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- Throne of Darkness -
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- Strategy Guide -
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By: UnSub (evilasahobby@graffiti.net)
Version: 1.01
Date: 7 July 2003

CONTENTS
________
- Introduction
- Things to Note
- Characters
- Making Weapons & Armour
- Spells
- Quests
- Notes
- Thanks
- Version History


INTRODUCTION
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Throne of Darkness was a game that caught my eye when released since it had a
distinct feudal Japanese look and got some quite good reviews. Of course, the
game didn't really catch on and I must have spent my money on something else
because I ended up getting ToD after finding it in the discount pile (along
with a strategy guide too). ToD has a lot of neat features like setting group
formation and very individual characters that make it stand out a bit. Pity
that Diablo (and others that copy it down to the texture) is the only game that
counts in the heavy-clicking-action rpg genre.

I've mentioned that I got a strategy guide with the game. This guide was the
Prima Offical Guide. I will be using some of the info from it and labelling it
as such. If you REALLY want a full faq then go look for the Prima Official
Throne of Darkness Strategy Guide on Ebay or Amazon.com - I'm just going to go
into general strategies. The guide gives you full maps, enemy stats, weapon /
armour component lists - the works. Given you can probably get it at a discount
nowadays, it is really worth getting if you are going to play ToD.

COPYRIGHT INFO: I wrote this, but I don't mind it being duplicated elsewhere
provided it is unaltered and you don't have to pay to get at it. If you want to
alter it, please contact me for permission. This faq first appeared at
www.gamefaqs.com.

EMAIL POLICY: If I've got something factually wrong or made an error, please
tell me. Also tell me if I've missed something. Please don't contact me to send
me a virus or spam or any non-game related stuff - I'm sorry, but I'm busy. I
do appreciate those who take some time out to provide me with constructive
feedback but I probably won't reply, so don't feel sleighted if this happens.
If you've got a question I will probably get back to you. Probably.


THINGS TO NOTE
______________
- I'm only talking about the single player game here. In multiplayer
(apparently, having never played it) you can have multiple groups running
around in the various maps, each with the same quests. A bit more strategy is
meant to be needed, but unless this game has a greater underground following
than I'm aware of, I don't think there are many multiplayer ToD games to be
found.

- Every point of damage you do earns that character 1 xp point. The more
damage you do, the quicker your character levels up. As such, kill everything
you can.

- Press the 'Alt' key to turn on Tool Tips - this shows you the location of
dropped items on the screen.

- Pick up everything. Give unwanted weapons / armour to the Blacksmith and
offer unneeded magical items to the gods through the Priest for spell points.

- Try to have every member of your group on the same lvl or very close to it.
Sure, the Wizard sucks early on, but once he hits about lvl 20 he will truely
rock. The other thing about having all the characters within one lvl of each
other is that if your main team gets wiped out, your secondary team will at
least have enough health to run away (or finish the battle, whichever you
prefer).

- Save semi-regularly. Sometimes you will just walk into a group of bad guys
who will wipe you out. You don't want to go ALL the way back and do it again,
do you?

- Get used to sending dead characters back to the Daimyo and bringing in fresh
guys during the heat of battle. It will save you having to reload quite a bit.
Run away if you have to and heal up, then go back and try again.

- Don't waste your gold on health / mana potions. That gold is better spent on
repairing, identifying and crafting items. Send your characters back to the
Daimyo to heal / mana them up. Yes, it's slower, but efficiently using gold is
very important - it is how you will have enough cash to make the really great
magical weapons in ToD.

- Always try to give your characters items that will increase the gold drop of
enemies and chests. If you have a character who has a large gold % bonus, use
them to open the chests / drawers / other clickable things you find. The Prima
Strategy Guide indicates that the max gold bonus of any character is 250%.

- Try to hand down items from characters before just giving them to the
Blacksmith / offering them with the Priest. Your Ninja may not have been able
to wear that armour two lvls ago, but now he can with his increased Strength.

- Drop your weapon / armour components on the floor in front of the Daimyo
using the portals you find. This keeps inventories clear. Note that the Prima
Guide says that in multiplayer games other players can steal your items if you
do this. This doesn't matter in single-player. Remember to stack items with the
same name and if you can arrange them in some kind of order it will make things
easier when it comes to customising equipment.

- Using team formations is very important. I use two different ones - a two
melee, two ranged character formation (two melee at front, ranged a medium
distance behind) and a three melee, one ranged character formation (the three
melee are meant to hold off attackers while the ranged guy pelts from a
distance). Remember to set up the individual character roles as well and to
make sure each character is using their most potent attack as the first option.

- Armour / weapon components with the same name stack. Use this method to
reduce the amount of room they take up in your inventory. Make one or two
samurai the main carriers of weapon / armour components.

- Always have the map (press "M") up on the screen. It makes it a lot easier
to navigate and work out which areas you missed the first time through when
fighting monsters.

- Knockback isn't always a blessing. Sometimes enemies will get knocked out of
otherwise painful situations and cause you grief they otherwise couldn't.

- The yellow lines on the map show the quickest routes between the castles.
The blue lines show the routes to the mountains. Don't follow these lines
exclusively - use them as guides. The more you explore, the more stuff you
find, the more enemies you get to kill, the more powerful you become. This does
mean it will take longer to finish ToD, but if you are after games that you can
finish in one evening, go buy a console ;-)

- Try to take out enemies with ranged attacks first, especially spell casters.
It makes your job easier.

- The Wizard lvls the slowest early on because he can't dish out the damage as
quickly as other characters. His most powerful attacks are governed by his Ki
usage and given that Ki can be spent pretty quickly, you often end up with him
using a weak bow for to attack. Stick with him though, as the Wizard can really
start to whip enemies around lvl 20.

- Setting your guys to Aggressive Stance in the individual tactics window
means they will probably split up really quickly in a fight. This does mean
they can get overwhelmed by enemy forces, so keep an eye on it. An Aggressive
ranged weapon user isn't that much of a problem since they usually don't run
too far away, but an Aggressive Wizard will often use his Ki up too quickly and
then be left defenceless.

- You should complete the game in this order to make things easier on
yourself: the four castles (fully exploring each wilderness to get there), the
four mountain paths, the Dark Warlord Cavern, outside area of the Dark
Warlord's castle, the interior of the Dark Warlord's castle except for the Maze
of Confusion and finally the Dark Warlord's shrine room. Trying to jump ahead
by ignoring areas will see your samurai die easily when they hit the harder
areas.


CHARACTERS
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Here is the most important info about the characters - these are the magic
numbers (according to the Prima Guide):

Dexterity - 150 (to use the best throwing weapon in the game, the Nage-Yari)
Dexterity - 200 (to use the best melee weapon in the game, the Iai-To, and the
best bow, the Go-Shinpo-Yumi)
Strength - 170 (to wear the best armour, the Kunimichi)
Strength - 250 (to use the best polearm, the Tetsu-Bo)
Ki- 80 (to use any mask or amulet)

Note that these attributes don't have to be your characters' base attributes -
you can find amulets and other special items to boost stats to meet these
levels. Getting your Ki to 80 becomes the key thing if you are going to start
relying on amulets too much though. Most characters attributes max out at 300 -
350, with some key attributes going up to 500 depending on the character. Past
the magic numbers above, you are really just window-dressing by increasing some
attributes (eg Ki for everyone but the Wizard).

You should attempt to have every character hitting Strength 170 to ensure they
have the best armour possible. The Wizard's Strength maxes out at 150, so he
won't quite make it.

When it comes to spending spell points 1) always max out the attribute
enhancing ones, 2) the Wizard should be used to offer all unwanted magical
items to the gods as he is generally in the most need of spell points.

EXTRA:

Dexterity 220 (if you have the final patch [1.2.18, I think] you will have the
Chi-Ji-Do, a sword that is more powerful than the Iai-To)

LEADER:
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Your jack-of-all-trades in the team and a little bit ham-strung by the fact you
have to raise everyone of his attributes, including Charisma. In fact, this guy
should be the ONLY character you raise Charisma for. He should be used for all
your purchasing needs, even if you have to bring him back from the dead to do
so. You can find talismans that will raise his Charisma, so don't go too nuts
in putting stat points into Charisma.

Give your leader a melee weapon and a ranged weapon and have him meet whatever
role you need at the time.

ARCHER:
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Give him the bows, funnily enough. He wants Dexterity, Strength, Vitality and
Ki up to the magic numbers, past that Strength and Vitality. Can use a sword if
needbe.

SWORDSMAN:
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Give him a sword in each hand and let him slice'n'dice. He wants Dexterity,
Strength, Vitality and Ki up to the magic numbers, past that Strength and
Vitality.

BERSERKER:
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A cross between the Swordsman and the Brick. Give him two swords in one slot
and a polearm in the other. He wants Dexterity, Strength, Vitality and Ki up to
the magic numbers, past that Strength and Vitality.

NINJA:
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Give him the thrown weapons and maybe a sword in his alternate weapon slot. The
Ninja is more effective at range, but he isn't a huge slouch at melee if you
need him there. He wants Dexterity, Strength, Vitality and Ki up to the magic
numbers, past that Strength and Vitality.

BRICK:
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The Brick hits things hard. He wants a lot of Strength, the Prima Official
Guide says that the max Dexterity needed for polearms is 90 while two-handed
swords need between 100 to 150 in Dexterity to use. I choose to stick with
polearms for the Brick. Otherwise, Ki to the magic number and lots of Vitality
and Strength for everything that's left.

WIZARD:
-------
Equip the Wizard with ranged weapons and keep him out of melee. Ki should be
his focus, but you want to keep raising his Strength, Dexterity and Vitality to
keep him using reasonable items and not dying too much when an enemy looks at
him in a slightly harsh way. The Prima Guide says that he will never be able to
wear the best armour, so Strength 130 is all he'll need for the second best
armour (Triple Scale).


MAKING WEAPONS & ARMOUR