J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 (SNES) Playthrough
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2024
- A playthrough of Interplay's 1994 license-based action-RPG for the Super Nintendo, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1.
JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 was Interplay's attempt to adapt The Fellowship of the Ring as an RPG for the SNES.
It's an action-RPG that takes the same multiplayer approach as The Secret of Mana did. You end up with the majority of the fellowship in your party over the course of the game, and you can assign control of your characters to up to five different players with a multitap. I've never played this as a multiplayer title, but the AI for the NPC-party members can be a real headache. They love to go exactly the way that you aren't, and while you can sometimes wrangle them (tapping R will call them to you, and holding R gives you control of the whole mob), they'll usually just ignore the command and instead make a beeline for some shiny thing that has commanded their attention off-screen.
For those who would prefer a more traditional PC-style experience, the game features support for the SNES Mouse, but unless you love struggling to do even the simplest of things, I would recommend against using one.
The graphics can be charming. The small characters lack detail, but they're well animated, and the pastoral backdrops paint a pretty picture, though the game recycles its assets to a ridiculous degree. The same tilesets are used again and again, so nowhere feels unique.
What's worse is that this repetition isn't limited to the visuals. Many of the larger areas are made up of a handful of maps that are repeated again and again with nothing to differentiate them but the placement of items, and progress requires meticulous mapping of these copy/pasted layouts. The manual provides basic maps of several areas, but without any meaningful landmarks to navigate by, it's way too easy to become hopelessly lost, and since the game is essentially one giant string of fetch quests, you'll be backtracking constantly. The lengthy load times don't help matters much, either.
But the game's worst sin is how it squanders its license. It's easy to get excited at the thought of an RPG based on LotR, but the game doesn't make use of the material, nor does it make any attempt to channel the spirit of the story. The main characters are flavorless, nigh mute caricatures of their former selves, and the tasks they hand you feel like pointless filler. With the fate of Middle Earth hanging in the balance, why does Sam refuse to join up until we find him a pair of glasses? Or Aragorn, a plant? Or Legolas, his bow? It's absurd, and it feels incredibly lazy given how short the game is.
There are also the bugs to contend with - Legolas can't attack and merely stands around absorbing hits, and equipping the best weapons on your characters will glitch their strength stat, rendering them utterly useless in battle - and the save system is awful. The game gives you two passwords to record your progress (one for your inventory, and one for your characters and story progress), which together amount to a string of 48 characters. Seriously.
The soundtrack is the lone highlight. The music is beautiful, and the sound quality is extraordinary for an SNES game. It would've been nice to have a few more tunes, though, as the ones that are here are reused even more often than the map layouts.
I loved the books, but I can't help but think that Tolkien would roll over in his grave if he could see his work being parodied in such a banal and soulless game.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games! 
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I owned this game growing up (I'm 45) and it was the bane of my existence. I read the books so many times and was excited when my dad bought this for me. And then I played it...
I probably started and stopped this game more than any other one of my video game life. I just could never progress through it, so I'm enjoying seeing what I missed out on!
Yeah thanks for the life story pal.
.
This game is bloody abysmal. My most hated SNES game purchase.
@@furrymessiah I never knew this game existed!
@@thirdeyewide562 yes act like a total ass, great work dude.
Great memories of me screaming "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!!" to the game until I gave up 😂...!
U have to destroy the 1 ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
Had this game as a kid. Got as far as collecting all the hobbits, but never picked up Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli. Always ran out of steam waaaay before then. There were so many great games on the SNES that I was never desperate enough to have to go back to this.
This is another example where a game's soundtrack is a lot better than the game itself. Fortunately, the games based on the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings from the 2000s were actually good and worth playing: partially because they used a lot of the same big-name voice actors from the films. At least, that was what happened with The Return of the King.
Isnt it based of the movie from 1978, the one Balph B made.
let this be the hour we draw swords together
Bilbo: unzipps pants
Frodo: 😐
5:34 This tune reminds me of one from the NES Rambo game, when you walk into a village.
I gotta say, even though this would probably not have been my kind of game back then, the music and sound profile of this game is probably one of the best ever on the SNES. Very crisp, clear, and pushes the hardware's capabilities.
Lovely soundtrack, Hobbiton looks pretty... and then it turns into exact same thing for 3 hours. Amazing how they managed to make such little game by 1994 RPG standards
This game reminds me of a cold Saturday afternoon, throwing him on the couch wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot chocolate. The funny thing is that I only played it once and I still remember it to this day. Maybe I should try to finishThis game reminds me of a cold Saturday afternoon, throwing him on the couch wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot chocolate. The funny thing is that I only played it once and I still remember it to this day. Maybe I should try to finish
You can say that again.
Something about this game… I just love it. It needs desperately SRAM saving, preferably the ability to save anywhere.
One of those games that looks and sounds really good but isn't much fun to actually play.
Best Hobbit song, better then in the forest
Watching this in 2x and I’m bored to tears
The character portrait are from the Ralph bakshi lotr movie.
I've tried to play this so many times but just can't..
"Thank goodness I watched the movie before playing this!"
That sums up how good it is to live under a rock when you were still young at the time this game came out.
I remember seeing this in nintendo power as a kid, and since i was a huge tolkien fan, i had to rent it. Boy was i disappointed.
I'm really surprised that Interplay put out such a horrible product.
Wow, never heard of this!
Just yesterday I was searching for this game
For a second I thought I was watching the film. Look at those pixels ! Wowie !
3:28:40
Gandalf: You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Lord of the Rings game on PC (by Interplay) is so much better.
It’s an actual RPG for starters. And it allows you to explore the entirety of Middle-Earth, something no other LoTR games allows you to do.
That dos lotr game is underrated
Rented a couple times as a kid but never figured out how to get them out of old man willow
I'm impressed by the music. The opening song is fantastic.
No one ever mentions that being a great thing about the game.
All I've ever heard was how boring it was.
Tried this once upon a time.
Gandalf: "wow you played up to this point, sorry you have more to go."
Thank you very much 😊.
This game just made me feel inadequate.
SNES and SEGA CD are my two favorite systems of all time. The games were just so chill, and were a perfect example of what video games should be. Video games should have grainy bits. Smooth graphics suck.
LMAO at the very end saying “THE END NOW GO READ THE BOOKS”, The assumption that anyone played this game before reading the books is hilarious.
Why does the barrow wight death howl sound like the watcher in Jackson’s movie adaptation? 🤔
“Hullo Fellas!”
I played this on PC not nintendo and I remember it being WAY more rpg and not action RPG. Maybe my memory is off though I am old lol.
No, you're correct. They utterly butchered the game when they ported it to the SNES. Including removing the bloody save system for A FUCKING PASSWORD
@@furrymessiah that sucks hard, it was actually not a bad game on pc at all.
the PC game is not a port, it's a different game entirely.
Seriously. When I got this I literally thought I was playing the then forgotten Bakshi adaptation.
Nay, not forgotten...😅
Least not by me, I have a nostalgic soft spot for the 3 cartoons
I unironically love the rankin bass adaptations, but the bakshi adaptation does have its moments. Not as charming as hobbit and rotk, but it's still enjoyable.
@@donskiver agreed!
The characters' faces in the status screen are taken from the Bakshi adaptation, so, in a way, you weren't wrong.
Lord of the Rings is an aimless, meandering, endlessly padded mess of an RPG that fails to show any respect for Tolkien's work. Yuck.
Hey NintendoComplete, would you play Out To Lunch?
Can you do siesta fiesta on 3ds?
Hate-watching right now. 🤣🍻
@@godagon97Hahaha! 🍻
@@NintendoComplete does that mean no?
Thank you so much!!! i share this video on facebook
Wtf is that as a big lotr fan I have never heard of this game before
I have (fond?) Memories of renting this as a kid, and maybe once getting out of the Shire without using a magazine password
Ah, memories of renting this...gem. An amazing soundtrack it has, and decades later, I realize it is as dense with the manual as without...😂😂😂
Thank you for posting this!😅
1:43:32 What is John Galt doing here?
Great music, pretty decent look, terrible programing. Also can you imagine how big that book would've been if the writing had been that larger?
For some reason this game reminds me of Secret of Evermore. Perhaps the color pallet and music?
If I may kindly ask 🙂 it's related to lord of the rings, have you played the movie licensed games? *particularly the two towers and return of the king, the games on console and gba are quite stellar 😍🙂😁*
I played the ones on the PS2 way back when they were new. I liked the JRPG one that was basically FFX dressed up as LotR.
@@NintendoComplete 🙂😁 yes, the console ones I was exposed to them first, I loved them, many years later I played the gba games *they were pretty solid Diablo like games, I just finished beating return of the king with gimli 🙂😁*
Aragorn looks like the bad guy in no country for old men.
1:43:32 - John Galt.... 👀
Also, over half the game to just get out of the Shire - Book Accurate.
The only reason I know about this game is from PeanutButterGamer's video on it. To this day, I have never seen Lord of the Rings. Nor have I read any of the books.
You're missing out big time. Don't base your views on this pretender, seek the greater knowlege.
@@halierlockehart So... Should I read the books first or should I watch the movies?
@@Dorian_Scott I recommend the books, they're vast and Tolkien's writing style is quite good and well detailed on its descriptions. The movies are good if you want a cinematic experience, as they're greatly acted and filled with visual spectacles.
@@halierlockehartTotally agree. The books are excellent. I've read the trilogy several times and count all 3 among my favorite books. The movies are great, too, but I prefer the full-fat experience of the novels.
If anyone likes the lord of the rings books, you should read the Shannara series.
Don’t watch the tv show from mtv. It ruins one of the better stories in the series.
This game was so crap it turned me off lotr big time when I was a kid.
That’s the biggest crime this game could ever commit.
The graphics were good and the soundtrack was great but you simply didn´t know what to do. I started it once then never played it again. Gameplay was very repetitive.
I first heard about this game from the second Really Bad Games episode of Game Sack.
Looks better than many pixel art games today
The way they move reminds me of the Star Trek 25th Anniversary NES game. Perhaps both are made by the same developer under a similar engine.
Iirc Konami's Star Trek was made by Novotrade, and I think Interplay themselves made this one. There's no connection between them afaik.
Different devs I think, and the SNES one varies from the DOS game.
That said, dang what a soundtrack 😅
This game was originally planned for the NES, too, if I'm remembering right.
@@ElZorroHonesto interesting.
I know there was a similar DOS/PC release, though I am not familiar with it
@@MSR-1701 From my understanding, it's more similar to the Ultima series on MS-DOS.
One of my least favorite games I've ever played.
Play Heavy Nova on Genesis, lol😂😂😂
@@MSR-1701 Lol, I played a lot a Heavy Nova (the Sega-CD version) in my teenage years ; and I assure you it's way more enjoyable than this "Lord of the (bo)Rings" !
@@LicencetoMeme Lol, I can respect that.😅
No idea how you managed to not get bored mid-gameplay lol, Jesus.
Hahaha, oh man. I was beyond bored pretty much the whole time.
Is there a volume 2 and 3 ?
Thankfully, no...
No this game was so bad they didn't bother with other volumes.
This game looks about as much fun as watching paint dry.
Why does merrys palette pop so much 😂
Wow I'm a huge l o t r fan and I didn't even know that this game existed , the story lines are really deep and they really follow the books but the combats seems really clunky and awkward especially if you comparing to similar SNES games like Zelda
Is this the game where Aragorn trips over his sword? I'm kidding though, that would have made this game interesting. Oh, but here I am, drawn by the ring like some kind of idiot, thinking I missed something in a Super Nintendo game from 1994 that still uses passwords in an action RPG.
My dad rented it, I later would try my own hand at it through emulation, because if I'm honest, I've never seen a copy of this game, and this was well before anybody cared about collecting like they do today.
I've owned Earthbound twice, but to this day the only actual copy I can say that I've ever seen was the one my dad rented back in the day.
The main problem with this game is that it's a bad game, but if you can get around that, it's really not that bad.
The Lego game definitely more fun.
god damm gwendolyn vibes here
Wait this is real???
I rather play The Faery Tale Adventure for Genesis.
I played this among other on a rom.
Lasted about an hour. It aint fun 🤣
Bababooey
Got this as a birthday gift from my brother-in-law. Immediately lost interest due to no map and awful programming.
First
Lord of the lame
this was the lowest rated game i ever saw in a snes game magasine.... and thats saying something