Any thoughts on Lord of the Rings, War in the North

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This game kind of snuck up on my radar. I have not seen a huge amount of coverage but the developers (Snowblind) were behind some older decent action RPGs. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

This is not a great interview but it does provide some details on the development company.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-lord-of-the-rings-war-in-the-north/1211025p1.html

Overall I hope it it is an interesting option on the PC if it is a decent port.

Anyone have any more details on the quality of the PC version?
 
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I have been keeping tracking of it also. Gamespot played it last week and was semi positive about it. More stuff at http://www.warinthenorth.com/

I was pretty pumped for this when they announced it but it kinda fell off my radar when it turned out it was going to be more action less RPG. Kind of a co-op Diablo with three characters and the AI taking over when you don't have other players to help. Lots of unique loot that displays differently on your character, multiple playthru's for optimum skill tree development, 2 extra challenge maps. An original story coinciding at the same time as the fellowship. From Snowblind who did Dark Alliance so expect heavy hack and slash.


Looks like fun but I am going to wait for some reviews. Out tomorrow I believe.

I have not heard or read about anyone who has played the PC version so I am hopefully waiting for reviews
 
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Redman thanks for the response. I am picking it up tomorrow at Best Buy as there is a $15 coupon and a I have $30 in credit so I can essentially pick it up for $5. Snowblind has an interesting background and I think also did some work with EverQuest and Champions of Norrath. In terms of console ARPG Champions was probably the best I had ever seen. Will post thoughts when I try it out. Should be an interesting diversion until Skyrim for the price.

By the way been a long time lurker on the site. Glad to finally be a posting member of the forums...
 
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No problem and welcome to the forum

Is that an in store coupon from Best Buy? I might be tempted to go that route
 
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As soon as I get it tomorrow I will fire it up and post first impressions here.
 
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Yup pretty nice. To bad it's only for console or I would consider it.
 
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Did not know the CE was only for the console version. That kind of stinks. Oh well at least I have the game coming for the PC tomorrow.
 
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I've had the impression that this game is very action oriented without offering much outside of combat. It reminds me of Daggerdale or something along that style.

I'd be interested in hearing some hands-on impressions after you guys have played it.
 
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The only site to have reviewed it so far on Metacritic is Gametrailers, which gives it a so-so review. I think it's bad news in general that it hasn't been widely reviewed yet.

edit- IGN has a 7/10 review, though reading the actual review they didn't seem so positive. Repetitive seems to be the common thought about it so far.
 
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I got the best Buy edition which included the Loremaster armour and weapon pack. Also I was given a huge box with the snow troll figurine. Almost like a collector edition except I didn't pay any extra. Nice value.

The game installed fine for me. Uses Steam. This is no daggerdale, it has actual dialogue! I am playing as the Loremaster and the conversations are from your perspective. I imagine if you are playing as the dwarf, then he would be doing all the talking for the group. Hack and slash with crazy combo's and slow motion kills with very nice graphics. The first town has people to talk to and merchants. I am enjoying it quite a bit so far. The mage can mele and shoot magic out her staff but the mana goes so quickly you would be better saving it for big groups and group heals. I haven't played the multiplayer yet but it looks like it should provide some fun co-op. I have seen a bunch of better reviews but I think IGN was pretty fair and it's what I expected from them. I haven't played enough to give it a review yet.
 
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Ok will do. Almost died a couple of times so far but now I am leveled up a bit the healing spell should make things a bit easier. Oh, and you can give basic orders to your fellowship NPC's.
 
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I am installing it myself. BTW that troll that came from Best Buy for free is pretty massive and surprisingly not of awful quality. I am not sure what to do with it but it is kind of cool. Will post thoughts as well. I read the IGN review it seems like they are the only one with an actual PC review. Metacritic had almost nothing on it for the PC so far.
 
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I've been following this game quite some time... Its about time to get a proper melee action game in the spirit of BOD :)
 
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Initial feedback after playing for short stint

Brief update after playing for about an hour and a half and I have to say it is pretty fun so far. Based on what little I have seen the levels seem a bit linear at first but after exploration there are some areas that are hidden in plain sight that have secret stashes and chests etc. The gameplay itself is very action oriented with skills that get auto assigned to hotkeys once you select them.

Overall, though the game rewards exploration with quests and story elements that are fully voice acted and not bad at all. It surprisingly does not spoon feed you with information and in fact I had to poke around a bit to figure out you can customize your characters appearance early in the game. There is no map in the hud and no quest tracker/pointer which helps with immersion.

It seems to have some similiarities with DAO with less pausing when fighting. Level design seems like DAO except with the addition of secret areas. Dialogue trees are story driven and have some depth. I plan on turning off on screen text as it hits immersion for me a bit. Will just have to see how to do this.

Inventory and item management is bit light so far but gear is diverse and interesting.

There are some obvious carryovers from console but nothing game breaking at all. Generally they seemed to have done a good job treating PC users well.

I see a future for this game through community mods if we can find a way to do it.

Will post more thoughts after playing further tonight.
 
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I haven't heard of this game since today, and it doesn't seem bad, but I'm not buying it now for sure. I'll wait for a price drop...
 
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I probably would not have bought this if I had to pay full price. Overall it is fun and interesting so far but since I had a $15 coupon and $30 reward credit that was expiring anyway I had very little to lose. I was essentially able to pick it up for $6 out of pocket and it came with the troll figure for free. So a pretty amazing deal.

Personally based on what I am seeing so far its probably worth $30-$40 US max to me. There is a good deal of story in the game with interesting characters. Reminds me of some older action rpgs. If my price/perception of value changes as I continue to play I will post an update.
 
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