Hyrule Warriors (Zelda Musou) Import Impressions

After clearing the first 4 areas, I have to say that I don't like the wait-to-attack encounter design. I don't mind not being able to mash one button to kill boss enemies, but having to literally run around them and hope for the one attack that leaves them open for a counter (especially in case of bosses, which require you to use items like bombs, bow and arrows etc.).
I know that this is normal in all Zelda games, but come on, the flow of musou games is completely different. I hope that later bosses are more fun to fight, because I like the idea itself.

Yea been popping into streams now and again and the boss 'waiting' really seemed crummy. I never like it in ANY game though, but here particularly it does disrupt the flow. Outside of meager chip damage between weakpoint item use, there didn't seem like any great options for the player. A bummer too since these "puzzle" bosses pop up constantly, the trick never changes and the fights never feel dangerous or threatening(maybe Hard or Chaos difficulty, which no one is playing...sadly)

Not seeing much talk of Ultimate weapon gathering or secret objective challenges on the harder difficulties yet. A staple of Musou games, but I suppose either they aren't discovered yet, or they don't exist.
 
Any confirmation on the framerate? Is it locked at 60, 30, or does it fluctuate in between when lots of stuff's on screen like previous DW games?
 
By the way, the game looks really bad in the 2p mode compared to playing alone :(

I think they said they scale the resolution down when it's co-op. Are the effects and stuff the same or did they scale that stuff back too?

Thanks for the impressions, by the way. Very excited to give this game a go.
 
10 minutes into the first mission and yeah, it's basically your typical DW game in a Zelda setting (surprise surprise). There are some neat twists on the formula - getting items from chests that enable you to access previously inaccessible areas, magic bar that allows you to do a sword spin.
There's also no voice acting. It's all just text and those weird sounds that characters in Zelda games make while talking.

Thank god!
 
Okay, I've cleared the story mode (took me about 10-ish hours on Normal). Selling the game back tomorrow, since while it was fun, I'd rather play Basara 4 for hours and hours for my musou needs.
The adventure mode and chaos difficulty are there though, so no need to worry about the lack of content.

What I liked:
- The music. Great arrangements of popular Zelda tunes, although some of the tracks sounded a bit boring.
- The visuals (when playing alone). The game looks really good, has no slowdowns (or at least I haven't noticed any) and attack animations are great.
- The upgrade system.
- Adventure mode and the amount of secrets.
- All the fanservice for the Legend of Zelda fans.
- The core gameplay, which felt like a bit like a dumbed down musou game, but was really enjoyable.
- Different characters with completely different playstyles.

What I didn't like:
- 2 player mode - the visuals take a really bit hit when playing coop. If it was just the resolution I wouldn't complain, but there are less enemies on the screen, which makes taking over bases take longer. There are also some framerate issues in coop mode, although they aren't that terrible.
- The story. But it's not like anyone is playing the game for it, so whatever.
- Brain dead enemies. I know that I'm to blame for choosing the normal difficulty setting, but even during the time when I tried the game on hard, I haven't noticed much difference in the trash mob ai.
- Some of the characters - using the wood rod with Lana was a real pain in the ass.
- The game froze on me during one of the missions.

To summarize, it's a solid Musou games perfect for Zelda fans.
 
Are there any good scenes of the characters interacting with each other? That's really all I want in terms of story from this.
There are a few fmv cutscenes where the important stuff happens. Some 1 on 1 interactions were there, but they were mostly connected with the story.
 
Knew they should've went with Fire Emblem Musou XD, but guess I'll enjoy it anyway...not like the west has Sengoku Basara 4,
though I could import it
XD
 
Okay, I've cleared the story mode (took me about 10-ish hours on Normal). Selling the game back tomorrow, since while it was fun, I'd rather play Basara 4 for hours and hours for my musou needs.
The adventure mode and chaos difficulty are there though, so no need to worry about the lack of content.

What I liked:
- The music. Great arrangements of popular Zelda tunes, although some of the tracks sounded a bit boring.
- The visuals (when playing alone). The game looks really good, has no slowdowns (or at least I haven't noticed any) and attack animations are great.
- The upgrade system.
- Adventure mode and the amount of secrets.
- All the fanservice for the Legend of Zelda fans.
- The core gameplay, which felt like a bit like a dumbed down musou game, but was really enjoyable.
- Different characters with completely different playstyles.

What I didn't like:
- 2 player mode - the visuals take a really bit hit when playing coop. If it was just the resolution I wouldn't complain, but there are less enemies on the screen, which makes taking over bases take longer. There are also some framerate issues in coop mode, although they aren't that terrible.
- The story. But it's not like anyone is playing the game for it, so whatever.
- Brain dead enemies. I know that I'm to blame for choosing the normal difficulty setting, but even during the time when I tried the game on hard, I haven't noticed much difference in the trash mob ai.
- Some of the characters - using the wood rod with Lana was a real pain in the ass.
- The game froze on me during one of the missions.

To summarize, it's a solid Musou games perfect for Zelda fans.

For someone who has never played a Warriors game before, could this game keep two people occupied for a weekend? I ask this because my wife and I planned to do a 60 hr marathon upon release of the game on Twitch but were a little anxious on if there would be enough content.

Are there any other modes aside from story? Do you unlock stuff as you progress through the game?
 
Two levels in and enjoying it so far. Co op,as has been mentioned, gives a big hit to the IQ. Basically it's what I was expecting it to play like. If you come thinking it's Zelda with more enemies on screen or you hate the Warriors franchise you probably won't enjoy this, but if you know what you're getting into it seems like there's good fun to be had.
 
I am not surprised the story is bad, KOEI was never good at making interesting stories.

Are there any other modes aside from story? Do you unlock stuff as you progress through the game?

There's Adventure mode where you unlock four characters, a number of other things. Apparently adventure mode is also where most of the challenges are.
 
Fire Emblem Musou would be perfect.

seriously so many characters, so many weapon types and styles.

I guess FE is a no go since they already have FE X SMT in the works.

I wouldnt be surprised if Zelda Musou is going to be iterated really fast though
 
I saw that you can use the Wii U Pro controller, but can you use the Wii Classic Controller Pro? Mario Kart 8 lets you use it and I was curious as I haven't purchased a Wii U Pro controller yet.
 
I'm a little disappoint hearing about the 2p mode. It's bad enough that there is no splitscreen, but the game IQ looks bad too?
 
I kinda want to just buy it on the eShop right now...to have an entry-level game into Musou games.
Though I don't have any space left on my HDD because of the Wonderful 101 1-month trial.

It really looks interesting in the Directs but I don't know if it'll grab me. It's also 7000 yen and the new Fatal Frame is coming next month at roughly the same price...what do I do =(
 
Thanks for taking the time to review the game and give your thoughts on it. I did have a pre-order but i think I'll hold off until 2015 and get it after a price reduction.
 
For someone who has never played a Warriors game before, could this game keep two people occupied for a weekend? I ask this because my wife and I planned to do a 60 hr marathon upon release of the game on Twitch but were a little anxious on if there would be enough content.

Are there any other modes aside from story? Do you unlock stuff as you progress through the game?

I havent played this game but I've played many many warriors games, it really depends on one thing, if you dont get bored of the combat, if you dont it could keep you occupied for weeks/months, if you do, it may hold your interest only for a day.
 
I havent played this game but I've played many many warriors games, it really depends on one thing, if you dont get bored of the combat, if you dont it could keep you occupied for weeks/months, if you do, it may hold your interest only for a day.

Alright, awesome. The only taste of these type of games before was Samurai Warriors 2 on the 360 and tried playing to get achievements and I never truly got bored of the game. I'm a little worried about what some people are saying about the dip when it comes to playing co-op though...
 
Alright, awesome. The only taste of these type of games before was Samurai Warriors 2 on the 360 and tried playing to get achievements and I never truly got bored of the game. I'm a little worried about what some people are saying about the dip when it comes to playing co-op though...

It's noticable but its not like the game drops to 240p or anything unwatchable.
 
Alright, awesome. The only taste of these type of games before was Samurai Warriors 2 on the 360 and tried playing to get achievements and I never truly got bored of the game. I'm a little worried about what some people are saying about the dip when it comes to playing co-op though...

I LOVE that game It was one of the first 3 games I got with Xbox 360 the other 2 are Saints Row and Ninety Nine Nights. I loved all 3 of those games, played them for months. IIRC I got SR and SW2 with the console and NNN on sale a week later. Dunno if it will interest you but there are 2 other warriors games due this year, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate due early September and Samurai Warriors 4 in October.
 
I LOVE that game It was one of the first 3 games I got with Xbox 360 the other 2 are Saints Row and Ninety Nine Nights. I loved all 3 of those games, played them for months. IIRC I got SR and SW2 with the console and NNN on sale a week later. Dunno if it will interest you but there are 2 other warriors games due this year, Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate due early September and Samurai Warriors 4 in October.

Nah, unfortunately I'm only coming into this because of the Zelda angle. I don't mind the Warriors game and am appreciate them from a distance but Hyrule Warriors is on my wife and I's to-do list all because of the fanservice and we hope it draws viewers to our marathon because of it too -- it's more approachable due to the history people have with Zelda.
 
Okay, I've cleared the story mode (took me about 10-ish hours on Normal). Selling the game back tomorrow, since while it was fun, I'd rather play Basara 4 for hours and hours for my musou needs.
The adventure mode and chaos difficulty are there though, so no need to worry about the lack of content.

What I liked:
- The music. Great arrangements of popular Zelda tunes, although some of the tracks sounded a bit boring.
- The visuals (when playing alone). The game looks really good, has no slowdowns (or at least I haven't noticed any) and attack animations are great.
- The upgrade system.
- Adventure mode and the amount of secrets.
- All the fanservice for the Legend of Zelda fans.
- The core gameplay, which felt like a bit like a dumbed down musou game, but was really enjoyable.
- Different characters with completely different playstyles.

What I didn't like:
- 2 player mode - the visuals take a really bit hit when playing coop. If it was just the resolution I wouldn't complain, but there are less enemies on the screen, which makes taking over bases take longer. There are also some framerate issues in coop mode, although they aren't that terrible.
- The story. But it's not like anyone is playing the game for it, so whatever.
- Brain dead enemies. I know that I'm to blame for choosing the normal difficulty setting, but even during the time when I tried the game on hard, I haven't noticed much difference in the trash mob ai.
- Some of the characters - using the wood rod with Lana was a real pain in the ass.
- The game froze on me during one of the missions.

To summarize, it's a solid Musou games perfect for Zelda fans.
the self drag

I love Capcom but everybody knows Samurai Warriors is the superior musou game.
 
Always start musou games on hard.

Normal is just baby mode.
To be honest Hard was more annoying than anything else. Trash mobs still brain dead and minibosses taking more time to kill.
Alright, awesome. The only taste of these type of games before was Samurai Warriors 2 on the 360 and tried playing to get achievements and I never truly got bored of the game. I'm a little worried about what some people are saying about the dip when it comes to playing co-op though...
You'll be fine content-wise, there's the Adventure Mode and finding all secrets will also take a long time.
One important thing - I'm sure you know it, but in the coop mode only 1 person is playing on the TV.
 
Is this game worth it for someone who has never played a musou game before? I like action titles like Ninja Gaiden Black, God Hand, Bayonetta Devil May Cry 3, wonderful 101...

I also love the zelda franchise, have played every mainline zelda title.
 
Seems there's a lot of reports about freezing, maybe that's what TC is working on through Obon?
 
Seems there's a lot of reports about freezing, maybe that's what TC is working on through Obon?
Yeah, I bet the patch fixing those will be out soon.
Regarding freezes, when my game died, my Wii U ket out an ungoldly beep. It was really scary,
 
Yeah, I bet the patch fixing those will be out soon.
Regarding freezes, when my game died, my Wii U ket out an ungoldly beep. It was really scary,

I had that happen to me on Nintendo Land way back at launch, they fixed it since but yeah, pretty scary.
 
Is this game worth it for someone who has never played a musou game before? I like action titles like Ninja Gaiden Black, God Hand, Bayonetta Devil May Cry 3, wonderful 101...

I also love the zelda franchise, have played every mainline zelda title.

Musou games aren't really much about the action itself. The one-on one fights against Bosses are not that good, and the combos you do are not all that complicated. It's more about area control and knowing which missions that appear in the battlefield to tackle and whose allies's perils to prioritize.

I like the games, they are good fun, but really wouldn't compare them to those types of actions games, they are hack n slash games in the vein of old 2D beat em ups.

Either way, if you love every Zelda game, I don't see why you shouldn't check this out. Try to see if you can rent any of the musou games for cheap and decide if they are for you. I'd recommend either Warriors Orochi 3, or Samurai Warriors 2.

Also for anyone that has played Hyrule Warriors and has played any other Musou games, the only thing that worries me is the reports that say that this is a dumbed down musou. Does anyone know in what aspects? The mission objectives?
 
Gamekult review - 6
+ Zelda systems well integrated
+ Boss fights
+ Upgrades system
+ Well made adventure mode
+ Dual-screen co-op
+ Big fanservice
+ Good cinematics

- Musou standard repetitive gameplay
- No spectacular visuals
- AI
- Mute characters
- Some long-winded missions
- Short on playable characters
- No online MP
 
Thanks, i knew i had read about somewhere around that number of characters =) Doesnt seem like a small number to me.

I guess it seems smaller when you consider that Samurai Warriors 4, Dynasty Warriors 8, and Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate have 55, 87, and 145 characters respectively.
 
So I watched a full playthrough and have a story question.
Late game SPOILERS!!
So Cia is the one who turned Midna into an imp in this game, but after Cia is defeated Lana just sends everyone back to their rightful place(while Midna is still transformed)
and doesn't seem to reference it again

Did I miss something?
 
So I watched a full playthrough and have a story question.
Late game SPOILERS!!
So Cia is the one who turned Midna into an imp in this game, but after Cia is defeated Lana just sends everyone back to their rightful place(while Midna is still transformed)
and doesn't seem to reference it again

Did I miss something?

No, you didn't.
Midna just left like nothing happened at all, lol.
 
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