• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Dead Man

Member
People need to understand that a perfect score doesn't mean a perfect game. There's no such thing as someone else said.

It means it's nearly flawless, and is a fantastically made and entertaining experience. Something that really stands out and is a potential classic.

The difficulty with that is how do you score a game that is better than this game now?
 
My one problem with this game is that there's basically little to no "down-time". Even if you're trying to collect an artifact or herbs, there are piles of orcs everywhere. This isn't so much a criticism, just a reason why I can't seem to play for as long as I like to. I rather like the pacing in AC where I feel like I can cordon off sections of the map where I can explore for a bit in between action. Feels like you can control the pacing better.

Oh well, still a fantastic game!
 
My first 30 minutes of the game today as I started playing my second session earlier have been MAGICAL, first of all as soon as I started the game and looked at my map for what to do next, this happened out of the blue as I jumped off the tower.

1399786130644.gif


Then I went off to do a legendary sword side mission and in the middle of the fight I got called out from a far by this guy....



Here is how I befriended him. THIS FUCKING GAME.

That-Smelly-Smell-That-Smells-So-Good-.gif
 
The difficulty with that is how do you score a game that is better than this game now?

If every game reviewer scored by comparing games to each other it'd get complicated as shit.

"This game is good, let me see my game scale. Was it better than Destiny? Yeah. But worst than X? Sure. So now let me do interpolation to see exactly where it stands"

A 10/10 can be many things. It means your perception of the game/show/book was as flawless as you could probably see it and the entertainment value is amazingly high as well. I've rated plenty of shows 10/10.
 

Dead Man

Member
If every game reviewer scored by comparing games to each other it'd get complicated as shit.

"This game is good, let me see my game scale. Was it better than Destiny? Yeah. But worst than X? Sure. So now let me do interpolation to see exactly where it stands"

A 10/10 can be many things. It means your perception of the game/show/book was as flawless as you could probably see it and the entertainment value is amazingly high as well. I've rated plenty of shows 10/10.

Yeah, I get that. I also think it is important to leave room for improvement, especially when a game does have flaws. I don't think it's the end of the world, but is something the whole '10/10 doesn't mean perfect' defence doesn't really address.
 

BouncyFrag

Member
Just had my first orc captain invasion when I was already trying to kill another one (and doing it quite poorly, I might add). This one had killed me several times already and then he did it again and let me know how he felt about me. This is so much fun. One of the few games I've played where dying is an integral mechanic of the game that doesn't suck.

So I attacked a small group of baddies just for fun and ended up attracting quite the crowd. I was able to dispatch the orc trying to raise the alarm. Saying 'that's right, bitch' to myself was a bit premature as I missed another one going to raise the alarm further away from me. I got swarmed and things ended...poorly.I should probably lay off on the Han Solo play style since this is usually what ends up happening:
391343_JTCnw_Hhm.gif
 
I love having caragors chase me into an Uruk camp - only to have the caragors start chomping on everyone else. The emergent gameplay that arises out of the Nemesis system is next level stuff.
 

BouncyFrag

Member
My one problem with this game is that there's basically little to no "down-time". Even if you're trying to collect an artifact or herbs, there are piles of orcs everywhere. This isn't so much a criticism, just a reason why I can't seem to play for as long as I like to. I rather like the pacing in AC where I feel like I can cordon off sections of the map where I can explore for a bit in between action. Feels like you can control the pacing better.

Oh well, still a fantastic game!

When I finished a side mission of killing 50 (or was it 100?) orcs in an arena, I thought things would be smooth sailing, but since I was smack dab in the heart of a massive camp, the game didn't care about what I just did and I had to make a break for it. Normally this would really annoy me, but Mordor is supposed to be punishing place. I'm not saying I wouldn't welcome more 'safety zones' as this game is a challenge and it is nice to chill if you've just done a lot of combat.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
If I was to buy the Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ Legion Edition off PSN store, would I still get the skin??

Just got paid today so using my US account.

EDIT: Worth buying season pass?
 

Carbonox

Member
I find it unacceptable that Amazon doesn't dispatch the game if you went for the default delivery until day of release. It's a fucking joke. It says it's preparing for dispatch still! I get the option to cancel but it says the cancellation won't be guaranteed at this stage and it's likely the game won't come until after the weekend.

Do I take the punt and reorder, setting the delivery for tomorrow?

Poor showing by Amazon.
 
If I was to buy the Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ Legion Edition off PSN store, would I still get the skin??

Just got paid today so using my US account.

EDIT: Worth buying season pass?

I believe you only get the skin when pre-ordering because I sure can not find it after buying it from PSN yesterday.
 
When I finished a side mission of killing 50 (or was it 100?) orcs in an arena, I thought things would be smooth sailing, but since I was smack dab in the heart of a massive camp, the game didn't care about what I just did and I had to make a break for it. Normally this would really annoy me, but Mordor is supposed to be punishing place. I'm not saying I wouldn't welcome more 'safety zones' as this game is a challenge and it is nice to chill if you've just done a lot of combat.

Yeah, I just did this mission too. Thinking on this more, I do have to give the game credit for a few things. Sure, there may be very few safe areas, but generally, its really easy to run away, and also to get enemies to lose sight of you, so this really helps. In AC, the tradeoff is they have the whole hiding mechanic and sometimes it can be near impossible to break off a chase. Also, the stealth in general is pretty powerful and enemies can't see very well, so that mitigates it some too.

All in all they probably made the right choice for their game, it just means for my stress levels, I need to take more breaks! :)
 

Sanctuary

Member
I'm 75% of the way through the game (*counting side missions) and I am still unclear of a few things.

1. When you have the "power struggle" type objectives where the goal is to "weaken Sauron's power", how is he actually gaining power in the first place when it's a duel between two orcs and one is going to die regardless? One level 14 guy may go up to 15 so he powered up, but Sauron still lost a unit in the process. What exactly am I supposed to be doing here anyway since you can't kill both? I normally just take out the higher level of the two and then the "victor" powers up. So instead of gaining +1 levels, Sauron's army was -1, but they were still down a unit overall. Doesn't make sense to me.

2. Why I should care at all about the inner warfare among orcs trying to gain power since in the end I'm going to kill them all off anyway?

Also, unlimited spawning orcs is stupid. I also hate spending 20 minutes to brand an entire camp only to end up with 5 after all is said and done somehow, when they were never ordered to attack. They simply vanish and a while later respawn unbranded.
 
I'm 75% of the way through the game (*counting side missions) and I am still unclear of a few things.

1. When you have the "power struggle" type objectives where the goal is to "weaken Sauron's power", how is he actually gaining power in the first place when it's a duel between two orcs and one is going to die regardless? One level 14 guy may go up to 15 so he powered up, but Sauron still lost a unit in the process. What exactly am I supposed to be doing here anyway since you can't kill both? I normally just take out the higher level of the two and then the "victor" powers up. So instead of gaining +1 levels, Sauron's army was -1, but they were still down a unit overall. Doesn't make sense to me.

2. Why I should care at all about the inner warfare among orcs trying to gain power since in the end I'm going to kill them all off anyway?

Also, unlimited spawning orcs is stupid. I also hate spending 20 minutes to brand an entire camp only to end up with 5 after all is said and done somehow, when they were never ordered to attack. They simply vanish and a while later respawn unbranded.

Pretty sure you can kill both, just when the one is declared the victor and powers up, go right after him before he leaves the field. I may be wrong on this though. Plus when you can brand the Orcs and have them fight for you then the power struggles make much more sense. For example the Orc you branded is fighting another Orc and you help the one you branded win and increase in power. The nemesis system makes much more sense after you are able to brand Orcs.
 

zkorejo

Member
I had my first true rival in the game yesterday. We both killed each other a few times. He became a Power 20. I killed him yesterday but I expect him to be back since I didnt get to decapitate him. Score so far is (Me 3 - 4 Him). He had this poison spear thing which 1 shot killed me everytime.

Its one thing to know/read other experiences and totally another thing to experience it yourself. It was amazing.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Pretty sure you can kill both, just when the one is declared the victor and powers up, go right after him before he leaves the field. I may be wrong on this though. Plus when you can brand the Orcs and have them fight for you then the power struggles make much more sense. For example the Orc you branded is fighting another Orc and you help the one you branded win and increase in power. The nemesis system makes much more sense after you are able to brand Orcs.

I obviously have the ability to brand them and it still makes very little sense to me. Sure, I can brand someone and have them become a Warchief. I can, if I want to, choose to help power them up...but I absolutely do not need to bother with that at all. The only reason to even do that is to have help with mostly easy (until 10,000 reinforcements spawn and I have to run away) Captain/Warchief fights.

The main use I have for branding is death threat. Sure, it's cool to have "your posse" do a surprise attack when you command them, but wholly unnecessary. The way the system was so majorly hyped up, I was expecting a real need to buff up your units, but there's not. If you've been doing the side missions, by the time you reach the second area you're pretty much unstoppable in combat. Quick critical chain, double specials (executions which also work on Captains/Warchiefs), area Wraith stun etc, just lets you demolish non alarm spawned swarms with ease.

As far as the power struggle missions; yes, you can kill both of them, but you can only kill the victor after the dispute was already resolved. The game awards you your miriam or P or whatever for what you just did (which I don't see the point of).
 

carlsojo

Member
The Nemesis system is fucking great. It's weird how I get attached to an orc after he kills me and progressively goes stronger... like a weird murdering tomagotchi. Skag the Killer, you'll be Warchief someday! And then I'll murder you.

Biggest complaints are the traversal system is kind of mediocre. I get stuck on objects pretty frequently, and the tap x after I hop over a rock for a speed boost is just silly. The story missions are pretty bland too.
 
I obviously have the ability to brand them and it still makes very little sense to me. Sure, I can brand someone and have them become a Warchief. I can, if I want to, choose to help power them up...but I absolutely do not need to bother with that at all. The only reason to even do that is to have help with mostly easy (until 10,000 reinforcements spawn and I have to run away) Captain/Warchief fights.

The main use I have for branding is death threat. Sure, it's cool to have "your posse" do a surprise attack when you command them, but wholly unnecessary. The way the system was so majorly hyped up, I was expecting a real need to buff up your units, but there's not. If you've been doing the side missions, by the time you reach the second area you're pretty much unstoppable in combat. Quick critical chain, double specials (executions which also work on Captains/Warchiefs), area Wraith stun etc, just lets you demolish non alarm spawned swarms with ease.

As far as the power struggle missions; yes, you can kill both of them, but you can only kill the victor after the dispute was already resolved. The game awards you your miriam or P or whatever for what you just did (which I don't see the point of).

I see what you're saying now, I just beat the game a few hours ago and to be honest with you, I only messed with the nemesis system because it was fun, I didn't really see any real reason to brand and have an orc army or whatever. I did it because it was cool to see them move through the ranks and betray other captains and warchiefs. There is a point to branding warchiefs in the second area as part of the story, but they should have definitely added more missions such as those, where you need to utilize the army you build.
 

DodgerSan

Member
I find it unacceptable that Amazon doesn't dispatch the game if you went for the default delivery until day of release. It's a fucking joke. It says it's preparing for dispatch still! I get the option to cancel but it says the cancellation won't be guaranteed at this stage and it's likely the game won't come until after the weekend.

Do I take the punt and reorder, setting the delivery for tomorrow?

Poor showing by Amazon.

They have to incentivise Prime somehow since they doubled the price.

Saying that I got my copy of Destiny from them on launch day. Luck of the draw it seems.
 
I find it unacceptable that Amazon doesn't dispatch the game if you went for the default delivery until day of release. It's a fucking joke. It says it's preparing for dispatch still! I get the option to cancel but it says the cancellation won't be guaranteed at this stage and it's likely the game won't come until after the weekend.

Do I take the punt and reorder, setting the delivery for tomorrow?

Poor showing by Amazon.

They're hopeless. I had FIFA 15 preordered for a while with PRIME too.

Released last friday only got it this monday.

That's why i'm going to a store and picking up a physical copy
 
The second area looks so good.

Also, I breezed through what should've been a major combat mission by branding 4 Caragors and just letting them go crazy. It was amazing. I didn't even have to lift a finger.
 

Nyx

Member
Just had my first orc captain invasion when I was already trying to kill another one (and doing it quite poorly, I might add). This one had killed me several times already and then he did it again and let me know how he felt about me. This is so much fun. One of the few games I've played where dying is an integral mechanic of the game that doesn't suck.

Same here, this Blorg the Wicked dude has killed me 4 times now during fights with another captain, he just comes along with his big spear and shield and kills me.

''I've killed you so many times now, SO MANY TIMES hahahahaha''

Fucker, he's a Warchief bodyguard now already, need to kill him tonight!

This game man, seriously the most fun I've had this entire generation.
 

Zakalwe

Banned
I have a PC with a 2500k@4.2ghz, a 670 zotac amp ed, 8 gigs ram, etc...

And a ps4.

Which would you guys recommend? How does the ps4 version run?

This is the first time I've ever had to ask this, feels very strange...
 
The game has some great ideas but I think they need to ditch the LOTR license for the followup and go all in with NPC manipulation. Multiple factions to mess with, territory control, online aspect that lets you send a warchief to invade another player's game.

There's so much to expand on with this game that could make the next one an all time great.
 
Really digging this game so far. I haven't gotten too deep into the Nemesis system because I've been messing around and collecting items, but I have this one dude who has killed me like 4 times.

So far this is my surprise of the year.

You will get your revenge!

I went into buying this game rather blindly and I knew next-to-nothing about it. It has been such a massive surprise and I am enjoying it so much.

The first hour of game play was disappointing but that is more down to me fiddling with settings etc. Now I have sorted that I am just enjoying it a tonne.

The nemesis system seems to be a stroke of genius although I haven't gone too deep with that yet.
 
So how do the challengue maps works? D o i need to complete one in order to unlock the rest? or does season pass unlocks everything, cause im just seing one in my game : /
 
I have a PC with a 2500k@4.2ghz, a 670 zotac amp ed, 8 gigs ram, etc...

And a ps4.

Which would you guys recommend? How does the ps4 version run?

This is the first time I've ever had to ask this, feels very strange...

PC, you have a better GPU than me with the same CPU at the same ghz as me, and it runs and looks great.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
I obviously have the ability to brand them and it still makes very little sense to me. Sure, I can brand someone and have them become a Warchief. I can, if I want to, choose to help power them up...but I absolutely do not need to bother with that at all. The only reason to even do that is to have help with mostly easy (until 10,000 reinforcements spawn and I have to run away) Captain/Warchief fights.

The main use I have for branding is death threat. Sure, it's cool to have "your posse" do a surprise attack when you command them, but wholly unnecessary. The way the system was so majorly hyped up, I was expecting a real need to buff up your units, but there's not. If you've been doing the side missions, by the time you reach the second area you're pretty much unstoppable in combat. Quick critical chain, double specials (executions which also work on Captains/Warchiefs), area Wraith stun etc, just lets you demolish non alarm spawned swarms with ease.

As far as the power struggle missions; yes, you can kill both of them, but you can only kill the victor after the dispute was already resolved. The game awards you your miriam or P or whatever for what you just did (which I don't see the point of).

P is Your power level, and you need power levels to unlock abilities. Of course, at a certain point in the game you're maxed out on power, so power is no longer of interest then.
 
I have a PC with a 2500k@4.2ghz, a 670 zotac amp ed, 8 gigs ram, etc...

And a ps4.

Which would you guys recommend? How does the ps4 version run?

This is the first time I've ever had to ask this, feels very strange...

I am running pretty near enough the same as you except I have an I5-3570k @ 4.2GHz.

With some option tweaking I am running a mix of high and a couple of ultra settings at 60fps most of the time. Tesselation / blur are on too. I am even using high textures rather than medium.

I am not sure what the PS4 is but I cannot believe it will be performing to this level.
 
The game has some great ideas but I think they need to ditch the LOTR license for the followup and go all in with NPC manipulation. Multiple factions to mess with, territory control, online aspect that lets you send a warchief to invade another player's game.

There's so much to expand on with this game that could make the next one an all time great.

Yup, slap the Conan the Barbarian license on it if they have to have one and refine, refine, refine. The gameplay is fantastic and can only improve. I hope to see a AA to Arkham Origins type improvement. It's a great first start though.
 

Sanctuary

Member
P is Your power level, and you need power levels to unlock abilities. Of course, at a certain point in the game you're maxed out on power, so power is no longer of interest then.

I never asked what the P stood for, I was just giving an example of rewards for missions. I was asking what the point of those power struggle missions were and how me killing or not killing an orc affects Sauron's power in any way since a) he's losing an orc regardless and b) I'm going to kill the victor eventually anyway. The game rewards you for some random, arbitrary shift in power that doesn't really happen.

It's like Monolith had this great idea, but couldn't get half of it implemented properly or at all.
 
I never asked what the P stood for, I was just giving an example of rewards for missions. I was asking what the point of those power struggle missions were and how me killing or not killing an orc affects Sauron's power in any way since a) he's losing an orc regardless and b) I'm going to kill the victor eventually anyway. The game rewards you for some random, arbitrary shift in power that doesn't really happen.

The point is to earn P for yourself and to prevent enemy Orcs from leveling up. There is no actual Sauron power levels. And yeah, leveling up your branded orcs doesn't serve much of a purpose.
 

Jobbs

Banned
this went, over the course of about 48 hours, from "not at all on my radar, who gives a shit" to all out hype. getting it later today.
 

Sanctuary

Member
The point is to earn P for yourself and to prevent enemy Orcs from leveling up. There is no actual Sauron power levels.

Read the actual mission statement. It does in fact say you're trying to affect Sauron's power. That is why I said those fights make zero sense. I wasn't asking "Why should I do those missions?". I was asking about the in game reasoning behind them. While Sauron or the Black Hand may not have some random power guage like you do, the entire game is about weakening Sauron's "power". Even if that's not the motives of Talion or Celebrimor, it's what the game keeps repeating over and over again.
 
quick question guys,i got the the dark ranger skin and the captain of the watch skin with the special edition.i've redeemed the codes,but only the ranger skin is available when i put the game on.any ideas why captain of the watch isn't there ?
 
I am not sure what the PS4 is but I cannot believe it will be performing to this level.

PS4 definitely has performance issues late game. It's usually when branding orcs or something related to that. Crawls down into the single digits. On my 780 it's not really an issue.


So for those with comparable PCs and are debating on platform, I'd say go PC.
 

Klyka

Banned
On my way to the first Ratbag mission (after playing for like 5 hours or so already) I came across a tiny P 3 Captain. I had intel on him, he was weak to ranged so I just like,sniped him in the head from far away and went on to the mission.

I finish the mission, all is well and as I am about to shut off the game and go to bed,I see 3 orcs waling towards me,so just decide to kill them real quick. Just as I engage them suddenly the tiny P3 captain I shot comes up from behind, has a massive iron plate on the right side of his face and shouts "YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU DID THIISSS! I EAT YOUR FACE!!!" He wasn't P3 anymore, he was P8 and had only one weakness "damaged my combo finishers" and a ton of strengths. At first I was all "oh shit" then i saw he wasn't immune to wrait stun so I just stunned and flurried him to death in a few seconds :(

Kinda underwhelming but I guess he'll be back. Still cool though to have some random guy come up out of nowhere hell bent on revenge when for me he was like a tiny afterthought.
 
Yup, slap the Conan the Barbarian license on it if they have to have one and refine, refine, refine. The gameplay is fantastic and can only improve. I hope to see a AA to Arkham Origins type improvement. It's a great first start though.

It should be their own thing, develop the systems first, come up with a setting that makes sense for it after. Pr-existing licensees just hamstring where the game can go.
 

leng jai

Member
So I was trying to kill the third warchief and there were, and I'm not lying, 7 fucking captains surrounding him shortly after I engaged. The sheer spam is getting old when you just want to get shit done.
 
Read the actual mission statement. It does in fact say you're trying to affect Sauron's power. That is why I said those fights make zero sense. I wasn't asking "Why should I do those missions?". I was asking about the in game reasoning behind them. While Sauron or the Black Hand may not have some random power guage like you do, the entire game is about weakening. Sauron's "power". Even if that's not the motives of Talion or Celebrimor, it's what the game keeps repeating over and over again.

It's just flavor text for side missions. The story isn't amazing or anything, but it's coherent and your actions make enough sense.
 

JimPanzer

Member
Does the game open up more areas later? I just have killed the 4 warchiefs and haven't seen the area with the lush green grass I've seen in some videos.
 
Top Bottom