Another major addition is the skill tree, from which characters can earn higher Renbu Ranks, special abilities and improve their attributes. As the progression of the skill tree moves from left to right, those on the right side of the tree are harder to unlock than those on the left. Typically the one which unlocks Infinite Renbu is on the farthest right.
Unique movesets for each character have been largely reduced. Only characters who have Musou Mode receive original movesets (with the exception of Diao Chan); the rest of the characters playable only in Free Mode have cloned movesets based on the Musou Mode characters with altered properties (with the exception of Xiao Qiao, who retains her fan moveset). Due to the addition of Renbu system, the traditional "fourth weapon" from previous games have been removed with the three normal weapons no longer being quality-based. Each weapons obtained have random stats and effects implemented and the "weight system" from previous game have been replaced by weapon categories; Standard (default type), Strength (greater attack power at the cost of Renbu Gauge being kept for a smaller amount of time), and Skill (greater attack speed with low attack power). In addition to the new weapon system, it is now possible to block from any direction, for example, if a character is attacked from behind while blocking, they will rotate their body with their weapon in front of them to guard against the enemy's attack. This eliminates the need to quickly stop blocking, change direction, and press the guard button again. Unlike previous games, horses can be found by obtaining saddles randomly dropped from boxes or beaten officers. These horses can gain levels, skills, and some can even change into the legendary Red Hare, although this is very rare.
Musou Token which enables the use of Musou Rage have been removed. It is instead replaced by Tome item drop which allows the use of unique special attacks. There are five types of attacks; Swift Attack (increases the player's stats), Volley (launches waves of arrows), Fire (sets eruptions of fire), True Speed (boosts the player's speed), and Rockfall (launches giant boulders from above).
Dueling from Dynasty Warriors 4 returns, but has been revamped; duels now take place on the battlefield and the nearby soldiers will circle around the two fighters, and other officers may jump into the circle, as opposed to the duel taking place in an arena that appears out of nowhere.
Bases have been altered too; they are bigger and where, before, in order to open the outer gate to a base, the player had to defeat a defense captain, now they must simply break it down with attacks. There is also a new corporal unit which guards bases. Defeating troops and corporals within the base reduces the base's defense. When the defense of the base drops to zero, the player has claimed the base. However, defeating the corporal is worth defeating 20 troops while defeating the guard captain will automatically capture the base.
Two new 'innovations' to the series are the abilities to swim and climb ladders. The ladder means that the player can now climb onto castle battlements in scenarios such as the Battle of Hu Lao Gate, and dispose of enemy ballistas and the new 'guard' unit. The first ties in with the improvements to enemy AI, allowing them to travel across rivers and other bodies of water in order to attack you or allied bases. Swimming is now a part of scenarios such as the Battle of Fan Castle.
Reception
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game received "mixed" reviews and the PlayStation 2 version received "unfavorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions a score of one eight, one nine, and two eights for a total of 33 out of 40.
GameSpot nominated Dynasty Warriors 6 for 'least improved sequel' in their 2008 award show.
Ryan Clements of IGN said of the Xbox 360 version, "Dynasty Warriors 6 is not a good looking game, and it performs even worse on the PS3 than on the 360 (even when you opt to install the game data)." He did note that "Dynasty Warriors 6 does have a number of cool things to note. The amount of leveling up you can do is fairly impressive and each character's campaign takes at least a few hours to work through, providing you with quite a lot of content (despite the repetition)."
Amanda L. Kondolojy of CheatCodeCentral gave the game one of its better reviews, scoring it at 3.4/5. Kondolojy enjoyed the game, saying that "One aspect of Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires that was surprisingly fun to tinker with was the character creator. Although DW5 Empires had a warlord creator, DW6 Empires gives you more creative control over your newly-made character. In addition to having a wide variety of costumes and customizable features, you can also integrate your character into the main Empire mode as a vagrant, and can work your way up to become leader of the land."
