Alright, Taizou's blog posts convinced me to try out this game (and be more active in this forum), and I actually like the concept of mixing an ancient Chinese story with Pokemon-like mechanics, especially since I'm a huge creature buff. I feel that this has the potential to garner a fanbase of sorts. I mean, those hilarious Pokemon Diamond and Jade bootlegs did generate a Western Telefang fanbase.
This game so needs to be fan-translated into English. People were able to do Harry Potter 2/3 translations, partially complete NES Pokemon Yellow translations (though granted, the latter was based on an existing legit game, but it still proves that we can be able to change font height/width in a Chinese Pokemon-like RPG), and even a complete overhaul on Shenzhen Nanjing's Chinese NES Final Fantasy 7 (again, based on an existing legitimate work, but still proves that even basic straight fan translations of bootleg games from Chinese to English are possible), so why not give one of Vast Fame's RPGs a try at translation?
Or at the very least an online English strategy guide, even if spoiler-free for the sake of understanding what to do? I'm actually having a hard time with this, and I only figured out which rooms can heal my monsters. I also don't know how to obtain more of the game's equivalent of "Pokeballs", or, as the game puts it, 安魂符 ("an hun fu"/"requiem breaks", apparently), especially without cheats. I only found one in a well in the first town, and I keep wasting it in each attempted playthrough (it's non-regeneratable, btw). I feel like such a noob for that. The game apparently has a
Baidu Baike article (Baidu Baike is the Chinese government-approved answer to Wikipedia), but trying to make sense of it through Google Translate just results in breaking my mind. Even I can't decipher the cheats section. What am I supposed to do? And at what point should I input the cheat?
Heck, even a full video playthrough/longplay of Water Margin Animal on YouTube would be a great help, too, because at the very least it'll give people a visual idea of what the game is like and what to do! Though
an 8-part partly cheaty Let's Play already exists on Youku (China's approved answer to YouTube), it'd help if another playthrough reach more international video streaming sites as well, and without cheats too.
I hope this pep talk from me gives enough encouragement to increase interest in this game.
On a related note, I can tell you right now that your starter's name is Yù Qílín, or..."Jade Kirin"/"Jade Unicorn"...apparently... looks more like a dragon than a unicorn to me...