I kind of imagined Sauron being prettier than this, but at least it's not their version of Shelob

...

>tfw he'll spend the rest of his life in a secret hospital high in the frozen mountains of Switzerland undergoing life extension procedures, such as regular injections of virgins' blood and aborted fetuses' stem cells, to lengthen Silmarillion's copyright protection

The fuck are you talking about you fishhook-flinging weenie? How does turning the Ringwraiths into the fucking Black Lantern Corps and directly contradicting what Tolkien's story says at all in line with the Hobbit Father's "message"?

...

>Isildur and Hammerhand being Ringwraiths
Fuck off, this can't be real

What the flying fuck? The ringwraiths were enslaved in the 2nd age, which ended in Sauron's all in the War of the Last Alliance. Isildur died two years later in the Gladden Fields, and Helm was born over two thousands years later.

I stopped being mad a while ago. I now just file this game series under "Retarded Fanfiction" and move on. Still makes me a little sad that they're giving a huge horse dicking to the lore I've loved so much for many years, but I can ignore it.

The point of Ishidur being a wraith is that it's the single person that Tailon could never be convinced to dominate. As a Gondorian, and a Ranger besides, Ishidur is a mythical figure to him.

So, yes, while it does violate the canon in all sorts of ways, it provides an actual reason for Tailon to finally stop, it gives him a line that he wouldn't cross. And that added a lot of weight to the scene, and made his final refusal make sense, rather than seem forced for the sake of the story.

And beyond all the bullshit powers and shit that the series had, in the end, the core message that fighting evil with evil just leads to evil is still there. The heroes accomplished nothing but delaying Sauron, despite all the power, and in the end both of them ultimately ended up falling prey to the corruption that power brings.

If only you knew how bad things really were

Tolkien is spinning in his grave.

what a bunch of bullshit

I'm fairly certain the tidal forces generated by the acceleration of Tolkien's rotations are going to be responsible for the apocalypse far sooner than any silly invisible planet.

Yup

Whenever I read this, I just feel like it was written by some search engine bot and not an actual human being.

If you have to violate canon to justify your steel donut OC's motivations and actions then it's just further proof you shouldn't have made that OC in the first place.

THAT'S Sauron?

More like Soyron.

GOT EEEEM

Good thing it wasn't apart of Canon and is basically set in an alternate universe you sensitive twat

The copyrights won't ever expire in the US. Disney makes sure of that.

fuck off with your alt-shit may mays

>even the filename is bait
Truly a masterpiece of the art.

He's a Maia, not a Valar, plus corruption, should be uglier imo. Shelob was a fucking butchering of all things holy.
so much this. They never had the 9 rings. Isildur had the 1 ring, and he was murdered after he lost the ring, and Hammerhand? The fuck? Way too young

It's only "set in an alternate universe" by virtue of the fact it contradicts the source material so hard it implicitly has to be set in a different continuity.

The devs, for their part, don't make any such claim. In fact the entire point of the games is telling a "what really happened" kind of story. As far as the people who made it are concerned, this is true canon.

Why are you shilling this shit, other than a deep gnawing hunger for (You)'s?

Honestly everyone at WB should be tied down and made to read every single LotR book before the people that made the loot boxes, the fucking grass dragon shape shifting entwife and sexy spider, are taken out and shot. I have been against the fan fiction of a game since the first one but just the things I saw online about the second one...
It would be nice if we could get some sort of table top game for LotR that isn't the shitty GW stuff. Doesn't have to focus on the heroes just in the setting.

I just can't wait for the television series

Right guys?

I want to cry

If it's based off the Silmarillion it has a chance to be good. And I will hold faith that they have someone who understands what it all means before it gets made... I want it to happen. I want it to be real... please amazon...

>last paragraph
what
the
fuck

DId you look at that pic? He still can't. THIS is what he used to look like

It's gonna be a shitty TV-MA GoT ripoff and you faggots know it. Get ready to see Aragorn's shlong.

Let us dream...
But on a honest note. I'm going to stay away from any word of it's development who is cast to do or play who. When it comes out I will give it an honest first few episodes of watching it. Rather then just assuming it's horrible and spew about it before anything is done. Even though all of us know it will be trash.

I'm pretty sure that's from a flashback from before numenor.

I think it's not a bad interpretation of his fair form, even if he shouldn't have been able to use it by the time period of the game. He's pretty without just being full-blown anime bishounen.

The game canon has the wringwraiths being more of a title than individuals. Sometimes they fade away or die and get replaced.

OP's image is, but he shapeshifts during wardor too and not in a flashback.

>This thread in a nutshell

As someone who's actually played the game AND read The Hobbit, LotR Trilogy, and the Sil, I can honestly say it's not as terrible as you spergs make it out to be. But ya know, classic Veeky Forums has only one reaction.

Sure, there are spooder tits, and evidently the Ring Wraith roster is like a sports team where you can get replaced if a stronger Chad comes around; This is what happens to add Isildur and apparently to Hammerhand as well, they're given one of the original 9 rings while dying for Helm or after he's fished out of the river in Isidur's case.

But at the end of the day, it's a fun, solid story that makes about as much sense as actual canon. Like the self-resurrecting, accidental sister-fucking, king of men who manages to kill the literal creator of chaos himself, at the battle of battles at the end of time.

>Being mad about loot boxes in a game you've never played
They were literally pointless, not even pay to win easier, just pointless. Everything you'd get from them would be replaced within an hour's worth of gameplay, in which you'd acquire the in game currency to buy for 10+ non-"""Gold""" chests that were just as capable of obtaining the exact same Orcs/Gear as the """Gold""" chests.

You are mad at nothing and it is amusing to me.

I mainly disprove of unregulated gambling as well as gambling aimed at children when it comes to the loot boxes. Moves like that are enough to make me vote with my wallet rather then spending money on poorly written fan fiction. Also lets not bring up the issue with spending money to get something that can be replaced in game, having the boxes be scaled to your progress is just sorta odd, but it was just made to sell crates for end game grinds.
I'm wondering since you must have played it from your reaction. What was the explanation of the entwife turning into a leaf dragon? Or for that matter how mary sue man got the ghost of the single most important elf in middle earth history in his body? I am honestly curious as none of those things make a single bit of sense.
As for the LotR end times, I wish we had gotten to see it in official writing, because maybe it would have made some sense, sadly most of the stuff at that point is just ideas and notes. So not much explanation of why he was able to beat Morgoth, other then the fact that he was powered up to do just that.

>those dubs

Not him, Hitler, but do we know why Turin is apparently such big deal in Tolkien's mythology? I read the book and he just struck me as some guy. Why is that whiny little sisterfucker the Promised One or whatever?

Because Tolkien stole him from Finnish mythology and he loves that shit. Other then that not that I recall. Just Tolkien's Kalavelia boner

>What was the explanation of the entwife turning into a leaf dragon?
It can turn into basically anything, since it's just a spirit capable of making its own bodies out of leaves and shit
>Or for that matter how mary sue man got the ghost of the single most important elf in middle earth history in his body?
The hand of sauron was doing a ritual to summon elfghost using rangers at the black gate as fuel to stick in himself and steal his knowledge, but somehow fucked up or something and ended up making a free doublewraith instead.

No word on what the spirit lady was? Because nothing to my knowledge outside of a Maiar would be able to do that.
Also that is worse then I thought for why Mary Sue got him stuck there...

As fanfiction it's not as bad as some things but still. Ages ago I watched most of the cinematic bits for the first but just gave up on the sloppiness of it all.

>I mainly disprove of unregulated gambling as well as gambling aimed at children when it comes to the loot boxes.

Gamb-le (verb)
1. Play games of chance for money; bet.
2. Take risky action in the hope of a desired result.

The product you are purchasing, is always, and will always be, virtual Orcs or Equipment for a game, and NEVER money. Even if the specific Orcs and Equipment you receive when you purchase said boxes are random, they are all still of the same in-game quality. There is no risk, as what you get will ALWAYS be the same """"value"""" as any other result. I do not see this as gambling in any form. Furthermore, Shadows of War is rated M for Mature, certainly not at all intended for "children."

>I'm wondering since you must have played it from your reaction. What was the explanation of the entwife turning into a leaf dragon?
Carnan was a "Nature Spirit" of a kind, it was rather vague on what exactly she is, which is frankly pretty Tolkienian, but she would take the shapes of the different beasts of Mordor whenever combat was likely; Caragors, Graug, and even Drakes, were all forms made of plant-matter, exactly the same as her more "friendly" humanoid form. Like many other "primal forces" from the universe, Carnan's form was mercurial.
>Or for that matter how mary sue man got the ghost of the single most important elf in middle earth history in his body?

>Celebrimbor more important than Fëanor
This is why I laugh at people who don't know the lore being buttmad at their supposedly precious lore being "altered"

Honestly, I never played the first game, but from what I gather Talion was just a pawn in Celebrimbor's keikaku, a flesh puppet to drive around in his campaign of vengeance. Talion was a regular joe Ranger until he and his family got executed by Orcs and he was possessed as he was a suitably angry spirit with a body on the edge of death. Pretty much the same Protagonist magic that Frodo/Bilbo/Aragorn/Turin run on.

I think the guy who fucked up and sunk a whole country, and screwed over all of it's people. Also his actions caused the whole rings thing. I may be wrong here but isn't the whole end of the world in the fourth age caused in part by all the shenanigans of the third age? It's been a while since I read the details, what few there are on the fourth age.
What other primal forces have been able to shape shift so heavily and go toe to toe with a Maiar?
Also if I opened up a casino and gave every one a chocolate bar rather then the winnings it would in no way shape or form resemble gambling. Gambling is the act not the end result. People get addicted to the process not the money at the end. Maybe do a bit of reading on how gambling effects the mind and such?

The games are fucking great user.

It's their """""lore""""" that's an abomination.

>People get addicted to the process not the money at the end. Maybe do a bit of reading on how gambling effects the mind and such?
>people with no self control are somehow the developer’s fault

Reading my post over, god damn my pills have kicked in. I can't find the reference outside of a reference to the powers growing weary, probably due to magic leaving middle earth due to the end of the third age. Will have to look it up more tomorrow. Either way, dude made the rings by himself. Where as Fëanor had an army and a family of powerful elves at his side.
Either way need to sleep. Hopefully will see 56564666's reply tomorrow.

The legal definition of gambling and what is actually gambling are two very different things. Pachinko "isn't gambling" because what you win is nasty old pieces of candy. The company that runs the pachinko parlor just happens to also run a location next door that buys certain kinds of candy for real money.

Honestly, I don't get why people sperg that much about these games. Sure they don't make a lot of sense, but they're not supposed to and, guess what, they don't change or overwrite anything from the original works of Tolkien.
What's really important about these games is that, even though they stole most of their mechanics from other games, they meshed them together extremely well into a satisfying orc murder/army commander rpg.
Yeah the writing is shit but my opinion is that you just have to treat it like a generic fantasy universe. It's basically fanfic, but the gameplay is what makes it enjoyable. That being said, if you were going for it for the story, I can see how disappointed you would be. But that would also be pretty fucking stupid to expect a faithful continuation of Tolkien, especially in vidya format.
What Tolkien wrote is a prefectly well self-contained universe and set of stories and anything that comes on top of that is just cashing in on recognition and brand name, but you cannot possibly expect people to make something faithful to the original spirit (the Hobbit movies were a testament to that) and YET, people still manage to pull out something at least partly enjoyable out of it. As a whole, the Hobbit movies were fucking retarded and shit all over the original, but there was some good stuff in there too (namely, the design crew did an awesome job on almost all scenery, costumes, etc ...) and there are legitimately good parts too.
I think with this kind of derivative products born from LotR, you just have to accept that you're going to find the aesthetic and very rough framework of the original, but not a lot of the substance.
And I'll say it again: I think it's fine, because the games are F U N.

Is this pasta?

>The Fate of the Arda is woven around the Silmarils

Literally the fate of the whole world, not just the clusterfuck the rings caused on Middle Earth, goes hand in hand with the fancy gems Fëanor made. Celebrimbor will never be as awesome of a crafter as his grand pappy.
>Shape shift so heavily
>Go toe to toe with a Maiar?
What is literally every Ainur who's set foot on Arda, not to mention other "non-affiliated" forces like Ungoliant? Even if she is just an Entwife, she's really not that powerful; The Balrog kicks the shit out of both you and her three times before you basically trick it into breaking the ice on a lake. Orcs frequently went "toe to toe" with a Maiar. Doesn't mean they won either.

>Also if I opened up a casino and gave every one a chocolate bar rather then the winnings it would in no way shape or form resemble gambling.
Not relevant to the argument. The loot boxes have no game involved in them. It is a purchased product with a random element to the result.

Buying a pack of trading cards or fruit snacks is not gambling despite the fact that you do not know what specific cards or flavors you are buying.

>Gambling is the act not the end result.
Precisely. There is no game of chance or luck involved in this transaction at all. You spend money, you get a product. Capitalism!

>People get addicted to the process not the money at the end.
As someone who routinely visits casinos, you're full of shit. The fun comes from the risk (losing money) and the reward (earning money) involved in the COMPETITION. None of these aspects are involved in the buying of Shadow's loot boxes.

1/2

>Maybe do a bit of reading on how gambling effects the mind and such?
Your anonymously condescending tone has no effect on someone who's actually grappled with this addiction. Don't get me wrong, I do not at all approve of pay-to-win games or games that involve real gambling and are actually directed at minors. This however is nothing of the sort, it was a weakly backed attempt to squeeze a few extra dollars out of players who wanted to absolutely perfect the end game instead of grinding out a few dozen hours more play.

The Orcs you receive from the boxes are strictly worse than ones recruited/trained in game at the same level, despite their supposed rarity, and as for the Legendary equipment, you'll just find all of it playing the game regardless.

I understand being mad at greedy game companies trying to happymerchant your dosh away, but this was honestly a lazy attempt by WB. I can find literally no reason to actually purchase any of the two variants of loot box apart from a deep desire to see words written in purple.

Really, user, there's so many more constructive things to get buttflustered over. Is this really how you want to spend your time?

No, it is not.

GET READY FOR MORE HOBBIT TIER SHIT !

"Good to see you, Cloud."

That was a dictionary definition Bub, but as this seems to be a difficult concept for you to understand, let's break it down;

Gambling is when you play a game with a currency buy in, you must spend money to gamble. The result of your "purchase" is the ability to play the game, and potentially receive a prize, (be it money, candy, or a digital product) based on luck and/or skill.

>Risk
>Variable reward, if any
>A game of chance or skill

However, when you exchange currency for a product with a set price, that gives a set number of, (random, but completely equal) results, you are just purchasing a product. Have you literally never bought a variety pack of anything? That is not gambling and is the same kind of purchase as Shadow's loot boxes.

>No Risk, product is always the same price
>Limited variable, while the specific Orc or Equipment is random, they are all of an equal value in game
>No game involved in the opening of Loot Boxes, click "purchase" and see results

There are literally hundreds of video games which ride that line between gambling and not; Shadows of War is not one of them. This is the equivalent of ignoring guys wearing SS patches and waving swastikas around to call some dude with a German accent a Nazi. Like, I can vaguely see where you're coming from, but you just look like a moron by focusing on something so tenuously related to your core issue.

Who gives a shit, the story works in the game, and the game itself is fun.
>b-but muh lore
They always said that it was a "what if" story.
>inb4 retarded Veeky Forums soyboys start attacking me

>They always said that it was a "what if" story.
Not even that. They openly admitted that it's fanfic and that they're just having fun, which I can appreciate despite being a massive Tolkienfag.

That said, the Nemesis system and the personality they gave to the uruks is great, but that's about it.

What game?

SPIDER TITTIES HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

>it's a fun, solid story
No.

...

The uruks got more personality then all of the human/elves characters combined.

Imagine that system in a 40K:Warboss simulator game.

What the flying fuck!?

the game itself is fun.
But it isn't.

Hammerhand I'd be willing to give a little latitude were it not for the fact that it seems like that was only included to set up Isildur. Isildur himself though... it makes more sense in a way because he bore the One Ring, but it also makes the Ring slipping away that much more of a stretch. Spidertits being a part of the "solution" to the Ring problem, knowingly or unknowingly, is something I already kind of assumed.

Fuck off, they actually managed to pull off something original, enjoyable without going against the source material. The characters are interesting, the mechanics are original and well-thought.

You mean the random bits of info we're given each time the player gathers an item ?

Literally nothing in this post is accurate.

This is why stuff like Magic cards aren't considered gambling. There are similarities to gambling, but it just isn't the same thing.

Don't remind me of another game that will never happen.

>The uruks got more personality then all of the human/elves characters combined.
I just wish they wouldn't talk so fucking much.

>You are mad at nothing

You don't even understand why people are mad at this shit. You've been brainwashed by the last decade to think microtransactions are ever ok.

>They openly admitted that it's fanfic and that they're just having fun, which I can appreciate despite being a massive Tolkienfag.
And yet thanks to WB having such a stranglehold on the IP for the games it means we’ll never have a respectable LotR game ever again. It’s just going to be this endless wave of shitty fanwank from people who don’t even read the books because chucklefucks like you make excuses for them.

It’s clear anyone who doesn’t see an issue with these games doesn’t ever touch vidya, or at least haven’t been on the internet for at least the last decade.

The Nemesis system is really a good idea for the video game industry. The "Assassin's Creed meets Batman Arkham" gameplay is good too.

But those dialogues. This plot. I don't even care if the game raped Tolkien's lore or not, these aspects were terrible IMHO. Some Orcs being more charismatic than the protagonists was quitte an embarrassing experience.

What traditional game is this artwork from?

Why are you so upset? This is all non-canon anyway

I think the protag being pretty much a blank canvas works when the orcs are shit talking you

I never saw any spider titties in the game. What a gyp.

>Caring about the story
The game is about cleaving through scores of green cunts while maintaining the moral high ground

I skipped every cutscene in the first game, mused along enough through the second.

This is the closest thing to a true blue Berserk game and if you don't like it I'm positive it's because your dick doesn't work.

>The "Assassin's Creed meets Batman Arkham" gameplay is good too.

>This is the closest thing to a true blue Berserk game

wat

Probably a retarded idea, but just wondering if it’s a way to bypass copyright terms

> start book, publish, but leave unfinished, next generations (kids/grandkids) change it a tiny bit

Boom, unlimited copyright because story is still being written..

Probably dumb idea

It's still a good fucking game. The gameplay is fun, the story works, the graphics are good, the sound is great. Like what the actual fuck, dude?

>Shaka the Singer
Shaka when the Lore fell.

It is the best of those games

Oh yeah, Shelob is honest alright. She's just HUNGRY and that's it.

It is.

Aesthetically sure, not gameplaywise.

This sounds worse than the shelob copypost but I have no idea who hammerhand is and wasn't aware that they made isildur a wraith.

>It would be nice if we could get some sort of table top game for LotR that isn't the shitty GW stuff. Doesn't have to focus on the heroes just in the setting.
The One Ring RPG by Cubicle 7.

Helm Hammerhand, the faggot after whom they named Helm's Gorge and in it Helm's Deep wherein lies the Horn of Helm Hammerhand.