I have been playing Lord of the Rings Online for a little while now, and as those of you who have played it know, the introduction part--where you can do pretty much whatever you want with little to no repercussion on your character or the outcome of the actual game--is quite long; I have since moved on to the actual game. The graphics are pretty good, as I have come to expect in my time playing through the few FTP MMO's that I have played. Full disclosure: I only saw a part of the first Lord of the Rings movie, so the relation that the game has to the movie or the storyline that should be somewhat intertwined (I would think) would be totally lost on me, so I am strictly playing the game without any knowledge of anything good or bad that the movie may or may not portray. 

That being said, I have to say the game is a bit weak. Granted, I have not gotten terribly far and I have not gotten too involved with the overall story. I have finally been moved to the new world, “Middle-Earth” and am a level 8 burglar for the time being. I have, since choosing my character, decided that it might have been a better idea for me to pick a different one, as mine seems a bit boring. Overall the game is good--not amazing, but good--but I feel that if I were to compare it to Forsaken World, or Vindictus, it would not stand out, or even be my first choice. I appreciate the game for what it is, and admire the game for its creativity and its list of possible characters, but I feel that true fans of the Lord of the Rings saga would probably enjoy this game more than I have, and even see the similarities between the movie and game. 

My time, thus far, within LOTRO has been spent wondering when the excitement and amazing game play is going to begin.  All in all I would not on any level say that the game play or anything else about this game is bad, or even sub-par for that matter. As a matter of fact, the free online-based games that I have played thus far, including this one, have blown my mind. The fact that these games are made free in order to give gamers who may or may not have the funds to play the huge releases is amazing. Honestly, I have always been an individual who wants to get the most “bang for my buck,” and LOTRO along with the other games I have written about in the past blog posts have definitely given me that. 

So what’s next? Well a couple of things: number one, I begin playing Atlantica Online very soon, I’m downloading it presently; and number two I am going to set up a time and date, where you will be able to play with me online! 

I am trying to decide which game to play, I know that Black Ops will be good as it has quite the multiplayer lineup, however we might just stick with the FTPMMORPG’s, and play a game like Vindictus or one of the other ones, we will let you know.. actually on second thought, you let me know! What game do you all want to play with me? Do you want to run through quests in Forsaken World, or do you want to go toe-to-toe against a team playing domination in Black Ops? Make sure to email me to give your vote! One last thing, we just recently added a youtube video so be sure to check it out, it is on How to Use the Stix Studio (VERY INFORMATIVE).

-Jason