This game really has me torn in half. One half of me wants to scream in anger and the other admires at it's attempt to bring Middle-Earth to life.
Let us get the gripes out of the way first. Gripe the first is the in-game currency. The currency is expensive and you have to pay quite a lot of money to get enough LOTRO points to be able to afford anything decent from the shop. I understand the in-game currency as it is a free-to-play but the in-game currency could be just a little bit cheaper. Gripe the second is random difficulty slope. You'll start the game thinking it is quite easy and then you are slapped in the face by a dry kipper called ridiculous difficulty. I have literally had to get a player double my level to help me with a mission once. The real kick in the mush was that I went through about a dozen missions after that were really easy. Gripe the last is the glitches, my goodness, the glitches! I will now list the glitches I have experienced during my travels around Middle-Earth. NPCs glitching into walls so I can't speak with them, screen freezes, being stuck on the spot, getting stuck in a tree, enemies freezing and my favourite of all a horribly pixelated Dwarf. Now for the good bits. The game really does have some stunning locations. Despite a poor draw distance, you can get some pretty nice views from the top of mountains and Moria is just voluptuously delicious for the retina. The graphics are not too shabby either which enhances the majesty of your surroundings. Also you really do sometimes feel you are on an adventure, that is when your not grinding away, slaying wild boars. Discovering new locations is really exciting for me and entering caves, dens and lairs can sometimes have an unsettling atmosphere. Talking about atmosphere, this game has quite a lot of it. Especially in areas such as the Barrow-downs, Fields of Fornost and Imlad Balchorth (and the whole of Angmar in general). This game is an experience that sometimes has me opening my mouth to swear at the unfair glitches, difficulty and exorbitance. Other times I am opening my mouth in awe of the beauty and excitement of my adventures in Middle-Earth. A must play for die-hard LOTR fans but not for those who don't like MMORPGs' down-sides like lag and grinding.
Let us get the gripes out of the way first. Gripe the first is the in-game currency. The currency is expensive and you have to pay quite a lot of money to get enough LOTRO points to be able to afford anything decent from the shop. I understand the in-game currency as it is a free-to-play but the in-game currency could be just a little bit cheaper. Gripe the second is random difficulty slope. You'll start the game thinking it is quite easy and then you are slapped in the face by a dry kipper called ridiculous difficulty. I have literally had to get a player double my level to help me with a mission once. The real kick in the mush was that I went through about a dozen missions after that were really easy. Gripe the last is the glitches, my goodness, the glitches! I will now list the glitches I have experienced during my travels around Middle-Earth. NPCs glitching into walls so I can't speak with them, screen freezes, being stuck on the spot, getting stuck in a tree, enemies freezing and my favourite of all a horribly pixelated Dwarf. Now for the good bits. The game really does have some stunning locations. Despite a poor draw distance, you can get some pretty nice views from the top of mountains and Moria is just voluptuously delicious for the retina. The graphics are not too shabby either which enhances the majesty of your surroundings. Also you really do sometimes feel you are on an adventure, that is when your not grinding away, slaying wild boars. Discovering new locations is really exciting for me and entering caves, dens and lairs can sometimes have an unsettling atmosphere. Talking about atmosphere, this game has quite a lot of it. Especially in areas such as the Barrow-downs, Fields of Fornost and Imlad Balchorth (and the whole of Angmar in general). This game is an experience that sometimes has me opening my mouth to swear at the unfair glitches, difficulty and exorbitance. Other times I am opening my mouth in awe of the beauty and excitement of my adventures in Middle-Earth. A must play for die-hard LOTR fans but not for those who don't like MMORPGs' down-sides like lag and grinding.