General Discussion

Originally posted by shae

Precisely the "type" of review I've come to expect from mmorpg.com of late.

Half-assed, half-baked, lacking any sort of real detail and or quality information that we should expect from an (early) review. What's amazing is that I've seen and read a number of early reviews from non-mmorpg specific sites and they've all been ten times better than this. It's not the score, in actually the score isn't all that bad, but rather the seemingly gigantic lack of any sort of genuine  interest  or passion when commenting on a game that's been in pre-production and passed through numerous hands over the past 10 years.

I mean seriously mmorpg.com, did Turbine not pay up as much as you wanted? Did they not suffeciently kiss your collective rear ends?

Honestly, I believe that is the case Shae.  MMORPG has lost all credibility with this review.  The score isn't the issue.  The fact is that everything she wrote in the review doesn't match up with the scores she gave.  It is so inconsistent.  It seems to me that she was told a score by her bosses that she was to give the game after she wrote her review. 

And everyone who says the art in LOTRO isn't as good as WoW.  They are equally good in art direction with LOTRO having a better graphical engine.  LOTRO uses more drab colors because that is what the world would be expected to look like in those areas.  Rivendell is much more bright and colorful then some of the earlier areas.  But all in all the game looks very similar to the movies which both look how the books described things. 

How much better art direction can you get?  You are recreating pretty well described places.  It isn't like you can just go and make up the way you want them to look, or the colors that they are. 

I wish I could read this review, but paragraphs keep disappearing.  There are still plenty of glitches on this site since the makeover . . .

Anyway, about the game, I think it's excellent.  I appreciate the attention to detail and the way Turbine made a huge effort to bring Middle Earth alive. 

I could go on with my own comments, but I think everything has been said already about this game, now if you're reading this and you haven't yet tried it, get into Middle Earth and see for yourself!

For me the review read like dribbling hype falling straight from lips of Turbine. Did you actualy sit down and put in 40 hours worth of actual play? Not using a company given super character?

I wanted to get a first hand taste for the game so I got in on the free trial. I understood the level 15 cap but did not understand why there was no cap on the skills(?) as I was simply able to travel to the top area (Angmar) and mine away.  Level 15 was easy. I did that in 2 days all solo as a Hobbit Burgular. Most of the quests were mind numbinginly boring. As you explore the area you find this and that palce. Run from X to X as a postman and run from X to X carrying pies were possibly the very worst! 

Character customization was almost completely forgotten in this game. As you ran around,  no matter what race and class you were playing at the time, all you seen was copies of yourself. May as well stick to the oriental games and have 1 character look.

As for the fighting?  Well that was so ho hum to me.  Every class gets the exact same skill at the exact same levels as exactly like everyone else in that class. Can we all say  "Cookie Cutter"??  Can we all say "Boring"??

Crafting was very droll and mundane. When will programmers get the sense to see that if an item calls for Dye let the dye that is used be players choice?  Have quality be determined my many variables not just because you are a blacksmith you can create "this" exactly the same as anyopne else who chose to take that craft and is at the same level as you. I'd say blacksmithing should at least  have intelligence, over all experience in  doing it, strength, and some dexterity considerations.  Not just  that you have made XX amount of knives you are now skilled in making bastartd swords of the finest quality right from your first try.  Where was the failures?  Where is the challenge? Where is the need to actually work it??

Lastly in my rant:    Death!    What use is there to having death that has almost no penalty to it at all?  Opps I died. Now I have 10 minutes of dread. Oh NO!!  What am I going to do???  Oh i'll go take a Bio break grab a drink and when I come back it will be gone. Repair costs? Almost nil. Come on people out there give me a game where if I am in battle and I am barely winning , in danger of losing, I want my pulse to quicken and my hands to sweat!!  I want death to hurt me. I want death to mean something. I dont want to lose a months worth of work, but I want to lose  a decent amount so that it makes it worth my while to know how to fight in the first place. As games stand now it is just tackle something see if you win or lose. if you lose wait a level if you win grind it if it is now too cheap in the XP.

Sorry Turbine you have produced another dud that I will not buy and play. But don't feel bad. it is not your company I dislike, it is just your game.

My personal views. Not expecting anyone to agree with me. Take the time to form your own oppinions.

Just bought and loaded LOTRO and I guess the jury is still out. It feels like a cross between AC2 and WoW. Graphics are ok but can't call them outstanding. There are a load of mini-quests like WoW (I call them "jobs"), relatively fast game play, decent crafting system but I can't say as I feel as if I'm in Middle Earth. I've played many MMORPG's and I honestly don't see how this one is all that different. I'll leave it on my computer for a while longer to see how things flush out. Based on my very limited time playing I'd give it a 6.5 but that could go up or down in time.

if you want a costly death, go play EVE Online. Losing your 120,000,000 isk BS to a gate ganker is about as costly as it gets. However the death in this game at least has SOME penalty, however small. Games such as WoW and EQ2 have pretty much no penalty. So I really don't understand your rant on that particular aspect of the game. Although you have made some other points I agree with.

This review was about as good as the lotr game.  Bland, no depth, generic, uninspired.  Lots of games are going to be clones, watch for tons of these types of games in the future as the bandwagon loads up.  Here's an article about how much more of the fodder like this game is to come...

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6431207.stm