Hardcore Gamer: "The problem any long-running franchise eventually has to face is that they will reach a point where whatever direction they go will be met with critical opposition. Each entry in the Dynasty Warriors shows some evolution of their formula or some new experimental feature, but at the core of each entry it is the story of Romance of the Three Kingdoms being presented in an action packed one versus one thousand format with the same characters and battles. The crossroads where Dynasty Warriors 9 found itself had two options, make what would essentially be Dynasty Warriors 2 Part 7 and be criticized for lack of innovation or make some significant changes to the formula to potentially revitalize the series but risk alienating the longtime loyal fans. The path they ended up taking was the third path down the middle, which is trying to walk the tightrope between those two possibilities."
Dynasty Warriors has been around for two decades and has more than enough games to prove it.
Phil writes, "There's little that hurts a gamer more than hearing that a sequel to one of their favorite games is coming out, it releases, and it turns out to be a dud. It's happened to the best of us. It's like having the rug pulled out from under you when a sequel you've been hyping based off of love for its predecessor does less than satisfy when it finally launches. Sometimes it's due to the formula being changed too much and not for the better. Other times it's because the game is missing what made the original so good.
Whatever the reasons may be, SPC is back with a look at six more disappointing video game sequels that failed to deliver or failed to satisfy for one reason or another."
Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview with Dynasty Warriors producer Akihiro Suzuki, who talked about the future of the series.
I just hope they learned their lessons from DW9. The open world feature was personally unnecessary.