The Struggle To Bring The Lord Of The Rings To Video Games

The PS2 games were amazing. Even the Hobbit on PS2 was great.

Oh my Eru! There's a reason why this game fails so utterly and completely at capturing the zeitgeist of the Legendarium, and that's because it's not trying at all, let alone struggling with that aspect! And it's not Middle-earth, it's Arda, the world in Eä, the Universe, for Ilúvatar's sake! Have you no shame GameSpot?

1. Find Tolkien's corpse.

2. Defile it, over and over again.

3. Profit!

I thought Shadow Of Mordor was a very good game. At first I said it was great but that was mostly due to the fact 2014 was a pretty light year when it came to notable games. Outside of the Nemesis system most of the gameplay was very generic and way too easy in certain areas. Also it could've been any fantasy setting because the story is just as generic and Gollum was only there to be there which I think is the biggest shame of it. I wish they could use the expanded lore of Middle-Earth from the Silmarillion and the various stories finished and released after Tolkien's death. Now that would give plenty of room to define their own section of the lore while being faithful enough to not contradict anything. Still I think there was enough room in what they can pull from to stick to it without treading the same ground or getting in the way of gameplay. All that said if the microtransactions aren't a problem I think I'll enjoy the game my main point is that I'm enjoying it as a generic fantasy game with fun mechanics not as a Lord Of the Rings game or for it's own story.

There were some fun games in the early 2000s. Battle for Middle Earth franchise was one of my favorites. I wish it was still available.

Adding microtransactions is not a good direction for the IP though. Built up some good will with the first Shadow and then started mortgaging the good will with a freemium like pay model.

also as a Tolkien nerd, I can't really afford to boycott a game over microtransactions, much as I'd like to. I will however be kicking up a fuss if it spoils the game.

it's really tough as a full on Tolkien nerd to reconcile liberties with the lore and the need to have a great middle earth game. I understand to a certain extent and am definitely onboard with creating a new part to the story, it's just the things which contradict the lore directly which upset me. I'm sure a big motivation is the fact they can't use the Silmarillion, otherwise they wouldn't be short of things to cover, after all the Hobbit movies wrang almost every bit of useable lore from the LOTR appendicies. I was able to swallow it in the first game and really enjoyed it. Lets hope the liberties this time are not too distressing, although the Shelob thing has me concerned.

If I was in charge, I would have picked a topic Tolkien had mentioned but not expanded upon too much. The War in the north was a great idea for a game, just very underwhelming in practice.

The struggle to bring microtransactions to Lord of the Rings video games.

I would love to play a Lord of the Rings game with similar combat mechanics to Dragon's Dogma. Shadow of Mordor has the overly simplified batman combat system that's just not satisfying to play. Even Return of The King has a better combat system.

I enjoyed Shadow of Mordor and I will enjoy this game. I am not fond of the fact that there are micro transactions (because its a starting trend in games which is unwelcome), but personally I doubt those have been implemented because the people making the game wanted them there, those are results of corporate greed. Not to mention from what I have seen so far, those are really just optional, so I find all this widespread panic completely unnecessary.

I am definitely buying the game on launch, simply because I appreciate all the hard work these people put into it and I am excited to play it.

They seem to be implying throughout this that because LOTR wasn't created with Video Games in mind (was Star Wars?) that the source content is not exciting enough to be used... What a terrible shame that that's the attitude they've got for quite literally the most expansive work of fiction created by a single person. Here's a masterpiece that took someone a lifetime to - not even - complete, but nahhh, it's dull, we have to create a load of rubbish to make gamers want to play it. I appreciate they're limited to content from the films and the films' appendices, but not only do they discuss a huge amount of lore in the appendices, but the films are some of the most decorated in cinema history. It's quite honestly inexcusable to suggest that the source material is somehow inadequate for the use in a video game. There are a million and one different video game ideas that could be built from what's available to them /end rant

They turned it into Conan The Barbarian, basically.

LOTRO is one of the most successful MMOs of all time, Shadow of Mordor is a critically- and player-acclaimed game of the high quality, and there have been a handful of other titles that put the franchise to good use as well.

I think it's not so much of a struggle as it is "Don't screw up a good thing."

I love lord of the rings but I don't like greedy game companies. I won't even buy this game when it goes on sale. They will manipulate drop rates via patches. It's shame really I would have bought it day one. I think it looks great really. I play games because I like questing for loot. It's the reward that drives me to play. Put that loot into crates with low reward drop rates. Then make me grind 10000 enemies or pay up and you can go to hell. It breaks the core mechanic of gaming I've been enjoying for 30 years. Ever since the first Zelda game.

What struggle? They obviously don't care that much when they do something like sexy Shelob. To them LOTR=Orcs and ghost elves.

Can't wait for the rest of the articles! Gonna be a good read regarding how the dev expands the world of middle earth and how the middle earth games fits into the LOTR lores.

That aside I will just wait for the goty/definitive/deluxe edition or whatever on ps+ sales. The whole microtransaction thing really turned down my interest to get the game on release.

The microtransactions turned me off from this game I was going to buy it on day one but I dont support greed so I will buy it used.

LOTR online was a much more authentic attempt at capturing Middle Earth. I get that it's Mordor, but an action video game centered on slaughtering Orcs seems worlds removed from the books.

i think the biggest problem with making a LOTR video game is putting in loot crates and making the game P2W and have the game riddled with microtransactions. but thats my opinion as a consumer