LOTR Shadow Of Mordor OT - Thoughts, Impressions?

Hey guys,

Shadow Of Mordor is officially released and should be in your area for pickup.

This thread is basically everything and anything Shadow Of Mordor, so discuss the game. Likes, dislikes, praises, criticisms, etc. Let us know what you think!

Installing now, not sure how much actually play time i'll get until the weekend though. Kid will be home from school soon after install completes and then I have work the next few days so don't see myself getting much time to play right away.

@Metamania:

Are you picking the game up? If so, what are your initial impressions of the game? I must admit I am very tempted to get this game but with Forza Horizon 2 launching the same day in the UK, I will wait and get it at another point when I will have more time to play it.

Well... I just ran the benchmark, have yet to run the game because kid is home in 10 mins. On my gtx780 FTW (3gb) with everything set to ultra I got 72FPS average... even with the setting that says you should have 6gb to use it at ultra. My min FPS was 27, but I watched the numbers the entire time and the only time it dropped below 60 was right at the beginning just after coming off the black screen.

You need to download the ultra HD textures pack separately apparently.

The whole orc hierarchy thing they have working here is actually pretty great. I've already had this huge rivalry with an orc captain who made his fame on killing me. I kinda got absorbed in tracking him down and killing him to the point where I pretty much dropped everything else I was doing and started following these vendetta quests that were generating themselves out of our previous encounters.

The orc in question was just a common grunt that killed me during a challenge mission and rose in ranks from that...Whenever I'd meet him in battle he'd start by taunting me about his earlier victories. Then the game spawned an execution quest where I had to spoil this execution he was holding against rival orcs...well, I did that, and his hostages escaped, but someone let the hounds loose and it forced me to regroup a bit, whereupon he escaped. Then I tracked him to a feast he was holding and slaughtered him in front of his own men. At this point, I thought I was done with him...he's humiliated and, as far as I knew, dead. But a little while later he showed up in one of the quests I was doing relating to something else with vengeance on his mind...he was all messed up with this big scar on his face, one eye missing, from our last fight. Ended him for good there...i think. And that was all totally unique to my game...really kinda cool...I mean, i was hating this guy more than most story villains.

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I just picked the game up. Not sure when I will be able to play it though.

After a couple hours of play, this game is fucking great... I don't even like LotR

5 hours in and I love it

The game looks like like a combination of the worst shit from Batman and Assassin's Creed mixed with bunch of generic tropes from awful western games.

That is different enough from other video games in favor of purchasing Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. The horseback, or rather Caragor, combat looks robotic. Leaning over and swinging his blade, and repeating that entire animation with little to no recovery time is not thrilling. Other parts of the game are, but that is something I refuse to do much of because it does not entertain me and that is one of the main reasons I buy video games.

Im pretty excited. Getting it tomorrow

With the new phones hitting the market, I'm currently a bit strapped for cash now but will be checking this out soon. Looks good so far.

What about the Progression System ?

@Ish_basic: Wow. That is pretty cool.

The game is actually a lot of fun. Reminds me so much of Assassin's Creed and maybe a little bit of Arkham (solely on combat, but it isn't as rhythmic or dymanic as Arkham's combat).

that sounds really good. just what i was hoping for, to be able to create your own stories within the game. will be picking it up this weekend

@Ish_basic:

Hahaha Thats sound cool! Man I can't wait to play. I would have done the same. That is awesome he came back on you. The nemesis sounds great.

@Pffrbt:

That comment means about the same as your name... nothing! Have you played it yet? To give us this in depth review?

@Ish_basic:

That sounds really cool. Is the gameplay holding up or does it start to feel like it is dragging if you are getting past the opening stages?

Same here. I'm really liking it.

There's a lot to this game, it's hard to know where to start. All I'll stay for now is that it is very clear that Monolith put a lot of work in this game. Th amount of detail and variety they put in the characters is unbelievable. It's one of the few games that every playthrough will be unique from others. Killing the Urnk is super fun.

Am I right in thinking that the captains are getting stronger the more and more they kill you?

I'm at 12 hours and 3 min now lol XD, still loving it

Yes. Every time a captain or a random NPC kills you, they rank up in Power level and become more powerfully.

Oh man, I think I'll invest 2 times that amount of time this weekend. xD

I think this is the first next-gen that I'm really into.

I own a copy of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, now (Disc, because digital is not worth it, yet). I am about twenty minutes in and I can say with certainty that the basics are easy to learn. That is worth playing.

Nope, gameplay gets better as you go.

That's... unfair. :(

Or rather, Caragor riding

i getting shadow mordor on december probably

I am really excited to get it tomorrow

Combat is too easy and too repetitive much like ac,other than that i am liking it so far.

Reviews were great , comments are positive , so far so good !

Atmosphere seems to be intense , all it needs is a good package of soundtracks , how are the soundtracks guys?

@mjorh: It is not bad.

My only complaint so far is how fast enemies re-spawn... I kill an entire stronghold and before I can escape the area it's full again.

i agree. That's not to say the combat isn't satisfying, but it pretty easy. Only time it gets difficulty is when there are a large amount of enemies on screen (like 15+) and a captain. But I imagine for higher level players it would be easy to manage.

My criticism is the same. Just leaving an area for one second and enemies will already be respawned immediately. This problem keeps fights going for longer than they should if your near a stronghold or makeshift camp. And I can't make myself run away because it is too tempting to kill them since they're so easy. This makes the game feel more "video game-y" if you know what I mean. It makes the world feel a bit less organic and in-drawing, but only by a little bit.

It isn't a huge issue, but if Monolith plans to throw patches out for this game, the one addition that would be really good is putting respawn times/delays across the entire world.

@Behardy24

Then they can add a Challenge Mode to compensate for the change.

I'm not far along in the game yet, but I believe there is already a challenge mode, both in the open world and as a separate mission pack.

Glad I wasn't the only one who felt that way. I tend to like a little time to sit back and enjoy the carnage that I've wrought.

@Behardy24

Whats the Progression System like ?

I think it's a very good thing. It constantly makes the game more difficulty and has the dark souls effect of consequences for you getting killed. It also causes you to make strategies to deal with the captain as they will become much more powerful if you let them stay alive.

You mean the leveling up system, correct?

Pretty sure I don't need to play it to comment on how it looks while drawing on my experience with games like this while considering everything I've heard about it and considering the developer.

This game looks and sounds great. I love both Assassin's Creed and the Batman Arkham games so it's definitely a game that I'd enjoy. I just picked up a Wii U so this will have to be something that I pick up a little later on.

@Behardy24

Leveling Up, Upgrades and New Toys.... I heard something that sparked my interest... Need to know more.

Okay I see.

So there is multiply layers of leveling in this game, here's the breakdown:

Standard Leveling: In this type of leveling, killing enemies grants you XP. When full up the XP bar and hit the next level, you get 1 ability point. This ability point can be invested in a skill tree that let's you unlock cool moves and combos.

Money Leveling: You can earn money by completing side missions and challenges. Then you can buy increases for your abilities (Health and "focus",etc.)

Rune Leveling: When you kill captains (basically bosses), you can acquire runes as a reward (you have to pick it up though). Since you have three main weapons (A sword for fighting, a bow for long range, and a dagger for stealth) The rune can be equipped for one of those weapons. You automatically have one slot at the start, but you need money to buy more slots. The runes basically increase your chances for doing things (EX: You now have 35% chance of gaining 5 health when killing enemies)

Power Leveling: Completing Nemesis missions or killing captains gains you Power points. These power points unlock skill abilities that are locked away in the skill tree I was talking about in Standard Leveling.

Hope this helped :)

@Behardy24

Oh yes, you are a treasure ! :)..... Looks like Batman's design philosophy is leaking into other games...... On more thing..... Like batman, do you get enough Skill points to unlock everything, or will there be a hard limit (creating unique builds in multiple playthroughs and different for each player) ?