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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor |OT| One Title to rule them all

I went from not having much fun in the game yesterday and dreading fights to being hooked today. Everything just clicked. Good stuff.
 

hbkdx12

Member
I just got on and it said someone avenged my death.

You're a real homie, whoever that was!
Interesting. I didnt think the vendetta thing was actual "real". I assumed it was just a way to try to make it seem intertwined with ur friends list. I had about 3 vendettas and it was for the same person on my friends list

I've only died about 3 times but apparently I've yet to be avenged.

Did u get anything other than a notification?
 
The opening is brutal. Don't show her.
It's not ultra-graphic, but it is unsettling in terms of the violence being done.
It's not insanely graphic, and the child isn't...really a 'child', he looks like he's in his late teens or early twenties really...

If she's particularly sensitive to violence in any way then I wouldn't...
Sounds like I have my answer. Thanks guys.
 
idk what it is, but I cannot get into this game for some reason. Ive heard it gets better after u level up and progress the story. But I get bored after doing like 1 or 2 missions and usually end up turning it off for the day. I absolutely love lord of the rings, but this just isnt interesting to me at all. The world area is also extremely bland to me as well.
 

Patroclos

Banned
The opening is brutal. Don't show her.

The son is older. He has facial hair, struck me as 20ish in age. So he is not depicted as a child. However, it's brutal, graphic and sad. I'm still mad at those responsible after hundreds of orcs slain and hours of stalking, brawling and exacting revenge. God. What have I become? When will the cycle of violence stop?

Answer; When I kill them all.
 
Celebrimbor's voice is absolutely amazing.

He is the coolest most baddest ass in the history of badasses, I love his voice! SHIT Just give me a game with Celebrimbor.

It never gets old seeing him pop out when you try to Dominate someone, and hearing his dialogue.

Talion is really cool too, in fact I feel pretty attached to him and Celebrimbor it reminds me a lot of how good the Characterization was in RDR, this is basically RDR light with a bit of mystery since some minor tidbits of his past is also locked away seemingly in some of the collectibles.

There just a lot to love about this game, and I appreciate the challenge of the combat and hell dying can actually prove pretty useful when it comes to the Nemesis system and the orc society simulation going on there.

The system works you but you also work the system, and it's all reactive to player agency and choice. It's fucking beautiful, it reminds me why I love video games.

Also, Deimos I avenged you several times bro you are welcome
now please git gud, friender.
I really like the vengeance missions though, it's kind of Dark Souls-Lite in implementation.
 

Gaz_RB

Member
Interesting. I didnt think the vendetta thing was actual "real". I assumed it was just a way to try to make it seem intertwined with ur friends list. I had about 3 vendettas and it was for the same person on my friends list

I've only died about 3 times but apparently I've yet to be avenged.

Did u get anything other than a notification?

I think I got some xp or power, but I'm not sure.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
idk what it is, but I cannot get into this game for some reason. Ive heard it gets better after u level up and progress the story. But I get bored after doing like 1 or 2 missions and usually end up turning it off for the day. I absolutely love lord of the rings, but this just isnt interesting to me at all. The world area is also extremely bland to me as well.

There's an ability to quick run after jumping off a medium sized cliff or small hurdle by pressing A or X. That can speed up the game as well as fast travel markers. A lot of what you're doing now is going to be grouped at you or thrown at random. Many quests also change too. Like one I've done ended if I got hit before killing 20 enemies and another was poisoning a water supply with stealth. They also have ways to annoy enemies or try and pinpoint a Captain's weakness.
I like throwing daggers and stunning the captains who try and run away.
 
Holy fucking shit though, I gotta say I thought it was Andy Serkis playing Gollum but it's actually some other guy, That dude does an amazing impression of Serkis.

Also, the facial and body animations in this game are mindbogglingly good.
 
You get the Brand ability pretty early on in the second area. You are almost there.

Ah, good to hear, thanks. One gripe I have is that a lot of cool stuff is locked behind story progression. Also it doesn't do a good job of guiding you properly with certain aspects. I'd already taken out a bunch of captains and interrogated enemies for intel by the time I got to the mission where they actually introduce those mechanics properly.

Oh, and the protagonist's design is headache-inducingly generic. Yet another boring, middle-aged, bearded white guy.
 

hbkdx12

Member
The nemesis system is pretty damn awesome. I've killed so many captains, that now a bunch of low level scrubs are ascending to war chief.
It really is a fantastic system i have no interest in lord of the rings lore or anything but this nemesis system is what really drives the game.

I cant imagine how gimped last gen copies are without it
 
I wish there was something to do with the branded chieftans, like raiding something higher than another chieftan.

Repeating dialogue is also ruining any immersion I had. The main character's now beginning to repeat dialogue whenever I end up at a tower, like asking what the towers are, even though he asked that 10 hours ago.
 

Hixx

Member
Is the game hard? Is it Hard hard or casual hard?

The game isn't fundamentally difficult. It can just present overwhelming fights because of how the Nemesis system works - Captains can sometimes be right on top of each other and their perks can sometimes mean either they summon more Uruks or they already come with a band of them as followers.
 

Joco

Member
How do you behead an enemy? I've read that beheading the orcs is the only way to make them disappear for good. I've killed "Skak the Claw" twice now but he's back again, bandages all over his face and one hand is a metal claw now. He's at power level 13 and I want to kill him for good. So how do I behead him, or does something else work for killing him permanently?
 

PepperedHam

Member
Wow fuck that sword side mission where you gotta kill the ghul nests then fight the ghul boss at the end who you have to vault over like a god damn bunny over and over.

Going in to try it for the fourth fucking time.
 
Is the game hard? Is it Hard hard or casual hard?
I thought the game was hard around the middle of the story, but now any of my deaths usually result from the faulty parkour/movement system, or just an overwhelming number of ranged enemies who are waaaaaaay overpowered.
 

Trickster

Member
I really dislike how a captain will just keep having adds spawn around him. Basically eliminating any reason to go for the minions before killing the captains. It just makes every nemesis fight about focusing solely on the captain(s) and killing them. Rather than the logical thing of getting rid of the pests before trying to take on the big guy ( although they are pretty darn easy )

Wow fuck that sword side mission where you gotta kill the ghul nests then fight the ghul boss at the end who you have to vault over like a god damn bunny over and over.

Going in to try it for the fourth fucking time.

That thing is very easy. Get combo modifier to 8, press r. Rinse repeat until big one is dead.
 

Patroclos

Banned
This game may have some legs. Seems to be a "grower not a shower". These were my initial reactions. Seems like there is something to be said for getting more and more out of the game as you go along in this case.

Died twice to one guy, fucking tracker. Going to get that bastard tomorrow. Tutorial is lacking but all info is provided through a menu very clearly, I like it better than it being forced. Combat is WAY more Batman than AC, feels good and will probably become way more varied with upgrades.

Cons so far; The world seems brown and boring and the things you "find" seem to be clearly labeled on the map. PS bonuses not available at launch. Frame rate feels good but its not as smooth as TLoU in my opinion, I'm no expert.

Just early impressions but I am liking the game and would recommend it as it seems to have tons of potential and pros far outweigh the cons at this point. It's no GoTY imo but definitely a solid 85% after two hours. Good job Monolith.

Very disappointed in WB. No DLC for PS owners at launch, who knows what the fuck the framerate is for either console at this point? Deceptive, shady and shitty. WB working hard to get dat EA crown...

Well, now it is a DEFINITE GotY contender in what has been a slightly weak year to this point from my perspective. Right now it is a toss up between this and Destiny for me. This title has certainly moved Wolfenstein into 3rd place. If only I could take the nemesis system and put it in Destiny instead of the story I would be in heaven.

This is truly a case where something ends up being more than the sum of its parts. Again, Kudos to Monolith!
 

kanuuna

Member
Alright. After struggling to enjoy the first two hours, fighting the controls more than the enemies on screen, I'm starting to warm up to this game. I'm still not a big fan of the grab button (especially since you have to hold, not toggle it), with it being more of a hassle than it should be in the midst of enemy camps with having to hold R2 and R1 to grab someone in stealth stance.

Other than that, I can't really agree with some people touting the traversal being better than AC, at least compared to earlier games. Not being able to jump to a platform next to you when you're hanging from certain ledges feels incredibly restrictive, and having no dedicated jump button is a bummer of it's own. Descending feels very slow for the same reason. If you're going to give me invunerablity from falling damage, let me leap off anything I want instead of making me make a slow descent by tapping Circle. I want to be able to grab ledges while I'm falling, but I don't want it to be automatic.

For the record, I think Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood had the best parkour in any AC, and it's probably still got the best parkour in any similar action game.
 

reckless

Member
I thought the game was hard around the middle of the story, but now any of my deaths usually result from the faulty parkour/movement system, or just an overwhelming number of ranged enemies who are waaaaaaay overpowered.

High level ranged captains are the worst. I died to one so much he was level 20, he would one shot me and one of his perks was no last chance.

He was also invulnerable to almost everything.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
You can't die from falling so what do you mean?

He might think that the buildings and architecture are too square. I noticed that they don't bend with the character like they do in AC. You aren't throwing your legs on the ledge in order to jump off. It's more like manually getting yourself to the top then moving around with some short stops along the way.
 
Alright. After struggling to enjoy the first two hours, fighting the controls more than the enemies on screen, I'm starting to warm up to this game. I'm still not a big fan of the grab button (especially since you have to hold, not toggle it), with it being more of a hassle than it should be in the midst of enemy camps with having to hold R2 and R1 to grab someone in stealth stance.

Other than that, I can't really agree with some people touting the traversal being better than AC, at least compared to earlier games. Not being able to jump to a platform next to you when you're hanging from certain ledges feels incredibly restrictive, and having no dedicated jump button is a bummer of it's own. Descending feels very slow for the same reason. If you're going to give me invunerablity from falling damage, let me leap off anything I want instead of making me make a slow descent by tapping Circle. I want to be able to grab ledges while I'm falling, but I don't want it to be automatic.

For the record, I think Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood had the best parkour in any AC, and it's probably still got the best parkour in any similar action game.
Hold circle to free fall. Let go to grab onto the wall again.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Not very hard at all

The nemesis system makes it that you will need to plan out some of ur assassinations. Thats where most of the difficulty comes from

If it's not hard at all then why do you need to plan? Why not just jump in and fight?
Oh, yeah... because it's hard.
 

Daft_Cat

Member
I'd go so far as to say this is actually a better game than its inspirations. In terms of depicting a living, breathing, dynamic world where you track and hunt persistent targets... Shadows of Mordor is a realization of everything the first Assassins Creed promised (and failed) to be. Take that, and combine it with Batman's movement and combat systems (which arguably fit Middle Earth ever better than Gotham) and you're left with an incredibly rich experience.

One final note: hats off to Monolith and WB for allowing an M-rating, despite the series' pg13 roots. The blood, gore and brutality totally ups the immersion.
 
The game can go from brutally easy to excruciatingly difficult at the drop of a hat. All it takes is one mistake. It's glorious.

And I agree with everyone else about Celebrimbor: he has a fantastic voice. Sauron's got the looks, though.

Alright. After struggling to enjoy the first two hours, fighting the controls more than the enemies on screen, I'm starting to warm up to this game. I'm still not a big fan of the grab button (especially since you have to hold, not toggle it), with it being more of a hassle than it should be in the midst of enemy camps with having to hold R2 and R1 to grab someone in stealth stance.

Other than that, I can't really agree with some people touting the traversal being better than AC, at least compared to earlier games. Not being able to jump to a platform next to you when you're hanging from certain ledges feels incredibly restrictive, and having no dedicated jump button is a bummer of it's own. Descending feels very slow for the same reason. If you're going to give me invunerablity from falling damage, let me leap off anything I want instead of making me make a slow descent by tapping Circle. I want to be able to grab ledges while I'm falling, but I don't want it to be automatic.

For the record, I think Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood had the best parkour in any AC, and it's probably still got the best parkour in any similar action game.

Hold the fall button (in your case, circle) to drop all the way down.
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
I got to play this for like 30 minutes last night. Love what I played so far, can't wait yo actually put some hours in tonight.
 
So I went to do a revenge mission. God damn I wish the game would let you know how bad the target is before you go there. I went to get vengeance for a friend and the guy who I'm supposed to fight throws fucking poison knives, and right as I'm running away a captain with a shield appears. Because the game wasn't bad enough lol. Now I have to constantly dodge to avoid the poison knives, and each time I tried to do a wraith flurry to gain combo a shield dude with an unblockable attack does something off screen and hurts me. I managed to kill them both but it was by hurting one, running away, and constantly trying to get them separated. It worked but it took forever.

On another note a random henchmen killed me and rose to the second row in power. I instantly went to kill his ass both he and the captain like 10 meters away were OHKO stealth kills. Killed them both as such lol. I love being sneaky.

Even the orcs are now saying "the ranger's favorite method of killing Uruks is by sneaking around in the shadows, so watch your back"

You can't die from falling so what do you mean?
he probably means when he's trying to escape but hits a dead end and has a bunch of people near him, or something of that sort.
 
Is this game cross gen? I know its not coming out for PS3 or X360 but development could of started with those as target hardware.

It's coming out for both of those in November, IIRC.

Old gen versions were developed by a different studio with Monolith focusing on current gen/PC. There's little reason to worry.
 

hbkdx12

Member
If it's not hard at all then why do you need to plan? Why not just jump in and fight?
Oh, yeah... because it's hard.
???

Properly exploiting ur enemies weaknesses because certain maneuvers and attacks are ineffective doesnt equate to hard in my book. Unless the game radically changes whether u actual know the weaknesses or not, your never ill equipped where u cant kill or take down a captain or nemesis

Finding out said weaknesses isnt even difficult. Find the green circle on ur map and interrogate the guy

a sense of depth doesnt necessarily equate to it being hard
 
Have any patches come out for the game at all yet? I don't have decent internet right now (I'm on mobile data now) so I'd have to bring my PS4 to my in-law's or parent's house to download anything. I don't want to bother if there isn't anything significant.
 

Nokterian

Member
Captain's fleeing away from me because i slaughtered a bunch of his henchmen. Feels so good and just to tackle him wiht a arrow and kill him just for the pleasure is fantastic!
 

kanuuna

Member
Hold circle to free fall. Let go to grab onto the wall again.

I'll see if that works.

Also, one thing I forgot to say I really don't like about this game; the use of the controller's speaker. To be honest, I haven't found a single game where I've found it to be clever and I always turn it off if there's an option.
This game here feels like it just outputs the most random sounds through the controller's speaker. The whispers and wraith stuff I kind of get, but the sounds of moving through the bushes in stealth output by the cheap ass controller speaker? Come on.
 
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