Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:45 pm

Kasey Chang wrote: Ran into one of those captains that's invulnerable to combat finishers. Had to jump up, then ambush him with a death from above to kill him. Annoying fun as heck.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:57 pm

Oh, I love the guys that are susceptible to the stealth finishers. They were a blast to one-shot.

I never did much dodging. I used the skill that allowed you to vault over the mobs as your dodge. Much easier than actually trying to dodge.

Also, pick up the skill that lets you throw the daggers. I didn't initially grab it. I should have. Very useful. It also helps you build up the hits so that you unlock the finishing move.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:37 pm

Shadow Kill is considered a "ranged attack"? Phooey.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 4:53 am

Got the brace of daggers, 3 throws in a row, with knockback.

Killed all warchiefs so Ratbag is now Warchief.

This warchief turned out to be a bit tougher than usual, as he's a combat master (no combat finishers) and he's immune to ranged, AND immune to stealth. Turns out he's afraid of fire, so I had to lure him to some grog barrels, then ignite it and burn him, THEN chase him down and kill him as he's now vulnerable.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 1:24 pm

Hmmm... Shadow kill is considered a ranged attack rather than stealth. Phooey. Failed a challenge because I didn't nail all five followers with stealth stabs. Had to redo.

Made it to the other half of the map by killing the black hand. Seeya, Ratbag.

Doing the sword, bow, and dagger challenges. I'm at 5/8/7 respectively. Guess I need to go on the hunt so I can shadow mount graug and caragors.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 2:50 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:Hmmm... Shadow kill is considered a ranged attack rather than stealth. Phooey. Failed a challenge because I didn't nail all five followers with stealth stabs. Had to redo.

Made it to the other half of the map by killing the black hand. Seeya, Ratbag.

Doing the sword, bow, and dagger challenges. I'm at 5/8/7 respectively. Guess I need to go on the hunt so I can shadow mount graug and caragors.

You could just buy them a nice dinner over a bottle of wine first.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 2:58 pm

I found that in Shadow of Mordor, if something seemed impossibly difficult, I was likely not being creative enough. For most of the game, it does not reward brute-force solutions. Eventually you'll get there, but half the fun (at least) was trying to figure out how to deal with the various requirements for any given mission.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:38 pm

Smoove_B wrote:

I found that in Shadow of Mordor, if something seemed impossibly difficult, I was likely not being creative enough. For most of the game, it does not reward brute-force solutions. Eventually you'll get there, but half the fun (at least) was trying to figure out how to deal with the various requirements for any given mission.

I do recall complaining about some of the controls, as it was my first time with this sort of game (having missed the batman games) and an xbox controller, but by the second run through I remember it being unreasonably easy. It's possible that I simply had already figured out the challenges you are talking about so I just implemented the solutions without any thought (remember, second time through).

I remember that I did things to intentionally make things harder, including picking sub-optimal skills (you're going to get them all eventually anyway) or aggro'ing more than I needed to for any particular goal. I don't recall the specifics any more though.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:57 am

I got 3 of the warchiefs branded, and my bow and dagger legends are complete. Now it's the sword's turn, and I there are a few more main missions to do.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:00 pm

Branded all five, then killed the tower and the hand. Yes, it was Sauron in physical form.

Can't seem to find a ghul matron to kill to finish the hunting. Did all the outcast missions and the artifact and other hunts.

Guess I'll go try the Bright Lord DLC and whatnot.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:55 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:Branded all five, then killed the tower and the hand. Yes, it was Sauron in physical form.

Can't seem to find a ghul matron to kill to finish the hunting. Did all the outcast missions and the artifact and other hunts.

Guess I'll go try the Bright Lord DLC and whatnot.

Just do a google search. There is a specific place and specific actions (wound a bunch of ghuls but let them run back home, I think) that will produce a matron most of the time.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 2:01 pm

Kill all but one, and they will go "alarm!" and summon a matron.

Did that, can't find the darn horned graug (or by the time I run there it disappeared.

Playing lord of the hunt, got 4 out of 5 chiefs. Just a few more missions and notes to go.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:38 pm

Finished hunt and all the notes.

Will try the Bright Lord.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:39 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:Finished hunt and all the notes.

Will try the Bright Lord.

Having fun?

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 12:09 am

Dominating the ghuls is a bit of "meh"

Caragaths are okay, but a bit unwieldy, and very delicate (a couple hits and it's toast).

Graug... hmmm... vomit version is a bit meh.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:02 am

Bright Lord is basically Celebrimbor before his showdown with Sauron. He's using the One ring to build himself an army, brand the warchiefs, and have a showdown with Sauron. This documents his struggle (sneaking around branding orcs, taking on captains and such). Ultimate objective is to brand all five warchiefs, but first he had to conquer each region by branding the garrison and ambush the defending captain, and it's never that easy. Once region is done a tower of light is built to ward away the darkness (thus, Bright Lord). Brand orcs to charge up the ring, which gives 20 seconds of superpower (invisible, unlimited execution, slow time). Being elf, Celebrimbor has no "focus", but otherwise does more damage with a bow. And he starts with all the skills.

Got 2 regions done, unlocking more missions. Can summon followers, and killing followers (or kill after dominate) recharges health in addition to herbs.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 3:06 am

Can't get the cheat to work in Bright Lord. Actually had the army all recruited, supposed to "maintain" the count as timer counts down (and more orcs incoming), and I keep flash branding them. When timer expired, game crashed, even with NO cheats activated (but Cheat Engine on)

Well, the game was getting a bit repetitive. Hehehe.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 11:49 pm

I just picked up the GotY upgrade for this for $2. Not even sure what it adds lol but had to have it.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 12:07 am

Ok this is my 4th reinstall and 8th stab at the game. Its just NOW clicking with me after an hour of staying around the starting tower and learning the moves. Still a bit button heavy but it hit me that its a mix of Mad Max and Lara Croft combined. Im really starting to like it now.

But am I crazy or is everything Im killing around this tower simply respawning? And pretty quick at that? If so thats a HUGE negatory in the fun department. If I clean an area out I either expect it to stay cleaned out or only get more in it if they actually walk there and never have as many as there originally were.

Is this one of those games that unless you do the story missions the areas dont stay cleaned of bad guys? Oh God I hope not. I was looking so forward to getting this game to like me and to find that out would be a major bummer.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:22 am

Yes, "the enemy respawn rate is crazy". One does not simply clean out Mordor.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:32 am

Been noticing that. Shame too as this game holds so much promise of fun. But that one thing is killing all my fun. I just cant get into it when I kill 4 or 5 guys...take a few steps to kill another...and turn and those last ones have respawned already. Thats enough to make me delete it right there but I also have a bad bug. I was on my cat fighting an orc on a wall and when I went to eat him to regain health I fell off the wall....but somehow Ive fallen into something. Im on the ground and not in the wall but I can only run back and forth..I can't move anywhere else and I cant climb the wall in front of me..so stuck. I am so disappointed in the game I just exited for the night. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I dont hold hope for this one.

I hope Witcher 3 is as good as the other two were because Im about to start it right now and see.

Z-Corn · Post by **Z-Corn** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 6:33 pm

Looking forward to playing this now that I've upgraded my gaming PC.

Just picked up the full season pass GOTY version for $9 from GMG!

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:15 pm

Daehawk wrote:Been noticing that. Shame too as this game holds so much promise of fun. But that one thing is killing all my fun. I just cant get into it when I kill 4 or 5 guys...take a few steps to kill another...and turn and those last ones have respawned already. Thats enough to make me delete it right there but I also have a bad bug. I was on my cat fighting an orc on a wall and when I went to eat him to regain health I fell off the wall....but somehow Ive fallen into something. Im on the ground and not in the wall but I can only run back and forth..I can't move anywhere else and I cant climb the wall in front of me..so stuck. I am so disappointed in the game I just exited for the night. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I dont hold hope for this one.

I hope Witcher 3 is as good as the other two were because Im about to start it right now and see.

Facing overwhelming numbers is what the game is all about. You rarely have an opportunity to breathe. Odd that in 8 tries you didn't realize that.

Consensus is that Witcher 3 is much better.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:19 pm

Yeah, and later on I found I could just run through them if I didn't feel like fighting. But, yeah, most of the time I did because it's fun

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:04 am

IceBear wrote:Yeah, and later on I found I could just run through them if I didn't feel like fighting. But, yeah, most of the time I did because it's fun

This. So very this. You can (almost) always run away. And you often have to. Like when you decide to tackle a lone lieutenant... except that he has the "summon help" ability... so you now have a group. Decide? Do you still try to focus on the lieutenant? Or run and try to regroup? Then to really "spice" things up, suddenly you discover that 2 of the newcomers are also leaders.

Shit gets real! Fast!

But that is what it is about. It really isn't like the "usual" game. It's not about clearing areas. It's about becoming a bad-ass that can charge into a camp of 20+ in order to take out the leaders, ignoring the grunts. Or stopping to wipe out 15+ grunts. The "game" is the fighting. It's what makes it fun.

I will add that you definitely need to focus on getting intel on the leaders. Know what you are going to be fighting before you charge in. By the end game, I had leaders that were resistant to everything. I had to avoid finishing moves. Added a lot of challenge trying to figure out the appropriate strategy.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 2:48 am

Maybe this game just isn't for me. I just cannot get into it with the super fast respawning. I know most others love the game. I can see the potential in it but I just cant have the fun as much as I try. I want to I really do. But constant fighting from where I am all the way to where I need to go only to have stuff respawn not 100 feet behind me as I go is a game breaker for me. And it seems to be just that 1 damn detail. The rest seems fine. I like the combat and love the story and cutscenes as I play . I dont think I can play it though.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:14 am

As I mentioned you can just run and ignore them for much of it. Do your objective and then run to the next one. If there are orcs in your way and you feel like killing them then kill them. Fighting them feels tedious then run past them. The more towers you unlock then you can fast travel between them to avoid the orcs. The whole theme of the game is the combat so there's always going to be orcs to kill. Yeah, I would have liked the respawning toned down but unlike most games I was happy to always have enemies to fight.

But yeah....you've tried a lot to like it and it's ok if it's not for you and you move on to something else

For what it's worth, I never saw an orc spawn out of thin air, but saw more patrols of orcs from the endless hordes of Sauron coming to investigate the commotion in their homeland. I am used to the theory of endless hordes of orcs and goblins from D&D so never bothered me about their numbers

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:09 am

I hear that Mad Max was based on this game and its engine...or its play style. I loved MM. I thought it was near perfect. It did the same thing just without the respawns. In fact by the end I was sad not to find anything out there.

The good news is that The Witcher 3 is a game Im finding great fun in just like the first two. Ive finally found my stride in it. I still think TW1 was the best of the series..but Im not far into 3 yet so it may change my view.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:22 am

Pretty sure both this game and Mad Max were based on the Batman Arkham games.

I can get that you're not enjoying it because of the enemy respawning. It's just that an endless horde of orcs is part of the setting of the game...especially since you are in their territory so where I would have an issue with respawning enemies in games where it doesn't make sense in this one it does so I don't have an issue. Since Mad Max is in a barren wasteland having a ton of respawning doesn't make sense. The Arkham City games are probably between the two for the amount of enemies. For the most part, when I finished Mordor I only had to fight when I felt like it (though I really liked the combat so often did it just for fun) but it was pretty easy to avoid it when I wanted

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:27 am

The FTC Says Warner Bros. Hid Its Sponsorship of YouTube 'Shadow of Mordor' Videos

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment after the entertainment giant was charged with paying an undivulged number of YouTubers anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars to create promotional videos for the company's 2014 game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. On its own, there's nothing wrong with that—but the FTC says Warner Bros. failed to ensure that these influencers properly disclosed the fact that they were being paid for their videos. In total, this campaign generated more than 5.5 million views, 3.7 million of which came from Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg, whose audience of 46 million subscribers is the largest on YouTube.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:41 pm

I want a mod that turns the game into the Shadow of Hodor.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 9:09 am

/arcane rituals - ARISE!

I'm pretty sure I bought this title when it was in a deep sale and forgot about it. I kept forgetting about it and it was only when I was scrolling through my Steam Library line by line that I remembered it. I started playing this over the weekend and am finding it pretty enjoyable in a way. A very murderous way. The combat isn't overly difficult (for the most part, more later), the visuals work nicely, and the controls are pretty smooth. I really like the character evolution, side quests, and bonus goals in particular. I don't have many games in this style (Ex: Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Asylum), so I'm not massively burned out on it. I'm playing this with a KB/Mouse and having no issues at all with controls.

I really like the way captains come back from the dead, stronger and angrier. I like that some bosses require some different tactics.

Given the age of the thread, I won't keep updating it over and over - but some highlights from my time include:

- Managing a 89-hit streak, but still 11 shy of the bonus goal, in one sword mission that involved killing 50 Uruks. That was a long-ass fight, and I had to stagger back to life twice on the way. I was in the zone at the end, and I think the only reason I didn't get the 100 hit streak was that the fight ended and the remainder ran.
- Killing a few captains with Elven headshots. Gotta love when you accidentally discover that they're weak to that. I do gather the Intel, but I don't bother to deliberately play to strengths or weaknessess (for the most part).
- Simply being surprised that I'm fighting Captains - rush a group of Orcs and one suddenly starts yammering at me? I like it!
- Taking down 4 captains in one fight. It wasn't deliberate - they just kept rushing to aid a Shield-bearer Captain that seemed immune to everything I had. In the end, had to resort to Draining the Shield-bearer over and over once everything else had been dispatched. Every time I tried to leap over him, he'd catch me midair and throw me back, exclaiming "Oh no you don't, worm!" He was the most bad-ass, armored Uruk I have seen so far - and he plodded towards me like unstoppable death. He was pretty cool, and I'll miss having him around.
- Dying to a regular peon Uruk, resulting in him getting promoted. I actually started sparing him when we fought so I could watch and see how far he could climb. Now he's a War Chief bodyguard, badly scarred, and overall a big dude. My little personal project...

The only real problem I've run into is a mission involving killing a Ghul Matron in a Sword mission. I've gotten her down to 1/3 health, but she keeps killing me. I actually got so fed up with dying that I almost smashed my headphones down when I was quitting the game for the night. Between her and her ravenous hoard of children, I keep getting beaten down. I survive near-death once, I survive near-death twice, and then I get no option to survive a third time - they rip me apart. There's no blocking Ghul attacks; I just seem to need to absorb them and carry on. Maybe I'm missing something key. Maybe I should leave this alone and come back later. All the dying has granted several levels to the Uruk Captains - which isn't really a problem for me as it just means they'll drop better Runes.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 12:24 am

Definitely worth getting the intel. Some will have an ability that prevents you from jumping over them, so you need to avoid doing that... unless you like being tossed to the ground.

I fought one that was literally immune to everything except the basic attack. No special attacks. No beasts. No stealth. No bow. He was a tough mudder.

I agree that the most memorable moments (at least for me) were discovering a leader accidentally. One time I was fighting one leader, and he'd used a horn to call in reinforcements. So I'm plugging away, I've almost got him dead, I go to swing, and my blow gets blocked. I get a cut scene from a new orc that had just shown up. This was early enough in the game that I cut and run. I didn't have the skills to handle everything yet.

I remember the fight with the matron... vaguely. But I don't recall what I did to kill her. (Though I do remember dying at least a couple of times while trying it.) Were there no hints?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 12:51 am

Are you using the wraith flash ability on the ghul children?

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 11:14 am

Since this was bumped I'll just stop by to mention that I played through the game again recently, which is the 3rd time I've finished with 100% completion (but not all achievements). That's practically unheard of outside of strategy games. I must really, really like killing orcs (and I do).

As Alefroth points out, you need the wraith flash to really be effective versus ghuls. One of the gollum storyline quests gives it to you, so you can't just pick it. Once you have that it's fairly easy to clear the room and give you time and room to engage the matron.

The matron counterstrikes immediately after you hit her and it's unblockable, so you need to dive roll/dodge out of the way. Hit/dodge/hit/dodge. It can be a bit tedious but you can use other moves on her as well when your hit meter is charged. It won't kill her but it will do enough damage to shorten the fight.

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 1:46 pm

Picked this up a while back on sale and just started playing as well. Still in the first zone milking the XP/power for ability points. I came across the matron quest but have not attempted yet because I loathe ghuls. They suck and just aren't fun to fight. Having said that research indicates

Spoiler:

.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 1:58 pm

Wasn't there a special Ranger combat move that has you leaping or rolling over the face of an enemy and stunning them? I want to say that's what I did, but maybe I'm not remembering that correctly. If I was into replaying games (SEE: every other game I own was finished), I think I'd like to play this again. It was big fun.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 2:25 pm

Smoove_B wrote:Wasn't there a special Ranger combat move that has you leaping or rolling over the face of an enemy and stunning them? I want to say that's what I did, but maybe I'm not remembering that correctly. If I was into replaying games (SEE: every other game I own was finished), I think I'd like to play this again. It was big fun.

Yes, the dive roll is the same move, it's just that you roll over the back of an enemy if they are in range and in the direction you are trying to roll towards. The stun on the roll over was an additional skill that adds the stun effect to the back roll.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 8:17 am

I did eventually get past her. I had to basically "Space/Hit/Hit/Space/Hit/Hit/Space/Hit/Hit/Space" until she died. Spacebar vaults you over her, stuns her briefly - giving you two free hits. She's got a lot of health, so it took an absurdly long time. I did use the AoE ground attack to clear whole rooms of Ghuls, but in some instances they just kept pouring in. In each fight with her, things went a little differently. The winning time was when I got her by herself in a small alcove and kept the fight in a tight confined space where nothing could really surround me. The entire trick to fighting her was not miffing my timing of the spacebar, and patience to keep at it for 20 cycles. That's it.

Something I'm enjoying and confused by are the sheer number of different combat options. Not since Mortal Kombat have I had to learn so many combinations, but they do a good job of easing you into it.

I like that there's no particular rush to get anywhere and you can just rove the countryside killing mountains of enemies. My current goal is to complete every side mission I see on the map before progressing. I know that some more will open up as the story unfolds, but they seem worth doing just 'cause.

I do always get the intel on the Captains, but I rarely pay attention to it. I think I've checked once when I ran into one I just couldn't effectively fight. I dropped a beehive on him and he went into panzy-mode.

After last night, I think I'm going to need a little cathartic release and destroy a few hundred Uruks.

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 10:54 pm

I fucking hate ghuls!