author: Aleksandra Dziwinska
Lord of the Rings Finally in Minecraft Version 1.15.2
Are you a fan of Minecraft or Lord of the Rings? Or maybe both? If the answer is yes, we have great news for you!
Minecraft is a popular sandbox game, which has been continuously developed since 2009. For many years, modders have also helped in the development of the game. The Lord of the Rings Minecraft Mod is an initiative of fans who have been involved in the development of the cubic Middle-earth since 2013. Snapshot 1.6 came out on August 1, this year and it works with Minecraft 1.15.2. This is the seventh snapshot enabling us to see how the work is progressing on moving the mod to a new game version. So far, the adventurous experience of Bilbo and Frodo has been reserved for Minecraft 1.7.10. Ever wonder what a mod full of hobbits looks like?
How to start the fun?
There are two ways to get to Middle-earth. We can start playing right away by setting the mod up while creating a new game or move to it from the standard world. The latter option requires us to create a golden ring and throw it into the lava. Then a portal will appear, which will take us to the Shire.
The game world
The world added by the mod can be admired in all its glory thanks to the map showing the lands described by Tolkien. The creators of the mod have recreated both commonly known locations as well as lands, which the books only mention. Lands or rather biomes have their own structures (including villages and forts - these, however, appear less frequently than e.g. inns and houses), as well as fauna and flora. Of course, the architecture also depends on the region, different biomes use different buildings as well as interior design. There are several types of lanterns, chandeliers and even beds in the mod.
In Middle-earth we will also meet various races, including many varieties of elves, orcs and dwarves. Each faction has a set of units, such as farmers, warriors, archers. They also have unique sets of armor and weapons, including armors for horses.
But there's more to life than combat. The creators offer us the opportunity to relax in taverns, where various meals and drinks can be bought, depending on the currently visited biome.
The mod's creators have tried to make sure that apart from the experience of The Lord of the Rings films, there is also a minecraft vibe present. There are many new deposits in the mod, which we can dig up and craft into armor. Of course, there is the extremely rare mithril, from which the best armor available in the mod is made, as well as weapons. However, to smelt the ore we will need a dwarven furnace, because only this stocky and bearded folk knows the techniques of working mithril.
Mechanics
Apart from the overwhelming number of items, the mod adds some interesting mechanics. Since we are travelling through quite a big world, once every half an hour we are entitled to a quick trip to one of the previously visited points on the map. This does not apply to the creative mode - there we can teleport to any place without any time limit.
The mod also adds a system of influence. Each faction has an indicator that tells us how popular or not we are among its representatives. The level of the indicator determines the dialogues spoken by the members of the faction, whether they will attack us, whether they will trade with us, and whether they will join our expedition. Yes, the LOTR mod enable us to hire warriors from a friendly faction and set off on further adventures with them. But how to gain the faction's sympathy points? We can, for example, get rid of a few representatives of the faction hostile to our future friends or help in marriage by giving two rings to the NPCs we meet. What's more, the factions are connected to each other. By helping a given race we will also increase our influence with its allies. Likewise, when our relationships deteriorate.
A good opportunity to score faction points is to repel invasion. Invasions are attacks of enemy units that happen spontaneously in the game and are announced by characteristic sound effects and text messages. Sometimes it happens that an invasion is carried out simultaneously by several different factions.
Invasions are not the only event from which our character can suffer. In the more wild regions, we may come across bandits who rob us of items. Their behavior deserves a separate mention. The creators of the mod indicate a simple way to protect larger amounts of goods that we carry with us, e.g. instead of hiding all the silver coins in our purses we should leave a few "loose" in our equipment. In this way, the bandit will be interested in them first, not in the loot from several hours of playing.
In the game there is also a sorcerer clothed in grey. Gandalf will appear shortly after we take our first steps in Middle-earth. The Grey Wanderer will be commissioning us to perform quests, which serve as a kind of tutorial.
Gollum
The mod wouldn't be complete without the (in)famous Gollum. It's a mob that only appears once near the Misty Mountains. We can tame it with a fish and entrust it with several items (27 slots in the equipment). From the moment he is tame, Gollum will follow his new "master". For taming him we will receive the achievement of "The Taming of Sméagol".
In time, in addition to Gollum and Gandalf, other characters will be added to the mod. Work on adding Sauron was already underway in the early beta versions, but unfortunately his project was deleted. However, the dark lord is supposed to return when bigger quests will be added to the mod.
Do you want to jump into the world of hobbits now? If so, you can download any version of the mod. Just be careful! It's better than many licensed games.
