest in the ordinary Dynasty Warriors series, if I want that type of gameplay I will go for Hyrule Warriors since it has characters I care about.
Help me out here: There is no physical version of this one in the West, correct?
@Shiryu Only digital in the West.
@Spectra In fairness it includes over £100's worth of DLC.. though most are the overpriced costumes but still. It isn't bad bang for your buck - and it isn't full price, it's £34.99/$39.99.
@Spectra The lack of physical is shoddy, but that is how little KT thinks of the Western market. The PS4 version doesn't include all the content the Switch version does however. If you added up all the content to that £10, you'll be looking at £70 odd.
The DLC is very much overpriced (especially the costumes), but it is valued well in comparison to their pricing.
EDIT - Jebus, the DLC is £42 odd on Steam right now, and that's with everything 70% off.
Oh well at least Koei tried. Since I don't have any space left I may had to take a pass on this one unless they decided to bring a phyiscal version down the road.
@XenoShaun Thanks.
Wait, this version contains all additional content from Empires as well?
Is that a mistake or am I misunderstanding the sentence?
Empires is techincally not even the same game, it would surprise me a lot if that was included.
Let me guess.
Only 30 FPS?
Having spent a significant chunk of last year playing either Hyrule Warriors or Fire Emblem Warriors (over 400 hours between the two of them), I've been looking into giving a mainline Musou a shot. Would this be a good entry point?
How much storage space does this game take up?
Does it have a physical edition that supports english?
Does anyone know where the Physical is sold at?
@Kirgo - Only content from DW8, DW8XL and DW8 Complete Edition (and DLCs). No Empires content, so Xun Yu is still a generic officer.
@SwitchForce - You can get the physical from Play-Asia, Amazon JP etc. It's digital only in the West, so you are stuck with a Japanese import. Can't say for sure if the Asian version has English support however. EDIT: Having looked into it, seems the Asian version only adds additional Chinese Subs as an option, no English. @darkswabber
@ExoticSquidy32 - 15.8GB, no other downloads or updates.
@HikaruKitsune - It's unlocked 60FPS, but have seen it can drop to as low as 25FPS at rare times. But often is above 30.
think about the joycons those poor joycons. but i have to admit I do like the occasional DW game.
@XenoShaun "The lack of physical is shoddy, but that is how little KT thinks of the Western market."
Or, it shows how little the Western market thinks of the very Japanese-centric Dynasty Warriors series. If they thought they could make a profit releasing a physical version in the West, then it's a given that they would have done so, but this has always been a low-selling niche franchise outside of Japan.
@alpha5099 - same here - while I didn't like Hyrule Warriors, I was and am in LOVE with FE Warriors. I'm worried that's a unique game in the Mushou/Warriors genre (gameplay-wise - felt like a frantic turn-based tactical rpg brought "to life."
Only physical in Japan right now. I'll wait or pick up the import.
@Spectra No, it is completely fair. It's $20 less and not full price. And it includes all previous DLC. Would you prefer they price it at $20 and sell you the DLC like the PS4 too?
"boasting an obscene amount of content fresh out of the box."
Out of the box... which box? No way I'm buying this as a digital only title.
Pass, I'll just stick with FE Warriors.
@Dang69 I was the same way. I had Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U and I never really got into it, but I could really get into FE Warriors on the Switch. There is just something about the Fire Emblem theme that seems to work a lot better with this type of game. After that I feel set as far as these games go though.
Instead of the dynasty games, can we get some Ninja Gaiden games on Switch. I will even settle for remasters
Got DW8 on PS3, theres too much work gone into that to warrent playing again.
@XenoShaun the post in which you answered about half a dozen people’s different questions was awesome 😂
@JayJ I think it having a [semi] permanent-death toggle in the game helped immensely too. It made me freak when someone was close to biting it, and not indulge in any moment too long (in the post game side content). VC Chronicles 4 gave me some of the same feel-good I got from FE Warriors, by the way. Much slower by nature, but the map management and bases FELT GOOD IN THE SAME WAY.
I have 100% completed the hyrule warriors and it's dlc soon. Then it's time for this I guess... Yes. I am an insane person and like to torture myself.
I am not gonna do it, not again. I have Fire Emblem Warriors, Hyrule Warriors and Fate Extella all sitting unfinished and waiting for me. Even the Gundam Dynasty Warriors sitting on my 360 back in the states.
I always enjoy these games for the first 5-10 hours and then burn out hard on the repetition. I have to say though, the Fire Emblem twists on the genre I particularly liked best. Switching between characters and being able to give orders to others at a distance is quite nice. Better than just hoping AI allies wont just ignore each other and die. I remember playing the older titles on PS2 and feeling like my mission was just to go around saving stupid AI allies...
@XenoShaun Say I imported the Japanese physical copy, would I be able to play the game in English as long as that language is selected in System Settings?
@KayFiOS The Japanese copy doesn't support English at all unfortunately. You'd bs stuck playing it in Japanese.
@XenoShaun Hm. Well, thanks for your help. I'll probably still get the game after I complete Hyrule Warriors DE.
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