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melmer

Rise of the Tomb Raider - Deshi Deshi Basara Basara

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So this got lost completely in the E3 mire, probably because it was a narratively focused CG trailer which had to compete against gameplay or in-game trailers from Batman, The Order, Ass Creed, Uncharted, The Sims 4 etc

 

I loved last years reboot which left me salivating at the prospect of a sequel. What additions or changes would be made to the gameplay and mechanics? Where will it be set? which direction would they go in with story and tone? I expected the sequel to get a little more whimsical in tone, start introducing stuff like dinosaurs and mummies (we all know this game is going to have zombies. AN ANCIENT EVIL AWAKENS!) Going by this trailer in seems as though they are holding firm to their gritty re-imagining which i'm cool with in that its super unpredictable! I really couldn't tell you what this game is going to offer up, in terms of like... EVERYTHING!

 

Now, we all joke about how Nathan Drake is the worlds largest mass murderer, and Lara was batting for that record in her 'origins' outing. BUT i feel like Crystal Dynamic did a great job of creating a plausible scenario where all that murdering didn't seem wholly unnecessary. So the 'set up' if you didn't know is that there's this mysteries island surrounded by constant storms, ships would get caught in these storm and end up shipwrecked on the island (which explains why all the enemies are men, they're all ex-sailors :tup:) Once shipwrecked you can never leave this island because of the constant storms. So a strange new civilisation is born, a cult, they start worshipping a storm god blah blah blah. but what was clever about this tribal civilisation was that anyone who could think for themselves, who would question what was going on, question loyalty to the leaders and the storm god would get weeded out and murdered, leaving only the easily brainwashed, the blindly devoted, the morons. So yeah, you are surrounded by brainwashed crazies, all that have already had a taste for murder and it really is kill or be killed :tup:

 

It's a bit of a long shot but what if these traumatic events have left Lara a damaged delusional cold psychopathy, what if this time round they make Lara into an anti-hero. Although out of context, there's no real justifying the murders committed in the trailer above.

 

Crystal Dynamic are going to have a real hard time justifying all the killing this game will no doubt have especially if the enemies are just a rival criminal gang of tomb raiders. Maybe the game will start with you walking through a pillaged Eskimo village that the baddie left in their wake on their search for a tomb, some shit like that.

 

Anyway discuss. Tell me your deepest, darkest tomb raiding desires

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I've done a little digging and the same writer is coming back for this game

 

"In a press release made a short while ago by Square Enix PR, it was announced that Rhianna Pratchett...

 

- writer of Mirrors Edge and Tomb Raider and daughter to fantasy writer Sir Terry Pratchett - will return as a "key member of the writing team, helping craft a story that delves into Lara's inner turmoil and motivations in this critical second act of her journey."

 

Rhianna Pratchett IMDB - she's written quite a few games

 

It seems as though both Rise of the Tomb raider and the new Uncharted will be addressing all the senseless murder that has gone before them, it'll be interesting to see how deep and ultimately how successful each of them will be at committing on it. #Drunkman vs #Pratchett, pick your side!

 

EDIT: i've just read that groan worthy press release, sigh. Although its nice to hear Lara will be jet setting to multiple location around the planet

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I'm never sure how to take Rhianna Pratchett because I don't think I've liked the writing on any of the games she's been involved with, but I get the sense that it's because the games that employ external writers generally don't value writing. I liked Tomb Raider's writing at the time, but I've soured on it with distance. Which is odd, because I still remember Uncharted 2 and 3's writing with fondness even though they have much bigger tone problems.

 

I do remember the concerns at the E3 reveal that trauma caused by the call to adventure was oddly gendered, and what people liked about Lara Croft was that she was an action hero who notably didn't get traumatised by her many adventures. I get the strong suspicion that neither will really delve into it - Tomb Raider because the writers have to bow to gameplay, and there's not going to be a CBT mechanic, and Uncharted because Naughty Dog aren't the kind of company that systematises their themes, so the dissonance of Uncharted is still going to be there.

 

I take it all back if Tomb Raider introduces a CBT mechanic, partial credit for mental health.

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I approve of this thread title.

 

Also, I still haven't played the previous Tomb Raider, but I kind of want to.

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I also loved the first Tomb Raider reboot because it was the first good Tomb Raider! Besides the co-op game.

 

I mean I really enjoyed it a lot. It definitely had a problem with the weird tone of "ahhh i don't want to kill anyone" *murders thousands of dudes in seconds*, but it's a problem common to all video games so I just accepted it and rolled with it, utilizing my usual propensity for suspension of disbelief.

 

I definitely would have preferred a game where every single fight Lara was in was an incredibly difficult obstacle. For how violent everyone on the island was, it wouldn't have been a stretch for her to only run into a dozen people at most. If they were all just incredibly emotionally taxing and difficult gameplay experiences, it would've worked really well. Ahh. C'est la vie. The combat was fun, at least. In my opinion.

 

I'm looking forward to this one. I really like the idea of going with a mentally broken Lara Croft. I hope it turns out well.

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Incidentally, the most super fucked up thing that I remember from the first game was

 

iU60u4mlSwv6Y.gif

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I care less about the justifiability of the combat than the fact that I don't want these games to be shooters in the first place. Maybe if a game like this could've been made in 1996 that's how they would've made it, because they certainly marketed Lara as some sort of action hero. My wish though is that they'd focus more on the quiet moments of exploration and platforming.

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My wish is that they'd focus more on butt cheek jiggle physics

 

why am i sabotaging my on thread :owned:

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I like shooters and Tomb Raider was a good shooter, so I'm excited for a sequel. Also, maybe it's because other games have ridiculous stories and mechanics, but I couldn't muster much skepticism with regards to the whole violence thing. She seemed sufficiently thrown off by it and never particularly comfortable with it, but it's not like she was doing any of it for frivolous reasons. It's kind of where Uncharted falls another way for me - sure, Drake is put in some life-threatening situations and he is an explorer, but his job is also to nab some slick loot so I'm not super sold on him being all "whoops, I was forced to kill 1,000 dudes".
 
Also, it always strikes me as an odd argument versus games like this that you kill so many guys, because even in situations where you do have the "proper context" of being a soldier or whatever there's still no "realistic" situation where one soldier kills hundreds and hundreds of enemy combatants single-handedly.
 

My wish is that they'd focus more on butt cheek jiggle physics
 
why am i sabotaging my on thread :owned:

 

I just want more physics in general. Get that hair going Bayonetta-style. Give her a Batman cape that can flow naturally while she's climbing things. Maybe attach some superfluous tassels to various attractive body parts to better accentuate the jiggling.

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Also, it always strikes me as an odd argument versus games like this that you kill so many guys, because even in situations where you do have the "proper context" of being a soldier or whatever there's still no "realistic" situation where one soldier kills hundreds and hundreds of enemy combatants single-handedly.

I think it stands out so much more in Tomb Raider because it presented her as completely innocent and how hard it was for her to kill and she didn't want to do it and it was super traumatizing that first time she kills a dude.

 

And then she immediately goes off and kills a dozen more.

 

I have an incredible ability to suspend disbelief (sometimes for the worse!), but even I balked at that.

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Wasn't she literally covered in blood and escaping through burning buildings? I understand emotion and innocence, but faced with that kind of field of war scenario I imagine that brief crushing emotion could easily be wiped away by pure survival instinct. I think they could have done a better job of creating moments where Lara just needs to decompress and process, but that exact moment seemed believable to me.

 

I actually thought that Watch Dogs weirdly handled this quite well when a relatively innocent character was forced to kill someone and seemed to experience genuine shock that persisted over measurable time.

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Yeah but that was later in the game. Early on she was hurt from purely incidental damage as she climbed through the environments (and maybe fought off an animal?). But then she ran into a guy who tried to kill her... and killed him instead. And then she sat there like "oh god what have i done somebody help me". And then she killed a dozen more without comment.

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Yeah, that's what happens when the writer isn't able to influence level design.

 

I'm definitely conflicted about the writing but I'm also pretty sure I'm buying this game - both because the last one did a lot right and because, and this is interesting, the last game also had a lot of criticism about how Lara was being presented that wasn't really reflected in the final product, to my mind. (Although I'm also trying to keep in mind that these kinds of criticisms are less 'this game is doing something wrong' and more 'this is a recent example of a thing that happens a great deal more than is healthy').

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particularly because, and this is interesting, the last game also had a lot of criticism about how Lara was being presented that wasn't really reflected in the final product, to my mind.

I'm with you on this. Dunno if I have anything more to add, most of that stuff was addressed way back when the game came out and I've forgotten most of the arguments on both sides, but I definitely came out on the same side as you.

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I just want more physics in general. Get that hair going Bayonetta-style. Give her a Batman cape that can flow naturally while she's climbing things. Maybe attach some superfluous tassels to various attractive body parts to better accentuate the jiggling.

 

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I finished Tomb Raider not to long ago and there were enough moments when I absolutely hated the game.   Why?

 

1.  QTEs (aka being punked by a game developer)

 

2.  Numerous levels where appearances and mechanics appear to support different approaches to a problem but there is only one solution and the penalty for not reading the game designers mind is being impaled on a spike over and over and over and over and over....

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tegan always has either the best or the worst links/videos

 

usually both

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This game is literally making me want to kill myself.

 

No not another voice memo ahhhhhhhhhhahahhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooo i can't listen to this shit anymoreeeeeeeee.

 

What a wasted opportunity, i'm like 70% done (i'm doing all the collectables as i go (because i hate myself ) and am probably a lot closer to the end of the story than 70%), the first game was so much better then this. I'm surprised it's appearing on peoples goty lists.

 

Pros:

Looks nice i guess, although the locale is a bit bland

The challenge tombs are mostly really good, and sometimes captures the magic of the original games.

That first fight with the bear...

 

Cons:

Activating 'hunter view' every 10 secs so you don't miss a pickup/collectable.

No hip firing.

The actual shooty/action/stealth is kinda shit, maybe i need to increase the difficulty. Or maybe through an accumulation of what the game is do is doing (shit story, too many pick up documents slowing the pace) i just don't care, so i just stand still and aim for headshots to get an achievement instead of playing the game like i give a fuck whether i get hit or not.

Those fucking voice memos OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD.

Your potato head sidekick, who the hell designed and cast that abomination.

When Lara decided she needs to give you a 'hint' to complete the platforming puzzle your in, and decides to repeat herself every 10 seconds so you can't explore the room in peace.

Far too many crafting nick nacks littering the ground.

Bloat

Bloat

Bloat

 

I think i read somewhere that the person who wrote this game wont be working on the sequel :tup:

 

They need to strip this game to the fucking bones and start again for the threequel. In fact they need to go lost city, fighting dinosaurs, ass hanging out, old school ham with the third game. This one's so fucking dour

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Thanks for the notes! I had seen some of the groundswell of positive vibes for the game recently, too, and put it on my list since I enjoy third-person games, but that sounds like a lot of what I dislike. Saved me some time! :D

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Yeah I can't really recommend it. I'm still going to finish it as I've committed so much time.

 

its funny because the first few hours were alright, i thought it was doing some stuff better than Uncharted. Like, when you find a relic, Lara will say a little something about it. I liked that... until the 5th time she described some valuable attifact being repurposed as a plant pot. We get it Lara, the natives have no use for valuables, WE FUCKING GET IT

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I'm with you Mington. I beat the story and was trying to get as many of the trophies as possible but I'm just over it and ready to move on to something new. 

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