Shadows of Mordor

[Oracle]

Anyone else pick this up?

I pre-ordered it for the PS4. Pretty decent open-world hack-n-slash game with RPG elements. There are three main currencies for advancement: XP (buy new abilities), Power (unlocks abilities so you can buy them), and M (can't remember it's full name, but it allows you to buy upgrades for weapons and abilities, as well as some new combat abilities in the later tiers).

I've enjoyed my time with it so far. I'm about 30-35 hours in and I'm about 50% done. Lots of GTA-type missions to complete.

So far, I'd say games like the Elder Scrolls series is still deeper/richer from both a story and character development perspective (save maybe Skyrim). Defiitely fun from the perspective that it expands upon the LoTR cannon.

Game is quite visually impressive, as well.

So far, I'm giving it a 8/10.

[bovine]

I picked it up too!

This was originally supposed to be a batman game and IT SHOWS! It blatantly uses the Arkham combat, but it is ultraviolent/ultragory now. It is pretty neat and empowering as you turn into this combat god by the end. Definitely worth a look.

[Oracle]

I picked it up too!

This was originally supposed to be a batman game and IT SHOWS! It blatantly uses the Arkham combat, but it is ultraviolent/ultragory now. It is pretty neat and empowering as you turn into this combat god by the end. Definitely worth a look.

Much decapitation. It's actually made me wish you could lop off other body parts :p Game had a bit of difficulty to it in large battles where you have to also fight one or multiple captains/chiefs, but ever since I got the 2x combat finisher ability and reduced chains from 8 attacks to 5, it's been easy street.

Never played the new Batman games (except for like 20 min on the one that starts in the courthouse and catwoman).

[Shrinweck]

I've been playing it a bit but have a bunch of games going right now so I haven't gotten very far. It's a 10/10 orc murder simulator and I really want to see where the story goes, but not murdering orcs to go do these typically boring ass story missions makes me sad. Escort missions. Insta fail stealth missions. FUCK DUDE I JUST WANNA KILL ORCS AND SEE LORE, MAN, BRO, GUY.

[kali o.]

It's a fun game and the nemesis system is a very neat idea...unfortunately, the nemesis system is broken by the game being far too easy. Still, a minor complaint, I guess, since the game is still great for 20-30hours.

I would have purchased this game day 1 (and probably not regretted it) but anything with a season pass is immediately used-only or yaaaar! for me.

[Anarky]

Just got done watching a video about how easy the combat is, pass

[Oracle]

Just got done watching a video about how easy the combat is, pass

To be fair, he's basically exploiting the two abilities I mentioned (5-hit combat streaks and 2x combat finishers) that are late in the character progression, although the jump-over he is doing is completely broken. You could likely pull most of this off without it, but it would take much longer to kill everything and you would be exposed to more damage due to fewer combat finishers and having to actually swing your sword more.

The peon orcs are quite easy, harder if you are trying to do any other moves than what he shows in his video (as many allow you to take damage while doing them).

And I do personally think the captains/warchiefs can be too easy in general, but every now and then you get one with the right combo of invulnerabilities to make it a PITA. Strong archer captains can be tough, too, as they have splash damage shots and quick shot (and deal a ton of damage).

Caragors and Graugs (especially) aren't as easy, either (although I suspect an ability I have yet to unlock may make Graugs trivial).

[Shrinweck]

Yeah easy combat is not a reason to not buy this game.

[kali o.]

I don't think you guys are being honest...but I will admit "skill" in this game can vary greatly. So maybe not.

Sure, a number of later abilities break the game totally, especially with certain runes (namely unlimited shadow strikes and wraith AOE) but even before then, the combat is a joke to anyone familiar with this gameplay. It really sucked for me, as I never got to fully enjoy the nemesis system. I died twice - once during the super terrible "end boss fight" and once to an archer with exploding arrows and the one hit ability, who wandered unseen into a fight I had under control.

If you can play "bad enough" without trying, or like me, enjoy just screwing around with the orcs, the game can be fun for a decent amount of time. But if you've mastered Batman combat, it might be a game that is honestly more fun to watch other people play.

[Oracle]

Meh, I've died lots, usually because I'm taking on too much at once and due to impatience (i.e. screw killing his bodyguards first, Im going right for the warchief! or, hey, 4 caragors are attacking some orcs with archers all around, lets go play!). I also get extremely bored with button mashing, so I'm always trying to pull off different moves (and fat-fingering buttons while at it, rather than the easy street of smashing X/Triangle, Square, and X+O). Since I got runes that replenish health in useful ways (20% health after headshots, lol) however, not so much :p

Like I said, never played the new Batman games, so this was my first exposure to the combat system. At the point I'm at in the game now, though, yes - very easy.

Other difficulty added to the game - trying not to accidentally kill captains in a group before you kill the peons so you can brand the captains w/o getting interrupted by damage lol

[Eric]

Since when is simple combat a turn-off if the overarching game is fun? Not like anybody ever wiped playing Chrono Trigger ever in life.

[kali o.]

Since when is simple combat a turn-off if the overarching game is fun? Not like anybody ever wiped playing Chrono Trigger ever in life.

The nemesis system (ie. the only cool thing about the game) relies on you dying. So bad comparison is bad. Without that, it is just a short and simplistic AC clone with batman combat.

It is an interesting concept though -- one I hope is stolen and reused in many games.