Fans Relieved as Zhou Tai Avoids Army of Clones in Dynasty Warriors 9

Dynasty Warriors 9 just can't catch a break lately. Over the last few weeks, publisher Koei Tecmo has been steadily unveiling the open world title's cast of playable characters. Some are old, some are new, but as far as many fans are concerned, way too many of them are clones.

Okay, so what's a clone? Well, the word essentially describes a character who shares the same weapon type and set of attacks as someone else. Clones were a big problem in the divisive Dynasty Warriors 6, with various fighters failing to secure their own unique play style. For a series that relies so heavily on its character-based action, having multiple characters play the exact same way is an obvious negative.

And by the looks of it, clones are going to be an issue in Dynasty Warriors 9. Four returning characters have just been revealed: Guo Jia, Zhou Tai, Guan Yinping, and Sima Yi. Of those four, only one character -- fan favourite Zhou Tai -- is keeping their unique weapon. Guo Jia has had his magic pool cue removed in favour of a more generic staff, which makes him a clone of Zhou Yu. Guan Yinping has lost her weird weighted staff and she's now got Pang De's big spiked club. Sima Yi has had his horsehair whip thing replaced with Zhuge Liang's fan. It's all a bit disheartening.

As you'd expect, the arrival of yet more clones hasn't gone down well with the Warriors community, and we imagine that things will only get worse before they get better, especially as more and more characters are confirmed to be clones.

In related news, Dynasty Warriors 9 is set for a worldwide release in early 2018.