Tomb Raider

i did a search and didn't see a thread for this

kind of surprising

anyway, this game is good, really good

it's like a darker and grittier Uncharted (i hold Uncharted in the highest of regards so the comparison is huge compliment)

it's also brutal as hell

i don't mean gameplay-wise, i mean situation-wise

Laura's death scenes/animations are hardcore violent

i also feel because of the added violence, it makes for a much more tense, although not any less awesome, experience than Uncharted

Damn, that's good.

And here all this time I just though she was hot.

I am consistently horny while playing this game.

This game is fucking boss. BOSS.

Top notch in every way.

One thing I want to point out is that CD has really done a good job streamlining the controls without it feeling dumbed down. Makes me wonder why other companies are still in hold X, Z, ^%&* while pressing L4 to look around while covering mode.

Who will play Lara in the movie reboot based off of this game? That's the real question.

I've played the game for about 3 hours so far. Intend to do more this weekend.

Feels like Lost + Uncharted + young, cute, vulnerable Lara Croft.

I think the game is very well put together but it's not gripping just yet.

terry.330 said:

This game is fucking boss. BOSS.

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i haven't used anything but the bow yet

80% of my kills are headshots too

love that thing

i've been playing this all morning

i'm trying to get all the collectibles as i go but there's some you need to backtrack for

my only real gripe is that it's too easy

i'm playing it on Hard and i haven't come across any situation that proved to be challenging

i haven't even died that much during firefights either

the majority of my deaths are testing out jumps and dying on purpose to see the various death animations (again, they're all quite brutal)

This is not a criticism of the game, just an observation.

The game's ease is because CD and S-E aren't trying to create a challenging game.

They're trying to resuscitate an IP for mass consumption.

Every challenge and task in this game is meticulously crafted to cater to the widest audience possible. Most of which will be only average or low level gamers.

The best way to do that is to get the audience emotionally invested in the characters and the narrative.

This way, the audience will be ready to buy 'Lara's next great adventure' in a few years.

This is why I say emotional context is so important in in the marketing of games. It's a deeply entrenched element of the whole dev process, and the theory is meant to capture casual gamer dollars.

Give the audience characters they love and they'll follow them through hell. This is true of any storytelling medium.

Taiso said:

This is not a criticism of the game, just an observation.

The game's ease is because CD and S-E aren't trying to create a challenging game.

They're trying to resuscitate an IP for mass consumption.

Every challenge and task in this game is meticulously crafted to cater to the widest audience possible. Most of which will be only average or low level gamers.

The best way to do that is to get the audience emotionally invested in the characters and the narrative.

This way, the audience will be ready to buy 'Lara's next great adventure' in a few years.

This is why I say emotional context is so important in in the marketing of games. It's a deeply entrenched element of the whole dev process, and the theory is meant to capture casual gamer dollars.

Give the audience characters they love and they'll follow them through hell. This is true of any storytelling medium.

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This true and I have zero problem with it. It's all just so well put together and polished.

I played it for about 6 hours straight yesterday, something I haven't done with a new game in a very long time.

As Joe said the game so far has been fairly easy. Which has actually made the game more enjoyable to me. I've died a few times messing up jumps or missing timing on the QTEs. But that has kept me more invested in the progression of the game and story.

I also enjoy that they are showing Lara in a new light, not just a British Indiana Jones with big tits. A strong young female lead stuggling. Games need more characters like this, less space marines, indestructable digital porn vixens and faggy RPG boys.

terry.330 said:

This true and I have zero problem with it. It's all just so well put together and polished.

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And there is absolutely nothing wrong with an easy game so long as the ease is deliberate, tested and, as you said, polished

It's just not for people that want to be challenged.

In looking at what this game is about, it's clear that emotional context is at the core of the experience.

Young, innocent, vulnerable Lara in a desperate situation, the jagged chisel of reality chipping away at her bit bit. Every death is horrible to watch, violent and visceral.

And yet, the reason I am bothered by it and want to avoid it is because she's so young and on a deeper psychological level, my instincts are thinking about all the life that will not be lived by this person if she dies because I let her down. She's not real, but my base survival instinct is kicking in anyway.

It's a clever way to trigger an emotional connection between Lara and the players.

terry.330 said:

I also enjoy that they are showing Lara in a new light, not just a British Indiana Jones with big tits. A strong young female lead stuggling. Games need more characters like this, less space marines, indestructable digital porn vixens and faggy RPG boys.

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I am not trying to start shit with you because I'm not about that, but I don't completely agree with you.

I like your sentiment, but the problem isn't in the existence of space marines, indestructible porn vixens and faggy RPG boys.

Tomb Raider's experience isn't about twitch gaming. It's about emotional and narrative context.

Likewise, we've seen characters of the types you cite as being contextually viable characters:

Space Marine-Marcus Fenix
Indestructible porn vixen-Bayonetta
'faggy' RPG boy-Cloud Strife

All three are alphas of their trope, and are characters worth investing time in.

Do not take this to mean that the games Marcus, Bayonetta or Cloud inhabit are perfect games. They may or may not be. But those characters are all 'ultimate' expressions of their type that represent the best that can be done with them.

It's all about context, my friend.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is a great comic book. But too many people taken the wrong example away from it. Same is true for many video game archetypes.

Taiso said:

Likewise, we've seen characters of the types you cite as being contextually viable characters:

Space Marine-Marcus Fenix
Indestructible porn vixen-Bayonetta
'faggy' RPG boy-Cloud Strife

All three are alphas of their trope, and are characters worth investing time in.

Do not take this to mean that the games Marcus, Bayonetta or Cloud inhabit are perfect games. They may or may not be. But those characters are all 'ultimate' expressions of their type that represent the best that can be done with them.

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Yeah I agree with all those examples, they are all good charcters in great games but they're also the exception. I just wish developers would be a little more original with their characters nowadays when games are as cinematic and grand in scope as they've become.

I think it is just a little more striking and as you said emotionally investing when we have a unique and interesting character to play as and more importantly care about. Companies seem to be quite content to just use some generic template and throw in a gimmick and dump millions of dollars into a sure fire seller.

Memorable charaters matter and CD have taken Lara from one of the pillars of video game cliches and actually sat down and figured out how to make her a real person that we care about. That's not something a lot of companies are willing to do and it makes for an interesting discussion.

I think it's one of the key elements that is holding modern gaming back from being more than just disposable entertainment.

When it comes especially to survival based games, games with desperate struggles, pitched battles and so forth, it's important to highlight the vulnerability of the character.

Escape From New York is a great example of this. Snake is not a superhero in that movie. He's an efficient mercenary with an ability to survive. He gets his weapons taken away from him. He's tortured. He's forced to fight a slow fat man with spiked clubs in a crappy boxing ring. He limps, literally, all the way to the finish line without any weapons. All of this takes place in a dystopian environment where there is no hope, no authority to assist him, no safe haven for him to retreat to. It's why you root for him. The narrative is very serious about it's desperate circumstances, and wants the audience to believe in it.

In a game like Gears, which is more about stop and pop cover based shooting, the element of survival is a bit more meta. Rather than cutscenes showing the desperation, which are so much military dramatic hokum anymore, the gameplay itself suggests the tension: the death's head HUD growing more gradually red as he takes damage, or his 'Bleeding Out' status when he can only crawl around on the ground until someone comes for him or, in single player games, until you mas the button enough for him to get up.

Tomb Raider does it by showing this young, desperate girl who is intelligent but lacks the hardness of the world dying in grisly fashion. It's a really deviously subversive technique, almost (but not quite) on par with the narrative of Spec Ops: The Line, which is perhaps the ultimate game for showing how a gaming cliche can be used to highilght all the potential that lies therein.

Tomb Raider is, by far, the more polished game. Spec Ops is just an example of how cliched characters and situations can still be powerful narrative tools to connect the player to the game and create a truly memorable experience.

this is way too much serious talk about videogames for me man

These are the design elements that devs think about when they want the players to have a memorable experience that they are willing to come back to again and again, both in replaying the game and in buying the sequels.

It's in the DNA of many Japanese developers. When we talk about 'theme' in gaming, this is an important part of what goes into their ultimate design.

What is the theme of Raiden in MGR: R, for example? I won't dissect that actual component, but you can bet your ass Platinum Games and Kojima Studios forced the issue at every possible point.

People don't need to think about this stuff to enjoy a game. But looking at game dev theory is something I find fascinating because it's all about a studio finding ways to get their hooks sunk deep into the players' minds on a subconscious level.

Taiso said:

But looking at game dev theory is something I find fascinating

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that's why i always read your posts

you're very analytical and passionate about this stuff

i like people like that

i was just ribbing playfully because i'm the antithesis of you when it comes to critiquing games

my analysis of a game begins and ends with the question of whether i'm having fun or not

i never delve beyond a thinking process any more complex than that

on-topic: i'm at about 48% complete with this

my initial comment about the difficulty stands

it is very easy, but thoroughly engaging

enjoying it immensely

Stiiiiiiiiiiill horny!

So I was playing last night and unlocked the ability to fast travel between camps and suddenly the game transformed into something I really, really like.

terry.330 said:

less space marines

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HERESY!

Do not spout your blasphemy. The God Emperor dwells upon the Golden Throne to protect us all from the enemies of mankind.

I haven't played a Tomb Raider game since the original, which I played on the Saturn sometime in the last century.

May have to check this out when there is a price drop.

does lara get raped in this or what

i keep reading this on other forums, that she gets really beaten up or something

LoneSage said:

does lara get raped in this or what

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I'm laughing out loud at this.

You win this time commie.

I might check it when it's on steam sale, otherwise low priority. I think Anniversary was the last TR game I played.
Wasn't there supposed to be implied rape or some shit like that in this game?

Loving the game, can anyone tell me how many levels/chapters there are in this game as I seem to be burning through it quite rapidly?

Doctor Shroom said:

I might check it when it's on steam sale, otherwise low priority. I think Anniversary was the last TR game I played.
Wasn't there supposed to be implied rape or some shit like that in this game?

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it's been hard for me not to buy this. i really really want it, since i was a huge tomb raider fan back in the 90's....when i was a horny teenager...lol