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Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (Open World RPG, XB/PS/PC) Game Informer Details

Derrick01

Banned
Thanks, I was waiting for impressions from people with the digital issue. How does the game look? Any screenshots or only concept art?

Seemed to me it was more concept although it was in gameplay form, like the camera was in the right spot if you were to actually play it but if it was real then it looked rough. But it's still early so I'm not worried about that. The gameplay seems really ambitious though.

-Every enemy has a name, rank and memory. If you don't kill them in an encounter for whatever reason they will remember you later on and change their tactics, not only getting stronger in level but learning new immunities. Enemy dialogue changes because of your previous encounters as well.

-Enemies have their own jobs to do and their AI allows them to do certain things on their own. For example an Orc you have to kill may be dueling another at one point or he may be doing whatever his higher ranking officer assigned him to do. It all progresses in real time with or without your interference.

-If an enemy kills you in battle you don't "die" in the traditional sense. You do eventually respawn but time in the world passed (they didn't say how long). During this time the enemy that killed you was likely promoted because of him killing you or he could have been killed somehow (like losing one of the duels I mentioned above).

-If your objective is to kill a high ranking warlord you can do it in several ways. One way would be chipping away at everyone under his rank and either killing them or making them become "agents" for you which will enable you to launch ambushes on their base or possibly even assassinate the warlord by making his 2nd in command your agent. However it's not guaranteed, the 2nd in command can fail and be killed but he may have partial success as well which takes a chunk of the warlord's health away to make your battle easier.

-The combat seems like it takes cues from the Batman games. They mentioned there was a rhythm to it and you get to keep a combo multiplier going.

-It's fully open world so it has all of the stuff you'd expect. XP, skills, sidequests, random events (hell the whole game is basically a random event with that nemesis system and the AI working on their own even when enemies aren't on screen).

-You get to use normal melee combat, stealth with a dagger or ranged with a bow. How you level those up depends on what you took the target out with. A stealth kill will get you a special rune to use on stealth skills, direct combat will get you a melee rune and so on.

All in all I'm impressed by what I read.

----

Here are a few extra things from other sources.

Website:

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a next-generation, third-person action game set in Middle-earth that explores an original story of vengeance and redemption. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is in development for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.

In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, gamers take on the role of Talion, a valiant ranger whose family is slain in front of him the night Sauron and his army return to Mordor, moments before his own life is taken. Resurrected by a Spirit of vengeance and empowered with Wraith abilities, Talion ventures into Mordor and vows to destroy those who have wronged him. Through the course of his personal vendetta, Talion uncovers the truth of the Spirit that compels him, learns the origins of the Rings of Power and ultimately confronts his true nemesis.

Every enemy that players face is a unique individual, differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. Through the Nemesis System, enemy relationships and characteristics are shaped by player actions and decisions to create personal archenemies that remember and adapt to the player and are distinct to every gameplay session. Gamers are able to craft their own battles, enemies and rewards within the dynamic world that remembers and adapts to their choices, delivering a unique experience to every player.

The Monolith Productions team has collaborated on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor with Middle-earth Enterprises, Peter Jackson and the artists at Weta Workshop to ensure that the settings, characters and story align authentically within canon. For more information, visit the main site, Facebook and Twitter.
Source: http://www.lith.com/Studio/News/November-2013/Middle-earth--Shadow-of-Mordor

And from job postings.

Proprietary engine:

- Unannounced Project
Designed mission parameters and maintained designs based on internal and user feedback. Scripted missions and enemy encounters using proprietary language & engine. Supported developers by fixing bugs, providing feedback, and assisting new team members learn proprietary tools. Took ownership of critical side-mission structure to support unique game systems.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jared-goldberg/13/783/14

Might have something online related:

Engine Programmer said:
As a Staff Engine generalist you will work closely with the Lead Engineer and the rest of your peers to develop state-of-the-art runtime technology for the PS4, XBOXONE, PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.
Worked on multi-year, large-scale production game title from concept to ship (preferred).
Experience with rendering, networking, gameplay systems and content development pipelines (preferred).
https://careers.timewarner.com/tgwebhost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=391&siteid=36&jobid=665051
 

Kanokare

Member
Concepts seem really interesting. Most LotR games are under people's radar though :( I hope this gets advertised more and promises aren't left dry like something out of Peter Molyneux's face.
 
Okay this sounds awesome, The combat may end up being really good, but the whole Nemesis thing seems to be pushing the AI forward, I'd like to see that.
 

Sentenza

Member
I can actually see many of these claimed features turning out a mess in practical terms, but so far let's at least concede that this sounds ambitious.
 

Derrick01

Banned
One other thing I forgot to mention about skills, they seem to be trying some different stuff with a few of them. There's a warrior skill that lets you shoulder ram enemies and there seems to be at least some form of environment tie-in to it. They mentioned you could ram enemies into a fire pit or knock them off of a cliff.

Another ability mentioned was (I believe) a stealth skill where you go nuts on some poor bastard's chest which immediately starts you with a 5x combo in the battle. They also mentioned something about a shadow dash skill that lets you bounce between enemies pretty quickly.

TucoBenedictoPacifico said:
I can actually see many of these claimed features turning out a mess in practical terms, but so far let's concede that this at least sounds ambitious.

Exactly how I feel right now. This is going to be a lot to pull off.
 
From what I saw of it on /v/, it's looking a lot like SWTFU. Really wish Monolith actually got to work on some new/their existing IPs instead of being WB's licenced games monkey.
 

taoofjord

Member
These are the kind of features that tend to be the focus in pre-production but quickly get pared down once they attempt to implement or test them. If they manage to make these ambitious concepts work then I'll be absolutely thrilled. It's the kind of mechanics I've been dreaming about for years.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Any screens in the mag? if so how does it look?

Not great, if I'm honest. But I love what they are trying to do with the enemy system and fleshing out your interaction with the AI in the game. They aren't all just braindead anymore, they have stories of their own and if they can pull off what they are talking about it could be really unique.

Graphically though it won't turn any heads but, you know, early stages. It also doesn't say what version is shown in screenshots.
 

Ashodin

Member
Hey I really liked this game:

Thirdagebox.jpg


bring me moar LOTR rpgs.
 

JDSN

Banned
Tons of potential in this one, also heard that one of the designers from Red Dead redemption was in this too?
 

mjc

Member
Interesting concept with the Nemesis thing. Hopefully it can be realized to some decent degree.
 
anything on the engine? is it unreal? from their job postings sounds like it's custom.

Hopefully its proprietary. I always considered Lithtech pretty impressive. It had a different style to it from Unreal and idTech.

Snowblind dissolved into Monolith right?
 

Andrew.

Banned
Project seems overly ambitious, but we will see.

Damn Derrick, when was the last time you made a thread? Your LTTP: Absolution one?

They're quite a rarity around here. Just like fans of Absolution.
 
A semi-postive Derrick thread? On a game in an established IP?

SHIT IS GOING DOWN.

If they can channel the magic core gameplay that they put into FEAR 1 with the atmosphere of say, condemned (not in terms of actual atmosphere but in terms of greatness of creation), then this game could be something special.

Is the game 3rd person? Do we have any idea what the base combat will be like?
 

Derrick01

Banned
Project seems overly ambitious, but we will see.

Damn Derrick, when was the last time you made a thread? Your LTTP: Absolution one?

They're quite a rarity around here. Just like fans of Absolution.

This doesn't count since it was split :p

I think that hitman thread was the only one I've ever created.

Dictator93 said:
Is the game 3rd person? Do we have any idea what the base combat will be like?

Yes it's 3rd person. The combat seems like it's going to be similar to Batman although I doubt it'll be exactly like it where you're practically gliding across the arena to enemies between swings.

Also I wouldn't count on Co-op guys the article mentioned nothing like that that I saw. It seems to be focused on a solo quest unless you count the wraith as a person.
 
Positive Derrick01 is fucking weird, I'll say that much. When the game actually releases, we'll be back to regular Derrick 01 :)

Game does sound crazy ambitious with that enemy memory stuff.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I dumped a couple extra things in the OP:

Here are a few extra things from other sources.

Website:

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a next-generation, third-person action game set in Middle-earth that explores an original story of vengeance and redemption. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is in development for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.

In Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, gamers take on the role of Talion, a valiant ranger whose family is slain in front of him the night Sauron and his army return to Mordor, moments before his own life is taken. Resurrected by a Spirit of vengeance and empowered with Wraith abilities, Talion ventures into Mordor and vows to destroy those who have wronged him. Through the course of his personal vendetta, Talion uncovers the truth of the Spirit that compels him, learns the origins of the Rings of Power and ultimately confronts his true nemesis.

Every enemy that players face is a unique individual, differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. Through the Nemesis System, enemy relationships and characteristics are shaped by player actions and decisions to create personal archenemies that remember and adapt to the player and are distinct to every gameplay session. Gamers are able to craft their own battles, enemies and rewards within the dynamic world that remembers and adapts to their choices, delivering a unique experience to every player.

The Monolith Productions team has collaborated on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor with Middle-earth Enterprises, Peter Jackson and the artists at Weta Workshop to ensure that the settings, characters and story align authentically within canon. For more information, visit the main site, Facebook and Twitter.
Source: http://www.lith.com/Studio/News/November-2013/Middle-earth--Shadow-of-Mordor

And from job postings.

Might be Unreal Engine:

Lighting Artist said:
Experience with the Unreal Engine a plus.
Strong experience and understanding of art pipelines on Xbox 360/PS3, and an interest in finding ways to evolve and improve the environmental art creation pipeline. Next Gen experience a plus.
https://careers.timewarner.com/tgwebhost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=391&siteid=36&jobid=669850

Might have something online related:

Engine Programmer said:
As a Staff Engine generalist you will work closely with the Lead Engineer and the rest of your peers to develop state-of-the-art runtime technology for the PS4, XBOXONE, PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.
Worked on multi-year, large-scale production game title from concept to ship (preferred).
Experience with rendering, networking, gameplay systems and content development pipelines (preferred).
https://careers.timewarner.com/tgwebhost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=391&siteid=36&jobid=665051
 

Drona

Banned
Peter Molyneux has made me suspect OF ALL ambitious RPG projects....im sorry :(

good fortune to the studio thats working on it. ill try anything LOTR. except for the free MMO....
 

Allonym

There should be more tampons in gaming
Multipliers and Batman-esque like flow to the combat are dampers on what sounds like a novel idea with evolving and unique enemies. Why not just go for a combat system like Dragon's Dogma, Deep Down, Onimusha (1-3), Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, God of War or Dark Souls. Those seem like better games to draw inspiration from in terms of combat. I know many feel that the Batman games have a good combat system but for me it seems overly simplistic and really doesn't feel visceral. Sometimes I feel like Batman is punching dudes full of helium. Ahh whatever still looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I'm a new fan of the LotR franchise.
 

Voror

Member
Hmm, the Nemesis System is very interesting in concept though I'd be surprised if they actually managed to pull it off. Still, it's nice to see something like this being attempted at the very least.

Batman-esque combat sounds a bit odd though for this sort of thing as a few others have mentioned.

Not going to hope for much from the plot though. I'm not extremely knowledgeable regarding Tolkein's work and it's been many years since I've read them all, but what I'm seeing thus far doesn't fit much with what I can recall. If there are set rules and events in a created universe like this one, then I prefer that they be followed.

I don't get why they don't put this in the First Age. I feel that's barely been tapped at all for games and you could probably get a lot out of it.
 

Adarael

Neo Member
I don't get why they don't put this in the First Age. I feel that's barely been tapped at all for games and you could probably get a lot out of it.

Because setting anything in the first age would require licensing the rights to the books from Christopher Tolkien, who has categorically stated he will not give those rights to anyone for any reason, and wishes he'd never given out the rights to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Basically, he doesn't believe his father's works should be adapted in any way from their literary roots, and won't let anyone.
 

Voror

Member
Because setting anything in the first age would require licensing the rights to the books from Christopher Tolkien, who has categorically stated he will not give those rights to anyone for any reason, and wishes he'd never given out the rights to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Basically, he doesn't believe his father's works should be adapted in any way from their literary roots, and won't let anyone.

Ah, wasn't aware of that. Thank you. I do recall him expressing disappointment with the movies, but didn't realize that the First Age was a seperate copyright.
 

cuyahoga

Dudebro, My Shit is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time
Sounds pretty interesting. This is a 2014 game, right?
 
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