Leave Ganye Temple Behind One Way Or Another In The First Chapter Of Road To Empress 2

To get your bearings in Road to Empress 2, you're tossed into the prologue chapter with a succinct summary video of the previous game's outcomes going into the new story to ensure you're up to speed, whether it's been a moment since you last played or are joining the fun for the first time.

Your very first task is to find a way out of Ganye Temple so you can finally make your way back to the Palace, but how you do it is a choice the game leaves to you. Can you escape fate in Road to Empress 2?

Prologue

After a brief summary cutscene that shows what happened during the first game to lead you to this moment, you'll watch a scene of your character, Wu, speaking with their guardian, Xi Xin, about their next move.

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This introduces you to the make-or-break decision mechanic, which appears anytime you make a decision that has branching consequences. This could lead you onto the next scene or to one of the dozens of endings just as easily, so you'll need to make wise decisions and be ready to try again just about every time you make a decision in this game - you'll find a lot of game overs, but you're meant to use the storyline to rewind as needed to change your choices retrospectively.

The two choices you're given in this scene are to either flee this place for somewhere else, or opt to try to return to the Palace and claw your way to the top. Regardless of which path you've chosen, Xi Xin will confirm she understands, and the scene ends. What you see next, though, depends on how you choose to approach your fate.

To help you progress the story smoothly, we'll be bolding the choices that lead to the scenes continuing from here out when we list the options you're given. Most other decisions lead to one of the game's dozens of potential endings.

Choosing To Flee: Ganye Temple, No Escape

Deciding to try to run away from Ganye Temple, Xi Xin will confirm your wishes, and you'll segue into a scene of Wu Meinang scrubbing floors when she's approached by Xiu Li, a former acquaintance and newly-appointed Shanggong. She taunts you and tells you she's going to brand your forehead with her peony hairpin, leading to a few choices.

You'll need to decide between trying to take the hairpin from her before she can act, asking her to spare your face and choose a different part of your body to brand instead, or accepting the branding to try and make things easier for Li Zhi through your submission. To spare your life in this decision, you'll need to opt into taking the hairpin and trying to fight back, which will lead to two separate quick-time event sequences that results in Liu Xi dying if you succeed at both.

After the fight, Liu Xi is dead, and you'll need to choose how Wu Meiniang feels about this. These don't seem to impact much, but you'll then need to decide what to do about the body, again presented with a few options, but each one leads to the same path forward. You're approached by thePrince of Wei offering to take you from the temple, and you'll need to choose whether to accept the offer or kill him.

This isn't the real prince, so your best bet is to opt to kill him to reveal him as an impostor so you can get back to dealing with Liu Xi's body, deciding between hiding the body, trying to frame it as an assassination, or running away from the scene dressed as the late Shanggong.

Choose to dress as Liu Xi. Now, you'll need to choose an item to leave behind to make it look like Wu has fallen into the well and died, given the choice between a red amulet, the sun and moon hairpin, or the soaring red kite silver sculpture. Your best bet here is to leave the amulet, since it's worth the least amount of money out of the three.

Xia, an official with the temple, approaches to see what's going on, and you'll need to decide whether to try to run away or stay and pretend to be Liu Xi. Watch as Xia finds the item you left behind, peering into the well to try and see Wu's body at the bottom. You'll be presented with another few options here, deciding between trying to push her into the well, telling her you'd like to elope as Wu and Xia, or making her keep your secret. Your best choice here is the latter.

The Mirage Pavilion

You end up at the Mirage Pavilion after making your escape, watching an auction sequence from the back of the room. Xiao Nian approaches and asks if there's anything she can do to help, and you'll need to pawn an item for cash to start your new life, asking for a new identity in exchange. You'll have the choice between the hairpin with which you killed Liu Xi, or either of the two items remaining after you left one of them behind at the well.

Selling either the Sun and Moon Hairpin or the Soaring Red Bird hairpin lead you on the path to a new identity, but Xiao Nian will not accept the Amulet as payment. Giving her the Peony Hairpin leads to one of the game's endings.

Follow her elsewhere in the Pavilion, and you'll see a handful of girls being berated by an employee. One will be marched out past you, and you can either buy the girls being sold at the Pavilion or opt to stay out of things. Either way, Xiao Nian comes back with the items you need to proceed into a new life, but the mark on your hand makes your pass out.

You speak with Xiu Li, and you'll have the chance to either follow her or reject Xiu Li's offer. Snap back to the waking world, and the chapter ends with you meeting the owner of the Mirage Pavilion.

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Return To The Palace: A New Era

Should you opt to have Wu Meiniang tell Xi Xin she'd like to try and go back to the Palace during the prologue conversation, you'll see a scene where she writes a letter on an umbrella to be given to Li Zhi. After this, a second scene plays where Liu Xi, a newly-appointed Shanggong with whom you share a history, approaches you as you scrub the floors to taunt you.

She burns your umbrella and places you into meditational solitude for the duration Li Zhi and his cavalry are at the Temple, trying to prohibit you from meeting up with him after confessing to burning the letters you've been trying to send him.

In the next scene, you'll see Wu Meiniang in meditation when Li Zhi's carriages approach outside the building, but the door is guarded by other nuns told to keep you inside.

You'll be given three choices about how to try and get to Li Zhi. You can try to burst through the door and the nuns guarding it, slip the, the hairpin to give to Li Zhi so he knows you're there, or opt to scream Li Zhi's name from inside the meditation room. The nuns will rush in and try to silence your screaming, but if you succeed in a quick-time event to push their hands away, Li Zhi will hear you and enter the room.

You can choose how to greet him, and your reaction here will sway how much affection you gain with Li Zhi from this scene. You'll also need to choose whether to hug him in greeting or neglect to react to his embrace. After this, he says he'll name you head of the concubines, and you'll need to choose how to respond. You should refuse, swearing to return your own way.

The Return Plan

Seguing into a new scene with Xi Xin, she brings you up to speed on the Palace goings-on, telling you about how Empress Wang employs but does not at all trust Consort Xiao and leaving you to decide who you'd like to appeal to in an effort to try making your way back into the Palace on your own accord. Your best bet is to appeal to Empress Wang in this situation, granting you a point in your Strategy stat in doing so.

The empress will summon you to meet with her, and you'll need to decide how to behave in this situation. She likes having people around who are more docile in nature, so when presented with the option on how to react to her, you should opt to act timid and submissive.

Even if you do act submissively, though, she'll ask about your past with the emperor. She knows what's going on already, though, so your best bet is to be honest with her to earn her respect. Nobody likes being lied to, after all, and how can she trust you if you're willing to lie to her so early on.

Finally, you'll receive an invitation to the Palace through Empress Wang if you've chosen right so far. When she makes her offer, choose "I am willing" when prompted to reclaim your original name and return to the Palace to end the first chapter of Road to Empress 2. You'll need to decide if you're trying to pursue Power, Li Zhi's heart, or a combination of both, each giving a stat boost and leading to a branching path later on with Li Zhi.

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