Sengoku Musou 3: Empires

Sengoku Musou 3: Empires (戦国無双3 Empires) is the second Empires title in the Samurai Warriors series. Sengoku Musou 3 Z acts as the game's base for featured characters and visuals. Like the title it is based on, it has not been localized.

The Premium Box edition includes a visual story book and character standing pops for the entire unique cast of the game (40) with its own binder. The ability to download and build a ninja village is also exclusively available for Premium Box buyers. Consumers who preorder the title will obtain a downloadable code for banners decorated with the uniquely playable Tokugawa characters in their super deformed forms. Gamecity is offering an original character card and a downloadable serial code for a weapon in Hyakuman-nin no Sengoku Musou.

Gameplay

 * Like the recent Nobunaga's Ambition titles, players can now raise their castle headquarters to include desired fortifications for supporting their troops. The castle city is essential for increasing the strengths of the army, gold, and so on. The player's castle can be viewed at a closer angle and their construction plans changes the appearance of the castle grounds.
 * Players can also choose their castle's environment before they begin each game. They can choose a lakeside, a rural area, or the green wilderness. These settings may affect the cost of buildings or the available space for their city. However, its impact on city building is minimal, and the overall purpose of choosing between the landscapes is to change their castle ground's aesthetic surroundings.
 * The buildings players can build are similar to fortifications seen in the Nobunaga's Ambition series, but they serve slightly different functions:
 * City - increases amount of gold when built.
 * Farmland - makes citizens happier.
 * Estate - swells population. More people in the area means more plots of land will become available.
 * Dojo - boosts the troop strength for an ally general.
 * Barracks - improves recovery rate for tired ally troops.
 * Shrine - enhances the limits of public order.
 * Guard Post - escalates recovery rate of public order.
 * Each building can be upgraded via a ranking system to better provide their designated service. The maximum level is five (Level 5).
 * Buildings are not always dedicated to war as some may improve a cultural aspect of the castle town, such as a hot spring resort or a study hall. These facilities automatically increase a specific stat for the entire army (i.e: morale, intelligence, etc.) and can only be constructed by the uniquely playable Samurai Warriors characters. Characters are divided on which building they will provide.
 * Potential vassals can now be recruited if they are wandering within the vicinity of a player's city. A monetary fee is still required for their service.
 * Shops have been modified to mainly increase the strengths of a character's weaponry.
 * A Kessen feature has been implemented into the game. This allows multiple factions to momentarily join forces to surround and attack a single target. During the decisive battle, morale is the main factor for deciding the victor.
 * The base system in battle has been upgraded to be similar to Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires. Bases may be assigned to perform various functions to affect the battle, such as supplying eagles or cannons, for the faction controlling them.
 * Each base also has its own level system to indicate how well it will be able to provide its given service.
 * A new action, Spirit Evade, has been added during combat. When the player's character is hit, press to escape from combos. It can only be done when the character is on the ground and when the Spirit Gauge has at least one circle filled.
 * Save data from Sengoku Musou 3 Z can be used in this title to unlock koku at the start of the game. Movies and conversation quotes that were earned in the former title can be transfered to this title's gallery. New weapons for Nobunaga, Okuni, Masamune, and Hideyoshi will also be unlocked.
 * Each playable character will announce the title of the game at the start screen with a personal quote at the end.
 * Downloadable content includes different castle environments, various building parts, and scenarios in Free Mode.

Historical Mode
A new Historical Mode has been implemented into the game for players to try. The presentation mirrors the basic structure found in the Nobunaga's Ambition series, but the Samurai Warriors version divides the narrative into distinct chapter segments. Players also need to meet a given objective within a particular time limit in order to proceed forward. It promises to offer a different interpretation of a character's story than the one seen within its base title, adding new cinematics and endings.

Though it aims to follow historical events, the Samurai Warriors characters continue to retain fictional ties made within the series (such as Kunoichi and Magoichi's respective allegiances). Other figures may make anachronistic appearances.

The following daimyo will be available in this mode:
 * Nobunaga - Nobunaga aims to expand his influence beyond Owari and convince Ieyasu to join him
 * Shingen - features his father's abuse and Shingen's early rise to power
 * Masamune - details Masamune's revolt during Hideyoshi's rule
 * Yoshihiro - focuses on Yoshihiro's decisions for the Kyushu civil wars
 * Ieyasu - centers on Ieyasu's pacification of the eastern provinces after Hideyoshi's death
 * Kenshin - begins with Kenshin answering a plea for support from Yoshikiyo Murakami, meeting his nemesis for the first time.
 * Motonari - Motonari is threatened by the Ōuchi and Amago clans, having a bad feeling about a certain general named Harukata Sue.
 * Motochika - Gracia runs away to Shikoku and Motochika seeks to return the young girl to her father. However, his whereabouts are unknown so they search for him everywhere.
 * Hideyoshi - leaps forward to Hideyoshi's life as a conqueror after Nobunaga's death at Honnōji
 * Ujiyasu - together with Kai, Ujiyasu begins his conquest against the Uesugi, Takeda, and the Imagawa clans.

Free Mode
Similar to previous title. Includes new events and a new set of scenarios for players. Over 600 generals and over 25 clans can be chosen to play in the game along with playable characters in the third Xtreme Legends title.

The following time periods are available within this mode. Different scenarios can be unlocked by finishing at least one other scenario in this mode.
 * 1) Battle of Okehazama (1560)
 * 2) Incident of Honnōji (1582)
 * 3) Battle of Komaki-Nagakute (1584)
 * 4) Decisive Battle of Sekiagahara (1600)
 * 5) Unparalleled Collection (1560)

Downloadable scenarios are listed below.
 * 1) Itsukushima Conflict (1555)
 * 2) Tenka Fubu (1567)
 * 3) Detailed Sekigahara (1599)
 * 4) Hero's Tale (1560)

Create-a-Warrior
Players retain the option to create a total of twenty of their personal characters. It will include the same features as the third title's character creation. The main character types featured in Chronicles will not be available.

Gallery
Retains the options to view earned character models and actions, voice clips, conversation events, and movies. Certain features can be bought by using koku. An encyclopedia with brief introductions for figures within the game and the Mobile Joy options with Hyakku-mon nin no Sengoku Musou are included here.

Options
Same as other titles in the series.

Related Media
This game can gain bonuses from the series's mobile game, Hyakuman-nin no Sengoku Musou, as well as input two character bonuses in the social game. When players register the social game with their copy of the console game, they will unlock four new buildings for their castle city. They are:
 * Radio Tower - increases the amount of experience earned
 * Super Radio Tower - available number of orders per turn increase
 * Giant Rocket - boosts troop numbers
 * Super Satellite - one time power up during an alliance

When players register passwords from the console game, Oichi and Okuni can be unlocked as available characters in the mobile game. Yukimura's rare weapon can be unlocked for the mobile game once the game is out in stores, but other rare weapons will be available as players complete the game's scenarios. If Gamecity ID users complete a survey for Samurai Warriors 3: Empires, they will receive a code that allows them to build a radio tower and Dōsetsu Tachibana in the mobile game.

The 2012 mini character postcard calendar for this series includes original characters appearing in Hyakuman-nin no Sengoku Musou within its illustrations.

People who purchase the complete guide for this game will also receive a downloadable serial code for another rare building. Players can build a Study to increase the amount of gold their city can produce.

Another voice actor stage event has been announced in place of the canceled spring event. The Sengoku Musou Seiyuu Ougi 2011 Aki event provided a similar cast of voice actors as the event that was going to take place on March 27, 2011. This event took place at Yokohama to contrast the location of the first Shin Sangoku Musou voice actor event. Members of Koei's fanclub had the option to reserve various merchandise with their ticket purchase. Among the items exclusive to the event was a character image CD for Masanori, Kiyomasa, and Mitsunari titled Sengoku Musou 3: Sanbonyari. It includes their drama for the event, monologues from Mitsunari and Kiyomasa, and a special version of Masanori's character image song. Oda Nobunyaga from Samurai Cats and Gamecity mascot, Nyabraham Linnyahn, were present in the lobby for photo opportunities and handshakes for attending fans. The DVD recording of the event will be available for purchase on January 25, 2012.

A stage event for this game took place at Tokyo Game Show 2011 with Eiji Takemoto (Mitsunari) and Shinichi Yamada (Sakon) appearing as special guests. The voice actors talked about which characters they prefer to use, their thoughts regarding the characters they act for, and their opinions while playing the games themselves. Yamada called Takemoto "My lord" a few times during their chat. Takemoto's extravagant castle from his Empires save was showcased on stage as well. Voice actors then judged responses on Twitter to be fit to perform; the selected users won a clear file with the voice actors' signatures on it. The top ten results for the Samurai Warriors character popularity survey were announced live with Hisashi Koinuma. Special downloadable wallpapers will be available for the top four popular characters.

Koei is performing a collaboration with Scrap's "real escape game" series. To summarize these brainteaser mysteries, a group of willing participants are trapped within a series of rooms and are given a complex code needed to unlock the only door for their escape. Participants work together to solve various puzzles, retrieve particular items, and so on to be rewarded with sweet freedom. Scrap's upcoming escape game is a tie-in with the Samurai Warriors series. The basic scenario is a baseball themed event with several historical figures from the time era. The participants help Hideyoshi (the pitcher) in his goal to somehow defeat Nobunaga (#4) while overcoming whatever traps are set in store for him in the field. The full title of the escape game is Owaranai Kassenkara no Dasshu ~Yonban Fast Oda Nobunaga?!~. Scrap and Gamecity will be selling tickets for the event.

The fifth Samurai Warriors character image CD is going to be called Sengoku Musou Variety CD. It includes Toshiie and Kenshin's character image songs, two long dramas, and a voice actor commentary session for early buyers. A promotional video featuring short clips of the image songs can be seen on youtube. A compilation CD called Sengoku Musou Best CD will have character songs from Variety CD and previous CDs. A new song will be included with the collection.