Video Game Thread 2.0

[Askold]

So anyone else watched any Shadows of Mordor gameplay? I spent last night watching a friend of mine stream it. Lovely great game, I can't wait to play it myself. Now if only they didn't have a few camera and button issues...

It looks pretty snazzy to me. Like Assassin's Creed, only with good combat. Not to mention, the whole branding system and using it to take control of Sauron's upper brass looks pretty cool. Definitely something to consider picking up in a sale, once all the DLC is out.

I've watched a bit into it and it seems cool. I've also seen a comment from a buddy who hates Lord of the rings saying that the game is the first Tolkien related thing he likes.

Does it stop with the whole super hippy "all technology since the Dark Ages is bad" bullshit, at least?  Or, if nothing else, does it make the elves not insufferable pricks?

Where do you get the hate for all technology? The only bit I remember opposing any kind of technology was an offhand mention of how some of the most loudest/dangerous weapons had been invented by goblins. It wasn't a complaint about all tech, just that goblins did some really nasty weapons.

[Sigmaleph]

IIRC, Isengard was supposed to symbolise the evils of industrialization.

[Askold]

IIRC, Isengard was supposed to symbolise the evils of industrialization.

And orcs were supposed to symbolice the inferiour blacks who along with the other "multicultural" rabble from Mordor assail the "White-European" Gondor or wait was Mordor just an obvious symbol for Nazi- and/or Kaiser-Germany? Most of the times I've heard people talk about symbolism in Lord of the rings they are talking out of their ass.

[Second Coming of Madman]

I just wonder if there's any bit of Tolkien's lore that hasn't been shattered to pieces by Shadow of Mordor.

Trying very hard not to get all condescending lore purist here.

I had a argument with my brother over this, funnily enough. Yeah, it does take liberties with the Elven afterlife.

[Witchyjoshy]

It takes place in an alternate continuity, I found out.  That basically means all bets are off.

[Cloud3514]

If it's not in the same continuity, what was the point of making it a Lord of the Rings game, then?

[Svata]

Familiar places, names, and the chance to cash in on the high fantasy IP's name.

[Cloud3514]

Familiar places, names, and the chance to cash in on the high fantasy IP's name.

I get the business reasons (IE, probably the real reason it's a Lord of the Rings game), but it just seems lazy for any other reason.

[RavynousHunter]

Why make any game that's in an alternate timeline to another established story?  The regular Lord of the Rings has been done to death, an AU gives writers a chance to try something new in an established universe.  That's like asking why you'd want to play in Eberron when you have Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk; people want something familiar, yet different.

[Second Coming of Madman]

Why make any game that's in an alternate timeline to another established story?  The regular Lord of the Rings has been done to death, an AU gives writers a chance to try something new in an established universe.  That's like asking why you'd want to play in Eberron when you have Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk; people want something familiar, yet different.

This.

[Askold]

Why make any game that's in an alternate timeline to another established story?  The regular Lord of the Rings has been done to death, an AU gives writers a chance to try something new in an established universe.  That's like asking why you'd want to play in Eberron when you have Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk; people want something familiar, yet different.

This.

You can start the game in a familiar setting and THEN actually change things rather than keep the story tied to canon. Particularly when you wish to explore time before the book/movie/series.

For example, what if you made a Avatar strategy game set during the attack of the Fire nation? Canon would mean that the Fire nation must win or at least conquer most of the planet but "Alternate Continuity" would allow the possibility of one of the other nations winning or an allied victory or anything.

It would still be the same world (although with only a few of the characters) but the game designers and writers could do something different with it.

[Ultimate Paragon]

In other news, it looks like a record's just been broken:

https://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/-star-citizen--earns-guiness-world-record-for-insane-crowdfunding-haul-203604603.html

[Sigmaleph]

IIRC, Isengard was supposed to symbolise the evils of industrialization.

And orcs were supposed to symbolice the inferiour blacks who along with the other "multicultural" rabble from Mordor assail the "White-European" Gondor or wait was Mordor just an obvious symbol for Nazi- and/or Kaiser-Germany? Most of the times I've heard people talk about symbolism in Lord of the rings they are talking out of their ass.

I thought I had an actual Tolkien quote for it, but I can't find it now and might have hallucinated the whole thing, so I won't deny there's a chance I was talking out of my ass.

[Dakota Bob]

In other news, it looks like a record's just been broken:

https://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/-star-citizen--earns-guiness-world-record-for-insane-crowdfunding-haul-203604603.html

I'm sure this game will be fun when it releases in 2050 

[Cerim Treascair]

I have been playing sooooo much League of Legends today.  5 matches, only one of them a loss (because the opposite team pushed mid HARD with a brutal Azir), and totaling 34/35/26.  Ain't bad for only playing solely Nasus and Kennen, the latter of whom I haven't touched in almost two years.

As Nasus says, the cycle of life and death continues.  We will live.  They will die.