Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

[JonCole]

Eowyn is described as a shieldmaiden. Ergo shields.

 

A whatmaiden?

[Justin Leego]

A weinhandler.

[Reyturner]

Eowyn is described as a shieldmaiden. Ergo shields.

But wasn't she also like "eff that in the bee" and then headed out pretending to be a sword dude.

There's a pretty clear trend of aegiphobia throughout Tolkien's work.

[Nappi]

Some of the animations do indeed look incredibly Assassin's Creedy, and the game doesn't feel very Middle-Earthly, but there is still a small chance that the end-product will be interesting.

 

Eowyn is described as a shieldmaiden. Ergo shields.

 

'Shield' actually refers to womb* in this case, as - to the best of their knowledge - the womb is shield-shaped. There are no shields in LotR universe.

 

 

* The Silmarillion, can't remember which part.

[Ben X]

Showing results for agoraphobia
No results found for aegiphobia

 

 

So nearly a googlewhack.

[Stuart]

My only main problem with all this it the game's tone, which is the usual boring, grim dark stuff the AAA industry thinks can pass as being "mature". I don't care what you do with a LOTR game mechanics wise, there are many ways to approach that. What I care is that it FEELS like a LOTR game. Give this game any other name and it could easily pass as another rote grim and dark fantasy game that is trying to be the Witcher, which is a fantasy game that justifies its serious and jaded tone by presenting mechanics, lore, and characters that from the beginning help support those tones (the novels which the games are based on did the same).

 

And this is isn't a LoTR fanboy shouting for accuracy to the source material, this is someone sick and tired by the AAA industry's insistence that games that approach their story or world in a blatant, ham-fisted gritty, grim way are mature and are good ways to present their stories. They forget that A ) That doesn't show a sign of maturity, but rather a sign of striving to LOOK mature while being immature, and B ) After years of this bullshit, it just becomes boring. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, as many problems it may have, for me captured that sense of awe and beautiful wonder a Tolkien novel or the LOTR films conveyed. It implemented in its tone and environment the sense of being part of a greater world, and it left you there to figure out the smaller details yourself.

 

I'm sure this game will play well, will look graphically amazing, and the Nemesis system will be hailed as a great movement forward in terms of emergent, procedural gameplay. But all that to me marred by the over the top violence displayed in a cold manner, the heavy boring high contrast lighting, the shouty and pseudo-menacing dialogue, and the grim portrayal of an otherwise mostly light-hearted series of novels.

[Dosed]

I'm only reading the LoTR books for the first time at the moment, and while I'm only up to the second book, this game is a pretty accurate representation of what I imagine Mordor to be. Just a hellish place full of ugly treacherous cretins. I also have no real affinity for the books or the films so it doesn't bother me too much. It's a shame they had to slap LoTR on this game and piss a lot of people off instead of coming up with their own IP. 

 

I think the game looks pretty interesting, but I totally agree that the whole "these guys will remember you and shout generic lines at you about how you gave them nasty boo boos" thing will be incredibly over hyped in the marketing, and have no major/noticeable effect in the game. 

 

Talking about it looking pretty similar to AC I saw this on the interwebs earlier today. I have no idea how this shit works so he could just be assuming too much, but it's always more interesting when something you suspect is true. It reminds me more of ManBat, The. 

[melmer]

The force unleashed! That's what I've been thinking of, a game where they took a franchise and ramped it up to the eXtreme

I give you... Lord of the Rings Unleashed: Origins

[BadHat]

And this is isn't a LoTR fanboy shouting for accuracy to the source material, this is someone sick and tired by the AAA industry's insistence that games that approach their story or world in a blatant, ham-fisted gritty, grim way are mature and are good ways to present their stories. They forget that A ) That doesn't show a sign of maturity, but rather a sign of striving to LOOK mature while being immature, and B ) After years of this bullshit, it just becomes boring. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, as many problems it may have, for me captured that sense of awe and beautiful wonder a Tolkien novel or the LOTR films conveyed. It implemented in its tone and environment the sense of being part of a greater world, and it left you there to figure out the smaller details yourself.

 

That was my reaction, regardless of how I feel about LOTR (liked the movies, but not overly attached) the tone is just... tired. Also I know it's Monolith but do they have to use so very fucking much slow mo.

 

There's a thought though: a LOTR game after the heart of Brothers, where you're not a sword-slinging magic-wielding badass but a milder character of more humble origins surrounded by impossibly awe-inspiring and frightening things. If only there were some character in the lore to whom this description were apt.

[Ucantalas]

I want Tom Bombail Simulator 2014.

[Stuart]

There's a thought though: a LOTR game after the heart of Brothers, where you're not a sword-slinging magic-wielding badass but a milder character of more humble origins surrounded by impossibly awe-inspiring and frightening things. If only there were some character in the lore to whom this description were apt.

 

I CONCUR.

 

IF ONLY.

 

THAT CHARACTER.

 

EXISTED.

[colinp]

If no Orc says, "remember the airfield?" while attacking I'll be disappointed.

[Twig]

As a non-fan of LOTR I have no real opinions regarding this game. The following is a fake opinion.

 

Extending the fiction of an established thing doesn't bother me. In fact, I wholly support that in all cases, provided it actually fits. But it does seem they're taking it in some weird fuckin' directions here. This might as well be a completely new setting, so why not just do that? Weird.

[Ucantalas]

As a non-fan of LOTR I have no real opinions regarding this game. The following is a fake opinion.

 

Extending the fiction of an established thing doesn't bother me. In fact, I wholly support that in all cases, provided it actually fits. But it does seem they're taking it in some weird fuckin' directions here. This might as well be a completely new setting, so why not just do that? Weird.

Why? Because putting "Lord of the Rings" in the title will sell more copies.

[Twig]

YES OKAY OBVIOUSLY I KNOW WHY GET YOUR SMART ASS OUTTA HERE GEEZ

 

);

[Ucantalas]

IM SORRY I DIDNT MEAN TO MAKE YOU FROWN WITH A BLACK EYE.

 

 

Edit: Why are all my weird posts today landing as the top of a new page? Its scary and lonely up here.

[Twig]

That's how I feel every day.

[tegan]

'Shield' actually refers to womb* in this case, as - to the best of their knowledge - the womb is shield-shaped. There are no shields in LotR universe.

 

* The Silmarillion, can't remember which part.

 

why would they describe the shape of it as being like something that doesn't exist in their world

[Frenetic Pony]

Just watched it again, and I realized "You left my master to burn" and "You left me to burn!" are actually logically linked. The first guy that says that's boss is the second guy. So... it makes perfect sense.

 

Also yeah Boromir has a shield. Apparently they aren't too popular. In the Extra-extended 5 hours editions there's like an hour of Aragorn just ribbing Boromir over it. "What'd you call it again, your invention. A uh, shed? Isn't that what the peasants store their tools and poo in?" Boromir "Ugh... shield, it's a shield ok? It's for, you know, protecting yourself. From swords and things?" Aragorn "More like pussy hider, you know, cause pussies hide behind it. Right guys?" *Legolas and Gimli begin laughing, soon even the hobbits join in as everyone points and laughs at Boromir.

[Nappi]

why would they describe the shape of it as being like something that doesn't exist in their world

 

I think it is just an oversight by the author, though I'm sure hardcore Tolkien fans are somehow able to rationalize past it.

 

(also none of that is actually true) 

[Erkki]

[tegan]

why would a guy that big need a shield

 

why not get some pants to protect his junk from attacks from below instead

[TychoCelchuuu]

YOU LEFT MY MASTER TO X

YOU LEFT ME TO X

YOU XED MY FACE

I can't wait for the deep unique characterization this game is going to have. When I play it through seven times, like I do all of these kinds of games, I'm really going to appreciate that in place of bespoke dialog creating well fleshed-out characters for me to assassinate seven times, I'll instead have a randomly generated collection of one-note generic characters to assassinate once. That will really make this game fun.

In all seriousness though I feel like the benefit of "THIS IS ALL UNIQUELY TAILORED TO YOU" really goes down when you're playing a massive game like this, which I would never play more than once or twice, rather than a roguelike or something similar where you repeat the game over and over. Especially when the fidelity of the graphics and sound are so high that they have to compromise on how unique things can get (Dwarf Fortress can describe all sorts of random stuff in excruciating detail - this game is going to be stuck with stuff like "YOU BURNED/SLICED/STABBED/ARROWED MY FACE/ARM/LEG/BOSS/SUBORDINATE" which is far less interesting).

[Justin Leego]

why would a guy that big need a shield

why not get some pants to protect his junk from attacks from below instead

He is actually normal size and just magically animated a Lego person.

[TheLastBaron]

So I guess that MERP mod for skyrim probably got shut down for this.