Are These Characters Missing in Dynasty Warriors Origins?
47 (Forty-seven). That is the total number of Musou Officers—the official term for the unique combatant characters—Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have specified in Dynasty Warriors Origins. This number is also exactly half of the Dynasty Warriors 9 roster, which had 94 characters. We have since known all the characters in that list. But while most of the missing characters are due to the period constraints, some of them are actually within the period covered and thus may bring the story depth of Dynasty Warriors Origins into question.
The PS2-era Dynasty Warriors entries covered events until the Battle of Wuzhang Plains in 234 AD. Dynasty Warriors 7 onwards extended the coverage to the fall of the Shu kingdom in 264 AD. However, Origins' producer Tomohiko Sho revealed that the new game will only go until the Battle of Chi Bi / Red Cliffs in 208 AD.
That naturally means characters who were born or debuted after 208 AD have no chance of appearing here. I also noticed a general aversion to bringing children characters outside Sun Jian's family, such as Cao Pi and Guan Ping. In addition, the protagonist's viewpoint will branch from the Han coalition to follow one of the period's three main faction leaders. That means the game will not seem to feature events outside those viewpoints, such as the debut of Ma Chao shortly after Dong Zhuo's assassination in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel.
However, not all characters who are missing from Dynasty Warriors Origins' roster could fit into the above reasons. A few of them have notable episodes inside the timeline covered in the game, but they are still notably absent from the list.
For example, when Tomohiko Sho revealed Zhuge Liang's wife Yueying, he added that she will be the only female character in Liu Bei's faction. That line pretty much rules out Xiahouji, Xiahou Yuan's niece who is also the eventual wife of Zhang Fei. The two would have their fated encounter in the year 200 AD, which still falls within Origins' covered timeline.
We have also seen Zhenji appearing both in combat and event scenes. However, the lack of her future husband Cao Pi casts doubt on her prominence in the storyline. I would have liked to see Cai Wenji fill that slot instead. She could have been featured in a side stage based on an episode in 207 AD where Cao Cao ransomed her from the Xiongnu tribe. In addition, she does not come with any additional baggage as nobody else in her immediate family has been made a unique character in the series.
On the other side in the Sun family, Da Qiao had once suffered the fate of getting omitted in Dynasty Warriors 6's roster, with her sister Xiao Qiao making the cut. This time around though, neither of the sisters is on the list. That would add a question on how Omega Force will handle the background to the Battle of Chi Bi, as Cao Cao's interest in the Qiao sisters has been touted as one of the motives behind the campaign.
Outside the three main factions, Dong Zhuo's granddaughter Dong Bai is one of the characters not listed in Dynasty Warriors Origins despite appearing in Dynasty Warriors Blast and Dynasty Warriors 9. While Dong Bai did not appear in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she did get a mention in the historical Records of the Three Kingdoms. Her appearance would have helped depict another side of Dong Zhuo, who granted titles and privileges to his family when he was in power.
One of the largest omissions in the list would be the daughter of Lu Bu, Lu Lingqi. The character has been garnering popularity in the Three Kingdoms fandom ever since Koei introduced her in the 2003 game Dynasty Tactics 2. Depicting Lu Bu's daughter as a warrior akin to her father has become a staple in many Three Kingdoms-themed games, so removing her from the roster would feel out of touch.
I have been mostly mentioning the series' female characters above, but there are also several notable male figures who are missing in Dynasty Warriors Origins' 47-character roster. Lu Xun, Xu Sheng, and Ding Feng were among the list of people who newly joined Sun Quan when the latter took leadership of the clan in the early 200s. However, it can be argued that their primary spotlights would come in the later battles.
But a couple of the most notable omissions would come from Cao Cao's faction. Man Chong had been working under Cao Cao since the early days. But even though he barely had notable activities during the early-period battles, he was the very man responsible for recruiting the great general Xu Huang into Cao Cao's ranks.
However, no omission in the roster is more jarring than the lack of Cao Ren. Historical notes suggested that the general often commanded separate units away from Cao Cao's main army, but the inclusion of Xu Shu necessitates the depiction of the latter's one-time tactical support to Liu Bei, which turned into the Battle of Xinye in the novel. While Li Dian also took part in the opposing side of this battle, there would be a massive unfillable void if Cao Ren himself did not appear as the army's commander.
When I wrote this article, Omega Force was still gradually re-introducing the 16 characters who have appeared on the game's official website. Therefore, it is still unclear whether the characters mentioned above will still appear or remain entirely missing in Dynasty Warriors Origins.
But after seeing the introduction of Zhuge Liang's teacher Sima Hui as a new non-combatant NPC, it gave me a sliver of hope that some of the above characters can still appear as event-exclusive NPCs. Seeing warrior-type characters like Cao Ren and Lu Lingqi without any combat appearances would still feel rather out of place, though.
Dynasty Warriors Origins will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC worldwide on January 17, 2025.
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