The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age: Difference between revisions

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In the version released for the [[Nintendo GameCube|GameCube]], [[PlayStation 2]] and [[Xbox]], the plot follows your expanding group of heroes as they follow (and try to assist) the Fellowship of the novels and the movie.

 

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== [[Game Cube]] / [[PlayStation 2]] / Xbox Version ==

* [[Boss Dissonance]]: Balrog, dear God Balrog. He is the second "true boss" in the game, and is the final boss of Chapter 3: The Mines of Moria. The game is rather easy up to this point, but Balrog shows up to wipe the party. For reference, the first boss, The Watcher in the Water has 3,112 HP, Balorg has 72,317 HP, and the third boss, Grima Wormtongue, has but 14,927 HP. [[Justified]]: The Balrog is a huge fire-and-shadow demon of the ancient world, while Grima is only a normal human who's been corrupted (and given a few powers through it, it seems).

:The worst part of the Balrog isn't his obscene amount of hit points (that just makes him a [[Damage Sponge]] boss), nor is it the amount of damage he does, since you can and should have several ways to offset that by this point in the game if you've been unlocking skills correctly. By far the worst part is that 2 of his attacks hit your entire party and drain nearly all their AP in one shot. Without Gandalf's Wizard Drain, only Idrial would have a reliable way of replenishing her own AP. If Idrial doesn't have Aura of the Valar and Power of the Valar <ref>Two abilities that almost guarantee survival and eventual, slow grinding of boss health.</ref>, it would be nearly hopeless without Gandalf. In fact, it's entirely possible to let the party die and just have Gandalf kill the Balrog.

** May or may not be played straight with some of the more optional skillsets... Such as crafting (which requires lots of grinding before becoming useful, and leads to item hoarding and skipping a character's turn) and stealing (self explanatory, considering only consumables are lootable and the vast variety of items are of questionable use). A lot of minor items have obscure effects as well, such as reducing blunt/slash/pierce/fire/water/etc damage for a few turns when the type of an attack is difficult to determine.

* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]: The story could be summed up as a self-insert into the [[Lord of the Rings]]' entire plot, from following Hobbits to fighting at the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

 

== Game Boy Advance Version ==

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: In two missions, as evil, you get ''to play as Sauron himself'' -- and he is ridiculously powerful, [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|though he is not immune to death]] [[Idiot Ball|if]] [[Too Dumb to Live|you]] [[Suicidal Overconfidence|misuse]] [[What an Idiot!|him]].

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The Witch-King's combination of Rage and Flurry -- sure, he could do ridiculous amounts of damage, but to make it worthwhile he has to be in melee range of as many as four units. This doesn't happen often, and even if you pull it off, he's most likely not going to make it out without a fair amount of damage. Furthermore, pulling this off uses some of his limited Command and Spirit Points, which could be used better for some other purpose.