a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
My review:
On the whole, a grindy combat-fest, but the Nemesis System made it tolerable. Instead of just killing random, meaningless enemies, enemies and allies both have unique histories even though most are randomly generated NPCs. This only applies to combat though and the story is very much centered around linear quests for pre-generated characters who will be the same and act the same every time.
The story was decent in the beginning, but weakened toward the end as there weren't any more quests and it just became about grinding through battle after battle. The ending was predictable and told in a single cutscene with no choices, which given the fact that there were a TON of unavoidable grind battles that you have to face beforehand, was pretty disappointing.
There's a black character in the game which is kind of annoying as technically there aren't any black people in the LOTR setting. There are southern people, but they are "swarthy", not black. I did appreciate that they at least noted how unusual it was and didn't try to pass it off as normal like they did in The Hobbit movies.
Though the explanation doesn't make much sense as his supposed nation would be so far from Gondor that sending him as some sort of goodwill offering would be silly. Gondor isn't Rome and has shown virtually no interest in the south, being occupied with Mordor constantly. It's also ridiculously unlikely that he'd be promoted to the top of the ranks. He's a complete outsider with no relation to anyone there.
He is also in a pseudo-romance with the only human woman in the game, who also happens to be a blonde white girl. You are forced to help the two in their lame (and, yet again, incredibly unlikely) romance and watch the two walk off into the sunset, having added virtually nothing of value to the story apart from their initial appearances in the prologue. I didn't like having to grind through repeated predictable quests for this uninteresting concept. He even has an entire DLC. As if he weren't forced on you enough.
I can't really blame the developer for including this character because the usual suspects would have made a big stink about there not being black people in the game, just like they did with Kingdom Come: Deliverance. But having a whole questline dedicated to an interracial romance and even making a DLC dedicated to him was beyond unneeded.
[edit with minor spoiler for Eltariel DLC: the two main villians of this DLC are two rogue ringwraiths (what?) who are CHINESE PRINCESSES. Because China is apparently a thing in Middle Earth now.]
The game's questlines are all linear and there are virtually no choices that matter. You can't do anything to sway characters or prevent betrayals - though non-story Nemesis System betrayals that happen dynamically can be affected.
That said, there are some decent, if unsurprising, plot twists that change things up and keep things interesting. Especially if you are a LOTR fan. They do incorporate a lot of elements that weren't in the movies, but were in other books on the setting and it's interesting to see their take on things.
Combat ranges from easy to moderately challenging, depending on how careful you are and how quick you can react to button prompts. Conquering forts is easy, provided you do the proper ground work. Defending them can be tougher, but you probably won't do much of that until the end - and then you will do so much of it, you'll get sick of it.
It is winnable without purchasing DLC or the gold/silver extras, but again, it can be a little grindy. I wonder if it would have been less so without the marketplace there to incentivize grind in the design.
I also have to note that the PRIVACY, TERMS and EULA is all isnanely one-sided. If you place this, you basically have to agree that you don't own the game, have no right to sue and that they can/will sell all your data to 3rd party advertisers.
On the whole, I have to recommend this to LOTR fans because I am a fan and I enjoyed running around in the setting and fighting different orcs. I had fun I guess, but it was a cheap, poorly written fun. And I'm not proud of supporting such shady a publisher. I recommend getting it on sale, if at all.
For non-fans, you may not find it very interesting apart from the Nemesis System, which makes otherwise repetitive battles not only interesting, but personal. At least until the grind at the end begins.
On the whole, a grindy combat-fest, but the Nemesis System made it tolerable. Instead of just killing random, meaningless enemies, enemies and allies both have unique histories even though most are randomly generated NPCs. This only applies to combat though and the story is very much centered around linear quests for pre-generated characters who will be the same and act the same every time.
The story was decent in the beginning, but weakened toward the end as there weren't any more quests and it just became about grinding through battle after battle. The ending was predictable and told in a single cutscene with no choices, which given the fact that there were a TON of unavoidable grind battles that you have to face beforehand, was pretty disappointing.
There's a black character in the game which is kind of annoying as technically there aren't any black people in the LOTR setting. There are southern people, but they are "swarthy", not black. I did appreciate that they at least noted how unusual it was and didn't try to pass it off as normal like they did in The Hobbit movies.
Though the explanation doesn't make much sense as his supposed nation would be so far from Gondor that sending him as some sort of goodwill offering would be silly. Gondor isn't Rome and has shown virtually no interest in the south, being occupied with Mordor constantly. It's also ridiculously unlikely that he'd be promoted to the top of the ranks. He's a complete outsider with no relation to anyone there.
He is also in a pseudo-romance with the only human woman in the game, who also happens to be a blonde white girl. You are forced to help the two in their lame (and, yet again, incredibly unlikely) romance and watch the two walk off into the sunset, having added virtually nothing of value to the story apart from their initial appearances in the prologue. I didn't like having to grind through repeated predictable quests for this uninteresting concept. He even has an entire DLC. As if he weren't forced on you enough.
I can't really blame the developer for including this character because the usual suspects would have made a big stink about there not being black people in the game, just like they did with Kingdom Come: Deliverance. But having a whole questline dedicated to an interracial romance and even making a DLC dedicated to him was beyond unneeded.
[edit with minor spoiler for Eltariel DLC: the two main villians of this DLC are two rogue ringwraiths (what?) who are CHINESE PRINCESSES. Because China is apparently a thing in Middle Earth now.]
The game's questlines are all linear and there are virtually no choices that matter. You can't do anything to sway characters or prevent betrayals - though non-story Nemesis System betrayals that happen dynamically can be affected.
That said, there are some decent, if unsurprising, plot twists that change things up and keep things interesting. Especially if you are a LOTR fan. They do incorporate a lot of elements that weren't in the movies, but were in other books on the setting and it's interesting to see their take on things.
Combat ranges from easy to moderately challenging, depending on how careful you are and how quick you can react to button prompts. Conquering forts is easy, provided you do the proper ground work. Defending them can be tougher, but you probably won't do much of that until the end - and then you will do so much of it, you'll get sick of it.
It is winnable without purchasing DLC or the gold/silver extras, but again, it can be a little grindy. I wonder if it would have been less so without the marketplace there to incentivize grind in the design.
I also have to note that the PRIVACY, TERMS and EULA is all isnanely one-sided. If you place this, you basically have to agree that you don't own the game, have no right to sue and that they can/will sell all your data to 3rd party advertisers.
On the whole, I have to recommend this to LOTR fans because I am a fan and I enjoyed running around in the setting and fighting different orcs. I had fun I guess, but it was a cheap, poorly written fun. And I'm not proud of supporting such shady a publisher. I recommend getting it on sale, if at all.
For non-fans, you may not find it very interesting apart from the Nemesis System, which makes otherwise repetitive battles not only interesting, but personal. At least until the grind at the end begins.
Last edited by a moderator:
