Dynasty Warriors 8

Shin Sangoku Musou 7 (真・三國無双7) is the eighth installment of the Dynasty Warriors series. It is based on the seventh title's system and visuals.

First print incentives include Sangokushi 12 costumes for Zhao Yun and Sun Shangxiang. The game's pre-order bonuses are smartphone pouches designed after characters from the Three Kingdoms and Jin. The Treasure Box edition of the game includes an original soundtrack, a 3D crystal file, and an illustration book.

Gameplay

 * Story Mode is like the previous game but is similar to Dynasty Warriors 4 with additional "what if" stories.
 * The producer remarked that the programming for enemy and ally AI in this title is designed to punish players who fail to pay attention to their allies.
 * Characters have three Musous:, R1 + , and +  (aerial). One ground musou will specialize in crowd clearing, the other will be a grapple. Characters will have three Musou bars in stock.
 * Holding L2 allows players to call and ride their current horse automatically.
 * Character growth returns to a leveling system reminiscent to Dynasty Warriors 6.
 * Weapon switching remains with all weapons from Dynasty Warriors 7 and its expansions present. There are new EX weapons, jump charges, and no gender restrictions for this game.
 * A new weapon elemental system is in place with three properties: 天 (Heaven), 地 (Earth), and 人 (People). They have a triangular relationship for their affinity with one another and are randomly assigned to weapons.
 * Heaven trumps People.
 * People is superior to Earth.
 * Earth has an advantage over Heaven.
 * New weapon affinities provide different effects depending on the weapon type used by the player and their opponents.
 * Storm Rush - Enables player to break enemy guard and attack rapidly. Hits as long as the opponent's weapon affinity is worse and their vigor gauge is depleted. However, the bonus effects gradually fades every time the player attacks.
 * Variable Counter - When facing an opponent with the advantageous weapon affinity, the player can perform a counterattack to blow surrounding enemies away whilst switching weapons.
 * Awakening Musou - Activated after meeting specific conditions, this effect greatly increases the player's stats and allows them to perform an Awakening Musou attack. If the attack is used to defeat multiple enemies, it will turn into a True Awakening Musou, which causes the fallen to drop better stat-increasing items. During this state, the player's musou stacks will merge into a single gauge reminiscent to those seen in past titles.
 * Weapon seals from the previous title are replaced with a new tempering system used for customizing and crafting weapons.
 * A new type of difficulty setting allows players to perform various combos with a single button.
 * Clothing will now become dirtied and stained from participating in battle.
 * Downloadable content so far includes costumes.

Characters
Over 70 playable characters will be in this title. The new characters revealed so far are:
 * Yue Jin
 * Li Dian
 * Lu Su
 * Han Dang
 * Zhang Bao
 * Guan Xing
 * Guan Yinping
 * Jia Chong
 * Zhang Chunhua

Related Media
A voice actor event using this game's visuals and characters is scheduled to take place in Tokyo on March 3, 2013. The event's title is Shin Sangoku Musou Seiyuu Ranbu 2013 Spring.