The Dragonborn replaces the Fellowship of the Ring

[Anarchist]

Shadow of Mordor was decent, but got dull pretty quickly. The Nemesis System was good on paper, but pretty shallow tbh.
Oh, and the end fight (or the Main Villain in general) was an absolute joke.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Huh, must have forgotten about that.

I admire you for not plugging your own works.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

It burns us, precious.

[Cody]

Shadow of Mordor was decent, but got dull pretty quickly. The Nemesis System was good on paper, but pretty shallow tbh.
Oh, and the end fight (or the Main Villain in general) was an absolute insulting.

Fixed. Though the boss fight for the Celebrimbor DLC however was both hard, and epic.

[Endless_Legend]

Shadows of Mordor just looked like open world Assassins Creed clone which flat out did not interest me..

That's too bad, because it was an absolutely terrific game. Just utterly well crafted, so many good moments and missions and action. The Nemesis system was pretty interesting although towards the end it did get a little repetitive. The combat was fun, fun like I've rarely had savagely laying into hundreds of Orcs and Uruks until I was trampling a field of bodies and the survivors were running wailing in terror.

It's not an AC-clone, it's a Batman clone. It's running on the Batman engine, from the same publisher, after all.

Just an excellent game, though. My favorite RPG of 2014, even above The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition (and that's saying alot, because I loved the hell out of those games)


Yeah, it tramples on the lore. Whatever. It's a video game, not a Tolkien novel. I viewed it from the get-go as an alternate world, so the differences didn't bother, and if they bother other people, methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly. The novels don't stop existing just because WB made a excellent action-RPG that was only loosely based on the world's lore.

[Endless_Legend]

Regarding how powerful Talion is... pretty damn powerful, although not quite there with guys like Fingolfin, Feanor, etc. You do eventually become able to teleport, slay hundreds of orcs in giant raging melees (by yourself), shoot deadly wraith-arrows, and for a brief time turn invisible and stab the hell out of anything with a cursed knife. Also your mental domination power is fairly decent and you can also make guy's heads explode after you're done with them.

But things like Trolls and Giants can still kill the hell out of you if you're not really careful, even if you're at maxed-out endgame stats. So I wouldn't quite put him at First-Age epic level.

[Sharpandpointies]

... and if they bother other people, methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly.

Because someone doesn't like something, there's something wrong with them. Curious perspective.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Because someone doesn't like something, there's something wrong with them. Curious perspective.

Even more interesting, is that the Witcher 3 isn't a 2014 release. So I suppose I'm curious to know how it could have possibly been in contention for GOTY 2014.

[Endless_Legend]

Because someone doesn't like something, there's something wrong with them. Curious perspective.

Way to draw a false analogy. Saying being bothered by something trivial is silly is not the same thing as saying there is something "wrong with them".

[Endless_Legend]

Even more interesting, is that the Witcher 3 isn't a 2014 release. So I suppose I'm curious to know how it could have possibly been in contention for GOTY 2014.

Whatever. Early 2015. I played it right after I finished Dragon Age, which was right after I finished Shadow of Mordor. Your curiosity should now be satisfied.

If you want to get picky for the sake of condescension, it was still the same fiscal year.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Way to draw a false analogy. Saying being bothered by something trivial is silly is not the same thing as saying there is something "wrong with them".

You said;

Yeah, it tramples on the lore. Whatever. It's a video game, not a Tolkien novel. I viewed it from the get-go as an alternate world, so the differences didn't bother, and if they bother other people, methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly. The novels don't stop existing just because WB made a excellent action-RPG that was only loosely based on the world's lore.

"the differences didn't bother me, and if they bothered other people, I think there's something wrong there."

Unless 'methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly' means something wildly different that what it looks to be saying.

Whatever. Early 2015. I played it right after I finished Dragon Age, which was right after I finished Shadow of Mordor. Your curiosity should now be satisfied.

If you want to get picky for the sake of condescension, it was still the same fiscal year.

Indeed it is.

Though I suppose if someone took that as condescending, methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly.

[Postmania]

I hear so much about The Witcher 3 but nothing of detail

Is it the story that's propelling it so high on people's lists? Cos I could see that having played 1 and some of 2, but they didn't get the kind of praise this one seems to get.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

I hear so much about The Witcher 3 but nothing of detail

Is it the story that's propelling it so high on people's lists? Cos I could see that having played 1 and some of 2, but they didn't get the kind of praise this one seems to get.

Its storytelling and world building are all top tier. The characters are, for the most part, well thought out and have very human motivations; and the quests strike a fine balance between serious / somber , and fun / light. There's also a CONSIDERABLE amount of content, with each DLC adding to the storytelling / world building, compelling characters and quests, and the size of the game.

But that's all just side-quests, the main game is Gwent. Sweet, sweet Gwent.

[Endless_Legend]

Though I suppose if someone took that as condescending, methinks you are clutching your pearls too tightly.

There's no "took as". You obviously meant it that way, since I committed the faux pas of having an unpopular opinion and liking Shadow of Mordor despite whatever offenses it makes towards Tolkien-lore purists. Now you're just making snide followups.

[The Dork Knight]

So, it's probably too late a contribution for this to seriously affect the debate we were having but I just rechecked the Istari passage and found this

Elsewhere is told how it was that when Sauron rose again, he also arose and partly revealed his power, and becoming the chief mover of the resistance to Sauron was at last victorious, and brought all by vigilance and labour to that end which the Valar under the One that is above them had designed. Yet it is said that in the ending of the task for which he came he suffered greatly, and was slain, and being sent back from death for a brief while was clothed then in white, and became a radiant flame (yet veiled still save in great need). And when all was over and the Shadow of Sauron was removed, he departed for ever over the Sea. Whereas Curunír was cast down, and utterly humbled, and perished at last by the hand of an oppressed slave; and his spirit went whithersoever it was doomed to go, and to Middle-earth, whether naked or embodied, came never back.

which seems to be in line with Gandalf busting forth his true power in "great need"? I dunno, but seems to support my original argument that Gandalf rarely busted out his true power . What say, Sharp?