Filler Battles

As the name implies, Filler Battles are minor scenarios that have little to no impact in the main plot of a particular franchise. They often involve skirmishes against raiders, bandits, and other miscreants. Sometimes, the purpose of these battles is to act as exposition, fleshing out a character's background and personality. But in most cases, they're used for filling in stages for particular officers who've participated in less major battles than the rest.

Any random monster encounter or optional quest line within Koei's RPG titles would technically count as filler battles, as they do not particularly change the main plot to a great degree.

Dynasty Warriors
Battles that fit this category of interest for this series are the ones which have little to no historical mention or importance for the era.

Dynasty Warriors 3 has three minor battles found only in Musou Mode. These stages are mostly small and compact, yet they provide players enough room to hone their skills and gain stat bonuses with ease even in Hard Mode.

Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends features new versions of these battles for the new stories, with Pirate Attack on the High Seas being renamed Wu Navy Skirmish. All of the new versions can be selected in Free Mode.

In Dynasty Warriors 4, these battles appear in the form of optional scenarios that take place before any major chapter stage. While finishing them is not required, their completion often results in granting several advantages for the player's side such as minimizing ambush attacks, deploying siege weapons from past battles, etc.

The spin-off Empires titles and Dynasty Warriors Next includes miniature optional quests featuring the aforementioned tasks throughout their playthrough experience.

Samurai Warriors
Like in Dynasty Warriors 3, Filler Battles in Samurai Warriors 2 are found only in Story Mode. Certain playable characters (mostly the women) have at least one stage where they must save a village from bandits or eradicate pirates. Depending on the officer being used, other characters may appear to aid players or hinder them instead.

Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends features a new Pirate Hunt for Kojirō Sasaki's story, where he and Musashi Miyamoto met for the first time.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
Mission Mode in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 has several optional quests which serve no other purpose than to level up characters or their bonds with other pilots. There are minor missions spread throughout the third title's main story mode which have no major impact or narrative importance for the factions involved.

Warriors: Legends of Troy
A handful of the chapters within Warriors: Legends of Troy's main story include events which are original to the game itself. These missions emphasize a particular side's war front of losing or gaining ground for players who are unfamiliar with events in the epic. Hektor's early chapters of saving his countrymen or Penthesilea escorting Priam are two examples which fit this concept.

Crimson Sea
Crimson Sea 2 has several minor missions throughout the game which are present primarily for increasing IAG's influence on a planet. They often involve fetch quests and exterminating Menace from the vicinity. The player can repeat them as often as they like, but their main function is unlocking the events which do affect the main storyline.

Kessen
Kessen has filler battles in the form of escape sequences. Although the player can plan to win or lose the chase at their whim, the end result of the chase is determined by the main battle which took place before it. The optional minor battles in Kessen III all deal with eradicating rioters or bandits at varying levels of difficulty. While they have no importance to the plot, they exist to restore resting comrade's morale, to include bonus treasure hunts, and to level up characters.

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War includes several quests which can change the main protagonist's fame level for either England or France. However, aside from boosting reputation and the player character's levels, many mercenary jobs are optional and can be ignored if the player so chooses. More contracts are unlocked once new regions become available via fame or story progression. Players are given a limited amount of days to complete their assigned task before the contract date expires.

Söldnerschild Special
Although Söldnerschild Special has a given time limit, the player is free to do as many as the minor D or C level quests as they desire. The only consequence of squandering the time given is increasing the possibility that the player will fail to assign their mercenary force to one of the six kingdoms for unification.