Map Title: Heroes of Jin Yong
Author: Season
Downloaded: from the Heroesportal map catalog
I finished the walkthrough, and since this excellent map in every sense is not being discussed anywhere (or I couldn't find it), except for the author's native Chinese forum, Gamerhome, where it is impossible to understand user messages for obvious reasons, I felt like a pioneer to some extent. The map is quite challenging. In my opinion, it is significantly more difficult than Way Home, but still somewhat easier than The Lord of Rings (I haven't played Xiedu yet). Perhaps the map was completed without any major difficulties because I have already adapted to the author's style and understood what needs to be done and in what order. And most importantly, at what pace.
Further, SPOILERS!
The walkthrough itself (especially the first five months) proceeded under the motto "peace is only found in dreams." The AI is very aggressive and attacks from all sides. At first, you feel like you are surrounded by a bunch of cockroaches. Gradually, they are replaced by mice, and then by huge rats (this refers to the heroes who threaten the very heart of our possessions around the 4-5th month of the game; one of them, namely the enemy from the Stronghold, receives flight upon exiting a one-way passage. All enemies have a logo, pathfinding, and then also gloves + boots). Therefore, you need to be as busy as a bee, otherwise you won't survive.
The game, if we look at it globally, proceeded in two stages. The first is the capture of all castles and important objects on the map's land area. The main hero at the start is a Logistics hero (I will call the heroes this way to avoid confusing readers. Everyone has their own Chinese names, which are displayed as gibberish in our game versions, and with modified portraits. Although here, for example, it is about Dessa with the portrait of Moner). Very soon, he will be replaced by an Armorer (Crag), and he will acquire all the main spells in the Seer and Mage Guilds (blindness, resurrection, city portal, and others). The Logistics hero remains for all further game time for blitz attacks. For example, he spends the night before the Guardian of the Question, and on the next turn, he opens it and quickly captures the enemy castle with unspent troops. The completion of the first stage of the game is marked by the release of a Wizard hero. He has literacy, so all our 6 heroes with expert Earth magic learn the city portal.
Then comes the second, more hardcore stage - the conquest of the Dungeon. Now, the main hero will be a Defense hero (Tazar). All the upcoming battles seem absolutely impossible at first glance, but the Armorer's special ability quickly begins to pay off. The key tasks are to obtain a clone and join a healthy group of Archangels to defeat an absolutely insane enemy in the Rampart (I will attach a save of this battle at the end so that those who are curious can try their hand).
Another interesting feature of this map and The Lord of Rings is that we can control the pace of our walkthrough and compare it with the author's idea. This is implemented as follows: 8 Guardians of the Question are placed around a friendly creature. Each has its own timer and its own requirement for the walkthrough, related to the need to give a different number of creatures to open the Guardian. That is, the first timer, for example, requires arriving before 511 to pass, the penultimate one requires 631 and 90 Archangels, and the last one has no time limit but asks for 100 Archs in return. The reward is 140 Archs. That is, the earlier you arrive, the greater the reward you will receive. There are four such objects on this map: the Ancients join first, then the Titans, and finally the Archdevils and Archangels. I demonstrate this structure clearly in the screenshot below.
The last 6 battles turned out to be unbearably difficult. The author subtly hints at the possibility of cheating by giving all three artifacts for a price and placing an external tavern in a very inconvenient place (there are no taverns in any other place available to us). I decided to save my time and fast-forwarded one and a half months to buy the necessary troops. As a result, the last enemy fell on day 923, and on the same day, the artifact needed for the walkthrough was obtained. However, according to the author's idea, as it seemed to me, a confident completion of the map should fit somewhere in about five months of game time.
P.S. I am attaching one save to the message for those who want to partially feel the taste of the map. The battle is passable, but it is difficult to win without losses. Mana could have been accumulated, but I didn't have time to do it according to the walkthrough plan; it can be done without critical losses (all the Azure Dragons are intact, I lost a couple of dozen Ancients, all the Phoenixes, Fairies, and Archmages). I am sure that you can play even better here. Try it. I have already done half the work for you by selecting the army and equipping the necessary artifacts. I even recorded a video of the battle (quite unsuccessful, I must admit, but I was too lazy to bother). I will upload it if anyone needs it.
mediafire
