Shadow of War hands on how spider mercs killed my dreams of a bard army. In my first five minutes of Middle earth Shadow of War, I hired spiders to torment an uruk bard. He wanted me deadsang about it and everythingbut we were going to lead an army together and sweep the land with song. If only he hadnt made such a fuss over my spider mercs. My goal was to siege a fortress and take it back from Saurons uruk army, a massive castle with thick stone walls, battlements peaking into sharp points, each occupied by hulking artillery units dropping curse bombs in big Ao. E circles on the dozens of fragile uruk soldiers below. In any other game it would feel like the final level and final boss encounter, but there are quite a few of them in Shadow of War, and taking control of each will be a unique experiencenot just between fortresses either, but between players. Thats Monoliths goal, at least. Leaving everything to chance During my demo last week in Santa Monica, I played an entire fortress siege sequence. In the final game, taking over a fortress led by an enemy uruk overlord takes back the territory from Saurons forces, allowing you to push further behind enemy lines into another region, giving you a crack at another fortress, and so on. Fortress encounters all share the same skeleton you bring your army to their gates, charge, breach a series of walls, take over a few circular capture points by keeping you and your uruk friends in and enemies out or dead, and then bust down the overlords front door and kill or subjugate theirIm not being cruel, just honestvery ugly ass. In any other open world ish game, as you become more powerful, the process would become simpler. In Shadow of War, thats a little true. For instance, enemy captains drop loot, which generates stats based on how they diedif an archer does the deed, you might get a new bow, and so on. But being more powerful doesnt mean youre prepared. The traits of enemy captains arent the only variables anymore, though those have been expanded too. You can still look at the hierarchy of uruks in a given region, and inspect each if youve encountered them or have the right intel to determine their particular strengths and weaknesses. Some might be afraid of spiders, or stealth, or beasts, but they could make up for it with leadership skills that buff the uruks in their charge, or they might be totally immune to stealth damage. And because there are about a dozen uruks in leadership roles in a single fortress, theres no possible way to prepare for everything. By setting the next Call of Duty in World War 2, Activision charged the developers at Sledgehammer Games with coming up with a philosophy for dealing with N. THE WAR POETRY WEBSITE Poems by Soldiers and other members of the armed services. See also the Afghanistan page. Poems on this page. Danny Martin Haddock of Mass. I spent 1. 0 minutes in the hierarchy menu trying anyway, and it wasnt nearly enough. Eyeballing those ugly boys, their fears, faces, and rank, made it easy to forget that Shadow of War is a third person action game and not a streamlined Total War spinoff. Each fortress is equipped with defensive and offensive buffs based on the overlords personality and traits. During my session, because my overlord was a big, tanky brute who loved animals and fire, his fortress had reinforced stone walls, artillery trolls, some specialized spearmen that were especially good at killing beasts, and molten lava was dumped out of big cauldrons over the walls and onto my good uruk boys. My poor, poor uruk boys. The sound of music But the most disarming uruk was Ogg the bard. I met Ogg on the final capture point. Things were going smoothly. Id countered the spear throwing units by hiring a force of uruks bearing tall shields. In place of a drake, I deployed a shag carpet of giant spiders. I couldnt ride the spiders, but theyd scurry by ranged units without issue, while the drake wouldve had a rough time with the spear wielding uruks. But even Smaug himself couldnt have saved me from my impending heartbreak. Paid advertising at What Really Happened may not represent the views and opinions of this website and its contributors. No endorsement of products and services. NEXT AUCTION SundayDecember 17, 2017. PMPreviews Friday December 15th Saturday December 16th1200PM to 600PMSunday December 17th1100AM to 100PM StartClick. The Greatest War Stories in Video Games From Metal Gear Solid to Gears of War, here are the best war stories ever told in video games. September 13, 2016 Call of Duty Zombies Overview Of Every Easter Egg Completion History. Get perspective with our Call of Duty Zombies Easter eggs. We wouldnt defeat Sauron with fire and blood, but a chorus of mucus strained voices, crying out for peace and winning over the meanest, ugliest brutes with sick lute solos. Like Shadow of Mordor, meeting an enemy war chief kicks off a short cinematic where the uruk says something mean, usually, and then comes at you. Ogg sang a cute mean song about killing me, which sent my imagination racing. Id break Ogg, use the elf ghost inside of me to bend him to my will, then travel the land, searching for more bards to convert until I had an entire fortress led by uruk bards. We wouldnt defeat Sauron with fire and blood, but a chorus of mucus strained voices, crying out for peace and winning over the meanest, ugliest brutes with sick lute solos. I cant help but think Tolkien would approve. Cod War Crack' title='Cod War Crack' />And then the giant spiders I hired before the siege leapt on him. He stopped singing for a minute to scream. My wall busting troll units marched alongside my spider buds, busting up big walls and urku egos. Ogg writhing through it all, spiders still piling on, still screaming. Honestly, no clue whats going on here, but it looks rad. I stabbed him through the head, a somber note for Ogg to end on. If only I could have sang with Ogg and learned from himbut no. He was gone, and my dreams of singing Sauron to death were halted. Tweakers House Meaning more. It was only a demo, I told myself. Only a demo.  Capturing the fortress was easy. I didnt feel like I had to retreat from battle often or utilize stealth at all. I didnt need to babysit my forces too often beyond reviving one or two incapacitated captains early on. The overlords bark was bigger than his fat, slow bitea few arrows finished him off with ease. Even so, I felt like I failed. Shadow of Wars fortresses reframe Shadow of Mordors nemesis system in a much grander scale with more variables in how uruks look and behave. By drawing out relationships with foes and friends over the course of dozens of battles and chance encounters, Shadow of War could become the ultimate fantasy soap opera. The stakes are much higher than before, and will be more often, but Im still not sure how different the uruk captains and grand encounters will feel over a complete playthrough. By fortress seven, I worry that my army will be so complete and my combat abilities so strong that the only challenge will be in preserving and capturing uruk commanders. If Monolith really has expanded their pool of uruk faces and personalities, then theres probably nothing to worry about. By expanding the Nemesis system alone, Shadow of War is already unique among other open world adventures.