Middle Earth: Shadow of War

X-SOLDIER said:

Not sure why you feel that way (especially since they're working directly with us on the FFVII translation series), but I suppose that doesn't matter.

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Shitty journalism, ethics, methods, etc. See also Zoey Quinn, et al.

(I'm also not fussed about the translation series because that sort of thing never really had much meaning for me)

As a result, I won't give them any of my time, clicks, etc.

/off topic

also, if you're going to talk microtransactions, (gentle request) would you mind splitting that off? I really just want to see more talk about the game itself so I can decide whether or not to buy

Chop Chop Master Onion said:

also, if you're going to talk microtransactions, (gentle request) would you mind splitting that off? I really just want to see more talk about the game itself so I can decide whether or not to buy

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I think that the microtransactions themselves ARE a big point over a number of people deciding whether or not to buy the game, which is why they're mostly tl;dr taking over the thread for the moment, so I'm not into splitting it out unless it gets on too much farther.

I'll be playing more of it again tonight since I played some yesterday, but swapped to rock through the Overwatch Halloween event since my friends were online. So far, it's like the first game turned up to 11 in every way, but you start off feeling WAY more vulnerable than you did in SoM.




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Jim Sterling did NOT defend Destiny 2's microtransactions. He loved the game as a whole, but he was still critical of the presence of microtransactions and loot boxes in the game, particularly the method they used to try and subtly influence you to pay for the microtransactions.

Oh, and btw, Jim now has SOW and has started cover it, releasing a first impressions video a couple hours ago, and he disagrees with the notion that the game doesn't try t get you to buy loot boxes, saying it's just more sneaky in it's methodology, rather than being in your face about it. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SObJQSTUs64

My bad I could have sworn he was cool with it. I saw his video praising Destiny 2 and I guess I just misremembered him being cool with the Eververse in D2.

@Katie CBA to bother watching more tripe from that whiny garbage man, tbqh — especially since you haven't answered whethere or not you've actually looked at any of the counter arguments I presented in the other articles, it's no longer even a conversation until you do.

(Edit: Kotaku just released a podcast all about different games and loot boxes that's worth checking out as well for those interested in understanding the topic: https://kotaku.com/why-loot-boxes-make-people-so-angry-1819394801)


On to bigger and better things:


So, I've probably dropped a good 5-8 hours into the game, I haven't left the starting city of Minas Ithil, got Last Standed twice, but have managed to avoid being slain this far.

It's impressive how huge it all is, even knowing I'm only seeing the very most miniscule bits of the start of it all. The combat is DEFINITELY different, especially when it comes to Captain's, and their abilities to adapt to repetitive combat tactics on the fly, you don't wanna just do the same attack over and over, because they WILL learn.

The changes to gear, gems, and everything else are really engaging, and upgrading weapons and all that feels awesome, especially as you slowly unlock skills. I love the Haedir towers identifying locations, and the little poems. Not sure about the Shelob memories yet, as I don't have enough to get anything from them aside from stills.

It's fun attacking along with Gondorians. There was an Orc named Kûga Black Blade who ambushed me JUST after I'd barely survived a fight against another Captain (the only one who last stand'd meat all, and did it twice). Being from the Dark Tribe, his sudden appearance literally made me jump, and he came at me because the Orc I barely managed to kill was his blood brother, so he was there to get INSTANT revenge. My current sword is the one I took and upgraded after killing him.

Also, the weaknesses, mannerisms, and everything else of the Orcs are WAY more refined in this. Worms are around but will Sprint away from you — even off of ledges to their death — if they see you to avoid being caught. The random mutterings and commentary are vastly better. The way they use strengths and weaknesses are just SO much deeper, it's hard to even describe how thoroughly it eclipses the experience that Shadow of Mordor delivered. Dealing with health and everything else feels even more deadly than it did before, and Focus is much more limited (at least at the moment), so getting off one good head shot it all I can usually manage, and it forces you to really pay attention.

Loving all of Celebrimbor's memory trials as a way to practice things free of the confines of the games death system. After getting into the swing of things, I feel like everything is better mechanically thought out, and after starting out literally as weak as the other random soldiers around me, you get a better appreciation for the scope of the struggle again, and why you're such a badass as a wraith, and that without Celebrimbor, you're worm food — which I can only imagine makes getting Cursed exceptionally terrifying.

The new timing system for Captain missions, as well as the Captain's that make you hunt them down, and the ones just wandering, and the ones hunting you give a HUGE variety to dealing with them in addition to their vast array of tribes, strengths, and weaknesses. It's easy to lose track of time playing this, and SO goddamn fun.

Also, I opened my preorder loot boxes, but I don't get access to Garrison stuff until the next section of the game, so all that's still irrelevant to me, and I'm not interested in getting gear from them, because the gear you get all over from Captains keeps you well occupied, and sufficiently busy. Even when it's a higher level captain, assuming you play tactically (I'm playing on normal), there isn't too much to worry about when you're the one planning the attack. As a case in point, here's me getting some good gear from an Orc that was also amusing:



Side note: The options let you individually disable literally any piece of UI or tooltip on the game screentime that you want, so you can play as minimalist as you want, which is pretty awesome, especially with the photography mode being in it again. I'd expect to see some fun no UI challenges and other things just within the community at some point.




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Tossed most of my gameplay from the weekend on a stream on my YouTube. (Each video has a comment with timestamps for any interesting / cool shit on it because they're very long).





I encountered my Shadow of Mordor Nemesis under awesome circumstances, even though he was REALLY disappointingly not-as-cool looking for the visuals that I was hoping he'd've kept (SoM Nemesis before & SoW Nemesis after). That being said, I did get to murder him, and he left me an awesome dagger that I've been using.

Aside from that: I have a new favourite Orc – Rûg the Ancient One. I've lightly offed him 5 times, and he keeps coming back. I'm REALLY hoping that now that I'm in the process of getting the ability to Dominate Captains, that I'll go back to Minas Ithil Morgul, and he'll try and ambush me again, and I'll make him one of my own badass Captains for my army, because I want to keep him around for good if I can.

Really loving the gear, upgrades, gems, progression, and the new shit, and I'm barely into Act II, and the huge fortress assaults and shit hasn't even started yet.




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A guy I had killed came back, legendary, killed me a few times so I had to lvl up in order to recruit him, accidentally killed him, he came back, killed me some more, finally managed to recruit him, and he's disappeared. I told him to retreat, and he ran out of my life. Not on the army screen, nothing on the map, nada.

I am sad. I want my Stitch-Face

Oh no! That's devastating, dude.

I found an Orc named Bûbol the Dead last night who has the same voice lines & looks exactly like Rûg did before he started getting rags and helmets from surviving my Stealth Attacks. Also, took over my first fortress place, and I'm loving the way that you can deck out all of your stuff and beef it up. I love grinding for upgrades and stuff. God, this game consumes my time so quickly and I regret none of it.







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Got mega betrayed at one point. Also, after I stopped streaming, I made Bûbol the Dead my follower, which has been just the best. He chats and tells me stories, and helps to super-murder people. (I grabbed a couple clips of it that I'll upload later tonight).

Additionally, (also after I stopped streaming), I also went and did a vendetta mission for you, Inter – which you should check the results of, and lemme know if it tells you anything cool.





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So, Bûbol is my favourite Bodyguard overall insofar as his character, even though I haven't figured out if he can be moved out from Nurnen yet, or if I just have to manage my bodyguards regionally. Just, here're some examples of his greatness.





Went wandering and got into a MASSIVE endless brawl where I picked up two new followers, and a new regional & best combat Bodyguard: Ar-Kaius. This new region basically made it so that my new tactic is – Be on fire. All the time. With two Warmonger legendary items, I get 50 health per on-fire kill, and regen 6 health for every second I'm on fire, and with Ar-Kaius summoning Sappers and his firey weapons, it's just like being invincible. Also, my ring makes sure that each drain brings my HP to full when that fails. Also, my sweet sword that gives me better Last Chance & health regen on critical hits got shattered when I died... and then reclaimed to be even MORE amazing for 30 hp regen on each critical hit. Most of that happens about 30 mins in to my stream.



Also, this is an example of using Ar-Kaius to just stupidly overwhelming excellence.







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There's an easy way to bypass the grind of act 4. Let them take over your fortress (make sure any orcs you wanna keep arnt defending, just in case they die), then just retake it. It's funner, you get more exp, and you don't have to grind orcs (ew). You can also just hit start and select leave mission to instantly fail the siege.

Interslicery said:

There's an easy way to bypass the grind of act 4. Let them take over your fortress (make sure any orcs you wanna keep arnt defending, just in case they die), then just retake it. It's funner, you get more exp, and you don't have to grind orcs (ew). You can also just hit start and select leave mission to instantly fail the siege.

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Or you can do what the publisher wants you to do and pay for their stupid microtransactions, because it's clearly the reason "the grind" exists in the first place. I'm honestly appalled at the number of people who say the microtransactions have no effect on the game and then complain about "the grind", apparently not being able to put two-and-two together and realize "the grind" exists in order to tempt you into paying for the microtransactions.

Haven't even hit Act III yet, but I feel like even if I don't, I fucking love the, "grinding" aspects of the game. Like… I spend a SHITTON of time just wandering and hunting captains for the fun of it. I will take the advice into account though, so thanks for the heads up!!!~

Also, have you met your Nemesis Forge Follower, and are the circumstances cool?




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I'm honestly aren't sure if I did or not, I did that back in July and forgot who my nemesis was Hah
If I had run into them, it wasn't anything special, if I remember correctly. I thought it might have been when you do this pit fight in act 1, but then you wouldn't have the chance to dominate them
Also, most of the game is act 2. Act 3 is like, a half hour or so.

Edit: One siege away from finishing act 4. If you dominate as many captains as you can during assaults, you don't have to grind at all.

Edit 2: I'll spoiler tag this, even tho it has nothing to do with the game, happens mid credits

So far, how would you rate the game X?

So far, the only TRUE negative thing I've run into is that I don't like fighting the Overlords at the end of big assault battles. I'm kind of shit at dealing with massive combat when I can't choose to back off and retreat the way that I want to (Stealth is never an option, which means it's an excellent weakness for an Overlord), and when you've massively plowed through the enemy defenses with all your huge assault force at your back, it feels lame to have to go in and battle the biggest and baddest captain all on your own – especially when he can just summon up an endless sea of grunts to protect himself constantly, but my LITERAL ARMY is just standing outside doing nothing, but holding all the enemy grunts outside captive, and never coming to my aid. I had armour that heals me when I'm on fire, and it's apparently VERY hard to intentionally set yourself a blaze on those spouting jets of flame. Plus, you're going to appoint a different Orc Captain as Overlord as soon as it falls anyway, so why fucking bother not using other captains to help run him down? That's more of a personal gripe though, but it's the only gameplay thing at this point that I don't like that much. (4:18:10 is where I did all this on my latest run, and you can tell the exact moment when it turns into absolute tedium – exacerbated by my bodyguard getting stuck).


My super minor issue, is that getting betrayed for no discernable reason really blows. Like, I had a badass Bodyguard who I stomped around with a ton in Saragost during my latest outing, and I saved him from bleeding out near countless times, we took out a bunch of guys together all over the place. I called him in to help me battle another captain a little before I was ready to take the outpost, and he just turned on me. (2:56:00 in my wandering video).

Like... I get it when I went to try and convert a guy's Blood Brother, and accidentally killed him, his Blood Brother betrayed and came after me. That stuff's cool, but it seems like there're some mechanics deep in the Nemesis System that don't make themselves apparent enough to feel meaningful or earned. I dunno if that gets explained or anything later on – since the Orcs do turn on each other a lot, but your squad felt more loyal in Shadow of Mordor, and it makes your influence as the Bright Lord feel incredibly weak in comparison (ESPECIALLY since you're doing it by using a fucking Ring of Power directly on them). I've kinda missed that SoM safety & loyalty since more than half of my betrayals haven't felt warranted, and two have been from my bodyguards, but that might be a part of the thing in the story (barely just got to Gorgototh last night), but I am very particular about my Orc Captains and investing in them only to have them screw you out of that stuff bites.


Insofar as the game itself – I've been enjoying the hell out of the story, the update to the mechanics – even the ones that can be unfortunate – have all been overwhelmingly fun as hell to deal with as they come. I've been pouring over doing every little extra thing I can as well. I wish that the weapons were a little less RNG, or that there were a way to invest more specifically in things with attributes that you liked – like being able to pull one off and put it into something different, but I'm still a WAYS off from being anywhere close to having a Legendary Gear set, so we'll see how that feels later on.

Overall, it's still sitting at an 8-9 for me at this point. I've poured a shitton of hours into the game, and I haven't even remotely regretting a single minute of time that I've spent doing so.



On that note: Here's my last playthrough stuff, and then a bunch of misc. other moments I enjoyed:














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Large changes coming this summer, involving the total removal of microtransactions and overhaul of end game content: https://www.pcgamer.com/middle-earth-shadow-of-war-is-ditching-loot-boxes/




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I might consider getting it by then,

The game is now free of all microtransactions. This might be the refresh I need to actually jump in and finish the game, since I got distracted about halfway through.






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Maybe it's worth playing now. Maybe.

The content-complete GotY-style version is going to be the way to play this for anyone interested now.






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