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LTTP: Shadow of War - a few bits of greatness floating in an ocean of mediocrity

nowhat

Member
(A few disclaimers first: apologies beforehand for the upcoming wall of text, I started to write a small rant and got completely carried away - there's so much wasted potential here that it's maddening. There's a TL;DR at the end of the second post. Played this on a PS4 Pro, no idea if there are differences between platforms. Didn't spend any time with the online functionality. And obviously there will be SPOILERS.)

Why would I want to play a game that had a mixed reception at best among fans, and is more (in)famous for trying to shove microtransactions into what essentially is a single-player game (causing such an uproar that they eventually removed them from the game)? Three reasons really. First of all, I got Shadow of Mordor on release, and started it a few times, but never got too far with it. I liked it, but it never really grabbed my attention. Sold it along with my OG PS4. But afterwards I've been thinking, maybe I just didn't give the game a proper chance? After all, I like Arkham-style combat (up to a point), Middle-earth seems like a potential setting and the "nemesis system" is an original concept, we should have more of those. So the sequel may be worth considering.

Second, the update that removed the MTs was just recently released. I don't applaud Monolith/WB for doing so (why were they there in the first place, and why with all the bad PR it took them this long?), but what got my attention was that according to the developers, the endgame "will be improved with new narrative elements and streamlined for a more cohesive experience". Going by reviews and comments, previously it was such a mind-numbing grind that paying for a few orcs may seem like a good option, if you want to get to the end. So not only did they get rid of MTs, they also fixed the game? Surely this cannot be?

And third, I have some time off work, was bored and it was on sale, that definitely played a part too. And now here I am with 100% of the story completed and 76% overall, I have given the game plenty of time to prove itself. So without further ado:

STORY: I tried to come up with something positive here, but it's very hard. The writing is mostly quite terrible. First I thought I'd call it bad fanfiction, but as bad as that can get (and it sure can), at least the authors are usually enthusiastic about the source material and lore. Here this is evidently not the case. I wouldn't so much mind playing fast and loose with the lore (which the game does, oh boy), but this feels like it was written by a committee of people, all of which had only seen the movies (but not read the books) and with little understanding of how narrative works. I can picture the first brainstorming session: "You know... there's that ring, right? And it's like super powerful, no one can defeat the one that has the ring. So I was thinking... what if we add another ring, that's like as powerful, if not more?" "Hmm, so like the first Iron Man movie?" "Exactly!" "I like it! Let's roll with that and start writing, we'll have the interns google up some names of places and people later so the nerds don't get too worked up." The end result feels like a generic fantasy story (emphasis on the "generic"), just set in Middle-earth.

But if we ignore the artistic freedom taken with the lore and feel (and I'm not saying the feel shouldn't be gritty, the world is - just that the story doesn't feel "Tolkienish" at all), there are fundamental narrative issues too. There are basically five story branches (represented in the five main quest categories), that do intersect a bit, but not really. And once they're over, it's like they never even existed. One moment I should be caring about what happens to Gondor, but the next - uhh, nothing more to do, so I guess they're fine now? I felt pretty much no emotional connection to most of the characters. In the beginning of the game we're introduced to General Castamir, leader of Minas Ithil. Soon after he is kidnapped by orcs. The player goes off to a rescue mission alone with his daughter (of course, why wait for backup?). The General is rescued. Turns out he was a traitor and an idiot, and he is killed. Am I supposed to feel something for him? I just met the guy, had seen him on-screen like for a minute or so. Ditto for his daughter too - she gets some more screen time, but still I hardly know her. Just because we've crouched in the same bush for a bit doesn't make us friends. And what essentially sounds like a single quest is spread across multiple ones, killing any sense of urgency.

Ignorance of narrative structure is also evident in how the game presents itself (I wouldn't nitpick about this otherwise, but the game uses these terms so I think it's fair game). First we have a prologue and Act 1, that essentially introduces the setting, main characters and some themes. So far so good. Then we have Act 2, that pretty much is the entire game. There the player may learn bits about the story, in a semi-arbitrary order - while quests in a "main" story branch appear somewhat in order, the player may jump between branches at will. Or not, much of it is still optional. And again, thanks to the open world design (that doesn't even try to bridge narrative gaps), there's absolutely no sense of urgency. Still, that's Act 2, telling pretty much all of the story there's to be told. And then there's Act 3, which basically is some cutscenes and a couple of bossfights. That's just not how it works. Or sure, if you are creative enough, you can ignore the basic structure; these writers are not.

Still, not everything needs to be a literary masterpiece, and on average, video games aren't. What's essential though is having a protagonist that is likeable, or at the very least interesting. Talion is neither. He rivals Aiden Pearce from the original Watch Dogs as the most bland protagonist ever. It's not that the other characters would be that good - they're not - but Talion is just so much worse that he sticks out like a sore thumb. His dialogue is just awful, and this isn't helped by some really out of place oneliners he blurts every now and then. I think it's telling that story-wise, the only branch I moderately liked was the one involving Brûz, Ratbag and Ranger, three orcs. What happens in it isn't special: first half of the branch is pretty much a tutorial on how to manage orcs/take over fortresses, the second half is Brûz double-crossing Talion and kidnapping Ranger, with Talion and Ratbag seeking to make an example of Brûz for other potential traitors and free Ranger. But why it works, at all, is thanks to the three orcs having something that Talion sorely lacks: a personality.

PRESENTATION/TECH: I thought the game looked quite good on the whole. There are some low-quality textures to be seen occasionally, the HDR implementation is underwhelming and dynamic resolution scaling can be noticeable occasionally (mostly not though, especially during gameplay). It's not the most pretty or technologically advanced game out there, but it works very well for what it is trying to do. Different regions of the world map look different (up to a point at least), which is always appreciated. The orc designs can be absolutely endearing. Also loading times (for a console open-world game) are decent, quite often fast travel takes longer. Performance-wise, I played the game entirely using the "quality mode", and while there were moments where the game seemed to ponder a bit what to do next, during gameplay it seemed to be pretty solid 30fps.

The soundtrack is of the typical epic orchestrated variety often found in fantasy films/games, and while it is utterly forgettable (I just spent several hours playing the game, and couldn't hum a single tune no matter how I tried), it works very well within the game. The sounds themselves are quite good if nothing special. We've all heard metal clanging on metal before, but there's a decent amount of samples used, so you're not hearing just the same sounds over and over again. One nice little touch is how the game utilizes the DS4 speaker - when for example meeting an orc captain, and you're grinding your weapons together, that grinding sound is output through the controller. A little thing, but as that feature of the controller is woefully underutilized, glad to see developers finding some use for it. Voicework is for the most part good - some of the orcs are great, some of the more major characters can be less convincing, but on average, pretty good voices.

It's clearly an AAA game with high production values and good tech. I only have two major complaints in this department: while the character models look good, the facial models and especially animation/lip sync can look really off. Many games are guilty of this, and I'm not expecting Naughty Dog-level animation in an open-world game; just that as the dialogue itself can already be quite bad and unnatural, it isn't helped at all by a delivery straight from the uncanny valley. And then there's Talion. I generally like Troy Baker as a VA, he usually does a decent job in any given role, sometimes exceptional. But here he is just completely off the mark. The godawful lines he's given surely have something to do with it, but his performance isn't helping at all either.

UI: normally, I wouldn't comment on the UI, but this one is pretty bad. It doesn't look bad, mind you (although the map is pretty rubbish, at least as far as functionality is concerned), but using it is very fiddly. Many common tasks seem to require way too many button presses. For example, if you're past the very beginning, you don't want to keep those normal weapons/armour you get as loot, there's no reason to. So you destroy that junk to get some Mirian. In order to do so, you must first navigate to the item in question (all placed in a single scrollable row - the legendary ones are on their own row at the very least. Then press square, i.e. "Modify Gear". Then you get to choose whether you want to destroy that item (gaining X Mirian), or upgrade to the player's level (costing Y Mirian). Why aren't both options visible immediately? There's enough space to display "*square* Upgrade (-123 Mirian)" and "*triangle* Destroy (+123 Mirian)", with a lot to spare even. When user presses either button, a modal confirmation is shown, where what the user is about to do is explained in more detail.

Speaking of inventory management, no one is forcing developers to include RPG elements in games, and I know this isn't a proper RPG (or try to be even). However. If you're going to give us gear that not only changes base stats (attack/health/etc), but may also include other effects, I should bloody well be able to see what active effects my current gear provides in one go. Not too much ask, is it? But at least the HUD is customizable - most options are simple on/off toggles, but that's more than what many games offer, so kudos for that.

GAMEPLAY: this, in its very core, is where the game shines for me, I really enjoyed the basic gameplay. The world/environment traversal is very pleasant, and not just pushing a stick forward. New skills like double jump help with this and unlockable skills later on in the game like Shadow Strike make it even more fun. Sure, at times when climbing it may be hard to get the character to move exactly in the direction you want, occasionally you may run into small glitches with the environment and you may end up climbing a wall instead of running past it because your trajectory was just a little bit off, but this is true for any game with similar free roaming/running. The mounts I'm not a particular fan of, especially controlling a drake sucks, but the option is there if you're so inclined (with a proper skill).

And it is fun to annoy/tease/torture the orcs. Poisoning their drinks, possessing a few to get them fighting among themselves, opening cages or dropping baits to get Caragors to wreak havoc, shooting arrows at fires to get them to explode (not very logical, but hey, it's fun still) and so on, there are many ways to make an orc's life miserable. Early in the game this involves more sneaking around camps, but with later skill unlocks/upgrades pretty much everything can be done remotely. If anything, it would be nice to have actual traps to place, not just relying on what's in the environment, but what is available here enables all kinds of mischief already.

Speaking of skills and upgrades, this game naturally has a skill tree too (what game doesn't nowadays). I actually think it's quite good. Each skill has two or three upgrades available, and what I really like is that you can have only one upgrade active/skill at any given time. This makes you choose your upgrades according to your playstyle/the enemy you're facing, instead of just maxing out your favourite skills and using only those all the time. It's not perfect by any means - some upgrades are of dubious value ("Silent Runner" for example, running while crouched is already plenty fast and silent), some things you may have wanted but didn't know were available may be in odd places (why is "Mind Breaker", i.e. dominate orcs faster, an upgrade to "Treasure Hunter", i.e. auto loot pickup?) and some upgrades are just so desirable I wonder why the other upgrades even exist for the same skill (who wouldn't use "Fatal Counter", i.e. instakill grunts with a perfect counter - unless you really enjoy grinding out low-level mobs).

On the other hand, one thing the skill tree gets right (and many games don't) is not locking expected/obvious functionality behind skills. Along the lines of "Hey, you know now how to silently kill someone! Would you like to spend some upgrade points to learn how to do it from a slightly more elevated position?". There's a very comprehensive toolset at the player's disposal very early in the game, the skills are mostly non-essential (but convenient/fun) features. The game hands out skill points like candy, so it's very possible to max out everything in a single game if you grind it out (I didn't). Once you reach the endgame, you get some new skills (some old ones are removed too) and it's possible to boost individual stats little by little, if you find nothing more appealing in the menu. Not ideal, but got to spend those skill points somewhere I guess. All in all, I've seen way worse skill trees.

COMBAT: while this is not the stealthiest of stealth games by any means, lacking even basic things like disposing/hiding bodies, discreetly taking out some key enemies plays an important part of the game, it may even be required depending on the mission. And you can do quite a bit of damage while remaining undetected. But once we get to the action, if you've played any of the Arkham games, you know the drill. The button layout is pretty much identical for the basic stuff, you can even get a skill to throw a batara... I mean, a dagger, with a flick of the left trigger. Incoming attacks must be countered or dodged (if you don't get to attack before the enemy's attack lands). Low-level grunts will accept a beating in any which way you please, but higher-level enemies may be immune to a particular attack, so you may need to strike from the side/stun first/climb over, whatnot. While there are no gadgets as such, at least to a similar extent, the Arkham influence is undeniable.

Which is not a bad thing in itself, it's a tried and tested formula, and at first the combat feels good. It makes for some nice cinematic action scenes, especially combined with the occasional Execution or such. But as you play more, it becomes evident that the game is way too forgiving when it comes to the combat mechanics (at least on normal difficulty - I know, I could ramp up the difficulty, but I guess "normal" is the intended one by the developers for regular people to play?). While the concept of a "perfect counter" exists, you can press triangle to counter any time the prompt is visible, and you will, from almost any move. Counter cancels whatever you are doing. Dodge works in a similar fashion, you can dodge pretty much any time (some moves cannot be countered). This may not seem like a negative thing at first, but it quickly becomes just too button-mashy. According to the developers, they wanted to "move the game from the more solitary player experience to one that captured the epic battles shown in The Lord of the Rings films".

But what works on film for a couple of hours may not work in a game that lasts dozens of hours (except Legolas surfing on a shield while shooting orcs with a bow, that doesn't work anywhere). There are later on the game large battles with orcs also on the player's side, but even very high-level orcs still seem to be rather high-maintenance. You will probably need to be darting across the battlefield, micromanaging even very mundane details ("You've noticed there are archers on the roof - why don't you guys, I dunno, consider killing them? Oh fuck it, I'll do it myself then"). If you're in the midst of such an "epic battle" and you're absolutely swarmed by enemies, using something like ranged weapons may be right out, there's simply no time. Barring some special skills (which require that you have accumulated at least some "Might") attack/counter/dodge, with the occasional stun thrown in, is what you are able to do. By being so lenient with the timing, the game allows for such large chaotic encounters. But I'm not so sure such encounters are that fun, at least to the extent present in the game. My thumbs seem to agree.

Only fighting the Nazgûl changes things a bit, but in my opinion for the worse. It's still a combination of attack/counter/dodge/stun, but now the timing has to be much more precise, making for more challenging combat. But the challenge really isn't the timing - the window is much shorter, but still very much doable. The challenge comes from the fact that they keep teleporting all over the place, often off-camera, then they suddenly pull you close and go on an attack spree, leaving you rolling around like an idiot trying to keep out of the way of the attacks and somehow keep the camera in a sane position. Then waiting for that one brief prompt to press a button, but you also have to try to figure out from which off-screen position the attack is coming from. It's much easier to register a button prompt in time if it's in the center of the screen, as opposed to the edges. It's more difficult than fighting orcs, for sure, but is it more enjoyable, in my opinion not.

So while the combat started enjoyable enough, towards the end of the game I found myself avoiding random encounters, just because in the end it always plays so much the same - the risk for the player to die is quite low, but OTOH, there may be just so many orcs to deal with that it takes a while to bash all of their heads in.

QUESTS: if there's ever an award for most low-effort quest design ever, this game is a worthy contender for the title. It's not that no effort went to them - some of the more "important" quests feature cutscenes too, but the template is almost always the same:
  • Player travels to the map marker for the quest and initiates the quest
  • Opening cutscene (optional)
  • Player must first complete some prerequisite tasks - there may be some optional tasks too, but the payoff is usually quite minimal (along the lines of few hundred Mirian or a gem)
  • Player must then fight a mob of enemies and/or bosses
  • Repeat previous two steps as many times as required
  • Closing cutscene (optional)
That covers most of the story quests, and it's quite pathetic really. It would be more palatable, if not much, as a side content template - but I'll get to those a bit later. There are exceptions to this template, but they are rare. For example, in the "Carnán branch", you get to fight a Balrog. Cool, huh? Well, the creature does look cool, but controlling Carnán isn't exactly smooth, especially as a drake. As far as combat goes, it was quite lame really. Oh well, at least there's something different. But there are still many quests in the branch, following "Zog", the orc who first summoned the Balrog and now is raising an undead army. To what end? Who knows, although he does eventually say he wants an army of his own, instead of working for Sauron or the Bright Lord. Fair enough, but as far as motivation and character building goes, that's next to nothing.

He is shown initially as heading a cult of sorts, later on his followers resurrect him only to be killed for one final time by the protagonist. But many questions remain. What is this cult? What are they after? Are there any remaining members? Questions like these could have been answered along the way, as the player chases him across Mordor. But no. What happens in every fucking quest is: the player needs to first "purify" (hold circle for a while and try not to get hit) x amount of totems used in the necromancy ritual, in order to stop the undead from spawning. Then the player must kill everything that still moves. There are very slight variations of this, like having to kill undead archers first before going for the totems, or having to kill orcs trying to torch a tree after taking care of the totems, but that's pretty much it. And many quests are spent with this. There would have been so much opportunity to make this more interesting. Who is Zog? And still, what of the cult, what is it, where is it now? But no. Once the final quest in the branch is over, problem solved, cult dissolved I'm assuming, because no one seems to give them any thought after that.

This is just so low-effort quest design that it seems downright cynical, especially in a game that's supposed to have a story. I actually wouldn't have minded to have some bog-standard fetch quests in the game, if they were combined with some story and character development/interaction. Something along the lines of "Ranger has had a tummy ache for a long time, so he and Ratbag go out on a quest to find Ranger's favourite orc-chow that is out of stock in all nearby stores. During the quest they visit many locations, get sent on various fool's errands across Mordor and exchange some hilarious banter along the way. Eventually they're able to source the right food for Ranger, his digestion is back to normal, the end". I would rather play that than the majority of the quests on offer here.

But to some, it seems that the one original concept the franchise has going on for itself is all that is needed, so onward to

THE ORCS AND THE "NEMESIS SYSTEM": the orcs are undeniably the real stars of the show here - ironically enough, with just a few spoken lines they're able to appear more interesting than most of the main cast. And I really like the different designs - especially among the captains, some are just amazing. There are also various "factions" and "professions", so to speak. So on a quick glance, it appears that there's quite a bit of variety in there.

Sadly, this is not the case really. When it comes to the grunts, their appearance may vary a bit, but their behaviour falls into one from a handful of possible roles. Size does play some part, some moves are only executed by the largest ones, but in the end there's very little actual variety. The same is true for the captains as well. Again, some moves are reserved for the really big fellas, the "profession" (if any) may indicate for example poisoned weapons, but beyond that, it's just a random sampling of strengths and weaknesses (based in part on the orc's level I'm assuming, higher level orcs seem to have fewer of the latter). Even some moves that seem physically impossible for the smallest orcs (like blocking the player from jumping over the orc) are executed just fine by tiny captains, if the RNG has deemed it should have the skill.

This I think is a huge problem. The orcs are the main enemy after all, most of the game is spent fighting orcs. The game would benefit a lot from more variety there. More different kinds of grunts at the very least. But I wouldn't mind more captain types either. More specific weaknesses for example. Specific weak spots (not head or feet) that must be hit with a ranged weapon. Massively vulnerable when hit from the side, but nigh indestructible from front or back. Or something, I'm not a game designer nor do I play one on the TV, but that would be a great improvement. As is, there actually is so little variation that towards the end of the game I stopped looking at the intel altogether, unless facing a captain way above my level. Why bother, it takes like few seconds to notice "ah, that movement pattern, that attack pattern, probably vulnerable to X". It's annoying to fight two captains right one after another, both looking completely different and belonging to different factions, yet behaving identically. I've had it happen quite a few times, because the amount of available parameters just isn't really that big.

So what about the "nemesis system" then? I really like the concept. As an idea, having even a bit more personal adversary than "guy with a shotgun #251" is appealing. I just don't think the execution here is still quite there yet. Yes, your old opponents will remember your previous encounter and taunt you accordingly. They are able to gain abilities and change in appearance if they move in the ranks. And sure enough, it is amusing when an orc who you just recently literally split in half jumps in front of you, all wrapped in metal plates but still alive and kicking, and starts giving you shit. And there are also internal conflicts which shuffle the ranks every now and then, without the player's intervention.

This is all well and good, but it's also quite a shallow system in the end. It's just orcs having some skirmishes when the RNG sees so fit. Sure, you can send your own converts to target specific individuals, join in on the fun too - or just kill off random captains and watch the ranks regroup. But after toying around with it for a while, I just used the army view to figure out which key captains I should take out before storming a fort and skipped the nemesis system altogether (if I fell in the hand of a captain I always tried to respond in kind though).

That is not to say the system wouldn't have potential, it does. But I think it needs some more depth to it. How about for example making the orc factions more meaningful? An orc being attacked by a member of a rival faction could suddenly receive help from a member of the same faction? Or you, the player, has secured the fort in the area. But in addition to having to take care of the fort, you have to maintain a high enough "Orc Satisfaction Index". Disposable cannon fodder they may be, but get enough of them together and they start to organize and demand their rights. Let your OSI drop low enough and watch your captains jump ship. Conversely, maintain a high OSI and you may get new recruits just based on the working conditions. Just two contrived examples, but with some refinement I think the nemesis system could be turned into something great. As of now, despite the orcs having some quips suitable for various outcomes of encounters, there is more an illusion of complexity than actual complexity.

But maybe it's just me, I've never been that into sandbox gameplay. Such people definitely exist though, many enjoy creating their own "emergent narrative" to go along with it. For them, what's being offered right now with the nemesis system and the radiant orc quests may be all that's needed for hours and hours of entertainment, and that's great.

(continued in the next post)
 
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nowhat

Member
SIDE CONTENT: so, you've gone through the story or it doesn't interest you at all. You've messed enough with orcs in the nemesis system. What else is there? Well, there are the online vendettas and sieges, but as said, I haven't touched those bits at all. As a matter of fact, I haven't thus far been even able to maintain a connection to "Hydra", seems to be disconnected constantly. This was way before PSN started to have issues recently, so maybe some teething issues with the latest update? But that really doesn't interest me, so haven't tried to even fix it.

There are challenges - daily/community challenges (which I'm unable to participate in currently, as they require an online connection). And also challenges related to upgrading your weapons, usually do $THING X times for lower tier gear, and possess/resurrect a particular kind of orc over certain level. Nothing very interesting, but I suppose upgrading your gear is always good if possible.

And then... there are just collectibles. Three kinds of collectibles, four if you count the "Haedir" (more commonly known as radio towers). Collecting all of a type in a map will net you a reward, in the case of "Ithildin" a piece of equipment from a legendary set, a skill point otherwise. Collecting all (in every map) of "Gondorian Artifacts" or "Shelob Memories" will also give you a skill upgrade unavailable otherwise. The upgrade from collecting all the memories is maybe a bit more useful, but hardly essential. Still, that may sound more tempting - there are just too many artifacts scattered across the map, so unless you want to chase after random trinkets, rotate them around while a lady talks about the object in question, and then have Talion try to make a witty or insightful comment about it, this one is a pass.

But unless you really want that skill upgrade, I'd advice against getting all the memories too. I don't usually care for collectibles, but am willing to hunt for them if there's some payoff. It doesn't even need to be anything advantageous in the game - for example, finding all the "Vantages" in HZD reveals a quite touching story from the old world, and you get to compare how the views looked back then. Completely worth it for me, even if the story doesn't relate to the events in the game at all. The payoff here is absolutely insulting. Unlocking any memory (which is achieved by rotating an object until the controller vibrates enough - a truly novel mechanic) nets you about one to two seconds of video. Shelob mutters something while you rotate the object, this may reveal something - but the voice is heavily processed, and unlike pretty much everywhere else, there are no subtitles, I never could make out what she was muttering. But collect all of them, and you get a complete video clip. The quest description says "Uncover the truth of Shelob's past and Mordor's future". The truth, it seems, is that apparently Sauron and Shelob had a thing of sorts at some point, Sauron cut it off, Shelob was pissed and retreated to a cave in her spider form. That's it. Ignoring how none of that makes any sense in any previous known Tolkien lore, it didn't exactly come as a surprise that Shelob isn't a fan of Sauron. It was "very subtly" hinted at throughout the game.

So if the main content is poorly written and formulaic when it comes to quest design, the side content is even more lazy.

PROGRESSION: but what if you're the kind of person who enjoys large sandboxes and "Orc Killing Simulator 2017" sounds just like your thing? This may be for you, but there comes a point when it's hard to get much more out of the game. You have maxed out your skill tree, you have upgraded all your good gear, you have all the Mirian you could ever need. Well, one thing to do is to add modifications your gear. This includes your ring too (yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either). And that is fine, the ability to modify your gear can be great, properly implemented - you can end up with unique items, with specs unavailable anywhere else in the game.

...but it should come as no surprise that the implementation here is the most basic, unimaginative one you could think of. There are three types of gems, red (attack), green (health) and white (wealth). Depending on the item and gem type, you get either an item bonus (more attack for a particular weapon for example) or a general stat boost. So while the game manages to tick the "you can modify weapons" box, you can forget about rare drops that would give certain advantages and disadvantages too. Or anything fun really, just boosting the base stats.

But wait, you can craft better gems! In a completely unheard of mechanic, you can take three gems of same colour and level, and combine them into a single gem of the next level. There are six (!) levels in total, and sure enough, the higher levels give nice stat boosts, even if they're boring. The problem is, crafting those takes an insane amount of grinding. But hey... that's just more content, right? Right?

One thing is certain though, at the end of the game you'll have a fairly large stash of Mirian, wondering what to do with it. I wondered the same. It is used for weapon upgrades in normal weapons, but by the end of the game those go to trash immediately. You can upgrade/train your orcs, but why bother - just send them out to missions and they level up if they survive, or just go harvest new ones. They're a renewable resource. You can use Mirian to help with taking over the forts, but I found just killing enough of the captains beforehand makes the sieges quite easy. But then I got to the end of "Act 3", and lo and behold, there indeed is a use for it...

SHADOW WARS, AKA THE ENDGAME: when reaching this point I had to take a breather and consider my life choices. I was already very fed up with the game and if the writing had been bad up to that point, "Act 3" in its entirety was on a whole new level. But then I decided to bite my lip and keep on chugging - this was one of the reasons I got the game in the first place. So how has the endgame changed since original release?

As a reminder, at the beginning of the endgame the player controls four forts. Now every "day" one or more of those forts are under siege and must be defended. A "day" ends when all forts under siege have successfully fended off the attackers. It's basically like taking over a fort, but from a reverse perspective - defend victory spots, kill the first wave of enemies containing three assault leaders, likely other captains, and a fuckton of various grunts/other enemies. Then a second wave. If you lose a fort, you must take it back for the "day" to end. But it has no relation to any day, virtual or physical, so you can take forever to prepare for an upcoming assault. Originally you had to get through ten days to reach the "real" ending.

Here's the thing though, at this point the enemy levels shoot up dramatically. You're of quite high level probably too, but your orcs, especially in forts captured early in the game, nope. This is where the microtransactions mainly came to play. Instead of trying to farm high-level orcs the old-fashioned way, or level up existing orcs, one could just buy them. According to Monolith "purchasing Orcs in the Market is more immediate and provides additional player options" - alas, that option is no more (and don't get me wrong, good riddance). So the endgame has supposedly been made shorter - by how much, I don't know. But I know I won't reach it soon, if ever.

"This portion of the game will be improved with new narrative elements and streamlined for a more cohesive experience" says Monolith - I'm currently at day 3 and have seen zero narrative elements. Arguably they were very rare in the main game though, so I guess that gets a pass. What "more cohesive experience" should mean, I have no idea. But the basic gist is this - unless you've spent the game training and leveling up your orcs in all of your forts, and have invested in physical defenses in all of them/have the cash to invest, prepare for a lot of grinding and orc farming. A fort may survive a single siege with lower level orcs defending it, but the orcs sure as hell won't.

So I had reached my limit at least for now. I'm doing all this for what, a cutscene? Fuck that. So on to Youtube I go, and... well, judge for yourselves. On a personal level I'm glad I didn't waste hours trying to get that. I don't know much the endgame has changed since release. But even now, it is an absolutely mindless grind.

IN CONCLUSION / TL;DR: if you've made it this far, you're probably thinking I hate the game with every cell of my body (you are also incredibly patient, bored, or both), but the thing is... I don't. There are some parts that I really, really liked. But the rest is... not bad, but completely average and soulless. It's a technically competent game, there's no denying it. Obviously a lot of work went into it. But instead of feeling like a labour of love, it feels like a labour of... well, labour. The reason I went through the game with a fine comb was to demonstrate that while the game manages to tick many boxes, most of what is expected of a modern open-world action adventure, it does so by doing the absolutely minimum, sometimes arguably even not that.

It is far from certain there will ever be a sequel. Apparently sales were well below expectations, publishers can get jumpy if there's even a slight dip, and the controversy surrounding the game/having to give up microtransactions (no way WB did it out of good corporate citizenship) surely doesn't help. But I actually wish there would be, despite just shitting on the game for a couple of pages. The core gameplay is very solid and enjoyable. It may be very derivative too, but I don't really care as long as the execution is good, and it is. The nemesis system may have not yet fully realized its potential, but the potential is there. And there's like an infinite amount of untapped potential in the Tolkienverse - forget the usual suspects, go straight to The Silmarillion for starters. It's an absolutely dreadful book to read, at least in a single sitting from cover to cover, but there are so many stories to use as inspiration. And all kinds of strange creatures too.

But if they release another game like this, the franchise is gone for sure. The elevator pitch for this game, despite some mechanical improvements, could be "it's like Shadow of Mordor, but bigger!". That's a completely wrong approach, instead of trying to fix the issues with the original game, just create a bigger version, but here we are. However, the pitch for a possible sequel cannot be "it's like Shadow of Mordor, but biggerer!" (one reason also being you'd risk getting shot by grammar nazis)

I see two ways how it could work. One option would be to go all in on the sandbox experience. Many seem to be happy with just playing around with the nemesis system in an open world setting, so improve on that. Skip any survival aspects, don't go there, but make it like the ultimate orc hunter game. Improve on the radial orc quests (currently, there's very little to differentiate them from each other). Implement at least some form of online connectivity for players, full multiplayer even if possible. Writing staff can be reduced a lot, but leave some to come up with events people can take part of every now and then. Not much writing is required really, just some reason why people would go to $PLACE at $DATE. Need for mocap and voice acting is dramatically reduced, lowering production costs. Still, release the game as mid-price title. Include cosmetics people can buy (but they absolutely must be cosmetic only, no in-game advantages). Laugh all the way to the bank. This is not the game I would want, but I'm fairly sure it would do well.

The later option, really making an open-world action adventure this game so obviously wants to be (I'm hesitant to say "tries to be", because very little is tried here) is the more riskier proposition. But risks must be taken on occasion. Just some steps would go a long way:
  • I checked the writing credits for this one, there are nine people credited. Do not let any of them near the franchise ever again. Monolith has hired the services of a Tolkien scholar, to function as a PR shield of sorts, so they can go nuts with the lore. Appeal to authority is always a valid argument, innit... but that may still be a good PR move. The issue with this game is not so much that the writing conflicts with pretty much everything in the existing Tolkienverse, it's that it's universally shit.
  • After getting rid of the above, hire one or two main writers to outline the main story. Even cursory knowledge of what Tolkien wrote is a plus, but having taken at least Creative Writing 101 (or equivalent) should be mandatory.
  • Hire a bunch of quest writers and designers to actually turn that story into playable quests. This is not an easy process, as a matter of fact it's bloody hard. Which is why you need professionals with experience in open-world quest design, something Monolith painfully obviously lacks.
  • It's completely fine to be inspired by other games. Some would say copy other games even, but who cares. But no content is better than bad content. Quality over quantity. The Ubisoft formula may be popular, but that doesn't mean it's the pinnacle of open-world game design. I'll gladly take a single meaningful side quest over hundred irrelevant collectibles.
  • Do at complete overhaul of the combat. Less hordes and button mashing, more strategy required. At least basic combos, parrying, and counter not available at all times.
  • Orcs are cool and all that, but there is so much more out there. More monsters! More strange creatures!
  • ...but as orcs will still likely be a major part of the franchise, more variety there
  • And for the love of $DEITY, do not let Talion appear on the screen ever again, even as a flashback. Let's just all agree that it is a trauma we're actively trying to forget.
 
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Skyn3t

Banned
Did you play Shadow of Mordor? If your answer is yes, would you recommend Shadow of War as a better game?
 

nowhat

Member
Did you play Shadow of Mordor? If your answer is yes, would you recommend Shadow of War as a better game?
As stated in the very beginning, a bit, but never got close to finishing it, so cannot really comment on it. But in my opinion, Shadow of War is a mechanically good game. It's pretty much everything else apart from the mechanics that is lacking.
 
Thanks for your detailed overview. I enjoyed the first one for what it was and I got it for cheap. Think id get the sequel for cheap as well.
 

autoduelist

Member
I absolutely loved the improved nemesis system and building my own army. The plot was bad, but i didnt play for the plot. If you liked the first one, the second is better in every way.
 

Magus00

Member
Was this review based on the game after the major update in July? Curious, as it was supposed be quite an overhaul.
 

nowhat

Member
Was this review based on the game after the major update in July? Curious, as it was supposed be quite an overhaul.
After, I bought the game the day the update arrived. Supposedly you should be able to get through the endgame in less than ten "days", but don't know if I'll bother, seems more work than fun even with the update. Completing the endgame will net you particular gear with the update, got some of those already so I guess the update is in effect.

But I guess the visible difference is, there's no way to purchase orcs anymore. WB is more than happy if you get some of the DLC*) though, that is still advertised prominently in the main menu.

*) Based on my impression of the base game, getting me to buy any story DLC for this seems reeeeeally unlikely.
 
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gioGAF

Member
Thanks for the write-up. I had considered getting this game after hearing about the patch removing MT, but ultimately decided against it. Your take is what I figured it would be and you have helped me feel more confident about my decision. Thanks!

My backlog and Elder Scrolls Online should cover me until Dragon Quest XI.
 
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