Warriors: Legends of Troy

Warriors: Legends of Troy (TROY無双, Troy Musou) is a game announced by Koei at E3 in 2009. It is being made to appeal to Western players who don't like the Three Kingdoms setting from Dynasty Warriors. Even the development team are not fans of the series and are working to invigorate the hack-and-slash system from previous titles. Most of the staff working on the project are from Canada and they want to create an European game to appeal to Western audiences.

Akihiro Suzuki states that he supports their ideas, but he has expressed concerns that the Canadian staff will lose the Warriors image. Regarding the level of violence and realism, he adds that he would like to include an option to turn off the gore -even though the Canadian team took great pains in simulating it. This is likely tied with his plans for the Japanese release, in which he wants to avoid a Cero Z rating (age 18 over only due to explicit content) and aim for a D rating (age 17 over only with mature content). He notes that the supervision of the cutscenes for the game were done by developers of a famous Canadian TV drama, thus assuring the quality and sequencing of the story scenes.

Players can side with heroes from either side of the 10 Year Trojan War as their stories are told through an oral narrative, similar to how it would have been during the game's setting. The developers are using The Iliad as the game's base, but they are also aiming to include mythological information from other sources. For instance, Suzuki has hinted to a "Zombie story" being in the game.

Gameplay

 * There are two known stories, the Troy chapter and the Greece chapter. Both stories start from the same origin but offer different and cohesive viewpoints, encouraging the players to explore both chapters. Selecting a particular chapter also decides on which characters the players can use.
 * Unlike other Warriors titles, this game is much more grittier and rustic, including blood and gore. The game aims to create a sense of cruel realism in a world of war. The sound effects have been improved to emphasize the cutting of flesh and spurts of blood, and a body count of victims acts as the "KO count".
 * The sense of "one versus a thousand" remains, but there is a noticeable difference with Warriors: Legends of Troy. Players can't always run into crowd of villains and expect them to always be taken down by their normal attacks alone. The enemy AI is also aggressive and will attack on impulse. This new system stresses the importance of planning and careful preparation. To remove the redundancy that may come from the older system, players can use various methods and tactics to gain an advantage over their opponents. They can use stealth, surprise attacks and other tactics during their assault.
 * Charges have been adapted in favor of a realistic "down attack" system. These attacks may allow a person to dodge an attack and strike low at an opponent's lower regions in one motion. Down attacks can also allow a character to use their secondary weapon (such as a shield) to bash their opponent or to initiate a special killing blow against weakened opponents. Combos are made by mixing the normal attack and down attacks together in combat.
 * Jumps -or at least the act of performing high jumps commonly found in other Warriors titles- have been omitted.
 * The trademark musou move found in several Warriors games has been removed and replaced with a different "Fury" gauge. When it is filled, the character will not be totally invincible but they will instead have a significant power boost until the gauge depletes. Adjustments for slow motion and dramatic cuts while in this state are still in progress.
 * Characters are not limited to one weapon and can use their shield, javelin, boulders and other soldiers to thrash their foes. Equipping a different weapon also changes what actions the player can do as well. For instance, a character with a shield and sword will act in a different manner than a character who only has a sword. Weapons can be found as the player progresses through a stage and can be used immediately (i.e. if an enemy drops a sword, the player can pick it up and use it). Each weapon has a limited amount of uses before it shatters or breaks, so players need to plan their strikes carefully.
 * A lock-on option is also available.
 * One-on-one fights with bosses are implemented in the game. For the E3 playable demo, players were pitted against a statue of Apollo.
 * The game will emphasize four-man, online play for unlocking items and completing missions with collaborative teamwork.

Characters

 * Achilles
 * Odysseus
 * Hector
 * Paris
 * Penthesilea