No, Talion does not existing outside the game. There is only one true ring to control them all, hence its name 'One Ring' and it was made by Sauron himself (hence it cannot be duplicated).
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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor |OT| One Title to rule them all
- Thread starter Levyne
- Start date
My first encounter with a near-invincible captain; hate of defeat, hate of caragor, hate of craug, invincible against stealth, ranged, stun, etc. The list went on. I was looking at his smug face thinking "fuck, how the hell am I going to defeat you?" His only weakness was Fear of Betrayal. A smile formed on my face, which turned into a grin.
I marked him as my target and stealthed my way towards the region where he was located. I stealthed my way through the region, branding every orc I encountered, either through stealth or combat. Soon enough, I had a small army of Uruk watching my back and I turned to face my target. I quickly located him and as expected, he was surrounded by his gang of Uruk.
I called upon my private army and I went all in. As soon as he noticed Orcs fighting amongst each other, he fled, as expected. I wanted to give chase, but an archer perched in a tower was holding me back. I aimed for the archer, performed a shadow kill, aimed for the captain, performed shadow strike, grabbed him and branded his ass; I can use a strong individual such as yourself in my personal army.
Now I'm guiding him through the ranks, making him stronger as we go along. I think I'm starting to like the son of a bitch.
I marked him as my target and stealthed my way towards the region where he was located. I stealthed my way through the region, branding every orc I encountered, either through stealth or combat. Soon enough, I had a small army of Uruk watching my back and I turned to face my target. I quickly located him and as expected, he was surrounded by his gang of Uruk.
I called upon my private army and I went all in. As soon as he noticed Orcs fighting amongst each other, he fled, as expected. I wanted to give chase, but an archer perched in a tower was holding me back. I aimed for the archer, performed a shadow kill, aimed for the captain, performed shadow strike, grabbed him and branded his ass; I can use a strong individual such as yourself in my personal army.
Now I'm guiding him through the ranks, making him stronger as we go along. I think I'm starting to like the son of a bitch.
False Witness
Member
This game felt absolutely fantastic for the first five hours or so of play, but the remaining 20+ hours were probably some of the most monotonous I've ever experienced in my gaming life. That was totally unexpected too because I really enjoyed all of the Arkham games and the AC games, so open world grind has never been a real problem for me. I think my biggest problem is that the game takes so many great ideas from the aforementioned games, but doesn't really improve on them in any way. In fact, it is oftentimes lacking some of the great upgrades that were introduced in each series over time.
When it comes to combat, I just feel like Talion is missing far too many tools in his arsenal compared to good ole Bruce Wayne. I mean, it's not like his bland character design doesn't have more than enough pouches to hold some gadgets to add a little bit of flavor to the combat. I honestly think all of the gadget play is what brings the variety to the combat in the Arkham games. I just don't believe there was enough to play around with in SoM. I also think the battlefield can get a little too crowded at times. There are just so many Orcs/Uruks on screen at any given time that a good portion of them just seem to be completely clumped together doing nothing and facing random directions for no reason at all.
Moving around the environments also felt really odd to me. It just doesn't feel fun to travel around Mordor in my eyes. I mean, you can either jump on a caragor's back or sprint for a very limited amount of time across extremely wide open and relatively barren fields. I will give the shadow strike ability some credit here though. That is the one ability that made moving around a battlefield seem really exciting. I just wish it could have been upgraded a good bit more like the various platforming uses your bow has in the Tomb Raider reboot. The building climbing almost felt as floaty as inFamous at times. I kind of wish it was as grounded as the AC games in places. I also wish there were more distinct city environments to kind of climb around on. Of course, I can understand why that wouldn't work for lore reasons and whatnot.
One thing I really disliked was how little Talion seemed to progress throughout the entire game. He just didn't seem to change at all. I would have appreciated little touches like a degradation of his attire a la the tears in Batman's clothing as those games progress. Honestly, more outfit customization like in the AC games would have been more preferable, but I would have settled for story-based outfit changes or wounds appearing on Talion. Hell, the randomly generated nemesis orcs change over time, so why not Talion as well?
Speaking of the Nemesis system, I was actually kind of shocked at how barebones it really was once you have killed a few dozen captains. I saw way too much repeated dialogue and the same names over and over again and there wasn't a ton of variety in the faces and armor either. It would have been nice to see a few truly unique looking Orcs that didn't share components with your basic orcs. I also didn't like how nearly every encounter played out the exact same way near the end. Once the orcs were of a high enough power level, their only weaknesses were like Fear of Burning and vulnerable to combat finishers. The nemesis system is very cool on the surface, but there just isn't enough depth to it for me to consider it a truly next-generation feature. I mean, it makes for an extremely cool first experience story to tell, but when every encounter afterward plays out nearly identically, it doesn't really make me feel like sharing my tale. There is a lot more room for "scripted" encounters to fit into the algorithm. To have a random orc captain come up and shank you out of nowhere would have been cool. Instead, they're all like "HEY RANGER!"
I mean, I think a sequel could easily iron out all of these quirks and make this idea truly grand, but I don't think Monolith really nailed anything this time around.
SoM did make me long for an Arkham game set in the Mortal Kombat universe at least. Man, now that I think about it, I really hope WB Montreal ends up doing that instead of a Suicide Squad game. There is a lot of great background lore and character archetypes to work with in MK and it is all set in a world that would make perfect sense with the Arkham mechanics. Hell, you even have that "gadget" variety in battle by using the various powers each character has. I mean, we all know Shaolin Monks was excellent, but the Arkham control scheme is a bit superior in a lot of ways, so I don't see why it shouldn't be adapted to Outworld.
When it comes to combat, I just feel like Talion is missing far too many tools in his arsenal compared to good ole Bruce Wayne. I mean, it's not like his bland character design doesn't have more than enough pouches to hold some gadgets to add a little bit of flavor to the combat. I honestly think all of the gadget play is what brings the variety to the combat in the Arkham games. I just don't believe there was enough to play around with in SoM. I also think the battlefield can get a little too crowded at times. There are just so many Orcs/Uruks on screen at any given time that a good portion of them just seem to be completely clumped together doing nothing and facing random directions for no reason at all.
Moving around the environments also felt really odd to me. It just doesn't feel fun to travel around Mordor in my eyes. I mean, you can either jump on a caragor's back or sprint for a very limited amount of time across extremely wide open and relatively barren fields. I will give the shadow strike ability some credit here though. That is the one ability that made moving around a battlefield seem really exciting. I just wish it could have been upgraded a good bit more like the various platforming uses your bow has in the Tomb Raider reboot. The building climbing almost felt as floaty as inFamous at times. I kind of wish it was as grounded as the AC games in places. I also wish there were more distinct city environments to kind of climb around on. Of course, I can understand why that wouldn't work for lore reasons and whatnot.
One thing I really disliked was how little Talion seemed to progress throughout the entire game. He just didn't seem to change at all. I would have appreciated little touches like a degradation of his attire a la the tears in Batman's clothing as those games progress. Honestly, more outfit customization like in the AC games would have been more preferable, but I would have settled for story-based outfit changes or wounds appearing on Talion. Hell, the randomly generated nemesis orcs change over time, so why not Talion as well?
Speaking of the Nemesis system, I was actually kind of shocked at how barebones it really was once you have killed a few dozen captains. I saw way too much repeated dialogue and the same names over and over again and there wasn't a ton of variety in the faces and armor either. It would have been nice to see a few truly unique looking Orcs that didn't share components with your basic orcs. I also didn't like how nearly every encounter played out the exact same way near the end. Once the orcs were of a high enough power level, their only weaknesses were like Fear of Burning and vulnerable to combat finishers. The nemesis system is very cool on the surface, but there just isn't enough depth to it for me to consider it a truly next-generation feature. I mean, it makes for an extremely cool first experience story to tell, but when every encounter afterward plays out nearly identically, it doesn't really make me feel like sharing my tale. There is a lot more room for "scripted" encounters to fit into the algorithm. To have a random orc captain come up and shank you out of nowhere would have been cool. Instead, they're all like "HEY RANGER!"
I mean, I think a sequel could easily iron out all of these quirks and make this idea truly grand, but I don't think Monolith really nailed anything this time around.
SoM did make me long for an Arkham game set in the Mortal Kombat universe at least. Man, now that I think about it, I really hope WB Montreal ends up doing that instead of a Suicide Squad game. There is a lot of great background lore and character archetypes to work with in MK and it is all set in a world that would make perfect sense with the Arkham mechanics. Hell, you even have that "gadget" variety in battle by using the various powers each character has. I mean, we all know Shaolin Monks was excellent, but the Arkham control scheme is a bit superior in a lot of ways, so I don't see why it shouldn't be adapted to Outworld.
Play the story mission close to where you enter the Nurnen region.
I just beat it on my Xbox One. I have to say it was a great game. I'd give it a solid B. Reason being:
1) the first half of the game was great with the story missions and everything. The second half was just okay. I mean,
2) the nemesis system is barebones, but I'll chalk this one up as the 1.0 version. There is much room for improvement with it.
3) where is my new game plus? This game would have been perfect for it.
4) how about the ability to create your own enemies within the nemesis system, but you can only have them start out as the lowest rank and work then up and what not.
All in all GAF this was a great game with some huge potential in its hopeful ffuture.
1) the first half of the game was great with the story missions and everything. The second half was just okay. I mean,
The Tower and the Hammer were awesome, menacing characters but we're just straight chumps in engagement.
2) the nemesis system is barebones, but I'll chalk this one up as the 1.0 version. There is much room for improvement with it.
3) where is my new game plus? This game would have been perfect for it.
4) how about the ability to create your own enemies within the nemesis system, but you can only have them start out as the lowest rank and work then up and what not.
All in all GAF this was a great game with some huge potential in its hopeful ffuture.
Oh man I'm so miffed. I like the game and had a lot of fun with it but I felt "done" with it about 10 hours ago in playtime. I could have gone and finished it but I thought what the hell I'll go do something I never do and earn a platinum. Did all of the tedious work with branding and getting the level 25 rune and shit, only to have one of the story missions bug and not give me the trophy for it. Ugh. Only way to get it would be to repeat the game, and it's one of the last trophies you can get. No way that's happening.
That's what I get for actually caring about achievements for once in my life.
That's what I get for actually caring about achievements for once in my life.
Its not only the protagonist, its every human in the game and they don't look great.
Dalibor_San
Member
No, last I heard they are still working on it...It is kind of a bummer I really regret getting a second GTX 970.
Lockjaw333
Member
I absolutely agree with this. Especially when they do the dueling swords intro when its a captain or warchief, Talion looks so vanilla compared to the Uruks.
BrassDragon
Member
I was kind of surprised they didn't evolve Talion's appearance throughout the game - I fully expected him to become more grisly as his possession by Celebrimbor progressed, similar to (second area spoiler)
Marwen/Theoden under the influence of Saruman
possession, dealing with dark powers for the greater good etc.
Using blatant magic / power comes at a price in this world and SoM just lets you revel in it without any narrative or thematic payoff.
I have this game on steam. I have a DLC -- Guardians of the Flaming Eye -- that is listed as installed on my Mordor Steam DLC properties tab. Does anyone know where this DLC is ingame? I have seen this question asked here, on the steam forum, reddit, gamefaqs, the monolith boards, and other forums, but the developers do not seem to want to answer.
Also, I believe there was a Celebrimbor mission that was part of the premium preorder on steam. This mission too is missing and thes sites above have seen the question asked, but no answers are available. Anyone here know?
Also, I believe there was a Celebrimbor mission that was part of the premium preorder on steam. This mission too is missing and thes sites above have seen the question asked, but no answers are available. Anyone here know?
Bananajama
Banned
After the first 5 sessions where I constantly died - something finally clicked yesterday for me on this.
I've got he hang of gathering intel, dominating beasts etc etc.
Loving it now
Need to go after a particular Uruk Captain I've made a bit too strong though
I've got he hang of gathering intel, dominating beasts etc etc.
Loving it now
Need to go after a particular Uruk Captain I've made a bit too strong though
Indeed, it would've been nice to see Talion detoriorate for having used such powers. Tolkien's described it in his books, Jackson showed it in his movies; using these kind of forces have an effect on one's mind and physical appearance. Just compare Frodo in Mt Doom vs Frodo when we first meet him in the Shire, or Bilbo's appearance.
Talion seems to be free from such inflictions, even though Celebrimbor literally tells Talion about how weak and vulnerable the race of Men is against such powers.
Unlucky me, I got 2 captains who have a trait where they don't perform the killing me after they put me down.
It really pisses me off, because they don't level up?
The Flaming Eye mission unlocks once you're further in the game IIRC.
The Bright Lord will be released at a later date IIRC.
Thanks. I'm on mission 18 of 20, but I haven't seen anything unlock. Can you remember when it unlocks or of what the mission consists?
Appreciate the help.
SmartWaffles
Member
I believe that is an additional side mission called "Confrontation", it is a level 8 Legendary Captain, killing him guarantees an Epic rune, it is located in the first map if my memory is correct.
Thanks. If that is correct, then I may have done that mission without even realizing it was that DLC because no such mission now awaits on either map. It's a little strange that such a simple answer has been this long in coming. Again, thanks.
MaximusPayne
Member
Picked the game up this weekend. I have to say, I wasn't expecting this level of graphics from an open world. My only complaint is it feels like the character has no weight when moving and in combat.
I got it in my first try :/ But I can say the one thing that I did different is that I brought him up from the bottom(helped him win his conflicts) Killed off my captains/warchiefs(because I had pretty much the entire grid filled) I made my captains fight him and I just killed them with dispatch and got him to 20. Then I let him kill me, put the death threat, set him on fire, and did a combat finisher. I guess I got lucky if it's that hard to get it.
Haunted
Member
____ the Singer is another great one.Holy shit, just had this guy jump in on another captain fight, LOL:
Their underlying system is so strong. Most of their randomly generated Orcs and Uruks had more personality and were more interesting than the rote characters/villains they created by hand.
I'm really stuck - been killed enough times by captains now that they're mostly overpowered. It's like everytime I get into a fight with one, despite clearing out the area, other captains and a bunch of other brutes inevitably arrive!
About 6 hours in and just getting frustrating at constantly dying....not like I'm terrible at these kind of games and/or difficult games - have completed Akham Asylum + Dark Souls, just getting very frustrated at this game now, feels like the difficulty curve is screwed if you don't do things in exactly the right way....maybe I spent too long at the start just messing about and attacking anything that came in my path!
Tempted to restart and approach the game in a more structured way - thoughts?
About 6 hours in and just getting frustrating at constantly dying....not like I'm terrible at these kind of games and/or difficult games - have completed Akham Asylum + Dark Souls, just getting very frustrated at this game now, feels like the difficulty curve is screwed if you don't do things in exactly the right way....maybe I spent too long at the start just messing about and attacking anything that came in my path!
Tempted to restart and approach the game in a more structured way - thoughts?
Will give that a shot, thanks!
CyanideFuse
Member
Don't be afraid to run away. I have done this a few times to disperse the crowd. You can often return and find the captain on their own and do a lot of damage before the rest are alerted. Also make sure you know the strengths / weaknesses of the opponent. It does get pretty overwhelming I have to say.
Keep an eye out for uruks who are running towards a torch to raise the alarm. Take them out as quickly as you can.
My fights are rarely fought primarily on the floor; I also have a good run around rather than staying rooted to the same spot. Running around and scaling higher levels gives you some breathing space plus you can use the height to perform stealth kills or shoot your arrows. I use the environment to my advantage such as hives, opening Caragor cages (and riding them), exploding fires / kegs.
I am not sure what leveling up you have done but there are a lot of powers that help immensely when used. Mixing up the combat and thinking quickly as to your surroundings goes a long way.
Okay so I am about 19 hours in. I have 6 main missions left, 2 sword missions, and 3 bow/dagger missions. I'm bored at work and I look up what bonuses/buffs you get for finishing the sword/dagger/bow missions and to my surprise the answer is nothing. Well not nothing but only a cosmetic difference. This has totally hampered my desire to finish them. The only reason I'm considering it is for ore Mirian to unlock some things but holy crap what bullshit. I guess I should have figured this when finding all the illidian (sp) and the items or whatever didn't give me shit either. 
bummed out.
bummed out.Bananajama
Banned
I usually take the high ground once I'm getting overwhelmed, wait for the game to go out of "combat mode" and give me the Brutalize option. This disperses the crowd, immediatly look for explosives and take out a lot of Uruk with 1 or 2 arrows. After that, either run or go after another target.
Veritigo_X
Member
Okay so I am about 19 hours in. I have 6 main missions left, 2 sword missions, and 3 bow/dagger missions. I'm bored at work and I look up what bonuses/buffs you get for finishing the sword/dagger/bow missions and to my surprise the answer is nothing. Well not nothing but only a cosmetic difference. This has totally hampered my desire to finish them. The only reason I'm considering it is for ore Mirian to unlock some things but holy crap what bullshit. I guess I should have figured this when finding all the illidian (sp) and the items or whatever didn't give me shit either.
Completing the legends of your weapons gives M and achievements. But I kind of liked the set pieces, especially the ones where the odds were stacked against you.
If you're having trouble obtaining the level 25 rune issuing a death threat on the target is the last thing to do as it drastically increases the chance of getting an epic instead.
Just keep in mind you get a:
lvl 22 rune - if the target is lvl 20 warchief
+1 - if you know his weaknesses
+1 - if he killed you before (revenge active)
+1 - if you exploit his weakness (eg. fear of burning, caragors, stealth finisher etc)
While it was a fucking chore to max up my target without death threats with him being lvl 14 and getting him to show up I had to stealth kill his supporters 6 times FOR FUCKS SAKE, luckily got my rune on the first try.
Just keep in mind you get a:
lvl 22 rune - if the target is lvl 20 warchief
+1 - if you know his weaknesses
+1 - if he killed you before (revenge active)
+1 - if you exploit his weakness (eg. fear of burning, caragors, stealth finisher etc)
While it was a fucking chore to max up my target without death threats with him being lvl 14 and getting him to show up I had to stealth kill his supporters 6 times FOR FUCKS SAKE, luckily got my rune on the first try.
I enjoy playing them for the most part but having a larger carrot at the end then just points to purchase things would be nice.
Yeah, I honestly expected more as well, maybe a permanent rune that would lift the weapons to fuckawesome levels.
Man branding a high up captain, and then seeing them die while fighting a random caragor after is so god damn frustrating. Wasn't even a hunting event I was just trying to get a collectable near where I branded them and then it zoomed in on them dying nearby. I had no clue!
I had a similar encounter with a legendary captain yesterday...he was one hit KO-ing me (twice) and he had the "no-second chance" buff, spear and shield with immunity to stun and vaulting. Branded a bunch of Uruks, finally got him low for a brand...maybe I should keep him around...but thought, nah, you need to die, my pride won't allow you to live. I love this game.
I was happy when I got a rune that add %50 bonus to swords. Even one of those would be nice as it has made the game easier.
Respect.
krameriffic
Member
The combat doesn't get the balance right. The finishers are way too powerful, mostly owing to the invulnerability to everything they give you, and they are way too easy to maintain due to the double finisher upgrade and critical strikes. There's nothing to encourage variety like there was in Batman. You can win any fight, no matter how overwhelming the odds, with a very simple combo: AoE finisher->AoE finisher->3 darts. This is chainable forever, and does significant damage to a large group of enemies and nothing can attack you through it.
The ranged enemies make a straight up fight completely untenable, and the damage your basic attacks do, even with the 50% damage sword rune, is shitty compared to just using finishers. Hitting dudes doesn't have the good feel that the Batman games have either. It's not as impactful or fast because you don't leap around the battlefield as much as Batman does when he's on a combo. The bow is OK in combat, but your ammo is too limited to deal with very large groups and multiple captains at once. Its strength also mostly derives from the time slowing/invulnerability of shadow strike.
There's no reason to fight shield guys or the berserkers the "right" way when its so easy to charge up finishers and instakill them. Batman's combat never felt as tedious when I wasn't cheesing it (which is definitely possible in Batman), but SoM combat is basically extreme tedium or cheese.
PapaEmeritus
Member
This branding of the 5 is not fun at all. I hate when games do this type of thing. It's like a standstill for progression and why I don't finish games alot. This is not fun to me.
Indeed.
I had to save one of my captain's ass several times (he was real incompetent) but thankfully he made it to Warchief, in the end (because i slayed everyone else on the chart, lol).
I fast travel after i mark someone, just to not have them around to die randomly.
jim2point0
Banned
I finished the game last night. It was amazingly good fun.... right up until the end. It all kinda felt a bit rushed. Some "boss" battles were a joke...
But this is still a contender for my game of the year.
If they're going to do updates or DLC, I'd like some more locations. If anything is going to burn me out, it's the same familiar settings. The gameplay is pretty damn solid. I'll probably keep playing it a little just because the combat is so fun.
There's nothing like walking up to a warchief, swinging your sword, and being countered so hard that you consider running away for a brief moment. Some of these guys are so tough that I fear what they'll do to me. One Warchief picked me up into the air and slammed me into the ground. 60% health to 0. Last chance barely kept me in the fight.
I learned that you can avoid such an encounter if you look up info in advance, but sometimes I prefer to go in blind. When you know what an orc is afraid of, it's pretty easy to exploit that. I prefer to have their strengths and weaknesses be a surprise for me. That way I can learn as I go and adapt based on what I'm seeing during the fight. This system is so brilliant.
PRESS [SPACEBAR] TO WIN
But this is still a contender for my game of the year.
If they're going to do updates or DLC, I'd like some more locations. If anything is going to burn me out, it's the same familiar settings. The gameplay is pretty damn solid. I'll probably keep playing it a little just because the combat is so fun.
There's nothing like walking up to a warchief, swinging your sword, and being countered so hard that you consider running away for a brief moment. Some of these guys are so tough that I fear what they'll do to me. One Warchief picked me up into the air and slammed me into the ground. 60% health to 0. Last chance barely kept me in the fight.
I learned that you can avoid such an encounter if you look up info in advance, but sometimes I prefer to go in blind. When you know what an orc is afraid of, it's pretty easy to exploit that. I prefer to have their strengths and weaknesses be a surprise for me. That way I can learn as I go and adapt based on what I'm seeing during the fight. This system is so brilliant.
I want to know why (as it took me several hours in to really get what was going on and when in the game) my L3 + R3 unlimited finisher won't trigger when I push both in at the same time. The icon down at the bottom with the sword is completely filled up and I even tried waiting until ihad a flaming sword on top of it to activate it.
martino
Member
The game is great but the ending is a joke imo it's empty ,
we learn nothing and it only try to push a sequel that will have difficulties to be better (i'm speaking about the scenario something that is not a strong point of the game). Does the game need a scenario ? it is arguable
CyanideFuse
Member
I have completed 10 of the 20 missions and I have put in 15 hours. Even though the 'honeymoon' period does feel over it doesn't feel boring and I still end up spending an hour having random skirmishes rather than actually bothering with a mission.
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