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1* The beginning of Wei's story in ''8'', Escape from Luo Yang: Cao Cao has failed to assassinate the tyrannical Dong Zhuo and is captured. It's almost certain that he'll be executed for treason. So, will he give in to the predicament? ''Hell no!'' He steals one of his captors' spear and throws it at Dong Zhuo to distract Lu Bu who predictably blocks the spear away from his tyrannical lord. While Lu Bu is distracted, Cao Cao uses that chance to get the hell out of there to Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan who were waiting outside. Both retainers anticipated their lord's failure and found he's being chased by Dong Zhuo's men. Xiahou Yuan shot arrows to their chasers and Xiahou Dun gives Cao Cao his sword. Then, three of them began their running from Luo Yang. In addition, Lu Bu is available as an OptionalBoss. That's right, you get a chance to face Lu Bu in the very first stage of story mode, unlike the usual where you wouldn't face him until Hulao Gate! As if Wei needs more proof to emphasize their badassery!
2** What's even better about it is how it shows Cao Cao at his lowest point and from a certain point of view, he is basically a nobody. Now compare his state as story progresses where he becomes a [[FromNobodyToNightmare nightmare]] (for his enemies, anyway) and essentially the most powerful man in China. Also, unlike Wu and Jin, Cao Cao and his Xiahou cousins have nothing but their pride, strength, and small group of loyal soldiers in the beginning of their story. At least Wu and Jin both begin their story mode when they're already an established faction. Now more FridgeBrilliance kicks in when you realize Liu Bei and his brothers also don't have any homeland of their own for the majority of the first half of Shu's story mode, are basically relying on a small group of loyal soldiers for that half, and how hard they had to struggle to realize their dreams of benevolence. In the end, Cao Cao and Liu Bei aren't so different, after all.
3* Four words: The Battle Of Chibi/Red Cliff. The combined (yet still massively outnumbered) armies of Shu (led by Zhuge Liang) and Wu (led by Zhou Yu) against the MASSIVE naval fleet of Cao Cao's Wei. ALWAYS one of the absolute most important battles in any installment of the series/the book/the whole of Chinese history, and one involving ridiculous amounts of badassery from all three sides.
4* Wei gets at least three:
5** The first one is when Xiahou Dun gets his eye shot out, rips the arrow out, and proceeds to continue the fight! Unfortunately, his eyepatch is applied immediately after the cutscene, and there's no indication of the rumor that he ate the eyeball.
6** In the cutscene after that same battle, Zhang Liao basically telling Lu Bu to stop being a pussy and accept death like a man -- which is implied to be the reason that Cao Cao chose for Zhang Liao to live and Lu Bu to die.
7** Dian Wei's death counts as both awesome and a bit of a Tearjerker
8* Huang Gai setting the Wei ships ablaze is pretty damn awesome.
9* If a cutscene must be a crowning moment of awesome, then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08xQqLz2en4 Jin's ending]] is the best way to end the game.
10** Even moreso, that cutscene takes the usual 'Liu Shan not insulting Shu' scene and have Liu Shan make a good statement about people shouldn't be too bound on past tradition to achieve peace, a statement that Sima Zhao agreed on and in turn... ''makes the grieving Shu officers cheer in joy'' and probably makes an in-universe RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap for Liu Shan.
11* The battle of Chang Ban for both Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, the former for singlehandedly saving Liu Bei's infant son and the latter for pulling a YouShallNotPass and to make his point he roars at them scaring the crap of most of them.
12* Guan Yu versus Hua Xiong at Si Shui Gate. Xiong starts off as a viable threat until he's driven off. Then Guan Yu charges at him, [[CurbStompBattle and down goes Hua Xiong like a chump.]]
13** Don't forget him against Yan Liang and Wen Chou at Guan Du. The two were Yuan Shao's strongest warriors and he takes them [[OneHitKill both down without breaking a sweat]]
14* The Battle of Hefei is one for both Wei and Wu. Wei for being able to turn the seemingly unwinnable situation and defeat the Wu army, and Wu being able to escape with only limited casualties, despite having to face TheDreaded Zhang Liao. This gets further explored in ''8'' where Wei was able to pull this off despite Li Dian and Yue Jin not agreeing with Zhang Liao, putting aside their differences and being able to improvise a devastating pincer attack. And on the other side, Ling Tong and Gan Ning finally putting aside their differences to protect Sun Quan and take some Wei officers down. Both sides ended up forming TrueCompanions from this battle. Even more awesomely, the historical Battle of Xiaoyao Ford (one of the many battles Wei and Wu fought in and around Hefei) had Zhang Liao do some incredible battlefield stunts. [[labelnote:One particular incident during the battle]] At the bottom of the hill, Zhang Liao shouted for Sun Quan to come down and fight him, but Sun did not dare to move. When Sun Quan saw that the situation had become more stable and Zhang Liao was only left with slightly more than a hundred men, he ordered He Qi to surround Zhang Liao's men. During the battle He Qi retrieved Xu Sheng's personal mao (矛, a 5m long spear). Zhang Liao fought fiercely and succeeded in breaking out of the encirclement. When his remaining men, still trapped inside, shouted "Has our general abandoned us?", Zhang Liao ''plowed back through enemy ranks and rescued his men''. Sun Quan's men were stunned by Zhang Liao's valour and did not dare to stand in his way.[[/labelnote]]
15** Notably, each faction has a specific battle in which things stop going their way in the historical route, and which they can hypothetically retain the upper hand if the right prerequisites are met. For Wei, this battle is Chibi, a famous and climactic showdown with both the other kingdoms' forces. For Shu, it is Fan Castle, in which Guan Yu and his son are slain in a coordinated assault from both the other kingdoms, forever breaking the alliance between Wu and Shu and forever separating the three sworn brothers that founded that nation. For Wu, it is this struggle against a little band of desperate and outnumbered men where their fortunes are made or broken. And even in their hypothetical scenario, in which they prevent, step by step, all of the comrades' attempts to stymie their assault, Zhang Liao doesn't go down easy, [[RecurringBoss getting up each time he's beaten with greater strength and combat resistance]] as he battles to the bitter end.
16* Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires has a Skirmish mission where you get to drive ''[[DemonicSpiders a juggernaut.]]'' Sure, it's slow, but it's close to invincible, and pressing Circle shoots out jets of flame in a 270-degree circle around you. Drive it into a thick crowd of enemies, park flush against a wall facing it, and just press Circle every four seconds or so, [[EvilLaugh maniacal laughter optional.]]
17* Dynasty Warriors 8: Battle against Yu/Gan Ji. There's just something awesome seeing Da Qiao, who's mostly presented as the meek ReluctantWarrior, [[RageBreakingPoint getting enraged]] and readily throws herself to kick phantom soldiers' asses and Yu Ji himself because he messed with her husband. What makes this awesome is that Da Qiao has never done this in the previous games even if Yu Ji has been a recurring NPC since ''[=4XL=]'', this is the first time we see a pissed-off Da Qiao.
18* Zhang Bao, Jiang Wei, and Ma Dai's BigDamnHeroes moment when they rescue an isolated Guan Xing at Luoyang.
19* Successfully enter any "What If" path in Dynasty Warriors 8, and watch as your faction becomes the dominant force in China by averting the events that caused their historical downfall.
20** For Wei, the very fact of winning at Chibi with the help of a not-dead Guo Jia and a convinced Xu Shu. It mainly involves catching Pang Tong and unlinking the one ship Huang Gai targeted for the fire attack so it doesn't spread on the other ships.
21** For Wu, averting the deaths of everyone playable who would have died up to Hefei leads you to ambush Zhang Liao before he could destroy the bridge and thus, winning handily the battle of Hefei.
22** For Shu, by gaining Zhang Jiao's loyalty, meeting again with Xu Shu at Chibi and preventing Pang Tong's death, you can deny the flood attack at Fan Castle and mop the combined forces of Wu and Wei, averting Guan Yu's death at the same time.
23** For Jin, convincing Xiahou Ba to stay, keeping Guo Huai alive, turn Wen Yang to your side early and dispeling Zhuge Dan's fixation about his family name will allow you to counter Wen Qin's ambush and save Sima Shi. However, the real fun begins with the next two obligatory stages. They have Sima Shi conquering Shu and then Sima Zhao conquering Wu right after, uniting the land in a relatively short period of time!
24** For Lu Bu's force in ''Xtreme Legends'', saving the lives of Hua Xiong and Wang Yun as well as gaining the gratitude of Yuan Shao for saving him several times leads to Hua Xiong making himself a decoy (doing what you were supposed to do in the historical road) as well as gaining reinforcements from Yuan Shao and Liu Bei (the latter being asked by Diaochan), averting the defeat at Dingtao.
25* Zhuge Dan gets his own moment in ''8: Xtreme Legends'' in the extra stage ''Zhuge Dan's Secret Plan'', where he turns his rebellion ''into a massive FakeDefector scheme'', pretending to side with Wu but actually laying a massive ambush down for them.
26* Every time you meet Lu Bu is a moment of awesome. He comes with his own theme music, for crying out loud!
27** Being able to ''play'' as him is even more awesome. Especially in Dynasty Warriors 6, where the final level in his story line is basically Lu Bu and his handful of followers against all Three Kingdoms, Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, and Zhang Jiao, with the last two coming back from the dead just to fight him!
28** There is an equivalent in the form of ''Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends''' Final Hypothetical Stage for Lu Bu's forces where all Three Kingdoms and Yuan Shao combine forces to protect the Emperor from Lu Bu's own ludicrous might. While it doesn't resurrect Dong Zhuo and Zhang Jiao, this still equals over 60 officers, including over 20 playables against Lu Bu, and his entourage of 3 other playables and a handful of generics. ''Everyone on the other side dies''.
29** And sealing the deal is the Hypothetical Ending as well. Lu Bu deposes the Emperor, but that's after revealing his honest intentions underneath all the bloodshed: he wanted to ensure that there's no corrupt people running around China (eg: The Eunuchs, Dong Zhuo) and for that, absolute strength is required and he's the man for the job, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech the Emperor is just too weak to keep the corrupt in place]]. Thus Lu Bu becomes an Emperor of China through power, and he's even ''cheered'' for it. For all things, it was pretty awesome to show that beneath his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder lies a NobleDemon that just wants peace in the land.
30** There's also the act of beating Lu Bu at Hu Luo Gate, at the point where he's at his [[PurposelyOverpowered strongest]], especially on a higher difficulty when everyone in the Allied forces it telling you avoid the guy like the [[TheDreaded plague]]. Lower level, you've overcome the odds and beaten him. Higher level, you've come very far and outshone China's greatest warrior. Try to beat the guy on HarderThanHard and not feel like a badass!
31* In Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends, Wei's seventh alternate 'what if' stage features a revised Battle of Mai Cheng, with Wei facing Wu and Shu. The allied forces receive reinforcements from Shu in the form of Huang Zhong, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and Zhao Yun. On Wei's side, Zhang Liao and Yue Jin arrive from Hefei. This actually means a full confrontation between Shu's Five Tiger Generals and the Five Generals of Wei.
32* Each of 8's final hypothetical battles may also count:
33** Wei's final battle has the perfect climax to how Cao Cao would fight Liu Bei. With the eastern half of the country in his control, Liu Bei surprisingly takes control of Liang, Hanzhong and Yizhou, essentially making the western half of the country his. The entire battle, even with Zhuge Liang's schemes is a complete massacre on Liu Bei's side, all without Sima Yi's presence. Even when killing his rival, Cao Cao chooses to uphold Liu's wish of making a land for the people.
34** Shu ends with a final assault on Xu Chang. After decades of running from Cao Cao, Liu Bei finally has the upper hand, and with all his supporters, they completely outperform and outsmart Cao's troops. When Cao Cao receives the final blow, he reminds Liu Bei of the evil in the hearts of men, but Liu Bei replies that though Cao is right, the good of the heart should still be believed in, and Cao Cao's final words, to try it out, seals the deal between the two.
35** Wu's ending has them take out and dismantle Xu Chang, but unlike the other kingdoms, they don't actually slay any of the officers, and all of them end up retreating as well. After yet another fire attack to the castle's throne room, Cao Cao is confronted by the entire Sun family, and Sun Quan gives the proposition that all three of them, himself, Liu Bei and Cao Cao just rule the entire country together. Cao Cao flat out rejects the offer, knowing that his path of ambition needed to end for peace. In the end, the China is being ruled by all three kingdoms.
36** Jin has the Sima clan conquer both Wu and Shu, with a notable lack of hostility to the Cao clan. Jiang Wei once again proves his stubbornness by assembling himself with Wu's remnants, joining together in the area that cost Cao Cao's ambition, Chi Bi. Even against a fire attack, the Sima clan continue to push through, showing the difference between then and now, and eventually defeat Jiang Wei. What happens when Jiang swears to turn into a ghost in the afterlife to oppose the Sima clan? Sima Yi, Shi and Zhao all shouting "Imbecile", and then proceeds to give him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that he's basically doing Zhuge Liang's old will ''wrong'' (this is coming from Yi, who hated Zhuge even as his rival), prompting Jiang Wei to [[HeelRealization finally take cue and]] [[GracefulLoser agree on surrendering and being punished with]] CruelMercy.
37* Ever since Zhu Ran's debut in ''8:XL'', his most awesome role at the Battle of Yiling in ''9'' marks his defining moment where in he and his men charge into the Shu camp and fire arrows at the tents just to start the fire attack.
38* With the return of the individual storyline in ''9'', there are endings which ranges from funny to heartwarming to sad. Though there are endings that define the best of the character. Even though these endings never show the historical deaths of these characters, they only show their best moments.
39** Ding Feng's ending shows him as the [[SoleSurvivor last warrior of Wu]] where he battles many Wei soldiers. As he fights, he remembers his fellow officers who encourage him not to fail. By then, Ding Feng vows that he will continue fighting for the spirit of Wu.
40** Huang Gai's ending is his training with his fellow Wu officers in a form of wrestling. While he easily pummels Lu Xun and Zhu Ran, he is able to toss the big guys like Ding Feng and Xu Sheng like ragged dolls. Then, Huang Gai challenges them to take him at once.
41** Pang Tong's ending is his most famous act which is riding on Liu Bei's horse, Hex Mark, which causes the enemy to believe that he is Liu Bei during the Invasion of Chengdu. While Zhuge Liang shows concern, Pang Tong reassures to him that everything is going to be fine and that he trusts Hex Mark. While he charges on the path which successfully distracts Zhang Ren's men, he remembers Liu Bei's words for calling Pang Tong his phoenix and vows that he fulfill his lord's vision. Though it's a ForegoneConclusion that he would die, Pang Tong bravely charges into the ambush.
42** Zhang Liao's ending is him defending Hefei Castle from Wu officers. The Wu soldiers are shitting their pants when Zhang Liao drops in and nearly kills Sun Quan if it weren't for Zhou Tai. As Sun Quan and his men retreat, Zhang Liao chases them.
43** Xun Yu's ending shows him giving Cao Cao a piece of his mind after he got demoted and fired as his strategist. In contrast in the novel where he committed suicide, Xun Yu manages to find his resolve by telling Cao Cao that he would continue to help him conquer the land but he's only doing it to end the chaos once and for all and not for him. Prior to this, Xun Yu advises Xiahou Dun and the other Wei officers to let Liu Bei and Sun Quan clash against each other over Jing province in order to conserve Wei's manpower and resources.
44* In ''9'', Zhou Yu arranges the marriage between Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang, but he uses this to entrap Liu Bei and slay him, knowing how dangerous he is. The rest of the Wu officers notice the heightened security in Jianye, which led Lu Su to conclude that Zhou Yu plans to kill Liu Bei as he arrives for the wedding. Sun Shangxiang is appalled by this and notes that this is breaking SacredHospitality which many of the Wu officers, including her brother Sun Quan, agreed. This opens the mission where the Wu officers who agreed with Shangxiang had to protect Liu Bei at all costs and stop Zhou Yu from killing him.
45* There's a sidequest in Chapter 13 of Shu where you had to find the traitor who used Liu Shan's name in order to force the Shu forces to retreat back to Chengdu. Anyone who have read history and the novel know that the traitor is no other than the eunuch [[EunuchsAreEvil Huang Hao]], the guy [[ManipulativeBastard who manipulated Liu Shan]] and is responsible for Shu's deteriorating state. Once you find him, [[LaserGuidedKarma you can shank the dickless bastard]]. It would be more satisfying if the player is Liu Shan and he kills the scumbag who had played him like a violin.
46* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8xZ39TuTTw Xin Xianying's event at Wuzhang Plains]], where she single-handedly encouraged the panicking soldiers to not give in to Zhuge Liang's taunt and changed the course of the battle... all because there's a calm woman dispensing some sound advice that gets into the soldiers' hearts and got her cheered. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter She might not appear a lot, especially in her crucial moments post-Wuzhang plains,]] but in what little she shows, ''[[OneSceneWonder she makes the most out of it.]]''
47* Dong Bai's storyline is basically Lu Bu's hypothetical campaign 2.0 where she single-handedly retook Luoyang, defeated Diaochan, Yuan Shu and Lu Bu and amassed many allies such as Sun Ce and Liu Bei. Her final campaign shows her crushing the entire Wei forces just to get her hands on Zhang Liao for abandoning her. In the end, she finally has Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan, Lu Bu and Zhang Liao on their knees. Of course, all of these events which took place after recapturing Luoyang is [[AllJustADream actually a dream]].
48* The ninth game's DLC hypothetical scenarios for the four strategists (Guo Jia, Zhou Yu, Xu Shu and Chen Gong) display their true talent in strategy and manage to live past their fates:
49** Guo Jia manages to live longer, thanks to Hua Tuo. Though he wasn't able to lead Cao Cao into victory at Chibi, he encourages him to rise from the ashes and pick off where they left. With the help of his fellow strategists, they manage to get Wu to submit and similar to the Wei hypothetical route, Wei defeats the joint alliance of Shu-Nanman-Xilang. In his ending, Guo Jia gets his last drink with his friends before he succumbs to illness, feeling satisfied that he managed to help his lord Cao Cao.
50** Zhou Yu also outlives his death and leads Wu into victory on Xiangyang. He also devises a plot to use Guan Yu as a pawn so that they can capture Luoyang from Cao Cao by making a fake letter about the Emperor. Even though the alliance with Liu Bei fell apart because he found out about the plot and was not pleased about his brother being used as a pawn, this is actually what Zhou Yu expected for his plan to divide the land into two. Unlike the Shu and Wu hypothetical routes in ''8'', Wu wipes out the entire Shu forces in Chengdu and owns the entire Yi province, making their military strength strong as Cao Cao's. And the best part? Zhou Yu finally defeats and outsmarts his rival, Zhuge Liang.
51** Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang come up with a plan to take the former's mother out from Xuchang by creating a distraction and having Zhou Cang rescue her to safety. Once his mother is safe, Xu Shu can now focus on helping Liu Bei. Then, he saves him from Cai Mao's ambush and ends the dispute between Liu Biao's sons which led to Liu Bei getting Jing Province. Instead of being under Zhuge Liang's shadow, Xu Shu is encouraged to work with him eventually surpassing him when he helped Liu Bei take Jing Province, which changed the course of history and give Shu the momentum to defeat Cao Cao.
52** After Lu Bu's defeat at Xiapi, Cao Cao spares Chen Gong and recommends him to serve another lord instead. Too bad [[NiceJobFixingItVillain this leads him to his undoing]] because he recommends him to work under Liu Bei. Then, Chen Gong manipulates Liu Bei to leave Cao Cao and manages to strong-arm some support from Ma Chao and Sun Ce. With the various lords under his palm, he leads them to crush Cao Cao. When Ma Chao and Zhou Yu become suspicious of his endgame, Chen Gong plays around to get their trust. After defeating Cao Cao, Chen Gong reveals that all of this was to ensure that Cao Cao is out of the way so he can earn the Emperor's trust and be the greatest strategist of the entire land.
53* Another batch of hypothetical scenarios for the other four characters (Cao Pi, Lu Su, Fa Zheng and Zhong Hui) has them surpassing their historical fates:
54** Cao Pi interrupts the Battle of Yiling and captures Liu Bei, putting Shu in a problematic situation. Eventually, this leads him to capture Chengdu and force Liu Shan to surrender by giving up his seal. With Shu out of the picture, Cao Pi can now muster his entire forces on Wu which he finally succeeds in defeating Lu Xun and Sun Quan and reuniting the entire land under his name.
55*** Also in this scenario, Wang Yi '''finally''' kills Ma Chao, avenging the deaths of her loved ones.
56** Fa Zheng and Zhang Fei save Guan Yu at Fan Castle. With two of his oath brothers alive, Liu Bei doesn't go on a revenge spree, making him live longer. Likewise, Fa Zheng's plans eventually led Shu to take back Jing Province from Wu and later, Wei. It's even awesome that Fa Zheng also gets to participate in Zhuge Liang's Northern Campaign where he faces Sima Yi.
57** Zhong Hui rallies the officers who were against the Simas (Xiahou Ba, Wen Yang and Zhuge Dan) and blackmails Zhuge Ke and Jiang Wei to work with him after their kingdoms were overthrown. After disposing Sima Zhao and his retainers, Zhong Hui forces the Emperor Cao Fang to abdicate, crowning himself as Emperor. In response, the Cao loyalists and remnants of Shu and Wu band together to stop him but Zhong Hui destroys them all.

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