Personally, I've never played a Dynasty Warriors game, nor had an urge to. The only gameplay I've ever found of them, and indeed one of the only things I've heard discussed about them, is the single playable character slaughtering thousands of faceless mooks.

That's ok, I guess. It works short term, like the 1 vs 1000 fight in Kingdom Hearts II. But it's nothing to base a game on.

It's only since this game was shown that I've heard about things like map control, army balance, and boss fights. There are definitely some interesting mechanics there, and I can see how managing your tactics and choosing your fights with your OP playable character could be a compelling gameplay experience, as well as bringing some tactical thought to the combat itself with boss fights.

In short, I've learned more about Dynasty Warriors since E3 than I had the entire rest of my life, and what I've learned has me interested.

Plus the game just looks so pretty.