It may be sporting a higher resolution (what looks like a mixture between a 1080p HUD and possibly 900p rendering), but none of the assets have been changed from the older ports. That being said, this is most certainly based off of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dynasty Warriors 8. This new Switch port isn’t a locked 60, but it runs a lot smoother than the last-generation versions of Dynasty Warriors 8 ever dreamed they could.
Both of those games also failed to maintain a locked 30 FPS and could drop to some obscenely low framerates under duress. As good as Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8 might be, one has to admit it was disappointing to see the speed dropped. While the series started out targeting 60 FPS on PS2 hardware, that eventually gave way for prettier graphics and lower framerates.
The biggest thing I feared was shoddy performance. That could either be a blessing or a curse, but I really enjoy Dynasty Warriors 8’s combat, so I’m ready to dig in. Even without factoring in the unlockable hypothetical paths, you’re looking at a staggering amount of battles to be fought. I’ve only ever played the original on PS3, so I was pretty blown away when I looked at the level select screen and saw a second campaign for each of the four main factions. Thankfully, the Switch release of Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition (my god, what a mouthful) nearly lives up to its lofty title and is a good way to experience this high-octane action romp.Īs that run-on sentence of a name suggests, this new version of Dynasty Warriors 8 is a complete bundle of both the base game and its Xtreme Legends expansion. Obviously dialing it back to the last entry was a safe bet for performance, but just about anything could have gone wrong with this port. Secondly, 9 barely runs properly on a beefy PC, let alone the underpowered Switch. Why is it only now getting ported to the Switch instead of its successor, Dynasty Warriors 9? Well, for starters, Dynasty Warriors 9 is awful. That title came out five years ago, though. If you went for 100% completion, you were looking at spending at least 100 hours digging your teeth into its secrets.
It contained swift, crunchy gameplay, a ridiculous amount of content, and full co-op support for every mode in the game. Despite playing most of the Dynasty Warriors titles, a couple of the Warriors Orochi crossovers, and the wonderful Hyrule Warriors, I still have only played about 1/10th of the games in this series.Įven so, many people will tell you that Dynasty Warriors 8 was one of the best games in Koei Tecmo’s prevalent franchise. The team over at Omega Force has pumped out so many titles under the banner that you’d be forgiven for not knowing nearly half of them.
I'm fairly certain the PC version has feature parity with the PS4 version except for online multiplayer.At this point in time, people are probably sick of hearing about Dynasty Warriors. Whether all of the above applies to the Xbox One version depends on whether the equivalent updates were pushed out to the Xbox One version. Quests and Event Battles, since they do not permit you to select the officer you are controlling, do not allow for 2P. 2P will control the SECOND officer in the list (after the one controlled by 1P). In Empire Mode, in any offensive or defensive battle in which you can select officers, 2P can press start to join in for that battle (again, look for the 2P Press Start prompt at the top of the screen). Event Battles and Quests cannot be done in 2P mode. Look for the "2P Press Start" prompt at the top of the screen.
In Free Mode Invasions, Defensive Battles, and Raid Scenarios, 2P can join in by pressing start (or F11 on PC, for whatever reason) at the setup screen where you set the difficulty, officers / marching officer, and so forth.
Here's how 2P works on the DW8E, at least on PC after current update (PC version 1.0.3.0):