1 post tagged “lotr”
FINAL VERDICT:
6.4 Average. Nothing that even casual players haven't seen before.
7/10 Concept - amazing license poorly executed. it's just another MMO.
6/10 Gameplay - controls are a little off. GUI very familiar *cough, cough*.
7/10 Graphics - you'll never really see them without a $1200 computer.
6/10 Sound - reminds you of the movies. but it's just not music from the movies.
6/10 Entertainment - you've definitely been there and done that. go kill some rats!
I'LL MAKE A BELT FROM YOUR SKIN
If you haven't played the LOTRO Beta, get ready to hear that phrase at least a hundred times in your first two hours of gameplay. And get ready for some disappointing surprises.
Lord of the Rings Online has been in development for at least 6 years, having changed hands from Sierra to parent company Vivendi Universal and finally to Turbine Entertainment. Based on the literature of Tolkien, it promised a richer fantasy setting and deeper roleplaying experience; what it delivers is really just more of the same.
HEY! YOU'RE WEARING MY FACE
One of the major improvements in MMOs over the years has been increased customization. LOTRO has taken a few steps in this direction, but ultimately offers a handful of options. Characters have a choice between around 5 different faces, eyebrow and hair styles but have a great selection of colors for skin and eyes. There's also a body type option, that scales according to light builds and more muscular ones.
The problem is in the window dressing. Even though the colors may be different, the basic features are the same. You'll find yourself running into palette swapped versions of yourself very often. This is painfully obvious when you find yourself running into the same few people over the next hour. And you will.
MY OLD FRIEND THE FED-EX QUEST
It appears that even in Middle Earth people still need to kill defenseless animals in order to get a few copper starting out. Just don't do it for too long, or you'll find out that Frodo already got to Mt. Doom and you're still selling pelts.
The designers at Turbine must really hate grinding, because it's pointless in LOTRO. Actually, grinding reaches the point of absurdity because quests give a ludicrous amount of experience compared to them. If you kill a wolf you'll get 1-3 exp. If you're on a quest and kill 10 wolves, you get 800 exp. While this design decision was probably made to foster questing, it presents the player with few viable options on how to level.
The quest system itself seem to come in only two varieties: kill x get y and everybody's favorite take x to NPC, lovingly referred to by gamers as Fed-ex quests. Though they tend to be dressed up in clever packages, eg. "Take this letter to Dwalin because he must know what the Dourhands are up to!" it still means that I need to spend another 5 minutes running back to where I just came from to drop off an item.
And we were getting along so well!
BEWARE THE ELVEN BOW OF I PWNS YU
Even an MMO about The Lord of the Rings has its share of k3wL d00ds: the stalwart dwarven guardian Obsidiknight and the elven hunters Olliefant and Midnyght. And who can forget that honorable fellowship of heroes Ered Luin Yacht Club. Tolkien must be turning over in his grave.
I thought that Middle Earth fans were purists. I thought they would respect the grandfather of all fantasy. I was wrong. Legolas, don't take your bow to town.
WAIT A MINUTE. I REMEMBER YOU
You finish quests and kill things to get experience. Your stat increases are automatic. When you reach a certain level you can buy a new skill. Skills use mana. You can replenish mana by eating certain things.
Sound familiar? It should. And it's sad.
While you have to admit that MMOs share certain conventions, the GUI combined with the levelling system screams World of Warcraft. The only real difference here is different class abilities and the lack of a real magic user, eg. Loremasters create a fireball by using an oil flask and a rag.
In truth, LOTRO has been in development since well before WoW, but didn't meet it to the market. I fear that the parallels drawn between the two are unavoidable and will hurt LOTRO in the long run, since nothing seems to run quite as smoothly. A glaring factor for me was the absence of a quest compass; it would have been better to enable one with the option to turn it off.
The crafting system and auction houses are also undeniably similar.
SHE LOOKED PRETTIER FROM FAR AWAY
The graphics in LOTRO are really stunning. Just take a look at some the screenshots and you'll agree; the designers went for a more realistic approach with their game engine and really pulled it off.
The problem? You'll never see it look this good.
Anytime the settings go above medium on any option, they lag. The game is going to look like a blurred mess after you turn down the draw distance and go with lower resolution textures. For the life of me, I can't understand how a game that's been in development this long has issues with streaming higher end content.
Lagging in an instance is never a good sign. In fact, I lagged in three different instances.
There is no need to avoid realism. Guild Wars does it beautifully, so why not LOTRO? Dungeons and Dragons online had the same problem, and I suspect the flaw resides in the rendering software used by Turbine.
LET THE RINGBEARER DECIDE
LOTRO isn't the worst MMO out there. It has a great license, excellent art, and a huge fanbase. The problem is that it doesn't seperate itself from the others in any real way.
And we're talking GANDALF here! ELROND! Seeing these guys in action should take my breath away; instead it just gives me a sense of how they should have been depicted. The environments are the same way; upon entering Hobbiton I couldn't identify Bag End without really looking. It's unforgivable.
But don't take my word for it. Open Beta begins on April 6th.
Just remember that though the sign says "Click friend, and enter" it really reads "Play me for about two weeks and regret spending $50."
Anything You Can Do GAME PREVIEW by Jack.
