Comments - Dack105

The models look very nice and the architecture is great (lots of variation). The street does look very lifeless however. The whole road is perfectly maintained and seems fairly artificial and there are no unique details that stick out, but that can be fixed fairly easily with some shrubs and rubble.
Looking good, very pumped for this.

Are you guys still taking applications over at the forums? I'm thinking I'd like to throw my hat in for doing some writing :)

I actually really like stat based systems. KOTOR and Morrowind are just as god to me as Skyrim and AC. The more skill based systems do have their appeal, mainly in immersion. I'm not saying I prefer stat based, but I can go either way. I feel stat based systems offer better character progression as with skill based systems, when you start a new character, you still have your skills.

I actually think the combat in W1 is better than W2. The second one feels like a button masher.

What makes you think they won't extend? Tolkien's world is a very valuable IP. Sue they haven't done **** with it, but it has heaps of potential and they probably don't want to give that up.
Maybe they will get PJ to make some more movies that bridge that gap between LOTR and Hobbit(they won't get silmerilian rights).

I think you are being way to much of a purist. Books and films are very different, and need different structures. Also, the story of the movies needs to be different form the book because of it being told thought the lens of LOTR, instead of LOTR being told through a hobbit lens. If you read quest of erebor then you realize that Tolkien was seriously re-thinking and was in fact going to re-write the story because of all the things that happened to the characters and places in LOTR.
If PJ just translated the book to screen it would be very boring and would leave the average movie going audience completely underwhelmed and confused.
Personally, I appreciate that they change the story for the movies so that they don't soil the books. If you look at Harry Potter, the movies stayed way to close to the books, and they detract from them.

Legolas and Taureil are necessary to make the elves defined characters (in the book we only get one named elf, and that would not translate well to film). It would also be weird if we went to Legolas home, speak to his father, but never actually see him. His presence is call for because of the LOTR lens.

Turning the barrels into an action sequence is necessary because otherwise the middle of the film would have a huge gap between action sequences.

The only thing that I'm annoyed at is Smaug being so bloody huge (and the inevitable flurry of people pronouncing it 'smohg' rather than 'smahwg').

Just realized that it's been about a year since I started checking this page (on average) every day.

Also; the Witcher 2's engine already pushes mid-range PC's to the limit, attempting to make MERP in it would make most computers overheat and cry.

The Witcher 2 Engine wouldn't really suit what MERP is attempting (maybe the witcher 3 engine will tho). But just switcheing to a different engine won't make it not in violation of WB's cease and desist. Furthermore, i find it unlikely that CD Projekt Red is going to get sewed and make enemies of WB's legal department over MERP. They may be a great company, but they are not a stupid company.

I actually really like it; it keeps it from being too noisy, and the trees in the background look slightly cartoonish and very beautiful.

“an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing”...
Hey WB; you know what would generate good faith: letting your fans express their enthusiasm for your products!

I can't see how this will hold up in court; the legal system doesn't work on 'implied' ideas and 'good faith'.

I'm not sure if the creation of LOTR game will cease, just games that are not available for purchase in stores. I would assume that buying a disk of LEGO LOTR counts as tangible. If not, then they can't sell DVDs of their movies, or for that matter, let people watch them in cinemas.

I've only read the very first 3 sentences and I already disagree. I frackn LOVE Tom Bombadil!
Though as you said; entertaining :)

WB in not just a movie company. They are a company who make their revenue form movies, merchandise, games, theme-parks and god knows what else.

I'd probably give it a year unfortunately. Like you, I'm no expert, but I cant see WB giving in without a good few months of pointless bickering. Anybody expecting news by May will probably be disappointed...
Who knows, maybe MERP will be moved over to TES6 by the time the lawsuit finishes up :/

But Farmer Maggot is an extremely kindly and helpful man!

Yea, but that would cost a crap load; and investing money into a project like this would mean that marketability would factor into the development. That would make a bad Tolkien game.

This has been suggested many, many times and it's not going to happen. The Silmarillion doesn't lend it'self to this format anywhere near as well as LOTR does, and making the aforementioned decision would compromise the quality of the mod.

SDSSMSS for short :)

I agree completely. I think that if TE wins the lawsuit; you guys need to drop of the radar. Start a new page that only the developers, and people like us who check this page all together too often can find. I'd hate for this to get back into development to find that TE sends an equally idiotic C&D.

Hey, guys... should we try to make MERP ModDB's Mod of the Year? I mean, it'd be great for publicity, but it would also take the title away from a *finished* mod that is deserving of it.

The Tolkien Estate has a problem with *everything* to do with the movies and fandom of LOTR.

That wasn't the estate, they had sold the rights to make movies of LOTR when they were made.

I agree with myself more now that I've learnt that T.E. sent a C&D to Middle Earth Morrowind mod. We need to be sneaky, maybe try and finish the mod semi-privately, then release it so if you get a C&D from T.E. MERP is already out on the Internet, and they can't do anything about it.

I kind of feel the opposite of this actually. If we quiet down now, and stay off the radar (and WB looses) then T.E. won't notice us.
I'd put a temporary end to the battle until this lawsuit is sorted.
I don't really think T.E. would come after us, but it's not like they have a public image to uphold or need happy fans, they just want to protect Tolkien's ledgendarium from being completely disgraced, and they might not like MERP.

I tried to link directly to the full lawsuit. Apparently that does'ne work.

Hollywoodreporter.com
Awesome!
After reading some of this... if WB loose the case, you can continue the mod. No questions. I'm pretty sure they can't continue LOTRO either (I don't think they sell it in stores, just Online), and that's the closest thing to MERP that they could claim is being superseded.
God I hope the Tolkien Estate wins.

Oh, my Iluvatar! If the estate wins this (I really hope they do) that means that MERP does not fall under WB's licence as it's not 'tangible' and only downloadable... HOPE!

I'm pretty sure people with that many subs have relegated their in-box to Oblivion. YouTubers get *heaps* of PMs and generally can't keep up with them. I'd suggest going though comments on the videos.

This is not going to happen because when someone mods Skyrim,that content becomes property of Bethesda. That means that Bethesda can take anybody's mod and release it officially without need of explicit consent from the creator. That's my understanding of the licence put out by bethesda. You can't have official WB products modded into a Bethesda game, because there would be legal issues between Zenimax and WB.
(I think... Maybe not, but that's how I see it)