Anyone following Middle Earth Online?

[Strida]

I've been following this a while now, and they just got a pretty cool article @ IGN, as well as a bunch of high resolution screenies.

Here's the official website: http://www.middle-earthonline.com/index.php

The graphics are amazing, they look twice as good as WoW just because of the amazing textures. The lighting looks great too.

The gameplay seems great, everything is being approved by like the Tolkien commitee or something of that sort, so that it only follows the book and Tolkien's ideas. And I'm hoping it'll turn out well like the movies, which I was also afraid might bomb, but have been doing well.

Now that all the movies are out I have something else to look forward to!

All I can say is... *droooooooooooooooooooooooooool*

 

[Strida]

Link to the IGN article, plus lots and lots of screenshots...

http://pc.ign.com/articles/446/446583p1.html?fromint=1

 

[Perre]

Very nice, thanx for the links!

 

[OC Noob]

I doubt Turdbine can match Blizzard's WoW when it comes to game play.

That being said, they did make my favorite MMORPG (AC) and my least favorite (AC2) so I'm sure they are more then capable of making a great game. Unforunately, they are also capable of making a flaming turb... I mean turd pile.

The game looks very cool and I'll for sure try it. I just hope they use the skill system and combat like AC1 had. The AC2 gfx engine is still ahead of 99% of todays games, so hopefully they didn't waste a bunch of time making a new one.


I can't wait to see how this one turns out. Are they beta testing yet?

 

[Methical_K]

Are they beta testing yet?

According to their FAQ, not yet.

 

[YellowDart]

F*** ME! Those screens look gorgeous! Any word on how much it will be to play online??? I normally don't go for MMORPG's, but this one looks incredible!

 

[Strida]

Read their FAQ...

Payments will be between 10 and 15 dollars a month..

Also, I remember reading that they took the AC2 engine and did massive tweaks to it, resulting in what you see there.

I can't wait for this to come out, looking @ the FAQ I seem to like the way they are making this game.

 

[YellowDart]

I'm very interested in this one. The graphics are amazing so far. If the gameplay is as good as the graphics, I'll have to grab this one... subscription fee or no.

 

[Strida]

Check out some of the musical tracks!

http://www.middle-earthonline.com/?section=music

 

[ConquereR]

a mmo...set in one of the best worlds imaginable...awesome

although thats what i said about SWG

 

[em0]

man, this game looks so cool! i cant wait!

 

[OC Noob]

According to their FAQ, not yet.

Damn, this one won't be out for sometime then.


No sense in me getting hyped up about it too early. It always sucks really wanting something when there is a long wait involved.


Fable is bad enough, I can't handle two long term obsesions

 

[YellowDart]

Damn, this one won't be out for sometime then.


No sense in me getting hyped up about it too early. It always sucks really wanting something when there is a long wait involved.


Fable is bad enough, I can't handle two long term obsesions

lol... Just a little longer for Fable!

 

[Strida]

The developers @ SWG are stupid. They overly nerf anything that is just a little too strong, and then anyone with the profession is screwed.

I used to play SWG, quit though b/c of the constant grind. Also, the MEO forums were talking about how they were going to work to create a skill system where you could actually gain skill while logged out, therefore eliminating a lot of the grind, and also making the game more fair for casual gamers.

Of course you would only gain like 1/10th as much as if you were logged in though, hehe.

 

[YellowDart]

How worth it are MMORPG's anyway? I feel kinda sketchy about forking over $50 for a game, and then paying $10-15 every month just to play... Seems kind of like a rip-off to me. Some of the games look REALLY kewl though. This MEO game looks kickass, and so doesn FFXI and SWG. I just haven't convinced myself (or my wife for that matter ) that this type of game is worth it...

 

[kestrel]

You might find that this type of game becomes too worth it. I beta tested DAoC, and even with the incredible number of bugs in the beginning and the lack of content, (when they started the beta only 1 area in 1 realm was available) I was spending more time in the game than I was sleeping. It was like a second job. This is one reason I'm very leary of MMORPGs in general, they're highly addictive.

 

[Amino]

I was just playing Horizons and I found myself thinking, "Man, I really need to go take a shower and get my day started... nah, just a few more kills..." Then 20 minutes later, I found myself thinking, "Ok, I REEEEALLY need to get up and go take a shower... but I'm almost at 12th level!"

These games are unbelievably addicting. That is, once you find a good one to play. A lot of them have been very cruddy. FFXI for example. They made it cross platform, so PS2 players can play with PC players, and thus, the game had been dumbed down and infact, the game was actually intended more so for PS2 players. Another cruddy one was Star Wars Galaxies. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, the game play is great and the interface was fine, but the complicated wound system, the madenning treadmill and the utter lack of content made the game kind of crappy. Plus, when you're playing a star wars game, what do you want to be, other than a Jedi? NOTHING!

That said, MMORPGs are worth every penny of the monthly fee, in my opinion. You get free support, a steady server, addition of content every once in a while, and you get the experience of playing in a world where EVERYONE in the game is another person playing the game!

Now, there ARE free MMORPG, like the free shards for UO, but come on... Who wants to play UO anymore? It's 2D for God's sake!

As far are MEO goes, I tink it's going to ROCK, although, I'm not sure how they're going to keep it going. If it starts right when the Fellowship reaches Moria, well... I mean, I just don't understand how in 3-4 years, the game will still be going on. The journey only took a year and a few months, if I remember correctly (I'm probably wrong since I read the books almost 12 years ago).



Amino Says Some Games Are Bad Disclaimer:
Ok... now I know I've said some controversial things, but I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feeling or insult anyone's favorite game. Those are just my views. Don't flame me. If you feel the need to defend SWG, FFXI or UO, please do it in a reasonable manner.

 

[OC Noob]

MMO are really great until you decide you can't give up your life for them, then you lose touch with your group of friends you play with and then its no longer worth playing. The games alone are far too shallow to keep your interest after a few months and with out a solid group of frinds to play with the MMO games are nothing but a grind.

I always hear EQ players say there is so much to see that they have been playing for years and haven't seen close to everything. What they don't mention is they are seeing everything (new and old) in the same way. Grinding it out leveling and you can pretty much substitute a lvl 1 rat for any lvl 60 mob out there and have the same experience.

That is the down fall of all MMO games. High levels are no differnt from the level 1 grind. Hopefully, MEO and WoW will be different.

 

[kestrel]

Usually the way they fix the high-lvl boredom is with PvP; doesn't EQ have PvP? The problem you run into with MMORPGs and PvP is rare-item loss/looting which discourages most casual players from taking part in PvP... so far I haven't seen a good fix for this either, as there are two factions when it comes to item loss. The "I want their stuff, I killed them!" faction, and the "I don't want to lose my stuff I spent 3 weeks camping that mob!" faction... and yes, even the "I want to loot their stuff but I don't want to lose my own" group. Understandably it's tough to find a balance with these munchkins.

 

[OC Noob]

I agree.


If MMO games find a way to get the casual pleyer involved I would enjoy them a lot more, as there are too many single player games that are much better and I refuse to give them up to get to level 50, 60 or 126.



MMOG = cool concept, but have a long way to go to match SP (or small MP) game depth.

I can't freakin wait for the game that breaks the EQ mold. I'm certain WoW will be different and hopeful MEO will be like AC1 and then some.