Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Burn the hobbit village and eat their young
For the first time in a long while today, I was actually excited about a new game announcement from EA. Electronic Arts is bringing a new Lord of the Rings game home this year, and this time it's a roleplaying game. I love Lord of the Rings, and being able to actually control the characters in a RPG setting seemed like a match made in heaven. Then I actually clicked on the link.
For some reason, EA, an American company, is following the Japanese mold of roleplaying - a style that lost it's charm years ago.
To me, a roleplaying game should allow you to assume a place in a mystical land. You should then be able to recruit who you want in your party and make decisions that will shape how your quests unfold. A roleplaying game should have heavy emphasis on story, obviously, but large amounts of character development, an interesting leveling up system, and a battle system that can keep you interested for the entirety of the game should be requisites as well.
Japanese roleplaying games are nothing more than 80 hour movies. The fighting engines are usually turn based, like you'll find in the new Lord of the Rings RPG, and therefore grow quite tiresome after a while. The battles boil down to little more than hitting A when it's your turn, then waiting for the rest of the attacks to unfold. Animations for attacks are repeated ad nausea, making the greatest challenge fighting back the boredom.
When I found out that EA was making a LotR RPG, I immediately thought about Star Wars. Another fantasy universe that is just begging to be explored. Knights of the Old Republic was a successful game because it not only contained a really cool and fun battle engine, but allowed you to control the story as well. EA has not yet confirmed if they will allow this, but I have a feeling we will see something much more similar to Final Fantasy than Knights of the Old Republic. Just imagine how cool it would be to decide you want to keep the ring for yourself and rule over all of Middle Earth. Sadly, we may never have the chance to enslave a village of hobbits and make them dance for our amusement.
This is not one of my usual anti - EA rants. This was a game I actually would have purchased if it sounded good. Video games are meant to be played, though, and with a turn based combat system, I have a feeling this game will be more movie than game. Poo on you EA.
For some reason, EA, an American company, is following the Japanese mold of roleplaying - a style that lost it's charm years ago.
To me, a roleplaying game should allow you to assume a place in a mystical land. You should then be able to recruit who you want in your party and make decisions that will shape how your quests unfold. A roleplaying game should have heavy emphasis on story, obviously, but large amounts of character development, an interesting leveling up system, and a battle system that can keep you interested for the entirety of the game should be requisites as well.
Japanese roleplaying games are nothing more than 80 hour movies. The fighting engines are usually turn based, like you'll find in the new Lord of the Rings RPG, and therefore grow quite tiresome after a while. The battles boil down to little more than hitting A when it's your turn, then waiting for the rest of the attacks to unfold. Animations for attacks are repeated ad nausea, making the greatest challenge fighting back the boredom.
When I found out that EA was making a LotR RPG, I immediately thought about Star Wars. Another fantasy universe that is just begging to be explored. Knights of the Old Republic was a successful game because it not only contained a really cool and fun battle engine, but allowed you to control the story as well. EA has not yet confirmed if they will allow this, but I have a feeling we will see something much more similar to Final Fantasy than Knights of the Old Republic. Just imagine how cool it would be to decide you want to keep the ring for yourself and rule over all of Middle Earth. Sadly, we may never have the chance to enslave a village of hobbits and make them dance for our amusement.
This is not one of my usual anti - EA rants. This was a game I actually would have purchased if it sounded good. Video games are meant to be played, though, and with a turn based combat system, I have a feeling this game will be more movie than game. Poo on you EA.
// posted by Tom @ 9:08 PM 
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