DoaE Yuan Shu
Destiny of an Emperor Yuan Shu Nan Yang Walkthrough
Walk around the area west of Chang An and maybe gain a level or two to get acclimated to the guys in the Yuan Shu area. There are some decent warlords in Zhang Xun, Ji Ling and Lei Bo, but no tacticians of note. A tiger, Zhao Yun, is at the bar on the other side of the mountain range from Yuan castle. He commits to you but can’t go with you yet as he has prior obligations (heh, Gong Sun Qian). Regardless, when you are ready rest up and head south to Yuan castle. Lei Bo will take you to the battlefield, and he has Chen Ji with him. Chen Ji is worthless so have your tactician types use Ye Huo/Shui Xing on Lei Bo and get those 643 soldiers down. Once Lei Bo is toast, use all-out. If you see Lei Bo after this castle, especially if it happens soon, then recruit him as his huge soldier count is probably 200 soldiers higher than anything else on your party. The people in Yuan castle will tell you of Yuan Shu’s cruelty with women. The weapon shop has Padded armor which is a nice upgrade so I would suggest getting as many as you can. One guy will mention Ji Ling controlling the next castle (Huai Nan), so go there, either through the mountains or the long forested way.
Ji Ling and Zhang Xun will greet you. This is probably the toughest battle in this area outside of the final one with Yuan Shu. Zhang Xun and Ji Ling are also the two best characters in this region, so they are worth recruiting afterwards for their soldiers and attack power. That said, defeating them is not too hard as Shui Xing is available and you should abuse it against these stupid brutes. You’ll take some physical damage but they’ll be gone in a few rounds. Enter the small city to hear more anti-Yuan Shu banter and rest up and leave northwards. Around this time (if you have a character recruited or leveled up to over 500 soldiers) the pink bar will change colors to orange as seen on the photo below. This may seem a bit depressing as now you have a small bar again, but despair not as soon you’ll have a long orange bar of health!
You’ll come upon a gate. Han Xian and Li Feng guard. Not really hard, you could probably get away with all-outting it right from the start. If not, use some tactics on Han Xian and all-out. Rush in to find barely anyone in the area, other than a Spear (to Zhang Fei/Lu Bu) and a man named Xu Yuan Zhi who refers you to Shui Jing and gives you the Intro letter. Now go south east to the cottage and enter with the letter. You will be brought in to Shui Jing and he will recommend both Fu Long and Feng Chu to be your tacticians. This will all make sense a bit later in the game. Also realize that if you get the letter and don’t visit Shui Jing you will have it in your inventory forever, so go see him if for no better reason than to get rid of the Intro letter. Rest up and head north of Chen Cang gate, to another gate.
You’ll notice two gates and a castle with no bridge past the castle. The first gate is Liang Ji and two soldiers. Garbage, just all out and you’ll be done in no time. The next battle? More garbage, with Chen Lan being accompanied by Liang Gang, both bad generals. You shouldn’t have a problem, but don’t be hasty. Attacking the castle (Yuan Shu, Yuan Yin, Lu Fan, Lu Bu (If you didn’t recruit him)) would be an unwise move at the moment. I would suggest having either Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, or Lei Bo at this point to form a party revolving around Zhang Fei, Guan Yu/Ping, Liu Feng and one of the new generals with Huo Hu or Li Ru as your tactician. Also, the cave to the east is worth checking out, for equipment (numerous Spears / Caps) and experience. Also, by the time you’re finished you’ll probably have two if not three of the generals I listed above (Ji Ling, Zhang Xun, Lei Bo) and on top of that the Yuan Shu battle will be easy with or without Lu Bu. So rest up at Huai Nan and go there.
This cave is bigger than any you’ve searched before and has a lot of equipment. Upon entry head straight west to hit a wall, then head north and follow it as it wraps around to a staircase. Now, search both ends to get a robe and 1503 coins of gold. Leave the way you came and make your way to the upper left portion of the first floor screen. Grab the cap and spear and now go to the lower left portion of the map until it wraps around to a staircase leading down. Head east and take a quick detour south for a cap, then continue on the path and check all the corners for two spears and a robe. Enter the center staircase and pick up 1006 coins, a power pill, a cap, and another robe. Head on out, rest at Huai Nan and head for Nan Yang to confront Yuan Shu! One note, if you attack Nan Yang from the left, their physical defense will be weaker (someone at the previous castle hinted at this).
As you can see, at 899 soldiers the great Yuan Shu has more soldiers than anyone you’ve seen yet. Like his family member Yuan Yin he is solid overall if not unspectacular. Lu Bu lurks at the bottom (assuming you DIDN’T recruit him). Ideally, take Lu Bu out first as his physical prowess is too overpowering to ignore. Then, slowly work down the Yuan brothers and use all out on Lu Fan. This battle can be difficult as tactics aren’t as easy to pull off on the generals, but if you got all those spears and are on a decent level, Yuan Shu should be defeated. If Lu Bu is in your army and not Yuan Shu’s, this should be an easy win.
Note that when you defeat him, if Zhang Fei is alive, Yuan Shu will be caught attempting to flee and will ask you to free him. If you say no three times, he will be dead, but if you let him leave you will fight him with his brother later on. I’d let him go because he’s Yuan Shu and the battle you face him in next is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, in the entire game. So why not make it harder. If you are interested you can recruit Lu Fan in random battles but not Yuan Yin. Yuan Yin is the only person in this region that you cannot recruit. Lu Fan isn’t that great but has high soldiers and if you didn’t get any of the other Yuan Shu guys he may be worth having for a short time. So do what you want and head into Nan Yang.