User blog comment:The.Outsider/Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor/@comment-1872981-20140127161610/@comment-1872981-20140128012933

What Mr. Vesper has said is pretty much my own opinion as well. If you're going to ape something, make sure no one notices or calls you out on it. Taking ideas and making them better is a good process that's tested and proven, but this is more like taking ideas and then respraying them is most definitely not.

Trying to satisfy an audience that's already had an extremely similar experience is fruitless and very counter-productive, and in trying to copy everything, you'll only end up satisfying no one. A game with three ideas that is master of at least one is certainly better than a game with five ideas that is master of none.