Отзывы

• gamedeal user

  Aug 29, 2018

  You only get 1 quest (30 min of gameplay) for free. With the Shire Pack (and registering your account) you get enough points to buy two more quests for a grand total of 1.5 hours of gameplay for 8 euros. If you want more each quest is 2 euros or 10 hours of grinding the same few early quests to earn the points in the game.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 29, 2018

  I played the physical Card game extensively so I've been waiting for this but the Micro Transactions will kill you. I'll keep it in my collection to see what happens but no way am I going to spend the kind of money you would need to get all the content. Grinding your way through the same content over and over again to get a few Valour every time would take you days just to get enough Valour to get somewhere. Really hope they drop the prices of the content or seriously up the Valour you get for completing missions. I've played Hearthstone for years and never spent a cent so I don't mind a bit of grinding but this is ridiculous.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 29, 2018

  Let me preface this by saying I was absolutely delighted when the news first broke that Lord of the Rings LCG was coming to digital. As someone who loves the paper card game I was really looking forward to a digital version that would save me the trouble of set-up and tear down time. Unfortunately, as time went by I realised that the vision for this version of the game strayed further and further from the original. Regardless, I still wanted to give it a go and so I bought the top tear version of the game to support FFG and show there is desire for these games in digital format. Now, after playing through the tutorial, the first 2 quests and unfortunately being kicked off the server during the 3rd quest I can say that, upto this point, this digital version shows none of the invention of the paper game. Each turn of the paper game is a puzzle of weighing up risks and strategies, daring to quest or conserving actions for potential encounters in a later round. Each quest in the paper game is unique in its own right with clever innovations that alters the gameplay and keeps the game feeling fresh. The paper game is really beautifully realised. Disappointingly, the digital version lacks the innovation that keeps the paper game so fresh and interesting. Up to the point I have played it feels as though each phase of each quest is simply a fight to the death with little tactics or strategy. Indeed I have had no trouble finishing quests with the starter deck and have given little throught to the actions I've taken during each game. This really is a distilled version of the paper game - and actually, I'm not even sure it can be called a version of the paper game at all. Furthermore, there are other problems with the game. The presentation of the board and menus are fine, but the cards themselves are poorly considered. The frames crowd out the beautiful art from the paper game and the characters jump into action with clear appropriation from Hearthstone. There is no tracking of stats in the game currently, no way to see which quests you've defeated and what scores you've acheived. The upside of this all is that this is still an early access game and perhaps more invention will come in the future. However, the foundations look like they've been laid down and there doesn't appear to be anywhere near the complexity, depth or difficulty of the original game. It's a shame. I wish this was a faithful recreation of the original so that more people could experience its brilliance - but I can't currently recommend this digital version. I will persevere and will revisit this review if my opinion changes.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 29, 2018

  First of all, and probably most important of all : DO NOT GO INTO THIS EXPECTING TO PLAY LOTR LCG. This game's mechanics are nowhere close to the physical living card game.... Oh, you'll see the same card titles and illustrations, and keywords' names, but that's about it... This would, for me, warrant a red flag already, because when i put time, and money in something called "The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game" i want to play the lord of the ring living card game.... but hey, in any media transfer, changes are to be expected.... let's keep an open mind... It is a standard opposition card game with symetrical gameplay but asymetrical cardpools. You and your ennemy each have a different deck (you create yours based on your card.... 3 heroes you will start the game + 30 other cards) and the computer has something in store based on the quest you're attempting but your turns will play the same : collect 3 ressources, draw 2 cards and play one action each until both players pass. The pros : - As its RL counterpart, this game is beautiful ; the cards illustrations and backgrounds wallpapers are really cool-looking, in theme with Middle Earth, and not too much inspired by the movie so they still stand on their own. - The music is immersive, whimsical, and has enough different themes so you probably won't be turning it off too soon. I'm pretty much considering buying the soundtrack. - The narration at the begining and end of quests and between stages is immersive and well written. It mixes text specific to this game and excerpts of the books, giving a middle earthy feel to the game. - The AI, while still being a procedural checklist, has been given thought and doesn't always attack when it wouldn't be smart for it to do so, picks targets somewhat intelligently, and so on. - You can pick between 3 difficulties level when you play a game. It changes the number of ressource points your opponent is given on each turn. I would prefer for it to change cards available to the AI or even change its procedures rather than "changing the rules" but hey, can't fault them for giving new players an option to gain experience with the game at a more friendly pace. The design cons : - The UI, while simple and clear enough to understand easily isn't on par with the overal beauty of the illustrations. It's all flashy, ugly color boxes and, to me, break the immersion quite a bit. - While it can be considered minor by others, this is really driving me nuts : to see a card details, you need to click it, not to mouse over it. So, to play a card, you have to drag and drop it, you can't click it in your hand then click it where you want to play it.... makes it easy to screw something up... - There are no tooltips to explain the keywords of a card, if you want to know what's what you have to hit ESC to open up the game menu and search through a glossary you'll find there. While i do think a glossary is a good idea, tooltips are much more newcomers-friendly. The gameplay cons : - The game is overly simplistic.... it's a watered-down version of any other CCG you can find on your computer with the added twist of playing action per action instead of turn per turn (which, in itself, could be a good idea if the game was better). - It is designed to be a PvE game, not a PvP one. Having to play, albeit different quests, against the AI over and over again will end up being a bore because you'll end up catching on to its flaws and will kinda sorta end up being procedural in your plays yourself. - The tutorial.... There is one, that's a plus, and it takes you by the hand to show you the basics.... but it falls into the trap of showing you everything you have to do until the last turn or two.... It gives you a handle (albeit not very strong) on the mecanics, but not on the decision process... The elephant in the room : If you want to play this game with any semblance of seriousness, be prepared to grind yourself to the grave. You are given 1 quest, 4 heroes and 26 cards x2 (and you need 30 cards in your deck, so there are at max 9 cards you won't be putting in your deck to begin with.... sheesh), and 3000 coins (valor points). - buying 1 new quest is 3750 coins - buying 1 new hero + 5 cards is 3750 coins - buying 1 common card is 375 - buying 1 uncommon card is 750 - buying 1 rare card is 1500 the first time each day you complete a quest, you can expect to gain 200/250 coins, subsequent times, you gain less than 1/10th of that amount. MAKE SURE YOU BUY THE QUESTS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.... While i understand that a compagny gotta make money off of microtransactions, this is ridiculous. Overall : It's free, so check it out, but don't fork money in the game... play once or twice, realize you like middle earth but the game doesn't do it justice, and that you're not prepared to give away your whole life to grind what you'd need for the cards... I've tried to distance myself as much as possible from the real life LotR LCG to write my review but this is where FFI failed the most in my humble opinion : The LCG has a large fanbase, and many peoples play it solo, so a computerized version of the game obviously would have a built-in community. Trying to cash in on it isn't, in itself, a bad idea. But, by changing the game mechanics so drastically (and for the worse), you're leaving yourself open to displeasing the fan of the games (which will be the one jumping on it day one and giving the early reviews.... so, might not be the smartest of moves). And calling your product the same as a "board game" we know and love proves you were trying to cash in on it... it's not LoTR digital card game, it's LoTR LCG... Luring us into your microtransacting arms... I like playing CCGs against a computer rather than live players because i'd rather play RL against living beings, so i'm not minding the PvE aspect of it ; but i've played only a handful of games and i'm bored already.... There isn't much challenge in fighting an AI that will always be the same for a given quest and the grind factor doesn't even allow me the sweet taste of collectionning. Would the game be drastically different from its RL version, i wouldn't have complained. Unfotunately, this game varies enough from its cousin to bother RL LCG fans and not enough to offer them a new experience. The RL LCG is perfect for solo / cooperative play because there is no AI involved, the game doesn't make any decision, it's all player based. Every choice you make will impact the resolution of your quest : chosing a card over another, attacking with this ally or defending with this hero, and, of course, enemy cards you reveal. i've played the same quests in RL LCG dozens of times and minute changes in your deck or even in the draw can lead to totally different experiences this would have been perfect for a game that requires you to do the same thing over and over again... I would even have welcomed some of the changes made for this game.... the guard / range mechanic is interesting and the "pooling" of the ressources does make it easier to understand and less frustrating...
• gamedeal user

  Aug 30, 2018

  Edit: I will leave my original review, but do note that FFG has unlocked the campaign for all. I'd say thank you, but that should've been a given from the start. However, I do thank FFG for their extremely quick response. That does mean they are listening. Buyer beware, not all is as it seems. I spent $50 on the most expensive pass, and after buying all of the characters and most (note, not all) of the cards available to buy, I soon find out that the locks on the campaign are not locked because I need to beat the previous section, but I need to buy them. Each. Each level out of a campaign must be bought. I sunk 50 dollars right off the bat, and I am already not allowed to play the content without paying more. Not to mention, this is LotR: Destiny, not LotR LCG. I have almost all of the tabletop cards, and this feels very different. This is not a bad game by any means. There are minor UI issues I have, such as not seeing a card from hovering over it (you must click it), and rotten card sorting when deckbuilding. And the fact that it is very different than the tabletop version isn't bad, but they should definitely play that up. But in its current form, this is a money grabbing scheme that Battlefront II is jealous of. It is ridiculous that in good faith, because I love the tabletop LCG (and have sunk hundreds of dollars into that), that I find later that I cannot play all of the content. It's pathetic, and it stinks of desperation, especially on their maiden voyage into digital card games. Shame on you, FFG. I want to like this game, but I cannot support the business model. But I guess you don't care right? You already got my money. Buyer beware.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 30, 2018

  I have never before offered a review of a game. So as this is my first review you will understand the passion with which I wrote this. No...simply...no! If I had wanted to play Hearthstone I would play Hearthstone. This game is no where near the brillliance that is the LOTR LCG! The micro-transactions alone is enough to kill this game for me because of how aggressive of a structure it is. And then we get to the gameplay....how in the name of <*censored by myself*> can you call this a LOTR:LCG game?! This is *NOWHERE* close to the gameplay found in the real version released by FFG. This is Hearthstone with a veneer of of LOTR:LCG. You may as well just call this Hearthstone: LOTR edition and be done with it! In brief....this is not a game I would reccomend for people who enjog the LOTR:LCG, nor would I recomend this to the hearthstone crowd due to the overly aggressive micro-transaction scheme. I *STRONGLY* suggest the powers that be read these reviews and take action before this game becomes a critical failure.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 2, 2018

  First let's get two things out of the way: 1. Is the game too expensive to play right now for what it offers? It definitely is, but it's nowhere near Hearthstone levels, as some have suggested. To enjoy the game, you will probably have to spend some money, which in itself is fine (personally I'm tired of grindy f2p CCGs), it's just that right now you don't get as much value as you should for your money (to get all content the game has to offer right now, without grinding, will set you back around 70 USD). Note that expanding your collection is not based on random card packs like many other games, but rather on collecting Valor Points (a currency like gold in HS), which can in turn be spent on buying preset packs or singular cards. There are some tricks to get most value out of the current economy model (like buying all cheapest/low-rarity cards with Valor, so that you can get the most expensive cards from Palantir views), so keep that in mind. 2. Does the game have enough content right now? Definitely not. There's currently one campaign available (takes around 2-2.5h to beat) and that's it. New campaigns are coming in the future, but I generally think the campaigns should be twice as long. The card pool is currently also quite small and even with full collection you are forced to take cards you don't really want to complete the deck. With these two points out of the way, the game is really fun and I love it so far! The gameplay mechanics are satisfying and reward correct planning. The quests can be approached in several ways and the objectives can often also be resolved in different ways. I haven't played the physical version of this game (I only played other FFG LCGs - Android, Game of Thrones and Warhammer 40k: Conquest), so I can't say how it compares. Some strategies are way more effective than others and some balancing will be needed for sure. Once you get a hold of the gameplay mechanics, the game is quite easy even on hard difficulty. It's also quite easy to exploit the AI, so this needs some work as well. The game is pleasant to look at, it's not the prettiest card game around, but it's also by far not the ugliest. On the other hand, sound, voice-acting and music are really good. There are some connection issues that need to be resolved, but overall, the game is very polished for an early-access title. Overall I recommend to try this game out. If you think the game is too expensive in its current state, wait some time and see how the economy gets adjusted. It looks like this will be addressed (and I hope it will, this is a niche game and I don't think they can afford to be greedy if they want it to survive in the long run). Most negative reviews here focus on the game a) not being the same as the original and b) being too expensive/not true LCG model, which are both valid points. I simply don't think the game should be discarded just because of that. There's a lot of potential here and with more content, balancing, stable connections and impoved AI this can prove to be the best PvE digital card game around.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 6, 2018

  Fantasy Flight, in 5 days, basically did: - Answered +50 posts on Discussions - Revamped their server system - Streamed 3 times with Q&A rounds - Gave quests for free for everyone - Refunded currency spent ingame - Buffed unbalanced key cards - Fixed their daily system - Released 3 patches - Saved a stray cat. It wasnt a perfect Early Access, but. If you like TCGs and LOTR, this is a safe bet :D
• gamedeal user

  Oct 3, 2018

  As a big fan of the tabletop card game this game is based on, I can't wholly recommend this product just yet. The transition to digital format makes for some major and mostly positive changes to gameplay, IMO - randomness, easier value tracking, no manual setup for scenarios. There are two major drawbacks: First, the microtransactions feel pretty heavy-handed. The card packs are not expensive, but you don't get much with each one and you will likely find yourself wanting multiple packs to create the synergies you want for your deck. It's understandable as a monetization strategy, but providing a bit more viable content in front of the monetization wall would feel more welcoming to casual and new players. Second, the UI is useable, but clunky, and it makes tasks like deck-building a chore. previewing cards in small sets on screen makes the decision-making process difficult and really turns me off to that aspect of the experience. And viewing details of cards in play is also cumbersome, requiring the player to click on a card to view it. During some selection modes, you can't click the cards on the table, so you must rely on your memory or best-guess to make good targeting decisions. For example, during upkeep, you might be prompted to deal 1 damage to an enemy target (via Legolas). The valid targets are all highlighted, but you can't click on them to see their details before making your selection. If you target the wrong enemy which has the "Block" trait, your damage is nullified, so you end up trying to memorize the traits in play before such prompts pop up. I would recommend using a mouse-over preview mechanic which remains active during target selection instead, so players can quickly see the cards and make their decisions without any accidental stray clicks. Another UI fail in my mind is how traits are handled on the cards. When a character is modified and given a new trait through a card effect, the card icon gets a little purple pip over it. That pip stands for any and all modifiers the character might have - strength boost, guard, block, whatever. You still need to view the card details to know what effects are on the card and as I noted earlier, that's not always easy. Besides, some cards have native traits and others will be modified during a game. The pip is sometimes downright misleading. I would recommend adding a different color pip for each type of attachment (so you know it has been modified), but also using a unique icon for each major trait which is displayed on the card icons on the table. This way a player could know at a glance which characters had Block or other traits and make decisions accordingly. Characters with Guard are given a unique visual treatment. This approach should be used for all traits which are important for target selection. The game itself is pretty solid and enjoyable, but you'll quickly find yourself wanting to buy content to deepen and lengthen the experience. Hopefully, the developers will work on streamlining the UI so players can focus more on the game itself and less on how to play it. I could recommend this game with a little more TLC.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 14, 2018

  The best digital LCG/CCG style game I've tried so far. Now I'm whising for "Arkham horror the card game".