Dynasty Warriors producer fends off criticism
The Dynasty Warriors games and all Koei's subsequent spin-off franchises utilizing the familiar formula get a lot of heat from reviewers and bloggers like us. However, nobody can deny how darn well the titles sell, especially in Japan. They're basically the Dragon Quest for hack-n-slash button mashers. This is mostly the route Dynasty Warriors 6 producer Ken Matsumoto took when he defended the game in a recent interview. But what else did he say?
From a graphical perspective, all the characters have gotten new animations and the fog of war has been completely lifted (unless, we assume, there is a fog on the battlefield on purpose). Since the storyline is based in history, Matsumoto says the challenge with making new games is that the story can't really change. He says most reviews he has read for DW6 don't mention any of the new things they've added to the game -- branching scenario trees, swimming, and climbing ladders are what we assume he means -- which can be annoying to read from a designer's perspective. He says subtleties have the most value, and removing the fog, allowing characters to swim and climb are pretty good improvements for what was always the definitive battlefield franchise. We'll have more when we review the game in the coming weeks.
