Tactical Warriors of the Eiketsuden Dynasty
Are you the kind of person who observed the concept behind a title like the recently-announced Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII, and thought it contained a bit too much to wrap your head around? Perhaps you’re the type who enjoys strategy games, but feel games among Koei Tecmo’s long-running strategy franchises (also including Nobunaga’s Ambition) require a bit too much micromanagement. That’s understandable, considering they sit on the complete opposite end of the spectrum compared to the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, which mostly revolve around having one character mow their way through ordinarily-insurmountable odds.
No, I’m not referring to myself there, though I acknowledged how complex RotTKXIII appears in yesterday’s post regarding its localization. Given how Koei Tecmo’s strategy games sell compared to their Warriors/Musou titles, plenty of players feel the same way. Chances are, these people might like a game that sits between the complex and simplistic spectrum.
Fortunately for everyone who felt that way, Koei Tecmo was taking notes, as evinced the reveal of a new title: Dynasty Warriors: Eiketsuden This will take characters from the DW games and place them within the confines of a strategy/RPG, with the game containing notable differences compared to the company’s other strategy titles. Players will use their characters to advance towards enemy units on an isometric grid, where they’ll trigger Warriors-style battles when they come in contact with them. But “style” is the important word there, as the player can’t control their character during those skirmishes. The victor of them will be automatically determined through multiple factors, including how a unit approaches an enemy horde, and their stats. This is why Famitsu’s article about the game emphasized how this is very much an SRPG, despite how its screenshots and promotional artwork could make people think otherwise.
The game actually sounds more reminiscent of Dynasty Tactics, a short-lived series of two titles released for PlayStation 2, which I’ve seen mentioned in tandem with Eiketsuden in some discussions. Those games also involved units moving towards each other on SRPG grids, with larger encounters being triggered when they met. But they also involved entire armies of nameless troops fighting each other, instead of having one powerful character topple dozens — hence the lack of “Warriors” in its name. The Tactics titles had much in common with the RotTK games, thanks to also having that franchise’s grounded character design style and territory management elements — though the gameplay was simplified. Eiketsuden also takes inspiration from RotTK, but it’s more of its own beast compared to Tactics. It does seem to have some things in common with previous games that went under the “Eiketsuden” moniker, but this games will also be different from those.
Also unlike the aforementioned Tactics games, but similar to the older Eiketsuden games, this title will primarily focus on the DW franchise’s biggest face: Zhao Yun. The story begins when he and childhood friend Lei Ben find a mysterious amnesiac girl named Li Xia, who awakens after being sealed in a shrine years ago. It’s a subplot right out of many Japanese RPGs, albeit inserted into a Warriors setting. Though I don’t have much faith, let’s hope they do something original with this.
Though the tale will focus on Zhao Yun, other generals will also be involved in its story, like Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Jia Xu, Sun Jian, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Dong Zuho, Yuan Shao, Diaochan, and Lu Bu (who you don’t pursue). That list of generals is only an initial lineup, so more will be introduced as the game nears its release date. Don’t expect them to receive as much focus as Zhao Yun, though.
The big question remaining here is whether developer Omega Force can successfully craft a worthwhile SRPG experience, since this will be their first attempt. It’s clear this is a larger attempt to get the DW audience on board with Koei Tecmo’s strategy games, even bigger than the attempt made with the some RotTK and Nobunaga’s Ambition titles. Incorporating the traditional DW bombastic character design style is a big step towards that, as much as I would have rather they kept the grounded designs. They also included a hook for players of traditional JRPGs, though I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them were already Warriors fans.
Eiketsuden is planned for release in Japan later this year on PS4, PS3, and Vita. Though plenty of screenshots are contained on the official website, the first trailer will surface on the 21st of this month.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the project fans envisioned when Koei Tecmo previously mentioned their plans for a late 15th anniversary announcement this year. But these guys aren’t the type to play games with their audience (or so they seem), so Dynasty Warriors 9 is likely well into development as you read this. Eiketsuden could simply be another part of the anniversary festivities, to hold fans off for the real experience that could arrive by the end of the year. The next mainline installment could be a treat if it takes advantage of current-generation consoles’ power, but we’ll see what direction they move in. They sure are taking their time getting around to announcing this, though.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
