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Yep, this is another DW7 post. But you knew once I got this game I'd be babbling about it non stop like I did the previous Koei games. Owel, first off, looks like I had some misconceptions about stuff I previously posted. Now, you still want to keep "skill points up" on your weapon (in the actual story in story mode, but not stage select versions of the story levels after you've maxed out the character for that level) even after you've gotten all of your skills just to continue to earn as much skill points as possible. But I guess my logic on how officers earned xp in story mode was a little flawed.

Long story short, its like this: Let's say you're playing the Shu story. The first character you play is Liu Bei (speaking of I will say he's one of the better character redesigns for this game. I mean, he's a little more Bishy, but that's certainly better than "boring mustache guy in green"), and he starts out with zero skill points. As he plays that first level or two, he earns skill points, which he can use to power himself up (which you can do in the middle of the battle in the pause menu). Now the next level, you play Zhang Fei or Guan Yu or whoever. Even if Liu Bei spent those points, whoever that next character is has a number of skill points equal to the total earned. Same for later officers, when you play new officers (or if you end up playing an old officer), the number of skill points they have when the level starts is equal to the point they've earned overall. Though in the case of officers you play again, in that case the points you spent are indeed spend. i.e., if I got 120 skill points playing Liu Bei in this level, but spent 70 of them, and the next level I play Guan Yu, and he earned another 160, I don't get have skill points if I play Liu Bei again, I'll just have the 160. (However, if I didn't spend those 70 points, it would be 280 when I got Liu Bei again)

One big implication this has is characters like Dian Wei, who you just play in the beginning don't get powered up as much as the officers you get late in the game. I mean, when I played through way, by the time I finally got to play Zhang He, Zhang Liao, or Jia Xu, I could basically power them up all the way right at the start.

There are some other interesting implications of the game system which basically makes newer characters and factions you play "easier" to pick up. ( But I'll put a cut for the benefit of those un-interested )

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Owel, just watching House as I type this up. Holy crap Olivia Wilde is freakin hott.

Random new things about DW7 I forgot to mention. One big thing is that every character has two different musou attacks- the standard one, and one that is either done in mid-air, or holding down R1 then pressing the musou attack. Lemme just say the mid-air musou can be extremely useful. When you jump at a crowd and unleash it, there's less of a chance of getting hung up than when you charge into a crowd. Plus, it works with some characters well. Xiahou Dun's second charge attack (well, any persons second charge attack) is always something that knocks someone in the air, and if you can continue to press triangle he follows them up in the air and knocks them back down with another slash. So when you hang there, you can unleash his musou, wherein he comes down with a heavy cleave. It definitely looks purty. There was a time or two where I was able to follow that up with his ex-attack followed by his normal musou.

Which is another change- you don't really have an ultra long musou bar anymore. You have a small bar, and your musou is set at a fixed length. But one of the skill trees, the first skill is getting a second bar, so you can unleash two musous in a short amount of time. (its the pre-req for getting your second musou attack)

Oh, I had mentioned how before I got the game about how I do enjoy playing most of the characters, but the bottom of the barrel for the me where Dong Zhou, Huang Gai, and Zhang Jiao. I also forgot Lu Meng- but that's because his move set was awful. And Pang Tong was also a chore to play, but at least he was extremely deadly in the middle of a crowd. But playing with Pang Tong in the Shu story, they definitely improved his moveset a lot. And with the shared move sets, I haven't played Lu Meng, but since I'm guessing he's using one of the polearm weapons, that his moveset no longer sucks. Well, since I've used all the polearms (pike, double voulge, spear, etc), I know it doesn't suck. But I'll have to see if his ex attack with whatever his favored weapon is, to see if he's okay, or if he's hugely improved.

More stuff. ( under a spoiler cut )

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TV Commentary:

Secret Life- So Ben proposes to Adrian and she says yes. Interesting, I'm curious if the show has decided to do Ricky/Amy and Ben/Adrian. Which is fine by me, I'm kinda pushing for Ben/Adrian.

Make It or Break It- Argh, WTF Steve?! I thought he was gonna finally man up and show his daughter that there are consequences for her heinous actions. But then he goes and falls for her sobs. He had a chance to redeem himself and possibly let what Lauren did come out in a way that's more favorable for the both of them. But now I'm sure someone else will find out what Lauren did, and that he has now covered it up and it will totally bite him in the ass. Particularly within regards to Summer.

Oh, and as I figured last week, Maeve was totally toast. But it seemed like that would be the only thing that would snap some sense into Kaylee.

And now for the obligatory DW commentary:

Is it me or does the game have way more couplings this time around? I mean, you always had Lu Bu/Diao Chan, Zhu Rong/Meng Huo, and Zhou Yu and Sun Ce and the Qiaos (I forget which one was married to which?) and later Cao Pi and Zhen Ji and Zhuge Liang and Yu Ying. I mean, SSX and Liu Bei were married, but the game didn't highlight it as explicitly as the other couplings. Though in this one they specifically mention it and show them actually together for a scene. I am curious though, now was SSX upset because she was felt her husband's grief upon learning Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were dead? Or was it because she knew that meant he would be going after her family since its the Wu's betrayal that caused their deaths.

But I digress. I guess since as I just mentioned two of the Suns had spouses who were also PCs, did they bring in Lian Shi so Sun Quan wouldn't be left out? Also, its interesting that in the previous games, I thought they kinda paired Guan Ping and Xing Cai since they're the son and daughter of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei respectively. I mean, they had her protective of Liu Shan, but he wasn't a PC. But now that he is (and Ping dies at Fan Castle), they're together. Guan Yu's other son, Guan Suo is also a PC now, but he gets his own gf in Bao Sanniang. And man are they sickly sweet on each other.

Of course, Guan Suo is portrayed as kinda girly, but still a ladies man- in fact when you're going around Fan Castle before the actual battle, one of the soldiers you talk to is all, "What's that in his hair?" (referring to some sort of fancy comb or bow or whatever) and they're all, "Should we tell Guan Yu his son has something funny in his hair?"

Anyways. the last faction, Jin has its own coupling with Sima Zhao and Wang Yuanji. Interestingly enough, I've only seen Meng Huo, Sima Zhao and Lu Bu fly into a rage if you defeat Zhu Rong, Wang or Diao Chan, respectively. I haven't seen that with the Qiaos, though that may just be because I haven't seen them in a stage with their hubbies. Nor have I seen Cao Pi and Zhen Ji together- in Story mode, they're opponents, as the only time she's in a battle is when she was still married to Yuan Shao's son and Cao Pi steals her away. In conquest mode, I've faced Cao Pi as Zhen Ji, and they do have an amusing conversation whenever they fight, all lovers quarrel like. Though I do know Zhuge Liang is pretty chill if you take out Yue Ying.

But yeah, I don't think the reverse happens, i.e., the chyx don't get pissed if you take out their husbands/bfs, which is kinda chauvinist. Also I'm kinda curious about Cai Wenji. As far as I can tell, she's not attached to anyone- again, it seems like all the girls are someone's girlfriend or wife, but she doesn't seem to be anyone's. I mean, Xing Cai's not exactly attached to Liu Shan, but she's definitely fond of him.

Oh, and while I do like Zhong Hui's character design (and the flying swords thing is a cool weapon) his voice doesn't match his look for me. Its very annoying and nasally. I was expecting something more boyish sounding (though no less arrogant than his current voice). But I guess they already have a lot of boys (Guan Ping, Guan Suo, Xiahou Ba, Liu Shan), I suppose they were trying for something different and it just didn't work.