Behold…Middle
Earth!

A Lord of the Rings
Hands-On Preview – Part Two

Welcome – friends and foes alike – to the
tale of
Middle Earth told through the eyes of  the human Lore-master,
Micgar. Last time you checked in with me, I was giving you href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=553">my
first
impressions of the very beginning of Lord of the Rings
Online: Shadows
of Angmar. I covered the intro movie, character creation, and the
initial instance, and all of things added up to quite the story-telling
experience. You can read more about it by href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=553">clicking
here.

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=Hello_Micgar_and_Raven&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="Hello Micgar and Raven" alt="Hello Micgar and Raven"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/Hello_Micgar_and_Raven.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">That's me - Micgar - and my
Raven buddy.

This
week we’re going to be covering my first steps in the
outside, non-instanced world – sort of. This week’s
preview focuses on the activities that you do in the introductory
version of Archet, where you’ll meet some friends –
but the whole of the world will still not be open to you. The preview
will feature some thoughts on combat, more on the
“feel” of the game, and a general overview of the
introductory missions that you will be engaging in after the tutorial.

Chatting with the Town of Archet...

After I finished saving the hobbits in my training tutorial,
the game
plopped me down in the middle of Archet, the town where the two little
Halflings are citizens. Amdir is there sitting on the ground in front
of me, nursing his hurt shoulder. Why he’s sitting on the
ground and not in a comfortable inn or in a cozy bed…well,
only a ranger could tell you that secret.

Immediately I noticed the floating gold ring above Amdir’s
head. I wonder if Turbine made this particular ring stand out a bit
more, for if you miss this quest, you’re blind as a bat. In
the last article I forgot to mention that characters who have quests
available have a gold ring floating above their head. This is
Turbine’s version of the gold exclamation point that you can
find in the World of Warcraft. It actually comes across as a bit more
“in-game” than the exclamation point
does….you are helping protect the One Ring, after all.

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=Whine_whine_whine&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="Whine, whine, whine." alt="Whine, whine, whine."
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/Whine_whine_whine.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">You can get totally absorbed
into the town, especially when you see conversations like this. style="font-style: italic;">

Talking to Amdir, I find that he’s too hurt to continue
journeying with me and suggests I go talk with a few of the townsfolk.
While I was doing this, something strange occurred. As I walked around
talking with characters and reading dialogue text, I found myself
getting sucked into the life of the small town around me.
Here’s a village - much like what you could have imagined a
Tolkien village to look like – that has a hustle and bustle
all its own.

Initially, my quests were mostly oriented around finding my Lore-master
trainer and any of the other important NPCs that I would need to talk
to in town. This was all done very seamlessly, however, and it honestly
didn’t feel too stilted.

Some of this “flow” comes from the design of the
town itself. The art design team that developed Archet did an
absolutely fabulous job. Your eyes never get tired of soaking the town
in, as you walk from place to place. Unlike some towns you might find
in WoW or EQ2, Archet was lively and colorful – with lots of
things to see and do. Finding NPCs wasn’t a problem at all,
for I wanted to explore the ins and outs of Archet. Each building had
suitable decorations on the inside, and the hunting lodge, -which was a
little walk from the town proper - had trophies of bears and boars and
the animal skins were actually draped on a table nearby. PETA would
have loved that addition.

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=PETA_sucks&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="PETA sucks" alt="PETA sucks"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/PETA_sucks.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">PETA can't control an online
world! That's one big stuffed bear. style="font-style: italic;">

In general, I found that the quest progression - especially
for this early game quest series - was very logical and really helped
put you in the mood of the game. The focus on the scenario is very
narrow, so you aren't overwhelmed by the concept of having to fight
Ringwraiths or defeat Uruk-hai. That's obviously not for a few mores
levesl. With this in mind, Turbine made the selection very limited and
very thorough while giving you enough freedom in your little sandbox to
not feel claustrophobic. You have the option to move elsewhere, but I
never took that route. I wanted to see what was going to happen in
Archet!

As I explored, I gradually found out that many of the
townsfolk were
having trouble with a band of brigands, the Blackwolds, that had moved
in nearby. This strife had actually caused a rift to form between a
pair of brothers, and it was my mission to take out these Blackwolds to
prove to the brothers that they were both in the right. Thus, I headed
to the fort that the bandits called home.

It's a Beautiful Day

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=Some_of_the_Landscapes_are_Absolutely_Breathtaking&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="Some of the Landscapes are Absolutely Breathtaking"
alt="Some of the Landscapes are Absolutely Breathtaking"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/Some_of_the_Landscapes_are_Absolutely_Breathtaking.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">The landscape visuals are
stunning. Check out the flying birds! style="font-style: italic;">

Stepping outside the confines of Archet, I was absolutely
blown away by
the landscapes that had been employed in LotRO. In reality,
I’ve grown used to the lower-level of quality in the graphics
of MMOs. While Vanguard and Everquest 2 both have a very
“real” look to them, somehow it just
isn’t as appealing as what is presented in LotRO. From the
grass on the ground to the birds in the sky, the landscapes are
absolutely riveting. Everything has a detail to it that just
isn’t there in other MMOs.

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=A_Wolf_Model&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="A Wolf Model" alt="A Wolf Model"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/A_Wolf_Model.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">This is a model of a wolf. I
think it's pretty plain. style="font-style: italic;">

Despite the level of detail in the landscapes, the monster models
aren’t anything that you would write home to your mother
about. They’re not subpar, but they don’t have the
“pop” that EQ2 creatures have, and they certainly
aren’t as flamboyant as WoW mobs. The monster models
certainly aren’t a distraction…they’re
merely not as polished as the rest of the game seems to be. Perhaps the
mobs in later encounters received a bit more attention than the boars
and the Blackwolds.

Duking it Out with the Blackwolds

While the presentation of the Lord of the Rings Online is a
far cry
from most of the games out there, the gameplay is astonishingly similar
to that of World of Warcraft – especially in the case of my
character, the Lore-master. Acting much like a WoW Warlock, the
Lore-master sends his pet to attack mobs then slowly kite-kills the
monsters. The Lore-master has your common direct damage spells and some
hindering types spells, while your crow can also make the enemy more
vulnerable to fire.

href="modules.php?set_albumName=album241&id=Get_er_Ally_of_Micgar&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> title="Get 'er Ally of Micgar!" alt="Get 'er Ally of Micgar!"
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/tth/gallery/albums/album241/Get_er_Ally_of_Micgar.thumb.jpg"
name="photo_j" border="0" height="113" width="150">

style="font-style: italic;">Take out that Blackwold, raven! style="font-style: italic;">

I had no trouble picking up the Lore-master from a combat
perspective, but I was a bit disappointed in the general lack of
originality that was in the combat system. Even some of the icons that
were included in my pet UI were a near spitting image to what
I’ve seen in WoW. This isn’t a bad thing, per se,
but I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated in the overall
scheme of things.

With the familiarity of the combat system on my side, the bandits
didn’t stand a chance. They fell, one-by-one, under my
onslaught of spells and my screeching crow (yes, the
Lore-master’s first pet is a crow…it’s
actually quite vicious looking) that was plucking out bandit eyeballs
like they were in the sockets of Odin as he was hanging from the tree.

 After this quest had finished, I’d reached level
five (I’d done numerous other quests in the mean time, but
they were nothing of note) and had finished up all of the introductory
quests. The NPCs warned me that I couldn’t go back to do any
of my other side quests, and I knew something big was coming up. I
was right! I accepted my next quest, and the computer threw me into an
instance. And despite my hard work and effort to stop the Blackwolds...

The town of Archet is burning! Tune in next week to see what
our
gallant hero does next and hear some more of my thoughts as I explore
the wider world of Middle Earth!