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The on-horseback combat in the forthcoming expansion for Lord of the Rings: Online was inspired by Red Dead Redemption and Mount and Blade, according to Turbine.
Mounted combat is set to be one of the biggest feature in Riders of Rohan, the forthcoming fourth expansion to the free-to-play MMO. So far Turbine has been keeping quiet about how the new mechanics will work, but this week the developer gave us a few fresh details.
“It’s something we’ve not talked about too much yet,” said senior producer Aaron Campbell, speaking to VideoGamer.com on the occasion of LOTRO’s fifth birthday.
“Briefly speaking, it brings a sense of momentum and speed. We want to give it a new flavour, it’s going to be a new feel for combat.”
Campbell added that Red Dead Redemption is among the games that have influenced Turbine’s approach to horse-based battling.
“I think if you’re looking for things that are our inspirations, you’re looking at Mount and Blade, or Red Dead Redemption, or other things that capture that feel,” he said. “Really I don’t think anyone has done the combat system we’re setting up right now, and I think very few singleplayer games tend to be like this.”
Community manager Rick Heaton also threw in his two cents, adding that the system is still being worked upon.
“One of the cool parts about my job is that every once in a while one of the dev comes over and says ‘Hey, would you look at this for me?’, so I’ve actually had a little bit of hands-on time with mounted combat,” he said. “It’s still really early, it’s definitely very alpha, but I think players are going to be very happy with what they get.”
Campbell wouldn’t confirm whether or not mounted combat would have a level restriction placed upon it, but added that the the studio would be discussing this in the future.