• 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

Tygamr

Member
Got killed by a regular orc when I tried to take on too many at once, and he got promoted. I kept killing but he just kept coming back. After the first time I killed him he lost his nose, then he became really pale and ugly looking, and by the fifth time I killed him, he was wearing like a bag on his head haha. Towards the end he would just keep appearing like every 30 minutes, out of nowhere as if he was hunting me. I love the nemesis system. Hopefully more games do something similar in the future.
 
Do the war chief missions count as story missions? They are the yellow icon with the skull. Also what's the benefit of killing a captain they are connected to with a blue line?

I'm confused by the whole power struggle dynamic. How do the rival captain relationships impact me?
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
A warchief earlier with 3 captains and my nemesis

nearly killed em too but counter didnt respond for whatever reason and the qte is useless

:(
 

MUnited83

For you.
Do the war chief missions count as story missions? They are the yellow icon with the skull. Also what's the benefit of killing a captain they are connected to with a blue line?

I'm confused by the whole power struggle dynamic. How do the rival captain relationships impact me?

If it's yellow, it's a story mission. You can also do regular non-yellow warchief mission after you finish those ones.

The benefit of killing a captain they are connected to is that they will not appear and protect the warchief when you try to kill him(mind that you have to decapitate them)

The rival captain relationships decide who ranks up and gets more power, becoming stronger and with less weaknesses. You might use them to eliminate the stronger enemies and let weaker ones rank up and make your life easier. There's also the branding power that you unlock later on that makes you control captains and you can power them up with those missions.
 
Got killed by a regular orc when I tried to take on too many at once, and he got promoted. I kept killing but he just kept coming back. After the first time I killed him he lost his nose, then he became really pale and ugly looking, and by the fifth time I killed him, he was wearing like a bag on his head haha. Towards the end he would just keep appearing like every 30 minutes, out of nowhere as if he was hunting me. I love the nemesis system. Hopefully more games do something similar in the future.

I haven't encountered this yet. I always kill any captains or nemesis. Even when they decide to leg it out of fear, I'll give chase for however long it takes and kill them.

Interesting note, their health fully regenerates when they get to a certain point away from the original encounter location.
 

Arkanius

Member
Tolkien Encyclopedias:

The game says Uruk hai's are Orcs.
But weren't Uruk-hai a stronger modified breed of Orcs made by Saruman after he revealed his true intentions?

There seems to be a fuckup here, that and Talion knowing Saruman is evil.
 

antitrop

Member
Oh my God, Celebrimbor just said "There can only be one Lord of the Rings". I couldn't stop laughing, I don't know why I find that so funny. Guess his super serious voice and how it reminded me of Highlander.
 
Oh my God, Celebrimbor just said "There can only be one Lord of the Rings". I couldn't stop laughing, I don't know why I find that so funny. Guess his super serious voice and how it reminded me of Highlander.

The nemesis system would be incredible in an Highlander game, especially the injure but not kill aspect.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
The more I play of Shadow of Mordor, the more I think they ran their 'decapitation' pony into the ground. It was such a cool defining moment of the first movie that made that moment stand out so much more as a brutal execution, a culmination of that Uruk meeting with his end.

Shadow or Mordor is just comical with the beheadings.
 

DukeBobby

Member
Just finished the second to last mission.

Man, that fight with
The Tower was incredibly disappointing. Great character design, great voice acting, really shitty easy fight
.
 
how is that a reference? The whole franchise is called Lord of the Rings lol

If anything this is more aching to that "You know Talion, we really are Lord of the Rings Shadow of Mordor"

I mean like referencing some of the more popular lines from the films. Obviously they might also be from the books, but a line like "fly you fool" is just forced into some dialogue in the game and it's really out of place.
 

Certinty

Member
I'm assuming there is an unlimited amount of side missions? I mean every time I kill captains etc. they always get replaced so it's a never ending cycle? It's getting a bit boring doing the same thing again and again.
 

antitrop

Member
how is that a reference? The whole franchise is called Lord of the Rings lol

If anything this is more aching to that "You know Talion, we really are Lord of the Rings Shadow of Mordor"
The quote from Gandalf in the film is:

“There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power.”

A lot less hokey than how it comes off in the game.
 

Hixx

Member
I really wish I enjoyed this game as much as some of you lot do.

The (3/4 through maybe)
Warchief branding
part is so boring. Do the same basic thing 5 times... again. The Nemesis system is cool and I would love to see it expanded upon but the way they weave it into the story is bland. It wouldn't bother me too much if the best way to win nearly every fight wasn't "oh he's immune to stealth/ranged? Don't worry, just combat execute him three times to win!"

There's a huge amount of potential here for any sequel, though. I'd like to see a game that wasn't 100% "behind enemy lines", I think if they had a system where you could take over territory it would add even more to the Nemesis system rather than it just being a never ending cycle of new faces to kill/dominate. Maybe even have Uruks who couldn't be dominated, so you had to instill one of your new underlings in their place or something.

It's a decent game but it's one I'll finish and then never play again. Unless the last few missions are spectacular and even then it'd be a case of too little, too late.

Also the performance on my PC (970, 2500k) is weird. Random special effects can cause the game to plummet into the 30s/40s for a couple of seconds. Should a filter or a seemingly simple screen effect be that taxing on a pretty decent card?
 

Mentok

Banned
I'm really enjoying this game! I've barely touched the main story, and am just running around Mordor. It seems like it'll be an easy platinum if the orc heirarchy keeps replenishing itself (which I believe it's supposed to)....actually, on that note, one chief I uncovered from intel died in a power struggle and has yet to be replaced. It's really funny to see that spot have his body lying down the whole time (I hope someone new comes up though). Also, I just realized that you have to hold down the fire button to charge an arrow shot for headshots to kill (I was wondering why they weren't killing them before). This game is going to fill me with hours of entertainment for sure (then onto the free PSplus games)!
 

Oppo

Member
One of the biggest surprises in this game for me: the voice acting and motion capture is ridiculously good. On par with the new Infamous game.

Arcanum said:
game says Uruk hai's are Orcs.
But weren't Uruk-hai a stronger modified breed of Orcs made by Saruman after he revealed his true intentions?
there's definitely a line very early on where Talion corrects someone, and saves they're not orcs, they're Uruks.
 
Finally managed to hunt down my first captain today. Feels good. Bastard was nothing until he killed me (it was my first death). Failed to kill him twice but finally tracked him down and tore him apart with caragor (and then ran away like a coward from the remaining mob of orcs). I love the creativity you can employ in the combat scenarios

Made a video chronicling my adventure :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UldeZHYrXPc
 

Arrrammis

Member
Yep, found that bit pretty funny too. All of the games references to the films are so forced.

Mostly yes, however one small reference that I noticed made me laugh. One of the missions where you're following
Gollum
, he starts singing something like, "We loves the Bright Master, but not the smelly ranger! He tricks us! Like Bagginses!"
 

Syrus

Banned
lol this game is amazing to just watch and chill. seeing orcs fighting graugs is hilarious.

they run at it and talk shit....and then die hahhaa
 
I am legitimately shocked at how good this game looks at times.

I just did the main story mission when all of a sudden you are surrounded by dozens of enemies in the stormy rain with lighting strikes every few seconds.

There was not a hint of slowdown. I am truly becoming more and more impressed by the PS4 the further devs get with it.
 

antitrop

Member
There was not a hint of slowdown. I am truly becoming more and more impressed by the PS4 the further devs get with it.

There is a pretty noticeable difference in framerate between the first area of the game and the second on the PS4. The introduction of the branding ability has a lot to do with that.

If you brand a few Orcs in the middle of a huge fight, the game starts to chug.
 

antitrop

Member
You saying it dips under the 30?

Yup, once I got to the second half of the game, I started to notice drops that weren't present in the first half of the game. Especially when you "activate" your branded Orcs, there's always a ton of slowdown.

In any case, I'm pretty happy with the way this game looks and performs on PS4, in general.
 

BigDug13

Member
Tolkien Encyclopedias:

The game says Uruk hai's are Orcs.
But weren't Uruk-hai a stronger modified breed of Orcs made by Saruman after he revealed his true intentions?

There seems to be a fuckup here, that and Talion knowing Saruman is evil.

Uruk-Hai were originally bred by Sauron but Saruman bred his own version later. According to Wikipedia that is.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
there's definitely a line very early on where Talion corrects someone, and saves they're not orcs, they're Uruks.
He also calls Ratbag an orc later on. You can refer to uruks either way.

Weird. Did not notice digital foundry saying this.

Anyone here that can say the same?
It's true but it's only really noticeable when the camera is zooming in and out on the branding animations so you aren't in control at that point. It's noticeable but the game still holds up during standard combat with huge numbers of orcs.
 
He also calls Ratbag an orc later on. You can refer to uruks either way.


It's true but it's only really noticeable when the camera is zooming in and out on the branding animations so you aren't in control at that point. It's noticeable but the game still holds up during standard combat with huge numbers of orcs.

I believe it will take more than a week for me to get branding considering the small amount of time I have with the game is me chasing my nemesis.

Weird that it only happens with the branding animation, though. Is it really that consuming on the hardware?
 
Dire Caragors are pretty neat.
Any nearby Caragor will follow you around and just massacre everything. Don't know if there's a limit to how many you can have in your posse, I had five, which seemed plenty.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I believe it will take more than a week for me to get branding considering the small amount of time I have with the game is me chasing my nemesis.

Weird that it only happens with the branding animation, though. Is it really that consuming on the hardware?

I just got it yesterday. I have no idea why it's that particular effect that has such an impact on performance, especially when the game handles 30+ enemies on screen like a champ.
 
Second last mission spoilers
The Tower is the easiest fucking boss fight I have ever fought, feeding my cats is more difficult


Great game though.
One trophy away from the Plat.
 
just finished my first vendetta mission

watched borgu the surgeon roll around as he was burned to death

the stun then set to fire/kill ability is more entertaining then I thought it would be
 

Levyne

Banned
They really should have based one of the final fights around a rotating weakness like Mr. Freeze in Arkham games. Missed opportunity.
 

Ryökäle

Neo Member
I have had some amazing moments with the nemesis system, but after 25 hours I decided it was time to move on and relieve my orcs from their duties.

X6JfXUc.jpg


Still didn't get a level 25 rune though :D

Whole thing on video: http://www.twitch.tv/ryokale_/c/5241356
 

DukeBobby

Member
no. Just no.

Final game spoilers
The whole last two missions were just...wow. Worst. Boss fights. Ever.

Yep, they soured my opinion on the game a little.

It's still one of my favourite games of the year, but it's not challenging the top spot like I thought earlier on.
 

newsguy

Member
Pardon my ignorance here. I'm 12/20 missions in. My question is, can I ever clear out all the war chiefs or will they infinitely replace one another? I killed the ones required to progress the story, but before moving the story along I wanted to clear out the rest and I can't.
 

hbkdx12

Member
Ryökäle;133011659 said:
I have had some amazing moments with the nemesis system, but after 25 hours I decided it was time to move on and relieve my orcs from their duties.
How did u get all ur captains in the same place?
 
Pardon my ignorance here. I'm 12/20 missions in. My question is, can I ever clear out all the war chiefs or will they infinitely replace one another? I killed the ones required to progress the story, but before moving the story along I wanted to clear out the rest and I can't.

If you don't advance at the towers (or die), you can in fact wipe the top row of war chiefs... it's an achievement on Steam. Sometimes you need to take down a few successors but there won't be new uruks coming down the pipe if you stay alive and don't accelerate time.
 

Oppo

Member
He also calls Ratbag an orc later on. You can refer to uruks either way.

Ratbag IS an orc.

The Uruks are taller and all, um, swole. orcs are skinnier and kind of hunched over.

(not that I'm picking nits really, because I really realize this is hilarious hairsplitting. but if you look closely you can actually see the difference)
 
Top Bottom