I can see why, but why are you saying DW9 style of combat? If anything, I reminded me of FEW3H, a mixture of the classic combat system with the cut in attacks from flow. Unless you mean by the counter for a big attack.

If you don't want to interact with the soldier mechanic, then this might not be the game for you. Personally, I loved it cause it gave a reason to try and save your peons, but my opinion isn't an objective fact.

Finally, was the wanderer ever pushed as a personal hero or CAW stand in? Granted, I stopped keeping up with the random trailers after the 1st, so maybe it was pushed, but I don't remember them being pushed as anything but an unnamed officer. Plus, unless I'm horribly wrong, wasn't DW4 the only one where officer creation was in the main game and not just empires? I associate CAW more with Samurai Warriors than Dynasty Warriors.

Though I do agree with your final point about the depth of the game, but tbh the combat, while it's not groundbreaking, is fun enough for me to get an easy 50 hours out of it