-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Tomb Raider |OT| Lara's Misfortune
- Thread starter Fracas
- Start date
Big time.
QisTopTier
XisBannedTier
Holy shit :lol
Quicksilver4648
Member
So, about TressFX. I REALLY like the bangs and the hair around he ears but the ponytail is awful. It is way too active and whiplashes at even the slightest head turn. If I could keep TressFX on but keep the normal ponytail that would be great. Or, at least give me the option to turn TressFX off during gameplay but have it turn on during a cutscene.
Nizz
Member
Anyone with the PS3 version?
FairXchange
Member
Shooting is L1 and R1.
Don't know if you fixed it yet, but the new beta drivers git rid if that problem for me
Nizz
Member
Thanks for answering. I wasn't really planning on picking this game up so soon but I might have to see how my check is this week and get it. These impressions sound great.
Alex
Member
Glorious tank controls and hyper rigid platforming with them. I never could get into the old Tomb Raider games, even when trying to as a kid when they came out.
Much prefer this iteration, it's actually not nearly as dumb as I figured it'd be, it has a lot of smart design elements that they should keep expanding upon.
Kind of the same, the ponytail is very stringy and awkward and doesn't behave properly. I felt the hair in Alice was done better AND at much better performance, obviously. Of course, I'm on a middling GPU anyway, so between ultra'd settings and added SSAO and tessellation I've got enough to spend my power on anyway. Of course, lately I just max out everything and lock to 30 FPS anyway when I'm getting out of date for high end options in a game. I hate jumpy framerates, and I'm going to bounce between 35-50 too much without that lock unless I go tweaking on this old card.
Spazznid
Member
I feel like this first iteration of TressFX is great, but hopefully they can implement some sort of feature where the strands magnetize together when not under a lot of pressure. Also add a curl to the ends of strands which are not connected to a group. This would make the normal hair look much more life-like, especially when making slow movements. They also need to add some sort of spring feature so that the hair doesn't look like it's just emitting from the band.
For the first implementation, I am very impressed. It looks great during most action situations.
Remember, Alice had far fewer strands. It was few strands which were textures as a group of strands and they were very floaty as well. Also they were made specifically for that game/engine/style. TressFX is looking to offer a way to quickly get great looking hair into games with less developement time.
For the first implementation, I am very impressed. It looks great during most action situations.
Remember, Alice had far fewer strands. It was few strands which were textures as a group of strands and they were very floaty as well. Also they were made specifically for that game/engine/style. TressFX is looking to offer a way to quickly get great looking hair into games with less developement time.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Yea I think this is the best looking 360. Damn beautiful in many instances.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
This game seriously, seriously looks incredible at times. That radio tower climbing sequence, with the TressFX on... man, that was some serious next gen shit right there. It's in scenes like those where the hair tech really shines.
GenoZStriker
Neo Member
The shooting aspect is starting to get a bit boring, killing the same looking guys over and over. Hope to start seeing more supernatural stuff soon. Other than that the game still looks and feel great. At time, some areas remind me a lot of previous iterations
NullPointer
Member
Got my first hard crash today just as it was loading surprise bad guys to jump me. Luckily once I booted up I had lost literally zero progress and was in the same room and almost the very same pose.
I like the way this game looks, and animates. I don't think its the best looking game around (playing the PC version here) but the art direction is strong. The natural backgrounds perfectly frame the area hubs, and the weather and lighting and fog and particle effects saturate the scene nicely.
Combat still isn't clicking, but that's mostly because if a game provides me a bow, I'm going to try and creep about as much as possible, but this game likes to ignore your caution and throw random surprise baddies at you or toss you into full on ambushes. Some of this stuff is done for tutorial purposes, but since there's no new game+ I wonder when the tutorials will actually end, and how much game there will be left afterwards ;P
But for all the bluster and set pieces and explosions, this game seems a lot quieter than Uncharted ever was, and has been moving at a more relaxed pace, punctuated by the standard runs, jumps, and boom. The slower pace is more than fine by me.
I like the way this game looks, and animates. I don't think its the best looking game around (playing the PC version here) but the art direction is strong. The natural backgrounds perfectly frame the area hubs, and the weather and lighting and fog and particle effects saturate the scene nicely.
Combat still isn't clicking, but that's mostly because if a game provides me a bow, I'm going to try and creep about as much as possible, but this game likes to ignore your caution and throw random surprise baddies at you or toss you into full on ambushes. Some of this stuff is done for tutorial purposes, but since there's no new game+ I wonder when the tutorials will actually end, and how much game there will be left afterwards ;P
But for all the bluster and set pieces and explosions, this game seems a lot quieter than Uncharted ever was, and has been moving at a more relaxed pace, punctuated by the standard runs, jumps, and boom. The slower pace is more than fine by me.
Voice of Reason
Banned
Been playing for 3-4 hours now. It started out as the game I expected it to be, a tired action adventure game that emulates Uncharted, but is now turning into a great adventure game.
What a complete 180.
What a complete 180.
I can't shake the feeling that the platforming is just too easy. Like I am really enjoying the game. I want to say I love it. Like I'm having a lot of fun, but then I can't help the Tomb Raider fan in me creep in and say, wait this is just too easy. Even CD's other games had the traps and stuff and you could miss jumps sometimes. This is just another level of easy. Again though it feels like a great game. Like I'm fighting between what I think needs to be here and just trying to accept the new. I don't know. I'm a mess... haha.
GenoZStriker
Neo Member
I feel that the jumps are automated. As soon as Lara launches from where ever you jump, it just seems to connect, unless you jumped from all the way in the back. I also hate how the game decides the scenarios for you as well, with Lara almost falling off and having to press the interaction button. Rather than doing it if my jump was a bit short. I could be wrong, but most of the time I tried jumping from distance, Lara just latches on to where needs to or fall if it's way too short.
victimroyalty
Banned
This game has exceeded my expectations. It is such a joy to play this. The locations and the exploration that can take place in the player so chooses to is awesome. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted just exploring every part of the places I am brought to. I am actually loving the idea of upgrading things, I think they implemented it well. I love the new Lara so much. Their depiction of her doesn't leave me wishing they would have done this or that better. She's... perfect. I adore her. This is definitely becoming one of my favorite Tomb Raider titles and I'm no where near finished it. Bravo Crystal and Square Enix. Bravo. Multiplayer is whatever, a friend and I had fun. Still don't think a game like Tomb Raider should have multiplayer but whatever.
Cut scenes mask the loading pretty well. Try and skip them too early and you'll get LOADING pop up in the bottom corner.
toddhunter
Member
That is what the "forced slow walking" or "squeeze through" sections are for. But yes it is still impressive.
Spazznid
Member
Look at the grooves in the ceiling. you can move it along them by either pulling it or jumping on the ladders. First you gotta line it up to the ladder segment in the ceioling and break the pipe. Then you gotta line it up with the electric thing and pull it into that. then you gotta pull it away.
Yeah the game blew me away with how good it looks.
Alex
Member
Alice might not have been as technically impressive in that regard, but IMO, it looked better and it really preformed like a champ.
With Tomb Raider, we'll have to separate at opinion here, because to me it really looks pretty bad and I can't imagine a lot of developers will use it because it's such a massive sucker punch to your hardware for those divisive results. It's like a 30 FPS tax to make Lara look like like she's sticking a fork in a light socket.
If it's something that gets improved a lot in the future, then yeah, it'd be great. But I think I'm going to go with a guess that someone will come up with alternative ideas that become norms in libraries that get the basic idea done in a more palatable and less taxing manner.
OriginofHysteria
Banned
Ugh I want to play this game but I can't! I wish I didn't sell my video card so early 
can't buy it til Thursday.
can't buy it til Thursday.This is my favorite sentence in the thread.
Square Triangle
Member
This game. My god.
DR2K
Banned
The past is a wonderful place where you can create your own memories.
Just finished the game.
I liked it for what it was, but at the same time I saw so much more potential if they had just been willing to make it less of "shoot 10,000 guys" type game.
Scale back the mass homicide a ton and beef up the puzzle aspect and they really have something here.
The story they are trying to tell really suffers from all the shooting.
Certainly not a "Tomb Raider" game by any stretch of the imagination though.
As for bugs and such I made it through the entire game only encountering 2 problems both in the exact same area. At first all the sound just cut out and a scripting bug caused the next area to be inaccessible. A reload of the checkpoint fixed both.
I liked it for what it was, but at the same time I saw so much more potential if they had just been willing to make it less of "shoot 10,000 guys" type game.
Scale back the mass homicide a ton and beef up the puzzle aspect and they really have something here.
The story they are trying to tell really suffers from all the shooting.
Certainly not a "Tomb Raider" game by any stretch of the imagination though.
As for bugs and such I made it through the entire game only encountering 2 problems both in the exact same area. At first all the sound just cut out and a scripting bug caused the next area to be inaccessible. A reload of the checkpoint fixed both.
lastplayed
Member
MASH E
MASH F
MASH LEFT AND RIGHT
MASH E
MASH F
Quick time events need to die in a fire.
Otherwise perfect game so far.
MASH F
MASH LEFT AND RIGHT
MASH E
MASH F
Quick time events need to die in a fire.
Otherwise perfect game so far.
Spazznid
Member
I think under a waterfall theres an opening
The game looks gorgeous but overall I felt the game was just alright. Not a game that I would want to replay any time soon. The combat was definitely annoying at times, and I thought the "tombs" were a joke for the most part. It was an origin story for Lara, so I am hoping this reboot will shine for its sequel. The one thing I will take away from this game is that
Lara is fucking indestructible and she should be protecting me instead.
I can only imagine what kind of performance hit it would be like to have every character's hair using Tressfx.
NullPointer
Member
Well, this certainly isn't a game I'll play on keyboard!
Though personally the Arkham comparison for progress got me interested. Waiting on a good deal now.
Uh, I was being sarcastic and really don't like the game.
Negative frames per second. The game actually goes in reverse. Some kind of time-space thing.
Dusk Golem
A 21st Century Rockefeller
And now with some time to think on it after doing my 19-hour playthrough (have not tried multiplayer yet), here is my personal list of pros and cons, and a few favorite and less favorite things (will mark spoilers).
PROS:
-Environments open up to be fun and explorable hub-like worlds that feel nicely designed and well-varied.
-Game strikes a great balance between Action and Adventure.
-There are actually puzzles, and they get progressively tougher, while still remaining fun.
-Optional tombs are a joy to partake in, and have a great atmosphere.
-The game has a nice graphical look that can be very impressive at times.
-Despite some environments being large, I do not recall ever having any load times or slowdown (PC version). Very well optimized.
-While a bit cliche, I actually did like the game's characters, and yes, Lara.
-The music was pretty nice and there were a few moments it stood out to me. The game also had some great audio design.
-Upgrading Lara over the course of the game is a fun and often reward-feeling task.
-I actually enjoyed many of the 'Scripted Action Scenes' in the game.
CONS:
-The beginning of the game (about the first 1-2 hours) feels way too linear and feels like it's trying too hard to be a stale Uncharted clone.
-I just couldn't get into combat. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't feel very interesting, especially when the enemies started having guns and shoot-outs all the time.
-There was also a severe lack of enemy types. Part of the appeal of old Tomb Raider games was the broad range of enemies. They felt very limited here. (I want to fight sharks and demons, not thousands of guys with guns)
-The antagonists feel very underplayed, and don't really ever develop into anything interesting (or don't feel like they utilize their potential).
-While I liked the characters, the story was honestly just completely average in every single way.
-The game's finale and ending felt completely uninspired and paled to a lot that happened earlier in the game.
-On PC at least, the QTEs are sometimes incredibly hard to read as they don't initially tell you what keys your supposed to press. Through trial and error, you sort of just have to learn what symbol means what key.
-I do wish the main story had more atmospheric moments in the vein of the optional tombs.
SPOILER Favorite and Least Favorite Moments:
PROS:
-Environments open up to be fun and explorable hub-like worlds that feel nicely designed and well-varied.
-Game strikes a great balance between Action and Adventure.
-There are actually puzzles, and they get progressively tougher, while still remaining fun.
-Optional tombs are a joy to partake in, and have a great atmosphere.
-The game has a nice graphical look that can be very impressive at times.
-Despite some environments being large, I do not recall ever having any load times or slowdown (PC version). Very well optimized.
-While a bit cliche, I actually did like the game's characters, and yes, Lara.
-The music was pretty nice and there were a few moments it stood out to me. The game also had some great audio design.
-Upgrading Lara over the course of the game is a fun and often reward-feeling task.
-I actually enjoyed many of the 'Scripted Action Scenes' in the game.
CONS:
-The beginning of the game (about the first 1-2 hours) feels way too linear and feels like it's trying too hard to be a stale Uncharted clone.
-I just couldn't get into combat. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't feel very interesting, especially when the enemies started having guns and shoot-outs all the time.
-There was also a severe lack of enemy types. Part of the appeal of old Tomb Raider games was the broad range of enemies. They felt very limited here. (I want to fight sharks and demons, not thousands of guys with guns)
-The antagonists feel very underplayed, and don't really ever develop into anything interesting (or don't feel like they utilize their potential).
-While I liked the characters, the story was honestly just completely average in every single way.
-The game's finale and ending felt completely uninspired and paled to a lot that happened earlier in the game.
-On PC at least, the QTEs are sometimes incredibly hard to read as they don't initially tell you what keys your supposed to press. Through trial and error, you sort of just have to learn what symbol means what key.
-I do wish the main story had more atmospheric moments in the vein of the optional tombs.
SPOILER Favorite and Least Favorite Moments:
Favorites:
-The game really started clicking for me in the Mountain Village area. Absolutely loved the look, feel, and open-ness of that area. (it's a shame that place later gets partially destroyed by an airplane)
-I actually enjoyed the couple of 'camera scenes' the game has, where Lara huddles around a fire and watches a video camera of before the accident.
-I thought the first time you go into the Chasm Temple was absolutely steller. Loved that section from beginning to end. I also loved the Oni at that point, but I'll get to him later.
-Optional tombs were always a joy. While none of the puzzles were absolute brain teasers, they were fun to do, and a nice change of pace.
-Shanty Town was a joy for me to. I actually seemed to enjoy the combat here more than the other locations as well. I found it fun to explore, and thought the 'arenas' were the most well-designed here.
-Absolutely adored 'The Pit' level. Some nice Descent vibes and references.
-The 'scripted action sequence' that takes place when your escaping over the bridge and climbing the tower to get to the helicopter was my favorite such sequence in the game, and was a great adrenaline pumping moment for me.
Least Favorites:
-The beginning 'Tomb' area and the scripted platforming sequences and such did not leave a good first impression.
-And while I started to enjoy myself a bit at the deer hunting part, I still felt very underwhelmed through the next few areas up to the Mountain Village.
-I wasn't the biggest fan of the snowy area that lasted a short bit and composed itself mainly of enemy shoot-outs.
-The area where you run away from fires and fight a bunch of enemies (and get the grenade launcher) was my least favorite area in the game.
-I really hate how underutilized the Oni were. They feel a lot duller than the notes made them seem, though I did enjoy them a lot more as enemies than the solider types. But the big 'Stalker Oni' went from some huge intimidating enemy during your first visit to the Chasm to almost cartoony in the second visit. His battle was fun, but he felt so underutilized I found myself incredibly disappointed. Despite his name, I don't think he ever actually stalks you in gameplay.
-Speaking of that, the final climb area was really underwhelming, and the 'final boss' thing was as well.
-The Sun Queen the game keeps on building up on was only used in cutscenes? Really?
-The game really started clicking for me in the Mountain Village area. Absolutely loved the look, feel, and open-ness of that area. (it's a shame that place later gets partially destroyed by an airplane)
-I actually enjoyed the couple of 'camera scenes' the game has, where Lara huddles around a fire and watches a video camera of before the accident.
-I thought the first time you go into the Chasm Temple was absolutely steller. Loved that section from beginning to end. I also loved the Oni at that point, but I'll get to him later.
-Optional tombs were always a joy. While none of the puzzles were absolute brain teasers, they were fun to do, and a nice change of pace.
-Shanty Town was a joy for me to. I actually seemed to enjoy the combat here more than the other locations as well. I found it fun to explore, and thought the 'arenas' were the most well-designed here.
-Absolutely adored 'The Pit' level. Some nice Descent vibes and references.
-The 'scripted action sequence' that takes place when your escaping over the bridge and climbing the tower to get to the helicopter was my favorite such sequence in the game, and was a great adrenaline pumping moment for me.
Least Favorites:
-The beginning 'Tomb' area and the scripted platforming sequences and such did not leave a good first impression.
-And while I started to enjoy myself a bit at the deer hunting part, I still felt very underwhelmed through the next few areas up to the Mountain Village.
-I wasn't the biggest fan of the snowy area that lasted a short bit and composed itself mainly of enemy shoot-outs.
-The area where you run away from fires and fight a bunch of enemies (and get the grenade launcher) was my least favorite area in the game.
-I really hate how underutilized the Oni were. They feel a lot duller than the notes made them seem, though I did enjoy them a lot more as enemies than the solider types. But the big 'Stalker Oni' went from some huge intimidating enemy during your first visit to the Chasm to almost cartoony in the second visit. His battle was fun, but he felt so underutilized I found myself incredibly disappointed. Despite his name, I don't think he ever actually stalks you in gameplay.
-Speaking of that, the final climb area was really underwhelming, and the 'final boss' thing was as well.
-The Sun Queen the game keeps on building up on was only used in cutscenes? Really?
toastyToast
Member
Intellectually Superior - Complete all optional tombs
Intellectually Superior
Intellectually Superior
start of the game is like lost if the bald dude handed the hot girl a pickaxe and said "KILL'EM ALL" and was directed kevin smith pretending to be tarantino
oh god, the mental image of this
