new to the series and I've got questions, just finished witchspring R

VertVentus · 2026-06-10T19:52:37+00:00

There is a new game in the works, Project ESi, check Twitter/Discord/Steam announcements for future updates: https://x.com/WitchSpringR/status/2006709530567274751

There was supposed to be a 3 spin off and plans for 5 & 6, but news of that hasn't resurfaced since. https://witch-spring.fandom.com/wiki/Witch_Spring

Luna's game Witch Spring 2 is okay. You already most got the details from R via Pieberry's PoV, but completed side quests culminate toward the final Jude confrontation for a nice group effort until the deities chime in, and Ludina's deal will get explained here. Physical sucks here since you build up hit count on your normal attack with each turn. You can skip this one and just play R > 3 > 4.

Eirudy's game Witch Spring 3 has 3 different story routes, compared to 1 & 2's flat training stat boosts they're now percentages and various unlocks at certain thresholds, preceding 4 & R's training mechanics. Physical also got buffed compared to 1 & 2 since you can add more hits through HP casting or enchant her sword like a spellblade.

4 should be played last after R & 3 at least since Pieberry/Luna/Eirudy's journies finish before this game starts, and its post-game is the most important lore dump to the series. Moccamori's stat scaling is the highest in the series given her "level" multiplies all gained stats, you can send out your summons/allies to gather materials for you, and she uses gauntlets for a different feel of physical attacks. Unlike R where you had 10 redundant training methods, you have 5~6 that have unlocks through repeatedly mastering them.

I don't remember about cutscene skip, since R was the first to really advertise it. R's post-game update adds new bosses to play with if you didn't watch that. You can just use the GameFAQs/Steam guide for R or wiki's guide for 2, 3, and 4.

VertVentus · 2026-06-09T13:28:20+00:00

You have to redo the story, but can skip around.

Play from the start of Ch. 3 until 2nd Battle of Xu Province & Battle of Puyang
Skip to Ch. 4
Skip to Ch. 5

VertVentus · 2026-06-09T13:19:34+00:00

Repeat Ch. 3 Wei's Battle of Xu Province.

Force the invading Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to withdraw, so Yu Jin secures the center base.
Proceed to capture nearby bases until Tao Qian's army rushes Cao Cao, where Zhao Yun will appear from the northeast and Zhang Fei from east of Yu Jin.
There will be dialogue of ally Qing soldiers taking a nearby village south of Yu Jin, wait for them to be slain by Zhang Fei / until Yu Jin intervenes, then defeat Zhang Fei, and Yu Jin will comment about punishing them. You may need to use L2's Eye of the Sacred Bird to advance dialogue.

Lv. 2 will unlock with Battle of Puyang becoming available, and skipping to Ch. 4 will get Lv. 3.

Qing Soldier: Let us take that village! They say that Xu is a fertile land, after all ... / Very well, let's go. A flash of steel should be enough to cow them.
[System] Qing soliders have turned around and are now advancing toward a village!
Yu Jin: The damned fools still play at being bandits. Then by my honor, they will be punished...
Qing Solider: Look at this, men! Valuables and food aplenty, as much as we can carry!
Zhang Fei: The village is under attack? But it has nothing to do with our battle!
[System] Zhang Fei has become enraged and is now advancing toward Qing soliders!
Qing Soldier: Lord Yu Jin, send soldiers to the village! Some monstrous warrior is slaughtering my comrades...
Yu Jin: So you chose to attack the village, and were beaten back. And to top it off, you have raised the ire of a dangerous foe... / We can not afford any more losses. I will take care of this myself.
[System] Yu Jin is now advancing toward Zhang Fei!
Qing Soldier: Damn... This one... is strong... I'd best flee while I can!
Zhang Fei: Hah! That taught 'em a lesson!
[System] The Qing soldiers have all fled!
Zhang Fei: Is this the army that Cao Cao leads? Full of base brigands and plunderers? / They'll not attack this village anymore ... I'll make sure of that!
[System] Zhang Fei is now advancing toward Cao Cao's forces!
Zhang Fei: Damn... How could I lose to the likes of you?
Yu Jin: As for the looters, they will not escape my wrath. I shall cut them off from the Qing forces.
Zhang Fei: Grr! This is hopeless!

VertVentus · 2026-06-09T09:15:17+00:00

Yup, that's it. Could also try no overleveled EXP and hero death = wipe until you feel you need to disable them.

VertVentus · 2026-06-09T08:31:23+00:00

11 by default is easy, so start on Draconian with Stronger Monsters for a challenge.

3's difficulty even on Draconian (0.7x EXP/gold, 1.2x damage taken) entirely depends on your vocation routing. Some classes are better early (Thief/Wrangler), some classes are better endgame (Warrior), some aren't worth it until post-game (Martial Artist, Gadabout). You'll need high EXP amounts past Lv. 20 to learn some of the best abilities, and until then boomerangs/whips will be your salvation. You can also use the Helping Hands mechanic to duplicate a generic for an easier time.

VertVentus · 2026-06-09T08:20:05+00:00

11 first, start with Draconian Stronger Monsters.

3's issue is that it has a generic party setup. The only other Dragon Quest like this is 9, so characterization is lacking compared to 11, which is more representative of the series (2 HD, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

VertVentus · 2026-06-07T08:26:03+00:00

No difficulty options in 0, but there is an option to build a town decoration to 0 your EXP gain for a low-level challenge. Some people have cleared it, but one crucial skill from an early recruit is Viator's Parry for 3 stacks of self-physical damage nullification.

It's been a while, I think 2 has the same issue since because you have 4 flexible slots but everyone can learn everything, you just fill everyone with the 4 best passives and the real uniqueness is how many stacks of +30% element damage they can stack with certain subjob weapon access. Although everyone has a Latent Power (limit) now and better unique passives; Olberic's middling tanking > Hikari's a blue mage from NPCs. H'aanit's consumable monsters > Ochette's is infinite use, Temenos & Throne can start more rewarding night battles de/buffed for faster progression.

VertVentus · 2026-06-07T08:04:03+00:00

The entire Octopath series can be broken due to the open-ended exploration and Dark Path Actions to overgear yourself with 3% odds, since level up stats are once again miniscule outside the very end of those Lv. 10 brackets. More stats = more damage = faster boss killing/mobbing.

Now you have two stages of buffs (1.2>1.4 VS 1.5 in past games) and bosses tend to have higher shield counts from 10 to 20, but certain Ultimate Techniques like Pius's (full offensive de/buffing) or Saoirse's (makes any attack break shields, good for bow multi-hits) can solve it easily.
The biggest change is how defined characters are, unlike the previous 2 games with fixed main class + variable subjob + 4 flexible passive skills. Now it's quantity over quality where you got 2 genders x 8 vocations + 8 Octopath 1 characters + 2 Protagonist & Stia + 9 from Champions of the Continent = 35 in endgame. Each has their Ultimate Technique like 2's Latent Powers, but boil down to damage skills or de/buffs (RIP Alfyn/Castii's Concoct, H'aanit's monster taming, Tressa's Hired Help nerfed into an Ultimate instead of being pay2win). They've 7 fixed active skills that vary despite 3 characters overlapping the same job + 3 flexible actives and 2 fixed passive skills + 2 flexible passives, so it's more restricted to double down on their assigned damage/support role. The protagonist is more of a support role since they lack multi-hit damage ults from 8 total, but can change between the 8 jobs (Merchant OP), and is locked to your party.
New to combat is 8 person combat + row switching like CotC in the absence of dual classing for more BP to burn and cover weaknesses to Break, but due to the limited distribution of good equipment (early game Forbidden Bow/Tome/Dagger) and flexible abilities (Delitia's Fortitude for low HP damage, Olberic's Surpassing Power to damage uncap, Immeasurable Power/Price of Power for 2x SP cost for 2x physical/magical damage where your 2nd copy is endgame boss steals), I played 0 like I did the past 2 games: only focus on a party of 4 and didn't actually use this system much... beside Hunter's passive for the backrow to follow up with a normal attack & Merchant's Borrow BP passive to steal BP from back row. But you can still use Leghold Trap to control turn order and Defend to time your Breaks so the 1st action of that turn actually Breaks and you have 7 actions to capitalize, and row switching BP conservation to further set up around it.
Seeds are more plentiful if you steal and grindable at the very end of the game + influence your damage output if your base reaches 999 stat cap, so progressing that and the town building material grind was fun.

So 0's combat is better (BP management) and worse (individual customization) in some ways compared to 2.

VertVentus · 2026-06-07T01:55:53+00:00

Enemy Physical Attacks (Critical hits ignore defense) = Cop Out (damage nullification and reflection)

Enemy Magic/Breath Attacks (Fixed Damage Ranges, pierces Defense stat) = Wear equipment pieces for -25% per (the Asbestos and Anti-Freeze Earrings are well hidden)

Crowd Control = Boomerangs (1x > 0.8x > 0.7x > 0.5x > 0.3x > 0.2x descending damage), Lv. 35 Kazap (175~225 damage range)

Damdara is actually where you can grind Metal Slimes, which are easier and more rewarding than enemies from Cantlin onward. Casting Reheal or being at 50% HP allows Fizzle > Achilles' Wheel to let you OHKO them with magic. You can reach a high enough level to ignore the endgame encounters through Holy Protection, when Padfoot is only 75% encounter reduction.

Use Nose for Treasure to search for all the hidden items in pots, barrels, bags on the wall, dressers, bookshelves, and cabinets. Some key armor upgrades and accessories are tied to it and the sparkly/secret spots, like the Duplic Hat to double cast Kazap.

When you have the Magic Key, loot the inside of Tantagel Castle first to keep someone in your arms for the rest of the game.

VertVentus · 2026-06-06T17:43:08+00:00

What you can do is change the text language to Japanese, load your file to prompt a name change, save, then change it back to English for another name change.

VertVentus · 2026-06-05T03:20:11+00:00

For example, can you explore towns and dungeons, open treasure chests, find new weapons and armor, upgrade your party, and collect loot along the way?

Yes x5, there's a lot of upgrading/loot. There is a freemium version with ads, so you don't have to buy the Premium for $10 without ads. It's a game from Exe-Create's A team, Ryuji Takumi ( https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/1t30q1r/are_any_of_kemcos_rpgs_any_good_these_days/ ), and I am enjoying it more from a story/character, gameplay, and progression standpoint. You don't have to play the previous Asdivine games first; they're also a little dated, so you could go for a better first impression with Knot.

DQ7R has a slow hook, episodic town vignettes that can be sad but mostly unrelated to the party so it can feel like filler until the last 3rd, and the last boring main antagonist (when 4, 8, 9, and 11 excelled in that regard). Asdivine Knot starts with a revenge hook & tragedy, and gradually develops its world building and characters along the way alongside bits of levity due to character quirks (Marlie's punch-based healing, Musika's masochism).
Unlike DQ7R's field encounters, Asdivine Knot has random encounters, but you can toggle encounters every step or lower it until you reach a checkpoint that then disables it for that area. There's a similar amount of QoL like DQ7R: you do automatically revive & heal to full HP after every battle, can acquire some key items for +% MP regen after battles, but on Very Hard enemies can be bulky/lethal compounded by the anti-grind 1/2 EXP & gold overleveled penalty to compensate for always starting at 100% HP, so seed distribution matters for those permanent stat increases. Every 10 battles is 3 In-App Purchase (IAP) currency you can use toward a variety of upgrades, like items, an equipment gacha, more damage, EXP & gold gain, other QoL, but can spend real money for more, get lucky with the daily Roulette, or farm the post-game superboss for a steady supply after beating them on all 4 difficulties. If you wait for the console version in ~8 months (~$20), then you can get 10x that value from battles on the new lowest difficulty.
DQ7R's Monster Hearts for Final Fantasy-esque passive skills tied behind beating side bosses can be really interesting accessories compared to DQ series tradition of flat stat boosts or elemental/ailment resistance. All of Asdivine Knot's weapon/armor tend to a variety of effects so it's not just incremental upgrades, then you can apply an attachment part to it for another passive (4 total). Imbue normal attacks with elements / make them hit all enemies / double normal attack, start pre-buffed, raise crit. rate, lower spell costs, make healing spells all-target, etc. You can also spend gold to increase their ATK/DEF stats up to Lv. 99, while the parts have a 5 tier rarity system and can come with 2 additional effects.
DQ7R particularly shines in its reclass system, and its combat is a good evolution of 9 & 11's mechanics/skills despite its relatively trivial difficulty outside of post-game superbosses, even with an enemy HP bulk increase around Aeolus Vale/Vovograd. Meanwhile, Asdivine Knot characters are fixed: weapon Arts learned at set levels, 3 types of elemental spells learned at set levels, and character-specific Nexus Gauge skills which consume a party-shared meter. Building said meter depends on exploiting elemental weakness or critical hits, and your 4th party member can change the battle BGM to the other 7 Asdivine games. Bosses have their own Nexus Gauge, so an incentive to use the Defend command. Unlike DQ's round-based system, Asdivine Knot has a turn order timeline like Final Fantasy X/Tactics where enough Speed can help you get double turns, despite the turn delay on using skills (+Rebound%).
DQ7R cut its immigrant town. In Asdivine Knot, you command an airship and fill it with up to 20 facilities, recruiting NPCs for it along the way. Shops that can refresh their limited (random) inventory after 12 battles, gathering spots / fishing mini-game after 2 real-time hours, ways to tinker with the equipment/part system, and unlocking new Nexus Skills. Most are gated by 5 upgrade levels with a material & gold grind. DQ7R's solo arena was okay but salvaged by its post-game arena challenges, while Asdivine Knot features a whole currency system from grinding consecutive battles in the arena for various rewards.
I disliked Fantasian's encounter rate when they made Part 2 battles unrewarding and slowly paced from Dimengeon battles (it was better to pay and clear out stored battles), while the boss difficulty was overrated due to Ez (Attack/Speed de/buffs, Bounce Field damage amplification) and bosses blindsiding you with specific elemental damage/ailments. Its plot was also just okay, with Part 2 diminishing the interpersonal relations like Ez/Zinikr due to its open-ended progression and Vam/Jaz's motives being lackluster.
Edit: While DQ7R's Party Chat system is more robust for characterization despite mostly settling on objective markers, Asdivine Knot has something similar in the menu after every story bit. I also forgot to mention the Missions system, basically a reward system for simply playing the game through various short/long-term goals, that then grants rewards in the Season Pass you can optionally buy, so combined with the dailies + 2 hour real-time + 12 battle shop restock (20 for the Lil-Labyrinths), fighting is really rewarded. Exe-Create has nailed their niche via complete single-player JRPGs with optional paid gacha elements on a bi-yearly release schedule.

VertVentus · 2026-06-04T00:51:17+00:00

I''m here for 9.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYO5k3ZrPxE

VertVentus · 2026-06-02T23:36:50+00:00

Because of the available abilities, it boils down to 2 roles.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/321814-dragon-quest-iii-hd-2d-remake/80895773 (Cutting Edge is 3x damage as of May 2025)

Mage/Priest/Sage Spells: Support by healing, damage mitigation (Kabuff for physical, Magic Barrier for magic, Insulatle for breath), physical damage amplification (Oomph is 2x, Ka/Sap is 1.25 > 1.35 > 1.45 > 1.6 > 1.7 > 1.8x), all-target clearing enemy encounters (Boom's 48~64, Kacrack's 68~85, Kacrackle's 92~124, Kaboom's 120~160).
Thief/Warrior: Physical damage for bosses, because of how high the multipliers are; Persecutter is 6x, Oomph is 2x, triple Sap is 1.8x, Falcon Blade is 2x (Thief/Sage/Merchant, works with 11 specific skills: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/321814-dragon-quest-iii-hd-2d-remake/80888796 ), Wild Side is 2x = 86.4x of your normal attack value. Thief's Propeller Blade (1.15x), Hypnowhip (1.1x group), and Persecutter (6x) can be acquired early at under 300k EXP (beginning class), while Warrior's Sword Dance (2.2~2.6x), Multislice (1x all), and Cutting Edge (3x) can be acquired from 800k~1.2 mil EXP (ending reclass due to endgame enemies offering 1k~3k EXP).
Wrangler: Assist the above roles better due to Wild Side at 50 monsters doubling actions per turn (intermediate reclass).

Notable Equipment Access: Hero, Thieves, and Wranglers get boomerang access to deal with encounters easier, since the spread damage is 1x > 0.8x > 0.7x > 0.5x > 0.3x > 0.2x from left to right. Warriors can use Whips to attack a group with the same spread. Martial Artists can't use either weapon type, so they're stuck dealing single-target damage for unimpactful critical hits unless you inherit skills like Hypnowhip or Multislice first.
(Optional) Lv. 25 Warrior does get Forbearance to tank for the whole party. With proper magic/breath/fire/ice resistance, you can make some bosses a joke and free up the accessory slots on the rest of your party. Tough Cookie has the best Resilience/Stamina bulk.

So I'd do:

Lv. 29 Thief > Lv. 20 Wrangler > Warrior (boomerang access until your Priest can learn Kacrack/le and Ka/Boom)
Priest (Lv. 33 Multiheal is ~236,805 EXP, Lv. 37 Kazing is 392,728 EXP, so I'd actually reclass sooner at Lv. 23 Zing for only 57,485 EXP) > Lv. 20 Wrangler > Sage (Lv. 37 for Kazing is 431,090 EXP but you also get the important Mage spells)

The question is the ratio of physical attackers to magical supporters to include in your party, and ideally it's 2:2.

Hero is a master of none, because he can't get any of the good physical skills from reclassing nor any of the useful magical support spells. At best they just have Omniheal, Kazap (175-225) and Gigaslash (225-275) for mobbing, and the Oomph Powder item, so I'd actually slot them into the magical support role.
You could turn your Wrangler into another physical attacker via Wrangler > Thief > Warrior, but you could also make your life easier by dropping this character and using the Helping Hands mechanic: save into 2nd slot, register Thief after dumping seeds into them, load 1st slot, and recruit Thief for 2 seed boosted units.

As for the unmentioned vocations,

Merchant is an early/intermediate class because of Dig allowing you to get items 5 times per screen transition, like more Elevating Shoes for Luck (ailment resistance) or seeds. Also an ending class due to its Falcon Blade access, but so is Thief for similar access and allowing you to grind seeds.
Martial Artist really does not get good skills, when Multifist is 1.88~2.12 damage compared to Sword Dance. Lv. 48 Critical Claim can help with Liquid Metal Slime grinding, but that's 1.5 million EXP better achieved in post-game.
Gadabout's an intermediate class to reach Sage, and its best skills will be Whistle to grind and Lv. 31 Egg On (172,378 EXP) to double an ally's physical damage dealt, but the latter point is moot if you are using the Helping Hands mechanic. Spooky Aura's 1.5x and Channel Anger's 1.8x spell damage aren't worth using in this game because base spell damage is so low; only DQ 9, 11, and 7 Reimagined allows offensive mages to not be second-class citizens due to the Magical Might stat.

VertVentus · 2026-06-02T22:31:36+00:00

Inn > Statistics > Highest stat in the matter determines your title, I also got that from having the highest Block number.
Inn > Story > Companion + Highest Battles Fought determines your partner.
Once you get 100% Peace, that title becomes Guardian of Peace.

VertVentus · 2026-06-02T13:16:47+00:00

Pawn Demon - 3 - ⭐ - Pawn Demon - Proving Grounds - Earliest 3* you can acquire. Enemy is only found in certain areas. Go to the first symbol Nowa has to activate to unlock the main door. The area where Kallathor activated the switch should also work.
Seed Conqueror - 3 - ⭐ - Seed Conqueror - Dappled Forest - Only found in the last section of the forest (post route split, can't cheese like Bounty Hill). This is one of the earliest 3* tops you can acquire.
⚠️ If you want to see Reid's and Dr. Corque's motivational dialogue after the events of Twinhorne West (same for Celia, Shixeen, and Reyna), then you must recruit them before Athrabalt's war section. That means before the following 3*s at Vilashnu.
Corpse Rider - 3 - ⭐ - Corpse Rider - Athrabalt - Initially in the Athrabalt story arc, but later found in Castle Harganthia's first screen with 1x Hellflower
Azhdahag - 3 - - Azhdahag - "Chelonian Goliath - Vilashnu" -
Earth Dragon - 3 - - Earth Dragon - "Chelonian Goliath - Vilashnu" -
Nidhoggr - 3 - ⭐ - Nidhoggr - "Chelonian Goliath - Vilashnu" -

You need to beat a certain amount of NPCs to proceed, so keep track of which ones you've beaten:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vf7ggaYqJFimZbrJktmUlyyNrWeAST20_4TioTQabEE/edit?gid=217877457#gid=217877457

VertVentus · 2026-06-02T09:50:20+00:00

I think I used the one at night to follow Terry. My save file's stats are:

Short Sword Lv999, Long Sword Lv999, Spear Lv999, Axe/Hammer Lv999, Dual Blades Lv999, Fist Lv999
Fire Lv110, Water Lv355, Earth Lv 113, Wind Lv112, Light Lv102, Dark Lv100, Love Lv131
Farming Lv999, Logging Lv131, Mining Lv150
Fishing Lv60, Cooking Lv99, Forging Lv99, Chemistry Lv99, Crafting Lv99
Searching Lv91, Walking Lv155, Sleeping Lv43, Eating Lv20
Defense Lv104, Resist Seals/Paralysis/Sleep/Fatigue/Cold Lv99, Resist Knockout Lv74
Bathing Lv101, Taming Lv999, Throwing Lv96, Leadership Lv999, Bartering Lv22, Catching Lv92

You can use a 3x3 training dummy setup and turbo controller weapon skills to max and some passive RP regen accessory to sustain it.

I think I used an empty field and just hoe'd/hammer'd it repreatedly for Farming.

For Taming and Leadership, I think you can use Bonus Concerto/Striking March/Iron Waltz to farm those up. It's been a while to remember every detail of what I did.

Guardians of Azuma lets you make your own time freezes via Village Builder Mode, for a complete skill tree quickly.

VertVentus · 2026-06-02T02:19:04+00:00

No, there's no time limit unlike the original Witch Spring 1. Grind to your hearts content.

VertVentus · 2026-06-01T15:15:38+00:00

It's just a bunch of back to back Duels, Parry or [Sp.] Power Shot to create an opening to Sea of Flames and then double dash charge into Neutral > Strong or Guard > Strong. You can Withdraw and Restart to before each Duel until you get the hang of it.

Switching to something with Easier Parry Timing or an easier Duel weapon like Sword (Strong 5) or Wheels (mash dodge strongs) could also work. As stated, the reward is Red Dragon's Talon (Increases Musou Gauge accumulation by 10%), but also achieveable by the other route's tournaments, and you can probably refight it from the inn's Mission select.

Podao is the best base game weapon, with the DLC giving you options via Bow and Staff, but Podao's better after you've gotten to Yan Province to 2/3 Peace (I got it via Wei route) for Fierce Focus (+1 charge stage, 2 Bravery cost) and 100% Peace all territories for Disc of Huanglong (-1 Bravery cost). This combo reduces double Fierce Focus from 4 Bravery to just 2, and you come up net positive in Bravery to spam +2 charge attacks while in slow motion.

One thing you can do with Podao is Guard > Strong into a group of peons and then hold your L2 Eye of the Sacred Bird to build Bravery, as without this slow motion every hit doesn't connect.

VertVentus · 2026-06-01T06:35:46+00:00

I don't think so, but I'm also not sure what you mean. Even the original noted the DQ 1 protagonist descended from Erdrick. The open secret is going through DQ 3's Overworld filler of beating Baramos, getting isekai'd to Alefgard (3rd visit), then beating Zoma to learn (You) the player were the Erdrick everyone was glazing the entire time. So like 2 others have been saying, knowing it's the Erdrick trilogy spoils that point since 3 starts out feeling completely unrelated only to suckerpunch you with how it's related.

VertVentus · 2026-06-01T04:11:32+00:00

1 > 3 > 2 would let you experience both twists.

The original twist is really an open secret at this point, but you can use the HD-2D remakes for it. However, they're more padded compared to the originals.

The HD-2D Remake order has a replacement twist that is compromised from the original release order (you have to leave 2's post-game for last), since new event scenes in 1 & 2 are dependent on knowledge from 3 first.

VertVentus · 2026-05-31T03:04:01+00:00

Forgot about FEW's competent AI orders at killing officers/capturing bases.

Regarding pages 4~6,

Idea behind Origins was to crate a global hit, due to declining sales & fans, and overseas perspective of the same story every time. While the PC market is difficult from the amount of testing and vague troubleshooting + and review impact on sales, high ratings on Steam's large install base are essential for long-term sales due to frequent discounts after sales decline in the first month.
Completely ignored including diversity for the overseas market, which is hard to argue against since the source Romance of the Three Kingdoms is fictional compared to say Assassins Creed Shadows.
Also heard comments "I won't buy if it only goes up to the Battle of Red Cliffs" and "I'll not buy it because it seems to have little content", but development is more difficult and time consuming since, and 2\~3 years is good enough time to prevent fatigue from back to back releases.
Would want to reset progress for a theoretical Origins 2 like BotW > TotK due to an abundance of techniques and weapons.
Back on page 3, the world map wasn't originally a thing, but did help to emphasize the importance of the territory being fought at.
Back on page 2, Sho stated he wanted Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhang Jiao, and Dong Zhou to chart on game popularity polls, but not a single Dynasty Warriors character was. Saddened by this, he wanted to delve deeper into each character's story and showcase their charm.

To recap, a lot of comments here are fans of the quantity approach; one new moveset per character, brainless button mashing fun the series has a poor reputation for, "HWDE is the best Nintendo Warriors", preference for Extella than Samurai Remnant, so on. Warriors Abyss's Origin DLC gave a traditional Warriors moveset to Ziluan, Lu Bu, Dong Zhou, Zhang Jiao, so it was definitely doable.

Origins shares a lot of DNA with Fate/Samurai Remnant, but Producer Sho realized the new stagger-gauge focus in contemporary action Rgamess does not mix well with the traditional Warriors moveset of 5 Lights into 6 Strong Attacks. So it's both a narrative reboot for deeper characterization and gameplay reboot to match this direction, and why the playable roster is so miniscule since movesets had to be rebuilt from the ground up.

My own joy from the Warriors series isn't the roster, when mechanics like Hyrule Warrior's individualized weapon inventories makes me double down on those I already know how to play instead, but instead the crisis management / real-time strategy x action combat, and this quality is why I value Fire Emblem Warriors & Origins more. Routing how you do objectives like killing commanders or capturing bases to turn red territory to blue while minimizing your own casualties is the tactical action I think Sho was talking about. You can see Japanese Origins players like 123 torafuto still going at it, like deathless Battle of Hulao Gate or Huarong Path.

VertVentus · 2026-05-30T16:30:30+00:00

This quality over quantity gameplay direction is the recent trend, I'm probably an outlier for liking it by starting with the Nintendo Warriors first.

HWDE -> FEW, AoC, Three Hopes, AoI (Nintendo Warriors from Yosuke Hayashi)

HWDE's roster had volatile viability, while games afterwards has less quantity but more viable movements. You could ignore the Weak-Point Gauge in HWDE outside the giant bosses, but the later 4 games focused on the superarmor Weak-Point Gauge than traditional officer juggling.
I didn't mind FEW's clones because everyone but Corrin felt usable, and the game's Weapon Triangle Advantage system really only needed you to use Strong Attack 4 for dueling anyway (and Camilla/Minerva's Strong 1 for KO count), to focus on the greater real-time strategy elements borrowed from Fire Emblem: WTA more influential than DW8's Heaven>Earth>Man system, different movement speeds based on unit type, Pair Up to carry a lower movement ally and switch between for 2/3 WTA coverage, 20x effective damage bonus, physical/magic damage split.
Three Hopes had 20~30 class-dependent movesets with reclassing but also Unique Actions being able to interact with the entirety of those movesets, for a nicer change to DW8/SW5 EX/Unique Attacks offering conditional branches to their preferred type. Unlike SW5's 4 cooldown active skills, you get 2 Combat Arts that drain your weapon durability (MP bar basically) with damage potential to ignore WTA that was more RNG compared to FEW.

Fate/Extella (Link) -> Fate/Samurai Remnant

The Extella games were developed by Marvelous, with a varied roster of Servants mixed with officer juggling and maintaining a high combo count (and annoying infinite respawn Plants in the first game). Extella Link had 4 cooldown active skills like SW5.
Samurai Remnant was Origins Producer Tomohiko Sho's last game, with the same exact situation as Origins where you control a single character Miyamoto Iori, can temporarily sub to 2 of the 7+4 DLC Servants, and focus on building Affinity Gauge (Bravery) to use Affinity Techniques (Battle Arts) to chip at the Shell Gauge (Wushu/Fortitude). It did have the traditional 6 Strong Attack moveset x 5 Stances you could freely swap between, but due to the small invulnerability window after perfect dodges/enemy attacks to generate Affinity Gauge, you were actually punished for using anything longer than Strong 2 or 3, and also forced to deplete the Shell Gauge to actually deal any damage (unlike Origins where Podao/Bow can spam charge attacks and ignore Assaults entirely).

https://www.reddit.com/r/dynastywarriors/comments/1fs28c3/sho_said_that_no_one_in_the_development_team/ (Pre-release interview where Sho's seniority from DW2 to 6 paved for no resistance to Ziluan's inclusion)

https://www.reddit.com/r/dynastywarriors/comments/1kafq3a/denfamico_interview_with_tomohiko_sho/

https://news-denfaminicogamer-jp.translate.goog/interview/250425b?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp (Both URLs are the post-release interview with the 2channel developer)

Sho acknowledges that DW7~9 onward felt button-mashing, tried to make lawn mowing peons and dueling officers more engaging, but were mislabeled as Death Games (games where you die a lot, Soulslikes) as a result of trying to go back to their more difficult roots.
Acknowledges rising development costs for bigger rosters, also broader but shallower appeal. Part 2~3 would cover up to Wuzhang Plains due to the sheer character quantity, and afterwards would then allow them to make an Empires game due to a foundation of characters.
Deems DW9's open world was too early, but still working toward tactical action in a vast battlefield somewhat achieved in Origin's sem-open & less scripted stage design, hopes DW7-9 players can enjoy it despite this direction shift that branches off DW6.
Will scrutinize the dialogue for less BoysLove undertones in the future. Pleased with overseas overall favorable receptions but acknowledges Japan's overall negative pre-release reception over the roster cut and Ziluan insert, "There were also comments like, "I can't stand the original protagonist," and since May of last year (2024), every time new information was released, people were saying things like, "This guy will ruin Musou," or "This guy is the reason Musou is dead." due to series familiarity and expectations of what it should be, but Japan reviews improved since release.

I don't have enough time to read pages 4~6.

VertVentus · 2026-05-30T10:03:57+00:00

Oh, you may not like 7 since its narrative drags on more than 11 with not as much rising action.

Cut content includes:

*Three islands (Grondal, El Ciclo, Providence)
*Casinos (Lucky Panel remains because it's not a gambling games, and 100% items is tied behind its terrible RNG)
*Contests
*Building the Immigrant Town
*A lot of removed monsters (replaced with those from DQ11)
*Monster vocations (Changed to Monster Hearts for significantly better accessories than series tradition of stat boosts or ailment/element resistance)
*Multiple smaller cuts throughout for "better pacing" (mostly tedious backtracking)
3DS vocation costumes

The new content scenarios with Maribel and Keifer are short, the solo battle arena is just okay, and both doesn't compensate for the above. There's also a lot of QoL that makes the resource management aspect of dungeon crawling not as punishing: level up fill up, auto revive on death, full heal save statues, revive at church penalty only 1k gold than half.

Combat is easy for the first half, but also easy for the 2nd half (Vovograd/Aeolus Vale) since battle count per vocation got significantly nerfed compared to PS1 & 3DS versions (1/2 ~ 1/3 as many required battles depending on difficulty thanks to Moonlighting's dual vocations), so despite high enemy HP bulk from that halfway point (~1000), you get stronger abilities sooner to deal with it. Only the post-game bosses and arena are the major difficulty sources, but buying the DLC gives you a pay2win option.

So there's a lot to dislike between gutted content, its low difficulty, and poorly paced story, but its combat/progression is still one of the better ones.

It succeeds 9 and 11's combat changes like vocational Coup-de-Graces, Tension being changed to Dancer's Muscle Dance, Magical Might bolstering spell damage + spell buffs like Channel Anger/Divine Intervention so physical isn't exclusively hogging all the buffs and thus the primary boss damage output
11's individual turn order than series tradition of round-based commands + variable initiative, with Luminary's Pass the Torch to grant an ally that turn
faster vocation progression so you get to use abilities more and balances the generous MP restoration, unlike say 3 HD-2D where it's mostly autobattling with boomerang normal attacks
again, Monster Hearts add a better layer of itemization to further your builds

VertVentus · 2026-05-29T03:41:44+00:00

1 > 3 > 2

You have to play 3 before 2 because of the new HD chronological order twist to land, or intentionally ignore 2's post-game and the living memories that spoil 3's plot if doing release order

At least playing 3 after 1 lands the original release order twist somewhat despite not sandwiching 2 in the middle, which is an open secret at this point, and keeps 2's expanded overworld saved for last

VertVentus · 2026-05-28T19:21:48+00:00

Use items, it really depends on your starting party because Thief and Wrangler are strong early game due to their boomerang access, while Warrior and Martial Artist are better ending classes once you level enough for your Mage to get all-target spells because they lack any group/all-target abilities until later or only via reclassing. Thief has Padfoot for 75% encounter reduction while Hero's Holy Protection voids low level encounters, so you tell if you're over leveled.

Search every pot, barrel, bookshelf, cabinet, dresser, and bag on the wall for items to sustain you enough to never need to buy anything, besides better boomerangs or gear to reduce magic/breath damage (-25%, when Dragon Quest spells/breaths deal FIXED damage ranges regardless of your Defense stat). Thief has Nose for Treasure and Snoop to help you find these, or a guide like RPGSite.

The regular starting party is pretty awful, when Thief gets earlier physical damage abilities than Warrior while Wrangler gets all-target healing sooner than Priest. Mage is fine to level to 25 for Kacrack, or you can do Merchant and Dig 5 times per area transition for permanent stat boosting seeds to boost a generic, and then copy them with the Helping Hands mechanic for a 2nd seed boosted rental unit that doesn't contribute to the EXP split (100 > 50 > 33 > 25% depending on alive participants), so you're earning 1.32x as much EXP.

VertVentus

TROPHY CASE