Thread: Guardians of Middle Earth - Lore Shattering Fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruLML...&feature=g-u-u


It's just a feeling...

Wow! Let's take the Lord of the Rings, put it in a blender, add some tofu, and make a LOTR smoothie! Down it with a big healthy glass of what the flipper and squeeze out a juicy lump of out whatever the hell that was.


Hmm...it may smell like poo but it's healthy!

Ultimate LotR PvP, amiright?!

What in the name of Eru Ilúvatar did I just witness? The magicky warhammer I might have lived with but Gollum attacking Gandalf at Barad-dûr? How? Why? In what timeline?

Is this some kind of card game - i.e. summon a random hero to fight against another random bad guy - or what?

Well at least it's going to be more balanced than LOTRO's PvP.

I don't care about Lore - I don't care if gollum is able to defeat Sauron, it "sounds" like a interesting game. But a 5v5 arena, is that it?

Also, was the magical elf galadrial? And I suppose the man was aragorn? I loved Gimli acting like Thor.

By looking at the teaser alone, it just seems like another game to jump on the DoTA clone bandwagon after all the successful ones (LoL, HoN, DOTA2, etc.) that became famous. Using the IP to draw more players, like LotRO did.

I won't be touching it with a 10 meter pole though. Not my kind of game.

Marvel meets Middle-earth, clearly.

Gimli is Thor, Sauron is Asgard's Destroyer, and I'm pretty sure Legolas is Hawkeye.

LOL. It is one of those moments when you don't quite know whether you feel amused or embarrassed.

Looks like another pathetic moneygrab by WB, a travesty of lore and an insult to the books.

Tolkien deserves better. Much better than this... game.

MOOOOOORRRRTALLLLLL GANNNNDALLLFFFFF!!!!!!

Uh, Gollum in a PvP game? Seriously?

*sigh*

If this is the route that WB is going, I'd hate to see what RoR is going to have.

After watching that...I'm really lost for words.....really...stunned.... .


No wonder Christopher Tolkien is so strict and conservative about the content.....I suddenly very much understand his past actions now.....

Oh look, it's another cynical cash-in from WB!

At least it proves once and for all how little it means when Middle-earth Enterprises sign off on anything.

Is this a mix of diablo, league of legends and lotr? They are destroying tolkiens beatiful work. I shall pay so that lotro earns money and warner bros will understand that this is a good game

It's a good genre, so if done well it should work. Mobas generally have terrible communities though. I also am confused to why this is on consoles.

Just lol. http://www.guardiansofmiddleearth.co...ians/hildifons

Or i should feel bad...I have a lore shattering immunity buff after all these so i'll just lol.What is this world coming to?

Edit:

Originally Posted by Reniannen

What in the name of Eru Ilúvatar did I just witness? The magicky warhammer I might have lived with but Gollum attacking Gandalf at Barad-dûr? How? Why? In what timeline?

Is this some kind of card game - i.e. summon a random hero to fight against another random bad guy - or what?

It's like you dragged and droped my thoughts from my brain in your post...You have my rep sir.

Hey, I love M-e lore just as much as the next guy - but sometimes I marvel at the extreme rigidity that so many lore headz possess. I'm reading The Histories of Middle-earth right now and I am almost done with the making of LOTR volumes and having seen how flexible and willing the professors was to include elements that many lore headz would chastise others for even considering - I'm not so sure that Tolkien Lore has to be so strict - ALL THE TIME!

Some examples: Wild hobbits with ranger abilities, Tom Bombadill saves the hobbits from the barrow wrights by gathering them up in his arms and FLYING (as in superman) them to safety. The Wizard King!!! Elf-wrights, Goblin-wrights, he was thinking about bringing in dragon(s) as a foe for LOTR - and many statements that suggests that magic was more wide spread and in your face then it turned out to be in the final published materials - he was way flexible and willing to break his own lore for the sake of a good story or point or just as a vehicle to entertain.

Reading these strange ideas and analyzing the creative process that the good professor displayed when creating his world made me think that Middle-earth is a living breathing world with much more going on in it than just what is written in stone and there is much room for other notions and ideas and stories... and I also get the impression from all I've read about the man and his works that he wanted his world to be explored, discovered and expanded with other perspectives.

Having said that (and I'm sure I will get pounced on) I also believe that his published vision should be preserved as he wrote it - but I have no doubt that if he would have not been published - he would have continued to alter, amend, enhance and re-write his tales which could have led to a body of work that even the most knowledgeable lore head would have trouble recognizing.

So on these type of interpretations (as in the game in the OP) I am willing to suspend some of the literary extremist bias that i have long fostered because:

1. Tolkien's work as publish is laid out un-altered and will forever be the original IP - no matter what anyone else creates around the IP - Tolkien's final intention (or what he decided to settle with) is set in his novels and can never be diminished or infringed upon by any other body of work - it is to powerful to be threatened by the whimsy of other "sub-creators"

2. There are tributes to Tolkien's world that carries out the professors final form and sticks to it as close as possible to honor Tolkien and his IP (LOTRO for example)

3. Who doesn't want to kick the &&&& out of Sauron? - or play Gandalf? - or slap around the Balrog? - or kick Smaug in the teeth? These things can never happen in these lore adherence game.

So perhaps there is room for some "what if" fun? I wouldn't want it to be mixed in a game that values the set in stone lore - but i can dig it in a separate game.

The trailer looks fun - nice battle scenes - well done - makes me want to play that game as Gandalf and slap around Gollum just before handing Sauron his lunch.

I can handle a little creative play on this world that I have loved since i was 13 and keep it separate from the professors published vision, after all I've played games where i killed Dracula, beheaded Medusa, stopped professor moriarty's evil plans, Banished Q from the continuum and ruled Camelot - all of these things are lore breaking to their IP.

Bring it on - and if it sucks - then it sucks - but if its fun - then - HEY!! - its fun - lighten up and dont be so serious ALL THE TIME.

I just had this idea:

Why not make it so somewhere in Lotro you can go and there is an arean where you can play this game. With session play so you can be one of there characters and battle it out. It would be a nice break from PVE, and not that lore breaking really. After all we have Rune Keepers.

What do you think?

Am I the only one that thinks "Lore Shattering Fun!" would make an amazingly awesome tagline for Guardians of Middle Earth?

Originally Posted by Dwarendele

Hey, I love M-e lore just as much as the next guy - but sometimes I marvel at the extreme rigidity that so many lore headz possess. I'm reading The Histories of Middle-earth right now and I am almost done with the making of LOTR volumes and having seen how flexible and willing the professors was to include elements that many lore headz would chastise others for even considering - I'm not so sure that Tolkien Lore has to be so strict - ALL THE TIME!

Some examples: Wild hobbits with ranger abilities, Tom Bombadill saves the hobbits from the barrow wrights by gathering them up in his arms and FLYING (as in superman) them to safety. The Wizard King!!! Elf-wrights, Goblin-wrights, he was thinking about bringing in dragon(s) as a foe for LOTR - and many statements that suggests that magic was more wide spread and in your face then it turned out to be in the final published materials - he was way flexible and willing to break his own lore for the sake of a good story or point or just as a vehicle to entertain.

Reading these strange ideas and analyzing the creative process that the good professor displayed when creating his world made me think that Middle-earth is a living breathing world with much more going on in it than just what is written in stone and there is much room for other notions and ideas and stories... and I also get the impression from all I've read about the man and his works that he wanted his world to be explored, discovered and expanded with other perspectives.

Having said that (and I'm sure I will get pounced on) I also believe that his published vision should be preserved as he wrote it - but I have no doubt that if he would have not been published - he would have continued to alter, amend, enhance and re-write his tales which could have led to a body of work that even the most knowledgeable lore head would have trouble recognizing.

So on these type of interpretations (as in the game in the OP) I am willing to suspend some of the literary extremist bias that i have long fostered because:

1. Tolkien's work as publish is laid out un-altered and will forever be the original IP - no matter what anyone else creates around the IP - Tolkien's final intention (or what he decided to settle with) is set in his novels and can never be diminished or infringed upon by any other body of work - it is to powerful to be threatened by the whimsy of other "sub-creators"

2. There are tributes to Tolkien's world that carries out the professors final form and sticks to it as close as possible to honor Tolkien and his IP (LOTRO for example)

3. Who doesn't want to kick the &&&& out of Sauron? - or play Gandalf? - or slap around the Balrog? - or kick Smaug in the teeth? These things can never happen in these lore adherence game.

So perhaps there is room for some "what if" fun? I wouldn't want it to be mixed in a game that values the set in stone lore - but i can dig it in a separate game.

The trailer looks fun - nice battle scenes - well done - makes me want to play that game as Gandalf and slap around Gollum just before handing Sauron his lunch.

I can handle a little creative play on this world that I have loved since i was 13 and keep it separate from the professors published vision, after all I've played games where i killed Dracula, beheaded Medusa, stopped professor moriarty's evil plans, Banished Q from the continuum and ruled Camelot - all of these things are lore breaking to their IP.

Bring it on - and if it sucks - then it sucks - but if its fun - then - HEY!! - its fun - lighten up and dont be so serious ALL THE TIME.

You know,it may be fun for you playing this Took and kill Sauron but if it is,better make a game destined to be funny,lore breaking but yet stated from the beginning to be lorebreaking and made just for fun.This kind would be tolerated,but this MoBA genre,i assume from personal experience ,is more accepted by kids or teenagers...So the company targeted this particular mass of gamers and made the game thus so it will please them.And what are they pleased with?Simply being badass Sauron and Gandalf and kill each others petty servants and finally each other in some "epic" battle".But i believe this wouldn't apply to older (and thus more mature) people.The game is made that way but by no means it bears the title of "funny"by it's makers.They sell it as a game based on the book(Lord of the Rings title,are you sure there is going to be any reference to the book?I bet not a single scene).

Now,concerning Professor JRR Tolkien...

I've read several of HoME series and i was surprisef and impressed of how much material there was cut out or altered and how the final published passages differed from the first scripts.For example Treebeard in league with the Enemy,Strider being a long lost cousin of Frodo(not called Frodo yet)who had gone to Mordor and anyway he was a war veteran rather than a ordinary hobbit etc.But in the end, Tolkien cut them out of the story,perhaps knowing these would be unfit.Wouldn't he publish these instead?But he didn't.HoME is just made to project the Professor's thoughts,initial ideas and plots and generally the evolution of the story,but not a different story.


As for the session play,it is a great idea as long as it it labeled "funny"and lorebreaking from the beginning ( i want to /fishslap Sauron:P)

Oh Mahal, WHY!?