My Feedback

[Defiant Clone]

Hello All,

So I finally beat the game last night. I know, took me long enough, but it is hard to beat a game only Co-Op, my brother and I had to work around both our work schedules and wife/girlfriend. But we did it. I will be starting my second play through tonight (solo probably). Oh and I played it on 360 and have so far had only one glitch (1 disapearing quest, work of the Westernese), so I can not really speak on glitch issues.

So here are my thoughts/feedback, I mainly broke it down int two categories, Story and Gameplay Mechanics, Oh and this is not really a review because there are already a ton. This focuses on my feedback/input.
Please feel free to add your own feedback to mine. Snowblind would like to hear everyone's thoughs and who knows, your suggestion might make it to a patch!

Story
I loved the story, plain and simple, it was highly dedicated to the lore. People complain about it being linear not being able to visit all the areas on the map, but the game is not War in the SOUTH... plus it would greatly conflict with the story if we go running into Helms Deep and slaughter everything in sight before Gandalf shows up, would be cool though. So I have no complaints about this.

Feedback
1) Add "between" character conversations. I would have liked to at least talk to my "silent" companions in the hubs, get their opinions on what is happening etc. It would have been neat to hear them have friendly banter while travelling or in combat, think of the ranger and dwarf having a competition like legolas and gimli.

2) I liked talking to everyone at Rivendell, however I would have liked to speak to the rest of the fellowship, Sam, Boromir etc...

3) Ending video was way too short, also boss fight was kinda short imo. The 30 potions we had running through our system could have affected this. I would have liked to seen the trio head to Osgiliath for a Sauron's dead kegger!!!

4) Talking at Hubs on Co-op was the worst aspect of the game, imho. If my brother talked to one person and accepted the quest I lost the entire option of seeing the conversation at all and vise versa. They should have made all hub conversations host lead or first to talk lead. Kinda like you see for the in-game conversations where every player focuses on the one conversation. I know this was done to give each player the freedom to roam the hub, but you miss small parts of the story.




Gameplay Mechanics
No "real" complaints here. I have no problems with it only being a two button fighting system, keeps it simple and flowing and I love how the skills are intergrated into the system. I thought the siege at Gundabad and Nordinbad were awesome due to the overwhelming amounts of enemies, would have liked to seen this more often. However I do have a few comments on the game mechanics/inventory systems.

Feedback
1) General Inventory space is extremely limited for such a Loot oriented game. Especially when you find yourself toting around 40 health/power potions and 20 feathers. I was constantly dropping healt and power potions just to carry other items. I would have made the potions stack to 20, maybe, feathers should not be in the inventory system at all, imo. Inventory space should almost be unlimited or maybe add 2-3 more rows.

2) Elf stones should stack (like kinds obviously), or an option to stalk all Elf stones then when you click on it you get a sub menu (similar to selecting your prize from the box) and pick the one you want.

3) A "repair all equipped" option. This would have saved me a lot of time at the hubs. I like to keep all my armor (set pieces only) and I would always have to go through them to repair only the equipped one.You have a "sell all unnecessary items", so a "repair all equipped" should have also been included.

4) Should have been a repair option at the travel ports, you can magically buy and sell items, why not add the option to repair the items.

5) I really liked how you have armor sets and pressing "X" shows you the stats and then has a yellow/orange color for the ones you have equipped. I would have this taken a step further. When I hit "X" on a set armor I would like to see yellow/orange for currently equipped and then another color, possibly blue, for armor sets in inventory but not equipped. Would make it VERY easy to identify how many pieces of any particular set you have and streamline the process, period. I got tired of selecting my helm, trying to remember all the different sets then going through each other piece of equipment and keeping a mental tally of what all I had, I almost got a pencil and paper to write everything down ha ha, I'm old-school. Remember as I said earlier I sell all non-set armor and keep all the armor that belong to sets. So I have a lot of sets to choose from...


I end by saying that this is one of the best games I have had the joy of playing. The combination of a powerful world/story along with excellent fighting mechanics make for a very enjoyable game solo or Co-Op.

[Passive Chicken]

Ah, well-said feedback, my friend. I agree with much of that which you say. I also thought that they should have had Sam and Boromir in Rivendell - why not? And I certainly would have enjoyed more between-character dialog. As one reviewer pointed out, it feels like the characters are so engrossed in their quest that they forget that a fellowship must depend upon each other. The only part that I really felt like this was so was near the end when Eradan saved Farin from falling off the mountain. You know what would be nice? Insert a conversation or a few conversations and sprinkle them about through the game between Farin and Eradan. Maybe they are both trying to take on the leadership role or they are both unwavering in their resolve, so there is a rivalry there. It would have much more emotional impact when Eradan saves Farin out of selfless friendship despite their differences then if they are (supposedly) best friends in the whole wide world. Also, some despair would be nice. Maybe have the characters comment that they don't think they will succeed in their mission, but they are willing to try their best anyway. I don't know. There is a lot of feedback I would give the team. My review is my signature, if you would like to give it a quick look-see.

Also, I would thoroughly appreciate a "repair all" button as well! Good review.

[Defiant Clone]

Yeah Passive, I read yours. It was a very indepth and intelligent review. I also liked your unfair reviews post, cracked me up. I havent posted a review because more or less it will be a re-hash of everything everyone has said but with my words. So I choose to give my input on things I would have liked to see or have. thanks for the comment though. I know Snowblind is very interested in hearing what everyone is saying and their suggestions. Although some can't be fixed or changed, like our extra dialog, but it is nice to wish/want.