I've been a huge fan of the DW games ever since I got my hands on a copy of Dynasty Warriors 3. I don't usually like hack and slash games, yet this one caught my attention straight away. Then I got DW2, DW3XL, DW4, DW4XK, DW4 Empires and DW5. They got better with each incarnation.
My fav characters... well, I'll list them in order of preference for each kingdom (incidentally, I'll list the kingdoms in order from favourite to least favourite.).
Wei - Xiahou Dun, Zhen Ji, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang.
Shu - Pang Tong, Yue Ying, Wei Yan, Ma Chao, Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun.
Other Kingdom - Zuo Ci, Zhu Rong, Lu Bu.
Wu - Zhou Tai, Ling Tong, Lu Meng.
My most hated characters, Cao Pi, the Qiao sisters, Zhang He, Diao Chan, Gan Ning and, the most hated and loathed, Sima Yi.
I enjoy the extras available in the Xtreme Legends expansions, especially the ultimate level weapons.
I've only played Dynasty Tactics 2, and as a fan of 3D strategy games (Vandal Hearts 1 and 2, Ogre Battle, FF Tactics and FF Tactics Advance (I've only played these... and managed to get ahold of them as well.))., this was pretty good. Blending the combat, with FMV when you utilize a special attack command that is, added more to the overall game... however it did get a little annoying over time. Still a great game.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII... I've only managed to play the earlier ones thanks to finding them on a certain site, yet still this is a great series... especially when you get Elephant troops and Nanman infantry on your side (heh, massive destruction.).
Kessen II is also based on the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Luo Guanzhong, but has been altered a lot. While still a army strategy game, and after altering the story and such, it does have it's merits.
My love for these games and the novel they were loosely based on, has inspired me to even write my own fanfictions, with the characters in them.
At the moment, I'm going crazy waiting for Dynasty Warriors 5 Xtreme Legends to be released (I posted a thread HERE (
Thread 24955) about DW5XL about a month or so ago I think), and I'm drooling over the possible 20,000 edit officer variations available. I'm hoping it's gonna be something similar to the 'Create-A-Wrestler' feature from the WWF/WWE Smackdown games.
Still... these are great games, and as a diehard fan of the series and novel, I'll still love them even if Koei does a DW 11 for example... but secretly I hope they don't. I don't want to see them become another Square Enix.