The thing about this game was that they had the license to do a movie tie in, but they did NOT have the license to the books. This resulted in the weirdest story decisions imaginable.
This game is far from a master piece but is still such a priceless gem for being so utterly unique. Also from a turnbased RPG angle it's really great even if it has a few flaws, it allows for a bit of build variety which is kind of crazy. It's one of those games I replay every 2 years or so, truly love it a lot.
Long before the War of the Rohirrim graced our screens, Hadhod found the Hammer of Helm Hammerhand, a guy who famously doesn’t have a hammer and is named because of his one punch man fists, because the game is simultaneously incredibly reverent of this world but incredibly dense and cable of understanding subtlety, but it’s a very fun cartoon to play through, despite the occasional grind. Save often!
Im pretty certain that at this time games could only be made surrounding the movies and not the Tolkien books and stories due to licensing. That's why they basically followed the movie events.
This game will always be a guilty pleasure for me. Funny thing is, the worst part for me was that despite the abundance of fights, I always seemed to fall behind in learning new skills, especially types I don't use that often. Meaning I often had to use the feature that allowed me to grind the random encounters from earlier levels. Tedious, but necessary. For I quickly found out that Berethor learning Stand Fast could mean the difference between playing a game and torturing myself.
In Moria with the goblin drummer that summons more Goblins, on the PS2 it was possible to keep this going infinitely by not killing the drummer and allowing him to continue summoning more goblins, me, my dad and my brothers stayed up all day for around 18 hours doing that drum sequence. After the drummer you fight the Balrog and Idrial killed it in 1 hit using loud water fury. After that the whole party was so insanely over-levelled for the rest of the game it was impossible to struggle going forward
Double Mumakil fight: Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp oh you didn't even get a turn and now you're dead, too bad try again. Do it to them first, 'Stun' moves are completely broken in this game. Your characters and some enemies get 'stun' moves that delay the target's turn, there is no limit to how many times an enemy can have their turn delayed, you (or enemies) can spam stun and never give the other guy a chance to fight back.
I remember recently I played through a game and it was during the Osgiliath missions after Idrial got nabbed by the Nazgul, and during one of her fights the Orcs ran a train on her. Stunned her their opening move and just beat her ass like a drum. The sad part is, she was more than capable of swatting them like flies but they got that first hit in and that was it.
Loved this game. You forgot the best part though. You can play Evil Mode as the enemies in important battles after finishing each chapter. So much fun.
This game’s audio is burned into my brain. Never had played a jrpg and also just in it for the license following RotK, what a ride this is. The Helm’s Deep battle in the two towers game is tricky, in RotK its a demo, and in this it’s a never ending sequence of fighting the same three Uruk-hai with cameos from the fellowship, it’s an absolutely insane grind with like no checkpoints. Best part is still when you fight all the Nazgûl on foot in pelennor fields with any gaps in the line quickly being filled by another one running in, until you LITERALLY FIGHT A GIANT EYE IN OSE COMBAT on top of a giant tower, possibly the least subtle thing in all of media, truly the Lord of the Rings of all games.
27:17 man this guy knows his lore. Deep in the lord of the rings lore Gimli confesses that Salted Pork is indeed the weakness of Helm's Deep. Don't know why the movie couldn't stay true to this fact.
Fun fact, it was also the key to defeating Sauron himself. Don’t need the ring. Evil has shitty taste in food, so all the Fellowship had to do was throw salty pork at his Eye and he explodes. In hindsight, the Fellowship wasted a LOT of time and lives.
One thing i love about this game that not enough people mention is the absolutely stunning amount of WEIGHT behind every spell, attack and ability, some of the abilities give me goosebumps just watching the animations with the sound design, the game has a ho'key feel sometimes and you get incredibly broken towards the end of the game but i love it nonetheless.
I still remember my complete befuddlement when the scene hard cut to the battle on Barad-Dur against the eye. As an 11 year old I was so confused. I am still confused.
Some people may dislike this game for certain reasons, and I can agree on certain ones. I will say a lot of my love from this game comes from nostalgia of playing it at a really young age, but not only that, but because it reminds me of my time with my late grandfather. He introduced me to the Lord of The Rings entirely by accident when we went to one of his friends place at around maybe 8 years old. At the time, they had a small box tv that was almost broken but still somewhat usable, despite it having no sound and static. Not to mention there was a line that covered half the screen, so you could not really see anything at all. I sat down for what was maybe close to 30 mins, and viewed the introduction for The Fellowship of The Ring. I became instantly infatuated with the series, and it built most of my interest with the fantasy genre. Being almost 22 as of next year, I can say that it became apart of my life. (Great video by the way, you have a very relaxing voice as well)
In 2003 i did not know that you can give points when you have a lvl up. It was really hard and i came only to helms deep and where stuck at the last round with the trolls and after i found out that you can give points to the stats i made it 😅. Played the game last year on the gamecube and never lost a battle only with Berethor Idrial and Hadhod. One of the best Lotor games back in the days but nothing beats Return of the King 💪👍.
It is by far the best very bad game I ever played. There are so much games out there that are just mid and forgettable. This one is so mid I can't take it out of my mind. Even if you've seen this video, go try it if you never played it. It is hilarious.
Loved this game when I was younger, but you’re right it was a slog for long portions. I like Jrpgs so if you’re not into the genre it must’ve been a hard play lmao. Nice work man, great vid
Helms Deep was the worst. Loose one Partymember and the game makes sure you only get one turn after 6-10 enemy turns. Or simply never until you die. You either overlevel hard or spamm the ressurection spell on every member. Besides beeing a freaking slog of battles.
You forgot Evil Mode. Where you get to play through a lot of the battles from the selected chapter as the villains that would give you the best weapons possible. Its especially fun for a second run on a harder difficulty since you can basically start out with weapons and never have to swap them
My nostalgia for this game is off the charts. I adored it, and still occasionally boot up the Gamecube to play it. It's like a pilgrimage to a bygone time.
I spent way too many hours on this The final boss fight was hilarious even as a teenager Combat was fun but sadly at some point I discovered a couple of glitches (or more like a mechanic oversights) that made eeeevery combat extremely easy and tedious.. you couldn't ever die, basically. Still, hella fun to play this "chase the fellowship" role and the abilities and animations were veeery cool.
I completely forgot about the existence of this game but I recognised the box art from the thumbnail of the video. I remember loving it because it was more Lord of the Rings, but also finding certain sections and quirks of the game incredibly frustrating. I remember getting stuck on certain battles for hours and it largely feeling like there wasn't much I could do to improve my chances. That said, I find something about the quirky animations, character designs and strangely empty environments oddly endearing. It's probably just nostalgia, even at the time I thought something about the game looked a little odd, but I wouldn't have been able to explain why.
The tragic thing about this game is that on paper it sounds awesome! Finally! An RPG Game based on the movies of the LOTR. With most of the voice actors reprising their roles and interacting with your character, and having the Epic score of Howard Shore to add to the world. I feel that if they made it a hack and slash action RPG rather then a JRPG, it would have helped the games feel of repetitiveness with enemies. Imagine instead of what we got with the 10,000 Uruk KI flighting in Helms Deep wave after wave at your party whilst you stand still and barely move from the battles, but instead you get to move and hack and slash your way through like in the Two Towers game. I think that would have helped it a lot in terms of gameplay flow a lot better. But i still have a soft spot on what this game COULD have been. As to this day, we don't have a LOTR game quite like it. (If someone could mod for the PlayStation Emulator a hack and slash version for us that would be wonderful thanks 😂😂)
Honestly if people want a self contained LOTR RPG experience. Play War in the North. That game is excellent. One of the best LOTR games I’ve ever played. Never Hard, thank you for you review. I recently played the third age and did enjoy it and remember liking it back then when it first came out. This game really does have a real issue of relating too much to the films which makes sense since this game came out during the hype of the LOTR films. So the fact that it sold well also makes sense. BUT it should have been its own story in middle earth separate from the fellowship. (Which you already mentioned in this review is that if we’re just following the fellowship why don’t we just play them instead? ) Without muddying what was already established in the films. War in the North does exactly this. Could be some good content for you to review Never Hard and share with the community. Watching your content of third age has made me a subscriber!
Glad you liked the video! War is the North is definitely on my list. I played it with a friend back at release but never finished it. It's definitely more in line with what I think The Third Age should have been story-wise. But I'll do a few non-LOTR videos first before I get around to it.
I loved this game as a kid, was totally busted though... As soon as you unlock 'evil mode' and then complete all the battles on evil mode you gain access to very powerful gear and skills. Idrial gets access to shadow spells of some kind, one ability that deals massive shadow damage to all enemies and also she could mass heal the team. Very easy and bizarre lotr game.
I remember playing TAR as a kid. What a weird game. The strange inclusion of the cast interjected in the main story - like the idea of the group helping gandalf fight the balrog, or fight sauron, or the nazgul is soooo absurd. I like the idea of the game in general, though, at least the idea of a party based RPG. Honestly think maybe less JRPG and more Might and Magic or Wizardry would have been interesting. Would have been cool if the grind was reduced, especially in parts like Moria, which I recall as a kid getting through Moria to be a long and grueling affair. In any case, maybe with a different story or some different concepts it would have been much better than a 5.5/10, a slightly above average game with some added nostalgia points.
Graphics like this make me miss seeing feet in video games. Lord of the rings was one of the first times watching movies when I got super hype with the boys. I’d stay up all night for time passing
IIRC there were licensing issues with this game…essentially the makers could only use material referenced in the movies but not the book. That might explain the reused dialog from the movies in cutscenes 🤔
I played this game to 100% and would up the difficulty every time it got too easy. Every character had all the skills unlocked and all the extra content unlocked. I had too much fun and I miss the lotr games from that time.
I love so much this game as pure rpg. FFx battle system but the game is harder (in hard mode) and buff and debuff are even more useful and you have more ability. Also I love the animation esthetic and the attack are so satisfying
Omg running around in Helms Deep in this game was amazing. Such a great detail. And the loot! SO MUCH LOOT! Someone stole it from me in college which I guess is its own recommendation.
My greatest memory of this game came at the very end during the Sauron fight. I had never used any items throughout the entire game and I can't remember how well I was doing but I looked through my inventory and found an item that stripped the armor off an opponent. I was curious, so I used it and lo and behold, where before I was doing 5-700 damage per hit I was now doing 10000 per hit. I clapped Sauron's cheeks after that in seconds and I was laughing my ass off the entire time. Good times.
I was howling laughing this whole video. I played this game and LOVED it as a kid, but even then i thought it was SO WEIRD hahaha. So good to relive this.
I was pretty young when I played this. First Turn-base game ever played. No guides. No help. Nothing. Idk how I managed to beat it back then but I did. Berethor had maxed sword skills. The elf maxed her magic. The Dwarf/Rohan Rider guy were somewhat levelled. Axe Lady/Bow Man were NOT used at all.
whats funny is the tidus laugh is used to showcase "cringe" but the character was doing that stupid laugh on purpose and in context for the actual scene its a very good emotional moment. Also to bat for JRPG's none of them are gonna be written like fucking tolkien but a good number of them have good dialogue.
Legitimately one of my favourite games from my childhood, even if as a kid I kept reaching points where I would put the game down for a year, come back slightly smarter, get further in the game before having to rinse and repeat. Might have to break out the PS2 and give it yet another go. Sincerely, a JRPG hater.
I absolutely loved your take on the game and all of the jokes you made. The game deserves to be made fun of in this way. Some extra information to help you understand how the game works and why you played it just fine: The optimal way to play The Game is to get Elegost's Arrows of Sleep ability and get upgrades to let it hit every enemy on the field. You can put the entire battle on pause for as long as you need and use abilities in your skill trees that don't directly damage the enemies. This allows you to constantly grind all the characters until they have all of their abilities. I do not recommend a normal person play this way. I have set a timer, and sometimes, I will spend 20 to 25 minutes grinding in a single random encounter. Just because I know I need to. In addition, the elfstone of fell shadow and the elfstone of pure light unlocked additional spells for anybody that equipped them. This allows Berethor to have some ranged damage and spells he wouldn't normally have, and allows Morwen to heal herself, if you apply them respectively to those characters. This is after playing the game dozens of times throughout my childhood and learning everything, there is to know about the system. I'm glad you enjoyed the game for what it was and was able to laugh at the more ridiculous parts. It's just a shame you did not get the HD retexture by icebreak. It adds a fantastically refreshing code of paint to the game.
Awesome comment. I went through the game with as little help as possible, but that was probably a mistake. I might go through it again with all that in mind someday.
@NeverHard Just a piece of advice: You can choose which abilities your characters learn next by simply going to the Skills section and selecting them. That Prima game guide you showed gives you some great pointers, but here's some "deep lore" I know about beating the game on Hard, which is a big challenge: Firstly, never use Perfect Mode. Berethor can get a 25% discount to all his abilities and Hadhod auto-crits with all his melee if you leave it full. Hadhod can be built as either a spellcaster or melee focus, but having Endure Flame means he can spam cast that early game and get all his spells every single playthrough. Get all the spells on his list, and either focus that with his stats or blast up his Dexterity and Strength to have him deal insane damage the whole game. Berethor's Leadership skills are central to a good run. Getting Fellowship Grace allows you to constantly regenerate Action Points for the whole party, making those grinds last longer. Also, give him the Elfstone of Pure Shadow to give him some ranged damage as well as Steal Health and Silence, completely shutting down weaker spellcasters. Elegost is very much a utility character. His Crippling Shot and Arrows of Sleep are nasty, but his most useful attribute comes from Crafting. Give him the Elfstone of Nimble Crafting, and although it takes a while, he can begin crafting tons of hard to get items. The best one is the Leaf of Old Toby (which restores Hit Points and Action Points), and the rest are fun, optional elemental damage boosts. The visual effects it gives the weapons are the main reason to use them, but the damage boost is nice too. Idrial is built to be a Spellcaster, but she has great sword abilities that can be useful in a pinch. For early game grinding, use either Drain Inspiration or Leech Inspiration (a sword strike that does NO DAMAGE!) on the Moria Goblin Shadow Chieftains, and you'll be able to freely grind with anyone and everyone. Those Goblin casters need Action Points to do anything, and without them, they have to skip their turn, letting you grind out as long as you don't kill them. Also, Haste of the Elves is perfect for making someone take 3 or 4 turns in a round. Morwen is incredibly easy. Spam Battle Haste to get her melee tree done. Her thief skills can be spammed by using Steal Skill to level those quickly. A word of warning, it will wake up sleeping foes, so hit one guy with crippling or stunning attacks so she can farm him. And now for Eaoden. I'd recommend not using him in Helm's Deep, but rather using him in Osgiliath. Grind up his spells no matter what, using Dispel to get your early farming done. All his melee stuff has to be done the hard way. Alright, essay over! Thank you for coming to my TedTalk! And once again, great video!
I totally forgot about the betrothal thing with morwen and berethor. And eadon's purpose is what again? And that final battle was just so random and stupid. There are fanfictions that are better than the story of this game 😂
I actually liked this game but they could have done much more. It could have been the LOTR equivalent of Star Wars Knights of the old Republic if it had better creative
Oh my gosh, I’ve never heard another person reference Jade Cocoon. I saw it mentioned in a magazine, maybe EGM, and I was a big Pokemon fan, so I got the game. I guess I beat it, don’t remember much but it. But I’m positive that I haven’t heard someone else mention it since… 1995? Whenever it came out
This is one of my favourite games. I always describe it as "Final Fantasy that makes sense" LOL. My main complaint is that you get the last two characters too late to make them useful.
Seriously, the laughing scene is supposed to be awkward just stop missing the point and pay attention for like 2 minutes before the LITERALLY FORCED LAUGH THEY SAY THEY SHOULD LAUGH.
![The Dragons of Middle-earth [COMPILATION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YSUlfiQVuDg/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Dragons of Middle-earth [COMPILATION]](/img/tr.png)
contrary to popular belief, every female lord of the rings character IS infact jennifer lawrence
I'm impressed how well she's aged since Alien came out in the 70s.
I was doubting Berethor in the beginning, but it seems that he is indeed OUR BOY.
We were wrong to doubt him. He proved time and time again that he is, was, and always will be OUR BOY.
The thing about this game was that they had the license to do a movie tie in, but they did NOT have the license to the books. This resulted in the weirdest story decisions imaginable.
For its benefit in my opinion
Sorta like the Rings of Power and that movie that was recently released.
This game is far from a master piece but is still such a priceless gem for being so utterly unique. Also from a turnbased RPG angle it's really great even if it has a few flaws, it allows for a bit of build variety which is kind of crazy.
It's one of those games I replay every 2 years or so, truly love it a lot.
I enjoy the change in equipment unlike most rpg you don't see the change maybe in weapon but whole armor i think was cool
Long before the War of the Rohirrim graced our screens, Hadhod found the Hammer of Helm Hammerhand, a guy who famously doesn’t have a hammer and is named because of his one punch man fists, because the game is simultaneously incredibly reverent of this world but incredibly dense and cable of understanding subtlety, but it’s a very fun cartoon to play through, despite the occasional grind. Save often!
I remember grinding out everyone's abilities right away at the beginning of the game lmao
Im pretty certain that at this time games could only be made surrounding the movies and not the Tolkien books and stories due to licensing. That's why they basically followed the movie events.
This game will always be a guilty pleasure for me.
Funny thing is, the worst part for me was that despite the abundance of fights, I always seemed to fall behind in learning new skills, especially types I don't use that often.
Meaning I often had to use the feature that allowed me to grind the random encounters from earlier levels. Tedious, but necessary. For I quickly found out that Berethor learning Stand Fast could mean the difference between playing a game and torturing myself.
In Moria with the goblin drummer that summons more Goblins, on the PS2 it was possible to keep this going infinitely by not killing the drummer and allowing him to continue summoning more goblins, me, my dad and my brothers stayed up all day for around 18 hours doing that drum sequence. After the drummer you fight the Balrog and Idrial killed it in 1 hit using loud water fury. After that the whole party was so insanely over-levelled for the rest of the game it was impossible to struggle going forward
I have to agree. This game totally slaps, even though it's not as good as it could have been.
Double Mumakil fight: Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp oh you didn't even get a turn and now you're dead, too bad try again.
Do it to them first, 'Stun' moves are completely broken in this game. Your characters and some enemies get 'stun' moves that delay the target's turn, there is no limit to how many times an enemy can have their turn delayed, you (or enemies) can spam stun and never give the other guy a chance to fight back.
The key is to pool a ton of ypur stats into speed early so you can move first. ^.^
I remember recently I played through a game and it was during the Osgiliath missions after Idrial got nabbed by the Nazgul, and during one of her fights the Orcs ran a train on her. Stunned her their opening move and just beat her ass like a drum. The sad part is, she was more than capable of swatting them like flies but they got that first hit in and that was it.
Just pop Stand Fast with Berethor. Your party is protected from stun for the entire fight.
@@Haplo699g Admittedly that is one of my go tos, but it's kinda hard to do that when he's not part of the party at the time.
@geraldapollyon655 Ouch. Yep, brown trousers time.
There is an exploit where everytime you go to save you your game your health and ap comeback completely so you can easy cheat the game a bit with that
Loved this game. You forgot the best part though. You can play Evil Mode as the enemies in important battles after finishing each chapter. So much fun.
Oh man, I wanted to include it. But let's be real, the video is long enough as it is.
I would do that & import the weapons you get as rewards into a brand new save for new game plus. So mich fun taking down the Balrog with 1 turn. 😂
@@kenjikune2565 XD ikr did that myself one time felt so good
That little AISIP reference at 27:35 didn't go unnoticed. Well done.
That "I think I do" is one of my fav moments in gaming history ever lol
This game’s audio is burned into my brain. Never had played a jrpg and also just in it for the license following RotK, what a ride this is. The Helm’s Deep battle in the two towers game is tricky, in RotK its a demo, and in this it’s a never ending sequence of fighting the same three Uruk-hai with cameos from the fellowship, it’s an absolutely insane grind with like no checkpoints.
Best part is still when you fight all the Nazgûl on foot in pelennor fields with any gaps in the line quickly being filled by another one running in, until you LITERALLY FIGHT A GIANT EYE IN OSE COMBAT on top of a giant tower, possibly the least subtle thing in all of media, truly the Lord of the Rings of all games.
Christopher Tolkien would have been furious.
27:17 man this guy knows his lore. Deep in the lord of the rings lore Gimli confesses that Salted Pork is indeed the weakness of Helm's Deep. Don't know why the movie couldn't stay true to this fact.
The movie is a travesty for relegating Salted Pork to a brief cameo in the wrong film.
Fun fact, it was also the key to defeating Sauron himself. Don’t need the ring. Evil has shitty taste in food, so all the Fellowship had to do was throw salty pork at his Eye and he explodes. In hindsight, the Fellowship wasted a LOT of time and lives.
@@Arander92they could have flew on an eagle and drop the ring in the volcano
@@NeverHard😂
I played/beat this game about 8-10 times. Probably put in close to 250-300 hours
It’s a matter of time before this channel blows up big time, I was shocked you have under 2k subs
Great video, your style and sense of humor always make for a fun watch.
Yess I’ve been looking forward to this!
One thing i love about this game that not enough people mention is the absolutely stunning amount of WEIGHT behind every spell, attack and ability, some of the abilities give me goosebumps just watching the animations with the sound design, the game has a ho'key feel sometimes and you get incredibly broken towards the end of the game but i love it nonetheless.
We need guardians of middle earth 2 or some witcher style game set in the lord of the rings universe
We need ANYTHING, really. I don't mind if we get a Gollum once in a while if it means more games are made in the setting.
Witcher Style where it's essentalliy just single player LOTRO would be awesome
Buddy, this is one of my favorite games of all time. And making a 30 min video for me? You earned my subscription!!
I still remember my complete befuddlement when the scene hard cut to the battle on Barad-Dur against the eye. As an 11 year old I was so confused. I am still confused.
The game does absolutely nothing to prepare you for the final fight. It's beautiful.
Some people may dislike this game for certain reasons, and I can agree on certain ones. I will say a lot of my love from this game comes from nostalgia of playing it at a really young age, but not only that, but because it reminds me of my time with my late grandfather. He introduced me to the Lord of The Rings entirely by accident when we went to one of his friends place at around maybe 8 years old. At the time, they had a small box tv that was almost broken but still somewhat usable, despite it having no sound and static. Not to mention there was a line that covered half the screen, so you could not really see anything at all. I sat down for what was maybe close to 30 mins, and viewed the introduction for The Fellowship of The Ring. I became instantly infatuated with the series, and it built most of my interest with the fantasy genre. Being almost 22 as of next year, I can say that it became apart of my life. (Great video by the way, you have a very relaxing voice as well)
Meanwhile...
In Berethor's head:
Saruman and the Witchking:"Dafuq are you doin here?!?".
Thank you for the reminder of Enchanted Arms being a thing. 50 hours of my 13 year old life on the PS3 I'll never get back.
It blows my mind they made this in 12 months. Imagine what two more years could do.
In 2003 i did not know that you can give points when you have a lvl up. It was really hard and i came only to helms deep and where stuck at the last round with the trolls and after i found out that you can give points to the stats i made it 😅. Played the game last year on the gamecube and never lost a battle only with Berethor Idrial and Hadhod. One of the best Lotor games back in the days but nothing beats Return of the King 💪👍.
It is by far the best very bad game I ever played. There are so much games out there that are just mid and forgettable. This one is so mid I can't take it out of my mind.
Even if you've seen this video, go try it if you never played it. It is hilarious.
Great video as always mate!
Oh my God, is that GAMETALESHQ? The famous UA-camr?
Loved this game when I was younger, but you’re right it was a slog for long portions. I like Jrpgs so if you’re not into the genre it must’ve been a hard play lmao. Nice work man, great vid
Stoop Kid afraid to leave stoop.
The third age was a great game.
Helms Deep was the worst. Loose one Partymember and the game makes sure you only get one turn after 6-10 enemy turns. Or simply never until you die. You either overlevel hard or spamm the ressurection spell on every member. Besides beeing a freaking slog of battles.
You forgot Evil Mode. Where you get to play through a lot of the battles from the selected chapter as the villains that would give you the best weapons possible. Its especially fun for a second run on a harder difficulty since you can basically start out with weapons and never have to swap them
For me, Elegost was modelled after the Ranger Guy in the third Film, shown as the ringwraiths attack osgiliath at the start of breaking the cover.
Are you talking about my boy Madril?
They only had the licence rights for the films. Not the books. So no they couldn't have explored other parts of middle earth.
My nostalgia for this game is off the charts. I adored it, and still occasionally boot up the Gamecube to play it. It's like a pilgrimage to a bygone time.
I think I recall finding a Dwarven ring of power in Moria
I remember watching my brothers play this for hours on the Xbox. This game was amazing
This game deserves a remake
I miss playing this game so much, it needs to become BC or get remastered
We are so making out of 2024 with this one. Merry Christmas and hope your channel grows more next year 🥳
Merry Christmas! 2025 will be the year of Never Hard (Assuming I can finally post regular videos).
@@NeverHardNever Hard?
I spent way too many hours on this
The final boss fight was hilarious even as a teenager
Combat was fun but sadly at some point I discovered a couple of glitches (or more like a mechanic oversights) that made eeeevery combat extremely easy and tedious.. you couldn't ever die, basically.
Still, hella fun to play this "chase the fellowship" role and the abilities and animations were veeery cool.
Fantastic editing. You had fun with it clearly.
Just got to the salted pork bit. I'm now a fan.
I have so many fond memories of this game. As long as you've got Idrial, you're golden.
The characters who are in this game return as heroes in battle for middle earth 2. :D
Very interesting game. The potential is tangible
I completely forgot about the existence of this game but I recognised the box art from the thumbnail of the video. I remember loving it because it was more Lord of the Rings, but also finding certain sections and quirks of the game incredibly frustrating. I remember getting stuck on certain battles for hours and it largely feeling like there wasn't much I could do to improve my chances.
That said, I find something about the quirky animations, character designs and strangely empty environments oddly endearing. It's probably just nostalgia, even at the time I thought something about the game looked a little odd, but I wouldn't have been able to explain why.
It was awful fan fiction but I loved JRPG style games back then and absolutely smashed it. Great times.
The tragic thing about this game is that on paper it sounds awesome! Finally! An RPG Game based on the movies of the LOTR. With most of the voice actors reprising their roles and interacting with your character, and having the Epic score of Howard Shore to add to the world. I feel that if they made it a hack and slash action RPG rather then a JRPG, it would have helped the games feel of repetitiveness with enemies. Imagine instead of what we got with the 10,000 Uruk KI flighting in Helms Deep wave after wave at your party whilst you stand still and barely move from the battles, but instead you get to move and hack and slash your way through like in the Two Towers game. I think that would have helped it a lot in terms of gameplay flow a lot better. But i still have a soft spot on what this game COULD have been. As to this day, we don't have a LOTR game quite like it. (If someone could mod for the PlayStation Emulator a hack and slash version for us that would be wonderful thanks 😂😂)
I've not watched the video yet but I 100% I agree with you. This is definitely the best piece of LotR media and does not have a single flaw.
Honestly if people want a self contained LOTR RPG experience.
Play War in the North. That game is excellent. One of the best LOTR games I’ve ever played.
Never Hard, thank you for you review. I recently played the third age and did enjoy it and remember liking it back then when it first came out. This game really does have a real issue of relating too much to the films which makes sense since this game came out during the hype of the LOTR films. So the fact that it sold well also makes sense.
BUT it should have been its own story in middle earth separate from the fellowship. (Which you already mentioned in this review is that if we’re just following the fellowship why don’t we just play them instead? ) Without muddying what was already established in the films.
War in the North does exactly this. Could be some good content for you to review Never Hard and share with the community. Watching your content of third age has made me a subscriber!
Glad you liked the video! War is the North is definitely on my list. I played it with a friend back at release but never finished it. It's definitely more in line with what I think The Third Age should have been story-wise. But I'll do a few non-LOTR videos first before I get around to it.
A turn based strategy JRPG based on The Silmarillion or The Hobbit could be good.
Always loved this game, but i'm still mad at the fact they added trolls in the battle of Helm's Deep... Why are they there?!
Okay, that Denethor scene is genious :D
I enjoyed this game a lot when I was younger I can’t lie, they had some gems on the PlayStation 2
I had this game when I was younger and I loved it
I remember renting this and not loving it, I didn’t make it past helms deep
I loved this game as a kid, was totally busted though...
As soon as you unlock 'evil mode' and then complete all the battles on evil mode you gain access to very powerful gear and skills.
Idrial gets access to shadow spells of some kind, one ability that deals massive shadow damage to all enemies and also she could mass heal the team.
Very easy and bizarre lotr game.
An Australian throwing shade at the Japanese 🤣🤣🤣 heard it all now
I remember playing TAR as a kid. What a weird game. The strange inclusion of the cast interjected in the main story - like the idea of the group helping gandalf fight the balrog, or fight sauron, or the nazgul is soooo absurd.
I like the idea of the game in general, though, at least the idea of a party based RPG. Honestly think maybe less JRPG and more Might and Magic or Wizardry would have been interesting. Would have been cool if the grind was reduced, especially in parts like Moria, which I recall as a kid getting through Moria to be a long and grueling affair. In any case, maybe with a different story or some different concepts it would have been much better than a 5.5/10, a slightly above average game with some added nostalgia points.
Graphics like this make me miss seeing feet in video games. Lord of the rings was one of the first times watching movies when I got super hype with the boys. I’d stay up all night for time passing
All in all. He’s our boy
This game is literally LOTR x Metal Gear Solid...and it is glorious.
this game sucks. i love it!
Love this game.
IIRC there were licensing issues with this game…essentially the makers could only use material referenced in the movies but not the book. That might explain the reused dialog from the movies in cutscenes 🤔
Would have been so much better if they didn't rush the game.
Third Age was a great childhood game for me. Also you missed the game mode where you play as the enemy, its just battles but its a nice change.
I wanted to talk about Evil Mode, but the video was long enough as it is.
Played this in French when I was a kid and honetly the FR dub is astoundingly better lmao
I played it in spanish and I remember it being rather convincing in terms of the voice-acting...
Ngl third age deserves a remastered port to current gen consoles in my honest opinion
I played this game to 100% and would up the difficulty every time it got too easy. Every character had all the skills unlocked and all the extra content unlocked. I had too much fun and I miss the lotr games from that time.
I love so much this game as pure rpg. FFx battle system but the game is harder (in hard mode) and buff and debuff are even more useful and you have more ability. Also I love the animation esthetic and the attack are so satisfying
Omg running around in Helms Deep in this game was amazing. Such a great detail. And the loot! SO MUCH LOOT! Someone stole it from me in college which I guess is its own recommendation.
My greatest memory of this game came at the very end during the Sauron fight. I had never used any items throughout the entire game and I can't remember how well I was doing but I looked through my inventory and found an item that stripped the armor off an opponent. I was curious, so I used it and lo and behold, where before I was doing 5-700 damage per hit I was now doing 10000 per hit. I clapped Sauron's cheeks after that in seconds and I was laughing my ass off the entire time. Good times.
I was howling laughing this whole video. I played this game and LOVED it as a kid, but even then i thought it was SO WEIRD hahaha. So good to relive this.
This was genuinely my favourite game.
I was pretty young when I played this. First Turn-base game ever played. No guides. No help. Nothing.
Idk how I managed to beat it back then but I did. Berethor had maxed sword skills. The elf maxed her magic. The Dwarf/Rohan Rider guy were somewhat levelled. Axe Lady/Bow Man were NOT used at all.
Still own a copy. Might just beat it this time.
this game was goated
whats funny is the tidus laugh is used to showcase "cringe" but the character was doing that stupid laugh on purpose and in context for the actual scene its a very good emotional moment.
Also to bat for JRPG's none of them are gonna be written like fucking tolkien but a good number of them have good dialogue.
Legitimately one of my favourite games from my childhood, even if as a kid I kept reaching points where I would put the game down for a year, come back slightly smarter, get further in the game before having to rinse and repeat. Might have to break out the PS2 and give it yet another go.
Sincerely, a JRPG hater.
How can I buy and play this game?!😢 for PC
For PC, download an emulator. I downloaded PCSX2. Then I downloaded The Third Age ISO for PS2. There are guides online to set everything up. Enjoy!
Guess you can call it a JRRPG.
Beautiful...
good times in this game. think ill boot it up for another playthrough, thanks
I absolutely loved your take on the game and all of the jokes you made. The game deserves to be made fun of in this way. Some extra information to help you understand how the game works and why you played it just fine:
The optimal way to play The Game is to get Elegost's Arrows of Sleep ability and get upgrades to let it hit every enemy on the field. You can put the entire battle on pause for as long as you need and use abilities in your skill trees that don't directly damage the enemies.
This allows you to constantly grind all the characters until they have all of their abilities. I do not recommend a normal person play this way. I have set a timer, and sometimes, I will spend 20 to 25 minutes grinding in a single random encounter. Just because I know I need to.
In addition, the elfstone of fell shadow and the elfstone of pure light unlocked additional spells for anybody that equipped them. This allows Berethor to have some ranged damage and spells he wouldn't normally have, and allows Morwen to heal herself, if you apply them respectively to those characters.
This is after playing the game dozens of times throughout my childhood and learning everything, there is to know about the system. I'm glad you enjoyed the game for what it was and was able to laugh at the more ridiculous parts. It's just a shame you did not get the HD retexture by icebreak. It adds a fantastically refreshing code of paint to the game.
Awesome comment. I went through the game with as little help as possible, but that was probably a mistake. I might go through it again with all that in mind someday.
@NeverHard
Just a piece of advice: You can choose which abilities your characters learn next by simply going to the Skills section and selecting them. That Prima game guide you showed gives you some great pointers, but here's some "deep lore" I know about beating the game on Hard, which is a big challenge:
Firstly, never use Perfect Mode. Berethor can get a 25% discount to all his abilities and Hadhod auto-crits with all his melee if you leave it full.
Hadhod can be built as either a spellcaster or melee focus, but having Endure Flame means he can spam cast that early game and get all his spells every single playthrough. Get all the spells on his list, and either focus that with his stats or blast up his Dexterity and Strength to have him deal insane damage the whole game.
Berethor's Leadership skills are central to a good run. Getting Fellowship Grace allows you to constantly regenerate Action Points for the whole party, making those grinds last longer. Also, give him the Elfstone of Pure Shadow to give him some ranged damage as well as Steal Health and Silence, completely shutting down weaker spellcasters.
Elegost is very much a utility character. His Crippling Shot and Arrows of Sleep are nasty, but his most useful attribute comes from Crafting. Give him the Elfstone of Nimble Crafting, and although it takes a while, he can begin crafting tons of hard to get items. The best one is the Leaf of Old Toby (which restores Hit Points and Action Points), and the rest are fun, optional elemental damage boosts. The visual effects it gives the weapons are the main reason to use them, but the damage boost is nice too.
Idrial is built to be a Spellcaster, but she has great sword abilities that can be useful in a pinch. For early game grinding, use either Drain Inspiration or Leech Inspiration (a sword strike that does NO DAMAGE!) on the Moria Goblin Shadow Chieftains, and you'll be able to freely grind with anyone and everyone. Those Goblin casters need Action Points to do anything, and without them, they have to skip their turn, letting you grind out as long as you don't kill them. Also, Haste of the Elves is perfect for making someone take 3 or 4 turns in a round.
Morwen is incredibly easy. Spam Battle Haste to get her melee tree done. Her thief skills can be spammed by using Steal Skill to level those quickly. A word of warning, it will wake up sleeping foes, so hit one guy with crippling or stunning attacks so she can farm him.
And now for Eaoden. I'd recommend not using him in Helm's Deep, but rather using him in Osgiliath. Grind up his spells no matter what, using Dispel to get your early farming done. All his melee stuff has to be done the hard way.
Alright, essay over! Thank you for coming to my TedTalk! And once again, great video!
I totally forgot about the betrothal thing with morwen and berethor. And eadon's purpose is what again?
And that final battle was just so random and stupid.
There are fanfictions that are better than the story of this game 😂
I love this game so much. I still play it today
Even if JRPG's aren't your thing, this game is super underrated!
Is Battle for Middle Earth next?
Probably not next. I'll take a break from LOTR so that I don't end up becoming "that LOTR guy". But yes, I would like to cover BFME2.
I actually liked this game but they could have done much more. It could have been the LOTR equivalent of Star Wars Knights of the old Republic if it had better creative
Oh my gosh, I’ve never heard another person reference Jade Cocoon. I saw it mentioned in a magazine, maybe EGM, and I was a big Pokemon fan, so I got the game. I guess I beat it, don’t remember much but it. But I’m positive that I haven’t heard someone else mention it since… 1995? Whenever it came out
Neither have I. For a long time before I had the internet, I started to believe that I had just dreamt the game up.
Ok, so we know we’re not crazy. We also know that Jade Cocoon sold exactly 2 copies.
I had a bootleg copy, so probably just one.
Where can you play it in such a good quality ? 😮 I played on a psx2 emulator but the graphics is just unbearable 🥺😭
I played on PCSX2. I adjusted the resolution and enabled upscaling. That might be why it looks different.
I tried to play this back in 2004, but I just couldn’t get past Moria and eventually gave up. I remember hoping it was another hack and slash
Heavily inspired is putting it lightly. The game is basically just copied and pasted with a reskin
this game was boss. loved it playing in highschool
This is one of my favourite games. I always describe it as "Final Fantasy that makes sense" LOL.
My main complaint is that you get the last two characters too late to make them useful.
Seriously, the laughing scene is supposed to be awkward just stop missing the point and pay attention for like 2 minutes before the LITERALLY FORCED LAUGH THEY SAY THEY SHOULD LAUGH.
Have you tried crying about it? It usually helps
Morwen looks like Greta Thunberg than Jennifer Lawrence lol😅