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[ryseing]

So I just finished The Bright Lord, Shadow of Mordor's second and final major expansion.

What a piece of garbage.

Monolith has been hyping this expansion up since SoM came out, especially after hearing the feedback about the awful final boss battle. They promised that The Bright Lord would redeem all of that with an epic fight against Sauron, and that some of the difficulty issues would be addressed for players who found the main game too easy. And hey, badass Elf Lord Celebrimbor. Cool, right?

NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Is BL more difficult? Slightly, but only because they halved your health and took away two of the more useful skills in Talion's arsenal (Bow focus and jump to stun). Problem is that archery is almost unusable because of no more focus. No more jump to stun is debatable. I personally didn't like the omission, but some of you might. Whatever. That isn't my main issue with the DLC.

I have two major qualms. One, the missions are garbage. They're all a variation of "stealth brand some dudes to draw someone else out, and than fight a Captain/War Chief". No variety whatsoever. I thought the main game did a decent job of variety, especially with the weapon challenges. None of that is present here. With the exception of some of the new CG/voicework, the entire thing screams "we had no budget, and we had to get this out".

Two, that hyped final boss battle? Bwahahaha. It basically consists of "activate Ring powers, triangle + circle finish Sauron until his health bar goes down, brand dudes to recharge the Ring". Even the mid battle twist of "SAURON WAS CONTROLLING YOUR WAR CHIEFS THE WHOLE TIME, AND NOW YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THEM" is painfully obvious. Anyway, you do that for two separate health bars, a QTE happens, and than Sauron's like "Fuck you, the Ring is still mine, your soul is cursed". Granted, I knew that ending was coming, but still.

What a piece of shit. So much for redemption. The first boss battle in SoM was better.

The Beast Hunter DLC was boring as well, but at least it tried to introduce a couple of new things, and I'm in the minority that likes Torvin. Talion's new look was terrible though.

Anyway, between Bright Lord and Beast Hunter, I think SoM claims the title of "worst DLC for a great game". Incredibly disappointed how everything turned out. First Season Pass I've been burned by. Between the disappointment of the ending of the main game and these DLCs, I hope Monolith gets its shit together for the sequel.

 

[James Scott]

but only because they halved your health and took away two of the more useful skills in Talion's arsenal (Bow focus and jump to stun)

What!? Bow focus was like the best part of the game

 

[Titireasca]

What!? Bow focus was like the best part of the game

"Was" is the right word because they have removed it. I agree 100% with the OP.

 

[ryseing]

What!? Bow focus was like the best part of the game

Some of my favorite moments from the main game were slow motion shooting the explosives.

Nope. Gone.

 

[Machinehead]

That is very sad to hear. I kept the game on my HDD just to gather impressions on the DLC so I could buy the season pass. It seems I'll be passing =\

And as much as I loved the game, there is plenty for Monolith to improve on the sequel. I hope they do.

 

[sasliquid]

Tbf the main story of SOM was pretty bad, it was all about the mechanics and world design. That's why I think they need to focus on a larger, more varied world for the sequel with more factions, terrain, etc. (Shadow of Angmar pls)

 

[Titireasca]

I don't believe in the sequel. I think Monolith was taken by surprise by their success. Now that they have to live up to expectations, they failed by delivering completely boring DLCs and removing exactly the things that made the game fun.

 

[loaf of bread]

Wait, this came out? Literally no news.

 

[ryseing]

Wait, this came out? Literally no news.

There was a PS Blog post, and a couple of outlets reviewed it. Pretty much a stealth release otherwise, and apparently for good reason.

I don't believe in the sequel. I think Monolith was taken by surprise by their success. Now that they have to live up to expectations, they failed by delivering completely boring DLCs and removing exactly the things that made the game fun.

Plus Monolith has written themselves into a hole narratively. I have absolutely no idea where the next game is going to go. That's the problem with interquels. We know that Talion isn't going to kill Sauron. So he's going to forge a ring, but ultimately for what? I guess weaken Sauron some more? Doesn't provide much pay off.

 

[MattyG]

Glad I got the season pass for almost nothing then. I enjoyed the game but I didn't touch it after that final boss. I kept it installed so I could play the DLC but now I'm thinking I won't even waste my time.

 

[Titireasca]

If they f**k up the gameplay mechanics the story won't matter any more. Why would they remove bow focus just because people complain the game is too easy???

Bow focus is FUN, along with other mechanics which will probably be removed because they make the game too easy. F**k you Monolith, I'm playing a LoTR game not Demon's Souls ...

 

[chancellor]

I was disappointed as well OP, there was no story to expand upon what we already knew and the Sauron fight was exactly as you described.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

The slowmo bow is just removed from that DLC or have they patched it from the entire game?

 

[ryseing]

The slowmo bow is just removed from that DLC or have they patched it from the entire game?

Just removed from the DLC.

If they f**k up the gameplay mechanics the story won't matter any more. Why would they remove bow focus just because people complain the game is too easy???

Bow focus is FUN, along with other mechanics which will probably be removed because they make the game too easy. F**k you Monolith, I'm playing a LoTR game not Demon's Souls ...

But but *insert that stupid video with the guy playing with one hand*

 

[Loxley]

There was a PS Blog post, and a couple of outlets reviewed it. Pretty much a stealth release otherwise, and apparently for good reason.



Plus Monolith has written themselves into a hole narratively. I have absolutely no idea where the next game is going to go. That's the problem with interquels. We know that Talion isn't going to kill Sauron. So he's going to forge a ring, but ultimately for what? I guess weaken Sauron some more? Doesn't provide much pay off.

There are a few places they could go with the sequel. Here's an idea I had after I finished the game (originally posted on the SOM OT):

My ingenious idea for the sequel: the roles are reversed and you play as an agent of Sauron's, you play the bad guy.

The setup:

- In the prologue, Talion and Celebrimbor are shown

Spoiler

crafting a Ring of power like the end of Shadow of Mordor pretty much suggested they were going to.

- Sensing this, Sauron sends one of his best out to defeat Talion and the new uprising of Men created in the last game.
- This "agent" would be an Easterling.
- This Easterling would be a descendent of the Wainriders, which would give this character a good reason to hate the men of Gondor and Rohan and want to see them destroyed. Plus, as an Easterling he just saw Talion wreak havok across the Sea of Rhûn - which would only make him even more pissed off.
- I keep saying "him", but hey, why not make the character female? The Wainriders taught their women how to fight, and it would certainly set her even farther apart from Talion.
- "But what about the Wraith abilities?", you ask? Well, (bare in mind this a total gameplay conceit as within the first game) in his "weakened" state at the end of the first game, Sauron uses almost all of his remaining will to infuse one of the Nazgûl with this Easterling to give her similar abilties to Talion. Again, I know this is complete poppycock within the Legendarium, but its simply an invention to bring the Wraith powers back.
- Specifically, Sauron infuses this Easterling with the Nazgûl named Khamûl. Why him specifically? Because he was an Easterling like our main character. That would create an interesting dynamic between the two of them.

The gameplay:

- This time around, instead of Uruks, the chief enemies would be Men and Elves (save dwarves for the third game) . What's great about this is that it pretty much opens up the rest of Middle-earth for exploration. Rohan, Gondor, and Rhovanion could all be potential locations, which would immediately solve the lack of environmental variety that Shadow of Mordor has.
- You'd also be able to fight a few Dúnedain, whom Talion has begun to rally to his cause.
- Because you're playing a character who is under the thumb of Sauron, your Wraith abilities are far more brutal and unforgiving (which is saying something).
- Seeing as Rohan would be a location, horses would be added to the game as mounts. But since you're Sauron's servant, so could oliphaunts, spiders, and potentially even

Spoiler

bats

.

That's my initial idea anyway, there are a ton of possibilities for the follow-up.

 

[Basketball]

Wait explain

so the bow is not glowing anymore ... reg bow now ?

can you still shoot arrows ?


can I use different character skins ?

 

[TimorousPanda]

That's disappointing. I really liked the base game.

 

[Chanser]

Arrows are a lot more powerful, basically one shot arrows.

 

[Corpekata]

Wait explain

so the bow is not glowing anymore ... reg bow now ?

can you still shoot arrows ?


can I use different character skins ?

They're still there. They removed it for balance reasons. He has access to a few more powers, and his arrows are a lot more powerful.

 

[ryseing]

There are a few places they could go with the sequel. Here's an idea I had after I finished the game (originally posted on the SOM OT):

Hm. Interesting.

So Talion would be the main antagonist then.

If this leads to us getting location variety, I'm all for it.

They're still there. They removed it for balance reasons. He has access to a few more powers, and his arrows are a lot more powerful.

Aiming isn't fixed though, which is unfortunate since Shadow Brand is so important. Not worth the tradeoff.

 

[JerkShep]

I didn't even buy them and I had to download an enormous patch on ps4 lol. Not really interested in dlcs for this one, I liked the game but not really interested in more of the same. I'll keep an eye out for the sequels, but I'd rather see the system in a different franchise I think.

 

[Currygan]

well, at least they're consistent with the quality of the game

 

[User 479360]

Wait, this came out? Literally no news.

No kidding. I heard it was coming soon, but that was it. I had no idea it was out already.

The core game was really solid, and I'd been planning to get the DLC as a result. Maybe review it, too. It doesn't seem worth it, though.

How long was the Bright Lord? And is it just a handful of boring missions? Or is it a mini campaign worthy of that status despite its quality?

 

[Tidus_Great]

the game itself wasn't exactly great. It was very repetitive.

 

[ryseing]

No kidding. I heard it was coming soon, but that was it. I had no idea it was out already.

The core game was really solid, and I'd been planning to get the DLC as a result. Maybe review it, too. It doesn't seem worth it, though.

How long was the Bright Lord? And is it just a handful of boring missions? Or is it a mini campaign worthy of that status despite its quality?

3ish hours, more the former than latter.

 

[ironcreed]

Bleh, I had enough of the experience from the main game. It was fun for what it was for awhile, but basically amounted to being nothing more than an orc killing sim in a husk of a world.

 

[Aselith]

Jump to stun was very overpowered not "useful."

 

[Stallion Free]

Yep. I generally complete all season pass content, but I just deleted the game half-way through it today. It was so garbage, just a pallete swap and more garbage mission design in re-used areas that weren't even interesting in the first place. I'm so sick of the orc leader war table gimmick stuff too.

 

[Deception]

While the dlc wasn't horrible, the lack of quantity and variety in the missions made there play through for me like 2 hours total. The wraith stun is so OP too, makes fighting so easy since all you have to do is build up a 20+ combo then wraith stun to brand everyone. I would have liked more ring of power missions maybe missions that infinitely pop up to keep you on your toes to defend your quick travel towers. Fail to defend the tower then you have to do another mission to rebuild it. Also I would have liked runes specific to Celebrimbor and more upgrades.

Overall the DLC could have been better but I got the season pass for $15 and the base game for $30 so I feel like it was worth it for me.

 

[IvorB]

It basically consists of "activate Ring powers, triangle + circle finish Sauron until his health bar goes down, brand dudes to recharge the Ring". Even the mid battle twist of "SAURON WAS CONTROLLING YOUR WAR CHIEFS THE WHOLE TIME, AND NOW YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THEM" is painfully obvious. Anyway, you do that for two separate health bars, a QTE happens, and than Sauron's like "Fuck you, the Ring is still mine, your soul is cursed".

This sounds like the dumbest sh*t I've heard in a long time. Using the One Ring to fight against Sauron. What the hell?

 

[ryseing]

This sounds like the dumbest sh*t I've heard in a long time. Using the One Ring to fight against Sauron. What the hell?

It actually does make sense in context. Throughout the DLC, there are conversations between Celebrimbor and Sauron that show Celebrimbor is basically trying to become Sauron in order to gain revenge for his family. Using the Ring is part of that.

Jump to stun was very overpowered not "useful."

Hence why I said the omission was debatable. Taking it away makes fighting berserkers a PITA though.

 

[antitrop]

well, at least they're consistent with the quality of the game

Pretty much. This isn't surprising to me, it just sounds like more of the same.

 

[User 479360]

Well, I guess I'll pass unless the season pass drops to just a few dollars. Even then..