The Lord of the Rings Online Review

The Lord of the Rings Online

State: Final
Website: http://www.lotro.com
Developer/Publisher: Turbine
The Pitch: You need a pitch? It’s the Lord of the freaking Rings! You know.. ‘my preciousss’ and ‘one ring to rule them all’ and ‘second breakfastses’. If you seriously expected a pitch, then you should just move on to another game.

 

Performance

 

The Lord of the Rings ran much better than I expected. Why? Because this game is freaking gorgeous. I fully expected it to run like a bag of crap. But it didn’t. I maxed out the settings, turned on AA and it runs smooth like silk. No hiccups or stalls. Just hawt Middle-Earthy vistas. Speaking of Vista.. I’m running this in XP. Although it apparently looks in better in DirectX 10, (of course only available in Vista), I’d rather shave my head than install that POS on my computer. Here’s hoping Windows 7 is better. (listens closely to hear the distant sound of MS shareholders cheering)

 

Unique to The Lord of the Rings Online

 

Middle Earth. What can I say about this that hasn’t been said already? They’ve reproduced it perfectly. Well, maybe not as perfectly as an anal-retentive Lord of the Rings nerd might want, but that’s not me. I liked the books and the movies.. and as far as I can tell, this is exactly what I figured it would feel like to kill wolves and boars in Middle Earth. And the occasional goblin as well.

The Good

 

Polish, polish, polish. That’s “pahhlish”, not “poeelish”. From the starter area to the quests to the graphics and animations, LotRO simply shines. It’s intuitive and easy to use, even for those who’ve played few online games. The UI is enhanced with attractive flourishes, further infusing the game with a Lord of the Rings feel.

Lore. Many people who compare this game to World of Warcraft will discuss how well written LotRO is, from the quests to the dialog. And they’re right; it is exceptionally well-written. From the comments that NPCs will often blurt out while standing next to them, to the quest text, to the description of a new Deed or Trait you’ve earned; it all works to draw you into the world.

Exploring the world. Playing LotRO compared to some of the other MMOs I discuss, the difference I feel is immediate. This isn’t a game that urges you to “Level up! Find loot! Be uber!”. Yes, you can do all three of those things here. But more than anything when I’m playing, I just like to explore. Not necessarily to complete a quest, but those things do often go hand-in-hand.. but just because you turn around and see a cool ruin in the distance on the top of a mountain next to a waterfall.. and you say ‘Hey. I want to go check out those ruins. Cool.” Oftentimes, Chris and I will remark on what we feel like doing while in game. And frequently, we’ll just say ‘let’s head off towards that quest marker and see what we find’. The hallmark of a good game is where you find yourself immersed in the world, and not in the game.

Titles/Deeds/Traits. Yes, it’s been done before. Compare them to XBox Live Achievements or Warhammer’s Tome of Knowledge or Warcraft’s Talents. Yes, they aren’t always implemented well – for instance, to complete one Deed (and the subsequent Trait), I’m required to kill I think 1300 wolves. Seriously? Not awesome. But those aren’t the ones that I like so much. The ones I find intriguing are the ones that are offered on completion of a quest tree in a particular city or town or ones that I earn after using a skill a certain number of times. These are much more natural and reward me for doing things I’m likely already to be doing. I really enjoy the ones that award me for exploration. It’s the type of addition to the game that makes me think… ‘oh I’ll just head over that ridge and see if there’s another part of the elf ruins over there..’. It’s dangerous (to my sleep patterns, that is), but exciting.

Cutscenes in instances. This is done by some other games as well (CoH/V), and it works equally well here. It helps to get you involved in the storyline as well as the instance that you’re in.

Music. Music permeates LotRO. Not only are there bards throughout the world, the minstrel is a playable class. Beyond that, everyone who plays has the capability of learning and playing an instrument. Even more interestingly, you can form a ‘band’ with your fellowship to make music together. Very cool idea. See here on YouTube for a various selection of Middle-Earth hits.

Combat. Even though I bemoan the lack of flashiness in it, the combat is exceptionally well done. It’s very visceral, with excellent animations and lots of audio cues; clangs of sword on shields and grunts of the dwarves and bellowing minstrels galore. This helps to raise it to a level beyond most MMOs. It makes you feel a part of the combat, beyond just mashing at the hotkeys.

 

The Bad

 

Wolves and boars and flies, oh my! Okay, so the enemies at lower levels could use something of an overhaul. Yeah, I know I’ve just started the game and it’s all new to me and everything, so maybe a cave troll is right out. But seriously, how many wolves and board do I need to kill? It would be fine if I didn’t aggro them while running by, I could ignore them. Maybe farm them if I need a bit of cash. But no, I have to run all over the place just to try to avoid inciting aggro on every freaking wolf, boar, and fly in the freaking game. ARGGH. Apparently they figure they can take a level 13 Hunter, no prob, even if they’re a level 5 fly. Nothing is less heroic than fighting your 800th wolf whilst attempting to thwart Sauron’s plans.

Face target/too far away. Get used to reading those messages. Why? Because there’s no built-in way to face your target or run to attack. Hm. Not a game-breaker, by any means. I’d really love a way to turn the visual messages off, though. The ‘bing’ sound is okay and that’d be enough for me.

Iconography. Maybe it’s just me. I dunno. But for whatever reason, I find the iconography in LotRO is just harder to figure out than in other games. In most MMOs, I can look at a skill icon and say ‘okay, that’s likely a lightning attack’… or whatever. In LotRO, even after playing for a while, I still have to mouseover some of the skills I’ve had since level 4 to remember what one does. They just aren’t visually very distinguishable from the rest. In addition to that, many of the icons are red, and the ‘unusable’ indicator for your skills is a red icon, overlaid in the top right corner. I prefer it when skills are dark, indicating they can’t be used, but this is how LotRO does it. So you’ll often have to squint to be able to tell if you can use that skill or not – kind of a pain if you’re a distance-oriented damage dealer.

Not very flashy skills. This is one thing that bugs me quite a bit. If I’m going to involve myself in this big, beautiful world and become it’s biggest hero, I want to feel like a hero. I know that early on, I’m just an apprectice hero. Or a hero-in-training, if you will. But so what? If I’m the one to ultimately rise to notoriety (okay, maybe not as much as say, Frodo, but whatever), I want to feel like I’ve got some appropriately mad skillz up my sleeves. I never quite felt that way in LotRO. I feel competent, sure. And possibly a little bit badass now and then. But never flashy and uber-heroic. I think I’m just a little bit partial to big ol’ light effects and particles when playing as a magic user. And but for the Rune Keeper, there’s precious little fancy heroic effects going on here. If your skills deal with sword use and such, expect exactly that – lots of sword swipes and things. Not overmuch in the way of particles and light displays. Of course, they did this to stick to the lore of the world .. which is good. But I still likes me some flashy.

 

Summary

 

The Lord of the Rings Online is a simply fantastic, immersive experience. It’s  interesting to explore, it’s entertaining to discover new areas, deeds and traits, and more than anything else, it’s fun to play. I highly recommend it.

 

Download value: [rating:9] (9)