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Thread: Making Middle-Earth Great Again by destroying EVERY evil faction + lore tidbits, curious details, opinions and stuff

  1. #1

    Default Making Middle-Earth Great Again by destroying EVERY evil faction + lore tidbits, curious details, opinions and stuff

    Hello!

    I've done a full playthrough of the mod on YouTube, as Dwarves (because obviously, Dwarves ARE the master race. I've actually destroyed EVERY evil faction on the map because my OCD tendencies compelled me to do so). (It is done, but continously uploaded as my internet has a speed comparable to transporting the bytes of data by a horse-pulled carriage).
    SCREENSHOTS OF CAMPAIGN PROGRESS:








    You'll say "pah, there are a million of those around", and you'd be correct. So to make it a little more unique, I decided to share some interesting lore tidbits and less known facts about the universe during play, as well as my opinion on them - as I am a huge fan of LoTR, it was my first "serious" fantasy novel that I read when I was still a child.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWI-...z0sk94AJUt2Ypc


    • did you know that Arda, the world in which Middle-Earth is set, was created by song in what was essentially a musical sung by the Ainur, ME's equivalents of gods and angels?
    • did you know that out of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves that started the dwarven race, only Durin was single in the beginning, possibly because Aule the Smith, his creator, extoled the virtues of single life?
    • did you know that the people of Rohan commited genocide on at least one occasion?
    • did you know that crossbows in Middle-Earth are pretty much nonsense?
    • did you know that the orc Azog was actually killed by Dain Ironfoot years before the action of the Hobbit movies?
    • did you know that Denethor had daddy issues when he was young?
    • did you know that he also contended with Aragorn for said father's favour, even though he did not know him AS Aragorn at that time?
    • did you know that Denethor's portrayal in the films was poo-poo and totally contrary to the idea of his character in the books?
    • did you know the Gondorians were, to an extent, imperialistic, racist bastards?
    • did you know that they also had a creepy obsession with death?
    • did you know Osgilliath was actually destroyed not by orcs, but by the Gondorians themselves, in a civil war?
    • did you know how the line of Gondor's kings came to an end, leaving the power in the hands of Stewards, such as Denethor?
    • did you know that there was a sequel planned for LotR books, by J.R.R. Tolkien himself?


    If you answered "no" to any of those questions, or if you never read the books and only watched the films, you might want to check my videos out. For your convenience and the best experiance, I always put timestamps in the description, so that you may navigate the video to only the parts that seem interesting, without having to watch all of it if you don't want to. I also provide additional links to LotR wiki or some other sources, where you can read additional material if you want to know more.

    I'll be thankful for any feedback, and eager to engage in discussion over things you find interesting about a certain game. I'd ALSO very much like to know if you can propose me with a solution to deal with this "echo" that I seem to have on audio, without the need to invest in more costly equipment, as I just can't, for now at least. (In general, I'll be doing games on this channel, but always in a very deep and immersive way, providing links to additional content or information, giving my opinion on themes and lore and so on, not just a simple playthrough of a game with a couple of "oh swear word!"s strewn across it. Next thing after LotR is Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines, but done in a full ROLEPLAY way, by which I mean not only acting as if I were my character, but speaking as it as well, voicing it's thoughts and inner monologue but stayin entirely inside the world of the game).


    Have a nice day, everyone!
    Last edited by LittleDwarf; April 11, 2018 at 02:21 PM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Making Middle-Earth Great Again by destroying EVERY evil faction + lore tidbits, curious details, opinions and stuff

    Nice vids and nice campaign! Btw, if you want to play some battles online, text us!

  3. #3

    Default Re: Making Middle-Earth Great Again by destroying EVERY evil faction + lore tidbits, curious details, opinions and stuff

    Thank you LittleDwarf for this campaign report, and for the videos. Tell us if you have comments or suggestions about the campaign gameplay.

    did you know that crossbows in Middle-Earth are pretty much nonsense?
    Why do you say it? In this mod isengard has a unit with crossbows, and it makes sense to me, since they are technologically advanced, and they use similar siege machines.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Making Middle-Earth Great Again by destroying EVERY evil faction + lore tidbits, curious details, opinions and stuff

    Well, I go into a little more detail about it in the videos themselves, but here's what I have to say about it:

    TL;DR Crossbows are nowhere to be found in the books themselves, but in general I have nothing against giving them to Isengard, as long as it is ONLY the Isengard, and not Dwarves or Rhun (lol?) like in Third Age


    I began talking about it when discussing the dwarven missile unit selection and actually praising this mod over Third Age for not giving Dwarves crossbows. As I said - they aren't ever mentioned in the books, and truth be told neither is plate armor, for example. In general it seems the state of weaponry is more like early-medieval than late-medieval if anything. The dwarves are said to be masters of weaving mail, and mail in general is the main type of armor described in the books.

    That being said - I also mentioned that I actually - again - prefer this mod over Third Age for it's handling of plate, due to consisteny issues. In Third Age Gondor's main infantry has access to plate armor (as they are based on the films) but dwarves do not. It makes no sense to me at all, with them being told to be master smiths, rivaled only by some of the Noldor - and even then, most of the powerful artifacts of this world were created by Dwarves - Narsil, Angrist, the Dragon Helm, coats of mithril, Nauglamir. So, if you have to go with the more film-route, AT LEAST give the dwarves full plate too. And I must say - I adore the design of the Dwarven Vanguards.

    That being said - I later also talk about Isengard. You see, the thing is that in Middle-Earth it seems very much that the concept of technological progress - at least in weaponry and war, but maybe in general - is something that is connected with forces of evil. The good guys, even if they perform marvels of engineering in creating strongholds or crafts, mostly do it in, let's say, a civilian sector (Numenorean steel-bows being a notable exception, but hey, the Numenoreans pretty much turned to evil in the end anyway). Not so much the forces of evil - And Isengard is the perfect embodiment of that. Saruman was a Maiar empowered by Aule the Smith, a Valar concerning himself with crafts, smithing, creation. And later in his ambition he turned to what none of the good characters ever did - using his mind for the purpose of creating weapons of destruction. He first spliced men with orcs, or so it was said, creating his own brand of the Uruks, and later he discovered what could pretty much be described as gunpowder (though in the book known as the Fire of Orthanc).

    Thus I think he could very much be able to utilize the mechanisms needed to create the crossbow and it fits with his mindset - one of using the power of his mind for the purposes of death. It isn't 100% lore-accurate perhaps, but it fits, as long as you limit it to Isengard in particular.


    As for the gameplay - I had fun, even after finishing the main campaign, right up to the point of crushing Mordor. The remaining fight with the Haradrim was mostly a slog, done out of duty to my OOC tendencies and the sick need of dominating the map. That being said, the diplomacy issues are A PAIN. Seriously, I never once attacked or even provoked any of the good factions - in fact I used the diplomacy script to form an alliance with each and every one of them in the very beginning.

    And yet - EVERY ONE OF THEM attacked me in the end. And I was making them cease fire.
    Each turn.
    And then they attacked again.
    Each turn.
    And then a ceasefire.
    And then they attacked.

    It was madness. Also a couple of CTDs, but not that many, maybe 6-10 during a 270 turn campaign isn't that much. Overall, as I said, I have fun. But I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon - after Making the Middle Earth Great Again I feel fully satisfied for now.

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