Battle for Middle Earth 2: DEMO WILL BE OUT ON the 9th of FEBRUARY! OMGWTFBBQ

[Paladin]

All that I can say about this game is that they're using a new macrovision anti-piracy product called securecast that's already giving people problems in the beta.

That doesn't seem like a good sign to me.

Basically it looks like a rather significant portion of those who were given keys/usernames/passwords cannot get those usernames and passwords to work for registering with securecast. If this is still the case when the game goes live there's a chance you will buy your new game, take it home, and not be able to play it because you can't register with their server.

[heraldo]

For those in the UK who are interested in a demo, PC Gamer will have one on their cover disc, which is released on Feb. 16th.

[LynX]

Some of the improvements listed on the previews DO sound interesting, and it's good to see Tom Bombadil in the game. However, the first game was guilty of somewhat false marketing. (you NEVER get an army as big as the ones shown in the vids)

Also, it's interesting to note that BFME 2 will also come out for the XBox 360. So if you've got an Xbox 360 and your computer's too weak to handle it, this may be a choice for you.

What are your predictions towards BFME2?

Well.... Rome: Total War also did the same thing lol.

One interesting development that caught my eye is the new hero customisation feature, looks like they're adding a more RPG feel to the game, which is a good thing.

The easterling guy in the screenshot looks suspiciously like a Chaos cultist though.

Considering EA's checkered track record, i'll wait for the reviews to come out before deciding if this is worth my time.

[Ammon Ra]

However if you pay an extra 10-20 bucks for the collector's edition they give you a Dragon unit for any faction in the game (which changes colour depending on your faction, I suppose.

I knew it! They're selling individusl units at 20$ a piece! ZOMG! See? EA IS Scupulous!!!11one

Demo decides. The only thing that i will buy from EA no question is Spore.

[TheLoneKnight]

Uh, by the way..the "Create a Hero" feature - when I last caught wind of it (some guys from a fansite were invited to take a look, IIRC) they said it had a total of 24 or so "Unique" combinations for your heroes' appearance.

Suffice to say I'm not terribly excited about BfME2 - I want a demo (which I know they probably won't have), or some kind of hands-on play before I spend 40-50 bucks on it.

[Slashco]

fatal wounds...
An elf even challenged Morgoth to single combat, and did pretty damn well. Can't remember hat happned to him though, the Silmarrillion is a hard read, loads of detail to remember.

He was killed by Morgoth in the end (come on, you may be tough but you're going against the freakin' lord of all evil) but not before slicing his leg so that Morgoth walked with a limp ever since.

here's a picture

On a different note, this is supposed to be a thread about discussing BFME 2. I'm not sure what the point is for some people to just come in and bash it. If there was a good, valid reason for not liking the first one that's fine, but coming in here to say 'it will suck, don't buy it, EA sucks, etc' doesn't help anyone.

[peer]

An elf even challenged Morgoth to single combat, and did pretty damn well. Can't remember hat happned to him though, the Silmarrillion is a hard read, loads of detail to remember.

Man, that's one of my favourite parts of the book and I'd quote the whole thing here if I didn't expect people to lunge at my throat for being such a huge nerd.


BFME 2 looks better than the first but I couldn't even get in because of the goddamn anti-piracy bullshit. No big loss, I think.

[Nurizeko]

Damnit, everytime someones does something like post an image of morgoth or something i end up reading up on the first age and stuff, bah....

Talking of which i wonder if tolkien would approve of 40k?,

Anyhow, ill wait for the reviews and previews and stuff, ive learned not to just automatically trust everything from EA.

And i definately WONT be paying extra just for a few poxy dragons....well...i suppouse you can cede to EA the fact they know how to milk the fanboys and hardcore gamers....or simply the wealthy.

[Warmaster Death]

i love the first game, and i hope gandalf still has the as me and my little brother call it his "boomstick" power (wizard blast or somesuch)
my one hate was that evil 'Castles' had no walls nor gates, and rohan had no seige weapons, except the ents

[General Blaze]

new Battle For Middle Earth 2 trailer:

http://www.ea.com/official/lordofthe...owers&resID=hi

Zoiks. It looks like they've outdone themselves! O.o

Credit goes to Lone for linking it to me.

[EarthBorn]

O my God, or should I say Eru?
:bow:

[TheDeadlyShoe]

according to the sidebar at the site with the video the safecast servers are back up

[Master Azrael]

Grabnutz I believe that elf was Fingolfin, he only died when he tripped over one of the hoels morgoth had smashed in the ground. I'm not sure whether I will buy it cause I was REALLY disappointed by BFME 1.

[General Blaze]

The unlikely has happened. Battle For Middle Earth 2...



has a demo!!!1111!

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143834.html

The Battle for Middle Earth 2 demo will be out on the 9th of February and it goes live at 9 a.m. PST on Thursday!

[Russian Ninja]

1.3 Gigs?! That's one heck of a demo.

[onehp]

Omfg Kjawiurehiefi&$e& A Demo!!!! woot

[EarthBorn]

/me cannot download.

I'm buying the full game anyway, what's the point of the demo /?

[TheDeadlyShoe]

To ruin the game so you enjoy it less when you buy it

[Ammon Ra]

You have got to be pulling our legs...1'300 MB Demo? the average demo 10 years ago was maximum 13Mb. that's a 100% increase in demo size per annum.[x2]. folowing the same model, the size of demo's will explode to 20gb in 2010. that's the current rate of demo-size-increase.

And secondly WHY on earth, moon, or mars would people make their game so stupidly huge? Generals was a wierd engine to start with, and i seriously don't know why it required two cd's. Piracy? Steam made it quite difficult for hl2. How large could the audience for bfme2 be? Not that many, imo. It would also clog up file-servers for hours/days. say it takes 24 hours for the file to download, on an average connection, that's one slot/bandwidth clogged for 24 hours. It's silly.

[Tiresias]

Leave it going overnight or while I'm out

[Da_Fish]

I'll download it none-the-less, but will there only be a torrent of it? I'd like direct downloads for once please!

P.S. If I use DtA for Firefox will it download faster?

[Progenitor]

just WTF is EA thinking? expanding their game to such an extent that a demo takes up 1.3GB already?

torrents might work better than normal downloading though.

[Obtuse]

I was in the beta - it was fairly interesting, though I did get constantly hammered. I'm not sure I managed to figure out how to play the game properly. What most struck me was that it was wierd, in a word. I refuse to explain how.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

And secondly WHY on earth, moon, or mars would people make their game so stupidly huge?

because of the unending bitching about shitty graphics that using medium or low res textures in your demo causes

[Paladin]

As long as I don't have to use a torrent I should be able to download it in 10-30 minutes. Hey, that's right, I'm a paying fileplanet subscriber for the month... No worries for me.

[Scribble]

oooh... demos nearly out. 9am PST.

Demo Link

[Tiresias]

OMG Scribb you lack Brackets! :o

[TheDeadlyShoe]

I hope thats not their real cover art. Oh, and its out. I am getting a wonderful 25 kb/s from the rate limited server. yay.

[Da_Fish]

All I can download are tiny files, I can't even get to the damn file!

[Tiresias]

I'll leave it overnight

[Druidika]

Fileplanet mirror.

[Da_Fish]

I refuse to pay for this demo, as I'm a cheap bastard. And on other places I get an error when I try to download it with Internet Download Manager on Firefox(FlashGot Link).

Guess I'll have to wait for Filefront then.. =/

[Stripe7]

2.5 hours to download.

[Corydorf]

I'm dling it through Firefox, but I'm dying for it to come on bittorrent, it'll fly on there.
Why can't companies realize that BT isthe best method for larger files like this. You can have 1,000 people banging down your servers, or have them all share the bandwidth and BT it, so they're all helping each other.

[Paladin]

Heh, I'm downloading at 500 Kilobytes per second, so almost maxing out my 5 megabit downstream. Lucky for me I paid $6 for a fileplanet membership to get the HoMMV beta

[jpaugh78]

you suck paladin!!!! lol

[Slashco]

1.37 gigs? There goes the rest of my bandwidth allotment for this month, I'll probably go over in fact. This demo better be good.

[Druidika]

If it has the same content as the multiplayer beta (which I think it does), then it's not worth going over your bandwidth allotment for because it only includes two tutorials, two races and two skirmish maps. It'll probably be on the cover disc of some gaming magazines anyway.

[freund]

nVidia GeForce MX not supported? Gimme a break. Meh it is ancient i suppose. Well it better not lag as much as the last one did, esp. the multiplayer. Nightmare. And there are people here complaining of the cap?

Doesn't look to me like they made any changes to the overall gameplay setup. The detail and number of units are impressive.

Crappy mirror; dl speed 110 kbps; 11% complete with 3hrs 14m to go!

[Paladin]

I'm having an annoying problem with the demo (That I didn't have with the beta, wtf O.o) where my cursor stops responding, and it stays locked even after I quit to windows and I have to reboot my machine.

On their forums it seems other GeForce users are having the same problem.

Does anyone know if you can force a hardware cursor with a GeForce card? I ask here because I'm more likely to get a knowledgeable answer than on their forums.

[hybris]

1.4GB download for that little content?
It didn't even include any campaign missions or multiplayer action. Just 2 races and 2 skirmish maps.

I have been playing it for 2 hours now, and can't say I will buy it. I will give it another chance with the fullversion though (if I ever get a copy of it), and won't base my whole review on this rather short demo.

What's positive about the sequal was the ability to build freely this time around, which lead to some Age of Empires-strats in regard of wall building and turrets.
What still bothers me though, is the hideous interface. It seems like the nobrainer guy that designed it were only looking for some shiny things that reminded him about rings and circles in general. No matter how irrelevant and lack of logic it might bring to it. There's still those stupid and corny circular build schematics. What sucks even more though, is the map and the unit control. Often you can't even find the right units, tell what's happening on the mini map, or the reason you just won or lost the battle.

It's pretty, and that's about it I guess...

[don85259]

I'm playing it now. AI is bloody aggressive as hell. On easy I've hordes of goblins crawling over my friggin' walls.

Desperately needs some economy tweaks, like marketplace upgrades from BFME1. For once, defenses aren't totally nerfed, although only 1,000 HP for a keep (think turret from DoW) and 3,000 HP for a wall? Please... Defenses are expensive to build, though. Need to chop all upgrades in half.

This is merely an evolutionary change from BFME1, not revolutionary. The fact I can build stuff wherever I want makes it a much better game in my head.

Goblin spiders are much too fast and powerful. Goblin trolls, especially the mountain trolls, are totally unbalanced. 3 hurled rocks to bring down a 3,000 HP section of wall (takes about ten seconds)? Come on, guys, that hurts!

:wow:

Overall, I give it a B.



--don

[Klaus88]

1.4 GBS!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!! There goes any chance of me downloading THAT demo with my 56k Dail up (DAMN YOU 56k PIECE OF JUNK!!!)

Oh well just have to buy the game.

[Trizzdog]

I'll only download this demo if I find a nice shiny torrent to dl from

[Paladin]

So nobody knows how to force hardware cursor with nVidia drivers? You'd think there'd be a way :/

[KON Air]

haha, are you people really intend to play any more of LoTR games?

[Soulblighter]

What a waste of 2 gigs, not impressed. Have settings set to high for everything but shadows.. still not impressed, from the sounds, to the voiceovers, to the fact it did not have any campaign missions.

The only positive thing is that i was able to dl the 1.36 gigs fairly quick and delete it off the beta drive even faster.

[TheLoneKnight]

Not vastly impressed.

The increased army size is nice, but the forced expansion is kinda tiresome.

I mean I don't mind building new bases or whatnot, but spreading everything out evenly across half the map without ever being able to afford even a meager defense (aside from keeping an army in your base to kill raiders) is tiresome at the best of times.

Kinda wish I didn't delete all that stuff to make room for this..

[A176]

direct link

should be ultra fast

[bahmehbah]

I liked it. Personally, I loved playing as Dwarves against the Goblins. And since I'd read nothing about this before hand, it was a major shock when they just climbed over my walls. But, being the turtler that I am, I ended up with an insane fortress. They climb over one wall: there're still three more to go. And all of them have some assortment of catapults and arrow towers. Rush me now gobbos!

In other news, Sauron's power is insane. If you manage to save up enough to get him, and get the one ring, and be willing to wait long enough to summon him, he kicks the crap out of everything. Kills buildings in two hits, whole squads (multiple squads even, I think) in one. Quite amazing.

A bug I found though... when I summoned the fire drake (who I now love insanely), it worked the first time till it died. And the second. But when I tried to summon it the third time it never appeared. Finished training, but never left the building. I was deeply saddened by this, as it's so hilarious to watch him fight. Sets enemy infantry on fire with one breath.

Overall, (to immitate don ) I give it an A-. Could definately use some improvement, but is incredably fun. For me at least. Oh, boats are fun too. Not particularly useful against the AI, but still fun. As are those... forgot their names. The wagons for the dwarves, that run over guys, and can be upgraded with a bunch of different things. And catapults attached to dwarven fortresses, and upgraded with fire.... well, yeah, there's a lot of really fun units. Full game will definately be much better though - more races, and can use the hero builder thingy. And of course, the campaigns.

Oh, and one last note: there are a ton more palantir abilities, most of which are pretty cool.