Quote: "What game engines do you guys recomend?"
Well I would recommend Darkbasic Professional as it is powerful and quick in making a game the size of LOTR. It is no easy feat though and I have been in development of a hack n slash for over a year now with just the level 1 characters fighting each other. I am the designer, but my excellent friend Chris (programmer) is showing me how exactly it would require for each method and loop to accomplish such tasks as character movement, life, and etc.
Best of luck to you though.
Edit: I had a website for the game not 2 weeks ago, but the free web host folded and haven't had the time to re-set one up. Let me find the link for my old thread http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124414&b=19