Post by fobria on Sept 29, 2020 22:25:57 GMT -6
The Shadow of Mordor/War games by Monolith Studios are a series of single player games set in late Third Age Middle Earth. They would very likely rile the Tolkien purist as they sometimes break the lore egregiously in ways that make even the love story between Kili and Tauriel pale in comparison, and the storyline doesn't always make sense (at least, I think, not without a lot more mental effort to patch up loopholes).
But I still found the storyline to be rather compelling and having a Middle Earth 'flavor' in some ways. I consider these games more 'fan-fiction', but the gameplay and cutscenes made for a quite immersive and cinematic experience (more than LOTRO as these games are much newer and have better graphics and voice acting).
These games are much lighter on the lore. There is much less reading to do. The games are action RPGs at heart, probably catering more to a younger (if not also male) audience because of the pace of combat, animated violence (though not worse than the movies) and dialogue.
The Tolkien aficionado playing through these games will find many moments where one will do a double take and stare with incredulity at some of the lore-breaking or lore-heterodox scenes (and the retconning
at times), even if creatively and inventively done.
But if you're in the mood for a fully voice-acted and (and long!) animated series set in non-canonical 'alternate Middle Earth', you could do worse with your time. In my opinion, they're probably to date the greatest animated fiction set in Middle Earth I've seen made by a major game studio (which has the resources to put not little effort into voice acting and animation), especially since about 2010 when graphics became very good.
I like this game series because it has nice graphics (largely based on the design of the Peter Jackson movies) and at heart they concern the story of a noble but tragic hero who never wearies in his battle against the Shadow.
And throw in a revered figure from the Second Age into the mix, which makes for a compelling story (and powers for the hero). There are some cutscenes I found emotionally quite powerful.
The game designers incorporated into the story what they call the Nemesis System, which is where the AI keeps a history of what you did to individual enemies, so that if/when you encounter them again the dialogue and/or combat may change, which makes for a more dynamic gameplay experience.
The game also fleshes out in more detail individual personalities to orcs and even orc culture/society (even sporting some never-before-heard dialogue in Black Speech) and even features some good or at least neutral orcs (already giving a taste of the "lore-breaking"). I find some of the orc speech (and even the accents in which it's delivered) to be pretty funny.
Some very nice gamers have extracted all the cut scenes and relevant in-game dialogue and assembled them into an entertaining video-game 'movie'.
I have further created a play list of these various uploads and put them proper watching order. I have chosen this watching order as it is mostly chronological, but also reveals crucial information/backstory in the right order (in my opinion). The total video time for the playlist is about 9 hours!
Should you have the time and interest, and being mindful of the aforementioned caveats, here now is the playlist for your viewing pleasure -
1. Shadow of Mordor game movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVifcVX1f2M (main storyline for first game)
2. Lord of the Hunt - www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmowxporGt8 (not much lore or story, so can be skipped, but some dialogue with the Dwarf can be funny)
3. Bright Lord - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zthsp4_-FdE (set in Second Age featuring the deuteragonist)
4. Friend or Foe trailer - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lD1_2fNCnY - ad for Shadow of War game which is a live action short featuring the “Nothing Will Be Forgotten” concept - this is reference to the game’s Nemesis System, where AI enemies/allies remember their past encounters with you, which can change dialogue or combat if/when they meet you later, and is supposed to lead to a more “dynamic” RPG-experience. The Nemesis System gives the player choice to kill or spare enemies, promote or demote or reassign allies to other roles.
5. Shadow of War game movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlr5zmppPVo (main storyline for second game)
5b. Some of the dialogue between protagonist and deuteragonist and antagonist in 5, but which isn't featured in that movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQNnLzfwVKk (which fleshes out the relationships between the characters a little more)
6. Final “true” ending to Shadow of War and the fate of the tragic hero - www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_o5GiNd1M4
(I like the end credits song, which for me well convey the torment and anguish of the hero)
7. Shelob backstory - www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0gHlT3Omjw (see it to believe it)
8. Blade of Galadriel - www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVrL9qa8s8 (chronologically - I think! - takes place a little after end to Shadow of War game movie in 5 above and before final “true” ending in 6 above, but this game expansion was actually released after 6 was released). Ending must be seen to be believed.
9. Desolation of Mordor - www.youtube.com/watch?v=foFY2tZWVDw (can be skipped as it doesn’t add much to story and features a new protagonist, but it is a second expansion to Shadow of War)
10. How Shadow of War should have ended - www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPUO1WeTkCU (fan creation, completely optional to watch, but still an interesting take on it, as are the youtube comments)
11. Orc roommate - www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcyXVqgvLYw (parody/humorous ad for Shadow of War - optional to watch and don’t take this seriously)
12. All Olog-hai dialogue - www.youtube.com/watch?v=66A9hDkF9Fc (Optional. Just a compendium of some of Olog-hai lines heard in the game, some of which is pretty funny)
But I still found the storyline to be rather compelling and having a Middle Earth 'flavor' in some ways. I consider these games more 'fan-fiction', but the gameplay and cutscenes made for a quite immersive and cinematic experience (more than LOTRO as these games are much newer and have better graphics and voice acting).
These games are much lighter on the lore. There is much less reading to do. The games are action RPGs at heart, probably catering more to a younger (if not also male) audience because of the pace of combat, animated violence (though not worse than the movies) and dialogue.
The Tolkien aficionado playing through these games will find many moments where one will do a double take and stare with incredulity at some of the lore-breaking or lore-heterodox scenes (and the retconning
at times), even if creatively and inventively done.
But if you're in the mood for a fully voice-acted and (and long!) animated series set in non-canonical 'alternate Middle Earth', you could do worse with your time. In my opinion, they're probably to date the greatest animated fiction set in Middle Earth I've seen made by a major game studio (which has the resources to put not little effort into voice acting and animation), especially since about 2010 when graphics became very good.
I like this game series because it has nice graphics (largely based on the design of the Peter Jackson movies) and at heart they concern the story of a noble but tragic hero who never wearies in his battle against the Shadow.
And throw in a revered figure from the Second Age into the mix, which makes for a compelling story (and powers for the hero). There are some cutscenes I found emotionally quite powerful.
The game designers incorporated into the story what they call the Nemesis System, which is where the AI keeps a history of what you did to individual enemies, so that if/when you encounter them again the dialogue and/or combat may change, which makes for a more dynamic gameplay experience.
The game also fleshes out in more detail individual personalities to orcs and even orc culture/society (even sporting some never-before-heard dialogue in Black Speech) and even features some good or at least neutral orcs (already giving a taste of the "lore-breaking"). I find some of the orc speech (and even the accents in which it's delivered) to be pretty funny.
Some very nice gamers have extracted all the cut scenes and relevant in-game dialogue and assembled them into an entertaining video-game 'movie'.
I have further created a play list of these various uploads and put them proper watching order. I have chosen this watching order as it is mostly chronological, but also reveals crucial information/backstory in the right order (in my opinion). The total video time for the playlist is about 9 hours!
Should you have the time and interest, and being mindful of the aforementioned caveats, here now is the playlist for your viewing pleasure -
1. Shadow of Mordor game movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVifcVX1f2M (main storyline for first game)
2. Lord of the Hunt - www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmowxporGt8 (not much lore or story, so can be skipped, but some dialogue with the Dwarf can be funny)
3. Bright Lord - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zthsp4_-FdE (set in Second Age featuring the deuteragonist)
4. Friend or Foe trailer - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lD1_2fNCnY - ad for Shadow of War game which is a live action short featuring the “Nothing Will Be Forgotten” concept - this is reference to the game’s Nemesis System, where AI enemies/allies remember their past encounters with you, which can change dialogue or combat if/when they meet you later, and is supposed to lead to a more “dynamic” RPG-experience. The Nemesis System gives the player choice to kill or spare enemies, promote or demote or reassign allies to other roles.
5. Shadow of War game movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlr5zmppPVo (main storyline for second game)
5b. Some of the dialogue between protagonist and deuteragonist and antagonist in 5, but which isn't featured in that movie - www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQNnLzfwVKk (which fleshes out the relationships between the characters a little more)
6. Final “true” ending to Shadow of War and the fate of the tragic hero - www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_o5GiNd1M4
(I like the end credits song, which for me well convey the torment and anguish of the hero)
7. Shelob backstory - www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0gHlT3Omjw (see it to believe it)
8. Blade of Galadriel - www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrVrL9qa8s8 (chronologically - I think! - takes place a little after end to Shadow of War game movie in 5 above and before final “true” ending in 6 above, but this game expansion was actually released after 6 was released). Ending must be seen to be believed.
9. Desolation of Mordor - www.youtube.com/watch?v=foFY2tZWVDw (can be skipped as it doesn’t add much to story and features a new protagonist, but it is a second expansion to Shadow of War)
10. How Shadow of War should have ended - www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPUO1WeTkCU (fan creation, completely optional to watch, but still an interesting take on it, as are the youtube comments)
11. Orc roommate - www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcyXVqgvLYw (parody/humorous ad for Shadow of War - optional to watch and don’t take this seriously)
12. All Olog-hai dialogue - www.youtube.com/watch?v=66A9hDkF9Fc (Optional. Just a compendium of some of Olog-hai lines heard in the game, some of which is pretty funny)