Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

So I got Game Informer in the mail the other day, and this game was on the cover. It apparently takes place between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings — Sauron has not yet taken up residence in Barad-Dur again, and the rangers that guarded Mordor are just now experiencing the onslaught that precedes Sauron's arrival.

You play a man named Talion whose friends and family are murdered in the initial assault. Talion is killed as well, but revives due to a mysterious bond with a "wraith of vengeance". Seeking a way to die permanently and join his family, Talion sets off behind enemy lines to...do stuff, I guess. Solve the mystery of his unique curse? Get vengeance? Ride a flaming motorcycle and fight Satan?

Questionable lore decisions aside, what really makes this game stand out is the "nemesis system". Every enemy you encounter has its own name, with its own weaknesses and personality traits. Orcs constantly jockey for power or do grunt work, depending on their station, and everything in between.

Those who survive battles with Talion will remember him and his deeds. An orc that you set on fire in a previous encounter may develop a crippling fear of (or immunity to) fire, as well as a serious grudge. Kill an orc leader and you may come back later to find his subordinates have taken over his former position and are waiting for you. The orc who kills you may have received a promotion by the time you return (since you are essentially unkillable) to ruin his day.

It's an intriguing system and I'm curious to see it in action.

Yeah, I hope it works. Stuff that's touted like that normally doesn't quite live up to the hype, though I'm anxious to see if this is a good game. There are spirits in Middle-earth, though I don't know if they can possess people. After the disappointment that was "War in the North" I'm hoping that this will be more entertaining.

Well, the devs talk about the barrow-wights and the oathbreakers as if they are the same thing. My understanding was that the former were dead bodies possessed by evil Maia while the latter are cursed humans.

Judging by the powers Talion can wield via wraith, I'm guessing Maia possession, but only time will tell.

Yeah, WITN had ghosts and zombies in the Barrow-downs, so ghosts possessing people are indeed a thing. But no, the oath breakers aren't the same. They got cursed by Isildur.

Hmm. If it pans out, would this be a subversion of the Mook trope, or a development?

I figured I should post the gameplay reveal here.

Enjoy!

That looks SO AWESOME. Parkour system is straight out of Assassin's Creed but the combat and everything else is awesome. I like how you can dominate a guy's followers too and build your own little private army xD

Funny that you would mention that.

The only thing I really care about is the nemesis system.

Which will almost certainly either be glitchy, extremely underwhelming, or both.

Yay optimism!

Looks fine to me. O.o

Well, the orc guy DID just say twice "You burned my face!"

Can't it be basically solved with "Kill everyone" routine anyway?

Yes, but you're only one guy. Possessed or not you'll have to have an Enemy Civil War somewhere.

Yep. According to the Game Informer article, killing everyone just leaves a power vacuum that other orcs will try to fill.

edited 24th Jan '14 11:22:59 AM by CorrTerek

I wonder if it's possible to just do that assassination mission and start a fight between Ratbag's orcs and his boss's orcs, then jump down when everything's died down to finish off the survivors?

^^Yeah, but that way none of them have personal grudges against you!

Yet. In theory, the resulting power vacuum could result in stronger, more unified orcs, which would make it difficult to kill 'em all.

Indeed. Are we only in Mordor, though? Will we just be walking around there, rather than the rest of Middle-earth?

edited 24th Jan '14 11:48:41 AM by theLibrarian

Uh, that game does look pretty interesting. I just find the exposition of the nemesis a bit tacky ("Yes, you burned my face!" and the likes).

I imagine around Mordor, on the outskirts of it or something.

Yeah, I thought that both orcs saying "You left me/my master to burn!" was kind of repetitive.

Also, a look at the LOTR wiki shows me that not all of Mordor is a blasted hellscape; there are actual farms farther to the southeast. That and everywhere that isn't the Plains of Golgoroth are probably where all of the structures are.

It's not so much that it was repetitive, it bothered me because it didn't feel right. "You have left my master to burn!" is not a very invested way to deliver that information.

Let's be honest though - orcs are hardly the most verbose species in Lo TR.

Well you'd expect them to at least express rage/hatred in a more convincing way. I mean, the line isn't even poorly written, it's just so devoid of emotions/credibility.

I gotta say, saying that you're going to savor every twitch of your corpse is a pretty good way to threaten someone XD