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PS2: Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

Hey folks,

I am a big game player (PC, PS2, GBA, etc). I got the Lord of the Rings: The Third Age for PS2 for Christmas (bought it for myself actually when it came out). I beat the game before most people were able to even buy the game (with a lot of lost sleep in the process of being addicted to it). Anyway, I've beaten it now about three times and eventhough it doesn't matter now, I was wondering if there were going to be any cheat codes for this game at all - just curious. Particularly, I was interested in Action Replay Max (AR-Max) codes for this game, as AR-Max is just awesome to use, as I have used it for games such as Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Two Towers - also for Grand Theft Auto 3, GTA San Andreas, and GTA Vice City. I'm not looking for the cheats just so I can beat the game with them, just curious because there are a lot of cool things that can be done with those codes, especially with AR-Max! Also, if I may, I will provide some hints for The Third Age - hints that may or may not have been shown on other sites. They are just some things that I have learned about the game while playing it for so dang long!

TIPS I'VE LEARNED:

01. OK, now there is a special mode on The Third Age called "Evil Mode" where you can travel to any of the almost dozen levels to play as the evil forces. In this mode, you fight anywhere from three to five battles, depending on where you play. When or if you beat any of these levels, you are given really cool stuff you can use for standard mode (playing the normal campaign). When you get these items, you are asked to save these items to an already-existing saved game. My view on this is that 1.) it is really cool and 2.) if you have beat the game (thus, this provides you with Evil Mode for ALL levels) you can start a new game, save it at another save slot when you get the chance, exit out of normal mode, enter evil mode, then choose Osgiliath in Evil Mode. Beat it and you will gain some really cool weapons, including the Sword of Isildur for Berethor - this sword provides 200 damage strength - which means it is far superior to any sword you start with - only two swords in the game for Berethor will exceed this damage rating - but in the first several levels of the game, up to the last, this Sword of Isildur will provide you with almost certain victory if used by Berethor. The sword on the first level (Eregion) will produce damage values of over 2000 - meaning you can take out any enemy with one shot on the first few levels. Play this evil mode further in your progress in the game to gain items for other characters (as these characters will be added to your team as you go). The last character you gain is Eaoden, a Rohirrim warrior, in the fifth level of the game (Rohan). I think that if you play Osgiliath in Evil Mode once, these items will already be available for use when a new character appears, so for that, you're in luck!

02.) This is a very important hint in the game, as not following this WILL be catastrophic!!! When (if) you get past the Osgiliath level in normal campaign mode, you will be granted the ability to 'travel' back to this level. Every time you complete a level and save the game, you will be granted the ability to travel to any level you have thus-far completed. Now here comes the part that counts: in Osgiliath, sometime in the middle of the level, Idrial (the female Elf, who is very useful in healing your troops and slowing the enemy's attacks) is taken by the Lord of the Nazgul. For this time until the end of the Osgiliath level, she fights alone. If you complete the Osgiliath level, she returns to the group. Now, take this as a note - you MUST complete all quests in Osgiliath before going to the next level! The first time I tried the game, I didn't complete all the quests (the optional ones) and had to go back using travel to play Osgiliath again. Of course, when you travel back to Osgiliath, you don't have Idrial on your group anymore! If you attempt to save the game here, you will end up not having Idrial for the rest of your missions (on that saved game).

This is why I recommend that you either A) complete all the quests in Osgiliath before exitting the sewers of Osgiliath or B) don't save the game in Osgiliath if you travelled back to it from another level (doing so would sacrifice Idrial from the group). Now, if you did fail to complete all the quests in Osgiliath before proceeding to Minas Tirith, don't despair, for there may be a way out of this: simply, don't save the game! Complete your quests (which may be one or two optional quests) and don't save! This may be tough, as in the Osgiliath sewers, you will likely be facing several of battles with Nazgul, Trolls, etc! But to prevail here, you will have to survive battle after battle without saving (saving by the way renews your Health and Action Points for ALL members, but alas, you cannot do this if you're in this situation - like I said, doing so would eliminate Idrial from any further action in the game). After each battle in the sewers, you may find you have one or two characters with low health or action points - just press start or the green triangle button and then go to Use Item - depending on what you need to restore, you may be using Kingsfoil or Lembas on a character to restore HP and/or AP. Now, once you get through the sewers, you will see a doorway - make sure you have completed all the quests in Osgiliath, then proceed through the door - you will return from whence you came (either Minas Tirith or Pelennor Fields). NOW, at one of those levels, you will have Idrial on your team - save the game at your earliest convenience and you will have prevailed! That's how you may get around this problem if you didn't complete the optional quests before leaving Osgiliath.

In conclusion, you have two options if you don't want to lose Idrial from your group: 1) either complete ALL the quests in Osgiliath before proceeding or 2.) if you haven't completed all the quests and have proceeded already, travel back to Osgiliath, complete the quests AND DON'T SAVE THE GAME WHILE IN OSGILIATH, and simply use your items to restore your HP and AP, then pass through the sewers and through the door to return to your original location. This is how you may prevail!

03.) You will eventually have six members as a part of your company - you start with Berethor and Idrial, then you find Elegost (a Dunedain Ranger), then Hadhod (a dwarf) in Eregion. Then in Rohan, you will find Morwen (a totally hot Rohan warrioress) and Eaoden (another Rohirrim warrior who is resistant to spirit attacks). Basically, in my experience, your three best team members are Berethor, Idrial, and Elegost. The other three piss me off because when attacking, they tend to miss often. Berethor, Idrial, and Elegost have an average accuracy of 93%, so they usually won't fail you when attacking. However, Idrial's attacks tend to be weak as compared with other team members - but what she may lack in her attacks, she makes up for in spirit powers (she eventually can restore all of the health in the team and remove negative effects on your team). Berethor, if you played the Evil Mode in Osgiliath, is especially potent in his attacks. With the Sword of Isildur, he can destroy an enemy quite often in one attack! He also has Leadership abilities that include Stand Fast (the ability to be immune to stunning attacks that delay the actions of your teammates), Company Might (greater strength of attacks), Company Power (almost guarantees critical hits on enemy targets), Company Valor (makes your teammates more likely to avoid being hit by enemy attacks), War Call and War Cry (the first allows two allies to attack one enemy and the second allows three allies to attack one enemy - in both cases, if the target enemy is destroyed, the next character in line will attack another enemy). Then you have Elegost, who eventually gains the ability to drain health from an enemy and another attack which can cause all enemies to sleep (as long as they're not immune to sleeping attacks). His attacks usually prove successful in hitting an enemy and with his eventually-learned Frenzy, he can attack twice!!! Most characters eventually gain the ability to attack twice.

Then you have the other three characters - each with their strengths and weaknesses. But one weakness they all seem to have in common is that they miss their targets much of the time - Hadhod, the Dwarf, misses the most, especially in later missions! When a character gains a certain amount of Experience Points, they level up, which allows you to increase some of their aspects. These aspects are Strength (increases HP slightly and increases the ability to do more damage), Constitute (increase HP more), Action (increases Action Points that are used to take special power actions), Speed (increases the initiative of a character, allowing him/her to attack more often), and Dexterity (which increases the likelihood of avoiding enemy attacks and hitting an enemy with an attack). Hadhod, in particular, needs more dexterity points when his experience level increases. Even with a lot of dexterity, he still tends to miss more often than others. Putting points into speed and dexterity can aleviate this. But in my experience, I have tended to leave him out of combat often because he pisses me off so much when he misses his enemy when he attacks! I don't know how many times I have cursed over his futile worthless attacks that result in frequent misses!

Then you have Eaoden and Morwen - their attacks can be quite lethal. Eaoden is especially worthwhile to use in combat when you face an enemy that uses a Morgul Mirror or a similar shield (attacking an enemy with this enabled results in MASSIVE damage done to your team). Using Eaoden's dispel ability will bring this shield down altogether! His spear attacks are also noteworthy, partcularly when you equip him with weapons acquired from Osgiliath Evil Mode! Morwen is an expert in stealing tactics - she can steal health, action points, dexterity, strength, experience points, and skill from an enemy. She can also eventually learn to use "The Cloak of the Plains" which protects her from ALL attacks for a few minutes of combat. But unfortunately, both their attacks sometimes miss, at least more often than Idrial's, Berethor's, or Elegost's attacks. But they at least hit the enemy more often than that slow Dwarf, Hadhod!!! But in respect to the Dwarfs, Hadhod's abilities are not weak - he can be quite potent, particularly when his attacks DO hit. Also, one of his spirit powers he eventually learns is the Mountain Shields, which protects all party members from damage until the shield is down. And in time, if Hadhod is used in combat enough, he will learn powerful axe attacks that don't miss too often. In time, Hadhod CAN become a most effective member of the team. Perhaps if the Dwarves of Moria had had these abilities, they may have prevailed against the orcs and the Balrog - but Dwarves basically tend to be slower as they are only four-and-a-half feet tall at the most. To fight, they have to fight in close-quarters to the enemy and thus, are more likely to be mortally wounded.

When taking all these tips in the game into account, you will learn the abilities and weaknesses of your entire team and you will find that you don't need cheats to win this game, which can be very tough to beat even in Medium difficulty. I've beaten it in hard mode, but barely! As I have learned the game better, though, I can now use hard mode all the time and win most of the time! And don't despair when you see a Game Over sign on the screen - it doesn't mean you've lost all your progress. Just go back to your last saved game and make sure you save as often as you can - just don't save your game AT ALL when you travel back to Osgiliath after defeating that level - the price for doing so is very high!

Now in my own interst, I can't wait to find the AR-Max codes for The Third Age for PS2. I've seen some codes for the Game Cube version, but absolutely none for PS2! WHERE ARE THEY?!?!?! :p :uhoh: :lol: