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Shadow of Mordor: Like Hatoful Boyfriend, but with Orcs. Bright Lord DLC out now!

PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
edited March 2015 in Social Entropy++
We live in a miraculous age. An age where a 12-year old can write a fanfic where his OC Talion (OC stands for Original Character, don't steal) teams up with Celebrimbor, Greatest Smith of the Second Age and forger of the rings of power, to simply walk into Mordor and take down Sauron and that fanfic can be turned into an actual video game. I am, of course, referring to

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What is it?

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an upcoming game developed by Monolith Productions, the developers of games like FEAR and Condemned. It is being produced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and its combat system seems to borrow heavily from another Warner Bros. property, the Arkham Asylum series of games. The game takes place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and is set in the land of Mordor, Sauron's stronghold. Mordor is broken up into several regions, but within each region there are many potential objectives and opponents, giving the game an open-world feel as you can pick-and-choose the path you take and the order of the quests you want to pursue. Think Arkham City's open-world nature.

Combat is built around building up large strings of attacks without taking damage or pausing. After building up a certain number of attacks you can use a special move, for example a "ground pound" where Talion slams the ground and sends nearby foes flying, or dominating an enemy and bending them into an ally. Talion's primary weapon is his sword, but he also has a dagger (forged from the broken sword of his son) and a bow which he acquired from Celebrimbor (the bow uses spectral arrows, which you can acquire by draining power from enemies.) The bow is useful for ranged attacks, for setting foes aflame with fire arrows, or for exploding campfires and barrels of grog, but is also useful for quickly traversing the battlefield as it can teleport you to faraway foes. Teleporting onto a beast allows you to dominate that beast, giving you a steed for charging through the camps of Sauron's army. The dagger, meanwhile, is useful for stealth combat, where you can sneak through the camps and take out your foes Assassin's Creed-style. All in all, the combat seems to have potential for great replayability, as each scenario can be approached from numerous directions and the combo system gives you a metric to work towards improving. But really, fun as all that is, the main draw of the game is yet to come.

The Nemesis System

While the combat system alone would give me reason to play Shadow of Mordor repeatedly (I spent much more time replaying challenges in the Arkham Asylum games than playing through the story) what gives Shadow of Mordor seemingly infinite replayability is its Nemesis system. Rather than having set enemies, the game is filled with procedurally-generated foes with their own stats and characteristics. These enemies, depending on their rank, are then given Titles/Nicknames based upon their traits, such as the less-than-attractive Azgrom Ugly-Face
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Each enemy has varying strengths and weaknesses, including extra vulnerability to certain attacks and immunity to certain attacks. Some enemies may have fears, where you can use specific tactics against them to scare them into retreating. Others have "Hates" which function similarly to fears except, rather than retreating, the enemy becomes enraged and is much more formidable. If you have gathered intel on your opponent, you can look up all of these strengths and weaknessess which will aid you in combat. I'm sure there's a Sun Tzu quote about that somewhere
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There are 3 ranks of units in Shadow of Mordor. Sauron's army is led by Warchiefs. These powerful enemies direct the army and must be drawn out to engage them in combat. They are fearsome, with many strengths that make them difficult to defeat in combat. Below the Warchiefs are Captains, soldiers that have proven themselves in combat and serve as the bodyguards of the Warchiefs. At the lowest level are Grunts. These enemies have no titles and are mostly the cannon-fodder of their superiors. Most are doomed to die nameless in combat, but a lucky few may rise in rank after defeating a great adversary.

This system of enemies is what I find to be the most intriguing part of Shadow of Mordor. Talion and Celebrimbor make a powerful duo, but in order to defeat Sauron, they will need an army of their own. By dominating Captains in combat, Talion is able to enter Uruk-Hai politics and advance those orcs that are loyal to him through the army ranks. After dominating an orc, you can give it a command, such as ordering him to kill another Captain, ordering him to betray his Warchief, or ordering him to attempt an initiation to gain the favor of another Warchief (whom he can later help you betray). You can also simply steal intel from his brain, giving you information on an enemy's strengths and weaknesses, but this option appears to always be lethal. After you have given an Uruk-hai a mission, you can help him complete his goal, or you can let time pass and have him attempt it on his own (depending on the difficulty of the goal and his own strengths, he may or may not succeed without Talion's help). By pushing your minion up the ranks, he can eventually become a Warchief, and all of his followers will also be loyal to you. This creates an interesting system in how you choose which Captains to advance; the weaker captains will be easier to dominate, but the more powerful ones will be better allies and more capable of completing your goals.
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The Uruk Army

Meanwhile, while you are ordering your minions around and trying to advance your goals, the Warchiefs are doing the same. The game generates missions for the NPCs as well, where they can go on hunts, execute traitors, murder rivals, etc. Completing these missions makes them more powerful (same with your minions) and the more powerful an orc becomes, the more strengths it gains and the more weaknesses it loses, making the game more challenging the more time you take. The game has a day/night cycle, with different beasts present in each.

Lastly, the Death system. Remember how I mentioned that Grunts can become Captains by defeating an important adversary? That's where this comes in. When Talion falls in combat, he does not die permanently. He has been possessed by the Wraith of Celebrimbor, and like the Ring-Wraiths, he returns to life. However, it takes time to rejuvinate, and during this time, the orcs are completing missions and becoming more powerful. Meanwhile, the orc that delivered the final blow improves greatly in power, and if it was an unnamed Grunt, it advances to a Captain. Foes that have defeated Talion will remember him, which makes him their nemesis and gives special dialogue to them.

Gameplay Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx8pkh_ba7A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE65ZyJTTDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPymQKq7qCI

FAQ
When does this game come out?
PC: September 30 everywhere
Xbone, PS4: September 30 NA, October 3 EU
360, PS3: November 18 NA, November 21 EU

PC System Reqs?
Minimum:
OS: 64-bit: Vista, Win 7, Win 8
Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 | AMD Radeon HD 6950
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 25 GB available space

Recommended:
OS: 64-bit: Win 7, Win 8
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 | AMD Radeon HD 7970
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Hard Drive: 40 GB available space

Anyone from the movies making an appearance?
Well, presumably Sauron, and also (thpoilers)
Gollum

Multiplayer?
There is no multiplayer, but there are Challenges ala the Arkham games, so presumably you can compare scores/times with your friends online. Bear in mind, the challenges can be quite long, for example the PC video above has an objective of completing the challenge in under 50 minutes.

How do saves work?
Save scumming isn't possible, the game will save over the previous save basically whenever anything happens. There are multiple save slots if you want to have different campaigns going at the same time.

Peccavi on
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Posts

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    I kept trying to talk about this game and nobody would

    I'm so excited

    there's a 3 hour video online and I am trying so hard not to watch it

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    I want this to be good but trying not to get hyped because I might wann wait a while for it.

  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    Yeah I don't want to see too much of this, not yet.

    I still think they should have made the game take place during the First or Second ages though, so much more lore stuff to play around with in those sections.

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    This game seems really neat and I kind of just wish they had made up their own IP for it.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    sarukun wrote: »
    This game seems really neat and I kind of just wish they had made up their own IP for it.

    I dunno, I'm always down for cool stuff in a cool setting. If slapping some Tolkien gibberish into it helped this game get made, then I'm hip. Mordor is most interesting place in Middle Earth, and I am so pumped to run around it.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Mordor is tantalizing because so little about it is known.

    I don't hate the idea that somebody wanted to run around in that tantalizing space, but the fact that there has never been an "Extended Universe" for the Lord of the Rings is a thing I have been pretty comfortable with, and this game seems to be taking a step in that direction, and I'm not sure I like it.

  • BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    I'm super duper excited for this game

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  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    I think this is the first Middle Earth game that I've actually been interested in.

    And by golly am I interested.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    sarukun wrote: »
    Mordor is tantalizing because so little about it is known.

    I don't hate the idea that somebody wanted to run around in that tantalizing space, but the fact that there has never been an "Extended Universe" for the Lord of the Rings is a thing I have been pretty comfortable with, and this game seems to be taking a step in that direction, and I'm not sure I like it.

    Theres been like a billion games in the LotR EU. War in the North, the Third Age, Lord of the Rings Online, etc.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    edited September 2014
    sarukun wrote: »
    Mordor is tantalizing because so little about it is known.

    I don't hate the idea that somebody wanted to run around in that tantalizing space, but the fact that there has never been an "Extended Universe" for the Lord of the Rings is a thing I have been pretty comfortable with, and this game seems to be taking a step in that direction, and I'm not sure I like it.

    Theres been like a billion games in the LotR EU. War in the North, the Third Age, Lord of the Rings Online, etc.

    I felt more or less the same about LotR Online.

    I had forgotten about Third Age, I was grumpy about that too.

    I have not heard of War in the North.

    I'm an angry old man yelling at a cloud, ignore me.

    sarukun on
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Great OP, I saw an ad for this and immediately brushed it off as yet another Tolkien based action game. The nemesis system sounds great, do you know if your nemesis becomes stronger over time? Like, can you fail to dominate one and he betrays you and you run into him later?

    Also, they should really change the 'Dominate' term.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    Not sure about failing to dominate, I can't imagine a bottom Orc become a top. I mean, you made it switch once, I think it's sub to your dom forever.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6G04huOYHE

    Another video that's in the same area as the PS4 video above, but which shows off how all the Warchiefs, Captains, etc. are different each playthrough.

  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    I am so goddamn pumped for this game

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    Kinda like Sleeping Dogs, this game just showed up out of nowhere and totally grabbed my attention. I'll still wait on reviews, mind you, but I do have money set aside for this puppy.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    Aaaaaah crap.

    For some reason Australia doesn't get this on PS4 until the 8th.

  • PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    Honestly
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Great OP, I saw an ad for this and immediately brushed it off as yet another Tolkien based action game. The nemesis system sounds great, do you know if your nemesis becomes stronger over time? Like, can you fail to dominate one and he betrays you and you run into him later?

    Also, they should really change the 'Dominate' term.

    I don't think you can fail to dominate anyone (well, yes, you can be interrupted and fail, but you know that right away). The orcs may be willing to betray each other, but Talion's followers are all bound to him through Wraith magic so they don't really have enough free-will for that. Orcs will become much more powerful if they kill you, and also will grow in power whenever time passes. Really the death system seems ridiculously cool, as it changes the landscape of the game and beefs everyone up. I realize its kinda weird that the game becomes more difficult the worse you're doing, but one of the devs talked about this in one of those videos and it seemed like even as your enemies beef up, you can also continue to grow in power to match them, not to mention the weapon upgrade system which you can use to keep up with the enemies (oh jeez I forgot to talk about the weapon upgrade system in the OP).

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    I'm reminded a bit of how the original Crackdown let you hunt down the Kingpin straight away, or chipaway at them by taking down the lieutenants.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
    I'm skeptical.
    I really love ck2 but the nemesis system seems like it won't be enough of a thing for me to care about, as someone not into assassin creed or arkham batman.
    I guess the make or break for me, will be how much of it is linearly gated. I will probably not care about plot or this character's motivations here, so poor gating of mechanics or areas behind story missions would make this a huge do not buy.
    Now, not to say there should be no gates. I just wanna be able to explore 70% of the game's content before spending 10 hours suffering whatever story or missions they've cocked up.

    VayBJ4e.png
  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
    LOTR Skyrim/Mount & Blade would be a game I'd be interested in, but I don't know how much it's that.

    VayBJ4e.png
  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    Now that's an OP.

    d4753b065e9d63cc25203f06160a1cd1.png
  • VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    So what's the odds of at least one Istari rocking up at some point in this?

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    Dominate is cool but you can also MAKE THEIR HEADS EXPLODE WITH YOUR GHOST POWERS

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • THESPOOKYTHESPOOKY papa! Registered User regular
    Yeah I'm not gonna dominate Orcs unless I super have to

    killallorcs.exe

    d4753b065e9d63cc25203f06160a1cd1.png
  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    I'll ride wards though

    It'll be rad

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    As long as the actual fighty-fighty parts are good

    I appreciate they're looking to make an awesome sandbox where you can do all this cool stuff with your fanfictiony powers, but I'm just reminded of the first Assassins Creed where they make this super cool world for you to run around in, and the combat is horrible.

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    Javen wrote: »
    As long as the actual fighty-fighty parts are good

    I appreciate they're looking to make an awesome sandbox where you can do all this cool stuff with your fanfictiony powers, but I'm just reminded of the first Assassins Creed where they make this super cool world for you to run around in, and the combat is horrible.

    It looks like batman combat but with flashier powers

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • BrocksMulletBrocksMullet Into the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered User regular
    Very cool that enemies gain experience over time as well, you're kind of in a race against time that way.

    I, for one, enjoyed the Mako.

    Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/


  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    i would be so insanely excited for this if they'd not shoehorned it into the lotr universe and just made it it's own thing

  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    RubberAC wrote: »
    i would be so insanely excited for this if they'd not shoehorned it into the lotr universe and just made it it's own thing

    It could like

    Still be pretty good!

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    I am so goddamn pumped for this game

    I have not been this pumped for a game for at least a year or two
    I want it very badly

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    RubberAC wrote: »
    i would be so insanely excited for this if they'd not shoehorned it into the lotr universe and just made it it's own thing

    It could like

    Still be pretty good!

    i have no doubt right now the game will be fun

    its just like taking a big steaming dump over the lotr mythos which stings a little. but most of the games have done that anyway.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Okay, this game has gone from zero to hype for me.

    But I know I ain't got time to play it for a while, even if I didn't have Wasteland 2 just show up.

    Hopefully the winter sale is kind to me and this shows up. Because holy shit Middle Earth Batman's Creed yes.

  • BadablackBadablack Registered User regular
    I like the idea of playing as Celebrimbor's ringwraith. It would be cool if over the course of the game you get more wraith-ish until you're eventually just some glowing eyes and a floating crown.

    Bonus points if you get your own prophecy that no orc can slay you, and then Gollum stabs you in the sinews at the end.

    FC: 1435-5383-0883
  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    RubberAC wrote: »
    RubberAC wrote: »
    i would be so insanely excited for this if they'd not shoehorned it into the lotr universe and just made it it's own thing

    It could like

    Still be pretty good!

    i have no doubt right now the game will be fun

    its just like taking a big steaming dump over the lotr mythos which stings a little. but most of the games have done that anyway.

    I have voiced my distaste for Lotr in general so this might not mean much

    but they seem like they've put more effort than most of this type of thing to make sure timelines/characters/etc actually match up so I still don't quite get this complaint

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    the problem being that someone being half wraith half ranger is just so far from anything even moderately close to something even maybe mentioned off hand once in a hidden secret letter written by tolkien

    if the game had just been it's own franchise i would be so excited and then they could do whatever they wanted.

  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    Badablack wrote: »
    I like the idea of playing as Celebrimbor's ringwraith. It would be cool if over the course of the game you get more wraith-ish until you're eventually just some glowing eyes and a floating crown.

    Bonus points if you get your own prophecy that no orc can slay you, and then Gollum stabs you in the sinews at the end.

    this would make me buy multiple collectors editions holy shit

  • BrocksMulletBrocksMullet Into the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered User regular
    I think that if you're a LotR fan, you're best off if you think of this as an Elseworlds tale, a slightly goofy but earnest what-if?

    "But BrocksMullet, what about Tolkeins elegiac story of a world fading into the next, and the power of decency and courage in even the most humble?"

    Yeah, but your face.

    I, for one, enjoyed the Mako.

    Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/


  • ChincymcchillaChincymcchilla Registered User regular
    RubberAC wrote: »
    the problem being that someone being half wraith half ranger is just so far from anything even moderately close to something even maybe mentioned off hand once in a hidden secret letter written by tolkien

    if the game had just been it's own franchise i would be so excited and then they could do whatever they wanted.

    Doesn't a god literally come out of the forest, say hello, and leave

    It's not likely that he covered everything weird that could ever happen in the little world he created

    I have a podcast about Power Rangers:Teenagers With Attitude | TWA Facebook Group
  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    edited September 2014
    I can basically just compartmentalize books-movies-games because they all do a lot of things drastically different

    i loved the gba games despite gandalf and saruman never having an intense duel in the canon
    or the GC return of the king despite all the intense combat the hobbits face

    i'll likely get this and play it i'll just have to fight the 2nd grader inside me

    RubberAC on
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