Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends

Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends (真・三國無双2 猛将伝, Shin Sangoku Musou 2: Moushouden; lit. "True Three Kingdoms Unmatched 2: Fierce General Legends") was the first Xtreme Legends expansion pack to be released.

The goal behind this and every other Xtreme Legend expansion is to add different scenarios and aspects of the time era, not otherwise seen in the title it is based on. The original Japanese title for Xtreme Legends is named in ode of Lu Bu's status as a formidable general, which is the reason why he is featured on this particular disc.

As with every Xtreme Legends expansion, all features within the disc are standalone, only retaining its own scenarios. However, data can be imported from the original Dynasty Warriors 3 disc using the "Load Original" option, allowing all the memory from that game to be available for access.

Hisashi Koinuma is the director because he volunteered to fill in the position when the development team were lacking people. He would later use his experiences to foster Samurai Warriors.

Changes

 * Musou Modes for Other characters (with the exception of Fu Xi and Nu Wa).
 * As a result, several new stages via new location names (most which are day-or-nighttime swaps of their originals) are added in, with different scenarios in all. These stages are categorized in the Xtreme selection while the prior classic stages are categorized in the Original Selection (only select-able from loading the original data).
 * The brand new "Novice" difficulty has been added, and "Very Hard" is now available from the start. The latter now causes all playable CPU officers to wield their 4th weapons by default, and other minor AI tweaks such as archers being able to occasionally use charge arrow shots.
 * Fifth weapons with new visual designs different from the 3rd and 4th weapons, which can be obtained on the Very Hard difficulty setting.
 * Both 4th and 5th weapons when dropped by item boxes and/or supply captains, will now have a distinct blue hue to differentiate them from normal weapon drops, much like the red item bags in the original version of Dynasty Warriors 3.
 * The game introduces a combo rating system, where the player is given points for executing strings of continuous attacks on a single target. On Xtreme stages, higher combo ratings often yield weapon drops and/or items even from generic enemies.
 * Four new Challenges, which include:
 * Speed Demon - Test how fast a challenge can be completed within the night sky of the whole Mt. Ding Jun map.
 * Balancing Act - A Challenge which has the player knock enemies off of a narrow bridge in He Fei Castle's eastern corridors while attempting to prevent the enemy from doing the same.
 * Combo Mania - Utilizing the new combo rating system, the game tests how many continuous attacks the player can get inside the main base of the Rogue Fortress.
 * Iron Man - Take the Speed Demon, Balancing Act, and Combo Mania challenges consecutively.


 * In addition to an overhauled customizable bodyguard system, players can use Double Musou attacks with any custom bodyguards that happen to be playable characters.

Trivia

 * Curiously, while all Shu, Wei and Wu faction officers must acquire their 5th weapons on Very Hard on any of the original version stages (thus the Load Original option must be used), Zhang Liao, Zhang He and Zhen Ji are the only characters part of one of these factions (Wei) that receive their 5th weapons on an Xtreme version stage like with Other faction officers (likely due to their services under Lu Bu and Yuan Shao respectively).