Right I will get straight to the point the game is starting to intrigue me but I totally hate Lord of the Rings.....I find the lore boring, I hate the fact I was made to go to the hobbiton while in NZ and well I just don't like the films or the books.

Can a anti- Tolkein guy get into this game. Is it worth my money? Discuss.

Pretty sure it's Dan Ryckerts favorite game from this year. And he HATES Lord Of The Rings

TIME TO JUMP ON THE BACKLASH TRAIN AMIRITE

Watch some game footage and see for yourself.

I don't hate LOTR and I found the movies enjoyable. Personally this game was off my radar until I started looking into it. I would think that any game would butcher the lore until you find out it based on Tolkien's lore book not just the movies and while his writing style was very textbook, seems to be very dry. It can also be incredibly rich material when allowed to breath. Hence all thr fantasy derived from it. I think I'm going to give it a shot.

As said in the quick look the game is pretty similar to Assassin's Creed but better in almost every way and with Arkham-esque combat. That's a bit reductive, though, because the Nemesis system is unique and interesting.

I've only read the LotR trilogy, the Hobbit, and seen the movies, so I'm not a Tolkien super-fan. So far (I've played about 3 hours) the story holds up on its own. I haven't felt like my previous LotR knowlege was necessary at any point, it just feels like a fantasy story. I'm sure some references are flying over my head, but the game is fun so I don't mind lol.

Is the nemesis system in the pc version?

@smilingpig: why would it not be?

It is the fundamental mechanic of the game, so It'd be weird if it wasn't.

It has similar mechanics as Assassin's Creed or Batman Arkham Asylum series in the combat. It also has it's own thing called a nemesis system which is the most intriguing thing about the game to me.

If you enjoy that reductive concept in a fantasy setting (regardless of if it's LOTR or not) then it sounds like you may like this game.

I am interested in the game and will check it out when I can. I have a huge back log though so it won't be for a while. I have become ok with that, though.

Apparently is it not in the 360 PS3 versions because reasons? probably hardware limits, but I can't see why it wouldn't be in the PC version.

Just going around and killing random orcs and some of them gets mad at you and vice versa sounds like some extreamly generic shit. Is there any sort of story based structure in this "open world" game?

I don't think this game looks good at all... LOTR or not.

I have the feeling that game might play better than it demos visually, but honesty it looks like all you do is climb around and kill a bunch of dumb orcs.

If this game had a decent demo beta I would probably buy it if I could be convinced the gameplay was fun.

@rethla: watch the quicklook then decide, Brad mentions a couple of times how he thought that shit would get repetitive but he still finds himself enjoying it

Well i can deal with repetitive but this "super complex" nemesis system seems really shallow. One orc happens to have killed me X amount of times and now hes roaming around somewhere, why should i care about that?

Becouse he shouts out "I already killed you X times Waaaaaaaagh! instead of just "Waaaaaaagh!" like he would in a non-nemesis game?

@rethla: I guess it boils down to if you enjoy the combat enough to stay intrigued, and most people are saying the combat system is solid and enjoyable, so it's kinda the make or break aspect. As for the interest in the nemesis system it's made in such a way where it set ups to build a sorta relationship with the player, like Brad pointed out having an orc constantly escape can annoy you as well as being constantly killed by a specific one, which is a solid idea, but it again boils down to if that kinda stuff gets to you. If you're the kinda person that games never get to them in the sense that you don't get upset or annoyed, then I could see why that concept would fly over you.

They could remove all LotR references from it and no one would be any the wiser. It's just an excuse to hack your way through hordes of orcs.

The game itself is nothing ground-breaking (and, to be honest, basically everything about it is ripped off from other games) but I will say that it is still more fun to play than the AC games.

Ofc. it all boils down to if you like this mechanic or not but in context of nutta27s question there doesnt seem to be anything Tolkien specific about this nemesis system, quite the opposite infact as it all seems 100% generic. So if there aint any sort of heavy story based structure on top of it there is no reason to judge this game as a part of the Tolkien universe.

This game looks sooooo boring. I just think the batman combat system is so rote.

It's a better version of Assassin's Creed. So if you liked that, with Batman combat, then the answer is yes.