Current Events > Factoring in the loot box mess, how is shadow of war?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Deciding if I want to spring for it, or get dragons dogma hd.
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According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.
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Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

Ugh. I'd wait for a price drop then, especially since dragons dogma is $30.
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rather than being an optional thing on the outside, the game feels like it was built solely around getting you to buy into the microtransactions

I've been playing it and haven't really opened/bought any loot boxes. They don't seem very necessary.

Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

I would probably argue that while the advertising is very in your face, to say that the game is just a vehicle would be selling it short. I haven't felt compelled to buy loot boxes at all, you can still earn them in game and you get them at a pretty steady rate.
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Virus731 posted...

Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

I would probably argue that while the advertising is very in your face, to say that the game is just a vehicle would be selling it short. I haven't felt compelled to buy loot boxes at all, you can still earn them in game and you get them at a pretty steady rate.

I've heard the grind to get the true ending can take longer than the story mode itself if you don't buy loot boxes, especially since your orca can perma die.
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Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.
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Virus731 posted...

I would probably argue that while the advertising is very in your face, to say that the game is just a vehicle would be selling it short. I haven't felt compelled to buy loot boxes at all, you can still earn them in game and you get them at a pretty steady rate.

Unlocking the True Ending is basically a 50 hour slog built to entice you into buying lootboxes to make it go way faster.
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SuperShake666 posted...

Virus731 posted...

I would probably argue that while the advertising is very in your face, to say that the game is just a vehicle would be selling it short. I haven't felt compelled to buy loot boxes at all, you can still earn them in game and you get them at a pretty steady rate.

Unlocking the True Ending is basically a 50 hour slog built to entice you into buying lootboxes to make it go way faster.

That's what I heard. That it's a super long process if you don't buy loot boxes.
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Honestly all this "true ending" talk sounds like a load of shit exaggerated by people pissed off about loot boxes. I don't have a problem with it because I kinda wanted more grinding in Shadow of Mordor... or a way to keep the story going. Worse comes to worse I'll watch the cut scene on YouTube.
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Virus731 posted...

Honestly all this "true ending" talk sounds like a load of shit exaggerated by people pissed off about loot boxes. I don't have a problem with it because I kinda wanted more grinding in Shadow of Mordor... or a way to keep the story going. Worse comes to worse I'll watch the cut scene on YouTube.

I enjoyed shadow of mordor a lot, but it was fairly repetitive. I don't know if I could handle doing a grind longer than the actual story mode just for a cutscene if it's as repetitive as the first.
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Virus731 posted...

Honestly all this "true ending" talk sounds like a load of shit exaggerated by people pissed off about loot boxes.

https://youtu.be/FJX7ypfiz_I?t=80
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I liked TotalBiscuit's argument:

Paraphrased: "If you're able to spend money to make the progression of a single player game go faster, then that is a tacit admission that your game is too boring to want to actually play legitimately."

Honestly, I was pretty much guaranteed to play that game until I found out about all this garbage.

I don't even have a shred of interest in playing it now, though.
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pres_madagascar posted...

Virus731 posted...

Honestly all this "true ending" talk sounds like a load of shit exaggerated by people pissed off about loot boxes. I don't have a problem with it because I kinda wanted more grinding in Shadow of Mordor... or a way to keep the story going. Worse comes to worse I'll watch the cut scene on YouTube.

I enjoyed shadow of mordor a lot, but it was fairly repetitive. I don't know if I could handle doing a grind longer than the actual story mode just for a cutscene if it's as repetitive as the first.

Yeah. I really enjoyed Shadow of Mordor flaws and all. The orcs are just so charming that if the orc pool is big and random enough I'd enjoy it for a while.
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SuperShake666 posted...

Virus731 posted...

Honestly all this "true ending" talk sounds like a load of shit exaggerated by people pissed off about loot boxes.

https://youtu.be/FJX7ypfiz_I?t=80

what is this meant to prove
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Steve Nick posted...

I liked TotalBiscuit's argument:

Paraphrased: "If you're able to spend money to make the progression of a single player game go faster, then that is a tacit admission that your game is too boring to want to actually play legitimately."

Honestly, I was pretty much guaranteed to play that game until I found out about all this garbage.

I don't even have a shred of interest in playing it now, though.

There's so many games coming out, and out now, that interest me that I'm having to basically triage them to pick when and what to play
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It's amazing how much optional things can piss people off. I understand, it is utter bullshit, but to let it sway your entire opinion is just single-minded.
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Most big studios aren't making good games these days.

If it's something big and popular, it's likely pure shit.

All the good games are coming from hard-working smaller devs that are out there keeping it tight.

There's a few exceptions.
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pres_madagascar posted...

Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.

It's great. Absolutely one of my favourite games from last gen, quirks and all. It's pretty huge too and there's a good story to dig in to, particularly since the Dark Arisen stuff is included. Well worth the price, especially if you haven't played it before.
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Virus731 posted...

It's amazing how much optional things can piss people off. I understand, it is utter bullshit, but to let it sway your entire opinion is just single-minded.

It's not optional when developers are making games actively worse experiences in order to facilitate micro transactions.
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LividDK posted...

pres_madagascar posted...

Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.

It's great. Absolutely one of my favourite games from last gen, quirks and all. It's pretty huge too and there's a good story to dig in to, particularly since the Dark Arisen stuff is included. Well worth the price, especially if you haven't played it before.

Awesome. Yeah for $30 bucks that's not a bad deal at all.
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Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

Remember that pathetic video where Randy Pitchford refuses to say Jim Sterling's name?

NibeIungsnarf posted...

Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

Remember that pathetic video where Randy Pitchford refuses to say Jim Sterling's name?

Lol yeah
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SuperShake666 posted...

Virus731 posted...

I would probably argue that while the advertising is very in your face, to say that the game is just a vehicle would be selling it short. I haven't felt compelled to buy loot boxes at all, you can still earn them in game and you get them at a pretty steady rate.

Unlocking the True Ending is basically a 50 hour slog built to entice you into buying lootboxes to make it go way faster.

Every time I see someone talk about this grind the number of hours goes up.
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pres_madagascar posted...

LividDK posted...

pres_madagascar posted...

Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.

It's great. Absolutely one of my favourite games from last gen, quirks and all. It's pretty huge too and there's a good story to dig in to, particularly since the Dark Arisen stuff is included. Well worth the price, especially if you haven't played it before.

Awesome. Yeah for $30 bucks that's not a bad deal at all.

Yeah i also absolutely recommend dragon's dogma, poured a lot of hours into it and probably still will.
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NibeIungsnarf posted...

Alucard188 posted...

According to a guy whose opinion I value, the base gameplay is very solid and enjoyable, but it definitely feels like you're buying a shell of a game; a vehicle to deliver premium content to you via DLC and microtransactions.

Remember that pathetic video where Randy Pitchford refuses to say Jim Sterling's name?

Yes, it's hilarious how asshurt Randy Pitchford gets about Jim
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M_Live posted...

pres_madagascar posted...

Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.

It's awesome, I had it on PS3, bought it again on PS4 and have been playing it a lot. The community is very active.

That's great to hear!
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pres_madagascar posted...

Also, how is dragons dogma? Never got to play it last gen, and I hear good things.

What!? Get..it..now! :)

Its one of my favourite games of all time. A superb RPG, awesome real time combat that is very satisfying. Nothing beats climbing up to a Cyclops' face and bashing it .
Night time is especially fun..
Great customization and interesting lore and world. The story is probably its weakest point.
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Couple videos I watched on YouTube said the game is great but the "True Ending" is locked behind a 50+ hour grind and that is why it feels like it is trying to get you to buy loot boxes and the boxes are in your face in menus throughout the game.
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Doesn't seem to be that much of an improvement upon the original and once I heard about the grind to get the real ending that was a wrap for me.

Maybe in a year or 2 if it's on sale.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/75k9m3/so_ive_had_middleearth_shadow_of_war_since_friday/

It should be said right off the bat that the Shadow Wars endgame is inherently grindy. Whether you purchase loot orc boxes or not, you're going to be defending and retaking a lot of your forts.
It's true, however, that the game presents an illusion of how much easier this endgame is to beat by buying the orc crates, but they don't actually speed it up all that much and you can achieve the same level of orc and preparedness by just ~15ish minutes of gameplay per orc.
Even with purchasing the crates, the endgame is grindy. It's designed that way to make you think you need the crates when all they do is save a little bit of time with some gameplay (which is fun in its own right so why would you want to skip it anyway).
The attempt to get players to buy them is still very scummy though.
tl;dr - I'm nearly done with the endgame and haven't purchased a single crate nor felt the need to. But their implementation is still scummy.

In a comment he says it should take around 10 hours to finish the end-game

From what I've read, the loot boxes seem entirely skippable and don't really make a lot of sense if you're the type of person who enjoys playing your games. Like, why would I want to get random orcs from a box instead of finding them out in the world and capturing them? You're literally skipping one of the fun things about the game for no reason
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AlternativeFAQS posted...

In a comment he says it should take around 10 hours to finish the end-game

It's at least 60 hours some guy on YouTube said so.
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I was reading an article about the endgame, I think it was on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. They were saying that it's a lot less grindy if you let the your fortresses fall and then retake them than to successfully defend them. It is bullshit that you have to come up with some workaround though.

I just started Act 2 and so far I haven't seen the need for loot boxes. I bought a few with the in game currency just to see how it is, and I don't think I've gotten anything better than what I already had in game, so it seems like it can be pretty much ignored.
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Rng has always been in games like diablo or borderlands. As long as developers don't make the grind so bad that you have to play more hours than is reasonable then I don't care about lootboxes...if it comes to a point where you can't get lootboxes by any other means than real money, then I will jump on the bandwagon and boycott these games.

My biggest issue with lootboxes is that its essentially gambling. You pay money, and there is no guarantee you get what you want.
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It's not exactly like gambling, since you get something every time, but i get what you mean. I put a crazy number of hours into Mass Effect 3's multiplayer trying to get one specific character and never got it
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Yeah. Again, I'm having a blast with it. The loot boxes only give you MORE chances for loot... it's not as if you can't find legendary gear and armor out in the game world easily by killing orcs. To me it's just about playing the game... if I wanted it easier I wouldn't play on hard mode as well, which I imagine makes the game take even longer.
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Pirates have the game cracked already AND have the advantage of infinite gold to buy lootboxes with now. wow lmao.
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From what I heard, the loot boxes don't even seem necessary until the final grind for that true ending.

So like, get it when the complete edition comes out in a year, I guess.
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Back_Stabbath posted...

Pirates have the game cracked already AND have the advantage of infinite gold to buy lootboxes with now. wow lmao.

Why would you want unlimited loot boxes? I don't understand the point of just cheating to beat the game...
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Virus731 posted...

Back_Stabbath posted...

Pirates have the game cracked already AND have the advantage of infinite gold to buy lootboxes with now. wow lmao.

Why would you want unlimited loot boxes? I don't understand the point of just cheating to beat the game...

There's like a 10-20 hour grind to get from the first ending to the "true" ending, with no storyline between the two points.
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I'm 20 hours in and have felt zero need to buy a lootbox yet.
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wow 50 hour grinds WOAH

Thats not that many hours, and it adds to the longevity of the game. People are so ADD now
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leverageblargh posted...

rofl who cares it's just a cutscene, watch it on YT if you're not interested in playing the game any longer

I mean, I agree. I'd probably just do that before I cheat just cause it seems like less effort.

But that's why they might cheat at that point.
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