Key

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

I know it's been a while since I've updated this journal. I think I got a little bit too burned out from horror month, and I just needed to take a little while to get away from writing. I feel like i'm back again and ready to write about games more than ever. So, I want to start off with talking about a game I got only a few days ago, but have already put about 5 hours of gameplay into it. It is of course Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

So, what is this game you ask? Well, in the simplest of terms, it's an open world Lord of the Rings RPG. In more complex terms, imagine taking the stealth aspect of Assassins Creed, the open world aspect of Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto and the like, and mixing it all up with the Lord of the Rings lore and the combat system of the Batman Arkham games. I know that may seem a little bit overwhelming at first, but somehow it seems to work really well when it's done the right way.

This game has got a very unique style of gameplay in the sense of story progression. I don't want to really spoil anything, but basically, as you are playing through the game, you'll find yourself in battles with what they call "Captains, Warchiefs, Chieftans, etc" and each rank gets difficult as you can imagine. However, the twist is that the more times you die against a certain ranked orc, the more powerful they become. Basically, you're trying to fight off as many of saurons army as you can without allowing them to promote through the ranks and get stronger. I'm playing through it for my first time and i'm already starting to realize that the amount of deaths that I allowed to occur in the first hour or so really made my game a lot more difficult than it should be. But, the idea of your enemy becoming stronger the more you die is certainly a unique one, but it works really well in this setting. The other twist is that sometimes if an orc wants a certain rank, and another orc already has that rank, they will fight each other and most of the time, the orc wanting the rank will win and take over that rank. It adds a bit of competition and a hint of jealousy as you fight through captain after captain after captain. You obviously want to be careful as you try to take them on though, because sometimes they'll have gained enough influence in their rank to allow other unranked orcs to follow them around and help them in battle. And of course, you'll find yourself fighting against three or maybe four captains at once, and at that point you may as well just run away. There's no shame in that, i've done it multiple times.

When this game was first released, I actually didn't know a whole lot about it, nor do I claim to know much about it now. However, I knew upon release it did really well and everyone who played it seemed to really like it. Truth be told, the only reason I got it is because I was able to snag it off Steam for under 20 bucks with all the DLC's included. I'm now seeing that that price was definitely worth it, and as I said in the games thread, I would probably buy this game at full retail. Especially with a mixture of top notch graphics and the beautifully done voice acting. Everything about the game is so well done that it really does make for such a fantastic experience that I personally would pay over 60 bucks for. But I didn't.

Anyway, I highly recommend this game for anybody who is interested in a new open world style game and I strongly and highly recommend this game if you're interested in anything Lord of the Rings. I can't say that i'm a total fanboy for Lord of the Rings, but I do know for a fact that the entire franchise is a work of art. I actually have fond memories of watching the movies for the first time, and playing through Lord of The Rings: The Third Age, which if I remember correctly was one of the first RPG experiences I've ever had. It really does the lore aspect of the franchise justice as well as making a great game for the catalog of games in the Lord of the Rings franchise.

The last thing I will mention is that the lore is very well implemented into the game. With the story telling of the game itself, you'll find yourself running into familiar faces and names such as Sauron and Golem to name a few. I haven't gotten far enough into the game to see if there are any other linked names between the game and the movies, but the story the game tells on it's own is enough to get you interested. Everything about it is just fantastic and makes for a beautiful experience in a video game.

So go play it, i'm going to do that right now. Have a good time.

Key

I'm sure everybody and their mother knows by now that Fallout 4 has been released. Hell, it's been pretty much what everyone has been talking about for the last week. With good reason, of course. But yes, it's been released, and I have about 5 hours of pure gameplay time put into it right now, which is great considering I've only been playing at night due to work. I actually got it as soon as it released as well, so I was ready to go the minute the clock struck 9pm. Anyway, let's talk about the game for a little bit, shall we?

So, what is Fallout 4? It's a sequel to Fallout 3, are you dumb? Just kidding. It's obviously a step forward in the Fallout series, which for whatever reason, a lot of people disagree with. It's only been out for a few days, and I can't even begin to tell you how many negative reviews i've seen about the game already. "Oh, the graphics are bad" "Oh, I can't wait until modders fix this game" "Oh, it's like a step in the backwards direction". I have a few words for those people: "shut the **** up and be happy you got a game this great." Yes, Fallout 4, to me, exceeds all expectations I had for it. With the hype that it built up ever since a full reveal at E3, I really feel like this release was worth the wait and the hype was worth it. Everything to the perk system to the way the game feels to the graphics are all top notch. I always want to mention that for me personally, I had absolutely no trouble playing the game as soon as it launched. There have been times with other games where the minute the game is released, the game is broken to the point that you can't even play it until a patch is released. Bethesda must've done a number of tests to be sure that this game actually worked on released, and it does so with flying colors. I wasn't too sure how I felt about the game being set in Boston as I don't really have a lot of knowledge about the place like I do with Washington DC from Fallout 3, but they have done a good job to make sure that even for someone that doesn't know the area of Boston too well, it's still a fun experience to walk around and find loot and kill baddies. I'll talk about some more of the changes that were made in this game that do make the game better in some ways. In the simplest way I can put it right now, I'm having a blast with this game and I strongly urge you to ignore any negative feedback regarding the game, because it's fantastic.

So, onto some of the noticeable changes in Fallout 4. For one, the new VATS system is quite good. In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, the VATS system would freeze time, allowing you to aim your shots accordingly and take out an enemy with one or two headshots right away. In Fallout 4, the VATS system no longer freezes time. It now slows down time, but still gives the enemy a chance to come after you and hit you. I actually like this change a lot, because it doesn't make VATS an "easy way out" as it felt in the previous games. Another change that I really like is how radiation poisoning works. In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, I wasn't entirely sure how the radiation poisoning worked in terms of your health and ability to keep your HP up, etc. In Fallout 4, the radiation poisoning actually effects your HP to the point that it lowers your max HP bar until you take some radaway. Again, a great change and one that really incentivises staying away from anything with even the smallest amount of radiation. Sometimes it can be tough, especially when you're desperately looking to loot a house and it's covered in radiation. But still a good change nonetheless. There's still a few smaller changes to the overall gameplay mechanics, etc, but i'll let you see those for yourself.

As it stands right now, and even though i'm only 5 hours into the game, I think Bethesda have really truly outdone themselves with this release. Obviously, it's going to be one of those things where half the fanbase will do nothing but complain about the game, while the other half will be enjoying the **** out of the game. I'll say it again, I have had absolutely no problems with the game. Every new thing I find in the game, I find myself just sitting back for a second and saying "damn, that's cool as ****" then continuing to play even more. I strongly suggest picking this up, even at full retail price, especially if you've been curious about whether or not this game is good. It's great, maybe even greater than great.

The Batlord

Fallout 4 is definitely a huge reason I'll be looking into a next gen system. Whether or not it's better or worse than 3 or NV, Fallout is one of those games that's so good that it almost doesn't matter. Even a mediocre Fallout game is going to be better than 95% of all other games.

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Key

Definitely do give it a go. I know it may sound a bit of an exaggeration, but imo Bethesda really have outdone themselves.

The Batlord

Hey. Ki. Didja ever get Alien: Isolation? I know it's a pointless question with Fallout 4 out there, but I'm still curious.

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Key

I have it on my wish list. It was on sale a while ago but I forgot to get it. I plan to soon.

Key

I know i've already done a "first impressions" of Fallout 4, but I left out quite a bit of stuff that I still want to talk about. Obviously i'm not going to not talk about it.

As it stands right now, I have about 10 hours of gameplay. If you look closely, you'll see that just last night, when I posted my "first impressions" on this game, I only had but a few hours in this game. To get to the amount that I have in such a quick time is just enough to show you that this game is truly as remarkable as people say it is, and i'm here to tell you why.

Fallout 4 has really brought a lot of new things to the equation when it comes to Fallout games in general, and Bethesda have really done their best to make this game as amazing as it can be. With some small bugs and frame issues here and there, it's evident that even though there are some technical issues that need to be looked into, the game itself is remarkable. As i've been walking around the Commonwealth as they like to call it in game, I can't help but notice that they've really tried to emphasize on every little detail in the game, all the way down to how the reflections look in the water. There's obviously been a lot of thought and trial and error put into the game to make it stand out as one of the best games this company has released. And yes, I know that some of the small bugs or lag issues can be frustrating, but let's keep in mind that the game hasn't even been out for a full week, so we're bound to run into some small issues. Luckily, there's been no sign of any game breaking issues that i've seen, and that's always a plus. So, you're asking, what about this game is so great? Well, i'll lay out a few of the key things that I think should be mentioned as some of the best things about this game, and yes....POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD. You've been warned.

First off, let's talk about the music. We're all familiar by now that Bethesda are no stranger to making sure that the music in a Fallout game is nothing short of amazing. Hell, they aren't a stranger of that in any of their games. Fallout specifically has been known for having some of the most interesting soundtracks that a company has ever done, and that does continue to be the case with Fallout 4. They have gone a bit of a different route with this game though, but it works so perfectly. As you're walking through the Commonwealth, you'll be hearing in the background what sounds like you're sitting in a theater listening to classical music, not to mention that there is an actual classic radio station that you can tune your Pip Boy too, but the game background music in general is just amazing, and surprisingly fitting with the environment surrounding you. But on top of that, one of the best pieces of music you will hear in the game is right when you start the game. Yes, the intro screen. If you've played Fallout 4, you know exactly what i'm talking about. If you're curious, this is what i'm talking about...



So. ****ing. Good.

Next up, I want to talk about the heavy influence that they've taken from Skyrim in this game. As you're going through the game, you'll find that if you've put plenty of hours into Skyrim, you'll notice a lot of similarities in Fallout 4 with the way you craft items, cook your food, get your hair cut, and things like that. Even the way you walk around in third person is heavily influenced by Skyrim, but I really don't see that as a bad thing considering Skyrim is a fantastic game to take influence from. A lot of people in the fanbase have expressed their distaste for this because they feel that it just makes Fallout 4 feel like a Skyrim with guns mod, but hey, both games are their games so they can do whatever the **** they want. It works, and i'm impressed that they've decided to take some of those influences and use them in a way that really works well in a Fallout game. So basically, if you've enjoyed Skyrim, and you were just waiting for a Skyrim with guns mod, this is your game, but it's so much more than that too.

Lastly, let's talk about companions. So, Fallout 4 takes a wonderful part of what Fallout: New Vegas had and that is having the ability to have companions with you. There is one small change to that though. From what i've seen so far, you can only have 1 companion with you at a time, whereas in NV, you were allowed 2 at a time. I suppose it makes things more balanced or whatever so that you're not taking on 1 ghoul with 3 people, or whatever. Anyway, the companions in this game are so amazing to the point that it's almost impossible to choose one to have on your team. Hell, they start you off in the game by giving you one of the best companions that the game has to offer, and yes...I mean the dog. I've gone through the game far enough where I have access to 3 other companions, and I have yet to be able to separate myself from the dog. He's so useful in a large number of ways, and I don't see myself sending him away anytime soon. Plus, I just find it nice to have a loyal pet by your side as you travel through the wastelands of Boston. I'm sure i'll give the other companions a go at some point.

My final verdict for Fallout 4 is that although there are some evident small bugs and a few things that need to be fixed, I still think that even after 10 hours, and perhaps even after 100 hours of gameplay, this game may very well be one of the best games Bethesda has ever released. And it's really gonna be difficult for me to choose which game I find to be the game of the year this year especially with this release, because god damn there have been some great releases this year. So I really can't stress enough that you should give Fallout 4 a chance even if you're unwilling to do so based on the negative reviews it's been receiving. Honestly, I don't understand the negative reviews at all. It's as if the people writing those reviews aren't even playing the same game that i'm playing.

The Batlord

That's it. I'm getting high as **** tomorrow and playing New Vegas till my eyes bleed.

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Key

That's my boy. I've been craving some Fallout 3 DLC's while I play Fallout 4, but I just can't stop playing Fallout 4. It's so ****ing good.

Exo

I'm glad you're finally on the Fallout bandwagon. It's a good bandwagon to be apart of.

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