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The Greatest Potential, Wasted
stealthbr
Member UncommonPosts: 1,054
With a universe so large, widespread, and well-known such as The Lord of the Rings, I can't help but feel disappointed with the current state of the IP in gaming. It is, perhaps, the most critically acclaimed fantasy tale in all of written history, yet the games based off this intellectual property are but mere dots in a vast landscape vehemently dominated by other, far more successful products. After reading the books and viewing the movies multiple times, it is with great sadness that I perceive its current situation, and can't help but wonder what it could achieve if it were to fall into the hands of a far more ambitious team.
I do not intend to convey resentment or anger towards The Lord of the Rings Online. It is its own game, bearing its merits and flaws. Yet, the image on the horizon of what a Lord of the Rings game could truly achieve perplexes me to wonder how such a vision has yet to come to fruition. Turbine's MMO does not face the most comfortable of situations, evidently, and as with all things, it will one day come to an end, but somehow I do not foresee such a conclusion arriving in glorious fashion, worthy of the game's title.
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With a universe so large, widespread, and well-known such as Star Wars the Old Republic, I can't help but feel disappointed with the current state of the IP in gaming. It is, perhaps, the most critically acclaimed Sci Fi movie in history, yet the games based off this intellectual property are but mere dots in a vast landscape vehemently dominated by other, far more successful products. After reading the books and viewing the movies multiple times, it is with great sadness that I perceive its current situation, and can't help but wonder what it could achieve if it were to fall into the hands of a far more ambitious team.
I do not intend to convey resentment or anger towards Star Wars the Old Repiblic. It is its own game, bearing its merits and flaws. Yet, the image on the horizon of what a Star Wars game could truly achieve perplexes me to wonder how such a vision has yet to come to fruition. Biowares' MMO does not face the most comfortable of situations, evidently, and as with all things, it will one day come to an end, but somehow I do not foresee such a conclusion arriving in glorious fashion, worthy of the game's title.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Well, this game used to be an ambitious sandbox game called Middle Earth Online, that focused on simulating life in Middle Earth.
Then WoW got big, Turbine got scared, fired most of their devs, hired devs fresh out of college, and in 9 months fast tracked this game into LotRO, instanced quest grinding linear game with boring mechanics and atmosphere ruined by invisible walls, instances, and bad gameplay. The only good features in the games are relics from Middle Earth Online.
It's a shame what happened and I wish another company could get a shot with it. But so long as a publisher is behind it, we'll never get a good MMO in Middle Earth.
The same thing happened to the Star Trek ip and possibly Neverwinter and its world.
Here is a link to which you speak.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/21/the-game-archaeologist-and-the-what-ifs-middle-earth-online/
Be sure to read the last paragraph.
Still, calling Lotro a greatest wasted potential is stretching it a bit much. The game is fine on its own and if someone wants to try making a Middle Earth Online then more power to them.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Yes, you could insert those games into the OP's post as well as pretty much any game and still nothing changes. It is still just the eloquently misguided opinion of one person.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
The title does not refer to LotRO, per se, but to the fact that games based off The Lord of the Rings have thus far been unable to fulfill the grandeur and splendor of such a rich and powerful IP. That, in my opinion, conveys to the greatest waste of potential, at least in the fantasy genre of games.
Simply put , one media doesnt translate good into another media.
You say that LOTR films are good. But as Tolkien fan that first time read LOTR 25 years before the movies , and than many times over. I say that movies are far away from doing justice to the book material. Even insulting it.
And that is film , which falls into same narative family with books.
So how can you than give justice to it in a game, and not only a game but themepark MMO ?
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
In fact its best adaptation of story to a game in all gaming. And i challenge you to dispute this.
However its a game and it has to adhere to gameplay , technical limitations , investors ... etc.
This is why a material made for games works best for games.
Which goes same for any media to media adaptation.
Thank you, I stand corrected.
Unfortunately Lotro is the game we have now, and it is unlikely that anyone will be attempting to achieve that potential in the near future. Similarly with the Star Wars IP as well, as many feel after SWG, Swtor was a case of wasted potential also.
Still it makes little sense to me to bemoan the things that might have been. I could have been rich if only I was born with millions of dollars. Sadly it was not meant to be.
Forgot to add: Nicely stated post Lobotomist, I quite agree.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
There is exactly no single fact in this statement to back up your opinion..
if ever there was one MMO close to the lore and stories of an IP its this game, everything (exceot the runekeepr) is close to the lore.. For a seven year old game the landscapes are astonishing in beauty.
I have grown to become accustomed to the combat and espescially when playing my warden its awesome.
So whenever calling a game a waste, you ought to back it up by facts... and not just throw in a general feeling based on your personal state of mind.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
The post was not meant to focus on LotRO's technicalities, for I am no game developer and do not know exactly what makes an MMO tick, but to regard upon the current state of The Lord of the Rings intellectual property within the gaming sphere. The monumental success of both novel and movie renditions draws my attention to its situation and leaves me to ponder upon the possibilities that come with such an IP.
The only really cool MMO based on a movie license is Age of Conan.
The Matrix was interesting but bugged as hell.
SWG was cool but also too buggy and ahead of its time, therefore lacked in the technical aspects.
Neither LOTRO nor SWTOR are my cup of tea.
I did play it until Moria ( and some time with Moria ) - What happened after F2P switch is different topic.
But If anyone ever say something about failure to bring a cross the lore to a game world. Just let them start as a hobbit in Shire.
Nuff said.
You are confused, but it is understandable. A lot of people who weren't there get confused.
Sierra's Middle Earth Online is not the same project as Turbine's Middle Earth Online.
Sierra's project ended sometime around 1999. Turbine then started Middle Earth Online, using the Asheron's Call 2 engine, and renamed this project Lord of the Rings Online about 9 months before going into beta.
The massive pre release community got fractured between the now enforced EU US servers, the developers we built a relationship were shuffled off to DDO or fired, and the entire community, which was strong and large enough to put together a giant fan gathering in Providence, auctioning off movie props and such... vanished. LotRO never really recovered, never having a great population or reputation, but not a bad one either.
And if you don't call taking the original fantasy IP, with the richest lore and setting, and turning it into a shallow and generic WoW clone a waste, then I don't know what is.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
I'm not sure I would even give it that much credit. The Shire has some great lore related stuff like the Bounders.
But then they start to shatter the lore by having you fight monsters in the rich sector of the Shire. You can't actually travel down the Brandywine (which the hobbits did in the book) and you start fighting bandits, reskinned wolves, slimes, slugs, and other trash mobs just hanging out that shouldn't be where they are. Cap it off with giant mountains ringing most of the Shire, with invisible walls, and you have your most immersive part of the game shattered. Not to mention, other than the bounders quests, the quest text doesn't have any impact on what you're doing in the game world. You're still just fighting THE SAME WOLVES that shouldn't be there.
RANGERS protected The Shire, not Bounders.
And, as a pet peeve, I preferred the original Shire music they had when the game was called Middle Earth Online. Then it became a tavern song in DDO, and then became the music for Tom Bombadil's house.
Personally I loved this game to no end prior to Moria. Once Moria came out with barred instances (I forget the name of the gear now but you had to have a certain level of it to do the next tier of instances) I fell a little less in love. Then Skirmishes came as a "secondary thing to do" but you could tell it was a focus point and I fell a little more out of love.
I definitely think it could have been better but I don't think it was completely wasted that's for sure. Greatest 2 years of my gaming life was Lotro
That in a nutshell was basically why I left. If you go back and read the earlier PR on LOTRO, they were very careful to say they planned a game world that was faithful to Tolkien's vision. They did a great early job - the Shire was wondrous.
I agree it would have been tough sticking to their guns. But the WOW-style is like a spreading plague with its Pandas and LOTRO caught the virus and started throwing in the afore-mentioned Dwarven Sith Lords, etc. I fully expect before the game ends players will all have their own personal Eagle or Nazgul mount (special this week, half-off in the cash-shop!).
Why would it have been tough? I suppose they didn't see the writing on the wall yet that copying WoW is how you end up with a stagnant game... But they screwed over their veteran devs and their fans by switching to WoW clone at the last minute and totally changing the mission statement.
Fun fact, The Shire, the best part of the game to most people, was the area most focused on during the sandbox era development of Middle Earth Online.
When I said all the best parts of LotRO were relics of MEO, I wasn't kidding. The Shire, the music, the deeds, the morale system vs health.
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Unless you're going to try to tell me that I imagined getting lost in the Trollshaws while exploring off the beaten 'quest path'. Same happened in Goblin-Town.
For a themepark, the game is probably the best interpretation of Middle Earth which will ever be made. Same goes for the films; despite their flaws Peter Jackson did a wonderful job bringing Middle Earth to fans old and new, and I doubt they can be done any better w/o making them 8-10 hours long apiece.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
That hit one of my many hot buttons.
Having read LotR annually for close to 40 years now, I can definitively say the book is vastly different from the films. The books were written in a (now) older literary style, heavy narrative with a limited omniscient point of view and limited dialog (less than 10% of the books are dialog). There were scattered female characters, Galadriel and Eowyn being the two most prominent. Much of Arwen's information was either in the appendix (not the story proper), or in related works (Silmarillion). A good portion of Arwen's appearances in the movies was that of other characters in the books (mostly Glorfindel), and done in order to add a female character to the first movie. Many early scenes were omitted (Fatty Bolger, Farmer Maggot, and Tom Bombadil) for brevity, replaced with antics of Merry and Pippin at Bilbo's birthday party (both characters would have been young -- Merry 19 and Pippin 11 at the time). The movie conveniently ends soon after Aragorn's wedding, truncating the entire 'return to the Shire' ending.
And we'll all be happier if I don't get started on how Gimli was transformed from a solemn, dour dwarven warrior into a vehicle for comic relief.
Anyway, Lobotomist's point about translating from one media to another (book to film, or book to game, or movie to game) is very apt. Something is always going to be lost in the process. LotRO is about as good a game as one can reasonably expect and still maintain some semblance to the novel it derives from.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.