Here is a few of the Musou games I have played and my opinions on them
Musou games I liked
Dynasty Warriors 8 - The Ultimate version of this (called XL) is one of my favourite Musou games ever. Sure the controls are not perfect but few Musou games are perfect in that regard. However the story and fun in this game is done perfectly. Add in the encyclopedia and you have an easy way to understand a very complex period of human history. There's lots more done well about this game but if I keep going, I'll be here all day.
Samurai Warriors 4 - I own this and 4-2. I'm not sure which of the two games here I like better. In my opinion neither are perfect, a product of their time. There's a lot to like though. If you are into the warring states period of Japan's history. 4 is based on each region and how they changed over time. 4-2 on the other hand tells the samestory but through the eyes of different specific individuals and/or specific clans. I do think a modern looking and modern controlling Samurai Warriors 5 would be amazing, as long as it's not an open world game.
Hyrule Warriors - The Switch port is really the only way to play this game. As we all know it's the graphics from the WiiU with the content and improvements from the 3DS all in one neat package. Sure by the end it gets really repetative as there's not much story to 95% of the game (ie adventure mode) and the game is artificially hard at times. Though the game plays very well and has a lot of content. I would recommend it to all Zelda fans and Musou fans.
Dragon Quest Heroes - This game is Musou at it's core. However it changes things up. It's not 1 vs 1000 like the Warriors games. It's you and your team vs a few enemies but much stronger enemies. It works really well. It's basically Dragon Quest 1 to 8 mixed with a new story. All the playable characters are returning favouties apart from the main hero of cause. You can switch to play as anyone in your team though. The story is pretty good also. This I highly recommend. Especially now that it's cheaper to buy on sale. The only downside is the DLC/post game content is just a grind fest. However it's like 5% of the game. You can easily ignore it and still enjoy a really good and fun Musou game.
Dragon Quest Heroes 2 - Similar to the first game with two key differences. The game is now set up into Musou and adventure areas. You just travel through the adventure areas doing the quests, killing enemies and collecting loot as well as prigressing the story. The Musou areas are as you'd expect, your team vs the enemy team and you have map specific objectives to accomplish. These usually end with a boss fight. However other areas have boss fights too. The Musou areas was the frst game, the adventure areas are the new to DQH2 thing.
Secondly, I feel the story is a little weaker than the first game. Also a few of the fan favourite characters (all returning from previous DQ games 1 - 8 as before) are playable a little too late into the game to make a lot of use with them.
Still I do think DQH2 is the better game of the two. Though if you are a DQ and/or Musou fan I'd recommend to get both games for cheap on sale. That's what I did. It's just a shame that the Switch port was enver localised in English. I think it'd work on Switch as there's less hordes of weaker enemies in these games thus the lower power Switch should be easily able to handle it.
Musou games I didn't like
Fire Emblem Warriors - I realise many people like this game. I just found the Musou not all that fun. Also to me the variety of play styles was rather limited. They have the usual FE trinity (sword/axe/spear) and a couple arrow and magic based characters and that's it. Unlike Hyrule Warriors where every character / weapon played totally differently. The story didn't grab me either
I think this is a game that some people will really like and others will not. It's not the best Musou game out there but not the worst either.
Dynasty Warriors 9 - We all know this game is bad. However it actually does a lot right also. It's combat is slick and they worked out how to overcome the combat limitation. This limitation being too many combat options for the number of buttons on your controller. Also the visuals are mostly pretty good.
The downsides are the set pieces / battles. They are much smaller scale and you have to travel through pointless nothing areas to travel to each one as this is an open world game. Also the game is based on individual people. You play each person's story line individually. Which after the first few, gets really repetative and boring.
The solution for Dynasty Warriors 10 is to keep the great graphics and combat system but ditch the open world. That would solve a lot of the problems.
Warriors Orochi 3 - I like the concept here. Dynasty + Samurai in the same game. However the story is not that good, the levelling up system is weird and make no sense and the combat is on par with Samurai Warriors 4. Honestly I can't recommend this game. I think if you really want to play an Orochi game, just get 4 Ultimate when it's discounted. I've not played 4 but it seems to be somewhat better than 3.
Samurai Warriors - Sprit of Sanada - This feels like a shorter offshoot game. What I've played of this I liked it, it plays well. I just think it will not keep many Musou fans interested long enough to keep playing it long term.
Warriors All Stars - Pure garbage. Avoid at all costs.
