Shadows of Mordor

[TCrouch]

That's awesome!

[TCrouch]

I've had so many cool experiences already that were pretty much non-scripted. I damn near spit my beer out when I saw this guy's intel. Talk about a fearsome Captain!:



Basically, this guy sh*ts his pants no matter what you come at him with. I'm going to try to get him promoted up the chain just to have the biggest pansy Warchief in the history of Middle-Earth.

[TheTruth]

So I woke up this past Saturday morning and was going to get some FH2 time in and noticed I had quit a few notifications. While skimming through them I come upon one little tile that says Shadow of Mordor installed. What?! Could it be? Surely it is just the demo...I didn't purchase Shadow of Mordor. Went promptly to my "Games and Apps" and sure enough a digital copy of the game was installed. I had to start it up right? Test it out. I only had an hour but that hour flew and this is the only game I've played since.

So, has anyone else just randomly had a game installed on their machine? I mean, I'm not complaining but how does that happen? I checked my MS account and I wasn't charged or anything. Anyway, this game has been a blast.

[RobVarak]

So I woke up this past Saturday morning and was going to get some FH2 time in and noticed I had quit a few notifications. While skimming through them I come upon one little tile that says Shadow of Mordor installed. What?! Could it be? Surely it is just the demo...I didn't purchase Shadow of Mordor. Went promptly to my "Games and Apps" and sure enough a digital copy of the game was installed. I had to start it up right? Test it out. I only had an hour but that hour flew and this is the only game I've played since.

So, has anyone else just randomly had a game installed on their machine? I mean, I'm not complaining but how does that happen? I checked my MS account and I wasn't charged or anything. Anyway, this game has been a blast.

That is nuts. Game fairy?

In any event, I had no idea that there were revenge missions against captains who had killed your XBL friends until I got a notification. Lots of fun getting that extra XP and exacting vengeance at the same time.

[Sudz]

after almost throwing the game in the trash because I was getting my ass kicked all over Mordor, i had a great night and was able to take out 4 captains and make some progress. Had some cool kills too.

I did run into a revenge scenario where 2 captains fought each other and then I was able to jump in and take out the winner.

[RobVarak]

Been running into more scenarios where I had 2 or even 3 captains taking me on all at the same time. That's hairy. I'm not talking about the war chiefs (most of whom have captains as bodyguards), but random encounters. I'll see a captain alone, engage him and lo and behold, up shows some dude with revenge on his mind. Getting a bit irritating, especially when some of these guys are only vulnerable to stealth or fire or the like.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, gets pretty nuts in those situations. I run like a coward. A lot of time I'll go into Wraith world and scan around to see if I have any "Press R3 to identify" chaps in the vicinity before engaging a captain.

[Sudz]

I had 3 of those situations last night. One had me taking on 3 captains at once. Was brutal pain in the ass. I took them out though by taking off, healing and coming back to kick ass, then running again.

[Danimal]

My strategy in the multiple captain battles, run shoot them with a pin to the ground shot and kill their followers. Rinse and repeat.

[RobVarak]

My strategy in the multiple captain battles, run shoot them with a pin to the ground shot and kill their followers. Rinse and repeat.

Yeah, I stumbled upon that strategy in one of the Warchief battles. This guy was immune to freaking everything, so I would pin him, flank him, hit him with the wraith punch and then flurry the hell out of him. He'd bang me up between shots, but I was able to run around and find enough herbs to keep myself alive. Wasn't pretty or cinematic, but at the end of the day we were down to just two remaining Warchiefs.

The combo of the 5-hit streak perk and the ability to take a hit and keep your streak is big fun, btw. Lots of executions...

[TheTruth]

My strategy in the multiple captain battles, run shoot them with a pin to the ground shot and kill their followers. Rinse and repeat.

Yeah, pin in place comes in handy at times.

[Sudz]

http://kotaku.com/nobody-knows-how-to-p ... 1644777204

Can you kill orcs? maybe.

[TCrouch]

The executions don't always trigger beheadings. You might just slice him up really good or something, and then they can come back. I have yet to have one come back when I actually lop their head off, though. Or explode it through a drain/flurry.

I think the confusion is people seem to think that any execution move will do it, and I haven't seen that work. But I haven't seen the proof mentioned there about people beheading them and them somehow coming back, either.

Every time I've removed the head from an orc, they have been permanently removed from my saved game. I've also come into a technique of hammering away at a Captain through normal attacks until I can get him down to low health and then get that 'dazed fall over' stance, where you can ground finish him. Instead, I use the execution and almost always get a clean decapitation that way.

[RobVarak]

The executions don't always trigger beheadings. You might just slice him up really good or something, and then they can come back. I have yet to have one come back when I actually lop their head off, though. Or explode it through a drain/flurry.

I think the confusion is people seem to think that any execution move will do it, and I haven't seen that work. But I haven't seen the proof mentioned there about people beheading them and them somehow coming back, either.

Every time I've removed the head from an orc, they have been permanently removed from my saved game. I've also come into a technique of hammering away at a Captain through normal attacks until I can get him down to low health and then get that 'dazed fall over' stance, where you can ground finish him. Instead, I use the execution and almost always get a clean decapitation that way.

I've never seen a beheaded captain return, but I'm frustrated at the frequency with which the execution doesn't result in a beheading. (Now there's a sentence I didn't anticipate ever typing!). Especially with some of the trickier guys who are immune to combat finishes and ranged attacks, it can be vexing to have to beat them repeatedly...especially if they're bodyguards for a Warchief.

I really, really love this game.

[Danimal]

I know every game doesn't need multiplayer but man would it of been fun to run through this with 2 or 3 other people laying waste to Orcs

[Sudz]

I know every game doesn't need multiplayer but man would it of been fun to run through this with 2 or 3 other people laying waste to Orcs

Hell yeah it would have been.

[TCrouch]

Agreed. I just hope that Unity at the end of this month scratches that itch. Since combat is so similar, I'm thinking it might. Sucks that it's not Orcs and the Tolkien universe, but it will probably be pretty bad ass.

[Danimal]

Agreed. I just hope that Unity at the end of this month scratches that itch. Since combat is so similar, I'm thinking it might. Sucks that it's not Orcs and the Tolkien universe, but it will probably be pretty bad ass.

I know not of what you speak...

[TCrouch]

Agreed. I just hope that Unity at the end of this month scratches that itch. Since combat is so similar, I'm thinking it might. Sucks that it's not Orcs and the Tolkien universe, but it will probably be pretty bad ass.

I know not of what you speak...

[Brando70]

This game is bonkers. Have gotten a few hours in with it and think it's such a huge step forward for single-player gaming. So far it feels so much more organic than a lot of open world games where everyone seems locked in a sub routine.

It also addresses one of my biggest beefs with stealth games -- patrols will find and react to bodies that they find!

One question -- is there a way to ID a captain that you have revealed when you see him? I ran into one guy who I had intel on, but didn't realize who he was until I tried to get an aerial stealth kill and found out he was the captain immune to stealth kills. I have seen a marker over the Worms but not the captains.

[TCrouch]

Absolutely. Use Wraith World periodically when checking out groups of enemies. Captains appear as red with a "RS" or "R3" over their head. Click it to get details on the enemy.

And I agree. I've gotten into the second half of the game now, and I'm getting to feel so powerful it's insane. Zipping around with shadow strike, insta-mounting Graugs from 200 yards away. You start feeling like a badass, and I love it.

GOTY for me so far, single-player.

[Brando70]

Awesome, thanks Terry. I haven't used Wraith view as much since it limits how far you can see. It was very cool to jump on this guy and have him shake me off while saying, "That won't work on me."

I also love how the explosive arrow perk channels my inner Bo and Luke Duke. I imagine the explosions are so powerful because orc campfires are much worse than the ones from Blazing Saddles.

[TCrouch]

Yeah--and I gotta say, I don't know why they make you wait so long to open up the branding ability. Because now a fight goes something like this:

Engage 20 guys.
Shadow Strike and turn the first one.
Get my hit counter to 5, insta-brand and turn the next one.
Counter a few more, get another hit streak, repeat branding others.

Within 10 seconds, those 20 foes might be 12 bad guys, 5 of my guys, and a few dead guys.

By the end of the fight, I've killed 8 or 9 and turned the other 11 or 12 to my "cause". Then they disperse into the world, and when I go sneaking into an encampment, I find that a bunch of my secret followers make up a portion of that area. I hit one press of the D-pad and they all start creating chaos.

Awesome ways to insta-kill those Captains that are susceptible to stealth finishers.

[RobVarak]

It's fun, but I feel like the branding might slightly unbalance things.

Is there any stat tracking? I'd like to see some of the headcounts that I'm accumulating, but there doesn't appear to be any.

[Brando70]

I killed one captain with an arrow through the back of the head, and the bastard showed up again 10 minutes later with a metal plate over his eye. Killed him again with a head strike but not a decap, and he showed up with what looked like rope around his head as if it was holding it together. The third time was the charm as I removed his head from his body.

I kind of liked it, even if it sucks to fight a tough boss again. I also figure it evens the field a bit since I can come back.