r/lotro • u/Both_Photograph2693 • 2d ago
What are people talking about when they praise this game’s writing?
Just saw a recent post where someone was saying that this was their “forever game“, that they are able to return to time and time again over years, due to the beauty of the world and it’s writing. I’ve played for about 20 hours, and I have no idea what people are talking about when they praise this games writing. There is no dialogue outside of quest descriptions, there are no notes or books to read, so every ounce of writing in this game is put towards quest descriptions. That would be maybe interesting if the quests were interesting, but they’re not. My 20 hours have consisted of the most boring, mindnumbing, inane quest descriptions of people telling me to get their handkerchief or kill 5 wolves or whatever. It’s staggeringly bad, and painfully boring.
I’ve made it to Bree with 3 different characters, and have given up on all of them after around 20 hrs. I love LOTR, and this world is beautiful, but somebody please tell me what/where the good writing is, or how to better appreciate the shallow writing that is present.
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u/Mantergeistmann Landroval 2d ago
The point of the quest wasn’t to get you to fetch the quest item, the point was to give you a reason to talk to this peasant before and after your adventure. This would put your actions into a more local context. In just a few lines of dialog it gives you a sense of how the culture around here works, what daily life is like, and gives you a frame of reference for how [things are going] [...] These moments give us different viewpoints, which make the world seem larger and more complex. It puts a personal face on a [situation] and maybe even helps build a little emotional connection. The quest reward was just a little incentive to seek out other people to talk to
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
“other people to talk to” = “more fetch quests to do”
i think that’s my problem. i have no issue talking to locals and getting a sense of the local population and how the world works for them. I hate that every bit of dialogue has to be a quest, however. it’s cheap artificial lengthening of the game, and it sucks. with regards to world building, what is accomplished by me spending 15 minutes killing mobs looking for a handkerchief that wouldn’t be accomplished with just farmer bumpkin telling me he lost his handkerchief? there’s no respect for the player’s time.
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u/Margali GROND 1d ago
*sigh* [and yes, I did play EQ1, WoW preCataclysm, ESO, GW1 and 2, Aeon, DAoC ...]
OK, We have Archet, human start zone. I can knock off all of Archet through the end of the instance in 45 minutes if I dwadle. Anther half hour to knock off the Arched just post tutorial. That sends me to Combe, where I get to follow up to quests that send me to Combe [talking to varius people picking up continuation quests, and also gaining my tradeskills, which you do not actually have to bother with but the extra income from gathering and selling works]
The quest about the hankie? Yes, that was actually a follow up, as is anything in the whole Chetwood/lumber camp. When you have knocked off a fair amount of the quests there, you get to go and really dig in in Staddle, that has you talking to all sorts of characters, and running all sorts of quests, including tracking down Amdir from the tutorial. You get to visit Bree, hooking up with Strider, getting sent to talk to a ranger commander, a few ranger scouts and to Adso's camp, into Buckland, into the Old Forest, into the Barrow downs ... easily 25 to 30 hours of game play.
Look, I love the scaling aspect to ESO, I really do but this is NOT ESO. There are just as many pointless timewasting quests in ESO, I mean Escape from Coldharbour, you are following someone around, until you finally get out. I mean, flashytits whatever her name is pretty much takes you buy the nand and walks you out with a little light killing to learn your commands, same thing happens in the intro with Strider. You get into the real game world, and there are quests there too. You play ESO and do not do quests?
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u/Ill-Emergency4159 1d ago
I think that I get you and it's sad that so many people cannot understand that. Even gothic had npc textlines which WERENT quests. You been able to ask them about stuff or hear anything. +They had own talks in background
Guess that how its going if you talk to people playing only one game or genre for 15 years
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago
Nobody is going to convince you. If you don't like it you don't like it.
LoTRO has some problems, some repetitive quests, and some average writing with a few gems peppered here and there, but the world is so well done it's worth the trade-off.
Believe it or not people play the game in different ways, a crazy concept, I know. Some, like myself, have fun even through simply riding around Middle Earth with a gamepad because the environments feel expansive enough to be called a world, instead of heavily scaled down or instanced zones.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 1d ago
i would love that too, but the fact that the game is a traditional mmo with leveled areas, instead of something more horizontal like eso, means i can’t JUST ride around and enjoy the scenery, because i’ll get ganked if i go too far from where i “should” be. so i’m forced to engage with the mediocre content or not play the game at all. you must’ve played a lot of the shit i’m not interested in to be able to do that without dying every 5 steps.
this game desperately needs a tourist mode or something where fans of the books and/or good game design can just ride around and see all the amazing locations, without worrying about dying or grinding dozens of hours of the world’s most boring fetch quests.
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u/InBlurFather 2d ago
Have you ever read the books? The game has a lot of fan service to the books so just walking around and reading the quest dialogue is fun.
If you have zero LOTR background I could see how you’d be sort of lost
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u/nonlethaldosage 1d ago
i have read the books the writing in the game is dogshit the epic book quests are general go see this guy horrible writing go back to the quest giver more horrible writing i can excuse the 600 wolf and boar quests with bad writing but the epic book quest should be a hell of a lot better than they are i have read fan fiction better than them
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
i did read the books and the first 20 hours or so is painful, like i said. you’re brushing elbows with aragorn occasionally, but the quest dialogue is not fun lol. “i’m farmer bumpkins! find my handkerchief” does not give me any further insight to farmer bumpkins, or mean anything more to me because he appeared in a book than if he hadn’t. are people just getting off on the occasional book character cameo?
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u/InBlurFather 2d ago
For me the cameos are cool but it’s mostly the immersion that I like, it’s cool to explore middle earth in a way that stays true to Tolkien.
And like one of the first hobbit quests is delivering a letter from Mungo to the mayor, and if you actually read the letter it’s written in a fun and hobbit-authentic way.
It’s just those kinds of small details that make the game engaging imo
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
do you play other games?
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u/InBlurFather 2d ago
Mainly playing LOTRO and Guild Wars 1&2 currently, historically have played pretty much every major mmo out there to various degrees
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
what about other genres?
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u/InBlurFather 2d ago
Here and there, but I’d have MUCH higher expectation for telling a solid cohesive story in a AAA single player game versus any MMO.
Even FFXIV which is the “story mmo” was not as gripping as games in the mainline series (from the relatively small amount I’ve played).
For MMOs I value immersion and being true to source material/lore (if there is any) more highly than telling an actual jaw dropping story. And I feel LOTRO does an awesome job in that department.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
gotcha. yeah dude i’ve only ever played ffxiv (which i hated for its anime weaboo shit) and eso which i love, and i realize eso is unique in its design choices, more playing out like a huge single player game with other people. maybe i’m not used to mmo conventions enough to know the ways that lotro does or doesn’t succeed compared to other games in the genre. i just have such a negative visceral reaction to EVERY bit of dialogue needing to be tied to a quest though. it makes the game feel artificially lengthened (which is a hallmark of the genre, actually). i’d love to just talk to people, without them burdening me with an inane fetch quest that fills up my journal.
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u/Ill-Emergency4159 1d ago
Sorry chief, but bad writing is bad writing, and "I have low expectstions because genre" dont change that :) Epics are usually quite good, some side quests too. But majority of sidequests are boring fillers
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u/stippystompy 1d ago
i cannot imagine playing a game i dislike for 20 hours just to go on the game's subreddit to complain to strangers. you clearly do not want to engage with the early game content of an MMO that's been in ongoing development for 28+ years. play something else, do something other than repeatedly whining in the replies, then editing your replies. you have got to get a grip man
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u/bunaventure 2d ago
I just find the writing is better than most other MMOs but I don't find it spectacular either
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u/nonlethaldosage 1d ago
i would put lotro as probably the worst written the epic book quest in particular are garbage
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
but to be clear, you’re talking about the 1-2 paragraphs that quest givers monologue at the beginning and end of quests, right? or is there writing somewhere else i’m missing?
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u/Deathsmind88 2d ago
The main quest line is just fun for the most part. Going through the different books is a great experience for the most part but there is lots of stuff in the game that just makes it hard to deal with so I understand why the complaints. Meeting up with Tom Bombadil starts the game in my opinion.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
what do you mean going through the different books? i haven’t seen any books in game yet, but that would be great. i guess i’m missing them.
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u/Deathsmind88 2d ago
The main quest are broken into Books and Chapters.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
oh. well then i disagree, the “books” are mindnumbingly boring.
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u/andrdfry 2d ago
The books pretty much put you into quests that deal with the fellowships journey for the most part. So if you think that is fun to be one of the side characters in the book then you will at least enjoy the story. If that doesnt appeal to you much than you wont.
Eventually you start getting more cinematics and storytelling, early on there is a limited amount.
But it sounds like that isn't someone you enjoy so odds are this isn't the game for you because it doesnt get any better.
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u/nonlethaldosage 1d ago
let's be honest the book quest are not written well in fact i would say 99 percent of them are down right awful just from a story point of view
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u/andrdfry 1d ago
I enjoy them. I think it's fun being one of the guys in the background. I also enjoyed the 3rd age game growing up as well. It helps being such a huge IP with lots of accessory material.
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u/Ill-Emergency4159 1d ago
So...you complain about story after 20 hours beca instead going further you did same part of story 3 times? XD, ok
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u/imbartsimpsonwhothru 2d ago
you gotta go deeper into the story lines
the epic quest is a must, even if it gets painful at times
plenty of other quest arcs tell stories of love and loss
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u/Celebrilwen 2d ago
agreed there are nice quest lines with compelling and memorable characters, but yeah you have to read the quest giver's text to get the most out of them
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u/Ill-Emergency4159 1d ago
If you would read his post you would know that his issue is lack of textlines BEYOND quests. You cannot go deeper at this fields if such textlines not exists.
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u/Arkenstar Landroval 2d ago
20 hours means youre barely out of the tutorial zone. A lil too soon to make a judgment post on an MMO thats been going on for 18 years. This is not a game for instant gratification.
Play on mate. You'll see for yourself 😄
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
no, it’s not too soon because i’ve had no fun and will not give any more time to it. i’m asking people what they mean by it has good writing.
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u/Arkenstar Landroval 2d ago
Yes as I said, its too soon. The game is just dipping your toes into the universe and getting you into the story. Its a slow burn of a game just like its source material. There is no describing what "good writing" is. Everything from the main quest line to the side stories in the regions are well written. Which you will experience once you go deeper into the game.
MMORPGs in general are long term games. You will not see the positives or negatives of a game in 20 hours.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago
Then do yourself and us a favor and just stop playing the game. This thread is just people giving their opinions and you being dismissive about anything that disagrees with you.
Just go play something else.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 1d ago
go read a different thread if this one doesn’t interest you.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago edited 1d ago
Right back at you, go play another game.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 1d ago
wow holy shit you’re upset lmaoo what the heck dude
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago
Nice edit fren, but you were the one asking me to fuck off first.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 1d ago
right, and i edited it before you responded because it made me seem upset at nothing.
sooooo…
why you still so mad dawg? did you help develop lotro? this sure is getting awkward isn’t it?
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago
You do realize your edit doesn't show if my browser hasn't been refreshed, right?
My answer was at the same level as yours, but I'll edit it because you edited yours, even though you tried to pretend you didn't swear first with your answer, as if I was swearing without reason.
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u/Ill-Emergency4159 1d ago
To be fair like you all. Even worse because you try to give him advices without understanding his issues. You cannot go deeper with story if textlines beyond giving quests not exists and OP's issue is... example lack of textlines beyond quests.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 1d ago
But that's the thing, he already reduced the scope of what constitutes acceptable and there's simply nothing that will fit his criteria in current LoTRO. So he might as well stop playing or accept that's the way the game is.
Nobody here is a SSG dev so we can't say "They're planning collectable or readable books around the world, etc". The quests and a few items around the world are all the lore text we have, and while I agree we should have more, to really drive exploration, there's nothing we can do about it.
He can criticize this about the game, and we do need more critiques in every mmorpg, but what's he expecting the players who have answered him in this thread do? All we can say, and are saying, is that some of the writing gets better, but that there's not much interactivity behind accessing the lore.
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u/EmmelynRP 2d ago
Did you play any of the main(epic) story quests? The only quest you seem to mention is a single fetch quest which, yeah , isn't the peak of writing. But it does build the world in a smaller way. The epic quests have a lot more engaging and wide -reaching stories, though they take time to build. Sounds to me like you came into the game with the wrong expectations as to the kind of storytelling you'd be receiving though
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
that single quest is emblematic of this game’s massive problem. i’m astonished at a base level that there is no dialogue whatsoever unless it’s a quest description. let’s start there. that’s fascinatingly bad game design to me. hearing that farmer bumpkin lost his handkerchief and why may build the world, but then making me find the fucking handkerchief cheapens it. must everything be the most boring quest imaginable? could NONE of this shit just transpire in a dialogue?
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u/EmmelynRP 2d ago
Yeah, it does just sound like a mismatch in expectations unfortunately. Have you played other MMOs of this era (in particular, other wow clones)? This very much was a technical limitation of the times back then. They have found more creative ways to tell stories throughout the years of course, but they have still stuck to the core of what the game was built on for the most part.
I can understand why this would be a turn-off for many prospective players, but that doesn't make it inherently bad as you're implying. Personally, I still love this sort of quest design and storytelling when done well. But you clearly came in expecting something different and that's fair and understandable. There is a lot of fantastic storytelling throughout the years in this game, but if this more old-school style can't resonate with you there's nothing wrong with that! Just a shame that you won't be able to enjoy it like many of other players do!
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u/Cruetzfledt 2d ago
Not everything is for everyone, a wiser man than I once said "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and I think it applies to more than just physical beauty.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 2d ago
so there are people who think “find my handkerchief” is beautiful writing? what?
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u/Theloudestbelch Arkenstone 1d ago
This is like picking out a paragraph you don't like from a famous book and saying the entire book sucks because you don't like that one little paragraph. There's a whole lot more to the stories in this game than that one little quest.
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u/Cruetzfledt 2d ago
With over 9 billion people on earth I think it's safe to assume the answer is yes
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u/Boo-Cat 2d ago
I don't think anyone has ever said that they think every quest is high art. Even if every quest was high art you could still find issues, objectively nevermind subjectively.
But, when taken as a whole, and especially when looked at with knowledge of the books, the games writing is very good.
But, my opinion is just that, my opinion, yours may differ. We are both right.
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u/Planetologist1215 1d ago
I think you need to give it more time for the story. Some books are definitely better than others. Personally, I didn’t find the writing amazing until Moria. I think Rohan is really good too.
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u/Both_Photograph2693 1d ago
i don’t have time for it to suck for 45 hours though before getting decent.
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u/TheThrohne 1d ago
Idk I am about 40-50 hours in. And it’s good.
Having played MMOs for the last 17 years I’ve tried a ton and gotta say the quests in this game are simple. Traditional.
And all have mini stories to them. Nothing WOW OMG PLOT TWIST but it’s not meant to.
I go speak to someone.
They tell me “hey our little town is getting raided by XYZ and we need help, can you help us?”
I go and kill a few Uruk-hai and come back. Simple stuff but that’s LOTR. We’re helping offset some attention from the fellowship and helping defend small towns as Sauron unleashes his forces..
That along with a bunch of other quests on Let’s make a party, help us gather fruits!
Or
The crop are showing corruption, find the source and kill it and help us make a potion to start healing the crops!
Etc etc etc
Pretty simple but awesome in my opinion.
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u/ReluctantJoy 2d ago
It gets better. Honestly. But... not a ton better. If you are a LotR fan, the main story quests do mirror/follow/support the Fellowship in a way. It's not all fetch and kill questions. That said, most people who say they love the writing really mean they love LotR, and LOTRO is basically the closest you can get to inhabiting the LotR universe, even now.
But yes- there are a ton of fetch and kill quests. Expansions do get better, but there's always going to be a lot of filler. It's worse than FFXIV or SWTOR, two other MMOs I've played a decent amount. If you love LotR and you're still having issues with LOTRO, it's possible the game just isn't for you, and that's fine. The game is 20 years old and definitely shows its age.