Author: csc79137@tree.egr.uh.edu RANMA0005@AOL.COM Date: December 14, 1998 Revised:December 21, 1998 New stuff added to this FAQ. A. Added a little more to the level descriptions B. Talk a little more about strategies Now here's what I have to say about Gauntlet Legends.......WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH TO PLAY?! I always hated the ticking life meter, but I know it's as much a part of the game as anything else. So here's what I gotta say about it. If you haven't read anything about the game, it's basically played like the old Gauntlet arcade games. If you haven't played the old Gauntlet games, then you not only missed out, but you also missed out on the basics of the game. I. Intro II. Level descriptions III. Items IV. Turbo Attacks V. Strategies VI. Special Levels I. Intro There are 4 classes of characters to start, Warrior(Close Combat), Valkarie(Female Warrior with decent magic), Archer(Fast, Distance attacker), Wizard(Powerful magic). There are also 4 hidden classes. They are obtained when your saved character reaches Level 10. Warrior can access the Minotaur, Wizard the Jackal, Archer the Tigress, Valkyrie the Raveness. To choose the hidden character, you press the turbo button before choosing your character. Note: If you have a lv 10 Wizard, then you can only access the Jackal. You cannot access any other of the secret character counterparts until you reach lv 10 with it's corresponding class. You can either fight hand to hand with the monsters or from a distance(every character shoots projectiles from their weapons). You must collect keys to open chests and gates that can't be destroyed. Potions are used to cast magic effects, you can also shoot the magic potions to cast a smaller magic effect. Pressing Attack + Magic will throw a magic bottle of a long distance magic effect. Pressing Turbo + Magic will produce a Magic Shield around your character. Distance of throwing magic is dependant on your strength, damage inflicted by magic depends on your magic, as is the size of your magic shield. One big difference is that this game is 3-D, the angle is still over head view, but now it includes a panning angle depending on where the party is moving. You also have an extra button, the turbo button. It can be used for running faster, ie. running past traps or escaping mobs. It can also be used for your Turbo Attack(Press Turbo + Attack at the same time to activate) Your turbo bar(little green and yellow bar) is located near the top of your character box. There are 3 lvls to your turbo attacks. Lvl 1 is a stronger close range attack, lvl 2 is an attack that will clear enemies surrounding you, and lvl 3 is a long rage attack. Characters are saved by the machine, if you level and die, the machine will save your character and his/her level. Gold is also saved on each character. Don't bother buying keys and potions if you think you might die, the keys are left behind, and the potions are purged if you don't continue. You might be better off playing either with one or two players, otherwise go ahead and pump in two credits per player to start. The early going is rough. If you play with all four players, beware of traps. It is very easy to push each other into traps. The monsters in the game are produced by monster generators. You must destroy the generator in order to stop the flow of monsters. The object of every stage is to find the rune stones, and the exit. There are 4 worlds to explore, the Mountain Kingdom, the Forest, the Castle Stronghold, and the Pyramid. Each realm has 3 runes hidden within them. Plus each has a boss. Defeat the boss in order to advance to another realm. You can choose which order realms you want to explore. II. Level Descriptions A. Mountain Realm The Mountain Realm is the easiest of the 4 realms, it's boss is the Dragon. The treasure room is found in the Caves(4th level I think). Behind the breakable wall with the rock monster and the chest with Death. You will find that this realm gives you the most food. You should be able to survive very well here. Gold is decent, but not the best. Watch out for rock monsters, beginners have a hard time with them. Watch out for bombers and archers because you need to take as little damage as possible. 1. Mighty Dragon Basic strategy on the boss is hit and run. Watch for his head to move, if it moves toward your direction, run. He shoots 2 types of fireballs, an arcing fireball that has a wide range when it hits, and a direct hit fireball that does a lot of damage if it hits. If he's close to dying he starts throwing more than one direct fireball per shoot. There are rocks to hide behind, but they can be destroyed. You wanna try to stay on either sides and practice hitting and running. Buy Gold invulnerability, three way shot, and rapid fire if you can. If you're high leveled enough, you can save the Super Shot from the level before(Kill everything in the level before taking the Super Shot, then exit.), then buy 3-way shot, rapid fire, and reflective shield. The Super Shot will stun(gives you time to get the food next to the Dragon.) The reflective shield bounces the regular fireballs, but not the area affect fireballs. If you manage to avoid the traps and take as little damage as possible, you should on average have, 1200hp for solo, 1000hp for 2 player, 850hp for 3 players, and 700hp for 4 players. This is the realm you should start from no matter what. B. Castle Stronghold The Castle Stronghold is the next stage you should go to for beginners. Lots of money and exp to be earned here. The treasure room is found on the first level behind the door of the second rock monster. Watch out for the archers, bombers, and ZAPPERS!(100 hp damage if they run into you) 2. Fearsome Chimera The boss is the Mighty Chimera. The 3 headed beast shoots fireballs from each head. Actually the number of fireballs is based on the number of characters currently playing. Buy the same things as the Dragon if you can. Hit and run basically also. Advanced players: buy 3-way, rapid fire, and reflective shield(2 if you can afford it), run all the way to the top right corner next to the pole. Wail away on the Chimera, sooner or later you should kill the Eagle Head, continue to hit and run if necessary, but you only get one shot before you need to start moving. C. Forest Realm The Forest Realm is the harder of the 2 "medium" difficulty based realms. The mobs are just harder to kill for some reason. The big difference he first 2 realms from the last 2 realms is the amount of food available. The treasure room is found in the first room. You have to run around a little bit, but it's worth it, quite a bit of gold in the room. There is a rock monster behind a gate. Defeat him and then press the trap next to the vine. If your by yourself, you have to activate the trap, avoid the vine, and then try to lure the mobs on the other side onto the bridge. Watch for plenty of rock monsters, acid barrels, and hidden perched archers and bombers. Lots of swinging traps. 3. Wicked Spider Queen The boss is the Evil Spider Queen. Oh my lord is she ever fast!!!! Don't bother buying gold invulnerability for her cause it'll run out fast due to her lengthy intro. Run around the screen, hitting her along the way. Have PLENTY of potions to save your butt in case she happens to catch you. Only way I've seen of being able to solo her is to find the hiding spot towards the bottom right corner. If you find the right place, the view is close up view, and all of her attacks miss you. If you miss the place, don't bother wasting life trying to find it. Start running around the area and turn around to shoot once. Don't spend too much time for your shot, her acid blast does full damage even if it nicks you with the fumes. I suggest 3-way, rapid fire, firewall shield, and gold invul(Buy 2 if you can). Else go for 3-way, reflective shield, rapid fire, and 9 potions. 1st choice involves beating the hell out of her before it runs out, then hit and run. 2nd choice involves an easier time with hit and run. D. Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid is the hardest of the 4 realms. The mobs are hard, there aren't as many keys as chests, and even less food. The treasure room is found in the 3rd stage? The one right before the Genie. You have to run up the stairs, to the right, around to the left, and go up the ramp to the trap. Go back down and back around to the now open room. The treasure room is the biggest in the game. LOTS OF MONEY IN HERE!!! Take a specific route and don't stray! The rooms DO NOT connect! Try to go for the rooms, more gold and silver coins in them. There is also a potion, boots, and sometimes food(based on number of players). Watch for zappers, and weird plasma shooting mobs(50 hp damage). Use lots of magic. There are alot of traps in the levels as well. 4. Evil Genie The boss is the Genie. Only chance to defeat him alive is to run to one of the four steps leading to the bottom. Walk to the middle of the step and fire away. You will still be hit along the way by minor hurricanes, but that sure beats getting nailed by the Genie's lazer(which does insane amounts of damage). Buy reflective shield(2 if possible), 9 potions(trust me, you MUST buy 9 potions), 3-way and rapid fire. Use the potions to stun the Genie, then wail away while he is stunned. E. The Desecrated Temple Collect all four keys and you open up a new Realm. The new Realm has 2 areas(you don't get to choose where you go first). After the final key is collected you will get to visit the last shop until the final boss. Buy 9 potions, but try to conserve them for the Underworld IF you already collected all 12 rune stones. Buy a thunder hammer to help clear out the First Level. First level is the Desecrated Temple. Basically, there are alot of monsters, chests, no keys, and no food. Run through this area as fast and careful as you can, the chests are all pretty much gold only. F. The Alter of Scorne The next level is the Alter of Scorne. He does a whole crap load of damage. He shoots Acid, Lightning, and Fire magic almost exactly like you do, plus he shoots a lazer blast that does alot of damage. You can try to make it to the two bottom corners you'll avoid the blasts. But he also has an earthquake. He smashes his fist into the ground and spouts lightning through the ground. Try to start running in anticipation, because it hurts REAL bad. I'm talking about somewhere between 50-150 hp damage. After defeating him, you get your choice of 4 pieces of armor. The mask gives Fire Breath, the arm guard give Fire Breath, the other 2 give acid and lightning amulets I think. If you haven't gotten all of the runes, then you will be led back to the 4 original realms where you must find the runes, if you have no clue where they are don't worry, when you revisit an area you already travelled and defeated the boss a hot and cold meter will help direct you towards the missing runes. If you defeat the first Scorne and have all 12 runes, you will advance to the Underworld. This is the very last Realm. You must fight your way through a ton of monsters to fight the 2nd Scorne. G. The Underworld Buy 9 potions if you can, try to keep enough for at least 3-way, rapid fire. There are a lot of monsters, a WHOLE LOT of monsters, be prepared. The area also a lot of traps to activate bridges. You have to be a combination of patient in order to find the correct way to the exit, and savage enough to clear the monsters before they get you. If you saved those potions, they come in handy here. Launch them at the fireballing mobs as soon as possible. There are 3 stone monsters that pop out and attack you right before the exit. They are the three parts of the Chimera. H. The Throne of Scorne After you pass the Underworld, you go to the Throne of Scorne. The 2nd Scorne is almost exactly like the 1st Scorne except, he hits alot harder, and the ground doesn't break away. Stay in the back and you should be okay. Wail away on him, and try to watch out for the big ray he shoots down(200 HP DAMAGE!!!!!!). Buy pretty much the same stuff, granted the effects wear down alot faster than normal, but that's to be expected. Buy 3-way, rapid fire, 2 or more gold invul(if you can afford it), 9 potions(don't think they stun though, mainly for damage). Just wail away until it runs gold invul runs out. Then chunk the potions, then hit and run. Wait for Scorne to curse and point(he lifts one arm under the other{looks like he's givin' ya da bird}, then points down at you), about 2 or 3 fireballs later he'll rain down with the big 200 hp drain!!! After defeating the Evil Scorne, you are congratulated with nothing but gold coins. The ending pretty much bites though. The overseer says congrats go take a well deserved vacation. Next you see a postcard with Red Warrior holding up Green Archer on his hand, Yellow Wirazd lounging, and Blue Valkyrie sunbathing topless. Then you start over without the keys. If you make it to the Underworld you lose your 4 keys regardless of what happens. You simply start over obtaining the keys, your character will still be saved so don't worry about being set back to level 1. If you don't defeat the 1st Scorne, you keep all 4 keys. Unfortunately, every time you log on you will be transported to the Church until you make it to the Underworld. Basically the most challenging aspects of the game are, lvl'ing(top being a Lvl 99 Legend), and beating all 4 realms, then Scorne(1st one), and then beat the game by killing the 2nd Scorne. I have a Lvl 99 Wizard myself, if you want to gauge your progress, it took me about 62 credits to reach Lvl 99. I still want to defeat the enitre game(All 4 kingdoms, and both Scornes) on one credit. That would be great, but the ultimate would be to beat the game on one credit, with a Lvl 1 to start!!! III. Items Items encountered in the game: Food: Meat(Chicken leg, Steak) = 100 hp Fruit(Banana, Apple, Pineapple) = 50 hp Poison(Apple with Crossbones) = -50hp (Chicken is poison for Pojo) Weapons: Thunder Hammer = 3 shots that hits full screen affect Super Shot = Time limit weapon that clears out all in it's path. Phoenix Familiar = A giant golden phoenix hangs on your shoulder shooting fireballs everytime you attack from afar. Amulets: Fire Amulet= Fire element given to your weapon Lightning Amulet= Lightning element given Acid Amulet= Acid element given Shields: Fire Wall Shield: Running straight ahead without attacking will project a wall of fire that kills all in it's path. Lightning Shield: Same as fire shield except with lightning. Reflective Shield: Will bounce projectiles away from you if you do not move. Enhancments: Boots of speed: Gives time limit rapid fire and speed of 900+ Reflective Shot: Causes you faraway attack to bounce off walls. Pojo Egg: Always a hit at parties, fun for all. Let those greedy little speedy Archers steal this from ya. (Careful, Pojo cannot eat Chicken Legs, they are poison, I'M NOT KIDDING! 100 HP POISON!!!) Growth Potion: Turns you into a giant. Shrinking Potion: Turn all enemies into runts. Invulnerability: You are glowing silver and cannot be hurt plus STOPS YOUR HEALTH METER!!!!! Gold Invulnerability: Same as Regular invulnerability except you are gold. Gold: Needed to buy enhancements. Potions: Needed to cast magic. Angel Wings: Allows user to float over ground traps, except fire spouts. Stat Builders: Speed: Adds to speed 5 per Strength: Adds to stength 5 per Magic: Adds to magic 5 per Armor: Adds to armor 5 per IV. Turbo Attacks Wizard/Jackal Lvl 2: Rock Shower Lvl 3: Demon Skull(Can be aimed) Valkyrie/Falconess Lvl 2: Multi-Bladed Arc Lvl 3: Sky Lance Warrior/Minotaur Lvl 2: Fire Arc Lvl 3: Plasma Trail Archer/Tigress Lvl 2: Double Bow Lvl 3: BFG(Can be aimed) V. Strategies For beginners I suggest going through the quest of Mountain, Castle, Forest, then Desert; or switching Desert with Forest(Spider Queen NOT fun!). For more advanced, go Mountain, Desert(Yes, desert), Castle, and Forest. For solo playing: Archers: Buy potions, run away from hand-to-hand, fire away from a distance, build up your BFG(Double Bow sucks big time) to clear out mobs. You need to avoid hand-to-hand as much as possible simply because Archers cannot fight well in close quarters. Very fast from far away. Warriors: Rush in and kill. Rush in fast, don't let the mobs even get a chance to think. Buy potions only to get rid of archers and bombers. Plamsa Trail in order to get rid of heavy mobs to save hp. Fire Arc is effective if your surrounded. Magic sucks. even maxed. Valkyrie: Most balanced character there is. Decent magic skills, not as good as the Archer, but much better than the Warrior. Almost the same strategy as the Warrior. Rush in, high armor class so she takes less damage then the others. Fight hand-to-hand most of the time, but try to stay away to avoid too much arrow and bomb damage. Turbo attacks are very good keep away and mob killing. Mage: Buy lots of potions, nothing but potions. Your magic is tops, and will remain tops. Use potions frequently. Try to keep as many in your inventory as possible. Hand-to-hand is as worthless as the Archer. Demon Skull is a very good aiming turbo. Rock Shower is IMHO the best Lvl 2 Turbo Attack. Stay far away and wail on them. If your magic skill gets higher, then your far away attacks will be stronger than the other classes. VI. Special Levels Level 10 Gain access to secret character. Wizard/Jackal, Valkyrie/Falconess, Warrior/Minotaur, Archer/Tigress Level 25 Gain personal Familiar. Wizard->Dragon Familiar, Valkyrie->Eagle Familiar, Warrior-> Dragonfly Familiar(???), Archer->Butterfly Familiar Level 50 Gain a stronger weapon, do more damage. Level 75 Gain a stronger Familiar, does more damage. Level 99 Become a Legend! Not sure if anything really happens though. Well hope this helps a little bit. =)