History YMMV / DynastyWarriors

** The "Lockup" Stratagem in ''Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires'': it closes the gates on a certain number of bases for about sixty seconds, which often does more harm than good, since if players get shut inside a base, there's no way to get out until the gates re-open. Sure, most players will learn to not use it, but [[ArtificialStupidity AI-controlled allies won't]]. There's nothing more frustrating than getting trapped in an allied base [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper as soon as players step into it]], especially when they're pursuing an enemy or trying to get to somewhere in a hurry. Enemies can at least be excused as attempting to trap players for activating this Stratagem. Whether allied units are trying to help or deliberately {{Troll}}ing players when they do it is anyone's guess.

*** Another one is Yue Ying's Level 10 weapon, the Oblivion, in ''[=DW4=]''. See that above entry for the Nanman Campaign? Yue Ying has to do everything done in canonical story: Defeat Meng Huo seven times, burn Wu Tugu's armor soldiers and defeat Zhu Rong all while keeping morale salvageable and not lose your allied commander.

** ''Dynasty Warriors 4'' introduced the ability to duel against certain officers in stages. While the idea itself is unique and fun, it's also unfair on some levels. First off, if you lose a duel, it's an automatic game over and you'll have to redo the stage you were on. Sometimes duels can occur near the end of a stage, meaning you wasted 15-20 minutes only to lose at a duel and forced to redo a stage again. Secondly, duels against certain officers like Lu Bu and Gan Ning (though only in vanilla, ''4:XL'' fixes this) are impossible to win against, even if your weapon is at the highest level. They don't take anywhere near as much damage than other officers and dueling either of them will likely result in losing and redoing the stage you were on. Even worse in the vanilla where you start the duel with empty musou gauge while [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard your opponent start with full musou and can use musou as soon as the duel starts and, if you're really unlucky, they can even use the next musou]] ''[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard without refilling]]'' [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard despite it should've been theoretically impossible]]. Also, while there's usually one duel per stage (if there is one), sometimes multiple characters can challenge you to a duel in the same stage. Besides, it wouldn't be wise to refuse a duel in most cases, as this will cause your overall morale to drop, as will fighting to a draw, so the only option is to try to win a duel, as this raises your overall morale. Long story short, the high risk of a GameOver outweighs the reward of eliminating an opponent quickly, it's as if the game is constantly ''scheming'' to get you killed in a duel. This could be why the ability to duel against officers was removed in the later games.

** ''Dynasty Warriors 4'' introduced the ability to duel against certain officers in stages. While the idea itself is unique and fun, it's also unfair on some levels. First off, if you lose a duel, it's an automatic game over and you'll have to redo the stage you were on. Sometimes duels can occur near the end of a stage, meaning you wasted 15-20 minutes only to lose at a duel and forced to redo a stage again. Secondly, duels against certain officers like Lu Bu and Gan Ning (though only in vanilla, ''4:XL'' fixes this) are impossible to win against, even if your weapon is at the highest level. They don't take anywhere near as much damage than other officers and dueling either of them will likely result in losing and redoing the stage you were on. Even worse in the vanilla where you start the duel with empty musou gauge while [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard your opponent start with full musou and can use musou as soon as the duel starts and, if you're really unlucky, they can even use the next musou]] ''[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard without refilling]]'' [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard despite it should've been theoretically impossible]]. Also, while there's usually one duel per stage (if there is one), sometimes multiple characters can challenge you to a duel in the same stage. Long story short, it's as if the game is constantly ''scheming'' to get you killed in a duel. This could be why the ability to duel against officers was removed in the later games.

** ''Dynasty Warriors 4'' introduced the ability to duel against certain officers in stages. While the idea itself is unique and fun, it's also unfair on some levels. First off, if you lose a duel, it's an automatic game over and you'll have to redo the stage you were on. Sometimes duels can occur near the end of a stage, meaning you wasted 15-20 minutes only to lose at a duel and forced to redo a stage again. Secondly, duels against certain officers like Lu Bu and Gan Ning (though only in vanilla, ''4:XL'' fixes this) are impossible to win against, even if your weapon is at the highest level. They don't take anywhere near as much damage than other officers and dueling either of them will likely result in losing and redoing the stage you were on. Even worse in the vanilla where you start the duel with empty musou gauge while [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard your opponent start with full musou and can use musou as soon as the duel starts and, if you're really unlucky, they can even use the next musou]] ''[[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard without refilling]]'' [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard despite it should've been theoretically impossible]]. This could be why the ability to duel against officers was removed in the later games.

** Years after the release of ''Dynasty Warriors 6'', many players will state their absolute disgust for the "[[ScrappyMechanic Renbu System]]" and {{Moveset Clone}}s, though they tend not to mention what else the game brought to the table (or they ''did'', but the Renbu System was so bad it overshadowed what ''Dynasty Warriors 6'' did right). In its defense, some players fondly remember "Siege Battles", a new "Duel System", parrying, dodge-rolling, running charged attacks, the best use of AI in UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames-era of the series, and all the extra visual work that was done for mood and tone of the stages. Much of this has not been seen in the games post-''6''.

*** It also didn't help that it actually increased the physical toll on the controller's normal attack button (X for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360, square on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 or UsefulNotes/PlayStation3) more than previous games; furthermore, {{Charged Attack}}s turn into a non-viable alternative due to long charge-up times. As a result of such negative fan reaction, ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' returned to the traditional setup of stringing {{Charged Attack}}s after normal attacks, with more combat maneuvers unlocked using [[SkillScoresAndPerks skill points]]. Yes, it's still ButtonMashing, but at least it's using ''different buttons'' rather than just one.

*** Not helping the fact is that all versions of the game suffer from severe frame-rate issues due to poor optimization, with publisher [[Creator/{{Koei}} Koei Tecmo]] further fanning the flames by barring access to the Chinese subtitles and dubs for the PC version. After players discovered a way to access said option, Koei Tecmo then responded by releasing a patch to specifically "fix" this workaround by removing the language files completely (which unfathomably also removed the previously available Japanese subtitles). Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a torrent of negative reviews on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} from Chinese and Japanese users. [[note]]Eventually, the PC version restored the Chinese and Japanese dubs and subtitles. [[/note]]

* PolishedPort: While '' Dynasty Warriors 6'' had many changes to it, such as new disliked mechanics and giving many officers different weapons, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 port didn't change the officers' weapons, making it more tolerable than the other ports.
* PortingDisaster: While none of the console versions of ''9'' performed especially well on release, they at least managed somewhat playable (if unstable) frame-rates when played in their "Action Mode", which reduces the graphics resolution. Not so much the version for the original UsefulNotes/XboxOne (or Xbox One S), which ran at a resolution of just 720p with massively cut-back graphics, to the point where it looks more like an early UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 title than something you'd expect to see several years into the following generation. However, the real killer is the abysmal frame-rate, which makes the game all-but-unplayable. Oh, and you can't switch into the "Action Mode", because there isn't one (presumably because it would drop the resolution into Standard Definition territory) Patches have improved the framerate ''somewhat'', but the graphics remain poor.

* {{Waggle}}: ''NEXT'' on the Sony UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita had touchscreen "ambushes" (e.g., knocking down arrows, cutting down charging cavalrymen) and mini-games (e.g., tracing calligraphy, stylized "duels") shoehorned in that changed it from reasonable fun to pains to the neck.

** The lack of playable officers from the late Wu generation (except for Ding Feng) prevented the Wu storyline from going further into Sun Quan's reign as the Wu emperor and other events that occurred after his reign, leading to Wu's collapse. The NPC conversation ([[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135482370943905792 1]],[[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135482638251118592 2]], and [[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135483344450273280 3]]) from the Wu civilians in 9 hinted at the SuccessionCrisis within the Sun clan but this only occurred offscreen. It can be surmised that this is due to how Omega Force was insistent in keeping the franchise family friendly despite trying to make it follow the darker history more, and yet [[TheCaligula Sun Hao]] alone is so nightmarish that they can't even bring themselves to put him in without raising the rating, so they instead just chose to skim out the latter Wu's history.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Many players found Jiang Wei’s English dub voice from 7 to 8 very irritating, though that depends on where one finds his yelling of "BENEVOLENCE!" very suitable for him or very hilarious to the point of {{Narm}}.
** Due to Tsuyoshi Takishita’s untimely passing post-Dynasty Warriors 8, Sima Yi’s Japanese voice actor was replaced by Creator/RyotaroOkiayu, who voices Sima Shi. However, many find the latter's performance of Yi too similar to Shi.
** In 8: Xtreme Legends, Creator/RogerCraigSmith was unavailable to perform new lines for Zhang Liao, leading to Joshua Tomar being brought in as a replacement, even redubbing lines from the vanilla version. Many felt the latter’s voice to be too high-pitched and squeaky for a character as powerful and intimidating as Zhang Liao.

** For a {{Squick}}-tastic one, there was a time fans liked the idea of pairing Lu Xun either one of the Qiao sisters, never mind that Lu Xun would go on to historically ''marry Da Qiao's '''DAUGHTER'''''[[note]]It's possible she was Da Qiao's stepdaughter[[/note]], thus making it look like Lu Xun has an OedipusComplex on either his mother-in-law or aunt-in-law! [[TokenMinorityCouple Given they look like the youngest bunch in the Wu group at that time...]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow
** DownloadableContent for ''Dynasty Warriors 8'' included faithfully recreated older costumes updated to reflect current visuals, allowing players who weren't happy with the changes that ''Dynasty Warriors 6'' brought to certain characters[[note]]In particular, Sun Shangxiang flipping from tomboy to girly girl, Liu Bei being de-aged from world weary general to a 20-something year-old, and Dong Zhuo looking more and more like a hideous fat old man[[/note]] to play as their original characterizations.
** The Wei storyline in ''7'' and ''8'' ends with the Battle of Fan Castle, Cao Cao's death and the rise of Cao Pi as Emperor of Cao Wei. Several fans were upset it didn't went further into Cao Pi's reign where some of the best battles (such as Cao Pi's attempted invasions on Wu) happened; likewise, the Wu storyline merely touched upon these battles, but nothing further that. ''Dynasty Warriors 9'' pays attention to Cao Pi's reign until his death by including several characters who played important roles during his era such as Man Chong and Xu Sheng.
*** Similarly, the Shu storyline in ''7'' and ''8'' concludes at the "Battle of Wuzhang Plains" and Zhuge Liang's death, until ''9'' expanded the storyline towards the Fall of Chengdu, giving an outlook on how Shu was handled when Jiang Wei is in charge of the Northern Campaign.
*** ''8'' also downplayed ''much'' of Sima Yi's interaction and relationship with Wei (non-Jin) characters whereas in ''7'' he only appears in Fan Castle for Wei story mode as "guide character". Particularly egregious that the Wei story mode in ''8'' almost pays no attention to his historically-accurate friendship with Cao Pi and in Jin story mode he only references Cao Cao and Cao Pi in passing mention long after they died. ''9'' fixes this where he has several cutscenes with Cao Pi and he's even among the mourners of Cao Cao's death.
** For fans who were disappointed with the new English dub in ''9'' due to not living up to the original cast and being too {{Narm}}, the localization included Japanese and Chinese dubs with English subtitles, giving players the option of using either language of their choice.
** Koei Tecmo is mostly aware of the less-than-stellar launch of ''9'', thus has dedicated their post-release time to include patches that smooth out the experience outside of the [[UsefulNotes/Playstation4 PlayStation 4 Pro]], starting with graphical fixes, AI tweaking, adding extra optional features like removing the "officer encounter" cutscene that tends to disrupt {{Combo}}s, switching characters in-game [[note]]which only happen in the Story Mode and if the characters are in the same faction[[/note]], adding soundtracks from the past games and including several modes such as the Arena mode and the Photo mode, and eventually the old, classic weapons (even if it's DLC).
** In ''Dynasty Warriors 9'', several players criticized Matt Fowler's performance as Zhuge Liang for being too emotional and rough in contrast to Creator/LexLang's calculating and soft-spoken performance, which is akin to Creator/MasayaOnosaka's portrayal of the Sleeping Dragon. In the hypothetical DLC scenarios, Fowler's performance improved with his voice similarly closer to Lang's portrayal as it was originally intended.

** On the [[YaoiFangirl yaoi side of fandom]], Ma Chao/Zhao Yun garnered a strong fan following for years (arguably an example of a TokenMinorityCouple, given both are handsome, young, almost exclusively preoccupied with things like honor and justice, and up until ''Dynasty Warriors 6'', [[BladeOnAStick wielded spears]]) before Koei decided to [[HeterosexualLifePartners give them an in-game friendship]] with proper cutscenes and special dialogue. Whether the developers were merely taking notes from fans and running with it or simply doing PairTheSpares is anyone's guess.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** Xiahou Yuan in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'' was terrible at filling up the Musou Gauge; however, when ''3: Xtreme Legends'' was released,[[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Yuan's fifth weapon featured the death element]].
** Zhuge Liang in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'' has short-ranged attacks by proxy of using a feather fan, a slow-starting fourth charge attack (which is one of his only wave-clearing tools), his EnergyWeapon is ineffective at juggling opponents, nor can he inflict as much damage overall in order to fill the Musou Gauge. There's a reason why he's ranked as the lowest on tier lists for stage completion time/officer-killing. Just about the only acceptable strategy with him is to stay at low HitPoints and spamming away his "True Musou Attack". However, compare [[GameBreaker this version of him to his counterpart in the fifth installment...]]
** Ma Chao in the same game has an inaccurate Musou Attack, with an average spear-based moveset, including subpar defense against arrows (though not the flat out worst, as Guan Yu had the lowest in 3). Of course, this becomes the other way around in 4, thanks to his superb mounted combat and the Shadow Runner making him unable to be knocked away from the horse.
** Sun Ce made his debut in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'', but was deemed this due to an incredibly poor move-set, which was bad at filling up the Musou Gauge, with a C4 attack seen as "laggy" and a Musou Attack with terrible crowd control due to its honky hitboxes.
** Sima Yi was similar to Zhuge Liang in ''Dynasty Warriors 3'', with a stronger Musou charge stat on his fourth weapon and carries an innate lightning element on his fourth ChargedAttack for great AreaOfEffect and filling up the Musou Gauge. Unfortunately, he suffered stationary attacking issues stemming from the fourth Charged Attack and Musou Attack. To get the most out of him, it's best to simply spam his running attack.

* EnsembleDarkhorse
** Despite being vastly outnumbered by the male cast, the female characters are incredibly popular and have the largest number of fans, to wit Sun Shangxiang, the Qiao sisters, Diaochan, and Zhenji are the most noteworthy. If there was any doubt of the females' (especially Wang Yuanji's) darkhorse status, these [[http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou6/enquete/ results]] from a Japanese poll following the launch of ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' has [=2/3=] of the female cast ranking in the top half.

** Of the "characters who should be included on the roster for the next game", Cheng Pu of the Wu Kingdom was a top contender, even if his claims were "being around Wu for a very long time since Sun Jian's reign", but without any (perceived) historical noteworthiness [[note]]Historically, he was appraised by Chen Shou as a "Tiger Official of Jiangbiao", an appraisal given to 11 other generals of Wu, including his peers Han Dang and Huang Gai.[[/note]]. It took him ''nine'' main installments to become playable. Following his announcement, Liao Hua of Shu, an individual who was part of a faction since its birth to its collapse, took up Cheng Pu's old seat of "most wanted character"; other major candidates would be Sun Shao of the Wu Kingdom[[note]]Sun Ce and Daqiao's adopted son[[/note]] and Yang Hu of the Jin Kingdom[[note]]Cai Wenji and Xin Xianying's nephew who served Wei and Jin; his sister Yang Huiyu was also Sima Shi's third wife[[/note]].
** Considering women in the novel are always overlooked, those not yet playable will also be part of the wishlist, ranging from Lady Wu/Wu Guotai[[note]]Sun Jian's wife and the Wu matriarch; historically seen as a CoolOldLady[=/=]ReasonableAuthorityFigure and a ShipperOnDeck of Liu Bei and her daughter.[[/note]], Lady Bian/Bian Shi[[note]]Cao Cao's wife who shares some traits with Lianshi, especially RagsToRiches and TeamMom; above all, she's also a TokenGoodTeammate, according to the material source[[/note]], Lady Guo/Guo Nuwang[[note]]Cao Pi's favorite concubine at the cost of Zhenji, rumored to be responsible for getting Pi to order Zhen's suicide (though considering Zhen is already an {{Alpha|Bitch}} RichBitch, how can Nuwang "out-bitch" her, especially when it's implied Zhenji is a CompositeCharacter of the historical Lady Zhen and Lady Guo?)[[/note]], Sunshi[[note]]Sun Ce's daughter and Lu Xun's wife (though no evidence ties her birth mother to Daqiao)[[/note]], Sun Luban[[note]]Sun Quan and Lianshi's elder daughter, a ManipulativeBitch in the late-Wu era who slandered her own sister to death[[/note]], Yang Huiyu[[note]]Cai Wenji's niece and Yang Hu's sister, who becomes Sima Shi's wife[[/note]], etc. It should come to no surprise ''Dynasty Warriors Blast'' features plenty of women with varying designs, with most of these ladies (except Sunshi) getting featured; hell, there was even [[https://twitter.com/musou_blast/status/517156153877213185 a popularity poll]] for all characters. The winner? [[DarkHorseVictory Fan Yufeng]][[note]]Sister of minor lord Zhao Fan, a sworn brother of Zhao Yun, who offered Yufeng to Yun as his bride, but [[ChasteHero he refused as to not ruin their friendship or her chastity]]. Certain works in UsefulNotes/PekingOpera decided to iron Yun/Yufeng's relationship such that they do get married on their own accords. That Yufeng's name contains the Chinese character for "phoenix" makes this a good reference to the dragon-phoenix motif in Myth/ChineseMythology with Zhao Yun (his style/courtesy name "Zilong" contains the Chinese character for "dragon"). It's the closest Koei Tecmo has to an OfficialCouple for Yun, unless the publisher goes with the alternate pairing of Zhao Yun in ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms Extreme'' with Ma Chao's sister Ma Yunlu (who's an OriginalGeneration in that work)[[/note]].
** Out from the playable strategists, the Wei strategists have a huge following due to all of them being handsome and having very distinct personalities. It's very evident that they have a lot of fanarts in Pixiv and in Twitter.
** Does anyone remember Xing Daorong? The guy who appeared only in ''4'' to ambush you at the Jing Province while giving a most hammy EvilLaugh and [[https://youtu.be/ULfIgGzQzpk?t=41 WILL DESTROY THEM ALL?]] Somehow, that part made him rather memorable amongst the many many generics of the game.
** Of the majority of women from Android Trading Card Game Spin-Off ''Dynasty Warriors Blast'', Dong Bai led the pack, despite almost no historical relevance or mention from the novels. However, awareness of her increased when it became known she was Dong Zhuo's granddaughter, ultimately culminating with her debut in ''Dynasty Warriors 9''. When her DLC was released, many players enjoyed her storyline and her Musou attacks.
** Aside from Zhenji since her debut in ''Dynasty Warriors 4'', Wang Yi making her appearance in ''7: Xtreme Legends'' became instantly popular, both for her [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge atypical-for-a-heroine personality]] and the hilarious amounts of tension she has with fellow EnsembleDarkhorse Ma Chao. The PaintedOnPants on her don't hurt, either.
** Guo Jia. His handsome looks, lax attitude and strategic mind earn him many fans which got him [[http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou/vote/ first place]] in the latest Japanese popularity poll, beating the likes of Cao Pi and Xiahou Dun.
** Out from the Wei newcomers in 9, Man Chong seems to garner much attention due to his character design and personality.
** Of the Shu roster in post-''Dynasty Warriors 8'', Guan Yinping; just as popular for Eastern and Western players, seen via her dominating the fanarts, despite having less stages in Story Mode compared to Wang Yuanji. Regardless of [[BrokenBase the plentiful anti-Shu sentiments from the player base]], both anti- and pro- sides agree Yinping was a great, tolerable addition to the roster[[note]]Furthermore, her unique move-set, cute physical features and character design, and being the least disliked of Guan Yu's children was what helped launch her popularity. Want more proof? In the ''Dynasty Warriors 8'' [[http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou7/enquete/ popularity polls]], she ranked third for "characters players want as a sibling" and first for "characters players want as a girlfriend"[[/note]]. By the next popularity poll, she dethroned Wang Yuanji as the most popular female and she's the first female in ''Warriors Orochi 4'' to be announced to have a Deification form.
** Despite his minimal role in the story, Xu Shu ranked fourth in the latest Japanese polls and in the overseas' Shu character polls. This might have something to do with his move-set and weapon, wearing an ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''-like outfit and, to some, his {{Adorkable}} personality.
** Asides from Xu Shu, Fa Zheng is very popular among the Shu strategists due to his morally shady persona which added variety to Shu's good-guy image. It helps that his {{Bishounen}} appearance won many female fans.
** ''7'' introduced Wang Yuanji, who instantly rose to fame on both sides of the Pacific for her looks and personality. Of the new characters making their debut in this game, Yuanji has the second most fanart of them on Pixiv, trailing behind her husband Sima Zhao. She even won first place in [[http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/smusou6/enquete/ the popularity poll]] for 7; note she's the only (new) female character who made it to the top ten, even beating out veterans Sun Shangxiang or Zhenji. That Yuanji is the female Dynasty Warriors representative in ''VideoGame/WarriorsAllStars'' reflects this.
** Zhong Hui is beloved by the female fanbase not only because of his good looks but also his AwesomeEgo which is as long as the Great Wall of China. It's no surprise that he's one of the few male characters who get a lot of DLC costumes and a hypothetical scenario. He's even regarded as the male representative of the Jin faction rather than the men of the Sima clan.

** In ''8'' the second half of Ambition Mode is often seen as a low point. The general concept is interesting enough, a false Emperor has risen and thrown the land into confusion and it's your job to defeat the various rebels that put the land back into disorder. The thing is the game does this by removing most of the units you got from part one so you have to fight them again. In addition to get them back you can't just do the mission mode stages but new supression missions where you fill out your army with the various commanders and play a level of capture the zones in one of the game maps. The only way to get "new" officers is by doing these battles but if someone on your team is forced to run away they become free officers and you have to do the part one battles to get them back on your roster so if you lose somebody valued you have to switch missions to get them back. You have 0 control of any friendly unit aside from your own bodyguards making it harder to keep them from fleeing. It also made it so that every one of these suppression battles can only give you a single playable officer, each map has its own list of officers that will show up there to be captured before they are replaced with generic Unit Commanders, and the game won't tell you who you can find on which map. Unless you want to stretch out the game some just keep to the end of part 1 because going to the second part only gives you some semi-unjque pets and weapons for fully supressing parts of the map.

*** Fortunately for Guan Yu, there's also [[TakeAThirdOption a third camp]] that believed that most of his historical flaws above were overexaggerated, while he was indeed not as great as the novel hyped him up, he was still not as pathetic as the decriers made him out to be. [[note]]History-wise Shu has rather poor history department that didn't list much of his victories, but whatever remaining official records from Wei and Wu, which are mostly trustworthy, also made sure to note the qualities of Guan Yu of being honorable and a man of merit. Additionally, his beheading of Yan Liang happened in history and for its time, doing so in the middle of battlefield was exceedingly rare and Guan Yu did just that, showcasing his strength. Even Lu Meng praised his honor and admitted to having to be careful to devise the tactic that defeated him, so he wasn't actually winning his battle against Guan Yu easily.[[/note]] In other words, Guan Yu still have a group of level-headed defenders that doesn't just [[BlindObedience blindly defend him based on his mythical veneration and worship]]; these fans viewed him as a [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructed]] figure worthy of praise, having acknowledged his flaws and not overblowing it.

** Guan Ping/Xingcai: even though the latter is based on the historical wives of Liu Shan, the developers has teased since their debut in ''5'' they might have feelings for each other, until this was {{Downplayed}} by the time Liu Shan became a playable character.

* ItsEasySoItSucks: Older fans, whose introduction to the series was on the slower-paced and more difficult Playstation 2 games (2-5) tend to lament how the games released after 6 focus more on speed, mass crowd control, and how aggressiveness of the minor mooks have been severely toned down, with the difficulty being more on fighting named officers, managing your allies, and acheiving objectives. Of course, this is downplayed, as newer fans introduced with later games or musou spin-offs, generally don't see an issue with the flashy, mass-murdering attacks and the power fantasy.

* RomanticPlotTumor: It wasn't hard for players to see this happen regarding Sun Quan and Lianshi's relationship in 7, [[SpotlightStealingSquad where it took about half of Wu's story]], while pushing other influential officers to the side as secondary characters. It was as if Koei Tecmo attempted to shoehorn the fact that Lianshi is historically Sun Quan's closest and favorite wife, as both were genuinely HappilyMarried in RealLife (unlike most of the other couples at the time whose marriages were for political purposes). However, this was Downplayed in 8, where their developing relationship was mostly only alluded to in camp dialogues.

* UnnecessaryMakeover: {{Zigzagged}} - most, if not, all character redesigns in ''Dynasty Warriors 6'' were heavily criticized for being drastic (such as Yue Ying's [[BeautifulAllAlong makeover]] and Dong Zhuo [[{{Gonk}} getting even fatter]]) alongside changing some characters' weapons (Sun Shangxiang's familiar "Wind and Fire Wheels" to a bow, Lu Bu's historical and signature halberd to some wheel weapon). Most of the weapon changes have been reversed in recent installments, but character remodels stuck, though most fans have learned to like them.

* ValuesDissonance: {{Downplayed}} compared to the source material - for example, Liu Bei originally opposed the idea of an ArrangedMarriage to Sun Shangxiang on moral grounds in modern games, whereas the novel had him favor it as a traditional way of life (though he did feel a bit self conscious about being much older than her).

--->Emotions stirred, I think of my parents,
--->Whilst I draw a long sigh of endless sorrows.
** Liu Shan inherits the throne at a very young age after his father's untimely death. At that time, he has to rely on Zhuge Liang on getting things done. But it turns out that this is very detrimental to his growth as a leader because after Zhuge Liang died, he's now on his own with no idea on how to proceed while his court is run by those who are debating on how to achieve his father's dream. It's true that he wants to fulfill his father's dream but the lack of progress against Wei and growing internal struggle within his court which both affected his kingdom's resources stresses him to point that he becomes very cynical which he hides by being a StepfordSmiler. Likewise, he feels inadequate when being compared to his father due to the high amount of expectations on him and because of his status as an emperor, he doesn't have many friends who can confide his worries except Xingcai while the rest of the officers only see him as a mere figurehead. As Wei under Sima Zhao invades his city, Liu Shan makes one difficult decision which is to surrender in order to save what's left of his kingdom. Except that his people condemn his choice and call him a failure. After being forced to exile to Luoyang, Liu Shan understands that he has to bear the burden of being a failure to his father. All of that would make you want to hug this poor guy.
** Daqiao is the kind of girl you just want to give a hug. The girl is pretty timid in times of wars, but then at least she's blessed with a husband like Sun Ce, right? Nope. He died way too soon, leaving her a heartbroken widow that continued to support her husband's legacy by supporting his little brother, despite how much it's putting her in a Despair Event Horizon in a world where her husband was done. Sure, at least her sister Xiaoqiao was there to keep her going, but sometimes, hugs from her sister might not be enough...

*** While the reverence for Guan Yu's honor and valor and veneration of him as the "God of War" is very much in line with the original novel and even East Asian culture to this day, some fans believe him to be a major CreatorsPet whose alleged virtues have been [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] in later games. This especially applies after fans began analyzing official historical records, which suggest Guan Yu was a GeneralFailure with very few actual accomplishments and a GeneralRipper who cared little for tactics and strategy (factors the historical Zhang Fei actually favored), and who treated anyone besides Liu Bei with arrogance and disdain. Furthermore, almost all his in-game accomplishments are either entirely fictional (slaying Wen Chou and Yan Liang) or historically attributed to someone else (killing Hua Xiong and fighting and routing Lu Bu, both of which were actually achieved by Sun Jian). Lastly, some fans blame him for creating the SpotlightStealingSquad of his family and Zhou Cang (two[[note]]Guan Suo and Zhou Cang[[/note]] of whom are completely fictional), who seem to exist entirely to [[HeroWorshipper worship and make him look good]]. Such fans believe they "stole" character spots from more deserving and actual historical figures.

** The lack of playable officers from the late Wu generation (except for Ding Feng) prevented the Wu storyline from going further into Sun Quan's reign as the Wu emperor and other events that occurred after his reign, leading to Wu's collapse. The NPC conversation ([[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135482370943905792 1]],[[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135482638251118592 2]], and [[https://twitter.com/CKamijan/status/1135483344450273280 3]]) from the Wu civilians in 9 hinted at the SuccessionCrisis within the Sun clan but this only occurred offscreen.

** Alongside character names, all characters have different weapon names in the Asian/Japanese script: someone like Guan Yu wields the "Blue Moon Dragon", but is really called the "Yellow Dragon Weir Moon Blade" in Japanese (being named after "[[TheFourGods Huanglong/Kouryuu]]"). Thus, outside of sources like Wiki/TheOtherWiki for Koei Tecmo, localized names tend to miss a lot of spot-on character symbolism/motifs associated with those Asian/Japanese script names, despite the fact that certain Asian weapon names aren't as heavy on such symbolism in the later installments as of the seventh one.

** Xiahou Ji's addition in ''9'' turned controversial due to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe her touchy history with Zhang Fei]], with her profile in ''Dynasty Warriors Blast'' omitting some of the murkier spots on her encounter with Fei, changing it into a RescueRomance, which made some fans accuse Koei Tecmo of historical white-washing. Her addition as a unique NonPlayerCharacter who became playable via DownloadableContent didn't sit well with players (to wit, Xiahou Ji retains her youthful appearance throughout 9, [[MumLooksLikeASister making her look younger than her children Zhang Bao and Xingcai]] and Zhang Fei just happens to be her type of preference in men - beardy, gruff and muscular); even her meeting with Fei is different, as [[LoveAtFirstSight she's the one who pursues him]], fueling more white-washing accusations. However, some people have no problem with Xiahou Ji, citing her connections with the Xiahou and Zhang clans add a bridge for Xiahou Ba's defection to Shu, as seen in his ending for 9. Some other history researchers also noticed that Zhang Fei was noted to never take any other concubines, Xiahou Ji was his one and only wife/mate, thus concludes that their couple status is more passable in the end despite the rocky start.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: The [[MemeticMutation "Arrow in the knee"]] meme was very popular at that time when ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' was released in 2011 but when the English dub tries to sneak in this meme in ''[=DW9=]'' which was released in ''2018'', it hits this trope.

** Shu is often accused of being the CreatorsPet: while some argue this viewpoint is consistent with the novels, others are annoyed and believe what better light they got in the source material has been ramped UpToEleven in the games (these camps are mostly comprised of historically-inclined fans who see the Shu officers as inefficient). There's even a base who's annoyed at how much of a downgrade its characters received during the rise of the Jin Kingdom, since the latter got plenty of sugar-coating (the historical Sima Zhao was crueler; Dynasty Warriors 8 foisted some of that onto Jia Chong).

*** Similarly, Zhenji was usually paired with Zhang He or Zhao Yun, especially when the context of Cao Pi's [[BastardBoyfriend historical behavior towards her]] deterred fans from such a pairing, but with his debut in ''Dynasty Warriors 5'' alongside his [[TookALevelInKindness gentler, kinder portrayal]] towards Zhen in-game than he was in RealLife, fans took and ran with Koei Tecmo's idea.

*** “[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Guan Hulkping]]”, due to her SuperStrength.

** Sima Shi/Wang Yuanji in their debut for ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' slowly became one, despite the latter being the wife of Sima Zhao. It doesn't help that [[RelationshipWritingFumble Yuanji seems to be more affectionate towards Shi than Zhao]] throughout ''7''.

** The marriage and children system in ''8: Empires'' is a textbook example of another idea that's great on paper, yet terrible in practice. Two married partners can produce a child together, but only one per play-through, with facial features randomly assembled from a mixture of the parents' facial assets, and a randomly assigned voice type. The usual result from this is the alleged child ends up looking somewhere between ugly and pure UncannyValley, and more often than not, paired with a [[VocalDissonance completely mis-matched voice]]. Unfortunately, there's no re-marrying aspect if your spouse die.

* UncannyValley: Player-edited characters can invoke this, whether done intentionally or otherwise, as well as several preset edit characters that appeared in the ''Empires'' expansions.
** Anyone without a unique design tends to have lower-poly models (rank-and-file soldiers especially.) This isn't really a problem during gameplay, but when these low-poly characters get focused on in cutscenes it's ''very'' noticeable.

** Huang Gai, as a result of his Musou Attacks beginning with ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' incorporating wrestling techniques, particularly the "Backbreaker", which is officially named as such, but actually based on the [[Manga/{{Kinnikuman}} "Kinniku Buster"]]. Find any video online of him using the Kinniku Buster on female characters, which also gives players a view of their behinds. Additionally, it doesn't help he's an aged, muscular character, whose design in modern installments reveals plenty of skin compared to other male characters.

** Huang Gai, as a result of his Musou Attacks beginning with ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' incorporating wrestling techniques, particularly the "Backbreaker", which is officially named as such, but actually based on the [[Manga/{{Kinnikuman}} "Kinniku Buster"]]. Find any video online of him using the Kinniku Buster on female characters, which also gives players [[PantyShot a view of their behinds]]. Additionally, it doesn't help he's an aged, muscular character, whose design in modern installments reveals plenty of skin compared to other male characters.