Lord of the Rings Video Game Retrospective | An Exhaustive History and Review

A complete history of the entire Lord of the Rings Video Game franchise - covering every single game ever made - from the Atari and Super Nintendo all the way through to the Xbox One and PlayStation 5.
35 games in just over 5 hours - each given the attention they deserve!
It's a history documentary. It's a franchise retrospective. It's a multi-part video game review - but above all, it's a love letter to the strange world of Middle Earth licensed video games.
Patreon - / ifinishedavideogame
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CHAPTERS
0:00 - The Road Goes Ever on and On
5:01 - Lord of the Rings on MS-DOS and Atari
9:53 - J R R Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring Vol 1
19:09 - The Fellowship of the Ring
32:29 - The Fellowship of the Ring GBA
38:35 - The Two Towers
50:02 - The Return of the King
1:07:12 - Two Towers & Return of the King GBA
1:14:34 - The Hobbit
1:28:35 - The Hobbit GBA
1:34:06 - The Third Age
1:51:56 - The Third Age GBA
1:57:46 - Lord of the Rings Tactics
2:03:42 - Battle for Middle Earth II (plus all LOTR Strategy games)
2:23:44 - Lord of the Rings Conquest
2:37:46 - Lord of the Rings Conquest DS
2:45:01 - Aragorn's Quest PS3/Wii
2:55:18 - Aragorn's Quest PSP/DS/PS2
3:00:05 - War in the North
3:17:56 - Guardians of Middle Earth
3:27:40 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
3:49:53 - Shadow of Mordor: Lord of the Hunt DLC
3:52:44 - Shadow of Mordor: The Bright Lord DLC
3:57:17 - Lego The Lord of the Rings
4:07:01 - Lego The Hobbit
4:15:47 - Middle Earth: Shadow of War
4:37:04 - Shadow of War: Blade of Galadriel DLC
4:42:40 - Shadow of War: Desolation of Mordor DLC
4:50:00 - Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game
5:00:08 - Now Far Ahead the Road Has Gone
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Twitter - / ifinishedagame
Instagram - / ifinishedavideogame
Credit for the incredible thumbnail goes to the immensely talented - @MicahTheBrave
All media in this video is used for the purpose of review, commentary or criticism and is defined as fair use under US Copyright law.
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#LordoftheRings #Retrospective #Review

[@JoshForeman]

As a footnote: I worked at Synergistic Software in '97. We were owned by Sierra at the time and had just finished the expansion to Diablo. (Diablo Hellfire) We were told that Sierra had the rights to make a LOTR game, and so we started production on a Diablo style LOTR game. I was making a pretty cool tile set for the Mines of Moria when Sierra decided to shut the project down and made us focus on sports games. A bunch of the people who were working on it moved over to Sierra to work on Gabriel Knight 3. I quit. It was a real bummer. Hearing your report here makes me wonder if Sierra actually did have the rights, or were maybe in negotiation for them, and the decision to shutter the game happened because the deal fell through...

[@spaceghostcqc2137]

I ended up enjoying (kind of) GK3 but I would have loved your project far more. Sierra was a mess at that time sadly.

[@kvltizt]

Sierra later did that weird but oddly satisfying “The Hobbit” adaptation.

[@justinschultheisz4673]

Knowing that a Diablo style lord of the rings game was in the works and then canned makes me sad

[@BastosFC2]

Your tile set shall not be forgotten

[@Glori4n]

Hey, do you still have skills in working with tilesets? I'm looking to hire someone to do such art for my indie project.

[@QuickTimeFailure]

I had one hilarious moment happen in Conquest. I was attacking the shire and I was suddenly allowed to play as the Balrog. It was awesome to kill a bunch of hobbits with this flaming beast, but eventually I came to a bridge (specifically the one at 2:37:00) I figured the Balrog would be too big for the bridge so I decided to cross through the shallow river instead. The ankle-high river killed the Balrog instantly and I had to go back to being a standard uruk-hai.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

LOL I wish I'd thought to do that and been able to put it in the video. That is the sort of hilarious nonsense jank that I like about Conquest

[@yone5499]

A similar thing happened to me, except I was Sauron in the shire. I was walking over that bridge to kill Gandalf when an eagle picked me up and I died. It was funny because I was going to show my brother how cool the fight would be and when he came in the room it was already over.

[@niallmul97]

A friend of mine always tells the story of how he was playing as god damn Sauron while attacking the Shire. Mowing down Hobbits left and right, no one could come close to him,. Then all of a sudden, he was dead. The camera zooms in on some smug looking little Hobbit archer with straw hat and the dumbest grin sitting up on some roof who has just one shot FUCKING SAURON with a shitty arrow. Amazing.

[@Upsedriss]

I managed to scout backstab Sauron in the tutorial once lol, looked as silly as you imagine with this avarage human picking up an armored giant with one arm and then stabbing him in the chest.

[@jacktaylor6253]

Water vs balrog Water 1 Balrog 0

[@extraplain2412]

Battle for Middle Earth, The Third Age, Shadow of War, War in the North, Return of the King, War of the Ring... so many incredible games over the years.

[@zzxp1]

I had so much fun with Return of the King on the ps2. Is crazy to think there was once upon a time we have a massive drove of movie based video games but only a few were worth a damn. They were basically the mobile games of our era.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Absolutely - although really there was a much higher bar because games still have to be somewhat good in order to sell. Nowadays you can literally just throw a microtransaction system into watching paint dry and SOMEONE will end up bankrupting themselves to unlock the hyper mega azure blue wall paint skin

[@AgentSquiddy]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame How many times have we been over this ? I'm in recovery now and am seeking a consular, I'm getting better.... There's a new skin Pluto Grey

[@tacioob2337]

yes me too

[@masterchiefpettyofficer1176]

"movie adaptation" 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡the real LOTR(books) is millions of light years better

[@masterchiefpettyofficer1176]

than that trilogy, Tolkien's creation was beyond than it

[@magninecul8922]

Return of the King ps2, the level where you play as Gandalf protecting the walls of Minas Tirith is one of my most prominent gaming memories. Defending the walls, kicking down the ladders, ‘falling back’ with all the Gondorian soldiers and trying to keep them alive (not a requirement to complete the level but I always tried to keep as many alive as I could!) You know there are those classic youtube videos which you go back to re-watch over the years? Well, you’ve just created a new one. You’ve made a classic right here, This is going to be one of those uploads that I will be re-watching 3 times a year, even when that ‘Uploaded a day ago’ becomes ‘uploaded 10 years ago’. The quality of this video far exceeded expectations, not only are you good at this, you are also demonstrating growth as a content creator. Keep up the forward momentum.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much Magni - that's honestly so kind of you to say. I do genuinely think I'm getting better at writing with each of these videos but I'm also finding my groove in terms of putting them together! Really feel like I managed to put out this major video in quite a short amount of time! But yeah - I will indeed be continuing on the good fight and making more!

[@BigmanDogs]

That was the first part I saw of the game at my friends house. I remember thinking that the graphics looked like real life.

[@simonplimon]

that level and the (southern?) gate level are imprinted into my brain

[@Liberaven]

That whole game is very special to me having done an entire seperate playthrough with my brother, my dad and my partner. So many moments of retrying levels having been so close but just losing and then to finally beat them together. Video game magic.

[@xAvitaLT]

I have fond memories with playing Return of the King with a friend which make me wish to go back in time and relive that portion of life again.

[@danloney1830]

You've given a whole new meaning to doing a LOTR marathon... I'm in.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

My god I really hope nobody watches it in one go. Nobody deserves to be subjected to my monotonous ranting for that long! Hopefully it's made for a good watch, it was a lot of fun to make until the last few weeks when it became pure agony haha

[@christophercomtois7175]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame what do you mean this is short compared those extended editions. Hahaha. No really thank you this is great.

[@magiv4205]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame What do you mean, multi-hour analyses are THE SHIT!

[@clintmcbride7830]

If he's in I'm in 😎

[@p1ssedoffchristof48]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

[@FreeStyleBoy50]

People who said that an elf lord wouldn't steal the ring and become so vicious either don't know or forgot that Celebrimbor is actually Feanor's last descendant.

[@GRasputin91]

And let's not forget that orcs were once elves too...

[@etinarcadiaego7424]

​​@@GRasputin91 actually, there's a lot of debate about that but that's the take the movies went with. Tolkien himself disputed the idea that orcs were corrupted elves later on.

[@dieyng]

@@etinarcadiaego7424 Lol. I don't see how he would have to "dispute" the idea. It was his to begin with and his to change if he wanted. As it is, he rewrote this stuff a lot of times, and we'll never know how it would have played out in the end, since he died leaving the history of Middle-Earth in unfinished fragments (as you know). TBH, I always believed they were corrupted elves, long before the film ran with that idea. Though, I don't think that is much of an argument in regard to Celebrimbor. All of Feanor's sons were driven like their father, and so proud that this alone could easily be a reason for his actions.

[@wmandthings]

​@@dieyng I think you miss how he talked about it as if he was a historian of a living world

[@ELNIKOK]

@@dieyng Dude, Tolkien literally wrote theories on his on work, the man was something else

[@The_Babe]

It breaks my heart entirely that War in the North was treated so poorly, it's genuinely one of my favorite games I've loved over the years. I emailed WB almost a year ago about possibly returning the game to reverse compatible games on Xbox, they reached out to the publisher after they got back to me but never messaged again after that. Bought it for myself and a friend on PC but I'm just more comfortable on console personally, I'll probably reach out to them again. But seeing another game like War in the North would be an absolute treat, we truly do not have enough cooperative, story driven action games out there let alone online! And especially none in Middle-Earth, it would've been so cool for an additional player to play as Celebrimbor while the main player plays Talion. Hopefully they'll make a "Shadow of " but with a new protagonist and one or more characters for others to play as. Maybe even custom ones with a selection of races?

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's cool to hear they got back to you but yeah - sadly I'm not holding out much hope for them to even get it sorted so it's available to buy again. Even getting it on Gamepass or something like that would be a big step!

[@Blizofoz45]

I bought it on Steam a few years ago. Never played it but might have to try it out.

[@heavenheathern]

@@Blizofoz45 I wasn't able to find it on Steam, did it get delisted? Or maybe it's not available in my region

[@Blizofoz45]

@@heavenheathern I looked it up to and it said it was no longer available. Not sure why but my guess is licensing from the Tolkein estate ran out.

[@heavenheathern]

@@Blizofoz45 well, I guess it's abandonware now

[@gamerguy19981]

"War In The North" was one my favorite games to play when I was younger, I never got why so many didn't like it. And even though they didn't need to, they actually have two separate endings for the game. In the "bad ending" Beleram dies in the final battle, but it is possible to have him live through it and celebrate with the trio after your victory. The team didn't need to make two separate endings, but the fact that they took time, despite how small of a change it technically is, well that's something I just can't help but appreciate

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I think I got a little carried away with the poetic nature of Belerem dying! It's been really awesome to hear how many people hold this game close to their hearts! Hopefully it can get a bit of a revival and we can wash away those reviews!

[@Tarek_altair]

True words, true words... War in the north is such an masterpiece 🙌

[@jasonutty52]

I love that game

[@kaylkneasyle1724]

igotitforxmaslovedit

[@SebCarrasco]

I remember watching Walkthroughs when the game first released. War in the North absolutely needs a revival; it’s a shame Monolith is moving on from Middle Earth, because they would be perfect to remake/remaster in “Firebird”.

[@NJM0324]

As someone who has played LOTRO a lot over the last 6 years, I completely understand not covering it. I have multiple thousands of hours and still haven't seen everything the game has to offer, though I have seen almost all of it. My summary would be that it has some of the best world building of not only any LoTR game, but any game in general. You don't play as any of the main heroes so they were able to make a story that's shares much of the books plot, but also has the chance to branch out and do something unique. I can't express enough how good the writers are. Also, the world is massive and extremely fun to explore. You can visit almost any 3rd age location you could think of. As for the downsides, it's pretty old. Gameplay is dated compared to more modern MMOs. The graphics aren't bad for its age, but it doesn't hold up to the competition. Also some of the systems later in the game can be confusing and non-intuitive. I'd say it's definitely worth checking out for anyone who's a fan of tolkien or a fan of older style MMOs. It's free to play and they have recently made much more content available before having to purchase anything.

[@elizabethtaylor8428]

Nice to see another LOTRO player. Began playing in 2010 on Vilya. Now currently on Landroval. Anyone who has some knowledge on the lore can really appreciate this RPGMMO.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's a tough one because I'd have loved to include it because it really is a huge part of this series' video game lineage but it's just not really possible. I'm so happy people like yourself are here to give the game some context for people who want it!

[@synthetic240]

I was also hoping to see LotRO represented too, but it'd take another 2 hours to cover even a fraction of some of the good questlines and examples where they've expanded the lore in a really natural and respectful way.

[@cop5144]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Not covering BFME or other PC games tho? You almost lost me there. Bloody console peasant.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

@@cop5144 if you actually watched the video you'd see that every PC game is covered except LOTR online. They just don't get their own section. The amount of people genuinely upset over this is funny as - it's LITERALLY 2 GAMES lol

[@grimace4257]

Your biggest flaw with third age being parallel to the film made it one of my favourites. When Merry knocks the skeleton down the well in Moria it lands next to the party. Absolutely loved it 11/10

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I think it just doesn't really use that trope all that much! Once you're outside of Moria they kinda abandon any semblance of parallel story and by the time you're in Osgiliath and Pelennor it's just bonkers!

[@theonlyksmith]

I would sell my kidney for a remake of the Third Age. It really trailed off after Moria but such a fantastic and unique combat system and story. How many coop turn based games are out there

[@ABurntMuffin]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame true true true I do wish there was more of that, as it's definitely my favorite of the LOTR games

[@ABurntMuffin]

@@theonlyksmith it was final fantasy in middle earth, you can't beat it

[@AntiNihilist]

I played and finished Return of the King, and Third Age and I gotta say, they're so good that they make you feel like there's no reason to ever play a Lord of the Rings game ever again. The coop of RotK is legit the best coop game ever. Third Age is so good without even using the LotR main characters, that's an amazing accomplishment all on its own

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I'd say that ROTK is arguably one of the finest coop games ever made. Portal 2 eat your heart out!

[@AntiNihilist]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame yeah i was way too spoiled for choice when i got my PS2. This game came with it and i figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find more good coop games in the future…the pickings have been very slim since then.

[@ThiccolasCage01]

I LOVED the third age. Such a fantastic game!

[@randomb1397]

Third age was brilliantly fun for the most part, but personally I think there are a few points that can make the game a bit unplayable. The game should a) limit all encounters to scripted only to avoid over-levelling (plus a lot of the repeated encounters are boring), b) remove the ability to grind skill unlocks by spamming non-damaging skills and c) rework the balance, particularly on Idrial with her resurrection abilities (as this reviewer mentions). Regarding point b) and c) particularly, I returned to the game in my adulthood and making an effort to level up Idrial's skill tree that contains resurrection absolutely trivialised the game very quickly. You can mostly solve this by just not using aura of the valar I suppose, but it's still offputting that a really obvious mechanic makes you practically unbeatable, and it's also still a bit too easy to access OP skills by engaging in even a small amount of metagaming early in the game.

[@AntiNihilist]

@Random B admittedly, it was one of my first RPGs. But I'd prefer a new rpg be too easy than to hard. Too many first games in series were too hard and scared people away on the PS2, this was a really good first step for the devs, too bad I believe either sales weren't good enough or more likely the LotR IP got complicated soon after this(I forget what the reason was for why a sequel wasn't made).

[@HunterSilves]

LoTR: Conquest was one of the few games I put hundreds of hours into as a kid - completely solo, as I had no internet. So, my response will be biased. However, I loved it just as much as I loved SW: Battlefront 2 as "battle as a soldier" gameplay, despite the flaws. You mentioned how the warrior can't kill other warriors - that's if you're spamming light attack. Heavy attacks and kicks both break blocking, and your special breaks through it as well. You also mentioned how the scout was useless because of grunts, but I distinctly remember that class being so overpowered that I challenged myself to beat my scout kills with any other class or hero. While invisible, if you simply walk around the grunts and stick to low population pathways and walls, they'll ignore you and stray shots will almost never pull you out of stealth while you walk around behind to get at the archers and mages. You can also use the backstab to one-shot nearly any enemy, even doing massive damage to heroes or ents/trolls. I also seem to remember using the bombs to knock enemies off the map on narrow ledges, and the lingering damage from them does a lot of heavy lifting on high-health targets.

[@user-bc4cp8zw6j]

Oh, yes, same. I was kinda shocked when he called scout useless, i thought he would blame it for being so broken :) As scout was absolutely overpowered in campaings - basically an improved version of warrior almost in every possible way, except Hp pool. And not even because he could instakill any hero...

[@theonehitko]

Same One of my top games of all time, also the split screen co-op either going through the story or battling friends lead to unmatched fun.

[@jasonutty52]

Also archers are the most overpowered class in the game. If you are good enough and situationally aware enough, you can melt any class before they get anywhere near you.

[@periwinkle2486]

...and thats not even the half of it. this guy didnt give LotR:C a proper shake. kind of infuriating tbh, its almost like he couldnt be bothered with it. SMH 🤦‍♂️

[@BoandDebbieMulder]

I 5353 55253 5353 55253 3rd party 53411141r355254

[@patricksullivan7887]

So awesome to see a defense of War in the North. It’s a really great action RPG and the multiplayer mode was one of my favorites ever.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Absolutely - it's really quite underrated and really carries on that Dark Alliance legacy in a clever and modern way! Shame we never got a sequel!

[@xLionsxxSmithyx]

I like War in the North... it actually surprises me that people didn't like it tbh.

[@willissudweeks1050]

@@xLionsxxSmithyx I think it’s because the GameCube and og Xbox ones were so good and that’s what everyone expected.

[@lit2701]

A few years ago i played it with a friend online but the game kept crashing near the end (or at least i think it was near the end) does any of you know of this problem? We played via steam.

[@rayakins]

Yeah I found war in the north great fun even though I only got it in 2015 for next to nothing. It’s not a huge sprawling rpg it’s about enjoyable game play. It is available on steam btw.

[@MarValProductions]

War in the North is fantastic. Combat felt accessible yet satisfying. The story was interesting and made the scope of the story we know even bigger. I just wish it was longer.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Plus in multiplayer it's a genuinely hilarious game!

[@rockduck2210]

I remember I brought the Xbox 360 Game Day one so good

[@alexanderstavroulakis335]

It also gave us Beleram, the goat (eagle).

[@tysongoudie6158]

Surprisingly the comedy in LEGO games is always top notch, they never failed to get a laugh out of me when I used to play the Star Wars, Indiana jokes, and Batman ones

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah I really need to check out a few of the other ones - Indiana Jones looks particularly enticing for some reason!

[@zacharybecker8228]

​@@IFinishedAVideoGameI like pretty much every lego game but their lego city undercover I thought was their best game before they made the Skywalker saga. Even tho lego city is an original story

[@Person-wz6iy]

#RestoretheWBLegoVerse.

[@Mextlatec]

​@@IFinishedAVideoGamecan we get a retrospective on Onimusha

[@wheatwhisky9670]

Just want to heads-up that I just recently discovered this channel and it has been an absolute joy of seeing a content creator making a long retrospective series without much distracting editing; your video style encapsulate the sense of an academic university lecture, where the silent background and only hearing your voice describing along with the captured video footage is very captivating and attentive-seeking. I commend you for taking all your valuable time and efforts for these series. Looking forward to your next project.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Honestly, all I can say is thank you for that comment. I have genuinely felt quite stressed about the style of my videos and if they really "gel" with KZbin - not much music, no fancy editing, just my thoughts and a seriously long run time. To hear that yourself (and hopefully others) "get it" is really just awesome and gives me motivation to keep going and doing myself!

[@Hgoenge81]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame please keep up the good work. Videos like these are just pure awesomeness. You've got a good sense of humour as well, which just makes it easier yet. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@Hgoenge81]

I'd like to co sign this. Its just straight facts 👍🏻👍🏻

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

@@Hgoenge81 Thank you so much! I try not to put any "jokes" in but if something is funny - it's damn funny

[@andrewpeters93]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame I also agree with this. I love watching a bit when I'm having a smoke before work, a bit on my breaks and lunch and more when I get home. Thanks for all the hard work man. I played most of the games as a kid so the nostalgia trip is great. Lol

[@imgoingforawalk1693]

Just an FYI, Belaram doesn't need to die during War in the North. If you don't summon him during the final Agandaur battle, he survives and you get a different cutscene. There also is a PC port, it's just no longer available for purchase.

[@cainanneedham9022]

I actually had no clue that he COULD die until this video, and I’ve beaten WitN between 15-20 times.

[@dat1bitch-]

Yeah exactly. Thank you I thought I was remembering wrong. From what I remember, none of the eagles die if you play right. I absolutely loved this game. War in the north is probably my top 5. There are so many reasons to replay it multiple times. It seemed really hard at first on normal difficulty, then too easy on the hardest difficulty by the time I replayed it so much. Which shows how awesome the combat and character building is. I never even collected all the armor after 4 or 5 plays. I wish there was a sequel, but I know that's not gonna happen.

[@riftia3581]

Exactly, I was surprised that he didn't mention the 2 endings (But guess he wasn't aware of the good ending) If that was the only ending I knew for that game I'd be pretty damn sad, Beleram is an amazing character.

[@jakob8408]

Isn't it available to purchase on steam? I bought it there a few years back

[@imgoingforawalk1693]

@@jakob8408 not anymore. iirc the license ran out for all EA games, so they can't create any more keys.

[@ericlamb4501]

I swear that bit at the end of Third Age about chumping the Eye of Sauron and then dying when the tower collapses just sent me lol

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I mean it's just undeniably funny

[@TheLastPhoen1x]

I liked the alternative storyline where Gimli, Gandalf and bunch of Gondorian troops killed Balrog and Gandalf murdered Saruman with his magic spells.

[@bellidrael7457]

The Two Towers and Return of the King were a massive part of my childhood. The first game me and my cousin who was like my brother at the time played like a co-op game in that we would trade off the controller a lot. As kids the game was a lot more difficult than it would likely be today. And then with Return of the King, we were completely blown away by the fact we could both play at the same time.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I had almost the same experience with my brother - we used to play ROTK non stop once we realised it had co-op in it!

[@McNuttify]

Wow 5 hrs I can't imagine how much work this took to complete. Well done :) .

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Honestly my friend, it took an extremely long time... I think I might have to have a bit of a break before I take on another whole series retrospective. I'm about ready to shut my brain off for good and never think about Lord of the Rings ever again lmao

[@nes8462]

Aragorn kinda has the kingly healing power in the books. Actually lore-friendly. Berethors story is probably inspired by some of the silmarillion storys.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You know what you're actually bang on. I had always read it as he was just an unbelievably skilled healer in the medical sense thanks to his time as a ranger but I've just gone back and looked at the parts from the Houses of Healing and it is literally magic healing powers haha! I guess I'd always thought that because he can't heal Frodo it never meant literal magic but I guess that develops as the story goes? Anyway thanks for opening my eyes to the correct way to read that character which I've been mistakenly doing all these years!

[@timothymartensen9040]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame I'm pretty sure if a piece of the blade didnt get stuck in Frodo, Aragorn's healing would have done the trick. That's my reading of it anyway.

[@philliplewis946]

@@timothymartensen9040 go figure, he can heal the black breath and dispel its foul, nightmare laden sleep, but he needs an ancient elf lord to preform surgery, bit of a twist on the stereotype if you think about it

[@fantasywind3923]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame well even Tolkien own words sort of hint at him having powers beyond the ordinary knowledge of medicine: "Aragorn's healing might have been regarded as "magical", or a blend of magic with pharmacy and 'hypnotic' processes. , but it was reported by hobbits with little notions of philosophy or science. Aragorn was not a pure "Man" but at long remove was one of the "children of Lúthien"" Plus the 'alchemy' sort of is possible, what with Numenoreans: "Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs,..." and all the potions of amazing properties (miruvor, Dunedain energy drink, the invigorating orc-draught :)) so that's a thing that gameplay purposes actually also are in line with lore, you can have potions in Middle-earth hehe, plus the UT has this about certain object, Elessar the elf-stone: "Radiant nonetheless was the Elessar of Celebrimbor; and he set it within a great brooch of silver in the likeness of an eagle rising upon outspread wings." Wielding the Elessar all things grew fair about Galadriel, until the coming of the Shadow to the Forest. But afterwards when Nenya, chief of the Three," was sent to her by Celebrimbor, she needed it (as she thought) no more, and she gave it to Celebrían her daughter, and so it came to Arwen and to Aragorn who was called Elessar." ... "And it came into his heart to make a jewel within which the clear light of the sun should be imprisoned, but the jewel should be green as leaves. And he made this thing, and even the Noldor marvelled at it. For it is said that those who looked through this stone saw things that were withered or burned healed again or as they were in the grace of their youth, and that the hands of one who held it brought to all that they touched healing from hurt." So even healing 'magical objects' can be a thing :). The Three elven rings were also made with intents of "understanding, making and healing, to preserve all things unstained". Silmarillion lore is not required, for a proper game but having rights to Unfinished Tales would be nice just for those watch-stones of the Druedain, imagine those 'golem-like' statues coming to life as type of enemy in a game :) hehe. The Faithful Stone On a time there was a Drûg named Aghan, well-known as a leech. He had a great friendship with Barach, a forester of the Folk, who lived in a house in the woods two miles or more from the nearest village. The dwellings of Aghan's fam­ily were nearer, and he spent most of his time with Barach and his wife, and was much loved by their children. There came a time of trouble, for a number of daring Orcs had secretly entered the woods nearby, and were scattered in twos and threes, waylaying any that went abroad alone, and at night attacking houses far from neighbours. The house hold of Barach were not much afraid, for Aghan stayed with them at night and kept watch outside. But one morning he came to Barach and said: "Friend, I have ill news from my kin, and I fear I must leave you a while. My brother has been wounded, and he lies now in pain and calls for me, since I have skill in treating Orc-wounds. I will return as soon as I may." Barach was greatly troubled, and his wife and children wept, bat Aghan said: "I will do what I can. I have had a watch-stone brought here and set near your house." Barach went out with Aghan and looked at the watch-stone. It was large and heavy and sat under some bushes not far from his doors. Aghan laid his hand upon it, and after a silence said: "See, I have left with it some of my powers. May it keep you from harm!" Nothing untoward happened for two nights, but on the third night Barach heard the shrill warning call of the Drûgs - or dreamed that he heard it, for it roused no one else. Leaving his bed he took his bow from the wall and went to a narrow window; and he saw two Orcs setting fuel against his house and preparing to kindle it. Then Barach was shaken with fear, for marauding Orcs carried with them brimstone or some other devilish stuff that was quickly inflamed and not quenched with water. Recovering himself he bent his bow, but at that moment, just as the flames leapt up, he saw a Drûg come running up behind the Ores. One he felled with a blow of his fist, and the other fled; then he plunged barefoot into the fire, scattering the burning fuel and stamping on :the Orc-flames that ran along the ground. Barach made for the doors, but when he had unbarred them and sprang out the Drûg had disappeared. There was no sign of the smitten Orc. The fire was dead, and there remained only a smoke and a stench. Barach went back indoors to comfort his family, who had been roused by the noises and the burning reek; but when it was daylight he went out again and looked about. He found that the watch-stone had gone, but he kept that to himself. "Tonight I must be the watchman," he thought; but later in the day Aghan came back, and was welcomed with joy. He was wearing high buskins such as the Drûgs sometimes wore in hard country, among thorns or rocks, and he was weary. But he was smiling, and seemed pleased; and he said: "I bring good news. My brother is no longer in pain and will not die, for I came in time to withstand the venom. And now I learn that the marauders have been slain, or else fled. How have you fared?" "We are still alive," said Barach. "But come with me, and I will show you and tell you more." Then he led Aghan to the place of the fire and told him of the attack in the night. "The watch-stone has gone - Orc-work, I guess. What have you to say to that?" "I will speak, when I have looked and thought longer," said Aghan; and then he went hither and thither scanning the ground, and Barach followed him. At length Aghan led him to a thicket at the edge of the clearing in which the house stood. There the watch-stone was, sitting on a dead Orc; but its legs were all blackened and cracked, and one of its feet had split off and lay loose at its side. Aghan looked grieved; but he said: "Ah well! He did what be could. And better that his legs should trample Orc-fire than mine." Then he sat down and unlaced his buskins, and Barach saw that under them there were bandages on his legs. Aghan undid them. "They are healing already," he said'. "I had kept vigil by my brother for two nights, and last night I slept. I woke before morning came, and I was in pain, and found my legs blistered. Then I guessed what had happened. Alas! If some power passes from you to a thing that you have made, then you must take a share in its hurts."

[@Rhodair]

aye, I always viewed Aragorn as having a mix of magic & alchemy for example, it's mostly just the rangers who were aware of Kingsfoil's usefulness by that time, but Aragorn was uniquely able to boost its healing properties far beyond other users - Aragorn was also the only one who was able to heal the black breath curse that was inflicting Merry & Eowyn (backlash from their battle with the Witch-king, Nazgul lord)

[@mattyin3229]

I will forever remember this moment as the moment I realized that I stumbled upon a mastermind of content creation. Dude. This video was so well paced and written. I just kept watching.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much, that's extremely kind of you! I really do wish I was a mastermind though haha! I'm just a guy making videos in a style that I think is satisfying! I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!

[@Christopher-md7tf]

Man, I totally forgot about that whole "games based on the movies vs. games based on the books" thing, that was so weird and confusing at the time. Nowadays, I doubt many people even remember those strange book games lol

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Oh it is extremely odd. The world of licensed games in the early 2000s was a complete jungle

[@jellyfishjig]

Conquest split-screen was actually pretty fun, and the jank enhanced the chaos in the normal maps. The hero-only arena mode was basically a competition for who could could stunlock their opponents first. Overall, it unironically was a good time!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah I can weirdly see how a few beers and a pizza with some mates would make this into a funny jank fest of a party game. It's a shame I was so locked out of the multiplayer elements - the bot games really did not do the game any favours!

[@samuele7098]

Lego lotr's open world was super good for IMO, especially after you finish the story: at that point you are free to roam middle earth and all of the areas are so cool to explore and full of minigames. Plus it's all interconnected! Also the blacksmith also creates objets that give powers that no character normally has, such as weapons that freeze the enemy, a brush that changes the enemy's hairstyle, a paintbrush that changes their colour, a disco ball that makes them dance etc. And the grind to unlock everything can be easily avoided by buying the red bricks that multiply the money you get to insane amounts (they go from a 2 to a 10 times multiplier, but all can be active at once and they multiply with each other, meaning you basically have infinite money).

[@MrConstant23.]

War In The North is amazing! It needs a remake!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I think I'd like to see it just available on modern systems. Licensing issues are just killer

[@MrConstant23.]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Yeah it would be nice if, without modding, you could just play older games.

[@jacobtrost5048]

Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2 were both great, and Third Age has a special place in my heart. Every time I see the mom sending her kids away in Two Towers I'm like, "Did you know she's actually a character in the videogame?" to whoever I'm watching with. Also: I FREAKING LOVE BATTLE REALMS

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That really was a golden age for LOTR video games - it's baffling how the franchise has struggled so badly to get itself together since then!

[@eimhinduffy5736]

"An elf lord would never take the ring and attempt to overcome Sauron with an army of enslaved orcs." We all know if Fëanor could have he would have. Honestly he would have probably used enslaved elves as they'd be more useful. So his grandson doing it isn't that far from believable.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah you know what - a few people have said this about Feanor and honestly I am actually convinced. I think the idea of an elf being using the rings is actually quite Tolkien-esque if you think about how the war of the silmarils went down haha

[@seandennis8911]

Fëanor definitely would, but Celebrimbor wouldn't, the characterization of him we have differs a lot from what is shown in Shadow of Mordor Celebrimbor is free of his grandfather's bloodlust

[@MirrorscapeDC]

@@seandennis8911 Celebrimbor is... complicated. I agree that he probably would not have, but the best evidence we have for that (his imprisonment, torture and death after refusing to tell Sauron where the three were) is to my knowledge never mentioned in the Silmarillion. That is some other source. And he *did* work on the ring project, which implies a certain amount of desire for power. In the end we have so little information about the second age that we can only speculate on his motivation. So while it is *unlikely* he would have done what he does in the games, I don't consider it impossible.

[@danskdd4099]

just mad respect for making a 5 hours youtube video

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks very much my dude - it was a lot of work but I feel like it's quite a good little video!

[@tintinsimon]

2:36:31 Saboteur is a criminally underrated game. The blend of open world and stealth was pretty suceesfully balanced, the driving was dynamique, the OST was immersive, and the story - even if a bit wonkey - was an original take on WWII through the lense of a "normal person". I 100% that game with immense pleasure and have very fond memories of the title.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Absolutely - it's a fantastic game and it's a real shame that it didn't sell better! What a world we might have lived in if EA had more faith in Pandemic!

[@tintinsimon]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Saboteur 2; Behind the Iron Curtain - Our Irish mechanic is trapped in the eastern block on a massive map where he will have to cross countries to sabotage a neuclear missil launch history has no records of (thanks to him). Plot twist: the launch is part of a secret American mission seeking to initiate nuclear war to enrich the US' military complex. New Game mechanic: crossing borders via passers without getting caught and if caught, a short jail break sequence. You recruit a crew from country to country, mission after mission, to help you avoid a global catastrophy. Blimps, Climbs, Hideouts and 1960s jazz...I mean...

[@NoobyNoon]

I love that that first Fellowship of the Ring game uses the designs from the animated LoTR movie

[@SavoxYT]

The modding community for Battle for Middle Earth is thankfully still going strong, so it's reputation will never die. The Age of the Ring mod is basically a third game.

[@JanusZudnik]

Oh wow, really have to try this!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah a lot of people have pointed this out and it's great to hear honestly. It's a huge testament to how a community can turn around a games fortune without a publisher/developer being involved. I really need to check out Age of the Ring as a few people have mentioned it and it looks extremely cool

[@deathbyastonishment7930]

Yeah it’s a great game, Dagor Daggorath (spelling?) is my favourite mod because of the amazing unit variety

[@alejandrogarcia9637]

Dont forget Edain Mod that brings back the bfme 1 plot system.

[@jamescandlish7097]

I didn't realise there was a modding community. Is that for BFME2 and are there any mods to increase hero customisation options?

[@Alexeiyeah]

Me and my sister loved to play Return of the King and the Third Age. We also took turns playing Two Towers and that damned gate defence. i also have many, many memories of Battle for Middle-Earth, including playing in a friends house. Such memories that resurfeced, man. Thanks!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You're more than welcome my friend - glad it could cause a bit of sweet nostalgia for you!

[@crabington6036]

“I’ll be leaving it up to those with more experience in the game to write its place in history” is the most eloquent way of saying “bitch I ain’t the one” and I have so much respect for that

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks! As much as I'd have liked to - this video was a huge undertaking and spending 200 hours playing an MMO wouldn't really have been viable!

[@benearhart7786]

While Aragorn’s Quest may not hold up today, as a young kid I absolutely loved the thing and played through the entire campaign coop with my little brother. One of the first games I ever beat as a kid. I suspect my experience with the game may be in the minority, but the game had came out just in the same time as my dad had shown 8 year old me the movies and because of that, little me was in the perfect albeit extremely small target audience for the game.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Oh for sure - I think for very young fans who have recently got into LOTR it's perfect. Sadly as you say that's a very small amount of people!

[@sebastiannettles9076]

I was also in this target audience, i played it on the psp lol

[@Deadlife47]

I'm extremely down for a passionate and detailed defence of War in the North. I admit that I wrote it off on release and completely forgot it existed. Glad to hear it get some love. The Third Age is also hilarious in hindsight but I don't think you can mention it online without dozens of people saying they loved it as a kid. Game whipped.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's such an odd one because if it were framed as "a lord of the rings sequel to Dark Alliance" I think people would really GET why War in the North is such a great game. It's just been a real victim of poor marketing and then inaccessibility later on! I was also really happy I could finally shed some light on the absolutely bonkers plot of third age. I'm pleased it gets remembered well but fuck me that story is not good (but in a delightfully funny way)

[@snookers5123]

​@@IFinishedAVideoGame I played through it with two friends without thinking anything of it, and we ended up loving it so much we went through it multiple times. The best part was that you COULD replay it on a harder difficulty, while keeping all the gear and levels you acquired along the way. Now nobody really seems to know about it, and it's not even on sale on steam anymore. The world did this game dirty, and I'll be bringing my annoyance of that fact to my grave.

[@fantasywind3923]

War in the North is also one of those games which amazingly well blend in movie aesthetics with proper book lore! I mean lorewise this game is just amazingly faithful, definitely more so than many an other game (looking at you Shadow of Mordor/War) despite having an original new story :), hell it manages even to give us one of the Stone Giants from The Hobbit (and since this came out before the Hobbit movies it did not got tainted by it's humongous interpretations ;)), Eagles that are ACTUAL beings with full on limitations, capable of speech and reasoning, with their own personalities and goals! If War in the North was done as a true open world rpg not merely hack and slash it would have been even better! I mean it has already many elements that I would LOVE to see in proper Middle-earth rpg! The amount of loot, and secrets to find, the hubs with NPC's to talk to, trade and so on! If there's one thing missing it's the full on open world game, a proper single player RPG that would allow us to explore Middle-earth in a living breathing world, it could be as story driven as Witcher 3, as full of free roaming capabilties as GTA/Red Dead Redemption 2 (just imagine THAT an RDR2 type game set in Middle-earth?! AMAZING) or Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age type in terms of crafting your own character, all in all THAT is what the Tolkien fans need, such a rich world has ENORMOUS potential when it comes to video games! War in the North made various references to even obscure book details, I mean who would remember that Rowlie Appledore is actual book character mentioned as *spoiler* :) one of the casualties in Bree: "‘Three and two,’ said Butterbur, referring to the big folk and the little. ‘There was poor Mat Heathertoes, and Rowlie Appledore, and little Tom Pickthorn from over the Hill; and Willie Banks from up-away, and one of the Underhills from Staddle: all good fellows, and they’re missed." And in this game WitN Rowlie is actual NPC! Hell even some book only things are referenced like miruvor, and interestingly enough the role of mount Gundabad for dwarven culture etc. (interestingly the fact that this mountain was once dwarven delving comes from more obscure texts and one wonders what sort of licensing rights allowed that :)), Malbeth the Seer gets mentioned nad one quests has you collect his prophecies etc.

[@El-Duderino-His-Dudeness]

@@snookers5123 I discovered when for a way to buy because I wanted to co-op it with friends last year, that gamestop still sells steam keys of it.

[@resrer]

For the Third Age, I remember playing co-op with my brother and during his level grind around the Rohan part of the game, we encountered a trio of Nazgul. It was more epic and memorable than the Eye of Sauron battle. Also, you wouldn't think co-op would work well in turn based RPGs, but it's one less character for the main player to think about.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I think the coop is interesting simply because there is a fun tactical element to working through a JRPG with someone else! I wish more games incorporated it!

[@Lightspeed_Rescue]

Loved to see that you liked War in the North as much as I did. I have very fond memories of playing this with 2 friends (one of whom sadly passed away not long after we completed this) so it holds a very special place in my heart. Luckily I have this in my Steam account so can go back to this whenever I am feeling nostalgic. Thank you for the time, effort and love you put not only into War in the North, but into this whole wonderful retrospective.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You're more than welcome my friend - it was a huge project to undertake but I think I did the games I love justice!

[@iampingthepenguin]

I loved Third Age as a kid! my brother and I played it at least half a dozen times together in our second or third playthrough we kinda softlocked ourselves. there is a part in Gondor where Idrial gets separated from the group and has to fight her way through orc encounters. thing is, the bow orcs had a silence attack, so Idrial couldn't use her spells. in that playthrough, we never leveled her sword abilities or dexterity, so all she could do was do the base attack that missed half the time. amazing I also have fond memories of the Fellowship game, the part where you had to hide form the Nazgul was so scary I couldn't look at the screen. to this day I believe the only reason I made it through was for some stupid luck

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's kinda funny. Third Age is maybe the most beloved wonky game of all time. It's genuinely a pretty awful experience in the later sections but you just can't help but love it anyway!

[@iampingthepenguin]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame the fight against the eye is ICONIC or should Eye say... EYE-CONIC

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Excellent work corporal

[@callummaurer421]

The hobbit was one of my favourite childhood games, even though I never got past mirkwood untill years later. I still think back on it to this day. 10/10

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

There is still time to finish it now!

[@dallasweaver4384]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame I really to play it again but I can’t figure out how to get it

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

@@dallasweaver4384 dolphin emulator and then download the ROM my dude!

[@dallasweaver4384]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame where can I find the ROM?

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

@@dallasweaver4384 Google hobbit GameCube rom my friend there is a million websites that have it! I don't think I should link it thanks to the illegality of it

[@AverageJoe1999]

Loved the retrospective, but I gotta say, I loved LotR: Conquest. Probably because I picked it up years after release when I was young but I just had so much fun with its singleplayer modes and occasional split screen with a friend.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You know what that's completely fair - I kinda enjoyed the Sauron mode in the end!

[@15nicinho]

Same. I would play it every morning before going to school and sometimes I would split-screen with my brother. Loved that game immensely

[@connorfritsch8618]

Same

[@masterexploder9668]

Game actually lived waaaay beyond it's natural lifespan under a life support in a way, as for many years CNQReboot community has continued to play a game on their own hosted servers through LAN like Hamachi, Tunngle or Radmin VPN. There was never many of us and over the years interest waned, but we managed to still play the game 10+ years after release. Multiplayer was glorious, with hosted olympics, clan wars, leaderboards etc. Also exploits, because every playable unit and hero had developed a specific set of tricks which I am sure developers had no idea would be possible. So there was quite a steep learning curve when it came to a difference between someone who played a campaign and then took a dip into multiplayer and got destroyed by a veteran. Still, it was like a one big family. I miss the game, great to see that modders do an unofficial remaster to remake it on Unreal Engine.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

@@masterexploder9668 That's actually pretty cool to hear that the community has kept it alive - my suspicion was always that the multiplayer portion would be better

[@user-uu1qj3uk3m]

How crazy is it that the two towers game came before the actual movie that blew my mind at the time

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's a lunatic piece of information isn't it! When I saw those dates it triggered a deep memory in my mind of renting it from blockbuster before going to the cinema!

[@Omphalite]

The story about Grog-maker actually cracked me the hell up. That was hilarious.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It was probably my favourite moment in the entire franchise - that system just chucks out so many hilarious situations!

[@malaki7335]

I played War in The North so many times with my brother, it is a great game and I've had a lot of fun with it!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I can only imagine just how fun it is to play multiplayer and be able to take on the challenging maps and high difficulties! It really feels like it was designed for that!

[@russellhatton9765]

Sad findings pieces to the cut content that had so much potential.

[@DKZK21]

Some of my fondest gaming memories are from playing Two Towers and Return of the King for the PS2, so I'm always stoked to hear others talk about them. Great retrospective, I might just dig around for The War in the North.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's well worth checking out as it's honestly a fantastic spiritual successor to games like Dark Alliance. There is a lot of charm in there for someone who has a love for the series - I'm gutted it didn't do as well as it could have!

[@whodatninja439]

same, and Fellowship of the Ring game, even tho it kinda sucked. the atmosphere is amazing.

[@invisAG]

War in the North was such an awesome game, I loved it

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Hopefully this video could raise some awareness!

[@Macbuk100]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame It's available on PC though, wdym it's not? I have it on Steam since 2015 at least (that's when I played it last).

[@Lucifronz]

I fail to see what anyone loves about it. The entire time I played it, I felt myself wishing I was just playing Return of the King on PS2 instead. The characters came across as a knock-off fellowship with a boring objective. I don't even remember half of the plot.

[@NC-cf7kl]

@@Macbuk100took it off a good while ago, ofc you can still play it because you had it before but not available anymore

[@CapnCorn304]

Tolkien would be proud of the amount of detail and background you put into this review

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I could only dream of such a blessing! Hopefully, he wouldn't be upset about my Tolkien Expanded Universe take (Christopher almost certainly would lmao)

[@thescroot]

He might take umbrage with all the “god damn”s and “fuck”s. 😂

[@fruitchewx127]

Seeing the names in The Third Age are pretty funny. They're just stolen from the Silmarillion with barely any change Elegost - Belegost minus the B Idrial - Idril plus A Morwen - they didn't even bother to change this one Berethor - Beren and Denethor in one name This also means that they don't work as Sindarin names.

[@Kairos_Akuma]

Yeah right? I mean there Not just random names you can shuffle around. They mean something..

[@30year-oldboomer17]

Only critique I got for you on this one is that in Conquest, you claim the warrior cannot fight other warriors because the AI will block all your attacks. As they block your attacks, you are gaining special meter, so when you have 25% (around 3-4 hits) you can stop them by performing the heavy slash special, the second of the two hits blows through blocks and allows combo followup for more meter. It's designed to prevent melee players from mindlessly mashing the X button because A; the enemy takes no damage, and B; if they block long enough, they will perform a crowdbreaker, blowing you back and dealing damage. Overall great stuff however, really enjoyed that you talked about BFME and War in the North, they are largely forgotten by many now and its a shame you have to sail the seven seas for most of these games.

[@cerocero2817]

You can also use the old relible throwing axe to the face.

[@MaynardMustaine]

War in the North is one of my favorite co-op games all time hands down. Wish they would re-release it.

[@jediknightjoshy]

I’ve been watching this over the course of the past couple of weeks and enjoyed every moment of it. Revisiting old memories as well as gaining more insight into ones long since missed out on filled me with sadness as this video drew to its end as I wanted it to somehow keep going. Thank you so much for all the time spent putting this together. I loved it.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's awesome to hear. Really glad that you had a good time watching it! It was a huge amount of work to put together so its always lovely to hear it provided some enjoyment!

[@MyOrangeString]

So, soooo happy that someone finally picked up the fabulous Diablo-like GBA games by Griptonyte and gave them a proper go! These are indeed hidden gems!

[@nintendokings]

Yeah I loved them!

[@CatastrophicDisease]

Hearing all your criticisms of the end of the Third Age was hilarious - I had forgotten how absurd it was. Don’t care though, still one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. I was in middle school when it came out, and I remember me and a good friend spent months trying to beat the game, and building up our characters. The cutscenes were also the first time I saw the movies’ extended edition cut content. Good times. Also, this video really makes me want to play War in the North. I skipped on it when it came out because I heard it was a multiplayer game, I didn’t even know you could play it single player till now.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I highly recommend checking out War in the North if you can! It's obviously best enjoyed as a multiplayer game but I really did think it was a good fun hack and slash RPG with some really nice LOTR touches! Also I feel exactly the same about Third Age really - it was one of the games I enjoyed the most even with all it's crazy flaws. It's probably the worst game that I love the most!

[@ethanfox8979]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame I played the game with my sister as a kid. We really enjoyed it but had a bugged copy that wouldn't let you progress past Mirkwood. Right before Christmas this year, my sister randomly stumbled upon a new copy and we speed ran the game together again. Going back through that game again with her and actually completing the game after this many years is now one of my favorite memories gaming. It's an awkward game if you are coming from other similar games but it still holds up decently.

[@alejandrogarcia9637]

@@ethanfox8979 I had that exact same bug, still it was a prety fun game.

[@Richi0h]

I have the same nostalgia for Third Age for similar reasons. Used to play it a lot with my little bro!

[@samrobards7424]

Having played and owned a majority of these games, this has been a really fun look back at the history of this license. Two Towers and Return of the King were absolute gold for licensed brawlers, and The Third Age and War in the North are both hidden treasures. One thing that doesn't get enough attention here is that both The Third Age and War in the North offer local multiplayer. Yes, the RPG Third Age has local multiplayer, allowing player 1 to control three characters in battle and player 2 the other three. Unfortunately, those three are set, and the player can't pick and choose who gets what characters. My then-girlfriend (now-wife) and I played a ton of the game in 2-player, swapping controllers whenever the other got a turn with their preferred character. She'd be player 1 because she got Idrial, and I'd be player 2 because I got Hadhod (I always, ALWAYS pick dwarves: it's a universal constant). Good times. War in the North is another game that we played a ton of together in local multiplayer, her being the elf maiden and me being the dwarf (naturally). While the story was simple, it was still a blast to play, and I loved seeing different aspects of the War of the Ring. Also, having the story center around dwarvendom never hurts. The only issue we ran across with the game is that it's fairly buggy: there would be times certain quests wouldn't advance, conversations wouldn't trigger (soft-locking your progress) or the game just reaching a point where it would consistently lock up on repeat playthroughs. While we didn't mind restarting our progress once or twice, it eventually got to where we got a little fed up with the constant technical stonewalling. We still play from time to time but don't marathon the game like we used to. Nitpicks and glitches aside, those two really stand out to me amongst this series. I have both Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War but haven't gotten the chance to play through them yet. Looking forward to doing so, but, until I do, I have to halt my viewing of this video so as to not spoil myself. This was a really well put together retrospective: keep up the great work!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it and it's awesome to hear that you and your wife got so much enjoyment out of a few of them. I'm envious of your coop adventures - my girlfriend couldn't control a video game if her life depended on it lmao

[@Binglitpawn]

Imagine if this dude did a comprehensive retrospective on every star wars game... he'd be here for 100 hours haha

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I certainly think I'm going to give that a go soon. Maybe next year but damn it will be a huge project

[@theexile4694]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Needs to happen. I would love to watch that over and over and over. Lol.

[@xavier84623]

I was sad when conquest died. It was actually pretty fun. The balance was broken, and it was a little jank and sluggish, but I remember when everything worked right the matches were super fun.

[@onelonelypickle]

I agree! I am happy I could say that I got to play it online back in the day - a nice fun experience! To me it felt like Star Wars Battlefront but in a fantasy setting!

[@pridas5202]

You are in luck, its is being reimagined by a team at the moment. All the assets are being remade ground up and the gameplay revamped

[@georgegriffith1333]

@@pridas5202 Do you know where I can look more into that?

[@sigurdless]

@@georgegriffith1333 youtuber named: Resonant has pretty good bits of content about the remaster. Its gonna be epic.. they are using unreal engine for it. Insane

[@casmd2131]

I never got to play it online, but me and my friends would play it on split screen whenever we had a sleepover and it was one of my favorite games growing up.

[@irishempire9811]

Glen Schofield really made 2 high tier and extremly well recieved game series and EA still killed Redwood Shores, goddamn.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah it's extremely lame - fingers crossed he can get back on top with Caliso Protocol!

[@Funko777]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Unfortunately, this aged poorly mate ☹️.

[@toomuchguitar]

It’s strange to think it’s been 20 years since I saw someone playing The Two Towers game and it absolutely captivated me. My dad bought a copy of it and I was completely hooked on it and the movies. It made waiting for The Return of the King the most exciting and agonizing wait I’ve ever experienced. Beforehand I had only seen The Fellowship of the Ring and 7 year old me thought it was scary or something. But after playing that game I was obsessed with the movies and anything related I could find. When the Return of the King game came out I was “sick” so I got to skip school and my dad took me to Walmart to get the game. And then getting to get out of school early to see Return of the King on opening day is still one of my best memories. Watching this video made me think of all the memories I have of playing a lot of these games as a kid. It was such an exciting time and the games, movies and books left such a powerful and lasting impression on me that I’m sure I share with millions of others. I may not be much of a fan of the more recent games, but I’m glad to see The Lord of the Rings is still a cultural force to be reckoned with. It took me a few days to finish the video, but it was worth it. Thank you for this trip down memory lane.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks for sharing that and I'm so happy that this video could foster some of those thoughts! It's a special franchise in my life not just because of how much I loved it when I was younger (and still do) but now because of this video as well!

[@johnduncan4287]

Your video was shown on my recommended screen, and I could not be more thankful. This is already one of my favorite videos on KZbin, and I’ve subscribed for any future content. Well done! And thank you for this!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's awesome! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it! I'm hard at work on another video as we speak! Hopefully it should be finished soon!

[@wesley6571]

Absolutely rinsed LOTR Conquest back in the day I loved it so much!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Shame that it went the way of the Dodo - it's such a shame that multiplayer games expire and people can't just play them forever!

[@juliancortinas6485]

A few years back, War in the North went on sale on steam, and just judging by the feel of the game alone, I decided to take the dive with my dad. We had hours of fun playing it. It's so unfortunate that it was yet another casualty of the skyrim rpg genocide. I really miss rpgs like that, where specialization and actual role playing in a party were prioritized over becoming a master of literally everything a game has to offer.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I bet that was a huge amount of fun - especially as it was a random little purchase! That was certainly the thing that stood out for me - I enjoyed it a lot but I'm sure I would have A++ loved it if I'd been playing with a couple of friends

[@JIMvc2]

I only played War in the North for PS3. I recently found out that it’s not on steam :(

[@juliancortinas6485]

@@JIMvc2 Yeah I'm not sure why that's the case now I'm pretty sure it's still in my library but I'm sure there was some sort of licensing issue with it. That's how lotr games go I suppose.

[@dat1bitch-]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame war in the north was hard for me to get into. It kinda felt frustrating at first. It was designed to play new game plus and keep getting gear and understanding how the different classes help eachother. I only ever played in as solo, but I still had so much fun playing. Most of the sad endings will go away as you make the right choices and play the game better and better. It's designed for multiple plays in that way. Which I love. Probably one of my favorite games of all time.

[@XxChromeRavenxX]

I absolutely love that this video exists, thank your for your analysis and drive to create this. It definitely took me on a pleasant trip down memory lane.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You're more than welcome! It was a very fun video to make so I'm just happy that people enjoy it!

[@LEXICON-DEVIL]

1:49:49 😆 That sh!t ending sounds pretty cool when you phrase it like that. I still want to play the game. Ill just pretend they all died and that look on Aragorns face of shock is from wondering why those idiots would fight the eye when all the main characters just did the job. Soldier: what about the B team sir? Aragorn: .........did no one send word to our comrades that we were already destroying the eye? Soldier: 😬😬😬

[@rando3939]

Third age and conquest took up my childhood heavily. Nostalgic as hell. Love lego LOTR too; if nothing else just for an open world middle earth

[@dd99games4]

Yessssa!!!

[@bar0nv0nstrubel57]

The Third Age remains one of my favorite LotR games, despite it's issues. I love the format and the grind never bothered me. Hell even the wonky fight against the literal Eye of Sauron was awesome to me.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I kinda agree - it's got so many problems but I kinda love it regardless!

[@jacobross2895]

I got serious nostalgia for TTA. I love the spectacle of all the attacks you unlock down the line.

[@Randallonion]

I absolutely love the third age and it was my favorite game out of all of the games

[@bar0nv0nstrubel57]

@@jacobross2895 Same. Some of those upper level skills you unlock towards the end look awesome

[@jacobross2895]

@@bar0nv0nstrubel57 Aura of the valor, northern storm, call the dead, some of the attacks from the dwarf. So fucking cool.

[@lead_downpour8854]

For LotR conquest, the warrior actually has two ways to deal with blocking, the throwing axe which does damage regardless and can headshot, and your special fiery heavy attack is a full on block breaker which knocks the enemy down.

[@gj5679]

Excellent , played a lot of these as a kid and this video is a complete masterpiece . Incredible delivery , this is so long and yet it is entirely rewatchable . A lot of work has been done here and all the compartments fit each other in the most elegant way . Kudos .

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks very much my friend - I've got another really long one coming out tomorrow. REALLY need to find another hobby haha

[@TheBordener]

I'm really impressed at the speed at which you can put out long-form, high quality videos that are always about sometihng that I don't know much about but am very willing to learn more. Never heard of so many of these games. Good job

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Honestly this was the first one where I felt like I really had to "crunch" hard to get it out in a reasonable timeframe. The last two weeks have really been an intense blur of recording and editing. I'm definitely going to cover a few smaller topics next and give my poor brain a bit of a break haha!

[@wafflingmean4477]

If I remember right in War in the North, Gimli kind of fanboyed over Farin a bit not because they both missed the Battle of the Five Armies, but because Farin *was* there. He fought in one of the biggest battles of the age. One of my favourite parts in the game is when Farin reminisces with a giant eagle who was also present at the battle.

[@TheStrategist314]

Man…I remember playing the two towers before I even knew what Lord of the Rings was but I remember that movie going into the game with that circular sword slash… Epic.

[@TheMinarus]

I really do believe one thing deserving of mention is Third Age Total War MOD for Medieval 2 Total War and it's Sub-Mods Divide and Conquer...The amount of work put into that mod is absolutely insane and reproduces the map, themes armies of Middle Earth to a T I highly encourage you check out at least what it looks like if you haven't heard of it

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah it's a shame that mods and fan games went uncovered because there are so many really interesting ones. I did think about making a follow up video but sadly I decided to move on instead!

[@Harrison1875]

As far as I'm concerned, each of these videos is a monumental achievement, both in how comprehensive they are, but also in quality.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much Harrison - it really does mean a lot as you can really get in your own head about the value of your work when making these! I have countless times thought I was just producing utter rubbish haha!

[@KrustyBarnacle]

the irony in “the rings of power” being exactly what tolkien feared is devastating

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah I have very low expectations of that series... Especially after what Amazon did to Wheel of Time

[@JJ-ze6vb]

It’s actually a quite good show.

[@thescroot]

@@JJ-ze6vbJeff, is that you? You’ve got to just take the L, Mr. Bezos.

[@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502]

​@@thescrootpeople are allowed to like the show, it's not a big deal

[@imperatorjw]

I am halfway done with the video right now and i honestly need to thank you, sir! Lotr means a lot to me and I ove hearing people talk about things that mean a lot to them. You brought both these aspects together in this video of over 5 hours and I am very grateful for that! Please continue with your good work and have exceptional great day!

[@imperatorjw]

And in addition i absolutely agree with concerning lotr conquest. The main story line is nothing we all have gone through several times in other games, the missions are more or less copies of each other with only minor changes in what has to be accomplished. The pvp aspect i did not experience because to the time it was possible i had no own console but played it together with a friend on his console splitscreened what enormously funny. And the villian story line is absolutely hillarious and incredibly dumb what makes it the most fun part of the game.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much! I'm glad this video could speak to you in this way! It was a lot of fun to put together and I'm pleased that it's enjoyable for people!

[@nada3131]

I literally had to wait until the end of the uni semester to watch this video so I could give it my full and undivided attention. It was a delight as always! I just want to say that, like many other people, I deeply appreciate the amount of research you put into your videos. Having enough context is so important in understanding why a a video game turns out the way it does (I really liked the exposition on the Vivendi/EA copyrights issue, it really illuminated the slog both studios were having in coming up with original content!). I also loved the open-mindedness with which you played the LEGO games! I really hope you keep making videos, they're my favourite in this video game retrospective/critique genre!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's awesome to hear. I'm actually working on another video that is essentially a sister video to this one - should be out in the next few weeks so hopefully you enjoy that too!

[@Cmusko427]

You are a great KZbin you know that right? This is a masterful video that was recommended to me by KZbin but honestly it should be viral. Your poignant and sincere takes and your thoroughness and dedication make for enjoyable and informed content. Unfortunately your work is probably to niche for you to ever be viral but I want to thank you for caring about Tolkien and the community of gamers who love his work and have been on this journey. Your a good KZbin and this is a masterpiece no matter how many views it has.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much for your kind words. Honestly 300k views feels pretty viral for me so I really appreciate any help at all! Many more videos coming!

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame And now it’s 776k views! :)

[@patrickalves7312]

What an amazing channel, great reviews all around, getting to the point, no wasted works, seeing the creative differences and the context behind each game. Keep up the good work!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks Patrick! Yeah I think I'm increasingly actually really liking that we just get down to brass tacks and don't mess around with crazy production or editing. We're about the games and the games alone here!

[@PaperlessWriter]

Can't imagine the amount of work and time that goes into making a high-quality video such as this. I've now watched a few of your longer vids and you do great work. Thanks very much for your efforts and keep up the good work:)

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks very much! Honestly they are a huge amount of work but it's really worth it. I feel like I'm contributing to video game history and also making people aware of games that are often at risk of being left behind! It can be super stressful at times with the sheer quantity of writing/editing/playing/recording but once the videos are out it's a great feeling

[@whynot8837]

I love these longer style break downs. Thank you for your effort and time🙏

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You're more than welcome. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@EdmistenSound]

I specifically remember Fellowship of the Ring GBA, and even as a kid I could tell something was wrong. And! You may not have run into this, but there’s a bug midway through Moria that requires you save the game as the level transitions, or else the game soft locks completely and you cannot move. I remember my mom had to look up a forum post back in the early 2000s to solve it!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's so funny you say that as I actually originally had a section discussing that glitch and how weird it was that the solution for it was ANOTHER glitch! Issue was it made that whole section about 10 mins long and I figured not even my audience wants to sit through that lmao

[@thewintersessions]

i never finished... rip

[@AceHawk37]

oh wow! I had litterally the same experience! little kid me was so devastated to get so far just to have the glitch softlock me out of finishing. Luckiliy moms to the rescue! XD

[@AceHawk37]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame I'd actually love to know more about this bit, if you ever decide to do a deleted scenes or something like that! was one of those frustrating glitches that I will never forget

[@thewintersessions]

yall remember trying to find that specific tree root?

[@grayjedioutcast3550]

I absolutely loved the Hobbit video game. I remember struggling so much with the puzzles as a kid and feeling great beating the further in levels like Spiders and Flies or the level where you try to activate ALL of The Lonely Mountain. Insane

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Yeah it's really quite amazing how long and detailed some of the levels are! It's a lot more ambitious in terms of level design than really anything else in the SD games in this video!

[@cesarignjas]

I was one of the few who played War in the North and I enjoyed a lot, I finished the game 3 times to play with each character, I really loved the game, and I played on PC when I came across it on a discount sale in a Media Store nearby, it was really underrated game, it deserved more.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

It's really been nice to see everyone in the comments showing it some love. It really was unfairly treated at the time!

[@Susiesophie]

Finished this and immediately gonna watch again. Loved hearing you share your takes for each game and you’ve made me super interested in trying some for myself

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's awesome to hear! These videos are a lot of work to put together but I'm stoked that they're watchable considering how big they are!

[@amber4802]

This brought back so much nostalgia that I didn’t even remember ! Thank you for this videos, it’s amazing !

[@angryyoutuber8013]

I actually really enjoyed LOTR:Conquest as a kid, The multiplayer was a lot of fun, and the "unit diversity" basically all the different skins were just cool to look at. I'd also never seen a lord of the rings movie at the time and still haven't seen them in order.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I think lack of familiarity with the source genuinely makes Conquest a lot better!

[@jasonutty52]

My friend and I have been playing conquest for years. We both love it and the original source material. We can separate it from the media and just enjoy the great game.

[@jackcanonach4454]

I remember playing The Hobbit by Sierra as a kid. Thank you for unlocking a core memory.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's more than alright my friend. It's a charming little game!

[@johnnybeard]

Took me a while but finally finished this. Wonderfully done mate, I absolutely loved this, well written, well paced and very insightful. Incredible work.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Ah that's awesome to hear my dude - I'm stoked you enjoyed it! I can't quite get my head around having a video with half a million views lmao!

[@TheThezenith]

This is an absolute gem of a retrospective. Really shows how much care and effort you put into this, and writing, researching, editing and fuckin playing all the games, must of taken so bloody long. I would love to see you tackle the star wars video games and their journey. This would, perhaps, be an even greater endeavour than this vid, but I'm sure alot of people me included would love it

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much Jordan! That's incredibly kind of you to say! It was indeed a lot of work to put together but I'm really happy with how it turned out! Star Wars is certainly something that's on my radar but it would be an absolutely ridiculous video to make as there is probably about 5x the amount of games in this video! Maybe we'll build up to that one haha

[@buff_er_ing]

Oh man, this makes me nostalgic. Seeing these games again makes me want to grab my Gameboy and Gamecube and play through all of them again.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Highly recommend it! Those GBA Two Towers and Return of the King games are legitimately great - true hidden gems!

[@SirHubba]

Amazing video with so much effort put into it. Love the nostalgia trip from two towers on PS2 and onwards. You have definitely earned my sub!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks very much! I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!

[@mogarisready7664]

Came upon this vid randomly and sat through all 5 hours of it. Very informative and interesting to find out about games I never heard about and seeing a different point of view of the games I do know about and love. So great to see that much love is being showered over War in the North, it's so underrated and I love that game. With the final chapter of Shadow of War, I got my hands on that game as soon as it got released and I REFUSED to pay a single dime for the microtransactions so the final part took me 15 hours to grind through and was about to go mental when it was over, really left a sour taste in my mouth. Thanks for making this video

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of work to put together but I'm glad it's shone some light on some of the lesser known titles! Hard at work on another similar video as we speak!

[@rohanedwin007]

Omg I’m so excited!! These games were my childhood, I especially loved the third age.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

I really hope you enjoy the video! Third Age in particular!

[@JXEditor]

4:30:42 Listen to the exchanges between Sauron and Celebrimbor in the Bright Lord DLC again

[@Tanknorris7]

An excellent, thorough, and honest retrospective. As a person who used to search game shops for anything Lord of the Rings related, this was an excellent way to look back on a big part of my childhood. Thank you for the time and effort put into this video. I look forward to checking out your other content.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

You're more than welcome! Hope you enjoy my others as well!

[@tokyo3128]

This is great, I'd watch this stuff any day of the week rather than those fast edited shows other channels put out on a daily basis.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Awesome - I really try to keep away from that snappy, loaded-with-jokes, style that so many other YTers go for. You're never going to see me doing some shocked face reaction thumbnail haha

[@shylock914]

You have a wonderful narrating voice my friend! My personal anecdote: I was big into War in the North when it came out, but the version I had came with all the Pre-order weapons / DLC (can't remember which it was). I found it wonderfully hilarious when I gained control of my characters in Bree and my inventory was full of legendary weapons like Sting and Anduril

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Thanks so much! As the editing is such a big task I get so sick of my voice by the end of it and I'm convinced that it sounds awful! It's nice to hear that it works for people! That's hilarious about War in the North - it's a big part of why I'm not a fan of preorder bonuses! It's too damn hard to resist using them and goddamn it's always the coolest stuff! Let me unlock it in game you money obsessed psychopaths!

[@yayap001]

I’m actually still a big fan of the Fellowship of the Ring game, the combat was definitely lacking but it was going for something different than the more god of war like later games, it probably could have worked better with a dodge like Witcher 3 or DS. The atmosphere was amazing and level design was so immersive and fun to explore that it made up for the lackluster combat. It felt like more like an original experience rather than just replaying a scene from the movie. The return of the king game was great to return to for the combat and had some creative levels but the style of the first one was so unique and cool in that old school fantasy dungeon crawl type of way.

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

See I get the argument that it felt more original and authentic as it clearly does and some real love was poured into certain elements. The issue I have is that I think the level design is broadly pretty awful and that really impacts the immersion of each zone. I think it could have REALLY benefited from longer than 8 months of development as that's hyper short even for a game back then

[@johnscott3569]

@@IFinishedAVideoGame Hi! I loved this video. Fantastic job on every part, especially your voiceover work! I’ve actually played and beaten the Playstation 2 and original Xbox versions of the Fellowship of the Ring video game. I totally understand if you don’t know this, but the Xbox version of the FOTR is actually a different looking and feeling game that is, in my opinion, much better than the Playstation 2 version. I feel that the graphics are MUCH better, and the levels are usually longer and more detailed. You even have extra things to do as Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf, and there are secret areas to explore by using the one ring as Frodo. Gandalf also has extra magic spells. Overall, the Xbox version feels much less rushed, I think. The game designers took a lot of what’s in the PS2 edition and added onto it, making everything more immersive and actually more faithful to the book, at times. Have a good day!

[@Allen-qs2xr]

'Sets the tone going forward for lord of the ring games' Gollum: I'm not listening

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

Unfortunately the Dwarven mining game that's been announced also looks dicey. Might be a rough few years for LOTR

[@MontyZander]

We’ve been binging the extended trilogy recently (my partner hasn’t seen them) and after two towers I was hunting for a video JUST like this. Thank you!

[@IFinishedAVideoGame]

That's awesome to hear you enjoyed it! I absolutely love your series with your girlfriend and the souls games. They're some of the best gaming videos I've seen in the last few years, such a great idea for a series!