Share your Nemesis!

[Saltyie]

So as a lot of you may be aware, Shadow of Mordor features an awesome feature, that randomly generates Orc captains, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, appearance and role in Uruk society. I think it'd be cool to see everyone's nemesis, not just a guy you stealth killed with his back to you though, share your stories of your encounters that span many battles, and how your Nemesis changed each time.

 

I met my first Nemesis when on a mission to kill another captain. I was hiding in some bushes watching my target execute some Uruks, when I suddenly get brought into the sword clash scene when a captain talks to you. I was pretty startled, I didn't realise that their was another captain behind the bush I was in. At this point all the Uruks in the area, including my target, were alerted. This also triggered a weakness in my target, the 'Fear of the Gravewalker'. He got away and I was pretty pissed that my perfect assassination attempt had gone awry.  I took out my anger on the captain that got me alerted, his name was Rug or something similar. He wasn't too strong, had a weak wooden shield, and was easy to dodge, but I wasn't doing as good as I had thought, because a low level grunt threw his spear in my back, and then Rug slammed his halberd type weapon into me.

 

 

Time progressed, and when I respawned, Rug had been given a kickass dragon born like helmet, and the title 'The Warmonger'. My goal was still to kill the 5 warchiefs. and since Rug wasn't affiliated with anyone, I decided to spare him for the time being. Wrong choice. After killing the 4 war chiefs needed, I'm strolling out of a stronghold and guess who was standing their waiting for me. Rug the warmonger. I had no trouble whittling his health down in the last encounter, and would've won if it wasn't for the ranged grunts, but little did I know that Rug was doing his own adventure alongside mine. He had been promoted a few times, and had a power level higher than any of the war chiefs ever had. He had obtained a new skill, where I couldn't vault over him, and since that was a shield bearer's #1 weakness, I was struggling to get a hit on him. I couldn't break his shield anymore either, it was no longer a piece of wood, It was a huge iron wall. While trying to fight him, an Uruk sounded the strongholds alarm and I was quickly overrun and slaughtered by Rug. 

 

I try going after him 1 or 2 more times, but even when he's dueling another captain or fighting a pack of Caragours with his hunting party, he's still too strong and kills me. I decide to take a break, and when I get back, progress in the story until I get the ability to brand captains, and turn them to your side, so I could turn a bunch of captains against Rug. When I had finally travelled to a new area, and progressed in the story a bit, I still had a bloodlust for Rug. The second I unlocked the brand ability, I went straight back to the first area, and forgot completely about the 5 vacant warchief slots before I left. Rug had been promoted to warchief, and compared to the other 4 newly appointed warchiefs, he looked like a tank. Instead of being shirtless, he now had a huge set of iron armour on, but still kept his iconic dragon born helmet. I scrap my plan of getting some captains to help me fight Rug, and instead set my sights on a warchief, so I could get some warchief vs warchief action going. I must've accidentally selected the wrong target however, as when I did the mission to draw out the warchief, it wasn't my target that showed up, who I wanted to pit against Rug, it was Rug himself. I had that feeling in my stomach, like when you see an asshole that you haven't seen for years, and I immediately charge into battle. He mentions how he wins every fight against me, and that I should stop trying. I'm at immersion level 10/10 at this point, Shadow of Mordor is the first game where I've genuinely 'made my own story' that so many games claim to let you do (Destiny for instance), especially when I realised that no-one else has probably had the exact same experience as me. This encounter was just so atmospheric, the rain and lightning, it even felt like the crowds of Uruks coming out the woodwork weren't even attacking me, and had formed a circle with me and Rug in the centre (even though they were actually attacking me).    

 

Since this fight was in a stronghold, once the alarm was rung, the enemies wouldn't stop coming, even a few captains showed up, but Rug had no bodyguards. I had created a kickass strategy, by using Rug's new shield slam skill to my advantage. When he slammed his shield down, I would quickly get behind him, and mash O to wraith stun him. Then I would lay into his back. For the first time since my first encounter, his health bar was going down! The grunts and captains were still trying to get me, but I was in full concentration mode, and dodged all their attacks. But all of a sudden, Talion falls to his knees, it seems a grunt had thrown a spear into my back again, very reminiscent of mine and Rug's first encounter. At this point I've given up, Rug would of surely came over to me, and even if I did stop him from killing me, he would've regained all his health. Strangely, no-one comes and triggers the execution QTE, and Talion slowly raises back to his feet. I get back to business and continue stunning Rug, and at the exact moment lightning strikes, Rug falls to his knees. In some epic backdrop of a hundred orcs and the rain, Rug talks about rotten luck, and that how next time I wouldn't be so lucky. There's not going to be a next time my friend I say to myself, as I'm waiting for the option to behead him. Two options come up however, I could either kill Rug, and have a large chance of never seeing him again, or dominate him, and brand him as one of my troops. I couldn't give up my epic side story with Rug in a swift swing of my sword, so I decided to dominate him, and proceeded to breeze through the other 4 war chiefs with Rug fighting alongside me in barely 30 minutes.

 

It says something when I'm so involved in killing enemies that I'm not even continuing the story missions. Shadow of Mordor is the first game that I actually feel like I've made my own story, not just done something that everyone else has already done. The nemesis system is the first 'Next gen' feature on any game on the PS4 , and I truly hope that it isn't received as a one-off gimmick. Imagine playing Batman, and before you get to Joker, you have to go through some of his high level henchmen, where they all form their own stories with you. Or imagine playing red dead redemption, stopping a randomly generated outlaw from robbing a bank, and him mentioning his time in jail or something in the next encounter. Next gen isn't about the FPS, or resolution and graphics quality, it's about the gameplay innovations like the nemesis system, which will have to be toned down on the PS3. 

 

Sorry for the wall of text, but SoM is the most excited I've been playing a game since Mass Effect 2's finale. Share your nemesis stories here! I'm looking forward to hear PSNPs stories in Mordor .

 

TL;DR: The Nemesis system is bloody brilliant

Edited October 4, 2014 by Saltyie

[Redgrave]

Mine goes by the name of Pigug the Beggar. He's a low level Captain but he's slippery because of all the shielded bodyguards he keeps around him. I've exploited his fears twice and that's why he runs away. I think I'll just let him become Warchief and then finish him off when he does that. I'll update more if it happens

 

Edit: Well, his luck ran out. That or I was being too rough. I wound up making his explode during a fight when I thought I would just knock him back. I wanted him to retreat. I'll have to find someone else then.

Edited October 4, 2014 by omegarevan

[Gatatog]

My most memorable nemesis went by the name of Stakûga Warmonger, however he's dead now. The reason for him being so memorable is that in one of my earlier battles he got a little too close to an exploding keg of grog and the next time he showed up he was literally wearing a burlap sack on his head.

 

I have this nemesis now though, I forget his name but he is a real pain in the ass. He carries a shield but you can't jump over him - everytime he does his heavy attack and I press X to avoid it, he blocks me and throws me away. He's really tough to deal with, especially if you get him in a group.

[BDRick35]

Bubol the Butcher ... who became the Butcher by killig me. After that he was lvl 13 and an Elite Captain invulnerable to all Finisher execpt Combo Finishers. So every time we met .... i ran away

Right now after roundabout 10 encounters i was able to kill him and two other captians in one battle which i am very proud of. Bubol was also a bodyguard of my next warchief target so now i can finally progress in story mode.

[BOT-Brad]

I'm only a few hours into the game, but already have a nemesis in Latbag Cannibal. He was one of the first Captains I faced and halfway through fighting him another one showed up and Latbag managed to escape in the chaos. Skip forward an hour or too of me just decimating any Captains I can find, and he pops up again in a Duel with another Captain. I watch the fight and he decimates his opponent in just a few moments, and I jump down to kill him as he is leaving, but this time I was in a stronghold and got overwhelmed by many enemies and 2 other Captains who showed up. Of course, Latbag delivers my crushing blow and hands me my first death.

 

I vow revenge, but after getting side-tracked by some missions and other things, I check and he has now gained 19 Power and is an Elite Captain. Shortly after finishing the 1st Ratbag quest, Latbag shows up and mocks me for my failures last time around. However this time, I thin out the other enemies before unleashing on Latbag and finally killing him... or so I thought.

 

I just bumped into him again and he is now sporting some gruesome scars on his face and below his eyes. He managed to escape again as I was halfway through trying to kill another Captain when he showed up. He is still a Captain despite me killing him before, but he only has 7 Power now.

Edited October 9, 2014 by BOT-Brad

[BAZINGA0802]

So once you meet someone, if you dont finish them off will they just become stronger and stronger until in the end they're practically impossible?

[Gatatog]

They get more powerful, yeah, but no one is impossible to kill. Once the ability to brand becomes available you can pretty much kill anyone with barely any effort, no matter how powerful they are.