All about rings. Me and Lord of the Rings

My relationship to Lord of the Rings. Even though LotR is not the only older fantasy series still popular, I think it is most well known of them all. There are several titles in different platform about Lord of the Rings and Middle-earth everything from movies, comics, roleplaying games, video games etc. But where do I stand?

The Books


I have to admit, I haven't finished "the trilogy". I don't even remember how much I have read of it. I might now be a heathen, but it was boring and it never captured my attention. I did read Silmarillion and the other book about unfinished stories (or something) but I did skip all the dull parts of both of them. So I cannot say I really did read any of those.
But I did read Hobbit and liked it. It was easy to read, only one book so finishing it was relatively quick. Story was more action and adventure. And I don't even like hobbits. Or is it just Frodo who I don't like?

The Movies


Does anyone remember lord of the rings movie from 1978? The first part what never got followers? Real video what was drawn over at some points and used funky effects?

It was awesome when I was a kid. I watched it hundreds of times and wanted it to continue. What never happened...

Much later people was talking about Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. It looked really good. Well done. But there was a problem for me. Some parts were dull and I hated watching the hobbits and somehow the movie made Frodo an idiot.
"Don't look there Frodo!"
*looking there and almost drowning*
"Frodo nooo!"
So annoying. I did like orcs and bad guys. They looked awesome. I also liked war scenes. They were awesome. And I liked all the clothing, armor, weapons and other apparel. They were really living and cool because usually you only see that kind of stuff drawed.

So, the movies? First one from 70's I liked but the new ones never excited me that much.

Roleplaying Games


Middle-earth. Finnish translation. Based on Rolemaster I remember. That's what I've played long ago. I liked it but because I never enjoyed the books that much I didn't know that much about Middle-earth. So basically I didn't have this Middle-earth or LotR feeling in the game. It was more like generic fantasy adventure with a different map.

Now I bought myself Lord of the Rings RPG. The new one with screenshots from the movie. I'd like to try it out, but there are so many things wrong in it that I am not sure will I ever. First of all, I don't like the pictures. Second, layout is horrible to read...

Old MERP I would maybe appreciate though and maybe would like to play or read it.

Video Games


I got one for PS2. It's a bit like Dynasty Warriors. You control a character you can choose and run through a level hitting swarms of orcs and other evil monsters. Graphics are kinda cool and gameplay is simple and nice. Characters gain experience and can buy new attacks and skills. You can also co-op with your friend. Nice action game. Unfortunately playing it alone after you've played it with a friend feels pointless and dull.

I also got this real time strategy game for PC. I haven't played it that much, but it felt ok. I don't like RTS where you just harvest resources and build huge army and ram everything (Starcraft). I might play this more, but am a bit afraid that maybe it's just another not that good game wrapped in Lord of the Rings package. And as I am not that big fan of Lord of the Rings, only the game matters to me. No fan-boy bonus.

And now the sad part. Started playing this with my Xbox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJOL4F3lOJU
40% through and while saving I got disk read error. Save file corrupted. Wasted time. Basically this game reminds me of Final Fantasy X-2 (not sure about X because haven't played it). You run around in map and fight enemies. Occasionally find NPC who talks with you but you cannot choose what to answer because it's scripted. And then find treasure chest what give items.
You naturally gain experience points to raise your attributes. Learn new skills to use in combat and gain better equipment.
That's it. No cities to visit. Just running around, fighting, running, fighting, apply points from new level, running, find items and equip, fight...

Really, this game sucks. But I liked it because you just could sit down on sofa, turn your brains off and play. No complicated plot to follow, no hard puzzles to solve, no problems to navigate to next point. No free roaming. Just endless running in a tube and endless fighting...
One feature was cool. The game used video clips from actual movies but rewrote them to another story!

But that joy was destroyed because my copy was scratched second hand game. I'd give this game... 3 stars maybe.

Anyways, playing this was still a bit inspiring. Being in Middle-earth and actually I felt like I'd like to roleplay it also. So not that bad.

Finally, I did play Lord of the Rings Online and liked it. It's free to play but with real money you can get all nice extra stuff like more quests etc. It was better than most of the f2p mmorpg I've played. Only problems was, that when I changed PC I couldn't get it installed. And searching internet other people had similar problems. Don't remember if it was PC or new update or what... I contacted EA support but those morons did not help me. Just told stupid things like "restart your computer, run virus scan" etc stupid shit any half-wit has done already. So, I would have liked to play LotRO but cannot... Maybe I could try to install it again someday.

Merchandise


Nope. Some of the swords look really good, but idea of owning an elf sword and hanging it on my wall is way to nerd for me. I do like the concept of some of these items. Other items, as you can guess I couldn't care less. LotR mug? I wouldn't use it. I think that Frodo has made LotR unappealing for me.

So What?


I don't have any relationship to Lord of the Rings except I really hate P. Jackson movie's Frodo. I wouldn't mind playing Lord of the Rings RPG and EA has done mediocre games about it. Books are too boring for me, but maybe I could re-read Hobbit.

Basically thanks to video games I could be interested in MERP. LotRRPG what I already own is too unappealing for me. It does interest me but it is too horrible to watch. Perfect coffee table book, if I wouldn't be embarrassed to give it a good spot at my home.

Fuck you Frodo.