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.
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1.1 HISTORY
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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.
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...
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.
Spoils of Victory:
------------------
Cracked Elfstone of Action Enhancement
Cracked Elfstone of Armor Enhancement
Cracked Elfstone of Health Enhancement
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2.2 WEST MORIA
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Spoils of Victory:
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3rd Age Foul Blade of Morgul (Berethor)
Cracked Elfstone of Spirit Enhancement
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2.4 EAST EMNET GULLIES
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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.
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.
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
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2.5 ROHAN, HOME OF THE HORSE LORDS
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Spoils of Victory:
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3rd Age Easterling Steel Scimitar (Berethor)
3rd Age Iron Goblin Spear of Moria (Eaoden)
Polished Elfstone of Action Enhancement
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2.6 HELM'S DEEP
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Basically, the tables are turned and you get reinforced a lot. They're usually
fragile, except for the captains and berserkers though.
Battle 1
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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.
Silence Hadhod and Eaoden, then just keep attacking.
Spoils of Victory:
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2nd Age Long Sword of the Accursed (Berethor)
Polished Elfstone of Armor Enhancement
Numenorian Dark Battle Plate Vambraces (Berethor)
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.
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)
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
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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:
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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)
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
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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
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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
