Dynasty Warriors 3 - Fresh No Items Hard Mode Playthrough (24/32, Xiahou Yuan, Chinese Dub)

General info here: https://pastebin.com/9XVJyHV9
Link to playlist with all the playthroughs:    • Dynasty Warriors 3 Fresh No Items Hard Mod...  

Note: This playthrough uses a relatively recently discovered patch, which disables the auto lock-on system that normally locks the player onto the first enemy they hit with a normal attack, making it impossible to turn afterwards. (see here    • Dynasty Warriors Disabled Auto-Lock Patch ...  )

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Xiahou Yuan is the last of the regular Wei characters left.

During C2, Xiahou Yuan can instantly take out his bow at any point during the attack. However it's not very useful or usable, as the attack doesn't lift enemies high enough for it to be consistently possible to shoot them. And naturally it is only one arrow, so it's not like it'll do more damage or anything.
C6 is the usual multi-input attack where none of the hits really deal much damage, but at least it can be used for racking up a combo count. (In the Xtreme Legends expansion, the fifth weapon puts a death element on four of the five hits, making it very strong.)
The True Musou at low health lifts enemies in the air more than the regular one, so the points at which the attacks hit are slightly different.

Also, Xiahou Yuan has the lowest base Bow Defense in the game, so arrows are a big damage dealer throughout, especially when multiple hit in quick succession (42:34 for one such occasion)

The first stage is a pain - more than usual I would say. The first weapon model is really short compared to the third.

The second stage is the Raid at the Rogue Fortress. I kept a second weapon with +40 Life for collection purposes, and so I tried not to drop too low into the red. I also use the bow more, mostly to show it off, and Xiahou Yuan does have the second highest Bow Attack.

Guan Du is the fourth stage, and so every enemy general stat drop in it is doubled. Zhang Fei, Wen Chou, Yan Liang all drop Attack +4, and Zhang He drops Attack +8.
Liu Bei and Zhang Fei retreat early on in the battle, and Zhang He can get defeated by your allies later, so it's smarter to get them taken care of right at the start.
I took quite a while to find the supply depot because I focused on the Attack+ drops first, so there's an extra cutscene with Yuan Shao ordering a charge.

He Fei gets a bit hectic because of Zhang Liao's events forcing the stage to speed up. Zhang Liao's second ambush immediately spawns Gan Ning, which immediately starts the full charge from the Wu army.

Mt. Ding Jun has the unique weapon, with the requirement being to defeat Huang Zhong who will charge down the slope. The weapon box spawns in the upper left corner on top of the mountain.

The weapon is not useful for this challenge, and so I do not use it for the last stage.
The stats are Musou / Life / Bow Attack / Bow Defense and a Fire Element on C5. The extra Musou Gauge length without any Musou Charge actively makes the game noticeably harder when you're playing without items.


At this point:
24/32 Characters Done
12/12 Rare Items Obtained
13/13 Regular Items are at or above 75% of their maximum value

Chapters:
00:00 Start
00:20 Yellow Turban Rebellion
30:28 Raid at the Rogue Fortress
46:35 The Battle at Hu Lao Gate
01:18:49 The Battle at Guan Du
01:49:06 The Battle at He Fei
02:09:20 The Battle at Mt. Dingjun
02:31:12 The Battle at Wuzhang Plains
03:20:45 Ending (Text)
03:22:12 Ending (Cutscenes)