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Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Xbox One / PlayStation 4) - Jan 28 2014

Fruitster

Member
The new Lara model looks a bit like Gemma Arterton. I'm fine with that. Either way, looking forward to playing this again. Never had time to get into it on 360.
 
top = pc with tress, bottom = vga trailer (ripped from youtube)

R1ZoKDp.jpg

I like the new face. That added chin makes her look more confident and less scared. I think it speaks to me more.
 
I like her old look better.
Same here.


When you buy this AAA abortion, you're telling them you're ok with qte, you're ok with a generic shooter that lies about being based on survival and character growth. You're ok with design that holds your hand and insults your intelligence. While completely ignoring everything that the franchise built itself on. Throwing aside a design foundation which innately promotes the very essence of survival and growth that's being sold. Developers then continue to produce this soulless garbage.

God forbid a game called tomb raider have anything to do with raiding tombs and the accompanying mechanics which facilitate such endeavors. What could have been something so fresh for the industry is nothing more than a sea of conformity disguised as individuality.
 

Fredrik

Member
I think the new face looks better, esp. the eyes look much more glossy and realistic now. It's different, but I think it's better. I hope they release a HQ version of the trailer soon.

Tomb Raider was one of my favourite games of 2013. Maybe I'll pick this up again.
Same here, and TR was among my top 5 on 360 for the whole last generation, I will definitely pick this up for PS4.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Hmmm, I only recently played through this again on the PS3. Not often I play thruogh the same game twice. Bit gutted now. Can't really justify the purchase on the PS4 as wel, although it does look damn sexy and is one of my favourite games.

Online is dead, so I'll probably wait until this hits £20 in various places a year down the line or summat. Probably be ready to have another run through as well at that point.
 
I don't like where they're going with the colours but otherwise it looks pretty decent

wish they kept a bit more of the angularity of the original though esp lower jaw line and chin, I thought that looked pretty good
 
Gemma Arterton Lara looks way better than her original model, but I wish devs wouldn't change character models like this. We're at the point where video game faces are realistic enough for our brains to recognise them from features alone, rather than design cues (e.g. bandana = Snake, white hair red coat = Dante, etc), so changing them makes it seem like the character's had plastic surgery. Pick a face and stick with it.
 

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Gemma Arterton Lara looks way better than her original model, but I wish devs wouldn't change character models like this. We're at the point where video game faces are realistic enough for our brains to recognise them from features alone, rather than design cues (e.g. bandana = Snake, white hair red coat = Dante, etc), so changing them makes it seem like the character's had plastic surgery. Pick a face and stick with it.

I think they were going for this face to begin with but the tech wasn't there.
 

Zurick

Banned
Can't believe I'm actually amped to double dip for a Tomb Raider game, let alone a game period. Man the times are a changing.

I loved this game a lot and can't wait for another romp through it.
 

Sean*O

Member
Same here.



When you buy this AAA abortion, you're telling them you're ok with qte, you're ok with a generic shooter that lies about being based on survival and character growth. You're ok with design that holds your hand and insults your intelligence. While completely ignoring everything that the franchise built itself on. Throwing aside a design foundation which innately promotes the very essence of survival and growth that's being sold. Developers then continue to produce this soulless garbage.

God forbid a game called tomb raider have anything to do with raiding tombs and the accompanying mechanics which facilitate such endeavors. What could have been something so fresh for the industry is nothing more than a sea of conformity disguised as individuality.

LOL, OK now I'm thinking maybe I'll skip it. I completely get the bolded, I can see them going "OK we have a AAA IP now let's tick all the boxes for maximum market appeal" and that's pretty much what games do at this level. Sometimes it's OK but I was hoping for more of the old school exploration of the original than a run & gun fest.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
$60 seems like the kind of price where dedicated gamers will know to wait for a drop to $40.

Maybe some early adopters will jump on it, though. I wouldn't pay $60 for it, personally.
 

Ryne

Member
I'll buy this. I was interested in the re-make, but never got around to buying it, so this is perfect for me.
 

Dantis

Member
The new Lara looks more like an actual person. Skin shader is leaps and bounds better too.

Can't unsee the Gemma Arteton comparison now though.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
LOL, OK now I'm thinking maybe I'll skip it. I completely get the bolded, I can see them going "OK we have a AAA IP now let's tick all the boxes for maximum market appeal" and that's pretty much what games do at this level. Sometimes it's OK but I was hoping for more of the old school exploration of the original than a run & gun fest.

I think a lot of people missed the growth and development of Lara's character in the reboot. The significance of the first time she says 'I hate tombs', for example. And then as the game wears on her curiosity and wonder sort of take over. There's no need for the player to be reminded 'You're a Croft', it happens organically.

It's her first expedition, so she's very much theory based - hence the expansive detail on all the artifacts.

The story is quite linear but the island itself is quite the opposite. You have challenges, relics and artifacts that encourage and reward exploration and also provide extra hours in the game after the main storyline has finished (perk benefit omitted). In game you have salvage which upgrades weapons. It's one of the few games that has done exploration and collectibles well this gen I think. Nothing feels superfluous like a lot of other titles.

In short I don't get the hate this game gets. Everything people complain about are prevalent in the generation not just this game. The things it does well also get ignored like:

The cover system - It was very smart and sleek and well integrated;
The traversal of the environment - Whilst it still had coloured ledges, there were also sections of rope climbs via bow and arrow. Lara also required more than bare hands to climb across an island;
Salvage/Upgrades - A very neat mechanic that provided more depth to 'Oh, a gun on the floor', which was also consistent with the environment.

And sure Crystal Dynamics have a bit of a problem of getting sleeker and better with their cinematic cuts, and offering more of a challenge in their physics puzzles but they should be given the chance to build on a very good reboot without all the sneering.

They nailed the exploration and the sandbox environment is perfect for a Tomb Raider game. They need to up the ante on the puzzles, take a look at Underworld for examples. The Mayan calendar, the squid room and the kings thrones puzzles. Then enhance the threats from nature (basically include more than wolves and cut down on the militia).

It's a very solid start. In my opinion anyway.
 

Blinck

Member
I think the new version actually looks much better, even than PC ( not counting IQ ). The new skin shader looks pretty awesome.

Shame that the game is really bad.
 

_woLf

Member
Legitimately have no idea why people can think this game is bad.

You can say it's not perfect, sure, but bad? Get out of here.
 

Lime

Member
Legitimately have no idea why people can think this game is bad.

You can say it's not perfect, sure, but bad? Get out of here.

The story and characters in this game are extremely dumb. In a game that emphasizes its narrative as much as Tomb Raider 2013, that alone makes it bad.
 

Nokterian

Member
top = pc with tress, bottom = vga trailer (ripped from youtube)

R1ZoKDp.jpg

She looks different and so 'clean' on the bottom picture. I have the PC version and it does look better. Square also slapping 60 euro's on it..you can buy it on PC for less then 10 euro's/ 8 dollars or wait till Steam Winter Sale maby it will even less and that is definitive edition.
 
$60 for what is basically the PC version (which is how I played it and holy fuck it looked nice) but with all the MP dlc which who gives a shit but because the MP was awful and the reason SE didn't make money on it...


Yeah, I'll wait for a sale, or skip. Thanks though!
 

Yoday

Member
Legitimately have no idea why people can think this game is bad.

You can say it's not perfect, sure, but bad? Get out of here.
It's just people being butt hurt that it isn't a poorly controlling empty level design of a game like the previous games. I'll never understand it myself, and it just makes me think that they all remember the old Tomb Raider games differently than they actually were. The new Tomb Raider has less platforming, and a bit less in the puzzle department, but it gained good controls, fantastic combat, a great leveling/upgrading system, and significantly more exploration in environments that make a whole hell of a lot more sense. The old Tomb Raider games are clunky, claustrophobic, empty games that people tend to remember being wide open exploration driven adventures.

The first reboot trilogy that Crystal D did was more like the originals, and they executed on that formula better than had ever done in the past, but it was getting really stale. If they had continued down the same path with Tomb Raider we would have gotten a new one, it would have gotten slammed in reviews for being outdated, and the series would now be dead. Instead we have a game that may be different from the past games, but it presents the sense of adventure that the older games clearly wanted to have but couldn't due to tech limitations.
 
New face is definitely a lot better, however 60 dollars por this... yeah, it was never worth it, even more so now.

And I wouldn't doubt 1080p@60FPS at least on PS4, it ran pretty well on (my) PC.
 

RagnarokX

Member
I think a lot of people missed the growth and development of Lara's character in the reboot. The significance of the first time she says 'I hate tombs', for example. And then as the game wears on her curiosity and wonder sort of take over. There's no need for the player to be reminded 'You're a Croft', it happens organically.

It's her first expedition, so she's very much theory based - hence the expansive detail on all the artifacts.

The story is quite linear but the island itself is quite the opposite. You have challenges, relics and artifacts that encourage and reward exploration and also provide extra hours in the game after the main storyline has finished (perk benefit omitted). In game you have salvage which upgrades weapons. It's one of the few games that has done exploration and collectibles well this gen I think. Nothing feels superfluous like a lot of other titles.

In short I don't get the hate this game gets. Everything people complain about are prevalent in the generation not just this game. The things it does well also get ignored like:

The cover system - It was very smart and sleek and well integrated;
The traversal of the environment - Whilst it still had coloured ledges, there were also sections of rope climbs via bow and arrow. Lara also required more than bare hands to climb across an island;
Salvage/Upgrades - A very neat mechanic that provided more depth to 'Oh, a gun on the floor', which was also consistent with the environment.

And sure Crystal Dynamics have a bit of a problem of getting sleeker and better with their cinematic cuts, and offering more of a challenge in their physics puzzles but they should be given the chance to build on a very good reboot without all the sneering.

They nailed the exploration and the sandbox environment is perfect for a Tomb Raider game. They need to up the ante on the puzzles, take a look at Underworld for examples. The Mayan calendar, the squid room and the kings thrones puzzles. Then enhance the threats from nature (basically include more than wolves and cut down on the militia).

It's a very solid start. In my opinion anyway.

If people missed Lara's character development it's probably because it all happened in one second. She goes from scared young woman to Rambo in the snap of a finger. This is not her first expedition. Documents in the game talk about Lara going on previous trips and Sam had to drag her to hang out with cute boys instead of immersing herself in archeological digs. You don't need to be reminded "You're a Croft" but you are multiple times in scenes that run counter to what's actually happening in the game. The game attempts to be an origin for Lara, but she instantly becomes a super-human combat expert. There's no development of skills shown. It's laughable that the game keeps saying she is a "survivor" when she completely dominates the island.

For the rest, here's something I wrote in another thread with some edits:

The game is insultingly dumb. It has detective mode, but if you ever have to use it outside of hunting optional pixels hanging from trees for 5XP you might want to reconsider your hobbies. The game features beautiful environments, a couple of which appear to be open but are actually just crossroads for linear paths marked with glowing white paint. Traversal never requires skill. There are no tricky jumps or points where you have to figure out where to go or how to get there. You just follow the white paint. The posts where you use the bow ropes are wrapped in glowing white ropes and there's nothing to figure out about them. You find one, grab your bow, aim for the other post, and then you crawl up the most linear paths in the game. Using the pickaxe to climb is just a nice visual flare, it adds nothing of value mechanically. Lara can no longer jump in multiple directions and there's no challenge in traversal.

You can wander off the obvious linear trails in these couple of areas but there is nothing of interest to find. The only somewhat worthwhile collectibles are the documents and relics, and those are all along the linear paths. The other collectibles are excessive bs that are not fun to find.

Most of the gameplay is just shooting dudes. You kill hundreds of dudes. Almost all battles are against very dumb AI who just rush at you and throw bombs at you to flush you out of cover. There is very little variety in enemies throughout the game. The worst is when the game just throws waves of them at you. It's just tedious and boring taking them down. The only time the combat shines is when you can stealth kill everyone. There are only a couple of these sequences in the game, and if you alert anyone at all every AI in the area suddenly knows exactly where you are and you can't go back to stealth. The automatic cover system is neat, but the game has too much combat and the combat isn't anything special.

There are very few puzzles required to beat the game and all of them are simple and take a couple of minutes at most. The half-dozen so called "hidden tombs" that are hidden in very obvious places with glowing white paint arrows pointing you in their direction, cause controller vibrations, and cause "hidden tomb nearby" to pop up on the screen are also extremely easy.

The RPG systems are poorly shoehorned into the game. Most of your collecting and killing will net you salvage and XP. Salvage lets you upgrade weapons, but enemies are very dumb and a lot of the time the game will randomly decide that a guy is immune to your napalm arrows anyway. The XP system let's you upgrade your skills, none of which are useful except for the skill that lets you instantly kill enemies once they are stunned because it makes the boring shooting galleries go faster.

The story is painfully awful. All of the characters are 1 dimensional and poorly written.

They didn't nail the exploration. Finding collectibles requires no skills other than the ability to see extremely small glowing objects. They aren't well hidden in smart ways and take no effort to get to. The regenerating health, abundance of ammo, and lack of non-story-critical weapons means that rewards aren't very rewarding. Getting medipacks and weapons by finding secrets that took skill to find and reach were much more rewarding. Calling the level design "sandbox" is a grave misuse of the term. They made it impossible to backtrack in many areas not because it would be physically impossible to do it but because they wanted to tell a linear story with cinematic uses of the time of day. One spot that really stood out to me was when a vent you used to get into a building suddenly filled with steam to prevent backtracking because they changed the time of day to sunset. Almost all paths are pretty much one way.

It's just people being butt hurt that it isn't a poorly controlling empty level design of a game like the previous games. I'll never understand it myself, and it just makes me think that they all remember the old Tomb Raider games differently than they actually were. The new Tomb Raider has less platforming, and a bit less in the puzzle department, but it gained good controls, fantastic combat, a great leveling/upgrading system, and significantly more exploration in environments that make a whole hell of a lot more sense. The old Tomb Raider games are clunky, claustrophobic, empty games that people tend to remember being wide open exploration driven adventures.

The first reboot trilogy that Crystal D did was more like the originals, and they executed on that formula better than had ever done in the past, but it was getting really stale. If they had continued down the same path with Tomb Raider we would have gotten a new one, it would have gotten slammed in reviews for being outdated, and the series would now be dead. Instead we have a game that may be different from the past games, but it presents the sense of adventure that the older games clearly wanted to have but couldn't due to tech limitations.

People want the spirit of Tomb Raider translated into a modern game. Exploring ruins, skillful challenging platforming, puzzles, traps to a void, some shooting. This game is almost all shooting and the other parts have been dumbed down to insulting levels and take up very little of the game. The old games were a bit clunky, a new game doesn't have to be. Becoming a modern game does not mean becoming another run of the mill shooter. The level design was pretty but awful in terms of engaging the player intellectually.
 

Mman235

Member
significantly more exploration in environments

The only levels with exploration and layout complexity even close to being on par with the best of the earlier games are Mountain Village, Shipwreck Beach (I'll be generous and include it's offshoot areas) and Shantytown post-genocide. If the early games are "empty" I'm not sure how the average reboot level being devoid of anything but abstract collectables and cannon fodder is supposed to be less empty.

The first reboot trilogy that Crystal D did was more like the originals, and they executed on that formula better than had ever done in the past, but it was getting really stale.

Nope. The reason it was so stale is because Crystal's execution was all over the place and missed or failed to update vital parts of Core's formula. If your last experiences with "classic" Tomb Raider were Crystals I can certainly see where you got the impression of them being empty from though as those games legitimately are at times (Underworld in particular).
 
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