Let's Play: Heroes of Jin Yong! (Update VI: 5/12)

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Yes. Some skills are just better. I suppose it's easier to figure out for people who've read the novels, since there are skills and characters that are really hyped up in the book, and the game gives them corresponding power.

The experience you get from skills should be scaled to your opponents level. Beating up on stronger opponents seem to let me level my skills faster. Still, with baseball fist hours of grinding are required. It really isn't worth it unless you stick with it up to level 10, and then you can one-shot most bosses. But I don't think the time investment is warranted. You can get tons of skills that perform better at mid-level range, and if you're going the tranny route, the techniques you pick up are enough to let you dominate the late game anyway.

I don't think so, I thought the stats were only applied once when you learn the skill initially from the manual.

I figure surprise weapons only seem good in the beginning because baseball fist's initial base damage sucks so much. Any decent skill should outdamage it once you get up to level 4 or so. But poison is still useful against opponents above your level. Only use it against foes that outclass you, like so many sneaky rogues in martial arts novels?

降龍十八掌: second best attack skill you can learn just behind your own baseball punch.
太玄經: good damage, good area attack
獨孤九劍: not sure if the main character can learn this but damage, area and range is awesome
玄鐵劍法: good damage and good range, easy to get, needs high IQ
太極劍法: good damage, easy to get
太極拳經: good damage, easy to get
九陽真經: good damage, great stat gains, good AOE, easy to get
北冥神功: the best of the 3 energy absorbing skills, easy to get
六脈神劍劍譜: the best single line attack skill, great damage, great range, easy to get
霹靂刀法: good damage, good range, good AOE, blade skill, easy to get (you just buy it from the shop guy from the inn inside the snowy region)
There are also alot of manual for stat gains but I'm just running off memory.

There are alot of other more interesting skills that only NPCs have that you cant learn (available through the editor though) for example 東方不敗's moves and Lions roar...etc.

To easily level up the Wild Ball Fist:
1. Don't learn anything.
2. Get your stats up higher with Lightweight Skill manuals.
3. Have Tian Boguang in your party
4. Talk to Ping Yizhi - he will attack you b/c Tian raped his daughter.
5. Fight him using only yourself.
6. Use the auto. Leave it on until you win - Ping's a healer, which means his attack sucks. It also means that he'll heal the mostly small amounts of damage you do to him, which means more free hits to allow you to level up Wild Ball Fist.

Damn, I wish I had known that tactic earlier... turns out I ran into PYZ already and killed the sucker. Oh well.

I am finding that a lot of quests involve training a suck character like Hu Fei or the Lin kid and grinding them to the point where they can beat a high level opponent alone. I guess Hu fei might be there in about 10 more levels. :p

But the Lin kid would have to take out the entire Qingcheng sect (bos + 6 or 7 minor fighters) alone, and he sucks soooo much right now...

I've got to get myself some of those nice kungfu manuals Kitsune mentioned above. THen the grind will be more satisfying.

I believe finishing Lin Pingzhi's quest will get you the 辟邪剑谱, which is a sword-based spin-off of the Sunflower Manual.

I tihnk technically, the only ones you really have to grind are Hu Fei and Linghu Chong. But both of them are fairly intelligent, and Linghu Chong comes with the best straightsword manual in the game that doesn't require you to eunuchy-snip-snip yourself (though I think he's the only one that can learn it).

Lin's quest can be sidestepped entirely. Did you talk to everyone when you beat the Qingcheng Clan the first time? You only get the Bi Xie Jian Pu if you talk to this one guy.

Whoa, really? I need to go back and have another look then. I think I just talked to the sect leader, but didn't talk to every dude in the courtyard... I assumed they'd just say "... ... ..." like the one's I spoke to.

Lin Pingzhi is a total puss, and he has to fight the head of that sect as well as like 6 other flunkies, all by himself (!) in order to win the quest. And if he loses then I die.

At least with the Hu Fei vs Feng the Hmong (?) nothing happens when Hu Fei loses; he gets as many chances as he wants.


If you want a strategy guide that tells you where literally EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is, check out the threads sticked at the top of this forum:

http://www.flymood.com/bbs/b/b.asp?B=2

I've been trying not to spoil the whole game for myself, so I don't want to look at it too much...

Maybe I should post there and invite them to come look at the first English walkthrough of this game?

Yeah, Hu Fei's solo fight is a toughie. I always give him the AOE blade skill you can buy from the Inn in the snowy region. For training, I usually just go against the tibetan monks because they are repeatable and after that, just continuously spar with Zhou Botong.

Is there any way to get Wei Xiaobao to go to the inn you want him to go to? Since there seems to be no actual game time outside of combat and the sequence of quest events, I can't figure if his appearance is based on real time, where you ran into him last, visits to other sites or what.

Im not really sure, ive never seen anything you can do to affect how he appears. Could be random.

Wei Xiaobao can be found at one of the five inns. It's random which one he's at, but he will change locations once you've talked to him.

Huh, didn't know that. You mean you just need to beat Qingcheng yourself, and after you've talked to that one guy, you'll get the manual when you talk to Lin Pingzhi again?

Heroes of Jin Yong Let’s Play – Part IV

Male Model Beatdown in the Snow!


When we last left Whitey, he had just kicked ass on a bunch of lamas, and rescued an unfortunate person who was their prisoner (but still refused to join our party- snob!). Whitey continues his journey northeast across the vast worldmap in search of Hu Fei, aka Fox Who Flies over the Snow.

A journey of a few days to the east brings us to a couple of odd-looking places:




The mountain on the right is apparently the domain of the Mt. Heng faction.




The punks at the gate refuse to let me in. I get an option to kick their asses, but decide to stay on task and deal with them later.




The big dome thing is a tomb. As soon as I enter I realize that I am missing the key to this place. Oh well, later then.





A bit more wandering in a general easterly direction brings me to Mt. Leigu (sp?) where this guy is puzzling over a Go chess problem. He says this problem was invented by his master, who is now dead. He believes that his master will reward the person who can solve it, even if he has to do so from the underworld!

WHITEY: Regrettably this youngster’s go skills are lackluster, otherwise I would give it a try.

(Yes, he really does talk like this in Chinese here… Why is Whitey being so polite to this jackass anyway?)

So anyway, Whitey keeps heading east and north, east and north, until one day…



Snow! Finally! We must be close!




This place looks nice and homely. It’s an Inn.




“In this frigid snowy wilderness, the Spacious Inn provides you with a comfortable place to rest. Rooms: 40”


Other than the snow, it looks like any other inn; bunch of losers sitting around yapping, Inn attendant in exactly the same place, etc. These guys are chatting about a hunter who lives around here somewhere known as the Raptor in the Snow. Nope, that’s not the guy I’m looking for…





The inn attendant tells me what I want to know: the location of both the Northern Clown and Hu Fei! Hu Fei is to the Northeast, and the Clown is to the Northwest. He also warns me that there have been some rumors about “snow monsters” (yetis?) in the area.

(You’ll recall from LP 2 that the Northern Clown is like the insane and naughty counterpart to the Southern Worthy; he dispenses info and hints, but has a more chaotic temperament apparently).

The other table of dudes is chatting about Hu Fei, and they mention that his “light body skill” is good, but his swordsmanship with the sabre is mediocre. Good to know…


After walking for a bit to the east, I come across this little cabin in the woods. ..



“Hu Fei’s residence” –Excellent! Time to talk to this guy and get the first of the 14 “celestial books” that I need to win the game (each of which is named after a novel written by Jin Yong).




This must be the guy. Do I detect a whiff of the weeabo about this fellow?




Hu Fei: Well now, young brother, what counsel hast thou for me, that hast brought thee to this frigid and snowy place?

[OK, I guess he isn’t drawn like a manga character after all. However, he does look like a Chinese version of Derek Zoolander, with his stubble and sunken cheeks. Looks like a WUSS, as a matter of fact.]


I heard of elder brother’s nickname “The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain”, of his unfathomably miraculous swordsmanship, and his “light body skill” that is agile like unto a fox that sores upon the firmament.

[OK, I will stop translating their dialogue as Lord British speak; I just wanted you to understand that about 50% of the time the dialogues are in this sort of pseudo-archaic martial arts novel-speak]

Hu Fei: I bet you have come here to test my kung fu! Well then, make your move!”

Whitey: No, that’s not true! I came to ask you about the location of a book.

Hu Fei: Hmph! Another crazy young man has come in search of The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain! Well, enough of your nonsense, make your move! Come on then, If you want to study the “Hu family sabre technique” from me!



Do you wish to face off against him? Y/N

[You asked for it, you little stubbly faced male model-looking bitch!]








Whitey is forced to take him on alone. No worries, though, it’s nothing a bit of poison and a couple of surprise weapons can’t handle! The dudes in the bar were right, he’s a quick little bugger, but he can’t fight for s$#t. Hu Fei drops!

[Probably shouldn't have wasted my surprise weapons on this puss, but who knew he'd suck so much?]



Whitey: The world-renowned “Hu family sabre technique” is no better than this? It seems that your reputation in jianghu is exaggerated!

Hu Fei: Shut your mouth! If the sabre manual that I inherited were not incomplete, you wouldn’t be able to go ten passes with me!

[Does Hu need to get slapped down again?]

Whitey: Your sabre manual is incomplete? You’re saying that you practice an incomplete version of the Hu Family sabre technique?

Hu Fei: That’s right. Once I have recovered the lost sabre manual, we shall have a rematch!

Whitey: Well then, elder brother Hu, do you know where the book The Flying Fox on Snowy Mountain can be found?

Hu explains that it is merely a coincidence that his name and nickname are similar to the title of this book, which has brought a number of people from martial arts society to his doorstep. I suppose that if I want to get anywhere else with this guy I’ll need to find the missing pages from his sabre manual and maybe kick his ass again.




A bit of wandering to the northwest brings me to this odd looking tent out in the middle of nowhere. Could it be…




“Northern Clown’s Residence”

Yes! Time to see what this guy has to tell me…





That’s a pretty posh yurt this clown lives in. Almost like… a circus tent?! I think he’s made up to look like the Monkey King role in Peking Opera or something. He seems to move and act like an ape anyway.



Northern Clown: Young man, have you come to this frigid snowy wilderness to seek the truth from me, “Li the Clown”?

Whitey says something to himself that disparages the clown, and the clown is able to guess what he is thinking. Amazing! Anyway…

Whitey: Do you really understand many things? Do you know even more than the “Southern Worthy”?

Northern Clown: “Southern Worthy”? All that that old geezer knows is basic knowledge that even a three year old knows. So don’t waste your knowledge fruits, bringing them to me is a bit more worthwhile!



Aha! Another use for my knowledge fruits!


In the following episodes: Lamas get their payback (or was it just a dream?); Spiders! Muslims! Sword-wielding dudes in dorky hats! We sail the high seas! Whitey grinds on an old Lady! (But she likes it!)

Stay tuned...

I've always liked the protagonist's trash-talking attitude. Can't say most of the stuck-up asses you meet don't deserve it and a good fisting to boot.

Though of course there're times where he is unnaturally respectful. Schizophrenia.

Yeah, that's a gripe I have about the game. No dialogue trees, and the game just sort of randomly choses who you are going to pick a fight with, and who you will chat benignly with. The only meaningful choices you can make with consequences I think are making yourself evil before talking to people, having certain people in your party, or maybe doing quest events in one sequence as opposed to another.

I need to speed up the LP a bit, this is going too slow. I've played a ton more than I've covered, and I need to get back to speed...

Also, Heroes of Jin Yong avatars are available now! Get yours quick before some spammertard steals teh good ones!

By the way, do you remember the empty cave with a Go desk in 2nd page? Now that you know the Mt Leigu's Go chess problem, why not return to the cave to see whether anyting change? I suspect now that you know it, you will present the problem there and someone will solve it for you...

Purely guesswork, of course. It could be that the cave is for other quests.

Yeah, I did go there but nothing turned up. I will check in every now and then to see if anything else happens there.

Need... more... updates... arrrrrrg.

After you beat Qingcheng the first time (usually with Tian Boguang and Duan Yu; occasionaly with Hu Fei), you technically don't have to do anything other than tell Lin that his parents are dead. However, if you want to get the Bi Xie, then you have to talk to the guy in the upper left part of the courtyard immediately afterwards, then talk to Lin. If you leave Qingcheng and come back, the guy doesn't say anything.

Basically, if you didn't read the guide, you wouldn't know how to get the Bi Xie. But you don't need the Bi Xie, nor do you need to take Lin to avenge his parents to finish the game.

Yeah, I found out about that too late, so no fancy "Evil Vanquishing Sword Technique" for me. Fuck this shit, I'm gonna grind up baseball fist and destroy everything as revenge for this.

I just wish I could get rid of Hu already and concentrate on grind up the characters I plan on keeping.

Also, update coming very soon.

Northern Clown: “Do you see that crystal ball on the table? When you’re not busy, just touch it, and see something you would never imagine!”



Uh…. OK man. Whatever you say.



“Your Reputation Score is 5”

Ugh, looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me right now. No doubt kicking some random ass will bring this up.

Anyway, time to feed the clown some fruits! Let’s see what he has to say…

Northern Clown: “Just how substantial is morality? Don’t listen to Southern Worthy, with his mouth all full of morality. Just imagine, if you were unwilling to take precious items from chests in order to avoid lowering your morality score, would you be able to get through difficult situations? There is no such thing as a saint in this world; what is important is that you simply manage to get by in jiang hu*; “playing” is your goal. So go ahead and crack open some chests; at the very most you’ll just have to do a few good deeds and make up for it.”

I must say, I am starting to like this clown… not only does he advise me to be a bad boy, he’s also quite the meta-gamer!

OK, open wide for some more fruits, clown!

Northern Clown: The most important thing for a person who learns martial arts is “aptitude”. Someone with good aptitude will get twice the results for half the effort, conversely one who’s aptitude is bad will get half the results for twice the effort. So if you learn that your aptitude is no good, I recommend that you not bother to try to survive in martial arts society; you’d be better off dying and reincarnating as soon as possible. (Northern Clown explains that you can get a general idea of your aptitude by comparing what martial arts manuals you and an NPC of like experience level can use)

Northern Clown: “Let me tell you a great secret: There are three hidden treasure caches in martial arts society! The first can be found in Rui Lai inn! “

Well, I’ve had enough chatting with the clown for now. Time to be off for some more exploring!



A little ways off to the north and east I come a cabin on a mountain top…



“Snow Eagle Cliff”
You’ll recall, the guys back at the bar were talking about this “Snow Eagle” guy; supposedly he’s a badass, and a nasty individual too.



No one is at home, so I get to looting. I find some raw medicinasl and some drugs (drugs are everywhere in this game!) and also some rabbit meat. WTF?




Anyway, I don’t find much else in the great white northeast, so I head back west to check out some of the stuff I passed on my way over there. In the desert I come across a cave in some sand dunes!



“Cave”
Hmm, lots of bones piled at the entrance to this one... maybe there’s fun to be had in here.




Gah, that’s a big friggin spider!

Whitey: “Looks like I’ve walked into a nest of spider demons.”




Luckily my man Tian Boguang has got my back for this one. The spiders get hacked up into little spider bits. Tian levels up!




Oh boy, a chest. It looks like a soldier’s footlocker. Anyway, I don’t have a screenshot that tells me what was in it. Probably drugs though!


More spiders die (sorry no SS for some reason)… found more loot…
“You found some Murky Ice Jade Fire Wine” Yeah! Murky Ice Jade Fire Wine! Aweso… uh, what is this stuff for? Never mind, I am sure it will come in handy at some random and totally unexpected point in the game.


Woot, loot!


“You got the Yellow Sand Ten Thousand-League Whip Technique [Manual]!” OK, a Kungfu manual for whip wielders. I can’t use it, neither can Tian. I guess this is meant for an NPC that uses whips… or truncheons. The Chinese word can mean either thing. Need more context…




Feeling kind of weird about finding all of this strange stuff and not knowing what its good for, I decide to head west on the road to the south of here like a normal protagonist. After a little while I come across some tents out in the desert…




“Hui Nationality Tribe”
The Huis are a Chinese Muslim ethnic group. So far we’ve seen Han Chinese, Tibetans (?) (assuming the “lamas” I fought earlier were Tibetan and not Mongols or some other minority), Naughty Opera Clowns, giant spiders and now Hui. Quite the rainbow coalition of Chinese nationalities! Anyway…




So this young lady (yes, that’s a girl, her name is Huo Qingtong) explains that recently the tribe’s antique Koran, which they received from Mecca(! ) was recently stolen from them by the Golden Wheel Dharma Master during her father’s prolonged absence. Apparently the Dharma Master is planning on presenting it to the imperial court so it can be used as collateral to control the Muslims… OK. The tribe has tried a few times to get it back, but the Dharma King is just too powerful for them. Anyway, if I can get their Koran back, they’ll reward me. And a tribesman assures me that Allah will protect me as well.



A little ways to the west, and up a road to the north I find the Golden Wheel Temple!



Another flock of lamas is at the gate. Anyway I march right on in and have a word with Mr. Dharma King. Harsh words must have been exchanged, because before I know what’s happening, I’m fighting another gang of lamas, led by the King himself!


Piece of cake! These lamas fall over like bowling pins to Tian’s Raging Wind Sabre Technique. (Actually, Raging Wind Sabre is a pretty sucky technique, but I only come to realize this much later on… anyway, it’s good enough for these losers.) Looks like another cake walk for the dynamic duo.


Wait! LOOK OUT WHITEY, BEHIND YOU! THE OLD MAN!


The old bastard nuked us! 5x5 area of affect for ~300 damage each! WTF?


“2010/3/11
Somewhere on earth, the number of local missing people increases by one…”

This is a missing persons’ report for Whitey, who must have been kidnapped by SoftWorld since his parents didn’t find his corpse next to his computer.



*snort* *yawn* Whuh? I must have fallen asleep outside this temple. God, what a horrible dream! Maybe I’d better stay away from this place for now… the dream must be a warning of some kind.





A bit more random wandering brings me to a large land mass cut off from the north and the south (where I started out) by two large rivers. As I head south into this large area, I come across this cheerful looking place in the middle of a forest.


It turns out this is the headquarters of the Qingcheng sect! These are the people who wiped out Lin Pingzhi’s family and kidnapped his father. For whatever reason, Whitey decides to give them a hard time about this, and calls them out!


A handful of these suckers is no match for me and Tian! Whitey also levels up his “Iron Palm” skill a bit.



After a few more levels I realize that this is another trash style of kungfu that isn’t worth learning. Oh well, I guess there’s always baseball fist!

Whitey: “Well to me the ‘Dashing heroes, the four excellencies of Qingcheng’ that everyone in jianghu talks about look more like ‘Cowardly black bears and wild pigs, the four beasts of Qingcheng!’”

OOOohhhh…. Tsssst! Burn!!!! You tell those bitches, Whitey!



Qingcheng Wuss: “Just you wait and see how our master deals with you!”



Right-o. Time to head into the main hall and beat down some more dorks with stupid hats.

Hmm, this guy doesn’t have a stupid hat. Maybe we should take him more seriously?



Whitey: “Hurry up release Mr. Lin Zhennan, or I’ll beat you ‘til your head is covered in knots. Spit it out, where is he?”

Turns out the sect leader already killed him after he refused to reveal the location of the “Evil Vanquishing Jian Manual”



Evil sect leader dude: “If you miss him so much, I’ll send you to go see him.”



Some fighting happens… [sorry, I didn’t get good screen shots, unfortunately. :blush:] One thing I have noticed by this point is that people who use straight sword techniques have the ability to attack through more than one enemy in a straight line from a distance. You can sort of see this guy zipping around in these screenshots. But not really. Anyway, sorry for the crappy screenies. :p


Evil sect leader dude: “Hmmph! Enough of your inane chatter! Kill me or maim me, as you wish!”


Whitey: Does it look like I’m someone who randomly kills people? [Why not dammit!?!! Kill! -MS] I’ll let Lin Pingzhi himself decide how to deal with you!”

And sadly, I leave without talking to everyone in the compound. Most of the green hat wearing guys have nothing to say to me, but according to a strategy guide, if I had spoken to one person in the courtyard he would have given me the “Vanquishing Evil Jian Manual”. What a bunch of bullshit.



When I go back to talk to Lin Pingzhi, he tells me something to the effect that no such manual even exists, that it is an oral kungfu tradition. Then later on you can talk to him and he will join your party. But if you take him to the Qingcheng sect, he has to fight the leader and five other guys all at once… a first level character with <50 hp!

Well, I’ll be damned if I grind this guy until he can actually win that battle. Forget it. I wonder if the quest line was broken here somehow, and crudely patched before release or something. Anyway, I’m sure some other badass kungfu will turn up.


Heading out from Lin’s place, I stumble across another residence. I wonder who lives here?




Looks like another boring house. I wonder if there is anything to loot in here…?


Whitey: That’s odd… why does my head feel so heavy…? Could I…




WHITEY! NOoooooo!!


And that ends today’s update. I’ll be sure to keep them coming faster, now that I have the hang of this LP business. Anyway, check in next time to find out just what happened to poor Whitey!

Search for a suitable character to auto-fight?

By the way, do you know Whitey's aptitude right now? In particular, low enough to go for the ambidexterity feat?

*cough*降龙十八掌*cough*

You can fight Granny Golden Flower at some island.

To check your ambidexterity, equip the Pine Wind Swordplay manual and see how much exp it takes you to gain a level. If 150, you can learn ambi. If 120, then there's a 1/15 (or was it 30?) that you can learn it. If 30, that means you're the smartest.

Pick up Zhang Wuji from the Kunlun cave (way in the Northwest). He gives you the 9 Yang manual, which deals really good AoE, as well as a medicine book that lets you make meds.