Chindie Posted September 6, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 6, 2017 (edited) This is about a month away and given how great the first one was (despite blatantly being Assassin's Creed X Arkham Asylum) because of the Nemesis system, you'd expect more hype. As it is the game has had a massive marketing push online, barely a day goes by without a new trailer for some new feature on YouTube. So why no hype? For me, I think it is a combination of the series basically going to the next extreme of pissing all over the law (Shelob's a woman now, they've added a Mordor nature spirit, a second 'One' Ring...), which of course the first game also did but to a far lesser degree. Moreover though, is the fact it seems to have one of the more penny and dime impressions I've had from a game recently. This is a game that needs microtransactions like it needs crippling bugs. But there they are, pay to win rubbish. They also announced a piece of DLC the other day as a tribute to a beloved team member who died, where most of the cost was to go to charity. Except they quietly hid that this was only the case in some US states. I'm sure the horrific backlash to that will have forced them to rectify that but it was clear they effectively tried to sell DLC on compassionate grounds whilst not making it clear many buyers would actually solely be lining WB's pockets. I loved that first game. It played well and despite its flaws was great fun. This... It's more of the same seemingly but also expands on its gameplay, great. Yet the more I see the less I look forward to it. And should you be inclined, you can see a **** shit load of it now. They even have a fight against a balrog, which should be awesome. You against the biggest, baddest of the armies of Morgoth. How can't that be awesome? It looks **** shit. Edited September 6, 2017 by Chindie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 The first one was fun but it took hardly anytime to become an unstoppable killing machine which took the fun out of the nemesis system. If they fix the difficulty and add more of a story this will be a great game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Will wait until November to play it in super shiny vision on the X and knowing the stupidity of game/amazon/shopto etc fighting to sell everything for less than £25 asap due to the sheer volume of games out at this time of year i'll save a few £ by waiting a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Yeah I loved the first one. That and Arkham Knight were my only 2 PS4 games for the first 8 or so months of my PS4 gaming life, so I played it to death. I do think I'll end up playing SoW, but I imagine it will be when the game has come down in price in one of the sales. Will be nice to go back to Middle Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted September 13, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted September 13, 2017 I know I mentioned earlier the online marketing push for this is nuts, but seriously... There's been about 4 different mini teasers in the past week highlighting various orc factions and DLC etc. You could genuinely watch the entire game on YouTube now a month ahead of release it feels like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straggler Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Micro transactions in a full price game like this one are a disgrace. Jim Sterling made the point that you can use them to skip the grind of the game, which is an admission of the game designers that there are bits that are so dull/repetitive that they are worth paying extra for to not play. There may be a mega super special pre order bonus pack with season pass and all the day one DLC that is normally chargeable, but already on the disk that I can order that will allow me to just press x and defeat the final boss. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 I'll just wait for a GOTY edition to come out, like with Shadow of Mordor, and then just get it when it's £15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 On 13/09/2017 at 15:11, Straggler said: Micro transactions in a full price game like this one are a disgrace. Jim Sterling made the point that you can use them to skip the grind of the game, which is an admission of the game designers that there are bits that are so dull/repetitive that they are worth paying extra for to not play. There may be a mega super special pre order bonus pack with season pass and all the day one DLC that is normally chargeable, but already on the disk that I can order that will allow me to just press x and defeat the final boss. It also means that the developers will have tuned the game in such a way that the grind will always favour buying in. I mean I am sure we have all played a Free To Play game that starts pretty fair, but slowly gets to the point where if you don't buy in you'll be wasting so much free time you'll either quit or eventually buy in. Now we're getting that in premium AAA single-player games and it's concerning. How are we to know that they haven't tweaked the drop rate, or anything really to make the grind worse? We don't, but we also know it makes perfect business sense to do that as they benefit financially from it. This whole system is just inviting criticism and cynicism that would not be present if the micro-transactions were not in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 7, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 7, 2017 The end game of this sounds like the worst enforced pay to win shite imaginable. Once you conquer Mordor, Sauron fights back and tries to take back what you've won. Cool, right? No. Apparently these encounters feature a heavily improved enemy force making them very difficult, and they get harder with each one you drive back. It seems this has been done to encourage you to buy 'loot boxes' to get better orcs for your army, because the alternative is hours upon hours of grinding to gain and level up your own orcs, during which time the game seemingly also doles out less in game currency, making it much harder to beat unless you really do grind forever or you pay up. Better... They hid the true ending of the game behind this section. This really leaves a sour taste in the mouth and the games not even out yet. Reviews have been positive, some glowing, but the less gushing ones picked up on the loot box crap as well as the story being absolutely shit. I mean the first one wasn't great but serviceable, this one seems to have just pissed over the lore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) I won't pay for a a full price game with micro transactions. No ifs and buts about it. I thought the last one was decent, but repetitive, it outstayed its welcome, for me, and the last two bosses were ridiculous. It seems like this is more of the same, with anti-consumer bullshit attached. No thanks. Not even in a sale. Edited October 7, 2017 by Davkaus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 13, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 13, 2017 The story in this will have Tolkien fanboys gnawing at the walls. Otherwise... It's the first game with everything doubled down. Has the same sense of fun, the Nemesis system is still great and they've expanded on it nicely and it likes to try to keep things fresh. The loot boxes aren't that in your face (yet). It plays as well as it did before. Looks a little rough. Way too... Menu-y and feels a bit cumbersome and 'bitty' as a result, the whole thing feels like there's a load of polishing in need to tighten up experience to make it a bit less unwieldy. It's kinda good though. It almost feels like the best B rank, mid tier, £25 game ever. But if you love Tolkien, have a stiff drink before you start the story because, bloody hell... It takes the lore and pisses all over it at every opportunity. Literally the opening cutscene has you make what can only be described as the 'Two Ring'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 15, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 15, 2017 This has some serious old school Assassin's Creed jank in this. Lots of moments of being stuck on geometry. Favourites so far include being unable to run over a staircase from the side at the first step, and getting completely stuck in a ledge at a stealth kill on said ledge, twice. As well as the old school slightly vague jumping that kinda goes where it wants to when parkouring. Which sucked a decade ago. I've also failed a challenge room thing because my caragor suddenly wouldn't stealth pounce on an orc so instead jumped in front of it. And the loot challenges are a little obtuse. I've got one where I need to kill an orc with poison. Great there's an easy way turn poison them, I can poison grog from afar. Except that doesn't work. It looks like it might have to be with a poison effect, but it doesn't say that. I've got another one for a bow that says get a headshot with focus. I can safely say I've killed dozens without focus with headshots and the challenge doesn't complete. I like it, but there's definitely the feeling it's slightly rough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 22, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 22, 2017 Holy shit at how much this just bins the lore of Middle-Earth It doesn't even try to stick to canon. It sets the stall out early obviously (there's a new ring in the opening cutscene) but then just keeps doubling down on how little it cares for one of the most well developed fantasy worlds going. I reached the first ending earlier and **** hell. I know a lot of Tolkein lore, but I'm not completely beholden to it like some fans would be(I've no issue with them making a story in the gaps like this), but this... wow. Fans would have a shit fit. Anywho... Really enjoyed my time with it overall. Aside from the jank, it's got a few irritating missions, there's an entire plotline that largely asks you to repeat a mission type with increasing difficulty that is just annoying and the end game screams grind at the top of its voice. But certainly good fun overall, if you like the first one it's a no brainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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