Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor

[DieH@rd]

So according to DF, consoles in relation to PC

                  PS4 | XB1
 Resolution 	| 1080 | 900
 Vegetation 	| medium | low
 Textures 	| high | high
 LOD distance 	| medium | medium
 Shadows 	| high | medium
 AO		| high | high

Still great result for PS4, it is very close to PC [which currently does not utilize any camera/object blur].

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Can someone who has progressed sufficiently far tell me if it's possible to visit the initial map area once the game has expanded into the second area? I've sunk about ten hours into the game so far and I'm not close to mopping up the initial side quests, but then I feel compelled to kill any Orc I see or hear abusing a human. My Orc death count must by sky high

If it's possible to come back later I'll press on with the story, if not I want to maximise all the benefits of the side quests while I can.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sigfried1977]

You can fast travel back anytime you want.
I finished the campaign yesterday, by the way. So far it was easily the most enjoyable game of the year for me. Granted, it was a shitty year so far (save for Tomb Raider DE maybe, but enough with the fucking remasters already), but still.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Both look equally good...

Try downloading the comparison shots from DF and swapping between them. The differences are quite stark in some cases, more so than I was expecting.

 

[pjbliverpool]

So according to DF, consoles in relation to PC

                  PS4 | XB1
 Resolution 	| 1080 | 900
 Vegetation 	| medium | low
 Textures 	| high | high
 LOD distance 	| medium | medium
 Shadows 	| high | medium
 AO		| high | high

Still great result for PS4, it is very close to PC [which currently does not utilize any camera/object blur].

That seems to be a bug which will hopefully get fixed, I'd also like to hear some explanation for the missing AA but even without it I'd say it's an easy win for the PC version at Ultra once the motion blur has been fixed.

The more interesting question for me now is how does the PC perform at those console settings.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

You can fast travel back anytime you want. I finished the campaign yesterday, by the way.

Brilliant, thanks. Really enjoying it and don't feel particularly like I need to advance the story but I gather an interesting new game mechanics unlocks when you do and I'm keen to try it.

 

[Cjail]

Brilliant, thanks. Really enjoying it and don't feel particularly like I need to advance the story but I gather an interesting new game mechanics unlocks when you do and I'm keen to try it.

If you didn't do it already you might want to do the second Ratbag mission because it unlocks the Shadow strike ability which is fantastic IMO.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

If you didn't do it already you might want to do the second Ratbag mission because it unlocks the Shadow strike ability which is fantastic IMO.

I've done that one, I'm about five missions in and most recently

Spoiler

make Ratbag a warchief

, but mostly have been collecting 'M' currency by doing the legendary weapon challenges, collecting flowers and freezing slaves. I've done a few of the Gollum missions too! I love his 'tricksy ranger' songs

Brilliant stuff all round and I already have my own personal nemesis captain who has beat me three times and who I dread facing again

 

[homerdog]

The more interesting question for me now is how does the PC perform at those console settings.

I play with everything max except textures at High at 1080p. 3770K + 2GB GTX670 and 16GB RAM.

Generally hovers around 45fps, but I lock to 30fps and enable vsync. It is very smooth and never ever seems to drop below 30fps.

Tried lowering to those console settings and it's 60fps all day long. I think the draw distance makes a huge difference in FPS, but I like to see things from miles away.

Oh btw I force FXAA in the NVCP which works very well until they get that bug sorted out.

This game is really fun

 

[pjbliverpool]

Awesome, sounds like an excellent port on all fronts then (excluding the motion blur/AA bug).

 

[homerdog]

I think so. Was a bit freaked when I heard they were recommending 6GB VRAM for Ultra and 3GB for High, but at 1080p High is fine with a 2GB card.

 

[Cyan]

I played it for the entire evening yesterday. It really is a lot of fun. It cannot compete on sheer open world breath and scope with a R* or Ubisoft creation, or even with the tiny Seattle Suckerpunch created for Infamous if I'm being completely honest (let's face it - not every developer has an army of slaves and near unlimited budgetary means at its disposal), but in terms of gameplay it's simply head and shoulders above the competition. It's not just the dynamisms of the nemesis system either. It's the simple things like traversal and combat. You know, all that stuff Ubisoft never really managed to get quite right in the AC series. In SoM, it all just works.

I could never get into Assassin's Creed, and I certainly tried, but the game mechanics and gameplay aren't for me. There is something wrong with the game, and I can't explain why, because many many people seem to love the game.

So I might be wrong, but I could never play an AC game for more than an hour in a single sitting. Plus the AI sucks bad. :/

You kill everyone in sight by pressing a single button to win fights, and in fact enemy soldiers come at you one by one, and they don't move if you don't move. Things like that.

Tap the attack button repeatedly -no aim, you can eat a snack in the meanwhile- :smile2: as if it was a matter of life and death, and every enemy will die in no time.

The last standing man won't attack you if you don't attack, but will be around you all the time, AND after having seen all his AI friends die in front of him he won't escape either.

Assassin's Creed makes you feel dumb when playing it.

 

[Sigfried1977]

^It makes you feel dumb because it really is mindnumbingly fucking dumb. The series is essentially about going from icon to icon on a giant map, subsequentially pressing a button to get a pointless reward. It is an unfocused mess of disjointed systems, each of them completely oblivious to each other.
AC Unity sounds like a step in the right direction, though. I just hope they can iron out the technical issues. I love how effortless the PS4 is running all the games I have for it at the moment. Not really in the mood for a chugging 20 fps reality check.

SoM is incredibly focused on the other hand. It's also impressive how well the devs managed to balance the whole thing. Despite its impressively empowering skill tree, complacency is absolutely gonna get you killed. Sure, the final 3 skills are essentially win buttons, but they are also ludicrously expensive. I wrapped up the campaign long before I could afford any one of them.

 

[Ethatron]

Game designers should go with time and offer credit/interest systems.

BTW there is a light crowd-sharing component in the Nemesis system. The Uruks seem to "leak" into other games in the sense that you can kill some which have killed other players and you can be avenged and get some pop (100M) from it as well.
Uruks also revive at times, I suppose they are magically repaired, and appear at much worst condition, like missing eyes or totally wrecked faces.

 

[Sigfried1977]

^ Revived Uruks are fun. While it was a little ridiculous that the same dude named "something-The Mountain-something else" came back at me 3 times within no more than 30 minutes, it was also rather good fun. Poor guy looked like a complete mess: scarred, burned and sporting a fetching metal plate on one side of his forehead - good times.

 

[Arwin]

I could never get into Assassin's Creed, and I certainly tried, but the game mechanics and gameplay aren't for me. There is something wrong with the game, and I can't explain why, because many many people seem to love the game.

So I might be wrong, but I could never play an AC game for more than an hour in a single sitting. Plus the AI sucks bad. :/

You kill everyone in sight by pressing a single button to win fights, and in fact enemy soldiers come at you one by one, and they don't move if you don't move. Things like that.

Tap the attack button repeatedly -no aim, you can eat a snack in the meanwhile- :smile2: as if it was a matter of life and death, and every enemy will die in no time.

The last standing man won't attack you if you don't attack, but will be around you all the time, AND after having seen all his AI friends die in front of him he won't escape either.

Assassin's Creed makes you feel dumb when playing it.

All this does not really apply to Black Flag though in my experience. I'm not saying it's perfect but you're dead in no time if you're not careful.

 

[orangpelupa]

@cyan
i think the enemy off-screen dont move can be a design choice. in DmC Devil May Cry, the developer explains that enemy off-screen need to not attack player to make the player not overwhelmed.

about the other stuff.. yeah. the AI is often weird but not all of them are that stupid. In AC4 and 3 the enemy can work together (one engaging you while the other two waiting to strike back when you strike the 1 other enemy).

 

[Deleted member 11852]

^ Revived Uruks are fun. While it was a little ridiculous that the same dude named "something-The Mountain-something else" came back at me 3 times within no more than 30 minutes, it was also rather good fun.

A friend told me that if you don't decapitate a named orc, there is a chance it'll come back, and apparently the status screen gives a clue. If the spot the captain occupied is replaced with an effigy with the captains head on, he's gone for good. If there is just the slumped body of the captain, he may be reborn.

Remember Hollywood rules - always remove the head

 

[FarticusMaximus]

All this does not really apply to Black Flag though in my experience. I'm not saying it's perfect but you're dead in no time if you're not careful.

Absolutely. Same with Ryse and Batman:AA. All very similar combat systems that start off very simple and get more complex with added abilities, more complex enemy attack patterns and invulnerabilities and more aggressive/crowding enemy behaviour.

Attempting a '1 button spam' will get you killed very quickly in a group with later mobs like axe wielders and captains in Black Flag.

 

[Sigfried1977]

All this does not really apply to Black Flag though in my experience. I'm not saying it's perfect but you're dead in no time if you're not careful.

I actively tried to die in Black Flag and couldn't do it. Once my screen went into greyed-out, almost-dead-o-vision, all the guards stopped dead in their tracks and politely waited for my health to recharge. I think BF is far and away the easiest AC today. Only the the giant ghost ships provide a challenge.
The only AC game with the guts to fight back was the first one. Countering was a hell of a lot trickier in that game and guards would cut you down in no time.