Shadow of Mordor (Shadow of War)

dreamers75

I think my name is better.

The sequel to Shadow of Mordor is called Shadow of War. Warner Bros. hasn’t quite announced this yet, but Target spilled the news early (lol) along with the box art and some info (via NeoGAF).

http://kotaku.com/target-leaks-shadow-of-mordor-sequel-shadow-of-war-1792760792

1st one is a really good game, I must finish that one day.

Osmosis Jones

Think I'm one of the few that didn't like the first game, bought it and played about 8 hours and it just never clicked with me. Really weird problem to have but the camera felt so odd to control, something I've never really experienced in a game. The nemesis system is still a great innovation though.

Digital Solitude

The Nemesis system is probably the only thing worth bringing forward. The game was fun but pretty lacklustre, once you got reasonable at the QTE's (re: combat) it was a very boring game, finishing out the story wasn't worth the time it took.

The challenges for the Memory of the Sword/Bow/Dagger or whatever they were called were actually quite good fun, gave a reasonable challenge because of the specifics, I'd have liked more of those.

Evade

The nemesis system was great, some of my friends were plagued by an orc who kept killing me. I'm surprised no one's adapted the nemesis system into an RPG, seems like it would work really well there.

It would be nice if the story had an ending this time. the last one was fairly crap.

I'll +1 the Nemesis System loved the video intros akin to reservoir dogs

Game play wise though it was like a arkham, creed/typical ubi map bastard. I was bored because it felt too familiar in terms of gameplay but that said it was a good game because I did enjoy it inspite of that. How many contradictions is that ?

SeantheMan

Found it really boring after a few hours. Combat seemed really repetitive and although I really like LOTR...I had no interest in the story at all.

Mickeroo

Kudos on the thread title

Penn

Yeah the story was worth f*ck all in the game. I enjoyed the combat a lot and getting a proper rhythm going (like with the Arkham games) was always incredibly satisfying.

However, the Nemesis system really made the game what it was, and some of the powers you unlocked later in the game to control Orcs really opened it up. Plus the random strengths and weaknesses of individual orcs. In a way, you almost created your own story. One orc kept getting promoted by killing me, so I got every other orc on the board under my control (by helping promote them too), and we all went and took that motherf*cker down.

Was half thinking of playing the first again with the PS4 Pro upgrade in graphics/HDR, this might have tipped me over the edge to do so.

CatInABox

Mickeroo wrote: »

Kudos on the thread title

Yes, thread title did give a good early morning chuckle, well done dreamers75.

Sephiroth_dude

Like what I played of the first game, some of chief/captain lads are bastards :mad:

Generic Dreadhead

I liked the 1st game for what it was, a 12 hour romp akin to the Arkham games but without the busy work and an enjoyable nemesis system. I'll pick this up, blast through it in a weekend and exchange/sell it and be happy

DarC_Kn1ght

Penn

August release. Awesome. Be well chuffed it keeps to that.

Retr0gamer

Really not a fan of the first game or similar games like mad max. The batman combat is just not good enough to support an entire game and I find it boring when there are developers like platinum and others doing much better combat systems.

I'd like if they changed the combat but I doubt it. Otherwise it's a no from me.

sweetie

I was a big fan of the original and played through the Bright Lord dlc recently, really enjoyed it too. Has a better 'ending' too.

Penn

From Gamespot (found it on Reddit):

"In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, players wield a new Ring of Power and confront the deadliest of enemies, including Sauron and his Nazgul, in a monumental battle for Middle-earth. The open-world action-adventure game is brought to life through the expansion of the award-winning Nemesis System. The robust personalization from the first game is now applied to the entire world where the environments and characters are all shaped by player actions and decisions, creating a personal world unique to every gameplay experience." Shadow of War is set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. "Following the amazing reception to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, we massively expanded every dimension of the game, including the world, the story, the RPG systems, the core gameplay, and of course the personal player stories of the Nemesis System," Monolith Productions VP Michael de Plater said in a statement. "As lifelong fans of Middle-earth, we are so grateful to have the privilege to bring to life the most incredible fantasy world ever created in a new way, for a new generation. With Middle-earth: Shadow of War, we can't wait to see the amazing stories players are going to create and share." Shadow of War's updated Nemesis System features an element called "Followers." These are characters that will add "entirely new stories of loyalty, betrayal, and revenge." The Nemesis System from the first game was a gameplay system that allowed enemies to remember every encounter with the player. The enemies also have different personalities.

Was going to complain about the lack of gameplay in the trailer until I spotted at the end it's going to be shown next week. As I said earlier the only problem I had with the first game was it felt to familiar but that was more my problem I think rather than the games. Be very interested to see what they have done with nemesis in this.

Have to say I'm a fan of short periods between announcement and release, can't recall the last AAA I played that was released only 6 months after an announcement

RobertFoster

dreamers75 wrote: »

I think my name is better.

You missed the opportunity to use Shadeux of Moredor

Shadow of War sounds quite generic, it certainly needs the Middle-earth prefix. Search for * "of war" and you get Game of War, Gears of War, God of War, Faces of War, Prisoner of War, Men of War, Gems of War, Path of War...

Shougeki

Digital Solitude wrote: »

The Nemesis system is probably the only thing worth bringing forward. The game was fun but pretty lacklustre, once you got reasonable at the QTE's (re: combat) it was a very boring game, finishing out the story wasn't worth the time it took.

The challenges for the Memory of the Sword/Bow/Dagger or whatever they were called were actually quite good fun, gave a reasonable challenge because of the specifics, I'd have liked more of those.

Yeah. I got the GOTY version with all the DLC, and finished the main game, but then started some of the DLCs and went "F*ck This"

Little CuChulainn

The pricing system of this makes it a no on release for me. Seems like they are cutting off parts of the game for their silver and gold editions.

Shougeki

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

The pricing system of this makes it a no on release for me. Seems like they are cutting off parts of the game for their silver and gold editions.

Gold looks like Game & Season Pass & Gold Warchest [Assume this could be looked on as a preorder bonus]

Silver looks like Game & 1/2 Season Pass, plus silver preorder chest.

Not as bad as it first looks.

Little CuChulainn

Shougeki wrote: »

Gold looks like Game & Season Pass & Gold Warchest [Assume this could be looked on as a preorder bonus]

Silver looks like Game & 1/2 Season Pass, plus silver preorder chest.

Not as bad as it first looks.

But are they season passes that contain content available at launch?

Star Lord

Someone edited the thread title, ruining the joke in the OP!

Shougeki

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

But are they season passes that contain content available at launch?

It is honestly unclear..... Hmmmmmm Wouldnt put it past those gowl's WB.

Mickeroo

Star Lord wrote: »

Someone edited the thread title, ruining the joke in the OP!

Who would do such a thing? :mad:

dreamers75

Shame on whoever edited the title!!!!

Skerries

what was the title?

RobertFoster

Skerries wrote: »

what was the title?

Shadow of Moredor (Shadow of War)

Gingervitis

Nice evolution of the Nemesis system. Pity the execution animations look a litte rehashed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl4bkIGgiyc

humanji

That actually looks like a lot of fun. Granted, it's just one sequence, so it could still get quite repetitive like the previous version. But I like how it's looking right now.

Generic Dreadhead

Holy. F**king. S**t. That. Looks. AMAZING

dreamers75

****ing hell.

Take my money now.....That looks awesome.

Noticed a lot less blocking and a lot more murdering than the 1st.

Temptamperu

I got bored of the first game, granted I played on 360 and the loading times were awful and the graphics were like something of a PS2. This looks like a beast of a game though... how long it takes to become repetitious we'll have to wait and see.

Retr0gamer

Looks gorgeous but the combat still looks pants

.ak

Wow, they've nailed the epic part anyway.

As a total LoTR nerd I completely love the attention to detail there, yes they've taken artistic license but out of all the modern LoTR media they've nailed the darker elements of the lore better than anything else, even the movies IMO. For example the nemesis in the video is an Olog-Hai, an intelligent troll that were basically generals in Sauron's armies but they were only mentioned in the appendices.

I thought the first game was a fair bit away from being brilliant, but I actually really enjoyed it and found it fun. Which when it comes to games is the point, right? The biggest issue I had is it just wasn't varied enough, it seemed unfinished, and yes it got repetitive pretty quick.

At first glimpse this appears to solve a lot of that, in the sense that there appears to be a load of different areas and so we're not just looking at one greyish Mordor backdrop. Also the actual fortress looks really interesting there, I'm intrigued about the architecture in what seems to resemble Victorian-industrial era style buildings; Tolkien often referred to the dark forces in his books representing the industrial movement taking over the world, so it's interesting the game designers used that level of detail, rather than just using lazy 'orcish' looking huts and fortresses - perhaps that area will have a back story, fleshed out no doubt, about how the first humans who worked under Sauron settled in that area.

Yep, I'll defo be all over this. If it combines the fun of the first one, the combat system was good enough for me because it was fun, and adds enough variety and includes the epicness we saw in the trailer, then we're onto a winner.

Digital Solitude

Combat is still 'Press Y to win' which is disappointing, the upgraded nemesis system looks fabulous though.

I'm not sold on the siege, I get the feeling you'll need a minimum army size to attack certain fortresses, despite your army doing nothing except die as you bop around killing the Captain's and Overlords, same as the first game but in a different setting.

I'll probably pick it up when it's cheap, I enjoyed the first one and will probably enjoy this one too but it looks too repetitive for anywhere close to €60, imo.

Retr0gamer

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Combat is still 'Press Y to win' which is disappointing, the upgraded nemesis system looks fabulous though.

Seems to be a bit more to the rest of the gameplay so hopefully like Batman it's better than the sum of its parts.

TinCanMan

I've just started Shadow of Mordor which I got in one of the flash sales and I absolutely love it. To say I'm hyped after seeing the Shadow of War video would be an understatement.

Skerries

I actually enjoyed the first one and unusually for me I went and did all the side missions and picked up all the collectibles so this looks like a definite purchase for me

Sonics2k

This is one of the very very few games I'm actually excited for this year.

I'm willing to believe the current animations are indeed part of the alpha gameplay and aren't the final product.

Shadow of Morder is one of the few games I don't mind the press x to win games because it feels like you should be able to decimate the orcs around you, though it'd would have been nice to see the Warchiefs offer more of a challenge.

dreamers75

Sonics2k wrote: »

Shadow of Morder is one of the few games I don't mind the press x to win games because it feels like you should be able to decimate the orcs around you, though it'd would have been nice to see the Warchiefs offer more of a challenge.

Disagree there is a skill to the fighting in Mordor its just not Japanese 57 button combo to some. yes the counter gives you options but so does block in a Jap 57 button game.

You are only pressing X because your initial plan went tits up be it set him on fire, sniper, attack him with a monster.

Retr0gamer

dreamers75 wrote: »

Disagree there is a skill to the fighting in Mordor its just not Japanese 57 button combo to some. yes the counter gives you options but so does block in a Jap 57 button game.

You are only pressing X because your initial plan went tits up be it set him on fire, sniper, attack him with a monster.

Well there's a misconception if ever there was one. Platinum games have far more complexity than these warner brother games and they use at most 2 attack buttons. the Warner Bros games have all these counter moves that do the same thing, just glorified QTE counters. Positioning isn't an issue as you near teleport to the enemies. There's way more moves and other junk in these games but it's mostly stuff you don't need as the counter system is so lenient and the dodge roll is OP and makes you invincible.

That said it's not unplayably bad and if the features outside the combat shown in the video are handled well and it's not just all based off the poor combat system it could rise above it like the Batman games.

dreamers75

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well there's a misconception if ever there was one. Platinum games have far more complexity than these warner brother games and they use at most 2 attack buttons. the Warner Bros games have all these counter moves that do the same thing, just glorified QTE counters. Positioning isn't an issue as you near teleport to the enemies. There's way more moves and other junk in these games but it's mostly stuff you don't need as the counter system is so lenient and the dodge roll is OP and makes you invincible.

That said it's not unplayably bad and if the features outside the combat shown in the video are handled well and it's not just all based off the poor combat system it could rise above it like the Batman games.

That is horse**** tbh

Any platinum(jap 57 button) game you learn moves 10 hours in that you never use simply because you are accustomed to the moves you learned at the beginning.

Hiding a move 20 hours into a game is redundant so taking the "oh this game has a X mash button" is horse****. The exact games you speak have a far worse option hiding moves that noone ever uses behind playtime.

Bayonetta is king of the hill on this.

Retr0gamer

Bayonetta hides them? This is the same game with combo lists in the loading screen that lets you practice them.

ERG89

I can't wrap my head around playing Batman or this with Platinum's fighting system. It's apples and oranges for me, especially Batman.
Those games many parts are all about playing on offence & replayability these ones you can approach a few ways, there is an option to stealth it out & much of the gameplay you can traverse the openworld environment.
If you don't like the approach well ask yourself why they haven't changed it. Cause obviously it works.

Generic Dreadhead

Press X to win you say?

Well if thats what it takes, that's what I'll do

I like killing Orcs who don't like me

And I'll be ignorantly blissfull and having a great time doing it :pac:

Sonics2k

Poor Az-Lar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qre0RyY0gMQ

joe123

Anyone know where I could pick up the original Shadow of Mordor cheap? Either digital or physical copy? Xbox one by the way?

Would like to see what the fuss is about!

jackrussel

joe123 wrote: »

Anyone know where I could pick up the original Shadow of Mordor cheap? Either digital or physical copy? Xbox one by the way?

Would like to see what the fuss is about!

i picked up a GOTY edition, new, on the english ebay for 15 euro delivered

Taylor365

I'll be waiting for reviews on this one.

Also, who needs an army when you can zip around and take a stronghold single handed?

Potential-Monke

Taylor365 wrote: »

I'll be waiting for reviews on this one.

Also, who needs an army when you can zip around and take a stronghold single handed?

Because you need to avenge Al-Zaar!