>What is /eagg/?

Most of the discussion in the thread is usually about Koei-Tecmo’s Musou series, mainly Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi as well as their strategy counterparts Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga's Ambition. But it's not limited to those and sometimes involves discussion about other musou and warriors-like titles as well.

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>What’s the differences between Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi?

Dynasty Warriors has its story sets mostly during the end of the Han Dynasty and lasts through the Three Kingdoms period of China (around 184AD to 280AD). It offers most characters and with DW8 it finally removed cloned weapon sets and gave every character a unique weapon/moveset.

Samurai Warriors has its story sets during the latter half of the Sengoku period of Japan (roughly around 1560 to 1615). It has less characters than Dynasty Warriors, but the movesets vary more. Due to hyper attacks for crowd control the game also moves a bit faster.

Warriors Orochi is a massive crisis crossover between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, and even features characters from different series(Ryu Hayabusa from Dead or Alive as example). The gameplay is a mix between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors with new elements like you play as a 3 member-team that can be switched instantly, instead of just 1 character. Unlike Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, that retell history, Warriors Orochi offers an original storyline that has an actual continuity.

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>What’s the best game to start with?

Latest installments are safe, but older ones are still worth playing for reasons below.

Dynasty Warriors 5, available on PS2, Xbox, Xbox360 and PC (Japanese only). Every character has the game has their own story with bits of narration being told by the characters themselves at the start and the end of each stage, so it would be the best introduction if you’re not familiar with the story of the Three Kingdoms. Be aware that Dynasty Warriors 5 is on the PS2, so its graphic and gameplay can be obsolete by today’s standard.

Dynasty Warriors 7, available on PS3, Xbox360, PC (Japanese only) and PSP (Japanese only). The game has the best story-telling the series has to offer, with the stories focus on the kingdoms instead of individuals. Some characters got sidelined but those that got focused on received lots of characterization. 7 tried to revamp the gameplay and introduces weapon switching where you can take any 2 weapons onto the battlefield and switch them on the fly. It does have its share of problems like half of the roster being clones of each other though.
Avoid playing 6 if you can.

Samurai Warriors: Either start with 2 or 4.
Samurai Warriors 2, available on PS2, Xbox360 and PC. Similar to Dynasty Warriors 5, the game has stories for every playable characters in the game (except 2 characters, but they aren’t important in the overall narrative anyway) with narration being told at the beginning of each stage, so it would be the best introduction if you’re not familiar with the story of the Sengoku period. There’s a HD Collection on the PSN, but it’s Japanese-only.

Samurai Warriors 4, available on PS3, PS4 and PSVita. Similar to Dynasty Warriors 7, the game narrative focuses on clans instead of individuals. The writing quality varies from clan to clan, but it introduces the clans and overall chaotic situation of Japan during the Sengoku period just fine. It introduces a new attack string called Hyper Attacks, which are sweeping attacks for easy crowd control. Be aware that the game features some of the most linear stage designs in the series.

Nobody in /eagg/ has ever played 3 so we don’t know if it actually exist or not.

Warriors Orochi: The game does have a continuity, but you can start in any instalment just fine as each instalment has its self-contained storyline with only the villains being the one that ties them all, though it is recommended that you played at least one instalment of Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, as the fun of a crossover is to see characters from different series interact with each other, that and the game doesn’t even try to introduce characters properly.

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>What about the Empire games?

The Empire titles are a strategy-musou mash up. They don't have a conventional story mode but focus on conquest instead. Players choose a province to invade on the strategy screen and then play the battle musou style. A lot of people enjoy the series but a lot of people also hate it, mainly due to Koei's laziness in terms of design and shallow politics/tactics mechanics. Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is generally considered superior to Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires, due to Koei putting more effort into the latter.

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>What about the strategy games?

Romance of Three Kingdoms: If you like self-insert roleplaying, then go with X. If you just like your usual turn-based strategy game, then go with XI. Though XI is available in English on both PS2 and PC, X is only available in English on PS2 but emulates well. XIII is a mix between the rpg focus of X and the strategy focus of XI. The Power Up Kit is regarded as mandatory for the enjoyment of XIII. And keep in mind, even though they share the same title, each installment actually has gameplay greatly differ from each other, so if you don’t like one, you can always try another.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence is a good start and shares many similarities to ROTKXIII. Main difference being that you're playing a faction, rather than a person, that the battles are real time and that it has a stronger focus on national politics. NA:SoI Ascension is a stand alone update of the version that introduces naval as well as siege battles, day and night circle, more rpg elements, officer and event creation, as well as being able to play as officer.
A lot of anons prefer the original though, due to Ascension's officer mode being barebones and broken AI that often leaves the enemy AI with lvl1 holdings at the end of the game amongst other things.