Current Events > Think we'll ever get a Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth game that really nails it?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The LotR movie games in the GameCube era were fun as hell at the time, but they were just film-to-game straight up. Even included scenes from the movies as cutscenes. It wasn't exactly a big sweeping adventure, it almost felt more like Gauntlet.

Lord of the Rings Online did a lot right in terms of capturing a Tolkein-y feel, but the gameplay was always just "Hi, I'm World of Warcraft's less attractive cousin" even at launch, then got hilariously dated really quickly.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War is so close to being fucking awesome but there's just too much lore-stomping to overlook even for someone like me who is pretty forgiving. I adore that it looks almost exactly like Peter Jackson's film trilogy and lets me explore Middle Earth, but even on a micro level, like... in SoW you can collect Gondor artifacts and I found a crown that looks just like Aragorn's from the end of RotK. Wow, super cool! Yet, I still can't quite shake "wtf was that doing on a random ledge in the middle of Cirith Ungol, picked up by zombie Talion and zombie Celebrimbor as a collectible to never be mentioned again?" That's not even to mention the rather dubious macro things like Shelob in seductress form and how Talion/Celebrimbor work in the first place.

I don't know. I just wish there was either an MMO or a solo RPG with good gameplay, contemporary graphics, and the ability to explore Middle Earth in a way that doesn't just completely say "fuck the rules, I have money" with lore. SoM/SoW are so close to scratching this itch, but it feels like they made the Nemesis system, wrote a rough plot, and THEN slapped LotR onto it instead of truly writing a LotR story. I appreciate that Tolkein was so detailed that it's almost impossible to write an original story in Middle Earth that doesn't contradict something, but there's a level of fanfic-y flamboyant disregard to SoM/SoW that is a little offputting even though I like them.

With it being the most successful and iconic fantasy setting of all time, I just struggle to believe it's so hard to totally get right.
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

Even included scenes from the movies as cutscenes.

If I remember right they literally morphed from the movie into the game and you started playing.
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There's something disappointing to me about calling a series 'Middle-Earth' and then having two open world games in a row contained entirely within Mordor and just killing a bunch of orcs.
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What I want is a really good, authentic Lord of the Rings RPG. One that isn't a hack and slash game with RPG elements, one that isn't an expy of Final Fantasy X, and one that isn't a MMO.
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Fishy posted...

Mr_Biscuit posted...

Even included scenes from the movies as cutscenes.

If I remember right they literally morphed from the movie into the game and you started playing.

Yeah. That was pretty cool actually.
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A Skyrim version of LotR would be cool af. Too bad video games will never come anywhere close to being as large scale as Middle Earth
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Darmik posted...

There's something disappointing to me about calling a series 'Middle-Earth' and then having two open world games in a row contained entirely within Mordor and just killing a bunch of orcs.

I agree though Im early in SoW and at least Im in Gondor here. Thats, like, the border of Mordor but still.

Id love to be able to get on a horse and ride open world over to Rohan or The Shire, though.
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What about like Witcher 3 style as an LotR game?
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"To make sure we capture the feeling of The Lord of the Rings, player characters will automatically gain a debuff every half hour that reduces their health to one and decreases the damage they deal by 95%. To cure this debuff, the player must select an elvish song to sing from the emote menu and sing it in its entirety. Each song is roughly five minutes."
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Remember that Lord of the Rings Battlefront game? What was that called again? I just remember playing a demo.

Edit:

Lord of the Rings: Conquest!
It's even made by Pandemic.
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Not unless big publishers go back to allowing games with actual stories to come out instead of open worldish stuff with loot boxes and microtransactions.

So you won't see a good Star Wars game anytime soon either.
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lord of the rings volume 1 on SNES
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War in the North was fucking great, especially as a co-op game.

From what I recall, it takes places during the events of LotR, but in different parts of Middle-Earth. You play as new characters, but cross paths with some of the main characters and kind of indirectly help them win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDdJXzNAng
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Frankly, they need to go further back. Stop trying to keep things in the hobbit/lotr timeframe. They need to go back to the silmarillion or even further. Do what kotor did and go so far back you can take all the liberties you want.
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I feel like there was a PS2 era RPG that played similar to final fantasy X. But can't remember enough about it to know if it fits what you wanted.
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Xerun posted...

I feel like there was a PS2 era RPG that played similar to final fantasy X. But can't remember enough about it to know if it fits what you wanted.

War in the North I believe.
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Vertania posted...

War in the North was fucking great, especially as a co-op game.

From what I recall, it takes places during the events of LotR, but in different parts of Middle-Earth. You play as new characters, but cross paths with some of the main characters and kind of indirectly help them win.

Came in to the topic to suggest this; War in the North was great fun. Did a couple of playthroughs with two friends, swapping characters each time. The levels are quite linear though and the only real exploring you do is to locate little secret side areas, so I don't know if it's exactly what the TC is looking for.

pres_madagascar posted...

Xerun posted...

I feel like there was a PS2 era RPG that played similar to final fantasy X. But can't remember enough about it to know if it fits what you wanted.

War in the North I believe.

I doubt it's War in the North; it was a 360/PS3 game and it plays nothing like FFX.
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LividDK posted...

Vertania posted...

War in the North was fucking great, especially as a co-op game.

From what I recall, it takes places during the events of LotR, but in different parts of Middle-Earth. You play as new characters, but cross paths with some of the main characters and kind of indirectly help them win.

Came in to the topic to suggest this; War in the North was great fun. Did a couple of playthroughs with two friends, swapping characters each time. The levels are quite linear though and the only real exploring you do is to locate little secret side areas, so I don't know if it's exactly what the TC is looking for.

pres_madagascar posted...

Xerun posted...

I feel like there was a PS2 era RPG that played similar to final fantasy X. But can't remember enough about it to know if it fits what you wanted.

War in the North I believe.

I doubt it's War in the North; it was a 360/PS3 game and it plays nothing like FFX.

The third age. Looked it up. Forgot about that game.
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pres_madagascar posted...

The third age. Looked it up. Forgot about that game.

Great game, probably a bit underrated. Yep it was essentially FFX with a few additional gameplay mechanics. Only 73 according to Metacritic but I would give it a decent 80.
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Lol you ain't seen shit in SoW yet if the random collectible on a ledge irks you. Just wait!

Think of it as an alt universe, for your own sake.

The orcs are the main draw anyway, not the shitty plot!
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Kelystic posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDdJXzNAng

Second this.
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We need a Grand Theft Warg: Middle-Earth made by Rockstar.
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Murphiroth posted...

Lol you ain't seen shit in SoW yet if the random collectible on a ledge irks you. Just wait!

Think of it as an alt universe, for your own sake.

The orcs are the main draw anyway, not the shitty plot!

Yeah, I was saying EVEN THAT annoys me let alone bigger stuff.

I do tend to think of it as historical fiction within Tolkiens history.
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

Murphiroth posted...

Lol you ain't seen shit in SoW yet if the random collectible on a ledge irks you. Just wait!

Think of it as an alt universe, for your own sake.

The orcs are the main draw anyway, not the shitty plot!

Yeah, I was saying EVEN THAT annoys me let alone bigger stuff.

I do tend to think of it as historical fiction within Tolkiens history.

Ah, ok, gotcha.

There's some stuff later involving the ringwraiths that even had me going "WTF really?" and I'm generally very forgiving with lore shakeups.
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

What about like Witcher 3 style as an LotR game?

*takes drag of cigarette and exhales slowly*
That would be exquisite.
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Kelystic posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDdJXzNAng

I never played the second one, but I loved the first Battle for Middle-earth. I think RTS/strategy is the genre that can probably best capture LOTR.
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Think I have War in the North in my steam backlog. I should check it out. Sounds like its not EXACTLY what Im dreaming of but its a start.
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Nobody else liked it, but I got The Hobbit for PS2 for Christmas one year and it was allright.
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50Blessings posted...

Nobody else liked it, but I got The Hobbit for PS2 for Christmas one year and it was allright.

Shit I totally forgot about that game. I dont know if I ever made it out of the Shire lmao
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Murphiroth posted...

Mr_Biscuit posted...

Murphiroth posted...

Lol you ain't seen shit in SoW yet if the random collectible on a ledge irks you. Just wait!

Think of it as an alt universe, for your own sake.

The orcs are the main draw anyway, not the shitty plot!

Yeah, I was saying EVEN THAT annoys me let alone bigger stuff.

I do tend to think of it as historical fiction within Tolkiens history.

Ah, ok, gotcha.

There's some stuff later involving the ringwraiths that even had me going "WTF really?" and I'm generally very forgiving with lore shakeups.

what was it?
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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

Kelystic posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDdJXzNAng

I never played the second one, but I loved the first Battle for Middle-earth. I think RTS/strategy is the genre that can probably best capture LOTR.

I second this. RTS is the only genre that can do the grand scale battles well
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stoltenberg11 posted...

Murphiroth posted...

Mr_Biscuit posted...

Murphiroth posted...

Lol you ain't seen shit in SoW yet if the random collectible on a ledge irks you. Just wait!

Think of it as an alt universe, for your own sake.

The orcs are the main draw anyway, not the shitty plot!

Yeah, I was saying EVEN THAT annoys me let alone bigger stuff.

I do tend to think of it as historical fiction within Tolkiens history.

Ah, ok, gotcha.

There's some stuff later involving the ringwraiths that even had me going "WTF really?" and I'm generally very forgiving with lore shakeups.

what was it?

Major spoilers

Isildur and Helm Hammerhand are two of the ringwraiths and you fight both of them in boss battles. Isildur was turned into a wraith post death even, which at least seems in character for Sauron as a super dick move to the guy that ruined him.

Granted Tolkien never specified who they all were as far as I know besides 9 kings of men but all 9 had appeared like 500 years before either Helm or Isildur were born.
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oh gosh yeah that does sound bad. just blatant, shameful fanservice like the shelob thing
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Sparksfanboy posted...

I want an isometric top down RPG where you take control of one of the blue wizards and explore what they did out east. Culminates in a final battle during the Battle of the Dale where you have to rally the Beornings, the Dwarves, the Elves of Mirkwood, and the Men under the mountain in one final battle against the massive push made by the Easterlings of Rhun (who are under the thumb of the other blue wizard).

That part of LOTR lore hasn't been explored at all. There was this massive battle at the end of the war of the ring that never gets any coverage and it's a shame.
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Dale

It'd be ripe for some political intrigue/maneuvering while you try to piece together an army in time to repel this massive host descending on your home. It would take place in regonizeable surroundings too - all the descendants of the forces that show up in The Hobbit would be able to take part.

Instead we get more "Lel kill hundreds of orcs in mordor"

I'd like to explore more stuff around Middle Earth like that too. It's a shame that they just go with what sells best to teenagers like orcs and Mordor and sexy Shelob
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