So yeah, this is the final DLC characters batch for Pirate Warriors 4.
Almost can’t believe it.
“Almost” because people datamined the game and basically were able to learn beforehand with great accuracy what the new DLC characters would be, which is especially true for the final pack, Legends’ Dawn, one that indeed is dedicated to the old guard of One Piece big cheeses characters, with Gol D. Roger, his second-in-command Rayleigh and “younger Garp”.
In a way, Roger does feel weird to have a playable character this soon, i would have reserved him as a post-game unlock for Pirate Warriors 5, as in we barely even know bits of his moves and fighting style, but he has been a fan favourite and it will be at least 5 more years (if more, given PW 4 released in 2020) until we see the next PW installment, so yeah it kinda makes some sense.
As expected, he’s a Power type, and yes, a sword wielding, Haki using super OP character.
Another one, like Oden, or Shanks. Or the Film Red version of Shanks. Or his second in command, Rayleigh (as we’ll see later).
Roger’s gimmick is the ability to charge the final attack of a strong attack combo for extra power, which i have to believe he shares with Ace intentionally, gonna keep it at that, and he does manage to feel satisfying as the super, super OP character in a game full of them, and it’s not like we had much to go on from the source material for a PW playable entry, but then again that’s why i would have bothered and – again – have him in PW 5 with a more thought out moveset and quirks.
It helps that for a Power type character he has a decent airborne game, but i’m still kinda disappointed and kinda not for the same reasons explained above, it feels too soon to have him playable, in many ways, but then again Omega Force didn’t do a shit job since they had no real solid references in the source material in terms of combat style.
….BUT may waiting for either the manga to reveal more or for them to cook up a more unique moveset and system for him in the next PW installment would have been preferable.
Moving on to Roger’s first mate, we did see Rayleigh fight a itsy bitsy more in the story… kinda, and yep, he also uses swords, though he’s a Tecnique type that specializes in large AoE long range slashes, and the ability to mark enemies and have long range attack combos follow/home into the affected/marked enemies, makes sense it’s a trap-ish style due to the character’s type, though that’s not enough to make him more than okayish, i mean, he also uses Haki a lot, and it’s not like we need more swordmen using Haki type of characters.
It does help that the homing effect is mostly done via mid-air combos, which gives him some air game and helps distinguish himself a little more.
Decent but we also had more unique Technique type swordmen like Hawkins in the base game.
Garp is bittersweet, because, yay, Garp is back…. still no fuckin idea why he was missing from the playable roster in PW 4 to begin with, since his model was still in the game and he also appeared as an enemy officer so really he should have been in base PW 4.
This iteration, referred also to as “Prime Garp” but in the game itself as “Garp (Hero Of The Marines)”, following pattern, you assume he would be the Speed type of the pack… he’s not, he’s a Power type, which does make sense, we do have enough Speed DLC characters, one could argue.
That said, Younger Garp to be honest has a new moveset entirely, not completely different but it’s definitely not the old one recycled, as PW 3 Garp had a lot more grabs and throws, this one has more explosions punches and Haki stuff, which ties into the gimmick of having some of the combos charge up Haki and he can unleash all the built up with a strong combo or charged strong attack, with his Full Force Bust making his constantly charged with Haki for all the combos.
I do prefer his PW 3 moveset as he was big on suplex, throws and grab shit, but he’s actually my favourite of the pack, so even more since this “Prime Garp” has a new moveset (and they kept Garp model from PW 3, even used him in some of the story missions”), i have to ask once again, even more frustrated, why don’t just keep his old PW 3 version as a playable character?
Obviously, because it would feel more sillier to hand them over money for stuff that was basically in the base game, if they didn’t cut if first from the base package.
Maybe, maybe not, since if that was 100 % the case we would have seen DLC packs like “Thriller Bark Pack” to make Perona and Moria playable in this game again.
Yeah, kinda “meh” my opinion on this 6th (and assumingly last) Character Pack, there were so many other, less predictable and unique choices they could have made for the pack, even keeping to the theme of Legends Dawn they could have picked character like Sengoku as a regular marine but able to transform in his giant golden buddha form, i dunno, something else.
Wise Cafe (International) 