Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain

     Hey, everyone. It is a rainy day at the green retreat. After taking a walk, I decided to play some games, specifically the Shadow of Mordor. If by chance you have missed this game, you really should consider buying it. I believe it is the best game I've ever played, and by a good margin. The best thing about it is that you really don't get stuck. Sure, it may take many trials and failures to beat certain parts, missions and the like. But, you can just go and explore or find artifacts or fight Orlucks. This is huge and rare, to my mind. Like one game I'm playing, I'm stuck trying to kill a robot. Until I kill him, I can do nothing else. That is being stuck and causes acute gamer frustration. (AGF) Another game I am playing requires that I slide under a bar, which is causing AGF.
      It is not often that I think about Willie Nelson while playing games on my P.C. I did today, though. It happened like this. I have entered a stage of Mordor in which I must "Brand" people.
 What that entails is causing them to turn from their evil Orc ways and be an ally. Sort of like a rehab program. You put the ole E button on them and grab their head and just ... 'dominate' them. I have never been into that sort of thing, but for the purpose of gaming, I thought I might be amenable to it. So, as you take control of various enemies, their eyes turn blue, see top picture. So, since it was raining in the game, I thought about Willie's song. (Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain) I really like Nelson's music, by the way, though I doubt his stuff is on the top forty in Mordor, nor have I heard their sweet refrains around the Black Gate.
     Speaking about the Mordor geography ... I have entered new sections of the map, hitherto undisclosed. Thank goodness for some green grass, lush vistas and even a glimpse of the sea. One still must be on one's toes, however. There are many Urlucks and caragors about. By the way, I struck up an acquaintance with a hunter named Torvin. He is the scarred individual with the bobbed hair. (See above) He freely admits to being a dwarf, though I am admirably non-prejudiced. He and I hit it off as soon as I told him that I loved Tyrion from Game of Thrones. I gather that he gets HBO on some sort of Orc-Link.
    Anyway, Torvin has a great sense of humor, a smart mouth and is a wonderful hunter. He taught me about hunting the giant Graugs (probably misspelled.) These rascals walk about on two legs and are about 30 feet tall. For all you folks in the EU, that means they are ******** big. The way you kill them is to sneak up behind them and cut into their ankles. I think that is called hamstringing a quarry, which I consider horrid in real life, but I am reluctantly willing to do in a game. I had to jump astride the monster at one point and 'dominate' him. This was a level of kink which I could scarcely condone, though when I had the beast under my mental sway, I used him to kill a number of my enemies. He even ate some of them to restore his health. (Yuck) So, Torvin, his bizarre habits legendary, told me to then kill the beast by sticking my sword through his head. This seemed the very pinnacle of ingratitude and I at first demurred. As he persisted, I did the deed. I didn't have my new pet long enough to even name him.
    Speaking of names. I made acquaintance with a girl, a Princess, who I suspect might be related to Khaleesi from Game of Thrones. Her name escapes me at the moment. (Lithuriel?) Her mother, Queen Marwen, is a strange lady. She tried to kill Talion, my character. I gather that some wizard was acting through her in a sort of bizarre ritual. I survived, thanks to the Princess. I repaid her by going to a sleezy Urluck town and taking her out of their vile clutches. I think that Talion and the Princess may be involved in a robust love-affair at a later date.
    Shadows of Mordor is a true work of art. It is a well written story, with colorful characters, great artwork and graphics, video tutorials for power-ups and abilities, fierce fighting, a puzzle element of sorts, adventure on a grand scale, a depth of play that will amuse you for a month or two and I can't say enough about it. I will say to WB, "My compliments to the chefs."
P.S. For the stat lovers, I have played it for 80-odd hours, a month and a week by the calender. I have acquired all ability points and have completed 18 of 20 main missions.
     From Mordor, as I walk at the head of this blue-eyed army, in the rain, I'm CE Wills. Do you suppose that all blue-eyed people on earth are actually controlled by Rangers?
P.S.S. That dude in the armor is the Black Captain. An enemy of some repute. We fought over several acres of ground, in a battle that the bards will long regale people with. I whipped him at last. By the way, much earlier, I was fighting a War-Chief on the edge of a cliff. I was almost out of health when I killed him. It was the most intense moment of gaming I have experienced. Really, it was tremendous fun.