Middle Earth: Shadow of War [XPA, XO, PC, PS4]

[Deleted member 11852]

Are the animations refined in the final game?

Compared to what? And how are you objectively measuring animation quality?

 

[BRiT]

Are the animations refined in the final game?

How do you define "refined"? What would satisfy that word? Were the animations from the initial footage not "refined"? If so, what was missing to not classify as "refined"?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

20+ hours in and so hooked by this. Your environmental navigation and combat has been enhanced slightly from the first game and it's even more fun to play power politics with with captains and war chiefs but now with the added investment that they are properly part of your army.

And the dialogue.. the orc dialogue is phenomenally good. And hilarious. Mostly hilarious.

No compunction to buy anything with real cash, there is absolutely no need unless you dislike killing orcs, in which case you're probably playing the wrong game to begin with.

Still struggling with the game's menus and systems interfaces which feels like it was designed by six people, who spoke different languages and never co-ordinated. It's awful. It's Mass Effect-level awful. This is very much a game for people who like to work things out for themselves.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Open world games and their convoluted interfaces *sigh*. Seriously, I love how the new Ass Creed looks, but god damnit if the look isn't being torpedoed by all these ill-fitting icons the game insists on vomitting on the bloody screen. And what's up with the (terrible) Destiny menus in my end-of-ancient-Egypt-era game?

As for Mordor, can anyone tell me how the game's performing on OG PS4 hardware?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Open world games and their convoluted interfaces *sigh*. Seriously, I love how the new Ass Creed looks, but god damnit if the look isn't being torpedoed by all these ill-fitting icons the game insists on vomitting on the bloody screen. And what's up with the (terrible) Destiny menus in my end-of-ancient-Egypt-era game?

AC Unity had fairly extensive UI customisation options. Shadow of War does too, letting you decide what UI elements are shown and what are not.

 

[iroboto]

Open world games and their convoluted interfaces *sigh*. Seriously, I love how the new Ass Creed looks, but god damnit if the look isn't being torpedoed by all these ill-fitting icons the game insists on vomitting on the bloody screen. And what's up with the (terrible) Destiny menus in my end-of-ancient-Egypt-era game?

You stand in an open market where merchants are selling their goods to walker bys. "Mussels" one yells, "Lobster" another. The stink of the seafood causes your nose to stifle. But you can't help but shake this weird feeling that something is watching you. You look forward with weary eyes as you walk through the market place. Small pockets of air rush down the market place.
"Abstergo" the winds whistle Into your ear as you stare at the pyramids.

 

[Sigfried1977]

I know why the hud looks the way it does. Doesn't make it any better really. If the Abstergo framing device (which hasn't been more than an obligatory afterthought for the 3 people who ever liked it in the first place for the last 3 or 4 games) was at least somewhat interesting.

Either way, bought Shadow of War on Saturday. First impressions were rather "meh". Hell, this is one bloated sequel was my first thought: So may skills, so much loot, so much stuff to collect and manage. Did Tallion always have that puffy, Mickey Rourke-ish, drunkard-on-roids kinda face? And why the hell do modern tps games feel so sluggish to control? I played a bit of Evil Within 2 as well and that also felt like wading through waist-high mud. Didn't help that I was coming straight from the exceptionally snappy Dragon's Dogma. I eventually managed to get over all these humps and now the game is fairly addictive. Just like the first one really. The micro transactions are very much in-your-face and do feel really scummy, though: here's your time-limited xp-booster! Here's your chance for epic gear! And it's all 35% off because it's the first week and we're such good sports, y'all!

 

[Malo]

No compunction to buy anything with real cash, there is absolutely no need unless you dislike killing orcs, in which case you're probably playing the wrong game to begin with.

Interested in getting your opinion on the last act (if/when you get there) and the grind it apparently takes to unlock the full ending if you don't purchase any microtransactions.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Interested in getting your opinion on the last act (if/when you get there) and the grind it apparently takes to unlock the full ending if you don't purchase any microtransactions.

Yeah, I'm never going to get there, or at least not soon. I'm too distracted screwing over orcs who look at me funny. I read Act III was awful so I'll probably punch out once I've had my fill of Act II.

 

[Sigfried1977]

As much as I enjoy screwing with Orc hyrarchies, if the Nurn area is an indicator of what the game's progression is ultimately gonna boil down to, the game's definitely gonna get old. Just to clarify: there are basically no story missions in Nurn. It's about building your Orc army (which is a rather laborious process) and that's that. The Nemesis system is a lot of fun (if still slightly more interesting on paper than in practice), but it's not quite enough carry the bulk of the game on its own.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

As much as I enjoy screwing with Orc hyrarchies, if the Nurn area is an indicator of what the game's progression is ultimately gonna boil down to, the game's definitely gonna get old. Just to clarify: there are basically no story missions in Nurn. It's about building your Orc army (which is a rather laborious process) and that's that. The Nemesis system is a lot of fun (if still slightly more interesting on paper than in practice), but it's not quite enough carry the bulk of the game on its own.

According to the reviews I read the game is basically designed to make you want to purchase loot crates so you can actually play the game instead of having to keep your Orc army going.

No buy for me, I disgust loot crates, micro transactions and all that other shit that has no place in a full price game.

BTW I don't get what people find so special about the nemesis system. I played the first game and I personally never really cared who I was killing. It was kinda fun if to battle an Orc that might have killed you before but I didn't get out of my way to kill or promote Orcs apart for getting some achievements.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

According to the reviews I read the game is basically designed to make you want to purchase loot crates so you can actually play the game instead of having to keep your Orc army going.

Having played this game a lot, I could not disagree more. If you want to get through the game as quickly as possible, if it feels like it's dragging, or if you want the easiest siege/warchief/warlord fights by having your people everywhere, then crates orcs is one way. But it's worth reminding folks put off by this that there are two fundamental currencies. One which is earned by playing and one which you pay $$$ for. 30+ hours in, I've never felt like I had to pay $$$ as I've always had plenty of in game currency to bolster my ranks with the 'free' orcs loot crates.

Even if you run out of that, it's not hard to farm orcs and level them up - or just lower your enemy's levels to even things up. But if you're not enjoying the moment-to-monet stealth/combat then this isn't your game. I tired of Mordor after about 15 hours but I'm double that in War and going strong with no game fatigue.

BTW I don't get what people find so special about the nemesis system. I played the first game and I personally never really cared who I was killing. It was kinda fun if to battle an Orc that might have killed you before but I didn't get out of my way to kill or promote Orcs apart for getting some achievements.

I also didn't understand get the appeal in Shadow of Mordor but the nemesis system in War is much better. Monolith have done a staggering amount of characterisation and voice work for absolutely tons of very unique orcs. Many of them have "a thing", I've had some creepy orc want to sing to me through combat, one who screams, one you answers all dialogue with a single word. I've read several reviews that mention their orc experiences and few of them seem to be shared. Not only is the characterisation good, as in if these were in Peter Jackson films, it wouldn't be out of place, but many of them are genuinely funny, creep or terrifying. The Nemesis system is multidimensional now too, before it was just you vs. orcs, not it's you and your orcs vs. other orcs.

Shadow of War appeals to both my desire to cut orcs to pieces using my combat skills, and my inner RTS player who wants to plot and plan, then have things go wrong, then re-build. If the latter aspect is something that doesn't appeal then you may find the game demanding more orcs than you want to procure naturally.

 

[Sigfried1977]

The sheer wealth of seemingly unique orcs the Nemesis system creates is fantastic. I just don't think the much-lauded dynamism the system supposedly causes amounts to all that much in the end. If the orc captains actually roamed the world, got into fights, went on hunts, betrayed each other and tried to sneak up on Tallion in real time it would be utterly amazing, but it's all being handled in a very abstract, Civilization-esque, turn-based backend process instead. It's especially weird when you cut down an orc captain, and literally within seconds his blood brother will spawn right in to enact his revenge.

I also think the game is a little too generous with its second chance mechanic. Considering how the big hook of the game pretty much requires Tallion's demise in order to fully function, the game is awfully hesitant when it comes to finishing him off. Having a powerful orc as a bodyguard makes it even less likely. I've survived as much as four lethal blows during one fight as a result.

The first game was a lot less forgiving, especially early on.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

If the orc captains actually roamed the world, got into fights, went on hunts, betrayed each other and tried to sneak up on Tallion in real time it would be utterly amazing, but it's all being handled in a very abstract, Civilization-esque, turn-based backend process instead.

I've stumbled on many orc captains whilst out in the wild. They do fight among themselves - I just wish there were a few more ways to initiate this through subterfuge and skulduggery.

It's especially weird when you cut down an orc captain, and literally within seconds his blood brother will spawn right in to enact his revenge.

Yeah, they do that too, which is disappointing.

 

[Sigfried1977]

Sure, you'll occasionally find them bashing each other's head in (though this only seems to be the case when one of the combatants is on my team), but I've yet to see them doing the more elaborate things from the Nemesis missions.

In terms of random A.I. minions attacking each other this is really no more advanced than GTA 3.

 

[BRiT]

Just a heads up to those who are playing Shadow Of War on a Xbox One X. You'll want to make sure you have the following free game add-on installed for the upgraded experience -- the 4K Cinematic Pack. It seems the High Resolution Texture Pack is only for PCs.

https://twitter.com/x/status/946557339410227200

 

[DrJay24]

I started this yesterday. It was was like playing the previous game at first. Then the upgrade loop kicked in and it was hard to put down. I still don't like the combat so I try to stay at a range and blow crap up. I'm like level 10 so I'm still in the first two zones.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I started this yesterday. It was was like playing the previous game at first. Then the upgrade loop kicked in and it was hard to put down. I still don't like the combat so I try to stay at a range and blow crap up. I'm like level 10 so I'm still in the first two zones.

I focussed on ranged combat and subterfuge as well then, as I began to accrue more points, started beefing up my melee skills. Melee is a lot of fun once you have more than the basic skillset; I had the same complaint of the original game too. Out of the box, CQC is plain bad/boring.

 

[dobwal]

20+ hours in and so hooked by this. Your environmental navigation and combat has been enhanced slightly from the first game and it's even more fun to play power politics with with captains and war chiefs but now with the added investment that they are properly part of your army.

And the dialogue.. the orc dialogue is phenomenally good. And hilarious. Mostly hilarious.

No compunction to buy anything with real cash, there is absolutely no need unless you dislike killing orcs, in which case you're probably playing the wrong game to begin with.

Still struggling with the game's menus and systems interfaces which feels like it was designed by six people, who spoke different languages and never co-ordinated. It's awful. It's Mass Effect-level awful. This is very much a game for people who like to work things out for themselves.

Yeah I love this game. And the game gives you enough silver, gold and loot to make spending actual money on loot boxes feel totally unnecessary.

My one complaint is I don't like the fact that ordinary orcs don't impact leveling. I find myself mainly grinding through captains to push my way up through the higher levels. I feel like if ordinary NPCs affected leveling I would spend more time aimlessly traveling across the map just having fun.

 

[London Geezer]

So I've been playing through this on my Pro and honestly I don't understand the whole "download 4k textures" on the X. The game has HORRIBLE textures on Pro, and not because of a limit in memory. They're just bad. There's hundreds of games running on PS4 Pro right now with much, much better textures, without 4K packs or 'extra memory' available. Horizon Zero Dawn being the prime example, it makes this game look like a PS3 game and no one ever needed a '4K texture pack'.
Weird.

Super fun game though, I think I've spent around 20-30 hours already doing nothing but kill captains and mess around.