LSF (also known as The Legend of Swordsman and Fairy, or Chinese Paladin, PAL), is arguably the most famous RPG in China. With its earliest version released in 1995 by Softstar Entertainment, the game has been enjoyed by tens of thousands of players countrywide throughout the decade.


Plot Summary


This is the coming-of-age adventure of a Chinese youth, Li Xiaoyao (note: with Chinese names, surname is written before given name), and his quest to become a renown swordsman in the settings of a mythological ancient China, where the world is occupied by various gods and demons and people with supernatural martial arts abilities.

In his quest for sword skills, he meets three girls, each with a unique, yet tragic background: Zhao Ling'er, an exiled princess; Lin Yueru, the daughter of a wealthy martial arts master whose mother died when she was young; and Anu, an ethnic Miao girl grown up during the chaos of a civil war. The destinies of the girls are forever changed by their fateful encounters with Xiaoyao....

See Also: Wikipedia article

Main Characters

Li Xiaoyao

  • Age: 19
  • Height: 173 cm
  • Weight: 60 kg
  • Hobby: sleeping
  • Preferred Weapon: long sword
  • Abilities: supernatural sword skills + varies summons

Zhao Ling'er

  • Age: 16
  • Height: 162 cm
  • Weight: 48 kg
  • Hobby: bathing
  • Preferred Weapon: double swords
  • Abilities: control the 5 elements: wind, lightning, ice, fire, and earth

Lin Yueru

  • Age: 18
  • Height: 167 cm
  • Weight: 50 kg
  • Hobby: hunting
  • Preferred Weapon: whip
  • Abilities: Qi-based attacks (note: the Qi is similar to the concept of the Force in Star Wars: an invisible entity such that those with talents can use to their advantage)

Anu

  • Age: 14
  • Height: 153 cm
  • Weight: 40 kg
  • Hobby: eating insect eggs
  • Preferred Weapon: dagger, magical staff
  • Abilities: control bees, insects, and all sorts of poisonous organism



LSF DOS Version


The start of this legendary series. First released in 1995, it is considered by some to be the classic of all. This version runs on the MS-DOS operating system and can be emulated on DOS-BOX.

LSF Win95/98


A re-release of the game for the Windows 95/98 platforms in 1997. There are few changes, mainly to reduce the difficulty of game play. It has been rumoured that an experienced player can finish the whole game in 4 hours.

LSF Sega Saturn


The game was adopted to the Sega Saturn Console System and released in both Chinese and Japanese (1999). The SS version features re-drawn character portraits and other graphical improvements but the gameplay remains unchanged.

New LSF


A complete remake of the game, with minimal changes to the original storyline. The new version has much-superior graphics. Two alternate endings are dedicated to the two female protagonists of the story, Ling'er and Yueru.

The New LSF was initially released in 2001. It was re-released again as the New LSF XP version for the Windows XP platform in 2005.

An English fan-translation of the game can be found at
http://paleng.blog.com/

A trailer video of the English version of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ow3tkbkLY

TV Series


A TV series based on this game was produced in 2005 (the first ever TV series based on a Chinese computer game). It received mixed reviews as it altered the story drastically.

Intro of the TV series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y44O143jBc

Trivia


The characters Ling'er and Yueru became so popular among gamers, they even caused a split between fans. Fans of Ling'er often exchange verbal fights with fans of Yueru over who Xiaoyao loves the most...

See Also: Ling'er and Xiaoyao Fanlisting


LSF 2, 3, 3 Side Story, 4, Online, etc.

These are all sequels/prequels to the original story. They won't be discussed here.