Thread: LoTR Conquest

First thing's first: Sorry I didn't update the "Forgotten" Cartoons list, nor have I been updating my Wii Referral list in a while. I'm just not feeling it lately. But that'll change soon, since Abu starts work tomorrow. I'll be seeing less of her. ...so I'll have a lot more time to think and post.

Anyways...
I've been playing the LoTR Conquest Demo.
I know that Lord of the Rings games are fairly good, but when I heard that this game would be amazing ONLINE, I had my questions.
A focus in Online mode usually means a cut-down campaign mode. ...and for a game like LoTR, of which I LOVE Lord of the Rings games, that may seem like bad news. ...so I got the demo to make sure it was my type of game (with how many games are coming out, I have to make sure I don't make a crappy decision).

...I tried out training.
...and in all honesty, unless you're a Hero or the bad guys, it just doesn't feel right that you could cut down AIs fairly quickly. It feels kinda' like Dynasty Warriors or something. And I hate Dynasty Warrior games. ...too easy. ...nothing really that compelling to keep you playing. ANYWAYS! ...so the training seemed rather - meh.
Shooting arrows, swinging swords... *yawn* It's only fun when you're in a beautiful scenery... like when you had to fight off all those Uruk Hai in the forest in LoTR 2 (or was it 3)... THAT was fun, because the scenery made it dramatic.
...if they simplified the routes of which you could run on, it would've been just one large rectangle with skinny rectangles cut off here and there.
Boring, eh?

...well it seems that the stages are often huge in this LoTR, making it just giant battlefields. Which is cool when you're going against either A) REALLY strong opponents or B) You're as weak as your other soldiers.
...but no, most of the soldiers you fight are fodder (I've also watched lots gameplay videos, so don't think it's just the demo) - and you're pretty darn strong compared to your allies.
:/ *sigh*
Oh, and the special abilities can go to hell when you're fighting fodder.
I mean seriously, if it took 3 slashes to take out an enemy, WHY go through the trouble of using a flame attack? Waste of energy.


BUT!
As I kept playing, I found it more interesting...
You see, it isn't just slash slash and twang twang.
Some enemies AREN'T fodder, as you'll see that the higher-ranked ones actually have some intelligence and actually know where and how to block, making the specialties fun to use.
Not only that, but when I was introduced to the Scout and Mage class, THINGS GOT REALLY INTERESTING.

Watching videos of how these guys play is NOTHING compared to ACTUALLY PLAYING THEM!
It's so fun to go invisible and sneak around enemies!
It's so fun to use lightning bolts to take out the incoming enemy team!
It's so fun to throw a bomb in a boss' face!
It's so fun to land a fire wall in the front of an entrance as many enemies try to make it through there!

Fun!

As you can see, I'm not much of a swordsman/archer in this game. Though I do find them awesome and useful (especially in large numbers), it's not my style of fighting. ...at least not for this one, I was a huge fan of using Legolas in LoTR The Two Towers.

...so anywho...
I do see how fun it could get in the real campaign mode, but I still won't be much of a fan for using the basic swordsman and archer - not my style for this game.

...but even then, this game would still be sub-par if it just kept the campaign mode as such. They'd have to drop the price to $40-50 in order for it to be worth the purchase.

So I decided to try the online to see if it was any good.
If it was as good as people have said, then it definitely would be worth the full price.
.................my verdict?


....... F-(_)-(-|<-|-N-G AWESOME!
It has been the type of online game I've been waiting for! A little bit short of my standards, but hey, could I have done any better? Probably not.
You see, I've seen all kinds of FPSs/3PSs, and MGO has already fulfilled my golden standard of what an online FPS/3PS match should be.
But I've tried and looked at tons of non-FPS online games. Though fun, it never even fulfilled what I wanted. ...yes, that includes WoW.
The most I could go for was City of Villains (/Heroes), since it gave a more arcade-y feel to it. No epic quest, no need to fight every last one of them, animations for flinching and being knocked back (that's a big one for me... I hate how static most MMOs are), several kinds of powers that really differ from one another, and several ways to kill an enemy/person WITHOUT the use of HITTING THEM with a weapon or magic.
...not only that, with the inclusion of eBa- I mean Black Market, and these "day jobs", and of course the classic base-creation mode, CoV was pretty darn awesome for a non-FPS/3PS online game.

...but if it were to go on simple point/time-based matches, CoV wouldn't be THAT awesome (but still awesome). ...though I'm sure Warhammer Online would still be pretty awesome.


Anyways, so I played LoTR Conquest demo Online multiplayer. Friggin' awesome.
Working as teams through the classes of swordsman, archer, mage, scout, troll/ent, Balrog/Gandalf, and Witch King - FRIGGING AWESOME.

In most other non-FPS/3PS online games, a swordsman would just get buffed up from some mage and start beating the crap outta' a monster, while the archer keeps launching arrows like a maniac, and the thief just sneaks a hit in or two to try to steal an item. ...but if that swordsman weren't there, a whole buncha' mages would team up together. Or a thief would have to level up 15x to handle it by him/herself. Or of course, the archer is the king of the lone wolves (for some reason, in almost every MMO, the archer/blaster/ranger/whatever can solo better than others).

...what really should happen is the basic idea of what each class is/does!
A swordsman is definitely a solo-ist, but can easily die under heavy fire of an archer.
An archer can slow down and kill enemies from a distance, but dead once the enemies get close.
A scout/assassin can sneak in for a one-strike kill and cause a distraction to get out of there before he gets murdered.
And a mage can not ONLY SUPPORT and not ONLY DO DAMAGE SPELLS, but can do BOTH EQUALLY!
So how they would work is, the swordsman charge down the field and take care of any other soldiers in his path, slowly making his way to the main boss and archers.
The archer would pick off any enemies the swordsman missed (or add extra damage to the ones the soldier already is fighting) and try to take out the mages/scouts/bosses/archers from a distance. Support fire + sniper, basically.
The scout/assassin would stick close to his/her allies (to keep safe) until they've reached the midway point, then proceed to try to get around the enemy and take them out one by one from behind.
And the mage would protect the frontlines from damage and to support their charge while taking down any large foes.
...while this is going on, the scout kills off any enemy with their back turned / causes problems for incoming enemies, aiming to kill off the largest/strongest enemies. The archer keeps an eye on his/her teammates, making sure they don't have a blind eye anywhere. The mage supports the entire front line through healing and attacks. And the swordsman's main goal is to reach the largest deposits of enemy soldiers and take them all out (AKA be a hero).

That's how it should go! NOT having one person stronger than the other, but for all of them to be of use to each other!
You know, like what REAL battles did! That's why they invented all those classes and strategies, BECAUSE THEY HAD TO - not cuz "it would be cool". =_=

And that's EXACTLY what LoTR Conquest online does!
It's one of the few non-FPS/3PS games where it feels good to do teamwork over solo-ing!

Sure, a lot of people thought the online was pretty generic, but they're not seeing the magic of it.
You could think "Oh, where's my 1 million abilities that I have in other games?" or "How come I don't have a choice over all these sorts of weapons and stuff?" or "How come it can't be a billion players on the screen?"...

Let me put it this way:
1) Having 1 million abilities make you feel like hot-shit. How about the other players? You may not care about them, but the more other players have fun, the more you have fun (trust me, I know that rule UP AND DOWN AND ACROSS THE STREET). And it gets boring FAST. There'll be:
a) Too much abilities that in the end they're kinda' the same thing or don't even change the outcome of the battlefield TOO much.
OR
b) You've become too strong/skilled or weak/awful that it just isn't balanced anymore. It's not even fun anymore!

2) Why? If you're gonna' die in a few seconds and respawn, what's the difference between the sword you were gonna' choose and the one you have now? It wouldn't change the outcome of the battlefield once that troll kills you again. Instead of thinking of different weapons, why not think of DIFFERENT STRATEGIES. This ain't an FPS.

3) ...because either:
a) The game would take too long and might become severely unbalanced after 5 minutes. Doesn't matter about score-balancing (or matchmaking, whatever you wanna' call it), some players are just lucky in getting high scores (and I'm one of them).
b) The game would have a major issue with slowdowns.
c) It wouldn't be that fun if you couldn't find the guy that just killed you, to have a revenge match.

The multiplayer's pretty darn fun.
In my first 1-hour experience, I thought it was pretty "meh" - and you might think the same.
But keep playing, try figuring out how to help out your teammates the best way you can, and try out different classes too! You'll see the difference.


Oops, running out of character space. Double post time!