Auptyk

Same. And I guess my argument for this thread is that, despite what the YouTubers say, this is NOT the case for Shadow of War. You have these YouTubers that are saying that "Shadow of War is built around trying to entice user to spend extra money" when they didn't play a HUGE portion of the game.

That's a fair stand to take for sure. However, (unfortunately?) I don think that it is realistic for the companies. AAA development is super expensive, but we (the entire gaming world not any WE here) wont tolerate a straight up price over 60 dollars. But... we also wont tolerate lower quality. I think this microtransaction set up is fine, however... it probably isn't the best. But I think you will see microtransactions in single player going forward, or you just wont see big AAA Single Player... at least from the third parties. --- Slightly off topic... but I played Splinter Cell Chaos Theory back in the day...like 10 years ago lol... and it was linear single player. But you could play it so many different ways it was crazy. I seriously put in probably 100+ hours in that game. Had they released story DLC for that game I would have bought it. I think if you make a versatile full length single player game... you could probably sell story add ons and people wouldn't be upset. ... probably. For me single player games need AT MINIMUM 20-30 hours of game play or I wont buy it. So at 60-70 hours I am down to 1 dollar an hour for SoW game... solid investment. If they were to release a 15 hour game... i'm upset. They sell story DLC on that I am ticked. haha. So... yeah.

I wouldn't say I have a love of Microtransactions. I haven't spent any money on them. The side missions aren't tedious... if you like the game. If you don't...then they probably are. But that would be true of any game right? I think this is really subjective though. I really enjoyed the side missions. In fact all the stuff you said you hated, I really enjoyed. We all have our likes and dislikes in games. To me Destiny is a heartless bland and pointless grind once the story line finishes, but many of my friends, and people on this forum dump hours into it even after. One mans grind is another's perfect formula. But I guess.... the point is that whether we like the game or not is kind of irrelevant to the issue of microtransactions in this game. Because, there IS in fact plenty of content to do that negates the NEED to buy. I dont know how to do spoiler tags to hide the text... so if you care about the story dont read past this... ... ... ... ... ... When I went into the last ACT (just today) The enemies were approximately 15 levels lower than me. About level 26--29 level captains. So... You can beat acts 1-3 EASY putting in half the time and effort I did. And Act-4 seems to be just something to do if you want to keep playing. Microtransaction's unless you are going to put in 100+ hours are TOTALLY pointless. And thus the rage against them as well.

Basic Points to start off: 1. I dont have a problem with microtransactions in games, if done correctly. 2. Shadow of War does them correctly 3. Be skeptical or at least weary when listening to reviewers when it comes to Microtransactions. Alright... I am playing Shadow of War and it is some of the most fun I have had in a long time. Absolutely amazing game. However, one thing that has burned some people is the micro transactions present in the game. Leading Gameranx to "not recommend the game despite it being the best game of 2017". Downward Thrust... same thing. Zero Punctuation points out that the end is near impossible without Microstransactions. There is one thing though that is common between ALL THREE reviewers... NONE of them played the side quests or optional missions. Which...after putting in 68 hours so far totally invalidates that aspect of their critique. Monolith states that "all items can be earned in game through normal play", while these three YouTubers debate this point. They talk about the insane grind in the last act to get enough in game credits to buy what is necessary. While not even playing a HUGE portion of the game. I am typically not a completionist... but in both Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War I have been sucked in by the lore, and the story and the world of Tolkien. Plus, the way the side quests, items, etc are worked into the game proper is very well done, and fluid. Also... and most importantly, you are rewarded heavily for doing them. In both in game currency as well as character and weapon stat buffs. I am drowning in "in game currency" and haven't spent a dime after initial purchase of the game. The currency used to buy double XP and boosts for your troops... also earned in game through "daily" (they say daily... but they last till you complete them) quests. I have 850 Gold not having spent a dime which is enough to buy about 8 double xp boosts which is what the YouTubers are all saying they had to buy to complete the game. So, TLDR: If you have the time, this game provides enough quality content to earn everything in game without buying, and without a serious grind. However, if you have more money than time, Shadow of War will let you purchase boosts, troops, etc... to minimize the time needed to experience all the game. Also you witness executions like this... http://xboxclips.com/Auptyk+Prime/11c5ae00-159c-410b-a926-a0a1f6fcd9bd (that site is the worst... but its easy)

Just finished the Single Player campaign. Really well done. I highly recommend a play through. Normal = Pretty easy, but if you are just in it for the story, then that is fine. Puzzles, Boss Battles, and a lot of good fun fighting. Solid addition to the game. Really enjoying MP as well. The game is just so well put together. Sucks that EA launched it when they did, I think a lot of people are going to skip over it and really miss out.

I read that they took that out to give the game the intensity/immersion of actually being "in the war" (some reviews mention this as well). I really prefer this change from previous Battlefields, as you point out BB it really increases the action and the firing etc... the chaos.

I am a big fan of Bdobbins channel, the way he talks about games is entertaining. I really enjoyed his review of BF1

Well, as far as the actual developers at Respawn, I would argue that they are the best of the best and can hang. ... they developed a little known game Call of Duty, that is still going today. But I agree with you, the release window for a newer franchise seems awkward. One week after another EA shooter (BF1) and one week before another competing publisher (CoD). Maybe EA was banking on a lackluster CoD launch and trying to take some of them.

It is on PS4 this round. It was only TF1 that was 360/X1/PC

Picked up the game Friday, Played a little of the Single Player and a little of the Multiplayer. And man... it is awesome. They have pretty much improved everything from the first game (and I liked the first one). The movement is liquid smooth and chaining movements together just feels natural. You can tell there are a lot of new people to the game (playing on X1) because most people are still just running around on the ground like its just another CoD game or something. Make it easy to kill people, when you are the only one up on the walls. If you played the first one, the movement is even better in this game. There is a tangible upgrade in the way the movement feels. The new titans provide a lot of variability that wasn't in the first game. I like that you can recognize the titan just by looking at them. "Oh, that is a Northstar, so he has a cluster missile, stay away from him as infantry". Of course identifying a titan in the first game wasn't hard either (only three of them haha) but because you could swap out every piece of gear you never knew what you were going up against. Now you can build a strat to counter them. Map design is perfect for chaining runs and getting the drop on people. So glad I have my XBOX Elite controller, probably makes it a little easier to kill and wall run as I dont ever have to take my thumb off the sticks. (Had a SCUF controller last time I played... SCUFs are garbage compared to this Elite controller). I have been playing Amped Hardpoint (Domination) and haven't lost a game yet. haha I recommend it.

If you have a team spamming Gas, use the Assault class and grab the M1918 sub. Any version should work. That thing without ADS is laser accurate from the hip for pretty long distances. You can break gas walls with that load out nothing flat because they don't typically expect it.

Flawed Premise: Still basing his argument on day one purchase REQUIREMENT? We have to buy day one?. He says that it is anti-consumer... how? Just don't buy the game on day one. In all honesty, we shouldn't be doing that anyway, stemming from his point in the video about "day one, two, three... week one patches". Yet... we still buy day one? We as consumers deserve this. haha.

In this thread I would like to post a counter point to most of the things I am reading about Bethesda no longer sending early review copies to media outlets. I don't want to hijack the other thread, so I left my one comment and I am out. I thought I would post my more complete thoughts here. My Two Points: 1. This shouldn't really matter to gamers. 2. This is actually better for gamers in the long run. 1. So this really shouldn't matter to gamers. I know we all want the game on opening day, because we are hyped, but if we are really concerned about the quality of the game DESPITE your hype, then we should be able to wait a few days for reviews. That is... if you actually care about the reviews. How many games prior to this have had reviews prior to launch and still launch crappy? A lot. How many games over the years have we pre-ordered over and over again just to have piss poor launches? We as gamers have shown in the past by spending our money on pre-orders and day one purchases that we in fact don't care about the reviews anyway. (Bethesda mentions this round about in their post as well) Most people who pick up the game on day one, preordered. And pretty much ALL those pre-orders were made LONG before any reviews of the game were done. So anyone really impacted by this, didn't really care about the reviews anyway. 2. How is this better for gamers? If this somehow motivates people to stop preordering, and motivates people to wait a few days for reviews then companies who release crappy games (even if only at launch) will learn. We get a better product, we get burned less, and game companies have to be more honest at launch. Furthermore, we would probably get more initial content in the form of demos/betas early access etc because they would want people to "try before you buy" to SHOW how good their game is, and that it deserves a pre-order. Or we will just get better pre-order incentives. Bottom line, for this post, is that no one NEEDS to have the game opening day, if quality is your primary concern. I feel this is a knee-jerk #trigger by most people. We are not entitled to early reviews, we have just become used to it, because it has been a thing. I would be interested to see if anyone has an argument on why we DESERVE early reviews (early being the key word, reviews are great).

This is my response I posted on another site (so the 'you' in there is not YOU J4MES OX4D): Why do reviews need to be early? Can you make a reasonable argument as to why you HAVE to buy the game on launch day? (Not want to... NEED to) Game launches on Tuesday, if the review drops Thursday or Friday morning... have you really lost anything? Especially since Bethesda creates mostly Single player games anyway. So we as a community have lost nothing. We are not less informed by any means. We are simply informed a few days after launch. If you are someone that uses critic reviews in the first place, you shouldn't be pre-ordering (which are before the critic reviews) anyway. How does that make any sense? Wait for the reviews to drop the week of/after launch and decide to the buy the game. Simple. Solved.

Oh, what I meant was there is not CHANCE, like its a sure bet. You said there are chances that it might be under powered, I am saying, no chance... it WILL be under powered. Yeah, that was phrased weird. Basically, agreeing with you... but then taking it further. haha

This really is one of my favorite aspects of the game. The sound. Friend in Team Speak, "It's really quiet right now... where are they?" ... Not three seconds later the whole mountain side was loud explosions, gun fire, screaming... "What was that about quiet?" haha. Like you, I love that the other players characters interact and yell etc. Really pulls you in. Immersion typically isn't a big thing in Multiplayer because they are focusing on other aspects, but this game manages to pull off both really well.

I don't think there is any CHANCE in your prediction. Nintendo is always under powered, and even in the trailer... they showed Skyrim, but that is a 5 year old game. >_> First party titles only is why I get Nintendo. Because their games are fun, and look good in their cartoony way. Which is fine on an under powered console.

I am loving BF1. I have the early enlisted version so I have been playing for about a week now. At first I HATED the Support class at first, because the default weapon is BEYOND terrible. Use some war bonds so you can upgrade to a new weapon. The LMGs can wreck once you update your gun. They also have the wrench tool to repair vehicles on the go. If playing game types like Domination or TDM, or in situations where you just need to break a line by flat out killing... Assault is the class to use. Their SMGs are WAY OP. haha. Environments are great, and really create some chaos in the battle. I have been playing primarily Rush. Most of the maps play really well for it, some of them are just too open, providing too much opportunity for tanks and snipers to crush without much chance to fight back against them. Battlefield is way too snipe happy anyway. Join a team with 1/3rd of the team Scout... well, we lost. Sure enough, never take the first set of OBJs. One thing that CoD does so much better than Battlefield... menus. The menus is this game are terrible. Just worthless. Yeah, they have the companion app, and I am using it now... but that should just be in game. But that has always been Battlefield. Still, you think they would learn. If you are playing as a medic... please revive! I can't stand medics that are like standing right on top of me... nothing going on... they don't revive. hah. In a party last night, friend revived me, I got up defused A, ran over and then defused B. Won the match at that set of OBJs. Just remember, the man you revive could save the free world.

I picked up the early enlisted version of BF1 so I have been playing since Tuesday night. I LOVE the game. It has some weak points as any game does but overall the game is awesome. The intensity in multiplayer when everything is falling apart around you is just fantastic. I think you will really like it. This is my first Battlefield that I would consider "my game right now". I put 18 hours into the BF1 beta alone haha, which is probably almost equal to what I had in the franchise up to this point.

This is what eventually killed the WiiU. If you remember back, they had probably the same or similar list of studios/companies that had "committed" to support the platform... but then all dropped it after the first year or two.

I do like how it is TRULY a portable console. I think that could be cool. I wonder what the battery life is? hah. I hope that the new Zelda game plays just as good on the WiiU as it does on the Switch. We are big fans of the Zelda franchise in the Tolman house, not sure I want to pick up a Switch at full price though to play one game. haha. *I liked how they showed Skyrim... a game from 2011. Oh... Nintendo.

You're right that their hand held units are great pieces of tech, but hand held sales are plummeting world wide. What's filling the ecosystem? Mobile phones. Mobile phones killed the MP3 player, killed the casual digital camera, and is in the process of killing handheld gaming units. I think that if they sold their titles on other platforms (including mobile) they would make WAY more money than they do trying to sell hardware. Especially considering the removal of the costs of R&D and manufacturing of a console. WiiU sold 13 million units. Take a look at the PS4 which overall is dominating this cycle (XB1 is making gains now... hah) at 40 million, with X1 trailing at 20 million. So... (falsely) assume that every WiiU owner also owns an X1 or PS4 and you still have 47 million people NOT playing Nintendo games. Fantastic Nintendo games, who probably would if they offered them on their platform. Obviously I am just me... they don't give a crap what I think. haha... nor should they! But I think it would be financially smart to open up their software.

My daughters LOVED Mario Party on the Gamecube... then the disc died. It was more expensive to buy the game on the Gamecube or Wii than it was to get the new one on the WiiU. They played it for like a week, and quit. I played it twice and couldn't believe they had screwed up so hard. hah Yeah, their handhelds are solid, but that market is being killed by mobile phones. I think Nintendo knows it too, that is why you are seeing Mario on the iPhone now, and you will start to see all their other titles roll out there as well. Their IP is a gold mine, their console hardware is crap. The fact that they haven't just become a software company microtransactioning the crap out of the world blows my mind. They would have all the money. Imagine Zelda on a REAL console...

Haven't they all been though? Hah I currently own: Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U and all of them have like 10 quality first party titles and the rest are practically garbage (always exceptions of course). And the funny thing is... the first party titles outside of like Zelda are all exactly the same every year*. Mariokart is one of my families favorite games, we own three copies of it (one on each platform) and it is the same game on every platform just reskinned. Typically I wait till they are cheap (even cheaper than when they initially launch haha) to buy them because, as with everyone else, they become the best console no one plays on. I think Nintendo survives on a lot of nostalgia now that the kids who had them as kids (us) are all grown and have money. *They changed up Mario Party for the Wii U... made it TERRIBLE.

I think they are referring to movies like this one (as more are planned, Young Han Solo movie, Boba Fett, Obi Wan) Anthology movies.