Project Gray Company (probable LOTR next-gen for PS3)

[CreativeWriter]

Check it out: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/702/702854p1.html

I searched but couldn't find a thread on this yet besides one in which I speculated about a next gen LOTR game in the works (go me!). Needless to say I'm pumped about the possibility of an open-world LOTR RPG.

[LiquidEagle]

Yeah, that screenshot looks very nice, and definitely looks very LOTR-y. The character designs in those sketches also have the look of Uruk Hai from The Two Towers too (the markings on their faces are different though), but then again -- you can't really make a fantasy game/movie these days without drawing heavily on Lord of the Rings, the absoulte genre definer, y'know what I mean? Also, that underground city doesn't seem familiar at all as far as I know about LotR lore, and it looks more like a Discotheque than a Middle Earth city :-p

An open-world LOTR RPG could be glorious though, if done right and some online would be nice of course. I wonder if they could really do better than Blizzard did with WoW though, given Warcraft's similarity to LotR and the richness of the lore being semi-comparable (nothing will truly come close to what Tolkien made with Middle-Earth's lore and languages). I've never heard of this Gray Company stuff and EA doesn't really know RPGs too well (IMO), so it may end up that WoW stays the better LotR RPG than the actual LotR licensed RPG :-p :laugh:

Anyhoo, thanks for the update mang.

[cpiasminc]

Yeah, that screenshot looks very nice, and definitely looks very LOTR-y.
What screenshot? I didn't see any screenshots. All of it is concept art.

[CrumCon]

You cant judge a game by screen arts. they're not screenshot from the game.

[LiquidEagle]

My bad...

5494

Looked like a screenshot to me when I looked at it, but I just noticed that it says "artwork" in the picture's caption :-p

btw, is there any way to resize that in the IMG code? It's just a tad too big :(

[The_One]

Nope, you gotta add it as an attachment, you can't directly resize the pic size.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Haha, tell me that's not isengard. tell me it's not.

[LiquidEagle]

Haha no way that's Isengard dude. If it is then they've got serious fundamental design issues. One of the pieces of artwork looks a lot like the capital of Rohan, the name escapes me right now :(

I looked it up, the capital is called Edoras. Yeah, it looks kinda like that town. :-p

[LaLiLuLeLo]

well it's...one of those spooky places...named after some obscure nordic mythology reference. @_@,

[LiquidEagle]

:laugh: Mordor?

The design certainly shares some similarities with the big Black Gates of Mordor you see in The Two Towers and Return of the King, but that picture is obviously missing some big gates so it probably isn't the exact same place.

We'll just have to wait like 2 more weeks to find out, tops :-D

[CreativeWriter]

I'll say that to me it seems clear this is a LOTR game... The art style is not just similar--it's identical. The name is a reference to a chapter in Return of the King (as in the company of Gandalf the Gray). It's a LOTR game no question. As to the places in those art screens I'm betting these are all areas not emphasized in the movies (i.e. using the recently acquired book licenses). The tower could be Dol Guldur (though I always imagined that as among the Mirkwood forest more than elevated on a rock outcropping based on its placement on the map... I don't remember if Gandalf describes it in Unfinished Tales). That underground city could be one of the large Dwarf cities, Nogrod or Belegost... although the game is probably from the Third Age and then I have no idea what that is... maybe something along the Misty Mountains. The pastoral town looks like Bree to me (see the Hobbit holes), men living near hobbits.

[Z]

well, if it isn't actually LotR, I am no longer confused. I was asking how can they make a LotR game independant from EA?

[LiquidEagle]

CreativeWriter you definitely seem to know your Tolkien :-D -- I've only read LotR once and I started the Silmarillion awhile ago -- just like games I'm terrible at finishing books that I start. It might sound weird when I said I've read it only once, but anybody else who's read or even glanced at the book knows that 1 read through isn't enough to take in the world Tolkien created... Anyways, I didn't notice that those holes in that picture of what you think is Bree were hobbit holes -- I thought they were bridge underpasses or something for rivers :laugh:

Anyways, I gotta say that those first two pieces of art that look like Mordor are totally rockin' -- I'm really impressed with those. That underground dwarven city though, and the village you're guessing is Bree -- they seem pretty out there and I don't ever remember reading about something like that Underground city in the books. Nothing like that at least. Also, why are some designs straight from the movie like the piece of artwork I thought was a screenshot, and the design of the Uruk Hai look-alikes, yet if that concept drawing is indeed Bree then they've taken some real liberties with that place from the movie.

Anyways my only real guess for that first locale would be Cirith Ungol, though it's certainly a lot more basic in the movie/Alan Lee sketches than that big place is... Man I really need to learn my Tolkien :laugh:

[CreativeWriter]

well, if it isn't actually LotR, I am no longer confused. I was asking how can they make a LotR game independant from EA?
Oh, yeah, it is EA making the game, which is probably a bad thing if we're hoping for Blizzard-level quality. We'll probably just get a B+ RPG with lots of movie tie-ins and clips from the trilogy (I'm looking at you Third Age).

CreativeWriter you definitely seem to know your Tolkien :-D -- I've only read LotR once and I started the Silmarillion awhile ago -- just like games I'm terrible at finishing books that I start. It might sound weird when I said I've read it only once, but anybody else who's read or even glanced at the book knows that 1 read through isn't enough to take in the world Tolkien created... Anyways, I didn't notice that those holes in that picture of what you think is Bree were hobbit holes -- I thought they were bridge underpasses or something for rivers :laugh:

Anyways, I gotta say that those first two pieces of art that look like Mordor are totally rockin' -- I'm really impressed with those. That underground dwarven city though, and the village you're guessing is Bree -- they seem pretty out there and I don't ever remember reading about something like that Underground city in the books. Nothing like that at least. Also, why are some designs straight from the movie like the piece of artwork I thought was a screenshot, and the design of the Uruk Hai look-alikes, yet if that concept drawing is indeed Bree then they've taken some real liberties with that place from the movie.

Anyways my only real guess for that first locale would be Cirith Ungol, though it's certainly a lot more basic in the movie/Alan Lee sketches than that big place is... Man I really need to learn my Tolkien :laugh:

I love Tolkien, though I haven't read the books in the last few years. I used to read them once a year or so when I was a teenager (even read them aloud to my g/f as an undergrad... those were good times). Since graduate school started I've been forced to read so much for courses that I don't have much time for Tolkien, only Faulkner and Proust, etc. I'm not sure how many times I've read the trilogy itself, maybe six? I always get excited about new LOTR games, though. An open-world LOTR RPG is just about my idea for a perfect game. I'm sure EA will ruin it :rant:

[LiquidEagle]

Yeah, I'm thinking that even if one is made with the LotR name on it, you'll get a better quality adventure in WoW which is very Tolkien-esque than EA's actual Tolkien-based game.

I wanted to do the trilogy once a year thing, but I just never kept up on it. I remember reading Return of the King in one sitting as I was on a 13-hour car ride from northern Utah to Southern California. That was awesome :-D

While EA has a high probability of ruining it, IMO they did really well with the Return of the King action game. The graphics were great, the fighting was fun, the movie tie-ins were good, and there were some really cool scenarios I thought. This is certainly another beast to tackle than a hack n' slasher, so EA would be wise to look at Blizzard's success with WoW and learn what they can from it. That's my opinion, at least.

[Z]

Oh, yeah, it is EA making the game, which is probably a bad thing if we're hoping for Blizzard-level quality. We'll probably just get a B+ RPG with lots of movie tie-ins and clips from the trilogy (I'm looking at you Third Age).

I said that since there was a LotR MMO just announced by Codemasters, I think. but it looks like it was a LotR-like game and not the actual license. that was why I was wondering why EA wasn't doing it. guess it wasn't LotR after all, this one is.

[Sephiroth_VII]

I just prey that it's based on the First War from Silmarillion. It would pwn to fight Morgoth's army of dragons!!!

[LiquidEagle]

Were Men even around in that era, Sephiroth? I'm asking that because they have sketches showing a village of Men, and if Men weren't around then it kinda disqualifies that era :-p

Anyways, there's already a LOTRO MMO (http://lotro.turbine.com/) in the works at Turbine, I'm not sure who the publisher is though -- probably Codemasters like Z mentioned. That's based on the book, so even though EA has the rights to the book now, I think theirs will be based on the movie for variety's sake...

[Carn]

A game based on The Silmarillion would be brilliant, altough hard for the "casual tolkien fans" to get familiar with I guess.

[LiquidEagle]

I could have sworn that somebody acquired the rights to The Silmarillion a long time ago, but nothing ever came of it. Maybe I'm wrong, that happens often too :laugh:

I would love to see a game based on the Silmarillion, but based on what I've read, time moves really fast in that book -- how could the players keep up with that and keep a sense of consistency if they don't have a character to keep through the whole story? I guess a couple of the elves from back then stuck around throughout the ages...

[Carn]

well the Silmarillion isnt really just "story"; I allways considered it more of novalised historybook of Tolkien's world.

[LiquidEagle]

Gotcha. As an RTS I could see that working well though since you don't have to control the same character in that. You could be part of the Valar or something an control the flow of battle or whatever. If I say anymore my lack of knowledge will shine like an even brighter beacon, calling attention to it, so I'm gonna shut up :laugh:

[CreativeWriter]

A First or Second Age game would be fantastic. They'll have to package it similar to the other games, as in "The Lord of the Rings: The ---- Age," just so casual gamers will know it's a LOTR game. I would LOVE the chance to play as Beren or one of the other early heroes.