Game info: Wikipedia (base game), Koei Tecmo Wiki (DLC)
Listening: original physical release (missing DLC tracks), box set (disc 20), iTunes/Apple Music, Amazon
Credits
Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires: Yosuke Kinoshita, Takashi Yoshida, Shin-ichiro Nakamura, Kosuke Mizukami
New BGM Set 1 DLC: Takashi Yoshida, Junya Ishiguro
Info
Since Dynasty Warriors 3, KOEI TECMO (then just KOEI) has been releasing expansion packs which add new storylines and game modes and whatever for every main numbered game in the series, sometimes more than one for any given installment. One of the most common ones they do is an Empires expansion, which they did for Dynasty Warriors 8, and Takashi Yoshida contributed a few tracks for it, so we’re going in.
The expansion adds Empire Mode, which is a somewhat more strategic mode where in between the kill-a-whole-lotta-dudes sequences you plan large-scale battle tactics, do politics, and also get married and have kids apparently. This may explain why most of the music they added for it is orchestral and generally not super action-y, with a healthy amount of Chinese instruments mixed in there as is tradition. There are also of course a handful of hard rock tunes, as well as a couple of surprisingly funky ones. Those funky ones are the fault of Kosuke Mizukami in his debut compositional role for the company; he wrote some jazzy tunes for Atelier Ryza 3 too so it seems like that’s something he likes. He also did a few not-at-all-jazzy orchestral tracks for menus(?) and cutscenes, and they’re not too bad either. This is my favorite set of Dynasty Warriors music I’ve listened to so far, and Mizukami’s definitely the main reason why.
In 2015, they also released a “New BGM Set 1” DLC that adds two tracks to the game, and rather than review two tracks separately in a different post I’ll just add them here. One of them’s a generic area theme heavy on strings and percussion that’s probably my favorite piece by Yoshida in here, and the other’s a shreddin’ guitar battle theme by Junya Ishiguro.
Recommended tracks:
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“HERE COMES A CHALLENGER -Online Mode-” (Mizukami) is one of the funky tracks
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“RAY OF HOPE -Hope-” (Mizukami) has a very western, romantic-feeling type of orchestration that I wasn’t super expecting from this series
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“TRAJECTORY OF YOUR EMPIRE -Ending-” (Shin-ichiro Nakamura) has one chord change in the first section at 0:26 that I kind of like, also it’s got the filtered drumloop shortly thereafter and who doesn’t love the filtered drumloop
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“SERENE CITADEL -General Castle-” (Yoshida) gets more syncopated at 0:50 in a way that I like
(track titles have unofficially-translated subtitles from VGMdb)
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