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Shadow of Mordors true ending - Grinding or Lootboxes

Stupid question, can someone explain to me what are lootboxes in video games?

mysterybox.png

For real money. Maybe you get a top-level sword or... whatever, maybe you get a hat. Depends on the game. But the idea is you pay for 'something', some kind of microtransaction, then discover afterwards if it was worth it.
 

MikeyB

Member
Stupid question, can someone explain to me what are lootboxes in video games?

Lootboxes are essentially a random draw bag that you pay for.

Did you play Borderlands 2? If so, the golden chest was a free lootbox.

They provide a randomly selected item. The current model is to give players a chance to earn the opportunity to open them and an option to pay for the privilege of opening them.

There are two principle criticisms of them:
1. They introduce a gambling-like mechanic
2. They lock away content that used to be freely available (remember the cosmetics that were a standard part of PS2 era games? Outfits, vehicles, boards, etc.?)

Increasingly there is a criticism that the revenue stream of lootboxes and DLC more generally negatively affects game design. This occurs typically where a game is seen to be unnecessarily padded or difficult in the absence of purchasing DLC or lootboxes. Keeping a "true" ending locked away behind a monotonous 40 hour grind as with this game is a prime example of pushing the player to pay to get past the padding.
 

redcrayon

Member
Keeping a "true" ending locked away behind a monotonous 40 hour grind as with this game is a prime example of pushing the player to pay to get past the padding.
If it's just one cut scene, I think I'd just watch it on YouTube than play 40 hours of grinding (that's enough to play another game) or pay for the random chance of getting the better allies needed. That's an insanely poor reward for the time, effort, luck, financial investment or all four.

Lootboxes are just a red flag regarding game design for me these days.
 
Lootboxes are essentially a random draw bag that you pay for.

Did you play Borderlands 2? If so, the golden chest was a free lootbox.

They provide a randomly selected item. The current model is to give players a chance to earn the opportunity to open them and an option to pay for the privilege of opening them.

There are two principle criticisms of them:
1. They introduce a gambling-like mechanic
2. They lock away content that used to be freely available (remember the cosmetics that were a standard part of PS2 era games? Outfits, vehicles, boards, etc.?)

Increasingly there is a criticism that the revenue stream of lootboxes and DLC more generally negatively affects game design. This occurs typically where a game is seen to be unnecessarily padded or difficult in the absence of purchasing DLC or lootboxes. Keeping a "true" ending locked away behind a monotonous 40 hour grind as with this game is a prime example of pushing the player to pay to get past the padding.

that was informative, thank you!
 

Tovarisc

Member
I see people saying how it's bs that "true ending" is behind grind that you can somewhat shortcut with lootboxes and same question keeps popping into my head.

What about games like NieR? You have to literally replay whole game multiple times from beginning to end in order to unlock "true ending". How that isn't grinding for "true ending"?

If your answer is in lines of "At least NieR is good game" then you are just full of shit as you veeery likely have not played SoW yet.
 
The developers still insist on using hold X to run.
God fucking damn it, its such a shitty control system to use.
Just use L3 like everyone else and allow us to use both sticks to move around.
 
I see people saying how it's bs that "true ending" is behind grind that you can somewhat shortcut with lootboxes and same question keeps popping into my head.

What about games like NieR? You have to literally replay whole game multiple times from beginning to end in order to unlock "true ending". How that isn't grinding for "true ending"?

If your answer is in lines of "At least NieR is good game" then you are just full of shit as you veeery likely have not played SoW yet.


Good luck, I asked this same question in the early pages of the thread and they attacked me because I didn't know exactly how many times you had to replay the game.
 

m_dorian

Member
I see people saying how it's bs that "true ending" is behind grind that you can somewhat shortcut with lootboxes and same question keeps popping into my head.

What about games like NieR? You have to literally replay whole game multiple times from beginning to end in order to unlock "true ending". How that isn't grinding for "true ending"?

If your answer is in lines of "At least NieR is good game" then you are just full of shit as you veeery likely have not played SoW yet.

I was thinking about Nier too and i believe there is a huge difference since the Nier endings are a product of replayability, a core mechanic of the game and not something used as a tool to sell some loot boxes. And it s ok to dislike this mechanic, i do not like this one too.
It is a grind however is not driven by greed.
 
I see people saying how it's bs that "true ending" is behind grind that you can somewhat shortcut with lootboxes and same question keeps popping into my head.

What about games like NieR? You have to literally replay whole game multiple times from beginning to end in order to unlock "true ending". How that isn't grinding for "true ending"?

If your answer is in lines of "At least NieR is good game" then you are just full of shit as you veeery likely have not played SoW yet.

Thats literally not how Nier works.
 

Tovarisc

Member
I was thinking about Nier too and i believe there is a huge difference since the Nier endings are a product of replayability, a core mechanic of the game and not something used as a tool to sell some loot boxes. And it s ok to dislike this mechanic, i do not like this one too.

It is a grind however is not driven by greed.

I can't, but feel that it's artificial way to pad game length and push players to do replays on higher (?) difficulty. Assuming they want to see so called true ending for the game.

Thats literally not how Nier works.

Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.
 
I can't, but feel that it's artificial way to pad game length and push players to do replays on higher (?) difficulty. Assuming they want to see so called true ending for the game.



Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.

Route A: You play through the first half of the story as 2B
Route B: You play through the first half of the story as 9S, 9S has different combat mechanics and is often in completely different places and dungeons, seeing new cutscenes along the way with new sidequests. There is some padding here naturally but roughly half of it is new.
Route C: You play through the 2nd half of the game and beat it
Route D: Now that you've beaten the game you are able to manually go anywhere in the story, select the last chapter and choose a different decision, this give you a different ending. There's literally no padding here
 

m_dorian

Member
I can't, but feel that it's artificial way to pad game length and push players to do replays on higher (?) difficulty. Assuming they want to see so called true ending for the game.



Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.

It seems so but the game does not tempt you with cheat boxes so there is a huge difference here.
There are games that require multiple playthroughs to be considered as finished like i.e. Invisible inc. a good game where you carry your progress to the next run.
 
I can't, but feel that it's artificial way to pad game length and push players to do replays on higher (?) difficulty. Assuming they want to see so called true ending for the game.



Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.

To get the true ending it looks like it's 3 play throughs. Which is still beating the game multiple times. But as foretold I knew people would completely negate your argument with Nier, even though it's similar. As is Arkham knight with all the stupid riddler trophies!
 

DrBo42

Member
Are you undercutting the importance of Mirian or what? Upgrading gear and adding gem slots sound important. Are they?

Thats sounds like a major mechanic to the gear?

"Mirian that has no use(Other than upgrading gear and gems)"

Like uh, what? Then it does have use..?

You'd think it would be but the required amount to do either is tiny. Upgrading gear for me so far is 50 Mirian. I have 5000. If it maintains that ratio...logically it leads you to believe it's meant to be spent on the market.
 

Arion

Member
Route A: You play through the first half of the story as 2B
Route B: You play through the first half of the story as 9S, 9S has different combat mechanics and is often in completely different places and dungeons, seeing new cutscenes along the way with new sidequests. There is some padding here naturally but roughly half of it is new.
Route C: You play through the 2nd half of the game and beat it
Route D: Now that you've beaten the game you are able to manually go anywhere in the story, select the last chapter and choose a different decision, this give you a different ending. There's literally no padding here

Well put. At most you would have to replay the game once and even then you are playing as a different character with a new move set and parts of the playthrough is totally different. Furthermore the time it takes to finish route B is around 10 hours.
 

Ridley327

Member
Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.

For the first game, you only need to play the last few hours of the game multiple times, so there's never a full replay that you have to go through, nor do I think is it possible because of the way the game's story is structured.

For Automata, saying that you replay the game is a bit of a misnomer, as the first route is one character's perspective, the second route is the same content from a different character's perspective (and reveals a lot of new information not previously known due to a gameplay mechanic that the new character has). Both of these routes converge on a continuation of that story in a "rest of the game" scenario that comprises a huge chunk of the game, bouncing between characters until you get to a critical point that determines the last big ending of the game. Once you get an ending, though, you unlock a chapter select that allows you to go back to that critical juncture to get the other two major endings. In effect, you only "replay" the game twice, but it winds up being a small part of the whole story.
 
Then tell me how it works. All I have heard from several different people is that to get actual so called true ending you need replay game multiple times.

Its not playing through the game multiple times. Instead of Routes Taro should have called it different. Route A is the first half of the game, Route B is the story from another viewpoint, Route C+D is the continuation.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Are we still using Nier as a bad example of "I don't like this thing?"


I did not like Route B for various reasons and yes part of it was replaying Route A even if as a different character with different mechanics, but this whole notion of "you have to play through the game 5 time blah blah blah" is incredibly ignorant
 

Tovarisc

Member
Route A: You play through the first half of the story as 2B
Route B: You play through the first half of the story as 9S, 9S has different combat mechanics and is often in completely different places and dungeons, seeing new cutscenes along the way with new sidequests. There is some padding here naturally but roughly half of it is new.
Route C: You play through the 2nd half of the game and beat it
Route D: Now that you've beaten the game you are able to manually go anywhere in the story, select the last chapter and choose a different decision, this give you a different ending. There's literally no padding here

So how game is structured and shown in menus have lead people say that you replay game over and over again in order to achieve true ending. Heard it from people who have actually played all Routes, but never looked into it thaaat much as never been too interest in NieR myself.

Are we still using Nier as a bad example of "I don't like this thing?"

I did not like Route B for various reasons and yes part of it was replaying Route A even if as a different character with different mechanics, but this whole notion of "you have to play through the game 5 time blah blah blah" is incredibly ignorant

Get off of your high horse of preaching. I already asked to be corrected if my understanding was incorrect and I was corrected.
 
Are we still using Nier as a bad example of "I don't like this thing?"


I did not like Route B for various reasons and yes part of it was replaying Route A even if as a different character with different mechanics, but this whole notion of "you have to play through the game 5 time blah blah blah" is incredibly ignorant

It's not that. I've heard Nier is amazing. But people are SLAMMING this game for needing to do the grinding to get the last trophy. But there are 26 sodding endings for Nier, and if you want all the trophies you have to get ALL of them. Yet Nier gets a pass for it and this game gets destroyed for it. All I'm asking for is some consistency. Maybe you don't have to beat the game a half dozen or a dozen times for the true ending but to get that last trophy you are going to have to get 26 different ones!
 

Freeman76

Member
The way most of GAF bangs on about these loot boxes is ludicrous. Its doing nothing to solve anything, just dont buy them and move on instead of creating angry threads full of self righteous arguing and bullshit that doesnt help the problem in any way. Literally a total waste of time.
 
So how game is structured and shown in menus have lead people say that you replay game over and over again in order to achieve true ending. Heard it from people who have actually played all Routes, but never looked into it thaaat much as never been too interest in NieR myself.

Imagine the routes more like acts or levels.

There is Act 1 where you play as 2B, Act 2 where you play the first part of Act 1 as 9S from his point of view and then Act 3+4 are the continuation of the story.
 

JPS Kai

Member
I see people saying how it's bs that "true ending" is behind grind that you can somewhat shortcut with lootboxes and same question keeps popping into my head.

What about games like NieR? You have to literally replay whole game multiple times from beginning to end in order to unlock "true ending". How that isn't grinding for "true ending"?

If your answer is in lines of "At least NieR is good game" then you are just full of shit as you veeery likely have not played SoW yet.

They're both good games.
 

Ridley327

Member
It's not that. I've heard Nier is amazing. But people are SLAMMING this game for needing to do the grinding to get the last trophy. But there are 26 sodding endings for Nier, and if you want all the trophies you have to get ALL of them. Yet Nier gets a pass for it and this game gets destroyed for it. All I'm asking for is some consistency. Maybe you don't have to beat the game a half dozen or a dozen times for the true ending but to get that last trophy you are going to have to get 26 different ones!
21 of those endings are joke endings that are more Easter eggs and don't require any kind of major playthrough to get them. You can get all of them via chapter select since they're tied to specific areas of the game. And hell, if that's somehow too much work for you, you can literally buy the trophy within the game itself if that's all you really care about.

Seriously, anyone trying to compare either of the Nier games to what WB is doing with this game illustrates that they have no idea how Nier even works.
 
21 of those endings are joke endings that are more Easter eggs and don't require any kind of major playthrough to get them. You can get all of them via chapter select since they're tied to specific areas of the game.

Not the point! It still going to take you extra time to get all 26 of them to get that last trophy and see all the endings. And that's what people are complaining about here. About having to spend extra time, after the game is over to finish it up for completionists.

Again I'm not saying that people shouldn't do it! i know people who have and loved every second of it! But damn people lets show a little bit of consistency in our complaining.
 
Not the point! It still going to take you extra time to get all 26 of them to get that last trophy and see all the endings. And that's what people are complaining about here. About having to spend extra time, after the game is over to finish it up for completionists.

Spending 15-25 hours or more vs spending 2 hours is a big difference. I unlocked around 15 of the 25 endings during my normal playthrough with all the sidequests and got the rest of them in 2-3 hours in Nier.
 

Ridley327

Member
Not the point! It still going to take you extra time to get all 26 of them to get that last trophy and see all the endings. And that's what people are complaining about here. About having to spend extra time, after the game is over to finish it up for completionists.

Again I'm not saying that people shouldn't do it! i know people who have and loved every second of it! But damn people lets show a little bit of consistency in our complaining.

It is the point, though? If this is being billed as the true ending of Shadow of War, then it's only fair to talk about the only endings in Nier Automata that count towards that distinction.
 

Style

Banned
Good luck, I asked this same question in the early pages of the thread and they attacked me because I didn't know exactly how many times you had to replay the game.

To get the true ending it looks like it's 3 play throughs. Which is still beating the game multiple times. But as foretold I knew people would completely negate your argument with Nier, even though it's similar. As is Arkham knight with all the stupid riddler trophies!

You admit you don't know what you're talking about yet insist it's the same...

It's not that. I've heard Nier is amazing. But people are SLAMMING this game for needing to do the grinding to get the last trophy. But there are 26 sodding endings for Nier, and if you want all the trophies you have to get ALL of them. Yet Nier gets a pass for it and this game gets destroyed for it. All I'm asking for is some consistency. Maybe you don't have to beat the game a half dozen or a dozen times for the true ending but to get that last trophy you are going to have to get 26 different ones!

Okay this posts convinced me you're just pulling my leg, but I'll clarify things in case you're sincere.

Firstly you don't actually replay the game on your ”second playthrough" Route B. You play the first route as a different character with new gameplay mechanics, new cutscenes and alternate story near the end. The ”third playthrough" Route C is completely new and continues off a cliff hanger in A and B. The last one Route D splits from a cutscene in C, no replaying.

The rest of the 26 endings are joke endings more akin to game overs and resets you to right before you get them. No grinding. There's no grinding involved in getting trophies because a NPC offers to unlock them all for you in game after you've completed Route C/D.

So how game is structured and shown in menus have lead people say that you replay game over and over again in order to achieve true ending. Heard it from people who have actually played all Routes, but never looked into it thaaat much as never been too interest in NieR myself.



Get off of your high horse of preaching. I already asked to be corrected if my understanding was incorrect and I was corrected.

People are wording it that way because they probably don't want to spoil the surprise that each route is actually new.
 

Im not sure what that means, but apparently you didnt play the game and think that all other endings are real endings. The other endings take 2-3 minutes to get and are just 2 or 3 sentences.

Also to get the true ending you dont need the 26 endings. You can get the true ending after you finished the game in 10 minutes. There you go:

]Ending E : Watch Ending D again after seeing both Ending C and Ending D in Route C. Accept Pod 042's request.

Its not even comparable.
 
The entire point of the topic is that part of the core experience is locked behind this.
This is false. There's no part of the game that is locked behind having to buy MTs. You can completely ignore them. They are there as an optional boon, and a potentially faster way to acquire legendary orcs, which you can find out in the wild or upgrade yourself through regular gameplay.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Spending 15-25 hours or more vs spending 2 hours is a big difference. I unlocked around 15 of the 25 endings during my normal playthrough with all the sidequests and got the rest of them in 2-3 hours in Nier.

15-25 hours or even more?

In what? What number is that? How you arrived to that number?
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Probably already been answered but didn't the first game have a similar end game? Wasn't there an ending locked behind the 100 percent grind or was that an achievement/trophy?
 

sflufan

Banned
Probably already been answered but didn't the first game have a similar end game? Wasn't there an ending locked behind the 100 percent grind or was that an achievement/trophy?

The complete "Knightfall Protocol" ending for Batman: Arkham Knight.
 
So how game is structured and shown in menus have lead people say that you replay game over and over again in order to achieve true ending. Heard it from people who have actually played all Routes, but never looked into it thaaat much as never been too interest in NieR myself.



Get off of your high horse of preaching. I already asked to be corrected if my understanding was incorrect and I was corrected.

As someone who has a platinum for automata. I never explained when recommending to friends because of the surprise and implementation of the routes. I only encourage them to continue playing game.

Not the point! It still going to take you extra time to get all 26 of them to get that last trophy and see all the endings. And that's what people are complaining about here. About having to spend extra time, after the game is over to finish it up for completionists.

Again I'm not saying that people shouldn't do it! i know people who have and loved every second of it! But damn people lets show a little bit of consistency in our complaining.

I understand the argument. What you are saying is that any extra playtime past completion of initial story people should be consistent with complaints. The issue you are not understanding is that you chose the absolute wrong game to make that point. Arkham Knight would have been more akin. Automata, doesn't feel repetative and you don't even play same characters, scenarios or mechanics. Things change greatly on the way to true ending and that is a sticking point for a lot of people. Grind versus new experiences. Automata was not a grind.
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Uhh. I just got a legendary follower from a reward chest from something which wasn't dlc or paid. I'm 2 hours into the game if that.
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Uhh. I just got a legendary follower from a reward chest from something which wasn't dlc or paid. I'm 2 hours into the game if that.
Moving on from this I know TB said only paid packs have legendary followers. I'm pretty sure he was reading the descriptions wrong. It says AT LEAST one legendary, and silver boxes are AT LEAST one rare. No limited to, just less likely.
 
Uhh. I just got a legendary follower from a reward chest from something which wasn't dlc or paid. I'm 2 hours into the game if that.
Yep. You can get those from chests earned via playing the game, upgrading current orcs under your control, or finding them and dominating them in the wild.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Route A: You play through the first half of the story as 2B
Route B: You play through the first half of the story as 9S, 9S has different combat mechanics and is often in completely different places and dungeons, seeing new cutscenes along the way with new sidequests. There is some padding here naturally but roughly half of it is new.
Route C: You play through the 2nd half of the game and beat it
Route D: Now that you've beaten the game you are able to manually go anywhere in the story, select the last chapter and choose a different decision, this give you a different ending. There's literally no padding here

And lets not forget that by the time you reach D, you also unlock a secret shop which allows you to buy any trophy you have yet to earn for fairly trivial amounts of in-game currency. Great for joke achievements that have no value whatsoever in the game, classic example being running around as pants-less 9S for an hour.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Really? After being called out on your logical fallacy this is what you're getting hung up on?

I was corrected on my wrong understanding of NieR progression and I acknowledge I was in wrong. What is your issue with that?

I get hung up on randomly thrown out numbers that have no specification what they are about or how they have been arrived at, yes. Metrics with no explanation are pointless and if it's numbers from reviews like Adam Tyner says (quoted below) then okay. Something I must have overlooked when skimming through few reviews as I remember only indication of specific numbers like that is from Eurogamer user post that can't be verified to hold any water.

The grind for capable orcs for the Shadow of War endgame as described by several reviewers.
 

Falchion

Member
I'm sure I'll grind through it at some point, I just hope they tweak the balance so people who aren't going to buy any boxes don't run into problems.
 

watdaeff4

Member
It's not that. I've heard Nier is amazing. But people are SLAMMING this game for needing to do the grinding to get the last trophy. But there are 26 sodding endings for Nier, and if you want all the trophies you have to get ALL of them. Yet Nier gets a pass for it and this game gets destroyed for it. All I'm asking for is some consistency. Maybe you don't have to beat the game a half dozen or a dozen times for the true ending but to get that last trophy you are going to have to get 26 different ones!

If you don't see the difference between "grinding" for a true ending and "grinding" for a platinum, then.........well let's just say we agree to disagree.

Get off of your high horse of preaching. I already asked to be corrected if my understanding was incorrect and I was corrected.

All I stated is that it was incredibly ignorant - as in lacking knowledge and you as well as many others do (or now did in your sense) regarding the need to "replay" Nier. Each route is different. Outside of Route B (which is still a bit different), there is no need to completely "replay" the game.
 
Sort of off topic, but where is the OT for this game? My copy showed up today, yet I see little discussion.

BTW: Looks nice on PS4 Pro with 4k/HDR.
 
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