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Shadow of the Tomb Raider


DisturbedSwan
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1 hour ago, bellow said:

Although I might be remembering that from another game.

 

I can't remember that, unless it was some kind of contextual counter move or something.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So finished my New Game + run through and thoroughly enjoyed the game, much more so than my first play through. The Dlc tombs and stories add in a few more combat set pieces, something I thought was lacking in my first run. I also skipped all the optional main game tombs which meant I avoided almost all of those stupid fucking Piranha segments... Which was nice.

 

It's a shame the entire gaming world was so luke warm to this when it released, it's a worthy end to the trilogy.

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  • 2 years later...

The trilogy is free on Epic right now so I downloaded them. I started with TR '13. As much as I love that game, and playing it at high PC settings is nice, I've played it at least 4 times before and seeing walls I can't climb, rope arrow stuff I can't use, barriers I can't explode, it's just too much of a back step. I've done it too many times before to want to do it again. I'll still always say this game is amazing, because it really is, but I've played it too much and I just couldn't really get in to it again. 

 

So I skipped right to Shadow as I've only played it once before and firstly wow it looks amazing. Just what an upgrade from the first game. The character models, the detail, the colour, the effects, the lighting, the amount going on. It's night and day in terms of visuals. I know it's kind of a joke with these games but Lara's hair. Man, it's a good looking game.

 

It also starts faster as well. For instance I can rope arrow right of the bat, I can climb more surfaces, I can start crafting and getting skill points faster. The controls and movement are much better and smoother as well. Probably due to some better animations too. I say this because I was really surprised. I don't know the gap between playing TR '13 and Shadow but it must of been a while because I didn't remember being that much of a difference. But immediately switching one from the other really highlights just what a vast improvement the game is in so many areas. 

 

I still think it's dumb how Lara floods Mexico and kills presumably - at minimum - thousands of people, watches a child fall and die, and doesn't give a shit. It's both ridiculous and a true character assassination. I get what they're going for. Lara has become obsessive and she's lost her self in these mad fights and adventures. But I think they could have done it better without throwing her under the bus for the stupidest of reasons. I liked her before this game. 

 

Anyway. I played up to finding Jonah in the jungle. So not too far. But really enjoyed it. Damn this game looks good on PC. I bought the Xbox version a few weeks/months ago on sale. I want to try that sometime this week and see what the differences are like. I'd still rather play a game like this comfortably on a sofa, big screen, all the rest. But if the Xbox version can't match the PC version for settings it will be hard to let that go. This looks amazing. 

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  • 3 months later...

Here we go, played about 90 mins and it definitely looks fantastic, but I'll see how it goes (I did enjoy RotTR much more than than the TR reboot, here's hoping from more exploration & puzzles).

 

What bugs me a bit already is how trivial Lara's death is - a gruesome cut scene, but an immediate restart, usually just before the point you died - hence no real tension/penalty (esp. as sometimes progress already is a bit of trial and error). 

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I really want to like this but I'm struggling to.

 

I was disappointed with the slaughter-fest of the TR reboot, but really enjoyed RotTR - where the balance of exploration to combat was addressed.

 

Yet this feels a bit of a mess - I want to explore tombs not run around and talk to outcast villagers or do basic fetch & carry quests. Give me a reason to read the rich lore that's put into the murals and collectibles, make me use the knowledge in dialogue or puzzle choices - otherwise it's inconsequential filler that I'll ignore 

 

Meanwhile the whole story elements, and numerous cut scenes, all feel like they are getting too far away from what I want in a TR game (free exploration, puzzles and the occasional bit of combat) - yet free exploration is too often halted by a pop up of "You need gear xyz to progress this way". So I guess it's story progress to get the gear, then later backtracking (albeit numerous base camps plus fast travel reduce that burden).

 

It all feels a bit too much like a pre Origins AC game now - whereas a bit of tweaking it could have been a TR RPG.

 

I think it really needs a morality system added too - a light/dark path of combat avoidance vs conflict, and depending how you go the game changes (sort of how they did it in Dishonored and Vampyr). 

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I agree this game faltered after the excellent RotTR. I think almost every change they made to the gameplay was a misstep.

 

I think a morality system in a game like this would depend on how far they were willing to go into stealth. Fine by me, but after the Dishonored games (and Cyberpunk, actually) you'd have to go a long way to compete on that front. 

 

Maybe they should go the other way and accept that Lara is a total psycho - sort of intercut her exploits with flashback scenes of her visiting a psychiatrist 😀

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I'm now on a DLC part called The Pillar (as I got the Definitive Ed) and there's some serious BS parts - in terms of exploring, the wind and barriers are a bit flakey, one part than needed an arrow shot so distant it never crossed my mind to even try it, and now a fight where if you kill someone in the wrong place then you get jumped by three goons from behind who were clearly never previously there !!

 

Oh well.

 

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The Pillar was a really poor bit of DLC - it's like they just gave up at the end to push it out there - as it wraps up with a bunch of (unnecessary) combat, then a cut scene of Lara saying "I need to return this (item)" - and then no return path/escape gameplay, it just jumps you straight back to the quest giver for a reward.

 

Terrible.

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Blimey, this game is a hot mess.

 

Hit a part where they've just chucked in a bunch of stealth sections - enforced too, since even though you can takedown heavily armed Trinity goons, you inexplicably can't actually pick up any of their weapons.....

 

It's just really poor in terms of narrative flow, as you later move to a section when you're then suddenly fully armed again and a big fire fight is now the way ahead...

 

(Looking back in the thread this was picked up previously, in posts on pg 3 & 4)

 

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Credits have rolled, time now to go back and do some tomb raiding.

 

Clearly they just don't know what to do with the franchise, RotTR was great, this one is just botched ideas thrown together.

 

When AC, Uncharted, TLoU and BotW have all done the different elements of SotTR so much better, it's time to either drop it, or carve out a clear (new) identity.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm near the end of this now I think. I liked it more than I did the first time I played it, some sequences and sections of the game are really great and fun. But the game has some basic design problems that ruin it a bit for me. 

 

#1 problem is the main area of the game the Hidden City. It's the game's biggest hub area and is really annoying to get around. Add to the fact that the map sucks in this game and it's just such a chore. It's one of my final areas to clear up all the collectibles and I just turned the Xbox off because I don't want to deal with it today. 

 

I would say the hub maps in general are like this. Not fun to run around. But most hub areas are small enough where even though it doesn't seem well designed the annoyance is  much lower. The Hidden City area, kind of the key location of the game sucks shit, though. 

 

#2 thing I think is unfortunate is the combat sections. This time around the predator stuff (Lara covering herself in mud and being a silent assassin) worked a bit more for me - because I was successful at it. But 8/10 of these situations ends in me getting spotted and I just headshot everybody and move on. It's more efficient, but no way near as cool and clearly not what the designers want you to do. But some of these stealth rooms, I just can't tell what the path around them is supposed to be. So I just get spotted and shoot everyone. Feels like defeat and not fun. 

 

#3 is the story. It continues to be completely alien. Nothing matters, nothing makes sense, the game can't make any kind of reality, none of the character's are good. Sometimes, and it's rare, but sometimes Lara gets a good cutscene and she is cool again but most of the time she's terrible. Going off what @shinymcshine was saying above, not just the story but narrative flow being weird and badly paced is a good call. Not only are there inconsistencies from scene to scene but also some bombastic shit happens out of nowhere in a game that isn't really about that. This game is largely big set piece free. Lara is constantly breaking shit, exploding shit, falling off shit. But in "little" ways. In terms of big action, Uncharted style set pieces there's extremely few. But when they are there they come out of fucking nowhere and it's actually funny. It's like what is going on? 

 

The game feels very strangely paced. Which might partly be my fault because I'm off searching and collecting stuff for hours at a time but I dunno. Everything to do with story in this game is junk. 

 

However

 

I really enjoyed more of this game than I did the first time. One of the things I don't think I really thought about before, and quite enjoy, is out of all 3 games this is closest to classic Tomb Raider to me. It has a nice blend of old and new. Mostly because Lara is in a jungle for 99% of the game and not military bases, and the main path missions actually involve tomb raiding, ancient death traps, and actual puzzles. Where the big complaint about the previous two was all this classic TR stuff was shoved in to the side mission tombs. Here is more front and centre and I like that. This game captures a lot more of the ancient crypt and exotic feel of older TR than the the other two games in the trilogy. That's a big plus. 

 

This is an unqualifiable statement, but this game feels very PS1 to me. Partly because of the classic TR stuff as mentioned above making a comeback. But also the music, tone and sound effects. A lot of jungle drums, the game being a touch creepier than the other games, and the sound effects particularly when getting certain collectibles is amazing and does a much better job at immersing in the TR adventure aspects than the non stop talk about stupid daggers, boxes and gods ever do. I can't strictly find the link of why it makes me think of the PS1, but there's something there that does. Maybe it's just me, but I enjoy it. 

 

Despite the narrative being all over the place the adventure game play is on point. This game is just fun. It eats hours in no time and I don't even notice they're passing by. This game has some of the best levels in the trilogy and, if like me, you put the context to the side and just enjoy the video game being a video game it's really fun. Again I come back to this idea of the old and the new. It's obviously plays like the newer Tomb Raider game. But with this classic TR settings and levels it's just really fun and comes alive. Sometimes. Not always, it goes up and down, but sometimes the game is really, actually great. 

 

Top it off with the 60fps boost and HDR. Brings the game even more alive again. Not next-gen, but surprising maybe what an extra bit of oomph can do for the game and bringing the player in. There does appear to now be a flickering light glitch on Xbox when underground in certain rooms. When it happens it undoes all the game's best qualities and pulls me out of the adventure. But it's rare and only seems to be in select rooms so it's fine. 

 

The thing for me about this game is it's so close to actually being great. But there's a weird mix of some things feeling really off and some things being really right. Lara, the story, the pacing. These things are working so hard to be lifeless, distant, unlikeable and drag me out of the game while the levels, tomb raiding, adventuring are doing such a great job at pulling me in. 

 

Is it weird to say the more I've played the more I've liked it while also got more disappointed that it's not better

 

This game is kind of all over the place and so is what I've got to say about it 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Beat all the score attack and time trial challenges on the DLC tombs. Only have to get bronze medal in each for the achievements so don’t have to perfect them (Thank god) although did get a few silvers and golds once I got used to them.

 

At first I thought they were going to be a nightmare but it was only the first one called Forge of Destiny that was difficult. When I played through it in the main game I really enjoyed it, as I did with all the DLC tombs actually. They’re only about 20-30 minutes long each (first time) but they’ve all been designed around a unique idea or set up. Cool stuff.


But the Forge of Destiny one is really annoying where have to set up explosions to propel a platform to the top of a spinning tower. But it’s difficult to work out and the timings are weird. If failed the platform goes back down again and have to start over.

 

When playing it first time for fun it’s a cool idea. Forgetting how it works and trying to work out how to do it in 8 minutes was a lot less fun.

 

Currently working on Obsession difficulty. Just reached the Hidden City. This game is really short when you don’t stop for nothing! Think it might have taken me at least 5 hours to get here first time. I think it’s been about 2 hours so far. 

 

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