Disorganized ramblings ahead. Subjectivity is implied.
- Gameplay is really fun, especially on Brutal difficulty, where both yours and enemies' damage is increased. Combat is not the most challenging in the world, but it's tight and responsive, requiring a lot of decision making. Exploration is alright, with some ubisoft-esque collectible hunts. Everyone already talked about how good the orc commanders and the Nemesis system are, so I'll just say that I wholeheartedly agree. Sieges are also much fun. The first few times.
- Story is painful to rate. On the whole, it's a fairly interesting and often touching narrative that I have pretty much no issues with. However, if you zoom in, it just falls apart. Plot holes upon contrivances upon illogical character decisions upon pure bullshit, which all happen in the land of Scuffed Mordor, where retcons are more frequent than even orcs. And I would be willing to overlook it if it didn't just drag on and on and on for so far more than it should have.
- Art direction and music are stellar, no issues with them. The in-game world is well designed, both gameplay- and visuals-wise. Voice acting is kinda hit or miss. The orcs are amazingly well voiced, and so is Celebimbo. But I'm not a huge fan of most human characters, including (I'm so sorry Troy) Talion.
- Speaking of human characters, I didn't care for any single one of them. An entire story arc leans into them so much but they're just so bland and boring. I guess Baranor's kinda cool.
- DLCs are pretty good. Didn't care for Eltariel's one that much because it was just more of the same game, but Baranor's one was an interesting change of pace.
- There used to be microtransactions in the game, which dramatically impacted the game's ratings, but I've only played it after they were removed, so I guess there's that.
To round it up, I'd enjoy the game much more if it didn't drag on for so long and focused a bit more on fleshing out the main story instead.
- Gameplay is really fun, especially on Brutal difficulty, where both yours and enemies' damage is increased. Combat is not the most challenging in the world, but it's tight and responsive, requiring a lot of decision making. Exploration is alright, with some ubisoft-esque collectible hunts. Everyone already talked about how good the orc commanders and the Nemesis system are, so I'll just say that I wholeheartedly agree. Sieges are also much fun. The first few times.
- Story is painful to rate. On the whole, it's a fairly interesting and often touching narrative that I have pretty much no issues with. However, if you zoom in, it just falls apart. Plot holes upon contrivances upon illogical character decisions upon pure bullshit, which all happen in the land of Scuffed Mordor, where retcons are more frequent than even orcs. And I would be willing to overlook it if it didn't just drag on and on and on for so far more than it should have.
- Art direction and music are stellar, no issues with them. The in-game world is well designed, both gameplay- and visuals-wise. Voice acting is kinda hit or miss. The orcs are amazingly well voiced, and so is Celebimbo. But I'm not a huge fan of most human characters, including (I'm so sorry Troy) Talion.
- Speaking of human characters, I didn't care for any single one of them. An entire story arc leans into them so much but they're just so bland and boring. I guess Baranor's kinda cool.
- DLCs are pretty good. Didn't care for Eltariel's one that much because it was just more of the same game, but Baranor's one was an interesting change of pace.
- There used to be microtransactions in the game, which dramatically impacted the game's ratings, but I've only played it after they were removed, so I guess there's that.
To round it up, I'd enjoy the game much more if it didn't drag on for so long and focused a bit more on fleshing out the main story instead.