I have two story missions left, but I need to focus on the warchiefs beforehand. I hope to finish it in a couple or a few hours of gameplay tonight.
I did find all of the magical door's symbols, though.
I'm trying to turn five bodyguards against one warchief, so I'm just finding random captains, dominating them and asking them to infiltrate that warchief's ranks and fight him. I have three or four now.
This game proves to me that we need more AI systems. I can't get enough of it, but I admit now that I have branding there is an end game for me to stop.
I love hearing all the things people have encountered with odd captains and dynamic AI driven story bits.
It's the second Queen mission. Should have done that first over the hunting stuff with the dwarf. You were literally one mission away before starting the dwarf quests.
The warlords and captains I branded were to strong for the Talons and I did fuck but stand there. Then it is just a shit button click session to finish the game.
Well its good. It's defiantly Batman Arkum mixed with Assassin Creed. You'll immediately be familiar with the map mode, securing towers and side quest layout.
The combat is all batman, counter, finishes ect. Flows smoothly and if you just rush into some fights you'll get creamed. Planning pays off.
The real gem, talked about exhaustively here is the enemy promotion system. When you die it hurts. To put it into context - Since I started playing a particular Orc Captain kept showing up and killing me. So I started to really hate this guy and I started hunting him and he still kept killing me. With each of my deaths he became even more powerful and gained rank. He now stands just below the Warchief and mocks me. I know he'll slay me if I attack him out right becuase he has a bunch of captains below him. They'll show up if I don't take them out first. So I'm slowing picking them off to work my way back up to this guy that has massacred me.
If I die on the way up more captains may come it fill in positions I've cleared. If I take to long the game may resolve other orc interfighting and fill those positions. Its all very cool and very nerve wracking.
I'm sure most players just breeze through this game but I find it the right level of challenging. Most my deaths are due to me getting lazy...except for the bastard orc dancing on my many graves...
Game of the Year? No. Too many borrowed systems for me to give it that rating. 8.5/10.
I have two story missions left, but I need to focus on the warchiefs beforehand. I hope to finish it in a couple or a few hours of gameplay tonight.
I did find all of the magical door's symbols, though.
I'm trying to turn five bodyguards against one warchief, so I'm just finding random captains, dominating them and asking them to infiltrate that warchief's ranks and fight him. I have three or four now.
Right, I found a warchief that already had 2 or 3 bodyguards, dominated them, then dominated other captains and had them undergo initiation to become other bodyguards.
Kinda wish this game had a Pokemon-esque spin to it, where you could maybe go online and pit your best fighter against opponents in gladiatorial combat. Not sure how it would fit with the big picture, but I think it would be a fun way to extend the life of the game.
Kinda wish this game had a Pokemon-esque spin to it, where you could maybe go online and pit your best fighter against opponents in gladiatorial combat. Not sure how it would fit with the big picture, but I think it would be a fun way to extend the life of the game.
The issue is that it seems that strengths/weaknesses only apply when they fight you. And even if they don't people would just keep killing and passing time until an orc who is immune to as many things as possible appears.
Game was alright, the Nemesis system sucked when you didn't die.
Hoping for a better sequel cause somehow it felt like a incomplete game where about 50% of the game was missing. You can really see that at the end... just when the Tutorial was over the endgame was there lol.
The issue is that it seems that strengths/weaknesses only apply when they fight you. And even if they don't people would just keep killing and passing time until an orc who is immune to as many things as possible appears.
It definitely seems like that game is very easy to break. I grabbed most of the upgrades rather sequentially so I didn't have some of the most powerful upgrades until late in the game. If I had banked points for the later powers the game would have been a lot more boring early on.
But yeah, even though the game is (or at least gets) easy I was never bored since I could just "aggro" 3 or more captains in an alarmed stronghold and still have a fun time clearing the place, even if fully dying, by that point, was never really a likely outcome.
Kinda wish this game had a Pokemon-esque spin to it, where you could maybe go online and pit your best fighter against opponents in gladiatorial combat. Not sure how it would fit with the big picture, but I think it would be a fun way to extend the life of the game.
It definitely seems like that game is very easy to break. I grabbed most of the upgrades rather sequentially so I didn't have some of the most powerful upgrades until late in the game. If I had banked points for the later powers the game would have been a lot more boring early on.
That is exactly what I did. Although I never purchased any of the 2500 miriam weapon upgrades until really late. Looking at the skill trees it's entirely obvious what side holds the most bang per point.
You don't die in scenarios like that, because common sense dictates you flee like a pansy to reset the situation. Not prove what a badass ranger you aren't by dying for no reason.
Game was alright, the Nemesis system sucked when you didn't die.
Hoping for a better sequel cause somehow it felt like a incomplete game where about 50% of the game was missing. You can really see that at the end... just when the Tutorial was over the endgame was there lol.
You can advance time at any of the fast travel towers in the game, FYI. If you aren't dying you should try advancing forward and letting legitimate enemies spawn in. The original sets of captains and chiefs for each area are generally quite easy, it isn't until you've played around with the Nemesis system some with guys dying and coming back before you start seeing level 20's with a laundry list of invulnerability to X traits.
Even then in late game those guys are generally manageable, but it does make the game more enjoyable and more challenging.
I do think it should be more of a risk/reward scenario when branding a high ranking captain though. And dying should break at least some brands to incur a penalty that would make converting the whole map a little harder. There are a lot of things that could take this to the next step in a sequel, but that doesn't mean this isn't a damn good first entry, just makes me REALLY want a sequel.
So when fighting a captain or assassin and they want to run away, should I kill them or let them go so they get stronger? This one guy keeps popping up and so far I let him go several times just to see what happens, but he does not seem any stronger, just more bruised and bloodied.
That said, the combat clicked for me in a way it never did in Batman. I don't know if the timing or speed is different, or playing it at 60fps on the PC vs. 30fps on the PS3 games, or what, but it's like a death ballet in a great way. Now I understand why people always praised Batman combat, I never really got it.
This game felt sort of janky and unpolished at first (and in many ways it still is), but then things suddenly clicked with me after 5-6 hours and now I am enjoying it immensely. I'm about 15 hours in now and just under 50% completion. Hunting down captains/warchiefs by exploiting their weaknesses is just so damn satisfying. Feels like what AC should have evolved into, but never did.
Also going to echo the sentiments of those saying to do the story missions first early on. There are several game changing abilities/mechanics that are locked to the main missions that really open up the gameplay. I myself did many of the side quests early on before realizing this. Was sort of amusing to go back to the main quests and then receive tutorials on things I had been doing regularly for the past several hours.
It's disappointing to hear the story falls flat, but so far I'm having so much fun that it may not have that big an impact for me. A couple weeks ago I wasn't even planning on buying this game and now it's a strong GOTY contender. Easily the best single player experience I've had on the new consoles so far and one of the better open world games in recent memory.
You can advance time at any of the fast travel towers in the game, FYI. If you aren't dying you should try advancing forward and letting legitimate enemies spawn in. The original sets of captains and chiefs for each area are generally quite easy, it isn't until you've played around with the Nemesis system some with guys dying and coming back before you start seeing level 20's with a laundry list of invulnerability to X traits.
All you need to do is advance time a few times and then send a Death Threat. Even there aren't any difficult Warchiefs until you start seeing those with triple combat immunities. There was even one posted earlier that had no weaknesses, but that seems like an ultra rare combination.
It's funny that you say this after the condescending remark you left in your previous post as though YOU died a lot because of the odds you faced.
BTW, scaling up a wall is a resource too and the point is knowing when to back off instead of biting off more than you can chew.
That said, the combat clicked for me in a way it never did in Batman. I don't know if the timing or speed is different, or playing it at 60fps on the PC vs. 30fps on the PS3 games, or what, but it's like a death ballet in a great way. Now I understand why people always praised Batman combat, I never really got it.
You might not actually be able to get into the combat of the actual Batman games after this though. I think those games are mostly better overall, but the combat is now so vanilla compared to this. Even though the mechanics are practically identical, the brutality and sound effects in this game just make it a lot more entertaining overall. Also, stop playing the Batman games on the console. You can pick them up super cheap on Steam.
You don't die in scenarios like that, because common sense dictates you flee like a pansy to reset the situation. Not prove what a badass ranger you aren't by dying for no reason.
So when fighting a captain or assassin and they want to run away, should I kill them or let them go so they get stronger? This one guy keeps popping up and so far I let him go several times just to see what happens, but he does not seem any stronger, just more bruised and bloodied.
That said, the combat clicked for me in a way it never did in Batman. I don't know if the timing or speed is different, or playing it at 60fps on the PC vs. 30fps on the PS3 games, or what, but it's like a death ballet in a great way. Now I understand why people always praised Batman combat, I never really got it.
Calling it now, the sequel stars Torvin and is set in Ered Luin/The Shire during The Scouring. It's definitely covered by WB's LotR license, wasn't touched upon at all in the movies (meaning Monolith have a lot of freedom with it) and
Torvin specifically says he's heading to the Blue Mountains after you kill the legendary Graug.
I haven't finished the game yet but I'd put money on this.
Calling it now, the sequel stars Torvin and is set in Ered Luin/The Shire during The Scouring. It's definitely covered by WB's LotR license, wasn't touched upon at all in the movies (meaning Monolith have a lot of freedom with it) and
Torvin specifically says he's heading to the Blue Mountains after you kill the legendary Graug.
I haven't finished the game yet but I'd put money on this.
They sound so boss with a good set-up, was playing with some headphones the other night and those chants rustled my jimmies in the best way.
Finally got the combat mechanics down and have been slaying captains like a mad man. Really haven't done too much upgrading since im not sure what I really need vs what there are enough points to get. I've done way more side stuff than I have touched the story missions and I am loving it, the Nemesis system is amazing!!
I think I'm going to trade some stuff in towards this. I'm probably never going to play BF4 again and apparently Walmart is giving 25 bucks for the ps4 version which I only payed 40 for.
Calling it now, the sequel stars Torvin and is set in Ered Luin/The Shire during The Scouring. It's definitely covered by WB's LotR license, wasn't touched upon at all in the movies (meaning Monolith have a lot of freedom with it) and
Torvin specifically says he's heading to the Blue Mountains after you kill the legendary Graug.
I haven't finished the game yet but I'd put money on this.
He doesn't fit any Fellowship character, so they'll probably go with a fighting 'dorf if anything. Or, more likely, they'll use another Human ranger/Aragorn standin-in.
I apologize if this has been asked before, but I bought the Legion Edition on PS4 after the game released. Is that supposed to come with anything extra like a skin or anything, or is it just a dumb name for the digital version on PSN? Cause if it's supposed to come with skins or missions I definitely don't have anything in my library/addons.
I apologize if this has been asked before, but I bought the Legion Edition on PS4 after the game released. Is that supposed to come with anything extra like a skin or anything, or is it just a dumb name for the digital version on PSN? Cause if it's supposed to come with skins or missions I definitely don't have anything in my library/addons.
Unless I'm terribly mistaken, you should have the Dark Ranger skin for pre-ordering (like everyone else) and some sort of Playstation-specific content/mission(s). Beyond that I'm not sure.
they said one dlc will lets you play as celebrimbor
which after the ending i assume is basically doing what those last cutscenes showed him doing, leading an army of orcs against sauron, fits the nemesis system so they don't have to change too much and they can throw in some new powers along with keeping most of the original ones because he is wearing the one ring
Game became a lot more enjoyable once I got Lethal Shadow Strike. Fighting some orcs, see one way off in the distance about to ring an alarm. Teleport kill to that guy, then teleport right back to the guys I was fighting. Feel like a total badass.
Alright. Just finished after approximately 23 hours and 50-60% completion.
The ending was shite - like, really shite. Not only was it incredibly anticlimactic, but there could not have been a bigger, more stinging slap in the face to the suite of mechanics that made the game fun.
Anyway, first and foremost, the game is good. I just want to get that out there, because I'm going to throw some negativity up in here. So, yeah. There's no doubt about it. SoM = fun and I had fun.
It's also incredibly fucking addictive
.
Also, the Nemesis System is great. 'Nuff said. Truly something special that Monolith should pat themselves on the back for, even if it does take a little too long to reach that sweet spot of functionality after being somewhat gimmicky (albeit nifty).
THAT BEING SAID, SoM's underlying mechanics are just... Shallow. Every action is so automated and arguably only a few steps above the dreaded QTE -
unless we're talking that Graug mission, which is a laughable venture right through the heart of QTE City. Spare me.
There is variety and satisfaction to be had in the combat, but when it has such an underlying tone of simplicity and is so frequent, the game world starts to flake away and you feel like you're playing some sort of weird medieval Whack-a-Mole on autopilot. And hey, that's still fun, but it really becomes draining once the mid-game hits. Everything just lacks a certain mechanical depth that would have saved it from the bouts of drudgery I experienced, or the want for something more.
Also, speaking of game world... Wow. Truly a missed opportunity. I guess the most succinct and telling thing I could say about it is that it feels like an uninspired user-made landscape created in a level editor. Lifeless, boring, cut-and-paste drabby-drab. Not to mention the crushing disappointment that slowly seeps in as you realise that this "new" map could not look or feel any similar to what you've been traversing for the past 10 hours. Really sucky.
To get back to the mechanics: I guess that, in a way, you could argue that I'm not really knocking SoM. Rather, I'm knocking Ass Creed and the Arkhams - two series that I have liked, are widely loved and from which SoM merely borrows. The problem with that train of thought to me, though, is that SoM borrows so prodigiously. Back then, these mechanics were fresh; they were novel. It's no revelation that when you lift a game's defining mechanic so rigidly (for the most part), you're opening yourself up to a whole new assortment of pitfalls and criticism; 'been-there-done-that' syndrome, eagle-eye scrutiny, etc. And really, SoM doesn't differentiate itself enough from its influences to escape these criticisms.
I probably am knocking Assham Creedsylum retroactively on some level, but I feel like it's something SoM should still have points docked for; not many, but some nonetheless.
Then there's the easy-to-identify shitty things: fail-states, QTEs, not being able to quick-restart missions, finicky parkour, mission paramaters/stats losing their tiny little brains, etc, etc.
There are niggles in Mordor and an unshakeable simplicity/shallowness that brings it down a bit, but it all works in a cohesive and fun enough manner, whilst also introducing some truly great and inspired elements. I guess, to sum it up, it's a great game for what it is and it definitely has the potential to be a whole lot more. All in all, very happy with my purchase!
Critical 2 gives you +2 hits to your hit/hot streak counter. This, combined with Blade Master effectively makes your finishing moves only require three swings of your sword. If you want to prevent trivializing the game, then skip:
1. Critical 2
2. Resilience
3. Double Special
4. Both the sword and dagger skills at the bottom of the upgrades screen that cost 2500 each.
The problem with doing that though is that combat then just ends up being a lot slower, and not necessarily more "challenging". The regular orc swarms just take longer to thin out, and more presses of the attack button; which isn't entirely compelling gameplay.
I hate when people whine about spoilers, but the thread is getting where I'm afraid to read it because of so much story talk. Game hasn't been out a week yet.
I hate when people whine about spoilers, but the thread is getting where I'm afraid to read it because of so much story talk. Game hasn't been out a week yet.
