This is the most blah and boring review I have seen yet!! It isn't the grade that annoys me- it's just so superficial it seems like it's a Middle school kid's book report. It's so dang shallow and has no depth or details.
Here's links to the first 2 Official reviews that came out that are filled with info and are from major companies with MUCH better staff writers:
That was a fair review. Graphics are good but they're not exactly Oblivion-like. The attention to detail in Ered Luin, Shire, Breeland is amazing (ie up to level 20). Sound and general atmosphere are convincing and draw you in. It has a few new features: traits, monsterplay, instruments, smoking, sitting. But it just doesn't push the envelope which can be seen by reading between the lines of the review:
* very little avatar customisation.
* classes are the same as other mmo's except they have different names.
* crafting is simplistic, not even worthy of a description.
* there are the same kill 'x' bears quests although sometimes these are chained.
There are reviews of the game on other sites already so I trust Donna as much as Eurogamer etc. More as she is a MMO specialist.
Scores are realistic based on the current gen of hardware - an old game might get 10 for graphics if it pushed your Riva TNT2 to it's limits. Mid-range hardware has improved a lot since WoW, DDO & GW were reviewed.
oblivion isn't a MMO so you can't compare it with LOTRO, we talking about games like WOW getting score of 10 on graphics and LOTRO getting 8, its ridiculous
If you use that as your meathod of review graphics, then we might as well give lotro a 5. Because in 5 years graphics will be so much better and you will make the same argument.
1: Kostika Did not actually review the game, but instead listed its feature rather than reviewing and giving opinions on those features. It is an excellent step one, there is a great deal of information about the game, but it felt like reading a Game manual, rather than a Game review.
2: I believe Kostika is attempting to give a real, honest review score based on personal standards and expectations, which is truly commendable. Unfortunately so many reviewers hand out 9's and 10's as if they were candy, that they have lost all meaning, and if a game these days does not receive 9's and 10's then the audience takes that as a negative . Back in the day, reviewers would refuse to hand out 9's and 10's to games on principal that no game should be able to attain a 10, and that a 9 should mean something.
If you are willing to stand up and give an honest score, set to stricter standards than your peers, then you should also be willing to critique and review the game, rather than acting as a game manual substitute.
Just a shallow re-hash of the information on the official LotRO website.
I suspect that due to 'Advertising Dollars', we will NEVER see a real Review on MMORPG of any game that has even the potential of giving money to MMORPG for advertising.
I also suspect that due to 'Advertising Dollars', many games that should not even be listed on this site as MMORPGs, are here.
Just my 2c.
I find the community Reviews here much more interesting; including the ones from the Hate-Boys and the Fan-Boys of all the games.
I played in the beta. I thought the game was fine..just not compelling to keep me playing.Solid game...nothing that hasen't been seen or done before except for the setting. I think Turbine set out to do exactly that.....create a beautiful faithful recreation of Tolkin's world...that would run on a wide array of computers...have broad appeal.... and be a natural place for WOW players when they are ready to move on.I think it will be very sucessful.
Thanks for your understanding, Jive, and that sentence made me laugh bigtime. Dead-on!
May I join the club? And I'll repeat another well said thing:
Originally posted by Cerion
So what I got out of this review and subsequent explanation was this: "I don't want to appear to be a fanboy, so I will lowball the scores."
If you represent one of the biggest and serious site about MMORPG you have no right for "just an own opinion". People have some expectations and authors - responsibilities. The rating in this "review" will be now the rating of mmorpg.com not the score from Donna Desborough and every mark has to be at least explained.
Turbine could make hard work and Lotro could become one of the best MMO never made but lotro needsMore areas , specially MOST IMPORTANT areas, stop with Eriador please ! In SWG we have Mos Eisley, in DAOC we have Camelot !!!! Imagine Wow without Orgrimmar or IF or SW ! Imagine DAOC without Camelot, imagine SWG without Mos Eisley!
Yeah... Imagine World of Warcraft without Arthas or Northrend... oh wait... nevermind.
It's the same old, same old, with some new shiny bits. It will keep me busy for a while, as well as make me long for Darkfall Online and Age of Conan all the more. Man, I'm want to swing my sword real time!
You mean just like in existing Turbine games? WTG Age of Conan, you really have pulled out all the stops with your revolutionary real-time combat and seige warfare... do I hear a "same old, same old" echo around here?
This is a very shallow review, as has been mentioned at great length. The scores are low compared to others in the genre, but especially when the body of the "review" is read. It sounds very positive but the scores indicate that is not the case.
And in regards to the author saying they try to give fair or realistic scores, I could not care less about what the author considered the "fair" score. I need one that is in *relation* to all the other game scores on *this* site. Right now, I'd have to assume that LotRO graphics are fairly "blah" at 8 compared to WoW's 10, but anyone who has played both knows that isn't the case.
Turbine could make hard work and Lotro could become one of the best MMO never made but lotro needsMore areas , specially MOST IMPORTANT areas, stop with Eriador please ! In SWG we have Mos Eisley, in DAOC we have Camelot !!!! Imagine Wow without Orgrimmar or IF or SW ! Imagine DAOC without Camelot, imagine SWG without Mos Eisley!
Yeah... Imagine World of Warcraft without Arthas or Northrend... oh wait... nevermind.
Imagine Lord of the ring without lord of the ring
oups
done
And imagine MMORPG's world without WOW = lotro could be Lord on the ring online for sure !
and not this another and small wow clone... (not the last one i'm sure )
Lotro is perfect for wow players imo, as i'm not , i can't play wow or lotro. hate bashing ...
--------
but especially when the body of the "review" is read. It sounds very positive but the scores indicate that is not the case.
yep there's something strange...
-------------------------------
Originally posted by Mochnant
And in regards to the author saying they try to give fair or realistic scores, I could not care less about what the author considered the "fair" score. I need one that is in *relation* to all the other game scores on *this* site. Right now, I'd have to assume that LotRO graphics are fairly "blah" at 8 compared to WoW's 10, but anyone who has played both knows that isn't the case.
I just wish people here would understand that most do not complain about the score, but the totally unprofessional level of the actual review. In site that is one the most important mmorpg-sites in existence. I would expect at least semi-professional stuff from mmorpg.com staff.
Originally posted by Mochnant site. Right now, I'd have to assume that LotRO graphics are fairly "blah" at 8 compared to WoW's 10, but anyone who has played both knows that isn't the case.
To be fair, how old is WoW now? When WoW first came out it's graphics were very good and if you're looking for a more comparable review, look at the Burning Crusade one and what the graphics scored in that.
For LOTRO it has got an average score simply because, by todays PC game standards, it's an average game. Sound, graphics, content... I can pick up games in any store that surpass it. CoH has much better character design and is positively ancient by MMO standards, WoW's UI is much less clunky and customisable, DDO's combat is vastly superior, Vanguards graphics are much better and so on...
LOTRO doesn't actually score top marks in any category compared to it's competitors, it just packages things up as a whole a little more neatly.
All in all, while I think the review itself was very shallow and didn't touch on a lot of the things in LOTRO, I do think the marks were fair.
geez people, the reviwer said the game was good, graphics wer enice, but the thing is thi game bring NOTHING NEW to the mmo industry. Innovation should be a huge factor and lotr brings nothing new to the table that merits a higher score. This game is a run of the mill mmo set in the lotr universe. Until a game really shakes things up and changes the way we think and play mmos, this type of scoring will be the new trend.
I beta tested it earlier this year, and I have a character in the "World Tour" beta. From what I have seen it appears to be a great game. Here is my review:
Graphics: 10/10 First off, the graphics are amazing. The scenery is simply second to none. I love the looks of everything in the game. It's clean, crisp, and flowing. One thing that grabbed my attention is the fact that the flowers, trees, and grass flow with winds. This was totally immersing. I mean, wow. Then the water is beautiful, reflective and rippley. Add in a beautiful far distance complete with atmospheric effects and you have one total immersive game. I love this about LotRO. My only complaint graphics wise was the character models. It basically looked like D&DO. It wasn't exciting, and nothing was stylized. Everything looked too human. I would've liked to have seen more style to the characters.
Sound: 9/10
Sounds play an important role in any game, and in this game they match the graphics I find. Battle, weather, everything sounds good. The music is nice too, and so is the narrating voice overs. The only thing I found slightly aggravating is some of the voice overs for the NPCs you click. Not the tone mind you, but some of the things they say. But this is a minor infraction to my ears, and one that is easy to ignore. All in all, I would rate sound high. UI: 9/10 User Interface. This is going to get high marks and one mark against it. FIrst off, everything can be moved and modified by holding Ctrl and pressing . You can then move everything and I mean eveything. This is a great idea due to the fact that the majority of gamers love to mod things. Now, their user interface can be modded by itself with no add-on. Nice. One thing I noticed here though, is it is very WoWish. Well, WoWish if you add mods. My only complaint was with bars 4 and 5. I could dock 1-3 on the bottom of the screen, which seems to be default. However, when I tried docking 4 and 5, they disappeared. So I would undock and move them to the side of the screen. Well, when I would return to the game, they would be back where they were. I assume this is a simple bug, and without that bug I would rate the UI higher.
Performance: 8/10 OK, this gets a couple of marks against it only because I see lag. Yes, I have my graphics hiked up farther than an old person's pants, but that is to be expected. I also have a system that can handle it, so I know it is not graphic related. The lag seems client side. I will see someone running, then running in place, then running again, then in place. I see choppiness. The one good thing about WoW is I almost never saw this. But I would occassionally see this on other MMOs like DAoC, and FFXI. If nothing else, the lag is nostalgic. It can easily be ignored and I have yet to see any game breaking lag.
Roleplaying: 8/10 I have to knock this down a bit, however, it is still high. The RP value is there. You can immerse yourself into a world that is friggin amazing, play instruments in real time, take a moment and enjoy the atmosphere. But what I see lacking is the community joining in. It could just be my server, however, I'm just stating what I have seen. The tools are there, I just have yet to see anyone use them.
Value: 9/10 With the opportunity to get a discounted monthly cost, the value is high. The only down side is if you cancel, you will lose that ability to pay $10 a month (from what I hear). However, if you have the extra dough to drop 200 big ones, you will have a lifetime (the game's not yours) of playing. If you are in it for the long run, this is a hell of a deal.
Community: 8/10 I decided to give this two knocks against it for one reason, I did see the WoW kiddie mentality a few times. This was discouraging to say the least. Unfortunately, the flames began one night in general (ooc) chat and a mod jumped in the conversation to tell people to knock it off. Whereas the topic should not had started, it was nice to see a mod take control immediately. Which is a perfect segue to...
Service: 9/10 Read the above paragraph. Other than that, I have yet to really see the customer service. This is a good thing because that means the game is running smoothly and there are no real issues. I do see them active on the forums and usually helpful and fun, non sarcastic and non-demeaning, which is a nice change of pace from the WoW forums.
Fun/Gameplay: 8/10 Gameplay. It's very, very WoWish. And why not right?? I mean, WoW made MMOs approachable by anyone. They made it so easy to leap right in that it would be foolish not to copy some of it. Well, LotRO plays just like WoW in my opinion. You gather easily found quests (easier found in LotRO by available quests showing up on the mini-map), complete them, and return for your reward. But where WoW leaves off, LotRO continues. Epic storyline quests are in LotRO, which helps give meaning to your character as you actually play a part in the story and not simply get to max level and then dungeon dive. This is something that lacks in WoW, but is the driving force in LotRO. Great move by Turbine. Also, from what I have seen in LotRO, the collection quests are easier. No longer do you have to kill 180 mobs for only 20 ears. Now each mob you've been ordered to kill for a trophy drops it. Well, at least from my experience. Not bad. That kills some tedium. Another awesome factor is the titles. As you complete different objectives, you unlock titles. This is very cool. It's fluff, but cool. Then there is another rewarding system, like the quest window but different. Simply, they are objectives you unlock by simply playing. Each zone has its own tab, as well as class and race. It's like you get another way to adventure based on using your skills, or adventuring and exploring. It gives you yet another thing to do in the game other than push for end game. It rewards you by way of a title or trait by full filling these other objectives that have no basis in the grand scheme of things. Parties or groups here are called fellowships. What is cool here is you get to benefit from the rest of the party. Attacks and abilities can be chained together. If you have ever played FFXI you will know what I am talking about. One person attacks using a certain skill, you follow with another, and your group mates continue. As you each attack using your different skills, if they are strung together properly, you will get an added bonus to the damage against the mob. It's not like WoW here. You don't simply tank and spank, althugh you can. Instead you can actually use strategy to combine skills and abilities with your party and therefore hurt the mobs more. I love this idea. It was always a lot of fun to string together those attacks. Last part here are raids, although I cannot remember what they are called in LotRO. You simply link up a bunch of Fellowships and head off adventuring. It is fun, it is nothing new. I've seen it all before in different games. I saw nothing terribly amazing here. What they do have is a solid, and fun gaming experience. It's just nothing new. PvP is almost non existant. This is purely a PvE game. Afterall, the devs were right, it would not be LotRO if Elves could gank Hobbits in the Shire. So there is no PvP like we know. Instead, there is a PvMP system. At higher levels you, as a player, can take control of a monster out in the world and go exploring and attacking. Now whereas yes, this is PvP, it isn't your character vs another. Nope. It is a mob controlled by you. I will say this though, it sounds like fun. I have not had any experience with it so I cannot say one way or another. But in the sense that you and I know, PvP is not here. Still, to this day, the best PvP in an MMO is found in DAoC. That game had the best to date PvP system.
Crafting, now this is fun, and interesting, and makes every craft plausable. First off, I compare this to a combination of WoW's and DAoC's. When you choose your craft, it automatically assigns you three base crafts. For instance, if you choose to be an Armsman, one who makes weapons, you automatically get Weaponsmithing, Woodworking, and Mining. You have to go mine your own ore, smelt it, and create ignots or bars. Then you use that to craft you blades and such. Woodworking comes into play with certain weapons or items. So for that you will need wood. Unfortunately, you don't have the skill to acquire the wood, so you must buy it from another player who has the profession Forester. They can get you the wood in the form you need. Bingo. Later on you may need boiled leather. You will need someone else to create this for you. What this does is immerse you into a crafting world, and makes you dependant upon the other professions and other crafters. This is brilliant because it creates a player econonomy on all levels, not simply the end product. I absolutely love this system. It helps to build a community because everyone ends up relying on everyone else. Overall: 8/10 Overall, this is going to be a great game. I have had a lot of fun playing it, and for any LotR fan, it probably will be a must. That being said, I am still torn as to whether or not I want to keep playing it. I have not ordered it, although the deal for special pricing is still there until later this week. I am still currently playing WoW which is dull right now, but do I want to spend the money on this game when Conan will be coming out later this year?? Hmm..tough decision. In one sense, yes, I do. In another, I almost rather not. . It brings nothing new to the MMO table, but what it does bring it does well. I would definately recommend this game to anyone looking for a good MMO.
I think her review is fine. We as a community here at mmorpg.com are basically pro mmorpg players. Take all of the mmorpgs in the world, lay them on the table. Where is lotro? The world is small compared to alot of games.
We all know how small ddo is. Lotro is small to but that doesnt mean its a negitive. MMorpg has a higher standard than other sites. Donna did a good job by not inflating the score if she didnt feel like it.
Yes her reivew was kinda short and not to juicy, but hey its her review. Read this review if you wanna feel good about playing LOTRO
geez people, the reviwer said the game was good, graphics wer enice, but the thing is thi game bring NOTHING NEW to the mmo industry. Innovation should be a huge factor and lotr brings nothing new to the table that merits a higher score. This game is a run of the mill mmo set in the lotr universe. Until a game really shakes things up and changes the way we think and play mmos, this type of scoring will be the new trend.
LotR has brought something NEW to field. It has combined many features of different games to create familiar and comfortable game. Games that bring new ideas up, are ultra rare nowadays. Most things have been done and most new ideas in future will involve more powerful hardware (physics and ultra realistic graphics).
5 games (any games) that have really shaken things up in last 5 years:
The official review seems to praise the game, yet the ratings do not reflect the views given. Either the review is rating lower than other reviewers or is bias against the game for a reason not visible in the review. Furthermore, while reading the review it seems more of a summary of the game rather than an analysis. A thorough review should allow a new player to understand the good and bad points of the game before trying it themselves. This review lacks in this greatly.
Graphics (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
The reviewer describes the graphics with non-stop praise including comments such as, "[...] the developers and artists have put together what was in the books along with their imaginations to come up with some stunning representations of what Tolkien put into his books." There is no reason given as to why the reviewer only gave an 8 out of 10. This rating is the highest from the players and I must agree with the players that it deserves such. The graphics are unparalleled in any other MMORPG to date. The only thing which bothered me is minor. Your character never leaves footprints in the ground they tread, not even in the snowy hills of Ered Luin. Also, the water seems at times a bit unnatural, but still very well done for an MMORPG. While graphics are something that are held differently depending on the eye of the beholder, this is my view.
Role-Playing (Mine 10, Reviewer 9)
While I will agree that this rating is fair and in-line with the review, I have to wonder if there is such a thing as a perfect score of 10 with MMORPG.com. If this game does not deserve a 10 in role-playing then I have strong doubts any game ever will. This game is built around the idea of creating an immersive world to role-play in. The channels are even setup in such a way as to promote this idea with a specific channel for OOC chat (out of context). They also carry a strict naming policy on all servers to further promote the idea of immersiveness in their game and thus further enhancing role-playability. Without going in to a short novel, I will sum it up with the idea that everything that could be done in this game seems to have been done with the role-player in mind. There is no under stating this. It is unfortunate that the reviewer entirely skipped this is in her review without touching on it at all. The only thing missing is a place to call home. While not promised in a future patch to date, it has been under development.
Fun (Mine 8, Reviewer 8)
This rating is something that will vary with each person. Because of this it is important to identify why this rating is what it is. This is again lacking in the review as the writer fails to identify with the reasons for her scores at all. In a broad category, such as "fun", it should be crucial to identify where the rating comes from. A perhaps obvious example for MMOs would be to segment the players and what they seek. Such as PvP, role-players, and traditional. These have been identified by many companies and usually servers are separated to accommodate these three segments. (ex: PvP servers, RP servers, and traditional servers) Below I briefly analyze the experience for each and identify scores. The average of which comes to 8.
*PvP: (5) The one thing that is lacking in this game over everything else is PvP. Given the back ground to the LOTR series is that of war, some players might go into it expecting a very rich PvP experience, but this is not the case. The only PvP to be had is through monster play. This is briefly summarized in the review but fails to identify that it is only for those who are in the player identified "end-game." This is to say, what players do after they reach the level cap and have little else to do. It is not something players below L50 can participate in unless they are playing their monster character. As such, it will be awhile before monster play is even fully used as there needs to be enough players at L50 and willing to go into the designated PvP area.
*Role-Playing: (10) This is done better than any other game to date as mentioned earlier. Role players will find themselves amazed at their choices. The only thing missing is a place for them to call their home. This is likely to happen later as Turbine has been spending a good amount of their resources evaluating different housing options already.
*Traditional Players: (9) Whether you want to raid, grind, or quest there are options for all in this game for the traditional player. To enrich it even more, there is plenty of well developed stories and bits of lore attached to nearly all quest that identify with the player a purpose to everything they are sent out to do. For those who wish to grind in peace they may do so by finding large forests or fields in which quests are not involved and their are plenty of mobs to be slain. Even group players will find things to quench their thirst as early as L13 by traveling into the Old Forest or completing their Epic Prologue and Chapter quests.
Performance and Lag (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
Personally I experienced no lag or performance issues. My wife has only a mediocre system and it appears great on her system as well. Those with mediocre and low end systems need not worry even in bustling cities. Turbine has offered an option that, when enabled, reduces graphics in crowded areas to help with the stuttering that plagues other games. In additional all other features in general are performing at a high standard leaving LOTRO perhaps the most polished MMORPG to launch ever. Given that you can base a lot about a game off their state when launched, I would say this game will be around for a while and is going quite well.
Sound (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
This is perhaps the only place in the whole review where the writer identifies what she finds as a negative point of view rather than simply summarize the game. She claims "While engaged in a fight you will make sounds appropriate to your actions; a grunt here, a yell there. If you're doing a lot of hunting these sounds could easily get boring and repetitive, but if you mix up what you're doing you shouldn't have any problems." Unfortunately this is a bane of games regardless of the genre. I would challenge the author to give an example that is not so. Each game will have set sounds to actions that may vary only slightly at times. To do so in a game is extremely rare. As with any game if you repeat your actions you will hear the same sounds with those actions. This is self-explanatory and obvious. To hold such a thing against a game is nothing short of silly and is almost insulting to the reader to mention in a review of a game.
Another thing that is not mentioned at al in the review is the options for sound. If you are someone with a poor on-board sound system you will be in luck in this game. It offers a software based surround sound option to enhance your experience in the game. It may not be as good as it gets, but it is nice that they made the effort to increase the experience for those with low-end systems. They have done well in doing so. For those with higher end systems that may have nice systems, EAX is an option as well as being able to turn all sound control over to your hardware. It is obvious that they put a great deal of thought in the control they wanted their users to have over their experiences in this category.
I do not give any higher than an 8 due to some low quality sound clips in the game. This is especially true with animals as they sound unnatural most of the time. Perhaps I am being overly picky, but this is how I hear it.
Value (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
This rating is very vague. I honestly think it should be taken out as a rating altogether as it seems to only be a summary rating of everything else or perhaps a user bias feel of the value they received from the game. Either way, the reviewer does not identify her view of this rating or why she gave the game an 8 at all as with all her other ratings. Personally I interpret this rating on a business sense as dollar to value. As such I give it a 9. The founders, those who pre-ordered, were given the gracious opportunity to subscribe for either a $200 life time subscription or $9.99 a month options. This to me added a great value to pre-ordering the game. The Game boxes themselves are well designed and when purchased come with ultra high textures that were not available during the open beta. In addition, the collectors’ is adequately priced at $10 more with a good amount of extras for those collectors out there. Overall a great value.
Community (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
Again, this is another category the review seems to skip entirely! Way to go! Yes, I know I am starting to get a little over frustrated, but I would expect a little more from a site such as this. I can't help but get the feel that this rating is based off those that were playing in the open world tour rather than after release. As with any open beta, or free trial period (open beta), the player base is usually full of a less attractive crowd. This is a well known fact.
The game itself seems to have attracted a very mature audience as compared to several other games. Perhaps it is because of the intellectual property used (LOTR series) or, as others have claimed, perhaps it is from the lack of PvP. I myself believe it is because of the IP used, but each person will have their own theory. Regardless, the player base is genuinely helpful and a user seems to always find a helpful hand when asking questions in the "/advice" channel. You read it correctly, there is a "/advice" channel.
Grouping with others also seems much less painful than in other games. I cannot figure out why yet, but I can attribute it to a few things. The voice chat available for all groups, the group mechanics of the game, and the laid back nature of most players. I have yet to experience a poor group due to a leader being overly aggressive or a single poor player holding a whole group back.
Service (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
Yet again another rating which is not reflected in the review by the writer in any form. Each time I have opened a ticket in the game it has been answered within half an hour, usually within 10 minutes for most the tickets! When answered, the GMs have been mostly helpful with the occasional stickler here and there. Most of them give the impression of wanting to do anything possible to help the player. This is great and not something commonly found in games. Unfortunately service should extend past in-game tickets. The support site at Turbine is lacking for servicing yourself when it comes to client bugs and support on the forums is little. Thankfully the wait time should you call Turbine is kept short and answers are given quickly. In other words, you can get through to a person without much effort.
Conclusions:
Overall this is perhaps the worst "review" I have read to date on this website. It reads more like a summary of the game rather than a review. As such it does not give an un bias feel to the player of the good and bad points allowing them to assess if it is a game worth buying. Furthermore, the ratings are not reflected at all in the review by the author and only serve to confuse the end reader. This review should be given to someone else on the staff and re-written.
I do not mind low ratings, but I do mind incomplete and confusing reviews. /endrant, for now.
As for the game, it has great overall value for the typical and role-playing players. Those who wish for a PvP driven environment will be left wanting more. Unfortunately there are no separate RP and regular servers so everyone will have to simply get along, if it is possible. Great game, great value. It adds a new twist and a higher standard of quality to a genre that is quickly approaching maturity.
EDIT: Overall the score which I gave this game came to an 8.6
Very bad review. They only give 8 to the graphic, while they gave 10 to wow when it was released. They gave 7 to this community, that is very mature, friendly, and helpful, and 9 to wow's....i hate to be so harsh, but this is just ridicolous. This site has lost a lot of credit for me. From now on i won't consider it as i did before.
A living creature that has stopped evolving is not worth existing.
The review seems a bit stressed and not very detailed nor well considered scores. But it's the authors own subjective opinion on the game, so why argue?
There are plenty of other reviews out there. I'm sure you can find one that suits you
Very bad review. They only give 8 to the graphic, while they gave 10 to wow when it was released.
I don't know where all these high scores for the graphics are coming from in some of these reviews people are posting. Yes, there is a lot of attention to detail but the character animation and graphics in this game are very poor which should cost it a couple of marks and the world itself is very drab in colours despite the actual detail. It may be technically impressive but they are all rather dull once you've walked through generic forest/field number 103 with very little variety.
As I've already stated earlier, comparing it to WoW's 10 is nonsense as that was by PC standards 3 years ago and Burning Crusade only got 5 out of 10 for graphics, showiing that graphic standards have moved on and LOTRO is nothing special by todays standards.
Comments
Here's links to the first 2 Official reviews that came out that are filled with info and are from major companies with MUCH better staff writers:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?search=yes&keyword=&id=161846
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=75657
Deal with it.
I see two Main problems here:
1: Kostika Did not actually review the game, but instead listed its feature rather than reviewing and giving opinions on those features. It is an excellent step one, there is a great deal of information about the game, but it felt like reading a Game manual, rather than a Game review.
2: I believe Kostika is attempting to give a real, honest review score based on personal standards and expectations, which is truly commendable. Unfortunately so many reviewers hand out 9's and 10's as if they were candy, that they have lost all meaning, and if a game these days does not receive 9's and 10's then the audience takes that as a negative . Back in the day, reviewers would refuse to hand out 9's and 10's to games on principal that no game should be able to attain a 10, and that a 9 should mean something.
If you are willing to stand up and give an honest score, set to stricter standards than your peers, then you should also be willing to critique and review the game, rather than acting as a game manual substitute.
~ Ascii
Not a review at all.
Just a shallow re-hash of the information on the official LotRO website.
I suspect that due to 'Advertising Dollars', we will NEVER see a real Review on MMORPG of any game that has even the potential of giving money to MMORPG for advertising.
I also suspect that due to 'Advertising Dollars', many games that should not even be listed on this site as MMORPGs, are here.
Just my 2c.
I find the community Reviews here much more interesting; including the ones from the Hate-Boys and the Fan-Boys of all the games.
Good Hunting
May I join the club?
If you represent one of the biggest and serious site about MMORPG you have no right for "just an own opinion". People have some expectations and authors - responsibilities. The rating in this "review" will be now the rating of mmorpg.com not the score from Donna Desborough and every mark has to be at least explained.
I played open beta for 5 days and then got bored.
I think the ratings are too high. The game is not that good. I would say it is definitely better than WoW though.
Clearly graphics are sub-par when compared with EQ2 graphics. EQ2 being almost 3 years old have much better looking graphics.
And the game play is a carbon copy of WoW and EQ2. There is nothing new here.
It is a carebare game.
I wouldn't buy it.
Yeah... Imagine World of Warcraft without Arthas or Northrend... oh wait... nevermind.
Oh, and for the record...
This (p)review really did suck on all levels. You should feel proud mmorpg.com
I'm a bit surprised to see the review talk about how Turbine got a good feel for the imagry; I felt that they did an awful job.
Overall this game was a bigger disappointment than the movies were to me. At least the movies looked like Middle Earth enough that I could enjoy them.
And in regards to the author saying they try to give fair or realistic scores, I could not care less about what the author considered the "fair" score. I need one that is in *relation* to all the other game scores on *this* site. Right now, I'd have to assume that LotRO graphics are fairly "blah" at 8 compared to WoW's 10, but anyone who has played both knows that isn't the case.
Yeah... Imagine World of Warcraft without Arthas or Northrend... oh wait... nevermind.
Imagine Lord of the ring without lord of the ring
oups
done
And imagine MMORPG's world without WOW = lotro could be Lord on the ring online for sure !
and not this another and small wow clone... (not the last one i'm sure
Lotro is perfect for wow players imo, as i'm not , i can't play wow or lotro. hate bashing ...
--------
but especially when the body of the "review" is read. It sounds very positive but the scores indicate that is not the case.
yep there's something strange...
------------------------------- Of course, for graphics, lotro kills wow...
wow 7 (or 6 maybe 5)
lotro 9 (areas not NPC or char)
For LOTRO it has got an average score simply because, by todays PC game standards, it's an average game. Sound, graphics, content... I can pick up games in any store that surpass it. CoH has much better character design and is positively ancient by MMO standards, WoW's UI is much less clunky and customisable, DDO's combat is vastly superior, Vanguards graphics are much better and so on...
LOTRO doesn't actually score top marks in any category compared to it's competitors, it just packages things up as a whole a little more neatly.
All in all, while I think the review itself was very shallow and didn't touch on a lot of the things in LOTRO, I do think the marks were fair.
CoH/CoV - D-Zol/Kinslayer
Auto Assault - Slayer
WoW, LOTRO, DDO - Kinsul
Matrix Online - Tempest
I beta tested it earlier this year, and I have a character in the "World Tour" beta. From what I have seen it appears to be a great game. Here is my review:
Graphics: 10/10
First off, the graphics are amazing. The scenery is simply second to none. I love the looks of everything in the game. It's clean, crisp, and flowing. One thing that grabbed my attention is the fact that the flowers, trees, and grass flow with winds. This was totally immersing. I mean, wow. Then the water is beautiful, reflective and rippley. Add in a beautiful far distance complete with atmospheric effects and you have one total immersive game. I love this about LotRO. My only complaint graphics wise was the character models. It basically looked like D&DO. It wasn't exciting, and nothing was stylized. Everything looked too human. I would've liked to have seen more style to the characters.
Sound: 9/10
Sounds play an important role in any game, and in this game they match the graphics I find. Battle, weather, everything sounds good. The music is nice too, and so is the narrating voice overs. The only thing I found slightly aggravating is some of the voice overs for the NPCs you click. Not the tone mind you, but some of the things they say. But this is a minor infraction to my ears, and one that is easy to ignore. All in all, I would rate sound high.
UI: 9/10
User Interface. This is going to get high marks and one mark against it. FIrst off, everything can be moved and modified by holding Ctrl and pressing . You can then move everything and I mean eveything. This is a great idea due to the fact that the majority of gamers love to mod things. Now, their user interface can be modded by itself with no add-on. Nice. One thing I noticed here though, is it is very WoWish. Well, WoWish if you add mods. My only complaint was with bars 4 and 5. I could dock 1-3 on the bottom of the screen, which seems to be default. However, when I tried docking 4 and 5, they disappeared. So I would undock and move them to the side of the screen. Well, when I would return to the game, they would be back where they were. I assume this is a simple bug, and without that bug I would rate the UI higher.
Performance: 8/10
OK, this gets a couple of marks against it only because I see lag. Yes, I have my graphics hiked up farther than an old person's pants, but that is to be expected. I also have a system that can handle it, so I know it is not graphic related. The lag seems client side. I will see someone running, then running in place, then running again, then in place. I see choppiness. The one good thing about WoW is I almost never saw this. But I would occassionally see this on other MMOs like DAoC, and FFXI. If nothing else, the lag is nostalgic. It can easily be ignored and I have yet to see any game breaking lag.
Roleplaying: 8/10
I have to knock this down a bit, however, it is still high. The RP value is there. You can immerse yourself into a world that is friggin amazing, play instruments in real time, take a moment and enjoy the atmosphere. But what I see lacking is the community joining in. It could just be my server, however, I'm just stating what I have seen. The tools are there, I just have yet to see anyone use them.
Value: 9/10
With the opportunity to get a discounted monthly cost, the value is high. The only down side is if you cancel, you will lose that ability to pay $10 a month (from what I hear). However, if you have the extra dough to drop 200 big ones, you will have a lifetime (the game's not yours) of playing. If you are in it for the long run, this is a hell of a deal.
Community: 8/10
I decided to give this two knocks against it for one reason, I did see the WoW kiddie mentality a few times. This was discouraging to say the least. Unfortunately, the flames began one night in general (ooc) chat and a mod jumped in the conversation to tell people to knock it off. Whereas the topic should not had started, it was nice to see a mod take control immediately. Which is a perfect segue to...
Service: 9/10
Read the above paragraph. Other than that, I have yet to really see the customer service. This is a good thing because that means the game is running smoothly and there are no real issues. I do see them active on the forums and usually helpful and fun, non sarcastic and non-demeaning, which is a nice change of pace from the WoW forums.
Fun/Gameplay: 8/10
Gameplay. It's very, very WoWish. And why not right?? I mean, WoW made MMOs approachable by anyone. They made it so easy to leap right in that it would be foolish not to copy some of it. Well, LotRO plays just like WoW in my opinion. You gather easily found quests (easier found in LotRO by available quests showing up on the mini-map), complete them, and return for your reward. But where WoW leaves off, LotRO continues. Epic storyline quests are in LotRO, which helps give meaning to your character as you actually play a part in the story and not simply get to max level and then dungeon dive. This is something that lacks in WoW, but is the driving force in LotRO. Great move by Turbine. Also, from what I have seen in LotRO, the collection quests are easier. No longer do you have to kill 180 mobs for only 20 ears. Now each mob you've been ordered to kill for a trophy drops it. Well, at least from my experience. Not bad. That kills some tedium. Another awesome factor is the titles. As you complete different objectives, you unlock titles. This is very cool. It's fluff, but cool. Then there is another rewarding system, like the quest window but different. Simply, they are objectives you unlock by simply playing. Each zone has its own tab, as well as class and race. It's like you get another way to adventure based on using your skills, or adventuring and exploring. It gives you yet another thing to do in the game other than push for end game. It rewards you by way of a title or trait by full filling these other objectives that have no basis in the grand scheme of things.
Parties or groups here are called fellowships. What is cool here is you get to benefit from the rest of the party. Attacks and abilities can be chained together. If you have ever played FFXI you will know what I am talking about. One person attacks using a certain skill, you follow with another, and your group mates continue. As you each attack using your different skills, if they are strung together properly, you will get an added bonus to the damage against the mob. It's not like WoW here. You don't simply tank and spank, althugh you can. Instead you can actually use strategy to combine skills and abilities with your party and therefore hurt the mobs more. I love this idea. It was always a lot of fun to string together those attacks. Last part here are raids, although I cannot remember what they are called in LotRO. You simply link up a bunch of Fellowships and head off adventuring.
It is fun, it is nothing new. I've seen it all before in different games. I saw nothing terribly amazing here. What they do have is a solid, and fun gaming experience. It's just nothing new.
PvP is almost non existant. This is purely a PvE game. Afterall, the devs were right, it would not be LotRO if Elves could gank Hobbits in the Shire. So there is no PvP like we know. Instead, there is a PvMP system. At higher levels you, as a player, can take control of a monster out in the world and go exploring and attacking. Now whereas yes, this is PvP, it isn't your character vs another. Nope. It is a mob controlled by you. I will say this though, it sounds like fun. I have not had any experience with it so I cannot say one way or another. But in the sense that you and I know, PvP is not here. Still, to this day, the best PvP in an MMO is found in DAoC. That game had the best to date PvP system.
Crafting, now this is fun, and interesting, and makes every craft plausable. First off, I compare this to a combination of WoW's and DAoC's. When you choose your craft, it automatically assigns you three base crafts. For instance, if you choose to be an Armsman, one who makes weapons, you automatically get Weaponsmithing, Woodworking, and Mining. You have to go mine your own ore, smelt it, and create ignots or bars. Then you use that to craft you blades and such. Woodworking comes into play with certain weapons or items. So for that you will need wood. Unfortunately, you don't have the skill to acquire the wood, so you must buy it from another player who has the profession Forester. They can get you the wood in the form you need. Bingo. Later on you may need boiled leather. You will need someone else to create this for you. What this does is immerse you into a crafting world, and makes you dependant upon the other professions and other crafters. This is brilliant because it creates a player econonomy on all levels, not simply the end product. I absolutely love this system. It helps to build a community because everyone ends up relying on everyone else.
Overall: 8/10
Overall, this is going to be a great game. I have had a lot of fun playing it, and for any LotR fan, it probably will be a must. That being said, I am still torn as to whether or not I want to keep playing it. I have not ordered it, although the deal for special pricing is still there until later this week. I am still currently playing WoW which is dull right now, but do I want to spend the money on this game when Conan will be coming out later this year?? Hmm..tough decision. In one sense, yes, I do. In another, I almost rather not. . It brings nothing new to the MMO table, but what it does bring it does well. I would definately recommend this game to anyone looking for a good MMO.
<insert witty retort here>
I think her review is fine. We as a community here at mmorpg.com are basically pro mmorpg players. Take all of the mmorpgs in the world, lay them on the table. Where is lotro? The world is small compared to alot of games.
We all know how small ddo is. Lotro is small to but that doesnt mean its a negitive. MMorpg has a higher standard than other sites. Donna did a good job by not inflating the score if she didnt feel like it.
Yes her reivew was kinda short and not to juicy, but hey its her review. Read this review if you wanna feel good about playing LOTRO
http://lotrovault.ign.com/static.php?page=lotroreview <------------------Nice Review
5 games (any games) that have really shaken things up in last 5 years:
World of Warcraft
Sims
.
.
.
Umm, yeah...
(This post references the official MMORPG review, if you can call it that, here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setview/reviews/loadReview/53/gameID/45)
The official review seems to praise the game, yet the ratings do not reflect the views given. Either the review is rating lower than other reviewers or is bias against the game for a reason not visible in the review. Furthermore, while reading the review it seems more of a summary of the game rather than an analysis. A thorough review should allow a new player to understand the good and bad points of the game before trying it themselves. This review lacks in this greatly.
Graphics (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
The reviewer describes the graphics with non-stop praise including comments such as, "[...] the developers and artists have put together what was in the books along with their imaginations to come up with some stunning representations of what Tolkien put into his books." There is no reason given as to why the reviewer only gave an 8 out of 10. This rating is the highest from the players and I must agree with the players that it deserves such. The graphics are unparalleled in any other MMORPG to date. The only thing which bothered me is minor. Your character never leaves footprints in the ground they tread, not even in the snowy hills of Ered Luin. Also, the water seems at times a bit unnatural, but still very well done for an MMORPG. While graphics are something that are held differently depending on the eye of the beholder, this is my view.
Role-Playing (Mine 10, Reviewer 9)
While I will agree that this rating is fair and in-line with the review, I have to wonder if there is such a thing as a perfect score of 10 with MMORPG.com. If this game does not deserve a 10 in role-playing then I have strong doubts any game ever will. This game is built around the idea of creating an immersive world to role-play in. The channels are even setup in such a way as to promote this idea with a specific channel for OOC chat (out of context). They also carry a strict naming policy on all servers to further promote the idea of immersiveness in their game and thus further enhancing role-playability. Without going in to a short novel, I will sum it up with the idea that everything that could be done in this game seems to have been done with the role-player in mind. There is no under stating this. It is unfortunate that the reviewer entirely skipped this is in her review without touching on it at all. The only thing missing is a place to call home. While not promised in a future patch to date, it has been under development.
Fun (Mine 8, Reviewer 8)
This rating is something that will vary with each person. Because of this it is important to identify why this rating is what it is. This is again lacking in the review as the writer fails to identify with the reasons for her scores at all. In a broad category, such as "fun", it should be crucial to identify where the rating comes from. A perhaps obvious example for MMOs would be to segment the players and what they seek. Such as PvP, role-players, and traditional. These have been identified by many companies and usually servers are separated to accommodate these three segments. (ex: PvP servers, RP servers, and traditional servers) Below I briefly analyze the experience for each and identify scores. The average of which comes to 8.
*PvP: (5) The one thing that is lacking in this game over everything else is PvP. Given the back ground to the LOTR series is that of war, some players might go into it expecting a very rich PvP experience, but this is not the case. The only PvP to be had is through monster play. This is briefly summarized in the review but fails to identify that it is only for those who are in the player identified "end-game." This is to say, what players do after they reach the level cap and have little else to do. It is not something players below L50 can participate in unless they are playing their monster character. As such, it will be awhile before monster play is even fully used as there needs to be enough players at L50 and willing to go into the designated PvP area.
*Role-Playing: (10) This is done better than any other game to date as mentioned earlier. Role players will find themselves amazed at their choices. The only thing missing is a place for them to call their home. This is likely to happen later as Turbine has been spending a good amount of their resources evaluating different housing options already.
*Traditional Players: (9) Whether you want to raid, grind, or quest there are options for all in this game for the traditional player. To enrich it even more, there is plenty of well developed stories and bits of lore attached to nearly all quest that identify with the player a purpose to everything they are sent out to do. For those who wish to grind in peace they may do so by finding large forests or fields in which quests are not involved and their are plenty of mobs to be slain. Even group players will find things to quench their thirst as early as L13 by traveling into the Old Forest or completing their Epic Prologue and Chapter quests.
Performance and Lag (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
Personally I experienced no lag or performance issues. My wife has only a mediocre system and it appears great on her system as well. Those with mediocre and low end systems need not worry even in bustling cities. Turbine has offered an option that, when enabled, reduces graphics in crowded areas to help with the stuttering that plagues other games. In additional all other features in general are performing at a high standard leaving LOTRO perhaps the most polished MMORPG to launch ever. Given that you can base a lot about a game off their state when launched, I would say this game will be around for a while and is going quite well.
Sound (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
This is perhaps the only place in the whole review where the writer identifies what she finds as a negative point of view rather than simply summarize the game. She claims "While engaged in a fight you will make sounds appropriate to your actions; a grunt here, a yell there. If you're doing a lot of hunting these sounds could easily get boring and repetitive, but if you mix up what you're doing you shouldn't have any problems." Unfortunately this is a bane of games regardless of the genre. I would challenge the author to give an example that is not so. Each game will have set sounds to actions that may vary only slightly at times. To do so in a game is extremely rare. As with any game if you repeat your actions you will hear the same sounds with those actions. This is self-explanatory and obvious. To hold such a thing against a game is nothing short of silly and is almost insulting to the reader to mention in a review of a game.
Another thing that is not mentioned at al in the review is the options for sound. If you are someone with a poor on-board sound system you will be in luck in this game. It offers a software based surround sound option to enhance your experience in the game. It may not be as good as it gets, but it is nice that they made the effort to increase the experience for those with low-end systems. They have done well in doing so. For those with higher end systems that may have nice systems, EAX is an option as well as being able to turn all sound control over to your hardware. It is obvious that they put a great deal of thought in the control they wanted their users to have over their experiences in this category.
I do not give any higher than an 8 due to some low quality sound clips in the game. This is especially true with animals as they sound unnatural most of the time. Perhaps I am being overly picky, but this is how I hear it.
Value (Mine 9, Reviewer 8)
This rating is very vague. I honestly think it should be taken out as a rating altogether as it seems to only be a summary rating of everything else or perhaps a user bias feel of the value they received from the game. Either way, the reviewer does not identify her view of this rating or why she gave the game an 8 at all as with all her other ratings. Personally I interpret this rating on a business sense as dollar to value. As such I give it a 9. The founders, those who pre-ordered, were given the gracious opportunity to subscribe for either a $200 life time subscription or $9.99 a month options. This to me added a great value to pre-ordering the game. The Game boxes themselves are well designed and when purchased come with ultra high textures that were not available during the open beta. In addition, the collectors’ is adequately priced at $10 more with a good amount of extras for those collectors out there. Overall a great value.
Community (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
Again, this is another category the review seems to skip entirely! Way to go! Yes, I know I am starting to get a little over frustrated, but I would expect a little more from a site such as this. I can't help but get the feel that this rating is based off those that were playing in the open world tour rather than after release. As with any open beta, or free trial period (open beta), the player base is usually full of a less attractive crowd. This is a well known fact.
The game itself seems to have attracted a very mature audience as compared to several other games. Perhaps it is because of the intellectual property used (LOTR series) or, as others have claimed, perhaps it is from the lack of PvP. I myself believe it is because of the IP used, but each person will have their own theory. Regardless, the player base is genuinely helpful and a user seems to always find a helpful hand when asking questions in the "/advice" channel. You read it correctly, there is a "/advice" channel.
Grouping with others also seems much less painful than in other games. I cannot figure out why yet, but I can attribute it to a few things. The voice chat available for all groups, the group mechanics of the game, and the laid back nature of most players. I have yet to experience a poor group due to a leader being overly aggressive or a single poor player holding a whole group back.
Service (Mine 8, Reviewer 7)
Yet again another rating which is not reflected in the review by the writer in any form. Each time I have opened a ticket in the game it has been answered within half an hour, usually within 10 minutes for most the tickets! When answered, the GMs have been mostly helpful with the occasional stickler here and there. Most of them give the impression of wanting to do anything possible to help the player. This is great and not something commonly found in games. Unfortunately service should extend past in-game tickets. The support site at Turbine is lacking for servicing yourself when it comes to client bugs and support on the forums is little. Thankfully the wait time should you call Turbine is kept short and answers are given quickly. In other words, you can get through to a person without much effort.
Conclusions:
Overall this is perhaps the worst "review" I have read to date on this website. It reads more like a summary of the game rather than a review. As such it does not give an un bias feel to the player of the good and bad points allowing them to assess if it is a game worth buying. Furthermore, the ratings are not reflected at all in the review by the author and only serve to confuse the end reader. This review should be given to someone else on the staff and re-written.
I do not mind low ratings, but I do mind incomplete and confusing reviews. /endrant, for now.
As for the game, it has great overall value for the typical and role-playing players. Those who wish for a PvP driven environment will be left wanting more. Unfortunately there are no separate RP and regular servers so everyone will have to simply get along, if it is possible. Great game, great value. It adds a new twist and a higher standard of quality to a genre that is quickly approaching maturity.
EDIT: Overall the score which I gave this game came to an 8.6
A living creature that has stopped evolving is not worth existing.
Relatively speaking the review was off the mark.
There are plenty of other reviews out there. I'm sure you can find one that suits you
As I've already stated earlier, comparing it to WoW's 10 is nonsense as that was by PC standards 3 years ago and Burning Crusade only got 5 out of 10 for graphics, showiing that graphic standards have moved on and LOTRO is nothing special by todays standards.
CoH/CoV - D-Zol/Kinslayer
Auto Assault - Slayer
WoW, LOTRO, DDO - Kinsul
Matrix Online - Tempest