Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

[melmer]

Sure looks like a video game

So much promise in those first 6 seconds, you know before he starts climbing shit like Nathan drake

Interesting factoid: The game is being written by Christian Cantamessa, who was a lead-writer and lead-designer on Rockstar San Diego's Red Dead Redemption.

[Squid Division]

Interesting factoid: The game is being written by Christian Cantamessa, who was a lead-writer and lead-designer on Rockstar San Diego's Red Dead Redemption.

 

So it's going to be incredibly poorly written?

 

Combat looks awfully loose and arcadey in a way that doesn't fit with what they're trying to get across in the trailer.

[melmer]

Just talking about the trailer, it's pretty great that they've done a walkthrough as their reveal trailer. Far better than some CGI or live action bullshit

The Lord of the rings (movie) gobblins, trolls, orks etc really don't do it for me. They're very rarely threatening or menacing, it's like your fighting an army of amphibious clowns

[Squid Division]

I agree, but I think that's what LotR is now, and it looks like the game treats it the same way.

 

Why are there no shields in the LotR universe? (excepting the ones used for skateboards) I'm sure there are some, but none of the visual media seem to use them, and I can't remember any instances in the books either. It's just weird considering the resources he was pulling from to write it.

[Zeusthecat]

Why are there no shields in the LotR universe? (excepting the ones used for skateboards) I'm sure there are some, but none of the visual media seem to use them, and I can't remember any instances in the books either. It's just weird considering the resources he was pulling from to write it.

 

I don't think I recall hearing a single mention of a shield anywhere in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings. They just blocked shit with their swords I guess.

 

This game makes me kind of sad. Sure it might be a decent game but I hate to see Middle Earth getting bastardized with supplemental stories and characters that never existed in any of the original Tolkien works. I'm not necessarily opposed to taking some artistic liberties on already established characters and stories but I just don't see the point of creating entirely new shit when there is still plenty of untapped potential from the books (maybe not The Silmarillion though if Chris Tolkien still has a say). I'm probably being a stupid nerd fanboy with this but after seeing the damage done to the Star Wars franchise over the years I'm a bit apprehensive.

[Frenetic Pony]

The gameplay and ideas sound sorta awesome and really cool.

 

It's too bad it doesn't feel very Tolkienish, because Tolkien nerds are already raging hard over that (Looking at you Zues, for shame). "Where's our copycat Skyrim set in Middle Earth" is a literal, and much starred, complaint I saw on Kotaku. Ugh, this is why you people are just customers and not actual game developers. I hope this does well despite all the nerd rage, because despite the fact that the LOTR movies are in my top 10 of all time and The Hobbit is tied for my favorite book ever, you know what I don't care! Gimme a cool, weird Assassin's Creed/Super power weilding/Open world RPG thing and I'll be excited about it. If they have to slap "LOTR" on it because their corporate overlords force them to, then so be it.

[Frenetic Pony]

Just talking about the trailer, it pretty great that they've done a walkthrough as their reveal trailer. Far better than some CGI of live action bullshit

The Lord of the rings (movie) gobblins, trolls, orks etc really don't do it for me. They're very rarely threatening or menacing, it's like your fighting an army of amphibious clowns

 

I thought they worked fantastically well in the movies, I'd consider LOTR and The Hobbit some of the best visual design in movies there's ever been. But yeah in games I think they lose something. E.G. here, all the facepaint (which isn't in the movies almost at all) brings in too much Insane Clown Possy.

[Zeusthecat]

I am very calmly raging thank you very much. The Tolkien universe is very near and dear to my heart and my brain just has a hard time accepting a story about a dude having magical Nazghul powers. 

 

Edit: And let it be known that I am not claiming my complaints to be rational at all. It's just like, my opinion man.

[JonCole]

As someone who doesn't give a shit about Tolkien's universe, only really like the movies and enjoy AC games, this game looks dope! Probably the most excited I've been about the LOTR franchise as it pertains to games in a long time.

[Brannigan]

Shield talk: Didn't boromir carry a shield around with him? It's been a long time since I've read the books but I thought whatsherface that hooks up with faramir had one as well, in the very least when fighting the wraith.

[kaputt]

Yeah, it felt weird to see the dude having all those magical powers. I never read any of the books (I'm not a big fan of this kind of fantasy), but I remember the LOTR movies never had magic with this great abundance. I think it ruins the fact that magic should be something rare and difficult to get (at least that was the impression that the movies gave me, mostly). At least they tried to give some reason and context to all these powers the main character has.

 

Still, I think it will be a decent game, looks nice for pre-alpha footage. Despite looking a lot like Assassin's Creed, the combat seems a lot bettter than Ubi's game. But it's still disappointing because they could do something different with the Tolkien universe instead.

[Gormongous]

Yeah, it felt weird to see the dude having all those magical powers. I never read any of the books (I'm not a big fan of this kind of fantasy), but I remember the LOTR movies never had magic with this great abundance. I think it ruins the fact that magic should be something rare and difficult to get (at least that was the impression that the movies gave me, mostly). At least they tried to give some reason and context to all these powers the main character has.

 

Still, I think it will be a decent game, looks nice for pre-alpha footage. Despite looking a lot like Assassin's Creed, the combat seems a lot bettter than Ubi's game. But it's still disappointing because they could do something different with the Tolkien universe instead.

 

Yeah, those are my thoughts, too. The low-magic feel of Tolkien's world is completely lost on a gaming industry that craves spectacle, so they set out to generalize it in a way that makes it any other fantasy setting except for the names. I don't see the point of paying for a license in order to disregard it like that trailer does.

[Frenetic Pony]

Yeah, those are my thoughts, too. The low-magic feel of Tolkien's world is completely lost on a gaming industry that craves spectacle, so they set out to generalize it in a way that makes it any other fantasy setting except for the names. I don't see the point of paying for a license in order to disregard it like that trailer does.

 

They didn't, at least the developers themselves didn't. Warner Bros owns both the Tolkien game licenses (books and movies) as well as Monolith. Some exec no doubt laid down the order for a new "Triple A LOTR" game at some point, and Monolith was chosen to pull it off. I'm actually glad they went with a more interesting concept of the game they actually wanted to do, rather than just the lazy route of "Skyrim in Middle Earth".

[tegan]

All the stuff about the enemies being unique and developing a history with your character sounds both really cool and exactly like one of those big picture ideas that people use to sell their game that either has no impact on the game at all or turns out to be a flat-out lie.

[Justin Leego]

Or irritating.

Perhaps it's relatively unobtrusive and just a cool little thing that they don't want people to miss?

[BadHat]

God this trailer really brought out my inner gaming cynic. The game looks like a perfectly competent Assassin's Creed ripoff*, but they have to pile on so much box-ticking, pointless feature-touting, "player experience"-aggrandizing garbage just to make themselves stand out that it's kind of exhausting. There is utterly no way the systems presented are going to be as meaningful or tailored as they're making out when the orcs have pre-recorded dialog for "you burned my face" and "you left my master to burn." How many players do you suspect this particular version of events happened to? I'm going to go out on a limb and say 100%. Maybe the next guy's burnt face orc will have a different barely indistinguishable orc name. Whoa.

 

Sorry for the unwarranted vitriol, I just hoped we were maybe past the point of selling games based on lofty but ultimately kind of meaningless features (haha). If this looked at all like it were going to be a more strategic game with more consequence-laden combat, that whole string of events might have seemed a bit more relevant. Instead, he possesses people with magic ghost powers, does big dumb slo-mo leaping attacks from 30-foot balconies into crowds of enemies, and quick time events his way out of compromising positions. Why, in light of all this, should I give a shit that I manipulated someone into reducing the boss's health a bit?

 

Alright, cynicism over.

 

* http://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-ubisoft-developer-accuses-shadow-of-mordor-of-using-code-from-assassin-s-creed/1100-6417307/

[Reyturner]

Looks more Batman than AC.

Was it you, Mington, that was bemoaning games eschewing bespoke experiences in trying to become systems driven lifestyle games? This game forces me to second that emotion.

[melmer]

I had a moan in the Invisible Ink thread, i was wishing that that had carefully crafted bespoke levels rather than procedural generated

 

But actually, i'm all for it here! its the best thing the game has going for it. There is so many action/adventure games out there that you don't have to look very far to find a well crafted bespoke experience be it the last of us, DmC, Batman or lord of shadow 2 (which FYI i'm massively looking forward too) every flavours already available.

 

But i can see from the perspective of a LotR fan wanting a well told bespoke experience, that this kinda suck

 

We'll see. But yeah it'll probably amount to nothing, i couldn't help but picture this guy when i was watching the trailer :molyneuxsmall: :molyneuxsmall:

That action looks super gross though, they've said they've used Batman as inspiration but then completely missed the point. Batmans combat is like a rhythm game, increasing in speed/difficult the longer your perform your combo. This has you constantly interrupted with scripted animations to perform slo mo quick time events.

[Patters]

Shield talk: Didn't boromir carry a shield around with him? It's been a long time since I've read the books but I thought whatsherface that hooks up with faramir had one as well, in the very least when fighting the wraith.

 

 

He does, a round brown one with a metal centre and edge. 

[Zeusthecat]

He does, a round brown one with a metal centre and edge. 

 

He has it in the movies but I don't recall hearing about it in the books. I could be wrong though. It's been awhile since I read them at this point and some of those small details escape me.

[Roderick]

The Assassin's Creed influence couldn't be more clear, but if they manage to implement the highlights, I'm open to it. Domineering enemies with your wraith powers seems fun enough, though I share the concern that all the variability will amount to less of an impact than a carefully crafted designer experience would.

[JonCole]

All the stuff about the enemies being unique and developing a history with your character sounds both really cool and exactly like one of those big picture ideas that people use to sell their game that either has no impact on the game at all or turns out to be a flat-out lie.

 

Yeah, it could really go either way. I'm personally not so worried about it being different from game to game or from one person's experience to the next, I'm instead hoping that each rivalry/history/whatever actually manages to feel different instead of "fuck you ranger guy, you [burned my face/chopped off my arm/scarred my chest] and now I [dislike/hate/actively hunt] you". If they can do that, as well as give a balanced effect of each terror thing, like assassinate should not be incredibly more compelling to use than the terrorize or sacrifice options, I feel like the whole history thing could actually pay off.

[Patters]

He has it in the movies but I don't recall hearing about it in the books. I could be wrong though. It's been awhile since I read them at this point and some of those small details escape me.

 

It's mentioned in one of the songs prior to his death at least. 

[I Saw Dasein]

Eowyn is described as a shieldmaiden. Ergo shields.

[Zeusthecat]

I stand corrected.