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Update 1: The Tutorial I will be running Lash's English Patch + Jin Yong Skill Books and Animation Mod. Jin Yong, or Louis Cha, was possibly the best-selling wuxia author of all time, and the mod also puts many of his novel's skills in the world to spice exploration up a little. If a sutra seems overly OP, it's probably from the mod. You also have to activate the translation mod by subscribing to the mod, launching the game, and selecting the 2nd option from bottom. It says "Module Selection" now, but it was Chinese text before.  For the purposes of showing off the tutorial, I have created a disposable character named Steve McGoon. I intend to let the thread suggest and vote for their own character, so character creation and mechanics will follow in the next post.   Ahhh!Alas, there is no real customization available, so Steve is stuck with being a generically handsome Asian man.  Poor Steve's first taste of this world is a mouthful of dirt.  Ow ow ow... am I finally back?If you can read the unrealistically tiny text in the screenshot, what he is actually saying is "Pain pain pain... is it back at last?" I have edited the text to make things clearer, but if you prefer the original text, do let me know.  Hahaha... Although it's a little sad to say goodbye to my friends from the ancient era, I'm glad to return to the embrace of modern technology!As I said in the OP, this is apparently the main character's second go round. I want to say he is from Tales of Wuxia, but I don't know if that makes this game a sequel or just fanfiction.  ... Huh? This... What the hell is this place? Wait wait wait, shouldn't I be back at my house, at the computer? Where am I? Is this some sort of prank? Nan Xian, Bei Chou, Chef Lim and that betel nut chewer Kong?I assume that these are all characters from the previous game. Betel nuts are a mild stimulant popular in Taiwan, which I believe the developers are based in.  How do I get home from here? Now where do I go? Ugh...Never mind, there's no point in sighing, let me figure out where I amIn the interests of keeping this post to a slim 59 images, I will not take a screenshot of literally every line of text. Hmm... it looks quite similar to the temple I came from... so this is a temple too? Oh no, am I going to have to unlock this one with 14 Heavenly Manuals too?Am I underground? These statues remind me of those ancient relics in the Forbidden City, but which era am I in now?Hahaha... at least I'm not in some old geezer's basement this time round, how refreshing.Cough... it's really stuffy in here, I should go outside for some air! At this point the game gives us control of the main character, and we immediately turn around and beeline to the obvious puzzle.  The camera pans up to let us admire the decor. Wow! What an eye-opener, such a huge piece of jade actually exists in this world!The owner of this place must have a lot of money to get such a huge piece of jade. There's a big turtle on this one, and on the other...? The camera then pans to the right, to the other huge block of jade A horse with a dragon head? But what could be the meaning of the dots on the body? How is it that a good piece of jade has such a groove in it? And the other one too, am I meant to put something in? Well, based on my years of watching movies and playing games, it looks like all I have to do is put something into these two grooves and the door in the middle will open, yes?It ain't Steve's first rodeo, that's for sure. Haha, such bright talent and enlightened mind! Sometimes I amaze myself.But that means I need to find those two items if I want to leave. This drat game had better be able to be cleared in a week! And no expansion content, you hear me?Now I understand why there is a guide on Steam on how to clear Ho Tu Lo Shu in a week, in-game time. Nevermind, I'll just have to go along with the flow. How long is this gonna take...? And like the seasoned player that he is, Steve decides to ignore the exit and poke around for missable items. Floor nuts! Almost as good as floor chicken!  Steve opens his inventory to show off the betel nut and I completely forget to make him actually eat it. It would have given him 100 MAXHP, bringing him from 321 HP to 421 HP.  Another nut! Why? Alas, all good times must come to an end, and Steve's search for floor nuts brings him into cutscene range. Middle-aged uncle: Hey hey hey, boy, what are you doing? Huh? Where the hell did you come from?No, nevermind that. You came at just the right time, old man! I'm new here, can you tell me what this place is?  You don't have the slightest clue where you are, do you? Just follow me out! Presumably irritated by Steve's gormless look, the middle-aged uncle gives Steve a good smack. I think the coins are a Sonic joke? As you have probably guessed, this game doesn't take itself too seriously. What the hell, old man? I just wanted to ask what this place is, why'd you hit me all of a sudden?Don't move if you don't want to be hurt. I'll capture you and take you to Nan Xian and Xi Pao.Nan Xian? Am I still in the same world?Haha, even the ten martial arts masters were no match for me back then, why should I be afraid of this old man?Old man, although it's a little embarrassing to say so myself, I can take you down with a single move!Oh? Then show me what you can do! Hmmm... how should I take this old man down?-Eat my left hook! -Eat my right hook! -Eat my uppercut! If Steve had been generated with a bit more intelligence, he'd be saying something about Newton's third law. I'm fairly sure he's not dumb, so I must have missed the threshold by a little bit. In any case all the options lead to the same thing.  Steve winds up and takes a swing at the old man, and... (What... what's going on? Why can't I remember a single move?)Kid, is that your kungfu? Just looking at me with a dazed expression?Main story scenes are mostly voiced. I just want to note that he says this in a very hurtful and sarcastic manner. It's hilarious. Err... right! Even if I forget everything else, I won't forget this! WILD CARD PUNCH! ...Huh?Hahahaha! Kid, what kind of useless kungfu are you practicing? Who can you hurt with with rock paper scissors?Nooo... my Wild Card Punch... Just be a good boy and surrender. You outlanders bring nothing but trouble, the He Luo clan can't let you just run around willy-nilly. The He Luo clan? Ouch! I got it, I got it, go easy on me old man! It's not like I came here by choice!Not by choice? How can you be here and not know of the Holy Temple? How dare you try to fool me!Alas, without the River Map and Book of Heaven to seal the Holy Temple's entrances and exits, outlanders will sometimes appear uninvited. drat, what a tough job I have, and who knows when it will end?In case you missed the opening animation, he's talking about the titular Ho Tu and Luo Shu. Book of Heaven? Wait, is your world looking for the Book of Heaven too?Oh, so you know of the Book of Heaven too? That's right, if we still had the Book of Heaven in our hands, it wouldn't be so easy for you outlanders to come to our world.(The Book of Heaven... It might be the key to my return home... I"ll have to find it somehow!)Hey, old man, you said you were looking for the Book of Heaven, right? How about you let me go and I find this book for your He Luo clan?Hah! You think I can't tell what you're planning? You're obviously trying to take advantage of the situation and slip away!Besides, with your kungfu, you want to find the Book of Heaven? Kid, you can't even keep your own life secure.Listen, you're short of manpower, aren't you? Kungfu can be trained, I really do want to help you guys find the Book of Heaven.Well, if you're speaking the truth, I might consider it, but... Found you!!!! Target confirmed. Donghao Kongjin, of the He Luo clan.And the outlander.Capture them both!Hey, old man, who are these people?I should have expected this... I wasn't the only one watching the Holy Temple!Stay out of this, kid. No need to go stirring up trouble.But!Hahaha! Come on, then! You think you can take me? Have a taste of my Thunderbolt Bombs! And with that we're dropped into combat. As you can see, Ho Tu Luo Shu is a turn-based tactical RPG. The initiative order is shown on the top left corner, with green bars for party members, blue bars for allied NPCs and red bars for enemies. Right now Steve has only 5 action points per turn and one not-very-good ability to use, none of which matters because old man Kongjin will be carrying the fight.  You can click on any portrait in the initiative order to hear a soundbite and see their stats. Old man Kongjin has pretty meh stats, but is already Rank 15, and more importantly, has a really OP weapon for this stage of the game. Weapon rarity goes from white, green, blue, purple, to orange, so Thunderbolt does live up to its in-game description: "Pitch-black projectile, unobtrusive in appearance, but contains powerful gunpowder, amazingly powerful."  Alas, it is the technique that determines the area of effect, not the weapon. So this explosion is purely due to the "Eat my thunderbolts!" technique. And to add insult to injury Kongjin even rolled a critical hit - Broken Gold Broken Jade is a talent that increases critical damage.  These Rank 2 mooks equipped with Obsolete Daggers never stood a chance. "A dagger that has been used for many years and not properly maintained, with a blunted blade and limited lethality"  Victory! Phew, it's over. Old man, you use Thunderbolt Bombs?Oh, have you heard of them?Of course I've heard of such a powerful item! I used to have an old friend who used them too!(I'm just worried that throwing those things around in a cave like this might cause a collapse...)Kid, you're surprisingly knowledgeable. It seems that even in another space and time, our Thunderbolts are also famous. But what about these black-clothed people?Tch, what a waste of a Thunderbolt... hey kid, take this!Huh? This is...?Some kind of token, let's take it to Nan Xian, maybe he'll know something.Let's? Uncle Kong, you mean you'll let me help?You could have run just now, kid, but you stayed to help. It was a really strange thing to do, what other choice do I have now? You can help us out a little.Either way, I would still have brought you to meet Nan Xian. Just don't cause me any trouble. Now, let's find a way out of this cave. I'll meet up with that Nan Xian kid at the Gongshi Village. He's been investigating Western Shu for some time, so he must have some information on the location of the Book of Heaven.Just who is this Nan Xian?His real name is Xu Xuke, and he is a poor scholar who loves to play around in his spare time. But I must admit he is good at finding information.All right! We'll probably be followed by those black-clothed guys. Put on this leather jacket first.So you'll be escorting me? Wow! Thank you, Uncle Kong!Hmmph. At least you have some manners, you little brat!I have some sutras here, pick one and learn it!Wow! I can't believe you're being so nice to me!Hmmph. It's because I'm rich. Sweet, Uncle Kong is giving us a free skillbook, or "sutra". Steve chooses the Heartfelt Six-Health Sword sutra, because katanas are a type of sword and are obviously superior to the uncouth Thunderbolt Blade Technique, the plebian Shore Hero's Palm, or worst of all, the dastardly Five Poison Sutra. Seriously, don't pick the Five Poison Sutra.  And with that, Steve gets ready to leave  No wait, we need to loot the bodies first. This one has nothing on it, though.  Jackpot!  Steve dons his new, totally-not-bloodstained costume.  And also starts to study his brand new sutra! Which has strangely been renamed to the Heart Rokugan Sword. This is the first, but not the last time an item or concept is referred to by different names. Steve also cranks the little white bar you see on the right side to High. This means less character XP and slower levels, but more skill XP and eventual power.  And for those of you who noticed the "F" "Steal" prompt and immediately wanted to try it out, shame on you. This man is our savior. And he has a great sense of humor. This is what he says when he catches you stealing the first time. Kid! If you touch my rear end again, I promise I won't kill you!How thirsty are you? Take it! Don't get fresh with me, OK?He gives you a Betel Nut King, which gives, I believe, MAXMP.  Kid! Why don't you stop touching? Here's some money!When you're out of here, find time to go to the Pretty Dream Pavilion to cool off, and don't get interested in me anymore, OK?Sweet, 500 Wen! Eventually though, he runs out of new dialogue Kid, there's some things that can't be forced to come, so don't keep wasting your time, OK? The diligent reader can probably guess what this 6% chance to be stolen item is. And you can absolutely force it to come, since Kongjin doesn't do anything other than complain if he catches you and has no reputation to lose. It will just take an hour or so of your time and a significant fraction of your sanity.  Let's skedaddle!  More enemies!Hey! If you blow them up we'll all be buried alive! If I have to I will! I won't let these unknown people get their hands on the Holy Temple! Huff... puff... too much... sitting on sedan chairs...I can feel wind... is this the exit?The exit... of death!drat, when did they get here? Some more banter, and then combat. Steve is shown here regretting not using the betel nuts to increase his max HP.  "Limited lethality" my left foot! Look at the sliver of health Steve has left!  Thankfully Kongjin takes out the other two ninjas without issue. If they'd gotten a turn it would have been game over, man.  These sorry bastards, how can they compare to me? Send as many of them as you like, the result will still be the same! Indeed, it seems that Donghao Kongjin is no ordinary man.Oh shoot, a named NPC with their own portrait! (It's Lan Fuyi for those of you that can't make it out in the blurry screenshot.)  Little girl, are you in charge of these guys? Don't you know I am the guardian of the Holy Temple? How dare you trespass here?Ah... but from now on, the Holy Temple will be under our jurisdiction, so what need do we have for you so-called guardians?Excuse me, elder sister, but who are you?Oh...an outlander? Generally speaking, they should be killed as soon as they are found, so as not to complicate matters. Huh? Hah! (throwing Thunderbolt) *mysterious kungfu poo poo* It didn't work!Hmmm. So this is the famed Thunderbolt of Thunderbolt Hall. There's nothing to be afraid of, as long as you can suppress the force of the impact... Combat!  Steve is in big trouble  But Kongjin's Thunderbolt saves the day!  Sadly it doesn't do poo poo to Lan Fuyi. Steve hastily applies a herbal remedy and tries to GTFO.  That's enough, kid, stop fighting and get out of here! Urgghhh! Tch! Get the hell out of this cave! You know who to talk to, now get the hell out of my sight! Hehehe... I might not be able to hit you directly, but surely I can drop some stones on you, right!Lady Lan! The cave is collapsing! Please retreat!Do you really think this is going to stop us? Hahaha! Not going to run? Then let's keep playing!Eat my Thunderbolts! Hahahaha!!! The cave collapsed... He really...RIP Kongjin. You were too good for this world. Uncle Kong, although we didn't know each other for long, thank you for saving my life. You're much better than the other one I know! In order to return home smoothly, I shall do my best to find those two Books of Heaven, and I hope this will comfort your spirit in Heaven. I remember Uncle saying he was going to meet up with Nan Xian at some village. Gongshi Village? Ah! There seems to be a village there! And here we begin our journey into the world of Ho Tu Lo Shu. I will post some of the mechanics of character creation below, and interested posters may suggest a name and theme afterwards, but for now, the pressing question is, how does Steve get down from this cliff? Please vote for: -left -right -forward sandorius fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Feb 2, 2023 |
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Feb 2, 2023 18:19
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Always left
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Feb 2, 2023 19:25
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Well this looks dope. I vote for forward! Jump boldly!
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Feb 2, 2023 19:26
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One must look to the future and proceed, forward.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:30
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In one of the Slayers videogames you could move forward through a wall and Lina Inverse would just blow up the wall and you'd go through. So what I'm saying is Forward.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:50
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Listen to me, I'm always right
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Feb 3, 2023 04:35
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Forward. We just have to not notice the lack of ground and we'll be fine!
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Feb 3, 2023 04:40
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IIRC the intent is that this is actually a direct sequel to their first game Legend of Jin Yong, which is the game that Legend of Wulin/Tale of Wuxia was a spiritual sequel to - if you recall the statues/talk/etc about the legendary hero Nobody in that, that's supposed to be this guy (who ostensibly returned to the real world after gathering all of Jin Yong's books in the first game, except apparently not). Wish you luck with playing this, remembering trying myself and getting overwhelmed by the amount of variables in the open world nature of it. And I'll vote for right.
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Feb 3, 2023 05:03
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Wow, that's quite the tone they're setting right off the bat. Forward.
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Feb 3, 2023 11:07
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Oh I love this. Left, please!
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Feb 3, 2023 13:42
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Update 2: Character Creation and Combat Mechanics 2 votes for left, 2 votes for right, and 5 for straight ahead. Good luck, Steve! While Steve Mcgoon contemplates the abyss before him, let us consider if we would like to replace him with a shinier, customised version of Asian Protagonist Guy. If any of you have fond memories of the Ultima games, rejoice! Ho Tu Lo Shu does the "ask questions" thing too! (A great deal of this post comes from the Character Creation Guide by Corinthian Jest on HTLS's Steam page. Thank you for transcribing the results for each question!)  The font used in this game is kind of small and blurry, so for these questions I will be returning to the larger 1920px screenshots so that you can actually read the text.  Q1: Why do you want to enter the world of martial arts? (a) Martial arts is a kind of romance. (b) I don't want to be a single dog anymore. (c) I don't want to be a silk, I want to be a person! (d) What? Is this the martial arts world? (e) Anyway, I am a person everywhere, is it worse? I could edit the options to make more sense, and I will for the remaining questions, but I think a little bit of linguistic suffering is necessary to get the full HTLS experience. (a) is pretty self-explanatory. We're not talking romantic love here, but rather "a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life". (b) is an idiom I recognize and easily translated. Simply replace "single dog" with "lone wolf", but sadder and lonelier. (c) is an idiom I don't recognize. But after looking through some Chinese guides, I think it means not wanting to be like that annoying little thread that always comes loose from your clothes. (d) is exactly what it says on the tin. At this point, I think we can all relate. (e) is simply saying "I remain the same person no matter where I go, nothing will be different". For the record, Steve chose (d). Explicit effects: Each choice give a different title you can equip: (a) increases vulnerability to debuffs but also buffs intelligence, a hidden stat which increases XP gained (b) increases the damage of female companions and may also increase their aggro? (c) gives a chance to inflict debuffs on attack (d) reduces vulnerability to debuffs and also buffs physique, a hidden stat which I think increases HP and carry weight (e) gives a significant stat boost when alone.  Q2: When you enter the world of martial arts, what kind of person do you want to be? (a) To serve the country and the people, a man amongst men. (b) To order the world and none dare disobey. (c) To have freedom like the waves and bow to no one. (d) To uphold courtesy, the perfect gentleman. This question determines your starting alignment, between righteous/evil and wild/reserved. Steve chose (a) because he is a filthy meta-gamer who knows that you can easily lose righteousness by stealing from people, but it is a lot harder to gain righteousness.  Q3: While travelling the world of martial arts, you run out of money. How do you survive? (a) Eat grass, imitating the story of Shennong appraising herbs. (b) Mine, who knows, I might even find some Bitcoin. (c) Borrow, I have always been inconspicuous. (d) Run out of money? What is "run out of money"? Steve chose (c), again clearly the meta choice. Why kill 50 wild boars for someone when you can just lift the quest reward out of their pocket? Explicit effects: Each choice give a different title you can equip: (a) chance to gather more herbs (b) chance to gather more ore (c) lower chance to be detected when stealing (d) increases money gained  Q4: While travelling the world of martial arts, what weapon do you prefer? (a) Empty fist and red-stained hands, clash of bodies. (b) Sword like the phoenix in flight, exemplary gentleman. (c) Blade like a fierce tiger, bravest of braves. (d) Long spear and staff, the further they are the stronger the blow. (e) Short knives, the closer they are the more danger they are in. (f) Hidden weapons from afar, like a thousand-armed Buddha. (g) In the world of martial arts, there is no man without poison. A simple choice of weapon proficiency. Steve chose swords, naturally. And yes, swords and blades are not the same in wuxia. You could write a whole essay on the difference, but in-game, sword techniques tend towards piercing line effects while blade techniques tend towards arcs/cones. Also, (g) might sound a little strange, but is actually an artfully misquoted idiom, kind of like "hey I'm a nice guy but don't push it OK?"  Q5: In the world of martial arts, what do you think is the fundamental principle? (a) To be fierce and ruthless, and avoid the easy path. (b) To conquer the strong with the weak, and subdue the hard with the soft. (c) To move like the wind, and to strike like lightning. (d) To borrow the force of your opponent, and return to the owner with interest. (e) To strike the west while pointing to the east, formless and unpredictable. (f) To master the basics, and eschew fancy techniques. This determines your starting talent tree, of which there are six. From (a) to (f), they are Hard, Soft, Quick, Calm, Clever and Simple. Steve chose (d) because he liked the idea of being a force user. Needless to say, the Calm talent tree does not actually let you throw around force lightning. Rather, it is focused around counterattacks. Talents  This celestial monk guy is the Calm talent tree. The four other monks in various kungfu poses represent the other talent trees, there is one more directly behind which you can't see. Right now, Steve has only the starting talent at the very top, but also two available talent points from levelling up twice in the tutorial. Unfortunately, this isn't enough to get to the next actual talent, as there are two small talents in the way, which only buff his counterattack rate. Counterattack? Yes, each starting talent unlocks a special move for the main character. From left to right, they are: Calm - counterattack/knockback, extra attack after being attacked Soft - unload/knockout, reduces damage taken by 30% Clever - false move/virtual move, inflicts a random debuff on attack Quick - combo, regain 2 AP on attack Hard - bludgeoning/blast/critical, inflicts extra 30% damage on attack Simple - no special move unlocked, starting talent gives increased stats I hadn't realized before writing this out, but Calm is diametrically opposed to Quick, as is Soft to Hard and Clever to Simple.  You can see in the screenshot above where the chance to execute each of the special moves is in the combat UI. Since Steve doesn't have the Hard talent tree unlocked, his critical chance will forever remain at 0% per round and 0% per attack. He does have counterattack unlocked, but since this is the first round and Steve hasn't done anything the chance to counterattack is also 0%. Special move chances will reset to 0% when the special move is sucessfully executed.  For now, Steve can only stare longingly at the "Be Still as Water" talent, which claims to increase knockback by 20% as long as Steve doesn't move. I'm pretty sure it actually means that the chance to execute a counterattack will be increased by 20% as long as Steve doesn't move. This is just one of those annoying things that happen when a game uses a super specific term for something in-game but the translator doesn't pick up on it and translates it several different ways. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what a virtual move was.  If Steve had 7 more talent points he could develop along the right side of Calm and eventually enter Soft. This talent will also unlock the special move associated with the Soft tree.  Or he could go the other way and learn to be simple. No Special move here, just an increase in Physique and internal strength. I believe these stats govern your max HP and MP(internal power), so a Simple Steve would be very hard to kill.  If Steve had chosen (f) to Question 5 in character creation, he would have started with the Simple tree, and learned to "Overcome the ingenious with the clumsy".  The first talent in Simple "Pine and Bamboo" reduces debuffs by 6 points when hit. Debuffs  There are a lot of debuffs that techniques can inflict, like: -Split ribs, which reduces movement -Internal wounds, which deals damage to self on attack -Trauma, which deals damage to self when their turn begins -Confusion, which increases damage taken to self -Daze, which has a chance to make you skip your turn -Seal, which reduces AP gained -Poison, which drains internal energy -Freeze, which reduces Qi and Qinggong.  What about the other talent trees, then? Hard's first talent "Convincing People with Power" is a straightfoward 15% increase in damage.  Quick's first talent "Pre-emptive Strike" gives an additional 2AP in the first round of combat.  Clever's first talent "Pointing East to Hit West" gives a 50% chance to spin the target after an attack. If I am not wrong, attacks from the side do 20% more damage and attacks from behind do 50% more damage. You would think this is great, but only the next attack benefits from the flanking bonus, and sometimes your last attack will spin the enemy so that he is facing the teammate who is next in initiative. You can be too clever for your good, basically.  Finally, Soft's first talent "Empty and Clear" lets you absorb HP damage with your internal energy. Think Mana Shield from Diablo. One last question to go.  Q6: What do you imagine the world to look like? (Game Difficulty) (a)(Easy) The country is prosperous, the people are happy and at peace, even the weather is favourable. (b)(Normal) Though men follow righteousness and live in safe homes, yet danger lurks and desire abounds. (c)(Hard) Storms batter the world, but people do not change. Swords hidden behind sweet words, struggles for power and privilege. (d)(Purgatory) The flash of the blade and the shadow of the sword, armies clash and men rise to greatness. Steve chose (c)hard mode, not out of masochism, but because the dueling mechanic is locked at easy and normal difficulties. Since I'm the one actually playing the game, I won't be putting this up for vote so I can show it off. Apparently, once a day, you can challenge someone and if you win, you can take their stuff. Or so I'm told, I've not actually done it before. Finalization Screen  And with the questions over and done with, we are taken to one final screen, where we can reroll the various skills until we get bored and give up. Note the HP and MP totals on the left. A high starting HP means you have a high Physique, but low Intelligence. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tank your starting HP below more than 300 because you'd have trouble surviving the tutorial. MP is more often referred to as internal energy and you consume MP to power your martial arts techniques. Techniques without internal energy hit like wet toilet paper. Additionally, you can see the 10 martial skills on the right. The top 6 are weapon proficiencies and you can more or less ignore ones that aren't your primary and secondary weapons. You do take more damage from weapons you are not skilled with, and this goes for enemies too. Medical and Poison also have combat techniques, but aren't associated with any weapon types. You do want to get these up eventually because there is a useful achievement for getting them to 100 each. Qi regulates everything in combat and Qinggong(sometimes translated as light work) regulates everything outside combat. More Qi, more damage. More Qinggong, more movement. I think they affect AP as well, but I'm not sure about that.  Here are Steve's final stats. I didn't spend too much time rerolling for Steve, these stats look good but you mostly want as high a Qi score as you can get. Suggest and vote for your favourite main character build! For example: Darth Sinicus is a bitter and angry Star Wars fan who has time-travelled to ancient China to destroy the country and prevent the Star Wars sequels from ever coming into existence. Q1: (d) What? Is this the martial arts world? Q2: (b) To order the world and none dare disobey. Q3: (b) Mine, who knows, I might even find some Bitcoin. Q4: (d) Long spear and staff, the further they are the stronger the blow. -definitely a saberstaff user Q5: (a) To be fierce and ruthless, and avoid the easy path. sandorius fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Feb 4, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 13:50
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Red Torban A young rebellious man that fights for the rights of the people against the tyrannical nobles and bandits that plague them. But, honestly, deep down his main goal is exploring this world to find the perfect steamed dumpling recipe to bring home to cook for his mom. C C A D F
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Feb 3, 2023 15:04
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Gui Siwang He may have had to quit baseball over some alleged "scandals", but fortunately throwing things at people who annoy him is an acceptable action here. E C C F C (If they're going to give you legendary throwing weapons in the tutorial, might as well make use of them!)
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Feb 4, 2023 12:38
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gently caress yeah, I translated a poo poo-ton of Jin Yong for my undergrad degree and I love the Hello Studios games. Good luck with LPing this! E: oh vote for calling him Wilson Bond, which is the gloriously demented translation one of those old HK films came up with for Wei Xiaobao in Lu Ding Ji. Beefeater1980 fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Feb 4, 2023 |
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Feb 4, 2023 15:42
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A self insert gamer? We are none other than Chad Manly, with the bonus to powering up women in combat
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Feb 4, 2023 20:18
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Nick Buntline posted:Gui Siwang
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Feb 5, 2023 09:11
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Update 3: Goodbye Steve It looks like our actual main character will be renowned baseball pitcher Gui Siwang!  In the meantime, Steve is anxiously staring at the void beneath his feet, wondering why the voices in his head are urging him to jump.  He steps back a few paces to gain space for a proper flying leap, but is distracted by a poisonous spider. His RPG instincts kick in and he tries to pick it up.  Ouch! Enough delaying, Steve. You know what you have to do.  Whoo!  Absolutely nothing happened to Steve. Apparently wuxia protagonists are immune to damage from gravity effects.  In fact, if we turn around we can see someone clearly placed here in anticipation of our arrival. If we had walked off instead of jumping off he'd be right in front of us.  Huh? There's an old man and a burial mound at the bottom of this cliff. Excuse me, boss, can I ask you something? You don't have to ask anything, young master. Huh?? I've been waiting at the bottom of this cliff for twenty-two years, and you've finally arrived... Twenty-two years? Waiting for me? Twenty-two years ago I met a fairy here, and he asked me to wait at the bottom of this cliff for someone to appear, so that I can... leave... (A fairy? Are you alright, old man?) He told me that one day I would meet a man who would fall off a cliff and not die, and that man would be the man I wanted. And today, that man is you. (I also feel pretty miraculous that I fell off this cliff and survived.) Well then, boss, what did the fairy ask you to do after you met me? Ah. I don't remember. (Isn't that the important thing here? How could you forget?) Anyway, I can finally go home. And where might your home be, sir? It's right here, don't you see? Goodbye, young master, may you recreate the legend...  (He disappeared! Then this tomb...) This is spooky, I'd better get out of here!This encounter gives us a title, Chosen One, which increases the power of our Wild Card Punch.  Steve pokes around the area a little and finds a skeleton with broken legs. Alas, they must not have had enough protagonist powers to survive the fall. He loots some Ruyi Pearls, a green-quality throwing weapon, from the remains.  Moving around to the west, Steve encounters a giant log. This is approximately where he would have ended up had he chosen to climb down the cliff to the left.  There's good stuff here. Wow! A millennium ganoderma!  It mysteriously transmutes into a ganoderma lucidum once in Steve's inventory. Seasoned wuxia veterans will probably know this better as a thousand-year lingzhi. It's like the 1-UP mushroom from Mario, and in this game, it increases your maximum HP.  Steve's instinct to collect absolutely everything backfires again as he tries to pick up a poisonous spider. Now he's got twenty points of poison status, and he can't even do anything with the spider right now.  Oh look, a random woodcutter.  And some other dude who's walking around instead of just staying in one place.  Steve's first quest is to carry a bundle of firewood down the mountain so that the strapping lumberjack can continue to hack away at this tremendously oversized log.  On the way down, Steve is distracted by a wild boar. It's low level XP fodder if he ever saw one.  After a valiant life-or-death struggle Steve subdues the boar. He could actually have done better, but I forgot to make him learn the sword technique Kongjin gave him.  I rectify that mistake immediately. Steve learns the 3AP/150dmg technique but is barely short of martial XP to learn the advanced 5AP/275dmg technique.  I cash in some achievements Steve has earned, but it's not enough. In-game achievements give a ton of useful stuff, especially XP, but you generally want to save these to get a new party member up and running with your favorite sutras.  Steve meets a random guy complaining about monkeys. There's an unmarked sidequest here where you keep drinking from the jug of water some nice guy has left here, until you empty it and find a Tianshan Snow Lotus inside, which increases your max MP.  See the "Your Jianghu reputation has increased" notification on the right side of the screen? That's not from fighting the monkey, it's from finding the Tianshan Snow Lotus. "Jianghu" is shorthand for the world of martial arts, like "squared circle" is for wrestling. In theory, having a high Jianghu rep will make your opponents shiver in fear at the very mention of your name. In practice, it's just a way for the game to gate off more difficult quests.  Steve is shown here thrusting his sword repeatedly at the poor defenceless monkey.  Even basic techniques are kind of flashy. Look at him gathering light - excuse me, I mean chi - before twirling his sword and flourishing it.  Steve hits the monkey for 142 damage, which is sort of OK at this stage of the game. I mean, it's a monkey, how threatening can they get?  Having dealt with the simian menace, Steve heads to the east. If he had turned right at the beginning, he could have stumbled upon this mysterious cave.  A dragon statue! Mysterious treasure! And also dead bodies on the floor!  Believe me when I say there is no way to climb out of this cave. But there is a clue on one of the skeletons.  Last night, I dreamed of a mysterious old man who told me to use the power of the Kadentopia. But I couldn't figure out what he meant, looks like I won't be getting out of here alive... RIP Steve. Next player, please!
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Feb 5, 2023 18:08
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Update 4: First Steps While poor Steve molders away in the cave of dragon balls, Gui Siwang is having considerably more success.  Hmmm... how should I take this old man down?- - - As noted in the OP, a more intelligent character will spout technobabble at Kongjin. In addition, Siwang was remarkably lucky and it only took ~10 tries to lift the Thunderbolt from Kongjin! Truly a blessed character.  Having completed the tutorial sequence, Siwang spends some time in contemplation of his future path. Should he leverage his mental acuity, moving towards the Clever talent tree and learning "God's presence in this world"? This talent improves debuffs with your Qinggong, although I'm not sure exactly how.  This would eventually allow him to randomly inflict debuffs on his opponents.  Or should he ascend the foothills of the path to power, and move towards the Hard talent tree, and learn "Thunder and lightning"? This talent improves technique power and handily tells us the exact amount (4% per 10 Qinggong).  This would eventually allow him to perform critical hits on opponents, doing more damage.  Or he could concentrate on the Quick talent tree and learn "Agile and athletic", reducing the AP needed for item use from 3 to 2.  This would eventually allow him to learn "Moving like thunder", giving him 1 more starting AP in the first round of combat and also increasing the amount of AP regained when a combo goes off from 2 to 3.  At this point, I should also point out that there is a hidden advantage of going wide rather than deep. Many sutras require certain talents to learn the techniques contained within them. For example, all the starting sutras have six passives attached to their final technique, corresponding to the six possible starting talents. The one we do have access to reduces the AP cost of "Double star flying shadow" from 5 to 4. It does require the expenditure of 3 talent points to reach an otherwise fairly useless talent, however.  For reference, here are the stats for "Double star flying shadow".  And here are the stats for the passive corresponding to the Hard talent tree. Apparently it doubles Starfleet's increased power! Watch out, Borg!  Siwang is seen here testing out the Thunderbolt on an unsuspecting wild boar. This is a little problematic because you have to run up to the boar to hunt it, which means you start right next to it, inside the minimum range of Meteor Tossing. It does about 300 damage per hit, which is easily double what Steve was doing.  Siwang runs around for a while picking flowers and mining ore, and takes the opportunity to boast to an old woodcutter he meets in the woods. Huh? Who are you, and what are you doing here so deep in the mountains? I just jumped off the cliff you see right in front of you...Ha! Jumping off that rocky mountain? You must be pretty good at martial arts if you survived that with all your limbs intact. Doing so shifts our alignment slightly away from reserved towards wild.  Just behind the old man are four hunters and an angry bear.  Little brother, it's dangerous here, so stay out of the way. -That sounds like fun. Why don't I help you hunt bears? -Don't be afraid, bearbear, I'll help you chase away the villains! -It's really dangerous here, let's go, let's go. (Siwang calls the bear Xiong Xiong, which pretty much directly translates to bear bear.)  The bear is actually not that frightening as bears go, it's only Rank 15. If Siwang chooses to side with the hunters, it's basically free XP.  It's surrounded by hunters with techniques that are effective against beasts. Frankly Siwang cannot take them on at this point in time. But he can always come back later... Please vote: Talent direction: 1)Left, towards Clever 2)Right, towards Hard 3)Down, deeper into Quick Bear vs. Hunters 1)Side with the hunters 2)Side with the bear
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Feb 7, 2023 13:12
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Quick seems to fit Gui best, and always side with 
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Feb 7, 2023 15:00
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Never heard of this game before, but it looks fun. Be clever and side with the bear, it's terribly rude to gang up on it like that.
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Feb 7, 2023 17:09
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sandorius posted:
When you said he'd say something about Newton's Third Law, I thought there'd at least be some context to it. Does he still try to attack with these options, or does he actually try to teach Kongjin the Triangle Inequality Theorem?
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Feb 7, 2023 19:32
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NullBlack posted:When you said he'd say something about Newton's Third Law, I thought there'd at least be some context to it. Does he still try to attack with these options, or does he actually try to teach Kongjin the Triangle Inequality Theorem? It's the same punch for all three options, purely a cosmetic choice. Although I can see someone yelling the fulcrum thing while doing a throw (they would have to be a massive nerd though).
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Feb 7, 2023 23:58
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Let us be clever and side with the bear. Surely the wisest move.
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Feb 8, 2023 03:25
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Update 5: Gongshi Village: Leadership Struggle  Deciding to put off the bear decision for the time being, Siwang visits the cave in which Steve was stuck and grabs the loot there, including a costume.  Being the intellectual that he is, he immediately realizes Kadentopia to be some kind of mangled machine translation of "ka zhu", or being stuck , and he uses the "Escape being stuck" function on the main menu to teleport to Gongshi Village. Yeah, I would never have figured that out without a guide. Actually I would never have found this cave in the first place, it is surprisingly difficult to spot caves in this game. There's supposedly a portal to the underworld somewhere in this general vicinity but I've never found it.  The unstuck function dumps us at the entrance to Gongshi Village. I believe Gongshi translates to "Bow Rock" and there is indeed a rock arch sheltering the village.  There's even a vein of rare Zijin, or purple gold, on top of the arch.  Siwang takes the opportunity to review his map. The yellow ? is where he is supposed to deliver some wood. There's a river to the east, a small village and a town to the west, and an ominous red tower to the southwest.  It's a nice village. Rice padi fields surround it in a semicircle.  There's a suspicious pile of hay surrounded by some villagers and two kids at the west end of the padi fields.   This big brother is a stranger, and he wants to eavesdrop on Daffodil's secret! Don't pick the flowers on that straw pile there! Why not? We're not telling you! In a fit of childishness Siwang immediately approaches the straw pile. Hey, don't mess up our straw pile!Doing it from another angle yields more information.  Who are you? An outsider? Listen, the herbs growing here are very good. I've already told the village chief, no one is allowed to touch them without permission! The two guys standing guard don't seem to be taking it seriously, though. They're chatting about a chicken thief that's stolen their rooster. Yes.. three chickens were taken from Lao Mu's house. Not only that, Ah Cui has been very agitated lately. She says several pieces of ham baba keep disappearing from her house.I assume Ham baba is a ham-fisted translation of hamburger. In any case it's a kind of food. It must be the wild boars and monkeys around this village.The most annoying thing is that our rooster has been taken! Three months, eight days and one morning ago our huge cock was surrounded by hens, and now... tch!I'm fairly certain this is some kind of bawdy pun, but alas, I lack the insight to translate it properly. We have to catch those thieving animals and chop them into pieces! Yes, the last time we brandished our weapons at them and they ran away. This time, let's catch them in the coop! What? How? We wait for them at the chicken coop, and then, while they're eating, we sneak up and push them in! We'll be heroes!Big heroes!Good luck with that plan, guys. More importantly, it means that they won't be on guard here at night.  Moving on to the east, we find a shed with a horseman and his horse. This is the game's fast travel system, he'll take you to locations you've visited before and there are quite a few horsemen scattered around the map.  He has some chickens just clucking around. For the record, the "E" key prompt says "Ambush Domestic Chicken".  What's the point of an "E" key if you don't press it? The chicken expires with a sad noise and Siwang becomes slightly more evil. He is shown here granting mercy to the other chickens, because there are much more profitable ways to become evil than slaughtering random chickens. They have a small chance to drop chicken meat or eggs, but Siwang was unlucky enough to get neither from his lone chicken kill.  Siwang continues to explore the fields. Shown here, a buffalo doing buffalo things.  Patroller Wang Fu complains about the wild boar problem and gives Siwang a quest to bring him three boar tusks.  Alas, Gongshi Village is really overrun with wild boars. We can only guard the closest fields with the few people we have. Listen, if you can bring me three boar's teeth and prove your contribution to the peace of our village, I'll pay you well, okay? It's not just the wild boars that come to eat our crops at night... there's this black pig that's taken over the entire northern farmland! Ever since that black pig came to our village, the wild boars have become more and more numerous, and not only have the crops failed, we've lost a lot of money. We can no longer cultivate the land in the north. Not only is it fierce, we've had many people killed by its bite! It's the nightmare of the village... We call it... the Widowmaker. I must warn you, lad, don't go hunting the black pig until you're ready. If you get hit by it a few times, you could die from internal injuries.  Random farmer, complaining about politics.  Two people, asleep in broad daylight. Hey! It's 10.28am, shouldn't you be planting rice or something? Although judging by the name Iron Crutch, these are probably beggars.  Another random farmer, but this one is clearly slacking off.  Oh my, what a big house. Two stories and everything. It must belong to someone important. Let's go have a look.  There's a dumb child playing alone behind the big house. Maybe he's an orphan or something.  See that ? item he's carrying with a 40% chance to be stolen? Now that's a productive way to become evil!  Oh look, a poisonous spider!  Ouch! There's a cat sunning herself on the roof. Despite the "E" key prompt to hunt Flowering Beauty, we cannot actually attack it. Look, even evil wuxia protagonists have to have some moral standards, alright?  We arrive at the courtyard of the big house, where there appears to be some commotion going on. Unfortunately, they are not particularly happy to see Siwang. What are you doing here, kid? This is no place for you to idle! Uh... no, no, I'm just passing by. I'll be going now! (I'd better go find that Xu Xuke guy and not just go looking for trouble.) Siwang continues to explore the village until, passing by a house with red lanterns, he triggers a small cutscene. Hmm.. since time immemorial, innkeepers have always had stories to tell. Perhaps I can ask the innkeeper for information on that Mister Xu. The poor innkeeper is being scolded by an angry guest. "The wine is sour, the rice is sour!" He's probably overjoyed to see someone else walk in.  Innkeeper, I would like to ask you about someone. Did a man by the name of Xu Xuke visit this village? Could Sir describe this man? (What did Kongjin say about him?) An idle man with an untruthful face, always smiling and laughing... Ugh, it must that scoundrel from the other day who still owes me for his drinks! That so-called scholar came in, ordered food and several jars of wine, got drunk and then had no money to pay, only empty hands! Is Sir a family friend here to clear his debt? What? No! No, no, no, don't get me wrong, I'm just looking for him. Since he had no money to pay, he was taken to the village chief. He'll have to pay off his debt by working in our fields! Is he still in the village then? I... don't really know. Maybe, maybe not. Go ask the village chief, I really don't want to think about that sour scholar, eating and drinking for free. Ugh, such bad luck... The village chief... Thank you, innkeeper! We can now go back to the courtyard of the big house, where the commotion seems to have reached a climax. (Wow, two sides confronting each other. They look so fierce and angry, I wonder which one is the village chief?)  Alas, little sister. I've only been away from home for a few years, but I come back to see a snake infestation, ruffians running rampant, and even my precious niece has been kidnapped! I'm not happy at all. I say, if you can't handle the village affairs properly, do you even deserve to be the village chief? You know very well the position of village chief has always been passed down to daughter rather than to son. How is it that the first thing you ask about is not family, but the village chief position? You unworthy son, how dare you come back to fiind fault with our chief! Well, if your village continues to be led by this woman, clearly soon you won't have a village anymore. Listen, when big brother Xinghe takes over, he'll make sure you all have a peaceful life, with plenty of food! You shameless wretch, you were thrown out of the village and now you come back with a bunch of bullies? Hey hey hey, let's not rush to scold people, the snake infestation is a fact, and if the village chief can't come up with a solution... we can't go on like this, we're all worried and scared. Although the Gongshi village chief has traditionally been a woman, shouldn't we at least have someone competent? Hmm... as everyone here can clearly see with their own eyes, my little sister Mei Hongqi has shown her weakness and incompetence, when faced with such calamities. At the next village meeting, if my little sister is still unable to address the problems of the villagers... I, Mei Xinghe, will prove to everyone that I am the more suitable candidate for village chief! Please give me your support! Sister dear, please enjoy your last few days as the village chief. Chief, don't listen to that rascal. He won't be any good for the village at all. Only harm, no benefit! Look at those ruffians he's surrounded by, they're no good at all! Chief Mei, don't worry, I support you! Chief Mei... it's not that we don't support you, but he had a good point. If we don't do something about this snake infestation, we'll never be able to sleep peacefully in our beds. What are you talking about? Little Xiaoqing has been kidnapped by who knows who, Chief Mei should make finding her her top priority! Fellow villagers, this is not the time for argument. The village is facing many problems from within and without, which we should deal with one by one. Please be patient, I will definitely address these problems! I intend to send out a search team for Xiaoqing, and also a snake hunting team to solve the snake pit problem as soon as possible. Chief Mei, the snakebite medicine produced by that wandering doctor isn't working at all! We can't let him fool us like this! Indeed, I shall give this my personal attention. What about that idle slacker Xu? He slipped his bonds and abandoned the field we gave him to plant. Shouldn't we be looking for him? (Slipped his bonds? Oh no, there goes my clue for finding him!) Unfortunately, we don't have the people to spare to look for him. If we stumble across him, we should arrest him, but for now, let us concentrate on Xiaoqing and the snake problem first. Alright, everyone, you heard the village chief. Let's go back to farming now. Xiaoqing is such a nice girl... I hope she's safe. Chief Mei, please don't overdo it. Ugh... Well, that was a long cutscene. Before talking to the village chief, Siwang briefly admires the Mei family genealogy, which is long enough that they'll have to build a bigger house soon.  Excuse me, are you the village chief? And who might you be, young master? I, Gui Siwang, come to the chief of Gongshi Village to ask about a person. Oh? Who are you looking for? The innkeeper told me that a certain Xu Xuke was unable to pay for his food and wine, and was sent to work off his debt. ... Unfortunately, the man you're looking for is no longer in our village. Recently, there have been upheavals in our village, and that man took the chance to escape. (drat, he really ran away!) Hmm... I wonder if village chief has any clues as to his whereabouts? Everyone in the village is worried about the recent snake infestation. No one has the time to spare thought for that rascal. (Great, just great. The sky is high and the horizon broad, if I don't get a clue, it'll take forever to find Xu Xuke. Looks like I'll have to help the village out after all.) As Siwang leaves the village chief's courtyard, he is interrupted by another cutscene.  Please, not the face! At least, not to the face!' Hmm? These people are...? Do you even have a conscience, old man? Using wild flowers and weeds to fake snakebite medicine? Give me back my money! You claimed forty-nine days of effectiveness, straight from the alembic of the Queen Mother of the West! All lies! Look at the herbs he's collected! They're just roadside weeds! There's a whole bunch of these outside my house! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! Please believe me, the snakebite medicine is really effective, but the snakes here are just so poisonous... Please give me some time, I can try to brew some new medicine... Ahhh! I don't care, just give me my money back. Help! Someone, please, help! (Maybe I should help this guy out?)  Stop! (Huh? That wasn't me!) Who are you and why are you meddling in my business? I have been a guest in this village for some time now, and I have seen him tend to his patients with great care. Even though his snakebite medicine may not be effective, still, you should not treat him like this. (Wow! So righteous and awesome! Wait, his face looks familiar... maybe if it were a bit less heroic and a bit more stupid...) Hmmph! Another guy from out of town, you're probably in cahoots with this quack! There's an outsider over here too! Who, me? I'm just passing by! You picked the wrong place to band together and cheat us! Grab them all! A gang of village toughs attempts to beat Siwang up, together with his newfound friend Duan Siping. Kongjin's Thunderbolt is really doing a number on these guys.  Pretty small fry, all told. Easily dealt with.  Th... Thank you very much, young warriors! There is no need to thank us. It was the right thing to do. Hahaha! What amazing kungfu, brother! I'm Gui Siwang, how may I address brother? This humble self is Duan Siping. Brother Gui's skills are also quite impressive, and you have a good heart as well. To be able to meet a friend such as Brother Gui, today is a lucky day. (This fellow's last name is Duan? This look, this literary air, it's so similar to that nerd who forgot his friends...) Doctor, I have a question for you. What kind of herbs are used for the snakebite medicine? Master Duan, this snakebite medicine is made from Phellodendron Bark with Scutellaria, Gardenia, and other herbs. Let me show you the recipe. Hmmm... I know that Huang Lian, at least, is a powerful remedy against snakebites. How come it isn't working? Please believe me, this recipe has been carefully researched, those who are poisoned by a snake will surely live after taking it, even if they are on the verge of death! I am not exaggerating! (Yeah right, I heard those guys complaining just now. Forty-nine days of effectiveness, the alembic of the Queen Mother of the West? Not exaggerating? Hah! No wonder they were so angry.) What kind of snake venom is so powerful? Where did these snakes come from? You are new here, so you must not be familiar with the snake pit. There is a cave not far from here, where snakes live in alarming numbers, and at night they come into the village biting people and livestock alike. Many doctors tried to help, but nothing worked against the venom, and slowly they stopped coming to the village. I didn't believe the stories at first, so I came here to find out. Doctor, is there something strange about the snake venom here, then? The venom seems to be a mixture of different kinds of poisonous substances. I would have gone to the cave to obtain samples, but those guys accosted me... Brother Gui, I would like to help the good doctor and his patients in the village. I am going to this snake cave to investigate a little, would you care to join me? (Well, the village chief won't help me unless the snake infestation is dealt with, so...) What can I say? Of course I'll join Brother Duan! Haha, great! Brother Gui is very cool, admirable! Our first party member! We don't actually have to go to the snake cave right off the bat. Brother Gui, are you ready to go? Duan Siping is a Simple Swordsman.  He comes with his own sword and two sutras, the Duan Family Swordsmanship and the Duan Family's Mind.  The Duan Family's Mind is our first example of an Inner Working, or Neigong. You can only equip one Inner Working at a time, and it confers passive benefits. The Duan Family's Mind buffs the Duan Family techniques, so it's fairly useless for anyone not named Duan Siping.  But the good news is, these Inner Working sutras often come with passive nodes that buff Qi! And also in this case Yang, which buffs Yang-aligned techniques. The vote from the previous update is still open, as I do not think we can confront the bear hunters even with Duan Siping. Please vote: Talent direction: 1)Left, towards Clever 2)Right, towards Hard 3)Down, deeper into Quick Bear vs. Hunters 1)Side with the hunters 2)Side with the bear sandorius fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Feb 8, 2023 |
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Feb 8, 2023 09:41
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Don't fight a bear. Use your brain. Use drugs.
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Feb 8, 2023 10:57
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Be clever, and side with the bear. So are talent points pretty common? Is planning your build necessary (both in terms of resources and the game's difficulty)?
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Feb 8, 2023 21:29
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I'd say talent points are pretty rare. You get 1 talent point per level and the main character gets some more for significant plot milestones. So you start off fast but slow down a lot as you reach the endgame and stop gaining levels fast. At that point you'll be cursing every stray talent point you put into something you thought was cool. In the end, though, builds aren't all that important, every talent does something and if a fight is too difficult you can generally just reload and come back later. I just like showing off the names of the talents. Like, "Feint" and "Critical Damage UP" are boring, practical names and nothing like "Pointing east to hit west" and "Broken gold broken jade". Some companion quests do require a full talent tree, so I won't be putting those up for vote. Also, you can respec the main character if you don't like your build, but it takes an item of which there are only 7 hidden in the world map. We've already seen one, although I didn't show it off in the inventory.
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Feb 9, 2023 00:49
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Will add in support for clever and siding with the bear.
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Feb 9, 2023 04:35
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Update 6: Gongshi Village: Sidequesting It looks like Siwang is investing into the Clever side of Quick and helping out the poor bear that was probably minding its own business before some assholes came along and ruined its day. In order to do that, he's gonna hafta level up some. Luckily, he's in a beginner town, so there should be tons of sidequests to do for XP.  With Duan Siping in tow, Siwang pokes around the village's chief's house some more. There are some miscellaneous items lying around to be stolen and a maid on the balcony who gives a bit of background on the Mei family. Yes, look at the genealogy on the wall, at the top is the first village chief, and it's been passed down from generation to generation. It's said that back then, the first village chief relied on their martial arts skills to repel the harassment of foreigners and soldiers, and the method was also passed down with the genealogy.I thought this was the right trigger to allow us to inspect the genealogy, but apparently not. Probably need to advance the plot.  Ah, a suspicious pickle stone. No, I don't know what a pickle stone is. Huh? What's under this rock? Apparently, the secret of righteousness is to leave no stone unturned. Seriously, who leaves sutras hidden under a rock in a random village?  This is a great find. The Secret of Righteousness Song is an Inner Working sutra that is easy to learn, boosts Qi without any change to Yin/Yang alignment, and passively restores a little bit of internal power every round. As soon as Siwang finishes with his throwing skill sutra, he's studying this.  There's also some stuff scattered around the village, behind houses and on roofs and such. There's a little jade buddha on the roof of the inn. Hey, it's not stealing if the prompt says "Take" and not "Steal".  This guy is collecting rocks to drop onto wild boars, and also arguing with his daughter because he thinks it's too dangerous for her to tag along. He asks Siwang to collect some plums, eggs and flour to make bait.  Madam Foo here is praying for help. Luckily we're passing by. Heavens... Ah Cho, Ah Foo, please bless us. Auntie, what are you talking about? Ah, recently something strange happened in my family. I am asking our ancestors for help. It's concerning the ham baba I cook on the stove. I'm not boasting, but I'm the best cook in this village! (Ham baba? I'd like to try it, if I get the chance.) Hey, I'm worried about Grandpa Vesta's anger right now, so just leave me alone.Since Vesta is the Roman goddess of the hearth, Grandpa Vesta is, I think, a localization of the Kitchen God. Auntie, your ham baba smells really good, can I learn the recipe? Recently, I put some cooked food on the table, and when I turned around, it was gone! Nearly scared me to death! Could it be that I'm not doing a good job at the last offering?- You are so humorous, is your head alright? - Oh no, Granpa Vesta is angry, this is a big deal! Since the thread voted to start Siwang as wild and uninhibited, I chose the first option. The second option is the diplomatic, reserved one. Humorous? How do you mean? Well... it means to compliment you on your kindness and graciousness. (Granpa Vesta is angry? Seriously... Why don't I just look around the place?) A ham baba in its natural environment. Looks like a pile of pancakes to me, although it's probably some kind of bread stuffed with meat.  Is this the angry Grandpa Vesta? Should I worship him? Oh, oh, Grandpa Vesta! Thanksgiving, exclamation mark. (I feel an unusual power... how magical!) Ahhh!At this point a rat jumped out of a basket, I wasn't expecting it so I couldn't get a screenshot.  Wow! Scared the hell out of me, what a big rat! Eh? On the wall behind the pot, those handprints... Looks like a bunch of little rascals have been stealing food! Hmmm... could this be the truth of the matter? Grandpa Vesta, thank you very much!  She's still praying... So it's these brats! Waah! Spotted! Don't run! I'm not running! Not you! Stop! Come on! Don't let him catch us! Let's split up and meet at the rice field! OK! drat! I need to chase them! Maybe next time don't blurt out your secret rendezvous in front of the guy who's chasing you? These kids aren't very good at this whole escape thing. What are we going to steal next time? Stop right there! I've got you now, I won't let any of you get away! Incoming! Run! Everyone, scatter! Oh my god, they've got Siwang flanked! Those kids only scattered to surround him with a triangle formation! Like seriously, is Siwang going to have to engage in mortal combat against three scrawny kids?  In fact, now that I look closely at their models, they're beggars! They're dressed in patchwork rags, I thought they were just bored village kids! "Small Goldfish"?  "Puss"? They don't even have proper names! They're orphans who didn't have parents to name them!  "A Dog". Wow. You can't seriously expect Siwang to attack these kids! He's armed with Thunderbolt Bombs, for Grandpa Vesta's sake! The humanity!  Ouch! drat, it's a real life-or-death struggle over here!  Siwang triumphs on the field of battle. Congratulations, Siwang, I hope you're proud of yourself.  *sobs* please, spare us! We won't dare to steal food anymore... If you let us go, we'll give you a secret book, how about that? I can see that these children are very fast, they must have been instructed by a senior person, but they are not following the right path and are stealing the offerings of the Stove God. Friend Gui, do not let them off so easily!Look, Mr "Anonymous Member of the Duan Family", not all of us come from a noble family, OK? Some of us have to scrabble under rocks for our Inner Working sutras instead of just inheriting one. I notice you didn't join Siwang while he was fighting for his life! It's not really his fault, the game has just coded this fight as a duel which means companions are excluded. But it's funny to imagine Duan Siping just watching from the sidelines as Siwang is getting beat up by three kids. If we do as Duan Siping suggests, we gain righteousness. It is indeed our fault for stealing Aunt Fu's food, but that's because even if we beg all day long, we might not even get a scrap of food... I don't care what your reasons are, stealing is wrong, you will be punished by the villagers! *sobs* I'm so sorry... It was just a bit of food... now we won't even have a place to sleep... It's too late for regrets! Reflect on your own behaviour! Young man, have you figured out why Grandpa Vesta is angry? Auntie, your food was not taken by the God of the Kitchen... Actually, it was the three beggars in the village that stole your food and ate it. What? It must be Dog and the others? drat, the village can't allow them to stay here anymore! Young man, take this ham baba. Oh, this ham baba is really something. Auntie, your ham baba smells so good, why don't you teach me how to make it? Haha, young man, I like you, so I'll teach you my best ham baba recipe! Great, thank you, auntie! (The three beggars were expelled from the village by the angry villagers. No one knew where they went, nor did anyone care.)Well, that sure was a heck of a righteous choice there. In fact, this is the first time I'm seeing this choice, because who plays a wuxia RPG and turns down a bribe of a martial arts book? Let's load a previous save and disregard Duan Siping.  Letting the beggars off is an evil choice, and Duan Siping disapproves. Brother Gui... Well, what good things do you have on you? Don't lie to me. Don't look down on me! This is the secret book of Wild Goose Walk, given to me by a senior beggar. Look at how fast I was running, it's because I've practiced this book... I'm still learning, you won't be able to catch me when I've mastered it! Oh? A Qinggong technique? I'm warning you, if you're lying to me, I'll beat you to death! Don't act all righteous at us, you're just an ordinary guy whose eyes light up when they see something good. Let's go, sisters... Young man, have you figured out why Grandpa Vesta is angry? (I promised the three kids not to say anything, they might just be kids, but I should still keep my promise.) Well... the Kitchen God said that your cooking is so delicious, he can't help but eat it all. I see, with my cooking skills, it's only natural that Grandpa Vesta would like to eat it. ... You're right.Aunt Foo also teaches us the ham baba recipe here. (From then on, Foo Ah Chui continued to pay her respects to the Kitchen God, and the little beggars, having ignored your lesson, continued to steal her food...) The Wild Goose Movement technique gives a temporary boost in Qinggong when used in combat, which lets you move a little further per AP spent and increases your initiative. The passive nodes also boost Qinggong. I like to imagine that the secret is to flap your arms when you run, generating lift. The capstone technique "A Thousand Miles without a Trace" simply improves the base techique to give 20 points of Qinggong instead of 10.  Siwang can now cook ham baba with pork and flour from the crafting tab. It gives a 3pt boost to Blade for 24 hours.  Moving on, there's a new guy staying at the inn's dining room. Dammit, who stole my longsword? If I find him, I'll skin him to death!  - It's just a sword, why not just find another one? - The sword is here, the man is here, The sword is dead, the man is dead, Kill yourself. That was sudden. It must be some kind of traditional saying or something. Ahhh! Don't, don't! I beg you two, please be merciful, this small business of mine can't afford to have you smash things here. Well, for the sake of the innkeeper, I'll let you off. Tch, rear end in a top hat. I have better things to worry about, so go away.He dropped the longsword when drunk one night and wants us to help find it.  There's also some stuff in the inn. This is worth 1500 money, but it's not worth the hit to righteousness, especially since we've been doing evil stuff lately.  Someone dropped a book here.  It's good to meet someone as civic-minded as me, who likes to help people pick up... hmm? The Songfeng Sword Scores?Don't you hate it when you leave a hotel and realize you've left something behind? It's even worse when it's a secret sword technique of your sect. Songfeng Sword is a fairly standard sword technique, Duan Siping might benefit from it eventually.  Siwang visits the blacksmith. Lush here gives us a brief rundown on different types of ore before offering to trade black iron (rare) for iron or copper (not rare). Naturally Siwang accepts.  The blacksmith recently got robbed. The thief escaped, but dropped their loot in the process. The problem is, the loot is a sutra for a family fist technique and now there are three pages missing.  Siwang tries to forge a fist weapon, but realizes he doesn't have any leather on hand. It will have to wait.  Pictured here is Duan Siping's sword. "The Ancestral Sword of the Duan Family is dignified and solemn in form, revealing a sense of kingship."  All companions begin with a yellow-rarity weapon which can be upgraded once to end-game levels of damage. You can be sure I'll be keeping an eye out for Cold Iron and Red Copper.  The blacksmith's wife is looking for some Boar Yellow. I think this means bile? Her daughter is sick and needs medicine.  At this point, we've explored most of the village, but there's one more farm on the outskirts to the south. On the way there, Siwang picks up a snake. Ouch! There's an angry bull and some distressed farmers.  Yes, the bull's eyes are filled with anger... hey, not at me, I didn't mess with you! (This bull has scars on its horns... Where did it get these?) (The farmer won't let me touch his bull, I'll have to come back at night.) There's also a kid who was supposed to pick bamboo shoots but skived off and wants Siwang to help get them. Thanks for the pocket money, kiddo.   Are you like my uncle, have no job to do?Hey! Siwang is a wuxia protagonist, he only looks unemployed! And is that your uncle in the background? He looks non-generic!   Ah, a new face. How rare. Hello, my name is Luo and this is my home. Where are you from? Well, how should I put it... Ah, how rude of me. Naturally as a wanderer you must be reluctant to reveal your origins to people freely. Well, what about you? Are you a hunter? Well, ahahaha... I see, I see. Naturally you must be reluctant to reveal your origins to a wanderer freely. Hahaha... Ahahaha... (What's with this guy? Is he with that pack of fools from Fuxian Academy?) Nevermind then. Goodbye. Wait! It's just that I see you walk lightly, and have a weapon, would you care to spar with me?Luo Yuanyu is much more of a pushover than the three beggar kids. Although that's probably only because of the Thunderbolt, I remember losing this fight on my first normal difficulty playthrough.  I lost, huh? As expected... (This person seems to be quite interesting, he lost and yet doesn't seem to mind.) Hey you... oh no, I still don't know your name! Gui Siwang at your service. And you? Hahaha, my name is Luo Yuanyu. And to be honest with you, I didn't answer when you asked me what I did, because I'm not really doing anything, haha! Haha... haha.. huh? We are each but a drop in the ocean of this world, and in the sight of heaven the life of a man is over in the blink of an eye. I've always wanted to go out into the world and see many things. If you don't mind, why don't we go together? We can take care of each other on the road as we cross the rivers and lakes, the Jianghu. Alright, sure. Let's go! A third companion! Luo Yuanyu is a Quick Spearsman. Well, actually he starts with a staff and bonks people with it. They aren't really distinct weapons by Chinese standards, they're both long pieces of wood. Unlike Duan Siping, who came with pretty much no equipment other than his ancestral sword, Yuanyu comes with a nice accessory that restores 6% internal energy per round, just like the Secrets of Righteousness Inner Working.  I will probably take him down to the bottom of the Quick talent tree before filling in the sides.  His staff art "Nocturnal Quest for the Sea" consumes a lot of internal energy to deal merely average damage, but it is a point blank AOE. Quite the sausage fest we have going on here. There is one more easily-recruited companion, but she is far away to the north. Should Siwang take a short trip north to meet her, or should he stay and deal with the snake cave first? Please vote: -Go north, recruit her, fast travel back -Stay in Gongshi village sandorius fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Feb 11, 2023 |
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Feb 9, 2023 18:36
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North is the place to be.
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Feb 9, 2023 19:16
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quote:I'm fairly certain this is some kind of bawdy pun, but alas, I lack the insight to translate it properly. How about "surrounded by chicks"  quote:"Ambush Domestic Chicken" It's so silly. I love it  quote:Ah, a suspicious pickle stone. No, I don't know what a pickle stone is. Also i can't help but read Duan Simping. Internet damage  Go north! Unless we can recruit some snakes instead...
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Feb 9, 2023 20:21
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Go North. Also, in a game like this you'd expect the best option to the kids stealing food issue to be some kind of middle ground between letting them off or ratting them out, but given how tough the "good" option here was I'm almost surprised it wasn't to have them executed.
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Feb 9, 2023 22:32
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Sum Gai posted:
Executing them would be a waste of effort, they're likely to die of exposure anyway. I like the contrast between kicking out the hungry beggars, and having the protagonist and Aunt Foo discuss the ham baba recipe. Fine dining while others starve, a bit cliched, but it works.
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Feb 11, 2023 16:11
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Update 7: A Short Detour North (I have slightly increased the resolution of the screenshots from ~900px to ~1440px, please let me know if it breaks anything on your screen, and if you prefer the change.) It looks like a unanimous vote to head north and recruit a new companion! Companions do gain XP while not in your party, the problem is they do not start with a sutra equipped and will have only one or two techniques learned. So optimal gameplay demands that you recruit them, give them a book to read as homework and then dump them until you remember to come back and switch out their sutras. Speaking of character management, I take the chance to spend all my unassigned talent points before heading out.  Notably, Duan Siping gets "Managing complexity with simplicity", which increases a technique's power by 15% if used more than three times in a single battle. It keeps stacking up to a maximum of 100%, which is pretty good and will make Duan Siping a powerhouse in long battles as long as he keeps spamming the same skill. I like it, it's very in line with the theme of the Simple talent tree.  As we turn to leave, Yuanyu's niece interrupts us with a cutscene. Uncle, uncle, where are you going? Didn't you promise that no matter how my mother criticizes us, we'll go through it together? Hey, I'm going out on some business, and when I'm done I'll come back and play with you, alright? And then, I'll hire ten maidservants for her to be served, and she can read all she wants, and hey, if you want to go find a bird's nest or play with some crickets, I'll go with you!  Hey hey hey! What are you two whispering about, you think I can't hear you? Little brother, our parents died early and I raised you with my own two hands. Take care of yourself, don't go hungry or cold. Ten maidservants, tch! They are not as important as a single hair on your head. Yes yes, my dear sister. I'll be fine, look, I'll be with Brother Siwang. Brother Siwang promptly drags him off to fight some wolves. In fact, Luo Yuanyu has a distressing tendency to get targeted a lot because his point-blank AOE draws a lot of aggro. Luckily character death is not permanent on Hard difficulty.  An unidentified female body! The wilds of ancient China can be dangerous and full of beasts. But none so dangerous... as man himself!  A seriously injured man on the brink of death, who conveniently expires after imploring us to seek his comrade at a nearby caravan with the mysterious phrase "Fish... got away..." We do at least bury his body.  If you've been paying attention to the minimap, you may have noticed that Siwang is headed east, not north. There's something in this area I want to pick up first. In the meantime, have a picture of Siwang about to harvest a deer for its antlers.  Here is the caravan the seriously injured man wanted us to find. Can you guess which one is his comrade?  Yeah, it's the brown-vested guy sitting down in the background. The others are bona-fide merchants, but this guy is a secret agent for imperial tax collectors or something. He curses briefly, gives us 1000 money and asks us to report to his superior in Dayan Town, to the west.  To the south, a swamp filled with crocodiles, which are pretty chill and just laze around in the water.  Except for this red rear end in a top hat, who is presumably the miniboss for this swamp region. Luckily, encounters with wildlife normally have an "Escape from combat" button, so Siwang runs and avoids aggroing the "Lord of the Swamp" for now.  I thought there was a weapon around here, but apparently not. There is a 1000-year lingzhi growing on a fallen tree around here, so it's not entirely a wasted trip.  Siwang heads a bit to the north, on the other side of the river. Yep, wrong abandoned temple. This is what I was looking for, it's a good weapon for Luo Yuanyu at this stage of the game. It nearly doubles his damage.  There's also some poor guy who got stabbed to death by a blade inside the temple proper.  Despite Siwang not having the first clue on how to use it, I promptly equip it on him, for the aesthetic. In fact, I realize later that it's actively detrimental because blades weigh a lot and now he has slightly less movement to spare.  Siwang runs north and vacuums up all the herbs and ore he can find along the way. This includes an unfortunate centipede. Ouch! This is the Shijia Salt Estate, which is northeast of Gongshi Village. The gate looks very impressive until you realize it isn't attached to a wall. We're just here to register the horseman for future fast travel and continue on our journey north.  Luckily big bad wolves in Ancient China don't bite unless you press "E" near them.  To the north-north-east of Shijia Salt Estate, the Fancy Feast Hall. If we were here in daytime there would be a long queue of NPCs in this courtyard.  To the east of the Fancy Feast Hall, a bunch of ruffians camped near Relics of our Ancestors. That's a cave system which is empty during the day but gives off a strange spooky sensation.  Siwang takes the chance to buy some rare crafting materials from these guys. Coral Gold has a fantastic Hardness/Weight ratio and we can make good use of it later. He could have stolen another Coral Gold from the dumb kid in Gongshi Village, but hey, a man's gotta have standards.  If we enter Relics of our Ancestors during nighttime, we will be asked to leave by two guys in white clothes. Refusing to leave gets us attacked by an entire mob. Luckily these guys are pretty nice and do not actually kill us when we lose, they just dump us at the entrance with 1 HP remaining.  Siwang takes the beating philosophically and continues northwards. Crossing another river, he arrives at Zhangren Village, briefly talking to the horseman before moving on.  Further north, the First Fortune Winery. If we were here in the day, there would be a guy washing his feet in this pond because he hates the winery and they draw the water for the wine here.  An actual enemy we can fight! Siwang has been avoiding tigers and bears on the way here.  Finally, we arrive at our destination - the Tibetan Herb Shed.  It's... it's beautiful. Siwang goes briefly insane as he picks up every herb in the vicinity, which is a lot.  A mysterious cave with a green-glowing mist. Clearly poisonous, Siwang avoids it.  This is the lady we're here to find, Cheng Yanhua. Alas, we'll have to come back during business hours.  No... Jinpeng... don't abandon me... Crimson... I leave via horseman and follow up on some sidequests before coming back bright and early the next morning. Don't you hate it when you turn up for a doctor's appointment and the doctor's not there? Siwang passes the time by eavesdropping on the conversation between the mother and child in front of him.  What? You say that you saw with your own eyes your father and that lowly maid hugging each other? When did this happen, explain clearly! Well... after mother scolded father the last time, he took me shopping, and then he took me to a place with many pretty big sisters, called... I waited at the door. There were so many people there, I was scared, and I wanted to find father. And then I saw... What? What did you see? I saw him... and an elder brother... together. What? Where did this man come from? Wasn't he in a brothel? I don't know? The pretty sister brought me back to the door, and then when father came out he gave me a lot of candy and told me not to tell anyone. Arrgh... I'm going to faint! You bastard, I'm going to ask Doctor Chen to give me some arsenic to poison you with! Scum! The doctor finally arrives. Cheng Yanhua politely tells us to line up if we want a consultation, but since Siwang is a wuxia protagonist, he deftly sidesteps the queue by talking to the doctor directly, which triggers a cutscene. All the other doctors said that they could do nothing and advised me to prepare for my funeral. Great sir, please save me.  Indeed, looking at your illness, they are correct. There is nothing a common doctor could do to save you. Your condition is different and cannot be judged by common sense. Let me consider this... hmmm... mmm... There is a method I can use, the question is, can your body handle the weight of the medicine? The pills I intend to use are very powerful, and contain several types of heat. Doctor Chen, I have a family to feed, so I'll grit my teeth and endure. I can definitely get through, please help me! Very well. I'll take care of you for a while, and if your condition improves enough, I'll make up and administer the pills. Madam Cheng, please prepare a bed and take Uncle Shui there. Yes sir.  Doctor Chen, is it because of the sickness in Uncle Shui's body, that you look so preoccupied since you took him in? Alas, it is not the illness itself, but how he contracted it that concerns me. How so? The symptoms resemble a malady, but I fear they are the signs of a poison derived from the Tian Shui Poison Toad. Tian Shui Poison Toad? A rare and insidious species found only in a certain damp and unpleasant valley. Yet I do not believe any of Uncle Shui's family could have visited that valley. Therefore, he was deliberately poisoned. I happen to know a man who enjoys poisoning people. Indeed, he would practice his art not only on others, but even also himself. A malicious and jealous man, good at using poison to control the will of other people. He used to say, "It is no big thing to poison another to death. True skill lies in poisoning them such that they live on the verge, unable to die, unable to live, unable to escape!" How sinister! That man... could it be... your brother? You are a kind hearted woman, Madam Cheng, and this man's tactics and personality are far beyond your imagination. Please go back first. I have something to say to the little brother hiding behind that tree. Huh? Who, me? Little brother, you are a guest, I won't hurt you. Please come forward. In you, I see a shadow of my former self... (Hey, I'm a lot more handsome than you are! Don't project!) Therefore, I have a favour to ask of you, which will likewise be of great benefit to yourself. Since we are so alike, I know you will not refuse. What happens if I refuse?  Alas, as I have sworn not to kill again, I will simply let you leave. Although to keep you silent, I will chase you, and remove your tongue, blind your eyes, deafen your ears and cut off your hands, so that you do not speak of what you have heard here today. ... please don't say such terrible things in such a sorrowful tone of voice. To cure the Tian Shui Poison Toad poison, I will need some rare herbs from the cave to the north. Ordinarily, I would go myself, but as I suspect my younger brother is involved, it would be inconvenient for me to leave this place. Take this pill, it will protect you from the miasma that guards against trespassers. Doctor Chen also asks Siwang to collect some tiger bones and goat's blood. You may have difficulty picking the rare herbs correctly, so you may take Madam Cheng with you. Although her martial skills are poor, she has been practicing medicine for some time, and she has learned my unique harvesting techniques. I believe she may be of great use to you.  Siwang goes back to Cheng Yanhua's hut, where she is having dinner with her daughter.  Mother, Mr Chen treats us very well. He says that Mother needs to be nourished, and that we'll have good medicinal food for every meal. Eat more. Indeed, Doctor Chen is so kind to us, while your mother can do but little to repay him... Don't worry, Mother. I will also help with the patients that come for treatment, so Mother can have more time to study medicine too. Haha, what a clever and precocious child I have. Hehe. Lady Cheng, Doctor Chen sent me regarding the cave... Very well. Doctor Chen has already explained it to me. Cheng Yanhua joins the party!  Are you going into the cave with Mother? Please be careful and protect Mother, big brother!Don't worry, kid, Siwang isn't going anywhere near that cave for now.  Cheng Yanhua is a Soft Fist-user, although as Doctor Chen has pointed out, she isn't very good at fighting.  She has a terrible Qi score of 30 and a whopping 86 in Medical, as well as the healing and buffing techniques she comes with.  Soft is technically a tanking tree and the capstone technique "Four taels of gold" reflects damage taken if the special move procs. Normally, by the time Cheng Yanhua joins the party, she'll be too weak to contribute usefully to the frontline. This early on, I think she could develop into a passable tank. Next time on Ho Tu Lo Shu: We finally get around to saving that bear. sandorius fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Feb 11, 2023 |
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Feb 11, 2023 16:15
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Bear time  It's definitely easier to read this way, though still a bit small and blurry. Are you playing at a higher resolution? It would be best to play at the resolution you're going to post in, if possible.
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Feb 12, 2023 02:17
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Bearother needs our help!
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Feb 12, 2023 02:36
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Bringing the whole squad to rescue a bear bro is just how our protagonist rolls.
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Feb 12, 2023 02:48
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vilkacis posted:Bear time Oh my god. I've been playing at 1600x900 all this time and the text is so much clearer at 1920x1080. Thank you so much. I've put 100+ hours into this game and cursed the blurry text all the while.  1600x900  1920x1080
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Feb 13, 2023 13:48
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Update 8: Gongshi Village: Sidequesting 2 There's been only one thing on Siwang's mind since he saw the 4 hunters menancing a bear a few days back. He fast travels back to Gongshi Village with Cheng Yanhua in tow, triggers the bearhunter event, and confidently chooses to side with the bear. With the bear included his squad outnumbers the hunters 5 to 4.  If Siwang had chosen to help the hunters, they would have warned him of a dangerous man-eating bear in the mountains. But that was the road not taken, so... What's wrong with you, man? Animal cruelty is not allowed! Our squad immediately KO's one hunter and spreads out to distract the other hunters from focusing on the bear. Unfortunately, in doing so, Luo Yuanyu ends his turn a little too close to the bear, and the bear bites him. Ouch! Of the three hunters, two choose to target Luo Yuanyu and Duan Siping with their bows, and only one goes for the bear. Even so, the bear takes significant damage, and Cheng Yanhua moves in to try and heal the bear. Ouch! Look, bear, I helped you to get rid of that crowd! Hrrggh! Are... are you trying to eat me? You ungrateful beast!Hands up those who saw this coming a mile away.  Thankfully Cheng Yanhua is on top of things. Although severely wounded herself, she uses the Pill King God technique on Luo Yuanyu to heal him.  At this stage in the game it's pretty much a full heal. It costs 6 AP and she regenerates 6 AP per turn so she can do this all day as long as she stands still and doesn't run out of internal energy.  Want to eat me? You're a hundred years too early.Indeed, Siwang has been grinding sidequests while waiting for his appointment with Dr. Chen. (This bit of sidequesting was done before recruiting Cheng Yanhua while waiting for the doctor to wake up.)  Since Siwang is now slightly evil from siding with the three starving beggar children, Iron Crutch will talk to him now. How many times do I have to tell you this? Spread limedust in the wind, kick them in the crotch and then stick them in the eyes! Take them by surprise and... wait, someone's listening to us! Yo, that's a lot of moves! Hey, I know you, you're the new guy in the village! You're... you're not a good man! Haha, seems like we can be good friends then! Hahaha! My master was kicked out of Gongshi village many years ago and is not allowed to beg there. Pooh, it was only a few chickens, watching a few women bathe, some bags of food... these villagers are really narrow-minded! The way I heard it, master stole a chicken every day for a month. You know, this village is "no chicken left behind", and not to mention the peeking incident... Enough, enough! You really know how to expose master's bottom! Hey, young man, I'm telling you, any enemy of Gongshi Village is a friend of mine. You have my full support to continue harassing them.He then gives us a sutra containing dirty fighting techniques.  Hehe... not a local, and not a good-looking guy, I can finally get rid of the stuff I stole!I'm choosing to believe that Seven here meant that Siwang looked evil.  Luo Yuanyu chimes in if you talk to them while he is in the party. Yes, one is a cheat, and one is a thief, and one is unscrupulous, they are a perfect match. But on the other hand I helped them set up the fire and shed there, to prevent them from being disturbed at night. They have a habit of quietly burying the good things they get rather than leave them on their bodies, in the field on the left. Look around and see if you can find anything good.This nets us a chewed-on 1000-year lingzhi, which gives a little bit of Max HP at the cost of being slightly grossed out.  Siwang also went back to the angry bull with scars on its horns. He found the farmer's brother angrily confronting the bull. You beast, you actually swallowed my goodies in one gulp! Spit it out, dammit, that's the jade pendant I managed to steal and a whole packet of valuable medicine! ...! Who's there! Isn't this Uncle Man's precious Blackie? Are you trying to make it into beef sauce now? drat, you've seen too much. I'll have to kill you!This triggers a fairly easy duel, especially since Blackie joins in as an ally.  You... don't come over, what are you doing... I'll call someone! - Get out of this village, and stop trying to harm people! - Leave the money and I'll consider giving you a way out. - Haha, why not call your grandfather, you'll be meeting him soon. - Hmmm... it's hard to decide, what should I do? Siwang chose to let him go, so as to gain righteousness. I do intend to hold a vote on evilness/righteousness later once we are able to recruit our first evil-restricted companion, if necessary Siwang can just slaughter chickens and ascend to pure evil easily.  Farmer Man gives Siwang some food as a reward, but the real treasure lies here, in this pile of bullshit.  Very nice. I think Blitz in this case refers to Critical chance, and I think it works even if the equipping character doesn't have talent points in Hard. I hope Siwang washed it well.  Remember the guy in the inn who lost his sword? There was a monkey outside the inn when Siwang went back there. Hey, are you observing me? What a strange monkey.It then runs away and naturally Siwang gives chase.  The monkey scratches Siwang when he catches up, and Siwang could have killed both the monkey and the dumb kid to get the sword back. But Siwang is clearly an animal-lover at heart, and refrains from violence. It hurts... Why did you bite me, monkey? What did I do to the kid? Ugh, a monkey and a dumb kid... what do you mean by pointing over there? Do you want me to follow you? Please run slower this time, I'm all tired out from chasing you... The monkey leads Siwang to a bamboo grove with two injured monkeys. Siwang uses his medical skill to treat the sword wounds, when suddenly they are attacked by wild boars! While Siwang could have sided with the boars, they would have turned on him afterwards.  The monkey then gives Siwang the drunk's sword, as well as a hidden weapons sutra. Later, when Siwang returns the sword to the drunk, he learns that the drunk swordsman was slashing randomly at the monkeys and after injuring two of them, got his sword stolen.  The real reward isn't the money the drunk gives Siwang, but rather "Throwing at birds in the dense forest". Once Siwang learns the capstone technique, it will deal 208 base damage for 80 internal energy and 3 AP, which pretty much obsoletes "Meteor Throwing" at 130 base damage for 3 AP. It also has a slightly longer minimum/maximum range, and inflicts a small debuff as well. "Cave" value means seal, which decreases enemy AP regeneration. It won't really take effect until you stack it up to 30 or 40 points, though.  An overjoyed Siwang goes dancing on the haypile of herbs he was told to stay away from.  The cock wasn't abducted after all! He was hiding from the ladies in the haypile!   Gobble gobble! Coo! Waaah! There really was something inside the straw pile! Wait... doesn't that mean I was kicking it in the head repeatedly? Combat! Fear the King of the Roosters and his technique "The Great Rooster Pecking"!  Cluck cluck cluck! (God... I've actually... I've actually learned some amazing techniques from this large rooster.) Ugh, what am I doing...It's not too evident in the screenshot, but Siwang is bowing his head and giving a respectful open palm/closed fist salute to the rooster. The spar with the rooster has in fact increased his Qinggong. The rooster simply clucks and runs away.  The herb lady laments the loss of the rooster. You've scared away Saffron, now how can we grow strong herbs here? The herbs were so good because of the chicken fertilizer... It's not Siwang's problem and also Saffron left behind a nice feather that gives 6% chance to dodge. Thank you Master Saffron.  Now that the bear hunters have been dealt with, Siwang continues running southwest, taking out random wildlife and scattered banditry. It appears that the ominous red building on the map to the southwest of Gongshi Village is actually a bandit stronghold!  There are lots of bandits around but since they are bandits they aren't really patrolling the place, so it is trivial for Siwang to sneak in and rob the place. Actually there isn't really anything to rob except for some spare clothing, these are surprisingly poor bandits.  But hey it's been a while since Siwang got some new clothing. Sadly it doesn't prevent bandits from aggroing Siwang, it must be his heroic protagonist aura.  This is clearly a tiger skin throne, why is this place called the Leopard King Stronghold then? And he has "Loyalty" and "Righteousness" calligraphy on the walls as well, maybe he has a weird sense of humour?  Seen here, the entire bandit stronghold waking up and trying to kill Siwang. I have to load a save, these are Rank 25 bandits and Siwang and co are only around Rank 11. The Leopard King isn't even around, these are just ordinary mooks.  But there is something here for Siwang to do - rescue some hapless captives. Zhao An here is stuck in a cage and begs Siwang to rescue his sister.  If Siwang has already fought in the bandit camp, the sister will be dead and the quest will fail.  - Two grown men bullying a girl, shame on you! - Don't mind me, you guys continue. Siwang naturally takes the righteous choice and fights the two bandits. Even though Siwang's party outnumbers them 4 to 2, it is not an easy fight. Good prevails, and Siwang steals a key off a sleeping bandit to free Zhao An. I failed this quest on my first playthrough because I went in through the front door of the stronghold and killed all the bandits. Zhao An will still give the quest, but you will fail it on entering the indicated house. I'm glad I got it right this time.  On the way back to the village, Siwang meets and fights some guy who wrote him a letter of challenge the last time he slept at the village inn. This nets him a blade sutra, "Yellow Sand Blade".  An NPC conveniently labled "Book Thief" is rooting about the field outside the blacksmith's house. As you may recall, the blacksmith had been robbed, but his grandmother held on to the family fist sutra and the thief was only able to escape with three pages. Must be a pretty good sutra if it gives you that much finger strength.  I can't believe there's a random kid in the way! Don't think I can't handle you, even in the middle of the night!Siwang wins the duel easily, especially since the book thief is also a hidden weapon users and so Siwang doesn't have to waste AP running out of melee range.  The blacksmith thanks Siwang for his help and offers him a copy of the "Iron Sand Palm" sutra if he can find the three missing pages. There's one in the field, one on the roof and I think one more under some sacks of grain.  There isn't anything else to do at night in Gongshi Village, so Siwang heads northwest and finds a girl tending to an injured man on the banks of a small stream.  Sister, as I said, that guy Li Tan saved us not because of your beauty, but because he has other sinister plans for us. This is the first time you have left the mountains, you don't know what it's like outside. Don't trust anyone except Brother and Master, OK?  Don't exert yourself too much, Brother. I'll get you some red peony to stop the bleeding. That shameless Minister Dongchuan, not only did he ignore us when we warned him about Li Tan, but he then blamed us when he was robbed by Li Tan! I don't understand why Li Tan stopped the Minister's men and saved us, though. We've been chasing him for so long, wouldn't it be better for him if we got killed? I don't care what he's thinking, I would rather die than be saved by Li Tan! Before he left, Li Tan said, "Heroes are not always heroes, and thieves are not always thieves, so even a thief can be a hero sometimes." What did he mean? Is he a good guy now even though he stole from someone? Ah, Brother, your wound has opened up again! We should find a better place for you to rest and heal. (Hmmm? This man seems to be badly hurt, I have some medicine on me, should I give it to him?) Ah, thank you very much. Little sister! You have little experience in the martial arts world, you don't know if this man is an enemy or friend! What if this is poison? I see... Brother is right. Thank you, kind sir, please take back your medicine, we can handle this ourselves.Look, the bandit costume is loot, OK? Siwang isn't actually a bandit... hey, are you listening? Stop backing away!  Slightly peeved at the discrimination faced by people wearing eyepatches and spiky shoulders, Siwang continues northwards and finds a posse of guards looking for someone. Strange, he has disappeared, can this old man use magic? There are three guards actually searching and one standing idle in the middle of the road. Clearly, he must be the one in charge, so Siwang asks him who they are looking for. Hmmph. That old man gambled with a few of our brothers in dice, and dared to go back on his word after losing. I can't believe that old man is still so spry! He disappeared after losing in the blink of an eye. When we find him, I'll make sure he gets a good beating! Brother Siwang, it sounds like this old man has hidden depths, let's go look for him. The old man in question is down here by the riverbank. Hey old man, aren't you a little too old to be playing hide-and-seek? Shhh! Be quiet. Now that Siwang has found the old man in question, he can go back and talk to the head guard. But what does he say? Please vote: - Help the guards, tell them the old man is hiding behind a bush on the riverbank. - Help the old man, tell them the old barker ran east along the road. - Ignore the situation and claim not to have seen the old man.
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Feb 13, 2023 13:58
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