music rambles: dynasty warriors soundtrack

one of my favorite game series is dynasty warriors. full hack-and-slash action, with occasional strategy and romance in the empires spin-offs, it's the series that pulls me through in one way or another when things are stressful. (also a sidenote: i mainly play dw7 and dw8, so if you see something that's out of line for the older games, that's why. but the soundtrack in every game is super cool!)

but honestly, the best thing i got out of these games was the soundtrack, especially the battle themes. they're metal, both matching the intense nature of dynasty warriors' 1000-vs-1 gameplay and serving as inspiration for the player. i personally have a bunch of tracks in a playlist, for when i'm at my wit's end while studying, and it works every time, lolz. my fave tracks of this type are the king of sadness (dw5, but there's a remastered version in dw8), march of destruction (dw7), and beyond the destiny (dw8).

the slower songs present in the cutscenes aren't to be slept on, though. i think they're always well-composed. i think dw9 particularly does them well, with the open world themes, even though almost everything else about 9 isn't great. the archive themes are also lovely, and heart of the growth from dw7 gets stuck in my head all the time.