DW3 is still my favourite.

what I'd say... The main difference for me, between the PS2-era, and modern musou games, is the scale and challenge. Basically, old musou games had less opponents on screen, but enemies were considerably more dangerous - if you just dove in the thickest, biggest horde alone, like you could do in 8 and remain unscathed, in 2, 3 and 4 you'd quickly get a rude awakening. Fighting officers was also different in feel... while the concept of combo-ing enemy officers as much as possible remained, it was nigh-impossible, aside from some exploits, to keep an officer comboed for too long, but, instead, they weren't as ludicrously durable as in modern games. The last point of difference is how the overall battle works. In modern games, there doesn't seem to be a any trackable system to determine if this or that ally can handle the enemies they are facing... the player needs to infer that from clues (like, if there's a suprise enemy group heading for someone, it often means they are going to destroy that ally), trust when the game says that someone is "in high spirits", or just assume the ally won't survive if not saved. In old DW titles, there was the Morale value, which was trackable, and increased or fell based on what was happening. A unit with higher morale would win, basically - and morale of enemies could be lowered by killing soldiers of that unit, for example.

DW3 was one of the most simple yet top tier games. The gameplay itself has been far better than the crap that they've changed it to in 6 and beyond

DW5 is the best classic DW game. Change my mind..

DW3 enemies were actually agressive. Now the current modern day DW games are too passive. Hopefully origins will be better.

So simple yet so perfect. I say this alot of the old ps2 games, like DBZ: BT3 😮

HOT TAKE: I think the switch to the "1 vs. 1000" formula introduced in the PS3 era was a net negative for the series. . . I understand that due to hardware limitation of the PS2/XBOX, you couldn't have many NPCs on screen at once, to justify a lot of the power fantasy shenanigans we're familiar with in the current warriors titles (like doing a musou attack that nukes the screen), but it forced KOEI to innovate on it's gameplay by focusing on more fluid combat, and more responsive AI, instead of being surrounded by large hordes of enemies that can 2 shot you I also loved how in early warriors titles you're encouraged to fight alongside allies early on, until you've strengthened your character a bit, but even then, things can be difficult if you go into a situation thinking you can just mindlessly button mash, or spam musou attacks that kill hundreds of NPCs in one shot, with zero effort You can call me nostalgic if you want, but after recently playing DW8 Empires, and the PS2 Warriors titles, I definitely prefer a gameplay loop where I feel like a character out of a wu xia martial arts film, than a shonen protagonist

I wish we could get a remaster of dw5 xtreme legends, well all of them up until that release at least. The old series they hit different now, seeing how easy they've made future titles. I miss having to die 4-5x before actually getting the W

I'm playing 8 xle right now on the ps5. Starting to get back into it. Love it. Haven't played since either 6 or 7😅

DW4 is my favorite in the series.

From Part 7 to Part 9, enemies are only good at hitting hard and know how to block a little damage. The rest is that there is no difficulty at all, while from Part 3 to Part 6 every battle is thought of as fighting with the main character.

Dynasty warriors 3 is the best version ever made

I feel like you failed to talk about the actual gameplay of the games? I'm one of the people who still quite simply prefer the PS2 games over the later DW games, because they actually offered you some friction in the main gameplay loop. In the newer games, I would often find myself at low health without ever even having noticed that i got hit. The games sort of expect you to slash through the opponents like they're air, but they kinda do the same to your health bar. There if very little feedback in both directions. Meanwhile in the old games (and apparently in DW2 especially, but my first DW was 4) you yourself have to put in actual work into killing even just the peons, but also into not getting hit by them, because even a hit by a peon will noticeably stun you and put you into danger in some situations. That's why the older games let you have bodyguards. You might indeed have needed them. You mention how there used to be fewer enemies on the field due to the console's limitations, however you fail to mention, that the game was balanced around that too. The old Dynasty Warriors games are like swimming in a ball pit. There is a lot of resistance and you feel every ball as you pass through. Meanwhile the new DW games are like cutting grass on a well maintained lawn. Sometimes one blade of grass out of tens of thousands gets in your sock. It makes you wonder sometimes, why there are peons at all anymore. As an aside I also didn't like the weapon swap gimmick in DW8. Overall I had fun playing DW8 (and DW Next), but imo Samurai Warriors 4 and Warriors Orochi 4 pulled the "I'm a lawnmoyer" gameplay off considerably better. I can more easily buy it in those games as well. warriors Orochi is of course fantastical to begin with, but even Samurai Warriors tends to have a more whacky, colourful presentation. One women uses a umbrella, another a light sabre, I will accept that this game is a vehicle for maximally dumb fun and just enjoy myself. But DW always struck me as somewhat more grounded. It has its roots in the RotTK games after all. I would prefer if DW had stuck to and refined the less flashy and more involved gameplay loop of the older games. In fact nowadays I might even go further and prefer if DW went even more towards "simulation" and became to RotTK what Mount&Blade is to Total War. But that would really stretch the definition of a Musou game.

The wooshy hit detection of later games is just a drag. Enemies just get thrown around in massive swathes, theres just no more of that tight kinetic gameplay of the old ones. I really hope koei takes some cues from their soulslikes and give us weighty weapons and tight hit boxes. Make enemies aggressive -- and make it feel like a battle again. Heres hoping Origins brings it. Hope it has some Bladestorm mechanocs too, from what the trailer showed. Anyways DW8 is still a fine game.

All they have to do is remaster alot of the old ps2 games!

3 was a top 10 PS2 game and in my opinion a top 20 game ever… they ruined the series

I honestly prefer DW8 over DW3....

It Sure was Man ... Dw3 and Dw5 are the best in the series Imo, Dw3 for the difficulty for obtaining ur full items at +25 and Dw5 for a complete OG experience

I’ve played every DW since the release of 2, when I was just a kid. I legitimately think 6-8 are the best era we have had. I know I’m in the minority, but those games had the tightest gameplay, best voice acting, most coherent well-told narratives, and most interesting character designs. Not to mention empires 6-8 are easily the golden age of empires titles. Again, I know I’m in the minority, but I really think people hate 6-8 because “new is bad”. Idk. Just my opinion.