Lord of the Rings - Third Age

I don't think it's out here, yet.
I've been waiting to read a good review for it before purchase. I keep hearing it plays alot like FFX, which I loved but ultimately found a bit on the simple side.

Edit: Comes out tomorrow Nov. 2nd, here in the states.

The Gamecube version is $30 cheaper? Weird.

Haven't heard too much about this game except for a featurette or two over at GameSpot. Looks decent. I've never been a fan of Final Fantasy but since it's set in Middle-Earth, I'll bite (if reviews are decent).

Is there any concrete word that the Gamecube version is cheaper than the others in the States? I've noticed that the tv spots for this only mention the Gamecube...

EDIT: Just checked the preorder, all three flavors are $49.99 here...

Have there been any early reviews on this one? I would have hoped there would have been by now, considering it's due to come out in a day or so. Going by the quality of the Two Towers and ROTK games and by some of the videos and pics I've seen of this, I'd say it looks pretty strong and the concept is perfect for an RPG. It looks awesome, but it would be nice to hear it be so officially, in some capacity at least. The production values appear to be sky high yet again.

IGN gives it an 8.5.

I saw the IGN review this morning. Makes it sounds like RPG-Lite. Sounds like a lot of fun, and it definitely seems tailored to be very accessible. Hardcore RPG fans may be disappointed, but for someone like me, who takes forever to finish anything, it sounds pretty good. Lots of options for skill development and the fact that progression comes pretty quickly sounds ok to me too. I've still got credit at blockbuster from trading in dvds. I'll probably pick this up, or wait and get Goldeneye 2.

any other thoughts on this one out there?

I've been curious....is this the same project that was hinted at when you finished the hack-n-slash Return of the King game? Where it left off with "Trilogy" coming soon?

I was hoping for a more comprehensive game in that vein, giving FOTR a little bit more love.

I forgot about that "Trilogy" game. I would guess that this is supposed to be it considering you seem to get to play out the parts of other characters as they skirt their way around the fringes of the main stories.

If there's another game on the way, it would be news to me. It would be a pretty neat experiment for EA to have an RPG for the main stories as well as the action games. If they could go back and start over we could have a Fellowship hack and slash and a Fellowship RPG, followed by more of the same for Towers and ROTK. Six games... but people would play them, and most likely enjoy the ride.

Review sure didn't read like a 8.5.

Picked this up for my son today. The GameCube version was no cheaper than for the other platforms. He's enjoying it so far.

My sentiments exactly.

As I said in another thread, I had a choice between this and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, which, in my first 3 hours of gameplay, has turned out to be a damn rewarding, challenging, and DARK experience.

The way IGN makes it sound, I could be done with Third Age already.

Still, doesn't mean I'm not picking it up. Cuz I'm geeky like that. It'll be the perfect lead-in for seeing the LOTR Symphony on Dec 3rd.

I'm loving this game. 10 hours in, and I'm just now getting to the Balrog (CHRIST, is it beautifully animated - just amazing). I like that you can, at any save point, travel to a region you've visited before and level up your guys a bit and finish any quests you may have missed. The level cap must be really high, 'cause my party is between 24th and 29th levels, and according to the game I've only completed about 20% of it.

Glad I bought this, it'll make a nice change-up when I need a little turn-based lovin' after fragging the Covenant for hours on end...

There's also the War of the Ring RTS game out soon, but I'd guess that it's The Third Age that they were talking about.

This Balrog fight is fucking ridiculous.

MINOR SPOILER:








I just used Idrial to keep Gandalf (and herself) alive long enough to take down the Balrog. If you have a Perfect charged up be sure to use that. Any other party members aren't really worth trying to keep alive, they don't do much damage.

You can always use the previous save pont to "travel" to a map you've already completed, in order to level up your guys a little more. Also, you can go to the Main Menu under "More" and try the Evil missions. They're easy and fun, and they yield unusual weapons that you can use with your regular "good guy" team.

Actually, Berethor with his Ecthelion Wrath can do a good 3000 points of damage per attack, so I've been trying to keep him and Gandalf up and standing as much as possible. I usually use Morgul Decay to remove the armor, hit him with Earth Barrage, use the Mushrooms on Gandalf and Berethor so they don't spend Action Points, then just have them keep unloading on the Balrog.

What bugs me is that 1) the Balrog disappears from the action queue in the upper right, so you have no idea when he's going to get his action; 2) Berethor has the highest speed out of any of my characters, yet he seems to attack once for every two attacks by the elf and the dwarf; and 3) the Balrog seems to randomly get two attacks in a row, which leaves you with little time to do anything before it's just Gandalf standing there taking all the hits, which he can't do for long. And his special attacks are so devastating you'd think he'd run low on Action Points, but he seems to be inexhaustible.

And Elegost is about useless unless you have a foe who is out of melee range.

Oh well, guess I'll run through Moria a bit and level up before tackling this again.

Wary of early reviews, I rented it Sunday. It goes back tomorrow. In that 5 days, I personally find myself unfortunately agreeing with a lot of the reviews......the presentation is sweet....graphics are quality, sound is awesome, the cutscenes with Ian Mckellen are nicely done, the way the game mixes up the music during the game was a nice touch, as is Evil mode, the spells and techs are cool.....and yes, the Balrog fight is just a thing of beauty.....but on the other hand, the storyline's lost its flavor for me, the enemies are repetitive as hell, the missions are feeling more and more like fetch quests, and I really couldn't pick any of the characters from a Middle Earth lineup.

I suppose this isn't too big a problem for RPGers who are in it for the strategy and the customization, but for someone like me who thinks that story and plot development should go hand in hand with kick ass battle system, I can help but feel disappointed.

I still admire EA's balls for trying something different, but in trying to make this thing run parallel to the Fellowship's quest, they've done very little to make me not want to BE the Fellowship, as I thought we'd be able to when this thing as announced. Instead I'm stuck with four characters who barely speak, and have all the life and motivation of an NPC.

That said, I still find myself wanting to get to Rohan, find out of they finally put Berethor to good use by making him the one to rally the Rohirrim to Helm's Deep, and to level up enough to take sweet revenge on the next orc Chieftain who shoots me with an 1100HP crossbow.

So, I guess, see ya when the price drops

Also, for all those having trouble with the Balrog......screw everybody else until he's almost dead....keep Gandalf and Idrial alive, and if you REALLY need to, Hadhod as backup, since he's the least vulnerable to fire)....let Gandalf do the fighting, Idrial do the healing, Hadhod just to fuck with the Balrog's momentum. His turn tends to break up those two-attack-in-a-row horrors that sometimes occur.