In your view, what are the key differences between "classic" and "new" DW? The last DW I played was 4 or 5. It's been a while, and I don't think I've played DW8XL enough yet to think through the changes to the game.
Okay, so here's the way too big writeup I was talking about. Read it at your own leisure.
I entered the series with 4, so I don't know much about 3 or 2, but here's what I can say about the differences (though bear in mind that a lot of this information may pertain more strongly to 4 than to 5 or the first two Orochi games)
KO frequency (and peon counts in general), level design, and moveset structure. The lethality of footsoldiers vs officers is a strong point of difference as well, although I sometimes find that this varies from game to game within each era.
Combat in the older games tends to be on a smaller and more personal scale. Rather than decimating crowds of peons with single charge attacks, you sometimes find yourself fighting small 5-10 soldier groups as though they were officers themselves. Many footsoldiers can block, others interrupt your attacks. Officers aren't actually that strong (unless they are Lu Bu or playable officers in "I'm strong" mode) but they have a bit more health than regular soldiers and are a little smarter, in addition to being able to perform longer combos on you and sometimes musou attacks (which weren't "you're dead if you don't block this/get out of range" attacks like they are in 8 [and 7 and Orochi 3], but they could initiate such attacks without warning).
Movesets had a universal structure to them. There were six regular attacks (up to nine in 5), and six charge attacks. Each charge attack had a different function.
- C1, the charge attack with no normal attacks preceding it (triangle alone on PlayStation) was a unique attack that differed in function for every character, in 4 some were grapples, good for breaking guards, or "spirit arrows" which were short-range elemental projectiles that would change in effect depending on which elemental orb you had equipped (these attacks were largely changed to timed-detonation orbs in 5 with a preset elemental effect depending on your character), and some were just unique attacks, like Sun Jian's crowd-clearing spin, or Liu Bei's weird but useful u-turn slash.
- C2, the charge attack with one normal attack preceding it (square then triangle on PlayStation) was always a move to lift the opponent into the air to further combo them. This has mostly stayed the same amongst all the changes in 7.
- C3, the charge attack with two normal attacks preceding it (I think you get it at this point), was a combo string of repeated attacks that could be extended or shortened as the player saw fit. As you ranked up and earned your characters C5 and C6 attacks, you would also get an additional attack onto your C3. Three in total, counting the one you start with (Square Square, Triangle Triangle Triangle). This was always a useful move for eliminating enemy officers, not only because you could dole out a lot of damage with the combo string, but because the move's second function was to leave the enemy vulnerable. The last move in the string would either stun (enemy is off-guard for about two seconds) or dizzy (enemy is off-guard for much longer) the enemy, leaving them open to follow-up attacks. The second function of this charge attack remains mostly intact in the newer games, but the presence of a combo string is fairly rare now, and depends on the character. If it is present, it does not get expanded any further than how it is at the start.
- C4, the charge attack with three normal attacks preceding it is an attack aimed at knocking the enemy away, and often has a large area of effect, making it a good early crowd-clearing attack. This attack is probably the one that has remained, in function, the most intact of all in the newer games, without a lot of variation in how it operates between movesets.
- C5, the charge attack with four normal attacks preceding it (and the first that you have to unlock through ranking up), generally shares the same purpose of the C2 attack, but on a larger scale. This attack changed for all characters between DW4 and 5. In 4, it was always a two part attack, the first press would knock a small group of enemies into the air, and the second press would have your character leap up to knock them back down. In 5, it is simply an attack that launches a group into the air, through an explosion or summoned whirlwind or something like that. It had a bigger area of effect than the move in 4, but everything that came after the initial launch was up to the player. The operation of this attack in the newer games is different from character to character, but generally speaking, it does launch whatever enemies it hits into the air, so it's function is somewhat the same.
- C6, the final charge attack, is much like C1. It's a unique attack that serves no specific outlined function, other than being typically powerful, or possessing a large area of effect, good for crowd-clearing. This has remained very much the same in 5, although there are some outliers, like Liu Bei's cruddy grapple move.
- Jump attacks have changed a lot in function too. Normal jump attacks were always pretty much for attacking as quickly as possible (they all have fairly short startup animations) but charge attacks... in 4 they were all identical, and all served the purpose of crowd clearing (although you had to be cautious of the enemy leaping up to knock you out of the air). In 8, that is mostly the same case, without many interesting jump charges beyond bringing down the weapon in a medium-sized smash (though outliers do exist, like Cao Pi's bizarrely useful attack). In 5 they were quite varied. Some scooped up enemies to be comboed in the air for lots of damage. A few were basic smash the ground attacks, and many were just unique attacks pertaining to each character (Xu Huang helicopter, Pang Tong staff surf, Zuo Ci flamethrower hands)
Whatever the case, no moves were really weird or different than other characters. The downside is that the movesets often feel very much alike without enough unique flavor to how they function. The upside is that they are all at a close level of effectiveness, without any weapons that are super incredible (that aren't Lu Bu's halberd) compared to others. In 8, there's a lot more variation, but some movesets just... just suck. Some movesets are mostly good, but they may have attacks that are useless. Some movesets are perfectly designed and absolutely great. There's also been a recent focus on movesets with gimmicks, although that's not (typically) a bad thing. Take Yu Jin's trident for example (seriously do, that thing rocks). The C1 enchants the blade with some element, and each attack from C2-C6 has a corresponding element. You match up each attack and you get an orb. When you have three orbs, the next time you use C1, it imbues the trident with a "slay" elemental effect for a good long while. It sounds like a bit of a hassle, but it works incredibly well (partly thanks to a good moveset regardless of gimmicks).
Outside of the combat sphere, there's stage design. The older games tend to have slow ground movement, and smaller stages that feel big because you don't run all that fast. They're also very very flat. 3 dimensional design in the stages stuck out a lot in the more natural landscapes. However, these stages were very interconnected. It was easy to get from one place to the next without much hassle, and there weren't many dead-ends at the end of long winding paths. Since 6, there's been a major vertical expansion to the map design, since they implemented ladders and more mountainous terrain. Horses were made able to jump as well, although that change first appeared in Warriors Orochi 1. The vertical aspect made for some really nice looking levels, but it also messed up a lot of the interconnectivity. There are a lot more cliff faces now, and while you can jump down a cliff face for quick traversal or an ambush, you can't get back up so easily. Or you can, but you have to climb a ladder, which is very not exciting in the slightest. Much of it is simply level design, however. 8 has taken difficult-to-traverse maps to the extreme.
They also added the ability to swim (and thus, traversable bodies of water), which sounds great until you try it, then you just kind of wonder what the point was. 6 tried to make some good use of water, but the best thing that it did was offer a bit of interconnection between areas of the map. In 7, water was mostly just a pain in the butt, there to punish you if you fell off a bridge or a cliff by making you swim all the way back to the designated water exit area. It was also there to punish you if you knocked an enemy officer off a bridge, because then they would have to swim all the way back to you. In 8, traversable water is all but gone, save for key instances such as Fan Castle.
Where things get a lot more subjective is the whole aesthetic of the series. I feel like the games post-5 have a strong anime influence, not just in costume design (which is most apparent in 6 and shining straight into your eyes with Strikeforce), but the way the characters behave and present themselves. The characters speak more casually, often using more modern language or acting very lighthearted about fighting a battle. Fighting a battle becomes more like a game of paintball, and less like a struggle for control of the land. Granted the casual thing only applies to some of the characters.
As for individual personalities, if a character had a minor trait before, that was now a major trait. Characters are more pigeonholed into "what they're all about" and that is all they ever seem to talk about. In 3-5, they may have been less expressive about themselves, but it made sense. Often times they would say the same or similar things, only with their own little touches (compare DW4 Xiahou Dun's basic "enemy officer defeated" to Xiahou Yuan's roar of "I've taken out an officerrrr!!!!"). That's what it was for the most part, small touches that separated them. In 6 and beyond (especially 7 Orochi 3 and 8, where characters are designed to have dialogue for a huge number of situations), in what must've been an attempt to make the cast appear more "colorful" characters often shout about whatever it is that makes them unique at every possible occasion. Lu Xun is a young strategist. He is the future of Wu! Yuan Shao has an unhealthy obsession with his name and noble status! Zhang He is pretty!
OH so pretty! Heck, just look at the 5 new characters from 8 Xtreme legends.
Fa Zheng: Reeeeveeeeenge!!!!
Yu Jin: Obey the law!!!!
Lu Linqi: I am Lu Bu's daughter! Prepare to face
me, Lu Bu's daughter! Also, guess who my dad is! It's not Meng Huo!
Chen Gong: Fame!!!! Glory! (Though he got a bit of actual development in the story)
Zhu Ran: Did somebody mention rapid oxidation?
I understand that with a cast of 80+ characters, it's difficult to make more than a few seem multifaceted, but it does stand out. 3-5 characters had personalities that were rather understated, but they seemed a little more natural. 6-8 have characters that sing their single-notes loud and clear for all to hear. Fortunately, there are characters that have fuller, more fleshed out personalities, but they aren't always the right ones.
There are a few other aspects to the games, story mode setups, weapons, item systems, mounts and whatnot, but those all vary from title to title, and there's no distinct line to draw between the eras. This feels like enough for now, especially given how too big it is. If anyone reads this and finds something they don't agree with or something I forgot or misremembered (I haven't played 5 or 6 in many years), feel free to contend me on it. I don't want to be the bearer of bad knowledge here. A lot of this is just opinion.
