Hey folks,
Truth be told, DW Gundam is the first Musou game I have gotten into since either 3 or 4 (I forget which one I played a lot of--I think it was 3). Although I have owned and played a bit of all the main series games (no Empires or XL or Samurai Warriors, just plain ol' DW), getting into 3 and playing it till my fingers went numb was enough Musou to last me for a long ass time.
Now, reviews are mostly bullshit because they are content to say SAME OL DW AGAIN when that is not quite the case. True, the series gets tons of sequels, and naturally this means it doesn't have much time to evolve between iterations, but it is in error to say that the game has been the same every time. The biggest improvement between the game I originally got into (I'm just going to say 3, because I think that was it) and the Musous I am playing now is that missle weapons have not only been de-emphasized, but you don't have to deal with a hideous first person mode at all (it's not present at all in Gundam, and I am fairly sure the same is true for Orochi). Believe it or not, that's a major improvement.
That's the nature of the improvements. Incremental improvements for a series with many sequels. Graphics get a little better with each outing, and growth and customization options also improve with each iteration.
But yes, we have had this discussion before, about reviews for DW being bullshit. As Prole will attest, there are legitimate complaints to be had with the series that Ziffies and GIers are apparently too distinguished mentally-challenged to recognize; things that are so obviously wrong and have had many opportunities to get corrected, but still sit kinda broken. And that's what this thread is for.
1) The camera. Easily the biggest offender. Cameras in games have made strides over the years, but the DW camera is still stuck at the beginning of the 32 bit generation. The camera is completely dumb and doesn't do anything on its own, except in cutscenes. This is. . .really bad. We are gaming in a time when there is no excuse to be hitting the camera recenter button ever 5 seconds. Whether using the recenter button to implement a simple z-targeting system, or putting in a smart, predictive camera based on attack and combo patters, any attempted change would probably be seen as an improvement at this point.
2) Level design. Again, hasn't evolved since the very first game. Outdoors, indoors, you basically get the thrilling room-corridor-room design recently ripped off by such brilliant games as Folklore. Oh, and don't even think of environmental interaction. No. I said don't think about it. So stop it.
3) Story/localization. Two problems here, actually, but it's easier for me to roll them into one. First of all, this one has gotten better over the past 2 years, but that may just be because we haven't gotten a vanilla DW game lately. The stories. . .man, Koei, you GOTTA mix things up. I understand that you are exploring new territory with stories with Orochi and Gundam and SW, but although they are different, they may as well be the same. I have no idea if the stories are just incoherent, or if the localization is just that cheap, but I have no fucking clue what's going on in these things, and the cutscenes are typically so embarassing that my balls shrivel up inside me when I try to watch them. The english VA is abominable. The stories are dumb. And I never want to hear the words "Yellow Turban" used in a videogame again, got it?
Let's hear you guys bitch some now.
