Lu Bu Acquisition FAQ - Guide for Dynasty Warriors 2

Dynasty Warriors 2
Lu Bu Acquisition FAQ Version 1.0
February 9, 2001
By Eugene Huang
[email protected]



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Thanks for understanding.


i. FOREWORD
-----------------------------------

WHY AM I WRITING THIS FAQ?

Anyone who frequents the DW2 message boards on GameFAQS will tell you that
the topic that comes across most often usually deals with asking advice on
how to get Lu Bu.  One of the reasons why this often happens is because
nobody has written an in-depth FAQ telling DW2 players some of the more
useful tips on acquiring Lu Bu.  There is sufficient information written by
CJayC on the same subject, but very many people are too lazy to weed
through the other information to get to it, so this FAQ is set on changing
all that.  Assuredly, there will still be people that will continue to ask
the same question on the board, but this FAQ will at least provide instant
gratification for those who are intelligent enough to look on the
FAQS/Codes list before asking questions.


CONTENTS
-----------------------------------
I.   HOW DO I GET LU BU?
II.  YEAH, BUT HOW???
III. WHICH PATH SHOULD I CHOOSE?
IV.  WHO TO CHOOSE AND WHY?
V.   BATTLE TACTICS
VI.  A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LU BU
VII. SPECIAL THANKS






I.	HOW DO I GET LU BU?
-----------------------------------

Defeat 1000 enemy soldiers using any player on Level 2 (Hu Lao Gate).






II.	YEAH, BUT HOW???
-----------------------------------

I’m getting to that.  But, before I get down to the gritty analysis parts,
I’d like to take some time to answer some of the more frequently asked
questions regarding Lu Bu’s acquisition:

DOES IT HAVE TO BE MUSOU MODE OR FREE MODE?

You can use either mode, but many people find it A LOT easier to do it in
Free Mode for obvious reasons.  First of all, you don’t have to go through
the Yellow Turban mission.  Second of all, you can use any character that’s
leveled up.  But, if you happen to be lucky (or skilled) enough to actually
defeat 1000 people in Musou mode, consider yourself to be blessed because
you will still get Lu Bu.  But, for those of us mere mortals, Free Mode is
definitely the easiest way to get the guy.

DO I HAVE TO PLAY AS THE ALLIED SIDE?

No, you can fight for Dong Zhuo’s side and still obtain Lu Bu.  In case you
didn’t know, the way to choose sides in Free Mode is to first defeat the
game using one character from each of the three kingdoms.

WHAT DIFFICULTY SETTING SHOULD I USE?

You can use either Normal or Hard, but it is NOT recommended to use Easy
Mode.  Soldiers are too easy to kill in Easy mode, and your armies have
certain advantages over the enemy as well.  Strangely enough, it is easiest
to kill 1000 in hard mode, but this hinges around two imperatives - you
must survive, and your commanding officer must survive too.  You’re
probably better off with Normal mode if you’re not skilled enough to win on
Hard difficulty.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the analysis.






III.	WHICH PATH SHOULD I CHOOSE?
--------------------------------------

Undoubtedly, you know that there are three paths to take in this mission,
and your starting point depends upon whose kingdom you belong to.  Cao
Cao’s force starts to the right, and their mission is to go behind Fan Shui
Gate for a rear attack on Li Jue.  Sun Jian’s force is meant as a support
group to form a two pronged attack on Hua Xiong, protector of Fan Shui
Gate.  Meanwhile, Liu Bei’s force acts as a supporter and protector for
Yuan Shao’s main army.

However, no matter who you play as, you should ALWAYS take Cao Cao’s route.
Why, you ask?  It’s simple.

If you play as one of Cao Cao’s generals, you will notice that his army
always stops at the second gate (the one guarded by Niou Fu).  The reason
why he stops there is because he’s waiting for the main army to take down
Fan Shui Gate.  Once the gate falls, then Cao Cao’s troops will
automatically rush in.  You must use this window of time to your advantage.
Since Cao Cao is halted while the rest of the allied army is busy taking
down Fan Shui gate, this leaves you the opportunity to kill as many
soldiers as you can on your own.






IV.	WHO SHOULD I CHOOSE AND WHY?
-----------------------------------

When I first obtained 1000 kills on Hu Lao Gate back when I was starting
out, I used Guan Yu, who I felt was the best character to perform this
task.  Why did I choose Guan Yu?  Here’s a list of reasons:

1) Guan Yu may be powerful, but he is very slow.  And, in this case sloth
works to your advantage.  After all, if you kill all of the enemy soldiers
too quickly, then there won’t be enough left to rack up 1000 kills.

2) It’s best to choose a character that is actually supposed to fight in
the battle against Dong Zhuo.  These are the actual characters that
historically participated in this battle these characters are:

Liu Bei’s Force     Cao Cao’s Force     Sun Jian’s Force
--------------------------------------------------------
Liu Bei             Cao Cao             Sun Jian
Guan Yu             Xiahou Dun
Zhang Fei           Xiahou Yuan

If you choose any other character that is not supposed to be there (like
Zhuge Liang or Zhou Yu), then it works against your cause because you will
only succeed in providing the allies with an extra fighter.  Remember, you
want to slow your forces down as much as possible.

2) The easiest way to get 1000 kills is to make sure that Yuan Shao’s army
advances as slowly as possible.  So, how do you do that?  You simply rob
Liu Bei of one of his greatest generals by fighting along Cao Cao’s route
instead.  Since Liu Bei fights alongside Yuan Shao, the loss of Guan Yu
will only deter their advancement even more.  This entire game is set up on
the premise that your actions and ONLY your actions affect the outcome of
every battle.  So, without your skilled assistance, Yuan Shao’s main force
will move like molasses on their way to Fan Shui gate, leaving you enough
time to rack up kills near Hu Lao Gate.  Alternatively, either Zhang Fei or
Liu Bei would also be a good choice, but only if you are extremely
comfortable with their controls.  Like I said before, Guan Yu has that slow
aspect to him which is a great attribute in this battle.

3) The third hit of Guan Yu’s S,S,S (square, square, square) attack
concentrates its damage on only one person.  Your goal here is to kill 1000
people, but the best way to do this is to kill one person at a time.  More
will be explained in the next section devoted to battle tactics.






V.	BATTLE TACTICS
-----------------------------------

Here are some general tips to help you out on your way to getting 1000
kills:

1) First of all, always use the L2 button to see the health bars of all
enemy soldiers.  If you see anybody on the verge of dying, always make sure
that you’re the one to execute him.  If your bodyguards or even your fellow
infantrymen capitalize on an enemy within an inch of his life, then you
have only yourself to blame.  Subtract 1 from your potential kill counter.

2) Use a character that has already beaten the game.  That way you can kill
enemy soldiers in a much more efficient manner.  For instance, if your
character is leveled-up enough so that it takes exactly 3 swipes to kill an
enemy soldier, use that to your advantage.

3) Never kill enemy Officers, ESPECIALLY GATE CAPTAINS.  In fact, don’t
even go CLOSE to the Gate Captains.  If your bodyguards are powerful
enough, then they should be able to take care of the Gate Captains without
a sweat.  Unfortunately, once a Gate Captain dies, then no reinforcements
will come in from that particular gate.  If an enemy Gate Captain comes
towards you, then run away.  Very fast.  As for normal enemy officers, it’s
best to avoid them.  If you kill them, then the enemy’s morale goes down,
making them much easier to kill for the rest of your armies.  Remember, you
want to keep Yuan Shao’s army pinned down behind Fan Shui gate.  If you
kill important enemy officers, then Yuan Shao’s morale will skyrocket while
the enemy’s morale will drastically drop.  Also, killing enemy officers
takes a lot of time - time you could be using eliminating low-level
reinforcements.

4) Divert your attention away from high-ranking officers (like Captains and
High Sergeants) and instead focus it towards soldiers that are easy to kill
- archers especially.  Use your arrows to knock them out of the guard
towers.  If you’re strong enough, some archers die after two swipes, so get
up on top of those gates.  Each gate should grant you about 6 or 7 extra
kills while the Main Gates (Hu Lao and Fan Shui) give you about 15 each.

5) Always use S,S,S.  Only use S,S,S,S or S,S,S,T(riangle) in emergencies
such as when you’re surrounded.  Only use your Musou attack when you are
alone and surrounded.  This is particularly true in Guan Yu’s case, since
his fourth charge and Musou attack spans 360 degrees.  Plus, like I said
before, the third hit of S,S,S concentrates on one enemy, allowing you to
kill one person at a time.  If you kill multiple enemies at once, then you
quickly run the risk of running out of enemy soldiers.

6) At the end of Cao Cao’s second gate, you should have at least 300 kills.
If you don’t have anywhere near that amount, then you should just restart
and go slower.

7) Try to get into Hu Lao Gate when you have around 500 or 600 kills.
After defeating Li Ru, a huge horde of enemies will rush out, springing
forth from the two entry points behind Dong Zhuo and Diao Chan.  Whatever
you do, do NOT go into the gate.  Instead, wait for the enemies to charge
into you and defeat them outside of Hu Lao gate or at least under the
gateway.  If you step inside the gate, you run the risk of having either of
the two generals rush out after you.  Secondly, if you go too far in, then
that means you’ve killed too many people too quickly.  Wait for the
reinforcements to arrive.  While you’re waiting, divert your attention in
the other direction.  There should still be a gate or two with
reinforcements coming forth from Zhang Liao’s area, so deal with them in
the meantime.  That area right outside of Hu Lao Gate is a sweet spot,
allowing you to go back and forth, killing an endless supply of enemies.
The fun only stops when Yuan Shao’s forces break through.

8) Speaking of Yuan Shao, avoid helping him as long as possible.  You will
most likely get an SOS message that says, "HQ is in trouble!  Need
assistance immediately!"  Ignore that message for as long as possible.  You
will no doubt have to assist him when Dong Zhuo sends his reinforcements to
attack Yuan Shao from the rear, but try to delay that for as long as
possible.  Only assist Yuan Shao if he’s REALLY in trouble, since if he
dies, then all your work was for nothing.

9) Don’t DIE!






VI.	A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LU BU
-----------------------------------

I guess a lot of people get into this game without knowing the historical
background behind it (which is understandable, given the low amount of
"Three Kingdoms" history being taught in American public schools.  So, this
is pretty much a basic summary of some of Lu Bu’s most famous moments -
including his rise, his independence, and his fall.  By the way, the book
can be found in its entirety at www.threekingdoms.com.  Most of the
beginning chapters deal with the adventures (or misadventures) of Lu Bu,
the most powerful man in all of Chinese history.

a) THE INTRODUCTION OF LU BU

Very little is written about Lu Bu’s childhood, but it is written by some
historians that Lu Bu was orphaned at an early age and lived in poverty for
quite some time.  So, it may have been this dedication to his own survival
that spawned his unrivaled greed and ruthless lust for power.

Lu Bu first appears in the novel as a retainer for Ding Yuan, and during
that time, he fought alongside another great general, Zhang Liao.  Shortly
after Dong Zhuo annexed the capital, one of his first choices was to
replace the young Emperor Bian with the even younger Prince Xian of Chenliu
(who happened to be a favorite of Dong Zhuo.  Ding Yuan viewed this move as
an act of treason, so he decided to attack the palace and remove Dong Zhuo
from his post.  At first, it appeared that Ding Yuan had the advantage due
to the power of Lu Bu.  But Li Su, one of Dong Zhuo’s advisors, thought of
a clever way to get Lu Bu to rebel.

Since Li Su was from the same village as Lu Bu’s, he executed a plan in
which he stole away into Lu Bu’s camp and persuaded him to rebel through
flattery and cajolery.  To consummate the deal, Li Su gave him the gift of
Red Hare, the fastest horse in all of China to match with the most powerful
man in all of China.  Hence, the oft-used phrase:

"Among men, Lu Bu.
Among horses, Red Hare."

That night, Lu Bu sneaked into Ding Yuan’s tent and killed him.  Presenting
Ding Yuan’s head in the Imperial Palace, Lu Bu began his reign of terror
under the service of the tyrant Dong Zhuo.

b) THE FALL OF DONG ZHUO

With Lu Bu as his loyal warrior, Dong Zhuo began to feel invincible, or at
least selfishly reckless.  As expected, all of the most powerful warlords
in China combined together for an attempt to eliminate the rebel.  A famous
battle occurred at Hu Lao (Tiger Trap) Gate when Lu Bu was sent to guard
the pass.  It seemed as if nobody was physically able to match blows with
Lu Bu until Zhang Fei rode out to challenge him.  Although Zhang Fei seemed
to be able to survive against Lu Bu in combat, he obviously needed help,
leading his sworn brother, Guan Yu, to aid him in the struggle.  Now that
the two brothers’ strengths were in unison, the fight was finally on equal
ground.  This was when the third brother, Liu Bei, rode out to assist his
brothers.  Once Liu Bei arrived, the tide of the duel was turned, leading
Lu Bu to make a hasty retreat.

Unfortunately, due to an internal struggle between Sun Jian and Yuan Shu,
the capital of Luoyang was never taken by the Confederation.  In an effort
to retreat to safety, Dong Zhuo committed the most atrocious act of all -
moving the capital to Chang An shortly after burning the Imperial City of
Luoyang to the ground.  Nothing was left of the vicious conflagration other
than the rising frustration and anger towards Dong Zhuo’s despotic rule.
One advisor, Wang Yun, vowed to stop the awful tyranny.

Wang Yun devised an ingenious plan to separate Dong Zhuo from his trusted
bodyguard.  To do so, he used his adopted daughter, Diao Chan, as a spike
to drive between the master and the servant.  He first presented Diao Chan
to Lu Bu, offering her as a concubine, but only before offering her as a
handmaiden to Dong Zhuo as well.  Diao Chan played her part brilliantly -
particularly in the Phoenix Pavilion, where she told Lu Bu what an animal
Dong Zhuo had been.  Just as she planned, Dong Zhuo spied the two of them
together, leading him to chas after Lu Bu like a madman all throughout the
courtyard.

Through persuasion, Wang Yun finally convinced Lu Bu to rebel against Dong
Zhuo and take the capital for himself - all over the affections of his
daughter.  So, at Meiwo, Lu Bu caught Dong Zhuo unawares, and promptly slew
him in front of his seemingly loyal retainers.  Hence, Lu Bu murdered his
second master through treachery.

c) LU BU’S INDEPENDENCE

Shortly after Lu Bu had killed Dong Zhuo in betrayal, two of Dong Zhuo’s
retainers, Li Jue and Guo Si, gathered their forces and made a successful
reclamation of the capital.  Lu Bu soon found himself without a home, but
he still sought greatness, and was simply waiting for a small advantage.
That time came when Cao Cao attacked the province of Xuzhou (it was a
matter of revenge for his dead father), leaving his province of Puyang
completely open for Lu Bu to attack.  But, Cao Cao managed to reclaim the
city after pulling out prematurely from the Xuzhou attack.

Lu Bu was once again homeless, so he sought Liu Bei for refuge.  Refuge was
granted to him, in addition to Lu Bu’s very own province of Xiaopei.
Eventually, through treachery and retaliation for Zhang Fei’s frequent
provocations, Lu Bu annexed Xuzhou, essentially forcing Liu Bei to swap
provinces with him.

Cao Cao still sought the defeat of Lu Bu, since he considered him to be the
greatest threat.  Cao Cao forced an alliance with Liu Bei and devised a
scheme to trap Lu Bu at the smaller province of Xiapi (with the help of
Chen Gui and Chen Deng, two advisors who was secretly assisting Cao Cao and
Liu Bei under the false pretense of advising Lu Bu).

d) THE DEATH OF LU BU

Now that he was completely surrounded by enemies, but comfortable in terms
of supply storage, Lu Bu had grown increasingly depressed and weary of
fighting.  Turning towards the bottle instead of the sword, he had spent
much of his time wasting his life with his wife and concubine.  Only when
the situation grew desperate did he finally rise up and realize his foolish
and decadent lifestyle.  In reparation for what had occurred, Lu Bu
instituted a permanent ban on all alcohol consumption among his soldiers.

Unfortunately, Hou Cheng, one of his officers, accidentally broke the rule
during a celebratory party, and was beaten severely for his mistake.
Dissension began to grow amongst his seemingly loyal officers, so many of
them plotted to rebel against him and seek service under Cao Cao.  Hou
Cheng then stole Red Hare from Lu Bu and presented it to Cao Cao as a peace
offering, promising to assist in the final attack against his former lord.

It was at White Gate Tower where Lu Bu exhausted from fighting, decided to
take a nap.  During his slumber, the rebelling officers bound him to his
chair and threw his "Lunar Halberd" out of the tower window as proof of his
defeat.  Captured and without allies, Lu Bu was bound and dragged in front
of Cao Cao for the execution process.  Lu Bu made a desperate attempt to
save his life by offering his services to Cao Cao.  For a split second, Cao
Cao pondered the idea, but it was soon quashed when Liu Bei reminded of
Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo - two lords who also utilized Lu Bu’s power.
Therefore, Lu Bu, the greatest warrior in the history of China, finally
perished under the executioner’s blade in 198 A.D.






VII. SPECIAL THANKS
-----------------------------------

Go to...

CJayC for writing the initial FAQ and helping me get Lu Bu in the first
place.
The Dynasty Warriors 2 Message Board for providing some interesting
discussion.
Particular thanks go to lonelyloner, Lu Baihu, and slurktan, for knowing
more about the Three Kingdoms period than me.
And finally, you, for reading this.



Copyright 2001
Eugene Huang
[email protected]

If you copy this document illegally, I swear that I shall hunt you down to
the ends of the earth.
Thanks for reading it.