Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is Awful

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Second channel 'Josh Strife Plays' -

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Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, or just War, is an exploitative mobile gacha game wearing the veneer of the epic fantasy adventure in order to trick naïve players into spending vast amounts of money on it.

Nothing about my 8 hour playthrough was redeeming or enjoyable.

Thank you to the Patreon supporters and Twitch subs for making my suffering worth it.

[matthewmoore]

"Gandalf returns from where ever the hell he's been"

To be fair, that is accurate to the lore

[Gerjan]

''And then Gandalf returns from where ever the hell he's been'' is surprisingly canon.

[pscyking]

A lot of people don't know this, but the reason Sauron is so malicious is that he saw a vision of this game and resolved to kill anything that might evolve to develop computers.

[assistantref]

I'm just glad that Tolkien's heirs kept such careful control over the IP to make sure it was only licensed to companies that would love and respect it.

[bitnewt]

To be fair, this game probably captures Tolkien's feelings about war quite well: most of it is waiting forever for something to happen, sometimes it is painfully expensive, overall it is blatantly stacked against you and there's nothing fun or romantic about it.

[visidenvisidane]

You know, something tells me Gandalf wouldn't be advising anyone to use any of the rings of power.

[Klespyrian]

"You are meant to be lost so they can sell you the method to become found."

Apt description of any manipulative systems (or people) really, well said.

[traydenlock]

“I don’t have any friends. That’s why I’m playing this game. “ I felt this.

[arkosilaura]

I love how people are protecting this game, basically saying Josh is a fraud and telling people to go play it. Some of them probably aren't even trolling. Just very sad.

[zombiefolklore]

I imagine Faramir turned into a raging alcoholic after being in this game.

[CreepyHandedMan]

Ah, NetEase. Blizzard's partner for the making of Diablo Immortal.
How to start on the best of notes.

[purplehaze]

"I don't have any friends, that's why I'm playing this game!"
OOF, that hit me like a truck.

[tales]

"They are your first premium currency"... That is an ominous statement.

[Arkhavist_S]

"We can occupy higher level lands to obtain more *Power* for the *ring.* The higher a land's *Power, * the stronger its defending army." - Gollum.
Yes I want to hear Andy Serkis as Smeagol in full performance capture tell me I need to construct additional pylons.
(edit - 18:14)

[newms]

Couple things from the perspective of a developer (no, not of this... thing):

1. Their site drops a bunch of cookies on computer without your permission (neteasegames and easebar). Would suggest anyone clear their browser after visiting the site.

2. They've left a _crapload_ of commented-out code in their live site (stuff like an entire game panel) on their site. Yuck. Oh, and one of these games is apparently... Overwatch? Hmm!

3. The slideshow navigation button IDs are "perv" and 'next". No, not "prev". Interpret that how you will.

4. They seem to have meta tags for a bunch of their crew, which is... kinda sleazy, tbh. All except their designer, whose tag is just blank. I think we can guess why.

[krykry]

You know you're beyond saving, right? Not one person who has gone into a shitty mobile game like this this deep, came out of it and is still normal.

[gabrieldoyen]

As someone who played Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 + Shadow of Angmar, the idea of a scam mobile game like this existing instead of a sequel or a remake of those beloved classics makes my blood boiling.

[In-Midnight-Clad]

The fact that you're casually using a Ring of Power is the first indication that this game goes against every point Tolkien tried to communicate.

[jyidorne]

"The best way to monetize a game is to intentionally break parts of it and let players pay to skip them. So, by that logic, the best way to monetize a mobile game intended for casual audience is to break the entire game and then let players pay to skip all of it." -someone from somewhere at some point in time

[ThylineTheGay]

“Game design is evolving backwards” to us yes, but to the massive corporations it is evolving forwards and the money is going up so it is good right?