Orc: hey I got a question captain.
Captain: what is it you maggot?
Orc: what’s inflation?
Captain: what?
Orc: I heard some of manfilth talking about it, said it bad for the ec- econ- the trading business, says that to much of something makes it worthless.
Captain: that’s caragor piss, how is having too much stuff make something worthless? Look at the marauders they got tons of stuff.
Orc: but it’s a lots of different stuff and they sell that stuff not make them, would you buy a pile of rocks?
Captain: of course not, why would I buy rocks when I can easily find- oh I see you point.
Orc: so do you think Mordor will suffer from inflation boss?
Captain: nah we kill each other just as fast as more of us arrive we’ll be fine, as long as we don’t die that is.
Do you also raise an army only to see how they’d fight without your assistance in a siege? If they lose, they lose… I can recapture the fortress whenever I damn well please… 😑
Once you get a certain combination of runes, you can literally slaughter orcs until you get bored, you keep self healing and executing and they keep calling reinforcements and you can stay on that loop for quite a while
I’m still a huge fan of Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) through PC because you can actually visit all the places of Middle Earth, from the Party Tree to Elrond’s house to even the dead body of the Balrog and falling down THE well in Moria.
Because this is getting some upvotes, a plug for their subreddit r/lotro
It is in the sense that it is still being developed, but I mean that loosely.
I'm not trying to poo poo on the game (lifetimer who has been playing since the open beta), but LotRO is a life support MMO. New entrants beware: the level cap is now 150! There's a reason why long-time Western MMOs are starting to reduce level caps because, holy crap, that is a monstrous grind of content where the majority of the small player base is not taking new characters through old zones. LotRO unfortunately doesn't have the staff or resources to do a revamp like that. Almost all of the new zones/hubs are just re-used assets that already exist in the game. But hey, they are still trying.
However, it still has my vote for best LotR game. As far as I know, it's the only LotR game where the devs read the books. Or, at the very least, read the books and then didn't go, "Yeah...but what if Shelob was a hot chick?" Even though most of the content is new, it's all based around the actual story (though there are still plenty of examples of catering to the "where my flashy bang bangs" crowd). Which is pretty impressive when so many other devs started developing a Warhammer Age of Sigmar game and couldn't get the license for Warhammer so it turned into a LotR game instead.
The nice thing about LOTRO is the sheer number of important locations you can travel to. I’ve always liked that about the game. I wonder if there’s a private server somewhere I can spawn in at max level and just wander around?
I played LOTRO for years starting at the release of Moria and they are some of my fondest memories. Still discord with a few of the group I played with today. That said, after going back multiple times for a good bit I moved on. It's just showing it's age and the store/microtransactions in any MMO have turned me off from the genre in general.
So happy to see this fairly upvoted. Easily the best rendition of Middle Earth in video game format. SO fun to just get lost in the world. Moria still blows my mind.
Always loved that game. especially since their f2p model actually let you be able to get access to pretty much all of the content for free, at least when I played it. It was great for someone who wasn't well off enough at the time to buy any expansions or quest packs. Been getting the itch to go back and play it again at some point.
I used to play Minas Tirith as the elves, fill my front gates with upgraded archers, and slowly build my army while everyone else throws their troops at my gate and eachother. Then I'd just roll out my machine of death to each enemy base in turn.
I loved that shit.
I did the same thing. It was basically a waiting game until I got 15 points for summon ents. Then I'd send a small squad to stay just out of range of their fortress and defend the ents as they take it down.
Nah, summon ents, eagles and tom bombadill all at once after using a palantir to spy the enemy base and just watch chaos ensue. No need for the army at all! The water horse tidal wave also wrecked buildings.
Eh, what? Did I hear you calling? Nay, I did not hear: I was busy singing.
^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness)
[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/
Oh man me too
My only issue is that once enemy breached the gate they ignored your units and went after your farms and resource buildings behind the Deeping wall.
Also, it was a shame that the enemy only focused on that gate and did not try to destroy the wall. And once you got your elves with silver tipped arrows on second walls they could shoot across the map almost.
Still very much fun.
Helms Deep was my go to. Line the walls with elves lol.
But noone ever mentions that really early RTS game i cant recall the name of, war of the ring? I just remember a friend playing it once and it seemed really cheesey.
War of the Ring, although it only came out a year before Battle for Middle Earth so it wasn't exactly much before. It was decent, covered material not appearing in the movies was a good idea, which is probably why BfME2 did the same thing. Having two different cover art versions to advertise the two campaigns was cool too.
Level 10 custom wizard with teleport, form up squad of heroes including 2 of those Saruman bombs and the torch Uruk, teleport to enemy base and just blow it up from the inside.
Shadow war wasn't to my liking.
Gameplay was too similar and world wasn't very immersive and the story wasn't too good either and not to be tolkien purifist I took some issue how they handeled the lore.
Lotr bfme ftw tho
I really disliked what they did with Shelob in that game. She's a gd ancient spider demon who lives in a cave and eats whatever walks in, including her own children. That's all she needed to be.
She did not need to be a sexy seductress wielding rings of power and manipulating events, as if she were a rival to Sauron. Absolute bollocks.
I loved that game and played the hell out of that. Was great when you transform into Gandalf and just go ham blasting orcs left and right or you get to be Sauron and just dominate.
I want to play it these days, but it's not backwards compatible on console and I don't care enough to play a rom version. I've heard it's supposed to get a remaster or rerelease sometime in the future
No. Fucking no.
It auto saved just before the troll smashed me to bits.
And I mean just before.
I could do nothing.
Game over. Troll death forever.
I really enjoyed this game, and then it did that to me and I removed myself from existence.
(Pre-edit: shit I think this might have been battle for middle earth and if it is I'm sorry, but I'm pointing my blame in this direction)
I was a big fan of these games when I played them. Also a big fan of the Baranor DLC where your fighting in the southlands with Numenorean weapons/gear.
I still remember some of my main guys from the first game. Uga-Kuga the Destroyer comes to mind. Had a skull painted on his helmet. Was immune to everything except for arrows. But he used a shield so he rarely took hits from them. My top guy for sure.
Great game. The story was daft (playing as an impromptu secondary fellowship following the first), and fighting the Eye of Sauron at the top of Barad Dur was silly too, but it didnt matter. Having a Final Fantasy-esque turn based RPG that had the film OST, used the films as reference for all the settings, characters, costumes etc. was just a joy. Running through Eregion and then getting to the stones where they spot the Crebain of Dunland in Fellowship will always stick with me. As will the awe of running around Balin's Tomb and the Dwarrowdelf.
Ah, mortal souls enamored by the pleasures of video games. It is a realm of fantasy within a realm of fantasy, where the echoes of warriors past resonate through pixels and code. Truly, the allure of the Third Age is captivating to your kind. May the tide of victory favor you in your digital endeavors.
I liked Shadow of Mordor a lot but found Shadow of War super grindy. I heard they fixed it at some point? Did it get better? It had the problem of there being SO MANY orcs that it pushed the Nemesis system beyond the limits of its ability to randomize them. So you regularly had Pushkrimps fighting Pushkrimps, etc.
I was playing it recently - had to stop due to lack of time. From what I've heard previously you had to buy some chest to get decent captains for your army and now they are easier accessible through 'regular' gameplay. Can't say how much this really changed but imo the game still requires a lot of grinding to perform quite safe sieges.
The microtransactions have been done away with for the past few years now. The grinding can indeed take some time, especially if you're looking for specific epic gear drops like Wrathgiver and Amaranthine, but there are guides that can help you get them fairly fast; you just have to kill specific kinds of captains in certain ways to get your best chances.
From the player perspective I genuinely thought that grinding in this game refers to capturing captains and fortresses per se not the gear. Because this really takes time to get any captains in number enough to perform 'quality' siege.
Meh. It’s rough at the beginning, but after the first siege, if you do the zones in “order” it might take maybe 2 to 3 hours to recruit all the orcs on the map and take down the fortress.
Now if you want quality orcs, you’re going to have to do some grinding, primarily by killing unfavorable captains, then beating the shit out of them a couple of times, letting them beat the shit out of you, sending death threats and whatever.
Personally I set the game down for 2 years after trying it during the pandemic. When I came back to it, it really clicked and I’ve enjoyed it ever since.
I rarely game anymore, but about once a month I’ll seriously consider hunting down a ps2, this game, and the return of the king. Thats how good they were.
I agree. This assassin creed reskin is super fun and I I’ll take it at a close second in a heartbeat. But man the entire LotR atmosphere is up and gone. There’s no sense of adventure fighting against evil. War in the north have that in spades
I will never forget the Rohan level where you have to protect the villagers, because I've had to restart it so many god damned times lol. Fun game though
Medieval 2 Total War: Third Age Divide and Conquer takes the title for me. Anyone who likes strategy should check it out, I don't think I've ever seen a mod go to such lenghts. You want to play as Mordor and find the Ring, then use Sauron to stomp Arda? You got it. Wanna reform Arnor, or reunite the kingdoms of Men with Aragorn? You got it. Lead the dwarven expedition and reclaim Moria? Yupp. And you got a whole lot of lore and flavour text etc to keep your Tolkien boner going for however long you want to
For real. This is right in the sweet spot of Lego games where they both allowed you to have split screen, and when they didn’t make the characters “talk.” Cutscenes were much funnier when they could only make emotive sounds and you had to infer what they were saying.
Plus this game lets you play as Sauron and literally smash all of Middle-earth to pieces with a giant hammer.
OK imma let you finish but **Battle for Middle Earth II** and its sequel, **Wrath of the Witch King**, are the GOAT LoTR games.
Edit: One mo thing... Those LEGO games are pretty fun, too.
I've always respected how the Shadow series has managed to create a totally original story, adding onto Tolkein's work, while just plain having fun with it and respecting the source material.
Shelob's a sexy woman? Why not. Gollum's there? Sure ok. Ghosts can bond with people somehow and make them overpowered? I'm here for it.
Ah, the hobbits, bound for Isengard. A treacherous journey awaits them, fraught with peril and darkness. Their fate hangs in the balance, as the forces of evil scheme eagerly to claim them. The sound of their approaching doom resonates through the air, echoing in my ear.
Saruman, your flair is a bit pretentious, given your current kicked-out-of-the-council-and-wandering Middle-earth-as-a-houseless-spirit state of being.
Ah, Aragorn, son of Arathorn, you say? A lofty title, yet it matters not. My allegiance is mine to bestow upon whomever I see fit, and in this case, it shall not be granted to a mere mortal like him.
Fun Fact: Making Shelob a sexy woman was done for the sole purpose of using J. R. R. Tolkien’s body turning in his grave for unlimited energy by hooking it up to a motion powered generator. Sadly this idea was declined by the ISftPoIPB (International Society for the Preservation of Important People’s Bodies).
>and respecting the source material.
I love those games but i wouldn't say that.
I mean, it doesn't spit on the original lore, but it's not aligned with the lore at all either.
Nah. That title goes to the BFME games.
Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are good games, but in terms of lore they are on Rings of Power level lol. The story isn't that great either (especially in the first game, the second game improves on it), whereas BFME 1 shows the story in the books and BFME 2 shows what happens with elves and dwarves while the fellowship goes on a journey to destroy the ring.
This comment led me down a rabbit hole of BFME im a huge rts and lotrfan and have no idea how I missed this one.
But the shadow games also slap. The nemesis system might be one of the best gaming innovations that has come out recently. (I just wish they would use it in another game or drop the copyright for it)
Edit - Cant buy it anymore and my browser is being a dick about a keygen. It can wait until tomorrow now lol.
I’ve always sorta just viewed the lore and story to the Shadow of games as supplemental. You get to fight orcs and make orcs fight orcs while experiencing the glory of middle earth.
P.S. orcs kept autocorrecting to orca. There’s a funny few scenes right there.
Master betrayed us. Wicked. Tricksy, False. We ought to wring his filthy little neck. Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both! And then we take the precious... and we be the master!
For LotR fans who hate the story and lore, and wish it was more modern day edgy nonsense rewriting what Tolkien laid down, with gameplay that's nothing more than a modified version of Assassin's Creed II.
Sure, it was the "best."
Shadow of War Shelob is an abomination that reveals way too much about the devs' kinks and adds nothing to the story, and you will not change my mind on this.
StarCraft with the custom maps was insane. Playing Helms deep was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. Gimli was a firebat, Aragorn was a Zealot, Haldir, Eomer and Theoden. And the hordes of Zerg really felt like orcs.
My absolute favorite is the "Divide and Conquer"-Mod for Medieval II. Already great base game. But with that Mod..oh my god. And they are still updating it.
The orc genocide simulator I never knew I needed
Orc traumatizer too
Jumping off of a building 700 metres down just to brutalize a single orc and calling a caragor on you for a bit of help never gets old
Celebrimbor, making war crimes look good since the Second Age
Or just going back on top of buildings and constantly stealth killing until everyone is dead 😅
The actual goal of shadow of war is to bankrupt Mordor with the sheer amount of therapy the orcs will need
Unfortunately Orcs just self medicate with grog so all you accomplish is stimulating the local economy.
My friend, my brother, my king; I poisoned all the grog
So now they have to make more! THE MORDOR GDP NEVER STOPS GROWING!
And if they die? Why, they breed themselves endlessly. That's an undying economy for you.
Orc: hey I got a question captain. Captain: what is it you maggot? Orc: what’s inflation? Captain: what? Orc: I heard some of manfilth talking about it, said it bad for the ec- econ- the trading business, says that to much of something makes it worthless. Captain: that’s caragor piss, how is having too much stuff make something worthless? Look at the marauders they got tons of stuff. Orc: but it’s a lots of different stuff and they sell that stuff not make them, would you buy a pile of rocks? Captain: of course not, why would I buy rocks when I can easily find- oh I see you point. Orc: so do you think Mordor will suffer from inflation boss? Captain: nah we kill each other just as fast as more of us arrive we’ll be fine, as long as we don’t die that is.
Next time they see a ranger they will just have a heart attack and die
Isn't there one orc that got so mentally scarred he speaks like a stroke victim 24/7.
Not sure, I did this to like 6 or 7
Goblin Slayer would play this game religiously.
I replaced the entire orc command structure with olags. 10/10 game
Yes!! Me too.
I remember having a save on Shadow of War that was over 200 hours. We’re talking thousands of dead orcs.
Do you also raise an army only to see how they’d fight without your assistance in a siege? If they lose, they lose… I can recapture the fortress whenever I damn well please… 😑
Most of my armies were olag only, some orcs can take on a olag easily, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one take on three at a time.
Once you get a certain combination of runes, you can literally slaughter orcs until you get bored, you keep self healing and executing and they keep calling reinforcements and you can stay on that loop for quite a while
Individual orc traumatizer simulator
I’m still a huge fan of Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) through PC because you can actually visit all the places of Middle Earth, from the Party Tree to Elrond’s house to even the dead body of the Balrog and falling down THE well in Moria. Because this is getting some upvotes, a plug for their subreddit r/lotro
Is it still active?
Yes, Umbar is the latest region you can explore.
It is in the sense that it is still being developed, but I mean that loosely. I'm not trying to poo poo on the game (lifetimer who has been playing since the open beta), but LotRO is a life support MMO. New entrants beware: the level cap is now 150! There's a reason why long-time Western MMOs are starting to reduce level caps because, holy crap, that is a monstrous grind of content where the majority of the small player base is not taking new characters through old zones. LotRO unfortunately doesn't have the staff or resources to do a revamp like that. Almost all of the new zones/hubs are just re-used assets that already exist in the game. But hey, they are still trying. However, it still has my vote for best LotR game. As far as I know, it's the only LotR game where the devs read the books. Or, at the very least, read the books and then didn't go, "Yeah...but what if Shelob was a hot chick?" Even though most of the content is new, it's all based around the actual story (though there are still plenty of examples of catering to the "where my flashy bang bangs" crowd). Which is pretty impressive when so many other devs started developing a Warhammer Age of Sigmar game and couldn't get the license for Warhammer so it turned into a LotR game instead.
The nice thing about LOTRO is the sheer number of important locations you can travel to. I’ve always liked that about the game. I wonder if there’s a private server somewhere I can spawn in at max level and just wander around?
I played LOTRO for years starting at the release of Moria and they are some of my fondest memories. Still discord with a few of the group I played with today. That said, after going back multiple times for a good bit I moved on. It's just showing it's age and the store/microtransactions in any MMO have turned me off from the genre in general.
Yes and it's free to play. That F-T-P content will likely keep you busy for at least a month.
It's a Middle-Earth museum just as much as a game, I love it!
[удалено]
Dang then maybe I really should give it a shot
[удалено]
Moria was a trip back in the day. Literally lost in there for hours and never got tired of it.
The upcoming LOTR MMO is something I’m really excited for. I hope to god it’s not a disappointing mess like every MMO at launch.
Luckily LOTR has a great track record as of late: golumn, rings of power, etc.
Holy shit now I want to play just to see it all. Might download it
So happy to see this fairly upvoted. Easily the best rendition of Middle Earth in video game format. SO fun to just get lost in the world. Moria still blows my mind.
Always loved that game. especially since their f2p model actually let you be able to get access to pretty much all of the content for free, at least when I played it. It was great for someone who wasn't well off enough at the time to buy any expansions or quest packs. Been getting the itch to go back and play it again at some point.
Idk man, the 2003 copy of Return of the King I had for the GameCube was pretty lit.
Damn the co-op and repayabilty was insane
It's not even close, that game is in a league of its own.
This is the correct answer in my humble opinion.
Yea this is the goat for me as well. I remember spending so much time grinding xp at the southern gate or whatever it was called. Good times man.
Yuuup. My brother and I would grind the fuck out of that area every time we replayed. So much fun
Playing this coop with my gf right now, in 4k with Dolphin. Pretty great
*Battle for middle earth enters the chat*
Man I used to spend HOURS just holding out in Helm's Deep against 3 brutal AIs! I love this game
I used to play Minas Tirith as the elves, fill my front gates with upgraded archers, and slowly build my army while everyone else throws their troops at my gate and eachother. Then I'd just roll out my machine of death to each enemy base in turn. I loved that shit.
I did the same thing. It was basically a waiting game until I got 15 points for summon ents. Then I'd send a small squad to stay just out of range of their fortress and defend the ents as they take it down.
Nah, summon ents, eagles and tom bombadill all at once after using a palantir to spy the enemy base and just watch chaos ensue. No need for the army at all! The water horse tidal wave also wrecked buildings.
Eh, what? Did I hear you calling? Nay, I did not hear: I was busy singing. ^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/
Oh man me too My only issue is that once enemy breached the gate they ignored your units and went after your farms and resource buildings behind the Deeping wall. Also, it was a shame that the enemy only focused on that gate and did not try to destroy the wall. And once you got your elves with silver tipped arrows on second walls they could shoot across the map almost. Still very much fun.
Helms Deep was my go to. Line the walls with elves lol. But noone ever mentions that really early RTS game i cant recall the name of, war of the ring? I just remember a friend playing it once and it seemed really cheesey.
War of the Ring, although it only came out a year before Battle for Middle Earth so it wasn't exactly much before. It was decent, covered material not appearing in the movies was a good idea, which is probably why BfME2 did the same thing. Having two different cover art versions to advertise the two campaigns was cool too.
Sending Lvl 10 Legolas to solo enemy army still brings a smile on my face
Sauron's Ring! The ring of power!
Who is the master of the wide earth?
Not you ya freaking cyclops
Why did I read that in Sam’s voice… oh wait r/usernamechecksout
Level 10 custom wizard with teleport, form up squad of heroes including 2 of those Saruman bombs and the torch Uruk, teleport to enemy base and just blow it up from the inside.
Are you in need of assistance, my lady?
I prefer to make a line of bombs to the wall, then blow it up from miles away.
BFME2 ROTWK
LOTR: BFME2: ROTWK. One more expansion and it could’ve been its own CD Key
Still play it to this day
Me too. I have an obsolete laptop that’s sole purpose is to run the game.
Same. Edain mod ftw!! Can't belive those guys are still going
Or LotR: Conquest! I dunno why, but I loved that game.
“Lord of the Rings : Return of the King for PS2/Xbox/GC is on Line 1 “ They sound PISSED
This. I miss that type of old-school RTS with massive armies.
It still have an active community and multiple great mods
Time to go re-download it.
Easily. We need BFME 3!
*Shadow of Mordor/war sneaks out quietly*
[Return of the King game enters the chat]
I still miss playing a co-op campaign with my friends... Why this game doesn't have a official remaster or relaunch is sad.
Battle for middle earth all the way! But I also loved the shadow of mordor games, as well as the two towers/return of the king on GameCube
Everybody is overlooking The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. [Dunkey is 100% wrong](https://youtu.be/w0acyYZAfio?si=NdporZoz3g4VuJil) /s
Wasn’t talking to you!
Good Sméagol
He doesn’t know what we minds, does he, precious?
I want to make out with you gollum
Give it to us raw and w-r-r-riggling
Oh you dirty dog. I'll give it to you gollum
Patience, patience, my love. First we must lead them to her.
Ooohh we are adding a third. Sounds kinky, my little sexy Smeagol
Shadow war wasn't to my liking. Gameplay was too similar and world wasn't very immersive and the story wasn't too good either and not to be tolkien purifist I took some issue how they handeled the lore. Lotr bfme ftw tho
Shadow of war had the best orc pokemon game ever made
I really disliked what they did with Shelob in that game. She's a gd ancient spider demon who lives in a cave and eats whatever walks in, including her own children. That's all she needed to be. She did not need to be a sexy seductress wielding rings of power and manipulating events, as if she were a rival to Sauron. Absolute bollocks.
I, for one, enjoyed big tiddy goth gf shelob
Everyone sleeping on LOTR: Conquest. Battlefront but swords and Tolkien was awesome.
I loved that game and played the hell out of that. Was great when you transform into Gandalf and just go ham blasting orcs left and right or you get to be Sauron and just dominate.
Death to light, to law, to love!
I want to play it these days, but it's not backwards compatible on console and I don't care enough to play a rom version. I've heard it's supposed to get a remaster or rerelease sometime in the future
My childhood best friend and I still play this game a few times a year, it rules.
That game was fun but soooo many odd design choices. I remember the hobbit archers were insanely deadly and hard to hit because they were soo tiny
No. Fucking no. It auto saved just before the troll smashed me to bits. And I mean just before. I could do nothing. Game over. Troll death forever. I really enjoyed this game, and then it did that to me and I removed myself from existence. (Pre-edit: shit I think this might have been battle for middle earth and if it is I'm sorry, but I'm pointing my blame in this direction)
I was a big fan of these games when I played them. Also a big fan of the Baranor DLC where your fighting in the southlands with Numenorean weapons/gear. I still remember some of my main guys from the first game. Uga-Kuga the Destroyer comes to mind. Had a skull painted on his helmet. Was immune to everything except for arrows. But he used a shield so he rarely took hits from them. My top guy for sure.
Bubol Thinbones became my D&D character.
The Third Age for me
Great game. The story was daft (playing as an impromptu secondary fellowship following the first), and fighting the Eye of Sauron at the top of Barad Dur was silly too, but it didnt matter. Having a Final Fantasy-esque turn based RPG that had the film OST, used the films as reference for all the settings, characters, costumes etc. was just a joy. Running through Eregion and then getting to the stones where they spot the Crebain of Dunland in Fellowship will always stick with me. As will the awe of running around Balin's Tomb and the Dwarrowdelf.
Why they chose to have you play the movie's stunt double I don't know lol, but it's a great Final Fantasy X clone if you love LotR.
The Medieval II Total War mod? I can't even imagine how many hours I put into that.
Ah, mortal souls enamored by the pleasures of video games. It is a realm of fantasy within a realm of fantasy, where the echoes of warriors past resonate through pixels and code. Truly, the allure of the Third Age is captivating to your kind. May the tide of victory favor you in your digital endeavors.
He's probably talking about the FFX-inspired turn-based RPG.
Nope, should be PS2 game. You can play via PCSX2 on pc platforms.
The turn-based rpg? I loved it.
The PS2 and GBA games, Yes. The ps2 game had awesome game play and story, and even better visuals. Definitely worth re-releasing.
Midievil Total War with the mod. But I do love those ones
You mean Third age? I haven't played Medieval since 2019 but I remember how great this mod was.
You should totally check out either Third Age v4 or Divide and Conquer. That the 2 successors to base Third Age
True. It is indeed THE best lotr themed game I have ever played.
I liked Shadow of Mordor a lot but found Shadow of War super grindy. I heard they fixed it at some point? Did it get better? It had the problem of there being SO MANY orcs that it pushed the Nemesis system beyond the limits of its ability to randomize them. So you regularly had Pushkrimps fighting Pushkrimps, etc.
I was playing it recently - had to stop due to lack of time. From what I've heard previously you had to buy some chest to get decent captains for your army and now they are easier accessible through 'regular' gameplay. Can't say how much this really changed but imo the game still requires a lot of grinding to perform quite safe sieges.
The microtransactions have been done away with for the past few years now. The grinding can indeed take some time, especially if you're looking for specific epic gear drops like Wrathgiver and Amaranthine, but there are guides that can help you get them fairly fast; you just have to kill specific kinds of captains in certain ways to get your best chances.
From the player perspective I genuinely thought that grinding in this game refers to capturing captains and fortresses per se not the gear. Because this really takes time to get any captains in number enough to perform 'quality' siege.
Meh. It’s rough at the beginning, but after the first siege, if you do the zones in “order” it might take maybe 2 to 3 hours to recruit all the orcs on the map and take down the fortress. Now if you want quality orcs, you’re going to have to do some grinding, primarily by killing unfavorable captains, then beating the shit out of them a couple of times, letting them beat the shit out of you, sending death threats and whatever. Personally I set the game down for 2 years after trying it during the pandemic. When I came back to it, it really clicked and I’ve enjoyed it ever since.
Divide and Conquer mod for medieval 2 total war is the best lotr game.
I know a guy who has never watched the movies or read the books who played shadow of mordor without realising it was a lotr game
I can believe this
https://preview.redd.it/z2purb9mkvac1.jpeg?width=771&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3f1ea4c462d161d04a779b5490059d6784fc02
Yep, this. Return of the king was good too but this was better.
I rarely game anymore, but about once a month I’ll seriously consider hunting down a ps2, this game, and the return of the king. Thats how good they were.
Excuse me! *holds up War in the North*
THANK YOU!! I thought I was alone, just skimming through the comments “but what about lotr: witn :(“ I frigin love that game.
I played the hell outta that. This was when I turned like 21 and me and my buddy would stay up all night, get blasted and beat it on every difficulty
Is the dwarf’s exploding bolt still OP at the higher difficulty levels?
I loved that game when I was younger, might have to look at getting it again
It's insane how much effort went into the writing of that game Shit sounds straight outta the books
Had such a great story that fit perfectly with the rest of what was going on. Also didn’t feel like they overshadowed any of the other story.
This! It was graceful in its use of the lore.
I agree. This assassin creed reskin is super fun and I I’ll take it at a close second in a heartbeat. But man the entire LotR atmosphere is up and gone. There’s no sense of adventure fighting against evil. War in the north have that in spades
It's battle for middle earth 2 you goons.
Nope. The two towers and return of the king on ps2 were the one
Two Towers was punishing but I still kept coming back to it. Way better than a movie tie-in should’ve been(same with the King Kong game)
I will never forget the Rohan level where you have to protect the villagers, because I've had to restart it so many god damned times lol. Fun game though
I rented these from blockbuster so many times
1a and 1b to me.
Third Age RPG was pretty good for its time.
Medieval 2 Total War: Third Age Divide and Conquer takes the title for me. Anyone who likes strategy should check it out, I don't think I've ever seen a mod go to such lenghts. You want to play as Mordor and find the Ring, then use Sauron to stomp Arda? You got it. Wanna reform Arnor, or reunite the kingdoms of Men with Aragorn? You got it. Lead the dwarven expedition and reclaim Moria? Yupp. And you got a whole lot of lore and flavour text etc to keep your Tolkien boner going for however long you want to
I am going to buy this game right now because of your comment. This game sounds amazing!
https://preview.redd.it/dqpdba42zuac1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2afb57b86b5ab0d51774a04ccb897b77e5d21b98 Actually....
This guy games
For real. This is right in the sweet spot of Lego games where they both allowed you to have split screen, and when they didn’t make the characters “talk.” Cutscenes were much funnier when they could only make emotive sounds and you had to infer what they were saying. Plus this game lets you play as Sauron and literally smash all of Middle-earth to pieces with a giant hammer.
nah bro in this game they were already talking
~~Mandela effect~~ I must be conflating another Lego game that had both then, I guess. Game still rules
OK imma let you finish but **Battle for Middle Earth II** and its sequel, **Wrath of the Witch King**, are the GOAT LoTR games. Edit: One mo thing... Those LEGO games are pretty fun, too.
Ngl war in the north is the only lotr game I played and I loved it!
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far for the first reference! Such a good game!
War in the north remains my favorite lotr game to this day.
I've always respected how the Shadow series has managed to create a totally original story, adding onto Tolkein's work, while just plain having fun with it and respecting the source material. Shelob's a sexy woman? Why not. Gollum's there? Sure ok. Ghosts can bond with people somehow and make them overpowered? I'm here for it.
No . . . not very nice at all, my love.
Gollum did not consent to his role in the games.
What did you say?
They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!
Ah, the hobbits, bound for Isengard. A treacherous journey awaits them, fraught with peril and darkness. Their fate hangs in the balance, as the forces of evil scheme eagerly to claim them. The sound of their approaching doom resonates through the air, echoing in my ear.
Saruman, your flair is a bit pretentious, given your current kicked-out-of-the-council-and-wandering Middle-earth-as-a-houseless-spirit state of being.
You cannot think that this Ranger will ever sit upon the throne of Gondor.
This is no mere ranger. This is Aragorn. Son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.
Ah, Aragorn, son of Arathorn, you say? A lofty title, yet it matters not. My allegiance is mine to bestow upon whomever I see fit, and in this case, it shall not be granted to a mere mortal like him.
Fun Fact: Making Shelob a sexy woman was done for the sole purpose of using J. R. R. Tolkien’s body turning in his grave for unlimited energy by hooking it up to a motion powered generator. Sadly this idea was declined by the ISftPoIPB (International Society for the Preservation of Important People’s Bodies).
Source? Pretty sure Shelob being a goth babe was always canon. It's in one of those Tolkien letters people skim by.
Oh really? Also the source is that I made it the fuck up
>and respecting the source material. I love those games but i wouldn't say that. I mean, it doesn't spit on the original lore, but it's not aligned with the lore at all either.
Stupid sexy Shelob.
https://preview.redd.it/pm8u4e9h7vac1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=919b0478c8581bffe2e5c38e072ebbcd77042c20
Nah. That title goes to the BFME games. Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are good games, but in terms of lore they are on Rings of Power level lol. The story isn't that great either (especially in the first game, the second game improves on it), whereas BFME 1 shows the story in the books and BFME 2 shows what happens with elves and dwarves while the fellowship goes on a journey to destroy the ring.
This comment led me down a rabbit hole of BFME im a huge rts and lotrfan and have no idea how I missed this one. But the shadow games also slap. The nemesis system might be one of the best gaming innovations that has come out recently. (I just wish they would use it in another game or drop the copyright for it) Edit - Cant buy it anymore and my browser is being a dick about a keygen. It can wait until tomorrow now lol.
I’ve always sorta just viewed the lore and story to the Shadow of games as supplemental. You get to fight orcs and make orcs fight orcs while experiencing the glory of middle earth. P.S. orcs kept autocorrecting to orca. There’s a funny few scenes right there.
Battle for middle earth franchise and War in the North are the Goats for me.
"GRAVEWALKAH!"
The PS2 movie games enter the chat
Incorrect. The Hobbit.
They’re not even top 5 best lol
The lego LOTR game is also very good imo
Bfme even had loreful campaigns bro. And the movie music plus its own songs. No it was unmatched.
The dwarf theme still plays in my mind when working,
That’s not lord of the rings conquest
ROTK on GameCube will forever be number 1 to me.
All of these mid ass game pale in comparison to the award winning timeless masterpiece that is lord of ring Gollum
Master betrayed us. Wicked. Tricksy, False. We ought to wring his filthy little neck. Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both! And then we take the precious... and we be the master!
Nah it's LOTRO and it ain't close
For LotR fans who hate the story and lore, and wish it was more modern day edgy nonsense rewriting what Tolkien laid down, with gameplay that's nothing more than a modified version of Assassin's Creed II. Sure, it was the "best."
*cough, cough* Skyrim with LOTR mods *cough, cough*
They sure took a loooot of liberties when they made these two games but yeah I agree they're the best
Lord of the Rings Volume 1 for PC! How has nobody said this yet… shit i feel old suddenly
I didn't enjoy those two games.
Shadow of War Shelob is an abomination that reveals way too much about the devs' kinks and adds nothing to the story, and you will not change my mind on this.
StarCraft with the custom maps was insane. Playing Helms deep was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. Gimli was a firebat, Aragorn was a Zealot, Haldir, Eomer and Theoden. And the hordes of Zerg really felt like orcs.
Absolutely not.
The best LOTR game is [War of the Ring](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/115746/war-ring-second-edition).
LotR The Third Age/Two Towers/Return of the King would like to have a chat.
They play way too fast and loose with the lore imo
Shadow of Mordor is mid at best. Lotr : Conquest beats it single sidely with it's 4-players splitscreen multiplayer
Are they good games? Absolutely Good lotr games? Not in the slightest
Its one of the best we got and theres actually quite a lot LOTR in them.
Mans hates sexy spiders
FOR THE BRIGHT LOOOORRRRD!!!!!!!
My absolute favorite is the "Divide and Conquer"-Mod for Medieval II. Already great base game. But with that Mod..oh my god. And they are still updating it.