A few days ago, Turbine made the in-game movies available for download and installation for existing open beta users. For those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, the beta download did not include various cut scences and expository movies such as the character creation movies (race and class) and the transitional newbie zone movies that caused Wilhelm2451(tm) such consternation and confusion a while back.
Of course, I already rolled a bunch of alts before I saw the post, so now I’ll have to go roll another bunch to see the noob transitions.
The download which totals about 500MB can be found here. Enjoy.
potshot 
Whee! I can roll a dwarf or an elf now and not be thoroughly confused… provided I have the patience to sit through the cut scene.
I was pretty disappointed with the movies.
For one, there’s the “dungeonmaster” narration going on.
Secondly, the movies were all made using the game engine. So it’s like looking at the game. This is a marked difference from companies that use a completely different system to make much better looking movies. Not only that, but the movies don’t have their own music soundtrack, whatever was playing in the background at the time keeps on playing, they only have the voiceover and sound effects.
In short, I could have done without them, it’s not like I was missing any important information without them.
I’m still playing the game of course, it’s just one of the little spit and polish things I’ve come to expect.
Yeah, nothing to write home about for sure.
I did complete a hobbit noob instance last night to see that transition. It at least provides the critical exposition in an obvious way as to how (in my case) a hobbit got back to Little Delving after the burning of Archet.
Still nice to have. Might be more relevant for later quests. Guess we’ll have to see…