Originally Posted by
Ian
So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opening hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't found to be pressing themselves upon me. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.
I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.
* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.