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."

Comments

Re:Players on the side of Sauron?

[Michael Belrose]

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).

Re:Players on the side of Sauron?

[dancingmad]

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.

Did you hear they're not changing the story?

[guard952]

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).

Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story?

[Vaevictis666]

Something to keep in mind, with all the LOTR games coming out (or are already out) there are two franchises here - one company has rights to profit off of the movie situations and events, another one gets the materials in the books. If you want, have a look at which publisher has done what LOTR game releases in the past two years. I believe EA has had all the console action titles based off of the movies, which means they have no tom bombadil or hobbion end-game to use in the game. If I'm bass ackwards and they have the rights to the book versions, then it's all perfectly good and we can have a full game out of it.

Not that Tom is hugely relevant to a darkside RPG with the scope of the novels, but what the hey.

Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story?

[obeythefist]

Amusingly enough, Tolkien was interviewed once on whether they should make movies about his books, and he thought it was a fair enough idea. But he thought they would have to cut a lot of material out. He suggesting cutting out Helms Deep, because that little side-tack had very little to do with the Ring, Sauron, or Gondor. Probably the lighting of the beacons would have been enough of an explanation for Rohan to show up in the nick of time.

Re:Did you hear they're not changing the story?

[Mechanik]

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?

Batte of Hobbiton I will concede, but c'mon, how many of us really wanted to see an hour of film devoted to Tom and his love of talking in rhymes and whatnot? Even as a fan I find those parts of the books annoying... how can you expect Joe Sixpack to sit through that let alone enjoy it?

IMHO, I think including Bombadil would have done a lot to wreck the generally serious and epic feel of the films. People already had enough complaints about the comic relief of Gimli and Pippen ruining the atmosphere for them. Personally I thought those were fine, but put in Bombadil and you would have whole different movie. When I think of the LOTR movies as is, I think "epic" the way I think of say, Ben Hur, or Spartacus, not funny and silly like the animated Disney movie Hercules.


Mechanik

It sounds a bit like MUME

[Danny Rathjens]

MUME is a free multiplayer roleplaying game based upon J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth that has been continuously enhanced since fall '91. In MUME players can explore and live in this meticulously crafted world during its late Third Age, and possibly join the epic War between the forces of the Dark Lord and the armies of the West.

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.

obligatory Dork Tower reference...

[spyrral]

"I kill Gandolf"