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