(I know this is the >Third Age< subforum, but I noticed there are threads here that talk about Tolkien and Middle-Earth in general, lore and whatnot. If you find this post offensive in some way, please feel free to delete it).
Hello, TotalWarCenter!
Being on this very forum, you are OBVIOUSLY aware of the Third Age mod. You may not know, though, that there is a similar, older mod for Rome 1. It's called simply Lord of the Rings: Total War.
I myself enjoy it a great deal - I wouldn't say it's better than Third Age, but I wouldn't call it worse either. It's just... different. With different stylistic choices sometimes, different features. Different graphics, obviously.
If you have one of those computers made out of bamboo and spit, as I once did, and have problems playing Medieval with a lot of units at once, or if you're just a fan of those older Total Wars for some reason - I encourage you to check it out, if only to compare it with Third Age, or to see what people have come up with even on the old Rome 1 engine.
You can play as following factions: Gondor, Rohan, Dwarves, Galadhrim Elves, Silvan Elves, Noldor Elves, Dale, Goblin Rabbles, Isengard, Mordor, Easterlings, Southrons (Haradrim).
There is also a Numenorean faction in Custom Battles/Multiplayer.
Here's the link to the mod:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-lord-o...ings-total-war
It requires ALEXANDER expansion for Rome 1. All the installation guides are on the moddb page.
A couple of screenshots for you, as I know sometimes pictures speak louder than words.
https://puu.sh/zTdCY/6c877e8050.jpg
https://puu.sh/zTdDc/8c4e6563a4.jpg
https://puu.sh/zTdDU/60899f208d.jpg
https://puu.sh/zTdGe/8917770fc9.jpg
https://puu.sh/zTdDn/ea347c4eae.jpg
And if you'd want a VIDEO instead of a picture, I got you covered as well.
I've done a full playthrough of the mod on YouTube, as Dwarves (because obviously, Dwarves ARE the master race). (It is done, but still being uploaded 1/2 videos a day as my internet has a speed comparable to transporting the bytes of data by a horse-pulled carriage). 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-j6NcLeg&index=11&t=0s&list=PLp4TpsJ7HUWX0ljDBv3z0sk94AJUt2Ypc
- 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!