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Does LOTRO remind you of the old days?
killerwig
Member UncommonPosts: 236
By "the old days", I mean that very first experience you got when playing your first MMO. When everyone was helping everyone; that sense of community spirit that existed in the early days of EQ for example, or any other new MMO that got its hooks into you. There's a "something" that I can't quite sum up in a description, but the old games like UO and EQ had an odd magic about them that was highly engaging and addictive.
I've been playing MMOs and MUDs for a good while now - over 8 years - and thought I'd never again experience that sense of wonder in an MMO. The old vets of EQ should know what I am talking about when I say that Kelethin had it, Moonglow had it in UO as well. I expect other MMOs had certain areas that gave you this particular experience that I'm talking about.
What surprises me most about LOTRO is that it's reminding me of the old days - rose tinted glasses and all. The game might be nothing new for the MMO genre, but it's brought back one of the oldest and most enjoyable things about an online world. LOTRO has this magic all over Eriador - from the rolling sleepy landscape of The Shire, to the beauty and wonder of Rivendell. And even some of the dark places of Middle Earth have it too, like The Old Forest and The Barrow Downs.
Now EQ2 came close to what i am talking about, and so did WoW in some respects, but neither quite achieved it for me. LOTRO does though, and maybe it's because of how well Turbine has designed Middle Earth, or how new the game is - or even because the legendary IP it's based upon. I'm still wondering what it is, but I am really bloody glad that it's there.
So... does LOTRO remind you of the old days too?
Comments
I agree, myself personal feel like I'm apart of something . Working with people creating something truely special, and that is an immersive game experienced for all levels of gamers to enjoy.
Sony Online Entertainment Steals Customers Money
Well said
I too go back to the early days of EQ, and whenever I try and tell one of my freinds about LOTRO, I can't help but say "it has the first day in EQ feel to it". It's an excitement and fun that like the OP said "I didn't think I would find again". There is alot of LOTRO-hating going on, and I can't help but think it's by people who have been beaten into believing that MMOPRGs are this or that (mainly alot of the shallow grindfest, pvp type games). I really had given up on the MMORPG market due to disappointment after disappointment. Some of the games in the past decade have been good, some ok, but none had that same feeling I was looking for. SWG is about the only one I can say I really enjoyed after EQ (preLuclin). LOTRO has restored my faith in the notion that an MMO can be "fun" again.
It's nice to see I'm not the only one with that warm nostalgic feeling
Those games pretty much set the standard for most mmorpgs released since.
There is a few that stepped a little aside such as Anarchy Online and earth and beyound but UO and EQ I will always be my first love.
LOTRO is my 18th mmorpg so off course there is not much that can surprise me and i don't think there will come a game that will sweep me away like UO and EQ I did.
I want my mmorpg virgin days back.
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I can't explain it, its just a damn lot of fun. Once you try it you will understand.
In America I have bad teeth. If I lived in England my teeth would be perfect.
No real gameplay to think about, nothing to learn, just press the button and read along for the ride. It is sort of a very well produced Sword & Sorcery book (the old "If you want to go left, turn to chapter 402, if you want to turn right, go to chapter 68" type of books) with a graphical interface. Right down to the fact that you can go through the exact same story once again if you start over and start + end will be the same this time right too. You might take a few detours (irrelevant sidequests) but the main story remains intact.
On the other hand, I enjoyed those books back in the day. Somebody will surely enjoy this game as well.
That's really not the issue. It's like asking "I assume the cake you make has flour; what other ingredients does it have? " And someone tells you sugar, butter, whatever, and you STILL don't know if it's any good or not. How much of which in what proportions? Fully baked, or half-baked? Read the site FAQ's, and look at the screen shots, and perhaps even try it yourself...
I find it just plain fun; economy stands a bit of tweaking. And I can't imagine how someone finds it completely linear. Must have blinders on.
And to answer the original question; yes, that elusive "sense of wonder" that I had in my first good MMO.
I am sort of having that 'old feeling' as well. The more I look at this game, the more it reminds me of EQ1--the good parts. Take for example this small list of comparisons:
There are probably more parallels that I'm missing. Point being this isn't a bad thing at all. In fact in many ways I suggest that more than VG, LOTRO is the spiritual successor to EQ1.
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Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
As for taking me back to the old days, The mmo that i still use as a standard is Turbine's own AC!. lorto is a bit to managed to really give me that old school feel. Having to find your own tappers to complete spells before you could learn them, couldn't run from city to city safely, It was a different age, the games were harder. Running into the citadel and seeing the mass wall of players fighting for their lives against the lugies, the battle going well, then they break through and run amok through the halls, little knots of players trying to hold em off while others are running back in looking for their bodies, mages outside buffing everyone so you could get back in to the fight and push em back. good times.
Turbine did a good job here no doubt, and players are happy with it which is the main thing. But coming from the days before everything was made easy to grab the all might dollar. I've yet to find a newer game that gives me that old feeling. But on the whole It's as good a game as has been put out lately.
In terms of community, yes it does remind me of the old days. The UK RP server is fantastic (1 reason for me to be in this game).
Regarding technical design of game, no not at all, the game is too linear and predictable.
"I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said..Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?...No, but i served in a company of heroes"
Sgt. Mike Ranney E-company 506PIR 101'st airborn
Nope
Aside from the story line I don't see all that much new or different. A good game, but just one among several.
Really!? I need to at least try LOTRO if the community doesn't have the brain dead 1337 knuckle heads. Seriously, I refuse to communicate with players who speak like that. I think I could have a more intelligent conversation with a parrot instead of a "leet dood". Hopefully, whatever games "teh lolwtfpwner doodz" are playing now, maybe they will stay there and not ruin the LOTRO community if it really is that good.
I enjoyed WoW up until the people started to hit level cap and end game. Then, the game changed dramatically for me. There were "cliques" that were formed, gear became a huge factor, moreover the competition for said gear, etc. It seemed as though people became cut throat and community turned into something I did not wish to be a part of. I suppose the question to ponder is why? What caused this degeneration of the community? Population growth with immature people? End game? Gear dependency? PVP? Dunno. But I do feel a bit leary and jaded because of this.
"...and with that cryptic comment, I'm off to bed!"
I'm sorry, but LOTRO definitely does NOT bring back my old EQ 1 magical feeling. Part of what made those early games so enchanting was the fact that you had to learn everything from the start. They just plopped you in the middle of the woods and said "Find your way", and you had to do that to survive. LOTRO has nothing even close to this, you are loaded into the middle of a story, and hand held then entire rest of the way. There is no exploration, no reason to wander, just the story and thats it.
As for the community, from what I saw atleast, no one talks to anyone and everywhere I went for my quests people were stealing all the mobs.
A more appropriate connection could be made with LOTRO, and WoW or EQ2 because they are much more similar in design and gameplay. But there is just NO WAY you can compare this game to EQ1 or Ultima Online.
It's really interesting seeing people's views on this aspect of a game; how people experience the undefinable "magic" of an MMO - and that seems to be slightly different for everyone. I bet some game developer somewhere would love to data mine for this type of information to find out how they could put some of this old magic into their game. It wouldn't be an easy thing to do, even if they had a complete "MMO magic" statistic map of the whole phenomenon.
While all the replies were great here, one in particular caught my interest:
Hey Ted,
While I do respect your opinion on this, you've left me wondering what you based it on; specifically, how long did you play LOTRO? Your experience of LOTRO is so completely at odds with my own that it surprises me. The only reason I can see that you'd experience LOTRO like this, is if you'd only played the introduction of the game and didn't explore the world at large. If I am correct in my assumption, then your expereince stands as a good example of how different LOTRO is from the old games like EQ or UO when you initially start playing. However, this does not hold true for the game beyond the introduction, in my experience.
I think you missed my point of the "magic" I was talking about here, and why I saw a very solid connection to EQ and UO. Being dropped into a game with no clue as to what to do or where to go is something that only the very first MMOs could get away with. Yes, it held a sense of wonder - and mostly of the "WTF??" variety - but that isn't what I was talking about. You say that there is no exploration in LOTRO, but adversely, this is exactly the point I was trying to make - and why I made the connection to the old games. Take notice that in my original post that I mentioned exploring a few places in Middle Earth (and getting a few exploration deeds on the way, for titles and +stats
), and that made me feel a sense of the magic of the old games - The Shire, Rivendell, The Barrow Downs, The Old Forest etc. And yes, there is plenty of exploration, and good reason to do so - you must have missed the deeds system though.
While it's true that there isn't very much communication at the start of the game (mostly because it's a tutorial to get new players used to the game), the community beyond that instance is very alive and very, very chatty. And while there is the odd bad apple here and there (like all MMOs), by and large the community is excellent. I'm surprised you missed out on that too. The community does remind me of the old days of EQ and UO - just like the brilliantly crafted zones.
As for players stealing the mobs in the newby area - well, if that doesn't remind you of EQ, I don't know what will...
Hey Ted,
While I do respect your opinion on this, you've left me wondering what you based it on; specifically, how long did you play LOTRO? Your experience of LOTRO is so completely at odds with my own that it surprises me. The only reason I can see that you'd experience LOTRO like this, is if you'd only played the introduction of the game and didn't explore the world at large. If I am correct in my assumption, then your expereince stands as a good example of how different LOTRO is from the old games like EQ or UO when you initially start playing. However, this does not hold true for the game beyond the introduction, in my experience.
I think you missed my point of the "magic" I was talking about here, and why I saw a very solid connection to EQ and UO. Being dropped into a game with no clue as to what to do or where to go is something that only the very first MMOs could get away with. Yes, it held a sense of wonder - and mostly of the "WTF??" variety - but that isn't what I was talking about. You say that there is no exploration in LOTRO, but adversely, this is exactly the point I was trying to make - and why I made the connection to the old games. Take notice that in my original post that I mentioned exploring a few places in Middle Earth (and getting a few exploration deeds on the way, for titles and +stats
), and that made me feel a sense of the magic of the old games - The Shire, Rivendell, The Barrow Downs, The Old Forest etc. And yes, there is plenty of exploration, and good reason to do so - you must have missed the deeds system though.
While it's true that there isn't very much communication at the start of the game (mostly because it's a tutorial to get new players used to the game), the community beyond that instance is very alive and very, very chatty. And while there is the odd bad apple here and there (like all MMOs), by and large the community is excellent. I'm surprised you missed out on that too. The community does remind me of the old days of EQ and UO - just like the brilliantly crafted zones.
As for players stealing the mobs in the newby area - well, if that doesn't remind you of EQ, I don't know what will...
I'll admit that I only played in the preorder beta, and only up to 15 so maybe I am missing out on the grander scale, but that is just my opinion. I do not, however, think that LOTRO is a bad game at all it just wasn't for me really. I just don't see any connection between LOTRO and my first MMO whatsoever.
Im defintly gettin the "wow im havin a lota fun just playin" i go tfrom my first days in AO (a few months after launch)
first game im not feeling the rush to lvl in , just wana sit back and quest/explore
Few games have made me feel "involved" or struck me with that magic nostalgia...
Im happy to say that LOTRO has done that, surprisingly well... The community is kind and helpful, the lore is respected and non-RPers (myself included) find themselves RPing because it comes naturally to the environs...
I find myself staring at the screen and hitting f12 and just looking around and taking it all in. I find myself playing slower than my usual grind/power-game/recipe stat technique and reading the quests and exploring.
I actually played with Music, and spent an hour in Bree RPing with two elf characters laughing about how awful I was at playing the horn.
I stared at the blinking lights of the nearing city of my first ferry ride.
This is magic, capturing, convincing... well done Turbine.
Reminds me of Ultima Online definitely... Even Ultima 7. For some reason also brings to mind the beauty and vastness I saw in single player games such as Moonstone (Amiga), Hero's Quest (Quest For Glory I), Kings Quest III, and touches on the childlike escapism I felt when reading these books and drawing hobbits in my school notebooks...
Great post, OP. /Agreed!
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