LOTRO : Level 60 reached

I had a lot of fun playing LOTRO the other night. I met up with a couple of friends and tackled the two 3-man instances of Eregion : the Library and School of Tham Mirdain.

They are quite difficult runs when you consider they are meant for level 52/53, but with the group I was with (myself a 59 Champ, 57 hunter and 53 Minstrel) the difficulty seemed just right. Knowing that I would have to tank, I made the mistake of forgetting to bring a one handed weapon (so I could equip my shield). Swinging around my legendary two handed axe I was taking quite a bit of damage to begin with, the Minstrel trying to heal me as fast as he could. Fortunately I found a one handed weapon en-route, a weak level 52 one, but it would let me equip my shield.

Shield equipped I could tank much more effectively using Glory to attract as much threat as possible. We did struggle a few times with some of the bosses, but the challenge was just high enough to enjoy ourselves without getting frustrated. Both instances are nice and short too, we managed both of them in less than two hours despite wiping a few times.

Then when cashing the quests in I dinged level 60 and was able to finally equip all the lvl 60 gear I had been lugging around with me for the last couple of levels!

I have been enjoying LOTRO now for five weeks since my passion for it was rekindled on hearing about the Lorien content. I am not sure how long this run will last though. I still have a few quests to do in Lorien and I suppose I have a few instances in Moria I have not ventured into yet, although I have no interest in chasing the radiance pieces (4-6 runs of each instance for each piece - no thanks) or indeed any Moria quests for that matter. The Etten moors (PvP) is always another source of entertainment if things look bleak, either playing as my Champ or with my recently rolled Warg.

I suspect there is enough to keep me going until Book 8. My money is on Dol-Goldur for Book 8 by the way, unless Book 7 is very tricksy ;)

LOTRO easter adventures

I've been playing LOTRO quite a bit lately, Book 7 has been released since I last blogged about it and as usual it has brought a fair share of complainers and bugs with it.

The much derided Quest Guide seems useful to me, I hate it when I can't find something and using the guide seems better than breaking out of the client and Googling it. Although it's a good idea being able to switch it on and off, the devs need to make it easier to do so rather than having to go into your options. I suspect it's too tempting to just leave it on even if you don't really want to use it.

The big book 7 bug for me is the glitchy DX10 lighting, particulary in the deeps of the shadow refuge (Foundations of stone) where it seems to be hit and miss if the floor decides to draw itself. A client restart fixes the issue, but a bit of a bummer if you haven't yet done book 6 most of which is down there.

Because I haven't been playing LOTRO much over the winter, after completing book 6 I had a double whammy reward presenting itself. Not only are there loads of quests to do just outside the Eastern Moria gate whilst strolling alongside the large Mirrormere lake, you can also enter Lorien proper so gladly I did in order to carry on with Book 7.

Lorien is nice, but I also think it's just great to be out of Moria and into a new pretty area. Some minor quibbles though, a few orcs roaming around the Elven wood (I thought Galadriel's power prevented this?), and warps to flet platforms when you click on a rope ladder. I would have enjoyed seeing my fat Dwarf attempt to climb a tree. At least the flets are not instances, try jumping off it's a long way down! I quite enjoyed the story content of Book 7 even if it asks the unthinkable, to return to Moria...

Last night I also enjoyed The Forgotten Treasury, a level 56 6-man instance that only takes about 30 minutes. So my kin made a couple of runs and I managed to complete all the quests bar one and gain lots of item exp and other goodies.

I also had a go at sorting out my legendary items. I was shocked to discover you cannot get rid of the original legendaries, so I have equipped a level 59 two handed axe and item and have various other legendary items leveling in the background. All good for the stats I suppose...

Resident Evil 5 Demo - My thoughts

So as I wait patiently for the LOTRO servers to come back online with the new Lorien Book 7 content, it gives me a chance to talk about other games!

Resident Evil 4 was certainly a blessed game when it was released four years ago. At the time of 2005 the Resident Evil franchise had become stale after ten years of pushing the survival horror adventure genre into the mainstream audience. Of course the original game launched in the mid-nineties owed a lot to the seminal PC series Alone in the Dark, but Capcom managed to polish the concept up and offer it to the Playstation generation. But after a few sequels of pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed cameras and restricted controls, a change was required to reinvigorate the series.

RE4 certainly did that. Pushing the Game Cube's graphics to the limit, the game threw the original template out of the window and introduced an over the shoulder camera, free-aiming and a much more action orientated game. This formula successfully produced probably the best roller-coaster ride to date, especially when you consider the ride lasts some twenty five hours and rarely stops for breath.

So four years later comes Resident Evil 5 which has a lot to live up to. I have played the demo for about an hour and sadly have decided it does not.

As expected for one of Capcom's flagship series, the visuals and presentation are top drawer and do not let down RE4's ground breaking graphics of that time. But unfortunately Capcom have decided to introduce co-op play, even if you play solo an AI colleague will be at your side. This dynamic changes the whole game and instead of enjoying being scared on your own, you now have to worry about saving your friend's butt and waiting for them to save you if you get knocked to the floor.

With lots of different joypad buttons to worry about, the situation is made worse by uncontrolled mobs of enemies that run straight up to you. Bring back slow crawling orderly queued zombies, all is forgiven! When knocked down your colleague helps you up asking politely "Are you ok?" whilst four mutated henchmen are trying to chop of your head with an axe! The controls don't help of course. Not being able to move while aiming seemed to work for RE4 where perhaps the enemy pathways were planned a lot more than they seem to be here in RE5.

Here is hoping that Resident Evil 6 will take us back to basics with solo zombie-filled survival horror.

The EDGE review