Everytime a Lotr game comes out I can’t help but dream of a Skyrim like game set in Middle Earth. Just like Star Wars this franchise has so much untapped potential in gaming.
A direct quote from the game director: "We think we have the best third-person melee combat in the survival genre". No, not a joke. He actually said that.
i appreciate that no one seems to have forgotten Valhiem and what a phenomenal game it was. it truly did set the bar for possibility and feature cohesion.
@@CounciloftheRings ill be honest, i fell away after the long lack of content updates :*( and im a little bit jaded. i know some new stuff has come out recently and that they are working on more things, and it might just be that im being impatient, but i dont really have hope that valhiem will ever be finished. i just wish there was more, right now, not teasers 6 months from now :(
My jaw is in the floor rn. I feel like my recent experience on steam has been 180 of this. Its not a hard core game and a few bugs seem to persist, but dangit i can't stop playing.
Well, the guy don't even played it enough to meet with the dragon, or to learn how to cook and carry the food with him. Or to go down to the deep and meet a nameless there. He's just complaining about everything.
@@StArShIpEnTeRpRiSe You shouldnt need to play that deep into a game so "it becomes fun" if you are paying 30+ for a game you expect it to be good from the get go. the combat is garbage and the enemy ai is dumb. compare this kind of gameplay to that of shadow of war and is night and day not even close. hell even the old ps2 lord of the rings games were more fun and you could change characters.
@@lordenvincar It was fun from it's first moment. The combat doesn't matter, as it's not a fighting game. Compairing a survival builder to an action adventure is night and day, true but just show idiotic logic from your side. Like compair your legs to your arms...
@@lordenvincar Yea, but you have to play it well to enjoy it. Its like giving a guitar to a baker and saying "have fun with it" without him learning how to play. You gotta learn the basics, watch/read some guides or the manual, and sometimes Mack just wings it and tells his tale. That's alright, plenty of us are like that sometimes, and have no patience to learn the nitty gritty, but I guess that just means I don't like the game enough for it, and others do and find joy in it. Mack never states his reviews as dogma, and that's why I find every review of his entertaining, even if I don't agree with it.
It's far from being as bad as Gollum, with some updates it could really be good, there's a ton Mac didn't mention here that are good ideas, probably cause he didn't play enough and all his footage is contained in the first 2 "biomes", so he didn't even play more than 6-7 hours. But he did raise some good points that I hope will get addressed
@factoryreset855 yeah it's sad when Mac doesn't like a game I enjoy. I remember liking Elden Ring and then wanting to see what Mac said about it, and he totally hated on it. Kinda weird.
@PhoenixBlade he has never liked soulslikes man. And he plays them with a mouse and keyboard... so yeah. I do appreciate that he just states his genuine opinions. That's a bit rare nowadays
Goblins don't only attack at night they patrol all over in small groups. Sieges at your camp only trigger randomly when you are at a camp and any goblins that aren't killed during the siege will still hang around afterwards. Once you craft an oven you can carry cooked meals. Yes the game has a few QOL issues but nothing is game breaking at least in my play through so far. Combat is basic but still challenging, dwarves mine go figure. Building rotation is my biggest complaint otherwise I am enjoying it very much. I played LOTRO for quite a long time and I don't mind the grind to get better gear.
"I played LOTRO for quite a long time and I don't mind the grind to get better gear." that says it all, you'll literally let someone urinate in your mouth and still give them the benefit of the doubt that they just thought you were thirsty lol, when that mini expac was coming out before the shadow or w.e they somehow, without touching ANYTHING IN BREE, put a GIANT mountain RANGE(not a single rock) in the middle of the bree>w.e zone was north of it travel path... so if you unknowingly took it or were a new player and HAD to, you got stuck running into a wall until you logged out.... they left it like that for MONTHS and the brain dead garbage loving community LOVED it and made it into a meme that was spouted every 5 minutes in world chat and the forums to the point... ***THE DEVS MEMORIALIZED THAT COLOSSOSAL F UP WITH A LITERAL STONE MEMORIAL AT THE SITE WHEN THEY FINALLY FIXED IT... MONTHS LATER***. That is the kind of thing EVERY other MMO would literally pull down servers to fix... LOTRO team left it for months and MEMORIALIZED their incompetence because they thought it was funny. OHHH but let me not forget to mention during that same period they had, if i remember corretly, 3 separate $100-200 bundles containing ingame currney, reskinned mount, and stat-less gear that PURELY was cosmetic..... yeahhhhh LOTRO players have horrible judgement. -.-
@@zeening are you okay man? I didn't read any of this but your comment looks like the demented ramblings of a coke-fuelled schizoid episode so I just wanted to check up on you.
it was great from hour 1. this is a major exaggeration and he allowed the fact the game is a bit jenky to complete override his ability to enjoy it. there is actually a lot here and yes, when you beat the campaign it opens up in to a sandbox with content only accessible then, its a MASSIVE game actually. genuinely loving it.
The game world itself and the gameplay cycle is not half bad, but no one has tested it before release. The resource system is a total mess. You basically have to create a few worlds to farm a rare scale thing you need 9 in total for a key item, but guess what - there's only like 5 dragons in the game who drop one scale each and they never respawn once killed. And you can also waste them by creating useless armor or even food items. Elven wood don't respawn, meaning it's a finite resource. Not only it's needed for building it's also used for arrows - yes, you can soft-lock your progress by making too many arrows. Each time you move up a tier everything you've hoarded, save for fabrics and skins, becomes useless.
I get you. But what if, you take care of arrow production, and plan ahead to save more of fabrics and skins? In a grand-scheme of management games, it makes sense that such priorities exist, no ?
Just to hammer home how little he played the game, he complained about not being able to bring cooked food with you when you can build an oven which it's whole job is to cook snacks to bring with you like Lambas and you unlock it in the second region, so... It would be like if Mac reviewed Valheim but didn't even finish the black forest.
@@markgraham5971 f it, there is an elven quarter/cave in the game with elven resources. Super different in tone. It’s a surprise to the player characters and is a reference to when the elves of eregion and the dwarves were great friends. It provides what’s needed for lembas bread and more.
@@Slasher865 yeah sure, it's not like it made me unsubscribe or anything and it's not like it's secretly a phenomenal game, I just wished he'd be a bit more thorough in his reviews, but instead he pumps them out so quickly that some don't get the review they deserve
@@tjbullis1491I find the steam ratings very sus, it just came out and has that many positive reviews? It seems like positive review bombing from folks that like this on Epic. Steam players will prob eventually get a hold of this and it will be appropriable rated down to negative.
Well, time to play The Return of the King to remind myself what a good LOTR game looks like, because we're gonna be getting stinkers like this for quite a while Edit: Hehey, I got a heart! I know it is going to sound cliche, but thanks Mack! Keep up the good work!
@@Ethan-fz6tp Same. I don't really understand a lot of the complaints in this review. This game is clearly meant to lean more towards RPG than survival Sandbox. The reviewer is looking at it as a Survival Sandbox game, and not as an RPG with survival aspects.
Remember when the gaming industry almost collapsed late 80s because any and every company was churning shite out just for money, like a KFC game etc… we are there again and if this slide isn’t arrested soon the crash is coming hard and fast. Quality is at an all time low considering the resources available to these devs.
Its funny how i see other content creators having fun in it with clips here and there and then as I am ready to buy it, one step away from placing my order and confirming the purchase a small voice in my head goes: "You should really see if its worth it" That misalignment for building is a big no no for me, i can deal with shitty combat and story if the building is good, but thats a big nope for me. Thank you for showing me that!
It’s honestly sad that the norm for many new games has just become releasing a game that clearly released too early, shouldn’t have been the price they were asking for, and just absolute trash and an immense disappointment. Like this could have been great and maybe it will be. But then again it just shouldn’t have been released in the first place
back in the day it was the technology that was restricting developers imagination & passion now it's the other way around, they fired all the real developers who actually like games, and those who survived the purge only did so by letting their souls rot away to fit in all we get now are soulless slop or propaganda, and with AAA you get both.
“Dwarf Fortress is legendary, but what if we did something similar with an official LotR tie-in and 3d graphics?” “Do you actually know how to make a game?” “No. “
The idea of having a camp you fortify and improve and then use as a forward base of sorts to launch expeditions into the oh so eerie mines of moria actually sounds like a cool idea, but when I hear about a game being made about a huge IP like LOTR I automatically assume it'll be a cash grab and garbage.
Return to Boria:D My goodness, Mack... Mack! When games like Techtonica exist, where You can burrow almost ANYWHERE and dig...not to mention Deep Rock Galactic...this is a disgrace xD
So SInce playing this and comparing it to your review I can tell you really didnt put that much time into it. You complained about inventory size but you can upgrade your back pack. This game for a Open world crafting game is fantastic, Ive only played since the golden update but Id highly recommend this especially for the new lower price.
"new lower price" so they either 1) knew they had a crap product at launch and wanted to skeev people out of more money than they knew the product was worth, 2) they knew their product was crap so they finally lowered the price and are now trying to fix it to be worth the lowered price >.
Not allowed to say dwarves anymore. Peter Dinklage does not allow it. They should add an ability for you in co-op to be able to pull up ladders behind you so other dwarves can't follow your success. You could call the move the "Dinkladder"
(I've got over 200 hours in, almost exclusively in Sandbox) 1) Campaign / "Story_Mode" =/= Sandbox. The latter is more confusing (More on this in a moment), even the recipes are different. Campaign has lots of hand holding, and imo, is baby town frolics compared to Sandbox. 2) The world is HUGE. Not just horizontally, but vertically as well. (More on this in a moment) 2a) The world is INCREDIBLE visually. 3) The world is EMPTY. There are pockets of Orcs, Goblins, Worgs, (no Dwarves, more on this in a moment), but by and large it's an empty city. 4) While technically not "linear", there is clear progression, and you will encounter roadblocks at every step of the way (Weapons not good enough, Pickaxe not good enough, Hammer not good enough, Armor is quasi - ornamental at best (Don't get me started on repairs) 5) The premise / story makes no sense. Your group (lead by Gimli) is trying to break into Moria (The main door has "Shadow Magic" preventing entrance). You (The player) get caught in a landslide / demolition gone wrong and find yourself alone in Moria. 5a) In Campaign, your goal is to escape. In Sandbox, well, play as you want. Be forewarned, there is no follow-on party, no search-and-rescue party. Did you guys forget about me? The goal was to get into Moria. Mission accomplished. Are you telling me a group of Dwarves couldn't mine their way through loose rock? (At a minimum, once a floor is cleared, Dwarves could show up - but no) 6) The "Map" is by God awful. There are colors on the map (The Devs changed the map sometime before the Steam release). What do the colors mean? Don't know. There is verticality on a single floor. An "entrance" to another area could technically be on your level, but fathoms above or below. 7) Combat is no Elden Ring. Want to be a combat GOD in LotR_RtM? Follow this strategy: i) Block, ii) Swing, iii) Swing, iv) Go_to_i. 8) Targeting is very hit-or-miss. You will experience frustration as you try to mine, only finding you're doing nothing. 9) The soundtrack is great. No complaints. 10) Is it worth $20? IMO yes. But realize this is an early access game (despite what the Devs say), with a lot of frustrations. If you like Dwarves or Tolkien, then I'd say it's worth the $20.
I dont really play many of these games or interested in them but Mack you comments just make me laugh with a beer in my hand, so funny mate, keep it up brilliant!
THAT would be amazing! :) I mean one could do it wonderfully in the setting of.....northern Rhovanion :) there are rivers there which connect all major points, Forest River, Celduin, Long Lake (and Lake-town Esgaroth), Carnen river and so on (also the Enchanted River could be some sort of border or to have it lore friendly it's water having the effect of putting to sleep and enchantment of forgetfulness so for instance submerging in water would cause your character to fall asleep and if not drown then crawl up to shore and lie down asleep and also have some debuffs to the character stats :)) one could sail down even as far as Sea of Rhun, and reach Dorwinion the land on it's shores...it could be great fun :). The AC Valhalla style raids would be possible and the Northmen of Rhovanion (Lake-men and Men of Dale/Bardings) are pretty much Norse-like culture anyway :) and in book we hear of the old history: "They still throve on the trade that came up the great river from the South and was carted past the falls to their town; but in the great days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and there had been fleets of boats on the waters, and some were filled with gold and some with warriors in armour, and there had been wars and deeds which were now only a legend. The rotting piles of a greater town could still be seen along the shores when the waters sank in a drought." The Hobbit This could be a great idea! :) And speaking of Assassin's Creed style games, with Shadow of Mordor/War already using this model (mixed a bit with Arkham) though these two games were VERY lore breaking and as far away from canon as possible....seriously lore butchery, but with such rich world from book series one needs approach of more faithful adaptation...still an Assassin's Creed style game, like say a Lotr version of AC Black Flag mixed with Odyssey and Origins for making it even better would be amazing, vast open world and sailing in great numenorean ships like in Black Flag, naval combat (of course wihtout firearms but it can still be done well like combination of the design of ships of more advanced with the Odyssey naval tactics) sailing exploring the Great Sea Belegaer and the shores and isles of Middle-earth, sailing up river Anduin the Great River (like Nile in Origins) having whole kingdom of Gondor also to explore with Rohan and other lands as well (maybe even lands to the south like Harondor, Near Harad up till the great port city of Umbar!!!!) hell one could even use actual lore and have Aragorn as protagonist of such a game! "Thorongil often counselled Ecthelion that the strength of the rebels in Umbar was a great peril to Gondor, and a threat to the fiefs of the south that would prove deadly, if Sauron moved to open war. At last he got leave of the Steward and gathered a small fleet, and he came to Umbar unlooked-for by night, and there burned a great part of the ships of the Corsairs. He himself overthrew the Captain of the Haven in battle upon the quays, and then he withdrew his fleet with small loss. But when they came back to Pelargir, to men's grief and wonder, he would not return to Minas Tirith, where great honour awaited him. He sent a message of farewell to Ecthelion, saying: "Other tasks now call me, lord, and much time and many perils must pass, ere I come again to Gondor, if that be my fate." Though none could guess what those tasks might be, nor what summons he had received, it was known whither he went. For he took boat and crossed over Anduin, and there he said farewell to his companions and went on alone; and when he was last seen his face was towards the Mountains of Shadow." Aragorn as Thorongil commanding ships and having sea battles with ships of Corsairs of Umbar and the story milestone being this famous surprise attack raid on Umbar and then also allowing him to explore other lands "far countries of Rhun and Harad where the stars are strange". "He rode in the host of the Rohirrim, and fought for the Lord of Gondor by land and by sea; and then in the hour of victory he passed out of the knowledge of Men of the West, and went alone far into the East and deep into the South, exploring the hearts of Men, both evil and good, and uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron." The possibilties are endless! :)
It's so strange they spent all this dev time implementing features like minimap but they couldn't spent at least some time making sure that the building walls actually allign and are not broken.
A simple snap-to system would have resolved that, or at worst making the object rotation more finely controlled. That it made it out of QA in this state is a travesty and a slap in the face to their customers.
@@alcovitch In a world that is inundated with far, far better survival games it kind of is. This thing will sink to the bottom just like every other 2023 release this year
I love Macks videos, but i will disagree on this one. I am enjoying this game, but sometimes we can not agree on all things. But great video, always makes me laugh.
This reminds me of one of my favorite reviews, Lotr War In The North. For some reason, I can no longer find that video, but got many a good chuckle out of that review as well.
Heh... friend bought this, I was curious but it looks kinda bare bones. I might pick it up at some point just to goof around with my friend... but not at $40. Thanks buddy.
we hear all the time about how AI is going to replace our jobs, but going by the way AI has progressed in gaming we are going to be completely fine because 10 years from now the AI that's going to take over the world is going to be a broken embarrassing mess
the building alignment issue is unforgivable for me. its so fucking incompetent it blows my mind that they think that the building system is ok. how difficult is it to implement a snap system to existing structures....? if your doing a survival game where you build a base then the building has to be great.
Same. I think the game is fantastic. Interesting story, great music, great environment. Great voice acting. Sure, combat is very simple. But it doesn't need to be complicated and intriguing every time. but the game is extremely fun with a bunch of friends.
My friends and I were enjoying the game a lot. The atmosphere, the old dwarven architecture and the different mines that go on for miles. The enemies and combat can be pretty glitchy if youre not hosting but we liked the game a lot.
yeah i really like the game. its not perfect but its really dope imo. i love what they did with the world and the base building is NOT as bad as he is saying. combat isnt perfect, but its still fun and honestly does have more depth than shit like ark.
teh raid bug happens if you build a base inside a forge area, one of the few times i have to disagree, ive been loving the game, ive just started crafting the Tier 5 gear, and am still having fun
@@Puske What part did you like best? The paper thin content disguised as grind? The galley slave rowing simulator? The complete lack of balance? The virtual abandonment of the title by thin skinned Devs who actively suppressed bad reviews? The low rez, pixelated graphics? The hitboxes on uneven terrain? Or was it something else? We are going to have to agree to disagree. Valheim was half assed, and the Dev team are scumbags. As warned, the trophy generation has grown to adulthood, and sub-mediocrity is their calling card. And the state of modern games is miserable.
Whoah, I thought the ENTIRE point of this game was that you could mine anywhere, since it's the mines of moria and you are a dwarf....the fact that they actually have very specific walls you can mine through only and nothing else, misses the point entirely.
Mack has the one DING to rule them all.
Genius
Oh my
Ding...or Dong? 🤔
The DING is his burden to bear.
Mines of excrement
Everytime a Lotr game comes out I can’t help but dream of a Skyrim like game set in Middle Earth. Just like Star Wars this franchise has so much untapped potential in gaming.
those times are over. look at the games coming out, it's all bullshit
Skyrim was originally going to be a LOTR game. True story.
edit: It was GOT not LOTR.
Nah, license games needs to be cheap, formulaic and easily cranked out by no name/talent studios. It's in the contract. Some exceptions may apply.
me too. been dying for a game like that since forever
Only good LOTR game in recent times was Middle Earth Shadow of War, it was fun and innovative
Why would the Goblins only come out at night when the entire game is set underground?
They're hungover during the day?
Well that's because they don't.
look at the footage, even. he's attacked both at the afternoon and twilight. Time of day doesn't matter for that.
They come out when you start making a lot of noise in game
ENcounters are more frequent at night, and you get different debuffs to consider at night.
They mostly come out at night. Mostly.
That tv show on amazon really set the tone for the future of LOTR
LOTR has been shit for far longer
@@GaleGummola I only saw the first Hobbit film and that was kinda poo. Not a patch on the early 2000 films.
@bushmonster1702 if you that that was bad you should see the third one, I mean turd one.
@@bushmonster1702the next one was far worse. Never seen the 3rd one cause i hated the 2nd one so much. I hear its even worse
☠️☠️
A direct quote from the game director: "We think we have the best third-person melee combat in the survival genre". No, not a joke. He actually said that.
Jesus Christ, that's delusional. Makes me wonder if the game director has a bean counter background.
if you dont say it you dont get your carrot
He has to say that.
It is the best tho.
Who was that? Todd Howard?
i appreciate that no one seems to have forgotten Valhiem and what a phenomenal game it was. it truly did set the bar for possibility and feature cohesion.
was? it still is :D
@@CounciloftheRings ill be honest, i fell away after the long lack of content updates :*( and im a little bit jaded. i know some new stuff has come out recently and that they are working on more things, and it might just be that im being impatient, but i dont really have hope that valhiem will ever be finished. i just wish there was more, right now, not teasers 6 months from now :(
My jaw is in the floor rn. I feel like my recent experience on steam has been 180 of this. Its not a hard core game and a few bugs seem to persist, but dangit i can't stop playing.
IKR?! this game is absolutely slept on I don't know why people hate it so much. It's a blast
Well, the guy don't even played it enough to meet with the dragon, or to learn how to cook and carry the food with him. Or to go down to the deep and meet a nameless there.
He's just complaining about everything.
@@StArShIpEnTeRpRiSe You shouldnt need to play that deep into a game so "it becomes fun" if you are paying 30+ for a game you expect it to be good from the get go. the combat is garbage and the enemy ai is dumb. compare this kind of gameplay to that of shadow of war and is night and day not even close. hell even the old ps2 lord of the rings games were more fun and you could change characters.
@@lordenvincar It was fun from it's first moment. The combat doesn't matter, as it's not a fighting game. Compairing a survival builder to an action adventure is night and day, true but just show idiotic logic from your side.
Like compair your legs to your arms...
@@lordenvincar
Yea, but you have to play it well to enjoy it.
Its like giving a guitar to a baker and saying "have fun with it" without him learning how to play.
You gotta learn the basics, watch/read some guides or the manual, and sometimes Mack just wings it and tells his tale.
That's alright, plenty of us are like that sometimes, and have no patience to learn the nitty gritty, but I guess that just means I don't like the game enough for it, and others do and find joy in it.
Mack never states his reviews as dogma, and that's why I find every review of his entertaining, even if I don't agree with it.
Ah yes "Arse" the mysterious 8th dwarf... I remember him!
I didn't expect Gollum to get DLC
If you think this is ANYWHERE near as bad as Gollum, you're just a damn cave troll.
lol
It's far from being as bad as Gollum, with some updates it could really be good, there's a ton Mac didn't mention here that are good ideas, probably cause he didn't play enough and all his footage is contained in the first 2 "biomes", so he didn't even play more than 6-7 hours. But he did raise some good points that I hope will get addressed
@factoryreset855 yeah it's sad when Mac doesn't like a game I enjoy. I remember liking Elden Ring and then wanting to see what Mac said about it, and he totally hated on it. Kinda weird.
@PhoenixBlade he has never liked soulslikes man. And he plays them with a mouse and keyboard... so yeah. I do appreciate that he just states his genuine opinions. That's a bit rare nowadays
Goblins don't only attack at night they patrol all over in small groups. Sieges at your camp only trigger randomly when you are at a camp and any goblins that aren't killed during the siege will still hang around afterwards. Once you craft an oven you can carry cooked meals. Yes the game has a few QOL issues but nothing is game breaking at least in my play through so far. Combat is basic but still challenging, dwarves mine go figure. Building rotation is my biggest complaint otherwise I am enjoying it very much. I played LOTRO for quite a long time and I don't mind the grind to get better gear.
yeah he made assumptions about the game while barely making it out of the tutorial area, lol
"I played LOTRO for quite a long time and I don't mind the grind to get better gear." that says it all, you'll literally let someone urinate in your mouth and still give them the benefit of the doubt that they just thought you were thirsty lol,
when that mini expac was coming out before the shadow or w.e they somehow, without touching ANYTHING IN BREE, put a GIANT mountain RANGE(not a single rock) in the middle of the bree>w.e zone was north of it travel path... so if you unknowingly took it or were a new player and HAD to, you got stuck running into a wall until you logged out.... they left it like that for MONTHS and the brain dead garbage loving community LOVED it and made it into a meme that was spouted every 5 minutes in world chat and the forums to the point... ***THE DEVS MEMORIALIZED THAT COLOSSOSAL F UP WITH A LITERAL STONE MEMORIAL AT THE SITE WHEN THEY FINALLY FIXED IT... MONTHS LATER***.
That is the kind of thing EVERY other MMO would literally pull down servers to fix... LOTRO team left it for months and MEMORIALIZED their incompetence because they thought it was funny.
OHHH but let me not forget to mention during that same period they had, if i remember corretly, 3 separate $100-200 bundles containing ingame currney, reskinned mount, and stat-less gear that PURELY was cosmetic..... yeahhhhh LOTRO players have horrible judgement. -.-
@@zeening are you okay man? I didn't read any of this but your comment looks like the demented ramblings of a coke-fuelled schizoid episode so I just wanted to check up on you.
"But if you play it for 101 hours it gets fking great" 🤣🤣🤣
it was great from hour 1. this is a major exaggeration and he allowed the fact the game is a bit jenky to complete override his ability to enjoy it. there is actually a lot here and yes, when you beat the campaign it opens up in to a sandbox with content only accessible then, its a MASSIVE game actually. genuinely loving it.
@@Ethan-fz6tp Mack always exaggerates.
The people in charge of the Tolkien estate since Christopher passed really suck. They need to piss off ASAP.
The game world itself and the gameplay cycle is not half bad, but no one has tested it before release. The resource system is a total mess. You basically have to create a few worlds to farm a rare scale thing you need 9 in total for a key item, but guess what - there's only like 5 dragons in the game who drop one scale each and they never respawn once killed. And you can also waste them by creating useless armor or even food items.
Elven wood don't respawn, meaning it's a finite resource. Not only it's needed for building it's also used for arrows - yes, you can soft-lock your progress by making too many arrows.
Each time you move up a tier everything you've hoarded, save for fabrics and skins, becomes useless.
I get you.
But what if, you take care of arrow production, and plan ahead to save more of fabrics and skins?
In a grand-scheme of management games, it makes sense that such priorities exist, no ?
Just to hammer home how little he played the game, he complained about not being able to bring cooked food with you when you can build an oven which it's whole job is to cook snacks to bring with you like Lambas and you unlock it in the second region, so... It would be like if Mac reviewed Valheim but didn't even finish the black forest.
Dwarves do not make Lembas. That is Elvish.
@@markgraham5971 f it, there is an elven quarter/cave in the game with elven resources. Super different in tone. It’s a surprise to the player characters and is a reference to when the elves of eregion and the dwarves were great friends. It provides what’s needed for lembas bread and more.
@@markgraham5971 I fail to understand your point as you CAN make lambas in the game.
Agreed, its one of the few times mack failed to spend enough time in a game before making a decision. We all have our off days though.
@@Slasher865 yeah sure, it's not like it made me unsubscribe or anything and it's not like it's secretly a phenomenal game, I just wished he'd be a bit more thorough in his reviews, but instead he pumps them out so quickly that some don't get the review they deserve
Can you do a review after the AUG 27th Golden update?
was wondering the same thing. didnt realize this game was out 10 months ago i just saw it on steam with mostly positive so this really confused me
@@tjbullis1491I find the steam ratings very sus, it just came out and has that many positive reviews? It seems like positive review bombing from folks that like this on Epic. Steam players will prob eventually get a hold of this and it will be appropriable rated down to negative.
"Lardarse", lol.
Wait for Ghost ship to make a REAL Deep Rock Prequel ROCK AND STONE!!!
When does the console song get released on spotify and amazon music?
*Mack* being suspiciously talented at voice-acting as a dwarf.
*Saltzpyre nasal voice* Suspicious.... Mmm, yees.
Having a 💩 day at work, so played your video on my lunchbreak and you cheered me right up, THANK YOU 🙏
time to quit that job.
It must be weird that so much negativity can cheer you up.
Well, time to play The Return of the King to remind myself what a good LOTR game looks like, because we're gonna be getting stinkers like this for quite a while
Edit: Hehey, I got a heart! I know it is going to sound cliche, but thanks Mack! Keep up the good work!
I've been really enjoying this game tbh.
same
Cos ur gai
@@Ethan-fz6tp Same. I don't really understand a lot of the complaints in this review. This game is clearly meant to lean more towards RPG than survival Sandbox. The reviewer is looking at it as a Survival Sandbox game, and not as an RPG with survival aspects.
yeah exactly@@iqgaming5790
Remember when the gaming industry almost collapsed late 80s because any and every company was churning shite out just for money, like a KFC game etc… we are there again and if this slide isn’t arrested soon the crash is coming hard and fast.
Quality is at an all time low considering the resources available to these devs.
Oh my dearly beloved LotR franchise, how they keep hitting you with sticks while you lay helpless on the ground... 😢
idk why people hate on this game. I've played it and had a blast both solo and co-op. Game is seriously hated on way too hard
Its funny how i see other content creators having fun in it with clips here and there and then as I am ready to buy it, one step away from placing my order and confirming the purchase a small voice in my head goes: "You should really see if its worth it"
That misalignment for building is a big no no for me, i can deal with shitty combat and story if the building is good, but thats a big nope for me. Thank you for showing me that!
It’s honestly sad that the norm for many new games has just become releasing a game that clearly released too early, shouldn’t have been the price they were asking for, and just absolute trash and an immense disappointment. Like this could have been great and maybe it will be. But then again it just shouldn’t have been released in the first place
The LOTR IP is just being handed out to anyone at this point like it's Warhammer isn't it? At least it's not Gollum
Speaking of Valheim, are there any news of a out-of-development release date?
6 out of 7 dwarfs aren’t Happy.
Dammit Mack, you had the chance to put the title "More like Return to Bore ya" and you blew it...
back in the day it was the technology that was restricting developers imagination & passion
now it's the other way around,
they fired all the real developers who actually like games, and those who survived the purge only did so by letting their souls rot away to fit in
all we get now are soulless slop or propaganda, and with AAA you get both.
This isn't AAA though? It's an indie studio with like 20 people
yeah this is just soulless slop @@Makron_777
“Dwarf Fortress is legendary, but what if we did something similar with an official LotR tie-in and 3d graphics?”
“Do you actually know how to make a game?”
“No. “
Name 3 similarities in the gameplay
Thanks for saving me money Mack great video .
Will you be doing a WAB on Alan wake 2 ?
Thank you for saving me money yet again!
This game turns you into Sleepy the dwarf...
Grumpy
Six out of seven dwarves aren't Happy and one is Grumpy with this 'game'.
I usually agree with him but I mean I'm having a chill time with it haha
Yeah lots of people love it
I am now using the measuring system “from the Empire State Building too a bungalow”
The idea of having a camp you fortify and improve and then use as a forward base of sorts to launch expeditions into the oh so eerie mines of moria actually sounds like a cool idea, but when I hear about a game being made about a huge IP like LOTR I automatically assume it'll be a cash grab and garbage.
Did you even beat chapter 1 tutorial?
Return to Boria:D My goodness, Mack... Mack! When games like Techtonica exist, where You can burrow almost ANYWHERE and dig...not to mention Deep Rock Galactic...this is a disgrace xD
Remember Epic exclusives don't have to deal with pesky user reviews on the storefront or forums like with Steam.
So SInce playing this and comparing it to your review I can tell you really didnt put that much time into it. You complained about inventory size but you can upgrade your back pack. This game for a Open world crafting game is fantastic, Ive only played since the golden update but Id highly recommend this especially for the new lower price.
"new lower price" so they either 1) knew they had a crap product at launch and wanted to skeev people out of more money than they knew the product was worth, 2) they knew their product was crap so they finally lowered the price and are now trying to fix it to be worth the lowered price >.
@@zeening It's free
Will you be reviewing the Ark Remasterd scam Mack?
Not allowed to say dwarves anymore. Peter Dinklage does not allow it.
They should add an ability for you in co-op to be able to pull up ladders behind you so other dwarves can't follow your success. You could call the move the "Dinkladder"
3 guarantees in life. 1. Taxes 2. Death 3. Getting a laugh from Macks videos!
(I've got over 200 hours in, almost exclusively in Sandbox)
1) Campaign / "Story_Mode" =/= Sandbox. The latter is more confusing (More on this in a moment), even the recipes are different. Campaign has lots of hand holding, and imo, is baby town frolics compared to Sandbox.
2) The world is HUGE. Not just horizontally, but vertically as well. (More on this in a moment)
2a) The world is INCREDIBLE visually.
3) The world is EMPTY. There are pockets of Orcs, Goblins, Worgs, (no Dwarves, more on this in a moment), but by and large it's an empty city.
4) While technically not "linear", there is clear progression, and you will encounter roadblocks at every step of the way (Weapons not good enough, Pickaxe not good enough, Hammer not good enough, Armor is quasi - ornamental at best (Don't get me started on repairs)
5) The premise / story makes no sense. Your group (lead by Gimli) is trying to break into Moria (The main door has "Shadow Magic" preventing entrance). You (The player) get caught in a landslide / demolition gone wrong and find yourself alone in Moria.
5a) In Campaign, your goal is to escape. In Sandbox, well, play as you want. Be forewarned, there is no follow-on party, no search-and-rescue party. Did you guys forget about me? The goal was to get into Moria. Mission accomplished. Are you telling me a group of Dwarves couldn't mine their way through loose rock?
(At a minimum, once a floor is cleared, Dwarves could show up - but no)
6) The "Map" is by God awful. There are colors on the map (The Devs changed the map sometime before the Steam release). What do the colors mean? Don't know. There is verticality on a single floor. An "entrance" to another area could technically be on your level, but fathoms above or below.
7) Combat is no Elden Ring. Want to be a combat GOD in LotR_RtM? Follow this strategy: i) Block, ii) Swing, iii) Swing, iv) Go_to_i.
8) Targeting is very hit-or-miss. You will experience frustration as you try to mine, only finding you're doing nothing.
9) The soundtrack is great. No complaints.
10) Is it worth $20? IMO yes. But realize this is an early access game (despite what the Devs say), with a lot of frustrations. If you like Dwarves or Tolkien, then I'd say it's worth the $20.
Sir, would you mind making a video with your all time favourite games?
I dont really play many of these games or interested in them but Mack you comments just make me laugh with a beer in my hand, so funny mate, keep it up brilliant!
What are the funniest reviews from him? That review of the failed zombie game where he lost his mind was funny
How long do we have to wait until someone makes something good with Lotr?
until a non-braindead artistic studio which is not being hogtied by a publisher is allowed to touch it - so never.
War in the north came out in 2011
As a Tolkien game it's actually a good game, but you have to get through the tutorial area lol
So do you like it or not 😂
Is that a purple-haired dwarf in the cover art? lmfao
Are you going to review Spider-man 2 and Alan Wake 2?
Goblins attack at night cause nights are much darker 100 feet under.
That is a steady left arm on that dwarf mining the Iron ore....
pay a lot for the license, pay a lot less for the development...
Do You recommend this for kids tho?
Based Mack, i been waiting for this one *ding*
How many people have licenses for this IP at this point? Wonder if I could get one for a few bucks to make a stick figure pr0n web comic out of it.
Bored of the Rings. Remember that on your speccy Mac? ‘Fart’. ‘Fordo did, everybody died’.
I would love an AC Valhalla type game set in Middle Earth
THAT would be amazing! :) I mean one could do it wonderfully in the setting of.....northern Rhovanion :) there are rivers there which connect all major points, Forest River, Celduin, Long Lake (and Lake-town Esgaroth), Carnen river and so on (also the Enchanted River could be some sort of border or to have it lore friendly it's water having the effect of putting to sleep and enchantment of forgetfulness so for instance submerging in water would cause your character to fall asleep and if not drown then crawl up to shore and lie down asleep and also have some debuffs to the character stats :)) one could sail down even as far as Sea of Rhun, and reach Dorwinion the land on it's shores...it could be great fun :). The AC Valhalla style raids would be possible and the Northmen of Rhovanion (Lake-men and Men of Dale/Bardings) are pretty much Norse-like culture anyway :) and in book we hear of the old history:
"They still throve on the trade that came up the great river from the South and was carted past the falls to their town; but in the great days of old, when Dale in the North was rich and prosperous, they had been wealthy and powerful, and there had been fleets of boats on the waters, and some were filled with gold and some with warriors in armour, and there had been wars and deeds which were now only a legend. The rotting piles of a greater town could still be seen along the shores when the waters sank in a drought." The Hobbit
This could be a great idea! :) And speaking of Assassin's Creed style games, with Shadow of Mordor/War already using this model (mixed a bit with Arkham) though these two games were VERY lore breaking and as far away from canon as possible....seriously lore butchery, but with such rich world from book series one needs approach of more faithful adaptation...still an Assassin's Creed style game, like say a Lotr version of AC Black Flag mixed with Odyssey and Origins for making it even better would be amazing, vast open world and sailing in great numenorean ships like in Black Flag, naval combat (of course wihtout firearms but it can still be done well like combination of the design of ships of more advanced with the Odyssey naval tactics) sailing exploring the Great Sea Belegaer and the shores and isles of Middle-earth, sailing up river Anduin the Great River (like Nile in Origins) having whole kingdom of Gondor also to explore with Rohan and other lands as well (maybe even lands to the south like Harondor, Near Harad up till the great port city of Umbar!!!!) hell one could even use actual lore and have Aragorn as protagonist of such a game!
"Thorongil often counselled Ecthelion that the strength of the rebels in Umbar was a great peril to Gondor, and a threat to the fiefs of the south that would prove deadly, if Sauron moved to open war. At last he got leave of the Steward and gathered a small fleet, and he came to Umbar unlooked-for by night, and there burned a great part of the ships of the Corsairs. He himself overthrew the Captain of the Haven in battle upon the quays, and then he withdrew his fleet with small loss. But when they came back to Pelargir, to men's grief and wonder, he would not return to Minas Tirith, where great honour awaited him.
He sent a message of farewell to Ecthelion, saying: "Other tasks now call me, lord, and much time and many perils must pass, ere I come again to Gondor, if that be my fate." Though none could guess what those tasks might be, nor what summons he had received, it was known whither he went. For he took boat and crossed over Anduin, and there he said farewell to his companions and went on alone; and when he was last seen his face was towards the Mountains of Shadow."
Aragorn as Thorongil commanding ships and having sea battles with ships of Corsairs of Umbar and the story milestone being this famous surprise attack raid on Umbar and then also allowing him to explore other lands "far countries of Rhun and Harad where the stars are strange".
"He rode in the host of the Rohirrim, and fought for the Lord of Gondor by land and by sea; and then in the hour of victory he passed out of the knowledge of Men of the West, and went alone far into the East and deep into the South, exploring the hearts of Men, both evil and good, and uncovering the plots and devices of the servants of Sauron."
The possibilties are endless! :)
There is one, it's called Shadow of War
I fell of the chair at the intro about 7 dwarfs XD
It's so strange they spent all this dev time implementing features like minimap but they couldn't spent at least some time making sure that the building walls actually allign and are not broken.
A simple snap-to system would have resolved that, or at worst making the object rotation more finely controlled. That it made it out of QA in this state is a travesty and a slap in the face to their customers.
@@jackkain7141 It should be fixed for sure, but it's not a massive game breaking problem that you're making it out to be.
@@alcovitch In a world that is inundated with far, far better survival games it kind of is. This thing will sink to the bottom just like every other 2023 release this year
ive never even run in to this specific issue yet so idk wtf. you can just break walls too sooo. yeah, not nearly a big deal@@alcovitch
We didn't know how good we had it back then with Two Towers, Return of the King and Third Age.
Love your vids and your sarcasm Subbed.
I love Macks videos, but i will disagree on this one. I am enjoying this game, but sometimes we can not agree on all things. But great video, always makes me laugh.
After watching this another video came up about this game: The Best NEW Survival Crafting Co-op Since Valheim...
How do the goblins know it's night when you're in a mine, and why do they care?
they attack at all times, it's just more frequent at night
This reminds me of one of my favorite reviews, Lotr War In The North. For some reason, I can no longer find that video, but got many a good chuckle out of that review as well.
Surely its Return to Boreia?
Bird sounds like bird in original water ship down
How bad do you have to be to mess up a dwarf mining game?
Its a console game, console game 🕺🕺🎼🎼🎵🎵🎶🎶
Heh... friend bought this, I was curious but it looks kinda bare bones. I might pick it up at some point just to goof around with my friend... but not at $40. Thanks buddy.
thank u for having the patience to play this game i gave up after 30 mins
So would you rate this over Gollum? 🤣
it's not even in the same league. Those of you comparing the two are clueless.
@@marcmartino8518 it was a joke. Pity it went over your head!
Been playing it for a few day's with my gf. Honestly im having a good time. Much better than i thought but maybe that's because im a huge lotr fan
Same, I've read the books multiple time and I think the game is fantastic.
About as tripe as rings of power
I like the new hit single "Console Game" a follow up to "X-Ray Vision". When is the LP coming out
I don't think this even sounds like a console game. It sounds more like the gameplay you get on mobile phone lifted and dropped on to a PC.
But do you get to toss a dwarf after 101 hours ?
we hear all the time about how AI is going to replace our jobs, but going by the way AI has progressed in gaming we are going to be completely fine because 10 years from now the AI that's going to take over the world is going to be a broken embarrassing mess
I´m sure Tolkien would have loved it.
Playing with 7 other dwarves would make it 8 dwarves
the building alignment issue is unforgivable for me. its so fucking incompetent it blows my mind that they think that the building system is ok. how difficult is it to implement a snap system to existing structures....? if your doing a survival game where you build a base then the building has to be great.
I guess thats why its not on steam
ok so it wasnt just me.....
So the loop is rebuilding Moria? Madness.
1:19 Oh that's the actual voice acting, i thought it was Mack.
The goblins mostly come out at night
Mostly
I actually had a lot of fun, just beat it today.
Same. I think the game is fantastic. Interesting story, great music, great environment. Great voice acting. Sure, combat is very simple. But it doesn't need to be complicated and intriguing every time. but the game is extremely fun with a bunch of friends.
I like the game a lot too
My friends and I were enjoying the game a lot. The atmosphere, the old dwarven architecture and the different mines that go on for miles. The enemies and combat can be pretty glitchy if youre not hosting but we liked the game a lot.
yeah i really like the game. its not perfect but its really dope imo. i love what they did with the world and the base building is NOT as bad as he is saying. combat isnt perfect, but its still fun and honestly does have more depth than shit like ark.
Played in the closed beta. We made so many suggestions and feedbacks. it seems none were done.
teh raid bug happens if you build a base inside a forge area, one of the few times i have to disagree, ive been loving the game, ive just started crafting the Tier 5 gear, and am still having fun
Mack was there 2500 years ago...
thank you for saving me money
The sad state of modern gaming when you look at Valheim as some sort of high bar.
What are you kidding me? Valheim is great
@@Puske What part did you like best? The paper thin content disguised as grind? The galley slave rowing simulator? The complete lack of balance? The virtual abandonment of the title by thin skinned Devs who actively suppressed bad reviews? The low rez, pixelated graphics? The hitboxes on uneven terrain? Or was it something else?
We are going to have to agree to disagree. Valheim was half assed, and the Dev team are scumbags. As warned, the trophy generation has grown to adulthood, and sub-mediocrity is their calling card. And the state of modern games is miserable.
What I imagined when I first heard of this was Deep Rock Galactic in middle earth, what a shame.
rings of power... gollum... and now this... is there anybody not hellbent on making tolkein spin in his grave?
Whoah, I thought the ENTIRE point of this game was that you could mine anywhere, since it's the mines of moria and you are a dwarf....the fact that they actually have very specific walls you can mine through only and nothing else, misses the point entirely.
I don't think Mack even made it into the Mines 😂 all his footage is just the city area at the start lol
he saw a fraction of what the game has to offer.@@Makron_777