That is exactly how you fight 90% of the elites in the game. This is why it blows my mind when people talk about how difficult it is, even when facing 2+ at a time. You can literally chain stun three elites with ease after taking out the rest of the trash that's next to them.
Here's also another example of how broken the game can get with runes. Infinite shadow strikes...
Not very, by the time I (or likely anyone) gets to those later challenges you probably have a ton of the upgrades. I do recall some of the later dagger challenges to take more than one try since you have to not be caught.
Or you've grown tired of or out grown certain gameplay mechanics. Remember you said this in ten years when you start getting tired of the same old thing.
I will say, when you run into a guy that can only be killed by stealth (effectively), and you eventually get to him, stab him in the face, feels sooooo good haha.
Or you've grown tired of or out grown certain gameplay mechanics. Remember you said this in ten years when you start getting tired of the same old thing.
I miss UT2K4 and love everything about it. I loved it 10 years ago and I love it now. Hell, I will never get tired of that game. If anything, it still is a better MP game than almost any other MP game out there in the past 10 years.
I will say, when you run into a guy that can only be killed by stealth (effectively), and you eventually get to him, stab him in the face, feels sooooo good haha.
I miss UT2K4 and love everything about it. I loved it 10 years ago and I love it now. Hell, I will never get tired of that game. If anything, it still is a better MP game than almost any other MP game out there in the past 10 years.
I die a lot myself, which doesn't bother me much, but frankly find the QTEs laggy with a gamepad on PC. Works perfect with a mouse though. Never have I failed so many fucking QTEs, extremely frustrating, far more than anything else in the game for me so far. I'm fucking loving the game overall.
I die a lot myself, which doesn't bother me much, but frankly find the QTEs laggy with a gamepad on PC. Works perfect with a mouse though. Never have I failed so many fucking QTEs, extremely frustrating, far more than anything else in the game for me so far. I'm fucking loving the game overall.
I didn't realize there was actually a difference with the QTE and just assumed they were shoddily implemented, and that they were just "trying to be different". They felt so out of place considering how well the game controlled otherwise. For the most part.
while countering is far too forgiving and timing is essentially not needed to do it properly, i would argue that he'd be having a harder time doing the "i'm turning the screen off mashing my mouse button" stunt if there had been any berserkers around, as they will damage you if you try to attack them with a regular swing from the front.
similarly, if there had been elite guards (those with the shields) around - their attacks aren't counterable with right-click (triangle / "Y").
so his hyperbolic demonstration would most likely end in failure at later stages of the game.
so no, not hard to argue with it - he's not entirely wrong, the combat system is not particularly hard to master and timed swings + double finishers make captains a piece of cake, but it's not as broken as he makes it seem to be in this video.
I take it you didn't really watch the part where he was flipping around the stronghold for about ten seconds with his chin? Because that kind of throws your argument out the window entirely. He also even mentions the fact that you're supposed to stun (or flip behind) a berserker or they are immune to frontal attacks, and then says "doesn't matter cuz execute!" and then proceeds to execute a berserker. His demo with the screen off actually just puts an emphasis on how brain-dead it can be. Who is actually going to play without a screen though?
The game is only "difficult" for the first few hours or so, and that's putting it mildly. It jumps off a tower outside of wraith form by the halfway mark.
while countering is far too forgiving and timing is essentially not needed to do it properly, i would argue that he'd be having a harder time doing the "i'm turning the screen off mashing my mouse button" stunt if there had been any berserkers around, as they will damage you if you try to attack them with a regular swing from the front.
similarly, if there had been elite guards (those with the shields) around - their attacks aren't counterable with right-click (triangle / "Y").
so his hyperbolic demonstration would most likely end in failure at later stages of the game.
so no, not hard to argue with it - he's not entirely wrong, the combat system is not particularly hard to master and timed swings + double finishers make captains a piece of cake, but it's not as broken as he makes it seem to be in this video.
while countering is far too forgiving and timing is essentially not needed to do it properly, i would argue that he'd be having a harder time doing the "i'm turning the screen off mashing my mouse button" stunt if there had been any berserkers around, as they will damage you if you try to attack them with a regular swing from the front.
similarly, if there had been elite guards (those with the shields) around - their attacks aren't counterable with right-click (triangle / "Y").
so his hyperbolic demonstration would most likely end in failure at later stages of the game.
so no, not hard to argue with it - he's not entirely wrong, the combat system is not particularly hard to master and timed swings + double finishers make captains a piece of cake, but it's not as broken as he makes it seem to be in this video.
Nah, just get vault stun and you pretty much beat every enemy in the game. If you happen to cross a captain who has anti-vault AND anti combat finisher, you just have to go out of your way to expose his weakness, then just grab finish him.
So save for one very specific instance of a captain, you can just mash leftclick/rightclick/f then mash space bar when you happen to get hit.
As much as I enjoyed the game (except the ending LOL) the combat is broken. It was fun initially, but once you figure out that you don't need to time anything at all, then the game becomes a non-challenge.
You could argue your abilities make it broken, but even with 0 abilities you can just do the same mashing except enemies die slower. Still completely invincible. And if you really need to play the game without using any of its skill progression in order to play it properly, then something is wrong.
That is exactly how you fight 90% of the elites in the game. This is why it blows my mind when people talk about how difficult it is, even when facing 2+ at a time. You can literally chain stun three elites with ease after taking out the rest of the trash that's next to them.
Here's also another example of how broken the game can get with runes. Infinite shadow strikes...
There were two like that. One, where you had to go around
taking out defenders and then archers
was one of my favorites. However, the one where you had to
kill the torch bearers near the "ghul nests" or whatever the fuck that didn't actually exist"
sucked pretty bad.
Or you've grown tired of or out grown certain gameplay mechanics. Remember you said this in ten years when you start getting tired of the same old thing.
Does the game suddenly stop dropping epic runes after you've found one of each? Notice how the hot streak counter goes up per strike. Even if you can't legitimately do this, you can get a near infinite chain going if you're using brands in between with the +4 elf-shot per brand.
Dunno, but to exploit this you have to leave Epic drops on the ground then pick them all up together. That's the only way I know of getting the same rune twice (or more).
Nah, just get vault stun and you pretty much beat every enemy in the game. If you happen to cross a captain who has anti-vault AND anti combat finisher, you just have to go out of your way to expose his weakness, then just grab finish him.
So save for one very specific instance of a captain, you can just mash leftclick/rightclick/f then mash space bar when you happen to get hit.
As much as I enjoyed the game (except the ending LOL) the combat is broken. It was fun initially, but once you figure out that you don't need to time anything at all, then the game becomes a non-challenge.
You could argue your abilities make it broken, but even with 0 abilities you can just do the same mashing except enemies die slower. Still completely invincible. And if you really need to play the game without using any of its skill progression in order to play it properly, then something is wrong.
all i am saying is that "i can just mash regular attack and the counter button" is only possible in the early game and mashing spacebar does not take down enemies, by itself.
i am not saying the combat system is particularly hard - i must have died less than 7 times throughout my entire 100% playthrough. claiming it is broken to a degree that you can faceroll through combats is false. while timing is not needed, only doing regular slashes, you'd need to build up your combo counters against NON-berserkers and NON-elites, vaulting doesnt build up your combo meter.
also, i was under the impression the final tier (that gives you dual finishers and triple combo count) was supposed to be sort of an "icing" on the cake to make you so obviously overpowered. Remove the dual finisher and add the requirement for a 8x combo to execute just a single one and it's a lot less facerolling than Destiny makes it look like. Not massively challenging - no; still, i wouldn't call it broken just because an almost fully leveled char can spam slash through a horde of lvl 1 mobs.
Whoever compared it to Dark Souls is utterly mad, of course. It's still not flat out broken - it's just accessible ...
i wholeheartedly agree with him on the fact that running from Stronghold fights, as endlessly beheading uruks gets old pretty fast, is wasting a lot less time, which was the initial point of his video.
I have no trouble with this game until the first black captain
my play style is more stealth and using the bow
now I must kill this one melee style
and I cannot jump up on the structure within the circle or it says I went out of bounds
and when I go in melee then the A or Y shows up too fast to respond
a game like this I hate.. I HATE QTE's... had I known about them I would NOT have bought this game
but I will say I rarely died, the current captains still are at 9 or less, with one exception
and I have easily killed them and the war chiefs [probably should let them level up to get the best ruins]
now I need to change my play style to kill that black captain and I am stuck
I did the bow and dagger challenges but only 1 sword as I do not like fighting hordes
and that's where I did die
now to figure out on how to kill that black captain.. it would be easier without the other uruks
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.
With that in mind, I traded in my copy today. Most of the achievements, earned. Good to play, with some neat mechanics, but could have been made more interesting all round, I feel.
Went to a major retailer in Aus today and they where sold the fuck out on PS4. Game only launched today here. Couldn't go anywhere else since they where closed, will hopefully get it tomorrow. Got DriveClub instead.
Just finished it. Loved the game. Did all the challenges and collectibles and it took around 24 hours.
The ending was real shitty though. The last few missions were so rushed after I felt the game had a decent story up to that point.
The Tower fight was pretty much just pressing B a couple times and the Black Hand fight is literally just 3 QTEs. The Hammer fight earlier on in the game was pretty fun, so I was super disappointed with the other Black Captain fights.
Also, what was going on with the story at the end there? It felt like they ran out of time and had to rush it along. What the hell happened to Queen Marwen and the other tribesmen? Did they all get killed? Hard to tell since Talion didn't react to it at all and they spent like 30 seconds on that and moved on. The actual ending felt like an obvious sequel setup but it was anti-climactic as hell.
Went to a major retailer in Aus today and they where sold the fuck out on PS4. Game only launched today here. Couldn't go anywhere else since they where closed, will hopefully get it tomorrow. Got DriveClub instead.
I have no trouble with this game until the first black captain
my play style is more stealth and using the bow
now I must kill this one melee style
and I cannot jump up on the structure within the circle or it says I went out of bounds
and when I go in melee then the A or Y shows up too fast to respond
a game like this I hate.. I HATE QTE's... had I known about them I would NOT have bought this game
but I will say I rarely died, the current captains still are at 9 or less, with one exception
and I have easily killed them and the war chiefs [probably should let them level up to get the best ruins]
now I need to change my play style to kill that black captain and I am stuck
I did the bow and dagger challenges but only 1 sword as I do not like fighting hordes
and that's where I did die
now to figure out on how to kill that black captain.. it would be easier without the other uruks
You don't like fighting hordes? It's where some of the most satisfaction comes out of in this game. Think you're just going to have to suck it up. I'm usually a stealthier approach kind of guy as well, it I learned early on, this is still Batman at its core. You have to get in there and muck things up with your sword. Once you've beaten enough high level captains that drop good runes and get your sword beefed up wit the right abilities, hordes kinda become a cake walk after the halfway point of the game.
Just finished it. My gripes and loves and mini review.
Loved:
- Presentation. This is the first game to look next gen to me. Great art, amazing looking textures, etc... Gorgeous, basically.
- Progression of your skills. You really feel like an ultimate bad ass at the end of the game.
- Lengthy without getting boring.
- The Nemesis system adds an incredible dynamic to the game's open world.
- Collectibles are marked on your map and there's not that much of them.
- Side missions really help you understand the gameplay better.
- "The Wraith" is a bad ass.
- Better than the sum of it's parts.
What I found annoying/What could be done better:
- There appears to be a certain input lag.
- Climbing is not always precise. I have botched numerous side quests and missions just because Talion did not jump the way I intended him to jump, because he got stuck on a wall or because a certain animation was still playing out. (I have the same problem while playing Assassins Creed games, btw)
- While the atmosphere and and the story itself are great, the way it is told feels very disconnected and contrived.
- Nemesis system lacks character. What I mean by this is that your enemies are still Uruk's and will always look like Uruks and behave like Uruks. It's LotR of course, but more personality could have been given to the War Chiefs and Captains. After a while, you start noticing how the Nemesis system works, and then it loses a lot of it's charm. (Not really that big of a complaint, but I wanted to mention it nonetheless. I realise that crafting such an AI system must be a fools errand, but I'd love to see it go even deeper).
- The ending was pretty terrible.
Why don't we get to fight the Black Hand? And why does the game end using a QTE?
I throughly enjoyed my 30 hours with this game, and it's a GOTY contender for me!
Just noticed I've put in 29 hours without even hitting the second area. I keep telling myself I'll do the mission that opens it up next time, but then I get sidetracked by the infinite army of procedurally generated scumbags that must be sent death threats, humiliated in front of their bros, poisoned, burnt, shot, blown-up, torn to pieces, covered in flies, sliced and diced, or cerebrally burst with ghost power.
How great is the stronghold design in this game? It's amazing. And how am I not sick of murdering orcs yet? Still abstaining from health upgrades, but I just turned off combat prompts and alert indicators to increase the challenge a bit. Glad I did. It ups the difficulty to exactly where I want it, and massively increases the immersion.
I wish there was a stat screen to show me exactly how many kills I've made; ideally with a list of names of every dead captain.
I would love that. It is good seeing the same uruk come back with scars, missing eyes and patched up. The sack look is my favourite; are there any further looks to some one you have beaten a load of times?
I am up to around 12 hours and I have still only done 5 missions. I start out thinking I will do some missions but then do exactly what you have said. I am never like this in open-world games; I always play in a very structured way ticking off missions. I cannot get enough of finding more-and-more inventive and chaotic ways of destroying a group of uruks.
I will attempt to inject a little structure into my play time of the game later and try to complete one mission if nothing more. I have done a few of the white icon sub missions and also finding the collectible stuff whilst on my travels.
Playing on PC, and am loving it. Am able to get it running on Max on everything expect for the Ultra textures, with a bit of Overclocking, it's been running at 60fps easily in the first area.
Then, I head to the second area. People who have been there know there is a lot more graphically going on in the second area, and it's beautiful. But it has absolutely torpedoed my FPS! With how amazing the second area is, especially your new ability you get there, it's really killing me to lose my buttery smooth motion.
That complaint aside, this game is amazing. Started playing puppet master back in Udun for the time being. Putting so much time in this game and couldn't be happier.
Anyone else greatly disappointed by how lacking this game is visually? It's essentially two large fields with some ruins dotted around, with nothing to explore or sight-see. Such incredibly bland world design.
Anyone else greatly disappointed by how lacking this game is visually? It's essentially two large fields with some ruins dotted around, with nothing to explore or sight-see. Such incredibly bland world design.
Overall, yes. The environmental variety is seriously lacking. What's weird is at the same time, I can at points decide to just start walking around and when I notice a certain area with some nice jutted mountains in the background surrounded by a blue fog, it looks gorgeous to me. There's been several background areas that kinda blow me away.
Anyone else greatly disappointed by how lacking this game is visually? It's essentially two large fields with some ruins dotted around, with nothing to explore or sight-see. Such incredibly bland world design.
Been having a blast with this game since day 1. I've clocked a little over 20 hours in so far and it's nicely shaping up to be my favorite game of the year.
Even though there's hardly anything else to do in the gameworld except fight uruks and trashtalk them (or be trashtalked at by them), the organic, unscripted way most skirmishes unfold and the strong personalities some of those uruks can have make for a very special ride.
My regular nemesis, Blorg of the Pit, achieved elite captain rank pretty fast thanks to me dying at his hands several times in a row. In the middle of that killstreak, where I would go out of my way to find him and try to kill him (to no avail), the asshole had the nerve to say to me in a sarcastic tone after I jumped into the fray for the umpteenth time: "Oh, I'm sure THIS time you'll turn the tide." Then he killed me again with his fucking poisoned spears. I didn't know if to feel pissed off or amused after that. I do know I started to like him from that point onwards.
Another time I was fighting a group of captains when in the middle of the fight one of them decides he's had enough and tries to flee. In his rush to leave, he trips over a campfire and burns himself, although he managed to get away. Next time he shows up he has a nice burn scar on the side of his face and tells me how much he hates me. I thought "dude, I didn't even push you over the fire, you tripped over yourself!".
I'm really starting to hate how the captains who I suppose are hunting you only find you when you engage another captain, it's getting to be complete BS for me.
I spent 20 mins stalking, eliminating bodyguards and moving my prey to a firepit for a good ole blast arrow. Right as I execute my attack plan on him and 2 guards, I get jumped by another captain and his goons out of nowhere, WTF?
I finished all of the side missions for Urfael and Acharn (Talion's sword and dagger) and I really dig their fully upgraded look. Definitely in-keeping with aesthetic of the films.
Do the "death threat" skill. Get higher level runes from captains if they don't drop an epic and they have a greater chance at dropping an epic which can make a big difference to your combat.
Probably the most fun I've had with a game this year, surprisingly I think I enjoyed this more than Dark Souls 2.
Combat is ace and the game makes a good job of slowly progressing you through your different abilities so by the end of the game you feel very powerful in combat. Yes, some features are brought in far too late and the story is lacklustre but you can tell how much effort went in to the Nemesis system instead. The Orcs have personalities, memories and some are genuinely humorous.
I'd even go as far to say that even though the combat isn't as tight as Batman, it's much more satisfying. Flipping between enemies, your sword, wraith abilities and environmental hazards is just great.
Monolith did a solid job for a new IP and they've built more than a foundation for a great sequel.
Just finished it. My gripes and loves and mini review.
Loved:
- Presentation. This is the first game to look next gen to me. Great art, amazing looking textures, etc... Gorgeous, basically.
- Progression of your skills. You really feel like an ultimate bad ass at the end of the game.
- Lengthy without getting boring.
- The Nemesis system adds an incredible dynamic to the game's open world.
- Collectibles are marked on your map and there's not that much of them.
- Side missions really help you understand the gameplay better.
- "The Wraith" is a bad ass.
- Better than the sum of it's parts.
What I found annoying/What could be done better:
- There appears to be a certain input lag.
- Climbing is not always precise. I have botched numerous side quests and missions just because Talion did not jump the way I intended him to jump, because he got stuck on a wall or because a certain animation was still playing out. (I have the same problem while playing Assassins Creed games, btw)
- While the atmosphere and and the story itself are great, the way it is told feels very disconnected and contrived.
- Nemesis system lacks character. What I mean by this is that your enemies are still Uruk's and will always look like Uruks and behave like Uruks. It's LotR of course, but more personality could have been given to the War Chiefs and Captains. After a while, you start noticing how the Nemesis system works, and then it loses a lot of it's charm. (Not really that big of a complaint, but I wanted to mention it nonetheless. I realise that crafting such an AI system must be a fools errand, but I'd love to see it go even deeper).
- The ending was pretty terrible.
Why don't we get to fight the Black Hand? And why does the game end using a QTE?
I throughly enjoyed my 30 hours with this game, and it's a GOTY contender for me!
Well, if you're finding it boring that early on, I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do. But still try with the indicators for counters turned off to make the game less of one long qte, also just try to progress through a few story missions so that you get some shield dudes, berserkers, etc to try to change things up a bit. You could also try to go for a warchief plus bodyguards to have a few named foes all at once to worry about. That all said, it seems like most everyone finds that the game gets a lot easier as it goes on so if that means you'd find it more boring then I'm not sure what else you can do :/ Avoid some of the game-breaking upgrades but grab some of the convenient ones like quicker ground finishers.
