Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty starts by walking you through a tutorial and introducing you to the various controls and attacks. And then, about 15 minutes into the game, it drops you into a shockingly intense boss fight — with little to no warning — against Zhiang Liang, General of Man.
It’s a real sink-or-swim moment, and it’s so early in the game. It also needs you to already be really comfortable with the combat system. Our Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Zhiang Liang, General of Man boss fight guide will help you prepare for the fight, and then walk you through both phases. (Yes, there’s a second phase.)
Preparing for the Zhiang Liang boss fight in Wo Long
The first boss fight comes early in Wo Long, so there’s not a ton you can do to prepare, but let’s talk about everything you can do that might help.
Practice, practice, practice
When you Rest at any Battle Flag, you’ll get the option to Travel. Much later in the game, this is how you’ll replay levels or take on side quests. Right now, it’s how you’ll go get some extra training.
When you select Travel, use RB to tab to Other. You should see a card for Tutorial: Basic Training. Select that. Yes, you just went through the tutorial, but this is different. You’ll go through a longer and more detailed training session here. Pay special attention to the Deflect part.
Don’t skip this step. Go do it. Do it twice. Then do it again. We promise it helps.
Level up
Throughout the tutorial, you should pick up enough Genuine Qi to level up a couple times at least (don’t forget to use any Genuine Qi Flakes or Fragments from your inventory). Our recommendation is increase one level each in Water (decreased Spirit consumption when Deflecting) and Fire (increased Spirit drain from Martial Arts and increased Spirit gain from attacking).
Those will also bump up your health by a few points, and will increase your Attack Bonuses with the default Ring Pommel Saber. (That’s our recommendation, but put your points into whatever Five Points Virtues you want to shape your character. What matters most is that you spend the Qi to level up and increase at least some of your stats.)
Trim your equipment
You’re not going to have a vast inventory full of different weapons and armors at this point in the game, but you will have picked up a few things. Check your inventory for any weapon that deals more damage than what you currently have or any armor that gives you better defense than the Nameless Warrior Garb you start off with.
Keep an eye on your Equipment Weight, though, and keep it below 25%. This is how heavy your armor is and, as a result, how fast your Spirit will drain while Dodging and Deflecting — you’re going to be doing a lot of Dodging and Deflecting.
Slot Wizardry Spells
We’re not going to get into much detail here (the magic system is A Whole Thing, which you can read more about here). And besides, you’ll only have enough Qi and Levels to unlock one spell in each of the Five Phases. We can talk about what works and what doesn’t, though.
Offensive spells aren’t going to get you far — your spells at this point won’t do much damage and the fight against Zhang Liang is fast and unrelenting, so you’re not going to have a lot of time to stand back and fire off a few piddly spells. Instead, look for buff spells.
If you have two points in the Earth Five Phases Virtue, you’ll be able to cast Enhanced Defense to decrease the damage you take. If you have two points in Water, grab Cloud Stance to decrease your Spirit consumption when deflecting (noticing a theme yet?). If you have two points in Metal, grab Repression Crush to slow down Zhang Liang’s Spirit recovery.
Understand the Spirit Gauge
Think of Wo Long’s Spirit like a combination of mana and stamina. You’ll lose Spirit when you get hit or dodge, and you’ll spend Spirit to cast Wizardry Spells or perform Martial Arts. You’ll gain Spirit when you land regular melee attacks or when you successfully deflect an attack. Both your character and every enemy (including Zhang Liang) have Spirit Gauges.
When a Spirit Gauge is drained to its lower limit, that person (or demon) will be stunned for a few seconds, opening them up to a powerful attack — a Fatal Blow. Your goal is to avoid that happening to you, and, more importantly, make sure it happens to your enemy.
Hitting an enemy with certain attacks — Martial Arts, Wizardry Spells, Spirit Attacks (with Y/triangle), or deflections — also shrinks their Spirit gauge. That, in turn, makes it all the easier to drain their Spirit.
This is going to come up a lot, particularly when it comes to the strategy for defeating Zhang Liang.
Ignore your companion
Throughout this fight, your companion, the Blindfolded Boy, will shout encouragement and advice while very sporadically dealing the tiniest amount of damage possible. Do not think about him. He’ll only distract you.
More importantly, when you take too much damage, he’ll say, “You are hurt… Stay behind me” or “I shall protect you from further harm.” Both of these are lies. More accurately, they’re just dialogue. He is not going to protect you or do anything differently. He’s just saying things to make you feel better.
How to beat Zhang Liang boss fight — phase 1
When you first drop into Zhang Liang’s arena, he’ll do a big villain monologue — don’t worry, you’ll automatically skip it when you get killed and have to come back. When he’s done, he’ll raise up his great club and slam it down in front of him. This move is mostly for show, but if you sprint straight at him, you’ll get smacked.
Give him a second to get through his mini-monologue.Image: Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo via Polygon
Instead, take a moment, cast a buff spell, and let him come to you.
Your main goal in the first phase of this fight is to deflect with the B/circle button. You do also need to deal a little damage, but focus on deflecting first. You need to hit the button right before one of Zhang Liang’s attacks connect, like a parry in most other games. However, you’re not really penalized for (trying to) deflect multiple times in a row. Practice to get the timing right, but you can button-mash a little if you have to. Worst case, you’ll just dodge instead.
We’re not going to break down his attacks here. Just know that he’s going to attack. A lot. Non-stop. What you need to focus on is deflecting with B/circle in order to shorten his Spirit gauge. Every time you deflect successfully, it’ll shrink his gauge.
As you get more comfortable with deflecting, start to mix in some normal with X/square and Spirit Attacks with Y/triangle. These will keep draining his (already shrunken) Spirit Gauge. You can see this in the GIF below — keep an eye on his Spirit Gauge below his health bar. The white chunks at the end are from deflections that shrink his total gauge, and the red bar is his Spirit draining as we hit him. When the shrinking part meets the draining part, that means he’s stunned.
The first phase of this fight is less about dealing damage, and more about getting his Spirit Gauge shrunken and drained so you can hit him with a Fatal Blow. Do that two or three times, and you’ll have him.
Now things get interesting.
How to beat Zhang Liang boss fight — phase 2
The good news is you only have to drain his health bar halfway to finish this fight. Actually, that is also the bad news.
The biggest change for phase 2 of the Zhang Liang boss fight is that he has a giant, Elixir-fueled demon arm now. This increases his reach dramatically, but you can still deflect almost every attack. He’s also a bit more aggressive.
The adjustment you’ll have to make is deflecting multiple attacks in a row now. You can see us fail to do so in the video below.
You can also see Zhang Liang wind up for his most common Critical Blow in this phase. He’ll wind up his demon arm, then thrust it forward like a battering ram. Deflecting this one will (temporarily) cut off his demon arm and dramatically shrink his Spirit gauge. It shouldn’t take too much to get him stunned for a Fatal Stab at that point.
However, he’ll grow it back not too long later.
He’s also got a few new attacks to watch out for.
The first, and most annoying, is an Earth-based magical attack. He’ll swing his club around and plant it vertically into the ground in front of him. A moment later, a line of rock will explode along the ground toward you. It’s possible to (mostly) deflect it, but we had a lot more luck just guarding with LB.
He also adds charging attack that may or may not be a Critical Blow (when he’s glowing red). He’ll swing his club around to his side like a lance and charge at you. Both guarding and deflecting work to deal with the non-Critical version, but you’ll have to deflect if he’s glowing.
He also has a rushing flurry of Critical Blows attack. It’s a lot to handle, but he does it rarely. Guarding is the best option if he’s close, but if you can, try to deflect the third, biggest swing at the end to do a lot of damage to his Spirit Gauge.
Listen for the Blindfolded Boy’s prompt and watch for the Divine Beast Gauge to fill.Image: Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo via Polygon
When you finally get him down to about half health (or a little below), the Blindfolded Boy will call out to “unleash the power residing in the jade!” He’s telling you to Summon the Divine Beast. You’ll also see its icon fill up over on the right side of the screen, and you’ll get a helpful tooltip on the left side.
All that’s left is to hit Y+B/triangle+circle and bask in your victory.
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
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