1446053
story
JC writes
"It looks like Tolkien fans will get one of their biggest dreams with Turbine's Middle-Earth Online. Originally expected about November, we're now looking at a Northern Hemisphere Autumn release date. The New Zealand Herald has a good article."
Not to be technical (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Not to be technical (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not to be technical (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not to be technical (Score:3, Funny)
I know, Nightime!
Make that NEXT autumn (Score:5, Funny)
Thats what the article says - 2005! (Score:4, Insightful)
The Slashdot story makes little sense as they forgot to mention 2005.
Re:Make that NEXT autumn (Score:5, Informative)
Whoppeee!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Whoppeee!! (Score:4, Funny)
We hates the big eye! Always watching! We likes the dark places, secret places. *gollum*
Re:Whoppeee!! (Score:2, Funny)
KFG
sunlight, anyone? (Score:5, Funny)
I want to be a Men class. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not up on my Tolkien Lore, so as an outsider a Men class looks mighty odd to me.
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:5, Interesting)
But I doubt it. It'll be EverCrack with all the stuff renamed after Tolkien stuff.
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:5, Informative)
Tolkien wrote primarily about spiritual magic.
Gandalf was the master of fire. Partly, this manifested itself through his skill with fireworks and magical fire, but that wasn't the important bit. What Tolkien felt was far more important, and was stressed over and over again, was the fact the Gandalf could 'kindle the fire in men's souls'. Look at the way he can muster enthusiasm in practically everyone. The classic example is the way he brought Théoden back from the brink in _RotK_ (ignore the lousy movie effects --- this is one of the few bits that Peter Jackson got totally wrong). Even more impressive, to my mind --- he managed to talk Bilbo into going dragon-hunting in The Hobbit.
(Saruman's power was his will and his voice. He could talk practically anyone into doing anything. He had very little power of his own; once the Ents destroyed Isengard, he was shafted. Again, another bit the film got completely wrong was his fight with Gandalf. In the books, it's a battle of wills, and pre-Moria Gandalf is definitely Saruman's inferior.)
The rest of Tolkien's world is similar. The difference between Elves, Dwarves, Men and the other races? They're races, not species. Tolkien wasn't interested in their outward appearance, or whether they could interbreed, or the shape of their ears. The fundamental, crucial difference, intrinsic to Middle-Earth's entire philosophy, the thing that is hammered home over and over again, is the shape of their souls.
When Elves die, they're reincarnated. When Dwarves die --- actually, I forget. I believe they end up in some classical afterlife. When Men die, however, the souls leave the universe entirely. Nobody knows what happens to them. By Tolkien's view, Men are specially favoured. They get to move on to whatever Eru has planned for them next, and are unique in that aspect. All the other races are bound to Arda until the end of time.
(This is the reason why Arwen had to become human. She was a descendent of a Man-Elf cross. All such people had to choose between following the Elven path or the mortal path, because you have to pick what kind of soul you have. All the rest follows from there.)
(If you're interested in such things, read The Silmarillion. It's tough going, but rewarding.)
Tolkien just doesn't go in for material magic very much. He didn't find it interesting. While this makes his universe incredibly rich and rewarding to study, it doesn't really fit a modern game where the player wants to trigger some flashy effect and kill loads of orcs... I await the MMORPG with some trepidation.
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:3, Funny)
Man that is the understatement of the year.
I would add that a Wizard was not a human, but an imortal like the elves.
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't want this to be viewed as a troll but you are correct in that it is a battle of wills between Saruman and Gandalf, but who the h
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
I always thought it was the fact that Saruman had an army of 10 000 orcs at his command and Gandalf was alone that convinced him to obey, rather than any weakness of will :).
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
I always thought that was because Gandalf wore the elvish ring of fire (one of the four elivish rings that the One controls). Similarly, Elrond wears the one for Water [from which he creates the river flood that brings down the Nazgrul that are chasing Frodo and company] and Galadriel(sp?) wears the one for Air.
That was why Gandalf (and Frodo and Bilbo,
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2, Flamebait)
Umm, first - diamonds aren't that rare. Most other gemstones (emeralds come to mind) are much rarer. The high cost of diamonds has to do more with the monopoly that controls distribution.
Second, if you're gonna bitch about rareness, why not bitch about the fact that 'anybody' can be an adventurer? Why are there more players who are adventurers than bakers/millwrighs/peasant
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
I've read about the true scarcity of Diamonds and how DeBeers controls the world market.
I do doubt, however, that Emeralds are more rare. Just take a look at their price on ebay. Additionally I am right now looking at a jar of 20 of them(from tiny to ~3 carats) that my wife, son, father and myself found just yesterday in the North Carolina mountains in a little over 2 hours.
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
If you ran MERP correctly, you were supposed to use the random table to generate your race (it was based off of Roll-master, after all), which ensured that almost everyone *did* end up being
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
Re:Gahh! (Score:2)
The real distortion was in exagerating the romatic aspect of Arwen's role to make the movie more chick-friendly - which has zero to do with political correctness.
Re:Gahh! (Score:2)
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2, Informative)
To refer to "humans" in LOTR would have been an anachronism and "man" did not even come to mean specifically the male of the species until the Middle English period, long after th
Re:I want to be a Men class. (Score:2)
Also, to set up the scene... (Score:3, Insightful)
...in which Dernhelm yanks off his helmet to revreal that "he" is actually Eowyn, who then delivers her not-a-man line and ruins the Witch-King's whole day with a sharp pointy thing.
The setup is even more prominent in the books. The race is referred to as "Men" (capital M) as an all-inclusive term. When the Witch-King laid the smack down on Arnor and rode off, an Elf prophesied that "far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man shall he fall."
I believe it's even printed with a small 'm'. Coul
I can just see the eBay ads ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I can just see the eBay ads ... (Score:5, Funny)
Can you ship to Mordor ?
I know I don't have great ratings, I'm new to this Internet thing, but I really, really want this item.
- S
Re:I can just see the eBay ads ... (Score:5, Funny)
Sincerely,
Denethor
Re:I can just see the eBay ads ... (Score:2)
1. Cash'n'Carry @ Minas Tirith ("Boromir rate")
2. Airmail via Tolkien's Macguffin Delivery Service ("Just use the damn eagles")
3. Ground delivery a.k.a Redundant Hobbits
Another MMORPG?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Another MMORPG?? (Score:5, Insightful)
You can log on to COH for twenty minutes and feel like you've accomplished something.
Errr...no (Score:2, Interesting)
He didn't say anything about YOU liking it personally, it's an opinion, much like every other post in existance. I wi
Re:Another MMORPG?? (Score:2, Insightful)
I like the plot more than anything, and i can get into "roleplaying" a superhero, which is what it's all about.
(granted, I do have Busty McJuggs, my slutty looking female katana/regen scrapper... for days when I'm feeling a big wierd)
Re:Another MMORPG?? (Score:4, Interesting)
After their last fiasco I'm not holding my breath for future Turbine products.
Aside from that, there's always room for yet another MMORPG. More competition means the existing companies have to constantly improve to keep their customers or sooner or later a significantly better game will come out and they'll lose their marketshare.
Re:Another MMORPG?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Also during the time before original comments and release Microsoft became more interested in making comments and changes. Unfortunatly it looks like microsoft decided to make a clone of daoc/eq and then forced it out before even that was done.
Since Turbine has purchased the franchise from microsoft, AC2 has turned into a rather nice game. The problem is the bad word wh
Open source Tolkien game alternative (Score:2)
Model Citizens (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Model Citizens (Score:4, Interesting)
They don't need to build the full middle Earth to any acceptable detail, they need just some specific sets, and some landscape.
The needs of the movie might not fulfill those of the game.
Anyway, the models used for renderman and such differ a great deal from the models you would need for a game. For example, in a recursive renderer, a good specfication of the material would be the only thing you need for an good render, in a game, you would need more specific procedural shaders, that don't need to be easily translated.
I mean that maybe the work of adapting the movie sets to game sets might end up to be a comparable effort to building the sets again, and even give sub-par results.
models? engines? (Score:2)
Engines? The engine is Maya.
Re:models? engines? (Score:2)
books or movies (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:books or movies (Score:2)
Re:books or movies (Score:2, Informative)
I personally think those unfinished plots they claim are in the books are more like references to other Tolkien lore they are not familiar with since there is so much of it. This will just anger another faction of die hard fans.
Books. (Score:2)
Also, the worlds look nothing like the movies.
This company is said to be making an adaptation of the books, but what they have never considered is how much more they could appeal to the full range of fans by making the world look as close to the movie as possible. Wo
I hate to say it (Score:5, Interesting)
The standard props of the Tolkien universe served for gaming fodder even before D&D (minus the A). In online play, the races and creatures here are used, in dozens of permutations. Haven't we all had a chance to be an elf or halfing? Haven't we all taken a shot at more orcs, trolls, and dragons that we could eat?
Lively story-telling and a deep sense of history set Tolkein appart from other fantasies. Unless Turbine is able to bring this world something other than the appearance of Middle Earth, it's hard to see what will make it more exciting than the possibilities offered by a City of Heroes, or even a solid middle-ages + fantasy setting universe such as Dark Age of Camelot. I certainly want something more than name recognition to make me pick up a sword again.
If history is any indication... (Score:2)
Two words: phat l00t
Huzzah! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Huzzah! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Huzzah! (Score:2)
Too funny!
Re:Huzzah! (Score:2)
Dibs on Legolas. :-P
Dibs on "Legomyegolas". :-)
Here's the link I was looking for! (Score:2)
I've played a lot of MMORPGs and this sums it up quite well!
problem #1 (Score:5, Interesting)
Those sound like pretty coveted characters to me.
Re:problem #1 (Score:4, Informative)
Re:problem #1 (Score:5, Funny)
I'm Gandalf the #FF0101.
no wizards (Score:2)
After all, wizards in Tokien's book were not human. They were, basically, special-purpose angels.
Re:problem #1 (Score:2)
Re:problem #1 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:problem #1 (Score:2)
Turbine (Score:3, Interesting)
Encyclopedia of Arda (Score:4, Informative)
Yikes (Score:3, Funny)
They'll be able to explore, fight, make alliances and perhaps even look for treasure.
What?! PERHAPS???
Re:Yikes (Score:2)
MEO Officical Site (Score:5, Informative)
For all who were looking for this link:
middle-earthonline.com [middle-earthonline.com]ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think Middle Earth offers a better balance of civilizations. If I were a gamer, I'd wouldn't even mind being an orc.
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:5, Insightful)
And in Middle Earth, perhaps the most powerful and coolest individuals are wizards, of which I believe there are supposed to only be a handful of (if that) in the Tolkien "universe". Good luck to enforcing that rule.
Personally I think calling this a Tolkien fan's "dream" is a joke. More like nightmare. It will without a doubt throw the whole Middle Earth lore right down the shitter, as we all know enforcing roleplay is impossible in these games. Try forcing a Hobbit player-character to want to stay close to home, sit around his hole and eat all day -- in Tolkien's world, Bilbo and Frodo are rare in their desire for adventure. Most hobbits want to sit at home. Or how about being an elf who fights only when absolutely necessary, or a dwarf who looks out for himself and wouldn't be caught dead grouping with an elf. And female dwarves -- I think they're unheard of in any Middle Earth lore.
Enforcing those things is impossible, and is a true Tolkien fan's nightmare, IMHO.
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2, Funny)
So Galadriel never appeared in the books???
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
Huh...that's funny. I could've sworn that GALADRIEL IS AN ELF!
*SMACK!*
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
GP: "So Galadriel never appeared in the books???"
P: Huh...that's funny. I could've sworn that GALADRIEL IS AN ELF!
Geek: In the appendices (not looking up which one), it is made clear that there are female dwarfs, just not many, and they look almost indistinguishable from the male, and also that dwarfs, not dwarves, is the correct pluralisation.
"dwarfs" versus "dwarves" (Score:3, Informative)
Few authors could legitimately defend their alternate spelling (as Tolkien did) by observing that they had changed their mind since they wrote the dictionary. ^^;
[ random note: in Old English, 'f' takes on a 'v' sound when used in the middle of words; so "dwarves" is _slightly_ more "archaeically correct" than "dwarfs". I think it sounds nicer anyway. ]
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
It has about as much chance of doing that as the new Star Wars movies doing that to the lore of the original ones, or as the new Dune books doing it to the lore of the original six, or as the new Foundation books doing it to the lore of Asimov's series.
That is, none.
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
Midichlorians, anyone? Elected princesses?
And truthfully, I don't find the new Dune or Foundation books very good either. I have 0 hope that this game will remain true to Tolkien's roots, instead it will become yet another Everquest.
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:4, Funny)
"STFU Frodo. Giv3 m3 teh r1ng n00b!"
Re:ME better for MMORPG than SW? (Score:2)
Uhm.
What's so hard about just not having wizards be playable characters at all?
(which is exactly what they're doing, btw.)
Ah! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ah! (Score:2)
How long (Score:4, Interesting)
The question should be (Score:3, Interesting)
In all honesty I was addicted to Asherson's Call and even to this day, over 2 years since I quit I still get the urge to play. By sure willpower I force myself not to resubscribe. (Actually uninstalling the software and getting rid of it helped control that urge..) Since then I won't even buy a
Re:The question should be (Score:2)
Visual and aural nerve stimulators are already being used today. Primitively, of course, as the technology and understanding of direct neural stimulation is still in its infancy.
In the future, when direct neural stimulation provides sight, sound, smell, taste, and feeling that is identical to the Real Thing, many people will elect to spend as much of their time in "VR" as they can. Games today have nothing on the
Middle-Earth or generic fantasy land? (Score:5, Interesting)
When will it be set (the article doesn't say this). I imagine it will be set immediately after the events of the book. But according to the novel magic is dying out in the land during this time. Lothlorien for example is in the process of being abandoned. However lots of people will want to go visit Lothlorien. Will people be able to go to Moria? If they can clean out Moria it would go against canon as Tolkien says Moria was never able to be reclaimed by the dwarves. I think this is a fundamental problem with franchise based MMGs. People will want to go to clear out Moria, they will want to be a wizard and cast fireballs, they will want to go and visit Lothlorien no matter how out-of-character or against canon it is. Will it accurately model the various tensions amongst the different groups of elves? They mention an elvin ship but how do they balance this with the fact that being invited to an elvin ship (if you are not an elf) is extremely rare. How do they balance the fact that in LoTR canon, elves are massively more powerful than humans - being created as perfect beings and thousands of years old? In a single-player game it is easy to control the actions people can take, but in a MMG where the only real aim is to explore how do you balance faithfulness to canon and fun gameplay? Star Wars Galaxies as far as I can tell decided to go "screw canon" - will this Tolkien MMG do the same? Will it really be Middle-earth or will it be Dungeons and Dragons?
Re:Middle-Earth or generic fantasy land? (Score:2, Interesting)
You can't be a Wizard, altough i probably suspect there will be lots of Elfs. You can choose from Elf, Men, Dwarves and Hobbits
Re:Middle-Earth or generic fantasy land? (Score:2)
What about orcs, or trolls? Without them, who on earth are the people playing the men, elves, dwarves and hobbits going to fight against? Mobs? I can see that getting old after, what, 4 minutes.
Does Turbine have the technical chops (Score:2)
Re:Does Turbine have the technical chops (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think anyone can seriously question if they have the experience to make a good MMORPG.
Asheron's Call (Score:2, Funny)
Look at the Classes (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm a Tolkien fan (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not going to get excited about another rubbish game made to cash-in on the success of the LOTR movies.
There have been at least 4 already, whats so special about number 5?
What's Middle Earth with no Ring Saga? (Score:4, Insightful)
Since MMORPG's must be socialist in their play-balancing, and must be open ended (for revenue reasons) there can be no over-arching saga, no heroes, no theatrical climax and no resolution.
Would LOTR have been at all interesting if Frodo had been one of 1000 ring bearers? And what if they had all just wandered Middle-Earth endlessly, never reaching the end of their quest (but instead, constantly increasing in ability)?
MMORPG's can only ever be generic universes because all they offer is generic experiences. There is a necessary "sameness" to the characters for reasons of playability and that "sameness" destroys any possibility of compelling story-telling.
Middle Earth online will be, at best, Dark Age of Camelot with different 3D models, and a more familiar (albeit less extesible) map.
Yawn. Seen it.
________________________________
Judge a man by his wallet [jfold.com].
Say what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Or did you mean physical/ability development, as it pertains to a game chracter, like a hobbit learning to wield a sword, or a wizard changing his colors and becoming more powerful?
Yeah. You're right. No development whatsoever.
They bought back AC (Score:2)
The problem with Turbine was that when they first started they were lured to the dark side by Microsoft. In what was otherwise an awesome game I think MS's mismanagment. They refused to market the game.
AC2 was a huge flop, graphics and environment was awesome but there was something missing. Magic was still too powerfull and the only way to balance it was to give all mobs the ability to use some sort of magic or missile.
It will be intere
Turbine is Turbine's biggest problem. (Score:3, Interesting)
Their new expansion caters to the very worst players of AC1, the macro users, xp-chainers, and griefers. These same players who break the COC are at most banned for days and if really bad a month or two. Turbine constantly