No idea on the Zhong Hui thing.
Mitsuhide...I don't know. I LOVED him in WO2, but he seems kinda weak in WO3. Like, to the point where I really don't care to use him at all.
Yeah, I'm not really feeling him. He's just so vanilla compared to the other characters I've fancied. I can find a go to attack for most characters, but I'm having trouble accomplishing much with him. I went all out and bought his big star weapon from the get go, hoping to leave enemy soldiers in shambles right from the start, but nope.
I think I've easily spent 20+ hours on this game already and I'm just about at the end. Took down the hydras last night (what a goddamned chore, worst level in the game) and I think there's only one more level left that will give one of the endings. I can tell from my map selection screen that there are quite a few side missions that I've missed, so I'll have to figure out how to get those. There's still so much leveling and farming to do - I haven't even bothered with Hard/Chaos difficulty yet aside from 1 occasion.
Speaking of which, leveling characters/weapons in this game really isn't half-bad with the appropriate booster items/attributes. It's a lot easier than I remember it being in DW4/5 thanks to the growth points/items/weapon store & fusion mechanics. Last night alone I raised Zhong Hui's Proficiency from F to S in what couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 maps, and his big star weapon compatibility is perhaps another two maps away from maxing out. Granted, you pretty much have to solo with the character, and not every character is made equal, but it's basically nothing to boost a new character to 20 using points, buy his/her big star, fuse it with the best stuff you can find in the store, and then slap on a proficiency booster.
This is such a fun game. On a side note, I wish Basara was more successful than it was in the West, because I would really like for a true sequel to happen (Utage would be good, too).
Finally got around to playing a few stages of this last night.
Do you have to swap through all your characters every time you clear a stage to talk to everyone in your camp to check for new unlockables?
No, but I think that's the only way to make sure you don't miss anything. I personally couldn't be bothered; figured I'd just look it up online when I reached the end game.
