Order Of The Griffon (Turbo Grafx 16) FAQ/Walkthrough done by Carl Batchelor History: 10/8/01- Version 0.1 (Intro / Party creation tips / Level up tactics) Part One: Legal Information You may put this FAQ on your own website so long as nothing is changed. This includes the "Credits" section found at the end of the FAQ. You need not email me about using it, since I would be surprised if anyone was as fanatic about this game as I am. If you wish to add something to this FAQ, then feel free to email me at: valzante76@hotmail.com and I will include your information in the next release, provided that the tips you give actually work and have not already been covered in the walkthrough. I will ignore all emails about Roms or Emulators, and will not show you where the OOTG rom is, or how to play it. (This FAQ was done on the actual Turbo-chip version on an actual Turbo-Grafx 16. I still say this is the only true way to play the game.) Part Two: Why "Order Of the Griffon" ? I am a Turbo-Grafx nut. All of my friends know this, and although my collection is large (About 30 CD games and 60 Turbo-chip games) I still hold one game above all others: Order Of The Griffon. Part of this is due to the fact that when OOTG (The acronym I shall use in place of it's proper name from now on) came out, I was only in my second year of Table Top PnP Dungeons And Dragons. I still have the original manual for OOTG, and looking in the back, I can see where I put the actual stats and equipment for my (then) PnP character "Death Bringer", a Dwarven Fighter that thankfully was killed, allowing me to make a REAL character. This game holds many memories for me. A lot of the things people hate about this game (The infamous "Fighting Stops Music" bug, for one) went completely ignored by me. Perhaps it was the fact that only a couple years prior, I was playing the Original Pool Of Radiance on my Commdore 64. After all, whats so bad about music stopping when you were used to having to wait 5 minutes for new areas or save games to load? This is my Second FAQ, and I hope this goes better then the first. I wrote an FAQ a year ago for the ill-fated PC Game "Wizards & Warriors". I had such a horrible experience with the fanbase of that game emailing me threats or silly 3rd grade questions that I dropped it towards the end and changed my email. After looking through the list of RPGs, I saw that this game, one of my all-time favorites, had no message board, and no FAQ. I hope, somehow, to change that. In this instance, I may actually like to have a few "Fans" email me. Part Three: Where can I get "Order Of The Griffon" ? Unfortunately, you might not be able to. Although you may still be able to order the game from the semi-famous Turbo-Grafx online dealer "Turbo Zone Direct", I have no idea if they are still around, or if the game is still in stock. Even when the game was new, I still had problems finding it. After reading a review of it in my "Turbo-Play" Magazine, I searched three months for it, until finally getting one in an Electronic's Boutique nearly 40 miles away. The Easiest, and perhaps ONLY way to plat OOTG now is through emulation. Since doing this is illegal, I won't place any links to the Rom, or the programs used to play it. I leave the decision to do this up to you, the reader. I will ignore any emails asking me the location of either the Rom or the Emulators. Part Four: Walkthrough Section 1: Getting Started. Some of you who have played the game may notice that the Rules are not quite as accurate as they should be. After all, Elven Fighter/Mages can use Heavy Plate Mail armor with no spell casting penalties, and Drained levels cannot be restored. I attribute this to the fact that it uses the "Dumbed Down" Late First / Early Second Edition rule set. You may notice that many D&D RPGs released around this time had similar rule adjustments. Warriors of the Eternal sun for the Genesis simply referred to fighter/mages as elves, Pool of Radiance wouldn't allow gnomes to become mages, and Eye of the Beholder for the SNES allowed you to combine both +1 or +2 rings with +1 or better armor and still collect ALL the AC bonuses without penalty. First of all, we will talk about how to create a powerful party. You will notice that the game does not allow you to create your own characters, but instead gives you Seven different "Classes" to choose from, with three unique characters in each one. Some may frown upon this, but I always felt it was a great gameplay choice. Rather then spend 3 hours re-rolling stats, you can choose from an already powerful group of pre-rolled, pre-tested fighters. Group One: Fighters Every good party needs a fighter or two. The three pre-rolled fighters each have their strongpoints. When it comes to picking one, your best bet would be Kier, due to his 18 Strength and 17 Constituion. He may be slow, and therefore, miss out on Dexterity bonuses, but his high Hit Point total and amazing strength more then make up for it. (Ogre Gauntlets won't become a reality until you are very rich, or very far into the game) Garon is a nice alternative, however. He may only have a Strength of 17, and a Constitution of 16, but his Dexterity of 17 will give him a base (Naked) AC of 7, making him one of the best frontline fighters in the game. His Hit points may be a bit low then most D&D fans are used to, but you CAN fix his 17 strength by equipping Gauntlets of Ogre power later on in the game. As for Rurik, he is a complete joke. Group Two: Dwarfs The Dwarf is really just a fighter with immunity to poison and a natural apptitude for using axes. There really is no difference between Dwarfs and Fighters, and I usually pick the Dwarf just so that I don't confuse his in-game character model with the other similar looking fighters. Out of all the Dwarfs, Tor reigns supreme. He is probably the best pure melee fighter in the game. He is the ONLY character with both an 18 Strength and an 18 Constitution, making him the one who hits the most, hits the hardest, and lasts the longest in combat. Although his Dexterity isn't exactly great, you'll find plenty of +2 and +3 armor, sheilds, and rings to make up for that. For those who want a more well-rounded approach to their party, Kallak might be a better choice. He starts with a modest 17 Strength and 17 Constitution, and a Dexterity of 15, allowing him to, at the very least, get a small AC bonus. However, the remaining Dwarf, a fighter named Claus, is even more of a joke then the aforementioned Rurik. Not only does he have the lowest strength of any warrior-class in the game (13), but his Dexterity (14) and Constitution (16) do not even begin to make up for his lack of physical prowess. His only saving grace is his Charisma, which is shockingly high for a Dwarf at 17. Group Three: Elfs Like most of the early 8 and 16 bit D&D Home Console conversions, OOTG simply replaces the Fighter/Mage class with "Elf" and then does away with any of the rules associated with gaining penalties for equipping heavy armor or swords while spell casting. It may not be realistic, or faithful to D&D rules, but it does remove the fear one usually has when choosing a fighter/mage for their party. The Fighter/mage can be a back-up frontline fighter, and a full-blown power mage, able to fill both roles of combat perfectly. The very best of these three pre-made "Elfs" would be Larissa. Not only does she have a very impressive strength score for a female Elf (17), but she has an 18 Intelligence, which gaurantees you will learn ALL the same spells as a normal Mage would. Top this off with her decent Constitution (16) and her Dexterity (15) and you have perhaps the best character in the entire game. Two of my four end game parties had Larissa in them. If you already have enough fighters and don't need your elf to be a frontline combatant, but just want to take advantage of the elf's ability to wear platemail while casting spells, then Lhaeros may be a better choice. She also has an 18 Intelligence, which makes sure you won't have any less spells then an actual mage would. Not only that, but she has an 18 Dexterity, giving her a superhuman AC Bonus, and making her VERY hard to hit in combat, especially when decked out in Magical Platemail and a magical shield. Although her Hit Points will be abnormally low (Constitution of 13), she will rarely be hit. A good tactic for playing Lhaeros is to equip her only with Bows, and let her use her arrows in place of a sword. This way, she will be able to contribute to the frontline battle, and yet, also be able to stay away from the enemies that would surely tear her to shreds in a few hits. Last, and most certainly least is our next "Joke" character, Eamon. To be fair, he can become a powerful character. He has a 17 in three crucial categories (Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity) yet has a pathetically low Constitution (10), which just about cripples him. Although he is powerful and quick enough to be a back-up frontline fighter, with such a low Hit Point total, hand-to-hand combat would be suicide for him. The only way to effectively play him is to make him a "Bow-Mage" like Lhaeros. However, if you want to play a mage like that, why choose Eamon when Lhaeros has a better Constitution, Lower AC, and more spell ability? Group Four: Mages Mages are the bread and butter of any good adventuring party. Even though they don't become fireball, cone of cold, lightning bolt hurling demi-gods until around level 5, they can still help win battles by casting indirect spells such as Sleep and Charm. Early on, the sleep spell can wipe out entire parties, due to the fact that OOTG follows the old first edition D&D rule of being able to automatically kill any monster that is asleep. That's right, if a monster is stricken with the sleep or hold spells, simply attacking them once will automatically kill them, regardless of Hit Point total or AC. This makes the mage FAR more powerful then he is in any other D&D game. Out of all three mages, the very best would be Valos, the Stereotypical Spell Caster. Not only does he have a 17 Intelligence, but he has a 16 Constitution, which gives him a nice little Hit Point boost later in the game. However, for those who are more interested in raw magical power, Falcone would be the best choice. She starts with the highest Intelligence of any mage (18) and her photo alone looks so cool that you'll never get tired of staring at it. Unfortunately, her spooky looks must have had a negative effect on her body. Not only does she have a frighteningly low Constitution (9), but she has a Dexterity one point lower then Valos. Only choose Falcone if you feel you are up to the challenge of keeping enemy fighters away from her soft, blue skin. Lastly, we have the mandatory "Weird" character. Hawk, although he is a mage, could easily become a fighter with the kind of stats he has been given. His Intelligence is rather low for a mage, (16) but he has an unusually high Constitution (17) and even gets a decent AC bonus thanks to his Dexterity of 16. Hawk may have a problem when it comes to memorizing the same amount of spells as the rest of the mages, but his ability to survive in combat MAY just make up for it. I would only recommend Hawk if you had an Elf in your party, and just want a specialized mage to even out your party's spell-casting ability. Group Five: Clerics Every party needs a cleric. I don't care how good you are, clerics are mandatory. They heal, and they turn undead. OOTG is not only chock full of undead, but the game's plot virtually REVOLVES around a powerful, dark character creating undead monsters. Thusly, a cleric is the most important part of your party. Out of all the Clerics, Kerwin just might be the best. Although he is as weak as a field mouse (9), he has an above average Wisdom (17) which means he will have a nice sized spellbook. However, most important of all is his high Constitution (18) which gives him a tremendous amount of Hit Points. The best way to play Kerwin is to leave him behind your lead fighter, and have him ready to heal when needed. With his high HP, and a good set of platemail, Kerwin will last just as long as your fighters, making him an excellent Cleric. If you are the type of D&D'er that demands the maximum number of spells per level out of your Clerics, you might want Chanda instead. She has the highest potential for learning Cleric spells thanks to her 18 Wisdom score, but this comes at a price. Unfortunately, Chanda is very slow due to her Dexterity of 9, making her very easy to hit. Chanda is also forced to suffer with a 13 Constitution, which makes her Hit Point total a bit too low for a Battle-ready Cleric. If you feel that you can keep her out of harm's way, Chanda may be a better choice then the Sturdy and Stout Kerwin. Lastly, we have Marius. His Wisdom may be a bit low for a Cleric (16), but his decent Constitution (15) and his impressive strength score (17) slightly make up for the loss of spells. Marius is more of a Battle Cleric, able to dish out a little damage when enemies get too close, but on the other hand, tends to run out of healing spells a bit too quickly. Group Six: Thiefs Much like other console D&D games (Warriors of the eternal sun comes to mind) OOTG doesn't have any use for thiefs. You would think you need them for picking locks, but believe it or not, I have gone through the game letting my fighters "Pick Locks" and they usually open the door. Even if they don't, you can always bash it down. Add to this the game's omission of the "Backstab" attack, and you have to ask yourself: Why should I play a thief? There may be hidden bonuses to playing a thief that I don't know. Maybe having one in the party increases your group's chance to surprise enemies. Maybe the thief increases the distance at which you see secret doors. Who knows? All I know is that they make terrible fighters. If you MUST choose one, however, I would go with Aarion, for the simple fact that he has an above-average Dexterity (17), a decent Constitution (16), and is very charismatic (17). He could possibly become a decent frontline fighter if you get him the +3 Short Sword, +3 Leather, and a pair of Ogre power gauntlets, but why do all that when you can put Kier, Garon, or Tor in your party? For the truly adventurous, Talia might prove a worthwhile addition. Although she is the only thief with an 18 Dexterity, that is Talia's only real strength. She is lacking in every other category, and unlike Aarion, is completely useless to ANY party. (even WITH good equipment.) Bandar, although he has a 17 Dexterity, would have made a better Mage. For some reason, he has 17 in both his Intelligence and Wisdom, while his Strength, Constitution, and Charisma are sorely lacking. Although his portrait looks cool, and he might be fun to play your second or third trip through the game, he posseses no talents that you cant find in another more powerful character. Group Seven: Halflings The Halfling "Class" is a little strange. They play a lot like fighters, but aren't quite as durable as a human or Dwarven fighter (Obviously). This might lead you to dismiss them totally, but there is one Halfling that you just might want to put in your party as a "Secondary" fighter. Take one look at Mical's stats and ask yourself, could you possibly roll something better then that? With his decent 17 Strength, 17 Dexterity, and whopping 18 Constitution, Mical actually makes a powerful fighter!! In one of my parties, he has actually been the leader, and easily stood toe-to-toe with the game's hardest monsters. Trinter is another halfling you might consider. Although his 13 strength might scare you away, his 18 in constitution and 18 in Dexterity helps him last a very long time in battle. All Trinter needs is a pair of Ogre Power Gauntlets and he, like Mical, could be a nice Secondary fighter. Unfortunately, old Lady Maya is a joke, even for a halfling. Not only is she as ugly as sin, but she doesn't have the high constitution of the other two halflings, and has the weak strength of Trinter. I cannot recommend her at all. Now, with that short introduction taken care of, you have to choose which four of these 21 characters you want to take with you. As with all D&D games, you have a certain formula that needs to be followed. You KNOW you need Healing, so a cleric belongs in one spot. You also know you need at least one person that can cast mage spells, so an Elf or a pure-mage is going to take up another spot. The remaining two *should* be fighters of some kind. To make things a little simpler, I will give you a list of the four parties I have taken through the game successfully, giving you a much better idea of who to pick for your team. Party one: "Old stand-by" Slot One: Fighter-Kier Slot Two: Halfling-Mical Slot Three: Cleric-Kerwin Slot Four: Mage-Valos This party is very well rounded. Mical and Kerwin will make a very powerful frontline duo. Both are strong, and have many hit points, and Mical has the added AC bonus. Throw a pair of Ogre Gauntlets on Kerwin and even he can become a back-up fighter in time. Just make sure to guard Valos well and conserve his spells for when you really need them, and you'll be fine. This party may be a bit "boring", but it works well and was my first end-game group. Party two: "Bring In The Tanks" Slot One: Dwarf-Tor Slot Two: Fighter-Kier Slot Three: Cleric-Kerwin Slot Four: Elf-Larissa This is a very well armored team. Each one of these characters can double as a frontline fighter (once you get Kerwin some Ogre Power Gauntlets). The Tandem of Tor and Kier will be far too much for most enemies to survive, since their naturally high Constitution and strength will enable them to be strong right from the start, even without good equipment. Add Larissa's great combat skills and spell casting to the mix, and you have, in my opinion, the most brutal party combination in the game. The ONLY drawback is the fact that Larissa will not gain levels as fast as the rest of the group. Because she is dividing experience inbetween her Fighter and Mage occupations, she will always be about 2 levels behind everyone else. This might make the first couple of dungeons a little tough since she won't learn the "Real" mage spells until later, but once she does, you will be completely invincible. Party three: "Mighty & Magical" Slot One: Fighter-Garon Slot Two: Cleric-Kerwin Slot Three: Elf-Larissa Slot Four: Elf-Lhaeros This party will be a little tough to play at first. Since you have two multi-class Elfs, you won't be able to do much except cast sleep and magic missle. However, imagine how god-like you will be once you have instant access to 5 Fireballs, 4 Cone of Colds, and more sleep spells then you can shake a stick at. Not only that, but with Lhaeros equipping magical bows, Larissa fighting toe-to-toe with her magical swords, and Garon leading the charge with his super low AC (Thanks to that super-high Dexterity) and you have a VERY VERY powerful Late-level party. Good things come to those that wait. Party four: "AC Lords" Slot One: Fighter-Garon Slot Two: Halfling-Mical Slot Three: Cleric-Marius Slot Four: Mage-Hawk If having a Low AC is all you care about, then this is the party for you. All of these characters get an AC bonus due to Dexterity, and yet, are also good enough to be successful in their chosen roles. Once you get Marius, Garon, and Mical in Magical platemail and shields, you will be nearly impenetrable. Hawk's Bonus AC and Dexterity will also help cancel out the inherent "Fragility" most mages come with, although he won't be as good a spellcaster as Larissa or Valos. Section 2: Powering Up Once you choose your party, you now have to find a way to get them equipped and powered up. At level one, you are VERY vulnerable, and won't last long. Before you go to the Order of the Griffon Guild House in Radleb Keep, you might want to get to level three, and while you are at it, grab some magical items as well. First things first, we get some magical armor and weapons. I bet you are asking, How do I buy them? I don't have enough money! To this I answer back: Who said anything about buying them? Walk out of Town and follow the road east until you see another town. Save your game every 5-10 steps in order to avoid random fights. It's my opinion that you DON'T want to get into any fights....yet. with only a few HP, you could possibly die in one hit from a ghoul or a Veteran Soldier, so it's best to save every few steps and reload when you get into a fight. Just keep saving and reloading until you reach the THIRD town (in the FAR Northwestern section of the continent) called Kelvin. Once in Kelvin, go as far "Back" into the town as possible. You should see a Tavern at the back of town. Turn left from the tavern and keep walking back the way you came. The first door you see on the left is the one you want to enter. Walk inside, and you will witness a fighter about to leave his house due to the town being ransacked by monsters. (By The way, don't open any other doors in Kelvin, they usually lead to ultra-high level fights with Wyverns. Come back later for the experience.) The Fighter, before leaving forever, will give your party a +3 Leather Armor, a +2 Shield, a +3 Long Sword, and a ton of Experience Points. How do you like THOSE apples? Walk back to the starting town (Radlebb Keep) and sell off the Leather armor. (Unless you are playing a thief, in which case you've just found the best armor in the game for them) Equip the shield and sword on your best character, and use the gold you got from the Leather Armor to buy Platemail, and magical +1 or +2 weaponry for the rest of your party. If you were smart, you should now have a +2 weapon for two of your other characters and everyone should have fairly decent equipment. Congratulations, you are almost pwerful enough to take on your first quest. Within Radlebb keep are numerous encounters with corrupt guards or spys that yield very nice experience. First of all, as soon as you enter town, turn right and keep going right and up, until you reach a dead-end a couple of paces past the Cleric Temple. Inside this room is a small guard post. The men will taunt your characters, but will not attack unless provoked. To your right is a small locked doorway. If you pick the lock or open it, you will stumble upon a human leading a group of monsters. He is instructing them on how to assassinate Duke Stefan. Needless to say, once you break in, they attack. The group isn't terribly tough, and they are easily dispatched. However, once you kill them, the guards outside that taunted you earlier will rush in, not giving you a chance to heal. This is where your mage's sleep spell comes into play. Cast sleep on the whole group, and then pick them off with bows or slings. Easy experience. After leaving that room, go forward a couple paces and make a right. There should be a door to your right, which will lead to a nasty fight with a level 3 cleric and a group of 3-4 undead. If your cleric turns the undead, you will not get experience for killing them. However, the cleric in this fight is very strong for you at level one or two, and might be too much to deal with if you have 4 skeletons ganging up on you from behind. Either way, the fight gives you a nice piece of experience. The next fight is a bit tougher. In the north western part of town is a door that, when you walk by, a small slit opens up and the person behind it asks for a password. Lie to them, and they will let you in, only to attack you when they see who you are. It's a group of level 3 bandits that can, if you are not careful, kill a character or two. They tend to wake up from sleep spells after a round or two, so you might want to memorize magic missle instead. (Buy Magic Missle at the magic shop if you haven't already) Once you beat them, you will, once again, get a nice piece of experience. Before continuing, go back into the mayor's mansion in Radlebb Keep. Go into every room, and clear each one. A few of them offer small-time, low level encounters that only serve to help familiarize yourself with the game's controls. They do not give much experience, but they do give you an idea how bad things have become in the game's world. With all these people plotting to kill the mayor and the duke, you have to ask yourself, is anyone worth trusting? Your last trip in your quest to raid Radlebb keep of all it's experience opportunities lies behind a doorway just in back of the Thieves guild you cleared above. When you enter, it looks like a empty room, but if you push up against one of the stone walls, you find yourself magically transported to a small dungeon. Keep walking down the straight path, taking extra special care to dispatch of the two large monster groups in your way. Once you reach the very bottom of the dungeon (it wont take very long) you'll find a prisoner that tells you a secret. This just sets up the plot a little bit, and gives you some easy experience. By now, you should be level 2, with some people about to go level 3. Now you might want to go outside and build up experience in random fights until your characters reach Level 3. (Especially your fighters) A good tactic to leveling is to save your game right BEFORE you are about to level up. Each time you level up, take note of how many more maximum hit points you gain. If you gain LESS then 8, just reload and level up again. The game randomly determines your HP at each level, and you REALLY need to take advantage of your high constitution. Nothing is worse then having a CON of 18 and gaining 5 Hit Points while your mage gains 6. According to D&D Rules, your constitution grants you a certain maximum number of HP every level. Although I haven't played Tabletop D&D in 6 years, I THINK I remember how many HP you are suppose to gain each level. Con 18 = 11 Con 17 = 10 Con 16 = 9 Con 15 = 8 Now, these numbers apply only to fighters. I can't verify if they are the exact numbers OOTG used, but, as a general rule of thumb, lets say, if you have a CON of 18, and don't get AT LEAST 10 HP, I would re-load the game and level up again, and keep doing so until you are within at least one point of the number I listed. Fighters cannot afford to miss out on HP. Section 3: Your First Mission Go to the Order Of The Griffon Guildhall in Radlebb Keep and they will direct you to a small cave of Dire wolves to the north east of the town. They want you to reclaim a magical staff from the caves, and also kill their leader, Collum. Now that you are heavily equipped, level 3, and comfortable with the game's combat system, you are more then ready to make your trip into the caves. To Be Continued Soon.... Credits: I would like to thank Pat, "Butch" W., Aaron, and Tim T. for bringing me into the world of Tabletop D&D ten years ago. I would also like to thank my step father who, when I was five, decided to share with me his love of Atari and made me the gamer I am today by happily supporting my expensive, and somewhat geeky hobby. Most of all, However, I'd love to thank TTI for the courage they showed in taking over the Turbo-Grafx 16 in America at a time when even Multimedia Giant NEC had given up on it. It was the greatest system of all time, and the RPGs they released for it proved that to me. Last, but not least, I'd like to thank E. Gary Gygax, for creating the D&D universe, and for being so nice and open to his many legions of fans.