Gandalf uses the entirety of Middle Earth as a Farmville game. He shows up and prods a few things, tells people to do stuff and then DISAPPEARS for a year or so to come back and wonder what's with all the dead goats.
I'm just glad that Tolkien's heirs kept such careful control over the IP to make sure it was only licensed to companies that would love and respect it.
Considering that the characters look more like their movie counterparts, I wonder if this is more New Line Cinema or WB's doing. War of the Ring and The Hobbit were a couple of games published through the estate. They were based off of the books, rather than the movies, and the characters looked very different than the movie counterparts.
A lot of people don't know this, but the reason Sauron is so malicious is that he saw a vision of this game and resolved to kill anything that might evolve to develop computers.
To be fair, this game probably captures Tolkien's feelings about war quite well: most of it is waiting forever for something to happen, sometimes it is painfully expensive, overall it is blatantly stacked against you and there's nothing fun or romantic about it.
It is a necessary evil though. Technology advances during wartime is 10x's faster than peacetime. Would also argue looking at 2021, peacetime adolescents(aka SJW's) are some of the worst people in history... Stick them all on a Hot LZ for a couple of days, the ones left will be much more respectful!
Wow, in a 24 minute long video, I actually read this comment EXACTLY when he said it - like it was subtitles. Only way I'd notice he said way, not method :P
@@immex5694 /Oblg. **Blizzard:** _Do you guys not have phones?_ **Gamers:** _Do you not have PC developers?_ The ONLY reason you even have a job is because we bought Warcraft 1 and 2, Starcraft 1 and 2, Diablo 1 and 2, and World of Warcraft (classic and retail) on PC.
Me too, i play games all mi life, dont have friends ad to be honest with mi age, dont know if i can find one, and the two friends i used to have not so much friend, and well, personaly miss mi pc, o mi i miss them
@@Krysnha I quit gaming to find more friends and go out more, fell in love with a guy, and had fun for a few months, then that stopped because ''we weren't in the same phase of life'' and now I am just bored again. mood. The moral of the story: just have fun gaming, who cares.
@@letheas6175 So true, o so true, i love games, they save me more times i can think, i personaly have to go to mobile and there are good mobiles, for example, now i am with dawn of titans, azur lane, final gear, brave conquest, i have to dig a lot to find those, but i am having fn with them, i have two friends, but one when i try to advance friendship, he just go to continue his life, the other we were two different, i dont have mi normal games, i dont have mi pc normaly i am more of a retro gamer, love old games, but well dont have mi pc for now, but thanks, i remember extra credits, before it become shit, was going to show how games can change life a small segment and i love it, i feel so happy, then come, your a natzy and games must educate and game must have dlc
he himself wields one of the elven rings you know? late response but he just doesnt want people to use the one ring. hes not out here destroying his own or asking galadriel and elrond to get rid of theirs either.
@@zackestin1368 Humans using rings of power didn't exactly work out well in LOTR. Gandalf is a Maiar, the risks aren't the same. IIRC the other elven rings are with Elrond and Galadriel, since they're elves, again, the risks aren't the same.
"We can occupy higher level lands to obtain more *Power* for the *ring.* The higher a land's *Power,* the stronger its defending army." - Gollum. Yes I want to hear Andy Serkis as Smeagol in full performance capture tell me I need to construct additional pylons. (edit - 18:14)
As someone who played Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 + Shadow of Angmar, the idea of a scam mobile game like this existing instead of a sequel or a remake of those beloved classics makes my blood boiling.
The sad part is that these scam games make 1000x more money than a full fledged middle earth game would because of a small whale population that need to feel gratification by spending money to be good on a trash game
Good LOTR games are exception not a rule. Other than Middle Earth 1-2 and Shadow of Mordor/War, and those mediocre console hero games from back in the day there is not really much. It takes pretty much decades to get a good Star Wars games and there are atleast 2x more better ones than LOTR ones so getting a good LOTR game is very unlikely.
I love how people are protecting this game, basically saying Josh is a fraud and telling people to go play it. Some of them probably aren't even trolling. Just very sad.
The game was fun back at the days. Very predatory indeed, but it was given a huge freedom of player to player interactions. Comparable to Albion online level of freedom. I don't recommend it now though
Also, the system was simpler than he wanted it to look like. Your commanders had normal level,, of items and level of respect. Level of respect was opening new skill trees (from 2: at r0 to 5 at r5), level was giving skill points and items were giving stats
It's called coping. Humans have a hard time accepting something that goes against their strong beliefs. If you grew up religious for example, making you an atheist is near if not completely impossible. Doesn't matter how much evidence is presented or who is right, because the biological structure of our brains genuinely denies anything that goes against our long-held beliefs. This is present in many examples, and Starfield is a great representation of that. It's not even a real game, more of a fishbowl simulator with cutscenes trying to hide the 500 loading screens, yet it's 70 dollars or more if you got it early, and the vast majority of the audience is having massive cope at the fact they got swindled and played more than 2 hours because they kept being told "it gets better after 10 hours" and now they can't refund it because they played it too much and now they're stuck. Welp, best thing my brain can think of now is coping about my massive financial error.
@@tortellinifettuccine I am not paying 70$ for a game players will need to fix over the next decade or two, anyone who bought into it only has themselves to blame.
"They've told the voiceactors to crank the sexy sultry voiceacting to 11", "it's not about understanding, it's about clicking, quickly, watching numbers get bigger and sparkles happen" "you're meant to be lost becouse then they'll sell you the way to be found" and the calculations about elite commander that pile over each other....not every hero wears cape.
Couple things from the perspective of a developer (no, not of this... thing): 1. Their site drops a bunch of cookies on computer without your permission (neteasegames and easebar). Would suggest anyone clear their browser after visiting the site. 2. They've left a _crapload_ of commented-out code in their live site (stuff like an entire game panel) on their site. Yuck. Oh, and one of these games is apparently... Overwatch? Hmm! 3. The slideshow navigation button IDs are "perv" and 'next". No, not "prev". Interpret that how you will. 4. They seem to have meta tags for a bunch of their crew, which is... kinda sleazy, tbh. All except their designer, whose tag is just blank. I think we can guess why.
"The best way to monetize a game is to intentionally break parts of it and let players pay to skip them. So, by that logic, the best way to monetize a mobile game intended for casual audience is to break the entire game and then let players pay to skip all of it." -someone from somewhere at some point in time
Honestly idk why people dont do purely skins to monetize games. People like skins and if your product is good they will willing support you. Ive played a free game called path of exile for years and then ENTIRE GAME IS FREE NO PAY WALL 90% of their profit comes from skins. Theres no way to buy an advantage. You can buy more stash tabs to store equipment but i didnt even need them till 2-3 years playing the game. And by that point i didnt mind giving them money to support their game. I spent probably 40$ in 5 years of playing. Id say thats worth it. Imo its been the best f2p model ive ever seen. No cheap tactics to make you buy shir
@@whateverforeverin because if you want to monetize your game through skins you have to make an actually good game so people want to buy them. I do love PoE though
@@ss5gogetunks ya thats true, most of these games are half baked games that are made solely to trigger dopamine. Hence why most these games advertise as "woweww soooo addicting" if your selling point is addiction youre already a malicious company haha. Since when did addiction become a good thing? Apparently it is according to mobile game devs
This is an icon for the entire reason I don't play mobile games. 99.9% of the app store is this particular variety of trash. It's frustrating, and it makes me want to invest the time to make a mobile game myself that is actually fun and monetized ethically. Thanks so much for the review, though, Josh, really enjoying your content and your style!!
Yeah and netease is one of the worst. I mean shit, they were the ones who distributed world of warcraft in China. Blizzard didnt like the deal so they cancelled it to look somewhere else, what does netease do? I mean they've worked with blizzard for a long long time no doubt making hundreds of millions, they even had a giant statue for WOW! Surely they have a lot of respect for the company who brought them so much money and fame? Well they tear the statue down and post about it online, basically saying f*ck you and your a greedy a*shole. I know blizzard is a horrible company, everyone knows that, but netease really thought they were the good guys? Lmfao. They have the market over there strangled and anything that wants to get published has to go through them basically, I don't know if blizzard even has an option but to negotiate with them again. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the owners of lord of the rings didn't even approve of this game, pretty sure China doesn't care about American copyright. But it's also entirely possible they took the bag n said do whatever you want, wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I remember years ago (like 2016-2017?) coming across a video for a small mobile FPS game, and the comments were full of "THIS game proves that mobile gamers are on par with PC or console gamers, and people saying mobile gaming isn't real gaming is dumb". It was really sad, because I doubt these people would enjoy mobile games as much as they would even a simple console/PC game, but for whatever reason they don't have the funds or ability to obtain a low-end computer or a old generation console, so they're stuck playing the absolute bottom of the barrel stuff while hoping that one day they'll get actually good mobile games.
@@harmlesshawk1794 You can literally just dump a bunch of emulators on a even shitty android phone and have access to games a billion times better than everything on the game store, it's genuinely that easy, my phone basically exists as a replacement for handheld consoles, because they're a concept that's well and truly dead these days.
Remember back when "Clash of Clans" first released and was a breath of fresh (debatable) air (again debatable) for the mobile market away from this kind of soulless shovelware? Supercell made about 1.25 BILLION in Clash's first year on the app store? Candy Crush made 1.293 billion the same year, 2015, and is still generating 1.190 billion even in 2020, for comparison Clash as a whole, including clash royal, made only 483 million. Now let's move onto a more apt comparison, "Game of War- Fire Age" panned as one of the most vapid lifeless, soulless and greedy mobile games released in 2014 made 963 million USD in 2020 for the year. Expect shovelware shit like this to keep on coming, especially since it appeals to China, the whale of all whaling countries when it comes to the mobile market.
@@Mikalent jeez I remember game of war fire age releasing, I was excited for a new game similar to clash of clans to play. NOPE lmao I dont know if I played more than a couple hours? At least in clash of clans you have the skill and strategy aspect of base design and attacking + army comp.
Unfortunately this isn't just one game, this is 100s, 100s of reskinned low effort garbage with different themes, kingdom builders, dragon kingdom builders, viking's, pirates, fantasy settings, old english settings, eastern settings, cave men, pet tamers, tribesmen, vampires, zombie invasions, other ips like warhammer/star trek ofc, hell you name it; from multiple developers. Whatever garbage they can use as an excuse to drag in a few more whales with the lowest effort content imaginable, ever since around the time of Travian these games have just been multiplying over and over again. Anecdotally so take it with plenty of salt but from my experience they seem to attract a surprisingly large amount of boomers with little time/knowledge to game properly and well paying jobs, ripe for these companies to manipulate. Recently though they seem to have gotten a lot worse as people continue to turn a blind eye to what's going on in the mobile game industry and more and more companies try to cash in on the dodgy business practices.
I don't get how people wanna play those shitty game, seeing publicity of this crap make me wanna puke in my mouth... Games where better looking in the early 2000, that's crazy
College student here. I play these kind of games because I have very little time, and these kind of games require very little time commitment. I suppose you're a boomer yourself?
I consider it a righteous duty to hack these mobile games as I loathe their time gate models which is nothing more than a means to entice a player into spending money.
@@qballman1278 It's not easy by any means but I will point you in the right direction, what you need is found on the dark web. Get yourself the "tor" browser and dive in.
Doesn't need to be good just needs to sell loot boxes. Despite the CCP crack down on gaming its for minors which won't affect the sheer amount of microtransaction purchases by much. It'll sell if the world doesn't suffer financial collapse in the next 8 months
Not all netease games are like this. Onmyoji is their best (selling) game and you can get everything for free. There's incentive to pay, sure, but you don't have to if you have self control lol Gameplay is fun. Story is nice despite being relatively inaccurate to Japanese mythology.
Erhmm, you forgot the beautiful letter like all letters U from the magnificent word BUY. I like the alphabet... I hope you find your way back to the holy church of the alphabet, dear brother.
"pointless number embiggening" reminded me of a magical ring called "the embiggener" in an old game called "crusaders of might and magic". +10 strength when equipped. which makes a BIG difference in that game, all your melee attacks will do 25% more damage!
Just a reminder: Pay to skip is the most profitable form of microtransactions, by far. Not pay to win, not cosmetics or anything of the sort. The most effective way to gouge consumers for money is to make them pay to skip the wait or eliminate tedium. This is exactly why all major publishers started including some sort of boosts or skips in their single player games, under the guise of "player choice". Nope, they know very well that this will earn them stacks of cash and you better believe that the game design was influenced by this decision too. Everything will be made just a bit too long or too annoying.
Yyyyep. Nearly every time I see a game include XP boosts or some sort of boost that allows you to skip grinding I think "why are you giving me stuff that skips through content that YOU MADE?! I should be enjoying my time with your game, not wishing for the monotony to end!"
You obviously missed the fact that this was based Tolkien's little known alternate version of LOTR where no named character could ever die. It was a scathing commentary on hero worship and the futility of the endless cycle of warfare.
It makes me so sad that such a gold mine of lore from the books or beauty from the movies is so wasted. There are dozens of Lord of the rings games and maybe 4 of them are good.
@@frankm6546 Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor are awful games that make a complete mockery of Tolkien's work. I bought the first one and after 3 hours of playing I returned it to the store. Absolute trash.
As soon as I saw Gandalf helping a character to level up a ring of power(!) I knew the developers probably hadn’t even seen the movies much less read the books.
Yeah. I would usually expect something like that from a cheap chinese game with broken english translation, which at least would make me laugh at the obvious absurdity
@@legion999 They took quite a few liberties and changed a few things (Isildur and Shelob really were faaaar from the Original), true. Though they portrayed the Rings of Power as a corrupting influence, which was very fitting
For anyone interested in the math, to get any single elite commander with 95% probability, where you don’t care which one you get, you would need to open 3,190 loot boxes. To have a 95% probability of getting all nine elite commanders you would have to open 5,470 loot boxes. Remember that by the time you get the first one you will likely have close to 30 items for each of the others. Either way, that’s a ridiculous amount of real money.
"Uninstall BlueStacks with antivirus", I really hope that wasn't the official support site basically calling out its own installation practices as being akin to malware.
Damn bro. It's easy to poke fun and sometimes get angry at scammy shit in our hobbies like this when you don't have problems with gambling and money spending yourself. I can only imagine. Taking advantage of people who cannot control themselves just show how low those companies are. Scum of the earth.
It’s not just you. I’ve done the same. I hate gacha and loot boxes and I still paid in a few gacha games to get the characters I wanted. I knew I was a hypocrite and felt awful. I hope you’re doing better these days, man.
@@NioFiota I've often mocked these types of games (which they deserve) and also those who pay for them, without really considering the fact that we're all different. I couldn't relate to having these issues, because to me these games are so offputting and boring... However, if I might try to relate through other areas of life where I have struggled to make good choices, it might not be so crazy. I too have kept making bad decisions, knowing they were bad. Failing and learning is part of being human. So is failing and not learning, sadly - which is why we sometimes need to band together to understand and protect eachother (another essential part of being human). Instead of being resentful at someone struggling with something that comes easy for others
You could probably generate a lot of electricity from Tolkien turning in his grave because of this if you wrapped some cable around him. And had some magnets in the coffin to function as a stator and a cable to bring the electricity out.
@Ofal Unless you're Mordor, Isengard, Nurn or Angmar in which case it's Saruman. Still makes no god damn sense as there's onlu meant to be 9 of the god damn things.
there's a ton of less impressive but not evil rings of power that the elves made as practice idk if they address it at all in the game but it could be explained if they wanted
@@Graknorke An elvish ring of power is anathama to men. The way elves live is both in the world of the seen and unseen and the rings are the same. Men are of the seen world and using the rings pulls them into this other world. This makes them the wraiths.
"Like a christmas special, where everyone shows up for the sake of showing up." Oh you mean like the Star Wars Christmas Special? 😎 Also I'm still convinced that the voice actress for the intro was actually an AI. Gutfeeling.
Not surprising as soon as I saw netease. Every game they make is like this, have a million different systems to give you the illusion you are progressing and also just autoplay everything to give oyu the feeling of progressing without needing to do anything
Not a single mobile game of this type has ever been good in a decade, yet they still make billions off their Asian marker and whales. It's pure lunacy That's why the arena based games are better if you like mobile games. Still a little whale-ish but much more engaging and competitive unlike these strategy city builder husks
I wholeheartedly disagree with your assertation, there was not a good example of this over a decade ago either.(especially seeing as I'm pretty sure the genre is less than 10 years old) I mean any sort of game with an in built wait timer for core gameplay mechanics is not a good game, it is a cash grab.
@@christianstonecipher1547 Clash of Clans came out in 2012, so almost a decade ago. Although it's not really as manipulative as this game, it does still have wait timers for progress. I don't know if there are any other games like it before 2012, but CoC is one of at least.
Yea just look at the chat its rarely in English but not really Asians too just eastern Europeans but thats probably because he is playing the European version.
This game in reality - You’re a tourist visiting a new city and you’re looking for something fun to do. You’re walking on the sidewalk and a man walks up to you and asks if you’re looking for something fun to do. You say “yes how’d you know”? He answers “your recent search history told me”. “Follow me” he says. And you do what he says immediately and follow him. You walk to a park and he picks up a very large black lawn bag filled with rotting garbage. He dumps all the trash on the ground and tells you “now I want you to pick all the garbage up and put it back into the bag”. You agree immediately. Before you start picking up the rotting garbage of half eaten moldy hot dogs and crap filled baby diapers he tells you “now you can pick all that garbage up with your hands or I can sell this small plastic children’s shovel to you for $30 and you can use that instead” you agree immediately and pay him $30 cash. After you spend 10 minutes shoveling the garbage back into the bag(would have taken 15 minutes without the small children’s shovel) you ask “what’s next”? The man handcuffs you to his own arm and says “follow me”. He takes you to different places around town and at each consecutive stop he dumps a larger bag of rotting garbage on the ground and tells you to pick it up. He says each time “you’ve used up the number of times you can use that shovel, you need to buy a new one”. So you buy a new shovel each time and the price for the shovel goes up $10 each time. After doing this 10 more times you have spent all your money and several hours of your time. The man turns to you and asks “well did you have fun?” What would your reaction be?
am i terrible person if i said no to the child shovel and each time he ran me off to a new section of town i start wiping my refuse encrusted arms on his face? im slightly mean and vindictive. i have had to personally distance myself from mobile gaming due to low self control and the increasingly predatory gambling mechanics that companies keep shoveling into their games.
By the way, this is not just a design for a game, this is a design for your entire life under the New World Order. You just follow instructions and be happy, most definitely don't think while doing so. Occasionally get some small "perks" for your patience and obedience dropped from the above. If you are not content, you can gtfo, and in another place the same treatment awaits.
This game is licensed through Middle-earth Enterprises and Warner Bros, whose rights stem from JRR Tolkien selling the adaptation rights to LotR and Hobbit in the 1960s. Has nothing to do with the Tolkien Estate of today; Christopher Tolkien would have stopped Peter Jackson from turning LotR into movies if he could with how much he disliked them, but he could not.
@@SNWWRNNG which is kinda dumb because the first 3 films were given so much care and attention with that resulting in a fantastic trilogy that probably opened up tolkien to a brand new generation. The Hobbit films were clearly a cash grab and Jackson was left with a mess to clean up but the original trilogy will remain the best film trilogy of all time imo.
Really appreciate the cost calculation on the commander recruitment lootboxing. I was about to do it and write it up in a snarky comment, but you did it magnificently. Great video, you have saved the world from uncounted wasted gamer hours and the heresy of it's 'lore'. *golf claps *
@@Kravenrogue Trouble is when you find a game that looks fun only to be hit with a paywall that completely stops you from enjoying the game. Which is every mobile game I've come across in the last 10 years. I guess Clash Royale is one of the only exceptions, being much more skill based than p2w.
I knew when the fella died who ran the Tolkien Estate the other year this shit would happen. They had a good run, but LOTR is now going to be milked good and proper.
@@ILubBLOfficial Well They got Millions of people interested in Tolkien's work so I think it's fair to say that your part of the „true fandom" if you're a fan of the movies... Also why the fuck are you Gatekeeping? For one that's not at all what Tolkien or anyone with a brain would want you to do and most importantly why do you feel the need to degrade people who like the movies?
@@ILubBLOfficial I learnt about the Franchise through the Magnificent Movies. Then got the books, played the games and saw documentaries for the Lore. NEVER disrespect the Best movies ever made, it's Blasphemy.
I actually always enjoyed the idea these games have. Like, time based strategy city builders with semi-automated battles. Unfortunately they are just build to abuse your patience and throw money at em. Wonder if there are actually games like this,but without the abuse to get money
I mean you have to think, they are in a business and the game is free to play, meaning 3/4 of their possible profit is immediately gone, I’ve found you can really be just as good without anything that costs money and all forms of currencies can easily be acquired throughout the game, and for me to get into the top 90% of players I’ve spent nothing and only been playing for two weeks, that’s longer than the bombs in my COC take 😂
“The only thing they got right is the branding.” They know it too. Their latest ad is a guy saying how the game probably sucks, but then someone else convinced him it’s good and the only thing she had to say about it was that it is “Officially Licensed!!”
OMG, I am getting that add CONSTANTLY. The pure irony of the situation makes it so hilarious. And I just love how the woman says 'It's officially licensed!' as if that is an argument. loooool
Remember the good old days of Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, The Settlers, & Heroes of Might & Magic, & there were no microtransactions or waiting times?
I just remember one of the adverts was like "Ugh, I got Gandalf? I already have too many wizards!" And I'm here thinking, "Aren't there like, only 5 wizards in the canon of Lord Of The Rings?"
I remember one that was a dude playing the game while waiting for a weird roulette wheel to select a hero for him (which doesn’t even appear to be in the game?), while he’s saying “come on, who wouldn’t pick Gandalf?” It lands on a troll, and the ad essentially makes it seems like this troll was somehow more useful than Gandalf.
@@mickyjo5 No. By principle, I don't think these games should even exist. It's manipulation and takes advantage of people with inhibitory control issues. Then again, most people don't actually think of their impact on the world, but think of what they can get from it at any cost.
@@justinpinho947 Then what makes you think anything you say about a game you have never played is valid? Just because josh says its bad and its a mobile game?
Ads for predatory mobile games with fake gameplay during a Josh Strife Hayes video about a predatory mobile game with ads featuring fake gameplay. Peak UA-cam here.
A friend of mine told me about the game and since he is a LOTR fan I just played along and downloaded it. Thing is, even as an avid gacha gamer that gives a pass to some barebones games just because waifus, this shit was so bad I couldn't bear to play more than a few hours before quiting and I just lasted that long because my friend came in to "remind" me to play so we can build a guild and shit. I feel bad for him... I have my guilty pleasures, yes, but this dude unironicaly likes Raid shadow legends and this "game".
I refuse to call this a "typical Gacha game". This is a RTS game mobile which is very fun in 2016-2017. The reason is bad is, as you progress you will realize you need an active guild and probably having a much time to stare on your phones (yeah, reminds me about Travian or Clash of Clans but worse).
It follows the same basic confusing outline of all the mobile "Rise" games. A thousand currencies that give you small power increments and unlock other currencies to do more of the same.
Allow me to explain: I played this game for like 3 or 4 weeks. I understood it completely. It's hardcore pay 2 win (I stopped playing - but not without spending around 150€ before...). It's a battle simulation and this is it. I got one T3 commander (0.1% Chance...) but it doesn't matter if there are other ppl w more money to sink than you. You can get better "Hero Idle Missions" in the moment you get more Honor/Respect on your commanders you also get better mission -> this leads to: you spend more money, you get higher respect on ur commanders, you get better missions which actually allow you to get T3 points (like 60 from the multiple thousandths u need) also the amount of the points increases the more respect u get. This is loop which will rob your money like a casino if you get addicted to it. Trust me. I lived through it and stopped due to things in my personal life -luckily - it's actually funny finding your vid by now bc finally someone points at the mistakes.
I played this game just 1 week, stop playing after they start sell stamina potion in days 6 or 7. This game already have unbalanced population, most people play as rohan, elf, gondor & mordor
Any of you both did not played this game or u dk how these games works. Ok there is some lottery but t3 commanders aren't necessary to win, although they can be dropped by the time. Moreover u don't lose any important things, commanders or currency after end of the season. It's, not p2w, and it's not p2p. Just admit it, I beg u. Don't spread lies
I played this game. I choose Rhun faction, i my server, Rhun all warband combine only have 10% power than #1 warband lothlorien & mordor, it's really imbalance population. I have 6 heroes, 5 from gacha & 1 i bought from cash shop, more hero you have faster you can move in the map. My last ring power about 13k/h, #1 in ladder board have 50k+. How they do that if not pay2win?
I spawn at nort east area in rhun faction, when my warband decided to conquer one of neutral area, i can't even reach there. It took me 3 full days just to crossing the river, it's faster with more heroes and stamina potion of course, that's how rank 1-10 do. The stamina potion price is @600gems, it really broken the game for p2win player
This game is the exactly the same as all other f2p stratrgy games. Game of thrones browser game, game of war, vikings: war of clans, lords mobile. They're all the same game but reskinned
Game of war was what started a lot of these back when it was kind of fun but they killed it with bloating and now all these game just start with all the bloat so there is no hope
Lost count how many times I laughed 😅 I totally fell for every single instance designed to make you shell out money. Why? Because I'm a Tolkien sucker. He asks, "if this had no attachment to the Tolkien mythos, would u still play?" Without hesitation, no. Absolutely love this video!! Now, I think Faramir just woke up...
As someone who actually does play Raid Shadow Legends, the ads they have for their game actually do lie as well. A common thing is that they show that putting armor on champions changes how they look which is a complete lie. Most of the time, it's the ad changing from one character to another. Other ads seem to show characters with wrong stats and going over the level limit. I think we can all blame Hero Quest for that due to every single one of their ads being a lie...or maybe every mobile game just hires the same people.
@@thelawenforcerhd9654 The answer most people will tell you is that it's the only dark fantasy gacha game on the market. It's basically the only western style game that's even remotely competent that doesn't look like world of warcraft but even more cartoony.
I'm a MASSIVE LOTR fan, have been ever since my parents first read the books to me as a youngster. (Not that you'd EVER be able to tell by my username.....*cough*). When I saw this on the mobile store, I jumped at the chance. ten mins later I was regretfully deleting the app. TERRIBLE, terrible, terrible. I'm glad Josh is doing a video on this, I can't wait for the premiere!
Genius. Thanks for saving me the trouble of playing it for a few hours to realize all that you’ve said. Remarkable how high the reviews on the App Store are.
That was a lot of effort to illuminate the infuriating mobile "game" industry monetization on predatory mechanics and why laws need to be placed to cut down on false advertisments. Props to you!
Another fun thing is when you play Evil, your guide/helper is Saruman. Imagine playing Mordor and the faction leader of another faction is telling You what to do. Imagine playing Rhun and this bearded guy you never heard of is telling you what to do. Imagine playing Angmar and this robed Witch-king wannabe looking guy(without a cool helmet) is telling you what to do. Imagine playing Isengard and your faction leader is telling you what to do. Huh. At least on Good, everyone knows Gandalf, and Gandalf is a neutral party.
I like how they have a detailed battle log to try to make you think it's a detailed, complex game you're playing where your choices matter - to cover up the fact that it's actually literally not that.
This is literally the game for the average mobile gamer, who just logs on during their breaks and just quickly clicks on everything and then comes back during their next break to get that personal satisfaction of having gotten some more pointless digital rewards, that aren't even 10% of what you could just straight up buy in the cash store. Then they think the game is good, spread the good word and that's how whales are attracted. It's shameless...
@@Nerazmus "This is a building strategy game. There is nothing predatory about it." You must be trolling, a 'building strategy game' is like a Total war game where there's at least strategy in the battles and on the campaign map, and where you can actually have impact on both as a player. You're only limited by the resources you get each turn and they depend on how well you play, not how much time you waited or how much money you threw away. This garbage is exactly like Raid, there's no gameplay, they're barely video games
@@raykeur1 Which Total War game? All TW games are turn-based strategies with real time battles. And you have to buy them, they are not FTP, so of course they don't have in-gameshop. This game is like Tribal Wars or Travian to name the most popular ones. This game is not at all like raid because throwing money at it doesn't give you much of anything. It can give you decent general, far from the best, it can give you some boosts you get by just playing the game, and you will still have so many you won't know what to do with them. To actually get any benefit from throwing money at it, you'd need to throw thousands at lootboxes. However by the time you are done opening those to get your shiny general, everyone else will be so far ahead of you it won't help you whatsoever. How do I know all this? Well because the game is dominated by FTP players. There is no reason to buy anything other than supporting the developers.
Honestly thank you for this video, I kept seeing the ad for the game and being interested in LOTR I wanted to check it out. I take a look at the game in the store, say to myself, “oh no this looks a bit shit, doesn’t it?” I’m glad that I watched your video to confirm my suspicions, and the commentary was spot on amazing.
From someone who actually plays the game he got it all wrong, don't buy into this bull of information. Actually take time and learn how it's played before, hell I thought it was bad at first myself but I kept telling myself to learn it first, now I'm addicted
@@alex.b3864 The thing is, you can’t look at it like a normal game. I play a lot and I’d best refer to it as a mobile LOTR themed board game. The fun isn’t so much from the game as it is hanging out with other fans of Tolkien in a world full of memorable set pieces. I personally really enjoy it, and a bunch of people from different factions in my season 1 server are organized in a discord and getting ready to play Rhun together in season 2 and it’s a lot of fun. This game lives and dies by the community that forms in your world chat and fellowship chat.
I've seen and played several of these types of games mostly to get resources in much more competent games as a free bonus. These things are a dime a dozen and they even have taken over other larger titles as well like the Warhammer series most recently from what I've seen as well as things like star trek.
creating a battleground for easily manipulated and/or rich people where the objective is to outspend the opposition is incredibly lucrative they have replaced the variables of skill and time investment with cash, people can go in and get that dopamine hit of defeating other players without investing time and getting good its all designed in a way to hook you in and psychologically manipulate you to spend money, thats why they all look and play the same, its the same tactic of manipulation
The advertisement for this exact game interrupting this video in the middle was simultaneously hilarious and depressing... Truly pathetic, how the majority of the games industry (mobile and otherwise) is now fueled not by creativity and passion, but cheap marketing and charlatanism.
Actually a good trick if you ever tackle mobile games in the future: They don't track if you *actually* join, just if you pressed the button that links you to there. As soon as you hit it you can just stop the window from even finishing to open. :D And you get the free stuff!
You've used a line about "so you don't have to" that put me in mind of the Nostalgia Critic, but frankly where his show said that as a gag I feel like your work treats it kind of seriously and is potentially saving people several times more hours of their life AND a big chunk o' change if they were the type to get sucked into this kind of thing.
Play the game, then formulate an opinion. Currently the server I'm on (server 16) you use gems to buy mathom chests to get commanders for your armies (thats one of the only things josh was actually correct about) but you also get to keep those commanders for the next season, essentially meaning you dont have to spend double gems to get the same commanders. There are also invitations you can get at a rare rate to instantly get the commander (he conveniently didn't show this in the video). So far I have only spent money on the season pass. It gives you like 50 ish mathom keys and between 5-8k gems. The only thing p2w about the game is being able to buy mathom keys, and even then, it's still way less p2w than other games purely because of the fact that you get to keep the commanders when season ends.
You also get gems for free. I've gotten at least 2=3k gems for free just going onto the game every day for about an hour ish. It's a time sink more than a money sink
@@mickyjo5 "Play the game, then formulate an opinion." Dude you telling people to form an opinion when they watch a video of the same "game" that you are playing? Clearly YOU need to form an opinion on how that "game" is bad and people like you are the reason to why mobile "games" are for poorly educated people.
I have little respect for people who fall for terrible mobile game ads. I have even less for people who unironically like these games. And I have none for the predators who make them.
It didn't even take a fake mobile ad to attract me, I just liked LOTR,downloaded it and after not being able to log back into my account for like half a year or so unironicly like this game. Though admitetly, it doesn't have that much in common with the original epos.
„We‘ll get Faramir by throwing beer at him, which every LotR fan can tell you is completely accurate because Faramir was clearly a raging alcoholic and not the warden of the White Tower! I don‘t care what the books say, this is canon!“ X-D
Holy shit this exact game came out for Android 3.0 about 15 years ago. I can't remember the name but it has all the needlessly complex systems, all the pointless clicking, the resource management, the tile defense system with timed upgrades. Just without the husk of the former corpse of LOTR draped over it.
This is just your 'standard mobile cashgrab excuse of a game' template used and reused and abused over and over with a different skin/franchise/world pulled over it. Why people play these games is beyond me. Just do fucking chess puzzles for god's sake if you have no time at all.
You could have summed this whole thing up with "It's a predatory city builder mobile game with a LotR skin. Avoid at all costs." Also, I bet you this is one of those games where the "devs" would never fix the actual bugs but the second anyone edits their gems the devs dox them, kill their dog, and EMP their house
@@mickyjo5 Sorry dude its a mobile game and you're defending crap like this. Sunk cost fallacy? STOP PLAYING GAMES LIKE THIS. Go buy a cheap console and some second hand real games
Aren't all mobile "games" just predatory crap to get you to spend money? I view mobile games with such a negative stigma behind it, that I never play them. I always stick to paid games on my console. Or even a lot of games I've played for free aren't even predatory like these mobile games. The f2p games I've played use cosmetics as a premium thing and you buying that stuff gives them funds to continue supporting the game. Thats way better imo.
@@NYC_Goody If you haven't played the game what exactly gives you the right to have an opinion on how it works? I've been playing the game for over a month now, I don't see what they are doing as predatory at all. Gems can only be used on a very limited amount of things in game. I wish more mobile games would actually do what this game has done. Josh says it is devolving but it is actually evolving, trying to make the mobile gaming scene less predatory in general. Play the game for a week and actually go in with an open mindset, you will see what I see. Josh clearly hates mobile games, so clearly he didn't actually do his research on the game. It reminds me of an old browser game called Tribal Wars but without the premium aspect tbh.
So what you're saying is - this game is the Amazon series made in video game form. It has all of the blatant lack of love for the lore, the sole motivation of money, and all of the psychological traps of its PR.
Voice overs are expensive and they probably didn't expect anyone to get this far. As someone who quit and uninstalled right after you watch the first battle I can say this is very accurate.
I honestly find it disgusting that some great voice actors have given their voice (literally) for horrible, whale-baiting mobile gacha games that only look good on the outside, but dig a little deeper and its a gold-plated piece of crap.
It's even worse, the 10 tokens for 1.99 at a +900% (so 1000%) "Value" is only available once (it says so below the price), which means the remaining 380 tokens needed to get it in a best luck scenario have to be bought at a cost ten times higher, so it wouldn't be 39 * 1.99 = 77.61 pounds, but 1.99 + 380 * 1.99 = 758.19 pounds (assuming improbably high luck on the draws).
The only Lord of the Rings game that actually feels like being in a LotR novel is still (and probably always will be) levels 1-65 of Lord of the Rings Online. Later levels still draw from the lore but by then the legendary item grind has it's hooks in you and it tends to detract from the enjoyment considerably.
"Gandalf returns from where ever the hell he's been"
To be fair, that is accurate to the lore
Probably the only real lore accurate thing in this so called game.
At least he wasn't late.
ROFL
"A wizard is never late, he arrives precisely when he means to"
Gandalf uses the entirety of Middle Earth as a Farmville game. He shows up and prods a few things, tells people to do stuff and then DISAPPEARS for a year or so to come back and wonder what's with all the dead goats.
I'm just glad that Tolkien's heirs kept such careful control over the IP to make sure it was only licensed to companies that would love and respect it.
Christopher is probably rolling in his grave right now. :(
I know right? I cry on the inside.
Considering that the characters look more like their movie counterparts, I wonder if this is more New Line Cinema or WB's doing.
War of the Ring and The Hobbit were a couple of games published through the estate. They were based off of the books, rather than the movies, and the characters looked very different than the movie counterparts.
@@ShermTank7272 You make a really interesting point and might be onto something about how this got greenlit.
ikr
A lot of people don't know this, but the reason Sauron is so malicious is that he saw a vision of this game and resolved to kill anything that might evolve to develop computers.
''And then Gandalf returns from where ever the hell he's been'' is surprisingly canon.
At least they got one thing right
Canon* just for future reference
*canon
*cannon
@@Br1ttany1992 Did you know that Saruman in the book is called Saruman of Many Colours? Tolkien was so non-PC, it's sad.
- Adûnâi
To be fair, this game probably captures Tolkien's feelings about war quite well: most of it is waiting forever for something to happen, sometimes it is painfully expensive, overall it is blatantly stacked against you and there's nothing fun or romantic about it.
"Amazon cancels Lord of the Rings MMO due to Tencent dispute" Can't forget this one ;(
@@ipixz3 mhm..
@@ipixz3 My reaction was relief.
@@ipixz3 atleast LOTRO will keep going!
It is a necessary evil though. Technology advances during wartime is 10x's faster than peacetime. Would also argue looking at 2021, peacetime adolescents(aka SJW's) are some of the worst people in history...
Stick them all on a Hot LZ for a couple of days, the ones left will be much more respectful!
"They are your first premium currency"... That is an ominous statement.
"You are meant to be lost so they can sell you the method to become found."
Apt description of any manipulative systems (or people) really, well said.
I wish people would play fun games instead of games they'd rather pay money not to play.
@@Geospasmic but fun games dont employ emotional and psychological manipulation of the highest level to keep you playing
Honestly I saved that quote. So true and good.
Wow, in a 24 minute long video, I actually read this comment EXACTLY when he said it - like it was subtitles. Only way I'd notice he said way, not method :P
You dont have a phone?
Ah, NetEase. Blizzard's partner for the making of Diablo Immortal.
How to start on the best of notes.
What you dont have a phone?
@@immex5694 /Oblg.
**Blizzard:** _Do you guys not have phones?_
**Gamers:** _Do you not have PC developers?_ The ONLY reason you even have a job is because we bought Warcraft 1 and 2, Starcraft 1 and 2, Diablo 1 and 2, and World of Warcraft (classic and retail) on PC.
Josh: *Explains all the systems in the game*
Me: *Brain glazes over*
The correct response.
The body will automatically shut down when it senses a p2w scam of an IP
“I don’t have any friends. That’s why I’m playing this game. “ I felt this.
Me too, i play games all mi life, dont have friends ad to be honest with mi age, dont know if i can find one, and the two friends i used to have not so much friend, and well, personaly miss mi pc, o mi i miss them
@@Krysnha I quit gaming to find more friends and go out more, fell in love with a guy, and had fun for a few months, then that stopped because ''we weren't in the same phase of life'' and now I am just bored again. mood. The moral of the story: just have fun gaming, who cares.
@@letheas6175 So true, o so true, i love games, they save me more times i can think, i personaly have to go to mobile and there are good mobiles, for example, now i am with dawn of titans, azur lane, final gear, brave conquest, i have to dig a lot to find those, but i am having fn with them, i have two friends, but one when i try to advance friendship, he just go to continue his life, the other we were two different, i dont have mi normal games, i dont have mi pc normaly i am more of a retro gamer, love old games, but well dont have mi pc for now, but thanks, i remember extra credits, before it become shit, was going to show how games can change life a small segment and i love it, i feel so happy, then come, your a natzy and games must educate and game must have dlc
I imagine Faramir turned into a raging alcoholic after being in this game.
To be fair avoiding going home to his wife's cooking might also have been a factor.
He became s notorious wife beater as soon as he got a first taste of that stew
All of the commanders are alcoholics and I don't blame them one bit.
You know, something tells me Gandalf wouldn't be advising anyone to use any of the rings of power.
he himself wields one of the elven rings you know? late response but he just doesnt want people to use the one ring. hes not out here destroying his own or asking galadriel and elrond to get rid of theirs either.
@@zackestin1368 Humans using rings of power didn't exactly work out well in LOTR. Gandalf is a Maiar, the risks aren't the same. IIRC the other elven rings are with Elrond and Galadriel, since they're elves, again, the risks aren't the same.
"We can occupy higher level lands to obtain more *Power* for the *ring.* The higher a land's *Power,* the stronger its defending army." - Gollum.
Yes I want to hear Andy Serkis as Smeagol in full performance capture tell me I need to construct additional pylons.
(edit - 18:14)
As someone who played Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 + Shadow of Angmar, the idea of a scam mobile game like this existing instead of a sequel or a remake of those beloved classics makes my blood boiling.
The sad part is that these scam games make 1000x more money than a full fledged middle earth game would because of a small whale population that need to feel gratification by spending money to be good on a trash game
eee
Still wish that the War of the Ring mode would be released as standalone.
Good LOTR games are exception not a rule. Other than Middle Earth 1-2 and Shadow of Mordor/War, and those mediocre console hero games from back in the day there is not really much. It takes pretty much decades to get a good Star Wars games and there are atleast 2x more better ones than LOTR ones so getting a good LOTR game is very unlikely.
There is a fan remake going on :D
I love how people are protecting this game, basically saying Josh is a fraud and telling people to go play it. Some of them probably aren't even trolling. Just very sad.
The game was fun back at the days.
Very predatory indeed, but it was given a huge freedom of player to player interactions.
Comparable to Albion online level of freedom.
I don't recommend it now though
Also, the system was simpler than he wanted it to look like.
Your commanders had normal level,, of items and level of respect. Level of respect was opening new skill trees (from 2: at r0 to 5 at r5), level was giving skill points and items were giving stats
@gomam0n702 what is that?
It's called coping. Humans have a hard time accepting something that goes against their strong beliefs. If you grew up religious for example, making you an atheist is near if not completely impossible. Doesn't matter how much evidence is presented or who is right, because the biological structure of our brains genuinely denies anything that goes against our long-held beliefs. This is present in many examples, and Starfield is a great representation of that. It's not even a real game, more of a fishbowl simulator with cutscenes trying to hide the 500 loading screens, yet it's 70 dollars or more if you got it early, and the vast majority of the audience is having massive cope at the fact they got swindled and played more than 2 hours because they kept being told "it gets better after 10 hours" and now they can't refund it because they played it too much and now they're stuck. Welp, best thing my brain can think of now is coping about my massive financial error.
@@tortellinifettuccine I am not paying 70$ for a game players will need to fix over the next decade or two, anyone who bought into it only has themselves to blame.
You know you're beyond saving, right? Not one person who has gone into a shitty mobile game like this this deep, came out of it and is still normal.
With luck, he may simply become cynical, jaded, and resentful, rather than obsessive.
This guy can walk into the Warp and come out just fine
Are ANY of us “normal?”
Battle not with shit mmo's, lest ye become a shit mmo , and if you gaze into the grind, the grind gazes also into you.
You could say he dug too greedily and too deep. You know what he awoke in the darkness of Net-Ease's game... shadow and shame.
"They've told the voiceactors to crank the sexy sultry voiceacting to 11", "it's not about understanding, it's about clicking, quickly, watching numbers get bigger and sparkles happen" "you're meant to be lost becouse then they'll sell you the way to be found" and the calculations about elite commander that pile over each other....not every hero wears cape.
Couple things from the perspective of a developer (no, not of this... thing):
1. Their site drops a bunch of cookies on computer without your permission (neteasegames and easebar). Would suggest anyone clear their browser after visiting the site.
2. They've left a _crapload_ of commented-out code in their live site (stuff like an entire game panel) on their site. Yuck. Oh, and one of these games is apparently... Overwatch? Hmm!
3. The slideshow navigation button IDs are "perv" and 'next". No, not "prev". Interpret that how you will.
4. They seem to have meta tags for a bunch of their crew, which is... kinda sleazy, tbh. All except their designer, whose tag is just blank. I think we can guess why.
Why do you hate cookies? They're great and help the game to function.
@@NotoriousLightning I'm just going to assume that you're being sarcastic.
@@newms3450 I like apple and oatmeal cookies.
Tolkien's fucking backflipping in his grave
More like breakdancing at this point…
Tokien's rolling in his grave so fast Issac Newton would be shitting himself.
Just accept that every ip you've ever loved will become a soulless cash grab at some point. Its what I did, now I'm never surprised.
@@HaplessOne RIP star wars especially KOTOR that is being "remastered"
The Tolkien Society are doing their best to burn down his legacy and piss on the ashes now that Christopher is no longer around.
"The best way to monetize a game is to intentionally break parts of it and let players pay to skip them. So, by that logic, the best way to monetize a mobile game intended for casual audience is to break the entire game and then let players pay to skip all of it." -someone from somewhere at some point in time
Create a game that doesn't work and have people pay to not play it. Genius.
Honestly idk why people dont do purely skins to monetize games. People like skins and if your product is good they will willing support you. Ive played a free game called path of exile for years and then ENTIRE GAME IS FREE NO PAY WALL 90% of their profit comes from skins. Theres no way to buy an advantage. You can buy more stash tabs to store equipment but i didnt even need them till 2-3 years playing the game. And by that point i didnt mind giving them money to support their game.
I spent probably 40$ in 5 years of playing. Id say thats worth it.
Imo its been the best f2p model ive ever seen. No cheap tactics to make you buy shir
@@whateverforeverin because if you want to monetize your game through skins you have to make an actually good game so people want to buy them.
I do love PoE though
@@ss5gogetunks ya thats true, most of these games are half baked games that are made solely to trigger dopamine. Hence why most these games advertise as "woweww soooo addicting" if your selling point is addiction youre already a malicious company haha. Since when did addiction become a good thing? Apparently it is according to mobile game devs
“Gimme five bucks, and I’ll remove your restraints so you don’t have to play the game anymore.”
This is an icon for the entire reason I don't play mobile games. 99.9% of the app store is this particular variety of trash. It's frustrating, and it makes me want to invest the time to make a mobile game myself that is actually fun and monetized ethically. Thanks so much for the review, though, Josh, really enjoying your content and your style!!
Yeah and netease is one of the worst. I mean shit, they were the ones who distributed world of warcraft in China. Blizzard didnt like the deal so they cancelled it to look somewhere else, what does netease do? I mean they've worked with blizzard for a long long time no doubt making hundreds of millions, they even had a giant statue for WOW! Surely they have a lot of respect for the company who brought them so much money and fame? Well they tear the statue down and post about it online, basically saying f*ck you and your a greedy a*shole. I know blizzard is a horrible company, everyone knows that, but netease really thought they were the good guys? Lmfao. They have the market over there strangled and anything that wants to get published has to go through them basically, I don't know if blizzard even has an option but to negotiate with them again. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the owners of lord of the rings didn't even approve of this game, pretty sure China doesn't care about American copyright. But it's also entirely possible they took the bag n said do whatever you want, wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I remember years ago (like 2016-2017?) coming across a video for a small mobile FPS game, and the comments were full of "THIS game proves that mobile gamers are on par with PC or console gamers, and people saying mobile gaming isn't real gaming is dumb".
It was really sad, because I doubt these people would enjoy mobile games as much as they would even a simple console/PC game, but for whatever reason they don't have the funds or ability to obtain a low-end computer or a old generation console, so they're stuck playing the absolute bottom of the barrel stuff while hoping that one day they'll get actually good mobile games.
@@harmlesshawk1794 You can literally just dump a bunch of emulators on a even shitty android phone and have access to games a billion times better than everything on the game store, it's genuinely that easy, my phone basically exists as a replacement for handheld consoles, because they're a concept that's well and truly dead these days.
Only games that are good now are ones like NecroMerger, Infectonator, and Tuber Simulator.
@@Jokoko2828 but how do you control those emulated games? the weak point of phone emulators are the controls
“Game design is evolving backwards” to us yes, but to the massive corporations it is evolving forwards and the money is going up so it is good right?
They’re really pushing that Atari 1980-82 business model to it’s limit.
yeah sadly the gaming mass standards are evolving backwards.
I wonder how it is "to us" ? When they shit more money than disney.
Remember back when "Clash of Clans" first released and was a breath of fresh (debatable) air (again debatable) for the mobile market away from this kind of soulless shovelware? Supercell made about 1.25 BILLION in Clash's first year on the app store? Candy Crush made 1.293 billion the same year, 2015, and is still generating 1.190 billion even in 2020, for comparison Clash as a whole, including clash royal, made only 483 million. Now let's move onto a more apt comparison, "Game of War- Fire Age" panned as one of the most vapid lifeless, soulless and greedy mobile games released in 2014 made 963 million USD in 2020 for the year.
Expect shovelware shit like this to keep on coming, especially since it appeals to China, the whale of all whaling countries when it comes to the mobile market.
@@Mikalent jeez I remember game of war fire age releasing, I was excited for a new game similar to clash of clans to play. NOPE lmao I dont know if I played more than a couple hours? At least in clash of clans you have the skill and strategy aspect of base design and attacking + army comp.
"So you just keep throwing wave after wave of your men at them"
Well at least they got how Mordor fights wars accurate.
the good old strat "hit it 'till it die"
@@linhnguyen-id3sn xD xD
Sounds like something straight out of Warhammer.
@@redohealer2 There's a plot twist here for you to notice!
@@Astraben do tell
"I don't have any friends, that's why I'm playing this game!"
OOF, that hit me like a truck.
now there will be ads of this game saying that jsh said "the opening cinematic is actually quite good"
Unfortunately this isn't just one game, this is 100s, 100s of reskinned low effort garbage with different themes, kingdom builders, dragon kingdom builders, viking's, pirates, fantasy settings, old english settings, eastern settings, cave men, pet tamers, tribesmen, vampires, zombie invasions, other ips like warhammer/star trek ofc, hell you name it; from multiple developers. Whatever garbage they can use as an excuse to drag in a few more whales with the lowest effort content imaginable, ever since around the time of Travian these games have just been multiplying over and over again. Anecdotally so take it with plenty of salt but from my experience they seem to attract a surprisingly large amount of boomers with little time/knowledge to game properly and well paying jobs, ripe for these companies to manipulate. Recently though they seem to have gotten a lot worse as people continue to turn a blind eye to what's going on in the mobile game industry and more and more companies try to cash in on the dodgy business practices.
I don't get how people wanna play those shitty game, seeing publicity of this crap make me wanna puke in my mouth...
Games where better looking in the early 2000, that's crazy
blame farmville for all of this
College student here. I play these kind of games because I have very little time, and these kind of games require very little time commitment. I suppose you're a boomer yourself?
@@chilly2171 those things are garbage
@@kuro9410_ilust and candy crush
I consider it a righteous duty to hack these mobile games as I loathe their time gate models which is nothing more than a means to entice a player into spending money.
what do you use am looking into doing it myself but cant seem to find any legit hacks.
@@qballman1278 It's not easy by any means but I will point you in the right direction, what you need is found on the dark web. Get yourself the "tor" browser and dive in.
@@jaobidan2358 seriously?
@@qballman1278 Yeah you can't expect to find anything worth using or the proper information on the surface of the web.
@@jaobidan2358I have a basic understanding of tor but what should i look for when i get there
If that's what a NetEase game is like, Diablo: Immortal is screwed.
Doesn't need to be good just needs to sell loot boxes. Despite the CCP crack down on gaming its for minors which won't affect the sheer amount of microtransaction purchases by much. It'll sell if the world doesn't suffer financial collapse in the next 8 months
But we guys have phones!!!
Was screwed the moment Blizzard decided to make it, but yeah its going to be horrible
@@passedjudgements4729 they're fine with exposing foreign children to gambling, but not their own
Not all netease games are like this. Onmyoji is their best (selling) game and you can get everything for free. There's incentive to pay, sure, but you don't have to if you have self control lol Gameplay is fun. Story is nice despite being relatively inaccurate to Japanese mythology.
Game: "Your ring... what does it look like?"
Josh: "Damn, game, at least buy me dinner first! "
Line totally killed me :P
WHAT RING the game gives me an Intangible ring
Erhmm, you forgot the beautiful letter like all letters U from the magnificent word BUY.
I like the alphabet... I hope you find your way back to the holy church of the alphabet, dear brother.
@@lapsemang9586 edited the comment
@@GabrielGosselin I father Gregory lapsemäng shall on the behalf of the alphabet gods forgive your sin, for you've made more than up for it.
@@lapsemang9586 Thank you kind sir.
"pointless number embiggening" reminded me of a magical ring called "the embiggener" in an old game called "crusaders of might and magic".
+10 strength when equipped.
which makes a BIG difference in that game, all your melee attacks will do 25% more damage!
Just a reminder:
Pay to skip is the most profitable form of microtransactions, by far. Not pay to win, not cosmetics or anything of the sort. The most effective way to gouge consumers for money is to make them pay to skip the wait or eliminate tedium. This is exactly why all major publishers started including some sort of boosts or skips in their single player games, under the guise of "player choice". Nope, they know very well that this will earn them stacks of cash and you better believe that the game design was influenced by this decision too. Everything will be made just a bit too long or too annoying.
In reality it's not "x2 xp booster", it's really "pay money or have your xp halved"
That is why they hate "easy mode" mods.
Yyyyep. Nearly every time I see a game include XP boosts or some sort of boost that allows you to skip grinding I think "why are you giving me stuff that skips through content that YOU MADE?! I should be enjoying my time with your game, not wishing for the monotony to end!"
You obviously missed the fact that this was based Tolkien's little known alternate version of LOTR where no named character could ever die. It was a scathing commentary on hero worship and the futility of the endless cycle of warfare.
I always felt the 7 and a half pages of gathering wood, was a bit much. Even worse when it goes into the other resource gathering parts.
honestly Tolkien lost me when he filled 5 chapters with the building of a single house.
and most propably in this alternative universe the ring dosen't corrupt you somehow
@@ofal5124 well, it does take about 2 books for the ring to leave Mordor, because of the stamina waits
It makes me so sad that such a gold mine of lore from the books or beauty from the movies is so wasted. There are dozens of Lord of the rings games and maybe 4 of them are good.
Which ones? The only ones I thought were any good were battle for middle earth 1 and 2 and shadow of Mordor shadow of war series.
@@frankm6546 lord of the rings online and the lotr games that came out when the movies release were excellent. BFME2 was the best though
@@frankm6546 The Third Age for PS2
@@frankm6546 Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor are awful games that make a complete mockery of Tolkien's work. I bought the first one and after 3 hours of playing I returned it to the store. Absolute trash.
@@Grimhart89making a mockery out of Tolkien's work and being a good game are not mutually exclusive.
As soon as I saw Gandalf helping a character to level up a ring of power(!) I knew the developers probably hadn’t even seen the movies much less read the books.
Yeah. I would usually expect something like that from a cheap chinese game with broken english translation, which at least would make me laugh at the obvious absurdity
Yeah well neither have the people who made the Shadow of Mordor games
@@legion999 They took quite a few liberties and changed a few things (Isildur and Shelob really were faaaar from the Original), true. Though they portrayed the Rings of Power as a corrupting influence, which was very fitting
@@legion999 I stopped playing when Hot Shelob appeared, and never looked back.
hey Gandalf wears a ring of power as well
"I don't have any friends, that's why I'm playing this game." 😆 True friends would indeed keep you from playing this 😉
This line is when I paused to hit the video like button
Do you have the sauce on your pfp?
@@Auguzto. man of culture
Sauce. Now. Or face my eternal wrath and torment. 😈😈😈👀
@@Auguzto. ok mikoto
For anyone interested in the math, to get any single elite commander with 95% probability, where you don’t care which one you get, you would need to open 3,190 loot boxes. To have a 95% probability of getting all nine elite commanders you would have to open 5,470 loot boxes. Remember that by the time you get the first one you will likely have close to 30 items for each of the others. Either way, that’s a ridiculous amount of real money.
That sigh at the end when he said "thanks for watching" shows just how much he enjoyed playing this masterpiece.
Sigh / 10
"Uninstall BlueStacks with antivirus", I really hope that wasn't the official support site basically calling out its own installation practices as being akin to malware.
Huh?
i swear i read a story where some older version of Windows or Internet Explorer called IT'S OWN UPDATER a virus!
@@ThylineTheGay yeah bluestacks is considered malware by most anti virus softwares like Kaspersky
@@yahyamusseb Windows 10 itself is considered malware
@@wolfsmith Microsoft in general. They've won malware of the year with the idiocracy called Windows 11, former winners with Windows ME.
I have alot of mental health issues and have fallen for alot of this stuff/gambling... thanks Josh for always talking about this predatory stuff.
I hope you're doing well and getting the care you need/deserve.
Damn bro. It's easy to poke fun and sometimes get angry at scammy shit in our hobbies like this when you don't have problems with gambling and money spending yourself. I can only imagine.
Taking advantage of people who cannot control themselves just show how low those companies are. Scum of the earth.
It’s not just you. I’ve done the same. I hate gacha and loot boxes and I still paid in a few gacha games to get the characters I wanted. I knew I was a hypocrite and felt awful.
I hope you’re doing better these days, man.
Same. I've spent a lot in Gacha games where I shouldn't have and now I'm trying to stop myself from downloading one again. I hope it gets better man.
@@NioFiota I've often mocked these types of games (which they deserve) and also those who pay for them, without really considering the fact that we're all different. I couldn't relate to having these issues, because to me these games are so offputting and boring...
However, if I might try to relate through other areas of life where I have struggled to make good choices, it might not be so crazy. I too have kept making bad decisions, knowing they were bad. Failing and learning is part of being human. So is failing and not learning, sadly - which is why we sometimes need to band together to understand and protect eachother (another essential part of being human).
Instead of being resentful at someone struggling with something that comes easy for others
You could probably generate a lot of electricity from Tolkien turning in his grave because of this if you wrapped some cable around him. And had some magnets in the coffin to function as a stator and a cable to bring the electricity out.
Great way to electrocute the whole world once Amazon's LotR is released.
they really did take Troll Physics seriously, huh?
My first question about this game was, "They're using the rings of power, and they're characters from the books/movies who aren't wraiths?"
yes
the gandalf basically teaches you how to use the ring of power to gain more power
@Ofal Unless you're Mordor, Isengard, Nurn or Angmar in which case it's Saruman. Still makes no god damn sense as there's onlu meant to be 9 of the god damn things.
there's a ton of less impressive but not evil rings of power that the elves made as practice
idk if they address it at all in the game but it could be explained if they wanted
@@Graknorke An elvish ring of power is anathama to men. The way elves live is both in the world of the seen and unseen and the rings are the same. Men are of the seen world and using the rings pulls them into this other world. This makes them the wraiths.
And Gandalf wants you to exploit the power and use the one ring as ultimate goal to rule middle earth?
"the flayed mangled corpse of something that I'm not comfortable calling a game" That was brutal.
"Like a christmas special, where everyone shows up for the sake of showing up."
Oh you mean like the Star Wars Christmas Special? 😎
Also I'm still convinced that the voice actress for the intro was actually an AI. Gutfeeling.
I had the same thought 😆
I love the rising level of anger in these videos over time soon itll just be Josh screaming at flashing lights and powerups going off by themselves
The fact that you're casually using a Ring of Power is the first indication that this game goes against every point Tolkien tried to communicate.
Not surprising as soon as I saw netease. Every game they make is like this, have a million different systems to give you the illusion you are progressing and also just autoplay everything to give oyu the feeling of progressing without needing to do anything
Not a single mobile game of this type has ever been good in a decade, yet they still make billions off their Asian marker and whales. It's pure lunacy
That's why the arena based games are better if you like mobile games. Still a little whale-ish but much more engaging and competitive unlike these strategy city builder husks
I wholeheartedly disagree with your assertation, there was not a good example of this over a decade ago either.(especially seeing as I'm pretty sure the genre is less than 10 years old) I mean any sort of game with an in built wait timer for core gameplay mechanics is not a good game, it is a cash grab.
@@christianstonecipher1547 Clash of Clans came out in 2012, so almost a decade ago. Although it's not really as manipulative as this game, it does still have wait timers for progress. I don't know if there are any other games like it before 2012, but CoC is one of at least.
@@christianstonecipher1547 I don't understand your disagreement
@@zoanth4 my bad I'm tired and tried to make a bad joke disagreeing with your quantifier of "in the past decade"
Yea just look at the chat its rarely in English but not really Asians too just eastern Europeans but thats probably because he is playing the European version.
16:09 To be fair, this is Mordor’s entire strategy in both the books and the movies, so they at least got that right.
This game in reality - You’re a tourist visiting a new city and you’re looking for something fun to do. You’re walking on the sidewalk and a man walks up to you and asks if you’re looking for something fun to do. You say “yes how’d you know”? He answers “your recent search history told me”. “Follow me” he says. And you do what he says immediately and follow him.
You walk to a park and he picks up a very large black lawn bag filled with rotting garbage. He dumps all the trash on the ground and tells you “now I want you to pick all the garbage up and put it back into the bag”. You agree immediately. Before you start picking up the rotting garbage of half eaten moldy hot dogs and crap filled baby diapers he tells you “now you can pick all that garbage up with your hands or I can sell this small plastic children’s shovel to you for $30 and you can use that instead” you agree immediately and pay him $30 cash.
After you spend 10 minutes shoveling the garbage back into the bag(would have taken 15 minutes without the small children’s shovel) you ask “what’s next”? The man handcuffs you to his own arm and says “follow me”. He takes you to different places around town and at each consecutive stop he dumps a larger bag of rotting garbage on the ground and tells you to pick it up. He says each time “you’ve used up the number of times you can use that shovel, you need to buy a new one”. So you buy a new shovel each time and the price for the shovel goes up $10 each time.
After doing this 10 more times you have spent all your money and several hours of your time. The man turns to you and asks “well did you have fun?”
What would your reaction be?
am i terrible person if i said no to the child shovel and each time he ran me off to a new section of town i start wiping my refuse encrusted arms on his face? im slightly mean and vindictive. i have had to personally distance myself from mobile gaming due to low self control and the increasingly predatory gambling mechanics that companies keep shoveling into their games.
Sounds like I’d need to hide a body
But as a bonus you can purchase an NFT for the shovel and then you get a free shovel when you visit another city.
By the way, this is not just a design for a game, this is a design for your entire life under the New World Order. You just follow instructions and be happy, most definitely don't think while doing so. Occasionally get some small "perks" for your patience and obedience dropped from the above. If you are not content, you can gtfo, and in another place the same treatment awaits.
Christopher Tolkien would have never let this happen. It’s sad to see the Tolkien estate start whoring out JRR’s legacy as soon as Christopher died.
This game is licensed through Middle-earth Enterprises and Warner Bros, whose rights stem from JRR Tolkien selling the adaptation rights to LotR and Hobbit in the 1960s. Has nothing to do with the Tolkien Estate of today; Christopher Tolkien would have stopped Peter Jackson from turning LotR into movies if he could with how much he disliked them, but he could not.
Well it's the last IP to not be propagandized
@@SNWWRNNG which is kinda dumb because the first 3 films were given so much care and attention with that resulting in a fantastic trilogy that probably opened up tolkien to a brand new generation. The Hobbit films were clearly a cash grab and Jackson was left with a mess to clean up but the original trilogy will remain the best film trilogy of all time imo.
Eh he had shit taste too. He didnt like the jackson films but loved that trash War of the Ring game.
Yup, this game is a movie license.
Really appreciate the cost calculation on the commander recruitment lootboxing. I was about to do it and write it up in a snarky comment, but you did it magnificently. Great video, you have saved the world from uncounted wasted gamer hours and the heresy of it's 'lore'. *golf claps *
A mobile game being terrible - imagine my shock!
But there is some Mobile Games that are Fun and Good, just depends on your objective and How much you search
@@Kravenrogue Trouble is when you find a game that looks fun only to be hit with a paywall that completely stops you from enjoying the game. Which is every mobile game I've come across in the last 10 years. I guess Clash Royale is one of the only exceptions, being much more skill based than p2w.
I knew when the fella died who ran the Tolkien Estate the other year this shit would happen. They had a good run, but LOTR is now going to be milked good and proper.
No matter how they milk LOTR, the movies and true fandom will never be affected.
@@ILubBLOfficial Well They got Millions of people interested in Tolkien's work so I think it's fair to say that your part of the „true fandom" if you're a fan of the movies... Also why the fuck are you Gatekeeping? For one that's not at all what Tolkien or anyone with a brain would want you to do and most importantly why do you feel the need to degrade people who like the movies?
@@ILubBLOfficial I learnt about the Franchise through the Magnificent Movies.
Then got the books, played the games and saw documentaries for the Lore.
NEVER disrespect the Best movies ever made, it's Blasphemy.
@@ILubBLOfficial I also mean the original books. Apologies.
Pretty sure this has nothing to do with tolkien estate and everything to do with movie licenses.
I actually always enjoyed the idea these games have. Like, time based strategy city builders with semi-automated battles. Unfortunately they are just build to abuse your patience and throw money at em.
Wonder if there are actually games like this,but without the abuse to get money
I mean you have to think, they are in a business and the game is free to play, meaning 3/4 of their possible profit is immediately gone, I’ve found you can really be just as good without anything that costs money and all forms of currencies can easily be acquired throughout the game, and for me to get into the top 90% of players I’ve spent nothing and only been playing for two weeks, that’s longer than the bombs in my COC take 😂
I'd recommend Ymir, it's very complex but it might be what you're looking for
“The only thing they got right is the branding.”
They know it too. Their latest ad is a guy saying how the game probably sucks, but then someone else convinced him it’s good and the only thing she had to say about it was that it is “Officially Licensed!!”
I don't wanna be the emo guy, but that makes me lose hope in humanity.
OMG, I am getting that add CONSTANTLY. The pure irony of the situation makes it so hilarious. And I just love how the woman says 'It's officially licensed!' as if that is an argument. loooool
Remember the good old days of Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, The Settlers, & Heroes of Might & Magic, & there were no microtransactions or waiting times?
"Not all those who wander are lost..."
...as long as they buy our premium currency!
I just remember one of the adverts was like "Ugh, I got Gandalf? I already have too many wizards!" And I'm here thinking, "Aren't there like, only 5 wizards in the canon of Lord Of The Rings?"
Yep. Gandalf, radagast, surman, and the 2 blue ones. Having more than 1 is a blessing
I remember one that was a dude playing the game while waiting for a weird roulette wheel to select a hero for him (which doesn’t even appear to be in the game?), while he’s saying “come on, who wouldn’t pick Gandalf?” It lands on a troll, and the ad essentially makes it seems like this troll was somehow more useful than Gandalf.
These sort of games can only ever hope to be a fraction as entertaining as Josh's sparkling commentary.
You mean Josh's wildly inaccurate commentary.
@@justinpinho947 Ever played it?
@@mickyjo5 No. By principle, I don't think these games should even exist. It's manipulation and takes advantage of people with inhibitory control issues. Then again, most people don't actually think of their impact on the world, but think of what they can get from it at any cost.
if you are going to blame this game for taking an easy route, maybe be more vocal about the games that made it an easy route?
@@justinpinho947 Then what makes you think anything you say about a game you have never played is valid? Just because josh says its bad and its a mobile game?
Ads for predatory mobile games with fake gameplay during a Josh Strife Hayes video about a predatory mobile game with ads featuring fake gameplay. Peak UA-cam here.
A friend of mine told me about the game and since he is a LOTR fan I just played along and downloaded it. Thing is, even as an avid gacha gamer that gives a pass to some barebones games just because waifus, this shit was so bad I couldn't bear to play more than a few hours before quiting and I just lasted that long because my friend came in to "remind" me to play so we can build a guild and shit. I feel bad for him... I have my guilty pleasures, yes, but this dude unironicaly likes Raid shadow legends and this "game".
Your friend needs to be introduced to other games
If he enjoy games like this might aswell try getting him to play some "decent" gacha games.
I refuse to call this a "typical Gacha game". This is a RTS game mobile which is very fun in 2016-2017. The reason is bad is, as you progress you will realize you need an active guild and probably having a much time to stare on your phones (yeah, reminds me about Travian or Clash of Clans but worse).
He is lost, brother. Abandom him to the darkness and save yourself.
some games just can't be savaged even with pretty waifus
*stares to that one Demon Waifu game, you know the one*
It follows the same basic confusing outline of all the mobile "Rise" games. A thousand currencies that give you small power increments and unlock other currencies to do more of the same.
Allow me to explain:
I played this game for like 3 or 4 weeks. I understood it completely. It's hardcore pay 2 win (I stopped playing - but not without spending around 150€ before...). It's a battle simulation and this is it. I got one T3 commander (0.1% Chance...) but it doesn't matter if there are other ppl w more money to sink than you. You can get better "Hero Idle Missions" in the moment you get more Honor/Respect on your commanders you also get better mission -> this leads to: you spend more money, you get higher respect on ur commanders, you get better missions which actually allow you to get T3 points (like 60 from the multiple thousandths u need) also the amount of the points increases the more respect u get. This is loop which will rob your money like a casino if you get addicted to it. Trust me. I lived through it and stopped due to things in my personal life -luckily - it's actually funny finding your vid by now bc finally someone points at the mistakes.
I played this game just 1 week, stop playing after they start sell stamina potion in days 6 or 7. This game already have unbalanced population, most people play as rohan, elf, gondor & mordor
No it's not XDDDDD
Any of you both did not played this game or u dk how these games works. Ok there is some lottery but t3 commanders aren't necessary to win, although they can be dropped by the time. Moreover u don't lose any important things, commanders or currency after end of the season. It's, not p2w, and it's not p2p. Just admit it, I beg u. Don't spread lies
I played this game. I choose Rhun faction, i my server, Rhun all warband combine only have 10% power than #1 warband lothlorien & mordor, it's really imbalance population. I have 6 heroes, 5 from gacha & 1 i bought from cash shop, more hero you have faster you can move in the map. My last ring power about 13k/h, #1 in ladder board have 50k+. How they do that if not pay2win?
I spawn at nort east area in rhun faction, when my warband decided to conquer one of neutral area, i can't even reach there. It took me 3 full days just to crossing the river, it's faster with more heroes and stamina potion of course, that's how rank 1-10 do. The stamina potion price is @600gems, it really broken the game for p2win player
So this is basically _Battle for Middle-Earth_ except shit.
Go wash your mouth with detergent after your blasphemous words !
its not a RTS its more of a travian/tribal wars game. mmo strategie. battle for middle earth was a lotr take on age of empires
@@LegionnaireScout Beat me to this comment. Continue doing the Lord’s work
@@selewin If we're really gonna be solidifying what BFME is, it's more LOTR take on Command and Conquer
You made a slight mistake - it’s nothing like BfME, and it’s also shit.
This game is the exactly the same as all other f2p stratrgy games. Game of thrones browser game, game of war, vikings: war of clans, lords mobile. They're all the same game but reskinned
That's kinda how it is with most mobile games, a lot of them are similar but with different flavors to attract different audiences.
@@ChunkyCoffee Yes but these are almost identical. The textures are the only notable difference
Game of war was what started a lot of these back when it was kind of fun but they killed it with bloating and now all these game just start with all the bloat so there is no hope
seeing rts and related genres fall this far from grace is just sad. i engage more with rts games decades old than id ever with these
I agree...in reverse
Lost count how many times I laughed 😅 I totally fell for every single instance designed to make you shell out money. Why? Because I'm a Tolkien sucker. He asks, "if this had no attachment to the Tolkien mythos, would u still play?" Without hesitation, no. Absolutely love this video!! Now, I think Faramir just woke up...
As someone who actually does play Raid Shadow Legends, the ads they have for their game actually do lie as well. A common thing is that they show that putting armor on champions changes how they look which is a complete lie. Most of the time, it's the ad changing from one character to another. Other ads seem to show characters with wrong stats and going over the level limit. I think we can all blame Hero Quest for that due to every single one of their ads being a lie...or maybe every mobile game just hires the same people.
I'm genuinely interested....why do you play raid shadow legends?
@@thelawenforcerhd9654 The answer most people will tell you is that it's the only dark fantasy gacha game on the market. It's basically the only western style game that's even remotely competent that doesn't look like world of warcraft but even more cartoony.
@@Autocratical Wow that was very interesting, I read up on this a bit might give this go, ty for sharing.
I'm a MASSIVE LOTR fan, have been ever since my parents first read the books to me as a youngster. (Not that you'd EVER be able to tell by my username.....*cough*). When I saw this on the mobile store, I jumped at the chance. ten mins later I was regretfully deleting the app. TERRIBLE, terrible, terrible. I'm glad Josh is doing a video on this, I can't wait for the premiere!
lol
Genius. Thanks for saving me the trouble of playing it for a few hours to realize all that you’ve said. Remarkable how high the reviews on the App Store are.
That was a lot of effort to illuminate the infuriating mobile "game" industry monetization on predatory mechanics and why laws need to be placed to cut down on false advertisments. Props to you!
Another fun thing is when you play Evil, your guide/helper is Saruman. Imagine playing Mordor and the faction leader of another faction is telling You what to do. Imagine playing Rhun and this bearded guy you never heard of is telling you what to do. Imagine playing Angmar and this robed Witch-king wannabe looking guy(without a cool helmet) is telling you what to do. Imagine playing Isengard and your faction leader is telling you what to do. Huh.
At least on Good, everyone knows Gandalf, and Gandalf is a neutral party.
I like how they have a detailed battle log to try to make you think it's a detailed, complex game you're playing where your choices matter - to cover up the fact that it's actually literally not that.
" It only takes 30 seconds to decide your fate" = Adverts like this prove why to avoid most mobile games
Yes! This so Much, they are a Fucking Waste!
This is literally the game for the average mobile gamer, who just logs on during their breaks and just quickly clicks on everything and then comes back during their next break to get that personal satisfaction of having gotten some more pointless digital rewards, that aren't even 10% of what you could just straight up buy in the cash store.
Then they think the game is good, spread the good word and that's how whales are attracted.
It's shameless...
Is it? people have been playing and enjoying these kinds of games for years. You don't like it? Don't play it.
@@Vel_D No, it is not. What you are talking is gatch games, like Raid. This is a building strategy game. There is nothing predatory about it.
@@Nerazmus "This is a building strategy game. There is nothing predatory about it."
You must be trolling, a 'building strategy game' is like a Total war game where there's at least strategy in the battles and on the campaign map, and where you can actually have impact on both as a player. You're only limited by the resources you get each turn and they depend on how well you play, not how much time you waited or how much money you threw away. This garbage is exactly like Raid, there's no gameplay, they're barely video games
@@Nerazmus Either you're trolling or you are way too used to trash so called video games
@@raykeur1 Which Total War game? All TW games are turn-based strategies with real time battles. And you have to buy them, they are not FTP, so of course they don't have in-gameshop. This game is like Tribal Wars or Travian to name the most popular ones.
This game is not at all like raid because throwing money at it doesn't give you much of anything. It can give you decent general, far from the best, it can give you some boosts you get by just playing the game, and you will still have so many you won't know what to do with them. To actually get any benefit from throwing money at it, you'd need to throw thousands at lootboxes. However by the time you are done opening those to get your shiny general, everyone else will be so far ahead of you it won't help you whatsoever.
How do I know all this? Well because the game is dominated by FTP players. There is no reason to buy anything other than supporting the developers.
Honestly thank you for this video, I kept seeing the ad for the game and being interested in LOTR I wanted to check it out.
I take a look at the game in the store, say to myself, “oh no this looks a bit shit, doesn’t it?” I’m glad that I watched your video to confirm my suspicions, and the commentary was spot on amazing.
From someone who actually plays the game he got it all wrong, don't buy into this bull of information. Actually take time and learn how it's played before, hell I thought it was bad at first myself but I kept telling myself to learn it first, now I'm addicted
@@alex.b3864 The thing is, you can’t look at it like a normal game. I play a lot and I’d best refer to it as a mobile LOTR themed board game. The fun isn’t so much from the game as it is hanging out with other fans of Tolkien in a world full of memorable set pieces. I personally really enjoy it, and a bunch of people from different factions in my season 1 server are organized in a discord and getting ready to play Rhun together in season 2 and it’s a lot of fun. This game lives and dies by the community that forms in your world chat and fellowship chat.
I've seen and played several of these types of games mostly to get resources in much more competent games as a free bonus. These things are a dime a dozen and they even have taken over other larger titles as well like the Warhammer series most recently from what I've seen as well as things like star trek.
Final Fantasy too, they even had Arnie advertising one. Terrible game system
I honestly refuse to believe that anyone plays those for any other reason, and yet there are a lot of guilds in each and every one of them........
Don't know what to say man, every game I've played that wanted to send me to another for resources sucked.
creating a battleground for easily manipulated and/or rich people where the objective is to outspend the opposition is incredibly lucrative
they have replaced the variables of skill and time investment with cash, people can go in and get that dopamine hit of defeating other players without investing time and getting good
its all designed in a way to hook you in and psychologically manipulate you to spend money, thats why they all look and play the same, its the same tactic of manipulation
The advertisement for this exact game interrupting this video in the middle was simultaneously hilarious and depressing...
Truly pathetic, how the majority of the games industry (mobile and otherwise) is now fueled not by creativity and passion, but cheap marketing and charlatanism.
Actually a good trick if you ever tackle mobile games in the future: They don't track if you *actually* join, just if you pressed the button that links you to there. As soon as you hit it you can just stop the window from even finishing to open. :D And you get the free stuff!
Josh is usually so poised it's honestly really, really funny to hear him being fucking done with a bullshit game. 10/10 rant.
You've used a line about "so you don't have to" that put me in mind of the Nostalgia Critic, but frankly where his show said that as a gag I feel like your work treats it kind of seriously and is potentially saving people several times more hours of their life AND a big chunk o' change if they were the type to get sucked into this kind of thing.
Play the game, then formulate an opinion. Currently the server I'm on (server 16) you use gems to buy mathom chests to get commanders for your armies (thats one of the only things josh was actually correct about) but you also get to keep those commanders for the next season, essentially meaning you dont have to spend double gems to get the same commanders. There are also invitations you can get at a rare rate to instantly get the commander (he conveniently didn't show this in the video). So far I have only spent money on the season pass. It gives you like 50 ish mathom keys and between 5-8k gems. The only thing p2w about the game is being able to buy mathom keys, and even then, it's still way less p2w than other games purely because of the fact that you get to keep the commanders when season ends.
You also get gems for free. I've gotten at least 2=3k gems for free just going onto the game every day for about an hour ish. It's a time sink more than a money sink
@@mickyjo5 "Play the game, then formulate an opinion." Dude you telling people to form an opinion when they watch a video of the same "game" that you are playing? Clearly YOU need to form an opinion on how that "game" is bad and people like you are the reason to why mobile "games" are for poorly educated people.
I have little respect for people who fall for terrible mobile game ads. I have even less for people who unironically like these games. And I have none for the predators who make them.
It didn't even take a fake mobile ad to attract me, I just liked LOTR,downloaded it and after not being able to log back into my account for like half a year or so unironicly like this game. Though admitetly, it doesn't have that much in common with the original epos.
Funnily enough I'm actually a fan of the original books of Tolkien but don't mind the inacuraties.
I really love how small the font on the Patreon list is getting lmao. I can't wait until they're super super tiny it's hilarious
LMFAO eventually its just gonna be a giant list of ellipses.
.......... sized lettering for everyone and not a pixel big enough to make a letter
Man it’s so sad to see such a fantastic franchise being treated that way
Funny video tho
„We‘ll get Faramir by throwing beer at him, which every LotR fan can tell you is completely accurate because Faramir was clearly a raging alcoholic and not the warden of the White Tower! I don‘t care what the books say, this is canon!“
X-D
OK, the listing of Sean Bean characters was fucking hilarious
It was subtle, but appreciated :)
Holy shit this exact game came out for Android 3.0 about 15 years ago. I can't remember the name but it has all the needlessly complex systems, all the pointless clicking, the resource management, the tile defense system with timed upgrades. Just without the husk of the former corpse of LOTR draped over it.
This is just your 'standard mobile cashgrab excuse of a game' template used and reused and abused over and over with a different skin/franchise/world pulled over it.
Why people play these games is beyond me. Just do fucking chess puzzles for god's sake if you have no time at all.
@@jabloko992 Well back in 2005/2006 that was cutting edge gameplay for mobile phones.
@@starrynight7783 no it wasn't, because there is no actual 'gameplay'. Friggin' minesweeper or chess has better gameplay.
immortal conquest?
So basically this entire game is just a menu
You could have summed this whole thing up with "It's a predatory city builder mobile game with a LotR skin. Avoid at all costs."
Also, I bet you this is one of those games where the "devs" would never fix the actual bugs but the second anyone edits their gems the devs dox them, kill their dog, and EMP their house
Ever played the game? If you have, you would already know they fix bugs regularly. Most of Josh's points in this video are wildly inaccurate.
@@mickyjo5 Sorry dude its a mobile game and you're defending crap like this. Sunk cost fallacy? STOP PLAYING GAMES LIKE THIS. Go buy a cheap console and some second hand real games
Aren't all mobile "games" just predatory crap to get you to spend money? I view mobile games with such a negative stigma behind it, that I never play them. I always stick to paid games on my console. Or even a lot of games I've played for free aren't even predatory like these mobile games. The f2p games I've played use cosmetics as a premium thing and you buying that stuff gives them funds to continue supporting the game. Thats way better imo.
@@mickyjo5 I'm sorry that you play this. Even more so that you've spent money.
@@NYC_Goody If you haven't played the game what exactly gives you the right to have an opinion on how it works? I've been playing the game for over a month now, I don't see what they are doing as predatory at all. Gems can only be used on a very limited amount of things in game. I wish more mobile games would actually do what this game has done. Josh says it is devolving but it is actually evolving, trying to make the mobile gaming scene less predatory in general. Play the game for a week and actually go in with an open mindset, you will see what I see. Josh clearly hates mobile games, so clearly he didn't actually do his research on the game.
It reminds me of an old browser game called Tribal Wars but without the premium aspect tbh.
You know it will be awful when you see an ad for it encouraging you to set up base in the dead marshes…
So what you're saying is - this game is the Amazon series made in video game form. It has all of the blatant lack of love for the lore, the sole motivation of money, and all of the psychological traps of its PR.
Voice overs are expensive and they probably didn't expect anyone to get this far.
As someone who quit and uninstalled right after you watch the first battle I can say this is very accurate.
I honestly find it disgusting that some great voice actors have given their voice (literally) for horrible, whale-baiting mobile gacha games that only look good on the outside, but dig a little deeper and its a gold-plated piece of crap.
It's even worse, the 10 tokens for 1.99 at a +900% (so 1000%) "Value" is only available once (it says so below the price), which means the remaining 380 tokens needed to get it in a best luck scenario have to be bought at a cost ten times higher, so it wouldn't be 39 * 1.99 = 77.61 pounds, but 1.99 + 380 * 1.99 = 758.19 pounds (assuming improbably high luck on the draws).
I just don't understand what kind of audience would like games like that, seems like the most boring game in the planet
Sheep with no brains.
The only Lord of the Rings game that actually feels like being in a LotR novel is still (and probably always will be) levels 1-65 of Lord of the Rings Online.
Later levels still draw from the lore but by then the legendary item grind has it's hooks in you and it tends to detract from the enjoyment considerably.
They revamped the Legendary System recently. I hope that turns out better.
The first volume of the story line is amazing
First MMO i ever played, good old times.
The battle scene looks like "Baby's first Total War"
honestly hearing "lord of the rings" and "mobile game" in the same sentence is already disheartening.
I'm so glad that this game was made for without it we would not have this perfectly scortching review and I would have been deprived a good laugh.
This wasn't designed to be a game. This was designed to be a revenue generating machine. Like most modern "games"
This is pathetic. Thank you for the excellent video explaining how rubbish the “game” is. So sad for Tolkien’s memory
18:25 I think you were at Path of Exile when you started explaining the multiple currencies the game uses.