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| Sengoku Basara 3 Vs. Dynasty Warriors 7 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 24 2011, 12:30 PM (2,288 Views) | |
| Omega | Apr 24 2011, 12:30 PM Post #1 |
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Master of The World
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Alright everyone, it's been a while since both of these games have been released. I've played through both to 100% and am now in a good position to make an accurate judgment of the two. As the most popular games in the hack n' slash genre today, both DW and SB had something to prove with these latest installments. SB was making the jump to the next generation console, while DW had to redeem itself from DW6 which had proven to be a bust amongst fans. Now, which of these two is the better title? To judge this, we'll compare the two games side by side and determine the winner of each category. The game with the highest total wins. Let's begin. Story-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes SB3's story centers on the events preceding and progressing to the Battle of Sekigahara. Each path varies for the cast, along with their interactions with the different characters. There's two to three paths that can be taken in the story mode, allowing you to play it differently after each replay. While the drama and development of the two main heroes, Mitsunari and Ieyasu, is good, the rest of the cast falls short, and really don't shine as much as these two do. This goes as far as saying there's a lot of contrived and frivolous plot points among the remaining storylines. Most of the dialogue and events outside of the main two protagonist's storylines are lack-luster, or make little sense, especially Nobunaga Oda's inclusion. Before and after many of the battles, there are exchanges of dialogue between characters of the same force, which I often skip since I've never once found them to add depth or provide anything worth listening to. The biggest problem I found with the game, however, is the multi-path storyline. This makes the narrative unstable and doesn't keep focus on a singular plot, let alone a coherent one. Not only that, but you can't skip levels or view the ending videos, which forces you to grind through several levels in order to get to them. Story-Dynasty Warriors 7 The DW7 story no longer lays a single focus on a solitary character like in the previous musou modes, but has a kingdom story mode that adds on as you play through each faction. If played in order (Wei, Shu, Wu, Jin) the player can seemingly see a continuity between the four factions. Unfortunately, the player is forced into the role of a single character per level. Though not bad in theory, it wasn't as good in practice as not NEARLY enough characters got decent enough exposure, if any at all, while others got WAY too much (I'm looking at YOU Zhao Yun). However, this system does create a more effective and coherent narrative that can be followed between kingdom storylines, as each is both an addition and continuation of the other. In-game, the dialogue is well done, actually revealling more about the characters and providing entertaining and emotional moments that carry weight to them. The best part is that after a story is completed, you can view every event and CGI cutscene in the gallery, or when you want to play a certain story stage, you can select it freely. Story-Winner The clear winner is Dynasty Warriors 7. Though it suffered a few short comings, the overall effect of the plot and narrative is superior and it doesn't force the player to grind through levels just to see a video. Character Roster-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes When first announced, SB3 was stated to have around 40 playable characters. However, deadlines were soon approaching, and fans found out that the roster wasn't even close. The roster ended up with a whopping total of 16 playable characters, with many unique NPCs that were previously playable in past games. Of the new characters, only one out of the five introduced was actually important, and it happened to be Mitsunari. Otherwise, most of the cast was returning, all 11 of them. Each, of course, is a historical figure with a highly exaggerated personality and appearance, much to the point of annoyance at some times, mainly via Tsuruhime and Magoichi. Though most of the cast is fun personality wise, Capcom was horrible in terms of really fleshing out characters in cutscenes in the story, which were few and far between, or even making them balanced performance wise. Hell, they outright nerfed Kanbei/Yoshihiro and overpowered Magoichi, and went as far as making statistical gaps almost impossible to close due to the way they have their gameplay system setup. Character Roster-Dynasty Warriors 7 DW7 boasts a powerful roster of 62 playable characters, far more than SB. Though one may argue quality over quantity, in DW7, that has changed. In the previous titles, many characters were underpowered, while others were overpowered. Now, it’s less pronounced, and each characters, though still possessing unique stats, can be maxed out through the use of seals, eliminating the problem. However, like I said before, many of the characters don't get enough exposure in the story, though the amount that did still outnumbered those for SB, with an average of 6 to 7 per kingdom. The cast exhibits a wide range of personality types that are each fun in their own way, often when interacting with one another. However, a big problem in the series is the flat, one-dimensional streak with many characters, now made due to the lack of participation in the story, which doesn’t allow them to develop in the first place. Many characters outside of those who appear in the story are dull and lifeless, and don’t have real screen time to correct it, which brings down the power that the 62 characters had before. Character Roster-Winner Another goes to DW7. Though just barely, the treatment of the cast was simply better overall, taking the time to eliminate problems with character tiers. Gameplay-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes Following a similar style to DW, SB uses combinations of normal attacks and powerful “arts” to defeat enemies, along with a powerful “basara attack” that causes massive damage and/or has a massive area of effect, while also boasting a “Hero mode” in which the player can fight enemies, unable to sustain injury, but dealing extra damage and slowing down enemy movement. Each character has their own style of play that can maximize their effect in combat. However, the good stops there. As previously stated, Capcom was really bad in creating a balanced tier for the game, with some being really nerfed either statistically or moveset wise, and others being overpowered in both. The example is Yoshihiro Shimazu, who, while possessing high stats in health, attack AND defense, had such a slow and pathetic moveset that most players agree is one of the lowest caliber. Though its range and area of control are good, the fact that it hits too slowly to do any real damage in a one-on-one engagement is too much to ignore. Along with that is the way that weapons and item are used. This game FORCES you to grind for weapons. Since only unique characters drop them, it’s rare to find weapons. Depending on the difficulty, your character will get better weapons, but the problem with this is that your stats are directly influenced by the weapon you have, not your character. Each has a base attack and defense value that adds on to your character’s values. Though you may like a certain weapon, there’s a power gap between them that is the equivalent of self-nerfing. Even then, when you have all the weapon slots, you may want to use items to further enhance your weapon. However, even then, the number of items needed to make up for statistical differences between weapons is ungodly, and is impossible to achieve in the game. This is coupled with the fact that character’s stats get in the way to achieving maximum in each stat. Essentially, for weapons, items and characters, there’s several glass ceilings that can be shattered, but there comes a point just before the final one that is made of stone. On the battlefield, the player must go through a linear stage to get to a final opponent, usually doing that by crushing the weak, generic, generals in between point A and point B. This can get VERY BORING as the stages don’t allow much variation in completion, and are not very plentiful in number. In each battle, there’s usually a special mission or two that can be completed for an item or even a weapon. However, they are completely optional and are not necessary to complete a level. Gameplay-Dynasty Warriors 7 DW7 uses the older charge based system for combat, using combinations of normal attacks that can end at any point in the string with a charge attack unique to that weapon and section of the S-chain. Players can also execute Ex attacks specific to each character and the weapon they specialize in, each being activated by pressing the charge attack button again after a certain charge attack had been executed. Finally, there’s now two musou attacks that can be executed. Some are single, powerful attacks, others are grapple attacks and others are aerial attacks, depending on the character the player uses, the musous and Ex change and suit their style. The player can now switch out his weapon with another in-game by pressing the R1 button or Right Bumper. The player can only switch between two equipped weapons, but, at any time, can switch out either of these weapons for any in his/her inventory. Each weapon has a set number of slots for “seals” which are similar to items in previous games, except they are gained by using that weapon a lot. Weapons of any power can be found at any difficulty, gained by killing officers. The player can also power up his character by killing officers, which give both skill points and items that permanently increase a particular stat. The skill points can later be used to buy parts of a skill tree, including parts of the moveset, stat increases and special abilities. The player fights on an open map where they must accomplish several missions, ranging from keeping someone alive, escorting someone from one place to another, killing an officer, executing an ambush among numerous other things. The problem with many of these side tasks is that they are too easy to fail. The loss of an allied officer is often the most easy of them all due to the fact that your allies cannot fight back without your help and are far more susceptible to damage than you are as well. The better parts of the game is how well balanced the weapons and movesets are. Every character I’ve seen has shown to be quite effective, and so have their equipment (Lian Shi…). Though I have personal preferences, I’ve used every single weapon possible, and all of them are damn good. It’s all based on personal preference of the weapon’s appearance and style, rather than how powerful or weak its moveset is, though that style of preference is recommended early on as the game is harder than Basara despite playing on the same difficulty levels. In between battles, you get a period of calm in towns or forts where you can talk with the soldiers and other characters, as well as buy new weapons. In conquest mode, these areas become essential to finding most of the collectables. Gameplay-Winner Despite being called the underdog between the two series in gameplay, DW7 takes home the gold once again. Having such variation in weapon choices, being able to switch out freely and fluidly, and the balancing between movesets makes DW7 superior in gameplay. Graphics and Design-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes This is where the game shines. Beautiful, bright graphics, and a stable frame-rate despite the amount of clutter on the screen make SB very fluid, dynamic and good-looking. Character designs are pretty good, though some are a tad ridiculous (mostly NPCs). Attacks and movements are all stylish and heavy on quick or fluid movement, making it very solid in the overall presentation. Graphics and Design-Dynasty Warriors 7 The graphics have definitely been improved upon between sequels. DW characters now look stunningly life like, with improved expressiveness in their facial movements. The weapons and characters all have wonderful designs, borrowing much from Chinese and Japanese mythology. However, DW7 suffers from a frame-rate drop that happens whenever there’s more than at least 5 on screen. But then again, this is because not only was the draw distance improved, but the number of characters on screen at once is akin to several hundreds, or even a thousand. Attack style is very fluid, though more simplistic and direct than SB, which doesn’t allow massive combos, but a more direct way of fighting. Graphics and Design-Winner SB is the clear winner. The overall stability of the frame-rate won the day, and the game itself looks stunning. Content-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes SB doesn’t have a lot of it. Though the items in the game are numerous, about 70% of them are useless in actually powering up your characters. Many are just frill items that grant special effects. Personal items can also break the game in the favor of whomever the items are for. There are almost no events that can be viewed other than the opening and the intro events for each storyline, nothing else. Though the stories are long, they have a negative impact on the overall effect. There’s more filler than actual story up until a major event, which is not only rare, but many are hit and miss, lacking any power to it. Otherwise, there’s title collecting, which give you no hint as to how you can earn any of them. Levels are very few for the game, pretty much for every leader character there’s one level save for Sekigahara which has approximately 7 incarnations, and Osaka Castle which has four incarnations: two for winter and two for summer. The BGM listings are available, but each BGM is essentially for the stages only, while a few are character themes. There is a free mode that allows the player to play stages that they enjoy, as well as those good for weapons and items farming, but due to the fact that story mode forces playing certain levels in the first place, the free mode shouldn’t have to redeem it. Overall, content in SB is unimpressive. Content-Dynasty Warriors 7 Far greater. The amount of characters, the weapons available, the seals that can be earned, the BGM numbers, the gallery unlockables, the guardian animals, sworn ally relationships, scholar questions and more serve to make DW7 one of the most content rich games on the market. The best part is that most of the stuff is unlocked through Conquest Mode, which is a free-play mission mode, where the player can do what they wish. After beating all the kingdom stories, a good percentage of content is unlocked and free for viewing. It get’s even better: unlike SB, DW7 is actually getting plenty of DLC, the first batch being free too, including a Japanese voice option and a combination of costumes from different games in the DW franchise. Later packs include weapons like the War Pike, Bombs and now the Great Axe, as well as levels and BGM from previous games. Content-Winner DW7 by a mile. The sheer amount of content without DLC is more than SB twice over. With DLC, the possibilities are endless. Music-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes The musical score for SB is uniquely Japanese and Capcom in flair. Each piece is suited to the level they’re assigned to. However, the music falls short as it simply doesn’t stand out or “wow” the player. It’s simply useless noise in the background. It’s preferred that the player equip an item that changes the BGM to that of the player’s character or to a Devil May Cry song, most of them are THAT bad. The intro is the single best piece of music they have, though being performed by T.M. Revolution helps a lot to that effect. Music-Dynasty Warriors 7 Though Koei gets a lot of negative press about the music, that is simply personal preference, as there are people on both sides of the debate. Like with DW6, you can change the BGM to whatever tune you like. However, the true power comes in the new orchestral tracks, which are so beautifully composed and so powerful that you wonder why they didn’t use this before. The ending theme from the Japanese version is not in, sadly. Performed by Kinki Kids, it’s an orchestral-electronic fusion that is perfectly suited to the ending theme as it deals with the bonds of family and loved ones. The area where DW best applies music though is in the towns and in the story mode, where their orchestral/traditional musical styles are fleshed out more, creating a tranquil area or adding on to the somber tone of a battle following the death of a comrade. Music-Winner DW7 once again destroys the competition. Though both are not great in standard BGM, DW7 has much better audio at calm points and during cutscenes where the music matters even more. They are also coupled with a great ending theme (in the Japanese version). Voice-Acting-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes Another powerful aspect of the game, the voice talent is simply amazing, each actor making their characters come alive and seem all the more real. Though the story itself plagues the characters, the VAs help to bring life to those rare events where we actually see development. The problem about dialogue in-game is mainly that it feels flat and stale. This is due to bad directing though, not bad talent. Voice-Acting-Dynasty Warriors 7 Again, much better than in previous titles, the cast gives a solid performance in and out of the story mode. Though some voices may seem awkward (Bao Sanniang) and the dialogue cheesy, the actors still play the parts well and fit those whom they portray, and many of the subsequent results are from bad directing. Voice-Acting-Winner It’s a tie. Both games show great use of their VAs, though bad direction was done for some, not all, of the dialogue. Difficulty-Sengoku Basara 3/Samurai Heroes Possibly one of the easiest games I’ve played. There’s barely a difference between difficulty levels. You can jump into hard mode at level 1 and own everything. The game is the polar opposite of the original SB, which had WAY too big of a difficulty leap between easy, normal and hard. Difficulty-Dynasty Warriors 7 The difficulty depends on the setting. Unlike SB, the difficulty spikes are appropriate. Beginner and Easy are too easy for someone like me, while Normal was a justified challenge early on that became easier as my character leveled up. Everything above normal is unbelievably difficult, with enemies now more aggressive and powerful. Difficulty-Winner DW again. The range of challenges for both old and new players is simply better for gameplay. SB goes with making the game far too easy to the point of losing the challenging aspects of the game. Overall-Winner DW7 wins it all. The game is simply superior overall. Koei had a game in mind and delivered what was expected: A title superior to every DW game before it. Capcom made promises, but in the end let down their fans, no longer having the means to complete what they set out to do. |
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2:05 PM Jul 11