Next time someone bashes the DW series for being boring, button-mashing nonsense, I'm going to direct them to this video and laugh at them.
Yes, yes, it is mindless violence and mass-slaughter, but then that's what it had always set itself out to be from DW2 onward. It loosely follows a heavily-dramatised version of ancient Chinese history, so there's your story.
I really couldn't agree more with Jim on this one. I've loved the DW series ever since DW3; I had played DW2 previously, and while it was fun for a while it I found it to be nowhere near as engrossing nor satisfying as almost every subsequent game. DW3 blew DW2 away completely; various weapons, more characters, more (and better-designed) stages, equippable items that improve stats, mounts... and that holy grail of gaming, a 2-player mode. The fact that it looked infintiely better was just a bonus. DW4 changed things a bit and wasn't quite as addictive as DW3 (grinding for weapon experience was a HUGE chore for the crappier characters), but this was soon corrected with DW5, when for me, the obsession began all over again.
DW6 was a bit shit. They changed far too much in ways that were a step back (especially the characters), but from what I've seen of DW7 so far it looks like I'm going to be glued to the telly again soon. For a long time.