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Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Review thread

A

A Serious Man

Member
Shock32 said:
I thought the same thing about the game world. And it might just be me but I swear all the trailers I've seen so far, the game world doesn't look bland or bleak. This was my number one complaint from the first game. Between this and the loot boxes it's going to be a pass.
Click to expand...

There is definitely more variety and the game looks less "generic drab brown place". I guess we'll see though.
 
O

Osahi

Member
So much hyperbole about those microtransactions by people who haven't even played the game.

It was my biggest fear before I started: that the game would heavily rely on loot boxes and 'punish' players who didn't invest in them. But after hours of play, I haven't opened a loot box since I just checked them out once in the beginning. They are absolutely tacked on and unnecaisarry, an don't detract from the experience at all. Reviewers don't mention it's optional because they are 'afraid to piss off publishers', but because it's a simple truth: you don't need those lootboxes to enjoy SoW, and you can easily ignore them alltogether.

If a game balances it's experience with loot boxes in mind, it's worthy of blasting them to kingdom come. But when, like here, it's just a totally optional and ignorable extra possible form of income that doesn't hurt the gameplay at all, there is no need to dunk some points from the score (Shadow of War has other problems to warrant that imo)
 
S

Syrus

Banned
Shari said:
Not to judge your decision-making but why would anyone nowadays but a game on release when you have no intention to play immediately? In the age of games that drop HARD after the firsts week/s it makes no sense to buy something you are not going to play immediately.



Right in the money.
Click to expand...


15$ for pre ordering 3 games.

Nabbed Origins , mordor , wolfrnstein 2.
 
S

shortsoptional

Member
Zombie James said:
I read the IGN and Game Informer reviews and they way they just hand-wave it is depressing. The very fact a free-to-play money-grabbing gambling scheme exists in a $60 game is reason enough to get upset, but they're perfectly fine waving the "optional" flag. This is how this garbage gets normalized.
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From what I've read, the loot boxes in Shadow of War don't prevent the player from progressing, so I'm not sure if it's warranted or not (I've not played the game).
But I was upset a lot reviewers don't take other games to task (ex; nba2k18) for micro transactions that halt progression or make modes unplayable.

I think they do have a responsibility to bring those things to light. Cause if they don't, I think it hurts the credibility of the reviewer.
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
Osahi said:
So much hyperbole about those microtransactions by people who haven't even played the game.

It was my biggest fear before I started: that the game would heavily rely on loot boxes and 'punish' players who didn't invest in them. But after hours of play, I haven't opened a loot box since I just checked them out once in the beginning. They are absolutely tacked on and unnecaisarry, an don't detract from the experience at all. Reviewers don't mention it's optional because they are 'afraid to piss off publishers', but because it's a simple truth: you don't need those lootboxes to enjoy SoW, and you can easily ignore them alltogether.

If a game balances it's experience with loot boxes in mind, it's worthy of blasting them to kingdom come. But when, like here, it's just a totally optional and ignorable extra possible form of income that doesn't hurt the gameplay at all, there is no need to dunk some points from the score (Shadow of War has other problems to warrant that imo)
Click to expand...
From what I'm reading, you also have a way of earning them with in-game currency that one review called 'abundant'.
 
K

Katana_Strikes

Member
Auctopus said:
UAm6SXk.png


The last negative sounds far more impactful than the 3 positives.
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Wow the first games World was bleak and bland. I thought they’d be able to rectify this with a more varied environment they looked to be going at. But that was one of the main issues with the original. Which doesn’t sound promising.
 
dragonfart28

dragonfart28

Banned
Auctopus said:
UAm6SXk.png


The last negative sounds far more impactful than the 3 positives.
Click to expand...

And my major gripes with the first game, but I guess we should've expected it since the focus is strictly on the mechanics and it takes place only in Mordor.

There's so much content out there this year, gonna give this one a pass.
 
L

Lord of Castamere

Member
Good, I really wanting buy it, it looks fun. Sad this doesn't seem the jump from Arkham Asylum to City, but it's scoring better than SoM(probably would be at 90 without the lootboxes), so I'll probably grab it. Sounds like the improved systems make the game, but that the also didn't really learn from the mistakes of the first, besides more Nemesis.
 
C

CHC

Member
Seems like a direction extension of the first game, replete with pretty much the same flaws.

That's not ideal but still enough to warrant playing it... later. On sale.
 
S

SENPAIatLARGE

Banned
Gaf hate can’t stop the 🚂. This is game has the most preorders of any WB game, and is reviewing great. The fact that the loot boxes are completely optional makes it all the better.
 
M

Mifec

Member
SENPAIatLARGE said:
Gaf hate can’t stop the 🚂. This is game has the most preorders of any WB game, and is reviewing great. The fact that the loot boxes are completely optional makes it all the better.
Click to expand...

Optional but still influenced the game design

BT-727 said:
The big issue is how the game design is tied into it. In order to conscript orc captains, you need to be the same level as them or they need to be lower. If they're of a higher level, which they usually are you need to shame them first, which reduces their level. Then you have to hunt them down all over again.

It's here that the microtransactions come in. And it's something we call out. But the bigger problem is the padding in design that allows for it in the first place. Shaming an orc captain seems unnecessary.
Click to expand...
 
A

A Serious Man

Member
Katana_Strikes said:
Wow the first games World was bleak and bland. I thought they’d be able to rectify this with a more varied environment they looked to be going at. But that was one of the main issues with the original. Which doesn’t sound promising.
Click to expand...

There are several reviews that say the opposite regarding the environments. Their is definitely more variety, I can't speak to how bland they feel though.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
My only disappointment is that the world is still bland. It was my only main complaint with the first. Can we get some color, please?

Can the next game take place across Middle Earth?
 
P

Phreakuency

Banned
Bleak and bland world is worrying.

The first game's biggest weakness was that exactly.

edit: SPOILER ALERT - the Gamespot video review seems to show the last battle and what comes after the ending...
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
Why is that single bullet point in that image representing a non-existent consensus that the game world is 'bleak and bland'?
 
T

Tovarisc

Member
Osahi said:
So much hyperbole about those microtransactions by people who haven't even played the game.

It was my biggest fear before I started: that the game would heavily rely on loot boxes and 'punish' players who didn't invest in them. But after hours of play, I haven't opened a loot box since I just checked them out once in the beginning. They are absolutely tacked on and unnecaisarry, an don't detract from the experience at all. Reviewers don't mention it's optional because they are 'afraid to piss off publishers', but because it's a simple truth: you don't need those lootboxes to enjoy SoW, and you can easily ignore them alltogether.
Click to expand...

Even when gambling boxes suck no matter what at least this implementation sounds tolerable and not as huge devil as e.g. GAF makes it sound like. Based on your word it reminds me of Mankind Divided. You could purchase Praxis Kits among other trinkets with €, but it was so tacked on and after thought that it was pure non factor for progress and experience.
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
Normally I have some degree of trust in reviewers. But after experiencing how horrible SoM was for myself, these numbers are completely meaningless.

That said I do love a good redemption story so I'm always willing to give it a shot down the road when it's much cheaper.
 
S

Shari

Member
Servbot24 said:
Normally I have some degree of trust in reviewers. But after experiencing how horrible SoM was for myself, these numbers are completely meaningless.
Click to expand...

So WB has bought EVERYBODY? Except Polygon that is, but I'm still not totally sure Polygon does know how to play videogames, let alone review them.

Damn those loot boxes really do make money.

Edit: Oh ninja edit to add SoM. Then if you read the reviews you'll see on vast majority of them that game has the same flaws as the previous one so if you didn't like the previous one don't get this one.
 
M

mazillion

Member
Human Trashcan said:
Has anyone played it on a harder difficulty to see if it's less of a cakewalk? I read Eurogamer's review and they made it sound even easier than the first game.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering the same thing. The first game got too easy too fast, I got bored of it way earlier than I should have.

I'm scanning through these reviews with Ctrl + F "difficult" but i'm not seeing anything.

Edit: Okay seeing these comments about the end game grind leads me to believe they went too far in the other direction. Sigh... lootboxes..
 
A

atr0cious

Member
Because of publishers practices of patching in aggressive MTs after reviews, would've liked to see more pending scores.
 
U

uocooper

Member
Shari said:
Not to judge your decision-making but why would anyone nowadays but a game on release when you have no intention to play immediately? In the age of games that drop HARD after the firsts week/s it makes no sense to buy something you are not going to play immediately.
Click to expand...

I do it to support the kind of games I want to see more of in the future. More recently I bought Uncharted: The Last Legacy and Horizon Zero Dawn at full price because I enjoy solid single player experiences and don't want my only options to be games as a service and multiplayer only games. I'll probably do it for the new Wolfenstein as well. I'm voting with my wallet.
 
R

Rick1o1

Member
I read the polygon review and according to them the true ending of the game is hidden behind an end game grind. You can either play tedious shit over and over again or of course buy loot boxes to speed it up. I hate this kind of stuff. Hated it in Arkham knight too with the true ending locked behind all those riddler trophies.
 
T

thehillissilent

Member
The gamespot review convinced me to pass on this game especially in regards to the end game.

In the game's actual final act, you cycle through the four fortresses you explored previously for a total of 20 more defending siege battles. If you haven't upgraded the Orcs you met early in the game--and up until this point, there was no reason to--you have to replace and upgrade your entire retinue of Orcs to match this more powerful invading force. The enemies you face level up with each encounter, so you're also forced into upgrading each castle over and over again, either by building up your current Orc army or finding new fighters and replacing the old. This Sisyphean quest has no corresponding significant characters to keep you company or explain why it's important to tackle the defense missions in the order you do. It's not even clear, exactly, why you want to do them at all.

More than once I felt like giving up on this quest thinking I'd stumbled onto some optional side content that was clearly only made for obsessed completionists. But enduring on, I found that finishing every stage unlocks the final cutscene and credits. It did not feel worth it.

It's an entire section that should have been cut or severely truncated, and playing through the repetitious levels felt like padding meant only to make the game last longer. But although the game's final act is the most egregious, there are several other systems that Shadow of War fails to justify.
Click to expand...
 
R

ReddishGUI

Member
Servbot24 said:
Normally I have some degree of trust in reviewers. But after experiencing how horrible SoM was for myself, these numbers are completely meaningless.

That said I do love a good redemption story so I'm always willing to give it a shot down the road when it's much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Shadow of Mordor is the game that made me stop giving a fuck about review scores.

I despised every single second I've spent with this game.
 
S

Spacecowboy77

Member
Yeah, sounds about what I expected.

Bloated end game just to justify bullshit loot crates. No thanks, I'll pick it up on a deep sale sometime
 
O

Osahi

Member
ScaryShark said:
From what I'm reading, you also have a way of earning them with in-game currency that one review called 'abundant'.
Click to expand...

Yes. The one I bought was with the ingame currency (the white one, as opposed to the gold one which is translated for real money, or earned with online challenges). It's the currency you need to upgrade you army and weapons too, but the game gives you loads of it when you clear missions.

Some boxes are only available with gold currency though and probably offer better chances.
 
S

Shari

Member
uocooper said:
I do it to support the kind of games I want to see more of in the future. More recently I bought Uncharted: The Last Legacy and Horizon Zero Dawn at full price because I enjoy solid single player experiences and don't want my only options to be games as a service and multiplayer only games. I'll probably do it for the new Wolfenstein as well. I'm voting with my wallet.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. I have to say I question this line of reasoning but I've bought TEW2 because it was cheap and I plan to play mordor for long enough that the game will be cheaper before I start to play it so....
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Sounds to me like it's a fun game with a soulless grind mechanic. I'll wait for a good sale.

WheelHoss1 said:
Sitting at 86 Meta right now

Fuck all the haters and the hate

Can't fucking wait to jump back in
Click to expand...

Knock it down a notch. The hate isn't for the game itself (mostly), it's for the nasty precedent this game is potentially helping to set.
 
L

Lucifon

Junior Member
Spacecowboy77 said:
Yeah, sounds about what I expected.

Bloated end game just to justify bullshit loot crates. No thanks, I'll pick it up on a deep sale sometime
Click to expand...

I mean...there's plenty of games out there with bloated end games that have nothing to do with loot crates. Bloating an end game doesn't mean they did it to try get money out of you, i'm sure they could have structured the currency flow and other elements very differently if that's what they were balancing the game around. I hate loot boxes as much as the next, I don't purchase them as I don't want to support the practice, but I also don't like to jump down a game's throat unless it implements them in a way that screws over non-payers.
 
G

Gala

Member
Reviews sound pretty solid and I can't wait for the game to come out. Won't bother with the microtransactions, WB will not get my money for that.
 
M

mantis23

Member
I enjoyed the first game so I'm glad to see this one review well.

I was on the fence on picking this up at launch but Best Buy has the $10 preorder bonus on this one so its effectively $38 after GCU, so I think I will pick it up after all.
 
shadow_shogun

shadow_shogun

Member
As much as I loathe microtransactions, I'm very happy to see that it's getting fantastic review scores. Cannot wait to play this next Tuesday.
 
P

pitchfork

Member
Phreakuency said:
Bleak and bland world is worrying.

The first game's biggest weakness was that exactly.

edit: SPOILER ALERT - the Gamespot video review seems to show the last battle and what comes after the ending...
Click to expand...

The fuck?!

Thanks for the warning, was just about to watch it!
 
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