When comparing Lost Sphear vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the Slant community recommends Lost Sphear for most people. In the question“What are the best RPGs (role playing games) for PS4?” Lost Sphear is ranked 40th while Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 42nd. The most important reason people chose Lost Sphear is:
Unlike other turn-based RPGs, your party isn't locked into a fixed position during battles, allowing you to move freely around the screen and cast spells from anywhere. Positioning your characters to hit multiple enemies with one attack, or moving to avoid area of effect attacks adds a fun new mobility to turn-based combat. Each playable character has access to five or six spells that can be used, but they can also be augmented with your choice of secondary effects. The effects vary from extra damage, buffs for your party, debuffs for enemies, and more, but it's entirely up to you which ones to use. Being able to experiment with all the different spell possibilities allows you to mix and match effects to suit your playstyle or play on a character's strength. Planning when and where to move each unit on the field, as well as what effects to put on each spell, can make for some really exciting battles.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Exciting turn-based battles
Unlike other turn-based RPGs, your party isn't locked into a fixed position during battles, allowing you to move freely around the screen and cast spells from anywhere. Positioning your characters to hit multiple enemies with one attack, or moving to avoid area of effect attacks adds a fun new mobility to turn-based combat.
Each playable character has access to five or six spells that can be used, but they can also be augmented with your choice of secondary effects. The effects vary from extra damage, buffs for your party, debuffs for enemies, and more, but it's entirely up to you which ones to use. Being able to experiment with all the different spell possibilities allows you to mix and match effects to suit your playstyle or play on a character's strength.
Planning when and where to move each unit on the field, as well as what effects to put on each spell, can make for some really exciting battles.
Pro Flexible difficulty
You can change the difficulty level as you play, meaning you won't ever hit roadblocks. For example, if a boss way too hard for you, you can simply swap to easy and then progress.
Pro Mysterious and interesting story
People and places around the world are disappearing, leaving behind blank white spaces where they once stood. A young orphan named Kanata sets out with his friends to unravel the mystery, and discovers he possesses the power to restore the balance by finding lost memories.
The unexplainable disappearances set a great mysterious tone from the start, and this manages to hold up quite well throughout Kanata's journey. While the characters within the story might not be the greatest, the writing itself is well done, the plot moves along at a steady pace, and the strange premise behind everything keeps it extremely interesting for the duration.
Pro Character connections make for a compelling experience
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders.
For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother.
Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Pro Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood
As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Pro Satisfying combat
Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations.
If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow.
If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc.
Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Pro You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion
As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while.
For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs.
Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands.
Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Cons
Con Poor character development
While there are a couple of exceptions, many of the characters don't really develop over time. Their attitudes and personalities when you first meet them never change or evolve. Even with the few characters who are exceptions, their storylines are very predictable and there are no big surprise moments.
Con Linear and boring dungeons
You won't be exploring much in dungeons, as most are a straight path from start to finish. Sometimes you will need to find switches or buttons to unlock gates, but overall it just involves clearing a room of monsters and then moving to the next one.
Con It's too easy to get overpowered
Upgrading your weapons requires items that are cheap and plentiful, so it's all too easy to become overpowered very early on in the game. This removes a lot of the challenge since eventually everything becomes trivial.
Con Very repetitive
The entire game basically revolves around the same formula. Discovering a memory that needs to be restored, hunting down the lost memory by killing a boss, and then restoring it. It never ventures far from this routine, which can get very repetitive over time.
Con Can get repetitive
The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Con Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay
Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.