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[JonnyDBrit]

It is, and it's great. Going places soon too, since Turbine abandoned it and the (very involved and caring) original creators picked it up under the brand of "Standing Stone Games" as independent devs, with a graphical overhaul of character models already announced.

Wait, seriously? Holy shit, I may have to get back into the game again if that's true.

Otherwise, the problem any potential RPG seeking to do an original story within Tolkien's world is just how monumentally iconic it is, but the most iconic parts are the sort of thing you'd have to avoid or work around, unless you wanna just take The Third Age's 'one step behind' approach. You'd have to overcome people's urge to see things completely familiar to them from the films or novel trilogy; doable, but difficult.

If wanting to be able to indulge in some familiarity, one would probably have to take the approach used by the old Middle-earth Role Playing game - set it in the past. If one was wanting more in the way of utter freedom to play around with the details, even at the cost of being able to use the most iconic elements of the universe, the solution would be to go into the fringes of the world Tolkien created, where even he didn't provide much in the way of details. Set a story in Far Harad, while Sauron is courting the men there to serve in his armies, or something like that.

 

[dr_rus]

Because good RPGs are hard and WB Interactive don't have any talent capable of producing one. Well, unless you want a MMORPG from Turbine.

 

[ramparter]

Yep. That turn-based one from PS2 era. Can't for the life of me remember it's name. But it was an alright game.

The third age.

Edit: beaten of course but Im surprised it wasnt mentioned in the first responses.

 

[ViciousDS]

The third age was godlike and I loved war in the north too

 

[Kyleripman]

I have too many Tolkien-nerd things to say... overload. I need to calm down...

Also, I want a game where I play as a Hobbit and I get to own/run a little farm and tend to it as the seasons pass.

But let's be honest, folks: what we all really want is an original story taking place pre-Quest for Erebor with the freedom of traversal and the emphasis on nature found in BotW

Oh my god...I did not know that I wanted this, but I want this so fucking bad.

 

[gogosox82]

Well Lords of the Ring: War in the North was an ARPG. Granted, it wasn't that great but it was an rpg that came out last gen.

 

[ultra7k]

LOTR, Vol. 1, by Interplay!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R.R._Tolkien's_The_Lord_of_the_Rings,_Vol._I_(1990_video_game)

Came here to post this as well. Nothing like coming across an item and having the text box read: "See #47".

Flip through the pages to find the text and read the couple of paragraphs to get a grip on what was going on, and being super excited when you found the shards of Narsil.

Going through the mines and wondering if the Balrog was going to get you this time...

i'm not sure how i managed to make my way through that game, but it certainly kept me on my toes.

I know there we got the Two Towers, but anyone ever hear of any news for ROTK? Or was that canned or lost due to licensing issues?

Edit: Oh man, never knew there were maps for this game...that would have made it a lot easier.

 

[Confusatron]

Edit: Oh man, never knew there were maps for this game...that would have made it a lot easier.

Say what now?

 

[Kalentan]

I wouldn't be too worried. That LOTR game imitating the FFX battle system didn't seem to get any trouble, and there are games like Grandia or some South Park RPG that used ATB-like battle systems. As long as you don't literally name your battle system Active Dimension Battle like in FFXII I'm sure you're fine.

I didn't even realize it had a name.

 

[Any Questions]

Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.

I think i remember this

 

[RalchAC]

That turn-based ps2 game was pretty good,had a lot of fun with it.

There was a "evil side" story where you played as orcs and smashed known characters from the novels to get rewards. They broke new game +

I remember I had a lot of fun with it.

 

[E-flux]

It's a shame that there hasn't been a good Lord of the rings game out in years, Third age was pretty fun but it's annoying how every time they make a game with original characters they make it so that it's aragorn, gimli, and legolas but with different names.

 

[killatopak]

I think I played one on the ps2 and I really liked it. It was turn based

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I was really disappointed at the time that EA's The White Council got cancelled. I've always wanted more companies to take on The Elder Scrolls. Actually surprising that more don't, considering the genre's popularity. I'm looking forward to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, although I would personally prefer high fantasy.

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

Fuck LotR give me a War of the Jewels RPG. Let's get to the shit that matters

Mentioned by another but anyone who tried that would be slapped with a lawsuit so fucking fast they'd think Tulkas forced them to take a dirt nap.

AKA it's not happening. No developer has the rights and they're not getting them any time soon.

 

[GrimDarkDarrel]

I mean there have been some before..

I imagine trying to write a "NEW" story in the world is problematic with canon (See the shadow of middle earth stuff) and just replaying the existing story has been done to death.

Not sure how to do the world justice while also being a 'fresh' take on it.. without alienating everyone.

I think with a little effort this could be done very successfully. You could easily create something really compelling using mostly new characters at any point before, after or during the time period of the books.

I am reminded of something that kind of takes me out of material based on the movies, such as Battle for Middle Earth. While it has a lot of battle units that are all from the movie and book lore, it doesn't really dare to imagine what other things might exist in that universe that Tolkien simply never wrote about. Secret or powerful orders of wizards, knights or beasts that either had reasons not to be involved in the War of the Ring, were destroyed before/formed after it, or even existed at the same time but did not have direct bearing on Frodo's quest and so wouldn't have been mentioned. For a writer worth his salt, it should be more than possible to contribute unique elements and create an intriguing tale even with these constraints.

As long as the writers don't do dumb things like creating a villain stronger than Sauron or a new Ring of Power (although multiple weaker rings of power could work I think), the universe is ripe for thoughtful new contributions. After all, the story is good but it isn't Shakespeare, adding new elements to it for the sake of new stories should be okay.

For gameplay, I would personally love the relaxed exploration that only a Bethesda game is able to provide so ideally they would license their engine out to some other dev. If not first person, then the mechanics of Dragon's Dogma would be my next choice. Instead of Pawns, you would have AI controlled companions and your party would delve dungeons and solve quests on their way to saving their corner of Middle Earth.

There are a lot of pitfalls to avoid in writing and execution, but also a lot of potential here, especially if the project is given a good budget.

 

[texasairhead101]

the third age was def a decent game. the GBA diablo clones were good too.

 

[Markitron]

There's also War in the North, which was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.

War in the North was one of the most pleasant surprises of the last decade. I just assumed it was garbage, before eventually giving it a go as a PS Plus game. Absolutely loved it, nothing particularly original about it, but it was a very solid action RPG that used the setting well.

 

[Widge]

Damn it. There was a LOTR game but I cannot for the life of me remember which platform it was on. C64, Amiga...

Essentially, you got all of Middle Earth as a world map and you had various units on it. You'd control the fellowship and you'd have to get additional units to join you to fight the big bads.

If you bumped into each other on the world map, you'd face off on a side on battle screen. Your bods would fight each other and you'd get status updates along the lines of "the blood of two orcs flowed on the cobbles" and whatnot.

 

[notaskwid]

This was an action-adventure RPG. (damage numbers and all)



Action RPGs with even more RPG elements including a Diablo-style loot system.

I loved this game.

 

[Widge]

War In Middle Earth!

Watch it here in terrible aspect ratio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZphNDuxPOU

 

[Shengar]

Because LotR is overrated, overdone, and Christopher Tolkien doesn't know shit what is he doing with his father's work.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

I wish we could get Third age remastered or on Ps2 to Ps4 or something, but I imagine the licensing issues would make that impossible. A shame.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

All I want is a new co-op jack and slasher like the tie-in films... So good. Can't believe I am saying this, but between the move tie in games and the strategy games, EA services the IP pretty well.

 

[Chessr]

There is an rts on pc

 

[Quasar]

Lord of the Rings: Online.

I played it for a few weeks. No clue whether it's still live.
But I agree, a huge RPG in middle-earth would have potential.

My favourite MMO. Though I haven't played it in ages.

I think historically there never was one because of people unwilling/unable to write new stories set in that universe. So instead we got LotR adventure games and strategy games.

Plus the low magic nature of war of the ring era Middle Earth meant that you can't have lots of spell flinging mages etc, which publishers probably think is a prerequisite.

Its kind of weird really given how much time I spent playing tabletop Middle Earth rpgs.

 

[E-flux]

Because LotR is overrated, overdone, and Christopher Tolkien doesn't know shit what is he doing with his father's work.

Christopher might be a bit too stingy with the IP, but Lord of the rings is far from overrated, it is still one of the best fantasy world created even if you don't include all of the work that Christopher put into it. There could be so much potential in 2-3 ages.

 

[AndersK]

There was also that non-movie-licensed RTS that came or right around Warcraft 3, (and aped it heavily)

Quite fun! You could be evil and fuck over everyone with Sauron at some point too.

 

[Castef]

I actually liked The Third Age on Xbox. Nice turn-based game which fit in a very nice way in the LOTR storyline (specifically in the movie trilogy).

 

[Lord Phol]

War in the North was one of the most pleasant surprises of the last decade. I just assumed it was garbage, before eventually giving it a go as a PS Plus game. Absolutely loved it, nothing particularly original about it, but it was a very solid action RPG that used the setting well.

This game has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, it was Snowblind Studios (of Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath fame) last game before they were merged into Monolith Productions . Flawed but fun and great for couch co-op. I also think it nailed the lotr atmosphere and presentation pretty well.

 

[xealo]

Afaik the current rights holders are kinda tight fisted about actually licensing the IP to companies, id wager that has a lot to do with why there has been no games for it in a while.

 

[Godan]

Man a Witcher 3 LOTR type game would be the dream. Just so much more of middle earth i would love to explore.

 

[JuanLatino]

Man a Witcher 3 LOTR type game would be the dream. Just so much more of middle earth i would love to explore.

just imagine LOTR Quests on the Level of Witcher 3.

 

[blankslatenator]

Just go play Willow on the NES.

 

[HueyFreeman]

So basically the entire first page is full of people who read the title but not the OP.

Why is there no RPG Game similar to Elder Scrolls or The Witcher 3 on the Middle Earth Universe?

You're on point though, OP - the amount of time I spent thinking about playing a scene similar to this in the CD Project Red's engine was, and is, unhealthy.

 

[V1ctIm]

War In Middle Earth!

Watch it here in terrible aspect ratio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZphNDuxPOU

One game to rule them all. Defined open world. Way ahead of its time.

 

[N30RYU]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring_(video_game)

 

[Hindl]

Mentioned by another but anyone who tried that would be slapped with a lawsuit so fucking fast they'd think Tulkas forced them to take a dirt nap.

AKA it's not happening. No developer has the rights and they're not getting them any time soon.

Oh yeah obviously you need the rights. And the Tolkien estate isn't giving them up anytime soon.

But just imagine how cool that would be

 

[MartyStu]

Wait seriously? Can't lie, that makes me worried. I'm actually working on a game, 2d, that's battle system is inspired quite heavily by FF12.

Uhh, how far are you into this?

 

[TI82]

Wait seriously? Can't lie, that makes me worried. I'm actually working on a game, 2d, that's battle system is inspired quite heavily by FF12.

A little confused how that will work