SolidSnakeUS said:

It won't let me buy the Season Pass because I bought the game on GMG...

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Levyne said:

I feel terrible

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Levyne said:

Buy it as a gift, put it in your inventory, and then activate it once GMG sends you your code

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But that hardly matters the overall package is this phenomenal. Shadow of Mordor isn't just the greatest Lord of the Rings game to date--it's also one of the most entertaining open-world adventures around.

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xBladeM6x said:

There's apparently a Ultra-Texture option on PC that requires 6GB VRAM. Fucking what. I just got my 980 and already feel like it's been overshadowed. Lol

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xBladeM6x said:

There's apparently a Ultra-Texture option on PC that requires 6GB VRAM. Fucking what. I just got my 980 and already feel like it's been overshadowed. Lol

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SolidSnakeUS said:

It won't let me buy the Season Pass because I bought the game on GMG...

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Grief.exe said:

Shadow of Mordor and Evil Within will be this year's sleeper hits.

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Smokey said:

welcome to pseudo- high end

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bigboss370 said:

this game has a season pass? whats in the season pass?

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bigboss370 said:

this game has a season pass? whats in the season pass?

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Krakn3Dfx said:

GOTY?

GOTY.

This is going to push me into that GTX970 upgrade I was contemplating, I just know it.

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KINGofCRA5H said:

$37.50 on GMG? Welp. That was easy.

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Grief.exe said:

Shadow of Mordor and Evil Within will be this year's sleeper hits.

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BouncyFrag said:

Just saw the review thread. Anyone else grinning uncontrollably rom ear to ear? As a big Tolkien fan, this could possibly be my game of the forever.

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VanWinkle said:

Exclusive ‘Guardians of the Flaming Eye’ Orc Warband mission
Players will face Sauron’s elite Defenders before the Black Gate and earn the Rising Flame rune.

Early access to the ‘Trials of War’ challenge series
Players will test their skills against select legions of Sauron’s forces in this series of challenge modes and build their legend as gamers post their best score on the Challenge Leaderboard.

All new story missions with hours of gameplay
Lord of the Hunt – Hunt the wild beasts of Mordor as player’s discover hidden lairs, earn unique runes, and face off against powerful monsters.
The Bright Lord – Play as Celebrimbor, the great Elven smith of the Second Age, and battle against Sauron and the might of his forces.

Access to future content
Including runes, skins, and additional future add-on content.

MSRP: $24.99

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Hrothgar said:

My wallet weeps, in order to play this I need to buy a new graphics card. There goes my plan to wait for The Witcher 3 before upgrading.

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LurkerPrime said:

You shall not Season Pass.

It's my biggest balrog in gaming.

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VanWinkle said:

Man, that's some high praise from GamesRadar:

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GDJustin said:

Yay! I can finally talk about how good this game is! The short version is that it's REAL good - a very strong Game of the Year candidate.

The basic formula (Assassin's Creed traversal + Batman Arkham's combat + Orcs!) is already really damn compelling, but there's three elements to SoM that people don't know about that really send the experience over-the-top and make it an AAA must-have:

1) The execution of all the game's "little elements" is almost completely perfect. Writing and acting are great, even though they didn't need to be. The stealth system has a neat tweak - you see an outline of yourself, like a ghost, when you break line-of-sight with pursuing orcs. That outline is where enemies last saw you, which helps you plan an escape route, and confirms in an unobtrusive way that you did indeed escape their vision. Game is full of polish and intelligent, tiny design elements like this.

2) The game's upgrade tree is full of real, meaningful upgrades that make you dramatically more powerful and badass, all the way through to the end of the game. You'll want them all, and it's a genuinely hard choice to decide where to drop each new ability point. These aren't ticky-tacky upgrades like 20% more damage. It's stuff like the pinning the enemies to the ground with arrows, or stunning enemies any time you vault over them, or doubling the speed of your counter-attacks, or unlocking a limited time "berserk mode." You'll want all these things.

By the end of the game you will feel genuinely more powerful in a real and dramatic way, and it isn't thanks to a bigger health pool or damage output. It's through all the additional combat tricks at your disposal.

3) Shadow of Mordor might be the first third-person sandbox game to truly let players tackle a challenge the way that THEY want. I can't emphasize to you how different/fresh and important this feels.

Imagine GTA 5's heists or Batman's detective work, but without the on-rails, scripted choices. Instead you just plan the heist within the rules of the sandbox - tailing the owner, casing the place, etc. All without mission objectives - the mission objective would just be "rob this business" and you're left to sort it out. Without planning, you'll fail. That's what the final ~1/3rd of Shadow of Mordor is like, once you're kitted out.

Once you gain the ability to "brand" an Orc and make them fight for you, the Nemesis System, which I previously found pretty pointless and underwhelming, finally clicked. You can take a low-level Orc, Brand them so they'll fight for you on-command. Then you can manipulate the Nemesis System to raise that orc into a Warchief that commands and entire army of Orcs! Or you could gather intel on the existing Warchief and just take him out directly by learning his weaknesses. Or you could brand the archers that guard him and let them pelt him with arrows. Or you could brand his bodyguards so they turn on him when you initiate combat (bonus points if you do this and one of the Warchief's fears is betrayal).

The game just says "take out these warchiefs" and it's up to you to build in the sub-goals that let you accomplish this goal. And they're not really optional - without prep, they're too strong to take down. It's an awesome feeling. And although it doesn't feel half-baked, it's easy to imagine this open-ended design and enemy manipulation being taken much farther in sequels.

Very small potential cons that didn't detract from my enjoyment:

- Game world is not big.
- Read Dead-style hunting/gathering challenges are half-baked. Should have been cut.
- Controls are extremely complex - all four face buttons and triggers do something, and there are 3 separate actions mapped to pressing two face buttons simultaneously. D-Pad does important stuff too. It's crazy at first, although you adjust with time.

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GDJustin said:

Once you gain the ability to "brand" an Orc and make them fight for you, the Nemesis System, which I previously found pretty pointless and underwhelming, finally clicked. You can take a low-level Orc, Brand them so they'll fight for you on-command. Then you can manipulate the Nemesis System to raise that orc into a Warchief that commands and entire army of Orcs! Or you could gather intel on the existing Warchief and just take him out directly by learning his weaknesses. Or you could brand the archers that guard him and let them pelt him with arrows. Or you could brand his Captain bodyguards so they turn on him when you initiate combat (bonus points if you do this and one of the Warchief's fears is betrayal).

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GDJustin said:

Yay! I can finally talk about how good this game is! The short version is that it's REAL good - a very strong Game of the Year candidate.

The basic formula (Assassin's Creed traversal + Batman Arkham's combat + Orcs!) is already really damn compelling, but there's three elements to SoM that people don't know about that really send the experience over-the-top and make it an AAA must-have:

1) The execution of all the game's "little elements" is almost completely perfect. Writing and acting are great, even though they didn't need to be. The stealth system has a neat tweak - you see an outline of yourself, like a ghost, when you break line-of-sight with pursuing orcs. That outline is where enemies last saw you, which helps you plan an escape route, and confirms in an unobtrusive way that you did indeed escape their vision. Game is full of polish and intelligent, tiny design elements like this.

2) The game's upgrade tree is full of real, meaningful upgrades that make you dramatically more powerful and badass, all the way through to the end of the game. You'll want them all, and it's a genuinely hard choice to decide where to drop each new ability point. These aren't ticky-tacky upgrades like 20% more damage. It's stuff like the pinning the enemies to the ground with arrows, or stunning enemies any time you vault over them, or doubling the speed of your counter-attacks, or unlocking a limited time "berserk mode." You'll want all these things.

By the end of the game you will feel genuinely more powerful in a real and dramatic way, and it isn't thanks to a bigger health pool or damage output. It's through all the additional combat tricks at your disposal.

3) Shadow of Mordor might be the first third-person sandbox game to truly let players tackle a challenge the way that THEY want. I can't emphasize to you how different/fresh and important this feels.

Imagine GTA 5's heists or Batman's detective work, but without the on-rails, scripted choices. Instead you just plan the heist within the rules of the sandbox - tailing the owner, casing the place, etc. All without mission objectives - the mission objective would just be "rob this business" and you're left to sort it out. Without planning, you'll fail. That's what the final ~1/3rd of Shadow of Mordor is like, once you're kitted out.

Once you gain the ability to "brand" an Orc and make them fight for you, the Nemesis System, which I previously found pretty pointless and underwhelming, finally clicked. You can take a low-level Orc, Brand them so they'll fight for you on-command. Then you can manipulate the Nemesis System to raise that orc into a Warchief that commands and entire army of Orcs! Or you could gather intel on the existing Warchief and just take him out directly by learning his weaknesses. Or you could brand the archers that guard him and let them pelt him with arrows. Or you could brand his Captain bodyguards so they turn on him when you initiate combat (bonus points if you do this and one of the Warchief's fears is betrayal).

The game just says "take out these warchiefs" and it's up to you to build in the sub-goals that let you accomplish this goal. And they're not really optional - without prep, the Warchiefs are too strong to take down. It's an awesome feeling. And although it doesn't feel half-baked, it's easy to imagine this open-ended design and enemy manipulation being taken much farther in sequels.

Very small potential cons that didn't detract from my enjoyment:

- Game world is not big.
- Read Dead-style hunting/gathering challenges are half-baked. Should have been cut.
- Controls are extremely complex - all four face buttons and triggers do something, and there are 3 separate actions mapped to pressing two face buttons simultaneously. D-Pad does important stuff too. It's crazy at first, although you adjust with time.

Click to expand...

GDJustin said:

Yay! I can finally talk about how good this game is! The short version is that it's REAL good - a very strong Game of the Year candidate.

The basic formula (Assassin's Creed traversal + Batman Arkham's combat + Orcs!) is already really damn compelling, but there's three elements to SoM that people don't know about that really send the experience over-the-top and make it an AAA must-have:

1) The execution of all the game's "little elements" is almost completely perfect. Writing and acting are great, even though they didn't need to be. The stealth system has a neat tweak - you see an outline of yourself, like a ghost, when you break line-of-sight with pursuing orcs. That outline is where enemies last saw you, which helps you plan an escape route, and confirms in an unobtrusive way that you did indeed escape their vision. Game is full of polish and intelligent, tiny design elements like this.

2) The game's upgrade tree is full of real, meaningful upgrades that make you dramatically more powerful and badass, all the way through to the end of the game. You'll want them all, and it's a genuinely hard choice to decide where to drop each new ability point. These aren't ticky-tacky upgrades like 20% more damage. It's stuff like the pinning the enemies to the ground with arrows, or stunning enemies any time you vault over them, or doubling the speed of your counter-attacks, or unlocking a limited time "berserk mode." You'll want all these things.

By the end of the game you will feel genuinely more powerful in a real and dramatic way, and it isn't thanks to a bigger health pool or damage output. It's through all the additional combat tricks at your disposal.

3) Shadow of Mordor might be the first third-person sandbox game to truly let players tackle a challenge the way that THEY want. I can't emphasize to you how different/fresh and important this feels.

Imagine GTA 5's heists or Batman's detective work, but without the on-rails, scripted choices. Instead you just plan the heist within the rules of the sandbox - tailing the owner, casing the place, etc. All without mission objectives - the mission objective would just be "rob this business" and you're left to sort it out. Without planning, you'll fail. That's what the final ~1/3rd of Shadow of Mordor is like, once you're kitted out.

Once you gain the ability to "brand" an Orc and make them fight for you, the Nemesis System, which I previously found pretty pointless and underwhelming, finally clicked. You can take a low-level Orc, Brand them so they'll fight for you on-command. Then you can manipulate the Nemesis System to raise that orc into a Warchief that commands and entire army of Orcs! Or you could gather intel on the existing Warchief and just take him out directly by learning his weaknesses. Or you could brand the archers that guard him and let them pelt him with arrows. Or you could brand his Captain bodyguards so they turn on him when you initiate combat (bonus points if you do this and one of the Warchief's fears is betrayal).

The game just says "take out these warchiefs" and it's up to you to build in the sub-goals that let you accomplish this goal. And they're not really optional - without prep, the Warchiefs are too strong to take down. It's an awesome feeling. And although it doesn't feel half-baked, it's easy to imagine this open-ended design and enemy manipulation being taken much farther in sequels.

Very small potential cons that didn't detract from my enjoyment:

- Game world is not big.
- Read Dead-style hunting/gathering challenges are half-baked. Should have been cut.
- Controls are extremely complex - all four face buttons and triggers do something, and there are 3 separate actions mapped to pressing two face buttons simultaneously. D-Pad does important stuff too. It's crazy at first, although you adjust with time.

Click to expand...

GDJustin said:

Yay! I can finally talk about how good this game is! The short version is that it's REAL good - a very strong Game of the Year candidate.

The basic formula (Assassin's Creed traversal + Batman Arkham's combat + Orcs!) is already really damn compelling, but there's three elements to SoM that people don't know about that really send the experience over-the-top and make it an AAA must-have:

1) The execution of all the game's "little elements" is almost completely perfect. Writing and acting are great, even though they didn't need to be. The stealth system has a neat tweak - you see an outline of yourself, like a ghost, when you break line-of-sight with pursuing orcs. That outline is where enemies last saw you, which helps you plan an escape route, and confirms in an unobtrusive way that you did indeed escape their vision. Game is full of polish and intelligent, tiny design elements like this.

2) The game's upgrade tree is full of real, meaningful upgrades that make you dramatically more powerful and badass, all the way through to the end of the game. You'll want them all, and it's a genuinely hard choice to decide where to drop each new ability point. These aren't ticky-tacky upgrades like 20% more damage. It's stuff like the pinning the enemies to the ground with arrows, or stunning enemies any time you vault over them, or doubling the speed of your counter-attacks, or unlocking a limited time "berserk mode." You'll want all these things.

By the end of the game you will feel genuinely more powerful in a real and dramatic way, and it isn't thanks to a bigger health pool or damage output. It's through all the additional combat tricks at your disposal.

3) Shadow of Mordor might be the first third-person sandbox game to truly let players tackle a challenge the way that THEY want. I can't emphasize to you how different/fresh and important this feels.

Imagine GTA 5's heists or Batman's detective work, but without the on-rails, scripted choices. Instead you just plan the heist within the rules of the sandbox - tailing the owner, casing the place, etc. All without mission objectives - the mission objective would just be "rob this business" and you're left to sort it out. Without planning, you'll fail. That's what the final ~1/3rd of Shadow of Mordor is like, once you're kitted out.

Once you gain the ability to "brand" an Orc and make them fight for you, the Nemesis System, which I previously found pretty pointless and underwhelming, finally clicked. You can take a low-level Orc, Brand them so they'll fight for you on-command. Then you can manipulate the Nemesis System to raise that orc into a Warchief that commands and entire army of Orcs! Or you could gather intel on the existing Warchief and just take him out directly by learning his weaknesses. Or you could brand the archers that guard him and let them pelt him with arrows. Or you could brand his Captain bodyguards so they turn on him when you initiate combat (bonus points if you do this and one of the Warchief's fears is betrayal).

The game just says "take out these warchiefs" and it's up to you to build in the sub-goals that let you accomplish this goal. And they're not really optional - without prep, the Warchiefs are too strong to take down. It's an awesome feeling. And although it doesn't feel half-baked, it's easy to imagine this open-ended design and enemy manipulation being taken much farther in sequels.

Very small potential cons that didn't detract from my enjoyment:

- Game world is not big.
- Read Dead-style hunting/gathering challenges are half-baked. Should have been cut.
- Controls are extremely complex - all four face buttons and triggers do something, and there are 3 separate actions mapped to pressing two face buttons simultaneously. D-Pad does important stuff too. It's crazy at first, although you adjust with time.

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Cronox said:

Forgive me GAF, for I have season passed... for $33 with the game on the buy/sell community thread. I don't feel too bad about it.

Also, I'm glad the review scores justify my pre-order.

And that 6 gig graphics setting is exactly why I'm waiting for the 8 gig variants of the GTX 970 before upgrading my 670.

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Death Metalist said:

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