Middle Earth: Shadow of War

[Kainz]

Well I nabbed the gold edition for a tenner off CD Keys a day ago. I was shocked by the 100gb download but now that I've just started Act 2, I can see that the game is half a film.

Despite loving SoM, I am struggling hugely to get into this. It feels extremely clunky control wise and not how I remember SoM was - though in part this could be due to the fact that I'm playing this riding on the back of AC: Odyssey, which is a lot more freeform movement and combat wise.

In Odyssey I am constantly under attack non stop by mercs who are hunting me just like SoW and I love it - however the controls in SoW for fighting the orcs, especially the captains is so poor that I die due to them. Was SoM this bad? Because I didn't have a bad word to say against that. It kind of reminds me of a Rockstar game in this regard.

On a 1070 the visuals look the same as SoM on ultra everything @ 1080p. Visuals don't bother me as much as the clunky UI (which makes AC look good) and the controls.

Hopefully things improve in Act2 now that I can apparently recruit orcses because I am 5hrs in and bored already.

 

[TNA]

Well I nabbed the gold edition for a tenner off CD Keys a day ago. I was shocked by the 100gb download but now that I've just started Act 2, I can see that the game is half a film.

Despite loving SoM, I am struggling hugely to get into this. It feels extremely clunky control wise and not how I remember SoM was - though in part this could be due to the fact that I'm playing this riding on the back of AC: Odyssey, which is a lot more freeform movement and combat wise.

In Odyssey I am constantly under attack non stop by mercs who are hunting me just like SoW and I love it - however the controls in SoW for fighting the orcs, especially the captains is so poor that I die due to them. Was SoM this bad? Because I didn't have a bad word to say against that. It kind of reminds me of a Rockstar game in this regard.

On a 1070 the visuals look the same as SoM on ultra everything @ 1080p. Visuals don't bother me as much as the clunky UI (which makes AC look good) and the controls.

Hopefully things improve in Act2 now that I can apparently recruit orcses because I am 5hrs in and bored already.

Picked up just the base game for £6.49 as I have zero interest in the rest. I only picked it up as I heard they fixed all the loot box nonsense.

Like you the visuals seem very similar to me. I thought I recall people saying this one had better graphics. But even at 4K maxed out it is exactly as remember the first one. The one good thing is the anti aliasing is very little in this game, so I don’t need to use any at 4K which helps image quality. Try playing a game like Prey without AA and it is huge jaggies galore everywhere, making AA mandatory even at 4K.

I also agree the UI is not the best, I will get used to it though. Just hope it does not take me 5 hours get into the game. Only played about an hour and it was ok.

 

[TNA]

@Kainz - Worked out why the graphics were not as good as I expected. I did not have the 4K texture pack and videos installed! It definitely looks better than the first one now. Surprised at how much difference it made actually. Everything looks sharper and more detailed now

Also the videos looked crap before, pixelated and compressed to hell. They look a hell of a lot better now to.

You need to go to the store page and look for the free dlc and click on them both. For some reason it launches the game when you do each time and did not even activate the download. Needed to go to owned dlc and uncheck and check the box again which downloaded around another 33gb. Totally worth it though. Might be worth checking out even if you don’t have a 4K monitor.

 

[Kainz]

@Kainz - Worked out why the graphics were not as good as I expected. I did not have the 4K texture pack and videos installed! It definitely looks better than the first one now. Surprised at how much difference it made actually. Everything looks sharper and more detailed now

Also the videos looked crap before, pixelated and compressed to hell. They look a hell of a lot better now to.

You need to go to the store page and look for the free dlc and click on them both. For some reason it launches the game when you do each time and did not even activate the download. Needed to go to owned dlc and uncheck and check the box again which downloaded around another 33gb. Totally worth it though. Might be worth checking out even if you don’t have a 4K monitor.

Cheers mate! Giving the Tex pack a download now - I had no idea it was a downloadable in the first place! I'll skip on the cinematics I guess, not too fussed but visual quality I could do with because things certainly don't look right.

How are you faring gameplay wise? I find it quite repetitive and I am still in Act 2 having captured my first fortress/stronghold in Nurnen and having now moved to Seregost. I am only Lv25 so far. The game picks up speed in Act2 once you can start dominating and recruiting orcs but the repetitive order of things doesn't change much.

 

[TNA]

Cheers mate! Giving the Tex pack a download now - I had no idea it was a downloadable in the first place! I'll skip on the cinematics I guess, not too fussed but visual quality I could do with because things certainly don't look right.

How are you faring gameplay wise? I find it quite repetitive and I am still in Act 2 having captured my first fortress/stronghold in Nurnen and having now moved to Seregost. I am only Lv25 so far. The game picks up speed in Act2 once you can start dominating and recruiting orcs but the repetitive order of things doesn't change much.

No problem

I am level 20, only started Act 2 recently. I agree it is repetitive, but I am getting enough enjoyment out of it and mixing it up with collecting things. Nearly collected everything on all 3 regions thus far and done all challenges. Story missions give a lot of xp which is probably why I am 5 levels behind you.

 

[TNA]

@Kainz - How far are you now mate? I got really into the game actually. Level 34 now. I am training my orcs at the pits

Did the texture pack make any difference for you?

Also do you die less now that you have levelled up? I hardly die anymore. Did get killed by an orc that has a perk that is called no chance so he killed me even though I had 2 more chances left. Lol.

 

[Kainz]

@Kainz - How far are you now mate? I got really into the game actually. Level 34 now. I am training my orcs at the pits

Did the texture pack make any difference for you?

Also do you die less now that you have levelled up? I hardly die anymore. Did get killed by an orc that has a perk that is called no chance so he killed me even though I had 2 more chances left. Lol.

I am Lv50 lol. Finding it horribly grindy getting orcs but that's the main thing keeping me going because the main story quests are dreadful, even though they do give you a ton of XP. I really love Ratbag

The texture pack did make a slight difference yes, but I noticed a lot of stutter in places as a region loads. It kinda put me off as it was using almost all the ram on my GPU too when enabled so I went back to using High settings for textures as I can live with them I suppose.

I have died a lot to Caragor ambushes whilst sneaking around in bushes! A QTE sequence plays out which always ruins me when you get attacked by them. I am being killed less by orcs yes but you NEED to die in order for the nemesis system to properly play out and it makes your killer a lot stronger as he moves up the ranks. I finished the Shelob vision quests last night and am back to fortifying my Nurn (the first fortress region) fortress as that is what other players are likely to attack if they do online conquests. Vengeance quests (avenging other player deaths) are excellent for recruiting high level orcs close to your level btw!

 

[TNA]

I am Lv50 lol. Finding it horribly grindy getting orcs but that's the main thing keeping me going because the main story quests are dreadful, even though they do give you a ton of XP. I really love Ratbag

The texture pack did make a slight difference yes, but I noticed a lot of stutter in places as a region loads. It kinda put me off as it was using almost all the ram on my GPU too when enabled so I went back to using High settings for textures as I can live with them I suppose.

I have died a lot to Caragor ambushes whilst sneaking around in bushes! A QTE sequence plays out which always ruins me when you get attacked by them. I am being killed less by orcs yes but you NEED to die in order for the nemesis system to properly play out and it makes your killer a lot stronger as he moves up the ranks. I finished the Shelob vision quests last night and am back to fortifying my Nurn (the first fortress region) fortress as that is what other players are likely to attack if they do online conquests. Vengeance quests (avenging other player deaths) are excellent for recruiting high level orcs close to your level btw!

Wow. Level 50?!? I have been doing story missions exclusively the past couple of hours and only got to level 44!

Gondor Quests = 100%
Shelob Quests = 100%
Eltariel Quests = 90% (rest locked until i do more siege missions I guess?)
Carnan Quests = 100%
Bruz Quests = 100%
Siege Missions = 43% (Going to work on these now )
Nemasis Missions = 47%
Shadow of Past = 40% (Too many of these, probably won't both with any more).
Web of Fate = 81%
Ithildin Door = 100%
Gondorian Artefacts = 96% (Might as well get the rest soon).
Challenges = 9% (Doubt I will both with this much).


So story seems to be mostly done. Just a few left it seems for me.

I have seen the game use 9.2GB of my available 12gb so far. Some levels 7.5gb is enough, others not so much. Not had much problems with Caragors or QTE myself. Not sure if I have done any Vengeance quests yet, but I do enjoy levelling up my orcs at the pits

Edit: Just updated my stats. Done playing for today

 

[Kainz]

Wow. Level 50?!? I have been doing story missions exclusively the past couple of hours and only got to level 44!

Gondor Quests = 100%
Shelob Quests = 100%
Eltariel Quests = 90% (rest locked until i do more siege missions I guess?)
Carnan Quests = 100%
Bruz Quests = 100%
Siege Missions = 43% (Going to work on these now )
Nemasis Missions = 47%
Shadow of Past = 40% (Too many of these, probably won't both with any more).
Web of Fate = 81%
Ithildin Door = 100%
Gondorian Artefacts = 96% (Might as well get the rest soon).
Challenges = 9% (Doubt I will both with this much).


So story seems to be mostly done. Just a few left it seems for me.

I have seen the game use 9.2GB of my available 12gb so far. Some levels 7.5gb is enough, others not so much. Not had much problems with Caragors or QTE myself. Not sure if I have done any Vengeance quests yet, but I do enjoy levelling up my orcs at the pits

Edit: Just updated my stats. Done playing for today

Lv44 is mighty impressive given you were at Lv20 not so long ago! I've been enjoying the Vendetta and raiding Fortresses heaps so you get a lot of good XP there. Vendetta's seem to get me the most XP and excellent orcs since you're actually entering another players world and most are already high leveled to the orc you'll meet is either a level below or above you.

Here's my stats:
Overall Completion: 71%

Gondor - 100%
Shelob - 100%
Elatariel - 90%
Carnan - 56%
Bruz <3 - 100%
Siege - 38%
Nemesis - 40%
Shadow of Past - 8% (lol, I cba with these either)
Web of Fate - 100%
Ithy Doors - 93%
Gondor Artifacts - 89%
Challenges - 80% (had no idea I was even completing these)

I just want more Ratbag - he's my true buddy in life and I loved him in SoM! I find Mirian (monies) a constant issue now even after selling all the junk I get. I think it is because I am too busy training up my orcs which does cost a lot.

Right, back to grinding!

From 40secs in

 

[TNA]

Lv44 is mighty impressive given you were at Lv20 not so long ago! I've been enjoying the Vendetta and raiding Fortresses heaps so you get a lot of good XP there. Vendetta's seem to get me the most XP and excellent orcs since you're actually entering another players world and most are already high leveled to the orc you'll meet is either a level below or above you.

Here's my stats:
Overall Completion: 71%

Gondor - 100%
Shelob - 100%
Elatariel - 90%
Carnan - 56%
Bruz <3 - 100%
Siege - 38%
Nemesis - 40%
Shadow of Past - 8% (lol, I cba with these either)
Web of Fate - 100%
Ithy Doors - 93%
Gondor Artifacts - 89%
Challenges - 80% (had no idea I was even completing these)

I just want more Ratbag - he's my true buddy in life and I loved him in SoM! I find Mirian (monies) a constant issue now even after selling all the junk I get. I think it is because I am too busy training up my orcs which does cost a lot.

Right, back to grinding!

From 40secs in

Not as impressive as going from level 25 to 50

So far I have 2-3 legendary orcs and quite a few epic one's. I try to avoid spending the Mirian on orcs if possible. Got about 50K right now waiting to be spend. Not sure if that is a lot or not.

I might do some vendetta missions as if I don't do them now, I will likely not bother later as I will probably uninstall the game due to taking up a quarter of my ssd. lol. Need to get a 1tb one next year me thinks

 

[heartburnron]

Had this for a around 6 months now but don't won't to have to free up the ridiculous amount of space it takes up to download it!

 

[Kainz]

Tell me about it. This is easily the biggest game on my 4TB HD and its left me with 100gb remaining

 

[MissJen]

Forgive me if this has been discussed previously in this thread, but is the Middle Earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition worth it, or should I just stick to the standard one?

 

[TNA]

Forgive me if this has been discussed previously in this thread, but is the Middle Earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition worth it, or should I just stick to the standard one?

Depends on how long you want to play the game. For my needs the standard edition is more than enough. I have zero interest in all the extras that comes with definitive edition personally. Just go look at the dlc and see if it interests you.

 

[TNA]

@Kainz - I just remembered. There is a pit you get 1500 mirian if your orc wins. Good way to level them and get mirian rather than spending mirian to upgrade the orcs. I only ever lost one orc and it was my fault for not checking my orc being terrified of caragors, he died in one hit to a lower level orc. Was an epic orc too

 

[Kainz]

Forgive me if this has been discussed previously in this thread, but is the Middle Earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition worth it, or should I just stick to the standard one?

I bought the gold edition for some £11 I think, when the standard was £6.50 on CD Keys. Given I've spent a fair amount of time ingame I'd also say the standard version is more than enough. I've got 3 other bits of dlc content in the menus here but I seriously doubt I'll touch them. The base game alone has enough grindy fun.

@Kainz - I just remembered. There is a pit you get 1500 mirian if your orc wins. Good way to level them and get mirian rather than spending mirian to upgrade the orcs. I only ever lost one orc and it was my fault for not checking my orc being terrified of caragors, he died in one hit to a lower level orc. Was an epic orc too

Yeah I did a quite a number of Warrior and Maggot pit fights but didn't really try the Champion ones - I found them a bit odd in that fighters and their followers just seem to stand around taking blows before finally getting aggressive at the last moment... Before they die. Same thing happened on the Online pit so I where I lost an epic orc who I liked

Speaking of orcs, I didn't know they could cross regions on the map! I had one orc who I faced very early on in at the Arena in Minas Ithil. I had obviously forgotten about him until he ambushed me whilst I was trying to take down a totem in an orc camp. He was wrapped in bandages and could barely speak! Said something along the lines of "remember me from the arena battle you filthy tark? I haven't forgotten... Etc". I was absolutely lost for words as a benny hill chase around a base full of orcs began as I had no arrows!

Also saw a spoiler thumbnail somehow by accident on YouTube about Talion's future ingame. Think I am close to the end so not fussed. It would seem he gets a hugely awesome skill at some point.

Spoiler: Skill description:

Apparently he gets the ability to ressurect orcses

 

[TNA]

I bought the gold edition for some £11 I think, when the standard was £6.50 on CD Keys. Given I've spent a fair amount of time ingame I'd also say the standard version is more than enough. I've got 3 other bits of dlc content in the menus here but I seriously doubt I'll touch them. The base game alone has enough grindy fun.


Yeah I did a quite a number of Warrior and Maggot pit fights but didn't really try the Champion ones - I found them a bit odd in that fighters and their followers just seem to stand around taking blows before finally getting aggressive at the last moment... Before they die. Same thing happened on the Online pit so I where I lost an epic orc who I liked

Speaking of orcs, I didn't know they could cross regions on the map! I had one orc who I faced very early on in at the Arena in Minas Ithil. I had obviously forgotten about him until he ambushed me whilst I was trying to take down a totem in an orc camp. He was wrapped in bandages and could barely speak! Said something along the lines of "remember me from the arena battle you filthy tark? I haven't forgotten... Etc". I was absolutely lost for words as a benny hill chase around a base full of orcs began as I had no arrows!

Also saw a spoiler thumbnail somehow by accident on YouTube about Talion's future ingame. Think I am close to the end so not fussed. It would seem he gets a hugely awesome skill at some point.

Spoiler: Skill description:

Apparently he gets the ability to ressurect orcses

So I completed the game finally. But will still be playing a bit more to do the siege missions and give the online one's a go.

Overall Completion = 95%
Level = 50

Gondor Quests = 100%
Shelob Quests = 100%
Eltariel Quests = 100%
Carnan Quests = 100%
Bruz Quests = 100%

Siege Missions = 86% (3 left now I think).
Nemesis Missions = 97% (Struggling to finish the last champions pit where I get orcs level 55-65)
Shadow of Past = 55%
Web of Fate = 100%
Ithildin Door = 100%
Gondorian Artefacts = 100%
Challenges = 17% (Watch this, it changes, was are 47% at one point, then went back down).


The orc that moved map i think is by design for the story mode, you can do it manually yourself by garrisoning them, but it is very expensive for it to be worth it.

These Siege missions give a lot of xp. Completed the game I was 47. Now 50, but I lost my last defence due to one of my guys turning on me and killing me with his no chance perk. Now need to take the region back. Still levelled up 1 level even losing though at least

 

[V F]

Tell me about it. This is easily the biggest game on my 4TB HD and its left me with 100gb remaining

I'm starting to feel 256GB SSDs no longer cuts it these days. Imagine, Shadow of War 100GB... Doom 3 80GB and Destiny 2 80GB ish... Or even COD4 80GB.

 

[Kainz]

My boot drive is 120gb lol. Couldn't agree more.

 

[TNA]

I'm starting to feel 256GB SSDs no longer cuts it these days. Imagine, Shadow of War 100GB... Doom 3 80GB and Destiny 2 80GB ish... Or even COD4 80GB.

I have been on 500gb for a couple of years now. Games are just too big the past few years.