WITH THE HUGE SUCCESS of the movies, and the resurgent interest in the works of tolkien, Middle-Earth has replaced Star Wars as the go-to fantasy world for the 20- and 30- somethings.And here you'll finally get to play a personal role in the Ring-Saga.Let's be clear, though: Middle-Earth Online is based on the book license, not the movies. That means the develpoers have access to the material in The hobbit and the LotR trilogy, and that's it. No Silmarillion(Tolkien Enterprises won't give that up0, no movies. But that's hardly a limiting factor given the depth of material contain in these tomes.It also needs to be clear taht you're not joining the illustrious Fellowship, which, as the MEO time-line begins, has just cleared Moria on its Ulimate journey to Mount Doom. \"It doesn't matter if the Ring is Destroyed if they have nothing to come home to,\" explains VU Games Producer Christopher Taylor. \"what you're doing is beign the hero within that structure.\" While noteable characters from the books will be intregal to the story- Tom Bombadil, Elrond, Bilbo Baggins, Farmer Maggot, and Bard- to name a few- the Fellowship pricipals won't figure anywhere other than references to their exploits and your mopping up in the aftermath of their adventures and conquests.MEO's storyline involves 2 main arc: the impact of the fall of the Balrog, and the Wights of Barrowdowns suddenly becoming restless as the One Ring passes thru, awakening an ancient power. In the initial launch, the game world will also cover just the northwest portion of Middle Earth. Known as eriador, this area consists of several environmental biomes for you to explore (forest, mountains, northern tundra, and such), but you won't be stomping straight off to the legendary locations like Mirkwood, Rohan, or Mordor- they'll be fleshed out in one of several expansions already being planned.
