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How does this game feel?
pencilrick
Member Posts: 1,550
Free or linear? Do you feel like you are in a world or more like you are in a story following some progression line?
Comments
if its one thing that stands out in this game its the storyline.
you actually do feel apart of the journey in Lord of the rings and it feels like you are actually making an impact on things.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Thanks for the reply. I tried this game a long time ago, but stopped early on, so didn't get a true feel for what it would be later.
However, from what you describe, it sounds like they gave us "The Lord of the Rings" story instead of the world of Middle Earth.
I think I would rather wander freely in the world of Middle Earth than be a participant in some linear story progression of the Lord of the Rings.
Oh well, to each their own.
To be honest, it feels like both.
Unlike any MMO i've played, LOTRO has this unique gameplay where at one point you feel like a lonely warrior in a middle of this giant world, and you simply don't know where to start your journey. You will stand in the middle of lone lands, or North Barrows, overlooking the landscape from a mountain, and you will try to think where would it be best for you to start your next adventure. You may venture into a dungeon to find thats its meant for a 24 man raid, or discover that trees can not only run, but also kick the crap out of you.
But once you start a quest chain, especially the epic quest line following the fellowship, you're quickly immersed in an experience of a life time. Things happen fast, unpredictable plot twists, cut scenes and very tightly contorlled events suck you into a game that feels more like a standard RPG than an MMO. These quests are very cinematic and really grasp your attention, this is one of those games where you will actually want to read the quest text for more than just info on what to do on the quest.
Not all quest are this immersive ofcourse. Some are just basic run there do that, kill 10 of these bring 15 of that. This really helps the game feel like a real, wide world and not a controlled instance. Towns feel very alive, with many details, mostly due to the ten thousand NPC for training, trading, quests etc. Music also helps, its always fun seeing a bunch of people playing flutes outside of the prancing pony.
The world it self feels very realistic, with smooth transitions from area to area. You won't see a desert abrubtly end next to healthy green forest *cough* warcraft *cough*. As you run through zone, tree lines will gradually become thinner and you'll see more grass, which will become more yellow untill it's all dry grass and rock everywhere.
I don't know if that really answered your question. The best way to find out is to check it out yourself!
Thanks. I certainly might need to reconsider LOTRO.
In my opinion LotrO is less linear than WoW, AoC or WAR but it is no sandbox or dont have a huge open world such as Vanguard.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
For me Lotro was the most linear hand held MMO that i ever tried.
I havent tried AoC or WAR yet because i lost fate in the whole genre when i realised that the mother of all fantasy liceneses was such a thin linear sightseeing world.
Whenever i tried to do anything "different" in LOTRO i was held back by invisible barriers forcing me to go with the mainstream. There are just no alternatives for people that think different in this middle earth.
That began when i couldnt jump over the fence when i first saw one of the dark riders. I couldnt open the door when the cave troll was still alive and so on and so on... invisible barriers everywere forcing me to just watch instead of interact or if i interact then only the exact way it was programmed.
In older games you would have shot an arrow at the dark rider and probably missed or injured him for 1 point of damage with the result that he killed you with one strike or knocked you unconcious giving the story a slightly different route.
If you can ignore all those invisible walls and enjoy the very limited choices to interact with the "world" scenes going on, then you might find this game very entertaining. It then feels like a cartoon movie that you unlock by klicking the right buttons.
I am jealous for the people who can pretend their mind to be part of anything in LOTRO as nothing you do has any influence at all to the "world" themepark around you.
In my opinion the world itself gives a reasonable feeling of a free world. Sure, you get kicked out of the "higher" level areas with ultraaggrorange if you are exploring as a level 1 char. Most of the "feeling" of the world comes from the smalltalk of the inhabitants, the usual conversation between NPCs. There is something amiss in the shire, dark riders, trouble in Bree with foreigners - lots of hints to the backgroundstory (which is LotR). As in every mmorpg i have tried so far, there is no true impact of what a player does or does not. Completing quests results in a different "meeting" dialog when passing the original questgiver later - like "Thanks for helping me get my purse back". The beforementioned invisible barriers are found only in instances, when a certain part of the surrounding story is being told. Those are pretty linear - as stories are. Shooting an arrow at a Nazgulrider? Noone in his right mind would do so (at least at level 1) - those are ring-wraiths! (Part of the game also assumes you are a citicen of Middleearth - not the Terminator).
In short, the storyLINE is LINEar (sorry could not resist), character development is on a very linear path too - the rest of the world is rather free - except of entering Moria you can get to 50 without ever doing any quest/storyline/etc.
Poster above said it well, it's a little bit of both, I feel like I have a lot of freedom in what do next, the epic storyline is of course by it's very nature linear, but you're free to pursue it at your own pace (or more like when you find a group to do the chapters needing a fellowship to complete) andf aside from that there's alot of choies on where one should go and seek adventure while leveling up, moreso than when the game was launched due to new areas being added like Evendim, Southern Trollshaws, Goblin-Town etc, etc.
And what I personally like the most is how the outside world is mostly one big seamless area, no loading screens when entering or leaving major areas like Angmar, The North Downs, Rivendell etc, gives a great feeling of immersion when you can ride all the way from Forochel or Angmar in the north all the way to the Misty Mountains, and now Eregion and The Gates of Moria of course.
The game also has a nice feeling of out of the way places like The Far Chetwood where there are no quests or NPC's or anything to do in particular, just a great quiet forest area that's simply there. I'm also very fond of the area in the northermost part of The Shire,The Bindbole Wood I think it's called, truly lovingly crafted place by the devs, a few quests to do there of course but also a very nice "out of the way, far from the maddening crowd"-type of place
Well, I think it depends on what you are talking about.
If you mean the book quests, they are very linear, but a pretty minor aspect of the game. I'm 35th level (which took me 5 months), and I'm still in Book 2 (though some was simply a lack of anyone to do the group part of the quests with)
OTOH, the world itself is pretty open, if almost completely empty of other people. Though I guess the later really does make you feel like being out in the wildness, miles from nowhere.
Still, the world itself is pretty much fixed. Even though NPCs will great you based on quests, everything is pretty much fixed at a given ponit in time. That cart outside Combe, for instance, has been broken down there forever. That is something of a illusion breaker.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there