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Tomb Raider |OT| Lara's Misfortune

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
And what about all the glowing reviews? The game is very well done on all fronts. Simple as that. If you can accept the change or just don't care about the older games buckle up and enjoy one of the best games in a long time!

It's little use Tricky, it's like there's a certain subset of people who've decided already that they're not going to like the game despite the positive impressions from both reviews and GAFfers alike. Usually this much preemptive hate is stored for console exclusive titles, but still.
 

GuardianE

Santa May Claus
And what about all the glowing reviews? The game is very well done on all fronts. Simple as that. If you can accept the change or just don't care about the older games buckle up and enjoy one of the best games in a long time!

Well, I was an on-again off-again fan of the old games, and I did like Lara Croft. I'm not inherently adverse to change, though. I'll check out some more impressions.


It's little use Tricky, it's like there's a certain subset of people who've decided already that they're not going to like the game despite the positive impressions from both reviews and GAFfers alike. Usually this much preemptive hate is stored for console exclusive titles, but still.

Well, I hope you're not referring to me because I'd suggest that you're being overly and prematurely defensive. Honestly, people bandwagoning and dismissing criticism as hate has just as much of a negative effect on how the game is perceived.
 

Nemesis_

Member
As I've said though, don't go into this game thinking that the optional tombs will give you your classic Tomb Raider fix.

But I honestly don't feel like this is a dramatic departure for the franchise at a fundamental level - when we consider platforming and movement and stuff. It feels like a semi organic progression from Underworld.
 
Reviews either way don't mean shit.

I think they hold a little weight in this circumstance given the fact that a lot of people wrote the game off months ago. It was reassuring to see that the general consensus considered the game to be well above average.
 

Nemesis_

Member
I think they hold a little weight in this circumstance given the fact that a lot of people wrote the game off months ago. It was reassuring to see that the general consensus considered the game to be well above average.

Yes, especially when things went the other way with, say, Resident Evil 6.
 

C.Monkey

Banned
But how desperate and chaotic is it, really, if you kill hundreds of enemies before the game is finished? There comes a point where her stumbling and scurrying are no longer reinforcing the narrative, but only simple animations that's you'll see every third kill. When killing becomes routine, those animations don't mean anything. For combat to work with this narrative, the frequency of encounters, and number of enemies would have to be toned down significantly to get the point across. It would also have to change gears from you stalking them to where you're ACTUALLY fighting to survive with this character that hasn't been in the situation before.

Either that or drop the pretense and let her kick ass right from the start, and be honest about what your game is. They put themselves in this corner by choosing to go in the direction they did.
Gameplay is more important than the narrative. If you're going to let bodycounts affect what you think of a game's narrative, you should just stop playing games. The idea of ANYBODY (be it Lara Croft or Call of Duty dude) killing over 500 people in the span of 8 hours is ludicrous, no matter how much training they have.
 

Jarmel

Banned
I think they hold a little weight in this circumstance given the fact that a lot of people wrote the game off months ago. It was reassuring to see that the general consensus considered the game to be well above average.

The problem with review scores is that they are used as confirmation for either party. The reviews are low, then of course the game is bad. The reviews are high, but of course the game is good. It becomes part of the confirmation bias. I do think reviews are useful to see whether a game is flat out mechanically broken or not but for the nitty-gritty as to what makes a game great? They're useless partly because how people define great in regards to games, can vary.

Gameplay is more important than the narrative.

Those two aren't mutually exclusive.
 
So....bikini scene?

As close as you'll get:

tumblr_m41p8kTEfw1rvtpmmo1_500.jpg
 

daxter01

8/8/2010 Blackace was here
PS3 version was surprisingly solid it looked good and run great except two section of the game which I felt it ran around 25,26 fps.
- exploration is nice and the Island looks fantastic but all in all exploration is nothing compared to the old tomb raider games which is disappointing.
- despite having bigger environments and levels encounter design and combat scenarios are more linear than those in uncharted games and add that guns doesn't feel good (except the bow which is godly)makes the gunplay and combat in this game worse than combat in uncharted.
- platforming is gone and what we have here is traversal just like uncharted which is again disappointing .
- the whole open word and fast travel is a basically a chapter select system like we had in lord of shadows.
- experience system and gun upgrading system is useless and doest make the combat and the game deeper its more of a décor to be honest.
overall this is a great game,great uncharted clone and if you like uncharted you will love this reboot but if you are a tomb raider fan and cant stand uncharted series don't buy this.
 

imjust1n

Banned
Just pre ordered on steam, they hype metacritic scores did get me interested again. Can anyone tell me what this game can relate to someone said dark souls?
 

MacBosse

Member
overall this is a great game,great uncharted clone and if you like uncharted you will love this reboot but if you are a tomb raider fan and cant stand uncharted series don't buy this.

... hnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggg. I always cringe at that. If anything, Uncharted borrowed ALOT from Tomb Radier and not Tomb Raider copies and applies the tweaked formula back.

It's how good game development should work. But don't call Tomb Radier an Uncharted clone, please.
 

RagnarokX

Member
... hnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggg. I always cringe at that. If anything, Uncharted borrowed ALOT from Tomb Radier and not Tomb Raider copies and applies the tweaked formula back.

It's how good game development should work. But don't call Tomb Radier an Uncharted clone, please.

But this Tomb Raider IS an Uncharted clone. Uncharted just copied the adventure premise, which wasn't even uniquely Tomb Raider's. Tomb Raider had acrobatic platforming puzzle solving as its main focus. Now the platforming has been dumbed down to Uncharted levels and the focus is on shooting dudes with very few puzzles to be found. It might do stuff better than Uncharted, but this game has more in common with Uncharted than with Tomb Raider.

Heh, from Invisible Walls:

"Actually, you know what, um... It's funny because Uncharted is more like the original Tomb Raider in a lot of ways, I think, and then the new Tomb Raider is just a barrel of fun along the lines of Far Cry, I mean it's just shooty shooty and like I said I'm thoroughly loving it."
 
Calling it an Uncharted Clone probably sells it short, too, since comparing the game so directly to Uncharted sends a very specific message about the kind of game it is. Uncharted was definitely an influence on Tomb Raider, but I wouldn't specifically call it an Uncharted clone.
 
Gameplay is more important than the narrative. If you're going to let bodycounts affect what you think of a game's narrative, you should just stop playing games. The idea of ANYBODY (be it Lara Croft or Call of Duty dude) killing over 500 people in the span of 8 hours is ludicrous, no matter how much training they have.

I agree gameplay is ultimately more important, but if so many of these games are going to be shoving their narratives down my throat at every turn to try and give context to gameplay, your gameplay better make sense in the big picture. If not, your game is just wasting my time with its hours of cutscenes and voice acting. These are the criticisms developers will be facing as graphics and writing get better, as story becomes a bigger focus, as "cinematic" gameplay leads the way to what so many think are bigger and better things. You can't ask for this stuff and not criticize it if they don't deliver.

As I said, they could've dropped the charade and made the story fit. It's Lara Croft as Rambo. If they hadn't played up the game as some harrowing journey where we watch this novice explorer struggle to survive being shipwrecked on a strange island that was home to murderous company, there wouldn't be an issue. It's a big, dumb, dark adventure where you shoot a ton of dudes and get points for doing so. It's pretty much an exploitation/B movie game. Treat it as such.

And at least in CoD you're a soldier who isn't complaining about having to kill a deer before launching a nuke. Yeah it's still dumb, but it's not pretending to be something it isn't.
 

Nemesis_

Member
This game has been such a fun ride, and the environments are surprising me as I go through - they fit quite a bit of diversity in for just an island.

One scene / scenario in particular that I've just hit reminds me so, so much of the British horror film The Descent (in terms of environmental design), I am almost certain that they took inspiration from it. It's done so well.


The scene of the movie in question - see if you remember this in the game: http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-L/images/descent_ver3.jpg

The island is panning out to be it's very own
Silent Hill
too, what with the
idea of a malevolent spirit from the Island's past keeping people on the island, or drawing them to it.

There's a lot of neat horror influences that I really wasn't expecting.
 

Omni

Member
Damn this game is pretty. Really loving it so far - I went to play for half an hour and the next thing I know three hours had passed.

Definitely was not expecting to like this game
 

fuenf

Member
I agree gameplay is ultimately more important, but if so many of these games are going to be shoving their narratives down my throat at every turn to try and give context to gameplay, your gameplay better make sense in the big picture. If not, your game is just wasting my time with its hours of cutscenes and voice acting. These are the criticisms developers will be facing as graphics and writing get better, as story becomes a bigger focus, as "cinematic" gameplay leads the way to what so many think are bigger and better things. You can't ask for this stuff and not criticize it if they don't deliver.

As I said, they could've dropped the charade and made the story fit. It's Lara Croft as Rambo. If they hadn't played up the game as some harrowing journey where we watch this novice explorer struggle to survive being shipwrecked on a strange island that was home to murderous company, there wouldn't be an issue. It's a big, dumb, dark adventure where you shoot a ton of dudes and get points for doing so. It's pretty much an exploitation/B movie game. Treat it as such.

And at least in CoD you're a soldier who isn't complaining about having to kill a deer before launching a nuke. Yeah it's still dumb, but it's not pretending to be something it isn't.

It's not, it's exactly what they described. Sure if you have an agenda and want to make fun of the game it's easy to describe it as Rambo or play it in such a way. The narrative CD presents within the context of the game is totally believeable. And for the record there are far less enemies than in the Uncharted. Especially in the beginning of the game it's very clear who the aggressor is and most of Lara's action fall under self-defense. Her character progression / transition is very well done, once again you might miss it if you are preoccupied with other things or don't accept the narrative from the get go. But there's a very clear moment in the game, when Lara conquers her fears and is willing to do whatever it takes to get of this damn island (that doesnt mean that she stops being passionate / loveable / caring).

ffs please play the game before you comment stuff like this.
 
Z

ZombieFred

Unconfirmed Member
This thread deserves the Mr Men reward. My god, people should play the game first.
 

clear31

Member
my pre-ordered copy from best buy is now in the preparing order stage, can't wait to play this

only game that i want more is gta 5
 

Robertto

Neo Member
ive played the first 2 hours, and this game is just so tired. whats the point of the "cinematic" moments where you cant do any thing except push forward?

and its just awkward how much they beat lara up when you know she obviously gonna survive, so it just means that the serious tone severely conflicts with the complete lack of tension, and results in meh.
 

Nemesis_

Member
The cinematic stuff makes up a rather small(ish) percentage for me. I admit sometimes I am a bit annoyed at it and want it over and done with, but at the end of each one is a brand new open area to explore - which is where I enjoy this game most.

But yeah, as I've harped on about before - definitely not for everyone I suppose.
 

fuenf

Member
I love cinematic stuff, every game should be like Heavy Rain :) Regarding TR, I think the cinematic moments are well paced and well done for the most part, more often than not they are at the climax of a level. It's not like Uncharted 3 where almost every step/climb/jump triggers some cinematic BS.
 

Frillen

Member
I love cinematic stuff, every game should be like Heavy Rain :) Regarding TR, I think the cinematic moments are well paced and well done for the most part, more often than not they are at the climax of a level. It's not like Uncharted 3 where almost every step/climb/jump triggers some cinematic BS.

I love me some Heavy Rain games, but if this were to happen I would quit gaming.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Anyone playing this on PC yet? I really need to know how well this game runs on mid-level pc's.
 

fuenf

Member
I love me some Heavy Rain games, but if this were to happen I would quit gaming.

hehe true, variety is the key. But what I liked about HR were the interactive cut scenes, I know I may be in the minority on this but I prefer interactive / qte cutscenes to normal ones. Seeing characters jump through windows or off buildings CoD-style in a cutscene just doesnt cut it anymore, at the very least I want to have some sort of input. It maybe as simple as "pushing foward" but to me it's very important that the game shows me that I'm still part of the action.
 

krYlon

Member
So, for the people who have played the game, is it always obvious where you need to go next in the game?

There has been a lot of talk about the puzzle rooms, but is the actual exploration puzzle like?
Are there any moments where you can see where you need to go next, but getting there takes a bit of thought and experimentation or is it all made obvious to you uncharted style? Any environmental interaction (not just traversal, but moving objects, levers etc)?
 

fuenf

Member
So, for the people who have played the game, is it always obvious where you need to go next in the game?

it is if you use her survivor instincts aka detective mode.

There has been a lot of talk about the puzzle rooms, but is the actual exploration puzzle like?
Are there any moments where you can see where you need to go next, but getting there takes a bit of thought and experimentation or is it all made obvious to you uncharted style? Any environmental interaction (not just traversal, but moving objects, levers etc)?

It's obvious for the most part, but you can reach some hidden areas via 'environmental exploration'. Yes there are a few moment that require you to think about how you are getting there, but outside of the tombs they are relatively sparse.
 
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