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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor |OT| One Title to rule them all

Yeah. My first goal whenever I can start playing this game again is to progress as far as I can in the story until I get branding. Because I've been reading about it and it sounds awesome.

I mean part of me wishes I could just summon my army of orcs out of nowhere. But having orcs I can rely on at one point is cool enough.
 
Played a whole bunch today, my really only issue is the Batman combat never really clicked for me (in the Batman games as and here). The rest of the game is good enough though to over come that for me. Would love to see this game with combat more like Dragons Dogma. This type of combat always just feels like i'm waiting for a Y to flash on screen to parry or something. For the the game is at its best when i'm sneaking around, stealth taking down dude or shooting fires to blow up like 10 dudes.
 
Does anyone know when warchiefs begin to respawn? I've wiped out the entire lot of them (save for the story character in one of the spots), and I'm just curious when I can expect those spots might be occupied again?
 

fin

Member
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?
 

DarkoMaledictus

Tier Whore
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

Get 10 hits and do a finishers, easy mode use b to stun, multi-slash but don't kill and use a finisher on the guy behind you, rinse and repeat. Seriously the game is a cake walk once you get the mechanics.
 

Brooks2304

Neo Member
Was honestly going to wait to buy this on sale, but caved in, sold in the broken NHL 15 and picked it up today. Very satisfied with the decision. Although the slight lag input is annoying, enjoying the breath of fresh air with the nemesis system and the actual incorporation of a strategy in battle.
 

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?
You need to have your hit chain up to be able to do finishers.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
This game. This damn game. So good. Captain's seem to just have it out for me. I'm seeing Vengence missions pop up. I think these are Captains who have killed other players? Great additions!

Edit: Also, either the rain effects aren't the greatest or it's hailing in Mordor in my game. o_O
 

TheRed

Member
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

When your multiplier turns red you can do a finisher, so at x8 is the first one.
 
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

Your sword will glow blue when its time to press Y and B for the finisher (your multiplier will also turn red). When the stars are over their heads the combo to kill them is RT and X, same as a stealth kill.
 
I'm usually a story/narrative focused gamer but the nemesis system is so amazing that I've barely started the story. I got killed by a few guys early on and all of them leveled up to captains (one guy got one level beyond that). Now, I've been hunting them down between starting off new story missions. I got into a fight where I managed to kill 4 captains (including 3 revenge targets) in less than 10 minutes. That was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a game.

The production values are top notch and the voice acting is incredibly good (particularly your super badass wraith). I'm not a huge LOTR fan but this game feels immersive even to me. Well done Monolith. I think this will be right up there as GOTY for a lot of people (Its definitely #1 for me).
 

DOWN

Banned
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

When your combo count number is red instead of white.
 

Az987

all good things
So has anyone else noticed the flame of anor rune not really working?

I swear I saw it light an enemy on fire the first time I played the game but havent seen it since.
 
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

You need to get combos. You won't get far enough in the combos if you don't counter/parry with 'Y'. Like somebody else said the easiest way to get the combo meter up is to wraith freeze somebody, then do the flurry of attacks (paying attention to your surroundings to press Y if somebody attacks you). Also if you go later you can get an upgrade that lets you get combos faster if you press the attack button carefully(aka don't spam it).

You know one has to give props to the developers by choosing to allow a lot of this stuff to be interrupted.

When your multiplier turns red you can do a finisher, so at x8 is the first one.

I never pay attentio to that tbh. I just wait for the sound cue and the sword to glow blue.
 

KingKong

Member
They just keep spawning, which is probably why I keep getting distracted haha.

yeah, it's weird, there's not a lot of variety in the game from what I can tell, but the actual mechanics and combat are so satisfying that I don't mind doing side missions and challenges instead of just blasting through the story like I would in other open world games like Assassins Creed
 

Naminator

Banned
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

Yeah dude the game can be pretty rough at start, but it gets much easier when you unlock more abilities.

About the Y+B, I think it's just a timing issue, the devs made the button press timing way too strict, meaning that you have to press them at the same time almost perfectly for it to activate. I honestly can't see any other reason than this because the finishers don't require for the opponent to be stunned, they blow through everything, hell you can even insta kill an enemy with a shield from the front with Y+B. So yeah, probably very strict timing that is causing this, and yes I fucking hate it too.

As for tips, I'd personally spend some time doing the side activities and buff up your character because with later abilities shit gets so easy.

But if you still want to fight as is, then utilize your bow mid combos, that is a very good way to pick out an enemy or two, especially those damned archers who shoot at you from a far while you fight, just fight normally and when at full focus pop out a bow, do 2-3 nice headshots and continue the combo. If you happen to be near a camp fire when fighting, shoot an arrow in to it and blow the mothafakas up, it will look cool, feel great, and be just devastating.
 

Apathy

Member
Yeah. My first goal whenever I can start playing this game again is to progress as far as I can in the story until I get branding. Because I've been reading about it and it sounds awesome.

I mean part of me wishes I could just summon my army of orcs out of nowhere. But having orcs I can rely on at one point is cool enough.

Oh man, you gotta get branding, it's like a whole new level of micro managing with your orcs climbing the social ladder and getting pissed off when they die too early in battles and fuck up your plans.
 

Naminator

Banned
The only thing I'm not enjoying are the Outcast Rescue missions.

They're pretty dull.

One thing that I hate is that the vengeance missions are only used with the people from your friends list.

I would understand if the people from my friends list would take the priority, but damn it I have only like 1 person on my friends list that plays Shadow of Mordor and because of that I barely get any vengeance missions.......

Hell not to mention the fact that I'm playing a half wraith character!

Wouldn't it be awesome to see some replays of people fighting to their death when in wraith mode, Dark Souls style?
 

Phionoxx

Member
Oh man, you gotta get branding, it's like a whole new level of micro managing with your orcs climbing the social ladder and getting pissed off when they die too early in battles and fuck up your plans.

Which branch / set of storyline missions should you focus on to get branding? Spoiler: Notes on first few available story missions.
Towards the beginning, they first branch on either focusing on helping the Wraith learn his backstory, or pursuing Gollum.
 
One thing that I hate is that the vengeance missions are only used with the people from your friends list.

I would understand if the people from my friends list would take the priority, but damn it I have only like 1 person on my friends list that plays Shadow of Mordor and because of that I barely get any vengeance missions.......

Hell not to mention the fact that I'm playing a half wraith character!

Wouldn't it be awesome to see some replays of people fighting to their death when in wraith mode, Dark Souls style?

Solution is to post your PSN/SteamID/XBL GT here on gaf then you will have lots of friends :)
 

Grief.exe

Member
I don't understand when you're supposed to be able to use the Y+B finisher?

At combo level 8, your sword will glow blue.

Oh man, you gotta get branding, it's like a whole new level of micro managing with your orcs climbing the social ladder and getting pissed off when they die too early in battles and fuck up your plans.

Yeah. My first goal whenever I can start playing this game again is to progress as far as I can in the story until I get branding. Because I've been reading about it and it sounds awesome.

I mean part of me wishes I could just summon my army of orcs out of nowhere. But having orcs I can rely on at one point is cool enough.

This ability really should have been unlocked much earlier.
 

Apathy

Member
Which branch / set of storyline missions should you focus on to get branding? Spoiler: Notes on first few available story missions.
Towards the beginning, they first branch on either focusing on helping the Wraith learn his backstory, or pursuing Gollum.

Early in the second area of actual story missions
 
My brother's game had a guy that kept coming back no matter how many times we killed him.

We thought it was a horrible bug.

Then we read his Motives.

"Believes he is cursed, and seeks out Talion for answers."
 

-Deimos

Member
My brother's game had a guy that kept coming back no matter how many times we killed him.

We thought it was a horrible bug.

Then we read his Motives.

"Believes he is cursed, and seeks out Talion for answers."

The nemesis system keeps getting crazier and crazier.
 

Adeptrain

Member
So yeah, I'd love to get more vengeance missions, but none of my friends want to buy the game. I need more steam friends!! AdeptRain is my steam ID. I promise to make the orc's death painful and humiliating :)
 
Oh man, you gotta get branding, it's like a whole new level of micro managing with your orcs climbing the social ladder and getting pissed off when they die too early in battles and fuck up your plans.

This ability really should have been unlocked much earlier.

I'm all for micromanagement. I'd genuinely go to find an orc I really like and brand him. Then give him all the support possible to see him climb up the ladder. Then I'd give him back up when he becomes a body guard and tries to usurp the chief. And then we'd be the best of friends. My orc and me. Then do the same for another one until I have my own crew of chiefs and I just fucking shit up.

So is the only way to help them out once you brand them to give them orders to take out orcs until their power level keeps rising and they can take on another higher food-chan orc?

Man I'm getting excited to help out orcs lol.
 

Tsukumo

Member
Man there has to be a way to kill enemies faster when you're surrounded by like 20 of them. Having to slash, dodge, and hope for the glowing sword takes too long.

I think the game pretty much "forces" you to make the most out of melee, stealth and ranged in a way where you can't rely on a single playstyle. Brutalize kills give you a good chunk of time where enemies won't get reinforcement and leave a captain isolated, ranged changes the battlefield completely once you start to set traps in the middle of a fight and when you start teleporting from the ground to archers on the roofs and then back on the ground.
I started playing the game like the Arkham games where I pretty much fight my way through everything, but here it seems you actually HAVE to stealth and shoot as much as you punch people in the face or it's game over.
 

Levyne

Banned
I've just been blasting through story missions so far trying to get some of the basics unlocked. Pretty easy but I'm not worried that it will get harder. Plus, trying to pull out a flawless combo for a whole encampment of orcs is still satisfying,
 

fin

Member
Thanks everyone. Got it now. Literally after posting I went to another war chief and it was the one with combo/ground executions. Never knew you needed to get the combo up first. The wraith punch combo to finisher works great.

Got the warchief first try riding a beast...he freaked out and ran away. I chanced him down got intel and put a sword through his face. So rad...
 
One thing that I hate is that the vengeance missions are only used with the people from your friends list.

I would understand if the people from my friends list would take the priority, but damn it I have only like 1 person on my friends list that plays Shadow of Mordor and because of that I barely get any vengeance missions.......

Hell not to mention the fact that I'm playing a half wraith character!

Wouldn't it be awesome to see some replays of people fighting to their death when in wraith mode, Dark Souls style?

I have gotten a bunch of Vendetta missions from people who are not on my friends list
 

HeelPower

Member
I think I've found a new type of Caragor.

dvgokw.jpg

This looks a lot like a shot from Dark Souls 2 forest of the fallen giants.
 
So, and people maybe want spoiler tags but how big is the game warchief screen wise?

I see 3 layers of captains and 5 warchiefs which is visible right from the start (though war chiefs dark), what comes next? Another single set with new map? Or even more?
 
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this game.

When do I push Y+B to do the finishers? I think it's when they have the stars over their heads, but it isn't working 100% of the time but like 25%. My dude just does his push to stun them...

I'm stuck everything is too hard for me now. Been trying to kill 20 Uruks in 2:00 minutes to get the war chief (even took out his body guard first). Any tips?

Slow motion bow headshots or fire/barrel explosions?
 

DrBo42

Member
So, and people maybe want spoiler tags but how big is the game warchief screen wise?

I see 3 layers of captains and 5 warchiefs which is visible right from the start (though war chiefs dark), what comes next? Another single set with new map? Or even more?

Army screen never changes quantity. You'll enter a new area at some point with its own population of captains and warchiefs.
 
Army screen never changes quantity. You'll enter a new area at some point with its own population of captains and warchiefs.

Ah OK thanks, looked like a much bigger board with stuff above

Can't imagine how hard it becomes second area, already loads of tough enemy types
 

Apathy

Member
I'm all for micromanagement. I'd genuinely go to find an orc I really like and brand him. Then give him all the support possible to see him climb up the ladder. Then I'd give him back up when he becomes a body guard and tries to usurp the chief. And then we'd be the best of friends. My orc and me. Then do the same for another one until I have my own crew of chiefs and I just fucking shit up.

So is the only way to help them out once you brand them to give them orders to take out orcs until their power level keeps rising and they can take on another higher food-chan orc?

Man I'm getting excited to help out orcs lol.

When you give them orders a new quest opens up (blue) where you have to go and help them out with it if you want or let them do it on their own. So you could have a really weak captain go straight to the top with some help.
 
lol @ the "Avenge" mission I just did to get Zumug The Tongue back for killing Gaz.

I start by sneaking up on his little crew and realize he's only a level 5 before thinking "lol Gaz, get gud" then all of a sudden in walks one of my own Nemesis hellspawn, a level whothehellknows that shoots EXPLOSIVE CROSSBOWS

wtf

What should've been a simple stealth assassination turns into a massacre because this Orc with the crossbow is killing his own people accidentally and hitting explosive barrels/bonfires as well. Gaz's nemesis runs away because he's terrified of fire leading me on a chase right into 3 random Caragors. Needless to say everyone got wiped out, and I made extra sure to kill the crossbow enemy before he ended up as a level 15 one man kamikaze army.

Moral of the story: Don't laugh at low level enemies, or friends who've died to them.
 
lol @ the "Avenge" mission I just did to get Zumug The Tongue back for killing Gaz.

I start by sneaking up on his little crew and realize he's only a level 5 before thinking "lol Gaz, get gud" then all of a sudden in walks one of my own Nemesis hellspawn, a level whothehellknows that shoots EXPLOSIVE CROSSBOWS

wtf

What should've been a simple stealth assassination turns into a massacre because this Orc with the crossbow is killing his own people accidentally and hitting explosive barrels/bonfires as well. Gaz's nemesis runs away because he's terrified of fire leading me on a chase right into 3 random Caragors. Needless to say everyone got wiped out, and I made extra sure to kill the crossbow enemy before he ended up as a level 15 one man kamikaze army.

Moral of the story: Don't laugh at low level enemies, or friends who've died to them.

Amazing haha
 

Apathy

Member
lol @ the "Avenge" mission I just did to get Zumug The Tongue back for killing Gaz.

I start by sneaking up on his little crew and realize he's only a level 5 before thinking "lol Gaz, get gud" then all of a sudden in walks one of my own Nemesis hellspawn, a level whothehellknows that shoots EXPLOSIVE CROSSBOWS

wtf

What should've been a simple stealth assassination turns into a massacre because this Orc with the crossbow is killing his own people accidentally and hitting explosive barrels/bonfires as well. Gaz's nemesis runs away because he's terrified of fire leading me on a chase right into 3 random Caragors. Needless to say everyone got wiped out, and I made extra sure to kill the crossbow enemy before he ended up as a level 15 one man kamikaze army.

Moral of the story: Don't laugh at low level enemies, or friends who've died to them.

Sometimes it feels like the game purposely spawns extra captains when you only want to engage one.
 

Corgi

Banned
any general tips against the dudes with spiky shields and only weak to finishers?


you can't vault over them, and building combo against, especially these war chiefs and their army of possies is not the easiest thing to do.

hmmm...

also the game has a REALLY BAD HABIT of me targetting the dude next to the guy i actually want to target for death from aboves and finishers D:

what really annoys me was a completely random poison spear that took me down to critical health from near full... also you can't last man stand against warchiefs is a bit annoyin D:
 

Thyralax

Banned
Sometimes it feels like the game purposely spawns extra captains when you only want to engage one.
I believe so, I have these two Uruks that always show up and kill me, both are immune to almost all damage types with only fire as their fears. Both level 20 with one as a poisoned hunter and the other a shield carrier and literally every time I try to take out a Uruk to gain more power for fire arrows they show up and kill me....it's bloody fantastic I'm loving this game and I can't wait to end them both.
 
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