Likewise, the enemies can increase their own speed and decrease the party's, again changing the order. However, the order of battle can be changed by using abilities to slow down or stun the enemy, or speed up the player characters. This shows the order in which the player's party and the enemy will take their turns. During battle, a 'battle queue' is displayed on-screen.

In the CTB system, however, the enemy will not attack the player until the player has had their turn. As such, in the ATB system, even when the player is selecting actions, the enemy can continue to attack. The primary difference between the ATB and the CTB is that in the CTB system, time pauses as the player selects commands, whereas in the ATB system, time continues to pass. The game's turn-based combat system is similar to Final Fantasy X 's 'Conditional Turn-Based' system (CTB), which replaced the 'Active Time Battle' system (ATB) used from Final Fantasy IV to Final Fantasy IX. The Third Age is an RPG in the style of the games in the Final Fantasy series.

The battle queue is on the upper right of the screen, the characters' stats on the lower right, the action menu on the lower left, and a description of the currently highlighted action on the upper left. In this screenshot, Berethor, Elegost and Idrial are surrounded by goblins in Moria. However, not every scripted battle is indicated beforehand by a PalantГr icon. If a blue PalantГr appears, it means the player is approaching a story battle again, the darker the icon, the closer the player is to the battle. If the Eye of Sauron appears, it means the player has a chance to encounter a random battle the darker the eye, the more likely a battle will occur. As the player moves through the environment, one of two icons can also appear on-screen. When the player is in third-person mode, the HUD displays a map with the current objectives (primary and secondary) marked on it.

All areas also feature several optional sidequests which do not have to be completed for progression, but which can yield substantial rewards if they are. Progression through the game is built around ' Quests.' Every area features multiples quests which must be completed in order to progress to the next area. Most reviewers praised the graphics, but many found the storyline and character development weak, and the gameplay somewhat too derivative of Final Fantasy X.ДЄs with many role playing games, gameplay in Third Age is split into two different modes third-person exploration through a 3D overworld, and combat mode, consisting of turn-based gameplay. The game received mixed to positive reviews. This is because, at the time, Vivendi Universal Games, in partnership with Tolkien Enterprises, held the rights to the video game adaptations of Tolkien's literary works, whilst Electronic Arts held the rights to the video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films. Tolkien's 1954 novel The Lord of the Rings, anything from the novels not specifically mentioned or depicted in the films could not be represented in the game. The game is a loose adaptation of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). The game was published on all platforms by Electronic Arts, and released worldwide in November 2004. A turn-based tactics version of the game was developed for the Game Boy Advance by Griptonite Games. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by EA Redwood Shores for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.

Last days of the third age guide