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LOTR - The Third Age Takes Tolkien Toward RPG?
Thanks to 1UP for its article discussing the announcement of Electronic Arts' Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age, "a new console RPG based on Peter Jackson's movie trilogy [and J.R.R. Tolkien's books]", and due out later in 2004. A GameSpot interview with producer Steve Gray has more information, as he notes that "the combat is turn-based... if you have played Final Fantasy it will feel familiar to you", and says of the game structure: "You travel on a sort of 'S' curve that weaves in and out of the path of the Fellowship through the story of the trilogy. At times you'll be behind or 'next to' them; at other times you'll be in the same time and place as members of the Fellowship." He also teases the game's bad side: "The main focus of the game is the quest on the side of good, but you can also unlock evil encounters, and we think players will really enjoy playing on the side of Sauron in addition to playing as good guys."
Remember the last one?
Granted, this is going to be completely different. It's made by EA! There's no chance it hell it could be a lacklust piece of crap spun out at the last minute to capitalize on the success of a franchize.
2-7 odds that it coincides with the release of the DVD's this christmas.
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This is hardly the first LOTR game to give players that option.
Whether this is the first game to do this or not is irrelevant. My point is that it runs counter to the entire spirit of the original works (the books).
I doubt it. If you ever hear the tapes of Tolkien reading from LOTR, he relishes playing Golem, he has fun with the voice.
Plus as someone who writes, I'm sure Tolkien understands that the bad guys are necessary to a story. They have to be presented.
Plus, most of Tolkien's baddies started off good or neutral. The whole theme of LOTR is about choice - what makes a person a Gandalf or a Saruman? A Golem or a Bilbo? An Aragorn or Sauron? The game furthers that theme, it seems, by giving you as the player the same choice.
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Oh. God. Yes.
Seriously, there are plenty of ways for these guys to screw up, but I'm hoping this game will be as (surprisingly) good as Knights of the Old Republic was. I'm seriously excited and have to figure out way to stretch my budget to include this beauty. A Final Fantasy style LOTR game with character creation...that's the sound of me wetting myself. I know I sound giddy, but this is...huge.
Perhaps this game can reestablish my faith in American gaming?
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
WARNING: Spelling Nazi attack follows
I agree, playing the baddies can be fun, but am I missing something? Where was the Golem in LOTR?
But which story aren't they changing?
I was very disappointed when I saw LOTR: ROTK, and there was no Battle of Hobbiton. I was really hoping to see this scene, and it just wasn't there.
Then there is also Tom Bombadil. Where'd he go?
If they stick to the story in the movie, then they're missing out some really cool stuff they Tolkin (and many devout fans) would (and did) sorely miss.
And if they do follow the book, then all the wanna be fans won't have a clue where all the extra bits come from (or why they're important to the story).
It was known that Bombadil and the Scouring were never filmed. Sorry to see you didn't know that :(.
I can imagine him spinning away at the mention of "LOTR" "Console" and "RPG" in the same sentence.
That's like offering Shakespeare to the Dale Earnheardt mourning crowd. Wrong target audience, anyone?
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
I don't believe there were any earth-made automatons like golems in LOTR. There were trolls, made of stone by Melkor in the second age, and dwarves, made by Aule I think in the first age (also made of earth), but no golems.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
They made a books out of the movies?
I haven't played in many mango seasons, but according to the stats on that page it certainly is going strong after 12 years!
The ongoing war between the players of Trolls, Orcs, and Black Numenoreans versus Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and Hobbits was one of the best aspects of the game, but it had many other cool aspects too. Such as the world being absolutely huge; wow, I see they had 19465 opened rooms in 193 zones. Also all sorts of nifty little features like the ability to learn types of herblore and collect the ingredients to make potions, and fishing, and if someone is speaking a language you don't know the text you see is mangled based on how well you know the language. Also, truly difficult computer controlled opponents that took teamwork and cleverness to defeat and plenty of fascinating quests as well.
Tolkien was already made into RPGs years ago.
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I remember playing the Interplay version of Lord of the Rings Volume 1 in 1990 on the Amiga. The Two Towers was released a year later on the PC but the Amiga version was cancelled.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,38
http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,14
If you liked the old style Ultima games both were very similar - top down perspective and similar gameplay.
"Oy, you call this a body? I've seen better bodies crafted out of day-old bagels!"
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
"I kill Gandolf"
No, and remeber Shakespeare was writing for popular audiences: he wanted to pack them in; and his plays were entirely different from the snooty entertainments of the time. They were violent, lusty, and appealed to commoners (in which category I'd assume you'd put Dale Earnhardt fans).
demi
Middle Earth Online
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