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Hyrule Warriors What Gameplay Changes Are You Hoping for from Age of Calamity?

Spiritual Mask Salesman

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Unlike the original Hyrule Warriors, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was developed with close involvement from the Zelda team. From gameplay, to the art direction, and world design, this is apparently unlike a standard Warriors game.

What type of gameplay do you think we have in store? Would you hope for a bit more explorative freedom, or is that too much to hope for?
 
I'm torn on this because they mentioned puzzle solving in the reveal, which is more than the original had.

BotW's world is really open too, so I'm think that a lot of levels are going to be rather large, which would fit into the freedom BotW gave players.

There is an open world Dynasty Warriors and it was bloody awful, I doubt AoC will be open world, but I do think the levels will be large and open, so I'm hoping AoC doesn't fall into the same traps DW9 did.

As for combat, I'm expecting a lot of the same we saw from HW, I think they'll add the urry rush, I think Urbosa was even doing a perfect dodge to lead into one with the speed slowing down in the footage.
But I don't expect to be paragliding around like in BotW, I don't expect that much freedom.
 

Azure Sage

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I'm hoping to see more control over what your other playable units are doing, like what FE Warriors gave us. I'm hoping to see more postgame content as good as Adventure Mode was, but with less frustrating and restrictive rules like "dont get hit lol" or "you can only use this character that you dont like playing as lol".

I would totally love a side mode where you can free roam around maps with no objectives other than to beat the stuffing out of as many enemies as you want. Maybe as a means of grinding too but also just for the fun of it. I could spend hours doing that. Even better if they gave us BotW's actual whole world pre-calamity to do this in. But that might be asking for too much.
 
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There's three options for gameplay here.

1. Pure Musou. Think Dynasty Warriors 8 or Samurai Warriors 4 / 4-2. Hyrule Warriors 1 was mostly traditional Musou. Though you could make it more interactive with more commands, and different / more mission objectives within each map.
The 1000 vs 1 idea of traditional musou really shines here and Hyrule Warriors 1 to a point tried to replicate this.

2. Exploration. Think Dragon Quest Heroes 2. You could also have pure musou maps in this. However the game would still take on the Musou style combat system but most maps would not be musou. You would explore the world and have a longer type story. It would not be just a series of maps like Hyrule Warriors 1 story was.
This style focuses on less number of enemies but each enemy is much stronger. A better fit for a lower powered console like the Switch.

3. Open World. Think Dynasty Warriors 9 but actually done well. This would just be a small number of really large maps. Kind of like how BotW is. But you'd have the musou combat scheme and potentially have mini battles in certain areas. Scriped story events within the world.

How do I feel about each option?

1. If done well it could be a great game, though I feel it's already been done with Hyrule Warriors 1. Also the potential less number of playable characters doesn't really fit in with this style. It could be done well but not my prime choice.

2. This is my preferred choice. It fits in with what BotW is and with the less potential number of characters. You could get away with 10 or even less playable characters. You could even have a team of 3 - 4 characters like in Dragon Quest Heroes 2 and run around the world completing quests and going through the story. I feel this could really work well. As long as a few traditional musou maps are added in for those scripted moments then I'll be happy.
This option would probably mean no adventure mode in Hyrule Warriors AOC. I'm totally ok with this, assuming there's a decent new game plus to add in some replayability.

3. I'm against this as it really deminishes the major battles. It's hard to script them well and be able to give military style commands on a general purpose map not specifically built for musou. I feel without a rethink of the entire concept, open world musou games do not work. DW9 proved this.
 

Mido

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I think Age of Calamity might be better off keeping it simple in relation to the Warriors formula, which means trying to capture the open world of its sequel might be too ambitious an undertaking. DW9, as much as I respect its ambition, did not quite hit the mark; and if mainline Musou games have not handled the concept of the open world with the beauty and grace only befitting Zhang He, then it might not be a good idea for this game.

3. Open World. Think Dynasty Warriors 9 but actually done well. This would just be a small number of really large maps. Kind of like how BotW is. But you'd have the musou combat scheme and potentially have mini battles in certain areas. Scriped story events within the world.

I definitely find myself skeptical of the open world concept in light of DW9, but I think having large battlefields for each scenario can work. BOTW has enough diverse landscapes to accommodate numerous battlefields. I can see Hebra's mountains perhaps functioning in a manner like Dynasty Warriors and its Hanzhong missions like Mt. Dingjun. Perhaps even some naval battles could be interesting (although I am not certain there is a large enough body of water to accommodate).

I do like you note about mini battles in specific areas. It reminds me of how Dynasty Warriors 4 split missions for specific areas. For example, one could choose to play Shi Sui Gate, a smaller battle, before delving into the gigantic mass of Hu Lao Gate. The idea is certainly interesting.

I would totally love a side mode where you can free roam around maps with no objectives other than to beat the stuffing out of as many enemies as you want. Maybe as a means of grinding too but also just for the fun of it. I could spend hours doing that. Even better if they gave us BotW's actual whole world pre-calamity to do this in. But that might be asking for too much.

I think that might be interesting, although I wonder if the game will need to populate areas heavily with enemies in a way similar to Dynasty Warriors's rampage mode where you have to slay as many enemies as possible until you die? Perhaps the game can have a larger area of scope?

BotW's world is really open too, so I'm think that a lot of levels are going to be rather large, which would fit into the freedom BotW gave players.

This is pretty much my hope, as I think large level sizes can work without necessarily delving into open-world territory.

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Now, pulling back to the OP, I only have one tweak to make to the already-established formula from the first game, and that is not having dedicated weak points for normal officers. I did not mind it for the bosses because it was a staple of the main series and worked decently enough. As for regular officers, I found it broke the pacing of fights because instead of actively combating the target, one dodges and dodges until a weak point is exposed for large damage. This I find to be detrimental, especially for weaker-leveled officers where defeating just one officer could take 5 to 6 minutes on average. If this were the exception, I would not mind it as much. Otherwise, I think Age of Calamity is in a good place with what its predecessor started.
 

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