Koei Tecmo has published new information on their upcoming game Dynasty Warriors 9 through the latest Weekly Famitsu magazine. This latest batch introduces new designs for five returning characters (you can see three of them in the official preview scan above), as well as gameplay details on the weapon system.
The returning characters introduced in this batch are as follows:

Bao Sanniang from the Shu Kingdom; her weapon gets reassigned to Mandarin Duck Hooks, which have been also assigned to Lianshi in Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires.
Guan Suo from the Shu Kingdom; his weapon is reverted back to Nunchaku which was first assigned on his debut in Dynasty Warriors 7.
Pang De from the Wei Kingdom; he still retains the Cudgel which has been assigned to him since Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires. Han Dang from the Wu Kingdom; he retains the Short Pike that has been with him since his debut in Dynasty Warriors 8.
Zhang Chunhua from the Jin Kingdom; she lost her Wire Claws and instead now uses the Steel Whipsword, which is the same weapon used by Xun You.

This week’s batch also explains the game’s weapon system in more detail. We learn that a weapon can attach up to 6 Jewels that will give various enhancement effects, from strengthening certain attacks, giving a certain percentage on inflicting abnormal status on enemies, to attaching attack elements such as Fire.
As with past Dynasty Warriors games, weapons in Dynasty Warriors 9 will have tiers that will have differences in n...