Sheepville

A couple of friends and I recently started playing this game and I was pleasantly surprised at just how good of a game it is. I was thinking last night as I was trundling through the Shire how Tolkein might have felt seeing his world created. Both the dark side of that world in the movies and the bright side of that world in LOTRO. I thought EQ2 was an amazing world but now that I’ve seen LOTRO I realize too much of EQ2 was oppressive and bleak. What would you expect with zones called Swamp of No Hope though. It’s not that EQ2 was bad and LOTRO doesn’t have some “dark” places, but I think too much was put in EQ2. The environment for LOTRO was really done well and you just enjoy the landscape. There are actual constellations in the night sky to see. One of the problems with EQ2 is all the mob placement seems artificial – not so with LOTRO. The combat system is nothing to write home about but is adequate. I highly doubt there is much replay in the game. First, once you’ve been through the main storyline (the game follows along with the books) and I don’t think there’s much breadth of game play.

Crafting is done well and is the first game that I’ve actually used the items I’ve crafted. The three of us have chosen professions to compliment each other so we can pretty much be self-sufficient in what we need. The main quest lines are the books and chapters of the story everyone knows. Where the movies concentrated on the central characters in LOTRO you see the story unfold as a peripheral character. You do see and interact with the likes of Gandalf and company and see the story progress without being the main story. Best way to describe it. There are also tons of regular quests to do as well. He player population also seems much friendlier than in any other game I’ve played.