The Hobbit A Guide for Minimums By Logan West (A.K.A. The Shadow A.K.A. ShadowN64), Expressly for the Nintendo GameCube: Copyright (c) 2004-2005. All rights reserved. Table of Contents: 1. Introduction (INTRDCTN) 2. Basic Stuff Every Minimum Hunter Should Know (BSC) 3. Walkthroughs (WLKTHRGHS) 3a. Chapter 1 - An Unexpected Party (CHPTR1) 3b. Chapter 2 - Roast Mutton (CHPTR2) 3c. Chapter 3 - Troll Hole (CHPTR3) 3d. Chapter 4 - Overhill and Underhill (CHPTR4) 3e. Chapter 5 - Riddles in the Dark (CHPTR5) 3f. Chapter 6 - Flies and Spiders (CHPTR6) 3g. Chapter 7 - Barrels out of Bond (CHPTR7) 3h. Chapter 8 - A Warm Welcome (CHPTR8) 3i. Chapter 9 - Inside Information (CHPTR9) 3j. Chapter 10 - Gathering of the Clouds (CHPTR10) 3k. Chapter 11 - The Clouds Burst (CHPT11) 4. Rankings of Participants (RNKNGS) 5. Copyright Information (CPYRGHT) 6. Version History (VRSN) 7. Contact Information (CNTCT) 8. Credits (CRDTS) =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction (INTRDCTN) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Notice! If you've just bought this game, don't bother to read further. Hit the "Back" button and check out my other guide. If you're a thrill seeker, read on. Well, you've gone through the game once. Maybe twice. Then you went back and achieved the ultimate goal: a perfect score on every single level, a goal even more proud if you did it without using a walkthrough. So now you're wondering "what's left to do in this game? I guess the replay value isn't that great." Well that's where you're wrong my friend! There is always some replay value in every game, it's just harder to find it in some games...... However, there is one more quest in front of us, before the game goes on the shelf forever: Minimums. Ah! The very word inspires a sense of awe, a vast field of adventure awaiting to be discovered, the challenges that await, the puzzles that will befall you, all passes in quickly in front of your eye's mind and then fades away into permanent oblivion. MINIMUMS???!!!!!! Okay, so maybe it's not the best way to spend your time, but it can be more fun than going for perfects. Allow me to explain. Take a trial run on the very first level, it shouldn't take more than ten minutes. Go through and try to get the lowest score you can. Hard isn't it? There are some Courage Points that you just HAVE to get, and then there's the annoying fact that Sandyman gives you 75 whole Courage Points just for helping him out. Talk about CHEEK! As you can see, it's much more of a puzzle to figure out how to get AROUND all these Courage Points littering the path than it is to collect them all. Running around collecting Courage Points is for normal people, not adventurers like us! How would you like to tell your friends "hey, I got 87 Courage Points on the first level of The Hobbit, I dare YOU to get that low" and of course if they don't a lot of neat little tricks, they'll never be able to do it and they will be in awe of your minimum catching abilities! Well, maybe. But it is a lot of fun and I encourage you to try it a little, I plan on keeping some sort of rankings so you'll be able to see how you place against other gamers. Good luck and I hope you stay the course! Shadow =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Basic Stuff Every Minimum Hunter Should Know (BSC) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== The only bad thing about using this particular Hot Key, is every time I type "abscond" or some similar word, the search will pick it up. Oh well, such is life. The basic stuff you need to know is to not pick up Courage Points. Courage Points are bad, they hurts us precioussss. There are a few things I'd like to mention though, whenever possible, avoid Silver Pennies at all costs. You have to get SOME Courage Points but you don't always have to get Silver Pennies (none at all up to the time of this writing). So if you have the choice between Courage Points and Silver Pennies (you HAVE to take one or the other) then chose the Courage Points and leave the Pennies. Since we're going for low scores here, and since all the vile creatures drop Courage Points, we've since decided that we won't kill any of the critters. They are more beneficial to us alive. Just jump a lot to avoid them. This said, there sometimes occurs a phenomenon which I call "Spontaneous Courage Points" where you'll be walking along fine and dandy and all of a sudden Bilbo will sprout a bunch of Courage Points out of the top of his head. Strange isn't it? I figure it's from creatures that you left behind before suddenly disappear and the Courage Points are teleported to you. This is most inconvenient but thankfully predictable, if it keeps happening to you, restart from your former save point, wait about the length of time it usually happens, and just be running around. If you're running, the Courage Points will just spurt out and leave a trail on the ground. I've noticed this mainly on Chapter 3: Troll Holl so far but it may happen on later levels. There are times where it is perfectly acceptable, and even beneficial to skip objectives such as on Chapter 2: Roast Mutton where it is possible to skip opening the floodgates. This is useful because you don't have to pick up all the nasty rewards that spill out when you complete those two objectives. As always, I suggest going through this and trying a level on your own and see how low you can get, then compare with my walkthrough, if you don't do as well as me, then you can of course try again (remember to always keep at least two save files for whatever chapter you're on!) or if you get better, or have a better method then I'll be happy to hear about it! See the contact section. Have fun and enjoy yourself is the key. Let me know your scores and I'll give you a ranking-when I get around to updating of course :S =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Walkthroughs (WLKTHRGHS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Prologue: DreamWorld We don't really have to worry about anything in this area, there are no Courage Points, no Silver Pennies, nothing of value (thankfully!) so just run through this area as normal <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3a. Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party (CHPTR1) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> As the level starts out of course you have to get your walking stick before you can get outside (and it proves helpful later on in this quest so it's best to get in anyway) but on your way, rats! They had to stick a large red Courage Point in your way! This is unfortunate but unavoidable. Pick it up and then out the front door. Outside, Bilbo complains about the hole in his pocket but we're not on a quest to collect Silver Pennies! We're out to save the world here!-Okay, not really, but we can pretend it's something important like that. I would suggest saving at the save station outside Bilbo's front door, because you may have to try some of the tactics in this level a couple of times. It doesn't really matter because you'll restart at the beginning of this level anyway but hey! It can't hurt! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 5 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Head on down the path, it's pretty easy to avoid all the Courage Points and that lone Silver Penny on your way past Gammer's house, then continue all the way down the path toward the river. Before reaching it though, the group of Hobbit Children greet you (Incidentally, one of them happens to become the father of Sam later on) but we don't have time to play, the first thing to do is go talk to Sandyman. If you try going behind him instead of going right in front, the cutscene warps you to standing in front of him, I don't know if this helps, but it allows you to only collect two of the three CP leading up to him. He tells you to go get the hammer and nails so we'll go ahead and do that. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 7 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There are two methods for getting inside the mill, I'll detail both, it's up to you to choose the route you prefer. MirrorFoil confirmed Method two which is actually probably easier than mine, but gets you the same amount of Courage Points ;) Method 1: Rather than gallavanting in the front door, we'll take the long route and go around the right hand side of the mill, past the wheel, and to the back door. Here's a tricky part and it might take a few tries if you're not careful: You want to get inside this doorway and only collect two of the three Courage Points that are waiting inside the doorway. It is possible, if you hug the right hand doorjam and just barely slip inside the doorway. If you aren't hugging that wall, the third CP will jump at you. Another tip is to walk slowly, if you run, it seems as though Bilbo's feet kick up too much, getting too close to that lone Courage Point and it snags him. Maybe it's silly, but every Courage Point counts! Once you get inside the doorjam and are awaiting further orders, I'm going to tell you to do a Pole Jump off of the corner of this upper level, and grab onto that rope in the center of the barn. No further stray Courage Points should be acquired in this level before you get to the door of the Green Dragon Inn. Got that? NONE. So where were we? Oh yes, you were hanging precariously on that rope....right. Well hop on over and collect the three jars of nails and get back onto the rope again. Now do a jump carefully (ever so carefully) to the very corner of that upper area that has the door we entered by. We're going back out that same door. Slip out the same way you came in, going VERY slowly and carefully and hugging that wall, staying as far away from that lone blue Courage Point as possible. Alternatively you can jump down from the rope to the floor, save, and then carefully get on the hay bales from the side and edge yourself to a point where you can jump onto the upper level, wiggle over to the corner and hop up. This is rather harder though and I would suggest skipping it. Method 2: You can jump right inside the front door by going to the building and dropping down, this should net you one Courage Point, now save at the save station right inside the door. Now if you get on top of that large grindstone in the center of the room and jump for the corner of the upper platform (the same level the back door is on) it's possible to grab onto the upper level and pull yourself up, alternatively, you can get on the side of that stack of hay bales that goes under the platform and work your way so you can grab onto the ledge. You don't want to get any of the Courage Points on the hay bales though! Once you are hanging onto the upper level, wiggle your way to the outer corner and then get up, if you don't move all the way to the outer corner then you'll pick up a Courage Point from the next platform up. Turn around now and look for the rope hanging in the center of the room, do a pole-jump to it (careful not to get those Courage Points up where the next little platform is to your right) and then from the rope jump to the nails and gather all three! Now drop down to the bottom floor and save, this next part may take a couple of tries. Edge up the ramp out of the front of the mill and jump up to the right side, if you do it right, you should be able to miss the third Courage Point, so you basically got two Courage Points getting into this mill. Congratulations! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 9 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Outside! Phew! The hard stuff is over! Walk around the left side of the pond and when you reach the place where the cliffs start going up, get into the water and walk over (careful not to grab the Courage Points or Silver Pennies on the cliff) and get to an empty spot that should be obvious (I believe you have to pass a Silver Penny and a Courage Point on the way) and then climb up to the top without getting anything. It's not hard. At the top, save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 9 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now go over on the left hand side. We don't want to climb up the rope like normal people though! We're much too smart for that! What we'll do is instead, walk up that steep hill on the left and either jump or pole-jump over to that tall area where Carl is. It's easily possible to grab onto the ledge if you run up that steep hill on the left and then quickly do a pole-jump back towards Carl. Ask him for the hammer and then I would suggest picking up that health potion, you might need it later ;) Now hightail it all the way back down the cliffs, past the pond, and over to Sandyman (careful not to get that one Courage Point we left near him from before). Unfortunately I haven't been able to skip having to repair the bridge. Sandyman gives you 75 Courage Points for you help and the bridge is repaired now. A normal person would saunter on over the bridge, but let's be different and walk over to the left side of the bridge and into the water. If you hop onto the last pier/post, you can get around that invisible wall that seems to be associated with the fence running along the river and you'll be able to skip all the Courage Points on the bridge as well. Bombur may now catch you but that doesn't bother us, we're happy now! Circle around the CP leading over towards the Green Dragon Inn. Now here's the trick for skipping another three Courage Points that MirrorFoil discovered. I would suggest saving. If you run as fast as you can toward the door, press B (to trigger the cutscene) and then immediately press Start, you'll skip the cutscene and thereby not allow the Courage Points to reach you! They are of course en route to you but if you're fast enough, you can end the level before they get there. Fabulous eh?! Thanks MirrorFoil! Courage Point Listing =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 5-Before Walking Stick 2-In front of Sandyman 2-Getting inside Mill 75-Reward from Sandyman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3b. Chapter 2: Roast Mutton (CHPTR2) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> This level is really challenging to get a good, low score on, but it's so rewarding when you do! Start out and head down the hill, Thorin will talk to you but we'll just skip him. Continue down past the flower and drop to the bottom. Bilbo sees an "unfriendly" wolf, but he won't hurt you if you just run past him. Now, the normal way to get up to where the next dwarf is, is to walk into the open area, past all the wolves and up the steps, however, there are Courage Points blocking the way! So my suggestion is to instead go over to where the rope is hanging down from a wooden crossbar, and if you manage to get up on the side of the hill and jump up, it is possible to grab onto the very end of that rope and pull yourself up. There is a row of CP leading to where you are supposed to do a Pole-Jump to a platform that has two flowers on it. We want to skip the Courage Points that are right next to us right now (leading to the platform) so just run alongside of them. I want you to do a pole-jump out to that platform and grab on. If you land on your feet you might catch the CP on that platform so you should just grab onto the edge of the platform. Then wiggle your way over to the right and climb up. You want to line up the camera so the edge of the platform is going straight away from you and you want to have one foot on the platform and one foot off. You're going to run right along this outside edge like this (parallel the line of CP on this platform). If you try running past the flower however, he'll (she'll, whatever) attack you so right as you come abreast of it, do another Pole-Jump to the side that has the Save Station on it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 0 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= All Right! Can't get much better than this! So go ahead and save. This next part is tricky. As you make your way toward the pond a cutscene takes place and Bilbo says he has to close the floodgate. The only problem is that there are three Courage Points leading to the floodgate (we can skip at least one though) and even worse, when you close the floodgate, a flood of CP rewards you! How miserable! So I tried to find a way to get up to that zip-line without lowering the water. It is possible to hop around the left side of the pond and even though you dip underwater, if you keep jumping and hugging the wall you can go quite a ways! However, on the last stretch the water is slightly deeper and so I always died there. I just could NOT get over there :( The other alternative was that right underneath the chain on the Zip-line, there was a spot on the wall you could kind of "stick" onto. I sat there jumping and jumping for perhaps 15 minutes off and on (Okay, so I'm stubborn and didn't want to get the CP from the floodgate) and finally was able to get in three jumps and just barely catch the tip of that chain hanging down! Whoopeee! I was so excited! There are 40 Courage Points on the zipline and 4 on the ground next to it which you most likely got while trying to jump. Getting to this zipline is not easy to do but it IS possible! Now carefully go around the flowers and down the hill, there should be a Save Point there so use it so we don't have to go through that past ordeal all over again! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 44 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now at this next part, I also didn't want to get the Courage Points from the floodgate so I looked for some way to get around that without having to raise the water level. There was a little spot (where you're trying to get to) that looked kind of close enough to Pole-jump to but every time I barely caught the edge (it's far) and since it was rounded as well, I would just slide off. Well.....I kept trying (every good gamer should have a streak of stubborness) and was finally able to hit the side of the cliff wall (that is on the right as you jump toward your goal) and if you hit it at the right angle, it kind of "pops" you up into the air and you can get far enough to land past where the hill rounds down on the edges. This spot is off to the right of the rope that you would normally climb down to the bottom (where the wolves and frogs are). Just avoid the stack of Silver Pennies on the side. I was able to do this only twice in about 10 to 15 tries so if it takes you a while, don't give up! Just keep Pole-jumping sort of partly into the side wall and hopefully it will bounce you up so you can reach your goal. If you fall down (as will likely happen) you can jump to avoid the Wolves and just climb back up the rope to where you were and try some more. Once you are over, saunter on down the hill and save at the next save station, we're about to go try to navigate that vortex. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 44 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There are lots of Green CP hanging over the vortex that the platforms carry you next to but we want to miss these. The way to do that is just to stay on an edge (either front or back) of each wooden platform you hop to. Work your way into the center and avoid all the Green Courage Points. There are three blue ones on the rope that are unavoidable, so climb up the rope and go towards the Troll campfire. Of course you'll want to walk around the three CP leading into the place where the Trolls are! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 47 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Once inside, the cutscene will take place and after the cutscene, the game dumps 125 Courage Points on you as a reward. Well that stinks! Go to the right, avoiding the CP, there is a narrow area where it is impossible (at least to my knowlege) to skip at least one Courage Point, usually you'd get all three but if you hug the left side (where the bushes are) and jump at the right moment, you'll only pick up one. That's the last Courage Point we're going to collect on this level. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 173 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Go to where you can see Bert walking back and forth, when he heads over to the left, follow him but avoid the leaves on the ground. Normally we would walk up those steps in front of us but that gives too many Courage Points! If you quickly do a pole-jump and hide behind the tree, Bert will say something like "What was that?" And start looking around (so you better be behind the tree) and then he'll say something like "must have been the wind." And continue. When he stops walking (with his back toward you, I think he's facing the campfire) do a pole-jump toward the next tree. If you just walk then Bill (William) will spot you, so pole-jump and it triggers a cutscene before you even land! It shows Bert walking over to his second track spot. So run over behind the tree and there is a spot you can jump between the bushes and a rock. If you get in there (back on the normal path), Bert won't spot you. Then run over to where the path through the leaves is, when you have the chance (like normal, you'll have to wait for Bert to be in the right positions to sneak over here). Anyway, we're back on the normal path and going to where you would sneak behind Tom who is sitting with his back to you. However, there are three red CP on the path! So either do a regular jump or a pole jump onto the leaves, then another regular jump onto the path. He may hear you but sometimes he doesn't and even if he does hear you, he usually doesn't spot you. But anyway, we got past those Red Courage Points and back onto the path! Now go onto the first platform, and then jump to the next really tall one in front of you, you can grab it with the tips of your fingers. Now to the left is another platform. Normally I suppose from here you would jump through that path of Blue CP to the next platform but if you jump instead onto the leaves in the direction we want to go (towards the next wave station) then the troll shouldn't hear you, just stick to the left and walk through the leaves to skip the blue and that green CP. All right! We've gotten to the save station here and have only picked up one Courage Point since we started this area! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 173 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now instead of sneaking past Tom like normal while he yawns (since he has three blue CP in front of him) what we'll do is jump up onto the save station and then jump over the rocks out into the open, you can hide behind a little jutting point in order to not get spotted by Bert who is still parading out here. When you have the opportunity, run around the dried leaves on the ground and get over to where you would have ended up if you had snuck past Tom in the ordinary manner. Good! Now when Bert comes marching along, then turns his back, keep to the right wall and then jump over the rock that is next to it. There is a small opening that you can jump through between the rock and the side wall (this skips the blue Courage Point on the left side of the rock). Sometimes you get stuck though so jump around a lot and hope you get out in time and down to where you can hide behind another rock so Bert doesn't spot you. He walks toward you, then away again so hightail it up and to the right to hide behind a tree. Watch for Bert. He should have stopped and then starts walking to the LEFT again, here's your chance to run down to where you can hide behind another rock, the one between the rock that has LOTS of CP next to it, and the one that has one CP next to it. The one we want to hide behind has no Courage Points. Now wait for Bert (this is the tricky part) and he comes back, as soon as he turns away again, run up toward the outer wall of this area and do a pole-jump over the leaves, DO NOT LAND ON THEM! whatever you do! You want to get up here, run to the left on this little strip against the wall that has no leaves (so you're more or less right behind the wallet) and then do another pole-jump over the leaves again towards the wallet, Stick to the right, near that rock so that you don't pick up that Pink CP. William may hear you but if you're fast enough and can get to the wallet before he turns around, you can press B on the wallet and end the level before getting caught! You should have 173 Courage Points total! Courage Point Listing =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 44-Riding the zip-line 3-Climbing rope out of Vortex 125-"Reward" for finding Trolls 1-On your way to where Bert is marching back and forth at first. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3c. Chapter 3: Troll-Hole (CHPTR3) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> This level is fairly simple compared to the last one. Head on down the hill. I chose to skip the weapons upgrade scroll just because I wanted to. It really doesn't matter if you grab it or not, I can't think of any place later on in the game that it will help you because you're not supposed to be killing any enemies anyway, but......if it makes you feel better, go ahead and grab it. You can chain together two swings with your stick if you do (like I said, not helpful for abnormal people like us). There are a total of six CP leading into the area where the wolves are but they are easy to pass. Likewise the wolves are easy to avoid, just jump on over to the steps and work your way up the hill, past Gloin (you don't need to talk to him), be careful though, after using some switchbacks you'll come to a spot where you'll have to jump up and grab onto the edge in order to get up. Be careful. Jump up, grab onto the edge and then wiggle over to the right. We're going to do the same thing we did with that "pole-jump platform" in the previous level, run right along the edge of this platform (one foot on and one foot off) and skip the three CP on it. So line up your camera and go for it. This next part is rather interesting. It IS possible to skip all three CP leading into the caves, I did it by doing a pole-jump on the right side of them (kind of against the side wall) because everytime I tried climbing over that white rock I picked up one. Make your way through this first part of the cave and onto the vine to continue on (not the vine that breaks after a while, the other one) from that vine, jump to the next and instead of jumping to the pillar that has the Courage Points on it, jump way over to a spot that doesn't. I haven't figured out how to get around that lone Courage Point sitting on top of this wall, perhaps it is possible and I just haven't figured it out yet. Anyway, continue on into the next cavern, of course avoiding those frogger thingys and jump up the platform/pillars to get over the next wall. You shouldn't have to pick up that Green CP on top of it (go to the left of that CP), but be careful of the ones behind the wall on the other side! Now hop over the sets of spikes in the ground and walk over and the cutscene will take place with Lianna. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 1 Courage Point =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Lianna asks you to go get her healing draught in the next room. I haven't figured out a way to skip this either (since you need the witch king crystal) and unfortunately, Lianna gives you 100 Courage Points for giving her the healing draught. Save in this next room. You're supposed to fight a boss here but, uh, lets not. Let's just wait until his back is turned and then start jumping up the platforms and mushrooms along the center of the room. He WILL start throwing mud bombs at you, never fear. Even if he misses, they seem to damage you (one health bubble per hit) so hurry and get up to the healing draught! Once you grab it, rush back down and give it to Lianna. I would save after you do this though. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 101 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Okay, now go toward the right and through the middle of the two patches of those snake things. You can find some mushrooms laying around if you need them as well. Walk through the middle of the two patches of snakes, straying neither to the right nor the left (kind of reminds me of going past the lions in Pilgrim's Progress) There are three Courage Points right next to the Witch King Crystal stand, pick them all up, they're too close to try to put in the crystal without getting them. Hop onto the now moving platform and ride to the other side, then jump off and work your way through the tunnels, first going up and right, avoiding all of the armadillo-like creatures and then jump over the set of spikes in the ground, continue up and hightail it left and down to get out of the caves into sunlight again! A pack of the horrible creatures should be on your tail so hurry and go around the wall to the left to get on a vine and climb up out of their reach. There are three Courage Points on the vine that you have to get. Once up, jump onto the top of that small white rock and see that Courage Point atop that next little cliff? Well, just jump off of that white rock toward where you see that you can grab onto that ledge with your hands, it may take a couple tries but eventually you'll grab on and be able to climb up! You just collected your last Courage Point for this level too. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 108 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= We're right next to the Troll's gate so if we had the key, we could end this level right away but unfortunately we don't so let's do a pole-jump across the gap into the caves (we're kind of going backwards here). There is a row of Courage Points ahead of you but if you jump up to the rock on the right side of this tunnel, you can get past them. There is a gap coming up and right down below you there is the pathway that you would NORMALLY come into these caves by, but there were three Courage Points that you would pick up then. So jump onto the vine and get to the other side of this gap, go up until the set of spikes come out of the wall, then walk back, by triggering those spikes (or by going to a certain point in this tunnel) we triggered that vine we just crossed on to drop down. This will be useful later. Go down into that tunnel and continue into that large cavern the normal way. The cutscene triggers and then you run on, towards the save station. You can save if you wish, but after you do, go around the nearest stalactite (if that's what it's called, "pillar" for those of you in Rio Linda) and jump like normal across the platforms to the other side. Now....we COULD get the witch king crystal but then that would mean we'd have to get the three Courage Points around the crystal stand, so we'll skip that, just continue past those Armadillos, and up that slimy slope, past all of the little hoppers and see where the Troll Key is at? Well, just jump onto the pods on the ground next to that platform (be careful not to break them or let those little hoppers break them!) and then just jump up to the key! Simple as that! Alternatively you could have continued past those spikes a little while ago (up in that tunnel) and out of the tunnel done a pole jump to that green vine, done a jump to the stationary witch king platform, and then done a pole-jump from there to the troll key but as awsome as you feel doing all of this, I never could figure out how to get out of that tunnel (across from the troll key) without picking up at least one of the 8 Courage Points there. Oh well. Disregard this whole paragraph :) So you've got your key. There's two ways to get out of here, one (the way I did it), you can jump to that green vine near you that just dropped, jump past the eight Courage Points in the mouth of that tunnel (maybe hard to avoid) and continue on through the tunnel, or two (the recommended way), go back across the waterfall area and past the armadillos and out the other tunnel, either way, we're going back to that vine we caused to drop a while back. Now, somewhere around this time I had problems with something I call spontaneous Courage Points, where for no apparent reason, Bilbo sprouts Courage Points out of the top of his head. If you're running then you shouldn't have a problem, they just drop out behind you on the ground, but if you're on a vine or standing still....ouch. It can ruin a good run real fast. I'm not sure where these come from but I think it's from some of the armadillos we skipped before killing eachother off or something. Anyway, get on that vine, climb up (or go across) and jump up on the rocks on the left side to skip those same three Courage Points in the middle of this tunnel and when you reach the open air, pole-jump across to the other side. All right! We've got the troll key, all we have to do is place it! Watch out for the White Courage Points in this area (and the wolves of course) what I do is go over to the right side and jump over the treasure chest, this allows me to skip all of the Courage Points. Congratulations on a 108 run! Courage Point Listing: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1-On a wall on the way to Lianna 100-For giving Lianna the draught (couldn't the crystal have been enough?) 3-In front of the crystal stand 3-On the wall vines going up to the next area 1-On the wall near the end (where you pole-jump to just before the troll door) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3d. Chapter 4: Overhill and Underhill (CHPTR4) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> Your only job on this first part is to get to the firewood, which of course is down along this narrow path on the side of the cliff, I haven't figured out how to skip those three Courage Points that are right in the middle of the path so just pick them up if you can't figure it out either ;) I went ahead and picked up the Sword Tactics scroll because that will be helpful later on when we fight the Necromancer and such. Take the wild ride down the hill. No going back up there now! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 3 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Not as though we'd have any more anyway though.....but anyway, head on over to the water area, jump down onto the first platform (but below it, on that ledge WITHOUT the Courage Point) and be careful not to pick up any CP. Now do a pole- jump over to the rope hanging out past where the water is dropping off to, then up, and work your way over to the save station on the other side of this water area. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to get over there and save without picking up any Courage Points. Now bypass the three Courage Points in the middle of this pathway and continue on over to that rope that is hanging down, there are four Courage Points on this rope but I don't think you can skip them. Now go along the little ledge and there are another three Courage Points that must be picked up on that handhold area. Bummer. Then on down the path there is another set of three Courage Points! Gosh! We're really racking them up this time aren't we?! I haven't been able to skip any of these three, perhaps you can. Anyway, go ahead and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 13 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now hop across that gap and over to the ledge, a cutscene wil ensue showing the stone giants etc. etc. so go around, through the archway and then do a pole- jump across that gap so we don't pick up any of those nasty Courage Points. There is a small incline ahead, I think you have to pick up one of those Courage Points though, go to the left of the group to only pick up one. There are going to be a couple of wolves nipping at your heels so walk over to that wall/pile of rocks that has a lone Courage Point atop it and pick it up. Down the hill and around the legde to where there is two rotten vines and one good one. Here's where we're going to do a little tricky stuff though. Jump to the first one and climb up until it's just about ready to break, then jump to the second one and climb up that one to the very top, now jump to the third one and you should be at the top of this one, jump off of this toward the ledge and if you did it right, you shouldn't have picked up any Courage Points off of the vine! Wowser! There are three on this ledge that we have to pick up though, so that may dampen your spirits..... Go ahead and save at this next save station. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 18 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now, I figured out that you can get the giants to throw a rock and make the bridge for you without your having to get that red Courage Point, but after that I can't figure out how to get on the bridge without picking it up anyway so you may as well grab it at the first. Get on the newly made bridge and halfway through it, do a pole-jump off to the right so we don't pick up that Courage Point. Now avoid these horrible wolves (who apparently can shoot projectiles out at you or something. Odd.) and run around that second pillar you're supposed to get the giants to break. Once broken, go to the left side of this new walkway and hop up on the rock and hop onto the bridge, in this manner we can skip that red CP at the base, I don't think you can skip the two small blue CP on the bridge itself but you can easily get around that green one, go into the tunnel. After a short walk you'll come to a narrow skinny bridge, if you recall, this bridge breaks when you cross it so just before the middle, do a pole jump and land safely on the other side, you'll have to pick up the three Courage Points, at least I did. Save at the save station. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 28 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now if you hang onto the ledge while your just above that rope out there, you can press B to drop down but then also catch the rope with your hands, be careful not to pick up those sacks of Silver Pennies though! Get down to the bottom and run through the exit to the outside, picking up three Courage Points as you go, drop off to the left and around the corner into a canyon sort of area, and then into a tunnel, picking up three more Courage Points. Funny how those little frogmen follow you around isn't it? After a short loading scene, the music will change and you're down in the dwarf ruins now! Go ahead and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 34 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now go through the hole at the far end (near the save station) and down inside after a loading scene you'll find a Courage Point, go into the next cavern and off to the left of the group of dancing frogmen you'll find the Gold Shank Head on a low platform, get it and then run back to that rope we just passed, climb up and jump over to the little ledge with the Courage Point on it (and of course you got the one on the rope too) and then go over to the left, picking up three more Courage Points and the Gold Shank Arm. Go back and make your way to the save station across the top of these pillars. An interesting note, here was where I just discovered that Bilbo could climb around on those huge stalactites on the ceiling (if that's the correct term). I never knew that before! He climbs just like he's on wall vines. From the save station, jump to the nearest rope gathering in that CP. Now here's a little trick, climb almost to the top of this rope but not quite and jump for the next rope, instead of grabbing the rope (and getting that CP on it) you should grab the ledge that the rope is hanging from! Climb up and jump the rest of the way over to where the Medium Gold Gear is. Now drop down to the bottom level, go over to the rope (the first one we climbed in this room) and go back to the save station. Save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 41 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now this next part is a little tricky, if you mess up and get the Courage Point, then go back to the save station platform and jump off to quickly kill yourself and start over. What we want to do is either land on the very right edge of this next platform that has the lone CP on it (we're trying to get into that tunnel) or you can jump and grab onto the edge of this platform and wiggle your way around to the backside. Probably the latter is easier. So anyway, whether you're on the top or hanging onto the edge, get around to the backside without picking up the Courage Point and jump to the cave! You'll have to pick up the one inside but hey! At least we skipped the other! Inside this cave, grab the gear right in front of you, then go around to the left, we're going to jump to the far left pillar (second from highest) in this room, get ready, do a pole-jump to the pillar, preferably on the left side of it as it seems to give you a better chance of grabbing on. Hop up (you'll get a blue Courage Point) and then jump to the next platform, now turn around and do a pole-jump to where the save station is. Save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 43 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now before you go into the tunnel, turn around and get that last part we need (near the chest) and after the cutscene, go into the tunnel. Now go place them! Unfortunately you are rewarded with 125 Courage Points, but I guess we can't skip everything! It's easy to avoid the three Courage Points right near the entrance we just opened, so go down into the caves..... Save off to the right. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 168 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Was that really necessary? Anyway, you'll have to get two Courage Points going along the edge of this lake, jump over to the steps of the tower and when you get to the last few, do a pole-jump way over there to the raft with the lone Courage Point on it (kind of towards the steps with the save station on it). From there, do a pole-jump between the blue and green Courage Point to land on the stone ledge that also has the green Courage Point. Now carefully do a pole- jump toward the railing on those steps. You should not pick up the Courage Point on the steps. Now walk up the railing (right hand side as you're going up the steps) and jump over and save! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 171 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Before I tried going to the raft, I was able to get across on those ropes but I got an extra Courage Point that way :( Now this next part you're supposed to place all of the cogs and gears and parts into those boxes, then do it all over again and get like 250 Courage Points from it all. Wouldn't it be easier to just skip it? Sure! And I FINALLY figured out how! I was able to skip the first box but not the second for a long time but finally figured it out (and felt kind of dumb for not thinking of it sooner). Go up the steps after the save station, jump off to the left to avoid those CP and that shank in the middle, go around them all and keep to the left to avoid them, run on down past everything until you get to where you can see the steps going up to the gear box on your right, a Gear is right in front of you, and off to your left is an island with a pink CP on it. Get out to that island and land on the very right so you don't pick up that Pink Courage Point. Now keep pretty close to the right and do a perfect pole-jump just to the left of that bright patch on the other side. You should be able to barely make it and grab onto the ledge (sometimes) but you may have to try over and over, sometimes you'll accidentally grab that Pink Courage Point and then have to drown yourself to retry. Climb up, grab the key and quickly press B then A on the keyhole to open the door! Whooooopeeeeee! I've got great news! We just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico! Er....or maybe just a bunch of Courage Points. Careful in this cavern, there is one spot where a sack of Silver Pennies hides behind a pillar and I accidentally grabbed this one time. Grrrrrr. Weave your way right, around a couple pillars (watch out for thos Silver Pennies!) and left around another pillar to avoid everything, drop down into the hole and save! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 171 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Close enough for jazz! Now out of these nasty caves. Along the edge you'll have to pick up two Courage Points, then I did a pole jump way out there to the green vine, I only got one Courage Point this way, I always got two if I tried going onto the other ropes before I went to the green one. All right! We're on top! There's Gandalf! And the dwarves! Keep going along the edge to the save station and save, most likely you'll be using this a lot! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 174 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now you can hug the right hand cliff and circle easily around those three Courage Points before the mine-cart area but once inside......Hoooooboy. Gandalf starts talking to you and when he's done (or you end the cutscene) a big fighting scene will ensue, Just let Gandalf do all the fighting while you run around and avoid. As soon as I have control of Bilbo, I jump behind me and to the right (by the door I came in) and then jump my way clockwise around the room as I need to, there are mushrooms behind a wooden cart-stopper thingy. However, after Gandalf finishes with all of them, Bilbo is warped to a certain spot (you'll get used to where that spot is after a while) and whatever Courage Points happen to be lying there you will pick up. It's totally random how many are there. A Couple of times I got only 2 or 3 red ones (10 or 15) and twice I only got 1 (five) bringing my total up to 179 Courage Points, but once and only once I got none! However I had muffed it by picking up a Courage Point on the way into this place (I was trying over and over and over to get none and finally I get that one time in a thousand and I happened to have picked up a Courage Point which 90% of the time I don't get. *sigh* Such is life). So I know it's possible to get at least one Courage Point lower than my score but I'm through with this level for a while! I tried this one part for over an hour! If you do happen to get a good run and pick up either 1 or 2 of those red ones (or better yet none) then don't muff it by trying to work your way out of here, stand still for about a minute and the Courage Points will begin to vanish and you can saunter out as nice as you please! You'll have to get those two large Pink Courage Points though...... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 174 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Huh, I wish! I only have 175. Bummer. So just hurry up and run into the last tunnel without talking to anyone. That was rather an annoying level to figure out for the first time. It's so long! Oh well, we're well on our way now! <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3e. Chapter 5: Riddles in the Dark (CHPTR5) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> This level starts out very dark, the first part may take many more than just one try so, er, unless you want to be constantly annoyed by "Thank the Elves for this Glowing Blade" I suggest you save AFTER Bilbo says that ;) Okay, equip Sting and find your way to the area where a little light comes, there are two fire-breathing bats *gasp* facing you, as the first one spits flame just jump and hopefully you won't get hit, the second one almost always misses me so I don't worry about that. Jump onto the first platform, collecting a Courage Point, then to the second for another, then the third for another Courage Point. As you jump to the highest point, hop to the right to avoid the fourth Courage Point, go around and then jump down the other side to a pillar. From here, equip your Stick and do a Pole-jump way over to the left side of the row of Courage Points way down there. It is possible to skip all three of them. Now go over to the right side and just stick to the right wall and jump your way through, there's lots of those wormy-snakey things but you can get through pretty easily if you go fast. Save. Phew! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 3 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now jump down into the hole (don't go on that strand of web hanging down) and drop all the way down, you'll eventually be on the bottom floor of a large cavern filled with webs blocking everything, hurry and to the left of that huge column in front of you, we want to get to the other side and climb up a web hanging down there. You'll have to cut through two large webs with Sting. Get on the "rope" quickly! The spiders can't reach your from here! Now, climb up the rope a way and make a jump for the left side (the entrance here is blocked by a web) and you should be able to skip that Courage Point in front of this web. Cut through and up and off to your left should be a little pathway, grab ahold of the left side, wiggle your way all the way left and then climb up, jump forward from there so you don't get that Courage Point right in the middle. Now stick to the left side of this tunnel and get on top of a rock. In front of you you'll see an Antidote potion, a Courage Point, and beyond that, a rope hanging down, do a pole jump to the right side of this tunnel (from the rock on which you are standing) and you should have skipped that Courage Point in the center of the tunnel. I'd suggest going over and grabbing the Antidote potion though. Now run forward toward the rope and drop off the edge running, you should grab the bottom of the rope (this is so you don't get that Courage Point hanging on the rope). Jump to the next rope and from there just to the high spot with a web hanging over the opening. I don't think it's possible to skip this Courage Point. Cut the web and go through the tunnel, sticking to the left side. I was able to stick to the left and missed the first Courage Point but the next two I'd always catch, so I tried a few times to jump over them along the left wall but the best I could manage was to only get one from the three there. Jump for the rope and drop down to the floor, we're on the other side of the large gate so we're finally safe from those spiders! Follow the tunnel along avoiding the Courage Points until you get to the cutscene where the Dwarf is held captive. Save here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 8 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now you COULD go aroung counter-clockwise on those wooden platforms to get to the bottom but what I did was jump from the top for the left wall, pressed the attack button to do a jump attack (since you're in mid-air) into the wall about midway, which halted my descent briefly, and then landed on one of the higher wooden platforms with half a health bubble left :) But hey! It's better than getting all those Courage Points! Then you drop down against the wall, which is slanted so you won't hurt yourself, avoid the goblins and especially those snake holes on the way out, around the left corner and save without getting a single Courage Point! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 8 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Okay, from the save station, go to the left of that rotating gear thingy that has the platforms spinning around and drop down on the left side, we're not even going to go on these platforms but instead drop down to one of the lower ones way down there. If you rotate the camera up you'll see the platforms spinning down there. Jump on one as it comes to it's peak and then from there, ride it down to the floor. There are three or so Goblins running around, hug the right wall and run past them and get mushrooms if you need them like I did. Circumvent a rather large circle and then go over to where the bridge is supposed to extend out if you activate it. As you're running there, either pole-jump or jump to the wooden walkway beyond it (leading down to the bridge switch) but skip the two CP on the left, just get the one that is actually on that walkway. Jump down to the next level and gather in that Courage Point as well. I don't think you can skip this one but if you do a good pole-jump then MAYBE you might be able to. I didn't pick up the scroll either because it was just Expert Throwing Tactics and I don't see a use for that. Okay, here's a neat little shortcut, instead of activating the bridge and going all the way around the hard way (and possibly picking up some Courage Points) It's totally possible to do a Pole-Jump from this platform that has the switch, over to where the Wart-lift panel is. Do so, it's actually not that hard. That seemed to cut off a lot didn't it? Climb up the ladder, get onto the rotating lift and ride it around until you can get onto that upper wooden walkway leading to the left. Hop down to the next one and then you'll see the gate, a couple of large goblins, possibly some small ones, and beyond them is a Save station! I jumped down and ran over there and saved as fast as I could, the goblins following me. As always, I suggest using as many of the Save Files as you have available to you, so that if you make a mistake you can back up to a previous save point. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 10 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you're low on health and the goblins are too close, it might not be wise to save there though, because then every time you reappear they might kill you. Once saved, drop off quickly to the left (near the ladder) without picking up the Courage Points near it. Fill up on the mushrooms if you need to and then go on the left side of that large jagged rock near the edge (opposite the gate). If you work on jumping a little you can get to where you up between the rock and the wall, if you jump back and position yourself, then you'll be standing on the very peak of the rock, actually you'll be standing above it and looking rather silly ;) This is probably the best glitch I've come across yet! Turn towards the wall and make a jump straight into it, there is a "soft" spot on this wall that we can jump through and if you're lucky, you'll catch your fingers on the wooden beam that is sticking into the wall from the other side. Sometimes you fall right through to your unseen death (the camera won't go past the wall) and if so, you'll just have to try again. Bear with me here. If you edge on the control stick forward a little, you'll hear Bilbo wiggling along the beam, whatever you do, don't get on top of the beam or you'll be stuck in the wall. After wiggling a ways you'll be able to rotate the camera around so you can actually see what you are doing, you should see Bilbo kind of wiggling along coming out of the wall. There is a platform above his head so wiggle to the point where you can jump up and get to that little platform but be careful not to get the Pink Courage Point right on this beam you're wiggling on! Get up, run past the goblin and jump onto one of the rotating platforms. Wasn't that great! We just skipped finding all of the levers and keys and riding on all the lifts and everything! WOW! Work your way up these rotating lifts like normal, just being careful not to get the Green Courage Points that are in the center of each. Save at the station up here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 10 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= You're on your way to becoming an expert Minimum Hunter! Now go up the ladder and just run past the guy up there and work on the chest, when I did it, he didn't even notice me but it shouldn't matter much even if he does. You got the Wart Stone! So go back down to the save station. Right here I just walked slowly off the edge and then pressed against the wall to get back down to where I first jumped onto the rotating lifts, but if you want to, you can ride down the lifts too I suppose. Run past the goblin and drop down near where that jagged rock was (where we performed that awesome glitch) and then keep to the left of that line of Courage Points and talk to the Gatekeeper. Bilbo says something like "Here's that Wart Stone you wanted" which is rather odd, because how did Bilbo know that he wanted the Wart Stone if he didn't talk to him earlier? Hmmmmm ;) Don't bother with the Goblin, just keep away from him and continue down the tunnel behind him, I went to the left of the row of Courage Points in order to avoid them all, if I went to the right I always picked up one. Now at this next part you'll see some boxes with Courage Points on them, leading to the wooden platforms that we use to climb up to the top of this place. However, don't use the boxes, go to the left of them and jump up to the lowest wooden platform, that way we skip the first two Courage Points, I then climbed up but had to get Seven Courage Points in the process (just about had a heart attack each time one of them jumped at me too!). When you get to the top of the chain, jump off of it to the left of the row of Courage Points leading to the Save Station (you can skip them all) and then save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 17 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now here's where we have to save Balfor. When the Goblin starts walking from the right to the left, run over to the right of the box straight in your path, but then go right up to the center pillar and hide behind the boxes there, there is another goblin that parades kind of in front of Balfor's cell, when he goes basically to the left, run past him and talk to Balfor, you shouldn't have gone behind any boxes with Courage Points, you should have stayed more in the middle of the room. Balfor can't believe his eyes! "Baggins!" Now after the cutscene (or you skip it) stay in the position you are but whirl around to face away from Balfor. When you get a certain distance away from Balfor it triggers him to insult the Goblin and we don't want that to happen just yet. Wait until that goblin parading in front of you passes to your left (if you're facing away from Balfor) and then run forward, Balfor should shout an insult but by the time he's done, you should be behind the boxes in the center of the room (I hide to the right of the small one but behind the large one). Sometimes the goblin in front of the switch will go to the left, which is best, but sometimes he comes straight at you. If this happens, jump over the boxes (to the left) and then just run up to the switch and press B on it. If the goblin walks over to the left, just run up and hit the switch like "normal." Balfor saves the day! I have not found a way to skip getting the Courage Points from the enemies he kills though, I get 75 EVERY time, giving me a total of 92. Rats. Okay, I would suggest going and saving at the previous Save station now, before we go on to the next part. Just don't get any Courage Points! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 92 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now go into the tunnel that we were supposed to exit by. If you stick to the right you can skip the first two Courage Points, now go across the tunnel to the left side and if you stick to the left the rest of the way you shouldn't pick up any more Courage Points. See the ladder with the three Courage Points leading up the the platform we need to climb? We don't need to climb it. Just go to the right and jump up and grab on with your fingers. Start the ascent. You'll have to pick up the next three Courage Points though :( You can skip the fourth by walking around to the left of it (hugging the wall). Now jump up to the little platform to the right, you'll get a Courage Point from it. There is another Courage Point on the last platform, but if you jump to the very right of that platform and grab on with your fingers, then wiggle around the corner and then hoist yourself up onto the platform it's on, you can skip it. Jump to the chain and climb up, I wasn't able to skip any of the Courage Points on these two chains so there's another six right there that I got. From the second chain, jump to the right (near the save station) past the Courage Points, I wouldn't suggest using the save station though because there are several goblins around that would make short work of you, I would just run past the save station, around the left of those Courage Points and behind the Mining Cart. Press B to get in and B again to start it, I always picked up one Courage Point though (it leapt at me from that group of three) but if you happend to not get it, great! Ride the cart through, you shouldn't pick up any Courage Points. Just hit all of the red signs to get them green and you're out at last! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 103 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From here, go into the tunnel (you don't HAVE to save since the next part isn't hard) and then go down to the lake. Follow the shorline (you can't get into the water so don't worry about drowning) and all the way to the wall. You should find a Health Potion. Then jump up the steps from the backside here (so you don't pick up the Courage Points) and grab the Ring! This should help our quest a LOT!!!! Courage Point Listing: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3 - Beginning before snakes 5 - Spider Sequence 2 - On way from Save Station to Wart Lift box 7 - After the GateKeeper 75 - From Balfor's rampage. Ouch. 11 - Between Prisons and Mine Cart =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3f. Chapter 6: Flies and Spiders (CHPTR6) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> This level is by FAR the worst for getting Minimums! I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown by the time I was through! This is not going to be a thorough walkthrough because I absolutely refuse to go through again. Start out the level by saving. That's a good start. Then jump up onto the vine and get on top, there are flowers down there that have hmmm, explosive seeds? Well anyway, put on your ring and go to the right side of the root leading on top of that log. You don't want to pick up those three CP on the root do you? If you do a jump attack at the side of the log, you should be able to sort of spurt out over top of it, kind of glitchy yes, but it works. It may take a few tries, just keep on doing a jump attack on the side of the log, wait until your meter fills back up and then try again, eventually you should be able to make it over the log, now continue on all the way down to that poisonous swamp, avoiding all the little spiders. Jump over the vines and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 0 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Go down to the river, a minion of the Necromancer should appear, just run away from him and hop up on that root over on the left side of the river bank and throw a rock at that rotten branch above the water, it drops down so you can get across the river, it's not hard to avoid that minion. Now get on the log and jump to the right so you can avoid those Courage Points right up on the edge, get up and over to where all those flowers are. If you jump up on that root off to the left, you can pole jump from there to that log/wall so that you don't have to climb the rope to get into the camp, so do so and then save at the station. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 0 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Doesn't get much better than that! If only it would stay this way...... Talk to Corwin and then be prepared for some tricky stuff, it is totally possible to not go to the other camp to get the oil to burn that huge web with, you can go to the right of the web and there is a gap between the wall and the tree, if you do repeated jump attacks (I did it with the stick) at the wall, eventually you should shoot up to the top and if you're lucky, over the other side and behind that little web back there, then all you have to do is hack it with Sting and you're through! Most of the time though, I got stuck and had to reload my game. About this time I was getting some of those Spontaneous CP around here so watch out for those. You may want to figure out just about when they are coming (time it) and then be running/jumping around Corwin's Camp when they appear, then save. Then go around that tree by the river and climb up the vine, unfortunately I have not figured out how to get across the river without going through this roundabout way. Walk through the logs, avoid the spiders and any Courage Points you can and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 8 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= At least I think that's how many I had, my memory is a little foggy, it was over a week ago...... Now about this time I had some more Spontaneous Courage Points coming after me, perhaps it's the same with you, perhaps not, it will be different for every player I assume. I had to follow this branch along to that green vine that drops down, if you do a pole-jump toward that green vine from a ways back on the log, it's possible to only get the bottom of the three Courage Points on that log, I think you pick up four Courage Points from walking along the log to the vine. Jump to the vine, picking up a fifth Courage Point. The vine starts to drop, jump to that little straight edge on the left side of that rock straight in front of you, then wiggle as far to the left as you can. There are two Green and one Red Courage Point on this rock I believe. Now climb up and carefully hug the edge of this rock until you can drop down and wiggle around, you'll pick up that far Green Courage Point, get up and jump over that web strung in bewteen the two rocks to get to the far platform, it has a three Blue Courage Points on it. I was unable to skip the Red Courage Point on the vine, so get it and then save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 31 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= That is if I'm counting correctly :( I also was unable to figure out how to get around those three Courage Points in the log, or that stack of Silver Pennies. My first Silver Pennies in this game! ACK! Run out of the log, we're on the other side of the river now. For some reason (maybe because I didn't burn the web) I did not have any of the Necromancer's Minion's attacking me on this side of the log.... Jump up on the log and from the highest point on the right, quickly jump out toward that vine (you're facing that swirling pool of water with the raft floating on it). You should be able to grab onto the very end of that hanging rope, quickly climb up (you'll have lots of things flying all around you soon) and grab the two Red Courage Points on the rope as you climb up, jump onto the limb and then Pole-jump over to the Red Urn, skipping those Courage Points on the limb it's on. Then jump back skipping the same Courage Points of course. Now from this first limb, you'll jump toward the rope that is really close to the tree trunk, it is in front of the Blue Urn so you'll grab that. Unfortunately, while pole-jumping over to this rope in front of the Blue jar, I had to pick up a Green and Red Courage Point. Grab the Blue Urn. You should have 59 Courage Points. Now jump down on that side of the log that the swirling pool is on, you'll have to dodge those minions running around and find some way to get onto that raft without getting any Silver Pennies. Easy enough. Now watch out for that projectile firing maniac over back on the shore, he'll take you out really quick with your three health bubbles you have right now. Jump to the first of the two ropes hanging and from there, jump across to where the Yellow Urn is, you'll have picked up three more Courage Points. Now I would really suggest going back and saving before the Wight Lord, you may have to fight him multiple times, just watch out for those monkeys on shore. Anyhow, when placing the Urns, you only have to get two out of the three Courage Points there, so when you enter the Wight Lord's battle area you should have: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 63 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Hmm, my numbers aren't quite right, I know for certain that I had 63 Courage Points here, yet adding up the previous ones I listed I came up with 64. No matter. Wight Lord is probably going to be hard to beat, the best thing to do is keep running around, I would take out maybe two of the minions if you can but it really doesn't matter, what you're going to be doing is running around avoiding the projectiles and when your jump attack meter is full, doing a jump attack on him with Sting. It will take a while. When I did it, I placed all of the Urns in order, opened the gate and then went back and saved. From there I timed it so I could get the Explosive Rocks and jump on the floating raft and get back as fast as possible, then skipped the cutscene and was able to fire two rocks at the Wight Lord before he could shoot me with his projectile. I don't think the Exploding Rocks really help much but you can try it if you like. So just jump attack and run. Run in there, jump attack him and jump back out to avoid his swings (he's pretty slow but a lucky shot could end your life really fast!). Soon he'll be dead and he leaves you.....a HUNDRED COURAGE POINTS! COME ON!!!!!! Oh well. Now run out of there so his minions don't kill you and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 163 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now run out of here, go on the left side of the Courage Points to avoid them in that narrow pass, then run away from all those spiders and get to the next save station, I suggest jumping on top of it and saving. Then jump to the rope. Work your way up, you should pick up seven Courage Points from the last save station to the tunnel in the tree. You only have to get one of that last group of three, by pole-jumping to the left of them. It is possible to get inside this tunnel and only get one of the three sitting in the mouth of it, anyway, work your way to the treetops and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 171 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Now you'll have to experiment, I got lucky one time and by starting my descent down that log by jumping to one side or another, I finally succeeded in getting to the bottom and skipping three of the Green Courage Points, that's thirty! So at the bottom, save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CheckPoint! 299 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= That hurt, but we're on our way now! Run through this area, slashing webs left and right and jumping around like a madman to avoid the spiders, up ahead is the log that leads to the Queen Spider's lair! Walk to the left of the log. There is a hidden pathway on the left that leads up to the tunnel, circumventing those three Courage Points on the log leading up. This next part is a nightmare, I went around and freed all the dwarves fine but after that?! *shivers* There were Spontaneous Courage Points Popping out everywhere and each of the Queen Spiders gives you at least a hundred Courage Points each, I think it's actually 125 each. It's not hard to avoid regular Courage Points in here, but avoiding killing all these little spiders is a nightmare! I would run around the room, hopping to avoid any Spontaneous CP and then rush in and do a jump attack at the Queen, run around, maybe do a second one, and then save at one of the save stations, usually the one up the vine that is to the right of the exit. Then I'd whack it a couple more times and then save etc. until the next queen. That one was easy, all you had to do was get Fire Rocks, jump up on a low ledge and throw them at her. The third was not so easy. The best thing to do is grab a freezing rock, run around and then hop on a ledge, throw it at the queen and keep throwing them to knock her away from the rest of the crowd (there is a HUGE crowd of spiders by now) and then run over there and jump attack her. This is especially important on the final whack, because once she is dead, ALL of the spiders transform into Courage Points, so you want her as far away from the others when you kill her so you only pick up her Courage Points. I had 685 Courage Points but I know that it could be better, I simply refuse to try any more though >:| Courage Point Listing: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 8 - In logs after large, burnable web 25 - En route to other side of river 25 - Getting Blue and Red Urns 5 - After riding raft, getting inside Wight Lord's arena 9 - Climbing to the treetops. 128 - Inside slippery log 386 - From Spider Queen Battle area =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3g. Chapter 7: Barrels out of Bond (CHPTR7) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> This level starts out fairly straightforward, you need to get across the river! It seems like this level should be fairy chock full of shortcuts that I should have been able to find but for the most part, it was just a Courage Point here and there that I was able to skip, I picked up quite a few just from finishing quests and helping the dwarves escape. My first idea was to get across the river not using the vine, and thereby skip three of the Courage Points, but even though I tried walking along the outside of the bridge (on the right side) I couldn't get over the fence. And I tried jumping it by the waterfall as well but no luck, there is an invisible wall over the fence that I can't through or over. It is possible to get over it by standing on the other side of the fence and then standing on a fencepost and that gives you that added height to jump over the invisible wall. Anyhow..... (is this dry enough yet?). Jump on the vine and scramble over, while you're in the courtyard you might as well pick up the Willow-weed thing and Deep Cellar keys number one and three. One is by the Spider's door (you can't do anything inside the door of course so don't worry about it) and three is over to the other side of the great gate on the far end. Well, you should remember it. Just be sure to pick up no more Courage Points. I tried and tried to get to that green vine by that tunnel you come out of later, hoping to skip some more Courage Points, but I could never reach it, the gate below was most likely locked anyway. So when you're ready, go inside the main door by pushing B next to the opening crystal stand. You'll pick up another three Courage Points unless you're better than I am. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 6 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Once inside you need the three opening crystals (so you can solve the puzzle behind the throne to open the way to the cells where the dwarves are kept). I put on my ring and went straight for the throne, there is one by the feet of King Thranduil, from there, hang a right and down into the stream just before the throne. It's not deep enough to harm you. Avoid the Courage Points on the left and head for the next Elvish crystal on a small pillar. Hmmm, they look more like cherries than crystals to me...... Then go back towards the throne, eventually you'll want to get back onto the dry land on the right-hand side of the throne, and jump over the tiny stream (not into it or you'll slide down!) and up the hill. You'll wind up right where the grate is that is sealing you off from the room where your friends, the dwarves, are being kept. You have to solve this block pushing puzzle first. I'll leave the solving to you while I go fetch some bagels. Oh wait! Right, first you need another Elvish crystal. Go toward the blocks keeping to the left hand side to avoid the three CP in front of the blocks, then pass them and go onto the vines, there are two of them and then there's the third crystal! Off across two other vines you see ye Moonleafe, get ye moonleafe! You'll need it later and might as well save time here ;). No matter how hard I tried though, I couldn't get back without picking up that red Courage Point down at the bottom of the vine, so if you get it, don't worry about it, I did too. Climb back up and solve the puzzle! Then head down toward the grate you just opened and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 11 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= And there are four more leading into the tunnel, I couldn't skip any of them. Pass by a small room with some elves talking and then down to the next tunnel. Three more of the cursed Courage Points await your arrival! You can't skip 'em? Get 'em! After a loading scene and a little walking, you arrive in the dungeon *scary music plays* Ok, not really, but it is a prison. Balin is on the top floor, more or less right above you and to your right, but the way up is on the far end, so equip your ring (er....if you got through the last part not using your ring, my hat's off to you) and run to the other side sticking to the left wall. There is a hallway leading downwards to your left, pass it and approach the barrels up ahead, one stacked on top of two. Normally you would go up the ladder at the far end but that would net us another three CP! Better use this way. It took me a little while to figure it out but I can do it every time now so it's not that hard. Stand on top of the tallest barrel (the one that is stacked upon the other two). You'll barely be able to to stay up there because of the slanted wall. You're facing the walll. Jump backwards and then at the peak of your jump press forward to grab onto the lip. This allows you to jump up there without getting your head bumped on the slanted wall! Head over to the left, cut across to the other side at the first "bridge" you see, and then right...heading to the save station. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 18 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= And when you talk to Balin (which you must do in order to access the Barrel Room) he promptly rewards you with 100 Courage Points. Thanks a lot Balin. Drop off the ledge to the lower level. Watch out for Courage Points! There are three unavoidable CP going down into the barrel room, at least I think they are unavoidable..... You'll wind up in a room with a save station, a grate at the far end (leading upward, back to the courtyard) and a ornate hallway leading to hte left, to the barrel room, you have to pick up the last Courage Point leading down to that room. It's easiest for me to go to the right of that line of three and then go down the tunnel. You'll pick up the last Courage Point in the line. Trigger the cutscene and then head back up, skipping those two CP again. Three more have appeared! Gadzooks! I stood on the save station and did a pole jump to the left of them but still picked up two. Go back to the prison room and get up using the stack of barrels once again, that ladder is just too loaded down with Courage Points and might break under your added weight! There are three CP sitting in front of Balin, no chance of getting away from those! After the cutscene, Lianna will give you the task of gathering the herbs (of which you very diligently aquired 2 of already) and gives you 125 CP to start you off! Thanks a bunch. No. Really. I mean that Lianna. pppptthhhhh. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 252 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Head on up the tunnel grabbing three CP, go past a loading scene and back up to the surface. There's that vine I was trying so hard to reach! Alas. Hop on it to drop it down and then jump to high ground. Go over to the vines hanging off of the huge tree and climb around so you can reach that small door that the spider's lair is behind *scary music* It might be a good idea to save before you go in (other side of river or other side of courtyard). This is how I did it: I equipped my sword and then my ring, ran like a madman past all the green spiders, unequipped the ring and stayed to the right, picking up a green and the large pink Courage Point as I slashed through the webs (but I did leave on green one!) then equipped my ring while being swarmed by spiders. I couldn't stand the disgusting things underfoot and so I jumped out of there. Just be careful not to get that other Green CP. You still get 45 CP though, which isn't very enCOURAGing *dies laughing* Make sure that you pick up the fourth Deep Cellar key while in here! Now head all the way back into the tunnels (via the vine you dropped earlier by the tunnels mouth) and back to Galion in the Barrel room. You may want to save before you go down there. I didn't and was in too much of a hurry and picked up one of the CP on the way down and had to restart from way back before the spiders! Place the herbs in Galion's mug on the sly and then wait. Hmm! That was quick! And..... 150 Courage Points is your reward. I wish I could have figured out how to skip all these horrible rewards! Now head back up and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 440 Courage Points =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= That's criminal, how many CP they give you in this game. And then that leads on to ask why they didn't do it BEFORE Flies and Spiders, when you actually NEEDED them! Some new Courage Points have appeared but use the ol' "stand on the save station" ploy to get past them, I only picked up on from that batch. Lianna takes you to the entrance to the Deep Cellar. Thankfully she seems to have run dry of Courage Points! Drop down and save. This is not going to be fun. I tried and tried to skip that room with the million little "bouncy guys" and the one frog baddie but couldn't get up to the next level without it. Soo...... I went over to the vine wall (off to the right of where you dropped in) and climbed up for three Courage Points. Do a pole-jump off the left side of hte pillar to grab onto the edge of where a group of three CP are. This way you get one CP, then clamber up onto the edge, turn slightly to your right and jump up and grab the ledge above you, wiggle to the RIGHT and climb up on that ledge, then walk over to the left on top of the one you were just hanging on (to avoid the other two CP), and be sure to hug the wall so you don't fall! The other way from the vine pillar (going to the right and grabbing onto the vine) can be done also, but the least CP you can get that way is two, this way is one. Here you face three Courage Points going in and *gasp* a whole squadron of the little hoppers and one big hopper! All of these need to be killed before you continue. Hmmm, but do YOU need to kill them? There is a battle going on here, between the little ones and the big ones. It's kind of uneven. The little ones hit the big one many times and stop his attacks for the most part, but they do minimal damage. The big one takes out the little ones much quicker but will lose if unaided. So it's kind of a quandary and a delicate balance. I went in first and took a swipe at lots of the little guys, you want to be careful that you don't hit any of them twice or they will disappear and you'll get the Courage Points! This takes down there health so it doesn't take the big guy as long to kill them. Then you have to watch the big guys health and try to gauge it so that if you need to, you can rush in and take a few whacks at him with your stick (sword too powerful) and take down his health to the bit that the little guys can manage. Each of the little guys drop three CP, the big one drops 25, so ideally you would like to see all the little guys killed by the big on except one, and the last one kills the big guy, but this would be nearly impossible to do without trying over and over and hopefully getting lucky. I went out of there with 21, which isn't good at all, I may try again for better. Ideally you should only come out with three (from the last little guy who survived). Avoid the CP that are dropped and they'll disappear after a while. After they are gone, a vine drops and you can climb up and grab three more Courage Points and a scroll for Expert Sword attacks or something. Jump down and save. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 451 Courage Points (ideally, not likely) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I had 476 at that point. After the save station, jump back up onto the ledge and do a pole-jump to the right of the line of CP and drop to the lower level, you should be able to avoid all three. I tried so hard to get to this ledge without going through all the former stuff! It would have SO simplified things! Jump on the green vine to get it to lower and then up to the bridge area above the archway. You can skip all three Courage Points up here by pole-jumping to a distant pillar. From there you jump on a vine (getting three Courage Points) and climb up a ways. There is another vine with three CP on it, jump onto that one but above the CP, slide down so you can jump down without hurting yourself too bad but don't go down to the Courage Points sitting on this vine! We want to skip these! Once you are about as close to the top one as you dare, jump down to the right of a line of CP on a ledge down there. You'll take some damage but we'll have skipped the Courage Points! If you had gone around to the left you would have had to pick up a couple, by going down here and taking some damage, we can skip that 1 or 2 Courage Points. Well, you'll come out of the small tunnel and see a gap in the ground and three Courage Points ahead. If you jump to the furthest left extremity of these three and instead of landing on the ledge, grab onto the ledge you should be able to skip them all. Wiggle around and then climb up. Then wiggle across the finger- hold ledge with your finger tips and you'll pick up three more. Walk and jump forward to a vine and climb up all the way to the top. If you jump from here towards the last Deep Cellar key, you'll only get two instead of all three. You're on your way to Thorin! Save up here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 462 Courage Points (Ideally, not likely) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I had 484 CP. Now the Barrel room. Just when I thought I was going to get under 500 Courage Points, wouldn't you know? You get 175 CP for saving the dwarves! ARRRRGGGGGH!! Well, trigger the release on the top of the bridge and you're on your way. Before you do that though, you may want to check out the dwarves comments while they are captive in the barrels. It's pretty funny! I had 672 my first time. 659 my second. Ideally I should have had 637. Courage Point Listing: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3 on vine going across river 3 by opening crystal for main door 5 by getting moonleaf 4 going down tunner 3 more in tunnel 100 from Balin 3 on way to Barrel room 1 going into Barrel room 2 going back up 3 in front of Balin 100 from Lianna 3 going up tunnel 45 in Spider's lair 150 from Galion's mug (can't STAND that mug!) 1 going up to Dwarves 3 on vine wall in Deep Cellar 1 jumping from vine wall pillar 3 going into cave of horrors. 3 (minimum) from creatures in cave 3 going out of cave 3 on vine 3 after wiggler edge 2 up vine to 2nd Deep Celler key 175 for rescuing Dwarves. *phew!* =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3h. Chapter 8: A Warm Welcome (CHPTR8) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> I was a little disappointed in parts of this level too. Every single objective is a necessity it seems, and you get rewarded with a huge amount of Courage Points for every one! Ack! I started out and avoided the scroll. After all, this is minimums so I go for minimum in everything, not just Courage Points. Your first objective is to see the Master of Laketown and thank him for his hospitality, I would head out to the center square and go counter-clockwise. There are two Red CP near the Master and it's easier to avoid the right hand one (his left). So go counter-clockwise. Do a pole-jump across the gap in the walkway where it bends around and land by the save station. Most of the time I land on the post next to the save station. Talk to the Master, when you are through you will get all three of the Courage Points in front of him anyway, so don't bother trying to skip them. He also rewards your exhuberance with 25 Silver Pennies. Up to this point in the game I had only collected 5 Silver Pennies. This was a disappointment, but wait. It gets worse. Do the same skip over to the walkway past the save station. You'll probably want to save there beforehand because sometimes you'll either pick up the Red CP or fall and then you'd have to start from the beginning again! I like to stand on top of the save station and do a pole-jump from it. So you're walking clockwise around town center now, it's shorter to go straight to your destination of the wine house if you go all the way around and follow the Courage Points but we don't want that. So go the long way, down toward the warehouse first, then walk along the waterfront all the way until you see the wine house. A short cutscene takes place and plants some CP to show you the way. Now I come up toward it from the lower walkway, stand against the wall and get on that little baseboard lip, then carefully jump up onto the stairway and hop over away from the Courage Points, if you do it carefully enough, you'll miss the one Courage Point on the stairs. It's not much of a victory but it is still one nevertheless! The other two blue ones and one red one are unavoidable to my knowledge, so you'll have to grab them and get into your hiding spot. The theif comes out and you're out to catch him! Tip-toe invisible along the water side of this walkway you're on to still avoid that one Courage Point on the stairs and follow the theif along the wharf. Pretty soon you'll come to the warehouse and the bridge drops (funny, it was down before, yet someone musth have raised it!) and you follow. He's gone! You'd better tell Bard....and....175 Courage Points pop out to reward your vigilance. That'll teach you! Thankfully Bard's only gift is a health potion. I always liked miserly men! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 185 Courage Points, 25 SP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Bard tells you to check out the warehouse. So back you go again, utilzing the same "jump over the gap in the walkway from the top of the save station ploy." Head out the same way, clockwise and the first exit toward the warehouse. There are three Courage Points leading into the entrance though! So we'll use the secret way. When you first see the warehouse from where you are coming, jump down onto the platform resting in the water on your right, then up to then next one, then the next highest and then to a rope, from here you can jump over to the warehouse (of course you won't want to pick up that Pink CP). Hop up the boxes and jump over the fence and you're by the door! Save if you wish, then go inside. You don't want to break any of the crates in here for fear of Silver Pennies now, so be careful for goodness sake! Before you go out onto that little platform, equip your ring. Trust me. Once you step onto that platform or even in the vicinity, a cutscene takes place in which you fall to the ground below and alas! There is a mob of goblins there! Hmmm, that could catch on....a "Gob Mob." Hmmm, should copyright it........ Anyway, if you have your ring on they won't be attacking you as furiously, if you don't....as I did many times before my sister suggested using the ring (oh.....yeah....) you'll get sliced to shreds. Go quickly over the the right side of the room (your right as you came in) and hop up on the boxes, then onto the walkway, then lastly to a little platform on the center of the wall. It is quite possible to do a pole-jump from here to the next platform which has a small blue switch and some crates on it. Or if it is too hard for you, you can alternatively open the door on the bottom floor and climb up on the crates and do a pole-jump from there to a platform that has another blue switch that will cause a rope to drop so you can get to the former one easier. But I prefer the direct method, and if you've got this far in Minimums, you're probably more than skilled enough so just skip this paragraph :) Anyway, once you're on the high platform and have activated the switch, go around and jump onto the swinging rope on the left side of the room (as you were coming in). Careful not to pick up those Silver Pennies on top of the crate! It's good to have your ring equipped here. Usually if you've had it on this long, you can give it a rest while you swing on the rope, then equip it and run past the goblin on the upper walkway, towards a stack of boxes, you need your ring equipped here though, because if the goblins hurl and exsplosive up there, the crates can bust and YOU my friend, get to pick up the SP that pops out! Regardless of how close you were. So jump onto the next swinging rope (be careful, I had a hard time with this one and fell several times) and jump into the opening and out the door. Bard appears there and you talk to him. Unfortunately your talk is too close to the group of three Courage Points that we skipped getting into the warehouse earlier, but we still skipped two and that's a victory nonetheless! Bard meets you by the Cider House and rewards you with another 175 Courage Points. Sacrebleu!!!!!!!!!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 361 Courage Points, 25 SP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Go inside the Cider House and upstairs is a man who will tell all once he finds out that goblins are involved, he tells you to meet Rennar, so hightail it down to the Wharf and talk to him. The three CP in front of him are unavoidable as well, even if you manage to talk to him from the side (by jumping on the boats) you still warp to standing in front of him and end up picking up the Courage Points anyway. He gives you the key to his warehouse and you go inside it, it's not far at all, just up the walkway and to the left. Likewise, I couldn't skip the three CP leading into the warehouse so I just go them. Save inside the doorway. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 367 Courage Points, 25 SP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Rennar's warehouse is a menagerie of traps. Either he was scared of really big mice....or the goblins rigged everything and that is why he was becoming suspicious. We may never know. Didn't anyone ever tell him that carbon monoxide is poisonous? *sigh* Well work your way down to the end of the boxes. Now....normally from here we would have to go down the other side of the crates and get fumigated by the gasses and pick up green Courage Points. But not so with your friendly neighbourhood Hobbit guide to help! There is a small lip on the end of the boxes that you can easily jump up on to and from there get to the top of the stack. Then walk along it and over to the blue switch and voila! Turn of the gas! Not that we need it off anymore though..... Jump up and save. You shouldn't have picked up any Courage Points or Silver Pennies since the last Checkpoint. Okay, here's where we get really tricksy! Jump up onto the save station, then jump onto that lip on the wall. Cool! We can run on this! But we run into a vertical beam! Easy to circumnavigate. Jump away from wall around the beam and back to the wall on the other side. Simple! Now jump up onto that large board sticking out from the wall, like a real board though, it fall when supported so minimally so you'll have to quickly make the jump to the rope. If you do the jump from close to the wall though, you'll have most of your body on the other side of the rope than that lone Courage Point on the end of the next board. If you jump too straight on to the rope, you'll pick up that Courage Point, you shouldn't have to get it though, I skipped it many times. Now climb up the rope and jump to the next one. From here jump to the opposite wall (of the lip we walked on earlier) and land on the lip just like the other one, jump around the vertical beams like before. You'll come to the end of the wall where it goes around and that may be tricky but not too hard, once you're around the corner you'll be able to jump to a short but high rope (we're back above the Crates in the poison room now). It's possible to jump from here into the far corner above where we first came into the poison room, and grab onto the edge of that platform with the save station on it and activate that blue switch in that little cubby. Normally the walkways would appear after the next scene but at that time there are also several Courage Points leading to this switch and so we activate it now. It opens the doors below you for your escape. Drop down onto the stack of crates again, then over to the save station and then go back to the first rope (avoiding that Courage Point on the end of the board yet again). Then jump back to the wall and hop along that lip (but one level above where you first did it) and go over to the save station above the other last save station and open the door using the blue switch next to the door. You pick up these Courage Points anyway so don't worry about them. Inside is a goblin! And he has the Black Arrow! He takes flight and leaves two Courage Points behind him. Dirty skunk. Filthy goblin! I usuall go to the edge of this platform and pole-jump down to the Crates (for the last time, I promise) and out the open door which we conveniently opened earlier. Then outside into the fresh air again! You meet Bard, he asks you to go to the Cider House and he gives you another 175 Courage Points. Is there no end?!!!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 547 Courage Points, 25 SP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There are three leading into the Cider house, it's easy enough to skip one of them but you pick it up when you come back outside anyway, so don't bother. Inside, you meedt Malloc, a nice old man who wants his Gold Dagger back (hmmm, what for we wonder? Revenge? Is this whole heirloom story a blind?) so you step outside and go clockwise around the town center to get to his door (clearly marked by three Courage Points. You'll pick them up no matter what you do so get inside and open the chest. 50 Silver Pennies along with the dagger?! Are these theives crazy?! That's more money than I've seen on my entire journey! Three more Courage Points show the way to the Cider House again (this is getting ridiculous, as if I didn't know where it was. I think they are purposely trying to load me down with Courage Points). As if that wasn't bad enough, Malloc rewards you for finding his dagger with 175 Courage Points. THAT HURTS!!!!!!!!!!! Then you have to find the bottles in the three thieves houses, I won't say much on that because you should be able to find them. Two are in the Town Center and one is right on the way to the warehouse up the stairs just before you see the warehouse. All three are marked with dragons on the doors, and all three have Golden Chests in the house, each containing a bottle and a hundred Silver Pennies. Yeah, you heard me right. That's 300 total. Yeah. Ouch. Go back to Malloc and he tells you some clues as to the placement of the bottles. Oh! And one other bottle is in the Cellar and the other is in the hands of the owner of the Cider House, talk to him to get it. The clues are as easy for me to follow this time as they were last time. I didn't even remember the order and yet could easily figure it out from the clues. It's something like "yellow, blue, red, black, purple" but don't quote me on that. 25 Courage Points sit in front of the bottles. I couldn't skip it unfortunately :( And once you've unlocked the door, you're in the theives lair! Hurry down the rope and save at the next spot, before the water puzzle. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 756 Courage Points, 375 CP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= What do they think we are? Perfect Hunters? Those stats look horrendous! The Water Puzzle is easy, just connect a pathway from the upper left to the lower right, trigger the switch at the aforesaid (former) to opportunely activate a reaction in the previously latter specified quarter. Pretty simple huh? Once inside the door, trigger the switch and the main door should open. If it doesn't, then also try making a path from the upper right to the lower left door and trying the switch in there as well (both may need to be activated, I don't know). Then make a path straight through! There will be three unavoidable Courage Points before you get inside this "barrel room." The puzzle is simple, place the little barrel on the lower little barrel switch, then the medium barrel on the upper medium barrel switch, and lastly, the big barrel on the upper (I think) big barrel switch. The right hand door (as you are coming into this room) should open. Clamber up on the right side and sneak past to only pick up one of the three CP. Save in this next room. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Checkpoint! 760 Courage Points, 375 CP =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= After all three cutscenes, you need to retrieve the Black Arrow. That's easy enough, we'll use our ol' "hobbit fly" trick to get over there. Hug the right wall and hop around the braces and jump right down and get the arrow. A Courage Point will appear right after leading up onto the crates in the direction we came from so don't go there! Instead, continue Counter-Clockwise and hop up on the crate. From here you should be able to get up onto a rope and from that rope, be able to get on the highest "little ledge" (for our hobbit fly trick, or human spider if you prefer) and work your way to that ledge that has the save station and a red Courage Point. Once you are up there you will trigger the next cutscene that will open your exit. You'll get the Red CP regardless so don't worry about it. Just get up to that platform and you'll trigger the cutscene. Fight Goblins! Fight! And the ruckus starts. It's easy to hop along the wall (I love being the hobbit spider) to the exit, three Courage Points lead the way out. Just get them and then run out and you'll talk to Bard who grants you yet another 175 Courage Points. Jump for joy. Then all you have to do to finish the level is talk to Bard again. Don't worry, he won't give you any more Courage Points ;) I ended up with 943 Courage Points and 375 Silver Pennies. Courage Point Listing: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3 in front of the Master (25 Silver Pennies also) 7 by hiding spot to "catch a thief" 175 for tracking thief 1 after exiting warehouse 175 from Bard 3 in front of Rennar 3 in front of Rennar's warehouse 1 on rope after save inside warehouse (after poison room) 2 before Goblin with Arrow 2 After Goblin with Arrow 175 from Bard :( 3 in front of Cider House 3 in front of Malloc's old house (50 SP inside) 3 in front of Cider House again 175 from Malloc (300 Silver Pennies from theives houses) 25 in front of bottle placement 3 before "barrel room" 1 exiting "barrel room" 5 After "Fight goblins! Fight!" cutscene 3 escaping from building. 175 from Bard. Generousity stinks. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> 3i. Chapter 9: Inside Information (CHPTR9) <-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Rankings of Participants (RNKNGS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Hopefully having people's names up here will encourage a little friendly competition! Usually all a person picks up in a level is Courage Points, for the most part, Silver Pennies can be easily avoided, for that reason, if you get Silver Pennies (at least on the first three levels) your ranking does not count. If in later levels it is impossible to avoid Silver Pennies, I will include them as the second part (in brackets) next to the person's name. The first set of brackets is of course the amount of Courage Points acquired by that person. Rules: Just go for the lowest possible score of Courage Points! Using Action Replay, or other game enhancing devices is not allowed. You're on your own here folks, no turbo controllers (like that would help anyway) no nothing. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64.........................(84) 2. MirrorFoil........................(85) 3. Cubes.............................(86) 4. Zareba............................(88) 4. Forgivenmuch......................(88) 6. Mythdragonlover...................(96) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 2: Roast Mutton =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(173) 2. Cubes............................(241) 3. Fogivenmuch......................(499) 4. Mythdragonlover..................(569) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 3: Troll Holl =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(108) 2. Cubes............................(112) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 4: Overhill and Underhill =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(225) 2. Cubes............................(244) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 5: Riddles in the Dark =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(103) 2. Cubes............................(255) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 6: Flies and Spiders =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(685) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 7: Barrels out of Bond =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(659) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 8: A Warm Welcome =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. ShadowN64........................(943) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 9: Inside Information =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 10: Gathering of the Clouds =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Chapter 11: The Clouds Burst =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Copyright Information (CPYRGHT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Author: Logan West- (ShadowN64@yahoo.com) This file is Copyright (c)2004 by Logan West. All rights reserved. This file 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, except the following sites: GameFAQs.com WOGaming.com NeoSeeker.com GameNotOver.com CheatHappens.com Use of this guide on any other web site (especially Cheatcc.com) or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited and a is violation of copyright. This guide is under NO circumstances allowed to be at Cheatcc.com (Cheat Code Central.com), so hands off Dave (for those of you who might be unfamiliar, Dave has this nasty habit of hosting guides without permission of the authors and then being very reluctant to take them down, even when pestered for months upon months). =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Version History (VRSN) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Version 0.1 2004-5-01 I've got the walkthroughs for the first three levels up, a tiny bit of part four up and the basic outline of the guide (all of the legal stuff, sections, table of contents etc.) so all that remains to be done is finish up the walkthroughs and credit everybody! I'm publishing this version early so that it might encourage Forgivenmuch to try some levels over (not to coerce her though). =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Contact Information (CNTCT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== I'd be happy if you wanted to contact me and let me know how you liked the layout of the guide, my writing style, wanted to point out corrections, tell me your scores or strategies etc. etc. However, I will NOT accept mail that has flames, advertisements, get-rich-quick offers and the like. If you want to e-mail me, be nice. Also, this guide was written for players who want to take their gaming to the next level, it is NOT for players who have just started the game, please don't e-mail me saying "I don't understand your guide! How come I'm not supposed to pick up those three Courage Points there!" If you have a question to ask, then please ask it clearly and concisely, but if you DO have a question, I would really suggest going to the GameFAQs.com message board for the GameCube version of The Hobbit, I check the board frequently and either myself or some of the other people there would be happy to help (and it saves my e-mail address, my last guide got well over 250 e-mails asking about gameplay related questions which I probably should not have been asked.....but that's a different story). Okay then, looking forward to hearing from you! The Shadow (ShadowN64@yahoo.com) =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Credits (CRDTS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Credit goes where credit is due! Many thanks and praise go to: 1. My Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2. My parents, for rasing me in a proper manner 3. And who could forget J.R.R. Tolkien! The man who discovered Middle Earth! "I do not say 'created,' for it was always there. His works will be cherished 'til the end of the world. 4. For GameFAQs.come and more specifically, for cjayc 5. Me writing the guide I guess :) 6. Vivendi and Sierra and Inevitable for making a great (and very underrated in my opinion) game. 7. Thanks to the people who took the time to read this guide, especially those who read the introduction and contact section before contacting me :) 8. Silas Verrinder, for FAQ Writer (which I'm finally using, I like this much better than v. 1.0 Silas ;)) 9. Forgivenmuch for helping to inspire me to write the guide, her kind words, and helping keep the ol' board alive. 10. Likewise Mythdragonlover, for helping with the board and the willingness to at least try for minimums (even though Prince of Persia is more inviting!) 11. MirrorFoil for his bettering my score on Unexpected Party and sharing his little trick! Thanks! 12. Thanks very much to Alexander Davidson for his program: Metapad. I like it!