Hey man, really enjoyed this video. I want to add a little more information about some of the games that you wouldn't know after only playing them for a few hours. The biggest issue with Samurai Warriors 1 is the way in which your characters level. The system they used involved maxing them out, then reincarnating them as if this were friggin Disgaea. This was convoluted and massively unpopular, and the leveling system we know today was introduced in Samurai Warriors: XL in order to rebalance the original game. Speaking as someone who enjoys both games, I can say this is one of the biggest reasons to get the original XL, and makes OG XL stand above others in the Moushoden line. Samurai Warriors: Chronicles is a really fun game that has a nice, smooth difficulty curve - it is definitely not "too easy," as first impressions indicate. The first three missions are easy, but they get progressively more difficult and it's very easy to die in it, even as early as late Part 1. The game is divided into 4 parts and every scenario is very hectic if you're doing the missions. If you don't do the missions, you'd better have overpowered characters, because as your enemy army morale stays high, the harder it is to deal damage to them. The unlocks and progression in the game are also really engaging. Otherwise I think your impressions and criticisms were pretty spot on. I enjoy Samurai Warriors 5 despite the backwards steps, and I do think it's easier to show off to someone who has no idea about SW or Japanese history and get them interested in it compared to the earlier titles.
@@WildcatWeather Thanks! I wrote that kind of hastily and realized just now part of it wasn't totally accurate. In Samurai Warriors 1, it's not that you HAVE to reincarnate, but it is entirely possible to screw over your character and be unable to max them out. This necessitates a character reset if you want to eventually max them out. The whys and wherefores of how you "screw over" your character is too complicated for a UA-cam comment, but if you're interested there's a good guide on GameFAQs about it. Suffice to say, the system in XL and future games is way, way better.
When he said it was too easy I actually laughed. Especially if you're playing the female character who's moveset has abysmal range, going for objectives the first try on many battles can be super difficult. It's difficulty was honestly refreshing after having only played newer Warriors games the past couple years. I felt like SW4 made morale too lenient with you being able to kill flag bearers to bring it down, so I loved how tough it was in this one. Miss a few missions and much of the map will start to turn red, it really was a fun change of pace.
1,000% on point information. SWXL completely changes the first game more than I think any XL has modified a Warriors game into a great game and this sets the foundation for SW2 and the rest of the series
Fun Fact for SW1: Completing the Abyss mode (which was clear floor 30) gives you each book of the elements( Earth, Fire,Water,Wind,Air) and equipping them gave you a "Extreme Death" element to your charge attacks and true musou attacks, they would likely 1 shot peons no matter lvl and/or difficulty and inflict massive damage on officers ..... but there was a catch in the form of a Easter Egg. To clear floor 30, you had to fight Lu Bu .... literally pulled straight out of DW4 and he .... is .... brutal, there's even a SW OST style remix of his theme.
It goes to show the power scale of dynasty warriors characters vs samurai warriors considering how many can fight him head on. Even though it's easier in xtreme legends because enemies don't get stronger as you do in that game.
I played Samurai Warriors SO MUCH when I was younger. Being able to make your own character for story mode / branching paths / the dungeons / the extra modes. Game was so good.
I love those games but nothing will ever top Dynasty Warriors 3, that game is still amazing to this day and a testament to great game development. I'm not even nostalgic about it either as Dynasty Warriors 2 was the first Warriors game I ever played when I got a PS2 for Christmas 20+ years ago.
Me and my brother quite possibly played over 1,000 hours of sw2 + xl during our childhood. Its characters, stages and etc live rent free in my head, probably forever.
@Doortrash was replaying DW5 recently and i was shocked that allies are not only useful, but normal peons and generals can mess you up if you play on anything above normal. hell, a max level Lu Bu can still easily die to a gruop of peons in chaos difficulty if your not careful. even DW got easier as time went on. DW8 made peons more useful then a threat, by giving you weapons that gives you health for killing them.
The SW1 training mode is lowkey really good. There are tons of secrets that encourages you to perform perfectly, Mastering cavalry allows you to have the best horse in the game along insane mounted stats, the agility parkour training makes your speed faster, and if you flawless all your runs, you get the double jump ability only available on Kunoichi and Hanzo, allowing your character to use the few ninja path in levels, it has so much dept and I love it's concept.. Also Lu Bu being a secret boss on the last stage of Survival mode is the coolest thing ever.
It was pretty cool, i wish there was less of a harsh penalty than character deletion if you failed the trials though. Some such as combo and deflect were pretty tough compared to melee, ride or burst for instance.
Yeah, the concept is cool, i heard some rumor that if your character arrow level is high, you get a chance to fight againts magoichi, and if your character wins your character will get musket as their ranged weapon.
There's also a secret item that you can only get there by meeting certain requirements, which can then be used in the normal mode. There are tons of characters you can meet and fight in training. You can unlock an additional four more edit models as well, two male, two female.
If there’s anything the Warriors series did right, it’s the music. They all kickass; Dynasty, Samurai, all the spin-off titles, the songs are either good or ABSOLUTE BANGERS.
Agreed. When I was younger I enjoyed it in the Dynasty series because my favorite character was Zhuge Liang but I didn't like the fan as a weapon. As I got a bit older I kind of understood that it makes the characters feel more unique if they are tied to their weapon
I disagree because being able to change a character’s weapon you don’t like to one you do is a positive. And if you do like there original weapon they start with you can keep it so it’s a win win. Having the option to change weapons is just that an option it doesn’t ruin the game or the characters.
I'm honestly really surprised to hear you weren't into Samurai Warriors 2's OST, I love that game's OST. I might just have some bias from my history of playing SW2XL a lot as a kid. This was pretty interesting to watch as someone who's only played SW2XL and SW5.
It's so good to see someone acknowledge the gem that is Spirit of Sanada! The fact that they focused exclusively on Story Mode made that so unique and detailed. Also HUB shenanegans and sidequests are actually kinda fun for once. They also managed to give at least one battle for each other SW4 characters in which they shine, so you can still use them and get their special weapons. The only bit part is one of the final chapters (third to last or something like that) where you basically have no important battles and are forced to run around with Chacha, and also the fact that for whatever reason they cut Hideyori Toyotomi, an extremely interesting character and basically the central point around whom the whole Osaka siege incident revolved. The final battle of SoS is probably the best stage Koei has designed, I really hope you finish the game
So, my take on SW3. I do agree that the Wii Exclusivity killed the game, in fact I think that was one of the worst decisions Koei-Tecmo made, however I disagree with alot of other things fans say about the game. As someone who has beaten all 30 story mode, completed Historical Mode, and Normal Mode on Murasame Castle, it is probably one of the most challenging warrior games in the entire franchise. Probably not THE MOST CHALLENGING, but I would say it is pretty high up there. The most challenging part of the game however hands down goes to Murasame Castle. There are two difficulties, Normal and Nightmare. You unlock Nightmare after beating the mode once... IF you can beat the mode once. It took me several years to beat Murasame Castle because the demons in that mode become absolutely insane to defeat. You gotta make sure you have a very beefed up character in order to beat the mode. I have tried Nightmare Mode a bit and... I might try to beat it, but I doubt I am going to get it done anytime soon. I am sorry to say this, but alot of Warrior Games nowadays are too easy IMO. While games like SW4 and DW8 are great games with alot of pros. They feel too easy and make me appreciate SW3 more for how challenging it is. In older warrior games, you couldn't take on higher difficulties without leveling up. There is something to be said about making all difficulties accessible right off the bat, However if I can beat the entire game on hard without losing once in the ENTIRE GAME *Glares at SW4*, then there is a problem with your difficulty balancing. That's my take on SW3.
I agree with this take, ir remember going from samurái Warriors 3 on the Wii to dynasty Warriors 7 when i got a 360 AND thinking it was too damn Easy AND almost automated to a degree, except lu bu regardless of the game you do not pursue Lu bu
One thing you didn't mention about SW1 is that because of how items and weapon stats interacted with enemy stats, it was actually not worth levelling up characters. Your enemies would actually level up faster than you so you gradually got weaker over time. You were also stopped receiving skill points if your character reached max level. SW1XL changed all these things so levelling up characters felt appropriately rewarding and was worth doing. It also added a new difficulty and a new ultimate weapon for each character which could be unlocked on that difficulty.
was looking for this! sw1 leveling was terrible. my brother min-max a route for battle of nagashino in order for me and my other brother to get maxed out stats for characters
Thank you for this video. One thing to add regarding the first Samurai Warriors is its unusually dark atmosphere. I suppose it has something in common with Dynasty Warriors 4 in that regard but it's a little more violent in its cutscenes and generally quite self-serious.
I was under impression that back in the day it was made with DW's "darker spinoff" in mind. As the time went on they just become sister series and got crossover so the tone just eventually became similar.
Sw2 just had a higher level of engagement and believable interaction and you felt you were in a generational conflict. Upto spirit of Sanada, the characters just felt more sad and semi crying. Don't forget the best English dub and best Musuo attacks.
Really cool seeing these types of vids! The dedication to the time it takes to go back through said games and the editing is awesome! These vids of yours covering these games has been a personal fave of mine! Can't wait to see ya tackle the Orochi series next too! Keep up the great work! ✨
I dunno, I actually quite like the story direction of SW5. It wasn't revolutionary or anything, but focusing almost completely on Nobunaga's story did a really good job of humanizing him. I love that we can see him go from a brash, brilliant and charasmatic leader into a warlord so cold and disconnected that his only real connection left is with Yasuke, a practical outsider and political non-entity. The voice actor did an excellent job depicting that transition as well. I do hate how some characters were depicted or just woefully underutilized (like Nohime) but SW5 being Feudal Scarface is not a bad thing at all. What needed was SW5-2 that focused on the power struggle between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. And ideally added an actually good side mode
Thanks for the nostalgia trip and amazing review. My biggest disappointment with the franchise is the fact that they stopped dubbing. Playing SW 2 - Empires with the English dub was so much fun for me. I don't like trying to read subtitles during an intense action battle and tend to miss most of the dialogues in the newer games...
out of all, I loved 2 empires, and 4 empires but I never really liked the demon king portrayal of Nobunaga persistent until 4. Thats the biggest advantage of 5. I also wish they'd bring back 1's new officer mode into more recent games because it just feels like you're important but would be better for there to be unique campaign mode for whatever clan you choose. The best portrayal of Nobunaga so far is Kesen 3
I played through samurai warriors 5 last year and when I heard your intro I thought "ah man he doesn't get it". But actually listening to your reasoning, I 100% respect and support your decions to review it the way you did. Moreover, you hit the nail on the head with the review. Personally I found the redesign jarring at first with everyone looking like k pop pin ups but eventually you get used to it. Despite it being so heavily focused on a shorter period, I found more connection with the characters somehow and got more involved emotionally with previous iterations, which surprised me somewhat. Great review though! I kinda hoped they would make 6 more like 4 but with the mechanics of 5.
Chronicles 3 will always be my favorite. I was a huge fan of the way the original Chronicles integrated you as a core player in the Sengoku-era story and let you see more personal sides of the characters, so Chronicles 3 building upon that as well as having 4's gameplay easily makes it my top SW game.
I cry my eyes out when i finished SW spirit of sanada even im playing it at internet cafe, such an amazing game. I also wish we get more SW game like SW SOS in the future Im still get chill when i remember the last stage of SOS till this day
You have no idea how happy I am to see this video! The DW video you made is something I usually have on while laying down for bed. You're really chill dude. Perfect videos to relax and enjoy!
I'd love to see your take on the Warriors Orochi series! That and Warriors spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes, etc
Oh dear sw2 I miss the childhood I grew with you 😢 magnificent and one reason was that each character was unique each story unique each face was unique but you maybe I loved it bcz it was my childhood game
I'd just like to point out that there IS a free mode in Spirit of Sanada. Sort of. It's accessed through an NPC in the story mode (first available around the mid-point), and you pay a specific item to unlock basically any SW4-series character to use in previously played battles.
Just got recommended this video and gave it a watch, and it's nice to see SW1 ranked so highly. I genuinely think SW1 is one of the high points of the series. It had some issues, but so do they all. Between all the various routes and the limited characters, it felt like most got fleshed out a lot better than later games, although I've never played the Chronicle games so can't compare there. Not that all were particularly complex, but they definitely tried to make them proper characters rather than just sticking to specific tropes like some became in later entries. I also love how the game is both a darker, more serious tone a lot of the time, while also not being afraid to have fun with it. You look at Okuni or Goemon's campaigns, or even Masamune's and you can tell the latter for sure. If you've not played SW1XL I'd recommend it just for Yoshimoto's campaign too, me and my brother still reference that because of it's ending, although you'd probably need to have played Kenshin's campaign in the original for it to work as well. And honestly for all people cricicise the kind of backwards leveling mechanic, while I'd reset levels sometimes to unlock weapons because they could be rough max leveled, I actually appreciated the increasing challenge as you progress. I amn't sure I would so much these days, but at the time the level of challenge at max level hardest difficulty was what kept me playing SW1 so much. Also your faults with the create a character mode are defintiely fair, but the amount of hidden content that would let you get skills or other perks (could get Magoichi's musket, or the Ninja's kunais) was just really cool. I remember playing that mode constantly trying to figure out all the requirements to get them all, though I never did figure out a surefire way to get the Ninja's double jump, which would've been the best one to try and make sure you get I think.
You're incorrect about the bodyguards in State of War. Many of them do in fact have special abilities that effect the game. There's one that makes your officers drop full musou every 20 seconds, and one even adds death element to your charge attack (this is the only way to get this element). Awe is a great one, allowing you to capture officers easier. All the Dynasty Warriors 4 characters appear in the game as well.
I really enjoyed your playthrough of all the games and a lot of what you said and had criticism on was honestly spot on. I been a Samurai Fan boy since literally the release of SW1. I got it when it released when I was a kid and I played it and every game that followed with my brother up until the current game. And obviously 3 because fuck that Wii shit. We maxed out the characters we found all the secrets we would play the games on the hardest difficulty and it was amazing. But I will say that Samurai warriors 1 and more specifically XL Will always be the absolute best that Samurai Warriors has and ever will offer. It was a perfect mix of story telling Music Voice acting And combat Most specifically the A.I It was difficult yet only if you charged head first like a idiot Even the chaotic Chaos difficulty that these days just has Peons one shotting you Was amazing and the perfect difficulty A mix of having to fight through every enemy and challenging officer battles To still being able to completely mow down the enemy when you have maxed out characters. You weren't getting one shot and you felt on par with your Enemy And your Allied soldiers and officers where at the same difficulty Being able to handle their own Clear out mobs of Peons And unleash combos and Musou attacks of their own that they sometimes are saving your ass. The golden era of Samurai warriors. Where the AI actually had combos and did more then single attacks. Now a days. I can't even call these warrior games anymore.
SW5 is legit. I just purchased it off the cuff. Haven’t played a warriors game in awhile and I’m impressed. It’s fresh look for the series. The moves you use matter in the fights now. I haven’t beat it yet but I totally recommend the buy. 👍🏾
Yeah but no originality of moveset. Anyone can use same fighting style just using same weapon, example i like oda but i like how ieyasu fight, then i can use anyone with ieyasu fighting skills.. N some character using same weapon, this is the biggest letdown in the game for me. Other than that, its good. As for design, they made all of character much more anime-ish and a of them has to be handsome or pretty man .even katsuie who known to be like kinda bald
SW1 vanilla also had a weird scaling difficulty depending on your character’s level, which could be exploited to get 5th weapons much more easily (such as Yukimura’s lol). SW1XL fixed this along with fixing the character leveling system to how it is in future titles and like most warriors games, with stage difficulty being set per stage.
I should mention the scaling difficulty was also annoying and unpopular because combined with the leveling system unless you did some convoluted and super grindy resetting and leveling then you would get significantly weaker in the game as you leveled up, with missions just becoming harder and harder. Counter-intuitive. Really don’t understand Koei’s thinking. SW1XL is a MUST BUY to truly enjoy the unique SW1.
I had the same thing happened with SW5 lol. At first, I was so against it, but when I played it, it was pretty amazing, gameplay wise. I had a very weird relationship with the game, I enjoyed it a bit too much but at the same time I wouldn't recommend it to anyone especially because the lack of some of my favorite characters from the franchise. That being said, my top tier would be SW2, 2XL and 4. And SW4 music is just *chef kiss*
Just discovered your channel this week through your Dynasty Warriors vid, love your stuff. It's a lot more thorough than most gaming youtubers. Solid subscription.
Idk how everyone else feels about it, but i feel like the ai seems kinda boring? like i was playing samurai warrior 4 and i stood around for like 15 mins or so, and nothing really happened. your allies and enemies and foot soldiers just moving back and forth not really fighting. on the whole map its seems like nothing really was going on too? your allies dont seem to be advancing unless you trigger some events or something. i really miss the old warriors game were all the ai just charge and clash with each other all over the map.
After hundreds of hours on both SW1 & SW2, I still think SW1 is harder. SW2 is a sudden death type of difficulty but that only backs you into spamming musou. SW1 is a more sustained and tactical difficulty.
Unpopular opinion, the SW1 castle/dungeons were the best of all 5 games. The open layout of the newer games made the castles feel the same as outdoor battles to me.
I love this video. Definitely persuaded me to get SW:SOS. I will say though I disagree with your viewpoint of SW5. I feel like a lot of the characters are more human and they added more depth to clans like the Saito, Imagawa, and Mori. Imagawa Yoshimoto has his best depiction yet in the series. And the characterizations of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide I think shine best, even in comparison to SW4. You really get a sense for the Fool of Owari before he becomes the Demon King. I will admit that the Citadel building and Citadel mode are terrible though and not a worth while grind.
I really really hope to see more like this, be it spin offs warrior games, tokuden games, etc etc. I appreciate your work and thank you for putting the time and effort into it!
Samurai Warriors 1 is actually the hardest game in the series by far, the thing is only once you play it enough. It has a difficulty that scales up with your player level, if you start getting into the higher level ranges the game absolutely bodies you, as a kid I had to go into the reset option to reduce my levels back down to 1 to keep playing, 2 can SEEM harder but will become much easier with levels, 1 is the exact opposite.
Great video as always. In regards to Samurai Warriors 5, I need to say the game seriously has the same problems as Dynasty Warriors 6. I find it really ironic for people who shit on Dynasty Warriors 6 for having problems, yet they praise Samurai Warriors 5, even thought the game has the same problems. The following problems are: - Cut roster, yet cloned moveset. In fact Samurai Warriors 5 has more clones than Dynasty Warriors 6 (SW5: 37 characters/15 movesets; DW6: 41 characters/29 movesets), completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut. - Cut roster, yet some characters are barely playable in the story mode like Saika Magoichi, Imagawa Yoshimoto, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, Mori Motonari, Kobayakawa Takakage, and others. Again, completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut. - Cloned map layouts, a lot of the stages are copy and paste maps from other stages. Koei-Tecmo tried to hide that it's a cloned map, by rotating the map layout. - You can't play as the opposing side in some stages like Anegawa (Azai), Nagashino (Takeda), Tetorigawa (Uesugi), and Kizugawa (Mori). Once again, this completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut. - Moveset distribution between weapons are not balance. Some moveset has more moves than other, with no valid explanation whatsoever. - Lack of gameplay modes, the game only has 3 modes musou mode, free mode, and citadel mode. - For the first time in a Warriors game, free mode is restricted in terms of the characters you can use. Completely defeats the entire purpose of a free mode.
@@ruthmcnally310 You can't play as certain characters in certain stages. For example, you can't play as Nobunaga in the Battle of Muraki Garrison, because your mission there is to escort Nobunaga.
If I could discuss about SW5 movesets, I think one thing that does get overlooked is the variety and distinction between each weapon. Each weapon is SW5 is very distinct from each other, in terms of what they focus on, how their moveset is structured. and what moves they have available to them. I think that's something both DW and SW have long needed to do, since even though they had all these dozens of weapons and characters, they all still followed the same moveset structure, like having C2/C5 be aerial launchers, C4/C6 be AOE etc. SW was slightly better given there were 4 moveset structures by SW4, but the same issue still applies. Now admittedly, some weapons turned out way better than others, I think the spear is the most glaring for how neutered its ground moveset is. But ultimately, I think this is still the right direction to move in and I hope they keep improving on it.
I mean, it doesn't have the Renbu system, so that's one big plus it has over DW6. The actual story mode of the game is enjoyable and in-depth enough that people who are unfamiliar with Sengoku-era history can actually follow it. Finally, DW6 didn't introduce ANY new characters at all - it just removed a few. Those are all points over DW6. That being said, I totally get your disappointment with the game. It isn't a strict improvement over SW4, so it is a disappointment. In that way, it's very much like DW6.
I've been replaying SW2,Xl,Empires off of a PS2 Emulator and its been super fun. SW2 might be my favorite from the Samurai Warriors franchise excluding the newest 5 as I haven't played it yet.
I started with SW4, but played with the older versions of characters in the Warriors Orochi series. I played SW4, SW4-II, Chronicles 3, SW4E, SoS and SW5. From top to bottom the base version of SW4 and Chronicles were the best overall. I like the Survival Mode in SW4-II, but didn't play it long. I hated SW4E, the problems I had were battle timers were too short and having to change around the retainers positions so often, because they would randomly get bad at their posts. I think I started a few campaigns, but I'm not sure if I ever finished more than 1. It also was annoying that I could never get Kai to marry. SoS was one that I was going to skip, since I never liked the poster boy, but I did eventually get it. I really liked Masayuki and was disappointed that he and Chacha never made it into WO4. I actually did like the exploration maps that the ninja-types could jump up to access places that others couldn't get to. If only DW9 could have just expanded on that instead of going full open world, it could have helped the DW series. SW5 was actually the best for the story and combat. I think the re-imagined version of Yoshimoto was 100 times better than the kemari-lover from previous games. The only problem I had with it was the extra mode(Citadel Mode) was only defensive missions. I don't mind having a protect mission here and there, but not a full mode of them. I didn't like the cut characters, like Kai and Nene being fully removed, but I really liked Mitsuki.
I bought Spirit of Sanada cheap with low expectations during the pandemic, having heard virtually nothing about it. I was honestly shocked at how good it was. It was fun to play, fun to grind (important for anyone's pandemic needs), and nearly all of the characters were in it (which you'd never expect if you thought it only focused on the Sanadas). The new characters were very likable and despite knowing the history and how things would go, it still left me an emotional wreck by the end. The game is criminally ignored.
Gonna comment on 5, not trying to diss anything you said per say but address it, since by your own admission you actually haven't played the full release: *First of all I'm not defending the game nor is the direction I want for the next numbered game. Story: is very in depth despite not including all of the conflict time line, is quite interesting the depiction of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide. If you have previous knowledge of the historical events, while it does take a lot of creative liberties is very probable that you will like it and be engaged. I like how they approached this and Sanada's game on their scope of the conflict, that being said this should have been (perhaps) another spinoff, on the basis that is super focus on Nobunaga. Clones: Feels cheap on the surface for sure, but the moves are very fleshed out, and not to diss on previous games, but there were some characters with very repetitive and uninspired move sets on those ones, so is an ok compromise I would say. Pricing and dlc: I forgot it has even dlc, is the most avoidable content for sure; in my region without discount stands around 32 usd. it does reflect the content of the game, because it does feel made on the cheap and quick. However is very fun game and would recommend you to actually play it, despite being juts one more SW. Keep your videos coming, just say this and your DW vid. good content! I hope you don't give up on making more.
yeah, it was always going to be a rough transition for alot of long time fans but i think it was a necessary move, and will lead to the series being alot stronger in the future
Sugoroku and the Survival Tower from SW2 are legit my 2 favorite gaming experiences from KOEI ever, followed very closely by DW5 XL Destiny Mode. The late 2000's were a fantastic time to be a Warriors fan.
I loved your Dynasty Warriors video so I appreciate the follow-up with this. Samurai Warriors is such a great series and I feel like it deserves not being treated as a 'side series' to Dynasty. SW4 remains one of my favourite games, it's so good and the music is really epic.
I think the warriors series as a whole consists of incremental changes across titles. So, as someone whose only experience was sw2, wo2, and a bit of sw3, I was really impressed with sw5 especially with the way it was telling its story. I might also be part of the minority that liked the weapon changes (but I may change opinion as I try to finish the game) My big big problem with Koei Tecmo's model tho is they're kinda predatory with the prices. On switch eshop I'm seeing sw5 at 90 usd, wo4 at around the same price, both with dlc. I consider myself lucky that I got to buy sw5 with dlc in my region for about 35 usd on Steam (probably due to regional pricing)
This series is incredibly addictive much more than dynasty warriors. My favorite is 2 and my main save has 165 hours every character story beaten and all at least in the 20 except for okuni who is a character you unlock after beating certain stories. Sadly she has no story. That game has gotten me through long periods of time where I had no idea what to play and just wanted to burn some time or wanted to just not think. You can get sucked into it super easily. Very few games work as true staple to a collection like this. The music is incredible! Odawara Castle Lu Bu. Fight me :D It's exciting to see a video on these games so thanks :)
SW3 voice acting is so underrated. SW3 is one of the few Musou I've ever played, and I agree with a lot of the problems the people have with this game, but the VA, I don't understand why so much people hate it.
People complaining about Samurai Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 9 voice actors is the reason they stop doing them fans ask for English to be in warriors games than when they get what they want they crap on it same thing about them wanting realistic weapons than when Koei did that for Dynasty Warriors 9 American fan base wine and cried cuz they said realistic weapon ruin the game people wanted the game to be open world the moment Koei give what people want people complane they worst than WWE and Aew fans who are never happy
Samurai Warriors 5 is definitely one of the better SW games out there gameplay wise especially. I don't really mind the clones moveset, cause the "EX" attack for every character is quite different, for example like the Katana, there are 5 different moveset for it (The generic, Nagamasa, Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, and Takakage) evethough it JUST the EX attack, but those EX attack is so different than the one we got on the DW series. On the DW series the EX attack was more of an extension of the moveset, while in this game it's more of an it's own moveset, for example, Nagamasa and Mitsuhide both had their EX on their C5, and those 2 moveset perform really different to one another, that it almost made a unique play style not just a unique moveset. So even though a character might had the same preferred weapon, their play styles might plays a bit different. But still, i wish they didn't do that. There is also alot of stuff in the game, you had basically 13 chapters, 6 chapters each for Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, and also an additional what-if chapters. The story itself it's fine i guess, nothing to spectacular. A completion reward for getting an S Rank for every difficulty (TIME, K.O,and 2 other that i forgot) although u can just play on the Nightmare difficulty and get the rewards for every other difficulty. Unless u had an all level 7 Weapon (at least), the nightmare difficulty itself is really hard. You need to play every stage at least 2 or even 3 for some stage that had a unique objective to 100% it. Some stage also had a character specific objectives that actually made the stage plays a bit different, but not like SW4 where the stage itself is literally different (Sakon's and Mitsunari's Sekigahara). Citadel mode is ass, is not good at all, got boring reallly fast, but the game force u to play it in order to speed up leveling your Dojo, Shop, Blacksmith, etc. It gives you horse i believe if you complete all of the stage, and also had some friendship bar to unlock some scenes, but that's about it. If there is one thing that got me really disappointed with this game is that the game is not fun anymore when u already finish the story and citadel mode, other than replaying the stage to get all objective. Normally you can still do a lot of stuff even when u already completed 80% of the older games, this time is not, when you finished the story and citadel mode, the game got boring really fast. Well, Citadel mode is also disappointing, but i'll let it slide cause it's "the other" game mode. Reason why i am disappointed by it is that, with the weapon systems that they implemented, your weapon is to powerful and that makes you REALLY STRONG when u are at the endgame, way to strong even for nightmare difficulty. And the character gains level really slow too, like u could play 4 stage of Honnoji and still didn't get to max exp from lvl 50 (like in SW4, u can max out the stats after u hit level 50) which make the game a bit more tedious. I believe it needed around 700k plus exp to fully maxed out your character from Level 50. Last thing is about the rare weapon and stuff. Rare weapons is definitely not good, they're worthless pretty much, because u can make a better weapon with the crafting weapons system that this game had. And since almost all rare weapons are on the later stage of the game, your weapon going into that battle is probably already better than the Rare Weapon itself. And the process of acquiring it also feels way to short, this is also counting the fact that you need to do 2 stages to get the rare weapons itself and it's still feel boring and not worth it. I wish they go the route of instead having a rare weapon for every weapons type, every character had their own unique weapon, they can exclude the generics if they want and it's fine as long as the og character got their own weapon. Overall this is a really good game when you are underpowered or even matching the power requirements, the stage feels much longer, bigger, and bette, basically when you had your first playhrough of it. But when you do actually got stronger the game became way to easy and it just become really boring, the weapon system is too broken that you don't even need to maxed out your character, which was some of my favourite things to do on the older warriors game, and also one of the reason that i keep playing the older game.
SW3 is my favorite, I think the combat would have been better if it had a lock on button so you wouldn't flip flop around as much in combat, but the way the combat is structured is pretty ok, you have a parry mechanic, move canceling with samurai spirit thing that allows for very long high damaging combos that requires precise timing and execution (which as a fighting game player I really enjoy that) and a dodge mechanic, but it not having a lock on button so you always know where the opponent really is really hurt the combat imo The level design is pretty cool, you have s huge peon/grunt unit variety, some battle feel like mount and blade even, with grunts not dying so easily
SW 1 Series was just the original best. The castle mode, the dark foggy graphics, the japanese atmosphere the 3rd opposable party that fights against you and the enemies. it has that "deep set" japanese island history feel. it has classic appeal indeed.
Again, this is an excellent video. You are a Musou machine when it comes to playing all of these games. Over the next few years I would like to see a Warriors Orochi, Dynasty Warriors Gundam, and One Piece: Pirate Warriors list. Just take your time and don't burn yourself out. Take breaks, try different series. You rock!
my favorite franchise! i could never choose between them! Nene, Mitsuhide, Nobunaga and No, Inara and Mitsunari , Shingen ! lord my childhood!!! Yukimura! Musashi!!!! Lawd im gonna cry!!!!
SW4 is the only warrior game I played that is possible to use lv1 character to clear hardest level on hardest difficulty, because of an absurdly strong weapon skill called Stimulus. As long as you can gain a level in 45 second you are almost invincible. It is really an unique experience and I suggest everyone try it. SW4-2 gives more flexibility to the weapon customization. The introduction of Naomasa is also welcomed, cuz he is very respected and played a big role in the Tokugawa clan in real history. To me 4-2 is on par with SW4. I like your video series of playing through all the warriors game, maybe you can do a Orochi Warriors next? Or spin-off warrior game like Gundam/OnePiece musou?
Spirit of Sanada was indeed quite different from the base game 4, or 4-2 on mechanics, and probably my personal favorite. The story was great, but what I don’t like about it is how ur character receives quests to explore, and to gather. There was another drama called Kirin ga Kuru, which I believe inspired SW5. I kinda liked how they redesign the characters so far, and I’m still waiting for an expansion for other factions like Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, how they clashed in the eastern provinces. Also certainly stories after the deaths of Nobunaga. U can’t really call it a samurai warriors if it ends at Honnoji, let’s be fair
I wish koei would like to remaster their old series and re-released it on steam. Especially the older Empires and Xtreme Legends. I like every Empires installment for SW and the "Destiny Mode" feature in DW5XL are absolute banger for me.
Samurai warriors 2 XL adds more mounts, scenarios, and a second set of rare weapons to acquire. :) Sw3 was also my first! I have the same sentiment too :( SW4 has to be my favorite koei game. Music, graphics, character movesets all being enjoyable for once, and the broken rare weapons >:) I also found SoS to be ultra fun. Some of the exclusive music adds so much emotion as well. My only gripe is the exploration. Regarding SW5, the pricing strategy is definitely a bad thing. Now, the demo is a VERY POOR representation of the game. There ARE unique charge attacks but they are similar to EX attacks in dw8. I found the actual combat to be the most fun in all warriors games. I agree that they dropped the ball elsewhere. If SW4 gained the battle mechanics of SW5, 4 would be the perfect game for me.
For SW5, I just meant that the Unique NPCs did not get unique charge attacks and musous which makes me hesitant to count them as part of the playable roster.
Mercenary Mode was a grind to finally be able to customize your weapon as you please. I was really happy with it because back then, because only Warriors Orochi had fully customizable weapon effects. Things like this are why I just treat the XL games as improvements patches. Their only flaw is having to buy the game again.
While I agree with you on a lot of aspects of SW5, like the no dynamic aging for anyone except Mitsuhide and Nobunaga and the repeated move sets. I did enjoy my time playing it, maybe it was patched in later but there is a lock-on mechanic and you can swap targets just by flicking the right stick. I feel like the characters even though their move sets were cloned, felt unique enough once you obtain their specific Ultimate Skill to make playing as them tolerable. Whatever variations that were made to the historical side, didn’t bother me as honestly for almost 20 years we’ve been told the same story with new characters added in to spice it up. I think the phrase refusing to support this game monetarily takes it a big far although I respect your opinion, if you can catch it on sale as I did for 20 bucks, it’s worth a play. I am actually looking forward to how they progress the game from this revamp, I’d love to see the art style carried over and unique move sets made for a pretty good roster so far
Johnny Yong Bosch aka Adam from the Power Rangers series has the distinction of voicing Sanada Yukimura in two different Sengoku Era based video game series: Koei's Musouverse and Capcom's Sengoku Basara aka Samurai Warriors on steroids!
3Z and 3 Empires were at one point going to get localized but as you suspected the reception was so poor that they just ended up canceling it. Sucks cause 3 Empires looked interesting enough.
SW2 was the one that introduce me to the franchise, so Im blinded by the nostalgia with that one. Didnt dislike the idea of a reboot with 5, but not the way that they do it. Fresh and unique move set to justify less characters, but lets see how will be the XL or empire version. Good video man
Hey man, really enjoyed this video. I want to add a little more information about some of the games that you wouldn't know after only playing them for a few hours.
The biggest issue with Samurai Warriors 1 is the way in which your characters level. The system they used involved maxing them out, then reincarnating them as if this were friggin Disgaea. This was convoluted and massively unpopular, and the leveling system we know today was introduced in Samurai Warriors: XL in order to rebalance the original game. Speaking as someone who enjoys both games, I can say this is one of the biggest reasons to get the original XL, and makes OG XL stand above others in the Moushoden line.
Samurai Warriors: Chronicles is a really fun game that has a nice, smooth difficulty curve - it is definitely not "too easy," as first impressions indicate. The first three missions are easy, but they get progressively more difficult and it's very easy to die in it, even as early as late Part 1. The game is divided into 4 parts and every scenario is very hectic if you're doing the missions. If you don't do the missions, you'd better have overpowered characters, because as your enemy army morale stays high, the harder it is to deal damage to them. The unlocks and progression in the game are also really engaging.
Otherwise I think your impressions and criticisms were pretty spot on. I enjoy Samurai Warriors 5 despite the backwards steps, and I do think it's easier to show off to someone who has no idea about SW or Japanese history and get them interested in it compared to the earlier titles.
You've earned the pinned comment, my friend. :)
@@WildcatWeather Thanks! I wrote that kind of hastily and realized just now part of it wasn't totally accurate. In Samurai Warriors 1, it's not that you HAVE to reincarnate, but it is entirely possible to screw over your character and be unable to max them out. This necessitates a character reset if you want to eventually max them out.
The whys and wherefores of how you "screw over" your character is too complicated for a UA-cam comment, but if you're interested there's a good guide on GameFAQs about it. Suffice to say, the system in XL and future games is way, way better.
SW Chronicles was really good. It's a solid SW and it should have been ported over to PS4.
When he said it was too easy I actually laughed. Especially if you're playing the female character who's moveset has abysmal range, going for objectives the first try on many battles can be super difficult. It's difficulty was honestly refreshing after having only played newer Warriors games the past couple years. I felt like SW4 made morale too lenient with you being able to kill flag bearers to bring it down, so I loved how tough it was in this one. Miss a few missions and much of the map will start to turn red, it really was a fun change of pace.
1,000% on point information. SWXL completely changes the first game more than I think any XL has modified a Warriors game into a great game and this sets the foundation for SW2 and the rest of the series
Fun Fact for SW1: Completing the Abyss mode (which was clear floor 30) gives you each book of the elements( Earth, Fire,Water,Wind,Air) and equipping them gave you a "Extreme Death" element to your charge attacks and true musou attacks, they would likely 1 shot peons no matter lvl and/or difficulty and inflict massive damage on officers ..... but there was a catch in the form of a Easter Egg.
To clear floor 30, you had to fight Lu Bu .... literally pulled straight out of DW4 and he .... is .... brutal, there's even a SW OST style remix of his theme.
That's so badass i would have fan boyed cause he's my fav
sadly i never got that far in the towers.....i'd get destroyed by level 10 or so....between 10-15 at the highest....
And lu bu was just as strong as u would think he WASENT a push over I remember having to run into circles at low HP alot
legit completed once. lubu is no joke
It goes to show the power scale of dynasty warriors characters vs samurai warriors considering how many can fight him head on. Even though it's easier in xtreme legends because enemies don't get stronger as you do in that game.
I played Samurai Warriors SO MUCH when I was younger. Being able to make your own character for story mode / branching paths / the dungeons / the extra modes. Game was so good.
I love those games but nothing will ever top Dynasty Warriors 3, that game is still amazing to this day and a testament to great game development. I'm not even nostalgic about it either as Dynasty Warriors 2 was the first Warriors game I ever played when I got a PS2 for Christmas 20+ years ago.
@@Travybear1989idk 4 & 5 can give 3 a run
Me and my brother quite possibly played over 1,000 hours of sw2 + xl during our childhood. Its characters, stages and etc live rent free in my head, probably forever.
I'm impressed that someone on the other side of the world has the same story with this great game, incredible greetings from Argentina
Samurai Warriors 4's music is absolutely amazing to me, I'll always rate it as one of my top favorite Warriors games because of that
Ur here too...I see u every time I click a video...grre
Couldn't agree more!
\Iconic/
replayed SW2 recently and i still think its one of, if not the best game in the series.
@Doortrash was replaying DW5 recently and i was shocked that allies are not only useful, but normal peons and generals can mess you up if you play on anything above normal. hell, a max level Lu Bu can still easily die to a gruop of peons in chaos difficulty if your not careful. even DW got easier as time went on. DW8 made peons more useful then a threat, by giving you weapons that gives you health for killing them.
I grew up on SW2 and yeah, it freaking rules
4 was kinda close, but I just don't like the Kill All Peons button
The SW1 training mode is lowkey really good. There are tons of secrets that encourages you to perform perfectly, Mastering cavalry allows you to have the best horse in the game along insane mounted stats, the agility parkour training makes your speed faster, and if you flawless all your runs, you get the double jump ability only available on Kunoichi and Hanzo, allowing your character to use the few ninja path in levels, it has so much dept and I love it's concept.. Also Lu Bu being a secret boss on the last stage of Survival mode is the coolest thing ever.
It was pretty cool, i wish there was less of a harsh penalty than character deletion if you failed the trials though. Some such as combo and deflect were pretty tough compared to melee, ride or burst for instance.
Yeah, the concept is cool, i heard some rumor that if your character arrow level is high, you get a chance to fight againts magoichi, and if your character wins your character will get musket as their ranged weapon.
There's also a secret item that you can only get there by meeting certain requirements, which can then be used in the normal mode. There are tons of characters you can meet and fight in training. You can unlock an additional four more edit models as well, two male, two female.
Mmmm
If there’s anything the Warriors series did right, it’s the music. They all kickass; Dynasty, Samurai, all the spin-off titles, the songs are either good or ABSOLUTE BANGERS.
I really am not a fan of "weapon" switch , I much prefer the like SW4 did character switching , weapons should be tied to their identity
100% agree
Yeah it really took me out of 5 when I realized that they weren’t unique
Agreed. When I was younger I enjoyed it in the Dynasty series because my favorite character was Zhuge Liang but I didn't like the fan as a weapon. As I got a bit older I kind of understood that it makes the characters feel more unique if they are tied to their weapon
I disagree because being able to change a character’s weapon you don’t like to one you do is a positive. And if you do like there original weapon they start with you can keep it so it’s a win win.
Having the option to change weapons is just that an option it doesn’t ruin the game or the characters.
STRONGLY AGREE!!!!!
I'm honestly really surprised to hear you weren't into Samurai Warriors 2's OST, I love that game's OST. I might just have some bias from my history of playing SW2XL a lot as a kid.
This was pretty interesting to watch as someone who's only played SW2XL and SW5.
It's so good to see someone acknowledge the gem that is Spirit of Sanada! The fact that they focused exclusively on Story Mode made that so unique and detailed. Also HUB shenanegans and sidequests are actually kinda fun for once. They also managed to give at least one battle for each other SW4 characters in which they shine, so you can still use them and get their special weapons. The only bit part is one of the final chapters (third to last or something like that) where you basically have no important battles and are forced to run around with Chacha, and also the fact that for whatever reason they cut Hideyori Toyotomi, an extremely interesting character and basically the central point around whom the whole Osaka siege incident revolved. The final battle of SoS is probably the best stage Koei has designed, I really hope you finish the game
I feel like they didn't add Hideyori because of the fact they wanted to focus on the relation between Yukimura and Chacha.
SW2 is by far my most favorite, the BGM is top notch and the storytelling is great
same here
My very first proper musou, I say proper because I played DW1 on the ps1. Up to this day, still a musou fanatic.
Same. Played SW2 from 2008 to 2010. Literally my childhood game.
If you’ve never played any of them, is SW2 the best place to start?
@pteGmoney it's the best Samurai Warriors game Period!! I started with Samurai Warriors 2.
So, my take on SW3.
I do agree that the Wii Exclusivity killed the game, in fact I think that was one of the worst decisions Koei-Tecmo made, however I disagree with alot of other things fans say about the game.
As someone who has beaten all 30 story mode, completed Historical Mode, and Normal Mode on Murasame Castle, it is probably one of the most challenging warrior games in the entire franchise. Probably not THE MOST CHALLENGING, but I would say it is pretty high up there.
The most challenging part of the game however hands down goes to Murasame Castle. There are two difficulties, Normal and Nightmare. You unlock Nightmare after beating the mode once... IF you can beat the mode once. It took me several years to beat Murasame Castle because the demons in that mode become absolutely insane to defeat. You gotta make sure you have a very beefed up character in order to beat the mode. I have tried Nightmare Mode a bit and... I might try to beat it, but I doubt I am going to get it done anytime soon.
I am sorry to say this, but alot of Warrior Games nowadays are too easy IMO. While games like SW4 and DW8 are great games with alot of pros. They feel too easy and make me appreciate SW3 more for how challenging it is. In older warrior games, you couldn't take on higher difficulties without leveling up. There is something to be said about making all difficulties accessible right off the bat, However if I can beat the entire game on hard without losing once in the ENTIRE GAME *Glares at SW4*, then there is a problem with your difficulty balancing.
That's my take on SW3.
SW3 is the best game in the series.
I agree with this take, ir remember going from samurái Warriors 3 on the Wii to dynasty Warriors 7 when i got a 360 AND thinking it was too damn Easy AND almost automated to a degree, except lu bu regardless of the game you do not pursue Lu bu
One thing you didn't mention about SW1 is that because of how items and weapon stats interacted with enemy stats, it was actually not worth levelling up characters. Your enemies would actually level up faster than you so you gradually got weaker over time. You were also stopped receiving skill points if your character reached max level.
SW1XL changed all these things so levelling up characters felt appropriately rewarding and was worth doing. It also added a new difficulty and a new ultimate weapon for each character which could be unlocked on that difficulty.
was looking for this! sw1 leveling was terrible. my brother min-max a route for battle of nagashino in order for me and my other brother to get maxed out stats for characters
Fun fact: Yukimura's alternate armor in SW1 is based heavily on his real life armor.
Thank you for this video. One thing to add regarding the first Samurai Warriors is its unusually dark atmosphere. I suppose it has something in common with Dynasty Warriors 4 in that regard but it's a little more violent in its cutscenes and generally quite self-serious.
I was under impression that back in the day it was made with DW's "darker spinoff" in mind. As the time went on they just become sister series and got crossover so the tone just eventually became similar.
2 Empires is my personal favorite. So many things to uncover, which makes the game highly replayable. Playing as the generic officers is also fun.
literally just watched this video yesterday and KT shadow drops Samurai Warriors 4 DX on pc the same day. Truly a sign
Sw2 just had a higher level of engagement and believable interaction and you felt you were in a generational conflict. Upto spirit of Sanada, the characters just felt more sad and semi crying. Don't forget the best English dub and best Musuo attacks.
🇨🇦
Damn, didn't know we Canadians were active during the sengoku era 😂
Spirit of canada? Wth is that
The Samurai Warriors 1 English VA of Nobunaga is the same fella who voiced Cao Cao in the Dynasty Warriors games from 5-8.
@@user-sb8ig9dk2fThat just ties their similarities even further
Samurai warriors 2 for me is the peak of this franchise every character has a story mode and god the designs!
Really cool seeing these types of vids! The dedication to the time it takes to go back through said games and the editing is awesome! These vids of yours covering these games has been a personal fave of mine! Can't wait to see ya tackle the Orochi series next too! Keep up the great work! ✨
Yoo it's Nube! I enjoyed your Dynasty Warriors videos! :D
I dunno, I actually quite like the story direction of SW5. It wasn't revolutionary or anything, but focusing almost completely on Nobunaga's story did a really good job of humanizing him. I love that we can see him go from a brash, brilliant and charasmatic leader into a warlord so cold and disconnected that his only real connection left is with Yasuke, a practical outsider and political non-entity. The voice actor did an excellent job depicting that transition as well. I do hate how some characters were depicted or just woefully underutilized (like Nohime) but SW5 being Feudal Scarface is not a bad thing at all. What needed was SW5-2 that focused on the power struggle between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. And ideally added an actually good side mode
Thanks for the nostalgia trip and amazing review. My biggest disappointment with the franchise is the fact that they stopped dubbing. Playing SW 2 - Empires with the English dub was so much fun for me. I don't like trying to read subtitles during an intense action battle and tend to miss most of the dialogues in the newer games...
My best memories are from Samurai Warriors 2. It's the one that really made me fall inove with the series
out of all, I loved 2 empires, and 4 empires but I never really liked the demon king portrayal of Nobunaga persistent until 4. Thats the biggest advantage of 5. I also wish they'd bring back 1's new officer mode into more recent games because it just feels like you're important but would be better for there to be unique campaign mode for whatever clan you choose.
The best portrayal of Nobunaga so far is Kesen 3
SW2 and SW1 (and the expansions) are GOATED!
I played through samurai warriors 5 last year and when I heard your intro I thought "ah man he doesn't get it". But actually listening to your reasoning, I 100% respect and support your decions to review it the way you did. Moreover, you hit the nail on the head with the review. Personally I found the redesign jarring at first with everyone looking like k pop pin ups but eventually you get used to it. Despite it being so heavily focused on a shorter period, I found more connection with the characters somehow and got more involved emotionally with previous iterations, which surprised me somewhat. Great review though! I kinda hoped they would make 6 more like 4 but with the mechanics of 5.
As a warriors fan I must say your videos are amazing. I enjoyed listening to them and admire your dedication to the "saga"
Chronicles 3 will always be my favorite. I was a huge fan of the way the original Chronicles integrated you as a core player in the Sengoku-era story and let you see more personal sides of the characters, so Chronicles 3 building upon that as well as having 4's gameplay easily makes it my top SW game.
I cry my eyes out when i finished SW spirit of sanada even im playing it at internet cafe, such an amazing game. I also wish we get more SW game like SW SOS in the future
Im still get chill when i remember the last stage of SOS till this day
You have no idea how happy I am to see this video! The DW video you made is something I usually have on while laying down for bed. You're really chill dude. Perfect videos to relax and enjoy!
It may be a lot of work but keep doing a series like this with honest unbiased reviews. its so helpful and also nostalgic!
I'd love to see your take on the Warriors Orochi series! That and Warriors spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors, Dragon Quest Heroes, etc
Oh dear sw2 I miss the childhood I grew with you 😢 magnificent and one reason was that each character was unique each story unique each face was unique but you maybe I loved it bcz it was my childhood game
I'd just like to point out that there IS a free mode in Spirit of Sanada. Sort of. It's accessed through an NPC in the story mode (first available around the mid-point), and you pay a specific item to unlock basically any SW4-series character to use in previously played battles.
Just got recommended this video and gave it a watch, and it's nice to see SW1 ranked so highly. I genuinely think SW1 is one of the high points of the series. It had some issues, but so do they all. Between all the various routes and the limited characters, it felt like most got fleshed out a lot better than later games, although I've never played the Chronicle games so can't compare there. Not that all were particularly complex, but they definitely tried to make them proper characters rather than just sticking to specific tropes like some became in later entries.
I also love how the game is both a darker, more serious tone a lot of the time, while also not being afraid to have fun with it. You look at Okuni or Goemon's campaigns, or even Masamune's and you can tell the latter for sure. If you've not played SW1XL I'd recommend it just for Yoshimoto's campaign too, me and my brother still reference that because of it's ending, although you'd probably need to have played Kenshin's campaign in the original for it to work as well.
And honestly for all people cricicise the kind of backwards leveling mechanic, while I'd reset levels sometimes to unlock weapons because they could be rough max leveled, I actually appreciated the increasing challenge as you progress. I amn't sure I would so much these days, but at the time the level of challenge at max level hardest difficulty was what kept me playing SW1 so much.
Also your faults with the create a character mode are defintiely fair, but the amount of hidden content that would let you get skills or other perks (could get Magoichi's musket, or the Ninja's kunais) was just really cool. I remember playing that mode constantly trying to figure out all the requirements to get them all, though I never did figure out a surefire way to get the Ninja's double jump, which would've been the best one to try and make sure you get I think.
SW2's metacritic score is proof metacritic scores are bogus. DW5/WO2/SW2 are my classic Warriors GOATs.
You're incorrect about the bodyguards in State of War. Many of them do in fact have special abilities that effect the game. There's one that makes your officers drop full musou every 20 seconds, and one even adds death element to your charge attack (this is the only way to get this element). Awe is a great one, allowing you to capture officers easier. All the Dynasty Warriors 4 characters appear in the game as well.
I really enjoyed your playthrough of all the games and a lot of what you said and had criticism on was honestly spot on. I been a Samurai Fan boy since literally the release of SW1. I got it when it released when I was a kid and I played it and every game that followed with my brother up until the current game. And obviously 3 because fuck that Wii shit.
We maxed out the characters we found all the secrets we would play the games on the hardest difficulty and it was amazing.
But I will say that Samurai warriors 1 and more specifically XL
Will always be the absolute best that Samurai Warriors has and ever will offer.
It was a perfect mix of story telling
Music
Voice acting
And combat
Most specifically the A.I
It was difficult yet only if you charged head first like a idiot
Even the chaotic Chaos difficulty that these days just has Peons one shotting you
Was amazing and the perfect difficulty
A mix of having to fight through every enemy and challenging officer battles
To still being able to completely mow down the enemy when you have maxed out characters.
You weren't getting one shot and you felt on par with your Enemy
And your Allied soldiers and officers where at the same difficulty
Being able to handle their own
Clear out mobs of Peons
And unleash combos and Musou attacks of their own that they sometimes are saving your ass.
The golden era of Samurai warriors. Where the AI actually had combos and did more then single attacks.
Now a days.
I can't even call these warrior games anymore.
I really enjoyed Samurai Warriors 5, it's my first SW game that I played.
SW5 is legit. I just purchased it off the cuff. Haven’t played a warriors game in awhile and I’m impressed. It’s fresh look for the series. The moves you use matter in the fights now. I haven’t beat it yet but I totally recommend the buy. 👍🏾
They just drop mary j blige trailer for samurai warriors 5 in she the strongest character in the game lord her ultimate no more drama devastating
Yeah but no originality of moveset. Anyone can use same fighting style just using same weapon, example i like oda but i like how ieyasu fight, then i can use anyone with ieyasu fighting skills..
N some character using same weapon, this is the biggest letdown in the game for me. Other than that, its good. As for design, they made all of character much more anime-ish and a of them has to be handsome or pretty man
.even katsuie who known to be like kinda bald
there also is a lock on
ive heard from many people who actually played SW5, that its among the best samurai warriors game, if not the best.
As a diehard Warriors fan, I can safely say SW2XL is my fav Warriors game.
Sengoku Musou was the first game that exposed me to Japanese culture when I was a wee lad.
Luckily, I played SW1 first.
SW1 vanilla also had a weird scaling difficulty depending on your character’s level, which could be exploited to get 5th weapons much more easily (such as Yukimura’s lol). SW1XL fixed this along with fixing the character leveling system to how it is in future titles and like most warriors games, with stage difficulty being set per stage.
I should mention the scaling difficulty was also annoying and unpopular because combined with the leveling system unless you did some convoluted and super grindy resetting and leveling then you would get significantly weaker in the game as you leveled up, with missions just becoming harder and harder. Counter-intuitive. Really don’t understand Koei’s thinking. SW1XL is a MUST BUY to truly enjoy the unique SW1.
I had the same thing happened with SW5 lol. At first, I was so against it, but when I played it, it was pretty amazing, gameplay wise. I had a very weird relationship with the game, I enjoyed it a bit too much but at the same time I wouldn't recommend it to anyone especially because the lack of some of my favorite characters from the franchise. That being said, my top tier would be SW2, 2XL and 4. And SW4 music is just *chef kiss*
Just discovered your channel this week through your Dynasty Warriors vid, love your stuff. It's a lot more thorough than most gaming youtubers. Solid subscription.
SW2 is easily my favorite I'm the series. Best main game, best expansion and best empires in this specific series. SW 5 is super awesome however
Idk how everyone else feels about it, but i feel like the ai seems kinda boring? like i was playing samurai warrior 4 and i stood around for like 15 mins or so, and nothing really happened. your allies and enemies and foot soldiers just moving back and forth not really fighting. on the whole map its seems like nothing really was going on too? your allies dont seem to be advancing unless you trigger some events or something. i really miss the old warriors game were all the ai just charge and clash with each other all over the map.
My favorite SW game is SW1. Smart AI (smartest in the series), good music, and good move sets.
17:35 Being connected to the Takeda clan by my mothers side, I took the "obliterated the Takeda Clan" personally LOL.
And I took it personally meme intensifies
Music in SW1 were bangers. I played it when i was 11 or 12 yo and i still remember them today.
After hundreds of hours on both SW1 & SW2, I still think SW1 is harder. SW2 is a sudden death type of difficulty but that only backs you into spamming musou. SW1 is a more sustained and tactical difficulty.
Unpopular opinion, the SW1 castle/dungeons were the best of all 5 games. The open layout of the newer games made the castles feel the same as outdoor battles to me.
I love this video. Definitely persuaded me to get SW:SOS. I will say though I disagree with your viewpoint of SW5. I feel like a lot of the characters are more human and they added more depth to clans like the Saito, Imagawa, and Mori. Imagawa Yoshimoto has his best depiction yet in the series. And the characterizations of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide I think shine best, even in comparison to SW4. You really get a sense for the Fool of Owari before he becomes the Demon King. I will admit that the Citadel building and Citadel mode are terrible though and not a worth while grind.
I really really hope to see more like this, be it spin offs warrior games, tokuden games, etc etc. I appreciate your work and thank you for putting the time and effort into it!
Samurai Warriors 1 is actually the hardest game in the series by far, the thing is only once you play it enough.
It has a difficulty that scales up with your player level, if you start getting into the higher level ranges the game absolutely bodies you, as a kid I had to go into the reset option to reduce my levels back down to 1 to keep playing,
2 can SEEM harder but will become much easier with levels, 1 is the exact opposite.
And “that” is the secret to beating Abyss mode….
Ah so that's why i always found it incredibly hard as a kid while i found 2 to be very easy in comparison.
Great video as always. In regards to Samurai Warriors 5, I need to say the game seriously has the same problems as Dynasty Warriors 6. I find it really ironic for people who shit on Dynasty Warriors 6 for having problems, yet they praise Samurai Warriors 5, even thought the game has the same problems. The following problems are:
- Cut roster, yet cloned moveset. In fact Samurai Warriors 5 has more clones than Dynasty Warriors 6 (SW5: 37 characters/15 movesets; DW6: 41 characters/29 movesets), completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut.
- Cut roster, yet some characters are barely playable in the story mode like Saika Magoichi, Imagawa Yoshimoto, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, Mori Motonari, Kobayakawa Takakage, and others. Again, completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut.
- Cloned map layouts, a lot of the stages are copy and paste maps from other stages. Koei-Tecmo tried to hide that it's a cloned map, by rotating the map layout.
- You can't play as the opposing side in some stages like Anegawa (Azai), Nagashino (Takeda), Tetorigawa (Uesugi), and Kizugawa (Mori). Once again, this completely defeats the purpose of having roster cut.
- Moveset distribution between weapons are not balance. Some moveset has more moves than other, with no valid explanation whatsoever.
- Lack of gameplay modes, the game only has 3 modes musou mode, free mode, and citadel mode.
- For the first time in a Warriors game, free mode is restricted in terms of the characters you can use. Completely defeats the entire purpose of a free mode.
Wait, free mode is restricted? How so? I’ve never actually seen that.
@@ruthmcnally310 You can't play as certain characters in certain stages. For example, you can't play as Nobunaga in the Battle of Muraki Garrison, because your mission there is to escort Nobunaga.
If I could discuss about SW5 movesets, I think one thing that does get overlooked is the variety and distinction between each weapon. Each weapon is SW5 is very distinct from each other, in terms of what they focus on, how their moveset is structured. and what moves they have available to them. I think that's something both DW and SW have long needed to do, since even though they had all these dozens of weapons and characters, they all still followed the same moveset structure, like having C2/C5 be aerial launchers, C4/C6 be AOE etc. SW was slightly better given there were 4 moveset structures by SW4, but the same issue still applies. Now admittedly, some weapons turned out way better than others, I think the spear is the most glaring for how neutered its ground moveset is. But ultimately, I think this is still the right direction to move in and I hope they keep improving on it.
I mean, it doesn't have the Renbu system, so that's one big plus it has over DW6. The actual story mode of the game is enjoyable and in-depth enough that people who are unfamiliar with Sengoku-era history can actually follow it. Finally, DW6 didn't introduce ANY new characters at all - it just removed a few. Those are all points over DW6.
That being said, I totally get your disappointment with the game. It isn't a strict improvement over SW4, so it is a disappointment. In that way, it's very much like DW6.
I like DW6, hate SW5 xD
SW2 was the only samurai game I truly got interested in. Sugoroku was extremely fun with friends, unfortunately, it's not as good against bots
i love sugoroku beyond 3000 man :D
SW 2 XL was my first ever warriors game and still my favorite, GOAT game
the first game had the best atmosphere and felt the most grounded
The good ole days sw1 and xtreme n sw2 the rest havent played, played the latest sw just didnt hit like the old school one 😂
It’s sad that XL got trademarked, kinda lame to say 4-2 instead of 4 Xtreme Legends.
Ohh nice tbh havent touched this series yet.
Waits for "I Played EVERY Dynasty Warriors Spin Off Game"
Warriors Orochi is up next. :)
I miss how much content was packed into older DW/SW games. The newer entries feel so hollow in comparison
Dude 5 is like 100hrs long
i remember playing SW2 as a kid on our PS2 and me my little brother grinded this game for like 400 hrs. good times!
I've been replaying SW2,Xl,Empires off of a PS2 Emulator and its been super fun. SW2 might be my favorite from the Samurai Warriors franchise excluding the newest 5 as I haven't played it yet.
I started with SW4, but played with the older versions of characters in the Warriors Orochi series. I played SW4, SW4-II, Chronicles 3, SW4E, SoS and SW5. From top to bottom the base version of SW4 and Chronicles were the best overall. I like the Survival Mode in SW4-II, but didn't play it long.
I hated SW4E, the problems I had were battle timers were too short and having to change around the retainers positions so often, because they would randomly get bad at their posts. I think I started a few campaigns, but I'm not sure if I ever finished more than 1. It also was annoying that I could never get Kai to marry.
SoS was one that I was going to skip, since I never liked the poster boy, but I did eventually get it. I really liked Masayuki and was disappointed that he and Chacha never made it into WO4. I actually did like the exploration maps that the ninja-types could jump up to access places that others couldn't get to. If only DW9 could have just expanded on that instead of going full open world, it could have helped the DW series.
SW5 was actually the best for the story and combat. I think the re-imagined version of Yoshimoto was 100 times better than the kemari-lover from previous games. The only problem I had with it was the extra mode(Citadel Mode) was only defensive missions. I don't mind having a protect mission here and there, but not a full mode of them. I didn't like the cut characters, like Kai and Nene being fully removed, but I really liked Mitsuki.
I bought Spirit of Sanada cheap with low expectations during the pandemic, having heard virtually nothing about it. I was honestly shocked at how good it was. It was fun to play, fun to grind (important for anyone's pandemic needs), and nearly all of the characters were in it (which you'd never expect if you thought it only focused on the Sanadas). The new characters were very likable and despite knowing the history and how things would go, it still left me an emotional wreck by the end. The game is criminally ignored.
Gonna comment on 5, not trying to diss anything you said per say but address it, since by your own admission you actually haven't played the full release:
*First of all I'm not defending the game nor is the direction I want for the next numbered game.
Story: is very in depth despite not including all of the conflict time line, is quite interesting the depiction of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide. If you have previous knowledge of the historical events, while it does take a lot of creative liberties is very probable that you will like it and be engaged. I like how they approached this and Sanada's game on their scope of the conflict, that being said this should have been (perhaps) another spinoff, on the basis that is super focus on Nobunaga.
Clones: Feels cheap on the surface for sure, but the moves are very fleshed out, and not to diss on previous games, but there were some characters with very repetitive and uninspired move sets on those ones, so is an ok compromise I would say.
Pricing and dlc: I forgot it has even dlc, is the most avoidable content for sure; in my region without discount stands around 32 usd. it does reflect the content of the game, because it does feel made on the cheap and quick.
However is very fun game and would recommend you to actually play it, despite being juts one more SW.
Keep your videos coming, just say this and your DW vid. good content! I hope you don't give up on making more.
Samurai Warriors 5 is amazing and I think they made the right choice revamping it. I do hope that they do the same with Dynasty Warriors 10
yeah, it was always going to be a rough transition for alot of long time fans but i think it was a necessary move, and will lead to the series being alot stronger in the future
Sugoroku and the Survival Tower from SW2 are legit my 2 favorite gaming experiences from KOEI ever, followed very closely by DW5 XL Destiny Mode. The late 2000's were a fantastic time to be a Warriors fan.
I loved your Dynasty Warriors video so I appreciate the follow-up with this. Samurai Warriors is such a great series and I feel like it deserves not being treated as a 'side series' to Dynasty. SW4 remains one of my favourite games, it's so good and the music is really epic.
I think the warriors series as a whole consists of incremental changes across titles. So, as someone whose only experience was sw2, wo2, and a bit of sw3, I was really impressed with sw5 especially with the way it was telling its story. I might also be part of the minority that liked the weapon changes (but I may change opinion as I try to finish the game)
My big big problem with Koei Tecmo's model tho is they're kinda predatory with the prices. On switch eshop I'm seeing sw5 at 90 usd, wo4 at around the same price, both with dlc. I consider myself lucky that I got to buy sw5 with dlc in my region for about 35 usd on Steam (probably due to regional pricing)
This series is incredibly addictive much more than dynasty warriors. My favorite is 2 and my main save has 165 hours every character story beaten and all at least in the 20 except for okuni who is a character you unlock after beating certain stories. Sadly she has no story. That game has gotten me through long periods of time where I had no idea what to play and just wanted to burn some time or wanted to just not think. You can get sucked into it super easily. Very few games work as true staple to a collection like this.
The music is incredible! Odawara Castle Lu Bu. Fight me :D
It's exciting to see a video on these games so thanks :)
SW3 voice acting is so underrated.
SW3 is one of the few Musou I've ever played, and I agree with a lot of the problems the people have with this game, but the VA, I don't understand why so much people hate it.
Because it's english voice acting and people have to act like it's bad just because it's in English.
I think because it had a downgrade comparing to SW2's English voice acting.
it's not underrated, it got what it deserved compared to SW2 english VA. the difference is like a day and night.
People complaining about Samurai Warriors 3 and Dynasty Warriors 9 voice actors is the reason they stop doing them fans ask for English to be in warriors games than when they get what they want they crap on it same thing about them wanting realistic weapons than when Koei did that for Dynasty Warriors 9 American fan base wine and cried cuz they said realistic weapon ruin the game people wanted the game to be open world the moment Koei give what people want people complane they worst than WWE and Aew fans who are never happy
Pretty sure that is not why they stopped doing the voice acting, probably has more to do with sales.
Ooo, I’ve been looking forward to this one
Samurai Warriors 5 is definitely one of the better SW games out there gameplay wise especially. I don't really mind the clones moveset, cause the "EX" attack for every character is quite different, for example like the Katana, there are 5 different moveset for it (The generic, Nagamasa, Nobunaga, Mitsuhide, and Takakage) evethough it JUST the EX attack, but those EX attack is so different than the one we got on the DW series. On the DW series the EX attack was more of an extension of the moveset, while in this game it's more of an it's own moveset, for example, Nagamasa and Mitsuhide both had their EX on their C5, and those 2 moveset perform really different to one another, that it almost made a unique play style not just a unique moveset. So even though a character might had the same preferred weapon, their play styles might plays a bit different. But still, i wish they didn't do that.
There is also alot of stuff in the game, you had basically 13 chapters, 6 chapters each for Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, and also an additional what-if chapters. The story itself it's fine i guess, nothing to spectacular. A completion reward for getting an S Rank for every difficulty (TIME, K.O,and 2 other that i forgot) although u can just play on the Nightmare difficulty and get the rewards for every other difficulty. Unless u had an all level 7 Weapon (at least), the nightmare difficulty itself is really hard. You need to play every stage at least 2 or even 3 for some stage that had a unique objective to 100% it. Some stage also had a character specific objectives that actually made the stage plays a bit different, but not like SW4 where the stage itself is literally different (Sakon's and Mitsunari's Sekigahara).
Citadel mode is ass, is not good at all, got boring reallly fast, but the game force u to play it in order to speed up leveling your Dojo, Shop, Blacksmith, etc. It gives you horse i believe if you complete all of the stage, and also had some friendship bar to unlock some scenes, but that's about it.
If there is one thing that got me really disappointed with this game is that the game is not fun anymore when u already finish the story and citadel mode, other than replaying the stage to get all objective. Normally you can still do a lot of stuff even when u already completed 80% of the older games, this time is not, when you finished the story and citadel mode, the game got boring really fast. Well, Citadel mode is also disappointing, but i'll let it slide cause it's "the other" game mode. Reason why i am disappointed by it is that, with the weapon systems that they implemented, your weapon is to powerful and that makes you REALLY STRONG when u are at the endgame, way to strong even for nightmare difficulty. And the character gains level really slow too, like u could play 4 stage of Honnoji and still didn't get to max exp from lvl 50 (like in SW4, u can max out the stats after u hit level 50) which make the game a bit more tedious. I believe it needed around 700k plus exp to fully maxed out your character from Level 50.
Last thing is about the rare weapon and stuff. Rare weapons is definitely not good, they're worthless pretty much, because u can make a better weapon with the crafting weapons system that this game had. And since almost all rare weapons are on the later stage of the game, your weapon going into that battle is probably already better than the Rare Weapon itself. And the process of acquiring it also feels way to short, this is also counting the fact that you need to do 2 stages to get the rare weapons itself and it's still feel boring and not worth it. I wish they go the route of instead having a rare weapon for every weapons type, every character had their own unique weapon, they can exclude the generics if they want and it's fine as long as the og character got their own weapon.
Overall this is a really good game when you are underpowered or even matching the power requirements, the stage feels much longer, bigger, and bette, basically when you had your first playhrough of it. But when you do actually got stronger the game became way to easy and it just become really boring, the weapon system is too broken that you don't even need to maxed out your character, which was some of my favourite things to do on the older warriors game, and also one of the reason that i keep playing the older game.
SW is prolly the Musou franchise that I wouldn't get bored off.
SW3 is my favorite, I think the combat would have been better if it had a lock on button so you wouldn't flip flop around as much in combat, but the way the combat is structured is pretty ok, you have a parry mechanic, move canceling with samurai spirit thing that allows for very long high damaging combos that requires precise timing and execution (which as a fighting game player I really enjoy that) and a dodge mechanic, but it not having a lock on button so you always know where the opponent really is really hurt the combat imo
The level design is pretty cool, you have s huge peon/grunt unit variety, some battle feel like mount and blade even, with grunts not dying so easily
Yeah I love Samuria Warriors 3 also 🤷♂️
SW 1 Series was just the original best. The castle mode, the dark foggy graphics, the japanese atmosphere the 3rd opposable party that fights against you and the enemies. it has that "deep set" japanese island history feel. it has classic appeal indeed.
Again, this is an excellent video. You are a Musou machine when it comes to playing all of these games. Over the next few years I would like to see a Warriors Orochi, Dynasty Warriors Gundam, and One Piece: Pirate Warriors list. Just take your time and don't burn yourself out. Take breaks, try different series.
You rock!
I LOVE the idea of a video about Japan-only Samurai Warriors games!
Was really excited for this.
Very much worth the wait.
Great video! i hope for future Samurai Warriors they go back to the kinda realistic graphic design like 1 and 2 were and less anime.
my favorite franchise! i could never choose between them! Nene, Mitsuhide, Nobunaga and No, Inara and Mitsunari , Shingen ! lord my childhood!!! Yukimura! Musashi!!!! Lawd im gonna cry!!!!
SW4 is the only warrior game I played that is possible to use lv1 character to clear hardest level on hardest difficulty, because of an absurdly strong weapon skill called Stimulus. As long as you can gain a level in 45 second you are almost invincible. It is really an unique experience and I suggest everyone try it.
SW4-2 gives more flexibility to the weapon customization. The introduction of Naomasa is also welcomed, cuz he is very respected and played a big role in the Tokugawa clan in real history. To me 4-2 is on par with SW4.
I like your video series of playing through all the warriors game, maybe you can do a Orochi Warriors next? Or spin-off warrior game like Gundam/OnePiece musou?
They should make a Warriors game with Character Creation. And it can focus on the character you made.
Spirit of Sanada was indeed quite different from the base game 4, or 4-2 on mechanics, and probably my personal favorite. The story was great, but what I don’t like about it is how ur character receives quests to explore, and to gather.
There was another drama called Kirin ga Kuru, which I believe inspired SW5. I kinda liked how they redesign the characters so far, and I’m still waiting for an expansion for other factions like Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, how they clashed in the eastern provinces. Also certainly stories after the deaths of Nobunaga. U can’t really call it a samurai warriors if it ends at Honnoji, let’s be fair
Love this format of videos.
Helps me get an appriciation of a franchise.
I'm currently playing SW4 on Vita (which is works quite well) and it's nice.
I used to play it on vita remote play back in 2015 i pkay 4-II,
I have been blessed with YT recommendation. Bless the ominosi
I wish koei would like to remaster their old series and re-released it on steam. Especially the older Empires and Xtreme Legends.
I like every Empires installment for SW and the "Destiny Mode" feature in DW5XL are absolute banger for me.
I've been waiting 7 months for this!!!! :D
SW2 Empires also added the formation system which would boost yours or the enemies army.
Samurai warriors 2 XL adds more mounts, scenarios, and a second set of rare weapons to acquire. :)
Sw3 was also my first! I have the same sentiment too :(
SW4 has to be my favorite koei game. Music, graphics, character movesets all being enjoyable for once, and the broken rare weapons >:)
I also found SoS to be ultra fun. Some of the exclusive music adds so much emotion as well. My only gripe is the exploration.
Regarding SW5, the pricing strategy is definitely a bad thing. Now, the demo is a VERY POOR representation of the game. There ARE unique charge attacks but they are similar to EX attacks in dw8. I found the actual combat to be the most fun in all warriors games.
I agree that they dropped the ball elsewhere. If SW4 gained the battle mechanics of SW5, 4 would be the perfect game for me.
For SW5, I just meant that the Unique NPCs did not get unique charge attacks and musous which makes me hesitant to count them as part of the playable roster.
@@WildcatWeather aaah, agreed
in samurai warriors, using the OP character Tadakatsu Honda is a must for me
Mercenary Mode was a grind to finally be able to customize your weapon as you please. I was really happy with it because back then, because only Warriors Orochi had fully customizable weapon effects. Things like this are why I just treat the XL games as improvements patches. Their only flaw is having to buy the game again.
While I agree with you on a lot of aspects of SW5, like the no dynamic aging for anyone except Mitsuhide and Nobunaga and the repeated move sets. I did enjoy my time playing it, maybe it was patched in later but there is a lock-on mechanic and you can swap targets just by flicking the right stick. I feel like the characters even though their move sets were cloned, felt unique enough once you obtain their specific Ultimate Skill to make playing as them tolerable. Whatever variations that were made to the historical side, didn’t bother me as honestly for almost 20 years we’ve been told the same story with new characters added in to spice it up. I think the phrase refusing to support this game monetarily takes it a big far although I respect your opinion, if you can catch it on sale as I did for 20 bucks, it’s worth a play. I am actually looking forward to how they progress the game from this revamp, I’d love to see the art style carried over and unique move sets made for a pretty good roster so far
Johnny Yong Bosch aka Adam from the Power Rangers series has the distinction of voicing Sanada Yukimura in two different Sengoku Era based video game series: Koei's Musouverse and Capcom's Sengoku Basara aka Samurai Warriors on steroids!
3Z and 3 Empires were at one point going to get localized but as you suspected the reception was so poor that they just ended up canceling it. Sucks cause 3 Empires looked interesting enough.
SW2 was the one that introduce me to the franchise, so Im blinded by the nostalgia with that one. Didnt dislike the idea of a reboot with 5, but not the way that they do it. Fresh and unique move set to justify less characters, but lets see how will be the XL or empire version. Good video man