The Trilogy

The Trilogy (Real Creative, Complex, Original Name, Huh?!?!?), was planned by Smeagol88 in 1999 to be like Final Fantasy, but for Middle-Earth; - it was planned to cover The Hobbit, Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King, and it was originally made with Klik'n'Play, but due to the jerky, cheap, cheezy arcade way in which Klik'n'Play worked, as well as cheezy stock graphics included with the program, Smeagol88 switched to Multimedia Fusion.

He made a Playable demo in 1999, and put up a huge "Official" Website in 2000, planning to release the game in 2003. He released four pictures showing an improved version of the game, then, finally, he quite making the game, saying "Those Movies Put My Game to Shame; - YOU"LL SEEE MANY MOVIE TIE-IN GAMES BETTER THAN MINE"... Then and now I was like, "Schyeah, Right!"

Sure, it wasn't exactly great, but it would've been Helldamn Groovy, Funky, Ginchy, Shady, Keen, Swell, Awesome, Hip, Geezbat and Cool to have this thing as a FULL, FINAL FANTASY TOLKIEN CHRONICLES for yer PC.

Here is ALL the Data I gathered on this thing.

I downloaded it in 1998 (<---Off by a year?), and I played it on a Zipdisk when we went on a Road Trip in 1998, It starts off in Hobbiton, showing Bilbo in front of his House. The Title Music is the World Map in Final Fantasy VI, which sounds mournful, Fantastic and Adventurous, and the Hobbiton Music is some Woodsy Village Music from Final Fantasy VI, which is also where the rest of the Music probably would've come from. It stands up, since it was two years before Peter Jacksons Films had their Soundtrack, or something.

Gandalf comes, this and the Dinner with the Dwarves is just like the books, with Gandalf saying at one point "Have a seat, Bilbo", which is where yu have to move Bilbo to the chair and press Spacebar in order to continue.

There might have been a Map Graphic appearing on screen for a few minutes, then Bilbo wakes up the next Morning, and you have to move him out of the house, and to the right, to meet the Dwarves. There are two other Hobbits in the small RPG Hobbiton which are simple recolors of Bilbo's Sprite, with different coloured Hair and Tunic; - one has Blonde Hair and Blue Tunic, the other has Brown Hair and Red Tunic, and runs the Item Shop in Hobbiton (...which you by things from in this game).

(...)

From there, You have Bilbo, Gandalf and the Thirteen Dwarves, much bigger than any party you *EVER* had in any of the Final Fantasys, and Battles are simple and minimal, yet Totally Middle-Earth and Final Fantasy. The Final Fantasy VI Battle and Victory Music is used, and you click on one of the characters, and use the Arrow Keys to move him around, and you have to get at least one of the characters to striking distance of the enemy, and quickly inflict damage, but get him out of the way, as there's a chance the enemy will hit you. When the Character loses ALL HP, there's no Swooning/Death Animation, but he can't attack, and is pretty Fairy-Slapping tired. There are only two kinds of enemies in the Trilogy, and you only ever encounter one at a time. Spiders (20 HP); - the "easy" enemy, even Level 1. Bilbo can take out with (some) ease, and Wolves (40 HP); - the "hard" enemy, and *DON'T* send Bilbo against one, as they'll suck all his HP in 1-2 hits; - a few Dwarves can take a Wolf on albeat with some MASSIVE SMEGGING INJURIES.

Bilbo starts off at Level 1, being the inexperienced one, with 20 HP, and you should fight a lot in the Demo to build him up. Gandalf is the strongest, with 50 HP, and best in every area, Thorin has 35 HP, and is the one in Blue, at the Front, Bombur has 40 HP, the other Dwarves have 30-35 HP, and good, but not great.

The Game has a good (albeat small) Worldmap, and you go through the Encounter with the Trolls; - It is not a "Boss Battle", and plays out like a Game Event, like in the Book, Gandalf comes, the Trolls turn to stone, and you can walk Bilbo out of there, then going east on the Worldmap to Rivendell, play that one out, and then go to this straight wall on the east, where the demo ends.

The Full Game for '03 would've had more of an actual Turn-Based Combat System, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Boromir, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas would've been playable. I'm pretty sure Gollum and Treebeard would've just been visible in Game Events, and NPC roles, the enemies in the Battle System would've been Goblins, Orcs, Uruk-Hai, Wargs, Trolls or Olog-Hai, and Sauron's Men. Probably no Bosses, except maybe Shelob and a few Ringwraiths and Uruk-Hai.

I kept the Trilogy for two years, then it got corrupted, then I lost the Zipdisk, now it's permanently gone from the Internet. In addition to not having the full game, this makes me sad. May this teach you everything you need to know.