Middle Earth: Shadow of War

[Interslicery]

YouTube Video

Bout time we get another game with the nemesis system (I'm assuming)

Edit: can someone move this to vidja games?

[Joe]

I too have been waiting for another game to use the system. Damn I hope this is good.

[X-SOLDIER]

According to the Target description, you'll "go behind enemy lines to forge your army, conquer Fortresses and dominate Mordor from within". And in case there was any doubt, the Nemesis system will return, creating "unique personal stories with every enemy and follower".

In addition to the base game, a 'gold' edition of Shadow of War has also leaked, containing two story expansions that will a new campaign, playable character, abilities, side missions and more. There will also be two 'nemesis' expansions include as part of the gold edition, which will whack in a new orc tribe, fortress, and other bits and bobs. On PS4 and Xbox One, the standard edition will set you back $60, while the gold one will retail for $100.

Via: http://www.pcgamer.com/shadow-of-mor...of-war-leaked/

100% ready for this game.




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[lithiumkatana17]

My husband is playing the first game (in addition to a slew of others so I don't think he's completed it) and I know the premise of it, but what exactly is the story behind this one? Are they making Celebrimbor create his own ring of power to combat Saurons or what? And why does his wraith just all of sudden leave Talion? I am comfoosed.

And also cba to wiki any of this shit.

I'm just interested in how they weave the mythos of Tolkien's work into these games. I find a lot of it incredibly interesting, but it's also pain in the ass for me personally because I've already had to correct Mr. Lith on several things he thinks he knows from playing Shadow of Mordor.

[Cthulhu]

I dig

I don't dig the gold edition shit though - feels more like the retail one is half a game with the gold version adding the other half. blargh.

[X-SOLDIER]

YouTube Video

It looks like it's finally stepped over the boundary of superhero-y antics such that it doesn't feel as grounded in LotR whereas Shadow of Mordor walked a very fine line with that. That being said, I honestly don't care because the new Nemesis System in this looks fucking incredible.





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[Interslicery]

While I agree the nemesis system looks fucking amazing, I am a little worried that your orc army will take away too much of what you would normally do. Like, almost everything Talion starts in that walkthrough, one of his army finishes, or gives you the opportunity to finish. I think it can really take away from your own accomplishments, and make it more about how you've trained your army.
It also seems like it'll be more directed, take over this fortress, and continue on to the next one. Not too keen on that, since some of my favorite moments in shadow of Mordor were when I'd be fighting some random guys, and a captain would suddenly show up, then another. Then another. Soon I'd be struggling for my life and either trying to desperately to escape, or take them down. It was random, and exhilarating. It doesn't seem like that would happen in this more level based gameplay.

[X-SOLDIER]

I think that there's a BIT of tutorial hand-holding done in that alpha gameplay demo, since his executions were perma-active, and I highly doubt that'll be the case in the proper game. Given your concern about the fighting random guys and then being in over your head, I'm wondering if that sort of thing will still happen a bit, but what with the Orc Captains taking more initiative to intervene, etc. if that'll make for you building up armies that you genuinely care more about, and feelings where there could be an Orc Captain you like who gets overwhelmed who comes back to seek revenge on you for letting him die.

I think that the way that it looks like the game will build out more of its own little stories like that seems like it'll become the thing that I REALLY come to love about the game. (Also, the Necromancy curse disabling your Wraith stuff until that Captain's killed seems like there'll be a lot of things that could throw you for a loop this time around). Overall, I think that there's still potential to have the sense that you're often out of your depth from time to time, even if the game has moved you from being a ranger to being more centered around someone wielding a ring of power.

On that note:

Upon some more reflection, I'm thinking that what we saw with The White Council Vs. the Nazgûl & Sauron in the last Hobbit film probably brought a lot of influence to the sort of powers and such that we'll be seeing in this, because that's really the peak of the representation of the power of the Elves' magic & Rings of Power vs. Sauron from the same sort of cinematic approach that this and Shadow of Mordor went for, especially since there's all his talk about the Age of the Orc when Galadriel confronts him directly.

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

After re-watching that and thinking of this as a game that's more on that level, and less on the Legolas + Aragorn level, I'm a little more comfortable with it, even though I'm thinking that I will miss feeling more like a mortal standing up against impossible odds more often than not.




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[Cthulhu]

Yeah, based on that it seems more like a siege game than the more hero-against-an-army thing, less stealth, more murder. But idk, it might just be this part of the game. I do hope there's some variation, I can imagine it gets tedious to do the same thing a few times over - plus it'd make for a rather short game.

[X-SOLDIER]

• In Shadow of Mordor, orcs didn’t really have much personality after you dominated them and turned them to your side. This time around, there’ll be a greater focus on a wide variety of orc interactions. Friendships can be just as powerful and lasting as rivalries. As we learned in the demo, however, you’ll probably want to be careful about betraying your big green battle buddies. Some of them will take it very personally.
• Orcs have relationships with each other, too. They can be rivals, or they can have blood brothers that they feel especially bonded to. They can also possess hates, fears, and reactions not only to things like fire and poison—as they did in the first game—but also what happens to their master, their best friend, or you.
• Monolith is focusing on making individual orcs memorable in multiple ways. They’re focusing a lot on when and why orcs confront you. Visually, meanwhile, they’re expanding the possible palette of options significantly. For instance, where Shadow of Mordor might’ve given you an orc with basic facial scars, Shadow of War will give you one that’s got scars on his face and body, and also maybe he sustained serious burns, which means he’ll react strongly to fire. Instead of attacking you entirely at random, he’ll likely appear when there’s fire involved. Basically, Monolith is trying to make these player-created narratives flow more naturally while simultaneously expanding the ways in which they can occur.
• In Shadow of War, there are multiple orc tribes with different characteristics and specialties. For instance, the Feral Tribe specializes in hunting, trapping, and using monsters in battle. Depending on which tribe an overlord orc belongs to, their fortress will be entirely different.
• Your orcs don’t always have to be by your side. You can even send them away to do missions, assassinations, and things of the like.
• You won’t be able to dress up or customize your orcs. Reason being, Monolith wants orcs’ appearances to be representative of their stories, not your decisions in a menu.

Via: http://kotaku.com/middle-earth-shado...-fr-1793067914





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[Cthulhu]

I like all of that. Will the orcs still be randomly generated or was that just what it looked like in the previous game?

[X-SOLDIER]

They're still all randomly generated, they've just got more randomly generated interlinking qualities now.





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[X-SOLDIER]

This is a really interesting interview about building the setting and elements in the game: http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/...erse-ign-first





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[X-SOLDIER]

YouTube Video

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[X-SOLDIER]

Potential tiny story spoilers:

YouTube Video

(We also get a full DLC story thing with her after the game is released)

Also, they're doing fortress assault missions live all through E3, and since it's all generated by the Nemesis system, each time doing it is a little bit different, which has been cool.





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