Fine Ham Abounds
Member
If you guys release a patch that manages to fix the major progress stopping and quest bugs without creating any new ones, I'll mail you all a couple Cajun Kringles.
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Lord of the Rings: War in the North |OT| Not just another LotR game
- Thread starter Barack Lesnar
- Start date
I'm really surprised by that article but I suppose I shouldn't be. FYI you're also "invulnerable" during the animation sequence for skill attacks which works very well for the Elf since Word of Command takes a bit of time to get off 
I guess a lot of people didn't bother exploring the combat mechanics since you can get away with mashing basic attack and slurping potions early on. It also would explain why Tharzog is such a "broken" encounter for many people because they've used up all their potions on the Troll fight and haven't learned about the "advanced" combat tools available. Not that they're entirely to blame for that since most every game these days cloyingly hand-holds you about what to do and how to do it from the get go. I suppose there should have been a tutorial for them based on the Sarn's Ford Nazgul attack that explicated the system a little. Give a Ranged target first then show how to build up Crit momentum on an orc or goblin lackey then face a Nazgul to learn about rolling. Have the fight end with the character being smacked on the head and wake up in the Ranger camp with Halbarad tasking you to bring Aragorn the news in Bree. Something like that might've gone a long way to soothe some basic complaints I think.
Mind you, the Tharzog fight is no cake walk even knowing the mechanics because of the adds but it's certainly not "broken".
Someone mentioned early about a personal chest for storing stuff and I heartily agree. Having something like the Sacred 2 "community chest" at Rivendell wouldn't be a bad idea. Inventory space is really limited for a loot game, especially playing as the Lore Master since she has the added burden of carrying around the harvested herbs.
I guess a lot of people didn't bother exploring the combat mechanics since you can get away with mashing basic attack and slurping potions early on. It also would explain why Tharzog is such a "broken" encounter for many people because they've used up all their potions on the Troll fight and haven't learned about the "advanced" combat tools available. Not that they're entirely to blame for that since most every game these days cloyingly hand-holds you about what to do and how to do it from the get go. I suppose there should have been a tutorial for them based on the Sarn's Ford Nazgul attack that explicated the system a little. Give a Ranged target first then show how to build up Crit momentum on an orc or goblin lackey then face a Nazgul to learn about rolling. Have the fight end with the character being smacked on the head and wake up in the Ranger camp with Halbarad tasking you to bring Aragorn the news in Bree. Something like that might've gone a long way to soothe some basic complaints I think.
Mind you, the Tharzog fight is no cake walk even knowing the mechanics because of the adds but it's certainly not "broken".
Someone mentioned early about a personal chest for storing stuff and I heartily agree. Having something like the Sacred 2 "community chest" at Rivendell wouldn't be a bad idea. Inventory space is really limited for a loot game, especially playing as the Lore Master since she has the added burden of carrying around the harvested herbs.
SnowblindTina said:
I'm at work now but when I get home today I'll fire up the game and try to take some video of the hard lock in action. It happened when I was playing on my account and my girlfriend was playing as a guest on that account on my Xbox 360 250GB S (About a month old) with the game installed to the HDD. I provided some of the details on the last page of this thread but I'll PM you and post in the official forums once I get home. I'd be more than happy to try out specific things if it will help nail down the issue. Again, I was super hyped for the game (Pre-ordered in July I think) and really look forward to being able to play this with my girlfriend as we have few games we can do good couch co-op in.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Fine Ham Abounds said:
That's our hope... The reason we haven't sent the patch out yet, is because we're trying to get some intensive internal testing time on it to ensure we haven't opened new issues.
As a side note, we have proven we like King Cakes in this office...lol. *I Got the Baby Last Time!*
I'm not entirely sure what it meant, but it did cut the roof of my mouth. I guess I'm buying the next king cake?
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Frostburn said:
Ok, so that's the problem... well, two problems.
1) The game shouldn't have allowed you to get into the game with a guest sign in. It should have forced her to sign into an existing or new XBL Silver or Gold Account with a unique name.
2) Most places you could have gotten around the sign-in/sign out wall should have been secured on disc. I believe that there was one outstanding but that should have been resolved with the Day 1 Title Update Patch.
To fix the issue - both players should be signed in... But I'm still perplexed on how you got a game running with a guest account. Could you send me a video of that?
Excellent fun game BUT, stuttering stuttering and stuttering.
Game runs 60fps for the most part on my 5870 but it stutters like mad. The Fornost Citadel was stutter castle. When defending Elronds sons the thing was going down to single digit FPS.
When going between the main Bree Area and the Prancing Pony the thing stutters. I assume its loading between 'zones'. Also every-time you earn an achievement it stutters like crazy.
Heres a screenshot i took resized from 1920x1080.
A job for Snowblind, fix the stuttering and add local co-op for the PC version.
Game runs 60fps for the most part on my 5870 but it stutters like mad. The Fornost Citadel was stutter castle. When defending Elronds sons the thing was going down to single digit FPS.
When going between the main Bree Area and the Prancing Pony the thing stutters. I assume its loading between 'zones'. Also every-time you earn an achievement it stutters like crazy.
Heres a screenshot i took resized from 1920x1080.
A job for Snowblind, fix the stuttering and add local co-op for the PC version.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Gez said:
We do know about the stuttering and we are working on a resolution. It currently appears to be based on specific hardware, so we're trying to narrow it down quickly.
AstroLad said:
Other than the co-op comment, these are valid points regarding critical response; but, in contrast, I was actually enjoying the game until I ran into a campaign-halting glitch that has yet to be addressed. Pretty hard for me to start recommending such a severely buggy piece of software to my friends. And before someone makes the request: no, I'm not submitting the issue to the official forums--I'm the consumer, and it's not my job to catch and squash game-breaking bugs in a publisher's "finished" product.
Rather than sending a buggy, glitchy version of this game out to die admist a sea of triple-A titles (including one of their own, Arkham City!), WB should've bumped the release date of this back to early 2012 and used the extra time to do some more QC testing. Snowblind fans--of which there are much fewer these days--deserve better.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Well,AwRy108 said:
As a representative of Snowblind, and employee at the Developer, I can understand your frustration. Our goal...the goal of every programmer, artist, sound designer, producer, and engineer... the goal of the Studio is to create quality products and have people enjoy them.
Unfortunately, bugs do happen, and though I can't excuse them, I can say that we want to do everything in our power to resolve them... cleanly, correctly, without causing new issues, and as quickly as possible while following the first three rules.
I know you said "Before someone makes the request", but I'll make it anyways.
We have had reported, have isolated, and are on our way to patching five found issues. Save Desyncing (split screen co-op only... one "save" gets behind the other), NG+ Control issues (Crit Strike and rolling only in New Game Plus and only to a small subset of players), an issue in Carn-Dum 8-4 (if you quit mid-level between two gates, both gates are closed when you restart the game), Quest Disappearing (if you quit mid-quest), and PC Stuttering, primarily on specific ATI cards. IF your issue happens to fall outside of these five, I would really like you to post (or pm me), because we want to resolve any reported for any and all players experiencing them in the upcoming patch.
I can't go back in time and fix the issue you encountered, but I can do my very best to resolve it for you and ensure it doesn't happen for others in the future. In addition, we do have workarounds for most of the issues I listed, so if you tell me what's troubling you, I can help you get past it in the interim?
All my best
-Snowblind Tina.
Oh, and if your issue falls in one of the above, rest assured... a patch is on the way!
Lord Phol
Member
I've yet to run into any major problems besides some small sound issues, but that could be because I spilled some coke into my ps3 some months ago.
I can't say the game feels alot like CoN or RTA but it's fun in its own way and the co-op is great, even managed to get a female friend of mine who enjoyed Champions to play it with me and so far we've had a blast. Time just flies by when ur bashing orc skulls in middle-earth.
I can't say the game feels alot like CoN or RTA but it's fun in its own way and the co-op is great, even managed to get a female friend of mine who enjoyed Champions to play it with me and so far we've had a blast. Time just flies by when ur bashing orc skulls in middle-earth.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Ouch haha, the trick is to bite slowly and carefully! And you bet you areSnowblindTina said:
antiquegamer said:
That's a funny read, but I think it's just indicative of one part of the bigger picture. I pretty much agree with AstroLad's assessment.
None of the reviewers I've read seem to have noticed any of the major bugs; if nothing else the quest progress bug should have been obvious. I think only a few reviews even mentioned the quests or the character-specific secrets. To me, these omissions drive home the point that most of the reviewers were just trying to get through this title and get it over with in one sitting because of this season's review workload; they didn't notice or didn't care about the secrets, didn't try the New Game +, and didn't play co-op. A couple complained about loot balance or lack of abundance, which from my experience with the game is equivalent to saying there's no way to block in Street Fighter.
I'm not trying to be super WitN defense force here; it's not that the game doesn't have some very serious problems (many of which may soon be fixed) and a few fundamental design decisions that I think deserve criticism, it's that I think the game was basically scuttled by it's publisher and dismissed rather than analyzed by a lot of reviewers.
Last Hearth
Member
One thing I disagree with about the whole dodging thing is that the game did have gating on that.
Remember the boss at the end of the 1st chapter where a lot of people complained about it being too difficult on this very thread? I died about 10 times to him before I figured out that if I dodged his attacks I can beat him easily. I think that boss was specifically intended to get people to learn the dodge button.
Remember the boss at the end of the 1st chapter where a lot of people complained about it being too difficult on this very thread? I died about 10 times to him before I figured out that if I dodged his attacks I can beat him easily. I think that boss was specifically intended to get people to learn the dodge button.
Last Hearth
Member
Just beat the game on Heroic. Co-op with other players becomes a much bigger deal toward the end of heroic, the AI companions just doesn't cut it any more, I was constantly finishing fights by my self as both my AI companions are down.
Well,
As a representative of Snowblind, and employee at the Developer, I can understand your frustration. Our goal...the goal of every programmer, artist, sound designer, producer, and engineer... the goal of the Studio is to create quality products and have people enjoy them.
Unfortunately, bugs do happen, and though I can't excuse them, I can say that we want to do everything in our power to resolve them... cleanly, correctly, without causing new issues, and as quickly as possible while following the first three rules.
I know you said "Before someone makes the request", but I'll make it anyways.
We have had reported, have isolated, and are on our way to patching five found issues. Save Desyncing (split screen co-op only... one "save" gets behind the other), NG+ Control issues (Crit Strike and rolling only in New Game Plus and only to a small subset of players), an issue in Carn-Dum 8-4 (if you quit mid-level between two gates, both gates are closed when you restart the game), Quest Disappearing (if you quit mid-quest), and PC Stuttering, primarily on specific ATI cards. IF your issue happens to fall outside of these five, I would really like you to post (or pm me), because we want to resolve any reported for any and all players experiencing them in the upcoming patch.
I can't go back in time and fix the issue you encountered, but I can do my very best to resolve it for you and ensure it doesn't happen for others in the future. In addition, we do have workarounds for most of the issues I listed, so if you tell me what's troubling you, I can help you get past it in the interim?
All my best
-Snowblind Tina.
Oh, and if your issue falls in one of the above, rest assured... a patch is on the way!
Ok, well, here's the issue I ran into:
After I defeat the spider boss and save the Wizard from his prison of webbing (sorry for the lack of specific details, been weeks since I've played), the quest log does not update, so I can no longer progress. I tried returning to the area and defeating the boss again, and also tried reloading the save; and neither worked.
From the little I've read, it sounds like starting an online game and playing this portion of the campaign might reset the area; but, to be honest, my backlog is too long (..and Skyrim is too wonderful) for me to spend my own time doing Snowblind's QC for a product that I paid my money for. Here's hoping a patch drops soon, at least before I get rid of the game...
Yeah the AI isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I was able to beat Legendary as the Elf playing solo. Biggest snag was Siege of Nordinbad because Farin decides that charging AT the goblin sappers was the best course of action. Naturally this leads to his quick demise with the added bonus of Eradan joining him seconds later as he valiantly tries to revive the fallen dorf amidst the swarm of suicide bombers. Snagged the "endure 25000 damage in one level" trophy during that fiasco. If you're on PS3 Last Hearth I can load up my lvl 40 Andriel and help you out on your Legendary run
I hope the patch fixes the major bugs. I really enjoy the game but can't recommend it as is because of them. I'd gift a couple copies for Christmas if things get straightened out
Last Hearth
Member
Unfortunately I'm on the 360. Yeah, the siege of Nordinbad was the toughest part of the campaign for exactly that reason. I don't have a problem with any of the boss fights, but the sequences when you have to defend the dwarves at Gundabad and Nordinbad were rough.
Just wanted to post here and update that having my girlfriend play as a Guest on my account during split screen co-op was indeed the issue that caused the game to hard lock (Freeze). We started over and played the entire first chapter with no problems. We wanted to keep playing but it was 11:45PM and it seemed like a good stopping point.
Thanks for all the help SnowblindTina!
Wife and I are actually enjoying the couch coop, but man I hate that vertical split. There at least needs to be an option for horizontal so we can actually see what we're doing.
The only other complaint I have is that there is no option for the camera to auto follow the player, some people (wife) really struggle with fighting a camera.
The only other complaint I have is that there is no option for the camera to auto follow the player, some people (wife) really struggle with fighting a camera.
sweetvar26
Member
Is this game worth playing the Single player by yourself on the 360? I don't have a good internet connection to play Co-Op. I'm overseas and can't get few games here so I have to make my choices.
Not really.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Co-op is this game's strength, and not just because of the suicidal AI. Certainly the core gameplay is fun enough, but you'll be screaming at the computer on anything higher than Normal difficulty, and missing out on both loot and group synergy.
XBOX HIVES
Banned
I hope this sells well enough for Snowblind to make another dungeon crawler. But I'd like them to drop the LotR license and come up with something original. I have a feeling that some of the cooler stuff had to be dropped to stay true to the lore.
XBOX HIVES
Banned
WHO IS THIS
lastplayed
Member
Picked this up on Friday when it finally released here (NZ), and having tons of fun with it. It was kinda slow to begin with but once I sunk a few hours into it I'm kinda hooked on it now, the combat is super fun.
One question though, I hardly ever find the feathers needed to call in eagles. Is that normal? I keep hearing the characters say "this would be a good time to call in an eagle" but I'm always outta feathers.
One question though, I hardly ever find the feathers needed to call in eagles. Is that normal? I keep hearing the characters say "this would be a good time to call in an eagle" but I'm always outta feathers.
They show up in loot about as often as gem drops it seems, not common but not particularly rare either. Honestly after my first playthrough and learning how to best level up my skills I don't use them at all and end up dropping them to free up a slot in the woefully cramped inventory.
JdFoX187 when the patch hits I'd like to get a dedicated 3 player online match going. Been playing a bunch of couch co-op but can never find anyone online with the PS3 version
BrokenSymmetry
Member
Make sure to smash all crates and similar things. I always had 10 or more feathers (even sold them at times).
Karak
Member
I was lucky enough to get this a couple weeks ago and I must say that it has been nothing but awesome. I really enjoy it. I have beat it both single and multiplayer. Just an all around great time. I was pleasantly surprise with the quests, assumed it was just gauntlet with stats, but it has been great fun.
Genesis IV
Member
Tharzog kicking mine and my GF's arse! playing as Andriel and Eradan but the AI is just woeful, no support and is just soaking up damage and begging for a revive!
So frustrating
So frustrating
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
Best help I can give is to say watch for his key attacks, and focus on him first.
When he sticks his single arm up in the air, he's about to do a spin attack, so roll away.
When he throws both of his arms back, he's about to buff his minions and they're going to get more difficult.
When he takes both hands and raises his sword over his head toward his back, he's about to do a forward slash, and that one can stun, so rolling or sprinting comes in handy.
Since you have Andriel, cast a Sanctuary over Tharzog and just keep wailing on him.
Hopefully that will help.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Tharzog was easy once I got used to how he telegraphs his attacks, first time I tried him he destroyed me with a couple of whirlwinds or something.
Tina, sorry if this has been asked already, but is there any news on a patch for the PC version to fix the ambient-occlusion and motion-blur not working? If so, I'd like to request a setting to enable anisotropic filtering for textures so I can post better screenshots on GAF
Tina, sorry if this has been asked already, but is there any news on a patch for the PC version to fix the ambient-occlusion and motion-blur not working? If so, I'd like to request a setting to enable anisotropic filtering for textures so I can post better screenshots on GAF
Fix The Scientist
Member
What a piece of shit game, playing ps3 split screen with my gf and her of course character progress won't save, so we just flat out can't play. I've read some absolute horror stories in the official forums. I spent $80 AUS on this... thanks snowblind.
Befindlichkeit
Neo Member
I take it theres no patch yet?
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
There is a patch in progress, it's currently in the testing phase.
That being said, there is a workaround for the interim: Make sure that she is signed in to a unique PS ID, and that you have her host. You may have to replay a part of what you had previously completed, but the save should "Catch up" and you will both be saving again.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
For folks who have been having a tough time with the Tharzog video, the team here put together a video that may help.
http://youtu.be/VojHFM5qAwc
http://youtu.be/VojHFM5qAwc
I wouldn't really call it exploring; it's just a space with a few NPCs, and that space isn't very large.
Bree consists of the Prancing Pony, a few houses and stables, and one road straight to the exit.
SnowblindTina
LotR: War in the North Community Manager
FYI - The Soundtrack page went live today:
http://www.warinthenorth.com/index.php/soundtrack
The reason I post it is that we are also launching 4 free to download community exclusive tracks, one of which is "Midnight in Bree," our most requested song (It is the one that plays in the Prancing Pony at the start of the game, with the haunting vocals).
Let me know if you guys have any questions!
http://www.warinthenorth.com/index.php/soundtrack
The reason I post it is that we are also launching 4 free to download community exclusive tracks, one of which is "Midnight in Bree," our most requested song (It is the one that plays in the Prancing Pony at the start of the game, with the haunting vocals).
Let me know if you guys have any questions!
Picked this game up because my friend kept begging me to take a chance on it. So sinceI was buying a 3DS @ best buy for my daughter (xmas) I used the $50 gift card to get Mario 3D, UC3, and WITN for $53! Buy 2 get 1 free and I had a $50 GC from 3DS and $25 GC already!
This game is amazing. Its so much fun, playing coop, I am a ranger and my friend is a Dwarf. It's funny seeing so many people complain about the AI. She has been doing GREAT. She revives us all the time and real quickly. She dies here and there but for the most part she's saving us lol.
The fight against Tharzog(sp?) wasnt to difficult. We died like 5x but we were getting closer each time. As a Ranger I was just shooting him in the head and walking away from minions. At first we tried killing minions but man do they take punishment and keep on coming. I LOVE the combat and using the heavy attack when there is a yellow/white arrow on the enemy.
I have equipment questions. My friend has 2 shoulder pads that are both part of the Marksman set. They offer different base stats. We dont understand why the multiple pieces in the same set.
What do people think of the setpeices? Where can I go for more info on loot?
EDIT: Also, any ETA on patch?
This game is amazing. Its so much fun, playing coop, I am a ranger and my friend is a Dwarf. It's funny seeing so many people complain about the AI. She has been doing GREAT. She revives us all the time and real quickly. She dies here and there but for the most part she's saving us lol.
The fight against Tharzog(sp?) wasnt to difficult. We died like 5x but we were getting closer each time. As a Ranger I was just shooting him in the head and walking away from minions. At first we tried killing minions but man do they take punishment and keep on coming. I LOVE the combat and using the heavy attack when there is a yellow/white arrow on the enemy.
I have equipment questions. My friend has 2 shoulder pads that are both part of the Marksman set. They offer different base stats. We dont understand why the multiple pieces in the same set.
What do people think of the setpeices? Where can I go for more info on loot?
EDIT: Also, any ETA on patch?
The sets aren't fixed like you would see in D2. Certain items seem to always be associated with a specific set but none of the sets I've seen so far (3/4 through heroic with my friend) are locked to any one item.
Loot is very randomized in the game outside of certain quest reward options. It also gets more powerful pretty quickly so you'll be swapping gear fairly often (Especially weapons).
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Just for the time of year alone I think it's unrealistic to expect a patch before late January.
On the bright side, this will probably be $30 without coupons by then and it will be even easier to recommend.
On the bright side, this will probably be $30 without coupons by then and it will be even easier to recommend.
bigdaddygamebot
Member
This makes me concerned for the skillset of gamers these days.
Boss fights should be challenging people.
It's a valid concer; I've played through the game twice now within the past 5 days and I don't even remember who this boss is, which means he's one of the bosses that's really easy to chain stun to death.
For the most part it's hordes of orcs, archers/casters, or multi-trolls that kill you in this game.
The Stone Giant in particular is a complete farce.