LORD OF THE RINGS: THE THIRD AGE (CHARACTER/SKILL FAQ) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 0.99 by Kibbitz ***************************************************************************** Contents ***************************************************************************** 1. Introduction 1.1 History 1.2 Copyright 2. Evil Mode 2.1 Eregion 2.2 West Moria 2.3 East Moria 2.4 East Emnet Gullies 2.5 Rohan, Home of the Horse Lords 2.6 Helm's Deep 2.7 Osgiliath 2.8 Minas Tirith 2.9 Pelennor Fields 3. Credits %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % 1. INTRODUCTION % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite pieces of written fiction. However, my experiences with the existing PC RPGs for it have been lackluster, to say the least, and I didn't really like the movie adaptations of the story. However, my friend kept raving about this game, so I tried, and there went 28 hours of my life. The game is fairly simple and an FAQ/Walkthrough really isn't necessary, except to note the location of chests and quest triggers. However, some elements of the game are worth taking note of, which led me to do an guide for character/skill combos and Evil Mode in two separate FAQs. ************************ 1.1 HISTORY ************************ 11/02/2004 Started playing LotR - TTA 11/06/2004 Started on the FAQs for LotR - TTA. Status of Current Game: Eregion: 100% completed (12/12 Quests) West Moria: 100% completed (5/5 Quests) East Moria: 100% completed (10/10 Quests) East Emnet Gullies: 100% completed (9/9 Quests) Plains of Rohan: 100% completed (8/8 Quests) Helm's Deep: 100% Completed (9/9) Play Time: 26:05:55 % of game completed: 56 Difficulty: Medium 11/09/2004: Completed initial draft of Evil Mode and Character/Skill FAQs. ************************ 1.2 COPYRIGHT ************************ I have no qualms with this being posted anywhere without my permission, though if you decide to use material from this FAQ, it'd be nice to be credited. With that said... %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % 2. EVIL MODE % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Evil Mode is basically a reenactment of key battles you fight along the way in the game. Evil Mode is divided into regions corresponding to the same ones you visit ingame, and regions in Evil Mode are unlocked after completing the main quest in the region and entering a new region. You will be prompted that a new region has been unlocked in Evil Mode after you save your game. The point of Evil Mode is to earn equipment for your party, and the quality of the rewards improve as you go further into the different regions. Evil Mode can only be accessed from the main game menu, so you need to quit your current game if you wish to play Evil Mode. Apparently, EA likes to make you work for your stuff. The game is designed to recognize which region of Evil Mode was last played before awarding you items in the main game. This means that if you want more than one set of a particular item from Evil Mode, you will have to: 1) beat a region in Evil Mode, 2) apply the prizes to your save game of choice, 3) load up that savegame 4) save and quit 5) repeat from step 1 Annoying, but I suppose I can see a point to this. Anyway, since weapons and armor are unique, the only point in replaying Evil Mode would be for Elfstones. Tips for Evil Mode in general: 1) The special 4th characters usually are the greatest damage dealers, you may want to take them out first. 2) Remember that your enemies are your characters, so you should have a good idea of their abilities. Eliminate them as necessary. For example, Idrial has healing abilities, relatively heavy armor but low HP. Depending on the sequences of actions that you have available, it might be advisable to focus on her and kill her before she can heal another character. 3) Don't skimp on the AP. Use as much as possible on the most useful moves. Your units generally have a better chance of dying than running out of AP for most battles. 4) Even the best plans can be screwed up by strings of unlucky misses. In such a case, just bear with it and try again. 5) Your performance doesn't matter, so sacrifice your units if helps to winning the battle. ************************ 2.1 EREGION ************************ Battle 1 -------- Units: Orc Captain, Orc Veteran, Orc Archer Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Idrial Battle 2 -------- Units: Orc Chief, Orc Veteran, Orc Swordsman Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Idrial Battle 3 -------- Units: Cave Troll Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Hadhod Battle 4 -------- Units: Nazgul Enemies: Berethor, Hadhod, Idrial Spoils of Victory: ------------------ Cracked Elfstone of Action Enhancement Cracked Elfstone of Armor Enhancement Cracked Elfstone of Health Enhancement ************************ 2.2 WEST MORIA ************************ Battle 1 -------- Units: Watcher Enemies: Elegost, Hadhod, Idrial Battle 2 -------- Units: Goblin Sword, Goblin Veteran, Goblin Archer x2 Enemies: Elegost, Hadhod, Idrial Spoils of Victory: ------------------ 3rd Age Mordor Orc Battle Shield (Berethor) Cracked Elfstone of Shadow Protection ************************ 2.3 EAST MORIA ************************ Battle 1 -------- Units: Cave Troll x2 Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Idrial Battle 2 -------- Units: Goblin Veteran, Goblin Archer, Goblin Swordsman, Goblin Captain Enemies: Elegost, Hadhod, Idrial Battle 3 -------- Units Cave Troll, Troll Drummer Enemies Berethor, Elegost, Hadhod Battle 4 -------- Units: The Balrog of Moria Enemies: Berethor, Gandalf, Hadhod, Idrial Spoils of Victory: ------------------ 3rd Age Foul Blade of Morgul (Berethor) Cracked Elfstone of Spirit Enhancement ************************ 2.4 EAST EMNET GULLIES ************************ Nice prizes, but one of the crappiest sets of battles to fight, since there's just no way of getting around a lot of the things they can throw at you. Just try your best and hope you don't get cheaped out by suddenly perfect tactical choices by the random AI. Battle 1 -------- Units: Uruk Captain x2, Orc Archer x2 Enemies: Aranel, Berethor, Elegost, Idrial Since Berethor has no ranged attacks, he's best saved for last. Aranel can wipe out all your units in one single Arrow Storm, so he's the main target. You might want to try killing Idrial first in case she heals him though. Battle 2 -------- Units: Uruk Captain, Uruk Veteran x2 Enemies: Berethor, Hadhod, Idrial Battle 3 -------- Units: Old Warg Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Hadhod This is kind of difficult. Three on one, and it gets worse. Berethor can cast Stand Fast to nullify your Stunning Bite, Elegost has Creature Bane and both Hadhod and Elegost have Slowing attacks. Just pray that they don't decide to spam their Slowing attacks. In any case, you can try to use a Stunning Bite to 1-hit kill Elegost, and then focus on Hadhod to eliminate Crippling Smash from the Equation. Spoils of Victory: ------------------ Polished Elfstone of Blunt Defense Polished Elfstone of Piercing Defense Polished Elfstone of Slashing Defense ************************ 2.5 ROHAN, HOME OF THE HORSE LORDS ************************ Battle 1 -------- Units: Orc Veteran x2, Orc Archer, Orc Chief Enemies: Hadhod, Idrial, Morwen Battle 2 -------- Units: Uruk Veteran x2, Orc Archer x2 Enemies: Elegost, Hadhod, Morwen Battle 3 -------- Units: Grima, Uruk Captain x2 Enemies: Berethor, Idrial, Morwen Battle 4 -------- Sharku, Orc Veteran x2 Enemies: Eaoden, Elegost, Idrial Spoils of Victory: ------------------ 3rd Age Easterling Steel Scimitar (Berethor) 3rd Age Iron Goblin Spear of Moria (Eaoden) Polished Elfstone of Action Enhancement ************************ 2.6 HELM'S DEEP ************************ Basically, the tables are turned and you get reinforced a lot. They're usually fragile, except for the captains and berserkers though. Battle 1 -------- Units: Berserker x3 Enemies: Berethor, Eaoden, Idrial, Legolas Fairly cheap battle, where everyone has combo attacks and does tons of damage, and you lose as soon as all ladders are removed. I never had it this easy. Not much you can do about it but pray. Battle 2 -------- Units: Uruk Swordsman x2, Uruk Archer x2 Enemies: Eaoden, Gimli, Hadhod, Morwen Silence Hadhod and Eaoden, then just keep attacking. Spoils of Victory: ------------------ 2nd Age Long Sword of the Accursed (Berethor) Polished Elfstone of Armor Enhancement Numenorian Dark Battle Plate Vambraces (Berethor) ************************ 2.7 OSGILITIAH ************************ Another of those sets of battles where luck turns the tide of battle too easily, due to the high-powered attacks everyone has. Battle 1 -------- Units: Gothmog, Orc Veteran, Orc Archer x2 Enemies: Eaoden, Elegost, Faramir, Idrial Once Faramir uses Steward's Armor, you will have to rely on Barad-dur's Curse for damage. Barad-dur's Curse apparently triggers counterattacks from Faramir with Faramir's Quality, so be warned. Battle 2 -------- Units: Troll Drummer, Troll Veteran Enemies: Eaoden, Elegost, Morwen Battle 3 -------- Units: Witch-king of Angmar Enemies: Berethor, Idrial Probably go for Berethor first since he can deal out more damage. Your 70k HP means little when he routinely does 20k with Ecthelion's Wrath. Keep going for Berethor, and once he's down, you can use Fear on Idrial. Spoils of Victory: ------------------ Sword of Isildur, High King of Gondor (Berethor ) 3rd Age Iron Morder Battle Axe (Morwen) 3rd Age Orc Crescent Spear of Mordor (Eaoden) Polished Elfstone of Shadow Protection Gondorian Steel Warrior Fauld (Berethor) ************************ 2.8 MINAS TIRITH ************************ This has the distinction of being the only one without Elfstones as part of the spoils. Battle 1 -------- Units: Troll Captain, Troll Veteran x2 Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Morwen Battle 2 -------- Units: Troll Captain, Troll Veteran Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Morwen Battle 3 -------- Units: Easterling Veteran, Easterling Swordsman x3 Enemies: Eaoden, Hadhod, Morwen Crappy. Pretty much gone if Hadhod pulls a Flames of Ruin in the first round, and Eaoden and Hadhod can kill anyone with a full combo attack. Hadhod is quite nasty, since he usually will counterattack as well. Battle 4 -------- Units: Witch-King of Angmar Enemies: Berethor, Eaoden, Elegost, Gandalf The Witch-King is useless as usual on his Fell beast. Berethor and Gandalf are the damage-dealers, they should be the first to go. Berethor can be killed in one hit, Gandalf in three. After that's done, use Fear on Elegost and Eaoden to neutralize them. Spoils of Victory: ------------------ 2nd Age Mithril Dwarven War Hammer (Hadhod) 2nd Age Golden Glaive of Eregion (Eaoden) 2nd Age Steel Glaive of the High-king (Eaoden) Numenorian Dark Battle Plate Fauld (Berethor) 2nd Age Easterling Steel Piercing Axe (Morwen) Numenorial Wool Shadow Cloak (Berethor) ************************ 2.9 PELENNOR FIELDS ************************ Battle 1 -------- Units: Mumakil Enemies: Berethor, Eaoden, Hadhod Just use Sweeping Tusks to remove everyone's AP. If you're lucky, Berethor will not have used Stand Fast, and thus, you can abuse Stomp. If not, just use Haradrim Volley until they die. Battle 2 -------- Units: Witch-King of Angmar Enemies: Berethor, Eaoden, Eowyn, Morwen Finally, none of that useless Fellbeast! Just abuse Devour Flesh and wait for your counters to kill them. Battle 3 -------- Units: Sauron Enemies: Berethor, Elegost, Idrial Darkest Fear immobilizes everyone and causes constant damage as well. After everyone has been neutralized, simply bombard them with the Wrath of Sauron, and recast Darkest Fear when necessary. Spoils of Victory: Ancient Elfstone of Action Enhancement Ancient Elfstone of Armor Enhancement Ancient Elfstone of Health Enhancement Ancient Elfstone of Spirit Enhancement And with that, you've beaten all of Evil Mode.