------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _____ __ .__ / \ ____________/ |______ | | / \ / \ / _ \_ __ \ __\__ \ | | / Y ( <_> ) | \/| | / __ \| |__ \____|__ /\____/|__| |__| (____ /____/ \/ \/ ____ __. ___. __ | |/ _|____ _____\_ |__ _____ _/ |_ | < / _ \ / \| __ \\__ \\ __\ | | ( <_> ) Y Y \ \_\ \/ __ \| | |____|__ \____/|__|_| /___ (____ /__| \/ \/ \/ \/ ________ __ .__ \______ \ ____ ____ ____ _______/ |_|__| ____ ____ | | \_/ __ \_/ ___\/ __ \\____ \ __\ |/ _ \ / \ | ` \ ___/\ \__\ ___/| |_> > | | ( <_> ) | \ /_______ /\___ >\___ >___ > __/|__| |__|\____/|___| / \/ \/ \/ \/|__| \/ Mortal Kombat: Deception Chess Kombat FAQ by Brian Mills "DarkBlade22" version 2.0 (6-27-2005) e-mail bmgamfrk22@alltel.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ =============== Version History =============== version 2.0 (6-27-05) - included more strategies sent in by other players, introduced a small section on combo breakers, and added some more of my own strategies version 1.5 (1-6-05) - included some new strategies sent in by other players version 1.2 (10-19-04) - updated koin totals and updated strategies version 1.0 (10-15-04) - wrote faq and submitted it ======== Contents ======== 1. Introduction 2. Beginning Your Game a. Selecting a Team b. Before the Game Starts 3. Playing Chess Kombat a. The Board b. Spells c. Fight! d. The End of the Match 4. Strategies 5. Thanks 6. Copyright =============== 1. Introduction =============== Welcome to the Mortal Kombat: Deception Chess Kombat FAq. I am DarkBlade22. This terrific game has capitalized on everything great about Mortal Kombat, and has made it better. But since bloody combat is part of every Mortal Kombat game, the developers have decided to add some variety in the form of a few mini-games that you can play. Admit it: haven't you ever wondered how the kombatants of this great game series would fare on a real field of battle? Chess Kombat seamlessly fuses classic chess with the world of Mortal Kombat and some appropriate twists, and makes it a pleasant experience. This FAQ will serve as a guide to everything you need to know about this new game, and how to get the most out of your experience. ====================== 2. Beginning Your Game ====================== After selecting Chess Kombat from the selection screen, you will be prompted to choose a team. You can either create a new team, or select a previously created team if you have one saved to your profile. Once you have a team, you will be taken to the chess board. To begin a two-player game, simply have the second player press start on their controller, and you will be able to play a two-player game. a. Selecting a Team ------------------- When you select a team, you must pick five characters to serve as your pieces on the board. You can only pick each character once (no teams consisting of the same character), so knowing how to use different characters is vital. You will be able to pick from any characters readily available, or those that have been unlocked in the krypt. You will have a total of sixteen pieces. Here are the different pieces you will have: - grunt - This is the "pawn" of your team. They will be your basic fighters, and the ones you use most, with no special features. In battle, their base health is 40%. You get 8 of them. - shifter - A shifter is similar to a rook. These pieces, when entering a battle, will "shift" into the role of their opponent, taking their appearance and most aspects of that opponent, including base health. The only exception to this is when they fight another shifter, in which case both combatants keep their appearance and gain 100% health. Their base health is 50%, and their total number is 3. (note: The one thing that a shifter does not copy from its opponent is its number of combo breakers. A shifter will always have 2 combo breakers to use, regardless of its opponent.) - sorcerer - A sorcerer is similar to a bishop. They are the weak member of the team, but provide a valuable service, as they can cast spells. Their base health is 30%, and you have 2 of them. On the board, the right one casts blue spells, and the left one casts red spells. If you lose a sorcerer, you will not be able to use those spells, unless you bring the sorcerer back. - champion - This is the equivalent to a queen. This piece has the most maneuverability and the most health of any piece on the board. Their base health is 100%, and you get 2 of them. - leader - This is your "king", and is the most valuable piece on the board, as once the leader of one side is taken, the game ends. Its base health is 80%, and you only get one of them. Protect it at all costs. b. Before the Game Starts ------------------------- So you've selected a team and you're ready to start? You've still got some things to do. After you've selected your team, your pieces and your opponent's pieces will appear on, in a one player game, a randomly selected game board (in a two player game, you can select a game board by pressing R1 while building your team). The game boards are as follows: - The Pit - This is modeled after the area in MK1 where fighters would fight on a bridge over a pit of spikes. stage fatality - Knock your opponent off the ledge into a pit of spikes. - Portal - This is modeled after the stages where you fight your opponent in front of the portal to Outworld. stage fatality - none - Deadpool - This is the area from MK2 in which fighters fought in front of an acid bath. stage fatality - Knock your opponent into an acid bath, where they are reduced to a skeleton. - Courtyard - This is modeled after the temple of the Shaolin monks. stage fatality - none - Living Forest - This is modeled after the Living Forest of Outworld. stage fatality - none The game board is a 10X10 square board, and your pieces will be placed in the eight middle squares of the bottom two rows. You will be prompted to set a trap. By putting a trap on a square, you will be able to protect an area you want to protect, for if an enemy steps on that trap square, they will automatically be killed. This trap square does not disappear, so multiple enemies can be killed this way. Press square when a square is highlighted to set a trap. You can also set a fake trap by pressing circle. This serves to confuse the enemy. When you're done, press x to start. ======================= 3. Playing Chess Kombat ======================= a. The Board ------------ Here are the controls for the board: - start - pause menu - select - not used - control pad - moves cursor - triangle button - cancels a selection - circle button - cancels a selection - x button - makes a selection - square button - not used - R1 button - not used - R2 button - zooms in on a selected piece - L1 button - brings up spell list - L2 button - quick-zooms in on a selected piece - right analog (R3) - moves camera - left analog (L3) - not used This is what the chess board will look like: player 2 (cpu) [ ][H][S][H][C][L][C][S][H][ ] [ ][G][G][G][G][G][G][G][G][ ] G - grunt [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] H - shifter [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] S - sorcerer [ ][#][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] C - champion [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][#][ ] L - leader [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] # - green cell [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] [ ][G][G][G][G][G][G][G][G][ ] [ ][H][S][C][L][C][H][S][H][ ] player 1 Green cells are special squares that you can move a piece to. Having a piece on one or more green cells will earn you bonuses during battle, which will be discussed later. Player 1 has the first move. This is how each piece can move: - Grunts can move either 2 spaces to the front, back or side, or 1 space diagonally, as long as they are not blocked. - Shifters can move 5 spaces any direction, as long as they are not blocked. - Sorcerers can move 2 spaces to the front, back or side, as long as they are not blocked. - champions can move any number of squares in any direction, as long as they are not blocked. - Leaders can move 1 space in any direction, as long as they are not blocked. b. Spells --------- You may choose to use a spell to even up the odds between you and your opponent. Any piece can be affected except for pieces on green cells. Here is the list of spells available to you: Blue spells are defensive and focus on helping your team. - heal - fully heals one friendly piece - teleport - teleports any friendly or enemy grunt, shifter or champion anywhere on the board - resurrect - brings back any one defeated friendly piece - protect - protects any friendly piece from attacks and spells for a duration of three turns Red spells are offensive and focus on hurting your opponent. - kill - kills any enemy grunt or shifter - imprison - makes any enemy piece unable to move or cast spells for a duration of three turns - exchange - switches any two friendly or enemy grunts, shifters or champions - sacrifice - kills any friendly piece in order to fully heal another friendly piece ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Reader Spell Strategies | ----------------------- | | Dunceman (darthdeso@yahoo.com) writes in regards to the Teleport spell: | | "One strategy I use is that if you have one of those enemies left - Grunt, | Shifter, or Champion - you can teleport them on your trap and they'll die | immediately." | | Other Teleport spell strategies sent in by other readers: | | Josh Smith (i_hear_voices5467@yahoo.com): | "Ok here's my idea, maybe shouldn't be used on high level fights: kill the | champions without fighting them (two ways to do it also might be wise to take| out blue spells mage so they can't resurrect the champion) 1. teleport | champion onto trap 2. stand on your own trap and use exchange on champion." | | Patrick Rozier (dragon_tyrant17@yahoo.com): | "I'm kind of a newb, I just got the game the other day but I realized spells | play a big role, so I start off by teleporting the blue spell caster (so they| can't resurrect) onto the death trap, then I trap the red caster and exchange| my champion with a something next to the red caster. From there I kill the | champion and with the "kill" spell and try and take the leader. (you win some| u lose some) | | (Floroe30@wmconnect.com): | "A strategy I use is to place a grunt on my trap, and keep him there for a | while. Whenever a champion from the opposing team (or a shifter or grunt, if | you want) moves to a great spot that I could use, I use my exchange spell. | This automatically kills the champion (shifter, grunt), and gives my grunt an| opening at whatever I wanted. With a power cell or two, and knowledge of your| grunt's abilities, you can cause serious damage to the opposing team's pieces| this way. | | Lyle Danley (ldanley2010@yahoo.com): | I just wanted to tell you that if you move a friendly piece onto a friendly | trap and use exchange with the champion, you can do another instant kill and | get your piece behind enemy lines. With Respect, ldanley2010 | | Good use of your traps, guys. Thanks for your input. | | ----------------------- | | Ethan Moranda (sniperpilot1942@yahoo.com) writes in regards to the Imprison | spell: | | "I read your thing on (GameFAQs) and you forgot to mention that if you manage| to eliminate all the pieces on the other team, besides the leader, you can | use the Imprison spell to get a checkmate. You don't get a fatality but it is| a great way to put an end to a slotter if you just can't seem to beat the | opponent's Leader in fair combat. It's cheap but it works in a bind. Thought | I'd help you out." | | ----------------------- | | These are some helpful suggestions, so thanks. If anyone else has a strategy | regarding a spell, please feel free to e-mail me. | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- c. Fight! --------- Once you've targeted an enemy piece with one of your own, the two characters will enter into battle. This is one of the differences from regular chess, as the attacked combatant will have a chance to defend himself. The winner of the battle will gain control of the square. Battles are just like regular battles elsewhere in Mortal Kombat, with some exceptions. Here are the controls for fighting, in case you need to know them: - start - pause - select - not used - control pad - move fighter - triangle button - attack 2 - circle button - attack 4 - x button - attack 3 - square button - attack 1 - R1 button - throw - R2 button - block - L1 button - change fighting style - L2 button - grab weapon - right analog (R3) - not used - left analog (L3) - not used This is how the matches break down: - Matches last for the duration of one round of sixty seconds. - Killing an enemy with a stage fatality is possible in some arenas. - If a character's health falls below its base health, that damage will carry over into further matches. - If a character is healed with a spell, that also carries over into further matches. - Health bonuses given at the beginning of a match last for the duration of that match, and do not carry over. - A character cannot perform a fatality against any other fighter. The only exception is when the leader of a team is taken (checkmate), when the winning fighter always performs a fatality against the leader. Each piece gets a certain number of combo breakers to use in each match. These combo breakers are full replenished at the beginning of a match, no matter how many you used with that particular piece in a previous match. Here is a list of how many combo breakers each piece gets: - grunt - 1 combo breaker - shifter - 2 combo breakers - sorcerer - 1 combo breaker - champion - 2 combo breakers - leader - 3 combo breakers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | RWD (armourking@hotmail.com) writes in regards to combo breakers: | | "Hi, I just read your Chess Kombat FAQ, I found it pretty good and I would | like to offer some information that you have appeared to overlooked (that or | I just totally missed it, if so, I apologize): Combo Breakers. The Breakers | in Chess Kombat are actually very very valueable, since Chess matches only | last for one round, they can save you from losing a piece to a stronger | opponent in one brutal combo, and they certainly serve their purpose in | turning around a match more than they would in a standard 2/3 match. Also, | each piece has their own number of Breakers to use per match: Grunt gets 1 | Shifter, Sorcerer and Champion gets 2 Leader gets 3. That's all, I figure if | you ever wanted to update your FAQ again, that you should add in the Breakers| info since it comes in handy to know how many times a piece can get itself | out of a jam. Keep up the good work. Regards, RWD." | | I most certainly did forget to put that information in. Thanks a lot for | bringing this to my attention. | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the beginning of a match, one or both of the fighters may gain a health bonus. All of these bonuses are cumulative. Here are the different kinds of bonuses you may get: - attacker bonus - The attacking fighter gets a 10% health bonus. - power cell bonus - If a fighter's teammate occupies a green cell, that fighter gets a 25% bonus for each cell that his team occupies. - on power cell - If one of the fighters occupies a green cell themselves, they automatically get 100% health. When a fight ends, it is the end of the turn for the attacking player, whether he wins or not. Control then goes to the opposing player. d. The End of the Match ----------------------- After one team loses its leader and the match ends, you will be shown a screen that breaks down the match statistics. You and your opponent will be told how many pieces you had left, how many matches were won, how many spells were cast, how many players were killed by traps, and how many moves each player made. You may be granted a title based on your performance. If you can kill all of your opponent's pieces, you will gain the title of Annihilation. If you can take the leader without losing any of your own pieces, you will gain the title of Flawless. In a one player game, you have the chance to win koins if you have a profile loaded. The types of koins you can win are gold and platinum. Here are the amounts of koins you can get for each difficulty level: | novice | easy | medium | hard | max | ---------|--------|------|--------|------|-----| grunt | 75 | 112 | 150 | 165 | 187 | ---------|--------|------|--------|------|-----| shifter | 75 | 112 | 150 | 165 | 187 | ---------|--------|------|--------|------|-----| sorcerer | 150 | 225 | 300 | 330 | 375 | ---------|--------|------|--------|------|-----| champion | 200 | 300 | 600 | 440 | 500 | ---------|--------|------|--------|------|-----| leader | 225 | 337 | 450 | 495 | 562 | ----------------------------------------------- ============= 4. Strategies ============= Here are some strategies and tips that may help you as you play: - On harder difficulty levels in a one player game, the computer will be more aggressive, and will sometimes attack your leader in as little as two moves, so protecting your leader will be a big priority. Also, you will have less time to make decisions on the harder difficulty levels. - On harder difficulty levels, blocking will become more important, as the enemy will be relentless. - When picking your team, know how to use a variety of characters, and pick characters that you can use with ease. You'll want to be able to cause a lot of damage to your opponent, and you'll want to be able to protect your green cells and your leader. Also, if your leader gets attacked, he will have to defend himself, and knowing his moves will be vital. - In a two player game, if you know what characters your opponent has trouble using that you can use well, make that character your shifter. Use him in a fight, and suddenly your opponent will be at a major disadvantage as you begin to take him apart with your knowledge of your character. This opens up the shifter as a much more versatile character. - If you are a frequent spellcaster, protect those sorcerers. They are weak, and can be defeated easily if you are not careful. - When attacking with a shifter, try to attack low health characters when you have control of one or more green cells, so you can make up the health difference. If you don't have any green cells in your control, try attacking champions or leaders. Know the health differences. - If you have control of any green cells, try to lure the enemy in attacking one of your shifters. Low level enemies will find themselves at a sudden disadvantage, and champions and leaders will have to fight an enemy on par with themselves. - Try to pay attention to where your opponent sets a trap at the beginning of the match. If you are unfortunate to step on a trap during the match, keep track of where it is, so you don't lose any more pieces to it. - Also in regards to traps, you can teleport enemies onto your trap to kill them. Also, as stated in readers' e-mails above, you can exchange your own piece that is on your own trap with an enemy piece, killing him and getting yourself deeper into enemy territory for a sneak attack, thereby killing two birds with one stone. - If the stage you are playing on has a stage fatality, by all means use it to end the battle quickly. Be careful you stay away from the edge yourself, however. - When taking the leader, you may have to sacrifice some pieces in order to reduce his health. Knowing this, use your spells effectively so you can get next to him, especially on harder difficulty levels. - If you're confident with your leader, and the enemy takes a green cell, set it up so that the enemy piece on the cell has a clear shot at the leader. The enemy will almost always take the opportunity, and if you can defeat it, you'll have a shot at the green cell. - Play the computer on a harder difficulty and take note of its strategies, especially when it uses spells. This way, you can learn some techniques on how to take advantage of your opponent, and gain squares or take the leader quickly. ========= 5. Thanks ========= CJayC - For putting this FAQ on his website, GameFAQs. Midway - For creating an awesome game. the MK:D instruction booklet - For a quick rundown of the controls. riffraff773 - My brother, for telling me how to pick your arena. Dunceman & Ethan Moranda - For their spell strategies. Josh Smith, Patrick Rozier, Floroe30, & Lyle Danley - Also for their spell strategies. RWD - For his input on combo breakers, and bringing my attention to my exclusion of them from my FAQ. ============ 6. Copyright ============ This walkthrough is copyright 2005 Brian Mills, all rights reserved. This guide may be reproduced for personal use, but otherwise cannot be reproduced in part or whole for any reason. It may not be sold for any reason, and may not be posted anywhere other than GameFAQs. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at bmgamfrk22@alltel.net and I will try to answer when I can. If you see this walkthrough anywhere other than GameFAQs please let me know by e-mail.