LOTR - The Third Age Takes Tolkien Toward RPG? 40
Thanks to 1UP for its article discussing the announcement of Electronic Arts' Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age, "a new console RPG based on Peter Jackson's movie trilogy [and J.R.R. Tolkien's books]", and due out later in 2004. A GameSpot interview with producer Steve Gray has more information, as he notes that "the combat is turn-based... if you have played Final Fantasy it will feel familiar to you", and says of the game structure: "You travel on a sort of 'S' curve that weaves in and out of the path of the Fellowship through the story of the trilogy. At times you'll be behind or 'next to' them; at other times you'll be in the same time and place as members of the Fellowship." He also teases the game's bad side: "The main focus of the game is the quest on the side of good, but you can also unlock evil encounters, and we think players will really enjoy playing on the side of Sauron in addition to playing as good guys."
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus as someone who writes, I'm sure Tolkien understands that the bad guys are necessary to a story. They have to be presented.
Plus, most of Tolkien's baddies started off good or neutral. The whole theme of LOTR is about choice - what makes a person a Gandalf or a Saruman? A Golem or a Bilbo? An Aragorn or Sauron? The game furthers that theme, it seems, by giving you as the player the same choice.
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:1, Offtopic)
WARNING: Spelling Nazi attack follows
I agree, playing the baddies can be fun, but am I missing something? Where was the Golem [thefreedictionary.com] in LOTR?
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:2)
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:2)
"Oy, you call this a body? I've seen better bodies crafted out of day-old bagels!"
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:1)
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:2)
That's like offering Shakespeare to the Dale Earnheardt mourning crowd. Wrong target audience, anyone?
Re:Players on the side of Sauron? (Score:1)
No, and remeber Shakespeare was writing for popular audiences: he wanted to pack them in; and his plays were entirely different from the snooty entertainments of the time. They were violent, lusty, and appealed to commoners (in which category I'd assume you'd put Dale Earnhardt fans).
One of the worst games in history returns! (Score:1, Flamebait)
Granted, this is going to be completely different. It's made by EA! There's no chance it hell it could be a lacklust piece of crap spun out at the last minute to capitalize on the success of a franchize.
2-7 odds that it coincides with the release of the DVD's this christmas.
Re:One of the worst games in history returns! (Score:2)
If it was anything like the PC version, it not only was in a computer-RPG style, but it was also pretty good.
Rob
Re:One of the worst games in history returns! (Score:1)
That said, I'm sure that the PC counterpart didn't suffer from terrible AI, lousy control or unclear goals either. It probably didn't laugh at you when you died too, but that could have been me.
Re:One of the worst games in history returns! (Score:2)
I'll take that bet, especially since the DVDs are coming out in May [amazon.com] and August... a full 4 months before Christmas. I'd provide a link to the announcement of an early Extended Edition release, but I can't find it at the moment. I'm fairly sure it was IGN, but am having trouble locating it.
Re:One of the worst games in history returns! (Score:1)
Also, I was kind of being sarcastic. But hey. It's hard to tell in context.
Three Words: (Score:2)
Seriously, there are plenty of ways for these guys to screw up, but I'm hoping this game will be as (surprisingly) good as Knights of the Old Republic was. I'm seriously excited and have to figure out way to stretch my budget to include this beauty. A Final Fantasy style LOTR game with character creation...that's the sound of me wetting myself. I know I sound giddy, but this is...huge.
Perhaps this game can reestablish my faith in American gaming?
Re:Three Words: (Score:2)
Given that KOTOR is one of those PC+Console projects it had to include a more intellectual system for the RPG side for the sake of making sales on the more upmarket PC platform. This game (thankfully) isn't going to be released on PC (unless they get some work experience students to port the game like some other godawful ports I've seen), in w
Re:Three Words: (Score:2)
I much prefer the older Final Fantasy to PC RPGs (VI all around, VII for its junction system). Even more complicated are console Tactical RPGs, which are my most preferred style of game - I promise Disgaea is every bit as complex as KOTOR. I might agree with you that if you don't
Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was very disappointed when I saw LOTR: ROTK, and there was no Battle of Hobbiton. I was really hoping to see this scene, and it just wasn't there.
Then there is also Tom Bombadil. Where'd he go?
If they stick to the story in the movie, then they're missing out some really cool stuff they Tolkin (and many devout fans) would (and did) sorely miss.
And if they do follow the book, then all the wanna be fans won't have a clue where all the extra bits come from (or why they're important to the story).
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:4, Informative)
Not that Tom is hugely relevant to a darkside RPG with the scope of the novels, but what the hey.
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:2)
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:2)
Sorry for the double-post... one of my tags wasn't closed.
OT: About the movies (Score:2)
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:2)
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:2)
The real story deals with the journey of the Ring, the return of the heir to Isildur to Gondor and his actions redeeming the sins of Isildur (this is possibly intended to allow the readers to see that Aragorn has the right to return his line to the throne), and of course the destruction of Sauron, the last of the
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:5, Insightful)
Batte of Hobbiton I will concede, but c'mon, how many of us really wanted to see an hour of film devoted to Tom and his love of talking in rhymes and whatnot? Even as a fan I find those parts of the books annoying... how can you expect Joe Sixpack to sit through that let alone enjoy it?
IMHO, I think including Bombadil would have done a lot to wreck the generally serious and epic feel of the films. People already had enough complaints about the comic relief of Gimli and Pippen ruining the atmosphere for them. Personally I thought those were fine, but put in Bombadil and you would have whole different movie. When I think of the LOTR movies as is, I think "epic" the way I think of say, Ben Hur, or Spartacus, not funny and silly like the animated Disney movie Hercules.
Mechanik
Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story? (Score:1, Interesting)
Parent is not OT. (Score:2)
It sounds a bit like MUME (Score:5, Interesting)
I haven't played in many mango seasons, but according to the stats on that page it certainly is going strong after 12 years!
The ongoing war between the players of Trolls, Orcs, and Black Numenoreans versus Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and Hobbits was one of the best aspects of the game, but it had many other cool aspects too. Such as the world being absolutely huge; wow, I see they had 19465 opened rooms in 193 zones. Also all sorts of nifty little features like the ability to learn types of herblore and collect the ingredients to make potions, and fishing, and if someone is speaking a language you don't know the text you see is mangled based on how well you know the language. Also, truly difficult computer controlled opponents that took teamwork and cleverness to defeat and plenty of fascinating quests as well.
Takes Tolkien Towards RPG? (Score:1)
I remember playing the Interplay version of Lord of the Rings Volume 1 in 1990 on the Amiga. The Two Towers was released a year later on the PC but the Amiga version was cancelled.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,38
http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,14
If you liked the old style Ultima games both were very similar - top down perspective and similar gameplay.
obligatory Dork Tower reference... (Score:2, Funny)
Wot, no link to MEO? (Score:2)