Customer Reviews

The Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've been playing since the middle of closed beta. I never leveled up very far, but I have nonetheless spent countless hours in Middle Earth, primarily as a Hobbit. Now I plan to purchase a Lifetime Membership!!

Lord of the Rings Online is, of course, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game based on the story of J.R.R. Tolkien's work, The Lord of the Rings. The game is true to the books, as much as the New Line Cinema motion pictures were, although not so much true to the movies (which it doesn't try to be). What I find impressive is that every little corner of Middle Earth that was mapped out in the books have in fact been mapped out here in LOTRO--and indeed the books were plentifully detailed in maps and in written descriptions of the fictional universe of Middle Earth. But, for the most part, the subtleties of what is described in the book have been referenced if not fully implemented in the game, particularly in the Shire, all the way from the Sackville-Bagginses to the former Baggins home on the top of the hill at Bag End to the shoeless hobbits' feet! Of course, most LOTRO players will put shoes on their hobbit feet since shoes add armor, but at least the NPCs (non-player characters) are true to the shoelessness.

One step into Michel Delving and you'll quickly notice the unique music system implemented in the game. People are often standing around holding their lutes playing Stairway to Heaven or Row, Row, Row Your Boat. The ability to play notes directly into the game world has been implemented, albeit not in any way comparable to MIDI-driven music software.

While the graphics and landscapes and sky effects ("ooohh, pretty rainbow!", "wow, look at that flock of birds in the sky!") are very impressive, I must concede that the animations such as those of wildlife and monsters are not flawless, particularly where the beasts are idle. But these animation deficiencies are made up for when in combat, with few exceptions. For example, one of the Mature Bear attacks is simply a deep inhale, followed by the loudest bear growl you ever heard, as your character's hair stands on end and the steam from the bear's lungs fills the screen. Or, witness the presence of a Black Rider, and suddenly the screen starts zoom-blinking (very cool effect) and you start to see flashes of The Eye. These are player experiences that go a long way toward immersion of playing agaisnt NPC enemies.

There is an adequately diverse crafting system that would seem interesting but for the fact that it is a money sink. During the betas, farming in the Shire was lucrative, but profitability was dropped by the developers after players showed up in droves to stand around the workbench processing seeds.

The quests are plentiful to keep you busy indefinitely, so long as you are willing to leave the local vicinity. By the time most of the basic quests are completed in Eriador (which will take at least a couple months for most casual gamers), a free expansion will be offered in June. The quests are not typically grinders. For example, in The Shire, some of the quests will involve sneaking past Nosey Hobbits or Hungry Hobbits to deliver the mail or a mushroom pie from one town to another. One quest involves sneaking past a rooster to pick up chicken eggs. Another quest is to simply catch a little kid at midnight pretending to be an evil monster. Of course, these are "safe" starter quests; otherwise, there are plenty of quests that, for example, involve fetching a stolen item from a monster encampent, or killing off a monster boss. (As with some other MMORPGs, one learns that in these dangerous types of quests it is best to find nearby players and create a fellowship, since the power of two is better than the power of one, and success of one typically means success for the other as well.)

The game is not flawless, but I think that where there were compromises and cut corners the game makes very wise trade-offs. Stiff animations for incredibly immersive subtleties, for example. Because trade-offs do exist, I wish I could knock off 1/2 star, but this game seems so much more than just a 4/5 game.

People talk about how this game copies that game, but The Lord of the Rings franchise is the origin of so much modern folklore for RPG elements it's surprising to me that a LOTR-based RPG hasn't been tried before. I suppose no one was daring enough to take on the challenge of bringing Tolkien's work to life with honorable results. I'm really glad that Turbine did, though, because LOTRO is a real treat for fans of LOTR. And for what LOTRO tries to do and be, it does it exceedingly well--not necessarily to be a WoW-killer but to bring Tolkien's work to life in an immersive world full of other real players just like yourself in a PvE environment that would give absolute sheer joy to anyone who fantasized being in Middle Earth after reading the books.

As a huge fan of JRR Tolkien I review this game with a bit of a bias. While there have been video games set in Middle Earth before, none of them has offered what this one does: complete freedom to quest, explore--just immerse oneself fully in the world Tolkien created. As a gateway into Tolkien's world this game succeeds admirably--as an MMORPG in general, however, it can't avoid the shadow of a little game called World of Warcraft.



The comparison is inevitable since WoW is and has been the dominant force in MMORPG gaming since its release in 2004. In reviewing this game, then, I will sometimes compare it to WoW.



Audience/community: This game targets both LOTR fans and MMORPG gamers in general. While I believe Turbine intended to shoot for a more mature audience for Lord of the Rings Online than is present in World of Warcraft I think this is only partially the case. I have encountered immature and annoying people in LOTRO just as I do daily in WoW. The Middle-Earth community as a whole is more mature, but I suspect that will change if LOTRO can ever rival WoW's popularity.



Control: This is LOTRO's biggest downfall. While the interface is very accessible and combat is relatively easy to perform, the action lacks the fluidity that WoW has. The characters are somewhat stiff and awkward as they fight--something I expected from a game like this until a couple years ago. It is not enough to seriously hinder the game, but it is a significant drawback for anyone who plays WoW.



Gameplay: The gameplay is excellent. Not only are there more than enough quests to go around, there are also side objectives called Deeds which don't give your character experience but which do provide for added customization. Depending on how you spend your time (exploring, killing many of a certain type of enemy, etc) you can earn "traits" and titles for your character which can be used to make him or her all your own. Traits go beyond the typical talent points acquired through leveling--they give your character bonuses through charity, wisdom, and other such attributes. You can also earn titles for your character, from such things as "Wolf Slayer" to protector of such and such a town. This is a great aspect of the game and certainly adds to the enjoyment of creating and building a character.



The game features professions which are about what you'd expect from an MMORPG. They are enjoyable and easy to get the hang of. One area this game does fall a bit short in, though, is player vs. player combat. PVP takes place through "monster play," which just isn't quite the same as all-out PvP with your own character.



Graphics: The graphics on this game are absolutely gorgeous, and certainly one of the high points of the game. The landscape and terrain, the towns and cities, the water...everything is just pristine.



Storyline: This is another of LOTRO's strong points. There are many interesting storylines in each area as well as an "epic" storyline which is basically a quest chain that has more far-reaching consequences in Middle Earth than the "go kill some of those wolves" variety. As your character grows and progresses he/she becomes more valuable to the overall cause of Middle Earth.



I have enjoyed this game very much. At the end of the day, however, I ask myself one question. Would I play this game if it weren't set in the LOTR universe? The answer, quite frankly, is that I probably would not. It's not that the game has any huge flaw or that it's not enjoyable (it is)--it's just that without the LOTR franchise the game would come up even shorter of MMORPG greatness.

I've been playing MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) now for about three years. My MMO gaming experience includes Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Lord of the Rings Online. I thought I would post a simple review of the game that was posted simply in terms of POSITIVES and NEGATIVES, from the perspective of a veteran MMORPG player.

POSITIVES
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* Graphics. Turbine did an excellent job creating the world of middle earth. Immersion is NOT a problem in this game.

* Character customization. You can modify hair styles, facial features, skin color, eye color, and much more. In addition, the ability to use dye in order to customize your appearance is nice. Also, you don't have the problem with "clown armor" that games like World of Warcraft has. That is, armor that is multicolored and un-coordinated. Using dye, you can make any armor set look sleek.

* Quests. There are so many quests in this game that I feel like I will never run out! I never find myself endlessly grinding for XP. Turbine did a good job with the quests and the associated story lines.

* Crafting. The crafting system is terrific. Albeit, it is expensive to level your skills up. For this reason, I usually recommend that someone level their character first, THEN focus on crafting.

* Server populations. There are plenty of people playing this game. And the people that play seem to be much more mature than other populations on other games.

* Sound. The battle sounds are SUPERB. Battles sound like swords, axes, shields, maces, etc. are actually swinging and contacting each other.

* Limited presence of magic. Many fantasy games are heavy into the magic aspect of the game. Consistent with the lore of Middle Earth, magic has a presence, but it is limited. You will not find a super-class of characters that are all-powerful arcanists. This is a nice change. Rather, swords, maces, axes, bows, crossbows, and clubs reign supreme. There is a cloth-wearing class that dabbles in magic, but again... it is limited.

* Potential for future expansion. If you look at the world map, the area that the current game world is occupying is only a small percentage of Middle Earth. There is tremendous potential for opening up new areas and dungeons.


NEGATIVES
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* Hardware demands. Unless your computer is state-of-the-art, you will likely find yourself playing in the medium graphics quality setting.

* Customer service from Turbine. I spend quite a bit of time on the Turbine website and I just don't feel like they are communicating with us like other gaming companies communicate with their player base. Turbine is quick to share lore and other items of a Middle Earth nature, but they rarely comment on errors, future expansions, etc. I just don't feel like I'm in touch with the developers like I did when I played Warcraft.

* Inability to make significant addon's for the game. Many other games allow you to generate new mapping software or completely new user interfaces. Turbine allows you to skin the user interface, but nothing more. So it seems that the community will not be permitted to generate many addons for the game. Even though I do not feel that I need to many addons for LOTRO, I do like having that option.

* Mounts. The mounts in the game need a bit of work. The animation is far from perfect. I feel as if mounts were an afterthought addition to the game. My character has a mount, and while I do enjoy it, I feel as if I am dismounted too easily by random mobs. Furthermore, the speed boost is not tremendous.

* Demands on servers. Sometimes the servers turn down your graphic settings on YOUR end so that it can improve server performance during busy periods. This can be frustrating, but isn't intolerable.

BACKGROUND:
I have played many MMORPGs for countless hours and days and even more RPGs. DAoC was my first dedicated MMO. I moved on to Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), City of Heroes (CoH), and then ultimately to World of Warcraft (WoW). Needless to say, true to form with all of their games, Blizzard has single handedly redefined the genre. For better or worse, WoW has become 'THE' MMO. With millions of gamers worldwide, it has shattered subscription numbers and opened the genre to people who have never played in a persistant world. I have been fortunate (or unfortunate) pleasure of being around the game since Beta and have multiple characters with 60+ days of playtime. (2 hours a day, every day since release only comes out to 29 days played).

As far as Middle Earth, I am one of the biggest Tolkien fans. I have read and re-read his works since I was a kid back in the 70's. Many games have come out recently with the franchises name on it, and although initally excited, they were all flops in my opinion. In fact, the only person since Tolkien himself to truly capture Middle Earth has been the genious that is Peter Jackson.

EQUIPMENT:
I am currently running a WinXP, P4 Duo Core 3.4Ghz with 2GB DDR667 RAM and a 256MB Nvidia 7800 video card. My wife has a similar setup but with a ATI X600SE 128MB card.

MMORPG:
Unless you've been living under a rock, MMORPG is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role PLaying Game. You are in a persistant world. Which more or less means, when you log out, the world still goes on. Other than an occasional update or server restart, the world always stays up and running. Most games of this genre add or change content to the world on a monthly basis.

I would like to preface this review that many comparisons will be made to WoW. Wow, being the biggest thing to hit MMOs since nerds like myself, gives a standard to all future games of this genre. Although this game is original in it's own right, this is not apples and oranges...more like tangerines and oranges.

INITIAL REACTION: 9/10
My initial reaction of LOTRO was complete excitement. The game had been in the works for some 10 years under two different developers. At one point the game was considered nothing but Vaporware and came close to not getting done.

Turbine took over development a few years ago and completed it. It wasn't til a week AFTER release that I even realized the game was out. Needless to say, I ran out and bought the game as soon as I found out that game was released.

The installation was flawless, and after a few downloads, I created my character and was in the game. The character creation screen is simple and easy but also, a bit lacking. Personally, I don't care a whole lot on what my character looks like out of the gate. I spend the entire game looking at the back of the head of my toon anyways, and depending on my equipment, I never see their face anyways. Same goes for other players; it's not like I recognize them by their faces, I know who they are by their huge name tag above their heads.

SERVERS, BUGS AND STABILITY: 7/10
Although the servers have been very stable, there have been a few hiccups in logging in. There can be some lag when first getting into the game. Most of this goes away after a few minutes. There have been some login queues (waiting in line to get in the game), but nothing extraordinary. Remember WoW? If they add a couple more servers, this should take care of those issues.

There are a few bugs here and there but nothing gamebreaking at this point. Some general errors pop up. I wonder if Turbine should just remove the prompt altogether because it's not like we can change something or report what actually just happened.

MIDDLE EARTH: 9/10
Other than Alan Lee and Peter Jackson, nobody has visually recreated Middle Earth like Turbine has. Take one step into the Shire and go up on top of one the hills and overlook the various farms and you will see exactly what I am talking about.

The rendering of the water in this game is the best I have seen. Clear running brooks and streams make you want to just take your shoes off and take a stroll through the water. In come locations, you will see some waterfalls and swift moving rapids over river rocks...absolutely beautiful.

You can see for miles and miles ahead see a ridge with some tree sillouettes in the far distance. Other than some polygon popping up as you walk nearer, the view is stunning.

I give this section a 9 instead of a 10 because Middle Earth has not been entirely fleshed out. I have yet to see the southern lands which everybody and their mother can identify with (ROhan, Minas Tirith, Mordor, etc). I tentatively give them high marks because I couldn't imagine Turbine dropping off in the quality they have created.

CLASSES & RACES: 4/10
In my opinion, this is the part of the game that really lacks the most.

You play the game as one of four races: elf, human, hobbit, dwarf. Of these races, there are 7 different classes, some of which may or may not be available for each race. The classes include Hunters (ranger type bow weilders), Champions (arms extraoridare that is able to mow down their enemies), Guardians (usually sword and board types who absorb damage like sponges for their fellowships), Captains (support class which give useful abilities/power to self and friends), Lore-Masters (watered down version of mages), Minstrels (the one true healer in the game), and Burglars (think Bilbo on steroids)

Although all classes represent most abilities and skills for the game, I feel there may be some things lacking. These classes are cut and dry. And thought you can 'tweak' each class with traits, if you've seen one Hunter or champion, you've seen them all. It's not neccessarily the nubmer of classes, it's the lack of customization. In WoW, there are only 9 classes. But each class can be customized so that each plays completely different based on how a player chooses their talents. For instance, a Paladin in WoW can be a healing juggernaught or a poor man's warrior with healing abilities, or simply a rock wall which will not die. In LotRO, I have to choose between a Minstrel, Guardian, Captain or Champion. I have to take the good with the bad.

Think of it more like a color wheel in paint programs. In a well rounded program, you can slide the Red, Green, and Blue bars back and forth to create millions of color variations. In a simple program, you can choose between 16 colors.

Though the blues and greens are very nice in the simple program, I may want a color somewhere between aqua and teal. This game does not have aqua and teal.

Another part of the game, which is very debatable depending on your playstyle is PvP, or Player Vs Player combat. I realize in the Tolkien books that the different races banded together to fight a common enemy and Turbine related that into this game, but that enemy also has various factions within it. Orcs, goblins and men of the North and South are allied together. I would love to be able to roll with a Uruk Hai tribe and raze a village.

In all fairness though, the game just came out and those area in the book have not been written into the game as of yet and Turbine may add more playable classes the are aligned with Sauron. They have also included some PvP into the game with the Monster Play aspect. Although this is very original, it seems like an afterthought and is isolated from the rest of the game.

GAMEPLAY & MECHANICS: 6/10
The combat in this game is no different than many games that have come out in the past. If I were to compare it to another game, it would be like DAoC. Some people say its the same as Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO), but I have never played that so I cannot confirm it.

You can easily target your enemies and toggle select which one you want to attack by simply hitting TAB. I like the fact that when you are attacked first, your character does go into a combat auto-attack mode. This saves a bit of time and confusion of what you are being attacked by.

The effects are topnotch during combat, however, I get an uneasy sense that some mechanics are off. As with any RPG game, each character has skills and moves and spells to cycle through. The ability to use these skills are mostly based on how much power or mana you may or may not have left or simply how many charge-ups you may have at any given time. This is no different. What does differ is the synergy between your skill use and the functionality (or more to the point, flexibility) of your character. If you've ever played WoW, the one thing you will noticed is the response time from when your finger presses that button and when it happens in-game. It makes me really miss the almost FPS style that WoW incorporates.

Yes there are various timers on the skills on how often you can use a skill and it is well represented in the game. However, I feel that even if I have plenty of my power bar and the timer is reset on a skill, sometimes there is a delay between when I select a skill and when it happens in the game. It is hard to explain in text but is easily felt while playing. It may be that the animation between one skill and another must be displayed before a skill gets 'fired', but it definately there. Added to this, there is a bug that happens every so often that shows all of your skills in grey (as if not available) and you have plenty of power. You can use the skill and it works, however if you watch your timers like I do, it can be confusing.

I have also noticed a attacking issue during gameplay. If for any reason you find yourself trying to attack something that is either running by you or running from you, it is very hard to land a blow. And selecting a particular skill or move during this time is fruitless. It seems for melee combat, you need to be right up on your target to hit it. It would be nice if in the very least that you can select a particular skill ahead of time and it land once you are within range. As it stands now, you must keep reselecting your skill until it hits.

Unfortunately, this is the part of the programming of the game that is considered the 'engine' and it is very unlikely that it would be revisited and changed in the future.

Combat it groups can be utterly chaotic. Whether or not you choose to keep player names shown and NPC's tags shown can and will clutter your screen and can be confusing. On the flip side, removing name tags can make it hard to distinguish between friend or foe. There may be a setting to reduce text size, but have not found it yet.

Again, in all fairness, had WoW never come out, the responsiveness and attacking issue would probably be a non-issue and I would have not known the difference.

The game does include a travel system. Much like DAoC in the beginning, you pay coin to travel from one destination to another on a pre-determined path. They are available between two points as long as you have been to each place. The difference here, is at level 35 you can pimp your own ride and travel off the beaten path on your pony. It remains to be seen if flying mounts are feasible in game at a later date.

QUESTS: 8/10
This is one part of the game that shines the brightest. There are more quests and tasks in this game than you can shake a stick at. In fact, most of your characters experience and leveling is going to be due to questing. You can hold up to 45 quests in your journal at any one time.

The quests are broken down into the various map areas and are very easy to read. In some quests, there are multiple parts to it. I like the fact that during these parts, most quests tell you exactly who gave you the quest and give their location and where to go to complete the quest.

Yes, there are those quests that say 'Go here and kill X amount of wolves. Or those that say deliver this to 'So-and-so'. For those detractors that hate this, well you will never get away from these in a MMO.

LORTO also includes 'instance' quests. These are usually quests that are much harder to do and mostly require a fellowship to complete. Generally these quests provide better rewards and experience. Instances are simply areas in the game that you and your group 'enter' that are separate from the rest of the world. For example, if two groups of adventurers are on the same quest, when each group enters the cave or whatever, they are in their own separate instance of that cave.

ORIGINALITY & COMPELXITY: 9/10
I give this area high marks. It is very refreshing to have the game keep track of the different types of enemies I fight and which skills or moves I use the most, and reward me with titles that I can display to the rest of Middle Earth. If I choose to spend my days hunting down every last goblin in the Bree-Lands, then I 'should' be able to become The Goblin-Hewer. Turbine has thought this out thoroughly and done an excellent job. Completing these deeds can gain you a title at first, and certain traits that you can learn to make your character stronger.

They also have in the game, mechanics in place to encourage exploring. In different parts of each map area, they have set certain landmarks or ruins that you can find. It is your 'DEED' to go and find these places. For example, finding the 6 different ancient Dunedain ruins or finding the 8 different unique flowers in the Old Forest. Upon discovering these, you complete a deed and are given a fair amount of experience.

I also like what they did with some of the unique traits that you acquire through deeds and questing. These traits are interchangeable and swappable at your nearest bard for a small fee. These traits are comparable to the talent in WoW but are singular instead of tree-based talents.

Also keeping with originality, Turbine included some synergy for group play called Fellowship Skills. At certain times during a battle, you are presented with special 'group' moves that greatly help your fellowship. Depending on what each player selects, it can change the tide of battles.


OVERALL & REPLAYABILITY: 8/10
Overall this game has stuck its foot in the WoW door, so to speak. There is alot of good things here and the upside is, can only get better. The originality of deeds and titles goes a long way in my opinion. And having the Lord of The Rings license makes this a game worth trying.

I cannot wait for the southern lands content to be added to this game. I shiver at the thought of questing through Moria and can't wait to take a flying leap off the top of Minas Tirith.

For those who have never played a MMO or are avid Tolkien fans, I strongly recommend this game. For those who know nothing but WoW, you may want to wait a bit longer to see where Turbine takes us on this adventure. I for one, have the unfortunate pleasure of having to keep up with three WoW accounts and now two LORTO accounts. The problem is that I dont have enough time to do it all now. My friends and family that I begged to get into WoW are now upset that I have been hanging out with hobbits instead of night-elves.

BOTTOM LINE:
With the beautiful landscape and alot of original content that Turbine blessed us with, if this game had the combat mechanics of WoW and the entire Middle Earth mapped out, it would overthrow Blizzard as being the top MMO of all time.

Pretty much every fantasy computer game that exists owes at least some of its content to the famous Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkein. It's no surprise that there is finally an online MMORPG based in this world.

I grew up reading and loving the Lord of the Rings series. I dreamed of a world where Aragorn was by my side and we rescued the world from dangerous enemies. I would beta-test Asheron's Call, EverQuest and many other MMORPGs, always creating a ranger type character and giving it ranger-type names. These games would usually offer elves, dwarves and Lord of the Rings style situations - but it wasn't quite the same.

We now finally have a game which IS in fact the Lord of the Rings universe, complete with the well-documented maps and histories of this world. You can start as a human, dwarf, elf or hobbit. Each race has a single starting spot where it learns the ins and outs of adventuring before moving on to explore the larger world.

The character customization isn't as rich as in some other games on the market. Yes, you have a few hair styles, facial looks, and eyes to choose from. Depending on your 'home town', you get a selection of hair color, skin color and eye color options. I would have liked more level of detail to really make your character unique.

You get the normal types of classes - rangers, fighters, magic-users, singers. Each game seems to have these, by whatever name they happen to use. You can swim through water, hike through mountains, or simply sit on a hillside and watch the flock of birds fly slowly across the gorgeous cloud-filled sky. They really did do an amazing job with the graphics here. It's well worth amping your system and graphics card up to see the highest levels they offer.

You have to begin with all the usual quests - killing wild animals, fetching items. As you progress, you get to really customize the type of character you have. If you've got a musical instrument, you can play real songs you know! Fill the room full of traditional Celtic melodies!

Really, when it comes down to it, every MMROPG offers the same general environment. You have a character, you learn skills, you get better at fighting / spellcasting / crafting / etc. as you go. The key is in how much you enjoy being immersed in that world, and in how much you enjoy interacting with the people you meet. I know many people who loved staying in 'older' MMORPGs, with relatively poor graphics, simply because their band of friends was there too. Back in the "old days" I played on DuneMUSH, an online text-based RPG set in the world of the Dune series. We had no graphics at all! What made the game so much fun was the role playing and interaction of the characters that were online.

So that being said, since I love the Lord of the Rings series, I love being able to immerse myself in that world. It's like my two romance novels I wrote based on the type of characters that exist in Lord of the Rings. I adore that level of honor, compassion and moral courage. I would love to live in a world that offered that atmosphere every day. The Lord of the Rings MMORPG, details of crafting aside, gives me that opportunity - and draws in others who felt that same powerful draw of the books.

If the Lord of the Rings MMORPG serves as a gathering point for people who believe in the meaning of Aragorn and Arwen, in Legolas and Gandalf, and why their characters have such a powerful impact on our lives, then that alone is a great thing as far as I'm concerned. And if I did nothing but talk for hours with those people, discussing ways to make the world a better one and to help out those less fortunate, then that would make me truly happy.

If you just aren't keen on Lord of the Rings, then certainly give it a try, but you might be happier whereever your current friends are playing.

LOTR Shadows of Angmar Review


LORTSOA is the only MMORPG I have played to date. At first I was a bit overwhelmed: learning the controls (still learning) and finding the locations of some quests. After six days I'm getting a handle on a number of the controls, but the location of some quests are given so vaguely that it takes awhile and much patience to find them. I think it is designed that way to force you to explore.

I have created one hobbit (hunter), 3 elves (hunter, champion and guardian) and one man (guardian). I was hoping to play a strong little hobbit warrior at first - but the hunter hobbit seemed weak. So the second day I created two elves and then on the third day a man and then also an elf guardian. I liked the elf guardian best so far and have continued with him to level 11. Later I might create a hobbit guardian. Picking a race and type you like to play with AND are having fun with are two important aspects of this game. Make sure you experiment to see which race/type works best with you.

Anyway, at first I didn't think I would like the fellowship component so I tried to go solo in all the quests I tried including my last area of play in the elf land of Ered Lurin. However, at beginner levels (lvl under 10) I found myself unable to finish certain quests because the enemy was too strong or too numerous - I needed help!

So, after my third day, now playing as the elf guardian on level 8 I became very discouraged and quite tempted to give up the game once and for all. However, on my fourth day I decided to take the leap and to learn how to chat and to give fellowship a try. After all I just paid $30.00 for the game + $15.00 for a month of play. And so I said "yes" to the next fellowship request when asked and I finally learned how to ask others to join me in fellowship. I am SO GLAD that I did as the others players are really a great bunch! Now I am definitely going to continue playing this game just for the fellowship aspect. Fellowship is a very temporary thing lasting through one or several quests if players are up to it and you can quit any time. KINSHIP PLAY is for long term efforts - which I have not yet tried out.

Even before I learned how to fellowship some players saw that my elf guardian was having a hard time killing a bunch of orcs, bad dwarves, spiders or whatever so that I not could finish a quest such as gathering grapes, obtaining wine bottles or retrieving a stolen elf bow, etc. and they came to my help without being asked - later, I did the same for others as I leveled up. You can see the level of other players and can tell that some are real pros and can help you and others are just newbies and could use your help. This is now what I like most about the game - fellowship!

Last night I joined a fellowship (at the hunter's lodge near Gondamon) to rescue an elf prince in a QUEST INSTANCE and then I asked for help from one member of my fellowship to finish one of my quests in finding a mountain cat's cub in some cave north of the hunter's lodge. My elf companion was a BIG help in locating the cub cave that I would not have easily found and I was able to return the cub to the hunter's lodge.

Right after this I then helped a dwarf guardian player at level 7 - I was now at level 11. He was seeking fellowship from anyone to get to some place in Bree Land. I responded "yes". And off we went - him leading. I soon learned that he didn't know where he was going. We ended up in a dead end and fought many creatures and finally got killed by a band of orcs. I asked again where he wanted to go and he clarified by saying "The Shire". I knew where that was because I had been there a few days ago. It was then that I felt really helpful to another player and showed him how to get into the Shire crossing over a bridge near Duillond and going through the gate. When we got there I told him: "We are in the Shire." He responded: "Neat." He immediately wanted to begin the hobbit mail run quests. I did one with him to show him the ropes and then signed off after saying good bye as it was past bed time. He thanked me and was sorry to see me leave. The other players in this game so far have been very polite and gracious. It is helpful in this game to learn how to wave and bow (emote) to others after they have helped you as they often do this to you when you have helped them - and no one in Middle Earth wants to be rude. You just have to type: /wave (or whatever) and hit ENTER and your player will do it.

The CUT SCENES and QUEST INSTANT action parts are really enjoyable. With the Cut Scenes the game takes you to an action moment (usually a battle) and the NPCs ask for specific help from you. The music and action is great - tense and dramatic! If you die it repeats over for you. The Quest Instant action parts occur during the quests where once again a NPC will ask you to help them recover something or rescue someone. Other players can join you in fellowship or ask for your help in these Quest Instant actions, as some require several players to succeed. After each player talks to the NPC the game actually transports all involved to the proper place where the action begins and then transports you back once it has been accomplished. You can repeat these Instant Quests with others if you visit a Reflecting Pool which again I have yet to learn about.

Sparring is also a possibility in this game where either yourself or another player wants to spar. Once on the fourth day another elf player wanted to spar with me but I didn't know that the fancy red ring he placed on the ground and the crossed swords over my head indicated this. All I had to do was click my opponent and type in the chat bar: [/spar] + ENTER and the fight would have begun! Unfortunately, I just kept starring at this player wondering "Whats up!" He was dancing and clapping (emote) trying to get my attention - oh well sorry about that. I went to the manual after that to see what he was doing and found out about sparring. No one dies in sparring, but there is a winner and loser - the loser falls down. Weapons and clothing usually need to be repaired after sparring. Whenever you die in the game usually you need to get your gear REPAIRED which all merchant NPCs can do.

There is still so much in this game to understand: crafting (which is getting mixed reviews) traits, skills, deeds, books, virtues, etc. Patience and time will be needed. Owning a House looks neat but is SOOO expensive! Others have spoken of the beauty of the sights and sounds. I have a decent rig: Pro Gamer series Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz / 2.67Ghz, 2.00GB Ram & a GeForce 7600GT card. The game runs real smooth and looks and sounds great. Hope this review helps those yet hesitant to give it a shot and those becoming discouraged at the beginning to continue on!

I think this is a good solid fantasy MMO that you will enjoy if you like solo and PVE play. It is weak on PVP. The crafting system is moderately complex.

I bought this item thinking that I could start a new account with this software, but I cannot. It is useless now that Turbine requires Mines of Moria for all new accounts. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Purchase the Mines of Moria complete edition or purchase an account key directly from Turbine. This is what I should have done originally.


***EDIT: This game is now free to start an account, you do not need to buy any box. Just sign up for an account on their website.

I love how people review a game based on what "they" wanted it to be and not for what it is. Although this game has a PvP "Monster" area the main game is PvE or Player vs Environment.

So if you want to run around killing other players this is not the game for you. It was never supposed to be this type of game. To review a game because it was not made the way you wanted it to be made is just silly at best.

So in closing if you like WoW but want a change, if you like WoW but wanted better graphics, if you like the lower levels of EQ1 or EQ2 (when you could solo) and if you like to be placing "in" a world that seems alive and real then give LOTRO a try.

If you want to blow things up real good, if you want to "own" other players and brag how uber you are then move on or keep playing the other PvP games. The internal moster place battlefield are a blast but the main part of this game is overcoming quests and computer controlled AI either solo or in fellowships (groups) and not to beat the other side.

This is a game for mature people who are looking to avoid the randon "duel requests" from the pre-teens who snuck on their parents computer *smiles*



So what is LOTRO?

1. Perhaps the best graphics of any MMORPG out today. Graphics, while not making a game, do help get you into the game as long as they do not do so at the expense of fun. Since this game looks good on a 4 year old computer and great on a newer computer it is "you" who decide how important graphics are.

2. Nearly bug free which is more than I can say for a certain other game that was just released because they ran out of funds and needed people to pay to beta-test the game.

3. Rich history and storyline that is without question better than anything past, present and most likely future. This hitory was gathered over years and years of thought and not fudged together in months in order to fit features of a game. This game was made around the lore, not the lore around the game.

4. Quests are nearly as good as those in WoW and in some respects better. This is a game about questings and not about rinse and repeat massive MOB kills.

5. Solo Play as good as in WoW. Try soloing to high levels in most of the other games. You a hard core massive raider... well this is not that type of game. While there is raiding it is more down to earth than some of the other massive "required" raiding games.

Whenever you see reviews that are either 1's or 5's it falls into the...

"Whatever game I play rules, whatever game I do not play stinks"

I discount all 1's for the most part because 90+% of those reviews are just trash talk. Show me the 3 star reviews backed up with some reason why they like this feature or why they do not like that feature.

I only give this game 4 stars overall because I do not feel that any game is perfect. As they add to LOTRO this will go higher but days before release after playing for a few months it's clearly a 4-star game right now.

I am a long time gamer (I started on an Atari 800) but this is only the second MMORPG I have played. The first, that got me really hooked was World of Warcraft. While many people object to the comparisons between the two it is inevitable. More people have played WoW than probably any other game out there. It is a good point of reference. With that said.. let's get on with the review.

GRAPHICS - The graphics are stellar. It is a very good looking game. The textures are realistic. The models are all very accurate. The environments are lush. It is a stunning game to look at. A+

COMMUNITY - The Fellowship (group/raid) is similar to WoW in it's raw function, but the LOTRO version of the LFG tool is much better and is actually usable. Kinships are LOTRO's version of guilds. It has all of the things you would normally expect. One nice feature is while at the auction house you can search for items listed by your kinship if you want to 'keep it in the family' so to speak. The server that I have played on is pretty weak from an RP perspective. But so is the WoW community. I play on a PVPRP server on WoW and can only think of two guilds that really RP. ... B-

GAMEPLAY - This is going to be a hard section to rate. There are things I like about LOTRO a lot better than WoW, but inherently the game doesn't FEEL right. The physics of my characters feel awkward. Controlling them feels disconnected, again, in comparison to WoW. With that said, most group (fellowship) quests are instance based. You and your fellowship port to an instance that is many times a recreation of a normally playable world location. This has the advantage that you never have to wait for respawns or have some jackass ninja your objective. Another thing that I really like about LOTRO is how the equivalent of WoW's Talents and Abilities are managed. In order to gain a higher rank of a spell or ability, you have to use it.. a LOT. One thing I don't like about WoW is that if you want to spend the gold you can respec on a whim. LOTRO forces you to use a spell and therefore learn how it should be used in order to advance. ... A-

TOOLS / SUPPORT - There are official forums which are quite active. There is an 'in game' issue reporting tool, but it really just spawns a web page that you have to log in to again to report your issue. Not cool. There is no add-on support. You can create skins and rearrange most items, but you can't really enhance the features or functionality of the interface. WoW rocks for this. I run around 50+ add-ons with WoW and depend upon them. The idea of not being able to do this is a big drawback to me. There is a built in voice chat tool that allows you you chat with Fellowship members without having to load up Ventrillo or TeamSpeak. As with most built-in tools it is not as feature rich, but it works. ... B-

OVERALL - I would say that if you have grown bored with WoW and are in need of something different then you should check LOTRO out. If you are a LOTR fan and enjoy the lore associated with it, then you should definitely check it out. The initial release is quite impressive and I am sure that with content updates and patches some of the nagging little things will be ironed out. ... B+

Unfortunately, with the successful release of Warhammer Onlne and World of Warcraft's unwavering player base and upcoming Expansion, it seems like LOTRO may be getting left in the dust. But please, if you are considering this game, give it a try, it can still hold it's own against it's massive competitors. It's absolute brilliant and true to heart depiction of Middle Earth alone warrants it's meager $10 price, but it is also brilliant as an MMO too.

The player base is smaller than the other two, but it's still big enough, and the community by far is the most intelligent and mature. One of my biggest complaints about Wow was it's racist and childish community, but that type is virtually non-existent in LOTRO. There are many adults who play the game to immerse themselves into the LOTRO story, but it is still kid friendly, if not more kid friendly than the other two, with it's toned down and more mature community. From the quests, the programming and layout of the world, and the crafting, to the little things in the game such as player music, the genius soundtrack of the game, and the RPing, make this the most immersive of the three by far.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan and want to enter the world, almost literally, than this is the game for you.

If you are an MMO fan, heed my opinion: For the most polish (since it's been out the longest), great PVE/PVP balance, Arena PVP, item-based play, the best mount system I've seen, and an insufferable community, go to WOW. For what is in my opinion now the best MMO available, the best and most rewarding and addictive PVP(RVR), the best character creation, the most creative and original classes, and (to describe it using it using one adjective) classy MMO, Warhammer Online is the game. And for the best story by a long shot (considering the source material), for rping, for the most lush and beautiful world, the best community, the most well-written music, and the best PVE content, LOTRO is your game (and mine, even though I rate WARHAMMER Online as a slightly better game).

One more thing
The music is absolutely brilliant. It's perfectly appropriate (the music of each race feels native to that country land), very well written, and helps to evoke the atmosphere even further. My other big complaint about WOW and probably my only complaint about WAR was the music. WAR's music is absolutely terrible, and Wow's isn't much better. But LOTRO's soundtrack is a true work of art. I can't tell you how many time's of just stopped playing for a second to sit and listen to the music intently. I even have the cd in my car.