Review: Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition

Let our actions define history.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve stepped into the lore of the Warring Kingdoms. Back in the PlayStation 2’s heyday I played Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends, It was always a favorite past time due to the size and scale of battles. I also learned a little history about ancient china to boot, something I would have never been interested in otherwise.

This is the latest iteration in the Dynasty Warriors series and I jumped at the chance to dive in again and relive the memories of Xiahou Don and running from my life from Lu Bu on maps I encountered him on. Especially since I normally played the Wei army setting, and most of their battles were against him.

 Some things I noticed is characters are able to have more than one Musou attack when you get them to a certain level. Also option I definitely digged having the ability to only show general’s life bars so that way it’s not a sea of red lines and I can wade through them getting to the important people.

It was definitely a quality of life buff that I could really roll with. I also seen they raised the level cap from the standard 99 to 150, this will help lengthen the game for those completionist out there. Weapons have changed as well especially from when I played, You now have elements assigned to your gear that operates in a rock, paper, scissors faction so that you can quickly change in battle to suit the situation.

When your element has an advantage to the person you’re fighting they will have a blue jewel over their head that breaks away in sections with each attack. When the jewel is destroyed your character starts a flurry attack that really felt like something out of Fist of the North Star. It was really great and kept the battles feeling new and with good motion instead of the standard attack pattern some tend to employ to just clear and move on.

There is a new story option instead of just choosing one of the kingdoms to represent, Lu Bu has his own story and path you follow with all his battles and deeds. Notably he is the cover character for this iteration of Dynasty Warriors instead of it being Zhao Yun. There is also IF Scenario’s that allow battles to go down different paths and have alternate stories to match.

I spent most of my time in Story Mode relieving some of Han China’s historical battles but I did dabble in other modes. Ambition mode which had to be unlocked by constructing Tongquetai Palace. It was a War simulation type mode that had me as a general trying to unite all. You build relationships with characters you get via ranks and as relations improve your territory expands.

Whenever a enemy territory is attacked you have to have a certain count of defeated soldiers and take out a boss commander in order to add it to your expanding nation. You get Gems that act as a currency allowing you to customize weapons.

Next was Challenge mode which brought about trials that unlocked additional weapons and elemental gem power-ups that could further assist you in battle. The typed of challenges are categorized as Rampage; defeat as many enemies as possible before time runs out.

Bridge; knock out as many enemies off a platform as possible, Speed Run; get to the goal as quickly as you’re able, Arena; fight against every general in the game until you run out of health, and Inferno; defeat all enemies before the time runs out.

It was nice having a variety to pick from when you wanted to get some gaming in without having to get deep into the story. These modes definitely help the longevity of the title. Arena was a personal favorite as you never know what general would come next due to the large amount of characters in the game.

Graphically the game was very sharp and it didn’t feel dated in the slightest. there was many times I would have never guessed it was on PlayStation Vita if I wasn’t holding the handheld in my hand. It’s a definite stand in for it’s console counterparts and holds up very well on long trips.

Dynasty Warriors 8 Complete Edition really did feel like a total package and worth the cost of entry. Having a history with the series also helped as I could definitely see that this was a undertaking that came such a long way from it’s earlier games in the series to show that the developers take special time to craft everything from modes to expanding the roster.

It definitely has something for everyone and more, I would definitely say a non hesitant purchase. Just don’t be like me if you’re purchasing digitally and be prepared as the download size was around 3.4gigs, I only have a 4gig memory card for my Vita so I had to shuffle some things around but that aside you can start your adventure in the Warring Kingdoms with Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition on PlayStation Vita, PlayStation PlayStation 4, & On the Steam Digital Distribution platform.

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