General Discussion

i play both EvE and LOTRO.

EvE for the more hardcore moods i am in, LOTRO for the casual/storytelling moods. I guess i got the best of both worlds!

Originally posted by ProfRed

I could care less if my favorite movies in the World only had 100,000 viewers and fans while others have millions. 

I really could care less if it dents WoW or if WAR has hundreds of thousands more subscribers because I will try that game as well and if it gives me what I need to be entertained I will play it as long is does so.

I could care less how many trolls, fans, friends, or family preach to me about how something else is better because it's more popular. 

Are you saying you do care or you don't care?

If you could care less than you do then you must actually care some, yet your post implies that you don't.

If you don't care, then surely you would say you couldn't care less.

What do you mean with this expression?

once you get past the first few zones it starts to become more bleak and dark.  my guardian is lvl 22 and hes running around the lonelands (very lonely place) and there are orcs and evil things everywhere.  ruins litter the landscape and the best settlement is some tents in a ruined castle.  first 2 zones (noobzone then usually Breelands) are very bright and "cutesy" but after that it gets darker and darker.  Angmar is the ultimate of that darkness.

also (sorry but i could not resist) did you have an image designer in SWG?

Originally posted by Death1942

once you get past the first few zones it starts to become more bleak and dark.  my guardian is lvl 22 and hes running around the lonelands (very lonely place) and there are orcs and evil things everywhere.  ruins litter the landscape and the best settlement is some tents in a ruined castle.  first 2 zones (noobzone then usually Breelands) are very bright and "cutesy" but after that it gets darker and darker.  Angmar is the ultimate of that darkness.

 

also (sorry but i could not resist) did you have an image designer in SWG?

An Image Designer? lol why? no. ^^

I had a dancer/musican and enjoyed to make gigs with my friends and shows all over the Galaxy. Aww those were the days. I so miss those non-combat professions in MMOs. I mean I want to kill and fight like anyone, but I lack the additional sphere of gaming I had in SWG. *sigh*

OP,

I can relate to a lot of what you are saying.  SWG...been there.  Leading an army into a rebel town and chasing them through the streets slaughtering them because they killed my buddy....so fun.  I miss those days.  Now I play LOTRO, and like you I think the game is so beautiful, but for some reason I find myself so bored.  So so bored.

I agree the cuteness thing is getting old.  I think this is one reason I am loving GTA4 right now.  There is a gritty realism that is refreshing. 

If anybody could send me the mod that makes WoW orcs and trolls pink, that would be great.

But seriously, WoW a cute world? There are dead people hanging in trees, there are skulls and skeletons stuck on torture equipment.

Cute wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind if I were to judge WoW's world, especialy when compared to something like Flyff, Ragnarok Online or Trickster.

maybe its not the graphics or how its presented but the deep underlying fear and darkness that is missing.  when i played SWG i had the funny feeling sometimes that i was being watched or followed.  this almost always turned into a bounty hunter once i had left the (relative) safety of a town and my heart rate raced up.  there was always a dark feeling in SWG, its like someone someplace is doing something that is about to effect you and its not a good thing (hiring bounty hunters is a classic example).  new MMO's are too soft on people

Okay, I'm not sure because i wasn't interested enough to persue it further but has anyone tried Witcher?  isn't it an MMORPG or is it a single player PC game?   The way it was presented at GenCon was that your choices were to make the better of 2 bad decisions all through the game, and it looked dark.

Originally posted by Gameloading

If anybody could send me the mod that makes WoW orcs and trolls pink, that would be great.

But seriously, WoW a cute world? There are dead people hanging in trees, there are skulls and skeletons stuck on torture equipment.

Cute wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind if I were to judge WoW's world, especialy when compared to something like Flyff, Ragnarok Online or Trickster.

And warcraft really is not great at pulling that off, IMO.  Warcraft, right from the first time I saw it in the 90's, always seemed to me to be Warhammer extremely lite.  Heck there isn't even Chaos in it and the closest cnalog, Demons, are very tame.

However I do not really agree that LOTRO should be lumped in with WoW.  Yeah the Shire and Bree are nice but the darker parts of the world and the dread mechanics etc make it in my mind a middle road as far as grimness and that seems just about right for the setting.  Just run Garath Agarwen and do the red maid quest line and you a get fine illustration of corruption and redemption.  You essentially have to send her to rest because you can't un-corrupt her and her own sister sends you to do it.

To me games based on books in particular LoTRO and AoC have to maintain a level of continuity and authenticity dedicated to the authors vision. To me this makes these games a bit limited and constrained, you're not going to see new races or undiscovered lands per se as you would with a ground floor fantasy MMO.

The two games will appeal to fans of the books/author and there will be those niche players that like the mechanics, storyline, graphics and capabilities. To me I prefer a ground floor fantasy were there is more flexibility in the story line (game play) and can accommodate for new races and new worlds, along with the skills, abilities and traits of those new races/lands.