Shadows of Mordor

brennok said:
I hit a wall in this game and I just can't get past it. It almost feels like I may have to reset.

I am currently on the first warchief, but I can't kill him due to the huge number of enemies. No matter what I do they just keep coming where I can barely move and I can't kill them quick enough. I also can't do any of the conflicts because they are also higher levels and I just get slaughtered. As a result I can't progress to unlock any new abilities that would help me since they all require more power and to be further in the story. I have 6 unspent ability points and nothing I can spend them on.
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This situation is not impossible, just gotta think outside the box. I saw a similar complaint on another board where a guy could not deal with a Warchief, then a hanging bees nest of all things caused him to flee and make him an easier takedown away from the pack.

The thing about taking out a captain or warchief within a big mob is you can't get bogged down in trying to kill the mob before eventually getting around to him, because they're neverending - especially in a stronghold. You have to "surf" the mob, meaning you're focused on damaging the boss while keeping the rest at bay with parrying even though you're totally surrounded. Or try kiting the boss away from the pack, chip away some more. Obviously you want to know his weaknesses from the intel. If he's in a stronghold, try to stay up high on buildings and sneak up on his ass.

When surrounded by a large mob I'll usually stun attack the boss, hit him a few times with the flurry, parry the pests that are at my back, flurry the boss again with a few more hits, repeat until he pops and goes green, by then the sword is usually charged up (turns blue) and you can execute. If he's invulnerable to stun attacks and pushes you away when you try to stun, jump over him and stun from the back. Or kite him and the mob to a fire and blow it up if there's one nearby, usually takes down half the healthbar.

There are many ways to approach, I wouldn't start the game over - I'd see it as a challenge.
 
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Anyone here with a 6GB videocard? Would you mind running a benchmark with Ultra textures and reporting the memory usage, along with your resolution? I have a hunch that the developer's recommendation about "6GB for Ultra" may not be off base after all, at least that its the ideal to avoid texture swapping (which results in stuttering). In other words, you can run Ultra with 3GB or 4GB, but the engine will only run a subset of the textures and continually have to swap them in and out.

Example my 970 with 4GB will show 3550MB in use during the benchmark (1920x1080), but I think the game would use more if more VRAM if it were available. And ofcourse higher resolutions will require more VRAM, I've seen some reports in the 5500-5900MB VRAM usage range @ 4k resolution.

FWIW, I looked at a bunch of Ultra/High/Medium texture screenshots in a comparison. The diff between Medium and High is noticeable (though not drastic), but the diff between High and Ultra is practically placebo. It was very apparent that running High is really not missing out on anything - it is essentially the "Ultra" experience, and mostly you're missing the psychological contentment of the word Ultra in the settings. I'd gladly take High + 2x or 4x AA over Ultra without AA at the same level of performance if given the choice.
 
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The ultra textures seem to add objects on surfaces more than anything, I have no stuttering on my rig even with ultra with a 3gb card and I do not use vsync i just cap at 144fps and get no tearing I can see even when dropping to 60 fps
 
I do not know how that is possible as my 4gb card hits an obvious vram wall with ultra textures enabled at 1080p resolution.
 
Mchart said:
I do not know how that is possible as my 4gb card hits an obvious vram wall with ultra textures enabled at 1080p resolution.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-eyes-on-with-pc-shadow-of-mordors-6gb-textures

Basically the development team's artists had 6GB video cards in their machines when designing the game. That was their baseline configuration that they tested and worked in. When it came time to port the game to consoles and to the mainstream PC crowd, compromises were made. But since the unaltered original assets were still available, they decided to pack up the full experience and make a HD texture pack for those who have 6GB video cards.

Here is the quote from the article.

"To make a world as rich and detailed, especially the characters - we put so much into the enemies with the nemesis system and everything - our artists are making things at an outrageously high fidelity," he said.

"They are on monster PCs making the highest possible quality stuff and then we find ways to optimise it, to fit onto next-gen, to fit onto PCs at high-end specs. Then obviously there's going to be that boundary where our monster development PCs are running it OK - but why not give people the option to crank it up? It makes sense to get it out into the world there - we have it, we built it that way to look as good as possible. You might as well, right?"
 
This game is great. One thing though.... I only made it so far, and I already see stuff repeating. Feast, executions, duels, ambush... I really wish they had more things.
 
Wow really? After destiny the last thing i need is another repetitive quest. Guess ill wait for the price to drop.
 
I played a bit too late last night and now I'm paying for it at work today.

I was chasing down a pack that had 2 marked with the green "intel" icons, and was so wrapped up in taking the rest out, I killed the 2 with intel along with the rest.

I sat there looking at the bodies and my mind couldnt even remember how the hell you interrogate them in the first place? Wasnt it some wraith power when they are knocked down? Of course it would help to remember that when I'm in a mental bloodlust and slaying everything in front of me..... :rolleyes:

I think the thing I love the most is just how much you can roam around. So used to FFXIV where there are walls everywhere. Been a long time since I felt like I was free to wander. :)

My performance has been ok I guess. I had FFXIV running in the background while playing and SoM stil ran pretty well using the auto config settings. I wish I had the money for a video card upgrade but thats not gonna happen for a long time now.
 
I played about 20mins before work this morning, so far I'm really enjoying it, I debated taking the day off work to continue. It runs great so far with a Titan Black at 1440p (PG278Q) at recommended settings (Ultra everything except AO which is recommended High). I benchmarked it with AO Ultra and averaged 55 fps in the built in benchmark, but the minimum fps was something like 30, so I decided to use the recommended settings. The game looks great after you install the Ultra textures. Although I am kind of disappointed with their low quality videos in the game but I won't let that bother me too much.
 
Tri-x 290 w/ stock clocks gets 59 fps on benchmark, auto-detected high settings @ 1440p.
 
I like the game but honestly the WORST part of this game is the stupid captains and such stopping the action to talk to you for a few unskippable number of seconds. It happens even if in the middle of a fight, or even a combo. As soon as that idiot captain orc is close everything stops and focus on you an it crossing swords and him talking to you. *sigh*
 
brennok said:
I hit a wall in this game and I just can't get past it. It almost feels like I may have to reset.

I am currently on the first warchief, but I can't kill him due to the huge number of enemies. No matter what I do they just keep coming where I can barely move and I can't kill them quick enough. I also can't do any of the conflicts because they are also higher levels and I just get slaughtered. As a result I can't progress to unlock any new abilities that would help me since they all require more power and to be further in the story. I have 6 unspent ability points and nothing I can spend them on.
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You have to pay attention and you will see a "torch" symbol for this... don't let them call reinforcements. Kill whoever is making a move for that. More stealth. Work from above. Pick your spots. It's well worth it to learn the strengths and weaknesses ahead of time of chiefs and captains. You may very well be going after a warchief you are not prepared to take on yet as well. This is where the game has some RPG roots going for it. You can't just waltz in wherever you want and kick ass unchecked which I'm happy about.


I'll say it again: I think this is triumphant return for Monolith.
 
I like that, it gives them character but it is a way to build up them remembering you and referring to past encounters.

Sure it can look "strange" when it the thick of fighting and if there's more then one, but I'd rather have it then not.
 
Stiler said:
I like that, it gives them character but it is a way to build up them remembering you and referring to past encounters.

Sure it can look "strange" when it the thick of fighting and if there's more then one, but I'd rather have it then not.
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I like that there are ramifications and direct results for both success and failures.

If you get killed, that enemy that killed you becomes a rock star and gets promoted and then other enemies get promoted... really good.
 
Q-BZ said:
You have to pay attention and you will see a "torch" symbol for this... don't let them call reinforcements. Kill whoever is making a move for that.
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Yup, save your focus and arrows. As long as you're in "bullet time", you can shoot while in melee pretty safely.

More stealth. Work from above. Pick your spots.
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Yup, if you get a big pack coming after you, don't be afraid to run for cover and stealth. Uruk are dumb. You can shake them pretty easily. Then just attract the boss away from the group and get some one-on-one time with him.
 
My advice is to eliminate all ranged first (you should kill all archers before engaging if possible), namely the hunters (spear guys). It's easy to parry and slightly less easy to dodge the shield guys, but getting hit by ranged hunters will chip away at your health quickly.

You can also shoot arrows from stealth, as long as you're still in focus mode when you let go of the bow-button the chances of them seeing you are small.

This is much more obvious, but shooting the cages for the caragors and letting them loose (especially if there's caragor bait to shoot too) will decimate a stronghold with very little intervention on your part.
 
Q-BZ said:
You have to pay attention and you will see a "torch" symbol for this... don't let them call reinforcements. Kill whoever is making a move for that. More stealth. Work from above. Pick your spots. It's well worth it to learn the strengths and weaknesses ahead of time of chiefs and captains. You may very well be going after a warchief you are not prepared to take on yet as well. This is where the game has some RPG roots going for it. You can't just waltz in wherever you want and kick ass unchecked which I'm happy about.


I'll say it again: I think this is triumphant return for Monolith.
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Can't wait...to play this...tonight...I went ahead and got some crazy low prices on parts and decided to build an AMD rig for a change, and also watercool it. So pumped!
 
Stiler said:
I like that, it gives them character but it is a way to build up them remembering you and referring to past encounters.

Sure it can look "strange" when it the thick of fighting and if there's more then one, but I'd rather have it then not.
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Yeah it does give them character and was interesting at first, but I have pretty much seen and heard every single one of their speeches already so I really want to just press B and skip it. Now it's just an annoyance that gets on my nerves ever time it happens.
 
LurkerLito said:
Yeah it does give them character and was interesting at first, but I have pretty much seen and heard every single one of their speeches already so I really want to just press B and skip it. Now it's just an annoyance that gets on my nerves ever time it happens.
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at least you can skip cutscenes unlock destiny where your forced to watch minute long ones over and over again during the grind.

That being said i dont tend to remember the captains and what the previous encounter ended like so i agree its more of an irritant than added value to me
 
Limahl said:
Oh and I found a troll thing with 3 red daggers over him.... nasty.. and the only death I've had so far, which for me I think is pretty good..
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The 3 vertical streaks means it's a "beast."

Fun fact, you can ride those Trolls later.
 
LurkerLito said:
I like the game but honestly the WORST part of this game is the stupid captains and such stopping the action to talk to you for a few unskippable number of seconds. It happens even if in the middle of a fight, or even a combo. As soon as that idiot captain orc is close everything stops and focus on you an it crossing swords and him talking to you. *sigh*
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If that's the worst part of the game for you then I reckon Monolith did a pretty good job with the game overall :) Seriously though that's a valid criticism, it hasn't bothered me yet but I may not feel the same in 10 or 20 more hours. If the dev patched in the ability to skip those but have the taunt speech continue, I would not say no. On the bright side, at least the developer respects the player enough to allow skipping cutscenes, which is more than can be said for a certain other recent game (I'm looking at you, Bungie)
 
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DPI said:
If that's the worst part of the game for you then I reckon Monolith did a pretty good job with the game overall :) Seriously though that's a valid criticism, it hasn't bothered me yet but I may not feel the same in 10 or 20 more hours. If the dev patched in the ability to skip those but have the taunt speech continue, I would not say no. On the bright side, at least the developer respects the player enough to allow skipping cutscenes, which is more than can be said for a certain other recent game (I'm looking at you, Bungie)
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Absolutely. If 5-10 second cutscenes are the biggest complaints than bravo Monolith.
 
IceCream Sundae said:
This game any good? Just wondering, tempted to get it...
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I would say get it, there's a 25% off code for GMG in the [H]ot Deals forum. I used it last night and got the game downloading, played it about 20mins before work today and was impressed, I wasn't even interested in this game until I saw TB's video and am actually excited to get home and play for a change and haven't had that feeling in years.
 
How is it playing on a 2 GB card, though? Is it pretty disappointing being forced to use Medium textures?
 
I just gave up on the game. I understand what everyone is saying, but this isn't possible in the quest in my game. I have to challenge Mogg on a platform so I can't see anyone running for the alarm. It doesn't matter that I clear the platform before he jumps down since when he jumps down so do 4 other shield guys. At which point immediately people start climbing the ladders and I can barely move on the platform. If I try to jump off the platform it says abandoning area.

I shot down the meat to attract the caragor but they kill it in three hits at which point his health resets. Combine that with the fact I don't see the shield counters until after they hit it makes it impossible for me. The same thing happens with the caragor attacks. The dodge counter only pops up after they hit me.

I only have 7 or 8 captains I haven't killed and those are now either veteran or higher because they have powered up so many times from killing me.

Up until this point I was having fun, but it just seems like my difficulty went from 1 to 100 in a single move.
 
MavericK96 said:
How is it playing on a 2 GB card, though? Is it pretty disappointing being forced to use Medium textures?
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I'm playing on Low (not lowest) on my laptop, and the game is STILL gorgeous. I cranked it up to ultra and ran it through the benchmark to see some of the visual differences, and there aren't enough to worry about (imho)

I jump between medium and low depending on if I want 45fps or the full 60.

You won't be upset playing on Medium.
 
brennok said:
I just gave up on the game. I understand what everyone is saying, but this isn't possible in the quest in my game. I have to challenge Mogg on a platform so I can't see anyone running for the alarm. It doesn't matter that I clear the platform before he jumps down since when he jumps down so do 4 other shield guys. At which point immediately people start climbing the ladders and I can barely move on the platform. If I try to jump off the platform it says abandoning area.

I shot down the meat to attract the caragor but they kill it in three hits at which point his health resets. Combine that with the fact I don't see the shield counters until after they hit it makes it impossible for me. The same thing happens with the caragor attacks. The dodge counter only pops up after they hit me.

I only have 7 or 8 captains I haven't killed and those are now either veteran or higher because they have powered up so many times from killing me.

Up until this point I was having fun, but it just seems like my difficulty went from 1 to 100 in a single move.
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Hmm shield guys are tough, I don't bother to look for the press A sign, I just keep an eye out for when they are close and when they are I just press the jump button to vault over them and stun them. If you don't have that skill unlocked yet (the vault stun) then you might need to do other quests to power up and get it. It helps with the shield guys a lot. The 2 most important skills for me are vault stun, and the one that reduces your streak from 8 hits to 5 hits to enable executions. With shield guys, the low level guys climbing up to the platform are your fuel. Attack them fast build up the streak, then only release the execution on the shield guys, if someone is in your way just vault over them only. That takes care of them immediately or in a few shots (for high level ones).
 
MavericK96 said:
How is it playing on a 2 GB card, though? Is it pretty disappointing being forced to use Medium textures?
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my vid card is the weakest link in my build - running it on a 3-year-old 6950 and have no complaints (1080 though).
 
MavericK96 said:
How is it playing on a 2 GB card, though? Is it pretty disappointing being forced to use Medium textures?
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Medium textures are still fantastic. I actually ran the game on low for a while just to see what it looked like - still looked great. The comparison site I looked at (link below) made it apparent that the delta between Medium/High/Ultra is very thin, and you've got to be looking with a magnifying glass to see any diff.

There are some games where texture quality really takes a hit the lower you go, but the key to understanding the difference in this game is that because the bar for Ultra is so high @ 6GB, it raises the bar for High/Medium/Low. In other words, High/Ultra in other games is roughly equivalent to Low/Medium or Medium/High in SoM.

Here's a site comparing Ultra/High/Medium: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-eyes-on-with-pc-shadow-of-mordors-6gb-textures
 
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MavericK96 said:
How is it playing on a 2 GB card, though? Is it pretty disappointing being forced to use Medium textures?
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I'm running a 680 2GB with High textures and 1080p, no performance penalty as far as I can tell. Fps is 60 in big fights, 75+ running around, momentary dip to 45 when hitting 25 orcs with an explosion.

5p23WDU.jpg
 
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