For some reason, I started watching Brad and Dan's three quick looks, and wanted to play the game again. GOTY edition not carrying over my previous save was a bummer, but starting over has been pretty enjoyable.
I should say I finish very few open world games, only AC3, Saboteur, Mordor, Andromeda, and BotW. (tried almost every big name game, but couldn't be bothered for any of them). Among those I would say Mordor and BotW are tied for first.
Mordor is very forgiving: stealth is least restricting, disengaging from enemy chases is very easy, time-slowing aim on arrows, death has basically no implications, and healing items/arrows are all over the place. In many ways it has the least things to do, basically just focused on killing orcs, but combat is stylish and fun enough to keep me engaged. I can see for people who played too many games with similar combat, the game would seem tedious. On the flip side it avoids a lot of open world mission types that don't work, like tailing, chasing, escort, or just drive to some location.
If OP has made it this far and not enjoyed, it might be the game for OP (which happens all the time, just look at how many games Jeff hates on). But the best tip I can give is to approach the game as a stealth game that requires planning (like hitman) rather than a combat-focused game (musou?). Don't try to take on too many orcs at the same time. If more and more orcs come swarming in, it's probably time to retreat a bit. Orc captains in the vicinity can be tagged to keep track of their locations. Various distractions can be used to move orcs around. Find openings to isolate your target. Different targets will require different approaches depending on their traits. (or if a few are bunching together, you'll see that certain ones may be easier to take out first) Going in gung-ho can be fun too, but expect everything to go wrong. (When things to go wrong, either resulting in retreat or death, I then have more reason to hunt down every captain that ruined my party.)
I still like the nemesis system a great deal. The randomly generated names can be chanted out if they make warchief. The titles usually imply certain traits even before any other info is revealed. Seeing new armor designs or trait combinations is fun. They make comments about previous encounters (most memorably, one orc noticed me sitting in a tree trying to ambush him, and asked "what are you doing up there?"). For the ones that escaped or cheated death, I make extra sure to chop their heads off next time. After branding is introduced (too late imo), you can plant your own people around every warchief.
Mordor's story is nothing special, but about the same level as BotW, or most other open world games, in my opinion. It's final boss battle is pretty disappointing as well. Coming back to it now the camera is a bit rough. But it's still a top 10 game for me (and it's a type of game that a large panel of people tend to agree on) in any other year. Hopefully all the new stuff added in Shadow of War gel together well.
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