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[neogaffer1]

Apparently, according to the Can You Run It website, I can't run this game:

 

[DOWN]

Yeah, I don't understand his argument either and I'm not saying he is wrong though but the way he explains it, it's like it's an imitation of the real game which doesn't exist lol. I'm guessing the artstyle looks more vivid and thus to him is not as realistic as he expected it to be? I don't know because it looks great to me.

I love vivid. Uncharted 2/3, The Last of Us, GTA V. I'm all for some cinematic color correction and camera effects. This game, however, looks like there's often miscast blue, orange, or white light on things that just looks fake like the issues of the studio CGI for The Hobbit films vs. the original trilogy.

Anyone else think there's something cheap looking about the colors of this game? It's like they don't have much restraint or white balance...

EDIT: Like it's got that bad theatre lighting and CGI coloring look that The Hobbit has vs. the original trilogy.

Just strange bright lighting on certain things that doesn't fit the environment, and none of it looks believable.

 

[antitrop]

Does this look like a game of the year contender to you?

Sorry, but it looks cheap. It's not polished like other major titles. Again, it screams THQ to me. That Darksiders and Homefront bleh where you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look and the streaks of light that swinging a sword leaves for no good reason.

Just my perception.

I do get where you're coming from, noticed a bit of that myself.

But the sheer ambition of this game means that I have to check it out. There's so many interesting and innovative systems and mechanics in play that I can forgive some lack of polish.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Apparently, according to the Can You Run It website, I can't run this game:

http://puu.sh/bLyMJ/2b0e4c79df.png[IMG][/QUOTE]

CYRI isn't 100% accurate, so you need to use your best judgment when looking at it.

 

[Death Metalist]

I love vivid. Uncharted 2/3, The Last of Us, GTA V. I'm all for some cinematic color correction and camera effects. This game, however, looks like there's often miscast blue, orange, or white light on things that just looks fake like the issues of the studio CGI for The Hobbit films vs. the original trilogy.

I could kind of see it but then again, I'd prefer to watch the real deal on my plasma to really judge, who knows when that picture of the game was taken even. I'd say wait for reviews and gameplay videos if you're not in a hurry to get the game. As for me, this is a day 0 game lol.

 

[lmbotiva]

Does this look like a game of the year contender to you?

Sorry, but it looks cheap. It's not polished like other major titles. Again, it screams THQ to me. That Darksiders and Homefront bleh where you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look and the streaks of light that swinging a sword leaves for no good reason.

Just my perception.

this is all that matters but i believe a huge % of this thread disagrees with you, guessing the quality of a product is ludicrous, without having direct contact with such game you cant really have a feel of how CHEAP/THQ the game feels and how the game feels/controls is a big part of the experience, on a side note darksiders franchise was/is awesome, specially 2, great gameplay and the art of that game is beautiful

 

[JohnGrimm]

Apparently, according to the Can You Run It website, I can't run this game:

I'm sure you'll be fine. It probably only failed because of the clock speed.

 

[Pooya]

The game's design director is that of War in The North and EndWar. Both of which are terrible, mechanically so. A little bit skepticism is warranted here.

Wishing them best of luck this time around. Considering that Monolith and Snowblind are one and same at this point, unless proven otherwise when credits come out, I think WB is just using Monolith's brand name here because Snowblind's is already ruined.

edit: I see they discontinued Snowblind branding, point still stands.

 

[Hooks]

Apparently, according to the Can You Run It website, I can't run this game:

I don't have recommended requirements either, Only minimum.
Apparently I'm only clocked at "3.5ghz" when I'm clearly at 4.4ghz. Some how it doesn't detect that either rofl.

 

[LurkerPrime]

The game's design director is that of War in The North and EndWar. Both of which are terrible, mechanically so. A little bit skepticism is warranted here.

Wishing them best of luck this time around. Considering that Monolith and Snowblind are one and same at this point, unless proven otherwise when credits come out, I think WB is just using Monolith's brand name here because Snowblind's is already ruined.

Really? That's bad news. War in the North was terrible and the PC version was even worse.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Really? That's bad news. War in the North was terrible and the PC version was even worse.

It also didn't help that Deplatter didn't even know the system requirements for the PC version when they showed it at the game24 stream. I still have hope that it'll run fine on PC. These "next-gen" PC ports have been hit and miss lately. Granted Monolith themselves are developing it, still leaves room for skepticism.

 

[antitrop]

The game's design director is that of War in The North and EndWar. Both of which are terrible, mechanically so. A little bit skepticism is warranted here.

Wishing them best of luck this time around. Considering that Monolith and Snowblind are one and same at this point, unless proven otherwise when credits come out, I think WB is just using Monolith's brand name here because Snowblind's is already ruined.

It should be noted that most of the creative talent behind games that Monolith is famous for, like Shogo, NOLF, and F.E.A.R., started up a studio named Blackpowder Games and released a game called Betrayer (that is apparently good) earlier this year.

http://www.blackpowdergames.com/about-us/

So your theory is most likely correct.

 

[Death Metalist]

this is all that matters but i believe a huge % of this thread disagrees with you, guessing the quality of a product is ludicrous, without having direct contact with such game you cant really have a feel of how CHEAP/THQ the game feels and how the game feels/controls is a big part of the experience, on a side note darksiders franchise was/is awesome, specially 2, great gameplay and the art of that game is beautiful

Agreed.

Loved the game alot.

 

[Jira]

Apparently, according to the Can You Run It website, I can't run this game:

You can run it, don't worry. Those kinds of sites take things fairly literally in terms of say clock speed without taking into account the architecture it's built on.

 

[MrTeachwell]

If it makes you feel any better, I exceed recommended specs and I'm still not 100% sure it'll perform well. That said, I'm still very excited.


So I normally don't hark on DLC and season passes, but does anyone else think this seems ripped from the main game. Extra enemies and species to hunt, unless I'm mistaken all that'll be unlocked day 1 for season pass holders. The reason I say this is that they have been showing this game for months and more or less it seems like it's been ready to ship for at least a month. The pass isn't even crazy expensive, but it does seem like the content was ripped out to be sold desperately and that is very dissapointing.

I think a lot of the dislike for day one dlc is due to a difference of perspective. I'm no fan of locking game content behind a pay wall, but because of the way games are developed it seems logical to developers to charge for some of this content. As they are paid to meet deadlines for the base game they begin to need fewer artists and programmers. Generally they would stop paying these people and they'd go on to other projects/games/freelance work. But beyond the base game designers get approval for this dlc content and shift artists and programmers to that. So to them and the publisher it's like they are paying ' extra ' to create this extra content, this content is then often ready before the game passes quality assurance or whatever else it has to go through before it can be published. The end result is that we see them charging for content that releases at the same time as the base game and feel like we're being nickel and dimed ( and I'm sure in some cases we are but how to tell is the tricky part )

 

[Jira]

I do have faith that they will deliver a solid game. My reasoning behind that is due to the fact that they continuously show hours upon hours of gameplay, streaming for 30 min - 1.5 hours at a time of just constant gameplay. They let people at shows play for 30 min straight. If they had a turd on their hands, they simply would not allow for so much hands on footage with the game out of fear that someone would realize the game is actually bad. Transparency like this, from my experience, leads to fantastic games because the devs know they have something special and they want everyone to know.

In regards to basing this game on past games from the studio, need I remind everyone that Rocksteady's first game was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Chaos:_Riot_Response and then they went on to make Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, one of which is the best licensed game of all time. Studios can and do improve with time. I do believe this is the sleeper hit of 2014.

 

[Death Metalist]

I do have faith that they will deliver a solid game. My reasoning behind that is due to the fact that they continuously show hours upon hours of gameplay, streaming for 30 min - 1.5 hours at a time of just constant gameplay. They let people at shows play for 30 min straight. If they had a turd on their hands, they simply would not allow for so much hands on footage with the game out of fear that someone would realize the game is actually bad. Transparency like this, from my experience, leads to fantastic games because the devs know they have something special and they want everyone to know.

In regards to basing this game on past games from the studio, need I remind everyone that Rocksteady's first game was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Chaos:_Riot_Response and then they went on to make Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, one of which is the best licensed game of all time. Studios can and do improve with time. I do believe this is the sleeper hit of 2014.

Just like how Arkham Asylum was. Not anymore though lol.

 

[The Dear Leader]

Does this look like a game of the year contender to you?

Sorry, but it looks cheap. It's not polished like other major titles. Again, it screams THQ to me. That Darksiders and Homefront bleh where you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look and the streaks of light that swinging a sword leaves for no good reason.

Just my perception.

I personally don't judge games as GOTY contenders until I've, you know, actually played them but as far as the quality goes I feel like a Monolith game in the LOTR universe with the big market push that Warner is giving it already makes it head and shoulders above "THQ quality" games, it's not like it's being sent out to die, it's Warner Bros. big game of the fall season.

Everything I've seen looks great, they seem super proud of what they've built and the games coming from a great developer, all signs point to a good game to me. I respect your opinion but I feel some of the things your saying are baseless.

 

[Mengy]

http://www.twitch.tv/machinima/b/570152365

Starts around 44 mins in. The guy playing tries going straight for the war chief that is higher leveled, instead of working his way up through the hierarchy. Starts out good, but gets OWNED.


Yes. To all those questions. It seems they are intentional not showing the story beats because they don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Which I think is great. Most game preview footage will pretty much show off the entire game before it even comes out.

Okay, after watching some of that twitch video I have to say that this game looks fun as all hell. Color me interested.

 

[DOWN]

I could kind of see it but then again, I'd prefer to watch the real deal on my plasma to really judge, who knows when that picture of the game was taken even. I'd say wait for reviews and gameplay videos if you're not in a hurry to get the game. As for me, this is a day 0 game lol.

this is all that matters but i believe a huge % of this thread disagrees with you, guessing the quality of a product is ludicrous, without having direct contact with such game you cant really have a feel of how CHEAP/THQ the game feels and how the game feels/controls is a big part of the experience, on a side note darksiders franchise was/is awesome, specially 2, great gameplay and the art of that game is beautiful

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

If they were going for some cinematic curve manipulation like when the shadows and saturation get amped like the pic below, they messed up. They don't have the saturation, contrast, or appropriate look of filtering/processing for it to look like a color style. It literally just looks like the lighting and colors in the game are mismatched. It looks like a smoke machine running under theatre stage lights.

The Last of Us Remastered with filter

 

[Arken2121]

So you're gonna be streaming arken? I've been planning on it as well. Anyone know if it's true that the game is releasing at 12am PST or is it going to be a 10am release?

I sure will, it'll be my first 24 hour one. I need your steam again, my account got hacked and apparently all my friends are gone.

 

[Conkerkid11]

Does this look like a game of the year contender to you?

Sorry, but it looks cheap. It's not polished like other major titles. Again, it screams THQ to me. That Darksiders and Homefront bleh where you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look and the streaks of light that swinging a sword leaves for no good reason.

Just my perception.

lol

Edit: Guess I'll actually post some content. The Darksiders games were great games, and Homefront was nothing like Shadow of Mordor at this stage. There was nothing appealing about that game in its marketing. There was no hype at all for another standard FPS romp. The most appealing thing about it was the story, and even that wasn't backed up by the game's marketing beyond the, "written by Red Dawn guy". We can actually watch a whole lot of gameplay of Shadow of Mordor, and you can tell right now if this game's going to be appealing to you. It looks fantastic to me, and if your biggest issue with the game at this point is lighting in pictures not even taken directly from gameplay videos, I'm not so sure you have much backup for your opinion regarding this not possibly being a game of the year contender.

 

[DJSebolski]

And I thought i5 4670K was enough. When are the new CPUs coming out?

 

[LurkerPrime]

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

Ungoliant devoured the light.


I wanna see Ungoliant in the game.

 

[Hooks]

And I thought i5 4670K was enough. When are the new CPUs coming out?

It's definitely enough

 

[cackhyena]

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

Why are you focusing on a color corrected picture? There's been plenty of in game video to show tones that play exactly how they should according to light sources in the environment.

 

[VanWinkle]

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

I'm not trying to make light of your issue with the game, but if your biggest problem is that the game's early press screenshots have weird lighting, I'd say the game is in pretty good shape.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

Yar, criticizing visuals is fine and I actually somewhat agree with you (not with the details, mind; I simply don't really like the art direction). However, I think immediately linking how a game visually look with how a gameplay would feel is a bit ridiculous, especially with a statement like "you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look".

 

[Death Metalist]

Look, visual quality on a game is up for critique. I can have opinions on what they've released. That's why they released the images and videos. They are hoping for positive opinions on what we see.

For example: Why is the landscape lit warmly by sun, but the light in the sky is more neutrally white especially on the character? Then the parts where sun isn't are a strange clear blue, which appears extremely bold on the main character. This isn't a stylish color correction because the haze covering the background is very flat and plain white washout. And somehow it is extremely pale looking for a vivid game thanks to that haze, more than likely masking draw distance.

The haze and plain blue somehow appearing anywhere not directly lit by non-matching light looks awful to me.

You seem to bring up a fair argument but I just can't see what you're seeing to discuss you further with it. All I see is a game set in mordor lol

Edit: As I said, I can't judge unless the final retail version of the game is running right infront of me.

 

[Jira]

And I thought i5 4670K was enough. When are the new CPUs coming out?

Of course it's enough, the only reason that site doesn't think his cpu is good enough is only due to clock speed. From a benchmark perspective, his mobile i7 is only 200 points off of a 4670k. The CPU req for recommended specs are from 2012, a 4670k won't have any issues.

 

[DOWN]

Why are you focusing on a color corrected picture? There's been plenty of in game video to show tones that play exactly how they should according to light sources in the environment.

I'm not trying to make light of your issue with the game, but if your biggest problem is that the game's early press screenshots have weird lighting, I'd say the game is in pretty good shape.

Yar, criticizing visuals is fine and I actually agree with you. However, I think immediately linking how a game visually look with how a gameplay would feel is a bit ridiculous, especially with a statement like "you know it won't be the top game in whatever quarter the publisher releases it because it's got that weird multicolor stage lighting fake look".

I've watched it stream. To be clear, my opinion is not just from screenshots. It's just an example that probably irks me most, and is indeed in the footage I saw in recent streaming.

I feel for a number of reasons that the footage and images I've seen indicate this is not of the quality I was hoping for from the LOTR license.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

http://www.twitch.tv/machinima/b/570152365

Starts around 44 mins in. The guy playing tries going straight for the war chief that is higher leveled, instead of working his way up through the hierarchy. Starts out good, but gets OWNED.

He was doing quite well but got stomped.

 

[Stahsky]

I've watched it stream. To be clear, my opinion is not just from screenshots. It's just an example that probably irks me most, and is indeed in the footage I saw in recent streaming.

I feel for a number of reasons that the footage and images I've seen indicate this is not of the quality I was hoping for from the LOTR license.

Man, I'm as cautious as the next guy with big titles nowadays, but your reasoning for some of these points are really fuckin' strange.

 

[Conkerkid11]

I've watched it stream. To be clear, my opinion is not just from screenshots. It's just an example that probably irks me most, and is indeed in the footage I saw in recent streaming.

I feel for a number of reasons that the footage and images I've seen indicate this is not of the quality I was hoping for from the LOTR license.

The same LOTR license that is currently at its third film in a three film attempt of a single book and some additional lore that is managing to be worse than the original trilogy from more than 10 years ago?

 

[cackhyena]

I've watched it stream. To be clear, my opinion is not just from screenshots. It's just an example that probably irks me most, and is indeed in the footage I saw in recent streaming.

I feel for a number of reasons that the footage and images I've seen indicate this is not of the quality I was hoping for from the LOTR license.

This is such a strange way to look at a seemingly inventive and solid game. Skip it if it bothers you that badly.

 

[jinxthejiv]

This Game looks so awesome, planning on preordering tomorrow.
On another the note the AI seems amazing. I was watching a video of the game and an orc was about to kill talion but instead he said: "you're not even worth the damage to my sword." and walked away. I really hope this game lives up to expectation. I think it'll do great.

 

[Loxley]

The same LOTR license that is currently at its third film in a three film attempt of a single book and some additional lore that is managing to be worse than the original trilogy from more than 10 years ago?

Are we really going to waste time arguing about this?

 

[Conkerkid11]

Are we really going to waste time arguing about this?

He brought up the LOTR name only being attributed to quality content, and that's content I don't find up to par with what we saw more than 10 years ago. And that's not even including the recent games published under the LOTR name.

He's managed to create a discussion regarding this game not possibly being a game of the year contender because of lighting in doctored images, so literally any other discussion is less of a waste of time.

 

[DOWN]

The same LOTR license that is currently at its third film in a three film attempt of a single book and some additional lore that is managing to be worse than the original trilogy from more than 10 years ago?

Yes, that one. Disappointing, for sure. The Hobbit CGI altered lighting due to how much more studio filming they did for it compared to the originals is awful too.

What a revelation. It's probably The Hobbit films' fault.

The Hobbit has a totally fake looking style of lighting that's had some complaint. While the originals seemed to attempt to be consistent with the look of New Zealand throughout, The Hobbit has dramatically more CGI environments and color manipulations and it seems even the scenes needing the stylized options granted by it have influenced the whole look to be wildly fake looking.

Perhaps you've made the influence of the current and disappointing Hobbit trilogy more obvious in regards to Shadow of Mordor. It's like they begged for us to think it looked like a render on green screen instead of believable like the original trilogy:

The beautiful Fellowship

The caustically fake colored Hobbit

 

[LurkerPrime]

Like Ungoliant, I cannot resist... preordered. Hope I don't regret it too much.

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

I want to pre-order but what if the game's lighting ruins the entire gameplay experience for me? I'm scared, guys. Don't know what to do

 

[Remachinate]

Interesting to see a lot of skepticism pop up right before release. With regard to the visuals, I can understand the criticism: it's not exactly a "beautiful" game, and despite all the gameplay videos I've seen, the environments don't seem particularly memorable. Not to mention Talion's face looks kind of goofy. On the other hand, I think they did some really strong character design for both the Black Captains and the orcs themselves; I think it's an achievement to have a number of different procedurally generated enemies and yet keep them visually distinct from one another. If there's one visual I remember from this game, it'll be the variety of orcs--from fire helmets to sith lord masks.

But guess what? Impressive graphics aren't this game's ambition. It's the ability to play around in a orc society simulator and exert your influence in a system that can act autonomously without player input. That's a really cool concept for an AAA game, and I'll gladly give up brilliant art direction for brilliant execution of the core gameplay concepts. I actually feel bad for those who can't look past the visuals to judge the mechanics on their own merits.

 

[cackhyena]

Well said.

 

[Grimsen]

This fake color discussion is weeeeird. I feel like I'm in an alternate dimension-Gaf, where the 1080p/60 talk is replaced by color saturation.

I think basing all of this on doctored bullshots is pretty iffy, and those Hobbit shots look fine to me.


As far as the actual quality of the game, I'm really eager to try it for myself, and getting a good vibe for it. The last time I felt like this for a game was with Dragon's Dogma. And that was a fucking fantastic game.

 

[Conkerkid11]

Interesting to see a lot of skepticism pop up right before release. With regard to the visuals, I can understand the criticism: it's not exactly a "beautiful" game, and despite all the gameplay videos I've seen, the environments don't seem particularly memorable. Not to mention Talion's face looks kind of goofy. On the other hand, I think they did some really strong character design for both the Black Captains and the orcs themselves; I think it's an achievement to have a number of different procedurally generated enemies and yet keep them visually distinct from one another. If there's one visual I remember from this game, it'll be the variety of orcs--from fire helmets to sith lord masks.

But guess what? Impressive graphics aren't this game's ambition. It's the ability to play around in a orc society simulator and exert your influence in a system that can act autonomously without player input. That's a really cool concept for an AAA game, and I'll gladly give up brilliant art direction for brilliant execution of the core gameplay concepts. I actually feel bad for those who can't look past the visuals to judge the mechanics on their own merits.

I think it's a fantastic looking game.

And I mean, it's the best looking Lord of the Rings game by far, but that's not saying much.

Edit: In terms of visuals.

 

[bigmac996]

Yes, that one. Disappointing, for sure. The Hobbit CGI altered lighting due to how much more studio filming they did for it compared to the originals is awful too.

What a revelation. It's probably The Hobbit films' fault.

The Hobbit has a totally fake looking style of lighting that's had some complaint. While the originals seemed to attempt to be consistent with the look of New Zealand throughout, The Hobbit has dramatically more CGI environments and color manipulations and it seems even the scenes needing the stylized options granted by it have influenced the whole look to be wildly fake looking.

Perhaps you've made the influence of the current and disappointing Hobbit trilogy more obvious in regards to Shadow of Mordor. It's like they begged for us to think it looked like a render on green screen instead of believable like the original trilogy:

I can't help but agree with you. The FFXV trailer nailed this type of realistic lighting, and makes it all the more engaging. I don't mind the concept-arty look with this game though. Won't detract from my experience really.

 

[DarkoMaledictus]

I want to pre-order but what if the game's lighting ruins the entire gameplay experience for me? I'm scared, guys. Don't know what to do

Don't worry too much about what doesn't matter... its all about the gameplay in the end!

 

[drotahorror]

I'm pretty sure I heard/read this somewhere but, is the nemesis something that's replayable? Like once you complete and kill all the warchief's you can reset it and do it again? Pretty sure I heard you can reset it.

 

[DOWN]

Interesting to see a lot of skepticism pop up right before release. With regard to the visuals, I can understand the criticism: it's not exactly a "beautiful" game, and despite all the gameplay videos I've seen, the environments don't seem particularly memorable. Not to mention Talion's face looks kind of goofy. On the other hand, I think they did some really strong character design for both the Black Captains and the orcs themselves; I think it's an achievement to have a number of different procedurally generated enemies and yet keep them visually distinct from one another. If there's one visual I remember from this game, it'll be the variety of orcs--from fire helmets to sith lord masks.

But guess what? Impressive graphics aren't this game's ambition. It's the ability to play around in a orc society simulator and exert your influence in a system that can act autonomously without player input. That's a really cool concept for an AAA game, and I'll gladly give up brilliant art direction for brilliant execution of the core gameplay concepts. I actually feel bad for those who can't look past the visuals to judge the mechanics on their own merits.

I surely hope it gets great reviews and sucks people in. I want to justify this purchase. I like the universe, I want to get into the Nemesis system. I'm not there now, and that is a downer.

 

[SJRB]

I'm pretty sure I heard/read this somewhere but, is the nemesis something that's replayable? Like once you complete and kill all the warchief's you can reset it and do it again? Pretty sure I heard you can reset it.

It's a neverending system; if you take one out, another one will take his place.