As a side effect of my job, I mostly try to play games when they’re new, topical, popular. But, like any gamer, I have a backlog. Games that I have to simply let slide past because there’s too much on my plate, or ones that I was just flat out oblivious to.
Occassionally, I carve out a little time for those, but it’s always feels really weird for me, like you’re experiencing something in a temporal vortex. You look around like “Oh shit, did you see this cool thing the game did and–” and yeah… they saw it. Years ago. And they no longer give a shit. They already talked about all the cool things, and you weren’t a part of it.
I can’t help but notice it, enjoying a game in a bubble like that, removed from the community aspect of everyone experiencing the game together (in a parallel play sort of way) that takes place when a game first launches. Perhaps it’s just me, because games are my work and whenever I play, I’m also looking for material. But with older games, it’s sort of like “Nah, it’s not topical anymore. It’s been years, chances are someone already made that joke.”
At any rate… yeah, I finally started really playing Shadow of War last week, for some reason. Was just… in the mood, I guess. It’s, uh… it’s big. Like maybe too big. But fun for the same reasons Shadow of Mordor was fun, so there’s that.
Eh. It’s generally like that for me. In a world where I only have a finite amount of time to play a much larger selection of games that I want, why on earth would I go and buy a game at $60 when I can get the same experience for $20 in a year?
Community doesn’t bother me. I’d never be able to keep up with the community anyways.
And unless it’s a ho-hum game, there will ALWAYS be people enjoying it for the first time after a sale.
Dresden won’t like to hear about your lack of community spirit!
This is the internet. Dresden won’t hear about it at all. (Unless Lucio tells him. Or Will. Or Bob … )
Pfft, Dresden can’t tell the difference between a PlayBox and an X-Station, and the house would go up in flames the moment he got near one.
I GET THESE REFERENCES! 😀
I would like a donut please…
Likest thou jelly within thy doughnut?
Sometimes I will pounce on a game on release day, but its either something that I already tried the demo for and really really liked (Code Vein) or an expansion to something I’ve been into for a while (Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers.)
I’ve pounced on very few day-one games in my time, and mostly Nintendo stuff, as they generally don’t go on sale for years. Mario Odyssey was a day-one. Pokémon X was a day-one. Final Fantasy XII was a day-one as well.
Then there’s ports – and even if it’s a bad port, if it’s already reviewed on another platform I’ll take the risk. Stardew Valley, Skyrim, and Ys VIII were day-ones for me on the Switch.
To be fair, you probably got the better end of the deal, when Shadow Of War was typical, they were putting all the cool Orcs into look boxes. It was only after people really started to stop playing that the rollback on that BS. I loved Shadow Of Mordor but I gave Shadow Of War as miss because that.
You know it’s funny you should start playing that again. I picked it back up on Sunday after like, 9 months without playing it after my first session.
Had no idea at ALL what I was doing! But I do remember the first nemesis I got. I killed him five times, literally. The second to last time I bisected him and he came back basically stapled together! I almost didn’t want to kill him again because, like… That’s a fucking survivor right there.
Yeah, I almost completed the game, then got distracted by something and never finished it. It’s been so long that I had to start it from scratch recently! It really is fun at its core. Especially the ambushes when visiting a new region for the first time. My favorite is when you get a messenger. Some super high level, No last chance assassin with epic daggers/strength/scary shit shows up, and you think you’re going to die when the assassin is like, “I’m just here to taunt you and run away.” Good stuff.
Then you just break his mind until he’s level one and batshit crazy. That’s what I did with *spoilers*, the traitor.
For a second there, I thought that the character was known as “Spoilers, the Traitor”
Hey, Tim. I remember a while ago we argued about microtransactions in Shadow of War. https://cad-comic.com/comic/quarter-evil/#comment-6695 Your point back then was that “The boxes maybe save a bit of time, but I never felt pressured to buy one to stay competitive. Resources and orcs were fairly abundant elsewhere.” Now you’re saying you just started to play the game. You mean you don’t need to buy lootboxes if you don’t play the game? or you had an amnesia and forgot you already played it?
Maybe he was getting it confused with Shadow of Mordor, for which presumably the loot box system is the same?
Shadow of Mordor didn’t have lootboxes.
My backlog is full of games that I’ve played for a few solid hours, but never got through more than 10% of. He might have played for a while, had to put it down, then started fresh two years later.
Nothing on his post two years ago implies he spent a long time playing it – the end-of-game grind-fest was well-known – and he might have just simplified this post by saying ‘I just started’ right now, rather than post a lengthy description like I am.
It’s possible, though it makes no sense anyway. The argument “I played the game and didn’t find no grindfest” is just pointless if you only played a couple of hours. Of course the devs won’t put a paywall at the beginning of their game. It’s much more effective later, when the player already invested lots of their time and effort in it. No need to tell me that.
My original save had about 2-3 hours on it. So that’s as far as I’d gotten; enough to poke around for immediate comic material I assume. I then probably played another 3-4 hours of the endgame on my brother-in-law’s save later that fall, since he was farther along than me. I don’t know where I stopped in my initial game. Maybe just inside Cirith Ungol, since none of that seemed familiar when I restarted last week. I do remember that the time I spent checking out the endgame was more than adequate to see the mechanics and determine that, to… Read more »
Ok, I see.
This… Actually upsets me a bit. You never even played long enough to notice Iron Will became standard in the versus mode? As in, every single orc who spawns essentially has Iron Will, forcing you to humiliate them over and over until they loose it, which might very well make them loose the traits you wanted them for in the first place, or drive them mad ruining their personality that you might have liked. And as if that wasn’t enough, it became much more common for them to GAIN the trait after they leveled up, forcing you to do it… Read more »
Why on earth would it upset you that I didn’t play the game enough to supposedly be irritated by it? I didn’t do a “review” of Shadow of War. You didn’t buy the game because I raved about how awesome it was. I played some of the game (and watched twice as much on streams), and formed an opinion that buying chests was not mandatory (Helpful? Maybe. But not mandatory). My opinion was also based on the fact that I would never be into the endgame for a long haul, regardless of when I played the game. At best it… Read more »
Because you all but defended the practice since you didn’t feel it was mandatory and it was a single player experience, and you hadn’t even tested the experience you were defending.
That attitude upsets me because it what let’s developers and publishers fuck over the players by intentionally making a game less enjoyable to play without spending money.
I STILL feel like Shadow of War was always primarily single-player game. It had a sort of online meta game attached to the end, but I doubt that’s the reason anyone bought it. The Last of Us had a pretty fun multiplayer component tacked on that definitely extended its play hours, but I would still argue that TLOU is a single player game. Same as Shadow of War. Other games you buy, Battlefront or Overwatch etc, are clearly multiplayer games. That’s their primary focus. A single-player tutorial mission or whatever tacked on does not suddenly make them single player games.… Read more »
Yes, Shadow of War is a single player game. I have never denied this, I don’t know why you think I did. I simply do not agree that single player games make it okay to add micro-transactions. Even if you and I are not one of those people who will ruin their entire lives because they can’t control their impulses, does not mean I’m fine with others explicitly targeting them for cash, while also making my own experience less enjoyable in the process. You do realize that the true ending of the game occurs AFTER the post-game right? As in,… Read more »
I believe you, that it was that bad for you. What I’m saying is that I never saw the post game that bad. The save I played around in was somewhere around middle tier for Shadow War, and I don’t remember Iron Will being that much of a problem. In the streams I watched, it did not seem to be that much of a problem. Perhaps you got bad RNG, or I experienced particularly good RNG. But I can only base my opinion off of what I see. I can’t base my opinion on your experience. The opinion I formed… Read more »
I get the feeling you only read parts of my posts. I mean, you keep ignoring that my big thing is that the systems are designed to target people who can’t bring themselves to move on if they feel it’s to grindy, and end up spending massive amounts of cash instead. You also missed that Iron Will only becomes a problem Post Game, for the final ending. Before that everything is peachy, sure you have to swap your orcs all the time because they are designed to betray you, but you can always replace them in maybe ten minutes max.… Read more »
It’s not that I’m not hearing you; you dislike the predatory side of lootboxes. However, it is no longer fall of 2017, and since the Shadow of War/Battlefront 2 controversies, the agressiveness/prevalance of paid lootboxes has drastically lessened in the industry. The gaming community already GOT up in arms about it, and scared most of these companies enough that they backed off on that particular mechanic. So while I DO hear you, I’m simply not interested in having a debate in 2019 about the state of a game’s lootboxes in 2017. As far as “post game”… that’s the Shadow Wars,… Read more »
Dude. Raeze. Chill.
Tim’s just a guy, and can like or dislike things. And you can like or dislike things, too. Tim’s got a comic and a following, but it’s not like he’s personally giving his stamp of approval and telling companies that hey, it’s OK, you guys can do this because I’ve convinced the gaming community.
Scope, man. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. And like he said back in the day, he’s an adult and can decide for himself what is and isn’t worth the money.
I’m fully aware that I have an argumentative personality, and I’m not surprised that I did not exactly get the idea that I was only mildly upset with Tim, and very upset with the memories of the game in question, which I was reminded of by the topic it self. But I also do not agree with you fully, because while Tim didn’t give his approval to the companies doing this, he also insinuated that it’s nothing to be upset about since it’s a single player game and completely optional to partake. These practices are designed to target a small… Read more »
Raeze, I get what you’re saying. But honestly, I have to pick and choose what I get upset about, because I can’t walk around angry all the time. I don’t want to. So don’t interpret my indifference to certain things as approval of them. I just, in the grand scheme of things, can’t get worked up over every thing. If a game comes with microtransactions that I don’t agree with, I simply don’t purchase any microtransactions. I vote with my wallet. It’s the most powerful tool I have.
Really? A year later and you are still so upset about the stance that he took on the lootboxes? So upset that you went back through the archives to find the exact comment so you could link it here, just to see if he has amnesia or was really just trying to lie to you?
Lay down your pitchfork already.
Peoples that dig in the past for shit to complain about are people I try to avoid like the plague and are part of a lot of problems on social media right now. They basically need to find something more productive to do.
So you started playing it last week, “for some reason”. Just having looked it up myself because of your comic, I noticed it first launched 2 years ago last week. (I only really noticed because it launched on my birthday).
Could it be you started playing because some “2 year anniversary” thing for the game caught your attention?
Welcome to my world! I still need to finish Shadows of Mordor!
Ha! I still have to begin it!! So… I won…right? 😉 😀
Cheers
You might enjoy /r/PatientGamers.
This!!! There’s literally a REDDIT community devoted to talking about games that the rest of the internet has already moved on from.
I only play games that came out 2 to 3 years ago. thats when steam sales kicks-in past the 65% mark. Unless its a Civ game. Or maybe some Total War. For those I usually take the 50% sale.
Never pay full price, though.
happened to me. wasnt until after my mom died this year i got a xbox 360 given to me by my nephew. then a few months later i get destiny, that big xbox live only online multiplayer mmo scifi game. i get to the hub where all the players go when not on missions. i always heard of it described as a giant city full of players, who would trade items, chat, help each other out on missions. i finally get there………….. i saw 5 players, total in the entire city…………………they were standing in a circled……………….twerking at each other………yes im… Read more »
Its funny. I saw the comic and I thought about the fact I started shadow of war last month and how I felt like that. Then I read the commentary only to find that the author just started shadow of war.
And yeah… it’s big.
Yup that’s me. https://www.xkcd.com/606/
Heck I’m finally trying to get around to playing RDR2.
helluva game buddy. helluva game. I had a lot of fun with it recently only as well.
Shadow of War was hella fun to start, until the same dudes started cheating death and hunting me all over the damn place; while being like 20 levels about me, mind you. Never actually finished the endgame content, as it got a bit too grindy, even for me.
That being said, I would welcome a whole bunch of SoW comics because the references are still valid and the jokes still funny.
I did two play-throughs when the game first came out. The first run was about finding the main plot points and completing them/the game. The second round was to find all the little secrets and such.
I like the gameplay and overall the concept was great. However, I felt it lacked in content for continued interested. It all seemed to be really short, overall. I guess if I just wandered and fought random things repeatedly it would last longer… /shrug
I finally got my PS4 (GoW Version!) for my birthday last year. (I Love My Wife!) I’m a fan of Assassin’s Creed, and the Batman series. You see where this is going? I’m currently playing through AC:Liberation and the China, India, and Russia games. I’m at least another year out from Syndicate, let alone Origins! Hell, I just recently passed the part with the reveal of the identity of the Arkham Knight! I’m still not finished with that game yet, because my 8yo son loves Batman and wants to be around when I play it. So, yeah, there’s feels here!
that’s totally me with witcher3
Happens sometimes. I didn’t get around to playing Undertale right away (and good gods was it worth the wait,) I just recently finished Dungeons 3, I finally got around to Yakuza 0 about three months ago, and I’ve barely started Yakuza Kiwami. Still, it can help if you’re trying to save money. Just tell yourself “Yeah I COULD get that shiny new game, but dammit will I ever find out the fate of Kazuma Kiryu at this rate?”
That’s a bit creepy. I started playing Shadows of War finally on Monday. It’s been in my backlog for awhile too. Next up is infamous series since I finally have a playstation.
IMO, Shadow of War is a good example of how more of a good thing isn’t always better. It was mainly just Shadow of Mordor, again, but more of it. It’s worse off for the “more of it”.
It also weakened or stripped out some of the more difficult nemesis traits and trait combos. No more nigh-unkillable orcs like you could get in the first game, which spoils some of the mid to late game tension.
I play almost all of my games, long after they’re no longer topical. After all, you can only really find out if it’s a decent game sometime after it’s released, and what with GOTY editions and constant updates, not to mention price drops, it only makes sense to buy a game that’s been out a while.
As such, all of my experiences are in that “temporal vortex” as you put it. But for me, it just kind of feels as though I’m playing the game on my own. A bit like in the days before the internet.
My backlog dates back to the 80s so yeah.
Nice comic. So older gamers with kids actually love in a post Apocalyptic bubble of time.
Makes sense..
I don’t buy most games new for several reasons, first of which is my computer can’t run any AAA games and I also don’t really care about most of them. I’d only be interested if I had friends playing a specific game, otherwise I can usually wait. Well, if I had a playstation 4 I would have snapped up KH3 in an instant, but I definitely couldn’t afford a console *plus* that.
I get way behind in my games. I just started playing Skyrim 6 months ago.
Hey, if PS1 games keep after a few decades, then so do games from a few years ago.
Me playing BoTW: OMG! Link just bought a dress from GANNON! GANNON!!! EEEEEeeee….. ok, yeah, everyone else already knows a year ago.
Better late than never in my opinion. Heck it still has a lot of replayability value even after a year.
I have also just started playing Shadow of War and am loving it. I’ve played 5 hours and am at only 7% :\
Both Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War are in my Steam library, and I have yet to get around to play either of them. >_<
My backlog reaches back into the PS2 era, not counting steam purchases which push it back even further, who else has an insane backlog?
I kinda feel like that now finally plying Xenoblade X which has been gathering dust on my shelf since it launched. Fortunately the Facebook group is still active as it covers the whole franchise.
I did the same thing about 2 months ago. Finally got around to picking up State of Decay 2, and loved it. Played it solid for almost a month, got all the Legacy cards, was working on Dread Zone… I know exactly how you feel.
There must be something we saw recently because i reinstalled SoW last week too and …and gods how did i have time to play this? There is SO MUCH for a completionist, and they keep poppin’, and oh i HATE that guy and wow… killing him twice, best thing ever.
Like that cubed. I don’t even think of myself as a gamer anymore, honestly. After spending my days working in IT for a living, most days I don’t even want to touch a computer when I get home. I’m more likely to just sit down and read a book on my Kindle paperwhite.
Heck, I’m still oh-so-slowly working my way through Pillars of Eternity. Not the sequel, the original. *sigh*
Lol, way to go Tim! I forgot that I had purchased that way back when on Steam.
I will look into it after I get tired of GR:BP.
I feel this, I’m hard pressed to buy new games. I feel like I stay months behind. I’m even leaving a comment 5 months after the post.
Hell, it’s kind of how I feel leaving messages on these older comics after such a long absence 😛
i have watched so many videos of it. its amazing. especially reading the few comments where the overlord killed one of their own people and some people wondered it was a bug, and then when their commander said: overlord got some bad information, whoever that was, wasn’t one of ours” they were amazed that wait, this can happen? i especially laughed one comment who apparently filled all but 1 spot with spies. overlord somehow killed the only person who wasn’t a spy.
I couldn’t get more than 10-12 hours into Shadow of Mordor. The concept was ok, but I kept getting gangraped every time I tried to beat a Nemesis, which just made more Nemesis…
Last time I played it, I took on a guy lower level than me, so he ran and got his “brother” before I could kill him. I got him and had his brother down to ONE MORE HIT, and then a minion ganked me with a projectile of some kind. I was furious.