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STEAM | January 2016 - Out of cash, out of cache

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The base game is absolutely terrible. The Doctor Who Cloned Me dlc has some redeeming qualities though.

I found the base-game (play) to be mediocre at worst, with some enjoyable shooting in parts and a few humors moments. However, outside of those, the story took Duke way too seriously, and also had some really distasteful parts that I could have done without. The DLC was much better simply because it did not take itself seriously at all, but the game-play itself was mostly the same from what I recall.
 

-MD-

Member
The new Tomb Raider (2013) is not a bad game but it has some really bad parts to it. The pacing at the start was not fun and the locations were too similar. In that it feels like the first Uncharted.
The tombs so far are not even essential to finish the game, nor are they big. Sad excuses of puzzles are solved all too quick with the same "pay-off", if you can count the copy-pasted treasure opening and the same map reward as pay-off.
Story is not bad but the characters horrible. Very rarely do I even notice VO in games but this time it stood out in all the negative ways. When people open their mouths all immersion is lost.
Shooting is OK, nothing to boast about. The RPG elements (character leveling and weapon upgrades) and more open areas for exploration should be a positive over the much linearity of Uncharted but due to character control, I am enjoying them less than it could have been.
TR13 is good but nothing I'll remember in the future. Forgettable game and you wouldn't miss out on anything of greatness if you'd skip it for good. A far cry of the impression Tomb Raider I & II made on me in their time. I'm fine with rebooting and changing the formula but this was not a bulls-eye. 12hrs in now and I just want to finish it before it feels like a chore and try out RotTR. Hope it's the UC2 to UC1.

RotTR may as well be called Tomb Raider 1.5, it might be a slight step up from the first one but it's largely more of the same, don't get your hopes up.
 

Adry9

Member
RotTR finshed, I liked it more than the TR 2013 although it left me feeling quite "meh". The first hour is amazing but for the rest of the game it doesn't get to that level, I think I regret not going for The Witness instead.

RotTR is more of the same, don't get your hopes up.

Yup, I somehow skipped the first line and though he was talking about the new one...
 
I can't get my piece of shit Dualshock to reconnect to my PS4 after using it on PC, it won't connect with the USB cable. This is maddening, why couldn't they just have a sensible syncing button like the Xbox?
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
I can't get my piece of shit Dualshock to reconnect to my PS4 after using it on PC, it won't connect with the USB cable. This is maddening, why couldn't they just have a sensible syncing button like the Xbox?

I just plug it in and boot the PS4 and it works fine for me not sure what would be the problem here.
 
I never get the complaints of "murder simulator" for Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those are of the few good parts. It's an action game. I don't want Lara/Drake to talk to the foes shooting at them. And it's not like Lara has ever been a pacifist, so what all the fuss about?
 

Sch1sm

Member
I never get the complaints of "murder simulator" for Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those are of the few good parts. It's an action game. I don't want Lara/Drake to talk to the foes shooting at them. And it's not like Lara has ever been a pacifist, so what all the fuss about?

I personally don't mind it. I feel like for Uncharted, uh, it was like that from the beginning. I never got the vibe that Drake was against killing people. I'm by no means saying Lara was ever a pacifist, either. Gotta do what you gotta do. It seemed like more of a focus shift. Some people hate it. It never was a franchise I was invested in enough to care, though, on both counts.

My only complaint in TR2013 is that once you're done, none of the enemies ever respawn again. How am I meant to clean up with no enemies to shoot? :(
 

derExperte

Member
I never get the complaints of "murder simulator" for Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those are of the few good parts. It's an action game. I don't want Lara/Drake to talk to the foes shooting at them. And it's not like Lara has ever been a pacifist, so what all the fuss about?

The problem is the ridiculous amount of enemies. TR1 (and Anniversary) had very few human baddies and it was all about exploring tombs. Hence the name of the series. Sure, killing bats and wolves wasn't the epitome of gameplay either but that wasn't the focus.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
I bet Mario is thanking his lucky stars no one has called him out on his Goomba genocide. No only that put he pretty much curb stomps them into paste.
 
I bet Mario is thanking his lucky stars no one has called him out on his Goomba genocide. No only that put he pretty much curb stomps them into paste.

He kills them through platforming though. SMB doesn't have arenas where he turns into a werewolf and the game becomes a beat-em-up-lite with occasional, brief platforming sections
 

Phawx

Member
The new Tomb Raider (2013) is not a bad game but it has some really bad parts to it. The pacing at the start was not fun and the locations were too similar. In that it feels like the first Uncharted.
The tombs so far are not even essential to finish the game, nor are they big. Sad excuses of puzzles are solved all too quick with the same "pay-off", if you can count the copy-pasted treasure opening and the same map reward as pay-off.
Story is not bad but the characters horrible. Very rarely do I even notice VO in games but this time it stood out in all the negative ways. When people open their mouths all immersion is lost.
Shooting is OK, nothing to boast about. The RPG elements (character leveling and weapon upgrades) and more open areas for exploration should be a positive over the much linearity of Uncharted but due to character control, I am enjoying them less than it could have been.
TR13 is good but nothing I'll remember in the future. Forgettable game and you wouldn't miss out on anything of greatness if you'd skip it for good. A far cry of the impression Tomb Raider I & II made on me in their time. I'm fine with rebooting and changing the formula but this was not a bulls-eye. 12hrs in now and I just want to finish it before it feels like a chore and try out RotTR. Hope it's the UC2 to UC1.

I've never played TR13, but RotTR's biggest flaw to me so far is the "Batman Duct Door" mechanic. Meaning, there is this one *thing* that is identical in 3 or 4 separate instances.

That's it so far.
 
Kill or be killed, oohoo!

tumblr_inline_o0nvu1bQeF1r8mwrd_540.png
 

dex3108

Member
I have a feeling that I am gonna bloody love Rise of the Tomb Raider, because I couldn't put down Tomb Raider (2013).

RotTR is beautiful game and when devs leave you alone and you explore hubs on your own pace it really shines. Finding paths to the optional tombs and going to those tombs is in most cases amazing even if optional tomb disappoints with easy puzzles. Crafting and collecting resources for me is also nice. But as soon as you start to follow story it is more-less Michael Bay movie. They just push set piece after set piece with occasional 30sec slowdown. It is just too much in my opinion.
 

Sch1sm

Member
Anyone playing ROTR with a 960? Would love to hear what the performance is like.

Closest I can think of right now is Spirited. He's playing on a 970, and he's had to drop down to a mix of high and very high in some areas to retain 60fps on an overclocked i5.

Take that as you will. You'll probably be able to play it on high without issue. Very high is the max, there's no ultra.
 

Deitus

Member
I never get the complaints of "murder simulator" for Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those are of the few good parts. It's an action game. I don't want Lara/Drake to talk to the foes shooting at them. And it's not like Lara has ever been a pacifist, so what all the fuss about?

For me, it comes down to the game design of having encounters amount to fighting off waves of badguys really doesn't fit the tone of the story they were trying to tell in TR2013, and more than that it's just a tired design at this point. I think a lot of games can work with that style of encounter design, specifically ones that are set in the middle of a war.

For a story about survival, having Lara mow down literally hundreds of bad guys without comment or remorse just doesn't really make sense. I think something like what The Last of Us did, where individual encounters with enemies would have far less people to fight, but individual enemies were much more of a threat, would make a lot more sense for the story they were trying to tell. Granted, the story was crap either way, but I'm talking more about tone, than about the plot itself. But game designers just keep going back to the obligatory waves of badguys design, because that's what they know to work. It gets boring after a while.

But beyond that, I didn't particularly care for the combat in TR2013, so for the most part every time I had to murder wave after wave of enemies, I would just want it to be over, and then another wave would show up, adding to my exasperation.
 

-MD-

Member
Anyone playing ROTR with a 960? Would love to hear what the performance is like.

Closest I can think of right now is Spirited. He's playing on a 970, and he's had to drop down to a mix of high and very high in some areas to retain 60fps on an overclocked i5.

Take that as you will. You'll probably be able to play it on high without issue. Very high is the max, there's no ultra.

I'm playing on a 970 / OC'd i5 as well, using a mix of medium/high settings with bloom/DOF/motion blur disabled, shadows medium, textures high, foliage medium, hair disabled, HBAO+, FXAA, Vsync etc @1080p.

Hovers between 50-60fps for me, I can't maintain 60fps.
 
For me, it comes down to the game design of having encounters amount to fighting off waves of badguys really doesn't fit the tone of the story they were trying to tell in TR2013, and more than that it's just a tired design at this point. I think a lot of games can work with that style of encounter design, specifically ones that are set in the middle of a war.

For a story about survival, having Lara mow down literally hundreds of bad guys without comment or remorse just doesn't really make sense. I think something like what The Last of Us did, where individual encounters with enemies would have far less people to fight, but individual enemies were much more of a threat, would make a lot more sense for the story they were trying to tell. Granted, the story was crap either way, but I'm talking more about tone, than about the plot itself. But game designers just keep going back to the obligatory waves of badguys design, because that's what they know to work. It gets boring after a while.

But beyond that, I didn't particularly care for the combat in TR2013, so for the most part every time I had to murder wave after wave of enemies, I would just want it to be over, and then another wave would show up, adding to my exasperation.
Yeah, that's put it good. Combat mechanics are OK but they don't make me feel anything. Same faceless thugs. To me it's still the better part of the game.
 

dex3108

Member
I just wonder why they are going back to Rhianna Pratchett for the TR story. Maybe we will see somebody else for next gem if there will be one.
 

Nzyme32

Member
iAKUb8j.png


Woop! That took quite a while, but damn proud to have done it all with zero help other than the use of 3 pieces of A4 and a pen!

There is still more to do though!
 

tuxfool

Banned
I just wonder why they are going back to Rhianna Pratchett for the TR story. Maybe we will see somebody else for next gem if there will be one.

Don't get your hopes up. The sheer fact that they went with her after her previous efforts doesn't inspire me.
 

emptyroom

Neo Member
I'm playing on a 970 / OC'd i5 as well, using a mix of medium/high settings with bloom/DOF/motion blur disabled, shadows medium, textures high, foliage medium, hair disabled, HBAO+, FXAA, Vsync etc @1080p.

Hovers between 50-60fps for me, I can't maintain 60fps.


Thank you, I'll be happy if I can get 1080p at 60 on medium settings.
 

fantomena

Member
I never get the complaints of "murder simulator" for Tomb Raider or Uncharted. Those are of the few good parts. It's an action game. I don't want Lara/Drake to talk to the foes shooting at them. And it's not like Lara has ever been a pacifist, so what all the fuss about?

Tomb Raider should be about raiding tombs, not being a horde mode. It's literally in the name "tomb raider". You're suppose to go and raid tombs.
 

MUnited83

For you.
Tomb Raider should be about raiding tombs, not being a horde mode. It's literally in the name "tomb raider". You're suppose to and raid tombs.

Yep! The game addresses some of the issues of the previous game with some good tombs that actually require some thinking to solve. Sadly, this is mostly option, and the main story is still a shitshow.
 

Teggy

Member
Finished the Witness at around 28 hours. Have cleaned up some extra puzzles and I know there's some secrets I need to return to. There's one puzzle just to open a door which is giving me a headache, because as far as I know from the rules I have the right answer. I guess I need to think about some more.

Feeling accomplished.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Tomb Raider should be about shooting a T-Rex in the face, whilst backfliping, accidentally into a pit full of spikes.

Anyway after about 18 hours and 51 minutes that is every story mission completed (twice on normal once on hard), every side mission bested, every quest encounter fought, every mobile phone, evidence report, survival guide page, Echo and missing agent report found as well as about 10 hours of grinding and getting fucked over but gangs of yahoos in the Dark Zone for the best gear available, I think I've exhausted every morsel of content in The Division beta. Will pop on tomorrow when the DZ vendors stock refreshes to see if I can get a Purple Vest, Backpack and Knee Pads but I think I've seen more than enough for the time being.
 

titch

Member
Jon Blow: It's hard to talk about numbers without breaking NDAs, but The Witness is on track to sell more in a week than Braid sold in its first year, and Braid was a hit indie game! (I'll let you know if this officially happens!) Which is not to be too money-oriented, it's just great that we'll be able to make the next game at a comparable budget level (maybe bigger, we'll see!)

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/693668210499977216

Man imagine what he could make next if it wasnt for all those pirates sheesh!!!

Getting real worried about the Consortium 2 kickstarter =/

Not looking good!!!!
 

Pachimari

Member
RotTR is beautiful game and when devs leave you alone and you explore hubs on your own pace it really shines. Finding paths to the optional tombs and going to those tombs is in most cases amazing even if optional tomb disappoints with easy puzzles. Crafting and collecting resources for me is also nice. But as soon as you start to follow story it is more-less Michael Bay movie. They just push set piece after set piece with occasional 30sec slowdown. It is just too much in my opinion.
But that's also how Tomb Raider (2013) was and I found that thrilling. I couldn't put down the controller and beat it in one go. That said, it's no sure-fire that I'll be able to do that again.

What is it with me and getting top spots on new pages all the time recently? I must be a top poster. So learn from the best and go buy Final Fantasy XIV amidst all the FFXV glory.
 
The thing I dislike most about cinematic action shooters like Tomb Raider is the pointless "tense chase" scenes that are scripted in the least tense and chase-like manner you can imagine. It might as well be a cutscene for all the agency the player has... and unfortunately TR2013 is filled with them.

RE4 was good at tense shooter stuff--I can't think of many situations where it failed at this, really. But RE5 and RE6 went down the Tomb Raider path really quickly; I'd blame the co-op stuff, but I think it's really more intrinsic than that.
If only Tomb Raider had Dark Souls' combat mechanics. :(

2aN746W.gif
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
I'm looking at the bunch of roguelike-lite-whatever games in my wishlist and getting the fear :p

My compulsion to complete games is directly at odds with playing so many roguelikes that have tickled my fancy ;_;
Maybe one genre, I need to accept I can't always beat - think I've only ever beaten 2 actually.

On that note, saw Hand of Fate, is that considered to be a roguelike-lite-whatever?

given how no one can agree on what a roguelike is nowadays I'm sticking with my term :p
 
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