Memes about Shelob aside, some of the strangest thing they did to the lore was their take on the Nazgul and the eastern lands.
in my opinion, pretty bad takes.
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With those two games, itâs best to just treat them as a wholly different setting to Tolkienâs that just happens to resemble it from time to time.
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Itâs like those Elseworldâs comic stories where theyâre silly AUs, except with LOTR.
Sometimes Batman is a pirate. Sometimes Superman is a communist. Sometimes Shelob is a hottie goth lady.
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Holy cow thats a big article⌠ill need some time.
I admit I was mostly surprised at seeing Helm Hammerhand and Isildur as NazgulâŚ
Is what I do most of the time yes. Itâs an enjoyable game and story on itâs own, but as I said in my earlier post, the true LOTR lore purist would get an aneurysm.
I personally did like the nod to the actual lore though when they named the leader of Minas Ithil in that game Castamir, since, like the one from the actual lore, he ended up being a traitor.
So I think the Middle Earth games were pretty aware they were an AU story which took some heavy liberties with the lore.
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Iâve finished the intro at Thorinâs Gate. The game really is full of 2000s jank, quickly cluttering my inventory, not highlighting campaign quests except with subtle color, and giving vague quest objectives (oh sure, let me examine a cave full of dead ends for⌠something). And the UI is atrocious by modern standards. And I have to play at 1920x1080 so the text is legible, making the picture blurry.
But.
I love it.
The world is a visual feast, crafted with great care. The quest text feels faithful to Tolkien. To me, this is Middle-earth â just how I imagined it. I like the animations too, with just one exception: the walk animation.
I wish the bow came with a quiver, but itâs not a deal breaker. Combat as a hunter feels tolerable and doesnât distract me from the story and exploration (and this game is an exploration goldmine).
Iâm looking forward to playing more LOTRO.
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There is something really magical about the world design, and that despite the dated graphic, it can look really pretty in a strange way. The nature is just really well done and can be really beautiful.
And yes, the quest text and actual storylines are very well written and very true to Middle-Earth!
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Yes, I agree completely.
The world looks realistic, but in a fantasy kind of way. It strikes a good balance. Itâs not stylized and hyper-colorful like WoW, but neither is it GRITTY REALISTIC BROWN. The nature is beautiful the way real nature is beautiful, and I can definitely name some real places from my hiking trips that the landscapes remind me of, in a good way. And the old buildings match the impression of much of Middle-earth I got when reading LOTR as a child: beautiful, but touched by quiet melancholy and decay.
The game is also good at making the world feel vast. The forested hills surrounding the glades of Ered Luin certainly make an impression.
Honestly, it makes me wish I could visit some of these places physically.
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Also, a small detail about Lotro that I really enjoy for aesthetic is the in-game time system.
Unlike WoW, it doesnât rely on real world time for night and day, but unlike FFXIV itâs also slower than just an hour and actually has some gradual progress. A full 24 hours of Lotro time is little over 3 hours, and includes: Dawn, Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Dusk, Gloaming, Evening, Midnight, Late watches, Foredawn.
This system is really neat and massively helps with the immersion of the world and exploration in my opinion.
For gameplay purposes it doesnât do much except for having some NPCs go inside their homes at night(and you need to ring their door for them to appear) and guards and patrols using torches.
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Going to try to get to 75 today on hunter.
Wonât get a chance to do any tomorrow but hopefully Sunday I can get to max and start on comp stomp.
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Did consider getting early access to TWW, but decided it ainât worth the extra ÂŁ20
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If you enjoy 2000s jank then there are a few active servers for Dark Age of Camelot, mind it leans quite heavily towards PvP, if thatâs your thing itâs a nice little window into the MMO past.
Thank god Iâm not aloneâŚ
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Heard alot about it but never tried!
The only reason Iâm considering Epic version is because of the four pets you get with it. But Iâm not sure if ~20ish euros is worth it (subtracting the 30 day gametime from it). No interest in early access though, so Iâm waiting to see if BTM results me in getting Epic or Iâll continue with just Normal version.
I got it and as said, I want to get started on comp stomp on a hunter because that 1st pvp set would fit my vulpera hunter so well.
Just everything I am looking for for a class I have a hard time finding gear that looks nice and is thematic.
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Has not technically moved forward since dark messiahâŚ
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Okay, so I got my starting mount, but the way to do it turned out not to be obvious at all. The quest is called âA Little Extra Never Hurtsâ, which I ignored because I didnât know it was the mount quest. Itâs only available in the instanced starting area, and if you miss it, you have to travel to Mossward and get it there. And to travel to Mossward, you need to use a writ of special passage to unlock the destination at stable masters. None of this is explained in-game.
But on the bright side, the starting gift pack gave me a blue dress! Iâm so happy!
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tbh, and I may be the odd one for thinking this, but the mounts in lotro are largely worthless until Rohan (where the mount system changes dramatically). Until then, especially in the parts of zones it sends you to after the starter areas, the mob density is so thick youâre dazed/dismounted 90% of the time anyway OR youâre constantly dismounting to see views or gather.
Not to knock mounts, they are nice to have, but there were, from memory, largely swaths of the early game where it really hated the fact it gave you one and did everything short of snapping the legs off to make using it a pain.
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We may bond over this.
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I always knew you were a cow-man of fine tasteâŚ
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