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So How Was Shadow of War?

Tags: #Shadow of War 
  • Member
    November 8, 2017

    So how was Middle Earth: Shadow of War?

    On one hand, I've heard that it improves on basically everything from Shadow of Mordor. On the other, it is said that the story is worse and it is a grind. 

    The one thing that I saw that I didn't like is the orcs themselves. There are orcs that serenade you and when you shame an orc captain and confront them again they complain about getting made fun of. As a fan of the Lord of the Rings book and films, this could ruin the feeling that I am playing in Middle Earth. In the book, there are no singing orcs, and when an orc made fun of another orc, somebody dies. Even though the story in SoM wasn't canon, it still felt like I was in Middle Earth. Does Shadow of War have that same feeling, even though the orcs appear to be completely ridiculous?

    I have interest in this game, but I just wanted to know your guys opinion. Do you think it's worth getting as a fan of the books? 

     

  • Member
    January 19, 2018

    It isn't worth buying.

  • Member
    January 19, 2018

    I actually really like the game. Talion is more powerful and fun to play than ever, many of the orcs actually feel like they have personality (don't believe me? Look at this), and the act 3 plot twist was really fun. I also like the story a lot, not as much as the SOM story but it's still better than some I've seen.

  • Member
    January 19, 2018

    It is definitely bigger than Shadow of Mordor. In playable area and combat options, at least.

     

    I haven't gotten to the third act yet, but all I have left is the Carnan quests. I tried to play through it some more, but I got bored. 

     

    My thought is that it is too similar to the first one. I felt more motivated to get through the quests in SoM. 

     

    I do enjoy the fort addition, but I can't really recommend SoW over SoM. SoW was cool because the ranger and wraith combo, but this one tried to be cool with Shelob and the ring of power which wasn't that impressive. 

  • January 19, 2018

    I really haven't been able to get into the game which really bums me out. I can't really say what it is about it that feels off or just stops me from enjoying it. I mean, I've enjoyed moving around a lot more so far (it's incredibly smooth, fast and getting around is easy) but there's something about it that lacks that personal feel that SoM had. I think that's part of it, with SoM I felt like I could understand Talion, could push through some of the worse quests (which to be fair most of them weren't great) because it felt like it fit the character, and I sort of connected with him.

    So far I can't bring myself to care about the events of SoW, and that's disappointed me. To be fair I've barely played it, oh that's right. Stopped playing because I hit a game-breaking bug in a storyline quest and couldn't be fucked going back (and it's bad enough that I've even redone the mission and it's still broken) that sucked, but I still couldn't enjoy it beforehand quite as much as the first game.

  • Member
    January 19, 2018

    It's great as long as you don't get tired of killing Orcs. It's a really really fun Orc-killing simulator, but doesn't have much beyond that. I haven't finished it yet. I actually started a new game just before the final mission because it all felt so easy on Normal difficulty. Nemesis is a much more entertaining difficulty. One standout issue is that the story feels like it gets in the way of the game because of how it keeps the ring from you for the entire first act. And it is not a short act. I'm particularly annoyed by this because I had the exact same complaint with the first game. It just felt like it took far too long to give you the entire toy set to play with. Also, the Prologue should have been a playable prologue. I would have been much more peeved at spider bitch if I had to go through the steps to make the ring, only to have Cele-B stolen away from me. And really, that much story would have been appreciated. Having completed everything but the final mission of the game, I can say it does get to be a bit of a grind. I wish there had been more to keep me invested on a deeper level throughout the fort-conquering. One of my favorite parts of the game are the exchanges that Talion and Cele-B get into, because it really shows their characters and reminds me why I was so invested in them in the first place. They have such a cool dynamic, but it's explored far too little. 

  • Member
    January 21, 2018

    I decided to play on Nemesis from the beginning, because I found SoM too easy. It definitely is a challenge.

     

    The exchanges between Celebrimbor and Talion are a highlight in the monotony of the game. 

     

    I still enjoy dominating captains. I do appreciate all of the variety of the captains, too, and it still feels personal when I meet up with an Orc who bested me or betrayed me or whatever. This aspect of the game is way more interesting than the main quests. I feel like the size of the game is a detriment. On one hand, I get more Orc captains to deal with, but in the other, I get tired of hopping from area to area.

  • Member
    October 26, 2018

    I personally enjoyed it. A few snags here and there, but overall pretty good

  • Member
    October 30, 2018

    Hey Chris, have you tried the DLCs?

  • Member
    October 30, 2018

    Yeah, I liked Desolation a bit more