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Hello there,
Makes me laugh how excited I was about this game when I originally heard about it, I had been a massive fan of a Star Wars mmorpg (SWG of course) so when I heard that they were making a Lord of the Rings MMORPG I was super excited. Amazing that was quite a few years ago, to be honest I lost interest in the game mainly due to there being so little news about it (as expected so early in development). So I haven't really looked at the game in detail. But being the Lord of the Rings I have taken some interest, I'm currently downloading the client (which is taking ages) but I had some questions about the game:
1. Hows the games world? is it true to J.R. Tolkien's writings.
2. What music's in the game? Do they use certain tracks from the Movie?
3. How is the gameplay? is combat fun?
And any other information I might find useful, of course some of these questions will be answered when I play the Beta but I would like some information on the game.
Makes me laugh how excited I was about this game when I originally heard about it, I had been a massive fan of a Star Wars mmorpg (SWG of course) so when I heard that they were making a Lord of the Rings MMORPG I was super excited. Amazing that was quite a few years ago, to be honest I lost interest in the game mainly due to there being so little news about it (as expected so early in development). So I haven't really looked at the game in detail. But being the Lord of the Rings I have taken some interest, I'm currently downloading the client (which is taking ages) but I had some questions about the game:
1. Hows the games world? is it true to J.R. Tolkien's writings.
2. What music's in the game? Do they use certain tracks from the Movie?
3. How is the gameplay? is combat fun?
And any other information I might find useful, of course some of these questions will be answered when I play the Beta but I would like some information on the game.
Comments
How does the farming work? can you purchase player-housing?
2. Music is not from the movie, but it is decent. On LOTRO's main site there are three sample tracks.
3. You'll probably hear some mixed reviews on this. Again I've heard it supposed to be around the industry standard with some new twists. Conjunctions seem to be interesting thing.
4. Crafting. It is supposed to be pretty good. A very large amount of rare items will be able to be crafted by players, and.... damn the other thing I was going to say just slipped my mind.
EDIT: for some footage (some broke the NDA agreement) go to youtube and search lord of the rings online.
Currently: Playing EVE Online
Previous: FFXI, Dragonrealms, sad little stint in WOWland.
Awaiting: Fallen Earth, Hero''s Journey, Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan.
If you did get into the beta test, then grats, the game is a lot of fun.
I havent played it but from what i have heard:
1. Its pretty big but at launch it will only be Eriador (if you have Return Of the King check the last page it has a map of Middle Earth)
2. The music is not from the movies but from the trailers i'd say its good
3. Wouldnt know
You can count on there not being anything from the movies pretty much.
In a bizarre legalistic twist, EA owns the movie rights. If they used anything from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, it'd be illegal and EA could sue Turbine. Conversely, I'm not sure if EA can produce an LOTR themed MMOG. Thats why EA publishes Battle for Middle-Earth and all those LOTR console slasher/RPG fighting games.
The rights to the MMOG were, I think, lincensed to Sierra in like 1998. Sierra tried (twice, I've heard) to make an MMORPG from the license but it never made it past the concept phase as far as anyone knows. There was basically supposed to be an MMO that came with, before, or just after the movie releases. Sierra's parent company brought Turbine in and eventually sold them the license.
You can even see this in the game logos. Take a look at the LOTRO website, The Battle for Middle Earth II poster, and some movie screencaps of the Witch-King.
Tracks is well..dont remember movies but it is very close to LOTR tracks
Game plaY? well if you like LOTR then this is ok game;)
ye crafting in this game is unique:)
1. Hows the games world? is it true to J.R. Tolkien's writings.
It is as true as SWG was to George Lucas' movies. There are elements from the Lotr Movies and they give you the feeling that you are a part of the middle earth. I did not read the books of the lotr to be honest since the movies usually use the commercial elements and not the essence of the author's mind.
2. What music's in the game? Do they use certain tracks from the Movie?
I never heard tracks from the movie in the game, but the Music is very nice.
3. How is the gameplay? is combat fun?
The gameplay is very fun and you will many times find yourself in situations that you must alter many elements of your character since it is not designed for easy PVE and PVP. Monsters want to live and many times you will find your self in really tough fights especially if you are a solo player. But many times they want to live very much or i am getting to old!
If pre cu SWG managed to keep you playing as long as it it did to me then Lotro is another fine example of professional work and knowledge about what a game is and should be. From glowing blades when certain monsters are near to music tracks synchronised with your character moves in battle, all these elements are bound together from people that know that quality is not quantity and is a result of hard work focusing in what you must do and not just putting everything in a game.
It is a not a sandbox game like SWG was but you can ignore some of the elements and quests since there are thousands of them and it is almost impossible to leave an area and be sure that you have done all of them. Every part of lotro from grinding to role playing and quests has rewards that no other game implemented in such manner.
In my opinion it is an online game that is worth it's title. But whatever your opinion might be don't rush making conclusions about similarities with other online games. This was my initial mistake. Every new level will make you reconsider if it is a clone more and more.
And most important LOTRO is not a beta game as we have been used to the term. If it were another company behind it, it would be already released. The NDA "wall" is just to make sure that everything will be complete before launch and not just another payed Beta.
I don't know if lotro is what you might expected it to be comparing it with SWG or EVE but it will make many online game fans pay to play it.
I will.
So, I managed to get into the closed beta.
I can't give details, but I can say that I feel the game has a lot in common with earlier SWG, that I think the community may form up similarly, that I'm not quite as happy with the crafting but I like it so much more than EQII, say... And I'm planning on buying the game when the beta ends, maybe even shelling out the $199 for a lifetime-of-the-game subscription.
The skill system is more EQII than pre-rape SWG -- I really like purely skill-based systems, and this ain't it (see the first-look review in Saturday's MMORPG.com feature for public info on this, so it's not NDA violation).
But combat is fun, and already in my late teens, my minstrel is well out of the 12345 play and having to pick from two bars' worth of skills/spells to adjust her combat effectively for party support, soloing, adds, panic buttons, and so on.
For all of me, go for it. See you in the open beta!
Shava
Formerly the only female lizard on chilastra...!