Welcome to what is my 3rd FAQ now. I am Bjan Mara, and I go by the on-line
name of psxfreak101, in case you hadn't noticed :-P
This is a character FAQ for the character Meng Huo of the Dynasty Warriors 3:
Xtreme Legends game. Yes, there is a character FAQ under the original Dynasty
Warriors 3 game for Meng Huo, but I felt it was important to create this one
for the Xtreme Legends game, mainly for the sake of his new musou mode here,
and his 5th weapon.
Also, it gives me an excuse to write something related to my favourite game of
all-time :-P
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Contents
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1.0 Version History
2.0 Why play as Meng Huo?
3.0 Encyclopaedia Entry
4.0 Unlocking Him
5.0 Moveset
6.0 Using Meng Huo
7.0 Weapons
8.0 Musou Mode Walkthrough
8.1 The Nanman Campaign
8.2 Assault on Cheng Du
8.3 The Battle At Chang Ban
8.4 The Battle At Yi Ling
8.5 Assault On The Wu Territory
8.6 The Siege of He Fei Castle
8.7 Battle of Ru Nan
9.0 Is This The End?
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1.0 Version History
--------------------
Version 1.0 Submitted 7/1/2006
For all intents and purposes, is complete, unless an error or 100
are spotted.
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2.0 Why play as Meng Huo?
--------------------------
Apart from being a playable officer in a game I like to regard as the greatest
thing since sliced bread, he's an absolute beast in this game. His musou attack
is far too destructive and effective for you not to like him :-P
This is direct from his Officer Bio in the DW3:XL game:
"The King of Nanman. He controlled lands south of Shu, and lead a rebellion
against them. He fought many times against Zhuge Liang, but was outwitted in
every encounter. He was captured seven times, and Zhuge Liang released him each
time. This impressed him so much that he agreed to serve Zhuge Liang and the
Shu Kingdom."
You would think after 3 or 4 failed attempts that the point would've come
across by then: You suck, he rocks :-P
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4.0 Unlocking Him
------------------
Well, this is one of the major joys of Dynasty Warriors 3:Xtreme Legends. As
opposed to the base game (which only has 9 officers available at the start),
3:XL unlocks all generals for free right from the word go. How great is that?
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5.0 Moveset
------------
A basic description of his moves. Then, it'll be followed by a preferred way
of playing. I'll also add the preferred name for the moves in brackets
afterwards.
T - Triangle, S - Square. C<number> - xth Charge, which is just the proper name.
SSSSSS (S-String) - Although semi-sluggish, covers a nice range in front of
him. However, he is very susceptible to attacks and
interruptions from behind because of the lack of an attack
that reaches behind.
Running Attack - I wouldn't bother with his running attack. He falls over at
the end of the attack, leaving him highly vulnerable.
T (C1) - A 360 crowd clearer. Like pratically all C1s, is probably more useful
in breaking officers that are guarding, and is also a bit sluggish
(again, like most C1s).
ST (C2) - A sluggish short launcher. I don't believe he can juggle into it.
SST (C3) - Shoots his gauntlets forwards, stunning any that aren't blocking.
For a slow attacking character this actually comes out reasonably
quick.
SSST (C4) - Flies forward in a body splash-like manoeuvre. Not worth it
considering the huge delay post-attack, leaving you WIDE open for
attack. Not to mention its poor coverage in any case.
SSSST(T) (C5) - A painful looking high launcher. For all intents and purposes
it is a stock-standard one. However, it does pack quite a punch
thanks to Meng Huo's strength.
SSSSST (C6) - A 360 ground slam. Probably his most powerful charge attack. It
can be blocked due to its sluggish speed, but that is not often
the case.
Musou - More of his C6 (the ground slamming), with huge destructive power.
True Musou - An added fire element and 3 quick ground slams prior to the final
smash. The fire element is a very welcome addition to his attack.
S on Horse - He swings his gauntlet on alternating sides. Considering that they
don't fly out in this attack, very short range.
T on Horse - His gauntlets fly out in front of him. Good for knocking over
people slightly in front of you. Otherwise, pretty meh like the
other horse attacks in this game.
Musou on Horse - Swings his arms around and around. About as effective as his S
horse attack.
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6.0 Using Meng Huo
-------------------
Well clearly his two abusable moves come in the form of his C6 and (especially)
his musou. The best way to destroy crowds left right and centre is to utilise
both moves in succession. A nice trick that can automatically add extra hits on
your musou is to use your C6. As soon as he's touched the ground (and
hopefully, prior to it actually connecting on anyone) cancel straight into your
musou attack. What happens here is that your musou gauge drops down the small
portion when you first press circle (as per normal), but will refill itself
thanks to the C6 which propagates soon after. When this is coupled with Meng's
4th weapon (section 7.0), you've got a fiery death for most involved :-)
The following is an item set-up I like to use with him:
Red Hare Saddle
Tortoise Amulet
Elixir
Peacock Urn
Shell Armour/Tiger Amulet
Of course, item set-ups are always relative to what stat items you have. If
your Elixir is only a +2, then it absolutely isn't worth equipping.
Now, normally I don't like using an entire slot for a saddle, but as it stands
Meng Huo's speed is horrendous at best. He needs a fast method to move around
the map, so using up a slot for Red Hare is worthwhile in my opinion. At the
same time though, it means a re-shuffle on his other equipped items, seeing
that he essentially has only 4 slots to fill.
The Tortoise Amulet and Elixir are always givens for my item set-ups, and here
the Peacock Urn gives Meng that huge boost in life, allowing him to survive
for longer (especially important when going after his 5th weapon).
For the last slot, what I choose is based on the stage I'm in. If it is an
archer-heavy stage, then the Shell Armour definitely goes on. Otherwise, the
Tiger Amulet is the way to go.
------------
7.0 Weapons
------------
The following is the 5 weapons that Meng Huo can equip himself with. Of
important note is that his 1st, 2nd and 3rd weapons can be found either in
crates throughout the stages, or from an officer upon their defeat. His 4th
weapon is obtained through a specific objective on a specific stage (explained
under its stats) and can ONLY be obtained on Hard difficulty. Likewise, his 5th
weapon is obtained through a specific objective on a specific stage and can
ONLY be obtained on Very Hard difficulty!
1st - Nanman Gauntlet
Attack +19
Max Hits: 4
2nd - Beast Gauntlet
Attack +34
Max Hits: 5
3rd - Beast Master
Attack +48
Max Hits: 6
4th - King of Beasts
Attack +48
Max Hits: 6
HP Max +88
Attack +27
Mounted Attack +54
Mounted Defense +54
Element - Fire
Element Activated On - SSSSST
Where to obtain it - Nanman Campaign, Nanman Forces, Original*
Requirements to get it - Defeat either:
- Ma Chao, Zhang Yi and Ma Dai
- Zhang Fei, Zhang Bao and Guan Xing
Where to locate weapon - Left half of the central area, next to the gate entry
point.
Strategies - Firstly, it is advised to go through about 5 of his musou mode
stages before attempting to get this weapon due to the 6 flag
difficulty put in place.
Now chances are you'll be defeating every general on show here
anyways, so you're likely to inadvertedly defeat either of those
sets of 3 to trigger the precious item report. My preferred set of
3 is Ma Chao and Co. in the east, mainly because it is easier to
reach.
So, head through to the eastern pathway and work your way through
it. Head to Ma Chao and Zhang Yi and defeat them (try and keep
them in one-on-one situations, you don't want to make this weapon
any harder than it already is). One thing you can abuse here is
the poison lakes. They hurt everybody, so if you lure either
officers to the poison lakes, that will mean less work required.
Once they are defeated, head towards Ma Dai and defeat him. The
HUGE con about being the commander on this stage is that everybody
will come after you once they are done with whatever they were
doing. This means you can very well see Zhao Yun (with Wang Ping),
Guan Xing and Li Hui all come after you while you're heading down
the eastern path. This may be painful, but it'd probably be best
to defeat them first before reaching Ma Dai and finally defeating
him.
Cue precious item report. Head to the item, collect it, SAVE, and
complete the stage as you see fit.
* - An important point. You can only access the Original stages if you have the
Dynasty Warriors 3 game and use the Load Original option on the main menu.
Once done, you are able to choose the Original stages, thus allowing you to
obtain Meng Huo's (and for that matter, everybody else's) 4th weapon.
Element - Lightning
Element Activates On - SSST (yes, that is as awkward as it sounds)
Where to obtain it - Assault On The Wu Territory
Requirements to get it - Defeat, in order, Lu Xun, Taishi Ci, Gan Ning, Lu Meng
Where to locate weapon - Right next to your starting position, near the
northern gate.
Strategies - It is definitely advised that you max out Meng Huo. If you've read
the walkthrough for this stage in my musou mode walkthrough
(section 8.5), then you'll know that this involves walking past a
couple of officers a few times (as opposed to the suggested method
in said section).
The first huge tip for this is to save often. Chances are you'll
be in red health for the majority of the battle, so you'll be on
the verge of defeat for most of the 30 minutes. Do not bother with
sub-officers in this instance (despite my insistence in the
walkthrough on taking down sub-officers). Sub-officers will only
waste your time in this, and you need as much time as you can get,
so just leave them all alone.
First, ride all the way through to Lu Xun in the north-east. If
you are knocked off Red Hare along the way, reset and try again.
Once you've reached Lu Xun, SAVE. This is going to be one helluva
battle. It's very possible that Zhu Huan (and possibly even Quan
Zong) will join the fight eventually, so try and make it quick.
SAVE again once you're back on Red Hare and ready to fly off to
your next destination (south-west fort). You may have to dispose
of Quan Zong first if he is there as well though.
Fly past Lu Meng again, and go past Gan Ning towards the
south-west fort (as per before, reset and try again if you get
knocked off Red Hare). Approaching it will bring about Taishi Ci's
ambush. SAVE once you've reached Taishi Ci, and prepare for
hellacious battle No.2 for this stage. Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng may
join the fight, and Han Dang and Jiang Qin will join the fight.
Upon Taishi Ci's defeat, at least Han Dang and Jiang Qin will run.
It may be best to defeat Zhuge Jin and Xu Sheng before continuing
on to your next target. SAVE as always.
Luckily, at this point there shouldn't be anymore interferences
from sub-officers now. So, head to Gan Ning and defeat him in
hellacious battle No.3. If you're lucky, he may be battling with
ally soldiers. If that's the case, then this is no longer a
hellacious battle :-(
Upon defeating Gan Ning, SAVE once again before heading off to
your final target for Meng Huo's 5th weapon.
Head towards Lu Meng. You probably won't need to save once you get
there as there shouldn't be anything to hinder your progress. One
piece of good news for this battle is that there is a 10-second
musou item in a crate nearby. This will help immensely in the
battle against Lu Meng.
Once Lu Meng is finally vanquished, you'll see the valuable item
report. Head straight to it. Collect, SAVE, and head towards Zhuge
Liang.
Considering the time constraints on this battle, your best bet is
probably to go kamikaze towards Zhuge Liang in his base. This
means you'll have to contend with him, his sub-officers Liao Hua
and Ma Su, and the archers/crossbows waiting in the area. This can
be painful, but try to work through it. Once Zhuge is down, you've
successfully earned yourself one of the tougher 5th weapons to
get. Yay!
As per the other Xtreme musou modes, these stages are not historical
depictions, but instead more of a "What if?" kind of thing. For Meng Huo's
musou mode, this is a twist to his battles with Zhuge Liang, having the tables
turned by having 7 battles in varying situations and terrains, where Meng Huo
is (obviously) the victor in each, leading to Zhuge Liang making terrible
excuses for each loss. This is probably my favourite musou mode out of the
Xtreme lot.
Important note, for every stage you will have more than one target. Obviously,
one will always be Zhuge Liang, but the other is specified under the conditions
(although you could probably work out who it is just by looking at the Unit
Info).
Remember, this is but one way to get the job done in each of these stages. Due
to the open-ended nature of the game you are quite free to finish each of the
stages in your own way. Feel free to rush straight to the commander(s) and kill
them off straight away, it is entirely up to you. This merely outlines the way
I like to play out the stages and don't have to be followed point for point.
Also, this walkthrough will only concern itself with defeating the enemy
officers and collecting Life+10 and Musou+10. Locations of items and weapons
can be found elsewhere on the net (or through general scrounging around the
stages), while health pick-ups can be produced from the following:
- Any pot next to a gate should have health
- Any guard captains will drop at least a +100 meat bun
- Any soldier comboed for at least 16 hits upon death can drop at least a +50
meat bun
Why the locations of the Life+10 and Musou+10 and not of items and weapons?
Just to aide in the maxing of stats really.
With all that said, on to the first stage:
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8.1 The Nanman Campaign
------------------------
Starting Position: Nanman HQ in the south-west.
First things first, isn't that the coolest movie-dealy thing? With the shooting
of his gauntlets into the bushes, blowing up that tiger in hiding?
Ahem... second important note is that the second target for victory in this
battle is Liu Bei.
In any case, head east at the start, disposing of Ma Chao (and his
sub-officer Ma Dai). Then head due-east and you should come across Guan Xing
near the bridge. Defeat him.
Cross the bridge and head north. Next to the Nanman gate in this central area
is a Musou+10. Collect it and then continue north. You should come across the
following officers before crossing the next bridge: Guan Suo, Wang Ping, Zhang
Bao. Defeat all three, then head across the bridge.
Once you've gone across the bridge, head north and follow the eastern path
south-bound. You'll come across Huang Quan and Chen Shi down there. Defeat
them, then head back north towards the gate directly right of the enemy HQ.
You'll meet (and defeat) Lei Tong there.
Now, head towards the entrance of the enemy HQ to find Yan Yan. Defeat him,
then cross the second bridge (counting from the west) into the central area.
There you'll find Shamoke. Once he's gone, head towards Meng Da and defeat him.
Then head towards the gate directly to the left of the enemy HQ. You'll find Fa
Zheng there, who you will (of course) defeat now. Then cross the bridge
directly to the west to find Wu Lan, who will suffer the same fate as all those
before him.
You can now head inside the enemy HQ (having defeated all of Liu Bei and Sun
Shang Xiang's sub-officers). There you'll find Liu Feng, Liu Bei and Sun Shang
Xiang. When you approach Liu Bei, an ambush party will appear in the enemy HQ.
Defeat all 3 generals, but try not to fight any of them together because that
will just make your job that much harder.
With the first required target eliminated, head down the western pathway. Once
across the first bridge (counting from the west) head down the western-most
path towards Ma Liang. Along the way, there'll be a Life+10 next to the Nanman
gate. Collect that, head towards Ma Liang, and defeat him.
This leaves Zhuge Liang all on his own. When you approach him, an ambush party
will appear. They consist of archers, so you'll possibly be in for a bit of
pain. Of course, once Zhuge Liang is eliminated, it won't matter so much as
the stage will have ended.
------------------------
8.2 Assault on Cheng Du
------------------------
Starting Position: Just past the forest, in the centre.
Important note, once again your second target for victory is Liu Bei.
The stage may not look all that flattering at first, but the huge important
note here is that while you're in the forest (the right half of the map) you
will not be able to see your on-screen map. That means for the most part you
will not be able to see where all the action is occurring (which'll become
important as the battle rages on).
Firstly, turn around and head round the bend towards the first pot you see. It
contains a Musou+10, which you should happily accept. Now turn around and head
back west. Along the way, you should meet Wu Lan (whom you will defeat) and
then Fa Zheng (who will also fall to your blade) near the western enemy gate.
Ma Su may approach you around there as well (he is slightly north of the
western gate). Close the gate while you're there, as it helps reduce the amount
of enemy fodder in the stage. As you approach the western walls, an ambush
(Zhao Yun with Ma Dai, and Pang Tong with Yan Yan) will appear near Zhu Rong's
position.
At this point you can head west, go past Zhuge Liang, and start heading along
the northern mountain pass. At the junction, take the more southern path as
this leads to a Life+10 and also Zhang Yi along the way. Once Zhang Yi is
defeated, head straight back to Zhuge Liang and defeat him.
Once he's out of the way, head straight for Zhu Rong (assuming she's still
alive and hasn't been squashed by Zhao Yun and co.). Once you enter the forest,
you'll have to do your best guess work to figure out where Ma Dai is, and then
check the pause screen map constantly to make sure you know where Zhao Yun is.
Defeat them both.
The bad news here in this stage is that during the course of the battle, Zhuge
Liang will send in some disguised troops (ie Shu soldiers dressed in Nanman
outfits). Eventually this will cause Wu Tugu and King Mulu to defect, possibly
leaving you and Zhu Rong in a 3-on-2 situation (4 if you count Pang Tong's sub
Yan Yan). Defeat them all. Unfortunately Wu Tugu and King Mulu only drop +100
meat buns :-(
At this point, Liu Bei will be the last man standing. Just head towards him in
the south-west and defeat him once again. Meng Huo 2, Zhuge Liang 0, Cheng Du
decimated :-D
----------------------------
8.3 The Battle of Chang Ban
----------------------------
Starting Position: South-east gate entry points.
For the 3rd stage in succession, Liu Bei is your second target for victory. A
little repetitive eh?
Anywho, head west through the pathway that Yan Yan starts on. Down that pathway
you'll probably come across Zhang Bao too. Slay them both. If you continue down
that path you'll come across a couple of pots, one of which contains a Musou+10.
Continue following the path due west, past Guan Yu. Chances are, his 2
sub-officers Chen Shi and Guan Ping are across the western bridge. If you wish
to defeat them first before handling Guan Yu, feel free to do so. In any case,
have Guan Yu defeated.
With Guan Yu defeated, start to head towards Liu Bei's position via the
western pathway. He should be facing off against King Mulu in the little
squared region at this point (assuming that King Mulu is still alive). Defeat
Liu Bei (along with his sub-officer Liu Feng) and collect the Life+10 nearby.
By now, Zhuge Liang will have called an all-out retreat. At this point, you'll
want to head towards Zhuge Liang's position from the south. Yes, that means
back-tracking the way you came, but I suggest this path for one reason: so that
at least you'll be approaching the enemy from the side of your allies (not that
you need them for the most part). Also, so you can defeat Ma Dai and Zhang Fei
without having to ride through hoards of enemy soldiers just to reach them.
You will note here that Zhang Fei has beefed up stats, so he will take a while
to defeat. On the other hand, Ma Dai may possibly have been defeated before you
even get there. If so, that's just one less officer to kill really. With Zhang
Fei out of the picture, you are now free to visit Zhuge Liang due north of your
position. You'll probably see Ma Su along the way, so defeat him if you wish.
Now you will come across possibly the BIGGEST ambush in DW history. When you
near the centre of that huge town-area, 7 (YES, 7!) officers will appear:
Wang Ping, Gao Xiang, Liu Hui (all sub-officers of Zhuge Liang), Zhang Yi, Li
Yan, Meng Da and Guan Xing. This is to go with Zhuge Liang, Ma Su (if you
haven't already defeated him) and Liao Hua who are already in the area. If you
think about it though, it could very well have been worse. All the officers
could've been playables instead of the generic types. Defeat them all. With
Zhuge Liang defeated, you produce a 2/2 record against the man!
--------------------------
8.4 The Battle at Yi Ling
--------------------------
Starting Position: Right in the centre.
First things first, Sun Quan is your second target for victory. Yes, that's
right! Liu Bei was finally killed off (along with the Shu kingdom) in the
previous battle. Also, Zhuge Liang became Wu's strategist. How's that for a
headline? :-D
To begin, defeat Zhu Huan and Cheng Pu, who are both in your vicinity. Zhuge
Jin will appear in the north-west when you defeat one of them. Head to the
north-west once you've defeated Zhu Huan and Cheng Pu, and find and defeat
Zhuge Jin's sub-officers (Sun Shao, Pan Zhang) and then defeat Zhuge Jin. Then
head for Zhu Ran and defeat him too.
Lu Xun will eventually arrive as reinforcements in the north-east. Head
straight for his position and defeat him (by the way, he has beefed up stats
here), along with Ding Feng who is around there too. Lu Xun will probably set
fire to the Nanman Camp before you reach him (a la original Yi Ling stage).
Once the fire attack occurs, Zhuge Liang will appear at the northern entrance
to the Valley of Stone Warriors. While you are in the north-east area, head to
the enemy gate where you can pick up a Life+10.
Start to head east, defeating Gan Ning (and his sub-officer Han Dang) and Sun
Quan's 4 sub-officers (Ling Tong, Xu Sheng, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin) as you see
them. Sun Quan will eventually approach. Defeat him too.
Then, ride past Zhuge Liang and head through the Valley of Stone Warriors in a
clockwise direction, until you reach the top-left corner. There, you'll pick up
your Musou+10. Ride back to Zhuge Liang and beat him into submission. Zhuge
Liang is clearly running out of excuses :-)
--------------------------------
8.5 Assault on the Wu Territory
--------------------------------
Starting Position: In the north, next to the Nanman gate.
This is a stage that you'll get to know, love and cherish when/if you decide to
get Meng Huo's 5th weapon. Well... maybe without the love and cherish part, but
the point is there. Secondary target here is Lu Xun. Yep, Sun Quan fell in the
previous battle.
This is probably one stage that you'll want to save after each officer defeat.
This is due to the fact that there are many crossbows in this stage, who sting
like hell.
To begin, there's only one direction you can head from the start. So, head down
the pathway pointing south. Just outside the closed gate, there is a Musou+10
awaiting. Collect it of course.
At the southern end of the path, you'll find Quan Zong (Lu Meng's only
sub-officer). Defeat him, then head towards Lu Meng in the camp to the east and
defeat him as well (make use of the 10 second musou item nearby if need be).
Continue north towards Lu Xun and his sub-officer Zhu Huan and defeat them both
as well. Be wary of the many crossbows hanging around Zhu Huan. This is where
you'll discover the first major wave of crossbows, so while you're defeating
Zhu Huan, you'll want to keep yourself in or behind a huge crowd so as to avoid
the bow onslaught. The obvious alternative is to go to them and kill them all,
but considering Meng Huo's speed, even if you were to jump to them, they'll
probably shoot you down before you even reach them.
With Lu Xun's defeat, the gate that was north of your starting position will be
open. Head that way and defeat Gan Ning, along with his two sub-officers Xu
Sheng and Zhuge Jin. Then, head west towards the enemy gate. There, you'll find
a Life+10. Oh, you may as well close the gate while you're there.
As soon as somebody (even yourself) approaches the path linking the north-west
fort and the south-west fort, Taishi Ci and his two sub-officers Han Dang and
Jiang Qin, will ambush in the south-west fort. Take care of the 3 officers.
Now you have a clear path to victory. Defeat Liao Hua, Ma Su, and then finally
Zhuge Liang. As per earlier, be wary of them archer/crossbow types, for they
can really hurt.
As far as Meng Huo's world tour has gone, this is probably the worst outing by
Zhuge Liang so far really. Apart from exploiting (or attempting to) one of Meng
Huo's weaknesses, a very poor effort Zhuge, tsk tsk tsk (of course, you won't
be saying that when you're trying to get his 5th weapon...).
-------------------------------
8.6 The Siege of He Fei Castle
-------------------------------
Starting Position: Just outside the south gates of the castle.
Yep, so Zhuge has now joined Wei and become their strategist, having depleted
both the Shu and Wu forces completely. In case you hadn't worked it out by now,
Cao Cao is your second target here for victory.
To start, head for Cao Ren, who is stationed in front of the closed east gate.
Why I don't suggest to just head straight through the south gate is explained
later on. In any case, defeating Cao Ren (which is what you'll be doing) will
trigger the opening of the east gate (and also triggers the retreat of Xiahou
En, who is on the opposite side of said gate). Once through the gate, head to
the top-left hand corner of the current area you're in and collect the Musou+10
that's waiting there.
Make your way towards the central area. Zhen Ji will be the first officer to
meet you there. Defeat her. While you are battling her, Li Dian and Yue Jin
will head towards your location. Defeat those two as well when you meet them.
Now head towards Cao Hong. This'll position you in front of the south gates,
and that's the trigger for the south gates closing and for Cheng Yu's ambush
party in the south to appear. Why I suggested to off Cao Ren first was so that
you'd have a chance at a couple of ally soldiers at least getting near your
position. Anyways, defeat Cao Hong, then head towards Zhuge Liang. Touching any
of the 3 bridges towards the pagola where Zhuge is sitting will trigger what we
like to call the "Archer trap of doom". Hoards of enemy archers will appear in
the surrounding area. Defeat Zhuge, and try not to get pinned down by the
archers in the process. Hopefully some ally soldiers will have reached the
central area by now, and they could keep the archers busy.
At this point, head towards Zhang He in the west. The closed gate there should
be open by now, so that won't be a problem. Then head outside towards Cheng
Yu's position and defeat him there. This leaves Cao Cao for last.
Head towards Cao Cao in the north. If he's not on the raised platform in the
north, then he's fighting ally soldiers just below deck. On the raised platform
in the top-right hand corner is a Life+10. Collect that first before defeating
Cao Cao and ending this stage.
---------------------
8.7 Battle of Ru Nan
---------------------
Starting Position: Next to southern gate.
Welcome to the finale of the Meng Huo v Zhuge Liang series. Meng Huo has been
dominating throughout this 7-battle series, and has told Zhuge Liang to give
this one everything he's got.
Despite Cao Cao being here, he isn't actually a required target for completing
the stage. Instead, those (yes, plural) positions are taken by Sima Yi and Zhou
Yu. Makes sense doesn't it? The other bad news is that all 3 targets have
commander-like stats. None of this "last commander standing has beefed stats".
To start, head straight towards Cao Xiu. His sub-officers Man Chong and Jia Kui
are nearby, so defeat them first before disposing of Cao Xiu.
With Cao Xiu out of the way, you can head due east and start climbing the
mountain towards Sima Yi. By now, he will have started a "rockslide attack"
whereby you'll see some boulders rolling down the mountain path. For the love
of God, do not go near those things. They do hurt you, shocking as it may seem.
Also be sure to meet (and defeat) Sima Zhao near the top of the mountain (just
past the point where the boulders magically fall from the sky).
At the top of the mountain you will meet with target No.1: Sima Yi.
Unfortunately for you, he is guarded by 4 or 5 groups of archer/crossbow units,
who will hurt you badly. Defeat Sima Yi, and then head back down to the base of
the mountain path.
Move along the eastern side of the castle on the outside and defeat Wang Ping
when you see him. Then, head inside the castle through the east gate and defeat
Ma Dai who should be nearby. Then head towards the south-east corner of the
castle and near the staircase there should be a Musou+10 in a pot. Collect it.
At this point, I like to keep Zhuge Liang for last. Mainly because it seems
like the right thing to do, giving it the epic feel and whatnot. So, head
through the west gate of the castle and start fighting off all the Wu officers
here. Around the area you'll find Xu Sheng (with Zhu Huan as sub-officer) and
Zhou Yu (with Zhuge Jin and Ding Feng as sub-officers). Also in the area (you
may have seen a cut-scene about it) will be a fair number of archers with fire
arrows. These are a bit more painful, and the worst part is that the archers
are perched on top of the raised grassy hills that you cannot walk on. The only
ways they'll disappear is if you either:
a) Shoot them down with your own bow and arrows
b) Defeat Zhou Yu
It's not hard to work out which is the easier option :-P
Find and defeat all the Wu officers. Once that task is completed, defeat Cao
Cao and his sub-officers (Xu Zhu, Cao Zhen, Sun Li) all running around
somewhere in the north. While you're parading around in the north, enter back
into the castle via the river for a Life+10 waiting in a pot near the staircase
in the north-west corner.
This should now leave Zhuge Liang and his sub-officers (Ma Su, Liao Hua and
Zhang Yi). All 3 sub-officers are hiding somewhere in the castle. Defeat all 3,
and then make your way towards Zhuge Liang.
Lu Bu makes a surprise appearance the moment anybody approaches the little
entrance to the area where Zhuge Liang is. Defeat him (he isn't too tough here)
and finally head towards Zhuge. Once Zhuge Liang is defeated, you will have
finally proved to him that you are the superior man.
Congratulations, you've just completed Meng Huo's musou mode for DW3:XL!
---------------------
9.0 Is This The End?
---------------------
Yay for random DW3 quote :-D
Anywho, that's it for this FAQ. Not much else to add except thanks for reading
my character FAQ to do with my all-time favourite game!
If you're wanting to contact me for whatever reason, whether it be pointing out
a mistake in the FAQ, or just wanting to tell me that the game sucks, use this
address:
psxfreak101 at hotmail dot com
Or better yet, just post something on the DW3:XL board, because chances are I'll
come across it there.
