Wrath Oskvro wrote:^Let me know what you think of DW Online. I may give it a shot myself.
It's pretty fun, though I haven't gotten far enough to learn everything besides gameplay elements (because I've been watching YouTube videos a lot recently). You get to create your own character at the beginning and have to have an Aeria Games account to play (so make sure to register for an account by clicking sign up on the Dynasty Warriors Online site before you play). The character creation isn't the most advanced out there (I'd say WWE Day of Reckoning 2 is probably the most advanced), but I'd say it's much better than the actual main series games (probably because this is themed around having unique, created characters). Unfortunately, you have to keep the name under 10 characters (at least that's what I remember) and it can't have spaces. You get to pick a homeland, but it doesn't appear to have any effects on the game. You also only get one character (I don't know if you can buy more character slots).
There appears to be only one server called Inferno, taking place during the Dong Zhuo period. You can choose to join either Cao Cao (who I'm guessing most people joined, including me and my brother), Liu Bei, Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo, and Yuan Shao. After selecting a force, you are put into a building which will serve as your character's "home" and once you leave, you get put into a tutorial mission that teaches you the basics of the game. Oh, and you start with a spear, so if you like swords or other weapons better, you'll have to pass a promotion test (which puts you at higher ranks) or buy a different weapon with gold. After you complete the tutorial, you go to the main area of the army you choose to serve and go from there.
The gameplay is pretty much the same as Dynasty Warriors 5 with a few changes (such as no archery), though battles are mostly about capturing bases instead of defeating enemy officers. You can get missions from the tavern, which in turn give you gold for completing them, which you use to buy weapons, armor, and other items. In battle, you have infinite lives and play until the time limit (usually 10 minutes from what I can tell) is breached or the victory or defeat conditions are fulfilled. Weapons have something were they wear down the more you use them and you have to get them repaired (or something like that), but I haven't worn out a weapon yet, so I can't explain it that much. There are tutorial missions to teach you about more "advanced" things, but you probably don't need to do those if you know what you're doing. And there is a date system, but it goes through days pretty quickly. I don't believe it has any effect on the game.
I haven't played any battles yet (mostly just missions to buy better equipment for battles), but my brother faced off with people of higher levels than he was and kicked their butts with no armor and the default weapon, so I'm guessing you'd be more likely to run into noobs at early levels. Once you get to higher levels, you're more likely to run into challenging opponents. If you have a gamepad (as in a wired Xbox 360 controller or a PS3 controller and the DS3 Tool), it's a lot better because the keyboard and mouse controls are annoying.
Overall, if you like the main series and want to play with people online, you'd probably like Dynasty Warriors Online. It's free and you don't need to pay to do better than others, though you'll frequently get annoying messages about stuff that you can buy.
Oh, and I've recently started a playthrough of Klonoa 2.