Lord of the Rings Online Review

The circle is now complete. With Turbine's release of Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO), the Massively Mutliplayer game figuratively eats the tail of its originator in ouroboros-like fashion. Tolkien's work begat Dungeons and Dragons, the PC gaming market, CRPGs, and finally Massive games, and last month's release of LOTRO beautifully reconnects the future with the past. Replacing dice-wielding friends around a table has even, wonder of wonders, been done well. Polished gameplay and cutting-edge graphics abound; In direct contrast to the lackluster response to Turbine's other MMOG, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online has had an overwhelmingly positive reaction from fans. Read on for my notes from the experience of trying on Hobbit feet for a month, and a few words about why LOTRO's quality is notable and highly encouraging.

• Title: Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar
• Publisher: Midway
• Developer: Turbine Inc.
• System: PC
• Genre: Massively Multiplayer Online Game
• Score: 4/5 - This game is above average, and excels in the genre it supports. A classic for the genre, likely to be a part of a genre fan's collection, and well worth a look for every gamer.

It may seem derogatory to open a review by comparison to another game, but in this case the comparison is a positive one; it's worth saying up front: Lord of the Rings Online stacks up very well compared to the king of the genre, World of Warcraft (WoW). When WoW dropped on an unsuspecting PC market a little over two years ago, it changed the Massively Multiplayer industry forever. As a result, WoW has been an incredibly hard act to follow.

It's telling, and more than a little disconcerting, to note that every Massively Multiplayer game launched since WoW has had a very hard time garnering attention from traditional Massive gamers. Some expansions have worked out well, of course, and Guild Wars has succeeded by dodging the barrier of a monthly fee completely. New AAA MMOGs, though, have been grimly received. Some of the biggest games launched since WoW include: The Matrix Online, ArchLord, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Auto Assault, and Vanguard. Though each of these titles offers some interesting gameplay elements, none of them have managed to capture even a noticeable percentage of the WoW-playing audience.

The simple fact, then, that Lord of the Rings Online is a polished, competently executed, and genuinely fun Massively Multiplayer experience is not to be taken lightly. Adequacy should not be confused with disappointment. LOTRO is, literally, the first brand-new MMOG worth playing since World of Warcraft. As depressing as that is to contemplate, LOTRO's success is great news for fans of the books and movies; no one is turning in their grave as a result of this game's launch.

In the broadest sense, LOTRO compares favorably to World of Warcraft because it borrowed many components from the current king of the genre. LOTRO has adapted the general 'feel' of WoW's gameplay to a wholly new setting and experience. The result is a MMOG that will be extremely intuitive to anyone who has played other Massive games. Characters are chosen from a selection of classes and races, spend most of their time completing quests, fight opponents by selecting class abilities from a hotbar, and can band together with other players to take on challenges too dangerous to solo. The game can primarily be played by yourself, but common chat channels called Fellowships ensure that players looking for more long-term social commitments can achieve their goals. It's a sign of the times that WoW's success almost seems to demand some level of imitation from other products to be competitive. It should be stressed, though, that LOTRO is not just a poor man's WoW. This is no cheap knock-off, and the game is categorically not trying to be World of Warcraft. It would be more accurate to say that Turbine has recognized quality, and attempted to ensure that their own product lives up to expectations.

What separates LOTRO from the crowd, the thing that Turbine has sharpened and honed to cut players (at least temporarily) away from other games, is the Middle Earth license. The extraordinary care that the designers have taken to place players into Middle Earth is apparent in every aspect of the game. As in other titles set during the Rings trilogy, Turbine has wisely kept you fairly well removed from the main plot of the books. By following quests scattered throughout the world, your character dances around and through the journey of the One Ring. Though you can speak with every member of the Fellowship at some point in your travels, you are not asked to shoulder Frodo's burden. Instead, your character is woven deeply efforts of the free peoples to aid the ring-bearer and repel the forces of Mordor. The usual kill-it and fed-ex quests dot the land, and wouldn't look out of place in any other game. The sharp difference is that Turbine has leveraged Tolkien's amazing world-building efforts to make you actually care about what you're doing. Ranging from the practical (slaying goblins to keep the townspeople safe) to the ridiculous (running pies across the shire to spoil the Sackville-Baggins' party), quest text is remarkably well written. If you read and enjoyed the books, you're going to quickly find yourself pausing to read the tales these quests tell.

This pause, the interest in the lives of the NPCs, results in a different pace than you might be used to in other Massive games. It's, of course, an intrinsic part of the gameplay that you can set your own pace in a Massively Multiplayer game. That said many games compel you to rush everywhere, getting as much done as quickly as possible, playing for long stretches at a time to grind to the higher levels. LOTRO just doesn't have that vibe. Certainly, you can churn through the content as fast or slow as you'd like. There were max-level characters on the game servers within a week or two of the game's launch. For those with more appetite for story, or those grown tired of that pace in other online games, the breathtaking graphics and well-told tales encourage stopping to smell the roses. There's also just no compelling reason to grind your way to max-level in this game. Right now a big chunk of highest-level content is still in development, and for a Massively Multiplayer game LOTRO is quite reasonably priced. Anecdotal evidence from my own experiences and the experiences of other players indicates that Lord of the Rings Online is the kind of game that is most fun to play in fits and spurts. A few hours one day, a few hours the next ... it's so much fun running around the Shire, it's easy to see why a player would be in no rush to leave the lower levels.

Another element that encourages lingering rather that rushing, and can help assuage the hardcore players that might otherwise grumble, are the deeds. Deeds are a unique element to Lord of the Rings Online, a kind of achievement system somewhat reminiscent of those earned on the Xbox 360. They're discovered by doing the act the deed requires for the first time; for example, many require a certain number of monsters to be slain. The first time you kill a wolf in the Shire, your UI notes that you've begun work on the 'Wolf Slayer' deed. This can just be a blind grind-fest, if you're so inclined, but players have found that most deeds can be accomplished simply by going about their normal business of questing and traveling. Killing wolves as you encounter them in your travels eventually results in the completion of that deed, without needing to ruin your play experience with senseless repetition. Instead of Xbox Live gamerpoints, deeds earn your character two things: titles and virtues. Titles are simply that, strings that can be added on to your name. Completing the Wolf Slayer deed, for example, nets you the 'Fur Cutter' title. It's a simple customization, but the large number of deeds in the game allows for players to represent themselves in a myriad of different ways.

Virtues are much more important. Each completed deed gives you access to a virtue, an insubstantial descriptor that modifies your character's game statistics. As an example, completion of the Wolf Slayer deed earns the 'Discipline' virtue. Discipline increases melee damage and your character's resistance to injury. Each virtue modifies different character abilities and statistics, and are useful in different situations. A character's functionality can be changed dramatically just by swapping out what virtues they have slotted. It encourages differentiation between members of the same class, and a few wisely-chosen virtues can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Deeds aren't the only unique element LOTRO offers. The game's character classes are a nice tweak on the normal 'tank/mage/cleric' trinity that have been the standard in fantasy MMOs since EverQuest. While the basic party roles are all there, their Middle Earth wrapping pleasantly muddies the waters. The main Damage Per Second (DPS) class in the game, for example, is the Burglar, a rogue-type character. The character you'd expect to be most like the blaster/mage is the Loremaster, but he fulfills more of a crowd control role. He also has some healing skills, as do several other classes. The Minstrel is the primary healing class, but with multiple classes having the ability to heal it's not critical to ensure a Minstrel is in every party. This 'spreading the load' approach also allows Minstrels themselves to be a more front-line combatant than any priest or healer is in other games Their songs do damage to enemies, as well as providing short-term buffs for team-mates. Though for the most part these are all familiar roles in new packages, they 'feel' differently enough to provide a sense of novelty for veterans and new players alike.

Crafting within the game is well done, but simply doesn't feel as though it was made huge priority. You're forced to choose from one of three crafting classes, separate from your combat class. Each class has three vocations it covers, allowing for slightly more variety than in other games. While most of these crafts are par for the course, there are a few vocations that tweak things a bit. Farming, for example, is an actual crafting element in the game. You plant seeds, harvest crops, and sell them to other players; in Beta it was the best way to make money, and resulted in more than a few obvious jokes. There is also a Scholar vocation that has players collecting pieces of ancient wisdom together to make scrolls and potions. For the most part, though, crafting in Lord of the Rings Online is 'merely' competently executed. New players aren't introduced to the fundamentals of crafting explicitly enough before they're forced to make a choice, and after a choice is made quest support for crafting-friendly players can be a bit slack at low levels.

Merely 'okay' crafting, aside, the game world really does have an overall very high level of quality. Just the same, Lord of the Rings Online is not perfect. At launch, there are a number of complaints that users have grappled with. The single most disappointing game element has to be the game's UI. Though it is functional, that's about the only thing that can be said in its favour. LOTRO's UI features dull, uninformative icons and a general lack of polish. It may seem like a minor quibble but set against the general high level of quality throughout the rest of the game, and compared (as always) to WoW, it's quite a glaring oversight.

Early in the launch window as we are, there have been numerous complaints by players about the balance of the game's economy. While items seem well powered for their levels, and obtaining gear is a fairly well-tuned process, the costs associated with purchasing new abilities is astronomical. It's not out of the ordinary for a single new ability (obtainable from a trainer at a newly-achieved level) to cost half or more of the coin you have on-hand. Mileage will vary from player to player, of course, as some people place a higher emphasis on crafting and selling than others. The general consensus, just the same, seems to be that ability costs could use a revisit.

Given the respect for the setting it's another minor quibble, but the lack of any sort of tie-in to the Peter Jackson helmed movies is, in my mind, a lapse. Obviously, the license for that content is separate from the license that Turbine is working off of, and as such there's no reason to expect Elijah Woods or Hugo Weaving to make an appearance in the gameworld. Just the same, it's hard to listen to the kinda-generic fantasy music that greets you at login and not yearn for Howard Shore's stirring theme. Perhaps this might be a possibility in the future; that's one of the many beautiful things about the Massive genre - things are always changing.

One thing that doesn't need changing, though, are Lord of the Rings Online's simply stunning graphics. Years from now the choice to go photo-realistic will make the game look horribly dated, all while World of Warcraft's stylized vision remains fresh and crisp. In the meantime, LOTRO offers a simply jaw-droppingly beautiful online experience. EverQuest 2's attempt at realistic graphics in an online game have resulted in goofily appealing characters, but they don't quite capture what I think the game was going for. Middle Earth, on the other hand, is insanely beautiful. The first time you reach a high point in the Shire it is completely worth it to stop, turn your settings all the way up, and just stare across the fields. While the story wraps you into the gameworld intellectually, LOTRO's graphical presentation brings that world to life on a visceral level; New Zealand has nothing on that place.

For the Massive gamer tired of endlessly played options, or the Tolkien fan disappointed with the lore content in Battle For Middle Earth II, Lord of the Rings Online is the perfect balm. While it doesn't try to move the genre forward in any readily appreciable ways, LOTRO is such a well-crafted experience that it's hard not to enjoy yourself. For some, their time in Middle Earth will be just a vacation from other online worlds. For others, though, this may just be the game you've been waiting for. A slower pace, a beautiful presentation, and a gripping story are all readied and waiting just a bit down the road.

The circle is now complete?

[Anonymous Coward]

The circle is now complete.

Is there a reason you'd use a line from Star Wars (and probably older works like Stephen King's The Stand) to describe LoTRO? I mean, it's not like this game is the end of the LoTR cycle, is it?

That sounds like a cliche that should have been included in this week's poll ... used far too often at inappropriate times--unless for humor.

No support for me

[ArsonSmith]

No OSX support, no Linux support. Guess I'm sticking with Warcraft for the time being.

Accurate Review

[bostonkarl]

There will be lots of hate posts from people that haven't tried the game. Or that just don't like or "get" Tolkein. But, if you love the books, the game is definately worth picking up and giving a spin. It is as if Middle Earth has been brought to life by people that really cared to get it right. You'll actually find yourself reading the quests. Yes the user interface is cluncky, but not that bad. The game isn't perfect, but it was a huge surprise to me how good it is. My one concern is that it wont have sticking power. It may end up being a lovely flash in the pan. It all depends upon how, what, and when content is added.

Bizarre to review it so early...

[VE3OGG]

I realize people want to know "should I shell out my hard earned cash for this?" However, reviewing a game that can change every other month and coming to one conclusion (yes/no) is ridiculous at best.

While it might be pretty (or as others have pointed out, have a very limited combat system), all of these things can change very quickly.

So, let us take for example, that it has a really strong story line: what is to say this continues next month when thousands of 13-15 yr olds coming charging in and act like asses (much like what happened with WoW)? Suddenly the story begins to slide tremendously.

Or Asheron's Call is another example. I remember signing up to Asheron's Call's beta test and enjoying it immensely (the Otholoi story was quite interesting). However, as time went on, the story was down right pathetic, and monthly updates were mostly patches and nerfs. Story went by the wayside.

I would say, whatever you read in reviews (or hell, even if you aren't going to read any reviews) don't charge into this game until it matures a little. Since, much like Apple's early adopters, you usually get a nerfed product in the end. Wait until you can see whether the devs will continue the strong and fix up the weak stuff.

By the way, last I head, this game was being published by EA, don't we hate them? Or were we always at peace with Eurasia?

Re:Sucks

[Fizzol]

Sounds like you were playing an elf and didn't understand that elves are friends of all critters furry and small. They aren't afraid of you because you can't kill them. "even can't fight the NPCs or animals unless it is part of the plot." only applies to elves and wildlife. Human, dwarves and hobbits can kill little furry critters with pointless abandon.

Why the Movie Comparison

[Omestes]

Given the respect for the setting it's another minor quibble, but the lack of any sort of tie-in to the Peter Jackson helmed movies is, in my mind, a lapse.

Why? LoTR predates the movie by quite a bit, and I'm guessing that the market for this game is more the geeky market, than people who first think of Elija Woods when they think of Frodo. I'm rather glad that it isn't a movie tie in, to be honest, since I still don't feel that the movies were the best representation of Tolkein's works, since they were completely (and grudgingly unnecessarily) lacking in nuance. People coming to the game, with mostly experience from the movie, would be disappointed, and wonder what all that wretched "back story" is.

It is an interesting commentary on something or another, though, that its setting mentioned primarily as parity with with movie, and not with the books, or the rest of the canon. I would care more about little glimpses of events from the Similarian, and little snippets from Lost Tales, etc... It would add more context for me, than having Vigo Mortenson voice Strider.

Game isn't that Great

[ThePolkapunk]

I completely disagree with this review. To me, LOTRO is a poor man's WoW. I find the graphics to be underwhelming, the questing to be more dull than WoW, and the UI, combat and gameplay to be poor in comparison to WoW. The thing this review stresses over and over and over is that the license is what makes the game great. How can you review a game like this and primarily talk about how you love the license? That's like reviewing a crappy movie license game and saying it's a great game because you loved the movie.

As a person who has only a passing knowledge of LOTR, a license doesn't make this game any more enjoyable than any other MMOG. It ends up being just another cookie cutter MMORPG. Every minute I spent playing it felt like a chore and I have no intention of playing it again. Granted I hate WoW almost as much, but I recognize that it's a bit more polished in many ways.

Meh.

[TheGreatOrangePeel]

So, on the recomendation of two people, including one who I had played WoW with a few times, I went out and just bought a copy expecting to love it. My reaction is much more "meh" than anything else. It's fun, but between the low framerate for the buttons and the ever persistant lag (I've yet to have smooth gameplay for more than half a minute) I'd rather not play any MMORPG right now.

Re:Sucks

[Dancindan84]

You realize that most MMOGs including WoW, the most successful MMOG ever, has every single thing that you mentioned? Have you ever played a MMOG before?

it actually has a window that says things like "You hit the wolf for two points of damage"

While it may not pop up, combat text windows and/or scrolling combat text is pretty much standard. Most MMORPGs are based around rules and random chance (rolls) that deal in numbers. Most MMOG players want to see those numbers.

And then the graphics might be pretty, but there is not physics system, or, believe it or not, collision detection. You can actually walk through people, even when you are fighting them.

This is something that is (pun intended), hit or miss. Collision detection in a MMOG can be annoying as hell in high population areas when you want to get somewhere and can't (AC & CoH/CoV). The flip side is that not having it is unrealistic... and then you realize that what you're running through is a 1/2 imp dragon rogue with a purple hat. Realism is relative.

And the tasks suck. Spending half an hour searching for wild flowers is not my idea of fun.

Sweet Jesus! Their MMOG has grinding! Just like every other one!

And although the world is big, you can't really explore it - you can't open doors unless they are part of the plot

Sounds like trying to enter an instance/dungeon that you aren't attuned to/have the key for in... you guessed it... every other MMOG and well, practically ever other RPG ever made.

you can't smash crates or barrels or whatever to see what is inside them

You want every container you see to be breakable? First off, I get it now. You've only ever played Zelda games. Second, do you know how ridiculous that is? Do you want to be able to look behind every single painting? Read every single book? I'm sure they'll hire 1000 more developers and get right on that for you.

you even can't fight the NPCs or animals unless it is part of the plot.

and

if you try, for instance, trying to do something like shoot a sheep with your crossbow only to receive an error message

This is essentially the same as above. WoW has more of this than most MMOGs I've seen. You can kill rats in the cities, opposing faction NPCs (even quest NPCs). Even they don't have it so that you can attack every single living thing in the game. "I can't attack that" is what my Tauren says.

If you're going to bash a game for not living up to expectations, at least make sure they're realistic expectations first.

Re:Except Tolkien....

[Himring]

I would think Tolkien would have been very happy having others take his work, build on it and express it in their own ways and in different mediums.

That thought would be correct except he specifically stated only his son, Christopher, could do so.

Unlike Lucas who has no problem with others dabbling in SW mythos, even directing and writing, etc., Tolkien was extremely picky and protective of his work. This is a well-known fact.

The risk, you see, is that Arda -- Tolkien's greater world -- is at risk in losing its true meaning. This Tolkien knew and this he sought to prevent. Unlike Mickey Mouse, there is no way to stop it becoming a ... game....

Re:Sucks

[vux984]

Have you played a mmorpg before?

I can't tell if your just being sarcastic or not. People aren't modding you funny though, so I'm not the only one who thinks you at least *might* be serious.

The combat system sucks - it actually has a window that says things like "You hit the wolf for two points of damage". It felt like going back in time to the 80's.

Par for the course:

World of Warcraft:
http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/wow/wow3.jpg [rpgfan.com]

"Your Shoot Bow hits Onyxia for 92."
"Onyxia suffers 99 Nature damage from Bryna's Serpent Sting." ...

EQ2
http://www.jeffmaloneshirtlesspvp.com/images/EQ2_0 04330.jpg [jeffmalone...esspvp.com]

"Tynsil's Mark of Nobility heals Doobers for 43 hit points."
"Udaho's Ghastly Shroud regenerates 133 points of absorption." ...

Personally I don't think it is "polished gameplay" if you try, for instance, trying to do something like shoot a sheep with your crossbow only to receive an error message - yes, really! an error message saying something like "disallowed action".

So you aren't allowed to shoot the sheep, big deal. They aren't 'opponents' or 'killable creatures', they're just animated background, like a torch, or tree.

And calling that an "error message"? What is it supposed to say when you perform a disallowed action?
Did you also complain when you tried to lockpick a goblin?

And although the world is big, you can't really explore it - you can't open doors unless they are part of the plot, you can't smash crates or barrels or whatever to see what is inside them, you even can't fight the NPCs or animals unless it is part of the plot.

Go play everquest one. It lets you really explore. Of course, the moment you step into the side room the YOU-hating level 65 shadowknight leader was sitting in he executes you on the spot. Or when you get sent to see so-and-so, you can spend 3 hours checking nearly every room in the city, only to find out after much frustration that so-and-so only comes out at night, and he walks around too, and if you don't catch up to him in time his path takes him right to the level 65 shadowknight -- who kills him. (And you too if you happen to be nearby.)

Modern MMORPGs got rid of all that stuff because a lot of players complained bitterly about how it wasn't fair. All that open 'Exploration' was wasting time when looking for things, perpetually getting them lost, and often getting them killed. They wanted maps, and waypoints so they couldn't get lost. They wanted higher level aggressive mobs to be well marked, and far away. They didn't want to open doors and find BIG THINGS that could and would kill them.

So they got what they wanted.

Its sad really.

Fuck comparisons to WoW

[everphilski]

Seriously. Fuck them.

Wow is a lowest common denominator game. Why should we all want to aspire towards WoW? That's like saying, gee, 51% of the world is men, so all women should aspire to get sex changes so they should be part of the majority. Ridiculous, isn't it?

Personally, I played it for three months and sold my account (for a tidy profit, no less). I'm a huge Blizzard fan - wasted way too much of my college life on Starcraft and Diablo II. But don't aspire for the common denominator. Games should be held to their own standards of uniqueness, etc. For example, I prefer EQ, because of the complexity of the game over WoW. It has aspects that just haven't been replicated in the current crop of 'carebear' MMO's. I'm not trying to rant, my point is, MMO's should strive for specific crowds (like the hardcores, or the sci-fi buffs, or ... ? whats next?) instead of trying to be the 10,000lb gorrilla.

That is all.

What's up with those screenshots

[Dachannien]

Seriously. Elrond has a normal-sized forehead? Narsil is a coffee-table centerpiece? And what's up with that kung-fu grip?

Deeds are *not* unique!

[T.E.D.]

Deeds are a unique element to Lord of the Rings Online, a kind of achievement system somewhat reminiscent of those earned on the Xbox 360.

Ummm....no. The Deed/Title stuff is pretty much a direct copy of what City of Heroes has been doing for years with its "Badges" and Titles. There's nothing wrong with that. Its a neat game mechanic, that allows you to further personalize your character, and I'm damn glad to see other games picking up on it. Just don't go spreading myths that LotRO thought this up themselves.

I'd like to stress again what a nice feature this is, particularly for a game like LotRO, where you don't have nearly enough character creation options to differentiate yourself. A really obscure or difficult to achieve title can be a significant source of pride. I had one in CoH for working off a massive amount of death debt. You basicly have to die an impressive amount of times in a row to achieve this; sort of a perverse badge of incompetence. I wore it proudly. :-)

The reviewer is obviously a noob in the genre.

[Anonymous Coward]

The look and feel that the review states to have been stolen from WoW.. is actually a revamp of the Asherons Call 2 interface Turbine developed years before WoW hit the streets... if anything WoW stole it shamelessly from Turbine... same with the expanding side panels and quick bar slots.

People need to remember that although WoW is wildly popular, there is nothing 'new' in the game that hasnt been done before.. Blizzard is known as the king of copy, polish and publish for a reason.. they havent had an original thought on their staff in years.

As always let me say...

[rAiNsT0rm]

Please Zonk give up on your so called "game reviews." I had the pleasure to work as a reviewer for a number of years, and with some truly talented folks... and you, sir, ain't got it.

These "reviews" are just sad. I say it every time, and know it is always an instant ticket to -1's-ville but I've got Karma to burn. No one enjoys them and certainly no one is compelled to buy a game based on your words. They are like a self ego booster or something I guess for you, but what they show is how difficult it really is to write a solid review. They take lots of intelligence, time, attention to detail, and personal investment... and it is clear that you fail on every one of them.

Give it up already.

Re:Except Tolkien....

[Angostura]

You seem very sure that Tolkien would have objected, but I can see no evidence. The man wasn't averse to an animated film after all. He may well have been intrigued by the idea of a multiplayer computer games based upon his work. He may well have embraced the whole idea with enthusiasm as a way to build a detailed world in the way that he loved, and making available to people in a way that they could interact with. Who knows.

Re:Except Tolkien....

[Angostura]

I would invite to you to listen to the directors' commentary on the extended versions of the film where a lot of credit is given to Tolkien, by Jackson, but especially by Fran Walsh. FWIW, I thought the films were fine, but like all fans there were things that irked me. I hated the changed end of the Fellowship, I disliked intensely the way they hacked about with Denethor's character. But overall, I though they were great. I think of them as a retelling of the same story, but written by different authors ... i.e this was no longer an account written by the arch elf-lover Frodo.

Re:Fuck comparisons to WoW

[geekoid]

It is completely reasonable to compare something the is coming out with the leader of that industry.

You didn't like WoW, ok fine. Know one gives a rip.

Your post was just a petty and unwarranted attack on WoW. And your 'example' is crap.

Re:Sucks

[Cee]

And then the graphics might be pretty, but there is not physics system, or, believe it or not, collision detection. You can actually walk through people, even when you are fighting them.

I agree with most of your objections, but I think character collision detection is usually a bad thing in an MMORPG. WoW doesn't have it either and it makes it far easier to move around, especially in crowded areas. Guild Wars has it sometimes (forgot exactly how) but at these times I just found it annoying. Realism isn't always good.

Re:Sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

So basically, the guy has a list of critiques, and your reply is, "but that's the way it's always been!" Do you not see the flaw here?

Re:Faithful to the books?

[Sperbels]

Tom is kind of flaky in the game. He dances around and talks nonesense

And this is different from the book how?

Re:What do you want?

[MontyApollo]

Many of the quests are complimentary, and you do have to be careful about doing some of the "kill 10 of x" quests before you have acquired all the complimentary quests. You don't want to go kill 10 boars, then you get a quest that says collect ten boar legs, then finish that up and the get a quest to collect ten boar stomachs, when all three quests could be completed at once. In general though, the "kill 10 of x" quests get completed almost automatically when doing the main quests.

About the only time I grind is to collect hides for my forester vocation, but even then it is often tied to making money, completing certain quests, and completing certain deeds.

Re:Sucks

[drsquare]

You realize that most MMOGs including WoW, the most successful MMOG ever, has every single thing that you mentioned? Have you ever played a MMOG before?

If it hasn't improved on previous games in its genre, then why bother making it? This is just a less-polished version of WoW with different character names.

You missed it

[Anonymous Coward]

lol I love reading reviews and then comments by people who just plain miss things or have it wrong.

Like how the reviewer said you had to choose from 3 craft classes. No mention of how theres actually 7 different unique combinations of those 3 and how they are interdependant.

And no mention of Monster Play. Which from the early fighting back and forth, I have been told by ex-WoW players that it is much better than WoW's PvP. And Personally had a whole lot of fun.

And the first comment that says it has damage in a chat box ..wow. Smart. Never mind you get floaty damage and the combat tab is an OPTION so you can go back to see exactly what happened. Who actually keeps their combat tab open during a fight and is reading it while the damage is being shown right over their heads. I guess that one went "over his head"

And I love it when people complain about graphics/exploring. They played a guy to level 10 and complain they can't explore... They obviously had not visited Trollshaw hills and follage, or the Misty Mountain's towering cliffs and peaks, or Angmar's barren wasteland and stinking marshes which are in such sharp contrast any other zone in the game.

And the people who complain that there is nothing from the movies? That just hurts. Kudo's to Turbine for basing the game off of the books, the real LotR and not Peter Jackson's crap.

Saw a guy complain about the music score too. When I first entered Rivendell I had to listen very closely because I that song sounds just like the Rivendell song in the movies, its not, but it could have fooled me at first. The music is well done, it's not over the top but still there, a very good background.

Already a whole new zone is up for being released in few weeks (in June, just over 2 months after initial launch)
And fishing is planned to be added for the future.

You all have to understand that WoW and especially EQ have been around for a very long time now and they were nothing like they are now in their first 2 months. LotRO will grow and expand just like them. But for an initial release (and I was in open beta too) the game is amazingly well done and complete AND stable, not like the many early WoW bugs.

Oh, and by the way, I CAN shoot animals with my bow. Or you could take off your weapon and one hit kill punch them.
 

Confusing review

[DerekLyons]

This is one of the most confusing reviews I've ever read - and it can be neatly summarized as follows; LOTRO is just like WoW, except where it's not. LOTRO is just like most MMO's, except it's not. But it does have pretty graphics. And it is pretty much like WoW and other MMOs.
 
Another point - 'deeds' aren't unique to LOTRO, they are called 'badges' in CoH/V and have been around a couple of years. Ditto for the 'virtues' - 'accolades' in CoH/V. Ditto for 'titles' - both games use the same name.

Re:Oh come on people!

[Anonymous Coward]

"If you had actually tried for more the 5 minutes and more than just an elf you would have discovered that ELVES can't kill small furry creatures."

And if you had taken 5 minutes to read the replies, you'd have seen that the person in question was playing a fucking Hobbit. New concept: read the discussion! Funny, huh?

"First off, do you know how little time it takes to get to 5th lvl? Maybe 30-60 mins? My god if you can't stick with a character for that long you don't deserve to be playing ANY game. What you need is a game that starts up and once you've created you character it just has a big message that scrolls across the screen that says "YOU WIN!!""

That's what we call a non-sequitur. Nowhere in the discussion did the poster say he wanted an "I WIN" button, but simply that the found the 30-60 minutes of 1-5 to be boring and trite. So? 30-60 minutes of tedium before getting to the "fun" parts are only acceptable to me if those 30-60 minutes are spent in things like: installing, customizing the ui, reading the manual, etc. When I am actually playing, I expect to have fun, and if 30-60 minutes into it someone is bored, quitting and going somewhere else is a perfectly valid position.

Look, the fundamentals of the game mechanics will be clearly exposed in any game when you've been an hour into it. If you don't like the fundamentals, then the rest is not likely to hold your attention for long.

"Um... then don't play a minstrel dumbass. Nobody is forcing you to."

Nice: direct, personal, and adding nothing to the discussion. Minstrels/Bards have been around in the fantasy genre for quite a while, and in many games they were quite capable of wielding a weapon and whacking stuff. This way of doing it is good? Bad? It's something that may be worth discussing, but not with answers like yours.

"(I do apologize for the snide comments but I just get ticked off by people that trash a game without taking the time to learn it)"

No, you just, for some reason, feel threatened by negative comments of people who don't like the game and feel like they're attacking you personally. You don't have to look for peer approval to play LOTRO, or seek reinforcement for the fact that you're spending cash on it. It's your buck, and your computer, and you're the one who's playing. If you like it, I'm mighty glad that you have found a game that you like and enjoy, and hope you'll continue to genuinely enjoy it for a long time.

Re:As always let me say...

[Baldrake]

These "reviews" are just sad... No one enjoys them...

Thanks, rAINsT0rm, for taking the trouble to speak for me (and everyone else on the planet). Here I thought I had enjoyed reading this review. Nice of you to set me (and everyone else) straight.

I had the pleasure to work as a reviewer for a number of years...

And if you learned anything from this experience, surely you realize that a critique based only on ad hominem attacks is not worth the bandwidth used to transmit it?

Re:Sucks

[vux984]

As I said elsewhere, its not that his criticims aren't valid observations of the genre in general, its that singling out LOTR and criticising it based on those 'expectations' is what is ridiculous.

For what its worth, I agree, the MMORPG genre can and should evolve, and his criticisms are valid of the genre.

But, if you buy a MMORPG today, and you see the damage scroll by in the text window, and you find this 'archaic and disappointing', then your expectations are WAY out of whack for the genre.

Its like climbing into a Volvo and then writing a scathing review about how they don't float, can't fly, can't dodge accidents, don't steer themselves, and require you keep pouring some sort of foul smelling liquid into them.

Those are valid observations, and I'm sure ALL of us would like like to see carsevolve to the point we have flying self navigating safe cars that run on dew drops. Nobody thinks cars shouldn't evolve.

But if you are going to review a modern car and the lack of these is 'disappointing' you deserve to be ridiculed.