Shadow of Mordor
Now that Shadow of Mordor is out, I'm seriously considering buying it.
It's basically the Batman Arkham games, with a lot of orc killing, a severely lore broken story which makes no sense, some more orc killing, a political system, and a nice open world. Because of the awful artistic license taken on the story, I'm going to go out of my way to avoid all of these wraith abilities and things. I've heard from a multitude of people that some things you can't avoid, which is unfortunate, but it's probably still worth playing the game just for a nice deal of fun. Thoughts? |
Back in January I had a short-lived discussion about it here:
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=18621 Having played Assassin's Creed 1, 2, Brotherhood, Revelations and some of 3 and 4 in the last few years (goodness knows why, I think the historical gimmick and the climbing buildings gimmick suckered me in) I think I'm a bit burned out on this kind of action game. I played the Battle for Middle-earth strategy games but they were basically just interpretations of events from the books (and films of course). I'm not so interested in some fan-fic a bunch of game developers (who let's face it, are not in a profession generally renowned for great writing in the mainstream Triple-A industry at least) have cooked up. This is why I said in the other thread that the Kin-strife might be good fodder for a game: lots of juicy racism, extremely violent, obvious villain (Castamir), also doesn't have to wildly contradict original narrative material. |
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The nemesis system looks very interesting and worth playing around with. I've never really experienced good orc killing before, because War in the North just fell so very flat for me, so I think I would enjoy that aspect of it. It seems like that after a few driver updates, it will be running reasonably well. After watching TotalBiscuit's *** is... video on it, I'm pretty sure I can try and snag it at the end of the year. |
It is things like this game that make me wish pop culture would leave Tolkien alone.
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Whazzat? Walking through Middle-earth? Orc killing? Anger at lore-tampering?
Have you checked this out? |
I couldn't help myself any longer...
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So, being a masochist, and in some small way wanting to try to give it a fair shake, but mostly thinking "surely this will be just as bad as I expect", I started watching a Let's Play of Shadow of Mordor. It did not disappoint. I immediately noted that the orcs looked like something straight out of Warhammer or World of Warcraft. However, I did not intend to come here and comment on that. Then the LPer even commented that the orcs looked like something out of Warhammer or World of Warcraft. I still did not intend to come here and comment on that. However, when I saw Thrall from his young gangsta days I could no longer resist. As a minor aside, I just discovered that WB made every LPer they could get their hands on take down their videos of the game. The cynical mind wonders if they have something to hide. ;) |
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a) who gets advertising money from the video, which is used as the excuse for: b) big companies like WB are scared that Let's Play videos will put people off getting the game or they will watch the video instead of bothering to buy the game. It's especially problematic, I think, in this time when big-budget modern video games are so devoted to flashy graphics and spectacle. Often people care more about seeing what happens than playing it themselves, probably because these games are so repetitive. This is just more dilution of Tolkien into 'franchise' and 'product,' a process which will continue to hold back the efforts to have these texts taken seriously as literature. |
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There will never be a concerted effort to devise a canonistic version of a Middle-earth video game. That went out the door when Middle-earth Online (MEO) was abandoned for the farcical Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). I was among several well-versed gamers who spent a few years offering input into the original MEO, but the developer (Turbine, may their name be forever cursed) abandoned the original concept for a World of Warcraft knock-off renamed LOTRO that Turbine wanted to market as direct competition for said WoW.
I alpha and beta tested LOTRO, levelled out several times with several characters, and became violently ill at the inane end result. I never played a Middle-earth based game again. As a farewell present, I offered a blistering review of the aborted offspring of Turbine, and I am sure the name Morthoron the Dark Elf is still whispered fearfully in dark corners of their misbegotten forums. :D |
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However, to provide further context for the quoted post I was meaning that people might see the gameplay itself and not like it, thus deterring them from buying the game. Quote:
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I didn't think I would ever say something like this...
I came across a synopsis of the plot of this game. Let's just say it gave me a new appreciation for Peter Jackson's gifts as a storyteller and an appreciation for his faithful adherence to the letter and spirit of Tolkien's works.
You may mark this day on your calendar. ;) |
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I really don't understand how hard it is to set something in the first age around an event with basically no details, then invent your own characters for it. That way, nobody can complain are lore breaking, because you confined it to a certain event, you made your own characters that nobody can criticize for not being what the character was actually like, and the gameplay can still be amazing. What idiots we have making our games. Seriously, the title 'Middle Earth: Insert Name Here' will sell. Doesn't need to be recognizable by anyone, because they will buy it. |
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The plot of the game is contrary to the letter and spirit of Tolkien falling literally under the label of something Tolkien repeatedly criticized in "trying to use the weapons and means of the Enemy against him" with first Celebrimbor and then the Celebrimbor/Talion wraith-hybrid dominating and using orc armies to fight Sauron and trying to set themselves up as the "Bright Lords of Mordor." Vomitus stuff, really. |
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It could easily have been an appendix in the RotK, or had some mention in the main story, as a background/aside. |
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-at one point Celebrimbor stole the One Ring and tried to take over Mordor himself, Orcs and all (what happened to the War of the Elves and Sauron?) -Núrn was a kingdom of seafarers taken over by Sauron and their true queen was possessed by Saruman (did they think their Lake was so big it was actually the ocean?) -outcasts from Gondor live inside Mordor (presumably the Lord of the Nazgûl was confounded by some loophole when it came to evicting squatters) -human sacrifice, instead of being the intentionally wasteful practice of a mendacious religion, actually has magical powers -Sauron can possess people? -Men think they can make Rings of Power -Celebrimbor's spirit hung around for four thousand years or so instead of heading straight for Mandos after he was slain The only idea that comes across as remotely plausible to me is the notion of Black Númenórean lieutenants with titles rather than names. As I speculated in that other thread, of course, it'd probably be a violence-for-violence's-sake generic revenge story that completely contradicts the arguments of Tolkien's work, and clearly it is. I predict that someone on the internet at some point will inexplicably use Túrin as an example to justify this. |
Interesting article here about how the game contradicts Professor Tolkien's themes by presenting violence and revenge as entertainment:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...ien-Fanfiction A highlight is this remark which I think could also apply to a lot of commentary on both the books and adaptations: Quote:
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That's the problem with a lot of Tolkien discourse, I think. It's so muddled between critical thinking and pop-culture-style consumption. I get the impression it's been this way since long before there was anything but the books, though. |
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Being a fan of the books means that you care about what happens, and while you can be a fan of both, I find the story of Shadow of Mordor to just be insulting and ungood. |
Unfortunately I have just learned that a sequel to this game is coming out, which apparently (absurdly) involves the main character making his own Ring (something even Saruman seems to have failed to properly do) and challenging Sauron for supremacy.:rolleyes:
Just another piece of consumerist sputum vomited out of the adaptation meat-grinder I suppose. |
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I think my biggest problem with this is it just contributes all the more to the miasma of misinformation which surrounds the books, the culture in which the books are treated as completely interchangeable with the adaptations. |
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On this forum the Canon is used to support or deconstruct various discussions, and obviously the vast majority here are ardent fans of the books. But I have difficulty seeing why the general public, especially the 'gamer' clique, would be so concerned about the 'legitimacy' of the games. Are they that sensitive to criticisms of the games they perceive might come from people, say, like us? Admittedly, I may have a colored view of those who would buy games like SoM, and devoted readers of the books might well be also avid gamers who could overlook the extreme liberties taken with the source material. I'm just not one of those people. |
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