Shamus Plays: LOTRO, Part 24

[johnman]

Conclusion? NOOOOOO
And finally, a character that is not a complete moron

 

[lesterley]

Blood Squirrel - It's not quite that simple. How the player gets from point A to point B is important.

Is SHE mounted or walking?

Is there anything in the terrain that the NPC could get stuck on?

How far do you allow the player to stray from the expected path before the NPC resets?

How long do you give the player to get from A to B?

What if she's grouped with other players?

Etc., etc., etc.

Leslee

 

[Daemonate]

Hey Shamus, really don't finish this one. I'm very curious on your take of a bit of the world outside the Shire areas of the game, as my girlfriend and I, both ridiculous Tolkien geeks, are considering having a go at the game...
Please let Lulzy's biting narrative take us a few steps further.

 

[Gabanuka]

If your gonna end with Lulzy, please do another character, Elves would be cool.

 

[TheNoirGuy]

I can't believe this is ending! I enjoyed it so much.

ANd I know spiders must be a pain, but that one looked like a really cool one. It looked like they actually did some unique spider design rather than generic black widow with a different color scheme.

 

[Blammage]

My beloved and much missed brother who passed away a few years ago at the ripe old age of 31, shared his secret of living a happy life with me, as he lay his last few hours in his bedroom. He said, that to be really happy, on a daily basis, that one must find something small to look forward to. To anticipate. To savor as it nears. He said that the big things too often disappoint, and that magic is always in the smallest of things. Lulzy, and her adventures have been that small thing that i have looked forward to for the last 24 weeks. Every week, without fail, Shamus, you and Lulzy have provided my happiness. I am overwhelmingly sad that she is ending, and just as grateful for the experience. Thank you so much.

 

[Mumorpuger]

This episode was awesome. It had me laughing throughout!

How much, and with what, can we bribe you with to keep this series going??

 

[Varewulf]

Awwwwwww, it's ending next one? Then what am I going to look forward to reading each week, besides Experienced Points and Extra Punctuation?

 

[Mysnomer]

Knee-high water was the best single joke in this series. So clever.

 

[LadyRhian]

This one made me laugh out loud (with the knee-high water jokes) and made me cry (This is the next to last SP:LOTRO). I wish it could go on, because Lulzy is so funny. But I agree with the other posters. If you aren't going to continue, perhaps you could make up a new character- an elf or a dwarf, and show what it's like to be one of those.

Or perhaps you could whack on WoW for a while... I've been wanting to see someone take on that game since someone rolled up a Tauren character and walked out of the spawning area into a lake and promptly drowned.

 

[ranger19]

Knee-high water was the best single joke in this series. So clever.

I agree. That was great!

I was so excited when I saw part 1, and thought I was spoiled when I found out there would be more than just a part 2. I'm sad to see this series end though! It was great! (And just when lulzy starts meeting main characters..)

I wonder how this will end!

 

[Zagzag]

I imagine that Shamus will keep doing Let's Play, but just for a different game. I've loved this one while its lasted though!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

LMAO, perfect. I was wondering when Lulzy would succumb to something other than clothes, and it's someone to wear them for.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

PS - Having the NPC follow the player could be done in an instance area, but doing it in open world would be tough. The NPC would essentially become the player's pet, requiring that the player know exactly where they're going. It would also require a means of preventing the player from just walking off aimlessly with the NPC in tow.

Rarely, if ever do you get a escort mission in the open world, it's almost always in an instance, where you're blocked from taking perfectly normal routes.

And if you're crossing a Marsh, just yell "LFF Hunter" and one will bamf you across in no time

 

[hellsop]

PS - Having the NPC follow the player could be done in an instance area, but doing it in open world would be tough. The NPC would essentially become the player's pet, requiring that the player know exactly where they're going. It would also require a means of preventing the player from just walking off aimlessly with the NPC in tow.

Bounded following, that periodically shrinks to keep the player from backtracking too far. That, plus some dialog to establish the path to be taken and you're 80% of "free will adventuring". Toss in some recording of "familiar areas" (a nice big array of bits will do) to indicate when the NPC is supposed to lead or follow (while staying with player either way) and you get some nice free determination whether NPC says "This way!" or "Let's go!" and it ends up making sense in the context.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

...snip...

I'd fix the quoting on that

 

[Slycne]

PS - Having the NPC follow the player could be done in an instance area, but doing it in open world would be tough. The NPC would essentially become the player's pet, requiring that the player know exactly where they're going. It would also require a means of preventing the player from just walking off aimlessly with the NPC in tow.

Bounded following, that periodically shrinks to keep the player from backtracking too far. That, plus some dialog to establish the path to be taken and you're 80% of "free will adventuring". Toss in some recording of "familiar areas" (a nice big array of bits will do) to indicate when the NPC is supposed to lead or follow (while staying with player either way) and you get some nice free determination whether NPC says "This way!" or "Let's go!" and it ends up making sense in the context.

It's even easier than that, just add a time limit. If you don't complete the quest in 5 min the NPC despawns. This is how most MMOs already get past this issue.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Hey Shamus, really don't finish this one. I'm very curious on your take of a bit of the world outside the Shire areas of the game, as my girlfriend and I, both ridiculous Tolkien geeks, are considering having a go at the game...
Please let Lulzy's biting narrative take us a few steps further.

As a longtime player myself, I would certainly suggest giving LOTRO a shot. The game will be going Free To Play come sometime in the fall but there is a Free Trail right now. I'd suggest giving the Trial a go and if you like it, see if you can find a cheap copy of the game and expansion packs on something like Amazon. Boxed copies of the game will include a free month of play right now, plus having them will mean you're going to be grandfathered in when the games does go Free To Play (instantly becoming a Premium member and keeping full access to the majority of your purchased content). The cash store prices haven't been revealed yet but if you get a good deal on the boxed game now, there's a really good chance you'll spend less money than if you bought the same stuff piece by piece once the game goes Free To Play.

 

[StriderShinryu]

PS - Having the NPC follow the player could be done in an instance area, but doing it in open world would be tough. The NPC would essentially become the player's pet, requiring that the player know exactly where they're going. It would also require a means of preventing the player from just walking off aimlessly with the NPC in tow.

Bounded following, that periodically shrinks to keep the player from backtracking too far. That, plus some dialog to establish the path to be taken and you're 80% of "free will adventuring". Toss in some recording of "familiar areas" (a nice big array of bits will do) to indicate when the NPC is supposed to lead or follow (while staying with player either way) and you get some nice free determination whether NPC says "This way!" or "Let's go!" and it ends up making sense in the context.

It's even easier than that, just add a time limit. If you don't complete the quest in 5 min the NPC despawns. This is how most MMOs already get past this issue.

LOTRO does already use a area based limitation on the powerup used to make some of the old group quests soloable. It's a clickable item with both a time limit and a radius of effect that has you lose the buff if you move too far from the intended quest area. I would imagine Turbine could use some offshoot of these systems if they really wanted to do a public area escort like the one being talked about.

 

[Serenegoose]

I just want to join the chorus of people saying that I'm really sad that this is concluding. I've enjoyed it loads!