Koei Tecmo has made a surprise announcement at the latest Weekly Famitsu magazine where they confirmed that Dynasty Warriors 9 will have unique NPCs (Non-playable characters). Although they are not usable by the player, these characters will play major roles in the game’s storyline. They will also have casual clothing just like the 90 playable characters in this game. This batch introduces four unique NPCs which are Xiahouji, Dong Bai (pictured above), Hua Xiong, and Yuan Shu.
Xiahouji is the niece of Wei general Xiahou Yuan who was married to Shu’s Zhang Fei. Legends said that when Xiahouji was out playing in the forest, she met the brash Zhang Fei who fell in love at the first sight and immediately made her his wife. She would be the mother of Zhang Bao and Xingcai, and her familial relation was said to be one of the factors considered by Xiahou Ba when he deserted Wei and went to serve Shu.
Dong Bai is the granddaughter of the tyrant Dong Zhuo. She was given her own territory, a number of retainers and advisors, and the title Lord of Wei Yang by her grandfather before she even reached the maturity age of fifteen. When Dong Zhuo was finally murdered by Lu Bu, all of his relatives were also executed, so it was assumed that Dong Bai was killed together with her family in this incident.
Hua Xiong is a general under Dong Zhuo’s army and is famous in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel for guarding the Sishui Gate in front of the larger Hulao Gate. He was slain by Guan Yu in the novel or by Sun Jian in history.
Yuan Shu is a relative of Yuan Shao who has his own fiefdom in Shouchun. He also participated in the Anti-Dong Zhuo coalition and was tasked with providing supplies to Sun Jian’s army. Later on, after he received the Imperial Seal from Sun Jian’s son Sun Ce in exchange for troops, he made an unpopular decision by using the seal to declare himself as an emperor, which would ultimately lead to his downfall.
While unique NPCs have been appearing in Koei Tecmo’s other Warriors series such as Samurai Warriors, this marks the first time ever full-fledged unique NPCs are employed in a Dynasty Warriors game. If we use those past Warriors games as references, these NPCs are not selectable in the base game but will be eventually made playable at a later time with either DLC or expansions like Xtreme Legends and Empires.
Dynasty Warriors 9 will be released first in Japan and East Asia exclusively on PlayStation 4 on February 8. The western release, which also includes Xbox One and Steam versions, will follow five days later on February 13.
[Source: Famitsu]
