Lord of the Rings: War in the North

[SadExchange]

I wanted to see if anyone was looking at this game? I know it's coming out amid a host of AAA titles, but wanted to see if anyone was planning on picking this one up? It looks like a decent enough rpg action game built around co-op. I know Skyrim is coming out and setting the scene for the fantasy setting for the rest of the year, but I thought I'd throw out a post to see if anyone else was interested in this title. Seems like it's coming from a good developer who released Champions of Norath and Dark Alliance, but it appears that they have expanded upon all the good aspects of those games and put it into the Lord of the Rings setting. I'll be picking it up on Steam if anyone else is.

[HoonDing]

I'm interested in it and will get it after Skyrim, Arkham City and Saints Row 3... so probably in a year or two.

[Morgoth]

It's probably going to suck.

[SadExchange]

It's probably going to suck.

 

Always wise words

[Morgoth]

It's probably going to suck.

 

Always wise words

And I've always been right.

[SadExchange]

I'm interested in it and will get it after Skyrim, Arkham City and Saints Row 3... so probably in a year or two.

 

These are definitely three games I'm looking into as well. They all look pretty good so far.

[Labadal]

Slightly interested, but will have to wait for impressions on this one. I enjoy the LOTR lore, I had fun with prior Snoblind games, but the gameplay doesn't look great. Hope I'm wrong and the game turns out to be great.

[greylord]

It's probably going to suck.

 

Always wise words

And I've always been right.

 

Arrgghhhh

 

Not saying that as an insult...simply saying it because right now it seems right now that you're right. I got it and have been playing it.

 

Problems...

 

Bugs...If you play it on PC beware. Also...I must be doing something wrong with MP because it doesn't seem to work all that well in MP.

 

There is NOT way to change the difficulty setting that I can tell. They say go back from the character select screen to the start and select it, but I don't even get an option. They say it should give you a choice instead of it defaulting to normal, but there's no way to select easy. Maybe it's because I already started a game and this game freaking autosaves for you with NO WAY to go back and delete an unwanted game already in progress apparantly in SP...which is the ultimate of stupid.

 

Why do I want to switch to easy...because it REALLY annoys me that as an archer I have to shoot a goblin 3 or 5 times in the HEAD just to kill it. One would think if you shot it this wouldn't happen...especially with that nice long arrow sticking out of it.

 

I just wanted to see if you had it on easy if I could at least kill something with a single shot...apparantly not as it doesn't even go that way.

 

Orcs I can understand.

 

Trolls on the opposite end are too easy. Supposedly to ramp up the difficulty you have to beat the game once...which I imagine will make goblins tougher and hence more stupid...but at least the Trolls will seem more like Trolls.

 

Those are simply personal items however.

 

Game overall isn't that bad as far as gameplay from a more neutral perspective. It can be challenging at parts...very laggy. Very Very Laggy...I got a 3 mb upper limit per second? or whatever that timing is...so pretty certain it's not on my end.

 

In SP there are some parts it seems to want to hang up...I hear it's worse on some other platforms/consoles or whatever...no verification of that.

 

Even if it doesn't seem to have many problems I have to say I enjoyed playing DS3 FAR more than this game thus far...but I haven't gotten far in the game.

 

It sounds a lot like a spiritual sequel to Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance in many ways, similar classes and even some of the music is reminescent.

 

But I'm really not having fun yet...not certain why. Maybe it's because I just don't feel that powerful (goblins seeming unfazed by my archer's arrows may do that...though I do take down trolls easier than one would think)...or maybe it's because I'm an archer but I can't go to town at times and buy more arrows and they don't really provide that many arrows to get. Even if you kill like a dozen goblin archers you aren't going to find any arrows. A little aggravating. I'm an archer having to use a sword...okay, I'm a ranger with Bow powers that has to resort to using a sword because the game doesn't have enough arrows for you...probably due to how many it takes just to kill a single goblin or orc.

 

I don't think so though, as I may feel completely weak, but that's not the only facet to gameplay. The story isn't really inspiring me.

 

Maybe I just haven't hit the meat of the story yet or something? I'm pressing on with it, but thus far not that enjoyable to me.

 

I didn't enjoy the Lord of the Rings games like The Fellowship of the Ring and those types of games, and combat is a little like that (except those games it was FAR more easy to kill goblins and orcs...I think orcs are harder to kill then it is to be killed or have your teammates killed at times in War of the North). Don't know what it is, I'll keep playing but thus far....as I said...I'm not really enjoying it.

 

Normally I stop playing when I stop enjoying a game, but I just got this one and that would seem like a terrible waste of money.

[LadyCrimson]

I'd never heard of it until last night when I saw it as the big Steam feature. First thing I thought was "That looks like the Overlord guy!" Second thought was "hmm, looks interesting." I found a couple reviews that thought it was ok, but their descriptions didn't sound terribly appealing to me.

 

So I'm glad to hear thoughts from someone's trying it out here. Sounds like it's a cheap Steam sale wait for me. Or at least the $20-$30 price point.

[greylord]

It's a little better, still not having a great time, but at least now goblins take fewer shots to kill, I just needed to power up the right ability. It's not characters aren't powerful enough that is making it not fun, haven't narrowed down why this seems more like work than fun to me.

 

I think a fan of the other Lord of the Rings games which had you hacking and slashing orcs may enjoy it though.

[Morgoth]

The evidence already suggested that the game would be a suck-fest that is closer to beat-em-up rather than RPG.

 

Why people still buy fullprice at day 1 from a developer that has a ridicule trackrecord is beyond me....

[SadExchange]

The evidence already suggested that the game would be a suck-fest that is closer to beat-em-up rather than RPG.

 

Why people still buy fullprice at day 1 from a developer that has a ridicule trackrecord is beyond me....

 

Well, I'm definitely interested in a hack n' slash set in the lord of the rings setting that has decent loot, but I'll be waiting for a price drop. Thanks for the heads up though on the impressions Greylord.

[greylord]

I'm about to Rage quit...

 

I'm hitting lag in conversations constantly. I'll push a button to say a comment...wait for it...wait for it...and then finally it starts. It's like they built in some sort of long lag so that you wait interminably to select your statements in conversation. It's like a poor knockoff of Bioware's conversation trees.

 

Anyways, may get this on PS3 when the price drops. I think it actually may be fun on consoles...probably a lot of fun. It seems in some ways a lot like BG:DA as you get further along in it, and I played that on consoles and enjoyed it, so that may be the missing key here. I just don't like that type of game when it's not on a console. I don't know if it's the controls or what.

 

I'll probably finish it just on principle...but then in a year or so when it's cheap on consoles, buy it for the PS3

[Walsingham]

Got to say, Greylord's reviews sound honest, and sensible.

 

...And have put me right off.

[Calax]

http://kotaku.com/5856023/game-reviewers-p...ar-in-the-north

 

Frankenreview! (Basically a meta-review from several different publishers)

[Setzer]

I loved the Dark Alliance and Champions games so I definitely want to get this at some point. The reviews have kinda put me off, though, so I may wait for it to come down in price. From what I've read its best played in co-op mode instead of single-player.

[greylord]

I loved the Dark Alliance and Champions games so I definitely want to get this at some point. The reviews have kinda put me off, though, so I may wait for it to come down in price. From what I've read its best played in co-op mode instead of single-player.

 

For Consoles I can definately see how it's a LOT like Dark Alliance. Much more like Dark Alliance than Champions. I think it would be far better with a console controller and on a console than a PC. Hopefully the MP is better on console then PC.