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Video Game Vintage Title: Warriors Orochi 3

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Warriors Orochi 3

Warriors Orochi 3

Warriors Orochi 3, originally released as Musou Orochi 2 in Japan, is a 2011 hack and slash video game developed by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the fourth installment of the crossover series Warriors Orochi, being the combination of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series. This installment serves as a sequel to Warriors Orochi 2. The game was released in Japan on December 22, 2011, in Europe on April 6, 2012, North America on March 20, 2012 and March 27, 2012 .

There are two ports of the game, Musou Orochi 2 Special released on July 19, 2012 for PlayStation Portable exclusively in Japan and Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper was released as a launch title for the Wii U for Japan, North America, and Europe. An updated version, Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate was released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on September 26, 2013.

Warriors Orochi 3 Plot

Unlike previous games of the series, Warriors Orochi 3 presents a single, largely linear story as opposed to faction-based storylines. The story is split into four chapters, each of which contain several main and side-story battles. Due to the time travel used in the story, the player technically starts at the first battle of Chapter 4 near the end of the timeline, which will be continued to Chapter 1 and 2 which are set in the middle of the timeline, while Chapter 3 is set in the earliest timeline. The Ultimate version adds four more chapters to the story, with three set after the original game's ending, while one is set further back to the timeline, before the series starts.

Several years after the events of Warriors Orochi 2 the warriors of the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Sengoku period of Japan had begun to rebuild their lives in the twisted dimensional world after Orochi's permanent death. It is not destined for long though, as the monstrous eight-headed serpent beast dubbed as "Hydra" appeared and massacred through the warriors. Combined with the resurrection of Kiyomori Taira and the reappearance of Da Ji who brainwashed the remaining heroes, the warriors are left in cradle. The remaining three heroes: Ma Chao, Sima Zhao, and Hanbei Takenaka are about to be defeated if not for the intervention of the Moon Princess, Kaguya, who claimed to had been sent from the mystic world to help the warriors. She used her time travel powers to sent the three back in time, so they will be able to save their comrades from certain doom.

After securing the more strategical places like Odawara Castle, the coalition are informed by mystic Taigong Wang that they can defeat the Hydra using a special weapon called "Yashio'ori"; however, they will need the time and power to build such weapons. The coalition capture an amnesiac mighty warrior, Shuten Dōji, who is later revealed to be an off-shot of Orochi who was born at the same time as Hydra; in reality the world's will of Orochi's power, as well as Da Ji herself, who reluctantly joins after the coalition have her friend, Himiko as an unwitting hostage. Because of the time required to build multiple Yashio'ori, the coalition must return to the distant past when the Hydra has yet to appear in the world, which they fulfill through Da Ji's power, as she has been in the dimensional world the entire time (the other mystics have only appeared when the Hydra had make its appearance). Upon arriving, the coalition have to protect Da Ji from the anti-Orochi forces as well as an army of mystics led by the great mystic, Susanoo who has dedicated his job to hunt Da Ji. They eventually gain their trust, and with the help of them, the coalition build multiple Yashio'ori powered by Shuten Dōji's essence, while also preparing for the upcoming grand battle with the Hydra.

In the final chapter, the coalition confront the Hydra again, who is defeated through the help of Yashio'ori. The Hydra then reforms to eight Orochi clones and later a final Orochi X form. While battling them, the coalition also have to gain the trust of Susanoo, who is not yet willing to let the problem fall in the mortal's hands. The game has three endings, which are unlocked through certain requirements. The "Normal" ending has the coalition finally being able to destroy Hydra. The "Good" ending is essentially the same, although the warriors then make pledge to rule the land together in peace. In the "True" ending, after Orochi X is defeated, the dimensional world begins to crumble, as Orochi's existence is the only thing that supports the world; defeating him means the end of the world. The mystics band their powers to sent the warriors back to their own original time, saving them at the cost of their memories in the dimensional world.

The expanded story in the Ultimate update is continued from the "Good" ending of the original game, thus forgoing the "True" ending. Da Ji and the rest of the Demon Army have broken out from the Coalition and are now traversing the dimensional world. They are attracted to a magical stone they found during their journey, which is revealed to be the sealed form of Mae Tamamo, a mystic who possesses a mysterious mirror, the Shinkyō, which has the ability to seal anyone who come into contact with it and to create doppelgangers. Allying herself with Da Ji, Tamamo seals many warriors of the Three Kingdoms and Sengoku period and create doppelgangers of them, causing chaos and conflict within the Coalition. The mystics, who have gone to the mystic realm since the Hydra's defeat, descend once more to help the warriors. Depending on the progression, the player may finish the game's story in Chapter 6, which ends in the release of the sealed warriors and Tamamo's defeat and subsequent sealing as the stone again by the mystics. Otherwise, while the sealed warriors are released, Tamamo is not yet defeated, and the story continues to Chapter 7.

In an attempt to stop Tamamo from causing further conflicts, the warriors will need her own magic mirror, the Shinkyō to seal her. Through Kaguya's time travel powers, the warriors travel far back in time in the mystic realm, when Orochi had not existed yet. The mystic realm is ruled by the Shangdi, who is the original possessor of the Shinkyō and had used it to seal demons. The warriors meet with the mystic Yinglong, who is fooled by Tamamo into believing that the Emperor had used the Shinkyō to control the demons. He starts a rebellion against the Emperor and eventually manages to steal the mirror, but this act caused him to be corrupted by the mirror's evil power, which transforms him into Orochi, who proceeds to go to the human realm to commit various evil acts after having killed the half-mystic Nezha. The Emperor, having learned of Tamamo's plans, gratefully lends the warriors the Shinkyō. Back to the present time, the warriors use the mirror against Tamamo, but this only makes her reverting to her true form, the Kyūbi no Kitsune, who goes to confront the warriors in the final battle. The Ultimate update have two endings in addition to the three mentioned above, the first of which is the aforementioned "normal" ending where Tamamo is sealed without having reverted to her true form. In this ending the warriors continue to live their life in peace in the dimensional world. The second ending is similar to the "True" ending of the original game, where after having sealed Kyūbi, the mystics band their powers to send the warriors to their original timeline; however, the dimensional world seems to stay intact, unlike the original game.

Warriors Orochi 3 Gameplay

Gameplay of Warriors Orochi 3 is similar to that of the two titles that the Warriors Orochi 3 takes its characters from: namely Dynasty Warriors 7 (specifically, Dynasty Warriors Next) and Samurai Warriors 3Z. Characters from either of these series play similar to how they play in their respective source games, but with a number of changes to unify the two different games together:

Dynasty Warriors characters are solely armed with one weapon, and cannot switch to another one; however, the weapon given to each character is their EX weapon from the series.

Dynasty Warriors characters are restricted to one Musou attack. Characters with a ground and aerial Musou attack in Dynasty Warriors 7 retain their ground Musou attack, while characters having two ground Musou attacks may retain either of theirs as their Musou attack.

To accommodate the change in Dynasty Warriors 7 that the Musou Attack button does not have to be held when the Musou attack is initiated (unlike in Warriors Orochi 2, which uses Dynasty Warriors 5 as its source), the Musou attack now deducts a fixed amount of Musou gauge when it is performed; for most characters, there is enough remaining in the Musou gauge for one additional Special attack.

Dynasty Warriors characters gain the ability to charge their Musou gauge, as with previous games (but not Dynasty Warriors 7). Characters new to the Warriors Orochi series also gain new Special attacks (some of which may be weaker versions of their alternate Musou attack from Dynasty Warriors 7).

As movesets are determined by weapon in Dynasty Warriors 7 rather than by character, characters sharing the same weapon in Dynasty Warriors 7 have altered charge attacks to differentiate them from each other.

Samurai Warriors characters perform their Ultimate Musou attack in situations where the True Musou attack is available, to compensate for the lack of the Spirit Gauge.

Samurai Warriors characters gain new Switch attacks, akin to weapon switching in Dynasty Warriors 7, for their use in Switch Combos.

For characters who are from neither of the two series, whether or not the character is of Japanese origin determines whether their Musou attack corresponds to that of the Dynasty Warriors or the Samurai Warriors cast. Characters new to Warriors Orochi will also have movesets based on their overall character type in this regard: for example, Nemea (whose moveset is based on a Dynasty Warriors 7 weapon unused by anyone in that roster) has an EX attack like Dynasty Warriors characters, while Kaguya has the longer standard attack chain reminiscent of a character from the Samurai Warriors roster.

Characters from previous Warriors Orochi titles and characters who did not appear in the latest instalments of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors (Zuo Ci, Goemon Ishikawa, Musashi Miyamoto, and Kojiro Sasaki), retain their Warriors Orochi Z movesets; those with the Dynasty Warriors moveset do not gain an EX attack (but may follow up one of their six charge attacks with two attacks instead of one, as with Dynasty Warriors 5), while those with the Samurai Warriors moveset do not gain the additional charge attack (C5 or C9, depending on moveset) introduced in Samurai Warriors 3. However, characters with the Dynasty Warriors moveset have their Musou attacks updated to be consistent with the Dynasty Warriors 7 cast (i.e. they are not required to hold down the Musou attack button, and their Musou attack deducts a fixed amount of Musou gauge as opposed to ending whenever the Musou attack button is released).

Gameplay takes place on modified versions of stages taken primarily from Dynasty Warriors 7 or Samurai Warriors 3; a select number of stages relevant to the story are new stages. Each of the new "collaboration characters" (Ryu Hayabusa, Ayane, Joan of Arc, Nemea, Achilles, Rachel, and Momiji) is also associated with a stage taken from either Dynasty Warriors 7 or Samurai Warriors 3, with graphical modifications made to resemble their game of origin. Much of the stage music is taken from earlier Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, or Warriors Orochi games; each of the collaboration characters is also associated with a unique theme.

New mechanics for the Warriors Orochi series are as follows:

In addition to Power, Speed, and Technique, a new character attack type, "Wonder", is available. Some characters may have their character attack type changed from Warriors Orochi 2 as a result. Wonder characters gain the Spirit Charge ability from Samurai Warriors 3: by pressing the Jump button while attacking, Wonder characters perform an alternate attack that breaks an opponent's guard. Speed characters no longer have a second Special attack, while Technique characters can no longer chain Normal attacks into their Special attack; however, Technique characters gain the ability to sidestep attacks by pressing the Jump button while strafing (moving while guarding).

Like Dynasty Warriors 7, there is a central base from which characters organize their missions. The base initially contains a weapons dealer and a network assistant for multiplayer play, but can be expanded to include a teahouse.

A modified version of the Bond system from Dynasty Warriors 7 is introduced. Bonds between two characters are formed through being allied in battle, being opponents in battle, being teammates in battle, or by completing a mission set forth by an ally in battle (however, failure to complete a mission weakens the bond between two characters). As new chapters are unlocked, bonds between characters may be raised by paying gems at the teahouse. The bond between two characters are roughly divided into thirds; bonds between characters must be raised in battle to graduate past the one-third and two-thirds marks. The raising of bonds between certain characters past the one-third mark is a requirement for some side-story missions.

Each character is associated with a number of other characters considered to be "special relationships"; as the bond between the two characters increase, new support conversations may appear whenever the player controls either character in the central base. Special relationships span many different types, including family, adversarial, based on earlier Warriors Orochi series titles, or based on events in Story Mode.

As with Dynasty Warriors 7, the morale gauge is no longer present.

As with Samurai Warriors 3, each character is associated with four levels of weapons; Dynasty Warriors characters sharing the same weapon will have identical weapons for the first three levels (but maintain separate weapon pools). Players may enhance their weapons with attributes, and merge two weapons to form a more powerful weapon by transferring the attributes from one weapon to another. Characters also have access to a fifth "big star" weapon for which weapon proficiency grows more slowly, but damage output is increased. Characters with similar weapon types will share similar big star weapons, but like Samurai Warriors 3 (and unlike Dynasty Warriors 7), each character maintains their own inventory of weapons. If the bond between two characters are maxed out, one of the characters may be awarded a new weapon by the other whenever they are allied but not teammates in subsequent battles. Characters may keep up to eight weapons in their inventory, excluding weapons available via downloadable content.

Players may switch characters as they are attacking. This technique, known as a "Switch Combo", allows the combo counter of the outgoing character to be transferred to the incoming character, who performs a special switch attack when they are switched in. This, however, consumes a portion of the incoming character's Musou gauge.

Characters may perform a "Break Guard", a damaging blowback attack dealing critical damage, from blocking attacks, by pressing the Normal Attack button after blocking an attack.

Characters may perform a "Dash Chain", allowing a character to continue running after performing a running attack.

A new gauge has been introduced: the True Triple Attack gauge, which fills as a player deals damage to enemies. When the gauge is full, players may initiate a True Triple attack by pressing both character switch buttons, during which all three team members will appear on the screen to attack enemies. For a short period of time after the True Triple Attack is initiated, all enemies will move in slow motion, allowing characters to deal additional damage to enemies. At the end of the True Triple Attack, all three characters will perform one final attack, ending with the three characters posing together; any enemies killed by a True Triple Attack will drop items, which are automatically collected at the end of the attack. The strength of the True Triple Attack is determined by the overall bond between the three characters. There is also a variation called the "Triple Rush" attack which is only available in the Ultimate update. A team of 3 specific characters will also result in creating a unique attack within the "Triple Rush" feature.

Exclusive to the Ultimate update, characters can now perform "special" R1 attacks while in mid-air, called the "Midair Tie Up Action".

Also exclusive to the Ultimate update, two players can now perform Musou attacks simultaneously, resulting in a six-man Musou attack combination, called the "True Musou Burst".

Two-player co-op is available with both players permitted to use different teams. For Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper, the Wii U Gamepad may be used for one of the players, allowing the other player to play in full-screen.

A new mode, "Musou Battlefield", allows the modification of existing stages and sharing of modifications online. Players have a limited number of "edit points", where they may replace characters, add more aggressive enemy behaviour, and alter game audio. The Ultimate update removes the need for edit points to alter the changes and the players can also customize the battle quotes and combat notifications in-game.

Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper, in addition, has a new Duel Mode, allowing players to battle each other in three-on-three battles. Players must choose in addition four Strategy Cards, which may be activated over the course of a duel: each Strategy Card costs a number of Battle Points (gained over time during a battle) per use. Each character has two Strategy Cards available for use; one is made available by unlocking the character, while the second is made available through other means.

Musou Orochi 2 Ultimate adds a new Unlimited Mode, where players can set a party of five characters (instead of three).

Downloadable content allowing for new character costumes, scenarios, weapons, and music, is available for all platforms. As with scenarios present in the base game, all scenarios use slightly modified versions of stages from Dynasty Warriors 7, Samurai Warriors 3, or Warriors Orochi 2, as per Warriors Orochi series tradition. Both original music and music from past Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games are available for download. Downloadable costumes are based on costumes used in past Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, or are alternate costumes from past Warriors Orochi titles. In addition, Dynasty Warriors characters gain downloadable costumes based on their Awakened Forms from Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 (or inspired therein, for characters not present in that title), while all other characters gain downloadable costumes depicting them cosplaying as a character from Dynasty Warriors.

Reception
Musou Orochi 2 sold 200,526 copies in its first three days of release. In addition, it was rated by Famitsu with a 9/8/8/9, for an averaged rating of 8.5 out of 10.

The American version of Warriors Orochi 3 was released as a digital download on the PSN, while the Xbox 360 version was released as a physical disc.


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