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[KingKong]

Overall I could really go for a NG+/hardcore mode that really ups the difficulty. I've yet to die from any Uruk's as I've never found myself in a situation I couldn't handle or at a minimum escape from and then cheese from stealth. I've had a few cheap instances with captains teleporting in during a fight as others have stated but in each case they were MY captains so it all worked out.
.

This game just needs to be more challenging, or spread the upgrades out over a long period of time. Once you've seen the spear guy and the shield guy, you won't find anything new in the combat and it becomes impossible to die once you upgrade your health a bit, find some decent runes and get the 5x combo power. All the other stuff like dominating, fire arrows, the 'special' powers, etc, make it even more broken

 

[SuperCambot]

This game just needs to be more challenging, or spread the upgrades out over a long period of time. Once you've seen the spear guy and the shield guy, you won't find anything new in the combat and it becomes impossible to die once you upgrade your health a bit, find some decent runes and get the 5x combo power. All the other stuff like dominating, fire arrows, the 'special' powers, etc, make it even more broken

I think I died enough in the first hour to last me the whole game.

 

[Remachinate]

Thanks to Remachinate, I have now experienced combat against a Combat Master / Invulnerable to Ranged / Invulnerable to Stealth captain. It was a tense ten minutes, but I managed to stealthily exploit his fear of betrayal and kill him, avenging poor Remachinate's defeat.

Monolith really needs to implement a NG+ with maxed out captains or something. It would be so fun!

Cheers! Guys like that are the highlight of the game in my opinion. If you can't engage them in regular combat, you're forced to take a tactical approach and prepare for the engagement properly. For the next game I hope they come up with increasingly specific weaknesses that require the player to set up the environment and their loadout ahead of time, to really nail the alpha predator feel.

Haven't been posting much since I'm taking my time with the game, but I think I'll have a lot to say once I wrap up.

 

[NoirVisage]

So that Destiny dude has a new video. I don't get what his beef with the game is. He complains about it being too easy but he's very far in the skill tree and has the sword super power unlocked. Isn't the game being easier kinda what happens when you max out your skills and have played the game enough to have a good handle on the rhythm of combat?

It's like this guy is immune to fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AV9W2ZdmjU

"Keep in mind I'm not really using any special abilities.." - Uses most powerful ability in the game.

He was a pro Starcraft player, he stopped playing games for fun ages ago. At this point he's attention rhymes with boring, we got the point with the first vid, a second vid just means he's just being contrary.

 

[Brian Griffin]

He was a pro Starcraft player, he stopped playing games for fun ages ago. At this point he's attention rhymes with boring, we got the point with the first vid, a second vid just means he's just being contrary.

Ahh that makes sense.

 

[JackDT]

Lmao, destiny with a follow up analysis on the combat system

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AV9W2ZdmjU

hard to argue with this zzz

I largely agree with the main idea in that video (spacebar is OP!) but jeez, why does he have to be such a douche while presenting it? I couldn't even finish it.

I've also found that by playing with self-imposed rules to not buy upgrades and disallowing certain moves I still find a ton of awesomeness in the combat. There are some combos that do basically break the game. But if you are the type who can play games with self-imposed constraints like Soul Level 1 in Dark Souls, or one city challenge in Civ, I think there's still a lot there. Your mileage may vary.

Also turn off the combat prompts. Closest thing to a difficulty slider in the game.

 

[keltickennedy]

Yes, you can spam jump and just mash on the attack button, but why the hell would you want to do that when there are a bunch of other awesome moves and abilities you can perform? Again, the freeflow combat system is great for stringing together a bunch of different attacks all in one huge combo.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

He was a pro Starcraft player, he stopped playing games for fun ages ago. At this point he's attention rhymes with boring, we got the point with the first vid, a second vid just means he's just being contrary.

When you get to the point where things that are supposed to be fun and are no longer fun and just chores or jobs, you have become a shell of a person.

 

[JackDT]

Yes, you can spam jump and just mash on the attack button, but why the hell would you want to do that when there are a bunch of other awesome moves and abilities you can perform? Again, the freeflow combat system is great for stringing together a bunch of different attacks all in one huge combo.

I agree myself, but I also understand that some players can't help but do the most effective thing in a game even if it makes the gameplay really boring. Others enjoy using varied skills in different ways, trying to kill things as fast as possible or just make for hilarious situations. Or will simply not use a skill if it makes the game boring. But if you are the first type you find an exploit game in a game unforgivable.

 

[ak1276]

When you get to the point where things that are supposed to be fun and are no longer fun and just chores or jobs, you have become a shell of a person.

Or a NeoGAF poster

Spoiler

Kidding. Kind of.

 

[keltickennedy]

I agree myself, but I also understand that some players can't help but do the most effective thing in a game even if it makes the gameplay really boring. Others enjoy using varied skills in different ways, trying to kill things as fast as possible or just make for hilarious situations. Or will simply not use a skill if it makes the game boring. But if you are the first type you find an exploit game in a game unforgivable.

I just saw the comments that he use to be a pro Starcraft player. That makes sense now. lol.

 

[MyOtherBike]

Finished the game. Absolutely loved it. Dragon Age: Inquisition will have a lot of expectations to exceed for it to beat shadow of mordor as my favorite game this year.

There is huge part of me that would love to see an evolution of the nemesis system brought to a Song of Ice and Fire game. Playing and observing knights, lordlings, and nobles vie for power would be very fitting in that setting.

 

[Squozen]

I think I died enough in the first hour to last me the whole game.

Likewise. I think what I'm enjoying so much about this game is that there's no get-out-of-jail-free options like in Assassin's Creed. It's forcing me to actually be GOOD at the game instead of just firing off a smoke bomb and button-mashing.

Which is easier said than done at my age....

 

[Robert7lee]

Anyone try the challenge / trial mode? I tried the one which you have to kill all captains and warcheifs in 50 minutes, only allowed to die once and score 25k points on a single map.

Had a day off today so got up early just to beat it, I've ended up playing it for most of the day, took me 5 attempts to kill everyone within 50 mins, still didn't manage to score 25k points though

Main problem is time spent in strongholds trying to brand a captain and having 3 captains run away at the same time, really frustrating with the clock ticking.

 

[Loxley]

If nothing else, Shadow of Mordor will certainly grab all of the awards for "Game Which No One Can Agree On the Difficulty Of" this year.

 

[Hystzen]

This guy is the bane of my life at moment, I not even done the first Gollum mission yet and got this Uruk hunting (literally hunting me that nasty ambush trait) me due to throwing him into a campfire.

So i decide set a trap for him, I notice a Oleg Graug has spawned near Black Gate, so knowing he a tracker kept killing Uruks in area near the Graug. A Uruk captain who survived previous fight popped up so decided throw him to Graug as it looked hungry. Dragged the guy and threw him then watched him get thrown about by Graug. Meanwhile Liorm turned up like i planned but ....he one shots the Graug did not see that Monster Slayer trait. So a hasty retreat and now back to drawing board. this guy also came back after I threw him off a cliff he really really really hates me.

 

[valkyre]

So, what is the difference in regards to the nemesis system on ps3 and 360? What is actually missing there?

 

[Levyne]

So, what is the difference in regards to the nemesis system on ps3 and 360? What is actually missing there?

I think the short answer is that we don't know.

 

[LurkerPrime]

So, what is the difference in regards to the nemesis system on ps3 and 360? What is actually missing there?

From what I've heard it sounds like they stripped out a majority of the Nemesis System to make the game run. So, you'll get: the same combat, same missions, & same enemies, but less emergent interactions between the captains, the warchiefs, Talion, and perhaps also the environment. And of course the visuals will be different (which probably means the visual differences between the uruks will be massively reduced, as well).

I don't know if that will be worth it, to be honest. The emergence and randomness of the Nemesis System is what makes Shadow of Mordor so fun, in spite of the fact that the base mechanics like combat and traversal are solid-to-good. The missions themselves are not very fun - especially if that's all there is to do.

 

[Tomat]

Two questions:

1. Do we know if it's possible to kill off all the captains and warchiefs in the game?

2. Is it possible to clear out a stronghold of Uruks? I'm hunting a captain that is surrounded by a ton of Uruks in a stronghold, and no matter how many I seem to kill there is always more.

 

[AlterOdin]

Had an interesting encounter today.

During a stealth mission in a fort, I approached a berserker hitting a wall to do a stealth kill, and it turned out to be this guy:

For some reason I read his name as cross-breeder, and he did not talk he just breathed heavily and giggled in the standoff intro (for a fucking long time), it felt that he literally wanted to fuck me.

I got the hell out of there, him chasing behind me giggling (he was fast runner). After getting some intel I saw he was not that powerful, but got a chuckle of his motive, in the current context.

 

[valkyre]

From what I've heard it sounds like they stripped out a majority of the Nemesis System to make the game run. So, you'll get: the same combat, same missions, & same enemies, but less emergent interactions between the captains, the warchiefs, Talion, and perhaps also the environment. And of course the visuals will be different (which probably means the visual differences between the uruks will be massively reduced, as well).

I don't know if that will be worth it, to be honest. The emergence and randomness of the Nemesis System is what makes Shadow of Mordor so fun, in spite of the fact that the base mechanics like combat and traversal are solid-to-good. The missions themselves are not very fun - especially if that's all there is to do.

While i enjoy the nemesis system and the game immensly, i honestly dont see what is so special about it technical-wise that cannot run the same way, in last gen consoles.

 

[robotzombie]

So with an i5 and a gtx 780, am I not going to be able to run the HD textures at 1080p?

 

[Levyne]

So with an i5 and a gtx 780, am I not going to be able to run the HD textures at 1080p?

Probably not without some significant hitching but I wouldn't be too upset.

 

[Joco]

This game continues to surprise me. Here I thought Skak the Claw, my nemesis who I had killed multiple times and who had stopped coming back (even though I hadn't beheaded him) appears in the second to last mission leading a band of orcs. I was almost sad he was gone and now he's back for one last hurrah. This goddamn game. I love it.

 

[Teasing_Pink]

This game continues to surprise me. Here I thought Skak the Claw, my nemesis who I had killed multiple times and who had stopped coming back (even though I hadn't beheaded him) appears in the second to last mission leading a band of orcs. I was almost sad he was gone and now he's back for one last hurrah. This goddamn game. I love it.

Mine came back even though I did finally behead him on what felt like our 10th encounter. I'm assuming it was just a design oversight that no one cared to fix, but I certainly kept looking for some stitches or scarring around the neck, hoping to see something like the Kurgan or Christopher Lloyd in Amazing Stories.

 

[SeanR1221]

What am I doing wrong? I've been dying more in this game than any game I've ever played before.

I get surrounded by orcs and they overwhelm me and kill me. All. The. Time.

 

[LurkerPrime]

While i enjoy the nemesis system and the game immensly, i honestly dont see what is so special about it technical-wise that cannot run the same way, in last gen consoles.

If you've played the game, you would understand the amount of variety that the Nemesis System brings with it. This is one of the few games where you can honestly say that you won't run into the same guy more than once. They all look and sound very different - some remarkably so. And you can go through scores of these guys, perhaps 40, in a playthrough.

The only bummer is that it makes the lack of human slave models/voice actors that much more apparent.


The draw distance and behind-the-scenes Nemesis Stuff™ (like simulating the events, holding onto/generating all of the uruks, and keeping track of the AI during large battles) undoubtably require a larger amount of RAM and processing power than the older consoles can muster. It will have the same gameplay, but it won't be the same game... basically.

What am I doing wrong? I've been dying more in this game than any game I've ever played before.

I get surrounded by orcs and they overwhelm me and kill me. All. The. Time.

If you're in a stronghold, try to avoid raising the alarm. Enemies raising the alarm have a very distinctive icon above their head - take them out to prevent it from going off. An alarmed fortress gets constant reinforcements and can be very difficult (but not impossible) to clear out, and if you're unfamiliar with the gameplay or at a low level its very easy to get swarmed.

So, if things aren't going your way, it's OK to retreat and regroup. I mean, you're one man (and a ghost) again an army - no one will call you a coward.

If it's in regular combat outside of a stronghold, the key thing is to be aware of your enemies and surroundings. Detonate a campfire to kill uruks around it, headshot berserkers or shield-users to keep a combo longer, and watch out for ranged enemies from afar (and maybe snipe them too). Only when the rabble are dealt with should you attempt to take out a captain or, heaven forbid, a warchief... unless you're feeling very confident.

 

[Joco]

Mine came back even though I did finally behead him on what felt like our 10th encounter. I'm assuming it was just a design oversight that no one cared to fix, but I certainly kept looking for some stitches or scarring around the neck, hoping to see something like the Kurgan or Christopher Lloyd in Amazing Stories.

Perhaps the game just takes whatever orc killed you the most (dead or alive) and puts him back for that mission. Seems maybe like it was more intentional than a design oversight. In any case, I enjoyed one last fight with Skak.

 

[Garuda1One]

okay, so im 7 hours in to the game, and only finished about 6 or 7 main story mission.. i am soooo in love with the nemesis system.. killed 2 warchief already,, and are now about to hunt down the third warchief..

so my question is,, is hunting warchief early on the game (note i only finished 7 main story mision so far) will affect the story ? should i continue the hunt or just continue the main story mission,,

and yes, destiny is sitting there beside my ps4, crying......

 

[SolsticeZero]

I'm absolutely loving the game. The only complaint is that the PS4 version doesn't have a remote ay specific control scheme. Using the bow and stealing with the rear touch pad is almost impossible.

 

[LurkerPrime]

okay, so im 7 hours in to the game, and only finished about 6 or 7 main story mission.. i am soooo in love with the nemesis system.. killed 2 warchief already,, and are now about to hunt down the third warchief..

so my question is,, is hunting warchief early on the game (note i only finished 7 main story mision so far) will affect the story ? should i continue the hunt or just continue the main story mission,,

and yes, destiny is sitting there beside my ps4, crying......

The armies will replenish themselves over time, so do whatever you want to them. If you want to refresh them more quickly, go to one of those magic towers and forward time (or whatever they call it).

Uruk hunting and the story missions are almost two separate games, really... there are only a couple times where the two cross over. Just focus on whatever is the most fun. (Note that certain story missions will unlock the gold-locked abilities in your skill tree, which are all pretty awesome!)

 

[Midou]

Just got to the second area, while the environments are obviously not as diverse or well made as something like Assassin's Creed, I feel they are inoffensive enough that they don't detract from the game.

It's great reading other people's nemesis stories, it's so hard to create a concept that dynamic which actually does give players different experiences. I mean so many games have 'dynamic' elements where the differences are minor, a player will go "omg guys, I let this person live and their spouse sent me a +5 Battle Axe, so unique!" and then another player is like "omg guys, I killed this person, and the guy who hired me sent me a +5 Battle Axe, glad I killed them, what a sweet weapon!". I like to call it 'unique until you see what the other options are".

I get not all Nemesis scenarios are entirely unique, but they certainly are moreso than I'm used to.

 

[Reven]

Count me among the bad/shitty gamers who find this game really hard. I keep getting my ass kicked, and still can't figure out how to permanently kill a captain. I had one captain named Noruk, the Blood Axe run up on me in the first hour and I messed him up, then he showed up 2 more times with me kicking his ass both times. He has attacked me at least 6 more times since then and has murdered me each time.

Even though it has been very difficult for me I have really enjoyed it.

 

[BigDug13]

Count me among the bad/shitty gamers who find this game really hard. I keep getting my ass kicked, and still can't figure out how to permanently kill a captain. I had one captain named Noruk, the Blood Axe run up on me in the first hour and I messed him up, then he showed up 2 more times with me kicking his ass both times. He has attacked me at least 6 more times since then and has murdered me each time.

Even though it has been very difficult for me I have really enjoyed it.

Quite a few captains are susceptible to you pressing X to jump over them with the stun ability. The stun leaves them open to flurry attacks that build you up to x8 (or x5 if you have that ability unlocked). You could let the flurry finisher deal its damage then hit him with your combat finisher or just hit combat finisher as soon as your sword glows, just be sure to watch for triangle prompts from his minions while flurrying.

I can take out 80% of captains with this technique. Just watch for being too surrounded. Getting out of there by hitting your jump to leap over dudes while stunning them can let you get out of harm's way quickly. Watch for red triangles which are ranged attackers. You don't get nice triangle prompts for their attacks so don't let them widdle you down.

Seriously, most of my attacks start with that jump/stun and then flurry at their back. It just builds my combo meter so quickly and then I unleash 2 specials, then repeat.

 

[SeanR1221]

If you've played the game, you would understand the amount of variety that the Nemesis System brings with it. This is one of the few games where you can honestly say that you won't run into the same guy more than once. They all look and sound very different - some remarkably so. And you can go through scores of these guys, perhaps 40, in a playthrough.

The only bummer is that it makes the lack of human slave models/voice actors that much more apparent.


The draw distance and behind-the-scenes Nemesis Stuff™ (like simulating the events, holding onto/generating all of the uruks, and keeping track of the AI during large battles) undoubtably require a larger amount of RAM and processing power than the older consoles can muster. It will have the same gameplay, but it won't be the same game... basically.



If you're in a stronghold, try to avoid raising the alarm. Enemies raising the alarm have a very distinctive icon above their head - take them out to prevent it from going off. An alarmed fortress gets constant reinforcements and can be very difficult (but not impossible) to clear out, and if you're unfamiliar with the gameplay or at a low level its very easy to get swarmed.

So, if things aren't going your way, it's OK to retreat and regroup. I mean, you're one man (and a ghost) again an army - no one will call you a coward.

If it's in regular combat outside of a stronghold, the key thing is to be aware of your enemies and surroundings. Detonate a campfire to kill uruks around it, headshot berserkers or shield-users to keep a combo longer, and watch out for ranged enemies from afar (and maybe snipe them too). Only when the rabble are dealt with should you attempt to take out a captain or, heaven forbid, a warchief... unless you're feeling very confident.

These tips really help. Thank you.

 

[Reven]

Quite a few captains are susceptible to you pressing X to jump over them with the stun ability. The stun leaves them open to flurry attacks that build you up to x8 (or x5 if you have that ability unlocked). You could let the flurry finisher deal its damage then hit him with your combat finisher or just hit combat finisher as soon as your sword glows, just be sure to watch for triangle prompts from his minions while flurrying.

I can take out 80% of captains with this technique. Just watch for being too surrounded. Getting out of there by hitting your jump to leap over dudes while stunning them can let you get out of harm's way quickly. Watch for red triangles which are ranged attackers. You don't get nice triangle prompts for their attacks so don't let them widdle you down.

Seriously, most of my attacks start with that jump/stun and then flurry at their back. It just builds my combo meter so quickly and then I unleash 2 specials, then repeat.

I think part of my problem is that I let myself get surrounded too easily. When that happens the ranged attackers and the defenders are normally the people that mess me up. I have so much trouble dodging. Seems like the game doesn't want to detect my pressing of X.

 

[Raxum]

So, feeling quite good about the game, really enjoyed it, but I'm 100% after approx 36 hours of gameplay (in game progress and achievements) and now trying to decide what to do with myself in game. Really enjoyed everything about the game but all I can think of is trying to set lofty goals for myself, like seeing if you can actually clear out an alarmed stronghold, or trying to kill all captains and war-chiefs before any of them get replaced. I've already branded the whole army of captains/chiefs in Nurn, and it kinda makes the area too easy. I think I might kill them all and start again...

Anyone got any ideas for things to keep the game going for me? Aside from starting again and doing a no unnecessary upgrades run (which I'm considering)...

 

[Phreakuency]

Two questions:

1. Do we know if it's possible to kill off all the captains and warchiefs in the game?

2. Is it possible to clear out a stronghold of Uruks? I'm hunting a captain that is surrounded by a ton of Uruks in a stronghold, and no matter how many I seem to kill there is always more.

No and no.

From what I've experienced, continuing in the world after finishing the game, the orcs are endlessly spawning. Doesn't seem to matter how many you kill, they get randomly created to fill the gaps it seems.

And strongholds stay empty for all of a few seconds. There can be one guy in an entire building, standing on his lonesome. You go and stealth kill him and it's not uncommon that before you've left that building, you hear chatter, turn around and a bunch have magically spawned.

The game is quite good overall but the silly respawning and fake (yes I said it) Nemesis system is annoying.

Too many times an Orc I've never met will say he's killed me before or I've run off or he has etc. Likewise, I've killed named Orc A, who has a buddy named Orc B with him. Once A dies the game doesn't track who else is with him. If I kill B right after, he still stays alive in the army screen.

Reused names was frustrating me too, but it got worse when I had two of the same in an army, but just with different weapons.

You don't want to be too critical of such a promising new feature but at the same time, it's not only far from perfect but quite broken as well.

 

[Messofanego]

If nothing else, Shadow of Mordor will certainly grab all of the awards for "Game Which No One Can Agree On the Difficulty Of" this year.

I give everyone death threats and it's been a good challenge so far. I love when a warchief comes out but I already fucking made his bodyguards/captains my bitches! HAHAHA

 

[Joco]

The later upgrades are really game-breaking. Blade Master (5x combo for special moves instead of 8x) made a big difference alone, but now with Double Charge (2 special moves instead of just one for a streak), any challenge is basically gone. Although I'm admittedly still enjoying the combat.

 

[GeoramA]

^ I'm doing the same thing with the death threats and I'm getting a lot of kickass epic runes.

Got one that turns my fire arrow into a huge fire explosion. It's comes in handy while fighting a big group of enemies.

This game just keeps getting better and better.

 

[Delta Assault]

...Anybody else think the main character looks just like Tim Daly from Wings?

 

[ironcreed]

Just beat it about half an hour ago. The core game is great, but the story feels a bit rushed and slapped together. The final confrontation with

Spoiler

The Black Hand

was pretty disappointing as well. I would have preferred an epic showdown to end the ride, but oh well. The star of this show is making your own fun in the world with the Nemesis System anyway. 8/10 from me.

 

[darkth]

Except he proves himself wrong repeatedly in the video.

• "You can just spam right click and left click" - Immediately shows that that isn't true against 3 regular grunts.
• "Weakeness and Strengths and Intel are all irrelevant because you can just spam right click and left click on Captains and Warchiefs" - Not only is this not true, he shows it isn't true against both Defenders and Berserkers, who aren't even Captains or Warchiefs.
• "I play games at an elite level" and "this game was incredibly easy" - Mentioned he died multiple times in the first zone.
• "Terrain has no tactical bearing" - Immediately shows that isn't true and assassinates an orc from above.
• "You can just sneak around everyone" - Immediately gets spotted.
• "Runes are a waste of time" - Doesn't have any good runes and only one of the Epic ones.
• "You need to grind for runes" - Not true, I have full Epics on Sword and Dagger before finishing the main story without grinding. I'm going to assume he hasn't unlocked and/or used Death Threats yet.
• "You can easily just take out an entire camp" - Immediately gets spotted from stealth, countered by a Berserker, then says "You just jump over these guys" only to be immediately proven wrong since Berserkers actually need to be stunned unless you hit them when they are already stunned or staggered.

Now, some of the underlying criticism he is very poorly trying to make have some validity, but since his delivery of these points is so mired in elitist bullshit, exaggerations, and outright wrong information it is no surprise that almost no one gives a crap about what he has to say.

Common dude really he is playing the game with his chin, and spamming left click and f, inside the stronghold!!! AGAINST commander he is invulnerable jumping like a retard, stop defending the game watch the second video he makes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AV9W2ZdmjU

 

[TAJ]

^ I'm doing the same thing with the death threats and I'm getting a lot of kickass epic runes.

Got one that turns my fire arrow into a huge fire explosion. It's comes in handy while fighting a big group of enemies.

This game just keeps getting better and better.

I'm about at the end (a few missions after branding all the chiefs on the second map) and I have no idea how to make a death threat.

 

[Messofanego]

I'm about at the end (a few missions after branding all the chiefs on the second map) and I have no idea how to make a death threat.

When you dominate a dude, it's the left option while bottom would be to gain intel.

 

[SeanR1221]

And like that, I'm doing a lot better after everyone's advice. Thanks!

The stun move and lowering the execution combo to 5 hits really helped

 

[bishoptl]

How are the PS4 retail codes supposed to work? I entered them both before installing the game, but nothing (new outfit, etc) is unlocked in the front end.

 

[Freezasaurus]

How are the PS4 retail codes supposed to work? I entered them both before installing the game, but nothing (new outfit, etc) is unlocked in the front end.

I didn't see them at first either. After a few hours of playing, I was able to change the skin via something on the main menu. Though I don't know exactly what triggered it.