The LOTR RPG

[Syed Fawad]

This can be interesting....

April 27, 2004 - As the clock struck midnight tonight, Electronic Arts made it official as it suitably unveiled the third and final console game from its Middle Earth property, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. Formerly known as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Third Age could definitely be considered the most ambitious of all the Frodo-inspired titles so far, as it has moved away from the typical hack and slash model displayed by previous editions and gone towards the realm of the RPG instead.


Sharing several of the same technologies and engine aspects as both The Two Towers and Return of the King, The Third Age is entirely turn-based, and according to the EA representatives we spoke with yesterday evening, should feel pretty familiar for fans of Final Fantasy in terms of its gameplay. While exact details concerning the battle engine in particular are still unknown, the screenshots provided certainly hint at an approach similar to that of Final Fantasy X or X-2. Though that comparison will have to remain speculative until we can get a closer look for ourselves at E3.

Forward thinking aside, fans of the previous two games may want to take note that The Third Age doesn't follow the plot of the three movies exactly as they originally happened; but rather, from a slightly alternative point of view. So while players will definitely be able to fight on the same side as the Fellowship from the start of their adventure, the party at their command will be entirely original -- controlled (and created?) from scratch as they play through the events of the first three films. Rather than just relive the same moments experienced in the last two games, however, The Third Age will also provide players with all-new original missions created specifically for the game; and in some instances even provide the opportunity to enjoy scenarios from Sauron's point of view as well.


These original characters and their new mission doesn't mean that familiar faces from The Lord of the Rings won't be making appearances, though; because they will. In fact, it's expected that every single character from the movies will show up in one form or another with everyone from Legolas to Gimli filling out the ranks. Interestingly enough, EA won't confirm or deny whether or not members of the Fellowship will actually be playable once you run into them; but given the popularity of the characters and the history behind EA's other LOTR games, we expect them to be so. Especially since the producers have already confirmed that the battles players can expect include the confrontation with the Balrog, the defense of the Osgiliath, and the battle of Helm's Deep. When all is said and done, the events of The Third Age should help flesh out some of the less explored aspects of The Lord of the Rings mythology and is expected to fill in some of the blanks left by the epic movies.

One of the most surprising announcements about The Third Age, however, is the fact that it doesn't currently feature online support for any of its native platforms; be it the PlayStation 2, Xbox, or Nintendo GameCube. Though representatives at EA certainly didn't rule out the possibility when we posed the question to them, they responded to our query about the feature with a firm "our focus is on the single-player experience." Though the team also hinted that that plan could change over time. On a similar note and when asked about any possible GameCube to Game Boy Advance connectivity with the upcoming GBA title of the same name, EA could not confirm.

Unfortunately the team at EA is keeping a tight lid on the rest of The Third Age's remaining features. While we did manage to coax the team into admitting that there won't be any cross-save compatibility with past Lord of the Rings titles and that the PlayStation 2 version is a little further along in development than the rest of the SKUs, all other information is being kept a highly guarded secret. Character creation, team formation specifics, and whether or not you'll be able to use the one ring that rules them all won't be revealed quite yet; but EA has high hopes and big plans for these elements further down the line (re: say hello to your new best friend, E3!).

Needless to say, the prospect of a true role-playing game set in The Lord of the Rings universe is pretty tantalizing; and hopefully we'll have more information on it in the coming weeks. In the interim, we have a nice batch of announcement screenshots in addition to a handful of exclusive screens and a render of the Balrog you won't find anywhere else. Click on our media page below to check them out and stay tuned for more as it develops.



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Normally, I am not an RPG follower, but you have here LOTR theme and FFX style gameplay, kinda tough to resist.

[N1ghtw0lf]

looks interesting...Not a big fan of turn based RPG's but the subject matter does sound interesting as i've never seen a popular movie turn into a turn based PRG (yes i know the books came out first but if it weren't for the success of the movies NO lotr games would have been released in the past 4 years)...still...looks interesting

[cloudvii]

i'm just afraid , EA can make it a failure .
i remember in 1998 there was another lotr rpg called "The middle earth" , but it didn't get a great success

[Tori-Yama]

Hmm, the RPG giant Final Fantasy will be turned into a movie, and the movie giant Lord of the Rings will turn into an RPG. Ass, face wheres the differents?

[Kabuto]

I hope the game doesn´t have those totally out of context mission, that has the SNES role game.

[Frostmourne]

EA seems to have made alot of cash out of the LOTR movies. it obviously wasn't enough hope this game goes by the books and not the movies.

[cloudvii]

i don't think so , it'll be about the movies , that's what made EA gain more cash than the other lotr books based games

[Frostmourne]

Originally Posted by cloudvii

i don't think so , it'll be about the movies , that's what made EA gain more cash than the other lotr books based games

oh well. id prefer a quality game base on the books than a quality game based on the movies simply because the game would be much longer. also the books are way better than the movies. alot of hardcore Tolkein fans were disappointed when the movies came out. alot of content was missing and he also messed up a few parts. hats off to Peter Jackson though. he did a really good job of the conversion.

[cloudvii]

actually i didn't read the books , but the movies were fine for me
but anyway even if u r right , what will make EA make it based on the books while it paid alot for using rights of the movie ?

[Frostmourne]

Originally Posted by cloudvii

actually i didn't read the books , but the movies were fine for me
but anyway even if u r right , what will make EA make it based on the books while it paid alot for using rights of the movie ?

lol i know what you mean. i still have the right to dream don't i?

[N1ghtw0lf]

Originally Posted by cloudvii

i don't think so , it'll be about the movies , that's what made EA gain more cash than the other lotr books based games

ummm...basing a game off a movie that is based off of a book is just basing a game off of a book with a middle man...now that they have faces to go with the characters of the book doesn't necessarily mean they will stray away from the book, but they will more than likely used models based off of the movies...

[Zer0Soul]

How many more times could I play the dang movies. I'm honestly having the series ruin for me. It's like taking a great idea, and running with it over and over again, until you just hate it. It's happening with me for the LOTR series.

I wouldn't be upset if they had atleast tried there best to create their own orginal storyline or run from a different set in the books.

[Strider]

would you prefer them to make a game about isildur or young elrond?

looks interesting enough, and unlike zerosoul i havent gotten bored of the movies or games yet, and ive more than likely seen them atleast 2x as much as him in fact... i think im gonna reinstall return of the king (the pc game) since it was a pretty fun playthrough

[Syed Fawad]

I fail to see how many here think that it'll be a failure. This is going to be one RPG that the RPG-hater will definetly try

They say that they are not going to make the game just like the movies. take this note from the first post:

The Third Age doesn't follow the plot of the three movies exactly as they originally happened; but rather, from a slightly alternative point of view. So while players will definitely be able to fight on the same side as the Fellowship from the start of their adventure, the party at their command will be entirely original -- controlled (and created?) from scratch as they play through the events of the first three films. Rather than just relive the same moments experienced in the last two games, however, The Third Age will also provide players with all-new original missions created specifically for the game; and in some instances even provide the opportunity to enjoy scenarios from Sauron's point of view as well.