Customer Reviews

Warriors Orochi 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like Warriors Orochi(here now abbreviated WO), and when a sequel... an ACTUAL sequel, was expected to show in the states, I had to bide my time. Now released, this game is a solid story carry-over. Listen up.

PROS:
+Soul Caliberesque Fighting mode, A Versus mode, a special character-specific Dream mode, and a much larger artwork and character gallery.
+Warrior's Orochi 2 shoots directly from the prequel. If you have previous data from the first, all the first abilities of EVERY character will be unlocked.
+Horses are SIGNIFICANTLY faster and actually make or break a rescue.
+Great for low self-esteem folks as your friendly commanders can't seem to stop praising how awesome and powerful you are =P
+Much more fluid and refined motions for all units.
+NEW COSTUMES to unlock during character advancement
+More aggressive A.I. and friendly officers can hold their own in a 1-on-1.
+More weapon customization. You locate treasure by adhering to specific battle requirements and combine them with spare weapons to create benefits to character abilities(like True Musou, One-time revival upon death, use of special abilities without restrictions).
+More story-driven chaos and Orochi's own reconquest story-line.

CONS:The bad could be set aside as trivial but some I note are:
-An occasional slow-down due the sheer number of enemies.
-Too much talking about achievements slow down in game sequences.
-Leaders in groups of 5, look the same, and thus cannot be made to retreat so hastily.
-You will be saving your officers many times due to the A.I. picking out your weaker and smaller armies. They will gang up on anyone for an advantage.
-You will need your horse more than you know.

The cons aren't really cons. More like warnings when you play, Warrior's Orochi 2 has actually different warfare than WO1. You will see many archers for instance, and peons will use charge attacks in turns.

This game is so good. I can't recommend enough if you played the first Warriors Orochi. An actual story that is continued from the prequel... its about time!

If you are a Dynasty Warriors and/or Samurai Warriors fan, BUY THIS GAME! Every character from DW5/DW5XL and SW2/SW2XL, plus several new characters, makes for a roster of 91 playable characters! Not only that, but you create teams of 3 for battles, so you can change characters at will.

The music is one of the best things about the game (but maybe thats just me, I like the fast energetic techno beats they put in). Also, all the enemies appear on the screen at the same time, so no worries about "ghosting" where some enemies are invisible due to graphics limitations (not to mention the sheer variety of enemies is awesome).

Look, I own every DW and SW game from 1 to 6 (XLs and Empires too), as well as the original Warriors Orochi, and Warriors Orochi 2 is my favorite. So if you are a fan of Koei buy it, and if you are looking to jump into the series (the ultimate hack-n-slash gaming experience) this game is the best place to start :D

Warriors Orochi 2 for the PS2 and Xbox360 (basing review off PS2 version) is essentially the same Warriors Orochi game released last year for the same consoles. Fans of the series will enjoy the new content in this release (assuming they've enjoyed the first WO), newcomers may find the hack n' slash style gameplay refreshing, and those who find the game repetitive will seek to stay away from this release as with any other Warriors game KOEI releases every year.

Everything in this game is the same as the first Warriors Orochi, including the menus and the fun "weapon fusion" concept. New modes have been added, but hardly offer much to be praised. Story mode and free play is the heart of the game--players will experience the repetitive beat 'em up gameplay all the past KOEI Warriors game had to offer; it's not much of a change. Players familiar with the first game will find some of the characters (out of the whopping 90+ character roster) to have lost some perks that made them overkill in WO1, and that the difficulty has been significantly toned down.
Example: Playing levels on the HARD difficulty setting will feel like NORMAL or perhaps even EASY to a seasoned player familiar to the series already.
Do not get confused, the difficulty depends on merely how often you are attacked and how much of an impact each enemy attack makes. ie. death often occurs within 4-6 hits on the game's hardest CHAOS difficulty setting, regardless of how well-leveled your character and weapon are.

The game has a fair amount of replay value, even after unlocking all the characters and items, as it takes some time to level a character and forge a powerful weapon using the weapon fusion system [carried over from the first game].

I realize this review may confuse newcomers to the series, so I urge them to seek information regarding the Warriors Orochi 1 such as reviews, streaming videos of the actual gameplay, and misc. because Warriors Orochi 2 is closer to a "patch" of the game than a stand-alone release. Actually, experience with any of KOEI's Warriors games is enough to understand how Warriors Orochi 2 plays as a video game, despite the differences in gameplay dynamics. The price tag ($30 USD) would be reasonable for a newcomer, but it would be on the high-end otherwise for fans who already own the first WO game.

A few nitpicks I have with this game:
-2-player is fun, though both players are still restricted to choosing the same team of 3 officers just like the first WO.
There is also a significant slowdown when playing bigger levels that wasn't as often occurring as it was in the first game; these slowdowns can last up to 5-7 seconds depending on how many units are on the screen at once.

-well this isn't a huge problem, but I sometimes expect more replay value rather than always being able to finish most of the game within 3 days. The game does meet my expectations for being a game anyone can simply jump into (an arcade-like game); my younger siblings do like a simple game when taking a break from say . . . the more mind-boggling Role-Playing Game genre.

I apologize to any readers who have a difficult time deciphering my review, for I base it on the fact that most would look at this game because they are most likely fans of the KOEI Warriors franchise and the fact that a more COMPLETE REVIEW(s) of the game can be found in numerous outside sources. I would expect most to look at these other sources in choosing whether or not to purchase this game.

If you are not serious about what real history is, ( while still knowing it ) it has creative stories that just try to combine both ancient Japanese and Chinese hero. Although I am still not used to English pronounciations and captions......

this is an excellent game, it introduces new characters from samurai warriors 2 extreme legends as well as all new characters together, it introduces a new dream mode which is very exiting, you still can use all your favorite characters such as maybe cao cao or lu bu or even musashi myiamoto, a must have for anyone who loves the dynasty/samurai warriors series

it was so much fun to play just like the first one. the only thing that i dont like is that they dont really have much music from the dynasty warriors games or even many of the game maps from there either..other than that..it's perfect

Warriors of orochi 2 makes you stand up and take notice on how games "used" to be made. While its' graphics will not blow you away, the sheer amount of unlockable characters, upgradable weapons, and hidden treasures is mind boggling. I'm not kidding, you get a lot of bang for your buck!

Here in the West geeks such as myself used to get excited about epic comic book cross overs. Aka we waited with baited breath for events such as Civil war, Dark Phoenix Saga,Age Of Apocalypse,and Kingdom come. Warriors Of Orochi is like those aforementioned "greats' only instead of having Venom teaming up with Carnage it's more like Cao Cao uniting with Nobunaga. Assuming you enjoy Asian mythology and history there is a lot to love here if you carry a suspension of belief in your saddle bag.

A lot of detractors bash Koei games for being "all the same" but for any enthusiast it's completely transparent that every game does try new things or makes improvements.

When my friend and I came out of playing Dynasty Warriors 5 we expected more or less the same ride with Warriors Of Orochi 2. Boy,were we surprised.

First of all there's no more rank up system. In it's place you "level up" and receive growth points which can be used to fuse weapons and improve officers. Furthermore, these growth points have no restrictions. If you are raging across the battle field slaying adversaries with a certain individual you can still opt to buff up a character you haven't even played as yet.

Both body guards and the 1st person archery mode are gone too. In their place is the option to shift between 3 officers apart of an elite team on the fly. Likewise, many main heroes and villains start with a gun or bow affinity right off the bat. (Without the awkward shift in perspective.)

To me personally this is good. For one, I don't know why a trio of superhuman idols would need a body guard to begin with and secondly, the old "sniper viewpoint system" came off as a hassle when you were surrounded by swarms of enemy troops whilst trying to shoot a general off an elephant.

Horses in Warriors of orochi 2 are not only faster but they have more believable mannerisms. A steed occasionally rears up its' front legs when frightened.

Though there are still swarms of opposing officers whom look the same there are more diversified unit types. Musket firing riflemen join the fray with archers and there are special vanguards of all female combatants. Likewise be on the look out for mounted infantry working in large mobs, giant powerful ogres,wizards who can cause widespread ailments,snake headed humanoids,and heavy set brawlers. Sure, you can still plow through hundreds of them at once but now more thought has to go into how you approach specific skirmishes. Do you take out the sorcerer poisoning your troops with toxic fog first? Or do you opt to immediately slay the intimidating general boosting the morale of your opposition? The game presents you with these choices often.

Environments are truly beautiful on the PS2. Jungles actually have foliage, armies run through tall grass,cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, and volcanic magma makes stones glow with dim red embers beneath your feet. None of the scenery effects movement or conditions but it does take the edge off the monotony.

Warriors Of Orochi 2 likewise benefits from Samurai Warrior's influence in the sound department. There's more upbeat Techno riffs accompanied by Speed Metal and oriental flutes. I actually was happy many of the compositions sounded distinctly Asian this time. Personally I think WOO2's songs put those in Dynasty Warriors 5 to shame. Luckily, if you disagree with me there are plenty of classic jams from the DW franchise to boot.

Normally when a game boasts 90+ characters the story line is non existent. Yet somehow Koei made Warriors of orochi 2 have a decent plot. It's not Shakespeare but assuming you like romance, intrigue, and gratuitous fan service it's possible to walk away from the experience satisfied. Orochi's fraction is playable to fill you in on his rise to power and it answers why he drew people together from feudal Japan and feudal China to begin with. "Dream mode" offers special scenarios with select officers to act as additional filler. My only lament is there's no encyclopedia. Maybe Koei assumes by this point most of us own a few iterations of both DW and SW. Sadly this is not the case with me. However, if you were interested in Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, or The Feuding States Era at any point in your life it'll serve as a good enough basis to make you familiar with the various references.

Wrapping up my analysis I'm sort of bewildered why Koei games receive so much grief from "Big Dawg" game sites. Try as I might, I cannot hate any Koei game in my collection. All of them have offered me hours of fun and plenty of meaty content to discover. Assuming you like Hack N slash adventures with a sprinkling of tactical elements you aren't going to find much better examples than this!

Pros

1. Huge number of legendary heroes and villains to choose from.

2. Combat seems somehow faster and more satisfying here than from other Koei offerings on the PS2.

3. Enemies are more varied aesthetically.

4. One of the more friendlier and rewarding character & weapon improvement systems to date!

5. The story is not teeth gnashing bad which shocked me.

6. A lot of content to unlock.

7. Survival mode plays out more akin to a one on one fighter with a tag team dynamic. If you want to "mix it up" this is a good mode to visit.

8. "Dream mode" expands upon special team ups between officers giving more depth into friendships, rivalries, and romances.

9. You can pour growth points into any character, even those you are not playing as.

10. Switching between 3 officers on the battlefield adds a fresh new slant to the action!

11. Environments look more appealing and less bland.

12. Witness how Orochi rose to power and find out why he brought together feudal China and Feudal Japan!

13. A more varied soundtrack accompanies the skirmishes so chances are you'll find at least a few catchy tunes you can totally get into. Rhythm is a dancer! (So is Zhang He apparently!)

14. Though I'm sure there are clones amongst the 90 + willing warriors, many protagonists and antagonists still maintain being pleasantly diverse.

Cons

1. In two player mode each person controls identical officers. It's kind of weird when both partners are running around as the same person. Not that WOO2 is super realistic to begin with but in the future it wouldn't hurt to allow two unique squads onto the battle field at once!

2. Despite locales having more variety on the surface nothing seems to effect you. Aka you can run across heated magma with enemies in hot pursuit yet nothing happens to you or them.

3. If you liked the 1st person perspective archery feature from DW 5 it's no longer available here.

4. You can't have body guards. (Not that a trio of super heroes or super villains needs them I suppose.)

5. There's a lot to unlock and treasures to find but going about getting everything is going to be a long process of trial and error unless you have a faq on hand to help you.

6. There's still some slow down during crowded battles. Honestly, it's not so bad on the PS2 and I believe the Xbox 360 version even offers a downloadable patch to fix it. (To what extent I do not know.)

7. Camera does weird jerky movements occasionally after certain matches are won in survival mode.

For you if

Need something to do with a friend, family member, or your spouse? Do you like hack n slash games with a mix of rpg elements? Are you in any way a fan of Asian history, Eastern mythology, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, and Journey to the west? (Yes, The Monkey King is present and accounted for!) Sucker for epic cross overs? Then Koei made this game exactly for you!

Not for you if

Graphics whore to the extreme? Lost your luster for Koei early on and cannot wrap your mind around why "idiots" such as myself keep buying their games? Do you love Dynasty Warriors yet you are still waiting for that sparkly "next generation" overhaul to the franchise? In that case you may want to rent Warriors Of Orochi 2 first or call the cops on anyone in your front yard wearing in a samurai hat! (Especially if he runs at you screaming with a sword held high over his head. Don't let him pull off that "musuo" attack!)

If you are a fan of any of the dynasty warriors or samurai warriors games then this is easily a must have. It features a hellatious number of playable characters from both series as well as some new ones. A crazy plot twist throws a seemingly peiceful land back into chaos and you are on the front lines of some of the biggest battles that koei has ever created. Its an ansolutely amazing game.

This game definitely lives up to the Dynasty/Samurai warriors names. This game is so much fun, the music and battlegrounds are breathtakingly beautiful. The storyline is fantastic, definitely a game for someone who is a fan of Samurai Warriors and/or Dynasty Warriors!

Like many others, I don't have a PS3 or an Xbox360. This limits what new Dynasty Warrior games are available to me. I had a choice between DW6 or WO2. I think I made the correct decision, but I think some of the older DW games were better overall.

The advantage of this game is that it includes characters from both the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, as well as characters created either for this series, or new characters for this game. It also allows you to play three characters at once, and you can switch between them at any time.

In two player mode, the second player cannot pick his own set of three. The second player must play one of the three people selected by the first player. Both players can play the same person of the three if they want.

If you've played DW5, the characters who appeared in that game will look and have the same moves as that game. They do not have any extra weapons, or extra clothing options. Each character has only three outfits to chose from (DW4 had six for each person).

Like all DW games, you start out with only a few of the possible characters available. Most of the other characters can be unlocked by just playing the story modes. There are five story modes: Shu, Wu, Wei, Samurai Warriors, and Orochi. Each story mode includes eight levels. Some characters are unlocked by playing an opposing side (like Lu Xun with Shu).

Playing as three characters seemed interesting at first, but it doesn't really serve much of a purpose. It just gives you a few extra steps when you are selecting a level to play. Why three? Two would have been enough if they wanted more than one.

In some ways, the DW characters weren't different enough for it to be that interesting to play them again, and I missed some of the more usual DW battles. I wasn't familiar with the Samurai Warriors characters, and they've been more interesting. It reminds me of my first DW game when every character was a surprise.

This isn't the best Dynasty Warriors game. Some things are different in a negative way, other things are too similar to existing games. It's good if you want a new DW game, but it's only real advantage is that it's unusual.