I'm quite hyped for Hyrule Warriors, but not for the fan service alone.
I mean, sure, the Zelda brand is the reason I looked at the game in the first place. But I've never been one to buy something for a brand alone. The reason I've remained interested in Hyrule Warriors is because the Treehouse Live demo looked legitimately fun, and fellow gaffers well-versed in the series have explained there is real skill and strategy involved on higher difficulty levels. Also, the wonderful folks at GameXplain are new to the genre, and they came away from the E3 demo of Hyrule Warriors with glowing impressions (warning: ALBW spoilers near the end).
I hope we can use this thread to understand how these games play. Here's my take as someone who hasn't played them yet:
It seems the common misconception is that musou games are mindless beat-'em-ups, but as I've come to understand it, you're not supposed to wipe out every enemy. In fact, in many cases you flat-out ignore them, except for brief altercations where you defend, liberate or recapture a zone on the map, or need to keep a combo string going to power up your character for special attacks that will then make short work of the enemy captains -- mini-bosses that pose a real threat, while the enemy rank-and-file are just meant to soften you up with the occasional potshot or stray hit. For those mini-boss encounters, and the even stronger boss battles that appear to conclude each mission, Hyrule Warriors incorporates L-targeting from the Zelda series, allowing you to target weak points while circle-strafing the enemy and dodging their attacks. In Hyrule Warriors, you also obtain items like the bombs and hookshot, which serve as your sub-weapons and also have utility outside of combat (I.E. uncovering hidden grottos, reaching high places, etc).
So that's the combat, but it appears to be in service to design that's really about battlefield management. In the demoes I watched at E3, it seemed the player character kept being pulled one way or another: "The bridge is about to fall! We need reinforcements!" "I'm going to the Magic Circle! I need someone to watch my back!" "King Dodongo is heading for Hyrule Castle!" And sometimes you're receiving multiple such messages at once, forcing you to prioritize what to do. It's not just the messages you receive that pull you every which way, but also the situation changing in real-time on your mini-map -- you'll want to keep as much of it blue as possible, since red indicates enemy-controlled territory, and if I understood the demo correctly, it seems enemies have morale that increases as the tide turns in their favor. It also seems there are sequences you need to carry out in order to trigger certain events that are key to winning the battle -- for example (Twilight Palace spoiler),
.
The character you choose will drastically change how you play, of course. So will the weapon you equip. And then it would appear there is a progression system where you unlock new special attacks and perhaps modify your character's attributes in other ways. The rupees you collect in Hyrule Warriors are said to have multiple purposes. I'll be interested to see what kind of character development there may be from a gameplay perspective.
And that's where you musou fans come in: Can you please help explain how these games play, from your viewpoint as someone well-versed in the series? Can you explain how the experience changes from one difficulty level to the next? Can you explain the "gameplay loop," so to speak, and how each Warriors title generally goes in terms of progression, I.E. the campaign, other modes, character growth and unlockables? What keeps the gameplay fresh, and the challenge varied, I.E. changing scenarios, enemy tactics, etc? I'm genuinely interested to know more, and I think this is one series that could use some clarification on these boards.
I mean, sure, the Zelda brand is the reason I looked at the game in the first place. But I've never been one to buy something for a brand alone. The reason I've remained interested in Hyrule Warriors is because the Treehouse Live demo looked legitimately fun, and fellow gaffers well-versed in the series have explained there is real skill and strategy involved on higher difficulty levels. Also, the wonderful folks at GameXplain are new to the genre, and they came away from the E3 demo of Hyrule Warriors with glowing impressions (warning: ALBW spoilers near the end).
I hope we can use this thread to understand how these games play. Here's my take as someone who hasn't played them yet:
It seems the common misconception is that musou games are mindless beat-'em-ups, but as I've come to understand it, you're not supposed to wipe out every enemy. In fact, in many cases you flat-out ignore them, except for brief altercations where you defend, liberate or recapture a zone on the map, or need to keep a combo string going to power up your character for special attacks that will then make short work of the enemy captains -- mini-bosses that pose a real threat, while the enemy rank-and-file are just meant to soften you up with the occasional potshot or stray hit. For those mini-boss encounters, and the even stronger boss battles that appear to conclude each mission, Hyrule Warriors incorporates L-targeting from the Zelda series, allowing you to target weak points while circle-strafing the enemy and dodging their attacks. In Hyrule Warriors, you also obtain items like the bombs and hookshot, which serve as your sub-weapons and also have utility outside of combat (I.E. uncovering hidden grottos, reaching high places, etc).
So that's the combat, but it appears to be in service to design that's really about battlefield management. In the demoes I watched at E3, it seemed the player character kept being pulled one way or another: "The bridge is about to fall! We need reinforcements!" "I'm going to the Magic Circle! I need someone to watch my back!" "King Dodongo is heading for Hyrule Castle!" And sometimes you're receiving multiple such messages at once, forcing you to prioritize what to do. It's not just the messages you receive that pull you every which way, but also the situation changing in real-time on your mini-map -- you'll want to keep as much of it blue as possible, since red indicates enemy-controlled territory, and if I understood the demo correctly, it seems enemies have morale that increases as the tide turns in their favor. It also seems there are sequences you need to carry out in order to trigger certain events that are key to winning the battle -- for example (Twilight Palace spoiler),
opening the Fairy Fountain so you can call down the moon from Majora's Mask and knock the dragon Argorok to the ground where you can reach him
The character you choose will drastically change how you play, of course. So will the weapon you equip. And then it would appear there is a progression system where you unlock new special attacks and perhaps modify your character's attributes in other ways. The rupees you collect in Hyrule Warriors are said to have multiple purposes. I'll be interested to see what kind of character development there may be from a gameplay perspective.
And that's where you musou fans come in: Can you please help explain how these games play, from your viewpoint as someone well-versed in the series? Can you explain how the experience changes from one difficulty level to the next? Can you explain the "gameplay loop," so to speak, and how each Warriors title generally goes in terms of progression, I.E. the campaign, other modes, character growth and unlockables? What keeps the gameplay fresh, and the challenge varied, I.E. changing scenarios, enemy tactics, etc? I'm genuinely interested to know more, and I think this is one series that could use some clarification on these boards.
