The sandbox 100% changes things. The levels are much much bigger, there's TONS of verticality, lots of room types you don't see in campaign mode and you can't think about it as "clear level 1 then move to 2, etc" because its all mixed. So its possible to run into armored orcs on level 1 and weak orcs on level 3 or deep 2 and so forth.
Accurate. And it could just be my seeds so far but im finding it to be quite a challenge as a solo player with no friends. Such a different experience than campaign
You actually inspired me to buy the game and give it a go a few weeks ago. So far, I've loved it. Just broke into the mithril lode, and I'm trying to manage against the shadow orcs (finding them a bit of a pain). Honestly, it's become one of my favourites LOTR games now, I feel there was a lot of passion that went into making it.
I noticed Runes can somewhat mitigate the Weapon tier. Especially the Orc & Light runes. You’re right about the replayability of the campaign, it differs slightly with sandbox but theres only so much you can do in moria
After killing the watcher in the water pool game loses traction. Edit: I spend multiple hours fixing up every ruined dwarf house (Not decorated) and cleaning the halls for only to be alone after opening the doors at the end! :(
I picked this game up on sale on xbox a few days ago and I am really liking it. It is like Dysmantle to me, as you are breaking apart a lot of the world. Base building needs a little work though.
I bought the game a few days ago on my xbox X. Havent launched it yet sonthis bideonwas great at gettingna premptive 'feel'for the game. I love LOTR however im not the biggest base building fan. Hopefully this is an exception and can grip me.
My initial impressions were this game is bad. BUTTTTT I played it recently as well and it is honestly eons better than valheim, my only complaint is the music is really lacking.
Ok, it is your opinion and I respect that, but I also played both and the building in valheim is far better, the game play and the graphics are different even if similar, I think it is also a matter of taste but so far for me valheim is more complete while Moria has to be fixed in several aspects but still I'm having my best time playing it
@@ozweego86 Better is really ambiguous. The building is more streamlined, and polished. The game doesnt crash like valheim. The game also took more professional development than valheim. It runs better than valheim. It has a good story that followed actual lotr lore really well. I am and was hugely impressed. Valheim isnt totally comparable as its similar yet fairly different. I honestly think mines of moria was an incredible game. and deserved more play time. unfortunately the negative passive aggressive doomsday unthankful gamers decided to gong it without actually giving it a decent try.
@@TheLotroNerd ok maybe I'm not so far with the game, but the building is really less customized than valheim, I see on Moria blocks and that's it compare to the versatility of valheim and also the snapping tool is gross and unclear, at least for me, and I don't want offend in anything Moria for as I said is really a good game and I'm enjoying it a looot!!! But there are several flawlesss I'm encountering and for the lore I totally agree with you that's really a great thing
@@ozweego86 If the game had been surrounded with positivity like valheim, im sure they would have continued development, as well as further customization. When gamers self prophecy that a game is bad and then attempt to sabotage it with bad Pr. They kill the game, and the funds to developers that could continue its creation. Its unfortunate but just part of the industry at this time. If fthey made this game into something of the Scale of LOTRO but with pvp and building along with private servers similar to arma I would gladly play it!
One thing that really boosted your speed from midway is the use of the teleporter, count the time you'd have to run around and episodes would've taken longer, also better gear and more consumables, a bigger backpack to carry more at once etc made it so you had to return to camp less frequently, exploring faster as well. I don't know, I felt the pace was good throughout your series. I see where you're coming from though (with the whole ending in 1 episode), but also wonder what they should've added to pad the runtime more near the end as I felt this went pretty naturally from my perspective. I believe your absolute beefcake of a Dwarf just wanted to see the sun again and have a pint with Gimli. Thanks again for the series
Its a great game, my brother wanted to wait for the Steam version, and i notice the game runs better through steam than it did on epic games but thats just us.
They messed with the building a bit which made it harder to build anything significant and the bat dropping got nerfed but other than that yes! Yea I got rid of the music haha
(I've got over 200 hours in, almost exclusively in Sandbox) 1) Campaign / "Story_Mode" =/= Sandbox. The latter is more confusing (More on this in a moment), even the recipes are different. Campaign has lots of hand holding, and imo, is baby town frolics compared to Sandbox. 2) The world is HUGE. Not just horizontally, but vertically as well. (More on this in a moment) 2a) The world is INCREDIBLE visually. 3) The world is EMPTY. There are pockets of Orcs, Goblins, Worgs, (no Dwarves, more on this in a moment), but by and large it's an empty city. 4) While technically not "linear", there is clear progression, and you will encounter roadblocks at every step of the way (Weapons not good enough, Pickaxe not good enough, Hammer not good enough, Armor is quasi - ornamental at best (Don't get me started on repairs) 5) The premise / story makes no sense. Your group (lead by Gimli) is trying to break into Moria (The main door has "Shadow Magic" preventing entrance). You (The player) get caught in a landslide / demolition gone wrong and find yourself alone in Moria. 5a) In Campaign, your goal is to escape. In Sandbox, well, play as you want. Be forewarned, there is no follow-on party, no search-and-rescue party. Did you guys forget about me? The goal was to get into Moria. Mission accomplished. Are you telling me a group of Dwarves couldn't mine their way through loose rock? (At a minimum, once a floor is cleared, Dwarves could show up - but no) 6) The "Map" is by God awful. There are colors on the map (The Devs changed the map sometime before the Steam release). What do the colors mean? Don't know. There is verticality on a single floor. An "entrance" to another area could technically be on your level, but fathoms above or below. 7) Combat is no Elden Ring. Want to be a combat GOD in LotR_RtM? Follow this strategy: i) Block, ii) Swing, iii) Swing, iv) Go_to_i. 8) Targeting is very hit-or-miss. You will experience frustration as you try to mine, only finding you're doing nothing. 9) The soundtrack is great. No complaints. 10) Is it worth $20? IMO yes. But realize this is an early access game (despite what the Devs say), with a lot of frustrations. If you like Dwarves or Tolkien, then I'd say it's worth the $20.
@@georgeblair3894 the map colors indicate the different biomes (westgate, desolation, elven stuff, mines etc). Also shows the difficulty of the enemies in there (if you know who’s where)
I put about 50 hours into this game. I feel like it's the kind of game where playing with the right people could be a lot of fun. Otherwise, I found it middling and as a Tolkien fan I was a bit disappointed. If it sounds good to you you'll probably like it but not love it.
I am loking forward to your sandbox-play, and may I suggest you do it hard core, and adjust the settings to hardest survival difficulty and minimum mining drops. It really changes the game when even the first tier goblins are formidable fows 😂
After all the updates for a multiplayer game still no matchmaking to help out! I think is a big miss step I recently re downloaded in a hard area weapons do nothing against hordes and I deleted as I couldn't get help
I got this game and if it was not a survival building I would still be playing it, the explorations was super fun to me but the craft menus was terrible, example: if u want to put a torch u have to press B, then find the torch and select it, then press the building button, then you enter a building mode where u have to click again to put the torch, then again press another button to exit building mode. All of this just to put a torch where games like core keeper you just press shift+click done.
I would really like to play this game based on it's world, but the game play looks so incredibly janky. Enemies dont even look interested in attacking, they rotate around some sphere attack interaction bubble around the characters and it looks like lazy programming.
I was watching your last video as I was a bit stuck in Barinzibar(?) where you were, so watching to see what I should be doing, and it was like wham, endgame, done out of nowhere. I was totally not expecting that, and sort of ruined it a bit, though I don't hold you responsible. I still intend on finishing it, but it does seem way short from 50-100% in no time at all. Hopefully they release new content, free or paid I'd be down, especially if they fix the combat to be more fluid like, well pretty much any game like darksiders or god of war. Hell they should turn it into a dwarf cleaning/rebuilding game in itself just to restore Moria to it's glory, and clear out those filthy orcses and trolls. If they allowed for more free-form mining of the area stone, even better. Cheers for the help along the way from your videos! Check out Palworld before Nintendo's rabid dog lawyers sue them out of existence.
The only reason i'm not buying this is like this dwarves looks like World of Warcraft dwarves. And I'm not into that kind of cartoony graphics anymore.
In its current state, its like trying to drive a car that keeps breaking down. You will spend 90% of your time just gathering ingredients to cook or getting back to your base to get some sleep. And what is the point of customizing how your dwarf looks, when the majority of your helmets cover your entire face . . . .Modders need to get their hands on this game it is in dire need of optimizing.
What are your thoughts on The Return to Moria?
► Link to the Full Series: th-cam.com/play/PLGoMWE2BgOUivmJYxpzlzmef50ySiC6wT.html
The sandbox 100% changes things. The levels are much much bigger, there's TONS of verticality, lots of room types you don't see in campaign mode and you can't think about it as "clear level 1 then move to 2, etc" because its all mixed. So its possible to run into armored orcs on level 1 and weak orcs on level 3 or deep 2 and so forth.
Accurate. And it could just be my seeds so far but im finding it to be quite a challenge as a solo player with no friends. Such a different experience than campaign
@@ShaneConnor-xz6ym my biggest problem in sandbox so far has been finding the great forges. After the elven forge i have yet to find any other.
Anyone can change the mode and difficulty of any world that they created. Changing any settings does NOT disabled rewards.
Its free on Epic games at the moment
yup
Not anymore 😢
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I MISSED IT
You actually inspired me to buy the game and give it a go a few weeks ago. So far, I've loved it. Just broke into the mithril lode, and I'm trying to manage against the shadow orcs (finding them a bit of a pain).
Honestly, it's become one of my favourites LOTR games now, I feel there was a lot of passion that went into making it.
You should have waited pal
Don't forget the music! It's awesome. And having your character sing F'n rocks!
I noticed Runes can somewhat mitigate the Weapon tier. Especially the Orc & Light runes.
You’re right about the replayability of the campaign, it differs slightly with sandbox but theres only so much you can do in moria
This is the best summary of the game, i've seen. Thank you!
Thank you for watching! really happy you liked it!
After killing the watcher in the water pool game loses traction.
Edit: I spend multiple hours fixing up every ruined dwarf house (Not decorated) and cleaning the halls for only to be alone after opening the doors at the end! :(
I picked this game up on sale on xbox a few days ago and I am really liking it. It is like Dysmantle to me, as you are breaking apart a lot of the world. Base building needs a little work though.
Just picked it up as well for ten bucks and it’s well worth it! I would recommend it even at full price 👍🏽
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this game and having lots of fun.
Awesome. Me too. I still have a lot to go through
Sandbox in this game is amazing.
I bought the game a few days ago on my xbox X. Havent launched it yet sonthis bideonwas great at gettingna premptive 'feel'for the game.
I love LOTR however im not the biggest base building fan. Hopefully this is an exception and can grip me.
My initial impressions were this game is bad. BUTTTTT I played it recently as well and it is honestly eons better than valheim, my only complaint is the music is really lacking.
Ok, it is your opinion and I respect that, but I also played both and the building in valheim is far better, the game play and the graphics are different even if similar, I think it is also a matter of taste but so far for me valheim is more complete while Moria has to be fixed in several aspects but still I'm having my best time playing it
@@ozweego86 Better is really ambiguous. The building is more streamlined, and polished. The game doesnt crash like valheim. The game also took more professional development than valheim. It runs better than valheim. It has a good story that followed actual lotr lore really well. I am and was hugely impressed. Valheim isnt totally comparable as its similar yet fairly different. I honestly think mines of moria was an incredible game. and deserved more play time. unfortunately the negative passive aggressive doomsday unthankful gamers decided to gong it without actually giving it a decent try.
@@TheLotroNerd ok maybe I'm not so far with the game, but the building is really less customized than valheim, I see on Moria blocks and that's it compare to the versatility of valheim and also the snapping tool is gross and unclear, at least for me, and I don't want offend in anything Moria for as I said is really a good game and I'm enjoying it a looot!!! But there are several flawlesss I'm encountering and for the lore I totally agree with you that's really a great thing
@@ozweego86 If the game had been surrounded with positivity like valheim, im sure they would have continued development, as well as further customization. When gamers self prophecy that a game is bad and then attempt to sabotage it with bad Pr. They kill the game, and the funds to developers that could continue its creation. Its unfortunate but just part of the industry at this time. If fthey made this game into something of the Scale of LOTRO but with pvp and building along with private servers similar to arma I would gladly play it!
@TheLotroNerd ohhh i didn't know that that is a hell of a shame!! Nooooooo
Loved the game. Still collecting Mithral and have not killed the dragon yet
One thing that really boosted your speed from midway is the use of the teleporter, count the time you'd have to run around and episodes would've taken longer, also better gear and more consumables, a bigger backpack to carry more at once etc made it so you had to return to camp less frequently, exploring faster as well.
I don't know, I felt the pace was good throughout your series.
I see where you're coming from though (with the whole ending in 1 episode), but also wonder what they should've added to pad the runtime more near the end as I felt this went pretty naturally from my perspective. I believe your absolute beefcake of a Dwarf just wanted to see the sun again and have a pint with Gimli. Thanks again for the series
Its a great game, my brother wanted to wait for the Steam version, and i notice the game runs better through steam than it did on epic games but thats just us.
Build the Eregion shield and you don't have to worry about lighting.
Did they fix the lighting problems yet?
It's back on the radar but is it any better besides bugs?
BTW the music at the end seemed really out of place
They messed with the building a bit which made it harder to build anything significant and the bat dropping got nerfed but other than that yes!
Yea I got rid of the music haha
Since it's now free on epic games, it's definitely worth it.
(I've got over 200 hours in, almost exclusively in Sandbox)
1) Campaign / "Story_Mode" =/= Sandbox. The latter is more confusing (More on this in a moment), even the recipes are different. Campaign has lots of hand holding, and imo, is baby town frolics compared to Sandbox.
2) The world is HUGE. Not just horizontally, but vertically as well. (More on this in a moment)
2a) The world is INCREDIBLE visually.
3) The world is EMPTY. There are pockets of Orcs, Goblins, Worgs, (no Dwarves, more on this in a moment), but by and large it's an empty city.
4) While technically not "linear", there is clear progression, and you will encounter roadblocks at every step of the way (Weapons not good enough, Pickaxe not good enough, Hammer not good enough, Armor is quasi - ornamental at best (Don't get me started on repairs)
5) The premise / story makes no sense. Your group (lead by Gimli) is trying to break into Moria (The main door has "Shadow Magic" preventing entrance). You (The player) get caught in a landslide / demolition gone wrong and find yourself alone in Moria.
5a) In Campaign, your goal is to escape. In Sandbox, well, play as you want. Be forewarned, there is no follow-on party, no search-and-rescue party. Did you guys forget about me? The goal was to get into Moria. Mission accomplished. Are you telling me a group of Dwarves couldn't mine their way through loose rock?
(At a minimum, once a floor is cleared, Dwarves could show up - but no)
6) The "Map" is by God awful. There are colors on the map (The Devs changed the map sometime before the Steam release). What do the colors mean? Don't know. There is verticality on a single floor. An "entrance" to another area could technically be on your level, but fathoms above or below.
7) Combat is no Elden Ring. Want to be a combat GOD in LotR_RtM? Follow this strategy: i) Block, ii) Swing, iii) Swing, iv) Go_to_i.
8) Targeting is very hit-or-miss. You will experience frustration as you try to mine, only finding you're doing nothing.
9) The soundtrack is great. No complaints.
10) Is it worth $20? IMO yes. But realize this is an early access game (despite what the Devs say), with a lot of frustrations. If you like Dwarves or Tolkien, then I'd say it's worth the $20.
@@georgeblair3894 the map colors indicate the different biomes (westgate, desolation, elven stuff, mines etc). Also shows the difficulty of the enemies in there (if you know who’s where)
same experience, in other words, if it haven't had LOTR label on it, it would be the worst survival game one can play..
I put about 50 hours into this game. I feel like it's the kind of game where playing with the right people could be a lot of fun. Otherwise, I found it middling and as a Tolkien fan I was a bit disappointed. If it sounds good to you you'll probably like it but not love it.
It didn’t have to have Lotr ip could have just been a dwarf game it would have had more content. I believe the ip boxed them in
@@brokentv1855 That's a great observation and I think you're right.
I am loking forward to your sandbox-play, and may I suggest you do it hard core, and adjust the settings to hardest survival difficulty and minimum mining drops. It really changes the game when even the first tier goblins are formidable fows 😂
They should make a Lord of the rings for all the wizards like myself
Heres to hoping the Amazon Lord of the Rings MMO isnt a massive flop :(
Sandbox is awesome fun
After all the updates for a multiplayer game still no matchmaking to help out! I think is a big miss step I recently re downloaded in a hard area weapons do nothing against hordes and I deleted as I couldn't get help
RTM discord has places where people try and party up but I get it in game matchmaking would be dope
I got this game and if it was not a survival building I would still be playing it, the explorations was super fun to me but the craft menus was terrible, example: if u want to put a torch u have to press B, then find the torch and select it, then press the building button, then you enter a building mode where u have to click again to put the torch, then again press another button to exit building mode. All of this just to put a torch where games like core keeper you just press shift+click done.
i tried it off the epic games giveaway, it seemed nice otherwise but the combat feels kind of miserable i don't know if i can put up with it for long
I would really like to play this game based on it's world, but the game play looks so incredibly janky. Enemies dont even look interested in attacking, they rotate around some sphere attack interaction bubble around the characters and it looks like lazy programming.
Epic games is giving it away for free today, so I guess it's time to try.
Anyone know if it’s crossplay between ps5 and Xbox?
Yes
I was watching your last video as I was a bit stuck in Barinzibar(?) where you were, so watching to see what I should be doing, and it was like wham, endgame, done out of nowhere. I was totally not expecting that, and sort of ruined it a bit, though I don't hold you responsible.
I still intend on finishing it, but it does seem way short from 50-100% in no time at all. Hopefully they release new content, free or paid I'd be down, especially if they fix the combat to be more fluid like, well pretty much any game like darksiders or god of war. Hell they should turn it into a dwarf cleaning/rebuilding game in itself just to restore Moria to it's glory, and clear out those filthy orcses and trolls. If they allowed for more free-form mining of the area stone, even better.
Cheers for the help along the way from your videos! Check out Palworld before Nintendo's rabid dog lawyers sue them out of existence.
Great review. But I have mixed feelings towards this title. The combat and AI from the video feels clunky and not challengening.
By saying that, you mean you turned it up to the highest difficulty and then tried it?
The only reason i'm not buying this is like this dwarves looks like World of Warcraft dwarves. And I'm not into that kind of cartoony graphics anymore.
theres no players?
In its current state, its like trying to drive a car that keeps breaking down. You will spend 90% of your time just gathering ingredients to cook or getting back to your base to get some sleep. And what is the point of customizing how your dwarf looks, when the majority of your helmets cover your entire face . . . .Modders need to get their hands on this game it is in dire need of optimizing.
Dude, why the massive spoilers? This is a review for new players! Totally not necessary.
If you spent a 100 hrs in any game. It's probably worth it or you're a sadist, haha. Didn't watch video.
Haha yea it was worth it for me and is still worth it
@@SovereignRPG good deal
You have never read warthunder reviews lol
Many mixed reviews on this one...