I gotta tell you, game announcement these days were so routine that you are more likely to watch some visually-impressive and well done cinematic trailer meant to generate enough hype before proper gameplay demo that showcases core mechanics and a glimpse how to play when released. I am glad Shadow of Mordor qualifies in the latter category, because I wouldn't be writing this blog otherwise. True, there were some developer vids and written information before it, but I would sooner be excited seeing how the game works rather than some epic cinematic like Dead Island or Witcher 3, because you are less likely of getting disappointed when you are not taken in by the hype.Okay sorry for the mini-rant there. Today I want to do something different than a review or a rant, I want to share my thoughts on one a game that I am highly anticipating that is set in the world of Lord of the Rings, Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor.
The reason why is that this game combines things I really love like Lord of the Rings, open-world games, Assassin's Creed and Batman: Arkham Asylum, in addition to original some original and unique mechanics. The story is set between the events of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings and you are Talion, a Ranger from Gordon stationed in the Black Gate who was murdered along with his family by the forces of Sauron, who returned to claim Mordor back for their master. However, he is possessed by a wraith spirit (as in, like the Ringwraiths) that grants him supernatural powers and thrusts him into his quest of revenge. Along the way, he meets with some characters from the original story like Gollum (who supposedly shares a lot in common with him) and he will be involved with the Rings of Power too. While it has being assured by developers that the story of the game will stand on its own right while aligning with Lord of the Rings' canon at the same time, its sorta difficult since A. we see Sauron in physical form and B. he will still be alive by the events of Fellowship of the Ring takes place - so its unlikely that Talion will have his revenge at the end. Then again, its too early to tell, so lets dig into the make or break factor.
As already mentioned, the game is an open-world set in the land of Mordor, a charred, volcanic plain where one does not simply walk into, and plays the same way as AC/Batman Arkham. Though many others (including myself) were quick to call this game a Assassin's Creed meets Lord of the Rings, as one of the developers of AC II claimed the game took codes, it would be more accurate to call it Arkham Asylum meets Lord of the Rings. Though both those games are very similar, their stealth aspects are entirely different. In Assassin's Creed, there is a strong focus on blending among the crowd and enemies will ignore the player so long as they don't do nothing that turns them hostile, while Batman will always be attacked by enemies if sighted, which is more likely to be the case here. Even the combat is more similar with Arkham Asylum, having the attack and counter routine that Assassin's Creed only adopted from the third game forward.The combat has a leveling tree split between ranger and wraith abilities, Talion is able to use swords and daggers as well magical abilities like teleportation and binding enemies to his will. They can perform actions like gathering intel, assassinating their own leaders or spread rumors about Talion's deeds, making him legendary among Sauron's forces.
I would be sold on the words "open-world" and "Lord of the Rings" alone, but that is not even all. The big selling of game is the Nemesis System - a mechanic it that grants personality to each and single one of the enemies, and player's action will reflect on them. If Talion' doesnt kill them in their first encounter, they will adapt and become more challenging and stronger when you fight them again. As shown in the demo, both Ratbag and Orthag were faced previously by Talion, and in the last encounter with the latter, Talion burned his face and now he hates you even more and is more dangerous than last time. If you perish in battle, the Wraith will return you back to life, but the enemy that killed you will climb up the social ladder and become its own named entity. Oh, and this also include boss enemies getting more and more challenging if you fail repeatedly.
Okay I am both intrigued and confused by this system, on paper it sounds really cool, because it encourages the player to take more careful and varied approaches to facing certain enemies, and since they have their own unique patterns, that make the player deploy what is the best strategy to defeat them. Its much better than games where you have realize a flaw in the AI and exploit it like Dark Souls other games I could mention. However, on the other hand, I have no clue how well this will work in the actual game, let's say for the sake of argument that an inexperienced player fail repeatedly against same enemy, and he will become more dangerous with each encounter to the point, it can probably turn the game unplayable. This could become a problem, specially for bosses. I don't know if they will learn to block your moves, gain special abilities, or just become invincible to anything you throw at them but I am pretty sure this could happen. Not to mention some bugs or glitches that usually come with open-world games like these, as well as this advanced system it will cause some heavy demands to the AI too.
I hope that the developers can make use of the very rich and expanded lore in the Lord of the Rings universe. I mean, I hope we have a greater variety of enemies to fight than just orcs and trolls, but also barrow-wights, Easterlings, Black Numenoreans and many other creatures that served Sauron. I am pretty sure that the Ringwraiths will be in it, specially the Witch-King of Angmar since he is Sauron's right hand man and Talion's wraith is also like the Nazgul too. Even if the previous game War in the North fell short sometimes, I did like the expansion in some ways than others. And with from the looks of it, I am looking forward to some wicked looking bosses in the game too.
So those were my thoughts in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor... I want to know what do you personally think of the game, do you find it legit that it copied from Assassin's Creed or if, it had is that a good or a bad thing? Meanwhile I will keep an eye in this game and if anyone points out that many info bits are incorrect and outdated, please note it was made a little while after its announcement.
Thank you guys for reading it, see you next time =)
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