Plot and characters
Orochi, the Serpent King, created a rift in time and space. By creating a twisted new world and bringing together warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of China and the Warring States period of Japan (more than 1,400 years apart in history), Orochi wished to test the might of the warriors of these two eras.
The story is told in four separate, related subplots. Each subplot starts the player with three characters. More characters are unlocked as the player progresses through the story or satisfies certain conditions in certain stages. Though each separate subplot is named after the Three Kingdoms (and one from the perspective of the Samurai Warriors characters), characters from different factions band together as one in each subplot to confront Orochi in an ultimate showdown. Due to the storyline, a majority of the characters have split from their respective factions in their original games and have been forced into others. However, the character selection screen still places all the characters in their original positions.
A total of 79 characters encompasses the roster of Warriors Orochi: 48 from Dynasty Warriors, 29 from Samurai Warriors (Including Imagawa Yoshimoto, Kunoichi and Ishikawa Goemon from the first Samurai Warriors, left out in its sequel), and two new characters included exclusively for this game: the titular character and primary villain, Orochi (遠呂智), the Serpent King and the mythological beast of Yamato; and Da Ji (妲己), the villainous concubine of King Zhou of Shang from Fengshen Yanyi. Orochi wields a very large scythe, named Eternal Agony while Da Ji fights with two floating orbs, called the Orbs of Ruin.
There are many generic, non-playable officers who are also part of the game, all taken from both the Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors games. Additionally, there are exclusive non-playable officers that are in Orochi's forces.
Gameplay
New elements
The following are some new game play mechanics added exclusively to Warriors Orochi:
Players can take any three characters from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors lineup into battle, forming a party. Players can switch between the characters in their party any time during battle. Those that are inactive are invisible, during which their health and Musou energy regenerate. However, if one character is defeated, the game would end in defeat of the player, even if the player's other two characters are still intact.
All characters are grouped into one of the following character classes: Power, Speed, and Technique.
All characters have a new move called an Enhanced Strike. This move consumes Musou energy, and varies by character and their class, described above.
All characters have specific personal items that can be acquired by completing character specific objectives which also unlocks special features. These replace the final weapons of previous games, which had similar requirements, but are only another more powerful weapon in the game.
Weapon improvements are performed with the new Weapon Fusion system. Players can combine attributes of multiple weapons of one character into one more powerful weapon.
