The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Review | The LOTR JRPG

[@HampOoze]

This game is far from a master piece but is still such a priceless gem for being so utterly unique. Also from a turnbased RPG angle it's really great even if it has a few flaws, it allows for a bit of build variety which is kind of crazy. It's one of those games I replay every 2 years or so, truly love it a lot.

[@binhpham5792]

I was doubting Berethor in the beginning, but it seems that he is indeed OUR BOY.

[@NeverHard]

We were wrong to doubt him. He proved time and time again that he is, was, and always will be OUR BOY.

[@sheppii]

contrary to popular belief, every female lord of the rings character IS infact jennifer lawrence

[@whisperienced]

I'm impressed how well she's aged since Alien came out in the 70s.

[@momokol366]

I think I recall finding a Dwarven ring of power in Moria

[@ashen_strix]

Played this in French when I was a kid and honetly the FR dub is astoundingly better lmao

[@adanomic949]

That little AISIP reference at 27:35 didn't go unnoticed. Well done.

[@realkoji_]

Some people may dislike this game for certain reasons, and I can agree on certain ones. I will say a lot of my love from this game comes from nostalgia of playing it at a really young age, but not only that, but because it reminds me of my time with my late grandfather. He introduced me to the Lord of The Rings entirely by accident when we went to one of his friends place at around maybe 8 years old. At the time, they had a small box tv that was almost broken but still somewhat usable, despite it having no sound and static. Not to mention there was a line that covered half the screen, so you could not really see anything at all. I sat down for what was maybe close to 30 mins, and viewed the introduction for The Fellowship of The Ring. I became instantly infatuated with the series, and it built most of my interest with the fantasy genre. Being almost 22 as of next year, I can say that it became apart of my life. (Great video by the way, you have a very relaxing voice as well)

[@jakerscythe]

The thing about this game was that they had the license to do a movie tie in, but they did NOT have the license to the books. This resulted in the weirdest story decisions imaginable.

[@beyondbattleforgottenhistory]

Great video, your style and sense of humor always make for a fun watch.

[@AkinNath]

Thank you for the reminder of Enchanted Arms being a thing. 50 hours of my 13 year old life on the PS3 I'll never get back.

[@Hawkguy889]

Yess I’ve been looking forward to this!

[@whisperienced]

27:17 man this guy knows his lore. Deep in the lord of the rings lore Gimli confesses that Salted Pork is indeed the weakness of Helm's Deep. Don't know why the movie couldn't stay true to this fact.

[@NeverHard]

The movie is a travesty for relegating Salted Pork to a brief cameo in the wrong film.

[@DmDungeonMastery]

One thing i love about this game that not enough people mention is the absolutely stunning amount of WEIGHT behind every spell, attack and ability, some of the abilities give me goosebumps just watching the animations with the sound design, the game has a ho'key feel sometimes and you get incredibly broken towards the end of the game but i love it nonetheless.

[@WBWhiting]

Double Mumakil fight: Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp oh you didn't even get a turn and now you're dead, too bad try again. Do it to them first, 'Stun' moves are completely broken in this game. Your characters and some enemies get 'stun' moves that delay the target's turn, there is no limit to how many times an enemy can have their turn delayed, you (or enemies) can spam stun and never give the other guy a chance to fight back.

[@disgruntleddude]

It was awful fan fiction but I loved JRPG style games back then and absolutely smashed it. Great times.

[@yashabreslove8276]

Long before the War of the Rohirrim graced our screens, Hadhod found the Hammer of Helm Hammerhand, a guy who famously doesn’t have a hammer and is named because of his one punch man fists, because the game is simultaneously incredibly reverent of this world but incredibly dense and cable of understanding subtlety, but it’s a very fun cartoon to play through, despite the occasional grind. Save often!

[@enoughaboutthegreeks]

Fantastic editing. You had fun with it clearly.

[@enoughaboutthegreeks]

Just got to the salted pork bit. I'm now a fan.

[@DirtyDan77]

I have to agree. This game totally slaps, even though it's not as good as it could have been.

[@kingmadman1239]

There is an exploit where everytime you go to save you your game your health and ap comeback completely so you can easy cheat the game a bit with that

[@Sum41rthe1]

They only had the licence rights for the films. Not the books. So no they couldn't have explored other parts of middle earth.

[@dunders1989]

Loved this game. You forgot the best part though. You can play Evil Mode as the enemies in important battles after finishing each chapter. So much fun.

[@NeverHard]

Oh man, I wanted to include it. But let's be real, the video is long enough as it is.

[@GameTalesHQ]

Great video as always mate!

[@NeverHard]

Oh my God, is that GAMETALESHQ? The famous KZbinr?

[@johndelorean1423]

In 2003 i did not know that you can give points when you have a lvl up. It was really hard and i came only to helms deep and where stuck at the last round with the trolls and after i found out that you can give points to the stats i made it 😅. Played the game last year on the gamecube and never lost a battle only with Berethor Idrial and Hadhod. One of the best Lotor games back in the days but nothing beats Return of the King 💪👍.

[@stoop..kid..]

Loved this game when I was younger, but you’re right it was a slog for long portions. I like Jrpgs so if you’re not into the genre it must’ve been a hard play lmao. Nice work man, great vid

[@NeverHard]

Stoop Kid afraid to leave stoop.

[@meh2228]

We are so making out of 2024 with this one. Merry Christmas and hope your channel grows more next year 🥳

[@NeverHard]

Merry Christmas! 2025 will be the year of Never Hard (Assuming I can finally post regular videos).

[@ciellight]

Very interesting game. The potential is tangible

[@adanomic949]

I still remember my complete befuddlement when the scene hard cut to the battle on Barad-Dur against the eye. As an 11 year old I was so confused. I am still confused.

[@NeverHard]

The game does absolutely nothing to prepare you for the final fight. It's beautiful.

[@yashabreslove8276]

This game’s audio is burned into my brain. Never had played a jrpg and also just in it for the license following RotK, what a ride this is. The Helm’s Deep battle in the two towers game is tricky, in RotK its a demo, and in this it’s a never ending sequence of fighting the same three Uruk-hai with cameos from the fellowship, it’s an absolutely insane grind with like no checkpoints. Best part is still when you fight all the Nazgûl on foot in pelennor fields with any gaps in the line quickly being filled by another one running in, until you LITERALLY FIGHT A GIANT EYE IN OSE COMBAT on top of a giant tower, possibly the least subtle thing in all of media, truly the Lord of the Rings of all games.

[@NeverHard]

Christopher Tolkien would have been furious.

[@Slodsworth]

We need guardians of middle earth 2 or some witcher style game set in the lord of the rings universe

[@NeverHard]

We need ANYTHING, really. I don't mind if we get a Gollum once in a while if it means more games are made in the setting.

[@DackJaniels51111]

The characters who are in this game return as heroes in battle for middle earth 2. :D

[@josephmarchese1079]

I will never forget the disappointment of playing this game for the first time. Two towers and Return of the king were so good (hack and slash also) that’s what I was expecting. I was so pissed at the game play. I did play through the game but overall I was quite disappointed. If they wanted to do this justice another go at it would be open world like shadow of war.

[@CrichtonNo5]

An Australian throwing shade at the Japanese 🤣🤣🤣 heard it all now

[@silentsorrowbane]

this game was goated

[@keyseeker1]

I remember renting this and not loving it, I didn’t make it past helms deep

[@Fion355]

Helms Deep was the worst. Loose one Partymember and the game makes sure you only get one turn after 6-10 enemy turns. Or simply never until you die. You either overlevel hard or spamm the ressurection spell on every member. Besides beeing a freaking slog of battles.

[@destructor3152]

Would have been so much better if they didn't rush the game.

[@ncm6566]

The third age was a great game.

[@WeeG-bwc77]

Guess you can call it a JRRPG.

[@NeverHard]

Beautiful...

[@rolanddeak122]

Where can you play it in such a good quality ? 😮 I played on a psx2 emulator but the graphics is just unbearable 🥺😭

[@NeverHard]

I played on PCSX2. I adjusted the resolution and enabled upscaling. That might be why it looks different.

[@tommysaville9427]

Is Battle for Middle Earth next?

[@NeverHard]

Probably not next. I'll take a break from LOTR so that I don't end up becoming "that LOTR guy". But yes, I would like to cover BFME2.

[@wesleyfilms]

Still own a copy. Might just beat it this time.

[@dwylie83]

I love how everyone uses that tidus laugh scene as an example of bad voice acting. It really shows how stupid you are to not understand its fake laughter and supposed to be like that and after tidus and Yuna do the fake laugh stuff they actually laugh

[@brya9681]

saying JRPGS are grindy and cringe dialogue is easily translated as "I don't play JRPGs and only know them through what people say on the internet. So please ignore me.".

[@janbouts5835]

He’s absolutely right though

[@robertsonmcnaughton4850]

Seriously, the laughing scene is supposed to be awkward just stop missing the point and pay attention for like 2 minutes before the LITERALLY FORCED LAUGH THEY SAY THEY SHOULD LAUGH.

[@JaFa2]

Have you tried crying about it? It usually helps

[@JPG.01]

Great video, weak game. This game in my opinion is fanservice done wrong.

[@unionjack3836]

Why JRPG? Its not japanese. Its like calling all the first person shooters AFPS

[@jakuval]

Would love to hear your thoughts without the snark and bad jokes. Makes it feel like a video from 2006.

[@NeverHard]

It's a period accurate review then.