Current Events > ITT: I play Middle-earth Shadow of War (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Shotgunnova posted...

Arghhhhh, my LV60 bodyguard who I sank tens of thousands of upgrade points into betrayed me, then I can't even revive him because he wasn't friendly at that point. I wouldn't even mind if I slighted him or something, but c'mon...nothing's more important than protecting my reckless ass in battle. Things like this hammer home how tiresome this post-game content is.

That said, I might move onto the expansions, or at least test their waters (if they're bad). What's the preferable order?

Eltariel one before the Baranor one.

I was really disappointed by the Baranor one from their initial description (a "harder" Roguelike experience) but Eltariel's suprised me when I wasn't expecting much.
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So the Baranor one isn't a hardcore mode, i.e. die once and be forced to restart?
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Welp, woke up and thought, "maybe I'll do some fortress sieges just to get this done," but then the third act has you doing three sieges, including one you already finished, so I'm noping out of it. Time to do Eltariel's expansion. Looks like she's going after Talion da Nazgul's throat at Galadriel's behest...what a slave driver!

Being able to blink light-infused enemies out of existence is cool, though.
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My condolences for your purchase of this boring game.
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The sieges are kinda boring, but a lot of the rest is fine.
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Wait, there are female Nazgul? I thought all those positions were filled by greedy kings.
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Shotgunnova posted...

Wait, there are female Nazgul? I thought all those positions were filled by greedy kings.

The lore they make is bang on stupid.

But not all of them were Kings, we only definitely know that three were.

They were all important people though.
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Nothing wrong with some FemNazguls in concept, I suppose. They just seemed more bratty than the others and not the least bit menacing, lmao. That might be the fault of the direction the VAs were given, though.
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Shotgunnova posted...

Nothing wrong with some FemNazguls in concept, I suppose. They just seemed more bratty than the others and not the least bit menacing, lmao. That might be the fault of the direction the VAs were given, though.

It's definitely a problem that they feel lame.

Not to mention they come from Japan, which Tolkien didn't have in his mythos.
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Wait what? Female Nazgul? I assume that's in the DLC then. I thought making Helm Hammerhand and Isildur Nazgul was bad enough. For Isildur at least I do understand what they were trying to go for there. But turning Helm Hammerhand into one makes no sense whatsoever.
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That clashes with Helm's lore or something? I read the books in my youth (probably several times), so the name seems a little familiar, but I don't remember anything about him. The series has a lot of "this guy who died hundreds/thousands of years ago" stuff.

The_Ivory_Man posted...

Not to mention they come from Japan, which Tolkien didn't have in his mythos.

???
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Ohhh, they came from some Japanese-inspired location (presumably lore-unfriendly). Oh well, they're dead now.

EDIT: Aaaand so is Talion. And Barad-dur.


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This Baranor campaign is off to a decent start so far, just by being different from the main plot. Hiring human mercenaries is interesting, using gadgets is great, and Torvin's presence is always welcome. Hopefully nothing...unpleasant spoils this shindig.
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Shotgunnova posted...

That clashes with Helm's lore or something? I read the books in my youth (probably several times), so the name seems a little familiar, but I don't remember anything about him. The series has a lot of "this guy who died hundreds/thousands of years ago" stuff.

The_Ivory_Man posted...

Not to mention they come from Japan, which Tolkien didn't have in his mythos.

???

Helm was one of Rohan's kings and the guy they named Helm's Deep after. But the Nazgul had already existed for thousands of years prior to his birth. I guess they just really liked the idea of him being one in Shadow of War, so they made up a new background for him to justify making him a Nazgul.
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Ahh, so that's where Helm's Deep's namesake comes from.

Anyway, cranking along on Baranor's campaign. It's not too shabby and I haven't even died, even though I'm up to the final (?) mission. Maybe it's because the game constantly gives you tons of bombs and arrows, letting people cheese their way through fights from afar. I do miss double-jumping, but the hang glider and grappling hook really show that old-fashioned ingenuity. It almost feels like Dying Light at times, haha.
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This expansion has been pretty fun so far, except one major thing: enemies escaping battle too fast, making all your effort up to that point a waste of time. This has happened on 2-3 warchiefs already, suddenly getting terrified (usually over something they don't have vulnerabilities to) and then skidaddling in no time flat. Even Baranor with his Inspector Gadget bungee grapple can't get there in time.
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Welp, finished the expansion. Overall, it may not have jived with the lore, but it was still pretty enjoyable. There are definitely some things I'd miss if I went back to the campaign (bombs, for one). Anyway, that'll probably end my Mordor excursions for a few years.
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