LOTRO teaser video

[Trippy]

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?fs=1&id=754

The QuickTime version is *not* H.264 encoded contrary to what the file name implies.

[Numtini]

Looks almost as good as the D&D trailers, shame the game looked and played like poop.

(unimpressed)

[Nija]

Release Date: 5/1/2006


Right.

[Soln]

Release Date: 5/1/2006


Right.

that's 7 weeks

35 work days

[Llava]

Who the fuck is Angmar?

[Murgos]

Who the fuck is Angmar?

Angmar was a place, I think.  The Witch King of Angmar was the lord of the Nazgul.

[Morfiend]

LFG 2 raid MTdoom Nazghul has phatl00t!!11!


I really think this game is going to be hamstrung by the timeframe they picked. Just like SWG was. You can never really feel like you are doing anything casue its already been decided. Lord of the Rings Online: Play 2 Farm.

Also, the character models looked like ass.

[Murgos]

Personally, I think they should have put it at the time of the Silmarils.

[Engels]

Yeah, what is it with Turbine and being utterly unable to make artistically pleasing humanoid forms? Asheron's Call body movements were just plain wierd, DDO looks at least 6 years out of date and now LotR looks like the same 'I have a load in my pants and a diaper rash to match' school of graphic design.

You know, they have these wonderful new devices that can record, for digital computer format, the actual body positions of a human form engaging in all manner of activities. Why can't Turbine use them?!

[Signe]

Maybe we should reserve judgement until we see photos of the development team.  Perhaps they create what they see. 



I mean, you never know....

[Furiously]

D&D online almost looked fun in the pre-trailer.

[Zetleft]

I like how the voiceover states "a great darkness has fallen" and then the Turbine logo comes up. 

[Trippy]

Yeah, what is it with Turbine and being utterly unable to make artistically pleasing humanoid forms? Asheron's Call body movements were just plain wierd, DDO looks at least 6 years out of date and now LotR looks like the same 'I have a load in my pants and a diaper rash to match' school of graphic design.

I thought the DDO human models were okay (I only played Humans during my very brief beta test). The arms were a little long and gangly looking but otherwise they weren't bad. And the face customization actually did meaningful things unlike the abomination that is EQ2's face designer. The LOTORO models do look like a step (or two or twenty) backwards from the DDO ones, though, and look more like the EQ2 ones which is bad bad thing. The AC2 models looked pretty good too from what I remember so I'm not sure what's going on over there with the LOTORO model design team.

The animation in DDO is pretty poor though, though not quite as ridiculous as EQ2's, and LOTORO doesn't look any better. Of the MMORPGs I've played FF XI is still by far the best in terms of character animation though WoW's is decent.

You know, they have these wonderful new devices that can record, for digital computer format, the actual body positions of a human form engaging in all manner of activities. Why can't Turbine use them?!

Well it's not cheap for one thing and animators still have to go in and tweak many if not most of the data points by hand afterwards which is very time consuming. Companies like EA can afford to do that sort of thing on their sports games, for example, but most companies can't.

[Engels]

Trippy, you may dislike the actual graphic art behind EQ2, but you have to admit that the body motions of the toons are above and beyond anything out there with the exception of CoH and FF XI.

I personally don't care if the face customization has 30 different varieties of eyebrow angles; if the avatar still moves about the world like a cromagnon with sciatica, noone's going to be bothering to do a close up of the face.

And your point is well taken about those machines being expensive, but Turbine's not exactly a spring chicken to the game. They could at least afford to rip off NCSoft or Square Enix!

I wouldn't be upset about it except that it is this company that's gotten its grubby paws on the LotR franchise. If it had been any other company and they too had done such a particularly shoddy job of it, I'd be railing against them too.

Please, we're not talking about some abstruse aspect of game mechanics, or some controversial leveling system; we're talking about something that is immediately aparent to the eye by anyone when they take even a cursory glance at the trailer.

[Trippy]

Trippy, you may dislike the actual graphic art behind EQ2, but you have to admit that the body motions of the toons are above and beyond anything out there with the exception of CoH and FF XI.

I don't agree, at all.

First of all the stick up the butt combat "run" animation ruined the game for me from the beginning. Whoever was in charge of signing off on the character animation clearly has issues if speeding up the combat walk animation and turning it into the "run" (and I use that word loosely) animation was acceptable quality. And we're not talking about a last minute change that had to be done to rush the game into production so they didn't have time to fix things up. No, this was done way back in alpha stages and persisted through to release (though they kept tinkering with it to make it less bad looking for release).

Then we have the totally ridiculous weapon swing animations made by animators who clearly have never actually held weapons in their hands before and tried to swing them. Now of course artistic license needs to be applied here since this is a swords and sorcery video game so exaggeration is welcome. On the other hand combat animation that is so exaggerated that my sword backswing goes around so far that I stab myself through my back on my other side and my head turns around away from the target (DDO has this same problem) is silly beyond belief. Then you also have the "overhead" downward sword swings and not with a reverse grip mind you and but with the standard grip. That's about the least effective way you could possible swing a sword if you wanted to generate any power behind it.

I won't even get into how lame the spell casting animations are -- EQ1 was miles beyond what was in EQ2 -- or the stupid HO animations that had fighters wiggling their fingers to bring down lightning bolts from the sky (okay I lied I did go into it).

On the other hand I forgot to mention CoH like you did above -- that game does have very good animation.

[Strazos]

Picture

What is that, a pack of zombies and a drunk chick who just got lost?

[HaemishM]

I like how the voiceover states "a great darkness has fallen" and then the Turbine logo comes up. 

The Great Darkness was Asheron's Call 2.

LOTRO will be the Great Dorkness.

That video really not only didn't impress me, there aren't even Y Axis coordinates to express how underwhelmed I am.

[Soln]

I like how the voiceover states "a great darkness has fallen" and then the Turbine logo comes up. 

The Great Darkness was Asheron's Call 2.

LOTRO will be the Great Dorkness.

how do we classify DDO then?  the Great Porkness?  all fat, no meat?  bait and switched is  how I feel

That video really not only didn't impress me, there aren't even Y Axis coordinates to express how underwhelmed I am.

Funny, very very funny.  /golfclap

[shiznitz]

That trailer didn't get me excited at all. The DDO advertisement before it was more interesting.

[Samwise]

I agree, actually setting LotRO during the time of LotR is a blunder, if that's what they're doing.  Not enough information in the trailer to tell, apart from what looks like the Moria scene from LotR, which couldn't be part of the game, could it?

If it were my call to make I'd have set the game somewhere between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.  From the title "Shadows of Angmar" it sounds like that might actually be what they're doing.

Game itself doesn't look like anything special.

[HaemishM]

It's set duing the Lord of the Rings books. Around the time of Fellowship, IIRC.

[Samwise]

I suppose that'd be all right if they never let the players interact with the fellowship, and they focused instead on what was going on elsewhere in the world.  Odds are good though that if they set it during the fellowship, it was because they wanted players to have the chance to participate in the main LotR plotline, which is kinda silly for a MMO given how focused it is on a very small group of characters.  As has been pointed out.

[HaemishM]

From the FAQ:

 
Can I play as a member of the Fellowship?

You will not be able to play as a member of the Fellowship.  You will, however, meet the Fellowship and many other important characters from the books, and participate at times in important events that take  place in parallel to the main events of The Lord of the Rings.  The goal for LOTRO is to allow each player to create and grow their own Tolkien hero within an authentic Middle-earth mythology and environment, and to task them with their own heroic quest.

Which races can we play?

Players may choose from Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits.

What about High Elves and Dúnedain?

Because these races are particularly powerful, they will not initially be available for play. The playable Elven race is the Wood, or Silvan, Elves.

Can we play evil races?

For many reasons, we have concluded that alignment would not be appropriate to the world of LOTRO at launch. Your choices when creating a character are restricted to the races of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits.  The themes of this world center more around different races banding together against a common evil. 

Is there PvP in LOTRO?

While there is some (but very little) precedent for PvP in the lore, it doesn't fit into Tolkien's world in the usual way that PvP fits into MMORPG's. In light of this, the design team is looking at PvP alternatives that will satisfy those who enjoy competitive play, while preventing scenarios such as Elves "ganking" Hobbits in the Shire. 

How many classes are there?
Currently, we plan to have seven cardinal classes: Champion, Captain, Guardian, Hunter, Minstrel, Burglar, and Lore-master. More information about the classes can be found on our Playable Classes page.

Can I play a mage or wizard in LOTRO?

From what is known, there were very few wizards in the whole of Middle-earth through the ages. You will not be able to play a Wizard, but a mage-like class will be available to you.  As Magic plays such a special role in the Tolkien lore, we are taking great care to provide players with the abilities they expect, within an appropriate context for the Tolkien mythology. 

Adventuring in Middle-earth
Where in Middle-earth will the game take place?
The initial launch of the game will cover the region of Eriador, including the Shire, Rivendell, Breeland, and other landmarks from The Lord of the Rings.

Where does the game start?

Humans begin the game in the town of Archet, on the edge of the Chetwood Forest. The other races' starting points are being finalized and will be revealed later.

When does the game take place?
LOTRO is set in the Third Age, during the War of the Ring. The game begins approximately after Frodo leaves the Shire with the One Ring.  The launch product will essentially cover the time and many locations of the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring.       

Just to handle all the main lore questions.

[Samwise]

Danke.

The only bright spot in all that was the fact that they aren't making wizards a playable class.

The phrase "not initially available" used to describe the Dunedain suddenly gave me horrifying visions of people "unlocking" it a la SWG's jedi.  Palantir-grinding?

[Signe]

This will be the best game ever!  I'll name my character Princess Leia.

[Dren]

Having anything other than human as a playable race has already broken the lore.  There aren't very many elves, hobbits, etc.  The very next "age" after the 3rd is the age of humans where basically all the rest of the races fade away.  That's what we'd all have to look forward to in the elder stages of the game.

For a fantasy game, that just seems extremely underwhelming.

Classes that aren't wizards but can use magic like MMOG players would expect to use magic?  Um, those are wizards whether you call it a "wizard" or not.

I also suggest they rethink this and use the early ages (I and II?) for their setting.  Not much is known about it, lots of magic users, lots of demons/monsters/gods, etc.  You could do pretty much anything you want and not break the lore.

[schild]

There's no such thing as an overwhelming of even whelming fantasy game anymore. It's just the easiest thing to do. The moment you add lots of projectiles is the moment people wonder why it's still hotkey based. How do you avoid that? Make a fantasy game. I use a sword because it's a fantasy game. It's a fantasy game so I use a sword. It's a vicious cycle.

[Morfiend]

I still think setting the game at that timefram is a horrible idea. I mean, they advertise EPIC STRUGGLE OF LIGHT VS DARK.... except we already know the outcome, light wins, golum dies, time to bake bread.

Put it before, or even after. But for the love of god, not during LOTR. Its so stupid. SWG made the same horrible mistake. How many times do you think ideas will get shot down due to "That doesnt work with the story". Nothing meaningful can ever happen in the game (not that it would, but even the illusion is gone).

Bad bad bad.

But... but... You can BE the guy staying in the inn where frodo stayed on the way to HIS epic adventure, whats more fun than that?


I can picture the Devs about 3 months after release saying the same thing as the SWG devs.:

"Wait, WHAT? you mean everyone wants to play a Jedi?"

[tazelbain]

It just looks like vehicle to retell the story in MMOG trappings. Ick.

[AcidCat]

Burglar? haha, is that for real?  :-D

[Soukyan]

It just looks like vehicle to retell the story in MMOG trappings.

Ding! We have a winner!

This will be extremely unappealing to some and will be very appealing to others with a whole host of varying opinions between; however, we must press on as there is no turning back.

I think you're correct in that it appears that they are working toward an interactive massively multiplayer online storytelling adventure. It reminds me of the Skotos prose roleplaying games (Castle Marrach and Lovecraft Country) where there is a backstory and a history to the setting and the peoples, but you essentially become a person in that world and make your own story and socialize. The Skotos prose roleplaying games are primarily cooperative, socialization based MUDs. Will this type of gameplay appeal to everyone? Absolutely not, but there are some people who will enjoy it very much. Will there be enough people to make it profitable and not end up following the road of AC2? I hope so and based upon the franchise name, I would think they could garner a fair playerbase. It's then just a matter of retention (see AC1) whether that be through monthly events or expansions or whatever. Bi-monthly events that advance the story of the ring would be a cool idea if fthey implemented it. I would be up for playing a game that had an end eventually and reset and started all over again, given that it is fun enough. Could they do something like that with LOTRO? I'm not so sure. I don't know how the game will play out. It appears as though player heroes will end up getting involved in preventing the evil legions from invading and taking over parts of the world as the fellowship advances toward their goal. Turbine knows how to do world invasion events and such (see AC1 and AC2) as they have the experience in running them and making them pretty damn neat. The catch is that how much of the gameplay will be innovative and also, if there isn't a whole hell of a lot of achievement-based gameplay, it is going to be difficult to retain subscribers. The Skotos prose roleplaying games manage to survive, but they have a different subscriber model and far less overhead in terms of expenses to run their games. Graphical games of large licenses are orders of magnitude more costly to maintain and therefore requirer orders of magnitude more in the way of walking wallets... err... subscribers. I'm interested to see how the whole LOTRO experience plays out. I'm wishing Turbine the best of luck because they're certainly going to be under a huge amount of scrutiny by fans of the Tolkien universe.

[edit]Prediction on two most played race/class combos: hobbit burglar (a.k.a. Bilbo Baggins) and elven hunter (or champion). Possibly human champion running a close third.[/edit]

[HaemishM]

They can't set it in the Silmarillion times because they don't have the rights. They only have the rights for The Hobbit and the trilogy.

[sarius]

They can't set it in the Silmarillion times because they don't have the rights. They only have the rights for The Hobbit and the trilogy.

How the hell do you have a MMORPG during a "set in stone" series of events?  Wierd.

[tazelbain]

Stuff.

Skotos?  Huh?  I would point to story-line missions in Guild Wars and CoV.  They give you semi-freedom to run around, but if you want "contribute" to the epic battle you to have follow a series of railroad quests with cutscenes which were inspired by LotR.

[Krakrok]

How the hell do you have a MMORPG during a "set in stone" series of events?  Wierd.

They could run a game of Lord of the Rings Risk on top of the players Planetside style (w/ Mount & Blade combat). When the ring gets to Mordor and gets destroyed, game over, reset. Sadly, this will never happen though you can play the LOTR Mount & Blade mod.