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Middle-Earth: Shadow of War trailer (WB/Monolith, PC/XB1/PS4, 8/22), gameplay Mar 8th

eizarus

Banned
People are actually upset about the black guy. Quite amazing.

Btw, why is it that we've only seen this IP using LOTR anyway? I want more games.
Pretty fucked up for many reasons. Funny part is that Tolkien established in related works and the appendices of LotR that there were "dark skinned" (u think that was the wording) people in the eastern and southern nations.

WB tightened down their quality control on games I guess.
 
sow.gif
 
YESYESYESYESYES

Holy fuck hype can't wait! The first game was such an amazing foundation I can't wait to see what they've done for the next entry.
 

eizarus

Banned
I love that most of the gaffers who have slated the first game for years have switched sides. (it may not have been worthy of its game of the year, but it was a great game).

Neogaf.gif
 
I thought the first game looked good graphically overall, but I am hoping for quite a big visual boost, particularly in the world geometry. It doesn't have to look like horizon obviously, but I am hoping for less blocky scenery.
 
I thought the first game looked good graphically overall, but I am hoping for quite a big visual boost, particularly in the world geometry. It doesn't have to look like horizon obviously, but I am hoping for less blocky scenery.

The first game was compromised by being cross gen. This game should look much better.
 

Dominator

Member
Never finished the first. I got burnt out after I did every little thing I could in the first map. When I got to the second, the fatigue set in and I just didn't feel like continuing. I enjoyed it and I'll pick this one up too cause the gameplay is fun.
 
It's an alternate timeline. Even The Silmarillion didn't pull shit like SoM did.

What are you basing it on though? What is there to suggest that it isn't just them getting the lore completely wrong? Unless it's been officially said somewhere that it's an alternate timeline, i don't see how you can say that is anything other than wishful thinking.

Don't get the wrong idea i'm not saying it would be a bad thing if it was, just it's not really up to the players to decide if it's an alternative timeline or not.
 

DOWN

Banned
The first one had a lot of potential but clearly struggled with being cross gen and a lack of clear identity. Really looking forward to this one because I'm sure modern consoles being the sole goal will allow more varied environment visuals.

The combat was the best Arkham clone on the market and Nemesis was super clever.
 

E-flux

Member
Pretty fucked up for many reasons. Funny part is that Tolkien established in related works and the appendices of LotR that there were "dark skinned" (u think that was the wording) people in the eastern and southern nations.

WB tightened down their quality control on games I guess.

Yeah there were the easterlings but they weren't really black, more they were described of having olive skin of i remember right. Personally to me this looks like a token black guy character which has no place in lord of the rings. I'm not 100% against black guys in middle earth but there were no black guys in gondor, even if the dude traveled there from far away lands.
 

Ahasverus

Member
So no Arkham announcement? Sad panda here.

Trailer looked good, for what it's worth, but sum me up to the wagon that needs enviromental variation.
 
Yeah GameInformer cover story makes a lot of sense, especially with them holding back gameplay until the 8th. That week should be when GI does their cover reveal so it adds up.

Also can't wait to see what the team can do without having to be held back by cross-generation. I'm expecting some pretty serious improvements
 

eizarus

Banned
Yeah there were the easterlings but they weren't really black, more they were described of having olive skin of i remember right. Personally to me this looks like a token black guy character which has no place in lord of the rings. I'm not 100% against black guys in middle earth but there were no black guys in gondor, even if the dude traveled there from far away lands.
Based on his attire alone, he's not from Gondor. The clothing is closer to elven clothing than what we've seen from the humans. At this point there could be any reason for having a black guy in Middle-Earth. They didn't shy away from the lore outside of the LotR novels, so to say "we didn't see a black person in Gondor in the movies/books" means nothing.
 
LOTR is based off of medieval Europe, so it sort of makes sense why traditionally there hasn't been a huge amount of black people in its world.

That said I think its great that they are being more inclusive with the property now, and I think its pretty awesome we are gonna get some black hero's in the LOTR Universe. The character doesn't have to be from Gondor, they could easily have him be from somewhere else, and just joining in the fight. Or he could even be from Gondor, its never stated that there isn't ANY black people in Gondor / Rohan etc. There were likely some, just a very small segment of the population.
 

E-flux

Member
Based on his attire alone, he's not from Gondor. The clothing is closer to elven clothing than what we've seen from the humans. At this point there could be any reason for having a black guy in Middle-Earth. They didn't shy away from the lore outside of the LotR novels, so to say "we didn't see a black person in Gondor in the movies/books" means nothing.

It's true that it's a bit early to claim that the guy is from gondor, this game is more closely related to the war of the ring than silmarilion when talking about timeline so that is completely fair to say when it comes to the books since they go over every little small detail.

And by shy away you mean they though something was cool in the lore and then proceed to use it in the game and butcher it?
 

XBIGYLDN

Neo Member
People moaning about cg and at the end it says the game play reveal is on the 8th . Not everyone sits on forums or reads up on their games news, a large quantity are wowed by pretty things. If this were a blizzard cg trailer, people would be fapping over it.
 

eizarus

Banned
It's true that it's a bit early to claim that the guy is from gondor, this game is more closely related to the war of the ring than silmarilion when talking about timeline so that is completely fair to say when it comes to the books since they go over every little small detail.

And by shy away you mean they though something was cool in the lore and then proceed to use it in the game and butcher it?
And i know it's a bit early to say that the guy is from gondor, or fighting for them but this is shadow of mordor sequel we are talking about..
A good butcher gives you something that tastes good when cooked 😉 I don't see the problem with it though. It has no impact on the canon of the books or movies, and is literally the only way we're going to see characters from outside the main lore. Triple A studios don't take risks anymore. Rip dreams of a Silmarilion era games :(
 

Vashetti

Banned
These online-enabled games are pretty crazy.

Seems like such a simple thing, but just booted up the first game on PS4, and without a new patch, it has an advert for the new game.
 
Shadow of mordor was pretty meh (now especially in retrospect as many good PS4 games have been released) so Im not really hyped. Will probably buy though
 

Drek

Member
Cool. Thanks for this. So, then my next question is why don't they lead with the Lord of the Rings branding on these games? Surely that would be more recognizable to the general public than Middle Earth.

Probably a desire to build out from just the Lord of the Rings, though I wouldn't be surprised if there's some legalese standing in the way, given all the officially Lord of the Rings branded games EA shoved out the door when they had the license.

Also the Lord of the Rings name didn't help War in the North sell any better.
 
Based on his attire alone, he's not from Gondor. The clothing is closer to elven clothing than what we've seen from the humans. At this point there could be any reason for having a black guy in Middle-Earth. They didn't shy away from the lore outside of the LotR novels, so to say "we didn't see a black person in Gondor in the movies/books" means nothing.

Dude is pretty clearly wearing the uniform of the city, and the symbol on his chest seems loosely based on the winged helms associated with Gondor (hell, you can see a soldier with the same basic design as their actual helmet in the background). He could however have Southron or Easterling ancestry, just as Talion is of Northman descent, rather than purely Gondorian. Especially given that the city, wherever it is, is on the borders of Mordor, it wouldn't be hard to argue for a traveller or two settling there.
 
I hope this game is a huge visual step up , I really liked the character models in the first one but the world looked pretty flat sometimes
 
Dude is pretty clearly wearing the uniform of the city, and the symbol on his chest seems loosely based on the winged helms associated with Gondor (hell, you can see a soldier with the same basic design as their actual helmet in the background). He could however have Southron or Easterling ancestry, just as Talion is of Northman descent, rather than purely Gondorian. Especially given that the city, wherever it is, is on the borders of Mordor, it wouldn't be hard to argue for a traveller or two settling there.

Yep like I said it's never said there is no black people in Gondor.

It's likely just like Medieval Europe was, there were some just a very small portion of the population. Minas Tirith is a massive city so it's not a stretch at all to think traders from other lands would settle there
 

Acinixys

Member
Standard Edition is $70, Silver is $95 and Gold is $120. Fucking hell, regional pricing.

heh

R1000 for the lowest tier

Just a few months ago games were like R600 here (around $40)

I will wait two years for the inevitable GOTY edition with all DLC included to go on sale on Steam for $10
 

E-flux

Member
A good butcher gives you something that tastes good when cooked 😉 I don't see the problem with it though. It has no impact on the canon of the books or movies, and is literally the only way we're going to see characters from outside the main lore. Triple A studios don't take risks anymore. Rip dreams of a Silmarilion era games :(

True, that's what happened with revengeance and metal gear. If they come up with a good enough of a reason for him being there rather than him being just the token black guy then i would be okay with it but after the first game i have no faith in these guys of making a proper story set in the middle earth.

A non roguelike game of infiltrating angband would be quite something.. At that point i wouldn't care what they pulled out of their asses.
 
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