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Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along
I started playing this game on Sunday 15 May, 2016  //  I stopped playing this game on: Friday 13 April, 2018
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

March 8, 2017 03:03:14 PM
Ouch. Haven't played in such a long time that I don't rememeber what I was up to and, to make matters worse, I forgotten how to play. Not that I was that good anyways...but I'm not really excited about learning all the moves and stuff again. But, I'm feeling a tad guilty to be honest...maybe I'll give it another go?

June 13, 2016 03:46:18 PM
I really like how the nemesis system works in integrating your failures into the overall game. So, when you fail to defeat an orc leader or when you're killed by an orc, they become more powerful and move up in the ranks of Sauron's army. This is way cool.

The only downside is that, after failing to kill a boss three times in a row, I now wonder if this system doesn't also allow me to shoot myself in the foot. The orcs get tougher so it's harder to defeat them, meaning I'll fail more easily, so they'll get tougher, etc. Of course this assumes that my skill/learning curve is lower than the difficulty ramp. Either way, since I don't know how it will play out - or how it is supposed to, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Either way, it's a great game. And, having seen the 3rd part of the Hobbit movie this past weekend, I appreciate it all the more.


May 29, 2016 03:46:11 PM
Birthday present from the kids.

I've played a few hours, enough to pass the turorial and complete a few missions and I'm really impressed by how good a job the game does in making me feeling like a total badass. The thing with a lot of stealth games is that if you fail (at stealthy), then it's impossible to win in the fights. So far, for me at least, this game has a nice balance where I can (and often do) take on 3-5 opponents and feel good doing so. Yes, I've died a few times - and clearly it's not possible (for me at least) to take on too many opponents but I like having that as a fallback. You are encouraged to go for stealthy, more experience and all that, but still...

I found it interesting that the game has two experience systems - with the first you get XP for killing orcs, doing missions, etc. BUT, most of the upgrades are gated behind a second experience system (fame points? something with a "p" points?). You only get the second kind of xp from killing captains and special missions. So, you can't just wander around grinding and expect to get really good. It's just not possible.


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria