Lord of the Rings: Conquest - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

***Mister Underhill*** · 01-18-2009, 04:21 PM

I played the demo. Yeah, if you're expecting any serious link to the tone and feel of the books, you're bound to be sorely disappointed. Elven archers have various arrow options, including explosive and poison gas. Wizards shoot lightning and so forth. And the Gondorian knight character can activate a flaming sword for extra damage. You get the picture.

It seems like Battlefront in LotR Movie dress. If you liked one, you might like the other. The thing with Conquest is that it seems like to really maximize your effectiveness you need to memorize attack combo button-pushing sequences, which I'm not really a fan of.

I'll be interested to see The Might's review.

Nogrod · 01-18-2009, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Elven archers have various arrow options, including explosive and poison gas. Wizards shoot lightning and so forth. And the Gondorian knight character can activate a flaming sword for extra damage. You get the picture.

It looks like a familiar one - even for one who is forty...

I have been imagining a game where you could download a stupendously magnificient looking and feeling game with some kind of a boot-camp possibility after which you could enter the real scenarios (PC Medal of Honour -style eg. alone but believably - I mean those squad based games are just frustrating as your mates are so stupid all the time and have to be taken care of all the time so as not to allow yourself to fight your own war). And there you'd have a realistic possibility of staying alive eg. you'd be killed from behind or facing a superior fighter or tough luck with a random factor soon enough.

If it's an online game then the same point goes to your vulnerability and non-reloadability but one can sure forget about the stupid mates - as when your RL team-mates are stupid then you just have to bear with it...

But the actual clue would be that downloading the game would cost you only something like 1 Euro/Dollar but everytime you die you'd have to load up a license to play again. (The game would kind of shut down after you die - no re-downloadings should be needed, it just wouldn't work again before you pay again) That would really make a difference! And while you pay and play one time after another you'd start playing it like you were actually in danger; trying to avoid bad fights and trying to sneak your way through - which is much more realistic than this "run on and reload the game" -stuff one is adviced to do in the normal games...

Now someone says I'm on the side of the game industry. No I'm not. There should be a player-rewarding way to get through the game playing it "realistically" and only the foolhardiness would be sanctioned... Surely there are enough people who would pay 50 Euros/Dollars to make it through the few first fights but witty players might get through the whole game - with all the adrenaline rushes - with just a few Euros / Dollars.

Quote:

The thing with Conquest is that it seems like to really maximize your effectiveness you need to memorize attack combo button-pushing sequences, which I'm not really a fan of.

Like most of the games on sale today... Simpler user interfaces, simpler moves and add the creativity to building up the mood and environment + making it feel like you really were in danger... That I'd appreciate.

Legate of Amon Lanc · 01-18-2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

I played the demo. Yeah, if you're expecting any serious link to the tone and feel of the books, you're bound to be sorely disappointed. Elven archers have various arrow options, including explosive and poison gas. Wizards shoot lightning and so forth. And the Gondorian knight character can activate a flaming sword for extra damage. You get the picture.

Yes, I get it *shrugs* All right, nevertheless, I will wait what Miggy has to say about it... but this-is-madness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I have been imagining a game where you could download a stupendously magnificient looking and feeling game with some kind of a boot-camp possibility after which you could enter the real scenarios (PC Medal of Honour -style eg. alone but believably - I mean those squad based games are just frustrating as your mates are so stupid all the time and have to be taken care of all the time so as not to allow yourself to fight your own war). And there you'd have a realistic possibility of staying alive eg. you'd be killed from behind or facing a superior fighter or tough luck with a random factor soon enough.

Now, that is great. I used to have such ideas when I was... some three years younger

But hey, maybe now that would be a project for the creative programmers among Downers (I am sure there would be some) - to create a game like that, with LotR setting (and keeping it to the books at that!).

Quote:

Like most of the games on sale today... Simpler user interfaces, simpler moves and add the creativity to building up the mood and environment + making it feel like you really were in danger... That I'd appreciate.

You have never been playing Aliens versus Predator, have you...
...especially online and with me, have you

Nogrod · 01-18-2009, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

You have never been playing Aliens versus Predator, have you...
...especially online and with me, have you

We'll have to try that out one day...

The Might · 01-19-2009, 03:04 PM

Ok, here are my thougths on the game.

Positive:
It's ok really, if you like Battlefront it will definitely enjoy LotR: Conquest. Basically it is the same you have your control points where you spawn and you have certain tasks to take care of while you're playing the game such as holding out within a perimeter for a certain time, killing a certain unit or destroying certain constructions. What is a big difference here is this - in Battlefront you had a certain number of reinforcements that helped you out, if that number reached 0 then it's game over; in Conquest it does not matter at all how often your buddies die, it matters only how often you have died. So you have a certain ammount of lives and when this reaches 0 it's game over. It is for me a lot easier since I only have to take care of myself during the battles, my guys just keep on streaming. You only have to take care of other units at times, such as escorting Frodo in Osgiliath.
So yeah, nice game and fun missions, I enjoy them even though they often have only very little to do with the books or even with the films. For example in Isengard you end up running into Orthanc with Gandalf and "kill" Saruman with lightning bolts... what?!
But otherwise it is quite entertaining and although I have not yet tested multiplayer with friends I did a little session in it alone and it seems to be nice to play against your pals.

Negative:
My biggest concern is the price, I feel that the game is not worth what you are expected to pay for it.
Another big problem is the quite short single player campaign. In the end it's only 16 missions (8 good and 8 bad) and each of them takes about 15 minutes if you know what to do already. I don't know how the last mode is like (hero or smth like that), I guess it's hard to play, but still I already feel no urge to play any of the missions I have already played up till now.
So yeah, you get to maybe play for say 10 hours till you get everything done on moderate difficulty after you've been training a bit on easy.
Also, some of the ideas are so far-fetched and out of Arda that I really wonder who ever came up with that...

Conclusion:
If you can afford it, if you like Battlefront and if you want to play some nice Middle-earth battles in nice graphics and poor story then you've hit the jackpot! Otherwise, forget about it...

PS: I've just finished killing mumakil with catapults at the Pelennor Fields.

davem · 01-20-2009, 01:55 PM

Telegraph review http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencean...me-review.html

Quote:

Lord of the Rings: Conquest doesn’t so much as bend the story to the gameplay’s whim, as drag it through a great big pile of orc dung, before setting it on fire.

Unfortunately ...er, no, fortunately I'm of the generation that has absolutely zero interest in computer games, so I won't be offering up a personal review - I just liked that quote......

alatar · 01-20-2009, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Might

Also, some of the ideas are so far-fetched and out of Arda that I really wonder who ever came up with that...

Peter Jackson, perhaps?

The Might · 01-20-2009, 03:53 PM

Btw, I finished the game in the meantime on medium and I must agree that a lot of stuff makes little or even no sense at all.
And indeed how I usually played it was running into hordes of enemies with special attacks and whilst plowing my way through reloading my life by picking up the fallen "life" bottles.
And yes, I agree with the review on all those weak spots, still I find it somewhat entertaining to play.

01-19-2009, 03:04 PM	#5
The Might Guard of the Citadel Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Oxon Posts: 2,205	Ok, here are my thougths on the game. Positive: It's ok really, if you like Battlefront it will definitely enjoy LotR: Conquest. Basically it is the same you have your control points where you spawn and you have certain tasks to take care of while you're playing the game such as holding out within a perimeter for a certain time, killing a certain unit or destroying certain constructions. What is a big difference here is this - in Battlefront you had a certain number of reinforcements that helped you out, if that number reached 0 then it's game over; in Conquest it does not matter at all how often your buddies die, it matters only how often you have died. So you have a certain ammount of lives and when this reaches 0 it's game over. It is for me a lot easier since I only have to take care of myself during the battles, my guys just keep on streaming. You only have to take care of other units at times, such as escorting Frodo in Osgiliath. So yeah, nice game and fun missions, I enjoy them even though they often have only very little to do with the books or even with the films. For example in Isengard you end up running into Orthanc with Gandalf and "kill" Saruman with lightning bolts... what?! But otherwise it is quite entertaining and although I have not yet tested multiplayer with friends I did a little session in it alone and it seems to be nice to play against your pals. Negative: My biggest concern is the price, I feel that the game is not worth what you are expected to pay for it. Another big problem is the quite short single player campaign. In the end it's only 16 missions (8 good and 8 bad) and each of them takes about 15 minutes if you know what to do already. I don't know how the last mode is like (hero or smth like that), I guess it's hard to play, but still I already feel no urge to play any of the missions I have already played up till now. So yeah, you get to maybe play for say 10 hours till you get everything done on moderate difficulty after you've been training a bit on easy. Also, some of the ideas are so far-fetched and out of Arda that I really wonder who ever came up with that... Conclusion: If you can afford it, if you like Battlefront and if you want to play some nice Middle-earth battles in nice graphics and poor story then you've hit the jackpot! Otherwise, forget about it... PS: I've just finished killing mumakil with catapults at the Pelennor Fields. __________________ “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” Delos B. McKown

01-20-2009, 03:53 PM	#8
The Might Guard of the Citadel Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Oxon Posts: 2,205	Btw, I finished the game in the meantime on medium and I must agree that a lot of stuff makes little or even no sense at all. And indeed how I usually played it was running into hordes of enemies with special attacks and whilst plowing my way through reloading my life by picking up the fallen "life" bottles. And yes, I agree with the review on all those weak spots, still I find it somewhat entertaining to play. __________________ “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” Delos B. McKown

01-18-2009, 04:21 PM	#1
*Mister Underhill* Dread Horseman Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Behind you! Posts: 2,744	I played the demo. Yeah, if you're expecting any serious link to the tone and feel of the books, you're bound to be sorely disappointed. Elven archers have various arrow options, including explosive and poison gas. Wizards shoot lightning and so forth. And the Gondorian knight character can activate a flaming sword for extra damage. You get the picture. It seems like Battlefront in LotR Movie dress. If you liked one, you might like the other. The thing with Conquest is that it seems like to really maximize your effectiveness you need to memorize attack combo button-pushing sequences, which I'm not really a fan of. I'll be interested to see The Might's review.