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LOTR:O = WoW Clone?
SnaKey
Member Posts: 3,386
This looks almost Identical to the WoW interface. 
Comments
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As ye SOE, so shall ye weep.
Actually that face/bar combo reminds me of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (game by EA, was a lot of fun actually, biotchs released the worst level as the PC demo)... Is this the video that's available on the official forums? What I want to know is why it looks like it changed radically from the first shot to the second. Other than that, I won't make any assertions as I've never played LOTO or WoW. I hope they size them down though, look rather inconveniently large as I'm sure other windows will be making an appearance, chat interface, for instance.
One thing... I'm finally snapping. I can't stand the phrase "WoW clone". Because everyone has been predicting and expecting WoW to be cloned due to its huge number of Western subscribers it seems like everything is getting called a WoW clone at some point or another. If I posted a picture of a ham sandwich I think some people would reflexively call Ham Sandwich Online a WoW clone. It seems like MMORPG.com can't go anywhere or do anything without some kind of oblique reference or comparison to some aspect of World of Warcraft. Games get announced and the most important considerations are similarities and differences when its completely theoretical list of features, stated as ambiguously as possible, are contrasted with Blizzard's pervasive MMOG. Even to people who seem to have a dire antipathy (that ought to be a monster) to all things related to it. Ok I'm done.
There are several games that have similiar UIs, especially the circular
avatar frame connected to a health bar over a secondary bar. I highly doubt the game in its entirety will be a "WoW clone" though.
QFT. It's disappointing to see players acknowledging WoW as if it had no predecessors.
Someone above me made a good point... World of Warcraft is really just another MMORPG. In fact, the opinions I see expressed here suggest it is extremely typical in many respects. Are the similarities people seem to be compulsively seeking from imitation, or is it just that (*wiggles fingers* I'm tired of the acronym too) You-Know-What is so pedestrian that anyone who draws from the well of MMORPG concepts ends up with something that is in That-Other-Game's formula?
In that case, I think I can save you time. LOTRO is doomed from the word go because World of Warcraft has similarities to Lord of the Rings (not the reverse). Hell, people are always going on about the evil races and PVP on LOTR boards. Every time I've looked (irregularly over the years this game has been in development) that's been a recurring theme like a broken record.
Has it occured to anyone else that if you have Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Hobbits on one side of a realm-vs-realm game with Orcs, assorted monsters, and bad humans on the other side, you've nearly got World of Warcraft's premise? Replace the word "hobbit" with "gnome" and add "undead" to the bad humans. They even call the good guys the Alliance.
What seems really similar to wow are the cartoonish looking graphics. Not the the extent of wow's, but not too different either. The colors, the soft textures...
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
I was afraid of that...more companies will actually take the path of WOW since it seems WOW is so "successful".
It's not like WOW invented anything at all. Everything WOW has, it has been done before. It's just that more companies will try to make their games as similar as the way WOW used. Such as cartoonish graphics...
I'd much perfer realistic graphics. If by any chance I have to go with cartoonish graphics, I'd rather use the anime style instead of kids' style.
a.) The "signs" above an npcs head isnt original to WoW. As a matter of fact, they date back to old NES games. WOW is far from original. The only original inventive thing that they ever did as for MMOs is the rested experience system.
b.) If it wasnt for tolkien and LOTR you wouldnt be seeing elves/dwarves and the other 4000 rpgs with them in it.
So in short? wow is a direct rip off, in all aspects of LOTR.
PS I dont really like LOTR im just making it known how absolutely retarded and blind this post is.
are you people Fing stupid?
The graphics look nothing AT ALL like wow's.. they are not half as cartoony... the interface is the same as 90% of the mmos out right now..its a pretty good way to go..keeps everything right in front of you... this looks nothing at all like wow... there is a skill bar and player frame so its a wow clone? jesus christ you people will say or do anything to put a game down..have a real reason..like the over all fact that this game will suck..but dont bash on the interface..its as good as it can get..and actually this looks alot better/sleeker than wow's interface..
I agree. I stopped looking at every update to MEO when it was sold out to LOTR:O. When games change hands, bad stuff always happens. Look at SWG.
A Work in Progress.
Add Me
It's simple, you get all the important date on your scren and it doenst spam you with some shit that you don't even want to know... Or even wors... It covers 1/2 of a screen with some lame art work.
I didn't really like LOTR:O before... And I'm not big fan even now. But this things looks playable. I like it a bit more. Could be fun.
If you read the preceeding paragraph of my post, that was my point.
People are complaining that LOTRO is a WoW clone while WoW is more of a LOTR inspired fantasy clone. And sometimes asking for gameplay that is more WoW-like!
Well, dammitall, I'd be pretty happy if somebody would start making Asheron's Call clones.
~ Ancient Membership ~
Just as another perspective, I'd say that LOTRO is closest to being a clone of Turbine's other new game, Dungeons & Dragons Online.
Not only does LOTRO glorify the combat that Tolkien clearly described as a destructive evil, LOTRO's character classes look like someone cut-and-pasted the classes code from DDO into LOTRO and modified the class name strings. Apaprently Turbine decided that LOTRO should be about killing stuff (like nearly every other new MMORPG), that the now-antique tank/nuker/healer combat roles were good enough (like nearly every other new MMORPG), and that cloning their existing class-based implementation of those musty old "kill it before it dies" roles was a good fit for a game that licenses one of the most richly-detailed literary worlds ever created.
For me, that lack of innovation is too disappointing. I don't think this kind of dogmatically conventional gameplay does justice to Tolkien's vision, so I don't expect to play LOTRO. But that's probably just me.
--Flatfingers
Second, I said the graphics were similar, not identical.
I got my PC Gamer magazine with huge screenie spreads, and I'm sorry, it looked like a wow clone. Nothing wrong there, I play wow, so if the game is similar, maybe it's also a good experience, but that's what I noticed right away, the similarity of the graphics.
Also, we're talking about game design, not lore. No one here in their right mind is taking that cake away from Tolkien.
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
But yeah... very underwhelming.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
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Still in: A couple Betas
LOTRO isnt a "WoW" clone, due to the fact that there is only 1 "faction" so to speak. From what I understand(please feel free to correct me if I am mistaken) there will be no option to be an Orc, a Half-Orc, or a Haradrim/Corsair of Umbar.....As to the interface, who gives a flying rats ass as long as its relatively intuitive?
Peace
-virtual tourist
want your game back?
As the WoW devs themselves said: There isn't really anything "New" in WoW.... They just took the ideas that they liked from other games, shined them up, and stuck 'em in WoW.
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Oh, and EQ2 has rested xp too, it's just labled and handled differently. Since they were in development at the same time it'd be real hard for them to steal from each other. Where they got it from I don't know but I specifically remember an RPG of some kind having a bonus for 'rested' xp.
I also agree with the rest of folks. LOTRO isn't a WoW clone. It's not even really an EQ Clone (in concept). In CONCEPT all MMORPG's are Lord of the Rings clones, since Tolkien is the driving force behind modern fantasy novels and modern fantasy RPG's. And Modern Fantasy RPG's are the driving force behind Fantasy MMORPG's.
But, in TECHNICAL ASPECTS: LOTR:O's interface and gameplay look VERY much like EQ/EQ2/WoW. So, yes, it's a WoW clone from the "computer game interface" standpoint.
Then again, I'm not surprised. It's made by Turbine.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas