I'll probably finish the Lord of the Rings: The Third Age by tonight (I can actually do it now, but li'l sis wants me to wait for her before I lay the smack down on Sauron, so...) and makes it the very first console RPG I've completed for this year.
During the first half of last year, I went into this rather amazing streak where I managed to finish a RPG each month from February to June, right before I went off to Perth. These RPGs were FFX, FFX-2 (the perfect ending), Kingdom Hearts, Suikoden 3 (yes, I got all 108 Stars of Destiny) and Xenosaga. Originally, I had intended to write an article to pay tribute to my greatness of console RPing during the past decade by listing out the number of RPGs I've completed from the year 1994 (I was only 10!) to 2004 and give short reviews to each and every one of them (thirty or more for these platforms: SNES, Playstation, PS2 and the Game Boy).
Of course, my site's currently down, so it's rather pointless to write something like that now (although I do have the list with me), so yeah, I'll just have to wait.
What do I think of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age? Well, I'm rather disappointed, actually. It's pretty fun and entertaining, but not as large-scaled as I've hoped. I thought I could do something like roaming around Middle-Earth with gazillions of sidequests like Morrowind, but in truth, the whole game's about revisiting the LoTR FILMS (EA Games has only the rights for the LoTR films, not the books), but only through the points of views of the characters in the game. Like helping Gandalf fend off Balrog at Moria, and then helping Aragorn and co. defend Helm's Deep, or aiding Eowyn in fighting the Witch King... things like that.
Yeah, I get to see lots of re-edited footages of the LoTR films in the game whenever Gandalf's narrating and telling me what my mission's about, and how is my quest going. But for a guy who had seen the entire film trilogy numerous times... it's kinda tedious.
The graphics are nice, the music is good (though they are lifted directly from the movie), the battle system's a rip-off of FFX, and the game's pretty damned easy and short (I've already spent 22 hours, and it would've been probably much lesser if I didn't spend that much time for lvling up and learning new skills for the chars), so I'm fine with it.
Once I'm done with the game, I'll probably play Star Ocean Story 3 or Shadow Hearts 2. Or maybe wait for Suikoden 4 to come out later this month. I'll be spending most of my year in Perth anyway, so there won't be an insane streak like I had last year anymore.
During the first half of last year, I went into this rather amazing streak where I managed to finish a RPG each month from February to June, right before I went off to Perth. These RPGs were FFX, FFX-2 (the perfect ending), Kingdom Hearts, Suikoden 3 (yes, I got all 108 Stars of Destiny) and Xenosaga. Originally, I had intended to write an article to pay tribute to my greatness of console RPing during the past decade by listing out the number of RPGs I've completed from the year 1994 (I was only 10!) to 2004 and give short reviews to each and every one of them (thirty or more for these platforms: SNES, Playstation, PS2 and the Game Boy).
Of course, my site's currently down, so it's rather pointless to write something like that now (although I do have the list with me), so yeah, I'll just have to wait.
What do I think of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age? Well, I'm rather disappointed, actually. It's pretty fun and entertaining, but not as large-scaled as I've hoped. I thought I could do something like roaming around Middle-Earth with gazillions of sidequests like Morrowind, but in truth, the whole game's about revisiting the LoTR FILMS (EA Games has only the rights for the LoTR films, not the books), but only through the points of views of the characters in the game. Like helping Gandalf fend off Balrog at Moria, and then helping Aragorn and co. defend Helm's Deep, or aiding Eowyn in fighting the Witch King... things like that.
Yeah, I get to see lots of re-edited footages of the LoTR films in the game whenever Gandalf's narrating and telling me what my mission's about, and how is my quest going. But for a guy who had seen the entire film trilogy numerous times... it's kinda tedious.
The graphics are nice, the music is good (though they are lifted directly from the movie), the battle system's a rip-off of FFX, and the game's pretty damned easy and short (I've already spent 22 hours, and it would've been probably much lesser if I didn't spend that much time for lvling up and learning new skills for the chars), so I'm fine with it.
Once I'm done with the game, I'll probably play Star Ocean Story 3 or Shadow Hearts 2. Or maybe wait for Suikoden 4 to come out later this month. I'll be spending most of my year in Perth anyway, so there won't be an insane streak like I had last year anymore.
