2d ago

The Nemesis System Was One Of The Best Things Gaming Ever Did, And WB Just Killed It

kotaku.com The Nemesis System Was One Of The Best Things Gaming Ever Did, And WB Just Killed It

Warner Bros. is shutting down the team responsible for one of the most interesting narrative design mechanics in recent memory

Warner Bros. is shutting down the team responsible for one of the most interesting narrative design mechanics in recent memory

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3d ago

The Nemesis System Was One Of The Best Things Gaming Ever Did And WB Just Killed It

kotaku.com /monolith-productions-middle-earth-nemesis-system-patent-1851766437

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What is the mechanic? I've never played it.
- If you get killed by a particular enemy in a level, the next time you retry the level that enemy will be leveled up some.
  It turns “oh this part is hard for me” into “JFCWTF?!” which is good for people who like to be frustrated and hate themselves, and also can make it feel like there’s more story development instead of replaying exactly the same level again and again
  
  Thanks for the reply.
  This seems like a great way to ensure that the player can't beat the level. I assume there's a maximum difficulty where the enemy is still possible to beat?
  Also, when does the boosted difficulty reset for the level? After beating it? I am not a fan of frustrating games, so I can't even imagine playing a game like this without just quitting.
  
  Nah, that person is just REALLY bad at video games and salty.
  First off, there aren't really "levels". It's an open world with missions.
  The enemies that get stronger gain specific abilities that prevent you from taking them out with specific strategies (some are immune to stealth, some are immune to archery, etc).
  Each nemesis enemy also has specific weaknesses that can be learned about before going into combat.
  
  To add to what the other two commenters said: as the nemeses gained rank in Sauron's army (from surviving fights with you) the reward you get once you do kill them gets better.
  This means you could pick a guy who's attack patterns you know and are good at countering and start just taking dives when you fight him and once he's high enough rank you kill him for the improved rewards.
  I think this system would work well is a bunch of other game types, but alas we won't see that until the patent expires.
  
  There's a patent on the game mechanic?
  googled it
  Yup, that is crazy. At least it's only for another 11 years. Just think about how old you will be before you'll ever see that game mechanic again.
  
  It’s not always positive.
  Sometimes you could fight an enemy and set them on fire and they ran away in fear. Now they’re terrified of you, and fire.
  Sometimes you could lose to an enemy but wound them heavily so now they hate you, they’re missing an arm but have a axe there.
  They’re stronger in some ways and weaker in others. The most important thing is they’re different.
  It added a layer of growth and made it so you couldn’t just “learn the dodges” but instead had to actually grow too.
  
  That sounds really cool.
  
  It was ridiculously cool, if you haven’t played the 2 middle earth games that use it you ought to give em a shot
  
  Which games are those?
  
  Shadow of Mordor and then Shadow of War
  
  It's a more manageable than it sounds, basically there's a new mini boss that gets tracked for you in that level. You beat them and they're gone for good. It's fun because you can target them specifically for revenge and xp, and they're unique in the shadow of war games. So like, if you get killed by goblin the drunk, he becomes goblin crusher the drunkest, and his character has fun visual changes like a tank of beer strapped to his back.

13 comments