faetal on 1/10/2014 at 07:28
Sorely tempted to just pull the trigger on this as it sounds quite unlike anything I've played. Steam sales have conditioned me to flinch at paying €50 for a game though :/
Starker on 1/10/2014 at 16:23
Quote Posted by faetal
Sorely tempted to just pull the trigger on this as it sounds quite unlike anything I've played.
You really need to play the Arkham games, then.
Phatose on 1/10/2014 at 18:15
Quote Posted by Starker
You really need to play the Arkham games, then.
Sound advice whether you're interested in Shadow of Mordor or not.
WingedKagouti on 1/10/2014 at 20:05
Quote Posted by Phatose
Sound advice whether you're interested in Shadow of Mordor or not.
From what I've seen, Asylum should only be used as a reference point for the combat while City and Origins are closer to SoM in overall gameplay.
Phatose on 2/10/2014 at 04:58
Well, I'm not gonna say it's a shoe in for Game of the Year, but you can bet this game is going to be on the short list.
Nemesis system does pick up some steam once the harder enemies come out. Sometimes captains aren't actually dead, despite the game telling you that. I don't think that includes ones who get decapitated, but I'm not sure - and that's kind of a failing, since the various orc captains just aren't all that memorable.
Not to say it doesn't make for some interesting bit. Killed a captain with an explosive, since he was afraid of burning. Next time he showed up, he declared I didn't have a fire to hide behind this time. The AI clearly didn't recognize he was standing next to another explosive barrel.
The brutalize stealth kills are a little on the OP side. You get leaders who are pack oriented, but stealth brutalize one of their minions from the get go, and the rest run away. Any more, when I'm traveling and encounter a pack, it's just sneak-brutalize and the orcs are headed for the hills.
It's derivative as hell - basically, Batman meets Assassin's Creed, with a little bit of Far Cry 3 thrown it. But since it has the wisdom to steal the good parts of all those games, it works really well.
They really, really desperately need to make the Orc captain cutscenes skippable though - they get annoying fast.
Phatose on 4/10/2014 at 05:25
I would like to rescind my earlier complaints about the nemesis system, in favor of a new one: It's misnamed. Probably because "Let the player be a vicious motherfucker system" wouldn't work for the marketing guys.
It has two purposes: One, to allow a player to engage in heinous acts of cruelty. Two, to allow a player to engage in especially heinous acts of cruelty against any enemy that has ever offended them.
It works well in that regard.
So, while on a challenge mission, I got myself into a tight spot. No less then three enemy captains showed up in the fortress I was supposed to be rampaging in, and sadly I succumbed to one of them.
So now that motherfucker has to pay.
My dead ass respawns, and immediately goes out looking for the nearest squealer. Kill his friends, interrogate him, and he tells me Mr. Motherfucker is afraid of fire and vulnerable to combat finishers. Well, that's something I can work with. But not quite enough.
I go searching for another squealer, but come across a different captain unexpectedly. He hasn't got friends or a fortress alarm mob though, so taking him out is easy. I dominate him, and send him to issue a death threat to Mr. Motherfucker, cause that's one of the options you get later on.
Motherfucker gets a boost in his combat rating and a squad of guards, cause if a dead guy you killed makes one of your rivals show up at your door and tell you he's coming for payback, you take that shit seriously.
It does him no good. I know his position, and sneak up on it. A sneak brutalize attack on one of his bodyguards serves two goals at once - first, it makes all the rest of his bodyguards bug the fuck out as fast as it can, second, since it's a five hit attack and I've got the upgrade, it fills my super bar. Used for things like combat finishers, and, oh....fire arrows.
So I do the obvious and now he's Mr. Flaming, freaked-the-fuck-out Motherfucker, and he takes off for the hills. He's immune to missile attacks - one of the things the snitch told me - but I've got the teleport slash move now. It doesn't damage him - does get me back in range.
I've been kind of pissed off for a while and killing everybody with combat finishers while I hunted, so now my super-sword bar is filled. Which gives me 10 seconds of unlimited combat finishers. Which the Mr. Burning, doomed motherfucker is weak against.
Four finishers and three seconds later, his head is separated from his body. Yeah, I enjoyed that.
That's really it's purpose. To give a player an avenue to be cruel, and acceptable targets. Fuckers afraid of wasps? Can be instantly killed by a demon dog? You know what to do.
And it does in fact work.
But damn, do those cutscenes need to be skippable.
Starker on 4/10/2014 at 08:00
Is there more to the game than killing orcs and killing orcs with a vengeance? Like... exploration perhaps?
Zerker on 4/10/2014 at 11:29
I've started playing this as well, and am only a bit into it (just helped Ratbag once). My only complaint is the 'your target is in X' text in the upper right is distracting. And if you don't have a target, it ALWAYS has the 'Press X to set your target' text instead. Do I REALLY NEED to know this at all times?
If I'm just exploring, I may not necessarily want a target (aside from the targets of opportunity :devil:). If I AM after someone he's on the damn map anyways.
Phatose on 4/10/2014 at 18:38
Quote Posted by Starker
Is there more to the game than killing orcs and killing orcs with a vengeance? Like... exploration perhaps?
Only sort of. There are collectibles that you can search for, but they all become marked on the map after you hit the local tower, and towers are marked from the get go.
nicked on 5/10/2014 at 07:05
Ah, Far Cry 3's idea of exploration - a fully loaded minimap to stare at.
