|
 Desolation of Mordor is the DLC story of Baranor, presumably some time after splitting up with Talion and the events of the main game. It's fun and great and features a new character though it does sort of leave me wondering where in the grand scheme of everything else this takes place. Mostly because there is no mention of Idril in the entire DLC and the last we saw of Baranor and Idril was that Baranor said they would be 'doomed together' and Idril isn't anywhere in the DLC. So how knows? It's till great and fun and very replayable as it's sort of roguelight? Not really though, but it does vary everything you find from play through to play through with the exception of the 9 artifacts to dig up. Mostly it's a score attack mode, and if you wanted to run through it as fast as possible probably wouldn't take more than two or three hours.
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 06:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 11:18 |
|
|
This seems fun! Especially after the last DLC with its light bullshit and puzzle captains. Serka has big Ratbag energy for sure, and also very big Michael Mando energy (he played Vaas in Far Cry 3).
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 08:03
|
|
|
Gothsheep posted:You know I hadn't really thought about that. If Elteriel wanted to make sure Celebrimbor was dead, she really should have tossed his ring into the lava at Mt. Doom. Even if it doesn't kill him outright, the ring would be the anchor keeping him tethered to Middle Earth with Sauron gone, so it should at the very least deny him any power to do anything again. Me and Jade had a discussion after we finished recording the last Eltariel episode where I said almost exactly this. I regarded Eltariel running around with the New Ring while Celebrimbor was shacked up with Sauron as being potentially extremely stupid, but after he was freed she should have been heading straight to the magma to get rid of the ring and Celebrimbor forever, except that she presumably would have seen him again in Valinor.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 10:06
|
|
|
AhrimanPK posted:Me and Jade had a discussion after we finished recording the last Eltariel episode where I said almost exactly this. I regarded Eltariel running around with the New Ring while Celebrimbor was shacked up with Sauron as being potentially extremely stupid, but after he was freed she should have been heading straight to the magma to get rid of the ring and Celebrimbor forever, except that she presumably would have seen him again in Valinor.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 10:19
|
|
|
Between this and Prey: Mooncrash, something about really great games somehow lends them to roguelite DLCs. Baranor's mechanics are great.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 12:20
|
|
|
I thought Eltariel's DLC looked kind of miserable what with the tedious puzzle-orcs and I'm glad I didn't bother getting it after completing the main game, but so far Baranor's DLC looks a lot better.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 12:54
|
|
|
I appreciate the incredible balls of just going "nah he's Batman, gently caress it".
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 13:22
|
|
|
Now we're going to get orc captains with titles like The Jester and Catorc. Their names will all be hideous puns in the Black Speech.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 13:50
|
|
|
Hello Sailor posted:Now we're going to get orc captains with titles like The Jester and Catorc. Their names will all be hideous puns in the Black Speech. If you want orc batman villains you need to look at some of the ones you can 'create' in the base game. Just google Shadow of War the nameless one to get the best example of it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 13:59
|
|
|
Shei-kun posted:I like to imagine the first thing she did was march up to him and kick him in the balls. He deserves it. Yeah, but is violence possible in Elf Afterlife? In Celebrimbor’s case I sure hope so. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 14:05
|
|
|
bony tony posted:I appreciate the incredible balls of just going "nah he's Batman, gently caress it".
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2020 23:38
|
|
|
I really liked Baranor's stuff. I was never able to quite get the gold star on points, but I only tried a couple times. I remember my impression was that Baranor's crossbow can actually be stupidly powerful. I never had any idea why Baranor was here though. Like, his city fell, so at some point he was just like, 'gently caress it. Let's go to the desert and blow up their fort out there.' I mean, I guess since this is after the fall of Minas Ithil, it would have to be after the main game ended, considering you can go to this part of the map at any time as Talion. So maybe at some point when Talion was playing Warden of Mordor, he convinced Baranor to go deal with a fortress he couldn't be bothered with?
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2020 00:43
|
|
|
I am 100% supportive of relentlessly comparing everything in this DLC to Batman.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2020 00:51
|
|
|
Gothsheep posted:I never had any idea why Baranor was here though. Like, his city fell, so at some point he was just like, 'gently caress it. Let's go to the desert and blow up their fort out there.' I mean, I guess since this is after the fall of Minas Ithil, it would have to be after the main game ended, considering you can go to this part of the map at any time as Talion. So maybe at some point when Talion was playing Warden of Mordor, he convinced Baranor to go deal with a fortress he couldn't be bothered with? This is my only knock against the DLC. Mechanically it's all very solid, a joy to play, etc. But you're right, why is Baranor here? He's not with Idril either, which seems weird, and this fort doesn't seem to be some big important thing like Bara'dur or poised on the border by the black gate or minas ithil. So, I dunno. It's Gondorian Batman in the desert, which is still super fun, but kind of disconnected from the main game.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2020 03:26
|
|
|
From what little context there is, I assumed he's there to gather support and/or allies. Or was on his way to when Serka the Magnificent happened. Like most of this game, it doesn't pay to look too deep into it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2020 07:13
|
|
|
 More fun numanorian goodies await, as well as making plans with Serka, and of course killing lots of orcs in new and exciting ways.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 06:28
|
|
|
Jade Star posted:
Shame on you for doing that to the poor Caragor at 18:00.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 16:28
|
|
|
The Mordor Society for the Care and Protection of Animals will be in touch. You monster.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 16:44
|
|
|
Fun DLC to watch thus far, I don’t know if there’s a good story explanation for why Baranor is here (apart from maybe the suicidal ideation Serka hinted at), but writing wise he’s the perfect straight man to Torvin and Serka here, with the occasional dry sarcasm to join the fun. He is definitely so Batman it hurts here, albeit better since Batman never had amazing kills and counter kills like this in the Arkham games, he just maimed his victims and left them to die of exposure in the cold usually (or being nicely helpless in front of all the other psychos around them, which probably does the trick too). As far as lore goes it again stays surprisingly close to the books in some way. The gadgets being Numenorian is actually pretty clever and works well as an explanation, I had been wondering from the previews if they were Machine orc inventions or something. Easterling mercs also fit with Mordor since Sauron’s armies always included a bunch of humans from there and the south. Orcs probably only hate them slightly more than each other, and they might even be more reliable (current game story aside). Might have to try it, I stayed away since I dislike roguelikes on principle (losing everything on death adds too much stress to be fun for me, especially given how many BS video game deaths I’ve had to things outside my control like bugs) but this doesn’t seem too horrible given they give you plenty of good tools to run like hell with the maneuvering gear of this expansion.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 16:55
|
|
|
bony tony posted:The Mordor Society for the Care and Protection of Animals will be in touch. You monster. To hire him?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 16:58
|
|
|
Clearly people in this thread have not seen what is done to pigs in Bloodbourne.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 16:59
|
|
|
Calling this DLC a roguelite is really, REALLY stretching the term to include this DLC. Really all this has that is roguelite is that if you die you have to start over unlike in the main game. This is really a score attack mode.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 18:15
|
|
|
Hunt11 posted:Clearly people in this thread have not seen what is done to pigs in Bloodbourne. Pork-fisting is a proud Souls tradition, but I'm surprised to see it here.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 18:36
|
|
|
I was waiting to play the DLC until I (very eventually) get around to finishing the main game, but this one looks like it's more fun than the main game. And the other one looks like a horrible boss slog, so I think I'll skip that one entirely.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 18:57
|
|
|
I'm glad the animators took advantage of Baranor's new arsenal. Using the grappling hook to drag down an Olog for a killing blow was pretty sweet.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 19:51
|
|
|
A bit justcauseman.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 20:02
|
|
|
This DLC does much to explain the total superiority Numenor enjoyed over Mordor when they came to faceroll Sauron what with all of their footsloggers having access to all the permanent upgrades of the shield. Just imagine the orcs' expressions when a thousand dudes come raining down on a fortress while grapple hooking around and firing off half a dozen arrows at a go out of their crossbows. Totally canon. Well, no, all we know about Numenor's military is that their "steelbows" were widely feared by all and sundry and that the orcs fled on contact while Sauron just surrendered without a fight. Although admittedly the latter had probably already planned out his strategy. Still, Numenor being entirely composed of players makes a lot of sense, right down to players being used to being led around and told what to do by whatever NPC is nearby; Sauron just realized this first and then gave them the quest to conquer Valinor.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 20:32
|
|
|
The Bronze and Silver Augments are awarded at the end of a run based on your score, and you get to use them (and Gold and Mithril Augments too) on all future runs. I imagine you having them is more of the game being unable to fully clear your old save again, like the broken fortress victory speeches. The score augments, the story mission main upgrades, and the Torvin upgrades are the "meta-progression" that pushes this closer to Rogue-lite status than just being a perma-death mode. I hadn't seen that Adrenaline augment before. Really, who needs a ghost for chain stealth kills when you can activate Adrenaline and stab them all yourself in about the same amount of objective time?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2020 22:28
|
|
|
Oblivion4568238 posted:I hadn't seen that Adrenaline augment before. Really, who needs a ghost for chain stealth kills when you can activate Adrenaline and stab them all yourself in about the same amount of objective time? Adrenaline is so over powered as I will show in the next video, or the one after. It is only slightly held back by the fact Baranor can't aerial brutalize from the kite. Or at least I don't think so, as the brutalize button on the kite pulls out the crossbow for me.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2020 04:19
|
|
|
I'd forgotten what really made this DLC. Finding the right combo of abilities and equipment to make you more brutally overpowered than Talion ever was. There's a lot of replayability there because of how many different items you can find. Which is also why I wasn't able to get the gold rank despite getting 100% completion on the main game and Eltariel DLC. In order to get your score up, you have to tear the objectives apart as fast as you possibly can, but the actual *fun* of this game is in collecting overpowered equipment and getting a squad of kickass bodyguards. It's almost like your score was based on how much fun you cheated yourself out of. EDIT: Also, I want to point out, you found 'Adrenaline' in a dead orc. And now you're using it. Ew.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 01:57
|
|
|
Going for gold will leave you short of tasty augments, but the strategy that was most effective for me involved getting three legendary bodyguards ASAP. So you can still get your murdersquad on the way to gold, just few good augments, like the one Jade's ridiculous loot luck turned up here. I had never seen that "full might on taking damage" armor option before either and I'm still somewhat peeved at how many times that or the ice sword chain-freezing trivialized stuff that could have actually been dangerous. Suffer for my entertainment as is proper!
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 03:31
|
|
|
Please tell us what the "hang glide out of this loser emporium" reference was, Jade.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 04:18
|
|
|
I googled it when it came up in the video and it appears to be from a TV series called "Video Game High School"
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 04:49
|
|
|
Hello Sailor posted:I googled it when it came up in the video and it appears to be from a TV series called "Video Game High School" Which was at least partially goon made!
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 05:31
|
|
|
I might have to try and check that out, then!
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 13:05
|
|
|
I have to say that after watching Baranor running around not-Batmanning a bunch of Orcs I really wish that the developers would have taken resources from Eltariels DLC and put them into this instead.
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 21:04
|
|
|
Sylphosaurus posted:I have to say that after watching Baranor running around not-Batmanning a bunch of Orcs I really wish that the developers would have taken resources from Eltariels DLC and put them into this instead. IMO, the story would've been better off if, instead of Eltariel, Baranor and Idril played a bigger role in Talion's quest. And if you want Talion to be betrayed and turn into a Ring Wraith anyway, Idril could easily have replaced Eltariel as Cell's temporary new host, since she was always set up to be very bloodthirsty after Minas Ithil. It wouldn't take much for the New Ring's power to tempt her, especially since she'd seen plenty of the superhuman poo poo it let Talion do. But noooo, we need to bring in more ELVES! 
|
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2020 21:13
|
|
|
Brunom1 posted:
I don't know, I kind of like the subtext in the game of 'the elves gently caress everything up and we're better off with them gone.'
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2020 04:45
|
|
|
Gothsheep posted:I don't know, I kind of like the subtext in the game of 'the elves gently caress everything up and we're better off with them gone.' It is pretty in-theme with Tolkien and especially the Silmarillion, there's a reason the war with Sauron ended with them all heading away after all.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2020 01:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 11:18 |
|
|
MadDogMike posted:It is pretty in-theme with Tolkien and especially the Silmarillion, there's a reason the war with Sauron ended with them all heading away after all. Middle-earth history doesn't record every elf leaving (or eventually dying like Arwen) after the war with Sauron. Legolas, for example, doesn't leave Middle-earth until after Aragorn dies like three hundred years later. Some others are undoubtedly still around even after then, just largely diminished in power. But of course your point is still valid, the vast majority hosed off during and after the War of the Ring, and everyone was better off for it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2020 15:32
|
|
