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The latest Middle Earth Shadow of War trailer captures the true spirit of Tolkien

K

killroy87

Member
I've never in my life experienced an ad campaign work so hard to sabotage itself like this. I was so excited for this game, but the months of relentless media for it have almost made me sick of the game before I've even played it. At this point, I just want to wait until it's on deep discount. For some reason, I feel like that's going to happen within a few short months of release.

This game is just trying wayyyyyy too hard.

Edit: This game was only announced in February! It feels like years ago!!!
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
Look, I'm all for peppering up old classics to cater to a more modern audience, huge ST fan and loved ST 09 etc., but this is so bleedin' ridiculous
 
L

LKSmash

Member
Bits N Pieces said:
This game doesn't stand a chance on sites and forums like this one.

Who will win out though, the core gamer crew or the massive marketing budget?

I still think im picking it up at release, lol
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Well if I could point you towards the sales charts of Wildlands vs this forum's denouncing of it prior to launch, I'd say the marketing budget will once again reign supreme.
 
A

adj_noun

Member
Arion said:
The complete lack of tonal consistency should be painfully obvious, right?
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I won't rest until a clockwork Balrog fights a three headed Gandalf with a rocket launcher that shoots Palantirs. Also Gollum should have a jet pack.

Sexy Shelob is a step closer to this brave new world, but I'm still waiting for them to plunge headlong into the glorious abyss.
 
S

Steve.1981

Unconfirmed Member
Jangowuzhere said:
Because Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were very popular movie series?

They stuck Smeagol in the first game for no good reason. There is still easy marketing to be done with Tolkien's material.
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Dunno man. It just seems weird to use a popular, recognisable setting for these games, without even caring if the end product appeals to fans of the setting at all.

Again, it just seems like a waste of the setting to me.
 
R

RumbleHumble

Banned
Jangowuzhere said:
What? Would you prefer if they made actual tonally on point videos and trailers that show passion for LOTR and its racist world?

Or would it be better if they just didn't give a shit and tried to distance themselves as much as possible from the source material they have to work with?

The latter is much more preferred honestly.
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That's not what I'm seeing here though. The trailer frames things like "Orc Minstrel Show: The Video Game". Because it's directly tied to current cultural perceptions of race, the derogatory nature feels more inflammatory than the original work.

That being said, a series that goes full blown "Fuck it", that I'd be down with.
 
J

Jangowuzhere

Banned
Raven77 said:
Batman is 15 years OLDER than Lord of the Rings. I guess if the next Arkham game or Batman game has him using a ninja sword in a brightly colored city while killing all of his enemies that wouldn't be a problem? At least not based on your logic. Batman is more in the public eye than LOTR but it has had consistent video games, movies based on Tolkiens works (to a lesser extent) board games, toys, etc.

So I would wager there are thousands of people who "give a shit". And would also wager many of them are gamers.
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You've already basically wrote out my response ahead of time.

They are still expanding upon Batman and telling new stories with that character. That franchise continues to be relevant and interesting in today's modern world.

Tolkien's fiction hasn't been meaningfully expanded upon in over 50 years. Everything made today is simply playing off what was made in those books a long time ago.

Shadow of Mordor came out and that game disrespects the source material in major ways. Guess what? No one actually gave a shit. The overreaction to Shadow of War, at least when it come's to respecting Tolkien's work, is just crazy to me. Most people here do not actually give a shit.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
I don't see the problem since it's just advertising. Is not like this is hip hop on a trailer for the diary of Anne Frank .

Now if I storm a fortress and they start playing hip hop then there's a problem.
 
F

Fisty

Member
Jangowuzhere said:
You've already basically wrote out my response ahead of time.

They are still expanding upon Batman and telling new stories with that character. That franchise continues to be relevant and interesting in today's modern world.

Tolkien's fiction hasn't been meaningfully expanded upon in over 50 years. Everything made today is simply playing off what was made in those books a long time ago.

Shadow of Mordor came out and that game disrespects the source material in major ways. Guess what? No one actually gave a shit. The overreaction to Shadow of War, at least when it come's to respecting Tolkien's work, is just crazy to me. Most people here do not actually give a shit.
Click to expand...

Clearly Tolkien should have gotten with the times. Mail him $5 and he can add 420blazeit skins to all mythril armor illustrations in the books.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Toni said:
Bit off-topic here; but is it really?

In terms of how much money each episode takes to make or in terms of views/ratings?

I thought Walking Dead was #1.
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C'mon man; you really don't think Game of Thrones is the biggest thing on TV at the moment? Whether that's by cultural zeitgeist, or budget, or revenue the show makes I expect it'd be top in practically every category. Maybe Netflix' The Get Down had a higher budget, but I can't think of anything else that comes close.
 
GavinUK86

GavinUK86

Member
giphy.gif


What the hell was that...
 
K

khaaan

Member
Marcel said:
I think the more relevant question is: "Why would I watch TBS?"
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Gate-keeping is not a good habit. Deflecting the conversation doesn't change the fact that some of the reactions are unreasonable. It's fine if this is not the approach you want to the universe but it's not the first time someone has done something like this and it won't be the last whether it's a corporation or a fan.
 
H

HariKari

Member
Nobody ever accused WB of knowing what they're doing. Par for the course.

The Kanye Assassin's Creed trailer has been one-upped.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Triggerhappytel said:
C'mon man; you really don't think Game of Thrones is the biggest thing on TV at the moment? Whether that's by cultural zeitgeist, or budget, or revenue the show makes I expect it'd be top in practically every category. Maybe Netflix' The Get Down had a higher budget, but I can't think of anything else that comes close.
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Even if you include all the pirates I very much doubt it's the biggest show
 
M

MetroidPrimeRib

Banned
Game of Thrones is without a doubt the most popular TV show airing at the moment. I don't really see how you could argue otherwise. I guess if you don't want to count HBO for whatever reason then its The Walking Dead.

Not the most popular show ever as shows like MASH are unfeasible to beat in popularity due to how TV has changed but come on. I don't even watch Game of Thrones or particularly care for it but its the largest.
 
I

IvorB

Member
Toni said:
Bit off-topic here; but is it really?

In terms of how much money each episode takes to make or in terms of views/ratings?

I thought Walking Dead was #1.
Click to expand...

The Walking Dead? Dude, they cover GoT news on the BBC main site. The show has huge cultural impact. It's always breaking records for 'most pirated thing' also.
 
R

renzolama

Member
Oh man, this definitely went full circle for me and came back around to hilariously awful good. What the fuck are they doing with the narrative and marketing for this game. Are we going to get another statement from a game director/producer telling us that phat loot hip-hop was a critical, under appreciated aspect of LotR?

Edit: Also, great thread title OP. It really built my anticipation for a great payoff that did not disappoint.
 
M

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Theorry said:
The hate for this game is getting abit to much tho.
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Nah, if anything it's not getting enough.

bananafactory said:
I mean we can take issue with their interpretation of the source material, or things like the micro transactions.
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Or... y'know... both

Kurdel said:
Ad is obvously aimed at teens, not sophisticated gamers like you.
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I 100% know that I would have hated this as a teen, and I don't even care for LotR.

This trailer is just obnoxious and abhorrent. Though, in a way, it's also hilarious(ly bad).
 
D

dreamfall

Member
So bad, it's absolutely hilarious.

Man they couldn't even get some Migos for the Mauraders?! No excuses.

I thought when clicking it, it was like a fan parody but that's an official one - ooooeeeee.
 
B

bigdaddygamebot

Member
Their marketing plan is curious.

It appears they are going out of their way to encourage me to NOT buy their game in the hopes that I buy their game?
 
L

Lorcain

Member
lol that's fucking hilarious. Their marketing team has to be trolling all of us. There's no way someone actually thought that would be cool.
 
mhayes86

mhayes86

Member
All the stuff with this game is stupid, but I really enjoyed the first one and am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that I'll enjoy it. But jeez, they're REALLY trying to make me not want to buy this game.
 
A

Anung

Un Rama
I already cancelled my pre-order and was not going to buy this game but this trailer seems to be challenging me to not buy the game...more?
 
F

Fisty

Member
I could see how some people might not think the trailer is all that egregious. In a vacuum, I would agree it's a pretty funny trailer for a LOTR game simply because it's so tonally different. Truth be told, it was probably made months ago.

The problem though, is that when you actually look at it in the context of things like loot crates and microtransactions and Totino's Pizza tie-ins, it's worrying. Like, is the subset of around 100m gamers that enjoys LOTR + potential non-gamer LOTR consumers not enough to bank on with this game? We need a Totino's campaign and lotto box shenanigans to bring in... who exactly? The folks that are still too busy playing LoL/Overwatch/CoD/Madden/FIFA/CSGO to worry about this game?

I know it's just more WB bullshit and Monolith don't deserve This, but it really feels like an Evolve or Dead Space 3 situation. The fact that Rocksteady have nothing announced and WB Montreal has been doing... something for the past 4 years makes me think they need this game to do more for their bottom line than it realistically can, since they've been living on Lego and Injustice 2 this year
 
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