I had a day of doing absolutely nothing useful whatsoever today — I finished off Warriors Orochi 2 on Xbox 360 and made a start on Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate on PlayStation 4. I enjoyed the former a lot, but the latter is on a whole other level. I'll doubtless write some things about both in the very near future, but suffice to say for now that Warriors Orochi 3 is one of those games that provides enough stuff to do to fill a lifetime.
The first two Warriors Orochi games had a fun progression system that encouraged you to use a variety of characters, but the third looks like it rewards sticking with particular characters for a while, as there are a lot of things you can build up on an individual character. Experience level, a "promotion" system whereby you reset your character's level from 100 to 1 and get a bonus, weapon compatibility, skill proficiency, weapon abilities, items, bonds with allies… bliss. This is DRPG level of character and party progression, only in a hack-and-slash. Exactly what I want from a Warriors game — and I'd argue that this game specifically is pretty close to my ideal Warriors game in terms of progression and structure. At least that's my first impression.
The narrative aspect is interesting, too. After Warriors Orochi and its sequel followed directly on from one another, Warriors Orochi 3 unfolds after the cataclysmic arrival of the gigantic Hydra, which kills pretty much everyone (save for three plucky heroes, conveniently) and obliterates the parallel world that the Warriors Orochi series has been unfolding in so far. What then transpires is a time-travelling tale where the surviving three heroes go back to key events after the Hydra's arrival and change history. They then take the people they save back to the "present", with the ultimate aim being to assemble an enormous army of badasses from the world of Warriors Orochi and be able to take down the Hydra once and for all.
This is a really neat structure that provides a clear long-term goal to aim for; the "prologue" mission to the game is basically the final boss, except you have absolutely no chance of winning whatsoever. Any time you return to your camp, the final boss is just outside the gates, so technically you can go back and get your ass kicked any time you want, but the majority of the game involves figuring out the tangled timelines and ensuring everything is in place to ensure the survival of important characters.
Anyway. Early days so far, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's 2AM and I could happily play a lot more, but it would probably be unwise to. Also Patreon seems to think that this post is "promoting a raffle" using some sort of auto-detection routine that is clearly broken. I don't know what it took from the above to make it think that I was promoting a raffle, but, dear Patreon robots, I most certainly am not. Thank you.
Hope you've had a pleasant Saturday. Onwards to an equally useless Sunday!
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