Famitsu has posted up a new story detailing Koei Tecmo and Omega Force’s Dynasty Warriors 9, which is an upcoming Musou title within the ongoing Dynasty Warrior series. The post details the new open world, characters and much more. Dynasty Warriors 9 is set to come out for PS4 and currently has no release date.

The latest piece that Famitsu published revolves around the very popular and ongoing series known as Dynasty Warriors. The latest issue covers the upcoming game’s open world format that will be displayed as a vast area depicting the continent of China during the Three Kingdoms period.

Open World and Combat

I know that the combat in DW9 may or may not be something to write home about given that the devs will be changing the system to compliment the change of environment. Additionally, Famitsu notes that the open-world changes have prompted the dev team to buff attack methods, adding a bit of stealth and infiltration when seizing forts and castles.

Long distance attacks will make an appearance again, meaning that if you like to use the bow and arrow any character will be able to take advantage of returning feature.

Weather and Enemies

The publication site also noted that time and weather changes all in real-time, and much like the Battlefield games, weather will alter battles. In addition to this, heavy rain and night or dark places will hamper enemy vision, whereas clear sunny days will be equal ground for both parties. I just wonder will the weather play a key role in skirmishes and battles like in the movie adaption Red Cliff?

Missions and difficulty

Moreover, missions will appear all over the map and will be accompanied by “main missions”. Upon clearing main missions, history will greatly advance forward, but it is noted that these missions have extreme levels of difficulty. Encouraging strategy and planning comes surrounding missions, these outpost and places encamping the main mission will lower the difficulty if cleared. In other words, think of surrounding missions as supply and garrison depots that replenish the extreme hardcore main missions.

State Combos and Interactive Actions

State Combo is a new system that lets players approach various scenarios in different ways. The combo starts with a trigger attack and end with a strong finish attack, all in between changes depending on the enemy and the consecutive attacks linked together to make a devastating chain state of combos.

Interactive Actions are moves that adjust to the terrain and surrounding environment. I wonder if physics based animations will be implemented in these attacks to help smooth things out? Anyway, you can use grappling hooks to climb up high mountains, walls and other ledges, or you can unleash attacks that “use certain things on spot” which I’m not too sure what that means.

Screenshots and Bulleted List

Below is an image showing a list of screenshots of Dynasty Warriors 9 thanks to blog site Esuteru, and a bulleted list covering all things feature related in said game.

• The main theme of the game follows the history records of the Three Kingdoms
• Battles are not broken up into sections or stages, all of the field is a battlefield and includes you (the player)
• Players can traverse the map however they want and can hear talk and rumors about events taking place around the land
• Upon defeating a leader like Zhang Jue, the story will soon introduce the infamous Doug Zhuo and that era’s events; progressing history
• The map of the open world environment will change over time to match that era, so there will be a lot to explore in the ever changing map
• Stories will be planned for each warlord, branches will not be included that change history
• Players will be able to pick the warlord of their choice like Zhao Yun or Wang Yuanji, but the game will start according to that warlords active skirmish. The ability to switch warlords doing a playthrough is said to be in consideration
• The time it takes to cross the Yangtze River and Yellow River takes about five minutes to swim across. Ports, however, can act as an instant travel to another area’s port
• Major cities like Luoyang are smaller than they are in reality, but since one side is estimated around one kilo, it is an experience of considerable scale
• There will be more than 10 cities, which bartering will be a thing to receive and trade goods
• Movement is mainly by horse, however a fast travel mechanic is said to be in the works that will teleport you to an already discovered area
• Warlords and their outfits will be toned down and will be less flashy, opting for a more realistic look to match that period
• Hunting animals, races, archery battles and other missions will be placed in the open world that will supposedly add another layer to Dynasty Warriors 9.

Dynasty Warriors 9 is currently 40% done according to Famitsu. The game itself is set to come out for PS4 and currently has no release date.