After about 3 days of playing the game, I decided I needed to rewatch the movies. My fiance was playing the trial, and having some difficulty with the hunter class; it just wasn’t the play style he was looking for, but it was as close as he could find. So, late on Saturday night, we began the marathon.
I hadn’t seen the movies since their respective extended-edition releases on dvd, and Rob hadn’t seen them since the theater. So, needless to say, it had been a while. We decided we needed to break them up into 1-2 hour sessions.
The first few sessions went as planned, and after an hour we had to take a break. However, by the time we got to The Two Towers extended, we were hooked. Having never seen the extended editions, Rob was blown away by how much more information there was; how the characters were all so much more important; how the story was so much more flawless. It’s understandable that Peter Jackson had to cut so much out (the extended editions are all 30 minutes to an hour longer) given that the average movie-goer gets bored after about 2 hours, but it’s a real shame. I’m so glad that the extended movies were released, because they’re so much more true to the books.
We watched The Two Towers in two sittings. I realized that it is by far, my favourite of the three. I love the region of Rohan and the Rohirrim are so cool. When we were done with the movie, I ran up to my computer to make sure that Rohan was a zone in the game, and I’m so excited to find out that it is. I cant wait until I’m high enough level to get there; I hope it’s a fun as I expect it will be.
We watched The Return of the King in one sitting. One long, 4.25 hour sitting. And it was great. When I received the extended edition of RotK for Christmas 2003, I had kind of lost interest in the movies, and hadn’t ended up watching it. But I was delighted this time around. The extra scenes are fantastic, as they all are, and I was so glad that it made the Frodo and Sam scenes less boring.
Having read the books, and seen the movies, I can appreciate the game so much more. The lore in the game seems completely canon to the story that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, and I can really tell that the game developers wanted to make it coherent for fans of both the books and the movies.
Yesterday, my LM (now level 17) went exploring in the Shire. I found Farmer Maggot and Hobbiton. And up a little hill, I found Bag End, complete with the Sackville-Baggins’ fighting over ownership. I was also absolutely delighted to find Goldberry in a forest not far from the Shire. I hear Tom Bombadil is in there too, but I haven’t gone to see him yet. This makes me so excited, because Tom has always been one of my favourite characters and I was so disappointed that they had to leave him out of the movie. His little songs are so cool.
After having watched the movies, Rob got kind of excited about playing a hunter. He decided that he needed to change his play style, and adapt it to be more like a “ranger.” I think he’s going to get a few levels this weekend. We had a great time watching the movies together, and I think it made us both feel closer to the game, and more connected to the lore. It’s so fun to be playing in this amazing world that Tolkien created. It really isn’t lacking in any areas and I’m very proud of the developers for being so true to the story. If they hadn’t, I’m certain the game would have failed, as devout fans would not have put up with too many non-canon changes.
