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yeonchi · 22 days

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Warriors Orochi: The Recollective Redux Part 1: Introduction and Features

Introduction

In 2015, I created Warriors Orochi: The Recollective (named after the intended localised name of Musou Orochi Z) as a way of sharing my take on a combined remaster of the first two Warriors Orochi games using the characters from Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends (and Xun Yu from Empires) and Samurai Warriors 4-II. Over the next 8 years to 2023, Warriors Orochi 4 came out (to low expectations) and I started playing basically every Warriors game I could get on the gaming PC I built.

While looking back on this series, I realised that I forgot a few characters in some places and I also noticed that some maps I had were duplicated and that it didn’t make sense to essentially have four less stages for Jin with the split route design I had back in 2015. In short, it was time for me to do a refresh of this series and reflect on some of the decisions I made for it in light of Warriors Orochi 4’s release.

The spirit of this project remains – I wanted to give some characters more screentime compared to the original games and I wanted to make the character unlock conditions for some characters easier (most notably the unlock condition for Wu’s Chapter 8-X to unlock Lu Bu).

Without further ado, please enjoy my 2023 remake of Warriors Orochi: The Recollective. Posts will be released every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Abilities/Items/Treasures will not be detailed in this series.

Changes from the original series

I realised that it was easier to leave the maps from the original games instead of adapting them to the maps from newer games. As such, all original stages from Musou Orochi Z retain their original designs from Dynasty Warriors 5, Samurai Warriors 2 and their Xtreme Legends expansions.

Some new stages from the newer Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, namely those that haven’t been featured in Warriors Orochi 3 or 4, are used for the original stages in this game.

The Dream Mode adaptation stages from the Orochi and Wei stories (for Sanzang, Benkei, Orochi’s backstory and Orochi X) along with the side stories in the Orochi Story Mode have been removed.

The first four stages of Jin’s upper and lower routes (which have been renamed the Sima Yi and Sima Zhao routes) have been unmerged and the stages divided into either one of the two routes.

Both the Orochi and Jin stories have been reorganised and new stages have been written to fill in the gaps.

Originally, I neglected to feature Jia Xu, Wang Yuanji, Wang Yi and Yu Jin in the A stories and Naomasa Ii and Guo Jia in the B stories. As such, the officers appearing in each battle have been balanced (to the best of my ability) so as to allow all playable officers to appear as allies or enemies at least once.

Side stages where more than one character can be unlocked have been changed with the extra characters being moved to the A stories for Jin.

The unlock stages for Dong Zhuo, Keiji Maeda and Masamune Date have been changed so that Koshōshō‎‎, Lu Lingqi and Gracia are unlocked instead. This is to retain the former three officers’ statuses as staunch officers of the Orochi Army.

Game features

All Story Mode and Dream Mode stages from Musou Orochi Z are adapted into this game, with certain generic officers upgraded to playable officers where applicable.

8 original stages have been added to the Orochi story to bring it in line with the other stories. Those stages will also cover how Himiko, Kiyomori Taira and Sun Wukong joined the Orochi Army.

Two original stories have been created for the Jin kingdom, following Sima Yi and Sima Zhao respectively. This is to allow room for newer characters to be featured (where they wouldn’t fit in the other stories).

Shennong, Diamondback and Hundun are added as bonus characters from Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate with their own scenarios in Dream Mode (like Sanzang and Benkei).

An additional 40 stages have been added to Dream Mode to accommodate the newer characters (but I won’t be detailing them in this series).

Some unlock conditions for the characters in the Warriors Orochi side story battles have been made easier.

Features in battle

Summoning horses is similar to that of Dynasty Warriors 8: press the up/down button to call your horse and hold the button to automatically mount it.

Dynasty Warriors characters have two EX attacks. All characters use their weapons from DW8XL (except for Xun Yu whose weapon is from DW8E).

Samurai Warriors characters have the Hyper Attack Moveset (Shinsoku Action). Mighty Strikes (Tate) are unfortunately removed, but they regain the ability to perform a Dash Attack (adapted from the Shadow Dodge follow-on).

Musou attacks:

Dynasty Warriors characters use a ground Musou Attack that takes up a portion of the Musou gauge. The Rage Musou is used as the True Musou Attack (that is, when your health is at red or when you have a weapon with the skill Verity).

Samurai Warriors characters use up the full Musou gauge. They will have the finisher when they use their normal Musou attack. In the True Musou Attack, the Ultimate (Kaiden/Frenzy) Musou is used following the normal Musou attack in the style of Samurai Warriors 3/Warriors Orochi 3.

Character types and combat systems are the same as in Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, save for the True Triple Attack, True Musou Burst and changing battle styles (all 3 characters on the battlefield). Musou Chains (WOZ)/Musou Switch Combos (WO4) are not used.

When the character’s life is in the red or if you have a weapon with the skill Teamwork, a Triple Attack can be used like in Warriors Orochi 2.

New Characters

All older characters will follow their configurations as per Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, including Special Attacks and Aerial Special Attacks (Type Actions). However, it should be noted that some Dynasty Warriors characters have changed weapons in either DW7E or DW8. After testing their Special Moves, I can see that most of their Special Moves can be retained, however they can be changed if they are too hard to adapt to their new weapon (ie. Cao Ren and Huang Gai, aerial only for the latter). Newer characters debuting in newer games will require original Special Attacks and Aerial Special Attacks to be created.

Below are lists of predicted character types for the newer characters (and predicted Musou Attacks for the Dynasty Warriors characters). Since Warriors Orochi 4 has come out, I’m going to see how many of these I got right.

New Power Characters

Cao Ren (uses normal Musou, Charging Bull 廬山)

Li Dian (uses R1 Musou, Royal Lightning 雷公)

Han Dang (uses normal Musou, Hostile Action 怒気開放)

Guan Yinping (uses R1 Musou, Sparring Practice 組手)

Xiahou Ba (uses R1 Musou, Castle Crusher 崩城轟雷撃)

Kagekatsu Uesugi

Toyohisa Shimazu

Reflection:

In regards to Musous for DW characters, I matched Li Dian and Han Dang; Guan Yinping uses her normal Musou, Military Training 演武.

When I originally wrote this series, I was unaware that Xiahou Ba had changed weapons and Musous in DW7 Empires. Although he maintains the same character type between WO3 and WO4, he actually uses his normal Musou, Lightning Spear 雷貫槍 in WO4. The same goes for Cao Ren as well; he used his R1 Musou, Cascading Falls 瀑布 in WO3.

In regards to character types, I matched Li Dian, Han Dang, Kagekatsu Uesugi and Toyohisa Shimazu. Guan Yinping and Kojūrō Katakura are Speed type characters in WO4.

New Technique Characters

Lu Su (uses normal Musou, Boulder Wave 岩隆波)

Zhang Bao (uses normal Musou, Rapid Thrust 連刃千撃)

Fa Zheng (uses R1 Musou, Binder 始伏陣)

Takatora Tōdō

Nobuyuki Sanada

Lady Hayakawa

Reflection:

In regards to Musous for DW characters, I matched Zhang Bao and Fa Zheng; Lu Su uses his R1 Musou, Mountain Strike 大山隆落衝.

In regards to character types, I matched Lu Su, Fa Zheng and Lady Hayakawa. Zhang Bao is a Power Type, while Takatora Tōdō and Nobuyuki Sanada are Speed Types in WO4.

New Speed Characters

Yue Jin (uses R1 Musou, Flurried Strike 震身連斬)

Xun Yu (uses R1 Musou, Divine Emperor Formation 天煌翔覇陣)

Zhu Ran (uses normal Musou, Conflagration Arrow 烈火椋穿弾)

Guan Xing (uses normal Musou, Skyslider 天空滑閃)

Jia Chong (uses R1 Musou, Darkness Blade - Destruction 闇刃・滅)

Zhang Chunhua (uses normal Musou, Crazed Web 狂沸糸)

Chen Gong (uses R1 Musou, Puppeteer - Submission 召兵劇・伏)

Naotora Ii

Yoshitsugu Ōtani

Koshōshō

Reflection:

In regards to Musous for DW characters, I matched Yue Jin, Zhu Ran, Guan Xing, Jia Chong and Zhang Chunhua; Xun Yu uses his normal Musou, Comet Formation (流煌陣) with the pillars activated through his C1, while Chen Gong uses his normal Musou, Puppeteer – Horizontal (召兵劇・横).

In regards to character types, I matched all of the DW characters except Guan Xing and Zhang Chunhua; said characters alongside the SW characters are all Technique types.

New Wonder Characters

Yu Jin (uses normal Musou, Cauterisation 灼絶)

Wen Yang (uses R1 Musou, Instant Flash 奥義・逆鱗閃)

Lu Lingqi (uses R1 Musou, Zero Point 零鋒覇)

Munenori Yagyū

Hisahide Matsunaga

Naomasa Ii

Reflection:

In regards to Musous for DW characters, I did not match any of them; Yu Jin uses his R1 Musou, Hell Blade 獄刃, Wen Yang uses his normal Musou, Raging Billows 八十一鱗, and Lu Lingqi uses her normal Musou, Angel Blade 天翔刃.

In regards to character types, the Wonder type is removed and incorporated into the Technique type in WO4. If we take this assumption into this series, only Munenori Yagyū, being a Technique type, would have matched my prediction. With the exception of Naomasa Ii who is a Speed type character, other listed characters are Power types in WO4.

Unlock conditions for other characters:

Orochi/Da Ji (Orochi story): Clear Chapter 8 for the Shu, Wei, Wu and SW stories.

Zuo Ci: Clear Chapter 8 for the Shu, Wei, Wu and SW stories.

Dodomeki: Obtain 10 treasures.

Gyūki: Obtain 20 treasures.

Sanzang: Clear Chapter 16 for Wei.

Benkei: Clear Chapter 16 for Wu.

Orochi Z: Clear Chapter 16 for all stories.

Shennong: Clear Chapter 16 for SW.

Diamondback: Obtain 25 treasures.

Hundun: Unlock all other characters.

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