Cloned Moveset or Cloned Character is a colloquial term used by Warriors fan communities. This term -or variants of the term- is a generalization to identify changes made to characters or the game system. Players often combine the following observations while using the term:
- A character losing a weapon and sharing it with another character.
- Most attacks are shared between characters.
- Other movements, such as running or jumping, are the same between characters.
- The exact weapon models may or may not be shared between characters.
Some examples that follow the informal definition are:
- Player made characters within the Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors series (including Dynasty Warriors: Online and Samurai Warriors Chronicles). These characters have the ability to use a playable character's weapon and can thus mimic their attacks.
- Select characters in Dynasty Warriors 2 and Dynasty Warriors 6.
- Every playable character in the Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce titles via their secondary weapon.
- Every playable character in Dynasty Warriors 7, Dynasty Warriors 8, Dynasty Warriors 9, and Samurai Warriors 5.
- Certain sets of Mobile Suits -particularly Mobile Suits like the Qubeley or GM series- in the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam series.
Depending on the person using the term, it may be used as a complaint or commentary about a Warriors title. People who choose a negative view point often use the term as means of lampooning or bemoaning a loss of uniqueness to a gameplay system. Oftentimes, it is used in comparison to individual movesets or weapons found in other Warriors titles.
Fans who view the issue with ambivalence objectively state that characters have played in a similar manner even when they did have individual attacks due to the general nature of charges. Characters who shared the same weapon often only had a few attacks or motions to distinguish them from another user.
Similar Criticism
While not the origin of the fan term, many Western video game reviewers have been stating for years that Warriors titles are "exactly the same", regardless of the series or genre. They state the franchise's game mechanics has hardly progressed or changed since Dynasty Warriors 3. This mindset stayed even with the complete renovations found within Dynasty Warriors 6 due to the Renbu system and the linear nature of moving from point A to point B in each map (although reviewers generally did admit that changes were made).
Akihiro Suzuki and other Omega Force members has responded to the reviews as being misleading or a misunderstanding of the Warriors franchise. Omega Force states their "unchanging ways" is their way of staying true to the features they feel have appealed to fans in Japan and abroad. They feel their concept of creating an enjoyable game using few buttons is a part of the universal following for the Warriors franchise. Members have been noted to be frustrated when told that characters are the same, as they feel reviewers haven't given enough time to play through each character.
According to Michael Bond and Hiroshi Kadowaki, Warriors: Legends of Troy was created specifically to counter the Western complaint of all Warriors games featuring "overpowered super models" with its realistic and historically faithful interpretations of their product's mythological setting.