LOTRO

[Computer-Ed]

I am a little surpirsed I have not yet seen a thread on this game. I dont have the time to spend on grabbing screenshots and doing a lot of extra research in it right now so I am posting here instead of a full review.

I will begin by saying I am a huge Tolken fan. However I have in the years found most fantasy games are meant for power players and step away from the true core of what Tolken invisioned. As such I have over the years only played a few fantasy games and noen of the MMO ones, okay I admit to 90 days of WOW, I was weak.

Anyway when this game came out I figured it would be like all the others and so pretty much ignored it.

A few days ago a friend asked me over, he was playing on a 10 day trial and wanted me to see the game. I was impressed with the games appearance and it looked like a lot of fun but I figured it was the same old thing.

That was until he showed me character generation. As I was working through the various sections I commented that I figured the loremaster was the wizard class in the came, he replied "Sort of". When I pressed he explained that the games designers did not include a true wizard class because in Tolken true wizards where RARE. The loremaster had a very limited magical bent and the game was pretty true to the Tolken plot line.

Okay now I was curious so I got a 10 day trial and played for 6 hours. The next day my wife and I bought two copies of the game so we could play together.

Now I will not say this game is perfect but it is a refreshing change in the fantasy genre. Magic does not run wild and is something to be held in awe and fear when really seen. Wizards do not battle single characters or groups, Wizards do battle with and defeat ARMIES! Even then the magic is rare but POWERFUL.

The game has a very WOW similiar interface but since WOW stole alot from other games I guess there is no foul there. The quest system is very well done and if you take the time to read and interact the storyline draws you in quickly.

Until LOTRO I was pretty solidly hooked on EVE for my MMO experience. I have seen a lot of games over the last two years but EVE still occupied the majority of my time. This has changed, the last two days mark the first time in two years a single day has passed without me logging on to EVE, except when out of town, and I will likely not be on EVE for another few days, I have a long skill set so no worries there.

The best way to describe LOTRO is FUN! The game is fun to look at, fun to play, just fun in every aspect. If you are a fantasy buff and want to see a fantasy world that does not let every person cast a spell this is the place to be.

I will try to post some screen shots when I can find the time. Right now the training of Fundar, Dwarf Guardian from the White Mountains must continue.

[Capper]

Ed, you need to come play CS:S with us......you're an old guy, you'd fit right in with our CS:S clan....sponsored by Ensure.

BTW, nice little write up.....

[Jokerswild]

I too am a Tolken fan since reading his books as a youth. I will check the game out but I'm not much for fantasy games.

[garetjax]

I had the chance to play LOTRO throughout its beta, and was given a free copy of the game when it went live. To be honest, while the graphics are terrific and the gamelplay is solid, it still feels much too WoW-ish for my tastes. Not to say that WoW is a bad MMO, quite the contrary.
However, it seems that with every new MMO that is released (including Sigil's offering, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes) they all seem to take a little bit from WoW's mold and incorporate it into their games. Which is fine, unless you are tired and bored with WoW like I am, and need new content, along with fresh ideas.

The main reason I did not care for LOTRO was because of its combat system, as it was very similar to WoW. Also, the interface (GUI) was too WoW like, but the same could be said for Vanguard as well, which I beta'd and played upon release as well. I am hoping that as more developers jump on the MMO bandwagon, they start developing their own unique aspects of the game, and stop borrowing them from World of Warcraft.

I enjoyed reading your review, Ed. I am happy that you have found LOTRO a great game to play. =)

[DeanOlicious]

I love The Hobbet, The Rings books and the movies! I've never gotten into MMO mainly because I don't like paying for the subscription, but now that we have a LotR game, it's gonna be hard to resist. Thanks for telling us about it, I'd love to hear more.

Oh, btw are you saying there aren't any wizard class players? Or can you become a wizard eventually?

One Ring to rule them all.......

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

[...] I will begin by saying I am a huge Tolken fan. [...]

Originally Posted by Jokerswild

[...] I too am a Tolken fan since reading his books as a youth. [...]

One would think 2 Tolkien fans would know how to write his name.

[Jokerswild]

Originally Posted by polobunny

One would think 2 Tolkien fans would know how to write his name.

I copied his.

[Computer-Ed]

OUCH all the spelling critics :-)

Okay the game has 4 races: Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit and Human. The classes are:

Burglar: Based off the character Frodo and Bilbo. Hobbits work best in this role, limited to humans and hobbits.

Captain: Based off the character Boromir. Only humans may play this role.

Champion: based on Aragorn; Dwarf, Elf and Human.

Guardian: based on Gimli and all races may play this but Dwarves ROCK at this role.

Hunter: based on Legolas, again all races but the Elves are the master here.

Loremaster: based on the style of Gandalf NOT his power, Human and Elf.

Minstrel: based on Elrond again all races.

Most of these are fairly straight forward in their skills with a couple of exceptions. The Minstrel is the healer and has the most healing skills that he can learn. While this sounds strange once you understand the way the combat system is designed, takes a bit to explain for it to make sense, this is a very logical choice.

The Loremaster is a throw in for the power gamers that would have screamed if no form of magic user had been included. While he possesses some magic his real power is in crowd control. He also is a pet class character and has some interesting options at high levels such as a staff/sword dual wield like Gandalf did in the movie. He will NOT be a massive magic powerhouse. This is purely a support character as in truth are all of the classes.

While you can solo play with any of the classes you will find that their true potential is only found when you form a Fellowship. (Gang raid party whatever you want to call it) Fellowships however are limited to 6 characters max. Larger groups called Kinships exist, essentially clans.

Today I was taking Fundor through one of the started quests. In this quest I am gathering evidence that the Dourhand clan is working with the Goblins to gain control of Blue Mountain regions, specifically Ered Luin.

Now unlike so many games this does not have my starter nobody as some epic character that does not yet understand his own potential. In this case I am a gopher for this series of quests, send to deliver messages or scout out locations.

At this point in the quest i was told to go find an Elf that had acquired some knowledge of Goblin location. He was at an abandoned mine just outside the city.

Upon arrival I was forced to fight my way through a few Goblin scouts that seemed to be looking for something or someone in the area.

I fight through and find an abandoned mine. Going in I soon find myself entering a chamber where an Elven warrior stands around his are a large number of dead Goblins. He gives me a letter of some import he has discovered and tells me to return it to the Dwarf that sent me on the quest.

As I leave I must fight my way through a number of Goblins, more than when I entered that seem bent on stopping me from making this delivery.

I know this plot seems old and easy to recreate and I have seen this before in a lot of games, hence no worries about this being a spoiler. What I have not seen is how well this was executed. I did not face an overwhelming number of Goblins. Rather I was hit from ambush and attacked from hiding. I would just fend off one attack when another would come. If a fight took to long I was soon hit by another goblin joining in. If I was quick i was able to see their scouts roaming the area looking for me.

There was a real sense of importance and adventure to the entire mission. And this is still in the beginner area

As for the people that talk about the similarities to Warcraft, remember Warcraft has zero originality to it as well. Almost everything about it, including the basic substory was stolen from other games and stories. This is a sad truth of 99% of the fantasy games out today, they are all more of the same.

The thing that I love so far about LOTRO is that they did not bend to pressure and made people mad by not creating the generic fantasy classes and instead stuck to the core of the trilogy. They are also trying their best to create some story depth and the little I have seen so far is exceeding expectations.

Now before I post any more on this let me be clear, this is all personal taste. For example I HATE first person shooters but a ton of people love them. This material is not for anyone that does not like fantasy or MMORPG gaming.

If my material right now seems a bit fan boy, it might be. The new is still very here. I am a jaded gamer, having over the MANY years I have been gaming seen more than I care to recall. I remember when Dune2 kicked off the entire RTS genre and we thought F15 was a great flight simulator. I even predate PC gaming back in the days when we played on Plato the game I loved was called Bugs -n- Drugs. We where online gaming with people in Africa and Europe and there was no online.

Because I am a bit jaded about gaming I tend to go way over the top when i see something that gets me excited about gaming. Those moments are now rare and so I enjoy them to the fullest.

If anyone wants a 10 day trial and can get access to the DVDs for the install I have a code. PM me and I will give it to you.

In the mean time I am back to Middle Earth to stop the Dourhands from their evil plots.

[Jokerswild]

I don't see any free trials available anymore.

[Computer-Ed]

with each copy of the game you get serial numbers that give a 10 day trial. It is good for one use and there is one per copy of the game. The draw back is you must have access to the original game disks, 2 DVDs. When you install you setup with the trial serial number.