Dynasty Warriors 4

Dynasty Warriors 4 (真・三國無双3, Shin Sangoku Musou 3) is the fourth entry in the Dynasty Warriors series and the fifth title made.

Gameplay

 * Aerial charge attacks are available (but they do not fill up Musou on hit). C1s (undefined) are unique to each character and C3s (,, undefined) are now multi-hitting combos known as charge rushes that can be followed by several taps from the undefined button; some of them can stun or stagger enemies.
 * On that note, most other non-physical attacks (mainly charge attacks) no longer fill up the musou gauge on hit.
 * Several other shared attack graphics also have updated tweaks which make them more practical to use, along with tweaked hit effects.
 * Power guards (press while blocking) are replaced by parries (press undefined while blocking). Performing this action can allow a character to perform a parry animation, which will make them dodge an enemy's attack and immediately trigger a counter attack based on one of their normal moves or charge attacks. There is limited invincibility during the start of the animation which can allow characters to evade attacks (even ones that cannot trigger a counter), and the counter attack has its hitbox last throughout the whole attack's animation.
 * Higher ranking units are unable to break lower ranking units' guards with normal hit strings or C1 attacks.
 * As of this game, guarding in general now causes units to continuously face their current direction under blockstun as opposed to orienting towards their most recent attacker automatically; this makes guarding more effective vs. crowds, but easily exploitable in 1 v 1's.
 * Characters can announce themselves by pressing R3. It surrounds them with an aura that stuns and breaks the guard of nearby opponents. The move deals minor damage and cannot KO.
 * All officers are given a particular strategy to indicate their effectiveness against other units when controlled by the AI.
 * When meeting an enemy officer, there may be a chance that they will be additionally challenged to duel during the officer's introduction sequence (thus, encounter intros from the last installment are now solely reserved for duel requests). In the upper right hand corner, there will be a small gray gauge that allots a certain amount of time for the player's response. Choosing to accept transports both generals into a private arena that is separated from the main events on the field. Duels become more likely against a particular general if their rivalry with the player intensifies further.
 * If the player has an amount of rank points below a certain threshold, then fighting a duel to a draw (where neither one wins regardless of HP amount) will cause morale to increase on the player's forces. However, if one is at a high enough rank, a draw (along with refusing one) will instead cause morale to decrease.
 * Enemy officers during some battles may have a chance to be powered up with Hyper Mode, a state where they have a fuzzy-aura of orange lightning surrounding them akin to having a full Musou gauge. The officer's stats are heavily powered up in this mode, regardless of morale drops or not.
 * Mounts no longer require ranks to ride them and allows players to pick up items while they're on the saddle. It's now possible to dismount while the steed is running due to the general leaping off instead of merely climbing off (as well as perform jump attacks and jump charges during said dismounts) and they no longer run over allies.
 * Weapons can now be leveled up though its own leveling system. As the player defeats enemy generals or connects charge attacks onto them, they will gradually gain more Weapon Points (read as "weapon EXP/experience"). Similar to the stat boosts dropped by officers, players will additionally gain more points for their weapons if they defeat enemies with longer combos and/or more charge attacks in succession. It lets their weapons evolve over time to gain better stats along with it being unique to the character wielding it. The more difficult the stage and the setting is, the more weapon points are gained per action done.
 * The maximum standard weapon level is 9, while Level 10 weapons can be unlocked via specific objectives fulfilled on certain stages on Hard Mode.
 * Orbs can now be equipped individually onto characters, and elements all now require a full Musou gauge to activate for most if not all charge attacks. All Level 10 weapons can automatically cause most charge attacks to activate elements, regardless of the Musou Gauge amount.
 * The character stats reset mechanic from the options menu has been removed.
 * All characters now have an equip-able item limit, being around 4-to-6 depending on the character. However, saddles and the aforementioned orbs are now to be equipped in their own separate slots.
 * Items all have a leveling system akin to the aforementioned weapons, and their maximum level is 1-to-20. This makes it so items have a more visual indication of being maxed out, as opposed to random high-and-low numbers from the previous installment. This also applies to the aforementioned orbs.
 * Bodyguards orders can be changed in-battle without needing to pause.
 * Sub-officers under main generals can now have their locations viewed by selecting the general they are under.
 * The Reach stat is no longer a variable item stat like in the previous installment.
 * One new battlefield item has been added.
 * Siege weapons are introduced as units that have their own HP bars (but use the portraits of enemy peons) and can thus be destroyed. Specific events within battles can cause them to be deployed.
 * Brand new off-hand cutscenes on the lower right of the screen can now occur without delaying in-game battle pacing, which mainly occurs when certain siege weapons are successfully deployed (allied or enemy).
 * Dialogue messages are now rendered as text bubbles, but most importantly, battle messages as a whole are sped up considerably from the previous installment, preventing delays in both battle time and certain events via specific battle messages.
 * Archer towers can now be destroyed, though the higher the difficulty level is, the more hits the towers will take to be destroyed.
 * As of this game, Gate Captains no longer drop defensive stat boosts. They only drop meat buns instead.
 * K.O.s whenever they are knocked off screen, no longer need to hit the ground in order to drop items; they may instantly drop items right at where they faded away allowing for more instantaneous collection.

Musou Mode
In this game, the Musou Modes are made for each kingdom and not for individual characters. Each version has its own various stages or "Acts". Also during each stage preparation, the player(s) can switch characters based on kingdom back at the character selection screen.

Free Mode
Same as most of the other titles. This time however, all stages are now marked with their own difficulty ranking, with 8 marks/stars being the highest difficulty ranking.

Versus Mode
Same as most of the other titles. However, in this installment, two players can no longer select the same character.
 * Showdown - duke it out 1 on 1 inside one of the Stone Sentinel Maze's sections at Yi Ling.
 * Encounter - within the barely-lit darkness in Nan Yang Castle's scholar's room, find the opposition via a 1 on 1 and defeat them.
 * Influence - find the Imperial Seal to call on and/or influence summoned generals in an allied 5 on 5 at Luo Yang's shopping district.
 * Escort - in Runan's central castle area, protect your own carriages from respective opposing peons while taking out each other, general and/or carriage alike.

Challenge Mode
Same as before, with one challenge from Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends also being kept. However, there is now an option to instantly retry current challenge runs from scratch from the pause menu, which will always change up the enemy generals selected for each variable playthrough:
 * Endurance - in the main fortress of the Nanman Territory via the outer village, defeat as many enemies while you can last and/or before time runs out.
 * Time Attack - defeat all 100 enemies as fast as you can inside Xu Province/Xia Pi Castle.
 * Bridge Melee - A top a huge lone walkway stationed in front of Bai Di Castle's camp at Yi Ling, knock off as many enemy troops as you can before getting knocked off yourself and/or being defeated.
 * Demolition - Via a portion of Guan Du's map, rush through the stage to demolish all the objects you can, on-field item container and siege weapon alike.

Edit Characters
Allows players to make their custom officers or bodyguard unit.

Data Base
Same as the previous title but includes a short summary of the Three Kingdoms timeline.

Characters
The game retains all characters from its previous installment, save for Fu Xi and Nu Wa. Characters with bolded names are new in this title.

Expansions

 * Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends
 * Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires
 * Dynasty Warriors 4: Hyper - PC conversion of the game for Windows that uses higher resolution graphics. Includes the Japanese and English voice options. Number of enemies appearing on screen can be adjusted in the settings, and enemy A.I. is more enhanced than its PlayStation 2 counterpart.

Spin-Offs

 * Dynasty Warriors Advance
 * Dynasty Warriors (PSP)
 * Samurai Warriors: State of War - as optional characters

Bugs and Glitches
Buggy grab attacks

All grabs will cause the victim to enter a "being lifted up" state, but if they happen to be left alone without the attacker following up on time (mainly due to a possible gimmick such as a bug or another unit interfering by pushing the attacker out of range) due to the state being solely stationary and not being fully captured onto the attacker's grasp, they will slowly drop down via knockdown with no damage. Some grabs can be bugged if they hit a midair/juggled opponent in that after the grab animation hits someone but does not change and knocks the target back while doing so, the attacker may go on with the throw attack animation anyway without anyone in their grasp.

Related Media
K'md released eight figurines of the cast. Koei released two drama CDs, Fuuen Ranbu and Gunsei Shoubu, based on events from this title. A light novel based on the drama CD's events and characters was also published. A sample can be read online here.

The twelve volume fanbook serialization, Shin Sangoku Musou Tsushin, also used this particular Dynasty Warriors entry as its base. It included commentary from developers, an exclusive illustration made by Hiroyuki Suwahara, stage walkthroughs, "what if?" designs for considered playable generals, and a showcase of letters and fanart from fans. The magazine also featured two characters from the game in each issue, several editorial comics, dream match novelizations between two characters, and mentions of other Three Kingdoms merchandise in Japan.

Aside from the official guide books, character illustration book, and scenario book, Koei officially funded the following publications for this game:


 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 1 - collection of four panel parody comics created and illustrated by fans. ISBN: 4-7758-0075-2
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 2 - ISBN: 4-7758-0076-0
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 3 - ISBN: 4-7758-0110-4
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 4 - ISBN: 4-7758-0135-X
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 5 - ISBN: 4-7758-0136-8
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 6 - ISBN: 4-7758-0193-7
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 7 - ISBN: 4-7758-0207-0
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 ~ Battle Illusion Vol. 8 - ISBN: 4-7758-0208-9
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 Anthology ~Ten no Maki~ - collection of four panel parody comics and/or lengthier stories created by fans. Includes themes from the Xtreme Legends expansion as well. ISBN: 4-7758-0137-6
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 Anthology ~Chi no Maki~ - ISBN: 4-7758-0138-4
 * Comic Shin Sangoku Musou 3 Anthology ~Jin no Maki~ - ISBN: 4-7758-0139-2

Image Song

 * Cross Colors


 * Performed by Yuki Koyanagi

Allusions

 * Characters outfits from this game later appear as alternate third costumes in Warriors Orochi 2.
 * The default names for the bodyguard units refer to several Koei titles such as Gitaroo-Man, Kessen II, and Nobunaga's Ambition. Sanzo, Shiga, and Ieyasu are also referenced. A group using the first names of the English voice actors was also created.
 * Guan Yu, Zhou Yu and Gan Ning reuse design aspects for their default costumes in this installment from older installments.