This is specifically about individual level runs. I notice in the runs already submitted the runner doesn't have maxed out stats, but they do have maxed points, class, and 4th weapons.
So what exactly are the rules on this? I would guess we can use any character, weapon, items, and have any level of stat progression? Am I wrong on this?
Does this game include the Xtreme Legends version or is that a separate game since it has different max item stats, 5th weapons, and bodyguards work differently?
Edit: What options are used? I'm guessing it's set to Easy? Anything else I should be aware of before I begin?
Hey ill try to answer best as possible, going off whats been used on my submitted runs for indidiual level runs:
any gear, any character and stats are fair game and runners choice providing the character hasnt had any action replay or cheat engine/hex editor manipulation used on them.
Xtreme legends is classed as a seperate game so just classic game on this page (4th weps highest etc)
options wise do the runs on easy and also turn off the option which disables cutscenes mid missions (doesnt disable all cutscenes like freezing of river on yellow turban) as both of these will save you some time.
theres speculation on weather a generals hp is tied to your characters stat progression but people are still working out how this works.
some tips that may or may not help:
Death element damage always does 50% damage which scales to enemys current hp meaning when theyre full hp its worth using but if the enemies hp is around 1/5 its probably faster to just combo it down.
Theres a limit to how many models can be on screen at once which can sometimes cause generals not to spawn until trash mobs around them are killed, this is more prominent on the harder stages and moreso on splitscreen coop play, a way to mitigate this is to turn off bodyguards though on some levels i prefer to bring them as cannon fodder to draw aggro from enemy trash mobs (sidenote crossbow bodyguards do the most damage )
even when you max a generals stats on the character select screen the "true" value of the stat wont be maxed, the max attack one character can reach will be different to what another can reach this is true with all stats, on the equipment preperation screen the values shown for hp musou attack and defence show the "true " values meaning even with perfect attack items and max attack on the character select screen, a character like Xiao Qiao cannot reach a full "true" attack stat whereas a character like Lu Bu, Sun Jian or potentially Zhang Liao can gain more attack than her.
The games janky as hell and RNG on an enemy generals attack pattern can screw a run over hard but the games fun to run and i think the layout of being able to run individual levels really makes it accessable to jump into. Hodge right now is killing the runs on the board but theres still totally room for improvement as its starting to look like some levels are faster to run as certain characters ( due to start position or the level being easier for them in musou mode) .
Hopefully something in here was helpful any questions feel free im buzzing theres a few more people running the game now I just need to get back into it and try to steal a few top spot runs :P
Thanks for the reply. I knew a lot of the game information you just said as I've played the game quite a bit. I have all items, though not at their max values, and most of the characters at max stats on the character select screen (which is what I meant when I said max stats before).
And what do you mean by the general's HP being tied to progression? You increase it by picking up specific items on the battlefield. Same with Musou. You can max them out pretty quickly if you play Mt Ding Jun since it's in the Wei camp, and the Musou item is on a branch off the main hill section on the west of the map.
I did notice the sweep in progress. I should be starting runs in the next few days, but I thought I'd get information before I started.
Hi Aphrah Ashe, welcome! Looking forward to seeing your runs on the board :) Shafter is definitely right that there are vulnerable times on the ILS board. My advice would be don't start with Tong Gate Allies or Surprise Attack (Liu Biao's forces) because those are one's I remember having to grind like crazy to get ;)
What I am very sure of is that there is some sort of adaptive/progressive difficulty scaling in this game. What I'm less sure of is how it works. I think that each stage has a difficulty rating (hidden in this game, in later DW games stages got a rating out of 5 for difficulty if I recall). In Musou mode there's a further difficulty variable based on how far into a character's story you have progressed.
For an illustration of what I'm trying to say, Chang Ban is generally an easier level than Wu Zhang Plains whatever settings you play on in free mode. However, if Chang Ban is a Shu Officer's first Musou mode stage (eg Zhao Yun) then the boss will be a lot easier to defeat than if you were to encounter Chang Ban at Stage 4 of Musou mode (can't remember if any Shu officers actually have stage 4 Chang Ban, but the point stands!) This is mostly clearly demonstrated if you run the New Game Musou Mode category, which is a bit of a breeze until stage 3 getting harder and stage 4 being a desperate struggle not to get KO'd.
But there's potentially more adaptive difficulty/enemy stat scaling which Shafter was getting at. I'm really not sure how it works at all, but some weird stuff happens when you grind stats up beyond a certain point and combine with 4th weapons. Cao Cao with 4th weapon, basic attack maxed and with +15 tiger amulet often feels underpowered when I'm running tougher stages. My theory was that I had increased his attack beyond the maximum and it had rolled over to +1 for a while. I'm not so sure of that now. I think Shafter's theory that higher HP = higher enemy stats could be right, or it could be higher attack = higher defence.
For this reason I have kept Xiao Qiao's stats fairly low, I think I gave her the benefit of a normal mode Musou run for a bit of buff. The thing is, she seems to do much more damage with basic attacks than a lot of the fully maxed characters I have. Not sure if I'm imagining it or reading the game wrong, but it works so I'll keep it that way!
Most of my characters have max attack and defence, but pretty standard HP and Musou which is mostly because when I was younger and originally playing this save I was too lazy to grind those stats. DW2 spoiled me with the easily exploitable Dong Zhuo's forces Hu Lao Gate where you could increase HP/Musou Max by 40+ at a time! I do have Nu Wa pretty much maxed, which was to try a musou spam strat that worked on a couple of stages.
Add me on Discord if you like, there's a pretty active DW speedrunning server where others might have better answers: Hodge#4323
Yeah I think DBcade is right, the in game timer stops when cutscenes are playing. But the interruption of cutscenes in the middle of a fight can be really annoying, so I turn them off.
DW3 XL is a separate category: https://www.speedrun.com/dw3xl The mods still need to make the individual levels in XL though.
