Samurai Warriors — How a Game’s Significance Determines its Presentation

Like Dynasty Warriors… but subtly better

A new month… a new routine of articles to write. It’s both exciting and tedious because I’m slowly running out of ideas. Nonetheless, I always try to pull something out of my… never mind. Anyway, this article is about Samurai Warriors.

Samurai Warriors is the Dynasty Warriors spinoff that nobody talks about, and Dynasty Warriors being that one game I talked about that is notorious for its hilariously bad voice acting (if you can call it that). They’re virtually the same in that you play as a one-man-army who goes around and fights countless soldiers at once, except that the combat in Samurai Warriors is significantly better. Still, no one is bound to know that since, as I said, nobody talks about it. The main difference is the story, where Dynasty Warriors is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Samurai Warriors is based on events during the Sengoku period of Japan. Otherwise, there isn’t much to tell about the game.

Anyone who played the game will have a different opinion about it, good or bad. But assuming it’s objectively better than Dynasty Warriors, it’s not enough to convince the developers to give it its own dub. Why? Probably because it’s not worth it.

The sloppy bigshot gets a dub, but not his little sister

I noticed that this trend has been going on for at least the two most recent entries because the 3rd entry in the series was exclusive to the Wii, and I broke mine, so I never got to play it. But basically, the only voices in the game are Japanese, as there isn’t even an option for an English dub.

This is unusual, especially compared to its mainstream equivalent, Dynasty Warriors, who always had an English dub, albeit a questionable quality. I suppose, from a production standpoint, it makes sense since Samurai Warriors is the less popular of the two. The developers probably wanted to cut any irrelevant corners just to save the budget — these guys ARE known for being cheap (I played a lot of their games, and it shows). These days, there is always a demand for an English voiceover, even if it comes later. But in this case, it never came.

All in all, I don’t find this too much of a problem since I don’t care if it’s English or Japanese. But from what I’ve seen on forums (from the few that speak of it), the unintelligible dialogue makes it hard to understand the story during fights, and the characters talk a lot during fights (it is somewhat anime, after all). The only thing that annoys me about this “feature” is how it represents the company that made it, which already has a bad reputation for recycling and laziness when they have what it takes to make a great game, but they just don’t care enough. But hey, that’s their problem… not mine.

Again… their problem

So as much I’d be happy to come up with solutions for someone else’s problem, that’s exactly the point. Who am I to tell the developers how to run their company? Whether it works for them or not, it’s their funeral.

But if I’m already here, I’d say that there needs to be an entire restructuring of their business model, since right now it goes along the lines of “if it can be recycled, then do it”, with little regard to the final product’s quality. I only ever had one prep course in economics, but aside from that, I don’t know jack about business, so I won’t say too much.

But shitty methodologies aside, I think that the simplest solution is the best: just get an English dub. In today’s world, that’s a must, and it shows in people’s rants on the Internet. I don’t care how cheap they are; if they just get a dub, then half of their problems would’ve been solved right there. Well… maybe not a half… but probably a quarter.

Did you play Samurai Warriors?

Because if so, you’re a rarity, as am I, and it would be nice to hear that someone other than me likes this game. Do say something, because I don’t hear a lot… about it.

Other than that, I’m still contemplating what to do with this section. Until I decide what to do with it, I’m going to keep this running gag going. If you have any suggestions, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments.

Because this place is for people who want to suggest stuff… so do it.

In Conclusion…

I believe that Samurai Warriors is the greater of the two, even though it is an insignificant spinoff in the eyes of its creators. I recommend the 4th game in the series, even though the 5th game came out a few months ago, but the 4th is my favourite simply because you can practically chain infinite combos in that one (if you manage the fights carefully, that is). I would tell you to go and try it, but it’s not for everyone. Maybe that’s why not a lot of people play it, which may or may not be a tidbit that the developers are aware of, seeing as they’re too cheap to pay for an English dub. Frankly, they always seemed like a weird bunch.

I suppose that the lack of an English dub is a problem for some. Again, the developers will do whatever they want with their property, but I think it’s a mistake to get an English dub because it just doesn’t work in today’s world. I suppose that some people would agree with this notion.

Unless the company gets their shit together, the franchise probably won’t get better any time soon.