AngryBearsFan
02-19-07, 10:51 PM
Dont know if there is a forum for this game, so here is a review while I await the servers to return. AMD 64 3500, 2gig ram, gforce 6800 256.
If you played WOW, this game will be very familiar in terms of most everything. Clearly, they copied WOW in a lot of ways. I enjoyed the WOW 1-60 game but quit after a month of raiding as it was boring.
The first thing you notice is the graphics and the art direction. They are really nicely done. Some people prefer the ultra realistic graphics or EQ2, but these are very nice especially with the great art direction. Things are placed and laid out very nicely. And they have a nice bloom effect. It really works well with the style of the game. Not too much bloom like in Oblivion, and not too little like in EQ2. I think the engine is the old AC2 engine and its surprising just how well it stands up to current games.
The game runs VERY smooth and playing Beta its very polished, just like WOW was. There is a dramatic difference in this game and Vanguard in terms of bugginess and playability.
My system plays this game great, even in Bree which I think is the most laggiest. The big thing is Ram and then a video card. 1 gig might not be enough, better to go with 2. I have not experienced any real choppiness that hinders game play. They still need to optimize the engine a bit and tweak some things, if they can do that with an older engine. They went the WOW route in planing on having quite a few toons together in one place.
The environmental graphics are top notch, this game is a lesson in Art Direction.
The character graphics are not up to par with the other graphics. Again, they went the WOW route. Lots of toons will be looking the same. There are a few options you can fool around with and different types of Elves (Mirkwood, Rivendell) have different colors (hair, skin) to choose from so that is neat and according to lore. But, all in all this is one of the weaker parts of the graphics engine. It really doesnt matter to me though. Some animations really need a bit of tweaking. Female running (elf and human) is strange, and walking is very poorly done (think the forward moonwalk).
Everyone raves about the sound and music and it hasn't disappointed me. The Shire music is nice, the Old Forest music is a bit over the top (actually a lot over the top) Bree music is ok....I not gotten to any other parts.
Lore. They are REALLY being sticklers on the whole Lore and I guess that is a good thing. No wizard class. Toons have morale not hit points so there are no heals, but you raise morale. A heal is a heal in my book so I consider it magic. I have only seen the 2nd and 3rd Hobbit movie and only read the Simarllion so I am not a lore expert but I can tell they are sticking to the lore at all costs.
Combat is, well, just ok. It's pretty easy and not complex like EQ say where you must do certain things or you can die a horrible death. There are crowd control spells and range weapons and monster AI is ok (they will root you and move back to fire arrows) but its not a complex system. It will take you about 5 minutes to master combat in LOTRO, but the game is NOT about combat it is about quests.
You cannot be a powergamer and have this game hold your interest, it just wont happen. There is a specific way they want you to play and that is the "stop and smell the roses" type of gameplay. EXP grinding just wont level you, EXP is bad. You get the best EXP from quests, and there are a ton.
There is also a lot of things to do to make your toon better. Kill a bunch of flys, and you get a Fly-Swatter title. Use a skill a lot and it opens up an upgrade. Each "zone" has bunch of these types of things as well as other quests, locations to find, things to pick up.....lots of things to do, so if you do just powerlevel off mobs you will wind up gimping yourself in the end.
Each race has a story arc and I think each class does too. But, and this could be a bad thing if you roll a lot of alts, you will be doing the same quests and story arcs over and over. Well, you dont "have" to do them, but I just cannot let a quest go unfinished.
I think they want you to stick to your racial starting area (Human is Bree, Hobbit is shire) and do those quests then they funnel you into the Forgotten Inn area and from there Eastward to Rivendell....But, I dont think there is any penalty to make a human then run to the Shire and do all those newbie quests instead of your human ones. You might miss out on some human lore things, but there was a Captain trainer in the Thorin's Hall (and only humans can be Captains) so they might have thought of this.
Only a handful of classes and races, but all Lore. Everyone can solo, Guardians are the only real tanks but I have been tanking content as a Captain fine. I think once you get to the real dungeons, then you need the Guardian and Minstrel (healer). They say they dont want to create a "holy trinity" but I think that is what will happen in the higher levels....but who knows.
Tradeskills are WOW easy. In fact, its almost a carbon copy. One of the neat things is that you get one-shot recipes....these allow you to create better than average weapons and stuff (at least I think they do). They all seem pretty nice and you can create a lot of stuff. Right now, I am a Scholar so I can create scrolls, armor dye and the like...they also give you two other professions when you choose your primary profession. For scholar, I got farmer and weaponsmith. Dont ask me why, but that is what they gave me.
Yes, you can smoke pipe weed and its an actually animation with the pipe...looks pretty cool. My only gripe is that while the NPCs can sit around on logs, wagons or whatever...PCs cannot. It would be cool to just sit in some alley and drink or something, but currently you cannot.
Loot. Eh, tough to come by for me (level 15 Captain). Tradeskills can certain make good to even great quality items, but they have a Auctioneer (like WOW) that needs to be refined. As usual, NO players use the buy-out option even with limited banking space. I have only seen a couple of really nice things (purple text I think is rare or legendary) and of course it is over priced.
Quested items are ok, but they are few and far between. Just gaining one level means you have access to that level's stuff, and it may be a LOT better than the stuff in the previous level. Maybe I am doing the wrong quests, but I am currently decked out in NPC bought leather armor simply because I have yet to find anything better. Stats and little increases seem really inconsequential in the noob levels, I just focused on hit points and armor rating which I can tell has an effect.
If they decide to go to the "crafters create the best stuff besides raid items" way then there is going to be a LOT of problems. People will just buy up and resell and you will be sol when you are trying to upgrade. Maybe I am just in the wrong areas.
I have only seen or been in one dungeon, which was the noobie spider dungeon. No puzzles or traps or riddles...straight forward stuff. I am hoping it improves.
There are a lot of little nice touches. You can have a family, it does not add anything but just for role-playing. Smoking and drinking, I tried to get drunk but I couldnt even after chugging 6 flagons of wine. Voice chat, kinship (guild) advancement, Monster play (its the only PVP and I think it will stay that way). They should have bitten the bullet and went the Mordor route and created the evil races as PCs too....it would have been a huge undertaking, but it really would have added a lot to the game.
They brought over the AC2 /music system, but it really needs a lot of work.
This is a casual game for sure, powergames and harcore raiders will most likely not stay past the first month.
Turbine has always been good with monthly content, and there is a LOT of stuff they can add. I look at it like this. Vanguard put a lot on the plate and is frantically trying to fix things. Turbine went slow and steady and has less content BUT they have a better foundation on which to build later expansions. I think that is the way to go, but they have to have a gameplan.
My favorite part so far is what I did last night. I had a quest in the Old Forest, and playing Interplays Fellowship of the Rings (1990) I remember just how tough that place was. I knew I shouldnt enter and I knew I was just going to get lost, but I had to do it....sure enough, I got lost and very quickly at that. It was amazing at how fast I got lost in there. Lots of aggro monsters, some elite trees that move around...very few safe places so you have to be on your feet. The graphics were nicely done (sound was over the top) but it really was scary. I had like 5 or six mobs chasing me, no way I could live so I just started to take off and run. I ran and ran, into a bunch of webs where I fell off a small cliff into spider central. I lost the monster aggro, but now I had to get out.
I was doing something the characters did in the movies, get lost in the Old Forest and for that time it really felt like I was a part of the whole thing.
Once they start adding a few expansions I can see this game being a real powerhouse. There are so many things to do and places to explore, and judging by the map they are going to add a lot.
It will be released pretty much playable and stable, it already is in closed Beta so all they really have to worry about is stress testing and polishing up some things (pet AI is horrible...my squire poofs every time I turn my back on him)
Buying it at release is a real option, unlike Vanguard simply because my system probably wouldnt handle it that well. But like I said, you have to be in a certain mind set to play this game. Powergame it, and you will get bored in one session. Play with a couple of friends and just do stuff for the heck of it and you will enjoy it.
Ok, I need to log back in and kill two goblin chiefs.....or were they goblin chefs?
If you played WOW, this game will be very familiar in terms of most everything. Clearly, they copied WOW in a lot of ways. I enjoyed the WOW 1-60 game but quit after a month of raiding as it was boring.
The first thing you notice is the graphics and the art direction. They are really nicely done. Some people prefer the ultra realistic graphics or EQ2, but these are very nice especially with the great art direction. Things are placed and laid out very nicely. And they have a nice bloom effect. It really works well with the style of the game. Not too much bloom like in Oblivion, and not too little like in EQ2. I think the engine is the old AC2 engine and its surprising just how well it stands up to current games.
The game runs VERY smooth and playing Beta its very polished, just like WOW was. There is a dramatic difference in this game and Vanguard in terms of bugginess and playability.
My system plays this game great, even in Bree which I think is the most laggiest. The big thing is Ram and then a video card. 1 gig might not be enough, better to go with 2. I have not experienced any real choppiness that hinders game play. They still need to optimize the engine a bit and tweak some things, if they can do that with an older engine. They went the WOW route in planing on having quite a few toons together in one place.
The environmental graphics are top notch, this game is a lesson in Art Direction.
The character graphics are not up to par with the other graphics. Again, they went the WOW route. Lots of toons will be looking the same. There are a few options you can fool around with and different types of Elves (Mirkwood, Rivendell) have different colors (hair, skin) to choose from so that is neat and according to lore. But, all in all this is one of the weaker parts of the graphics engine. It really doesnt matter to me though. Some animations really need a bit of tweaking. Female running (elf and human) is strange, and walking is very poorly done (think the forward moonwalk).
Everyone raves about the sound and music and it hasn't disappointed me. The Shire music is nice, the Old Forest music is a bit over the top (actually a lot over the top) Bree music is ok....I not gotten to any other parts.
Lore. They are REALLY being sticklers on the whole Lore and I guess that is a good thing. No wizard class. Toons have morale not hit points so there are no heals, but you raise morale. A heal is a heal in my book so I consider it magic. I have only seen the 2nd and 3rd Hobbit movie and only read the Simarllion so I am not a lore expert but I can tell they are sticking to the lore at all costs.
Combat is, well, just ok. It's pretty easy and not complex like EQ say where you must do certain things or you can die a horrible death. There are crowd control spells and range weapons and monster AI is ok (they will root you and move back to fire arrows) but its not a complex system. It will take you about 5 minutes to master combat in LOTRO, but the game is NOT about combat it is about quests.
You cannot be a powergamer and have this game hold your interest, it just wont happen. There is a specific way they want you to play and that is the "stop and smell the roses" type of gameplay. EXP grinding just wont level you, EXP is bad. You get the best EXP from quests, and there are a ton.
There is also a lot of things to do to make your toon better. Kill a bunch of flys, and you get a Fly-Swatter title. Use a skill a lot and it opens up an upgrade. Each "zone" has bunch of these types of things as well as other quests, locations to find, things to pick up.....lots of things to do, so if you do just powerlevel off mobs you will wind up gimping yourself in the end.
Each race has a story arc and I think each class does too. But, and this could be a bad thing if you roll a lot of alts, you will be doing the same quests and story arcs over and over. Well, you dont "have" to do them, but I just cannot let a quest go unfinished.
I think they want you to stick to your racial starting area (Human is Bree, Hobbit is shire) and do those quests then they funnel you into the Forgotten Inn area and from there Eastward to Rivendell....But, I dont think there is any penalty to make a human then run to the Shire and do all those newbie quests instead of your human ones. You might miss out on some human lore things, but there was a Captain trainer in the Thorin's Hall (and only humans can be Captains) so they might have thought of this.
Only a handful of classes and races, but all Lore. Everyone can solo, Guardians are the only real tanks but I have been tanking content as a Captain fine. I think once you get to the real dungeons, then you need the Guardian and Minstrel (healer). They say they dont want to create a "holy trinity" but I think that is what will happen in the higher levels....but who knows.
Tradeskills are WOW easy. In fact, its almost a carbon copy. One of the neat things is that you get one-shot recipes....these allow you to create better than average weapons and stuff (at least I think they do). They all seem pretty nice and you can create a lot of stuff. Right now, I am a Scholar so I can create scrolls, armor dye and the like...they also give you two other professions when you choose your primary profession. For scholar, I got farmer and weaponsmith. Dont ask me why, but that is what they gave me.
Yes, you can smoke pipe weed and its an actually animation with the pipe...looks pretty cool. My only gripe is that while the NPCs can sit around on logs, wagons or whatever...PCs cannot. It would be cool to just sit in some alley and drink or something, but currently you cannot.
Loot. Eh, tough to come by for me (level 15 Captain). Tradeskills can certain make good to even great quality items, but they have a Auctioneer (like WOW) that needs to be refined. As usual, NO players use the buy-out option even with limited banking space. I have only seen a couple of really nice things (purple text I think is rare or legendary) and of course it is over priced.
Quested items are ok, but they are few and far between. Just gaining one level means you have access to that level's stuff, and it may be a LOT better than the stuff in the previous level. Maybe I am doing the wrong quests, but I am currently decked out in NPC bought leather armor simply because I have yet to find anything better. Stats and little increases seem really inconsequential in the noob levels, I just focused on hit points and armor rating which I can tell has an effect.
If they decide to go to the "crafters create the best stuff besides raid items" way then there is going to be a LOT of problems. People will just buy up and resell and you will be sol when you are trying to upgrade. Maybe I am just in the wrong areas.
I have only seen or been in one dungeon, which was the noobie spider dungeon. No puzzles or traps or riddles...straight forward stuff. I am hoping it improves.
There are a lot of little nice touches. You can have a family, it does not add anything but just for role-playing. Smoking and drinking, I tried to get drunk but I couldnt even after chugging 6 flagons of wine. Voice chat, kinship (guild) advancement, Monster play (its the only PVP and I think it will stay that way). They should have bitten the bullet and went the Mordor route and created the evil races as PCs too....it would have been a huge undertaking, but it really would have added a lot to the game.
They brought over the AC2 /music system, but it really needs a lot of work.
This is a casual game for sure, powergames and harcore raiders will most likely not stay past the first month.
Turbine has always been good with monthly content, and there is a LOT of stuff they can add. I look at it like this. Vanguard put a lot on the plate and is frantically trying to fix things. Turbine went slow and steady and has less content BUT they have a better foundation on which to build later expansions. I think that is the way to go, but they have to have a gameplan.
My favorite part so far is what I did last night. I had a quest in the Old Forest, and playing Interplays Fellowship of the Rings (1990) I remember just how tough that place was. I knew I shouldnt enter and I knew I was just going to get lost, but I had to do it....sure enough, I got lost and very quickly at that. It was amazing at how fast I got lost in there. Lots of aggro monsters, some elite trees that move around...very few safe places so you have to be on your feet. The graphics were nicely done (sound was over the top) but it really was scary. I had like 5 or six mobs chasing me, no way I could live so I just started to take off and run. I ran and ran, into a bunch of webs where I fell off a small cliff into spider central. I lost the monster aggro, but now I had to get out.
I was doing something the characters did in the movies, get lost in the Old Forest and for that time it really felt like I was a part of the whole thing.
Once they start adding a few expansions I can see this game being a real powerhouse. There are so many things to do and places to explore, and judging by the map they are going to add a lot.
It will be released pretty much playable and stable, it already is in closed Beta so all they really have to worry about is stress testing and polishing up some things (pet AI is horrible...my squire poofs every time I turn my back on him)
Buying it at release is a real option, unlike Vanguard simply because my system probably wouldnt handle it that well. But like I said, you have to be in a certain mind set to play this game. Powergame it, and you will get bored in one session. Play with a couple of friends and just do stuff for the heck of it and you will enjoy it.
Ok, I need to log back in and kill two goblin chiefs.....or were they goblin chefs?