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[Kingpen]

This game is the so addictive and fun and has me thinking about it all day long. I would like to play with other NeoGaf members with this game. There hasn't been a game of this calibur on the consoles ever and it is so nice to have one now, especially with one of the biggest licences in the world in LOTR.

I'm thinking that playing a 3 on 1 Helms Deep, Osgiliath, Mordor or Minas Tirith map would be so much fun with NeoGAF'ers to help recreate the fantastic battles in the movies. Of course after the castle siege is complete, then it is everyone for themselves. There are over 40 skirmish maps in the game as well, basically one for every major part of the movies.


If you have the game and are interested in setting something up, lets all arrange it. I'd like to talk strategies with you guys as well..


Also, the framerate problem is overblown in all the reviews. A patch was issued on the first day and that took care of about 95% of the framerate crap (except for the tutorials). It looks fabulous on my 60 inch LCD....

GT: KINGPEN66

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Patch you say eh? So was that the second patch, because I remember someone mentioning on day one they had to get an update (but that very well may not have been a "patch" to fix problems - I won't say it is or isn't because I have no idea).

I'm still on the fence on this one. Waiting for more online reviews to come pouring in.

 

[hgplayer1]

I definitely want to try this game online.

GT: hgplayer1

over 40 skirmish maps?! I did not know that. I guess none of them use the single player maps?

 

[BuddyC]

I'll be game once Blockbuster / GameRush gets their copies in :/

 

[sirris]

I'd like to play online but I'm still horrible at it. I keep getting my actions confused.

 

[Kingpen]

don't know about a second patch, but the first patch seemed to cleared up any slowdown other then a little in the first tutorial... I am seeing not seeing a ton of slowdown in the skirmish battles I am doing against the CPU.

Also good to note is that the 40 skirmish maps include all the ones from the first LOTR: BFME game on the PC... Most of these were the awesome locations from the movies such as Helms Deep, etc... I am not sure about the campaign cause I have just been playing skirmish against the PC and having a blast getting my ass handed to me by the medium difficulty....



It is actually fun to lose games in this title due to all the tactics and ways to wage or defend war.

 

[hgplayer1]

oh ok so you can do skirmish against the CPU. gonna have to give that a shot and get a feel for it and see the maps. thanks!

 

[TheDuce22]

As much as I suck at RTS games im really enjoying this one. I would be interested if you get something going.

 

[hgplayer1]

ok me and kingpen just got done with a skirmish game..... a single game...it lasted like 5 hours.....that is all....must sleep

 

[SpokkX]

patch to clear up most of the framerate issues?

this is true?

 

[Kingpen]

ok me and kingpen just got done with a skirmish game..... a single game...it lasted like 5 hours.....that is all....must sleep

during this 5 hour game between me and hgplayer1, I noticed slowdown for about, at the longest, 8 minutes. That is 2.6% of the entire time.....

Holy crap what a game... Mordor Orks vs. Isengard Uruks, lots of sneak attacks, full army vs. full army showdowns, drummer trolls using Uruks as q-tips, and Wraths on wings wreaking full havic on anything I brought to his decimated camp. These damn wraths kept him alive and able to fully revive and recover after countless bombardments on his camp.

Mordor's fortress is pretty impressive too, spewing lava all over the place on my poor souls I marched in.

I'll probably us a different army next time, but let me say that if you use Isengard, the spying eye + the Watcher super powers combined sure make hell for nicely aligned enemy regiments already in formation.

I am sitting here at work from a 3 week layoff and only am running on 3 hours of sleep cause of this game....


We need to set some time limits for the next time, but I can already tell that this isn't leaving my 360 disc tray until probably some time this September... It is that good!

 

[Outcast2004]

I just bought this yesterday. I'm going to need a couple days to get comfortable then, I'm up for some online fun.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I was very close to picking this game up over the weekend. Had it in my hands, then put it back. I'm like Dr. Cogent, on the fence, and waiting for a few more reviews, but I can be swayed fairly easily due to two things:

1. I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings (Books first, movies second)

2. I'm a desperate X360 owner who wants something new to play!

 

[Dr_Cogent]

2. I'm a desperate X360 owner who wants something new to play!

Damn straight!!!!

GRAW, while awesome, just isn't cutting it - and I am done with Oblivion - turned it in for 35 bucks. Maybe someday I will finish the main quest. I had over 200 hours into the game though - so I got my moneys worth.

I can only play so much Table Tennis as well.

So, keep the impressions/reviews comin!

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Damn straight!!!!

GRAW, while awesome, just isn't cutting it - and I am done with Oblivion - turned it in for 35 bucks. Maybe someday I will finish the main quest. I had over 200 hours into the game though - so I got my moneys worth.

I can only play so much Table Tennis as well.

So, keep the impressions/reviews comin!

Yep! Beat GRAW on Hard over the weekend, still dabble with Oblivion, but I've got nearly everything wrapped up. Could really use something new to play, and BFME is the leading contender at the moment. Not that there is a lot of competition.

 

[oldschoolpinball]

all I have to say is..Tom ****ing Bombidil

 

[Kingpen]

I was very close to picking this game up over the weekend. Had it in my hands, then put it back. I'm like Dr. Cogent, on the fence, and waiting for a few more reviews, but I can be swayed fairly easily due to two things:

1. I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings (Books first, movies second)

2. I'm a desperate X360 owner who wants something new to play!

As a noob myself to the RTS genre since I never played PC games, I can say that this game kicks all kinds of ass. If you are a huge LOTR fan, like I am, it feels like an awesome game. All the complaints about slowdown are rediculous as there is not that much and it hardly affects the game at all. I think the game would have scored a lot higher on web reviews if EA had got this taken care of before the reviews. Instead they released a patch on day 1 of the game being out (thank god!), and everything is pretty much cleared up...

Graphics look great on an LCD HDTV. Controls are very intuitive and complement the gameplay nicely. If you have not played this game before on PC, there is a lot of layers of depth into it. I suggest just going into skirmish and getting your butt handed to you a few times. You will learn new things and remember to do more things each time.

Me and Hgplayer1 chatted about the game about 40 minutes before we played our match and then all the way through it as well. The voice chat on this game is the sole reason to get it over the PC version... completely awesome. We played our battle for 5 hours and the time flew by so fast cause of all the fun I was having.

We only played 1 on 1 as well. I can't even imagine the chaos of doing more then 2 people (4 max), but am looking forward to it.

I can't wait to play multiplayer with the 'One Ring' mode, where you can slaughter gollum and then take the ring from him and get Sauron and Galadriel.

I feel that this is the most addictive game available for the 360 right now, once you get into the controls and are a fan of the movies... I could replay the same map probably at least 10 times and not get tired of it, and there are over 40 maps in skirmish to play as...

I can't believe there are 6 armies in the game as well, all having unique features... I'm going to be playing this game for a long, long time

 

[DenogginizerOS]

I had bought this game and then returned it after hearing about framerate issues. How are the servers holding up? I amy consider getting this if more play it. Right now, I am holding out for Dead Rising and Madden.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Can two humans team up against the computer? Say an Elven Army and Dwarven Army vs. Mordor? Co-op play against the comptuer could be fun too.

Denogg: Yeah, if I don't get this, it looks like Madden will be the next thing on my list.

 

[Kingpen]

I don't know about being able to team up with the CPU or not... I hope so, but think everything is based on deathmatch... I can envision on live people forming alliances and then backstabbing their partner, especially on some of the maps where one player has a big advantage such as Helms Deep.

The crappy EA manual doesn't say much about the screen where you set up matches..

I'll continue to play online and post how I think the servers hold up. So far so good for me though.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I've noticed arne playing this game, and I messaged him about giving us his impressions. Has he ever posted about it?

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I don't know about being able to team up with the CPU or not... I hope so, but think everything is based on deathmatch... I can envision on live people forming alliances and then backstabbing their partner, especially on some of the maps where one player has a big advantage such as Helms Deep.

The crappy EA manual doesn't say much about the screen where you set up matches..

I'll continue to play online and post how I think the servers hold up. So far so good for me though.

Are there team options at all? I would think on the match set-up screen there would be a place where you could form teams. I'm also assuming you can add the computer as a team while in multiplayer modes.

I've become kinda spoiled from Dawn of War where you can mix and match computer and human opponents fairly easily and to fun effect.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

While I am interested in this game in general, I still think I may wait some time before I purchase it simply because EA seems to be moving at a glacial pace with regards to software support (more so than usual). I am definitely encouraged by the positive comments, but I have yet to hear this game get a ringing endorsement from anyone.

 

[Sinatar]

Can two humans team up against the computer? Say an Elven Army and Dwarven Army vs. Mordor? Co-op play against the comptuer could be fun too.

Yea you can have any combination of human and computer players up to a total of 8.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Yea you can have any combination of human and computer players up to a total of 8.

Sweet! So the scenario I mentioned above is very do-able. Two human's ganging up together against the computer. I've found that to be a great way to learn multiplayer with some friends before you start going against one another. Plus, the computer can be brutal sometimes!

Thanks for the info Schafer!

 

[RevenantKioku]

I'm a big fan of the LotR world (but F.U. Peter Jackson) so what is this, an RTS? I'm desperate for a new 360 game and Condemned and Table Tennis have gotten their worth spent by now. Maybe I'll hock them towards this....I'm not necessarily looking for reviews but good impressions would be a nice plus. What could one compare this game to?

 

[Kingpen]

Yea you can have any combination of human and computer players up to a total of 8.

Please tell us how to do this? I also am seeing signs of people being able to play in 2 on 2 teams on the xbox forums... If you know how to do this as well, please let me know..

I would love to have team play as well.




EDIT: This is from Louis Castle Q and A about the game (he is the lead designer)

Beagles (and Intangible 360): What is the maximum number of players in each match, and what arrangement can they be set up in?

The max number of players for Xbox live is 4. You can set them up in even teams, 3 against 1 or every (wo)man for themselves. The 3 modes I played (versus, capture and hold, and king of the hill), can be played in any of the 3 player setups. I do recommend 2v2 or every wo(man) for themselves, unless that 1 is really good.

Intangible 360: Can you expand on the FPS type gametypes?

There are 5 gametypes that the game has for multiplayer:
King of the Hill - It is pretty simple. Capture the single area, in the middle of the map. You have to go, and select the area and select to put your flag there. Once you get that you are the king. You then need to hold that for a given amount of time (can be specified in game options).
Capture and Hold: It is essentially, as we called it during the play session, "King of the Hills". There are a couple of "hills" that you need to capture. It is based on a points system, and the more hills you control, and the longer that you control them, the more points you accumulate.
Versus: Take down your enemy/enemies. It is a simple concept, but the way you do it may be advanced. It makes you think...do I want my resources first, or do I want build an army, then resources, then another army. The strategies go on and on.
Hero vs Hero and Resource Race: Although we had a good amount of time to play the MP game types, we stayed towards the top 3.

GamerGuy12: How many different races are there, and does each race have their own specialty?

Like it's PC counterpart, the Xbox360 has about 5-6 races. Each one of these races has their own structures, and specialties. You may get some special soldiers for one race, while getting a different soldier with another race.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm a big fan of the LotR world (but F.U. Peter Jackson) so what is this, an RTS? I'm desperate for a new 360 game and Condemned and Table Tennis have gotten their worth spent by now. Maybe I'll hock them towards this....I'm not necessarily looking for reviews but good impressions would be a nice plus. What could one compare this game to?

Yep. It's a RTS game. I guess comparable to WarCraft 3 since it's in a fantasy setting, although judging from the reviews of the PC version it's added some fun things to the genere. Most of the impressions on GAF have been positive, but we just haven't heard a lot of "Must Have Game" reviews on it.

 

[Kingpen]

Yep. It's a RTS game. I guess comparable to WarCraft 3 since it's in a fantasy setting, although judging from the reviews of the PC version it's added some fun things to the genere. Most of the impressions on GAF have been positive, but we just haven't heard a lot of "Must Have Game" reviews on it.

Go read the Yahoo games review on it. The guy that reviewed it also did the PC version of it and gave it a 9/10...

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Yea you can have any combination of human and computer players up to a total of 8.

Is this on the 360 or the PC?

 

[Karg]

Sign me up.

Yeah I tried 2v2 for me and my friend against the computer and wasn't able to do it on Live. It said that it needed more players and I didn't see any options to add computer players. Aside from that I had a marathon yesterday with a few people and it was great. Tried out all the races and each has their own little perks. If you get the power points to do it the higher tiered ones are disgusting.

Friend had his Men of the West all built up behind those pretty walls until I got some giants to knock down his walls and had goblins scale the other side. Once I had some units inside his base it was power time. Summoned Balrog and holy shit does he mess some stuff up. Along with the Watcher spell and the underground Wyrm.....it was all over.

I have to say the controls feel very familiar now and I can easily get around the maps with all the shortcuts.

On a side note, was another patch released today? I'm getting the "connecting to EA servers" issue that some others were getting where it would hang on that screen unless you signed out of your account and signed back in. I have to do this for each match I play and its getting annoying.

 

[Ferrarisimo]

Is this on the 360 or the PC?

PC

 

[Sinatar]

Is this on the 360 or the PC?

I didn't think they'd change it but yea PC. 4 player limit eh? Bleh.

 

[Brandon F]

I'm down for some matches.
Gamertag=No Depth

This could very well be THE best game on 360 at the moment. Dethroning RR6, CoD2, and to a lesser extent Oblivion as my personal pick. It has single-handedly lifted me out of my waning interest in RTS gaming for the past several years, and I'd be completely enthralled if more ports in the genre were headed to the machine in the future. (C&C3 PLEASE!)

The game is mostly relatable to Warcraft 3 in that the focus of the experience is heavily slanted on the combat rather than upkeep of economy, technology, and whatnot(but even less so than even Blizzard's opus). Base building is minimzed to pumping out forces, improving weaponry, and defenses, and there is practically no resource gathering whatsoever, just fire and forget a farm or two and let them work in your favor. From there it's pure adrenaline-fueled mayhem, tagging hero abilities to fling squads airborne every which way, and utilizing ring abilities to turn the tide of battle in your favor. It's visceral delight!

The graphics are incredible, the maps are highly detailed and well organized, and the control scheme is incredibly intuitive allowing for minimal button presses to accomplish tasks, with enough advanced functions to slowly wean in for optimal managment.

EA hasn't put out a game this accomplished since BF2 on PC last summer. Is this from ex-Westwood people? Truly a gem in the 360 library.

 

[Wollan]

It has single-handedly lifted me out of my waning interest in RTS gaming for the past several years, and I'd be completely enthralled if more ports in the genre were headed to the machine in the future. (C&C3 PLEASE!)

It was half-way confirmed recently that the same team would be bringing C&C3 to consoles next year. ME2 was probably a control experiment before the huge C&C campaign next year.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Ok, so Schafer's comments earlier were in regard to the PC version. Anyone with the 360 version confirm or deny that you can play co-op against computer opponents?

Edit: Nevermind. A quick check of EA's official forums shows that co-op is NOT in the game.

 

[FlyinJ]

As I posted in the earlier thread:

If your game is taking a long time to "search for savegames", you have to erase some. I had about 7 savegames in the single player campaign, and every time I went to load/save a game, the loading ring thing would spin around about 7-10 times (10-15 seconds) before it would show me my list of saved games.

I went into the dahsboard and erased all but two of them, now it takes about 1 second to show me my savegames.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

As I posted in the earlier thread:

If your game is taking a long time to "search for savegames", you have to erase some. I had about 7 savegames in the single player campaign, and every time I went to load/save a game, the loading ring thing would spin around about 7-10 times (10-15 seconds) before it would show me my list of saved games.

I went into the dahsboard and erased all but two of them, now it takes about 1 second to show me my savegames.

That's freakin pathetic. And I thought Oblivions save game interface sucked.

 

[FlyinJ]

That's freakin pathetic. And I thought Oblivions save game interface sucked.

Yeap, it is. And something that definately should have been caught in test. I'd like to know exactly what the process is doing to take 10 seconds to retrieve 7 file names.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Yeap, it is. And something that definately should have been caught in test. I'd like to know exactly what the process is doing to take 10 seconds to retrieve 7 file names.

Oh, it probably was caught in testing and reported - and probably wasn't deemed "critical" enough to fix before shipping.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Oh, it probably was caught in testing and reported - and probably wasn't deemed "critical" enough to fix before shipping.

Yeah, this is EA we're talking about. Still, do you need 7-10 game saves?

 

[FlyinJ]

Yeah, this is EA we're talking about. Still, do you need 7-10 game saves?

Luckily, no. But I didn't realize you could overwrite previous saves. That's how I got up to seven.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Yeah, this is EA we're talking about. Still, do you need 7-10 game saves?

Yeah, probably not. It's not Oblivion where you could literally hang yourself without having plenty of backup saves. :lol

 

[hgplayer1]

hey is anyone planning on playing tonight? Im not sure what time Ill want to play but at some point Ill be on.

feel free to add me and invite me. I might be in FFXI but Ill see the invite and if Im at a point where I can get on LOTR I will.

thinking about the game I played last night with Kingpen I think I just ran out of juice. I wasnt thinking quickly enough because I needed sleep. he wore me down. I wonder also if that game lasted so long because maybe neither of us was doing a good job. :lol I dunno but it was fun.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

How long does an average game last? Five hours seems like a very long game.

 

[hgplayer1]

How long does an average game last? Five hours seems like a very long game.

average? :lol heck if I know. that was my first game online. you can set time limits if you dont want the game to last long and that would probably be a good idea. I kinda like it being open to lasting forever just in case it turns into a really good match and neither player wants it to end.

 

[Brian Fellows]

You guys should just play Kohan.

 

[krypt0nian]

You guys should just play Kohan.

When does that release on the 360?

 

[RevenantKioku]

You guys should just play Kohan.

I almost miss those days. Almost. I just don't have a PC that plays games anymore and Kohan isn't enough of a reason (but damn close!) to get one going again.

If EB/GS has a decent trade in deal, I might throw some stuff towards this game tonight. I'd love to just go out and buy it, but having spent $100 on imports last week, I'm not gonna throw out the cash. Wish I had GameRush/Crazy nearby.

 

[GotchaForce]

Might jump on tonight, name's Robut. Beat the good campaign on easy, i'm totally new to this genre so i'm going slow. I love turn-based stuff like Advanced Wars so i'm slowling warming up to it. I need to figure out hotkeys and just get more used to the game as a whole.

Watching Tom Bombadil kick a small dragon in the face while dancing like a fool had me laughing my ass off.

I'm finding the game rather sluggish, though. If there's lots of units on screen the game just bogs down, for me at least. I added the update, too. Guess it's just more of a reason to kill the enemy quickly