I've read a little Tolkien fanfic. Fan fiction is rarely worth reading. There are some stunningly bad examples but occasionally something pops out that is a gem.
I did not know it started as fan fiction but Harry Turtledove's Misplaced Legion series started out that way. He worked on it before he became a published writer then decided to dust it off and reset it in a world of his own creation.
So for you fanfic writers out there. Don't worry somebody might find their inspiration in your work.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Server Updates and the New Content
My son has been greatly concerned about the server updates. He's worried he'll lose things in the process or that his characters will be too crowded. He picked emptyish servers because he wanted a more 'Tolkien' experience. He wanted to feel the Lonelands being lonely. He wanted to see Bree as a quiet little town in the middle of nowhere. Instead it is the hub of the world. In every public space and spaces that there would be no place for them you'll find bands of people playing music as if they were putting on a performance.
This problem has accelerated. There are stages for just such things. They sit empty while you are serenaded by 'The Beetles' or 'Led Zepplin' in the crafting halls. Now while Zep really got Tolkien, they are not compatible with a Tolkien experience. I don't know what people are really experiencing. I have been trying to put my finger on it for years now, but it is by no means Tolkien.
Four hobbits from the Shire were the news for a week and a day. Now you have more player characters wandering through town than live there, in the movies, games, or books. There are still 'empty quarters', the back side of Chetwood for instance that are mostly empty. But there are places that are so crowded that they make the muster of Rohan look like the regulars at a roadside diner.
The server updates are going reasonably well. They are if anything generous in allowing transfers. I am sad that they are having to do this. It is a sign that Turbine is winding down on the game and it is not making the money it should.
Maybe it is time for them to work on their next Lord of the Rings. MMORPG? Technology has advanced at a phenomenal rate and the game is nearly at the edge of it's viability anyway. While the game is exciting and fun in some places and Tolkienesque in others and both sometimes it lacks a dedication to his work that something as simple as The War in The North captured for the console.
By far the best (and by that I mean truest to Tolkien's vision) that game which played somewhat like Dragon Age series was by and far the closest to Tolkien in spirit. The cut scenes were all well voice acted and the characters all had their own voices. No sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher for these characters. Interactions were multilayered and with multiple choices.
Building a better MMORPG should not be hard. You cannot out WoW, WoW. It is a losing game one doomed from the start. You can build a game that really feels like Tolkien's world but the developers have even admitted that is not the main goal.
In Bree you have people everywhere playing rock anthems in matched garb while people in the audience do things that in Tolkien's world would have had you run out of town or gotten a good talking to by the mayor. At any given time there are more PC's in town than lived in the village in the book.
Time maybe to plan not just an update but overhaul. Ignore Shadows of Mordor. While the interface wasn't horrible and combat was far better than LOTRO, the setting, atmosphere, message, and even the 'orc captain vs orc captain' cut shots were anti-Tolkien. It was downright hateful.
Find the men who really know Tolkien scholarship. Look at the games that set the mood and have good graphics and intuitive interface and go from there. You could have avoided the 'own goal' of the Rune Keeper entirely and the explanation for the Warden if you had wanted to but you were too lazy and didn't bother to change it from The 300. In one case the class simply doesn't belong and in the other Haldir is no more the 'inspiration' for the Warden than Barliman Butterbur. Leonidas was clearly the inspiration for the Warden. They would have been better served to find an in mythos inspiration that fits and one existed but they were too lazy to look for it.
Create new quests. Design a new crafting system that isn't simply a WoW clone. Have resource distribution make sense. Perhaps explore a skill based system like Skyrim. Because it's clear if something isn't growing it's dying and pruning and replanting sometimes works sometimes it doesn't.
Be bold and you'll go further than if you just try to make Tolkien flavored WoW soup.
This problem has accelerated. There are stages for just such things. They sit empty while you are serenaded by 'The Beetles' or 'Led Zepplin' in the crafting halls. Now while Zep really got Tolkien, they are not compatible with a Tolkien experience. I don't know what people are really experiencing. I have been trying to put my finger on it for years now, but it is by no means Tolkien.
Four hobbits from the Shire were the news for a week and a day. Now you have more player characters wandering through town than live there, in the movies, games, or books. There are still 'empty quarters', the back side of Chetwood for instance that are mostly empty. But there are places that are so crowded that they make the muster of Rohan look like the regulars at a roadside diner.
The server updates are going reasonably well. They are if anything generous in allowing transfers. I am sad that they are having to do this. It is a sign that Turbine is winding down on the game and it is not making the money it should.
Maybe it is time for them to work on their next Lord of the Rings. MMORPG? Technology has advanced at a phenomenal rate and the game is nearly at the edge of it's viability anyway. While the game is exciting and fun in some places and Tolkienesque in others and both sometimes it lacks a dedication to his work that something as simple as The War in The North captured for the console.
By far the best (and by that I mean truest to Tolkien's vision) that game which played somewhat like Dragon Age series was by and far the closest to Tolkien in spirit. The cut scenes were all well voice acted and the characters all had their own voices. No sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher for these characters. Interactions were multilayered and with multiple choices.
Building a better MMORPG should not be hard. You cannot out WoW, WoW. It is a losing game one doomed from the start. You can build a game that really feels like Tolkien's world but the developers have even admitted that is not the main goal.
In Bree you have people everywhere playing rock anthems in matched garb while people in the audience do things that in Tolkien's world would have had you run out of town or gotten a good talking to by the mayor. At any given time there are more PC's in town than lived in the village in the book.
Time maybe to plan not just an update but overhaul. Ignore Shadows of Mordor. While the interface wasn't horrible and combat was far better than LOTRO, the setting, atmosphere, message, and even the 'orc captain vs orc captain' cut shots were anti-Tolkien. It was downright hateful.
Find the men who really know Tolkien scholarship. Look at the games that set the mood and have good graphics and intuitive interface and go from there. You could have avoided the 'own goal' of the Rune Keeper entirely and the explanation for the Warden if you had wanted to but you were too lazy and didn't bother to change it from The 300. In one case the class simply doesn't belong and in the other Haldir is no more the 'inspiration' for the Warden than Barliman Butterbur. Leonidas was clearly the inspiration for the Warden. They would have been better served to find an in mythos inspiration that fits and one existed but they were too lazy to look for it.
Create new quests. Design a new crafting system that isn't simply a WoW clone. Have resource distribution make sense. Perhaps explore a skill based system like Skyrim. Because it's clear if something isn't growing it's dying and pruning and replanting sometimes works sometimes it doesn't.
Be bold and you'll go further than if you just try to make Tolkien flavored WoW soup.
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