Author Topic: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor  (Read 6493 times)

Clockwork

  • Charming Prince of Darkness
  • Citizens
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 2055
  • Karma: 17
  • Bitter? Me? portugal no, I think it's hilarious.
  • Awards Came first in the Summer 2020 Exilian forum pub quiz
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« on: January 22, 2015, 10:16:23 AM »
So I finally got around to completing this game. It's Assassins Creed: Mordor Edition. Plainly there was very little in the way of game mechanics that wasn't lifted from any AC game from 2 onward. For those that have no interest in playing the game but are interested as to what the story entails I'll put that in a spoiler.

The game plays well, the combat flows nicely with animations hitting the intended target the vast majority of the time and sounding meaty when doing so. It sounds brilliant, the voice acting is some of the best I've heard and the choreography for the cinematics is fantastic. Its AC but it is definitely better than AC.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


Jubal

  • Megadux
    Executive Officer
  • Posts: 35495
  • Karma: 140
  • Awards Awarded for oustanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2015, 11:41:18 PM »
I object heavily to the "fits well enough into the lore" - I can see a lot of places where it jars horribly just from the potted overview :P

Glad it's a good game though :)
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Clockwork

  • Charming Prince of Darkness
  • Citizens
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 2055
  • Karma: 17
  • Bitter? Me? portugal no, I think it's hilarious.
  • Awards Came first in the Summer 2020 Exilian forum pub quiz
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 05:21:50 PM »
The quality of writing is there but as I may or may not have said, writing just background and then sitting a story on top is bad writing. There needed to be a reason for all the background given. Its cool enough but could easily have just not used any of it. Much like the present day scenes in AC, unnecessarily trying to throw plot twists in where they don't fit. Tolkien isn't exactly specific on what can and can't be done in ME, I don't see why much of it is implausible. Yes it does go against what is already written but as an alternative, its about on par I'd say. But then I don't particularly rate LotR lore anyway so that may have something to do with my impassivity on lore trampling. Which is odd considering how much of it I've read.
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


SaidaiSloth

  • King of the sloths
  • Patrikios
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 564
  • Karma: 15
  • Hello.
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2015, 11:44:40 PM »
Erm.. nemesis system?
ADORABLENESS WARNING
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Clockwork

  • Charming Prince of Darkness
  • Citizens
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 2055
  • Karma: 17
  • Bitter? Me? portugal no, I think it's hilarious.
  • Awards Came first in the Summer 2020 Exilian forum pub quiz
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2015, 10:09:09 AM »
What about it?

EDIT: If you mean lore wise, it fits easily as some of the other bizarre bs that happens in ME. If you mean the mechanics, ehh, it's almost completely unnecessary which is disappointing. I literally forgot about it. That's how little I used it. Sure you can dominate orcs but there is no point, the runes you get from them as loot are worse and simply challenging them then engaging in some moderate dismemberment is a much better option. Aside from when its required and a couple of times along the game to see if I was missing something about it, I left it alone.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2015, 10:16:44 AM by Colossus »
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


SaidaiSloth

  • King of the sloths
  • Patrikios
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 564
  • Karma: 15
  • Hello.
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2015, 03:07:34 AM »
Necro.. What console were you playing on? Because if it was the PS3 or 360 version, it was nerfed a lot for them. If PC or Ps4 / xb1... like Cap 2, you're one of the 1.5 people who has the opinion that it wasn't very good :p
ADORABLENESS WARNING
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Clockwork

  • Charming Prince of Darkness
  • Citizens
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 2055
  • Karma: 17
  • Bitter? Me? portugal no, I think it's hilarious.
  • Awards Came first in the Summer 2020 Exilian forum pub quiz
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2015, 05:39:07 PM »
Every game I play is on PC, although to be fair this (like the AC series) is a casual game aimed at casual gamers which I don't think I can claim to be. To make it more of a challenge I actually went 0 runes after about midway through the game (about 10 mins after I got into the second location) Whether I like the game or not is irrelevant here tbh this is intended to be more a review then an opinion piece. But if you care for whatever reason, I really enjoyed it actually, I had a huge amount of fun rhythmically chopping up various Orcs and juking bosses. I just don't think that the game was imaginative, setting for the story was uninspired and mechanically was lifted from another game. None of these are unfair comments and I for one don't believe a game has to innovate to be good.

EDIT: With Cap2, I know more about what "should" be in the movies which possibly correlates with the 1.5 that also thought it wasn't good in terms of content. Likewise with gaming, I have a huge background knowledge of the industry, I play a lot of other titles in the same vein. The only big AAA game so far that I would slightly describe as 'not only for casuals' are the batman games. If you ramp up the difficulty, one bullet kills you, there are no ranged deflections and the melee enemies require the same combo tactics (stun/dodge/parry/whatever) as this game and the AC series. It gets difficult.

I'm also definitely only a core gamer that occasionally dabbles in hardcore, I'm not fussed with difficulty if the game feels right on lower ones e.g. I love playing the DA series on lower difficulties so I can run without healers/tanks all the time and take the companions that suit what my avatar doing/who they get along with etc.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2015, 02:23:25 PM by Colossus »
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.


Phoenixguard09

  • Megas Domestikos
    Voting Member
  • Posts: 3617
  • Karma: 23
  • Spiffy Haired One
  • Awards Awarded for outstanding services to Exilian!
    • View Profile
    • Awards
Re: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2016, 02:07:06 AM »
I actually quite enjoyed Shadow of Mordor myself, though I found the most disappointing things were actually the enemies.

I would have liked to have seen a greater variety of orcs, with different tactics and armaments for them, along with some evil men in Easterlings, Variags, Haradrim and the like. Exploring more of Mordor than just the two main maps would have been pretty good too. I honestly felt like I was really getting into the game when it stopped.

Also, what was the point of the caragors and the graugs? Surely wargs and trolls would have been better options? I don't necessarily think they should not have been in the game. After all, we know next to nothing about Mordor's fauna, but having them at the expense of wargs and trolls was, in my opinion, a mistake.
The Norbayne Campaign Instagram page. Give us a cheeky follow if you like. :)
By the power of Ga'haarr I command you to vanish! VANISH!
I CANNOT BE KILLED BUT WITH FIRE!
(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination

Crazier than a crack-head cat and here to make sticky treats out of your vital organs.