Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc
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A Comprehensive Walkthrough by Musicthefineart
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Copyright 2008 Fung Chun Tung

"This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or
otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use
of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display
is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks
and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective
trademark and copyright holders."

Basically, this means the entire walkthrough is a work originated from
me, and shall not be used in anyway, anywhere else without my
permission except for personal use (reading it to beat the game). Any
attempt to rip me off shall be met with swift and decisive punishment.
I hope I made all this baffling legal talk perfectly clear.

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Version 1.00
The first complete version
Started work on September 28, 2008, completed on 24 October 26, 2008

A word from the author:

This walkthrough was created because there was virtually no other
walkthrough on the internet I found that was particularly useful. I had
seen two so far, but one has disappeared (probably forever), and the
other one, by Randomer, also written and published on GameFAQs, is
incomplete and not as detailed as I had hoped. With no guide available
to help me beat the game, I decided to perform a public service and
write one for all those who played the game and are still playing
despite the fact that it is a few years old now, and yet there is
hardly anything on the internet that could advise them. Yes, I play it,
and I still play it, and I am sure there are a few in the world who are
just as stuck as I am/was. (I made myself an expert prior to writing
this walkthrough, needless to say. *smirk*)

(No offence to Randomer, of course. Please don't sue me. I'm broke.)

This game may not be popular, and definitely isn't as well-known as
"Warcraft" or "Age of Empires", but it is still great fun and deserves
a good walkthrough all the same. I shall take the initiative and write
one for the sake of all those waiting for such a thing all this time.
The game is hard, no doubt about it, and sometimes, community help is
highly desired - indeed, needed - to fully master the game. If one does
not find the game hard, then a little advice from me is always nice to
read. I had a load of fun writing this walkthrough, which I am sure
will be appreciated.

And if a player learns something about the game that I know not, kindly
contact me, and I shall update this walkthrough and give you the credit
that is due. Yes, that's right; I don't know the game 100%. To have a
truly complete walkthrough, I need the help of the public. So please,
if I missed something or need help somewhere, don't hesitate to email
me!

(Oh, and for any Englishmen out there who are offended by the very
notion that this game is about the French smashing the English to the
ground, I hope you read this and play the game with an open mind. If
not, please do not kill me when you read this walkthrough, and for
starters, you shouldn't even be playing the game! I am neither French
nor British, FYI.)

Merci beaucoup! Amuse-toi bien!
Musicthefineart
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Contents:

1.      Basic mechanics and game-play
2.      Meet the characters
3.      Some advice
4.      Let's get it on! The walkthrough for each mission:
*       The Arrival
*       Imperial Counterattack
*       Assault at Twilight
*       Victory in Tourelles
*       Cleaning up the Loire
*       The Sieges of Meung and Beaugency
*       Impasse
*       The Road to Coronation

5.      Final words
6.      etc

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Basic Mechanics and Game-play:

If you already know all the moving and fighting and stuff, skip this
section. I don't think this section is needed at all, but it doesn't
feel right to omit it. All these things can be learned in the game
(most are learned in the first mission). Before I begin, I'd like to
make a note of how strikingly similar this game is to others like
Dynasty Warriors by Koei. I like to make comparisons between the two,
and those who played Dynasty Warriors will know perfectly what I'm
saying. Is possible that the creators of this game based it on Dynasty
Warriors?

Anyway, here goes (for PC only, not with any other console system):

Indicators:
The red bar is your life. When it drains to zero, you die. (Makes
sense?) The blue bar is your Energy Points, which is like Mana in other
magic-and-fantasy games. The EP is needed for stronger attacks. When it
drains to zero or the EP is insufficient, you can't use stronger
attacks anymore (kind of like Power Points in Pokemon, which deplete as
you attack). This is unlike charge attacks in Dynasty Warriors, which
can be used infinitely. Both bars can be replenished by waiting for
them to slowly fill up again on their own, or use items to heal
yourself.

Another number next to your face at the bottom-left of the screen is
the number of arrows you've got in use. When it reaches zero,
you...well, can probably guess. To replenish, simply equip more arrows.

Walking:
W for forward, A for left, S for back, D for right. These control the
walking of your character WITHOUT CHANGING THE DIRECTION YOU FACE. That
means to walk around a corner and then face another direction, you need
your mouse to aim the camera. The mouse controls the camera which
revolves around you 360 degrees, and when the mouse moves, your
character faces a different direction. So to hit an enemy standing at
your right, don't press D to face it, but swerve your mouse and press W
to walk towards him. (Seriously, these are the most basic of basics,
and should be learnt within the first 5 seconds of playing the game).

To just to one direction (still facing North), press and of the three:
A,S,D twice. This is a useless action, anyway, but at least twice-S
allows you to jump backwards. Pressing W twice allows you to charge
forward and do the Rush Attack, a skill that will be learned quite
early in the game. Finally, the space bar triggers to jump action.

You can mount a horse later in the game, for travel. Horses move
differently; it is very tricky, and generally I prefer to walk, even if
the destination is far away. They act like bumper cars; you control
them with W,A,S,D and not with the mouse (the mouse is the camera, but
it becomes totally useless). So just ride the horse like you drive a
car, and don't kill the horse in frustration if you get upset at its
utter stupidity.

Fighting:
Left-click to hit people with normal attacks (A). Right-click to attack
with strong attacks (B). You can chain A attacks with B to create
combos. Anyone who played Dynasty Warriors by Koei will compare it to
the charge attacks, although the charge attacks cannot be chained like
in this game. You can right-click repeatedly to form strong chain
attacks. You can perform jump attacks with the space bar for the jump,
followed by left-click for a simple attack, right-click for a heavy
attack (this is a skill which will be learnt later in the game).
Pressing W twice commands a Rush Attack, which means you charge forward
and knock people down.

(Note, A and B are labels for normal and heavy attacks. Pressing A and
B on the keyboard have no effect.)

Pressing C will trigger the Energy Attack, a move that eats a big chunk
of Energy Points, but is very (or quite/somewhat) powerful. This move
hits three or four times, and is useful when you find yourself
surrounded by mobs of enemy. In Dynasty Warriors, this is will be the
Musou attack.

When people are knocked down, you can press Q to do the Down attack.
This is not an honourable move, of course, as it means striking down an
enemy while they're lying down. But in this war, the English are bloody
dogs, so who cares? Walk over them, press Q, and stick your
sword/foot/poleaxe/butt/whatever in their hearts! To knock people down
easily, use B or any heavy attacks, like Rush Attack, Jump Heavy etc.
This move is extremely useful when trying to kill an enemy general
before any of your troops do it for you (and steal the exp points).

On horseback, fighting is very different. Generally, little damage can
be done on horseback. You can hack and slash, and run people down, but
you can't shoot arrows, you can't kill anyone easily, and - let's face
it - the horse is only good when you want to look cool or if you need
to do a runner.

To fire arrows, press Z. You will go into range attack mode, which is
like counterstrike and related games. There is a target, and you just
move your mouse and aim. Left click to shoot. You can still walk in
range-attack-mode, and open menus, but you can't switch generals, and
you (obviously) can't swing your sword at enemies until you press Z
again to go back to normal mode.

To block an attack, press Q. Q serves a double function.

Other controls:
F1 opens up a menu which includes your inventory, stats, skills etc.
There you can heal, distribute food to troops (by moving them to your
troops' inventory or pass it to another general by moving the item to
their portrait), increase your stats, and equip yourself with arrows
and weapons. You'll know what to do; it's idiot-proof.

F2 allows you to enter RTS mode (bit more on that later)

F3 is auto-heal. This is useful when you're in the middle of combat,
and don't want to open up your inventory.

F4 is like F3, only it replenishes your EP. You need EP-healing food
like apples to use F4.

F5 is auto-save. This is very good; press F5 often, as it's pretty easy
to die in the game.

I don't know about the rest of the "F" buttons. They're useless, I
think. Apart from these controls, R is a button that serves multiple
purposes, like hiring soldiers to be under your command, or mounting a
horse, or talking to people. (Again, it's idiot-proof. The average
idiot would be too idiotic to even play this game.)

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MEET THE CHARACTERS

In the game, you control four generals fully. You can fight with them,
hire troops with them, basically do stuff with them. They grow with you
throughout the game, so you need to know them well. I provide some
advice on how to use them and make them look cool. Here they are:

JOAN OF ARC:
She is the star. I tend to be biased a little and make her my strongest
character by having the best weapons, highest level (higher than the
rest by one or two) and etc. After all, she's the star of the French,
right? Joan fights with a heavy-hitting style, using long swords or
broad swords. She is a leader, can use more men than the others, and is
quite good with range weapons too (the dexterity trait is high). I
imagine her as a long-swordsman/woman, slugging the English with fierce
aggression and ferocity on the battlefield. (She's awesome, and her
moves are pretty cool too.) She is the first person you control in
every mission, and is probably, being the main character of the story,
YOU. Like when Joan dies, YOU die, so you lose instantly no matter how
many of your other generals live. Interestingly, Joan herself never
talks during the game, unless you count her "Come on! There's a country
to be saved!" cry. She just grunts and roars in battle. Well, what did
you expect? She's a woman soldier, and in those days, women were seen
as weak. If Joan was a girly-girl, she'd be fired! (A girly-girl
couldn't ever convince the Dauphin to save and rule France!)

Her ultimate weapon, which you'll get in Mission 4, is the St.
Catherine de Fierbois. This is a long sword, and instead of attack
boosts, uses 5 socket-able crosses to empower it, boosting your stats
instead. The precious crosses are obtained through difficult quests
that often involve protecting and escorting people home. In order of
getting them, they are the Turqoise Cross, Diamond Cross, then Ruby,
Emerald and finally Platinum. Each cross grants the sword a special
power that improves Joan's ability. However, I find many other swords
often a notch more powerful than St. Catherine, at least before the
crosses complete the sword. So much for being an ultimate and holy
weapon. (It takes up a whole chunk of your inventory, is not really
THAT powerful until the end, and you can't sell it! How infuriating is
that?!)...Still it's cool, and the game is short, so rejoice.

Joan is pretty balanced. You can add to her stats in anyway you like,
but keep in mind to focus on strength, EP, life, dexterity.

Just to note, at the end of the game, she doesn't get burned to death
at the stake! (Oh dear! Is this a spoiler? Aaargh, untie me at once!)


JEAN DE METZ:
I don't know if de Metz is a real historical character, or was he just
made up for the game. Joan has a servant named John (Jean in French),
who is her aid in real history, so de Metz is likely based off him. But
de Metz is a lot more important and powerful than the servant. Anyway,
you start playing the game as Joan, and you have Jean to walk with you
to Orleans. You can only control Jean in the second mission, but these
two are the first generals you meet.

Jean is a fencer. His swords are rapiers, and he fights and duels with
finesse and elegance; that is, not like Joan, who bangs the enemy with
her sword. Jean de Metz is more like a fencer; his moves are elegant
and slick. His attacking battle-cries are also very cool, like "You
cannot defeat me!" or "I shall prevail!" or "NO MERCY!!" His high
dexterity, along with his beginning equipment, also suggests that he is
professionally an archer. So for fun, I make his dexterity higher than
the rest of the generals, and give his the best bow I can find at the
moment, to signal his archery mastery. Dexterous fencer, archer,
warrior.

Some say he is a weakling, but emphasis on his strength will quickly
make him a fierce and unbeatable warrior, due to his natural speed. His
Rush Attack is very cool and useful; improve on it when you can spare
the points. Give him good bonuses in EP, life and strength to avoid the
"weakling" de Metz everyone else thinks. Finally, pump his dexterity to
make him the greatest archer of all France (one arrow might kill a
soldier instantly!). Don't bother with his poor leadership, though. He
doesn't really need it, and anyway, he can command enough men to be
sufficient.

Whether he's real or not, Jean de Metz is my FAVOURITE character.
Period.


LA HIRE (a.k.a Etienne de Vignolles):
We know Etienne de Vignolles is a real general of France, and that his
moniker La Hire means "Anger". Good name, too; he is a goliath of a
warrior. The giant, gargantuan beast smashes away at puny-looking
English soldiers with his mighty club, frightening all who dare face
him in battle. His battle-cries instill horror in the hearts of his
enemies, and even his own men. (Seriously, listen to his BBBBB attack
battlecry.) La Hire wields an array of lethal-looking clubs and maces,
like the Mauler, the Behemoth war hammer, but his ultimate weapon is
the Juggernaut, an absolute earth-shaker of a weapon. The definition of
juggernaut is "An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems
to crush everything in its path". Quite right; the weapon devastates
all it touches (more about the Juggernaut later), and in the hands of
La Hire, none can stop them. I LOVE using La Hire. (You meet La Hire
early into the third mission, where he joins your army and helps you
boot the hindquarters of the English to the moon.)

One especially good thing about La Hire is his B attack chain. When you
get to control La Hire, increase his Energy Points every time he gains
a level, as you'll soon realize how often you use his B attacks. When
surrounded, his B attacks are perfect "crowd clearers", hitting people
a full circle around him, and killing a lot of people very fast. Next
to B is the C attack, the Energy Attack that is just as far reaching. I
find myself madly right-clicking when in a sticky situation, and more
often than not, I can bash my way out. When normal attacks fail, right-
click to pound your way through a crowd like a bowling ball! No other
general has a B attack chain as effective as La Hire's.

La Hire's Q attack, the Down attack, deserves a mention. He has a
bloody powerful Down Attack, far more damaging than even Joan's jump-
stab Down attack. He stomps on the enemy on the floor, saying, "Taste
my foot!" I don't know why, but this stomp seems to be more powerful
than any other Down attack of your generals. It's ruthlessly violent,
cool, and really befitting of La "Anger" Hire's bloodthirsty nature.
(Listen to him talk! Even his speech reveals much about his
personality!)

As aforementioned, when La Hire gets a chance to increase his stats,
focus on his EP without neglecting the others. He is a mammoth warrior;
pump his monstrous strength and life, and he will be practically
unbeatable. He was never cut out to be an archer, and this is shown
with low dexterity. I wouldn't sacrifice too many points there; just
improve it every now and then to let him run a bit faster. His
leadership is mostly unnecessary, so again I tend not to touch it a
lot.

And one last thing. Never call La Hire a "fat guy". Never. Ever.


THE DUKE OF ALENcON:
Jean the Second, the duck - sorry, Duke - of Alencon, is a poleman
general and siege expert in the game. He is, of course, real, and is
Joan's best friends during the campaign to drive out the English and
crown Charles as King. You meet d'Alencon in the fourth mission, where
he waits for you to attack Tourelles (more about why it's a bad idea to
leave him alone later). He likes lions; you can see from his armour.
Well, the Duke of Alencon is not the strongest or coolest character,
but he is the fourth and last of your loyal generals.

When in combat, you'll find the Duke of Alencon not very different from
Jean de Metz. He is also like a fencer, and not a very good "crowd
clearer"; his attacks often attack what is in front of him only. At
least Jean de Metz can do well when faced with a crowd. Although he
cuts down the enemy with powerful chops and hacks, wielding his
halberd, he rarely swings it around like La Hire does. Not even his
Energy Attack hits 360 degrees. For this reason, d'Alencon may find it
difficult to slice his way out of a crowd of enemy soldiers.
(Sometimes, due to my painfully obvious lack of skill with video games,
I die when controlling d'Alencon while fighting in a very sticky
situation, often with an enemy general trying to stick his sword into
my ass. This happened at least three times. Anyway, just be careful.)

D'Alencon's weapons all take up 16 spaces, which is quite a sizeable
chunk in your inventory. Luckily, he doesn't have many weapons; just
one which you'll find in the sixth mission is worth keeping. The Volgue
Vindicator is the best halberd you'll find for him until the last
mission. There are a few others like the Slayer and the Despoiler, but
they aren't as good. Only until the last mission, close to the end, do
you find his best weapon - Twin Lions.

The Duke is a nobleman; his high leadership allows him to command a lot
of troops. You should use this to your advantage, of course, since he
will definitely make good use of troops fighting with him (as we'd
established earlier that the Duke is a poor crowd destroyer). Apart
from that, he is pretty balanced. His defense is good, but it's useless
anyway so don't waste points on it. Improve on strength; he'll need it
a lot. Life points and EP are important too. Aside from these you can
make him a decent archer by pumping his dexterity.

It's good to have D'Alencon by your side. Just ensure he stays alive!


OTHER CHARACTERS:

These are all Non-player characters, so I can't really comment on them.
So here is some useless but entertaining info:

Bastard of Orleans:
He is the boss of Orleans, and often in missions in which he is
involved, you must make sure he lives, or else you'll lose. So in
essence he's like a grand general. Despite that status, he is a
bit/sort of/completely useless. I try not to get him involved in thick
fighting because I don't need him to die and screw up the mission for
me - seriously, it happens! On an unrelated topic, he also speaks with
a flawed French accent. It's a French accent, certainly, but with
mispronunciations of certain words like "Dauphin". (That's "DOUGH-fan",
not "Dol-PHIN")

Arthur de Richemont:
Richemont is a French knight who will come to your aid when you attack
Beaugency in the 6th mission. He, like your generals, is fully equipped
with a spear, food, combo attacks, and troops. It's good to have him as
an addition to your army, but mostly he doesn't do much to help the
Valois cause (your cause; the reason you came to play this game in the
first place). And once the mission ends, it's over for him. He packs up
and leaves for home. (In fact, you never see him again.)

Charles VII, the Dauphin:
He is your king. You only meet him in the last mission, in which you
will act as his bodyguard while he rides off to Reims to be coroneted.
He'll be on a horse, and if you know what's good for you, let him be
knocked off that horse and have him on foot. (A horse can cause SERIOUS
problems with stuck people. Trust me, I know. *growls*) Again, because
he is a grand general and a politician, he is absolutely useless in
combat. Not that you'd let him fight off twenty people on his own, of
course; what if he dies and 'Royally' screws the mission? And anyway,
he's so surrounded by people he needn't fight anyone. Just make sure he
lives and you'll win the game.

(I might consider writing a section for enemy generals, but that would
be pointless.)

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Some Advice from Me

1. Bias or plain laziness might make you favor Joan in the game.
It's fine to treat her as the most important character; she is,
anyway. But don't fight solely with her throughout the eight
missions. It's important to train up all your generals, not only
because it would make the game more meaningful (you don't play a
game for the sake of playing it right? You want to have fun!),
but because you can't have a super-Joan and three other weaklings
running around with you! How do you expect three level 14 or so
generals who were neglected all the while to survive and/or be
helpful in the later parts of the game? Indeed, it is an
IMPERITIVE from mission 5 on that all four generals under your
command to stay alive (meaning, if one of them dies, you lose).
Anyway, if you stick with Joan, in no time, she'll reach the
maximum level 30, so all the experience you gain from killing
enemies with her afterwards will go to waste. Thirty, that's it,
you can't go higher than that. I played to the end, and I found
that it is indeed possible to train all your generals to max
level, or one-or-two levels short of 30. Level 25 or 26 is the
level when you finish learning all your battle skills; it's just
improving stats afterwards. So make it a rule: don't just stick
with Joan.

2. Always try to keep your troops alive as long as possible. Though
it might not be prudent to do so because it saps your food
resources, troops are very beneficial. Yes, enemies killed by
your troops will give you less experience than you'd like (this
is especially annoying when your troops kill an enemy general),
and yes they take up a lot of space in cramped areas, and they
even get stuck in annoyingly easy to pass things like trees or
horses. But troops have benefits. First, it doesn't take a lot to
maintain the health of your troops. Just a couple of breads will
suffice. When in a tough situation, you need to leap into action,
and if you fight well, your troops won't get hurt too much. They
act as "scapegoats", meaning they draw enemies away from you.
Compare entering a camp with 10 soldiers to none. If you had no
troops with you, the enemies will make a beeline for you and if
you can't fight your way out, you're screwed. Troops give enemies
another target to aim, allowing you to kill them off without
being homed into.

3. I have no idea what defense is for. Is it to decrease the damage
your enemies do when they hit you? Or does it allow you to defend
yourself from cannon strikes? I have no idea. I think it's for
you to take less damage when being hit by an attack, though.
Don't waste too many points in Leadership (or at all). Troops
don't live long in long battles, and for most you find you can
manage without troops at all. Still, they're useful (see above).
If you want to bias with the points, you should spend more on
Strength, which is the truly useful stat of yours. BTW, if anyone
knows what defense is all about, please contact me.

4. When you can use RTS mode, it would be good to split your army
into two. E.g. Have La Hire follow Duke of Alencon, Jean de Metz
follow Joan, and move in separate directions. This is to split
the battle experience equally amongst the generals, as each one
gets a chance to fight enemies on their own. This is the way to
train the four generals up.

5. As you'll quickly find out, bosses are very easy to beat. They
fight just like you, but are much slower, and have a set of
moves. When you knock them down, hit them, and then get back.
They will then stand back up and use their strong attack which
can be easily blocked or evaded. Then just attack, run them down,
and repeat. Arrows are EXTREMELY effective against bosses,
because they can't block them, but they're simply no fun and
you'll use up a lot of arrows before you floor the boss. Careful
not to be hit by their strong attacks, though. They hurt, and
it's easy to die upon one single hit.

6. Don't piggybank your money. Though the missions are long, the
game is short, and once it's over, the money is useless. There is
no after-campaign stuff; this isn't like Dynasty Warriors, where
the weapons and items gained are saved and used in different
missions that can be played over and over again. This game is
just one-way; play it, win it, over. No saved weapons, no
accumulated money. So spend money on what you need, and don't
worry about saving up too much.

7. Talk to as many people as you can. In fact, talk to everyone you
can find who can talk. Some people want to praise you, others
just want to chat, but there are people who give you new goals to
achieve during the game, as well as food and precious items. It's
always a boon to get things from people - I don't care what my
pastor says during Christmas about giving and sharing. You can
even get one-of-a-kind items from certain people you interact
with! So don't be shy, and talk! (You've got a sword anyway, why
fear they might attack?)

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THE MISSION WALKTHROUGH

Though the missions are big, they are also short in a way. The game
itself is short, and is very linear. You play the game to the end, then
start another campaign and repeat the whole thing again. So, if you
were expecting Dynasty Warriors, you'll be disappointed. But the sheer
difficulty of this game is the reason I'm writing this walkthrough.

I'd like to note that this walkthrough is written in circumstances of
NORMAL LEVEL and EASY LEVEL only. My poor gaming skills forbid me from
venturing any further than normal level. So if Hard level is any
different, I don't cover it, but not much will be much different.

------------------------

Mission 1: The Arrival

This mission is very simple. You start as Joan, and you have Jean de
Metz as your companion as you make your way to Orleans. This is a get-
to-know-the-game mission; you learn how to walk, how to fight etc etc.
So I won't go into it too much, just walk around the place, smash
crates, take stuff. In the first camp, there are arrows in crates on
the hill slope. Pockets of English soldiers can be killed by following
off-the-path pathways. Just kill everyone you meet, and you'll be fine.
(If you killed the most soldiers, Joan will get an A+ grade at the end
of the mission. But these grades are useless; it just looks good.)

Halfway through, you'll meet two French soldiers delivering a letter to
Orleans. Give them two or three breads to keep them alive as you fight
the English. There's a good reason in doing so; if you lose one of
them, you fail a side goal that requires you to escort them safely to
Orleans. You'll lose out on 500 exp and money, and that's a lot at this
point. So do them a good deed, and feed them. They'll pay you back. :)

(That being said, give Jean de Metz some food too. He can handle
himself, but if he dies, you'd lose.)

Along the way you'll meet an English Archer captain named Lewis Leigh-
something who drops a Flamberge when you kill him. The Flamberge is a
sword wielded "by the fearless" and is "made of wrought iron and
steel". It's the best weapon you can get right now - beats the rusty
old Warbrand by a mile, so equip it immediately. You'll need all the
firepower you can get for mission 2. At the end of this mission, Joan
should be about level 3, rarely 4. Jean would be level 2 or 3.

-------------------------

Mission 2: Imperial Counterattack

You start off the mission with a goal to meet the Bastard of Orleans,
who wishes to speak with you. Seriously, this is the easiest exp gain
ever. Just walk to the Bastard, and hear him talk. You'll then have to
visit the blacksmith and shoppe. Along the way, you'll see lots of
crates. Scour the whole of Orleans and find as many of these crates as
you can: they contain food items that you get essentially free. (Here,
money IS an object.) The blacksmith has a beautiful suit of fleur-de-
lis armor on sale for Joan. While it looks pretty, I prefer not to get
it as this time. Money is precious, and you can always get it later.
The defense (not the stat, but the damage reduction from enemy attacks)
afforded is unnoticeable, so the buy is out of pure fancy. Instead, buy
30 explosive arrows; they're expensive too, but worth every cent, and
they'll come extremely handy minutes later.

(Note: if you're playing Easy level, go ahead and get that armor!)

By the way, on one of the castle walls you can walk up, in a corner,
there is a sword for Jean de Metz called the Paladin. It too kicks the
Sword of Knights' butt, so keep it for him.

Next, visit the shoppe. The shoppe has food for you, which you simply
must grab. Splurge ALL your money on the food, taking all the breads
first. There's a good reason why you're being such a pig, as you'll
find out seconds after you're done with the purchase...

As soon as you're done there, RUN FOR THE GATE!! For after taking five
hurried steps out of the shoppe, you'll see a cutscene. English
soldiers led by General John de la Pole wait at the gate. They will
charge into the city in hordes you've never seen until now. As Jean
says, you must keep the citizens alive, lest the city will fall!
Without ado, MAKE FOR THE GATE!

AAAARGH! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OF THEM!? You think as you rush to meet
the English soldiers. The first thing to do is to shut the gate. Yes,
ignore them, and close the gate. Once you do that, they'd stop coming
in. But afterwards you're stuck in the middle of the crowd; a hundred
angry English soldiers cornering you in that small space! At this point
it is prudent to switch characters to de Metz, who is prepared for
battle. (By the way, around this time, you'll probably already have
learnt the BB attack, so fighting the large crowd is easier.) Take
control of Jean; Joan, now controlled by the computer, can handle
herself very well while you deal with other things. Joan is now a
"magnet" holding on to the English soldiers and preventing them from
spreading into the rest of the city (if they did that, you'd almost
certainly lose).

When you take control of Jean, lead him to the English soldiers that
wandered away from the "main" crowd of enemies (that's the lot
surrounding Joan), and slay them before they kill any citizens. You'd
do well to give Jean half the food supplies Joan had collected just
now, as well as the Paladin she picked up for him. If you left Jean
alone and focused on Joan's fighting her way out of the crowd, he could
die. DON'T LET HIM DIE! (We don't want de Metz dying, do we? Not when
you just assumed command of him and started training him in combat!)

Ensure no other English soldiers wander the city, then rush to help
Joan. By now Joan will have killed a few people. There are two ways to
deal with a sticky situation like this: either to desperately fight
your way out (risky), or blow them away with explosive arrows (see how
useful they are?). I preferred the harder way, which is the former, but
if you're in DEEP trouble, press Z and blast'em outta town! (Make sure
you equip the explosive arrows first.) Here, F3 and F4 auto-heal come
in very useful, just make sure to know which is which, and press them
quickly before your general bites the dust! (F3 for life, F4 for EP)
You can use whichever general in the fight, or both if you prefer.

With a bit of difficulty, you'd kill everyone in the castle and win,
for now. Your next mission (after talking to the Bastard) is to
liberate two towns outside the city. No surprises there; just go kill
some people. I recommend sending Jean out of the city to capture the
first camp, the one closest to Orleans. This is to train him up. After
you're done with him, send out Joan alone to deal with the second one.
There are a lot of English soldiers in between, and they all yield
valuable exp points. Balance out between the two generals as you
capture the two camps. At this time you'd find a couple of precious
items - among them the Hematite Bloodstone, which is completely
useless, and the Warrior of Infinity amulet, which is solid GOLD; an
equipped boost in strength is more than welcome in this game. I'd give
it to Joan, but it's your choice. Food items and arrows you get along
the way are good to keep. When you're done, go back to the castle and
meet the Bastard. (Before you talk to the bastard, be sure to visit the
blacksmith; he'll give you 20 explosive arrows! They'll come really
handy a minute later.)

You heard about the cannons at the second camp? The English captain
Essendine let it slip. The Bastard will prepare the city for battle by
placing archers along the walls. You can go and take command of the
soldiers, but not the captains. The Bastard will also give you the
Tiger's Eye, which helps a little but not a lot (it's good enough,
though) by boosting the power of your attacks. Move to the gates quick,
for the English will return, this time with extra muscle!

There are TWO English generals challenging you now - John de la Pole
returns with his brother William. And as promised, they've brought the
cannons. When the battle commences, you'll find those three black iron
tubes pumping lead at your gate. Don't panic; it'll hold long enough.
But if they ever knock it down, you'd be royally screwed. So make haste
to the castle walls, find a good spot in the battlements (this is just
like REAL Middle Ages fighting, isn't it?) and start firing those oh-
so-useful explosive arrows at the cannons! (It'll be done once you kill
the soldiers manning the cannons, but you can blow the cannons
themselves up if you're feeling particularly mean.)

After you destroy the cannons, the English army will charge at the
gate. Now you can hop back downstairs and start hacking them through
the gate. They're really stupid; they'll just let you hit them. So take
turns between your two generals and slash them like mad. Or you can
simply stand back and watch the hilarity ensue as you and your archers
shoot them dead. (NEVER open the gate! You'll let them in and that'll
screw you up, not to mention failing the side goal of keeping them out
of Orleans, which costs you money and exp!) I don't know why, but
whenever I play to this bit, John de la Pole always dies first. At some
point, when they're all killed, and John runs away, William and
whosoever remaining will leave the gate alone.

At this point, I recommend you doing something very risky but fun. Open
the gate for a few seconds, and then close it again quickly. The
Bastard will scold you, but you haven't let them in; you just opened
the door. However, a HORDE of English soldiers will charge at the gate,
this time at least a hundred of them! (Imagine if you're stuck fighting
with them had they broken the gate down! Now you see why letting them
in would screw you royally?) Just do the same: chop them up through the
gate, and fire explosive arrows on the ground until they too are all
dead. William won't join the fray, so you'll have to kill him another
way. Yes: by walking out of the castle to face him.

At this point, you'll see a lot of goodies on the floor that would be a
waste if you didn't pick them up. Send a general out (close the gate
behind you!) and quickly, pick up all those things without letting
William catch you - he'll come after you immediately and it'll be like
a game of Tag. Amongst these goodies is a Citrine Spiral pendant
(useful if you need to be better at firing arrows) and a crossbow
(useless for now). When you're done running around like a chicken, turn
around, save and challenge William de la Pole to a duel!

He thinks he's hard enough to beat you, but if you're careful, you
should beat him quite easily, him being the LAST enemy alive and all.
Send whichever general who is lacking in exp against him, and pit sword
with mace and shield! When you've beaten him, he'll drop a sword; the
Badelaire for Joan. Try to walk in his direction after he scarpers;
he'll drop a gemstone as he runs, and you can pick it up. (You must
have poked a hole through his inventory during the duel!) Anyway, after
a few seconds, you'll win the mission! Hurray! It was a somewhat hard
one, but far more difficult battles lie ahead...

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Mission 3: Assault at Twilight

This one is pretty simple; your job is to capture two camps. That's it.
There will be some deviations, but it's pretty linear. In this mission
you meet a new general who will join your army till the end. Keep an
eye out for pathways that lead to unseen locations; enemies might hide
there, and you should go in and kill them all.

First proceed to kill anything in your path. In no time, you'll reach
the first camp - du pied fragile, I think. Anyway - isn't it painfully
simple? - Just waltz in and slaughter those fools. While the fight goes
on, you'll notice allied captains coming to your aid. You can hire
troops from them, but the captains will stay to protect the camp. A
minute after you take the camp, a larger crowd of the English will try
to retake the camp. They're tough, but no match for you. Just wipe them
out and be on your way.

You might have picked up a key while capturing the camp. This key
unlocks a door to the west of the camp. You'll find it easily, and find
it's an execution camp. If you have no key, simply use Jean's instant
lock-picker to open the door. Rush in and save the French soldier
Garnier Vallet, who was going to die moments ago. Go for the archers
first, and quickly; they'll keep shooting at Vallet. Without much ado,
you'll free him, and the grateful chap will let you read a letter from
General La Hire.

He tells you to meet him "due east of the landmark with the cross on
the mound". He means go back to where you started and meet him there.
(FYI, he's the big fat guy.) After talking to him, he'll join your
army, and will follow Joan. He's probably a few levels lower than Joan
and Jean, so if you want to train him up, send him out to scout out the
path in front of you, killing the enemy alone until you're satisfied
and let Joan proceed with the attack.

If you try to go west and attack the second camp, you might be
disappointed - it will close its doors on you instantly. You can't blow
that door down so retreat and go north and around it towards the west
to enter the camp another way. From here the mission can't get simpler,
just walk around and kill everyone in your way. (Pick up items whenever
you can.) When you reach the other entrance to the camp rush in and
beat the crap out of them! (Before killing them all totally, run around
the camp and pick up some food and items lying around. You can find
many chests around in there.)

After killing everyone in the larger second camp, you thought you won,
didn't you? No; an enemy general comes out to challenge you, and he's
none other than the third de la Pole brother, Alexander. As soon as the
battle starts, you'll be in deep trouble, so collect everything on the
ground before he appears. I suggest letting Jean de Metz defeat
Alexander de la Pole, as he can use these extra exp points - he'll be
out of action for much of the front part of the next mission so he'll
miss out on a lot of exp gains. Alexander is just another boss; kill
him and you'll win. In Easy level, after he loses, Alex drops a Crecy
Broadsword, a sword for Joan which you can use in the next level (no
such thing in normal level - hard luck!). You win. Ain't it simple?

(At the end of this mission, before you 'win', make sure you strip Jean
de Metz bare of all precious or useful items, including other general's
weapons, gemstones, arrows, food etc. If you don't take them, they'd be
frozen for a very long time in the next mission, as he'll be out of
action.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission 4: Victory in Tourelles

I hate this mission. Hate it. And not just because it's difficult. It's
also bloody long. Due to the vast number of ways this mission can be
played, there can be no authoritative walkthrough for this mission. I
shall use MY own itinerary as a guide. (Meaning, you can play
differently from my guide; my route is just one way.)

You start the mission with Joan and La Hire. Now it's simple; just head
west, kill people in your way. No sooner than said, you find an English
camp ahead of you. SAVE THE GAME. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. For the
moment you walk within arrow-shot of the camp, William de la Pole (the
general guarding the camp) will order his troops to attack. This part
of the mission is evil. Such a difficult fight, so soon. This battle
would start out as one of the most chaotic battles you've fought yet
(minus the one in mission 2). Not only do William's troops rush out of
their fort, so do the English ambush you FROM THE BACK. If you have
extra food, give them to your troops now. They need to live, and often
they don't. (This is where La Hire's B attacks show their true power!
Bash away with his awesome BBB attack and steamroller the enemy before
they do you in!)

Beat William de la Pole, and show no mercy! When he's beaten, he'll
drop a key which you can use to free up some prisoners in the camp (and
earn exp). If none of your troops live, at least you should. That's
okay; it'll make the game harder and yet more fun. (I rejoice secretly
at the demise of my own troops!) Er-hem, anyway, go and free the
prisoners, and one of them will give you a quartz crystal, which is a
more powerful version of the Tiger's Eye.

While fighting just now, you might have noticed a message from Lord
Talbot of the English telling you they've captured Jean de Metz. He'll
be out of action for now - he's locked up near Tourelles. To get him
back, you must defeat Talbot, get a key from him, and free Jean. Move
swiftly south towards the forest (don't walk into any English camps for
now - I'll tell you why). I took the route beside Tourelles, and
rendezvous with the Duke of Alencon before going anywhere.

The Duke's been here for quite some time, but you've just assumed
command of him. Now you should train him up a little. Give him spare
apples, food both for him and his troops, any useful 'bling' you might
carry, and then send him down south to clear the path of enemies until
you reach a church. It was done for me then; move Joan and La Hire to
the forest and challenge Lord Talbot to a duel.

Lord Talbot, for an old man, is extremely powerful. A bad hit can lead
to half your life gone. Still, with two generals, he shouldn't be too
hard. A minute after the duel starts, he'll run and let you fight his
crossbowmen. They're easy, but rather pesky. Beat them, and then chase
Talbot at the top of the hill. He'll fight for a while before he gets
angry. "You've underestimated me! Prepare for you fall!" I don't know
if I'm wrong, but somehow at this point, his attacks become deadlier.
You have the advantage of two generals, but defeating him is still very
difficult. When you do beat him, whosoever got the killing shot would
earn a huge boost in exp points! (He'll also drop a key before he
scarpers. Now you can free Jean de Metz, though I didn't do it yet.)

Free Jean later; for now, head southwest to a town called Fierbois. The
priest will lament an attack by the English on a nearby church. He
wants you to return their treasures. As it turns out, the church is
right where the Duke of Alencon is standing. Talk to the horse wagon,
and escort him back to Fierbois. For your good deed, the priest will
give Joan the St. Catherine de Fierbois, Joan's signature weapon.
Defying The power of divinity, blessed by Saint Catherine. Lovely.

It's not over yet. The town councilor wants you to bring back a number
of villagers hiding in the forest. Due to the maze-like nature of the
forest I cannot show you exactly how to get there, but basically,
they're all in the forest (three of them are at the edge of the
forest). You can send any general you want. Find them, kill anyone you
meet, then bring them back to Fierbois. Don't worry about guarding the
villagers; they're indestructible, unlike you. For your effort, the
councilor will grant you your first cross for the St. Catherine, the
Turqoise Cross. (Ups your dexterity and also adds 10 to the base damage
the sword can do.)

Now you can go free Jean de Metz. Send Joan and La Hire down the path
north of Fierbois, and around the two forts you'll attack later. Jean
isn't terribly difficult to rescue, but once you free him, get out as
soon as you can, as you'll be attacked by arrows relentlessly. Give
Jean whatever you want to give him, move the other three generals to
the township next to the southeastern-most camp (some archers there),
then set Jean off to a quest on his own.

Since he's missed out on a lot of exp, Jean could use some fighting
solo. Luckily, you've got enemy camps you can attack (assuming you left
them alone until now). Let Jean attack le Fort, Alexander de la Pole's
camp, luring out soldiers in small groups at a time by shooting them
with arrows. If Alexander comes out to attack you, make sure he's
alone. He's quite strong; a charge attack can easily take out half your
life. Beat him and take the Amulet of YHWH when he scarpers, then take
the camp. There is another one, Le Petite Colline, due south, a much
smaller one. When you attack that camp, a heavy infantry captain called
Empingham will yield a weapon for La Hire - the Mauler - when you kill
him. The Mauler beats his spiked war club by miles, and is the best
thing he's going to get for now.

When Jean's done, send him back to Tourelles. He will station himself
behind the cannons; you can more or less leave him alone henceforth.
Where your other three generals are is a small township. Stock up on
food, visit the blacksmith. The blacksmith will sell the Crecy
Broadsword here in Normal level, as well as a Longbow (best bow you'd
found yet), a Seal of Antiquelis (useful if you need a boost in
Leadership). Buy whatever you want (since Joan's already got her St.
Catherine, the Crecy broadsword is hence useless, so don't get it),
then without further ado, attack camp l'eau Bleau, Sir William
Glasdale's camp.

This will be the toughest camp you'd faced yet (worse than William de
la Pole's camp). Immediately, you'll be surrounded by hordes of English
led by the knight himself as you try to penetrate the camp. Send all
your generals in if you want, but don't expect any troops of yours to
live (in Normal level, none survived). In fact, I'd be rather surprised
to find a single soldier of mine still alive. Move quickly; archers
attack from all four sides. You must defeat Glasdale and take the key
from him: this key allows you to open the door to St. Augustin, which
you must take down to win. Hopefully, by the end of it, you'd make it
out with all limbs still intact. Pillage the camp, take all your money,
and get out of l'eau Bleau (with the key!).

Now's the time to win this accursed mission! Finally, rendezvous with
Dunois and d'Illiers at the Eglise de Lumiere (the church), and lead
everyone to St. Augustin and Tourelles for the final battle. It's going
to be helter-skelter, but you can win this easily. Move one general who
DOESN'T have the two captains following him/her up St. Augustin and
attack the fort. (Two is fine also, but don't bring troops up there
lest you may experience stuck-people problems. Stupid AI!) Once you
enter St. Augustin, the battle will commence, and the cannons will
start to fire at the weapon tower. I don't know why, but it seems to
fall quite quickly. Just two minutes after I walked up the fort, it </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
'exploded' and the message "St. Augustin has been destroyed" appears.
This means you can just waltz in and collect items unhindered. In the
arbalest room, there lies a crate that holds Jean de Metz's weapon, Le
Faucon. This is much better than his Paladin sword, being "known for
its light weight and adroitness". Better-looking, too.

When St. Augustin falls to the French, English reinforcements rush into
the fight. While you deal with them, guard the cannons as they fire at
the gate of Tourelles. As far as I'm concerned, though, it's all too
slow. Send La Hire to the gate, and get him to smash it down with his
mighty Mauler! (La Hire as the ability to smash down castle gates.)
Take the gate down, charge into the fortress, and stomp John de la
Pole's puny army to the ground! Once you clear the area of enemy,
Tourelles will be yours, and victory will be achieved! Victoire a
Tourelles!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission 5: Cleaning up the Loire

In this mission, you get introduced to a new system in the game, the
RTS mode. It's very tricky to use because it's so poorly designed. (No
offence to the game designers...grrr...) You'll be able to figure it
out easily though: the game will teach you everything, so I won't give
you a lowdown on how to use it (it'll make this too long). First of
all, load up on food. Not for you, no; it's for your troops. One of the
side goals is that you need to amass an army of 80 men to attack
Jargeau, the English castle and your final destination. You will need
your troops to live as least until then, after you earned to exp and
money. Unload all your excess weapons and bling at the blacksmith's
(you're probably loaded now). Recruit some troops at the barracks with
the Seal of Antiquelis, and after your business at Orleans is done,
head east. I suggest grouping your generals into two groups - e.g. de
Metz with Joan, La Hire with d'Alencon, and divide into the eastern
territory. The reason for this is to let each general get an equal
amount of fighting, for training up. (From here on, this is how I
played MY game. You may pair up your generals and play in a different
way if you wish)

One particular town, Rouvray, is a place of interest. There is a pair
of parents who had lost their child during the English attack, and they
want you to find him and bring him back. You can easily locate Lucien
by going east; he's standing just in front of the bridge that connects
the two banks of the Loire River. Make sure he's good and well
surrounded before you talk to him, because after he asks you to take
him back, a huge army of English appears all of the sudden, intent on
murdering the child. They come from the bank AND from behind on the
bridge, so station someone on the bridge during the fight. Lucien dies
very easily. One hit will do him in, so make sure no Englishman touches
him! With some difficulty, you'd be able to escort him back to his
parents at Rouvray. For your efforts, they give you "provisions", which
is actually a reward of the Diamond Cross, for your St. Catherine de
Fierbois! (Honestly, they wouldn't make you undertake such a difficult
task just to reward you with a few pieces of bread, right?)

Along the way, you will encounter an English captain Neucomen, who
guards a captured French captain Louis Barbier. A new side goal
appears: free all 3 captured generals. You need to do this in order to
form the 80-man-strong army to attack Jargeau. One lot of them are
across the river. At this point, when you reach the 'maze' area in the
east, lead d'Alencon's team down to the other side of the river, and
continue to press east with Joan until you reach the town of
Chateauneut, just a stone's throw from the looming Jargeau castle. When
Joan frees the second lot of English soldiers there, leave her for a
while and go to d'Alencon's team.

With d'Alencon, clean out all enemy positions in the area and free up
all towns. A French captain is locked up in one of them so you should
go and rescue him. In the town with a lot of water in it (forgot names)
you can get some fish from a villager, as well as find a sword for
Joan, the Lord of Kings, "wielded only by men of the highest nobility".
Yeah, right. Since you have St. Catherine already I reckon you'll
probably just sell away this sword, even though it IS a pinch better
than St. Catherine. Anyway, to meet Dunois, head west to the big ground
path. The two captains bring a mere three fauconneaus, which aren't too
impressive, but bring all the firepower you have to Jargeau. (To move
cannons, use RTS mode)

Now move the Duke's team east and rendezvous with d'Illiers, who will
provide siege cannons. He is just outside the walls of Jargeau, away
from enemy attack but in range of enemy ambush. (He is on the southeast
edge of the map) When you meet him you should beat up any pockets of
enemy around lest they will pop out just when you aren't there to
protect the cannons. Send your full might of generals and soldiers at
the enemy, who will respond with an equally large army! (The battle
outside Jargeau isn't terribly difficult, as long as you fight quickly
and blow up the bombards before they blow YOU up. And they hurt.)
Without much ado, you should have won the fight outside Jargeau, and
the cannons would have blown a piece of the wall down.

Remember Joan's team in Chateauneut? With her, head south and storm the
other gate! (EDIT: I just found out that it'll be too difficult to
fight your way into Jargeau like this, with a two-way attack on both
sides, because Joan does not have cannons. If you did what I did, send
Joan west to where the main gate is, where your other team is. If you
insist on busting down the other gate for fun, pump it down with
explosive arrows.) When you've managed to bust into the castle, send
someone up the wall to destroy the archers. Then knock down the gate in
Jargeau's "second line of defence"; it's really not very hard. But once
you get in, get ready for a tough fight! English generals await!

William de la Pole and his brother John stand ready, and challenge you
all at once. The objectives say "Kill John de la Pole and defeat
William de la Pole". That's right - John's going down. Having been your
nemesis for so long, it's time he bites the dust! Be sure to score the
killing blow on him with one of your generals, and not the troops - it
is really annoying when the troops crowding around a general get to
kill him before you can. By slaying John, you receive 110000 over exp
points. That's a lot! (So you MUST kill him before your troops do it!)
At any rate, John must die first before William falls too. William will
provide the same exp points, but he won't die. The ugly sod will just
chicken out and tell everyone what a hero his now-dead brother was in
battle. And with that, you just beat the generals, but the castle isn't
free yet!

To destroy all guard towers outside Jargeau, move your cannons around.
The towers pose no resistance, so they die pretty quickly. In
particular, when the castle is cleared, move a cannon or two to the
east gate (the gate that leads to Chateauneut) and blow up to towers
there. Once the towers are gone, you'd just accomplished a side goal.
At some point (usually right about now), Chateauneut will be under
attack by the English, and you have four minutes to get there. Send any
general to the town quickly and kill the English before you lose the
objective; with much of the castle now cleared, getting out should be
no problem. There are some soldiers outside the castle at the south
gate; be sure to kill them too. When you're done, Jargeau should be
free, and the mission will be won!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission 6: The Sieges of Meung and Beaugency - aka the BEST MISSION YET

This isn't really a new mission; it's a continuation of the last one.
You start in Jargeau, which you'd conquered 30 seconds ago, and your
new mission is to attack Meung (the castle is known in real-life as
Meung-sur-Loire, by the way). The Bastard of Orleans waits for you
there, so the thing you must do now is...to attack the castle. Stock up
on arrows, food, soldiers if you need. Sell off some excess bling you
carry. The blacksmith here sells the Sword of Agincourt in Normal Level
- this is a sword for Joan, which is quite useful; it gives a decent
boost to Heavy attacks, like Jean de Metz's sword. Of course, with the
St. Catherine de Fierbois, you probably won't need it, but if you'd
like to use it, buy it, by all means. Why you would want to use a sword
that is symbolic of a terrible French defeat at Agincourt a decade ago
is beyond me...because it's such a good sword? (Seriously weird way of
thinking, those designers...)

There is an objective that appears the moment you start the mission.
You need to ambush an English caravan of gold and weaponry heading to
Meung, before it reaches its destination. If you're still in Jargeau
when this message appears - which is 20 seconds after you start - then
it will be impossible to accomplish. To accomplish this objective you
must take action in the PREVIOUS mission (mission 5). Just before you
kill everyone in Jargeau and win the mission, send someone out (I
picked Joan) on horseback, and head west towards Meung until you reach
the furthest boundary; the fence put there by the gods (aka the game
designers) to stop you going further. When you can move on no longer,
win Mission 5, then when mission 6 begins, continue with your general.
Keep riding on towards Jargeau, ignoring all enemy on the way, until
you reach the gate. When I got there, the cutscene happened with the
caravan going into the city, yet when the cutscene ended; the caravan
is still OUTSIDE the city for you to attack. (Wait! I thought we were
too late?!) I hope you have enough food and explosive arrows with you,
because by yourself, it's a tough fight; my Joan killed everyone at the
expense of half my food resources, twenty explosive arrows, and all my
soldiers. When the caravan is destroyed, you win the objective, though
it's not much - it's quite disappointing, actually. Some exp points,
some food...that's it. So if you're not bothered to do all this, I
don't mind...but hey, a game is supposed to be for fun, right? What
were you expecting, anyway? Treasure? I know I was...

Anyway, move all your troops out of Jargeau, and make sure you take
some cannons with you for Meung. Along the way, you can reach Meung via
three paths: A large town occupied by the English, a small town also
occupied by the English, and a narrow path with little enemy there,
that leads directly to Meung. (I assume if you did the caravan ambush,
this is the path you took, since it's also the easiest path to take.) I
split up my forces and took on all three paths. The large English town
is the one in the woods - the one that Duke of Alencon says is
dangerous-looking. You have the misfortune (or should I say fortune?)
of meeting an English general here: Jean de Luxembourg, or blond dude
with a REALLY cool mace. He guards this town, and has bombards for
backup. When the battle starts, leave your troops to fight the enemy
for a while, for you need to destroy the bombards first. Once you do
the bombards in, go and whip Luxembourg's arse. He may have an
incredibly lethal looking mace but he's not too strong. (If only I can
wrench that weapon out of his hands and give it to La Hire! No such
luck, I'm afraid.) Destroy any enemy archers in the town, and win the
fight. This is for the path via the large town.

The second path via the smaller town also presents a fight, although it
is not as big. Once you liberate the town, you can free some French
light infantrymen to join your army. I decide to have them in tow since
they are needed to man siege weapons. In this smaller town you will
also find a villager who asks you to bring the townspeople to Orleans
to buy food. Being the great Hero that you are, you must protect them
as they make their not-so-long trip. Along the way to Orleans, a team
of English heavy infantry will appear to attack them. Slay them, then
just let the villagers go on; once they reach Orleans, you've just
accomplished another objective. I found a glitch in my game; when I
walk along this road, the enemy soldiers keep regenerating. Every time
I head back down to the town, more come to attack me. And when they're
finished off, I go away, and...they return. And again, and again etc.
So I cheated a little bit, and use this unlimited fighting to level-up
my generals. Ultimately it gets boring, and you move on.

The third path is a narrow one by the river, and has little enemy
resistance. Along the way, a woman gives you some fish (not so
important), and you see a house with a front yard (very important).
Here, you see a treasure chest that holds a halberd, a weapon for the
Duke of Alencon: the Volgue Vindicator, a German halberd that is a
"mainstay in elite French units". Fancy! Kicks that stupid Gothic
halberd down the stairs and takes its money! You'll find the Duke
fighting a lot more effectively from henceforth. This is also the path,
by the way, for your cannons to travel on towards Meung.

Voila! Three paths; fight your way down each one, and soon you'll be at
the walls of Meung. For fun, I built a trebuchet at the siege workshop
outside the city, and fired at the towers and gate. This is the time
when things start to get bad. As soon as you attack the gates, the
Bastard will know about it at the other side, and join you in a pincer
attack. He does something no grand general should ever do, something as
stupid as telling La Hire to go on a diet: charging head-on at the
enemy. He has no food at all, and gets wounded easily. You have seconds
to smash down the gate and run into the castle to help him before he
bites the dust, and that can happen any time! More than TWICE did he
die before I could get in and save him, hence blowing up the whole
mission for me! (You know how to avoid this right? SAVE THE GAME before
you storm the castle!) I tried everything; La Hire and explosive arrows
couldn't knock down the gate fast enough, even with the help of the
trebuchet and three cannons! He was simply too far away for me to pass
him any food. Finally, on my third try, I realized as I stormed the
gates, the cannons had actually automatically blasted a hole through
the wall without my knowledge beforehand. Bless you, cannons! I thought
as I charged into the castle to save that stupid Bastard the bastard.
(You needn't run to him and help him; he might just die right under
your nose. Just pass the dumb fool some food as soon as he gets in
range! AND SAVE THE GAME!!)

Over here, before we continue, I'd like to elaborate on the side goal
brought on my the villager in a French town you had just liberated. I
think it's the town run by Jean de Luxembourg. The villager tells you
of an English soldier chased out by his fellows and forced to hide in a
town nearby Beaugency. Indeed, at the southwest corner of the map lies
a small 'town', and there is a soldier who pleads you not to kill him.
To get to him, you'll have to travel the southern road that leads to
both Meung and Beaugency. You will have to bypass both castles, and a
whole lot of English soldiers to reach him. As it turns out, he's a
traitor to the English, and is willing to help you get into Meung in
exchange for his life...and 3000 gold. (I was about to kill this whelp!
How dare he have the nerve to ask me for money?!) Then he will try to
get the English to open the gate to enter Meung. When I tried this
method of getting into Meung, the English won't let him in, and he
fails the task. So, in apology, he...absconds with your precious 3000
gold and laughs at your face. Pah! I'd turn him into cat puke if I see
him again! Moral of the story: DON'T EVEN SPEAK TO HIM!! If you're
broke, talking to him is equivalent to losing a year's allowance. Also,
never trust an Englishman (in the game, I mean).

The overseer of Meung is Alexander de la Pole, another old nemesis.
"It's time to end this feud once and for all!" he roars when he sees
you. And guess what? A new objective says "Kill Alexander de la Pole".
Send ONE general up the wall - one general, for too many would clog up
the staircases with people - and face him on the castle battlements. He
will challenge you to a one-to-twenty duel. His archers, arbalests, and
soldiers can all be easily dispatched, and once they're down, fight
Alexander de la Pole to the death! Kick him down the stairs! One thing
I love about one-on-one duels is that they are simply really cool. By
the way, has anyone noticed Alexander is left-handed? I spotted it
during the duel.

Once you've successfully booted Alexander off the castle battlement to
let him plummet to the earth twenty metres below and to his painful
death - I love that expression! - a new English general rises from his
bed to fight you. Regent Bedford, the big bloke with the hammer, wishes
to challenge you to a duel in the barracks, to avenge his friend whom
you've just murdered. He stands at the other side of the city, where
the barracks are, and of course, the thing to do now is kick his ass
and make sure he gets the message that the French are not to be
underestimated, even for a goliath like him. For fun, I often send La
Hire to face him, so it'll be a sumo-wrestling match with big 100kg
weapons. Fat guy versus Even Fatter Guy. (Well, Bedford looks a bit
more rotund, but in battle it matters. To intimidate the enemy, I
think.) Watch out for his wild swings, though; a blow CAN plaster your
face all over the walls as he claims. And he is invulnerable for 3
seconds after the attack stops, so sneaking an attack on him after he
completes his combo is impossible. Your troops will probably all be
killed when you fight him. Still, he's just a general, and he never did
manage to kill me. I never failed to get my La Hire to stomp on his fat
belly until it bursts. (Eww...) Howling in pain, the sorry bloke flees,
and that's the last you'll see of him. And in his hurry to scurry away,
he leaves behind his Crusher Battle Mace, a great new weapon for La
Hire! "Perfect for disorienting the enemy by using it at its helm."
Perfect! To hell with Jean de Luxembourg's mace!

While fighting through Meung, you'll notice that some English captains
drop keys when they die. Some are for unlocking the treasure chests
around the blacksmith's, some are for freeing French prisoners. You
should get 5 prison keys, and 6 chest keys during the fight. It's
probably a good idea to let the Bastard into the castle as soon as you
get the chance to open the other gate. Now the usual; storm the other
wall, kill survivors, collecting food and arrows as you run along. Once
Meung belongs to you, your people will celebrate, and the French forces
will be running around the city like headless chickens. Using RTS mode,
stop them in their tracks, send the Bastard to the heart of the city
and make sure he stays there so that he doesn't get himself killed
again. This is a moment of peacetime; you can take your own sweet time
wandering the city. Free the French prisoners, and receive a nice exp
point payout. Collect lots of food and gold from the caravan standing
outside the keep. (WAIT A MINUTE! I thought I destroyed that stupid
thing just now?! >_<) Do whatever you need to do around the city, then
head out of the north gate for the next leg of the mission. Oh, FYI,
the blacksmith in my game is never at his shop. It's a glitch I think,
for I find him standing very far away from the shop, to the west of the
city. I don't know if it's just my problem or not.

Next thing to do now is to free up final battle at Orleans. The path to
them is a little different now, though. There is no need to bring an
army of 100 men to storm these towns two French towns to the north. If
you remember from the distant mission 2, those were the very same two
towns you liberated before the; they are pretty small if you remember
and should pose little threat to your life or food resources. Most
notably, in Bourges, once you retake the township, you should go look
for a man called Raymond Fritier. He will thank God that the cross he
had with him led you to their town. Did he just say cross? That's right
- as your reward, he grants you the Ruby Cross for the St. Catherine de
Fierbois! The Ruby cross gives you additional 10 strength, making it
the most useful cross yet. Maybe that's why the man said it drew you
here by Heaven's will! Oh, and it just so happens that a Sword of
Agincourt can be found behind Bourges, so if you bought the one in
Jargeau earlier but didn't use it, you probably wasted your money.
(Should have mentioned this earlier.) The other town, Blois I think,
has little to offer, although a man you speak to there will give you a
Warrior of Infinity amulet. By now you've got a few, but you can't pile
on the effects of bling, so 'upgrade' older ones by replacing them with
the new one. This holds true for all enhancer items.

Back to Meung, and now it's time to marshal up all your forces for
Beaugency. Have all your officers follow the generals, and recruit all
the troops you can from the Meung barracks and well as the barracks in
other towns. Bring all the cannons you've got. Stock up on food. Note
though, LEAVE BASTARD IN MEUNG. If you bring the Bastard to fight in
Beaugency, he would be toast in ten seconds flat; no matter how much
food you give him. And once he's screwed...you know what happens. There
is a small group of English soldiers guarding the road to Beaugency,
apart from them, it's an easy trip to the castle.

Have you enough sleep? You better be fully awake and alert, because
this battle is going to be a trip through Hell. You will need all your
mental faculties firing on all cylinders, not to mention full
inventories of food. Forget those history books that tell you how
easily Joan captured Beaugency during the battle. This is the hardest
battle yet. I assume you will begin the assault by knocking down the
gate with your cannons. Don't count on them, and DON'T get within
arrow-shot of the castle! For the first time, the English pull out the
Explosive Arrows on you! Watch in horror as the flying bombs massacre
your poor cannons. I have no idea why I even suggest you attack with
cannons first; they're just going to die. Maybe it's to soften up the
gate? If you snuck a few shots at the gate - like two or less - before
the archers destroy you, it'll help. If any of your soldiers or
officers get caught in the hailstorm of fire, be ready to lose a few
men, for they cannot escape! As far as I'm concerned, the only way to
storm your way into a castle is to get La Hire to kick down the gate!
(WHY ISN'T THERE A FRIGGING TREBUCHET AT THE SIEGE WORKSHOP!!? Stupid
game designers!!)

Once you're in, you'll be met with HORDES of English soldiers,
marshaled by Lord Talbot, the old geezer from mission 4. Once you're
in, you will be met with HORDES of English soldiers. Seek out a wooden
at the north of the compound, or the one to the east. If you do not get
past the gates, good luck trying to fight those deadly archers; there
is NO WAY you can kill them from here. Make haste; I let my army deal
with Talbot and his cronies, while one or two generals head up the wall
to bust those archers. You need to get to the NORTH side of the castle
in order to find the stairs and scale the walls - only then can you rip
out those pesky archer's throats for causing you so much pain. (Careful
though! There are hundreds of them, and they will put up a tough fight
as hard as the one downstairs!) At some point during the battle, the
English will call for reinforcements. Lord Talbot is not the only
English general you face; when they arrive, you will have to deal with
THREE more generals. Yes, it's going to be Hell trying to survive
through the chaos of battle as Lord Scales, Sir Fastolf, and Sir
William Glasdale march into Beaugency to bash you up good this time.

Ouch. You are outnumbered good and proper, and for once, total
annihilation seems likely. In harder levels, this will be the hardest
moment to get through yet; almost impossible to win. I admit; for fun,
I tried this battle in Hard level, only to find my sub-par gaming
skills a serious handicap.

Luckily, as promised by the man named Dragonet in the township outside
Beaugency, French reinforcements appear to assist in your fight, led by
the knight Arthur de Richemont. He brings lots of troops with him;
dislike them as I do, I agree that in Hard level, the troops are like a
ray of hope. Nevertheless, your dire predicament is not lifted. Once
Lord Talbot retreats, you have Sir William Glasdale and Sir Fastolf to
face from the north, while Lord Scales charges up from the south.
Concentrate, and pick them off one at a time. In Normal Level, it still
isn't so bad. With luck, you live, and the three generals will retreat
from the city to their 'camp to the north'. You can pursue them later.
For now, wipe out those damned archers once and for all. Afterwards,
proceed to move out to the north of the city and destroy the
reinforcements standing outside the gates like potatoes. There are also
some archers standing outside the west of the castle. Those you can
kill only by moving out of the north gate.

Cleaning up Beaugency will ultimately be doable, and before twenty
minutes, the castle should fall to you. Now you understand why you
should leave the Bastard in Meung; you cannot control him, so he can
fight only by himself, which makes dying a lot easier for him. Also,
when the battle is over, your army would likely have been decimated,
minus Richemont's forces. Replenish your resources. Beaugency has a lot
of goodies lying everywhere. Before proceeding north, do all that you
need to do in this city, especially scouring every turn for crates and
barrels of resources. There is a weapon for Duke of Alencon in the
city: the Slayer polearm, which is totally useless to you now. (Wish it
came earlier while you were fighting with that lousy Gothic Halberd!)
The blacksmith will When all your business in Beaugency is done, move
on north. From this point the mission is in the bag; you don't even
need troops to fight with. Turn of tables, change of tides.

Go east from Beaugency if you wish to totally eliminate all English
presence from Loire, then proceed to Janville. Janville is actually
three townships combined to form one big village. Enemy resistance is
now weak; it seems that after the Battle of Beaugency, all their
numbers were depleted. The enemy resistance in the towns is possibly at
its bare minimum. Take the towns, and visit the blacksmith for a good
Citrine Spiral Pendant, a Longbow, as well as a brand new suit of
armour for Jean de Metz!

You remember from the history textbooks how the English totally smashed
the French six feet under at Agincourt? Now it's payback time, and
payback in kind. Patay is to the French as Agincourt is the English; a
sweeping victory. For the crown of the French, march down to Patay and
steamroller the English! By now, their power is so weak you don't even
need troops to win the battle. Without much difficulty, you'll have Sir
Fastolf and Lord Scales running for their lives. Then, as a coup de
grace for all English forces in Loire, annihilate grand general Sir
William Glasdale's pathetic army (or small band of battered and bruised
soldiers) at his camp and boot him out of here. He will take the
message to his friends that the French has won over the entire Loire
valley region, for good, for ever!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission 7: Impasse

I am willing, if reluctant, to depart from the splendid previous
mission, for this one is just as intense as the last. Brave on, fellow
gamers, for the hardest battle is yet to come!

Again, like mission 4, this is a mission that is very free, like an RPG
game. There is no fixed itinerary, although the mission still goes
towards an ultimate destination. The path I took is the one written
below. You can play the mission in any order you wish; this walkthrough
is not an authoritative guide. A recommended one, though.

You start the mission with ample troops, and the Bastard of Orleans,
naturally, as your grand general. You'll see a lot of things in your
camp; first thing to do is to wander your camp, and recruit some troops
if you like. Second thing to do is to form groups and get out of the
camp. Leave the Bastard behind, as usual. Immediately you see the enemy
fortress, St. Pierre le Montier, the mercenary bastion bigger than
Beaugency, if you remember. This fortress you can storm now if you like
(I never tried), or you can storm after you have completed enough side
goals and had enough wandering around the map. I gave the fortress a
slip for now. Do not approach the gate if you wish not to attack the
fortress, otherwise the mercenaries' archers will attack YOU. I split
my army in two, and led one group UP the path next to the fortress,
while the other team went EAST.

During the scouring of the map, I encountered a lot of enemy soldiers -
the enemy units standing around at random places will be more from now
on - but they offer piecemeal resistance. Go ahead and take as many
camps as you see. You probably are aware right now about the
mercenaries looting and pillaging gold from the French for very long.
Your job, this being a side goal, is to wrench the gold back from their
thievin' hands. Well, the gold is all contained in barrels scattered
across the map, and most of them is in camps. You can collect all the
gold you want, but to complete the 100-barrels quota you must storm the
fortress (later). This gold isn't yours to keep, by the way, but you'll
still get a nice payout. Anyway, go and take any camp you encounter.
Noteworthy items lying around in camps include a Sentinel Crossbow in
de Decize and various bling picked up along the way, including THREE
Seals of Antiquelis - totally useless, you can imagine. You will see a
farmland next to de Decize; this is the field for a quest later.

I sent my North team (Joan's team) to attack east after de Decize, and
met a camp where the mercenaries tell you if you do not enter, they
will not attack. A phony promise, of course; they just rush out of the
camp like droves of bees. Destroy them, and meanwhile you'll get a side
goal. "Sow the seeds of mistrust between the mercenaries and the
English and Burgundians." To do this, hire enough mercenaries and have
them kill at least 20 English and Burgundian soldiers. Hiring the
mercenaries is actually a very effective way of increasing the size of
your army. Hiring mercenary captains gives you more people who can
command yet more troops - those you can get by hiring more mercenaries.
Oh, I think during the fighting you will also find that those
mercenaries give VERY little exp points when you kill them, so lots of
fighting won't make you advance in level very fast. Very annoying, and
I have no idea why the designers decided to do this.

South of that camp is Varzy. When you attack Varzy, the English Heavy
Infantry captain Raulf Gere will try to defend a caravan loaded with
gold payment for the mercenaries. (Those damn mercenaries, says the
captain. Apparently the English aren't too fond of their hired extra
muscle.) In truth, there's nothing in that horse-cart, but you're to
destroy it anyway. Kill Gere, take Varzy, and wait. For half a minute
later, the commander of the mercenary fortress, Matthew Gough, will be
surprised about the payment not showing up, and head out to Varzy to
investigate. You can wait or travel south and meet him in battle.
"Aaargh! The foul French stole our gold!" he realizes. Kick his butt,
and he gives you 50000 exp points - so if you don't get this, you know
some soldier beat him instead. He will run back to his fortress, and
you can get back to him later.

At the same time I was fighting Matthew Gough, the friendly town of St.
Thomas-sur-le-pont went under attack by mercenaries. This is another
Operation Protect Orleans from mission 2; you must stop them before
they kill 15 citizens. It was easy, really, since I had a second team
idle and at hand. Once you stop the mercenaries the town of St. Thomas-
sur-le-pont will open up to you, and you can do stuff in there. At this
point the town mayor Barrilier will ask you for their gold back - the
same gold you're collecting from the enemy. For subsequent times you
speak with him, he will only pester you for the gold, which you cannot
return until you have enough of it, which is 100 barrels or more. The
buzz around the town also reveals another side goal; the town is
starving, and you must escort a guy named Dreuz Forcetier to the
farmland - the very same one you passed just now, next to de Decize -
and guard him while he retrieves food for the townsfolk. They'll just
gripe and whine until they get their lunch, so do it to 'prove your
knighthood', and a very special reward.

The road isn't plagued with enemies or anything; in fact, it's quite
uneventful. When you reach the farmland, break barrels, let them
collect the food, fall asleep...then trouble comes. You'll be
surrounded by lots of enemy (sike! Actually, there's only about ten of
them), and if any of the villagers gets hit even once, they'll die, so
protect them with all your men. It should be a piece of cake as long as
you move quickly enough; once the enemy is dead, just let them crawl
back to town. Hurray! You've fed the townspeople at last! And as your
reward, the priest gives you the fourth cross for the St. Catherine de
Fierbois, the Emerald Cross! It gives the sword additional 10 power and
also grants you extra 10 defense, thus the sword now gives ALL
attributes a boost of 10. Cool, eh?

The blacksmith in St. Thomas sells the Royal Valois Armor for Jean de
Metz, the one that you bought in Janville last mission. That's it for
now. You will return to the town later; for now, head south. Before you
go for the big fish, you'd like to attack camps due EAST of Matthew
Gough's fortress. In de Bois, you find a Recurve Bow, which is
basically an improved version of the Longbow. Most notably, de-Cercy-
la-tour, the island fort, yields Patrice's Gift to Milan, a Love
Letter, and the Liberator - a fine sword made of 'forged steel from
Spain' for Jean de Metz (I wouldn't trade it for Le Faucon, though,
because I love Le Faucon's B attack boost). Patrice, the wife of a
slain French captain, is in St. Thomas-sur-la-pont, and when you return
the special Seal of the Living God to her, she...tells you to go away
and weeps. (What were you expecting? A sword Cross?) But the reward is
8000 exp, as well as an infuriated French army who are now more than
eager to boot these vile villains out of France for good! When all the
side goals to be done are done, head south in the direction of the big
flashing red beacon. It's time to storm Matthew Gough's fortress.

There are two ways to beat St Pierre le Moutier: the easy way, and the
fun way. (I think you know which way I picked.) First, the easy way.
The gate guard will start warning you not to come any closer. Bribe him
to keep his mouth shut, and he'll shut up while you open the gate and
sneak into the castle. This allows for an easy and quick victory. I
stood outside the gate like a stupid idiot just to see what happens. If
you stand there like a fool for five seconds, the guard will sound off
the alarm, and all of the sudden the fortress will go on red alert.
Archers will line the walls, and Matthew Gough will be there personally
to 'show you the door'. When this happens, cannons are in short supply,
so the only way in is to get La Hire to smash the gate down. As soon as
you get in, murder the mouthy gate guard and teach Matthew Gough some
manners! (Every time you beat him, he will give you 50000 exp.)

So you smashed your way into the fortress. At any time you can send one
general up the wall to kill all the archers and arbalests up there.
Knock down the wooden gate Gough puts in front of you and march uphill.
Desperate to defend their gold, the mercenaries pull out all their
defenders; explosive archers, polemen etc. Matthew Gough is joined by
his (twin?) brother, Martin Gough. Of course, if you'd been recruiting
mercenaries for very long, you'd have quite a sizeable army on your
side that possibly outnumbers the mercenaries, so a likely scenario
during this final struggle would be that your awesome army totally
swamps the Gough brothers, and bashes them to a pulp before you can get
your hands on them. Try to move your army away from the brothers (use
RTS mode) and pick them off individually (NOT using RTS mode) for the
nice 50000 exp. Upon his death, Matthew Gough drops a Dragon Crossbow,
the most powerful crossbow you will ever get.

So you smashed the mercenaries without razing St. Pierre le Moutier to
the ground. Now you can explore the castle. If you had been consistent
in collecting gold from the barrels, you will have 137/100 by the time
you're finished with the fortress (there's lots of it on the walls).
There's also a big weapon for La Hire; the toothed terrifying sinister-
looking Behemoth Warhammer. It has all the wonderful powers of the
Crusher Battle Mace, and more. The blacksmith here also sells a
Compound Bow, a kind of composite bow and the most powerful bow you
will ever get, as well as the La Hire Heavy-gauge armor. If you got
this earlier in the game you won't need it, so don't' waste money.

Now you will view a cutscene that shows the new and primary antagonist
(Gough was not the 'true' antagonist in this play) - Perrinet Gressart,
(bald) Head of the mercenary forces. He is expecting guests (you), and
is readying his unlimited forces to beat you into a pulp. He bides his
time in his bastion, a monster fort twice the size of St. Pierre le
Montier. Now you, the hero, must vanquish the villain; indeed, Duke of
Alencon 'breaks the fourth wall' and tells YOU directly to "wipe
Gressart off the map!" Head for the Great Wall of France and prepare to
stick your sword up his derriere!

Don't forget to return the St. Thomas people their (i.e. your) gold, of
course. They will reward you with half the gold you collected, and this
will well replenish your coffers.

You have to pass through a camp - one that you've conquered earlier, I
think - and a forest that makes Jean de Metz quiver in his boots. There
are many enemies hiding in this wood, a mix of mercenaries and their
employers' troops. By now, if you'd been consistent in hiring
mercenaries to join your big army, you would have a huge army in your
wake. It is at this time, probably, that your mercenaries have 'killed
too many English and Burgundians'. You get the message that the
alliance has turned on the mercenaries. This won't really work out to
your advantage, but it does give you a nice 8000 exp. Move on through
the wood, and you will reach a large siege workshop guarded by
mercenaries who are supposed to deliver the goods to the English. Beat
them up, capture the workshop, and steel yourself for the battle of La
Charite. Do you find, by the way, that all of the sudden these
mercenaries give you a lot more exp points now - like 2000, even 8000?

La Charite-sur-Loire is a mighty stronghold armed with countless
artilleries and archers. The fort also houses a massive seemingly
unconquerable army led by Perrinet Gressart, and supported by his two
generals, Vincent Hudleg and Donziais Begley. If you did your history
homework, you will know that La Charite was a huge defeat for Joan.
While this battle (and all the enemies in this mission) is purely
fictitious, you do get the message that this will be the toughest
bastion you will ever have to try and conquer. The moment you encroach
upon the territory of La Charite-sur-Loire, the enemy leader will warn
you not to persist. Jean de Metz and the Duke of Alencon insist we go
on, so you have to. (Have you noticed, by the way, that La Hire never
speaks throughout this mission?) As always, LEAVE THE BASTARD AT HOME.
If you brought him here, he would most certainly die. You would, too,
if you're not careful. Here's what to do:

This is the first time you come across a great wall that neither
explosive arrows nor La Hire can bring down. If you try the battering
ram and cannons you are wasting your time; the explosive archers on the
walls can destroy you before you can aim a shot. The best strategy is
to STAND WELL BACK and build a trebuchet or two. Let stones fly towards
the wall, and when you here a distant BOOM of crumbling stones, send
all your army forward and pray you make it through. This will be the
most difficult battle in the game, far worse than Beaugency or Orleans.

NOW'S THE TIME!! Charge, and attack without relent! Because when
Perrinet Gressart yells his challenge, all you're going to see is
hellfire, and non-stop fighting. At first sight (and first try), La
Charite is the MOST difficult battle in the game - worse than Beaugency
or anything else you will face, trust me. For starters, you have a
GIGANTIC army rushing at you, and you're just blindly hacking your way
through the crowd. Meanwhile, explosive arrows rain upon you from all
directions endlessly. That, plus the fact that the Burgundians and
English have sent an ambush squad behind you. They may be here to
attack the mercenaries, but they sure won't hesitate when they see you!
You will need all your wits about you if you want to live. Do your
best, kill the crowd, then press on further into the fort. I have no
more advice here; it has to be done, so do it and give it your all.

Perrinet Gressart is the hardest boss in the game. Not only is he
incredibly tough and strong, he heals back FULLY when you hit his life
points down low. This distinguishes him from other generals you have
fought so far. He may not be the most powerful enemy in the game (in
terms of political power), but he sure as heck is the most powerful
general you will ever have the misfortune to duel. If he catches you
with his charge attack and you are unprepared, prepare to kiss your ass
goodbye! And don't think you're safe when you're down! Perrinet
Gressart can do the Down Attack, and it hurts too! (I noticed that many
enemy generals can Down Attack, like Lord Talbot, but Gressart's Down
Attack hurts the worst.) I recommend you leave two generals to duel
him. That way, one can cover for the other should one be knocked down.
Then ONE of the general will manage to do him in finally. If you led
your troops into the high walls first like I did, and left two generals
down there to fight, you might even run out of food. Usually we take
food for granted, but when there's none left, we panic...

(I died four times using Joan and Jean during the duel. Then I realized
I forgot to toggle the level back down from Hard level to Normal. Of
course, some would attribute my many deaths to my apparent lack of
gaming talent, but we will leave the debate about my poor game skills
to the forums, shall we?)

After five minutes, you should have finally beaten Gressart. He is
shaken, but not stirred; he will retreat into the fortress and tell his
lieutenants to get you. By now, all of your once-undefeatable army will
likely be dead; in fact, I'd be more than surprised if even one soldier
survived, and then again, he too will die within the next five seconds.
If you're howling in grief, I'd better tell you it's those damned
explosive archers' fault. Just like Beaugency, eh? Before scaling the
wall, walk around the large compound. Food items and money will be
laying everywhere, both those in crates, and those dropped by dead
soldiers. In a big tent to the right, there is a treasure chest that
holds the ultimate weapon for La Hire: the all-crushing Juggernaut. The
Juggernaut is a notch better than the Behemoth, no matter how attached
to the latter you are. Move on into the fort.

On the top of the first battlement stands (not so tall, though)
Donziais Begley. Begley is a dwarf, and he predictably wields an axe.
He is actually quite easy to beat. Though he does heal back fully when
hurt badly, his hit points are noticeably low. If you can strike him
down and hit harder than he can heal back, he will die relatively
quickly. He also isn't surrounded by a hundred soldiers or suchlike,
isn't very fast and not particularly very strong; so much for trying to
'disembowel' you with his axe. Charge the shorty dumb bloke down
quickly, and destroy him.
"The mighty axe of Donziais Begley shall be feared no more, as he
enjoys life no longer!"

The rest of La Charite is like a labyrinth; I can't instruct you
through it. But you can seek out all the enemy in the place yourself
and eliminate them all. In this situation when troops are not
available, the sensible thing to do is to get all your generals to
stick together. Stand on the wall to the right of the map is Vincent
Hudleg, the big armored dude with the heavy sword. His sword is indeed
powerful; watch out for his strong swings, for one hit catching you
off-guard can kill you! But he's generally slow, and if you're careful,
you should emerge from the duel victorious. "Vincent Hudleg has fallen
victim to the acumen of the superior French military power! His sword
has been swung for the last time!"

You can free up a couple of French soldiers in the fort to join your
fight. The rest is actually quite easy; after the initial difficulty,
what comes after seems ok. In Easy mode, in a cave-like alcove at the
right of the map, you can find a sword that is either second best to
the St. Catherine or matches it in power: the legendary Knights'
Templar. This sword cannot be found in Normal Level, so cherish it if
you got it. (The message seems to be "Stick to St. Catherine!") Fight
your way into the back of the fortress, and you will finally meet the
boss at the end. Perrinet Gressart challenges you to a duel.

He is just as difficult to kill as he was before, although I found him
to be totally vulnerable to arrows, too. In the murky rock tunnel deep
in the back of the fortress, my Joan-and-Gressart duel lasted five
minutes; Five minutes of the altercation before he happened to strike
me dead. Then I tried again. Gressart seems to be even more powerful
now. I also noticed he fights like a fencer (maybe that's the reason
he's so good at dueling?). After another try I managed to get lucky and
hit him hard enough to kill him before he could heal up. So there! The
strongest boss in the game falls, and La Charite belongs to the French!

"You...swine...my...gold..." He's dying and all he cares about is his
gold?

In normal level, Gressart drops a Volgue Vindicator when he dies.
Perhaps he was using it during the duel? I wish he dropped something
better though...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Final mission: The Road to Coronation

Welcome to the final leg of your adventure! This is the last mission,
after which the game will be over, and France will emerge victorious
over all its adversaries! Your march has been long, but now there is
only so much a distance to go before you win! (And so many words left
for me to type.)

I expect, since this IS the last mission of the game, that exp points
won't be of your concern any more, nor is money. You don't get to keep
the money after you win, and there isn't an after-campaign game. You'll
have to start all over once you're done here. So people like me simply
don't care about exp points, and money is no longer an object. But it's
the wonderful opportunity to have an excuse to waste time and/or have
fun that makes you want to play this mission to the end, right?

This is also the first (and last) mission you get to see your Dauphin,
Charles. Charles isn't like the coward you read about in history books,
though; he is a golden-armored white-horse-riding hero with a shiny
crown sitting on his head. To me he looks the part of a king already.
But you have a final goal, and that is to lead him to Reims without
losing him to the English. This time, you can't leave him somewhere and
win the mission without him; he must come with you. So is the Bastard
of Orleans. Always stick nearby him, and not let him take part in any
thick fighting - it makes sense to give him some food, of course. When
I started the mission, I made this my system: Have everyone follow
Joan, including Charles, and just keep marching on toward Reims. You'll
find this mission a breeze, really; the English can never hope to stop
the almighty unstoppable FULL power of the Royal French army of the
Armagnacs!! Indeed, even YOU will feel the power emanating from the
French army as your army seems to PUSH you on forward to kill some more
enemy along the path.

The first obstacle in the long march is the forest of Gion. You know by
now, very well, that forests are good places to hide and ambush. But no
English forces will be able to impede your progress as you plow your
way through, undeterred. Trust me, it's a breeze; if Charles dies in
the forest, you must really suck at this game. Somewhere in the forest,
there is a chest that holds the Despoiler, a level 4 weapon for the
Duke of Alencon. This weapon is actually just as good as the Volgue
Vindicator, and after some deliberation, I chose to stick with the
latter because I love its +50 Rush and Down attack boost. The Despoiler
is probably the last weapon d'Alencon will get, so have fun with it if
you want. Otherwise, throw it away.
</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
Emerge from Gion and you see the big city of Auxerres. This city is a
Burgundian township, but strangely, it is also a friendly city. Is this
a trap? You and your generals think. I told you previously to never
trust an Englishman/Burgundian/any enemy. Nevertheless, if you're
afraid of a trap, you'll be stuck on that side of the city forever,
because there is no way to get to Reims except through here. So enter,
anyway...

As soon as you walk into the heart of the city, the stronghold suddenly
jumps to life. Ah hah! So it is a trap! You must fight your way out,
but unfortunately (for you or for him?), Sir William Glasdale is there
to make sure Charles and all of us are buried six feet beneath the
ground. As if a mere castle can stop the FULL military power of France.
Steamroller the Burgundians, crush Glasdale's defense, and make him pay
for his foolhardiness with his life! One general down, many more to go.
Again, it's all a breeze.

I noticed many guard towers around the city. If you've built cannons
before entering Auxerres, you can bring them in to knock them down. But
if you didn't, or were too lazy to do so, just use explosive arrows and
nuke the archers dead. Easy.

Once Auxerres is taken, you can go to the blacksmith. The blacksmith
sells a Salet Fleur-de-lis armor for Joan, and the Lion's Head armor
for the Duke of Alencon. There is also something else; if you speak to
a woman in the city, she will ask you to save some elders who were
locked up by the Burgundians in the big tower. This tower happens to be
on the wall, and is quite noticeable. To get in, you need a key, and
the key is the one dropped by Glasdale when you slew him. Save the
elders, and in the small blue-lit stone chamber there is a compound
bow. So there, once you're properly suited up, armed and lookin' good
(politicians, like Charles, gotta look good!), move on along the path
up north. Interestingly, there isn't a shoppe in Auxerres, but you'll
find Auxerres to be a peaceful-looking rural farm city.

Troyes is the next city you must take in order to proceed. This city is
tougher than Auxerres, but isn't anything too tough for you to handle.
There is an iron resource outside Troyes that you can use to build
cannons to bust into the city. (When will the stupid English learn that
planting an iron resource outside their city is plain suicide? When
they realize they just lost the war?) If it's too slow and troublesome
for you, then simply get La Hire to bash down the door. Both take
roughly the same time to bust the gate, anyway. Storm in, teach that
mouthy fool Willlehm Rog a lesson, and destroy Sir Fastolf once and for
all. It doesn't take long for the English forces to falter, although I
expect the French forces to lose a couple of soldiers also. Beside
Troyes is a farm-like township that holds ample food resources, so
you'd like to visit before storming Troyes. Troyes doesn't have a
blacksmith, but it does have a shoppe. Anyway, lay waste to Troyes, do
stuff, and before moving on, march east to De la montague du lion, the
stronghold that looks like the Celtic Maiden Castle.

De la montague du lion is of no worth to your goal, and you go there
only to look for a fight and get a weapon. If you travel down the windy
narrow path with the bridge, until to reach a reservoir-like place, you
will find a chest that yields the final weapon for Jean de Metz:
l'Oriflamme. "The 'golden flame' sword, especially commissioned for
this war, is made of virtually unbreakable metal." I'll take their word
for it; it's a lovely sword, not to mention powerful too. Once you get
the sword, you can choose to take the fort, or go back to Troyes since
this fort is worth tuppence to you anyway. Again, when all your
business is done, move on north towards Reims.

Along the way, you will feel yourself being pushed forward by your big
army. Consider stopping at Bussy Lettree and visit the blacksmith. This
blacksmith is the last blacksmith in the game, as there are no more
from hereon. The man's name is Aubert Lanier, and I remember his name
because he sells a level 9 sword for Joan: the Holy Crusader
Broadsword, which beats both the Knights Templar and the St. Catherine
(for now). You can buy this sword and use it briefly, until later on
when the St. Catherine is completed. Aubert Lanier also sells a Dragon
Crossbow, a boon if you need it. Press on forward until you reach the
island city of Chalon.

As you know, Reims is the ultimate destination and objective of this
mission, and basically you can ignore side quests if Charles's
reputation is 80 or above. However, capturing Chalons is not only
necessary to boost Charles's reputation; it also leads to completing
the St. Catherine. The first thing you need is a key within the walls
of Chalons, guarded by Burgundian general Duke Borgundholm - the man
who has the cheek to insult both you and your king. Destroy the gate
with whatever means possible, then annihilate Duke Borgundholm by
surrounding him with fifty soldiers. He's a fencer, so he's no good at
all in fighting in a situation where he is totally surrounded. (I love
the concept of a fencer as an enemy general, since de Metz is one too,
but...) Be prepared for an annoying-though-not-difficult fight, because
archers line practically every street in the city. Once he's dead, and
the island belongs to you, go speak to the priest and mayor of Chalons.
In my game, I find them huddled together in a corner just beside the
barracks. The priest will give you a key to a sacred chest - this
sacred chest contains the last cross for your sword. To reach it, you
must go west. I'd like to note, by the way, that you don't ALWAYS have
to bring your giant army everywhere you go when completing side quests.

Going west of Chalons will take you to Camp du Champagne and the
farmland district of Sezanne-sur-champagne (possibly the origin of the
Champagne wine?). Camp du Champagne is a small camp with meager
resistance, and once the enemy is cleared, you can access the sacred
cross chest at the back of the camp. Here you obtain the last of the
five crosses: the mighty and pure Platinum Cross, which grants
additional power to the St. Catherine. Now that the St. Catherine de
Fierbois is complete, you get to see additional bonuses and therefore
its true power. The base damage becomes +100%, all attributes increase
by 10, all ATTACK is increased by 40%, and the EP consumption is
LOWERED by 40%. That's an amazing, and definitely holy, weapon Joan
has. Now travel down to the farmland Sezanne-sur-champagne and liberate
it from the English too.

Lord Scales is the guardian of Sezanne-sur-champagne, the land that
supplies your enemies with food. Lord Scales will also be the first
enemy who tastes the newly empowered metal of the St. Catherine de
Fierbois. Smash his head with the sword, and then proceed to wipe out
any enemy who haunts Sezanne-sur-champagne. You must be very aware by
now of my painfully obvious lack of talent and skills in video games,
so take my word for it when I say that this mission has so far been a
breeze, and this is no difference. Do some lurking around the farmland
for a while; lots of items and food can be found, and you can even find
a weapon that has eluded me so many times until only recently: Duke of
Alencon's final weapon, Twin Lions. "With a double-bladed head and gold
inlets, this weapon is the most powerful of poleaxes." It has a base
damage of 80%, and boosts ALL attacks by 40%. Splendid! Too bad it came
so late! (Meanwhile, in normal level, I picked up yet another Volgue
Vindicator in the camp just north of Bussy Lettree, beside the river.
Why do they insist on giving me a weapon I already have?!) After the
Sezanne-sur-champagne episode, back to Chalons you go, and continue
with the march toward Reim. Now excuse me for a moment; I need a glass
of champagne...

So you just keep plowing your way through fields, plains, a camp, an
abandoned town, and a forest until you reach the vicinity of Reims.
Your men cheer when they see the gates of Reims just in a distance.
Just as I too was about to celebrate (with another glass of champagne),
I met the 'welcoming committee' of Reims to receive our Dauphin. The
English and Burgundians, whose armies were divided to impede your
progress but have so far failed, have assembled outside the city to
fight you for the last time; a last resort to stop our Dauphin. The
Burgundian Jean de Luxembourg (blond dude with REALLY cool mace) is
backed by the English general William de la Pole - an old nemesis,
the arch-nemesis, whom you met and made acquaintance in mission 2,
so long ago. (Of what nature is this friendship remains to be
questioned.) It's time to put an end to this long-running feud with
your equally-long-time enemy once and for all.

Honestly, this being the last battle of the entire game, you'd be
expecting something worse than La Charite, or Beaugency; ANYTHING more
difficult than THIS, right? As it turns out, your adversaries have
totally run out of steam by now, and what you fight is the maximum
strength they can possibly muster anymore in their current state. But
despite being aware of their utter and complete puniness, Jean de
Luxembourg and William de la Pole aren't going to do another runner.
They're staying to fight, and it is (impossible) victory or death.
Naturally, you must show absolutely no mercy as you steamroller over
the last of the enemy in France, as quickly as I get through a bottle
of champagne. While you expected the final battle for the Valois cause
(i.e. your cause) to be one where you are outnumbered 1000 to one,
fighting for your life and the Dauphin's, a more likely scenario would
be the two enemy generals comically trapped with their backs against
the wall/mound, surrounded 100 to two and being hacked at by a thousand
swords/maces/poleaxes/feet/body slams/etc. William de la Pole will
eventually be cut to shreds and his cadaver be stomped on by a hundred
metal boots. Thus your arch-nemeses the de la Poles are finished for
good. That leaves Luxembourg the last enemy on the entire battlefield.
He too, the suicidal fool he is, decides to have his face be made into
mincemeat than run and be shamed by his colleagues. Simply stand back
with a glass of champagne in hand while watching the hilarity ensue. In
normal level, you pick up a level 7 sword for Joan when he falls, the
Seeker of Light. "Inscribed with words of a long-lost language
(Latin?), this weapon wields the shining power of chastity and purity."
Perfectly describes Joan, including the chastity part. And a perfect
parting gift the English and Burgundians send you before high-tailing
it back to where they came from.

Finally, the Dauphin enters the gates of Reims, and gives you an Empire
Ring. Wish he gave me that earlier, because now, its use is no more,
since you've won the war at last! Mission accomplished, and we all live
happily ever after! Enjoy the cutscene!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Final words:

Whaddya know? It turns out that this game has NO intention of trying to
be historically accurate. Almost all the enemy generals were either
made up, changed, or did not belong to Joan's three-year-long time
period. E.g. Jean de Luxembourg is a lord of the Burgundians, and he
keeps Joan as a prisoner after her capture before he sells her to the
English to be burnt at the stake. Even your own generals may be totally
or partially bogus/not historically accurate. De Metz isn't real, La
Hire probably isn't a huge towering lumber-giant, and nothing was said
about d'Alencon being a poleman general. Even the Bastard of Orleans is
bogus; his name is Dunois. Somehow this name migrated to another
person, who assumes the identity of a French siege captain. Oh, and
Charles the Dauphin is a sniveling coward, certainly not a hero.

But they all live happily ever after, don't they? The generals all were
rewarded extravagantly by the Dauphin-now-King, each with lands and
money. The King himself is in full command of France, whose enemies
have forsaken and fled. As for Joan...she goes back to her peaceful if
not boring life in the village of Domremy, where doubtless she will be
heralded as a heroine by her townsfolk. Well, with the English beaten
up and booted out of France, who's going to burn her at the stake?
Satan? (He tried, he failed as far as this game is concerned.)

God's love is all she desires. Material rewards and lands mean nothing
to her. Whether her father agrees, of course, is another matter...

And with the end of the music, and the big FIN over the screen, let's
snap back to reality, where in actual history, Joan's life ended in
tragedy instead. YES, ISN'T LIFE TRAGIC?!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Et Cetera:

I love the music in this game. There is no soundtrack, and there
probably won't be. But I love the swashbuckling sounds of battle
befitting movies like Gladiator and Lord of the Rings, down to the
peaceful renaissance-style music of the village and townsfolk's daily
lives, and the placid-looking French countryside when there is no
fighting. Whosoever the composer is, I hope he received an award for
his music.

I would consider adding another section or two, or maybe I should write
another FAQ. That remains to be decided.

If there are any mistakes in the FAQ of mine (I know I must have made a
few), do not hesitate to contact me. If you want to review and praise
my work, email. I shall be most delighted to read your comment. And if
you want to curse me, by all means, do it. But don't make me ask for a
restraining order, please.

All websites who host my walkthrough, please check frequently on gamefaq,
for I make frequent updates.

Special thanks:

Me, for helping me while writing this stunningly wonderful FAQ. (Boast,
boast...) Without Me, I couldn't have done it. Thanks a bunch, Me!

Randomer, whose FAQ I based mine on (format only), since I have never
written an FAQ before.

Me once again, for helping me with inserting all the sharp and wanton
useless humour here and there. Without him and his nonsense, this FAQ
would be as dull as reading government tax laws.

Lastly, Myself (not related to Me), for playing the game for me and
giving me all the information I need to write this FAQ.

(Seriously, this is a one-man job!)

Contacts:
Email: [email protected]

Merci beaucoup! Au revoir!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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