Final Fantasy: Lord of the Rings: Third Age Community Day Part 2

Next was one of the coolest parts of the day. We toured EA. I originally thought they would just point at security doors and tell us what was behind it but they really went all out and let us really get a feel of what it is like to work at EA. We went inside and met people from "The Sims 2", "Tiger Woods", and of course "Lord of the Rings".

It was like stepping into middle earth itself as we entered the development area for Third age. The columns were covered with art and actual props from the movies were on the walls and tables everywhere. We walked in a little further to find that at least on member of the team was a miniature fanatic! Every scene from the game was mapped out and rebuilt with miniatures. No less then 20,000 pieces were carefully laid out displaying ever aspect of the game. I had a few model trains as a kid but I can say I have never seen anything so detailed in my lifetime.

Behind the miniature sets they had cubicles as far as the eye could see. David had told us earlier that they had close to 100 people working on the project and after seeing the size of the area, I believe it might be more. After we all settled down from seeing the miniatures we started walking around from cubical to cubical. I was amazed that we were introduced to everyone and each person was very quick to tell us what they were working on. I really felt like I was part of the team at this point.

The most memorable person was a graphic artist who we snuck up on. He really wanted to show us something but wasn't in a spot where he could stop and chat. When we ended up getting back to him at the end of the tour he showed us some great special effects that go with weapons. He then grumbled about time and the number of items that special effects had to be linked too. They estimated that there are over 500,000 different combinations between weapons, armor, and characters that have to be graphically represented, so this guy has his work cut out for him.

We also got to see the Wall of Games". This wall has ever product EA has ever produced in order by year. It was great to see all those old titles and it did spark up some discussion about when a new "Wing Commander" was coming out. After that we walked across this field to the EA executive building. Mike noticed everyone looking around with a star struck kind of look on our faces, so he finally just said "Yes, this is the field in NFL Street." It was kind of surreal walking on the set of a video game but none of us let our fanboi come out to much. In the executive building we got to talk to some of the video producers that make the amazing commercials and videos we all download. I didn't get a chance to talk to the guys who cancelled UXO, that was probably a good thing but at least now I know where they work (just kidding guys, don't get the snipers out). After a quick visit to the EA employee store where I picked up my "Origin We create worlds" coffee mug, we headed back to the conference room.

Once again we were in awe as we saw industry icon Steve Grey waiting to talk to us. Steve is the executive producer for this project and is known for working on several products including Final Fantasy VII for Square Enix. After a quick discussion about us being trustworthy he started going into great detail about what it takes to make this game. I would say the most impressive information I received was how close New Line Cinema and its partners worked with the team. An example is the Helms Deep in the game was actually built on top of the computer generated Helms Deep from the movie. I was also very impressed that Peter Jackson was actually playing the game and giving feedback to the team. Steve was able to show us some of the early in game movies and let us know that the GBA version will be a much different game. I will go into the differences on Friday with my preview.

After lunch we got our first chance to play a pre alpha version of the game. Unlike a lot of these events we each had our own machine and copy to play with, so we were able to log some real time with the game. I won't go real deep into it now but if you like great graphics and a kind of FF X feel, then you will love this game. Amazingly for a pre alpha it didn't crash much. Some people were having more issues but we are pretty sure it was the machine and not the game. Either way being so early in the game I personally think it ran quite well.

We got about 3 hours to play in then we had a very productive round table about what we thought about the game. Several of the people in the room were upset with the FF X feel and the die hard LOR fans were upset that it didn't include more from the books. I personally was not disappointed with the game but I was concerned about a few details like the Final Fantasy look and even some elements from the Balders Gate series. We spent about 30 minutes discussing and they video taped the whole discussion where the developers can take notes later. So maybe some of our ideas will get thrown in the final product.

Next we got a chance to interview Steve Gray and Todd Arnold one on one. I asked about the future of the franchise and both were very excited and hopeful to make more RPG based LOR games is this one does well. This made me very happy because the whole franchise has a great history that could bring player years of fun. I also wanted to know if they saw this growing into something that would be compared to Ultima or Final Fantasy in the future. Both once again were hopeful but would not go into great details about what they saw in the future. All of the interviews were video taped so we should have those in the future for everyone to view.

The last part of the day was a panel discussion with 5 lead member if the team. Steve Grey (executive producer), Todd Arnold (producer), Michael Becker (story writer), Chris Trummel (lead programmer), and Steve Gutus (lead battle system programmer) *Prepares for the email with spelling corrections*. This was my favorite part of the day and really made me feel like they cared about the game they had made. Any problems I had with the game were removed when Steve discussed what made LOR different then FF. We also got a rich introduction to what a daunting task it is to write a story that would continue the LOR tradition but at the same time be new. Writer Becker went into great detail about this game starting as a pen and paper and moving into the world of computer gaming. You also got the feel that everyone on this project made a game they wanted to play, which tells me it will be a great game. I don't want to go into to much detail once again because this will be released as a video at some point but I promise there was a lot of energy in the room and I personally left feeling very pumped up.

Overall I would have to say that with this being my first visit to game company for an event like this, EA has set the bar very high for my future events. They covered the game very well and provided all of us with a ton of information that we will be getting out to you in the coming days. Most important though, EA made me feel like I was part of the team and that a gamers opinion actually mattered. That is saying something in today's fast paced gaming industry. Stay tuned for more info as we get it on Lord of the Rings: Third Age.