Rise of the Tomb Raider

So? And why the hate for MS? Did they kill your dog?

Here's an anecdote:

I was looking forward to Fallout 4 since it was announced, and I fired it up on launch day. It didn’t leave the best first impression, and I shifted my attention over to Rise of the Tomb Raider – which shared a release date. Lara Croft’s latest adventure did a much better job of grabbing my focus from the get-go, and I blasted through the game. I did return to the wasteland, and I had a fantastic time with it. Still, those early moments landed with a thud. I didn’t care much for Fallout 4’s setup, and found all the poorly explained additions overwhelming.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/01/02/i-quit-why-i-stopped-playing-a-bunch-of-games-in-2015.aspx?PostPageIndex=1

Official release date: January 28 in Europe. (Probably January 26 in NA)

So I finished Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition and I liked it pretty well. This one looks like it took what it did well and improved on it. The crafting system makes gathering various resources a bit more interesting and have a bit more importance then the last game. Ammo isn't terribly scarce though so not a big deal. Upgrades are a little different requiring you to get some extra tools to make them happen as well as have some upgrades already installed. Some of which now include more crafting materials to make.

One thing I noted is how stark her change in personality and between games is. Lara went from a desperate survivor doing what had to be done to survive the madness of the Island, to a Green Beret stalking the enemy in the frozen woodlands. Everything from impromptu munitions and traps to silent sentry elimination and field herbal medicine. Sure she picked some of it up on her previous venture sure but she seems a bit more vicious and dangerous. Especially when you start unlocking some of the possible insta-kill options after getting the combat knife. She can become downright devious when laying hands on certain enemy equipment.

From where I am in the game so far she is more driven and definitely not the frightened desperate young woman of the first adventure. Some of her inner monologue reflects some of this. She also has a cocky I can definitely can do this on my own attitude. Given how many of her friends and colleagues perished trying to help more directly I can't blame her.

Rise is even better. And it has, you know, tomb raiding.

Lol. It does indeed.

Tomb raiding with traps. So far I have only been careless a couple times about the spike falls but I have gotten better about not finding them the hard way.

edited 8th Jan '16 10:25:05 PM by TuefelHundenIV

[*tries to find the add a post button with eyes closed so I won't accidentally get spoil-*] oh, wow, look at all of these tumbleweeds.

But anyway, PS 4 release date: October 11! All DLC included.

Heh, Neil Druckmann poked fun at the fact that the cover art looks like the Uncharted Collection.

It is a pretty fun game. Laura goes from survivor of the first game to Green Beret in this one. She is officially hard core now.

oh wow, it's almost the exact same font and everything: http://tombraider.tumblr.com/post/147643205445/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-20-year-celebration

At least they'll look nice next to each other on the shelf, I guess.

Been playing this, but something about it isn't making me want to finish it as much as the first reboot.

Just did Baba Yaga and, well, all th collectible bits in there that I can't get at are frustrating me. It's little things. Oh and my PC deciding that her hair needs to be blowing as if in a gale ALL THE SODDING TIME unless I turn hair works on in which case my frame rate turns into a geriatric with a broken mobility scooter.

Other than that, not a bad game.

I was a little disappointed with Baba Yaga, mainly because I went in expecting to see Baba Yaga. Unapologetically supernatural elements are part and parcel of the Tomb Raider franchise. Characters might go, "There's a purely scientific explanation for this," but then the plot goes, "LOL, sure. Take this magic immortality sword that shoots laser beams and meet me in Atlantis."

So having Baba Yaga resolved with, "It's all hallucinogenic drugs, everything is completely reasonable, there was never any magic here," was a bit underwhelming.

edited 20th Jul '16 8:21:18 AM by TobiasDrake

I half expected it. I think it was a nice subversion in a way, considering the main game is pure "WTF-erry" in terms of stuff it hits you with in terms of the supernatural.

In terms of length it wasn't too bad, but I don't like timed puzzles when the UI and interface sometimes decide to change the rules - oh, the mechanics are usually forgiving for jumping? NOT THIS TIME.

Overall I like it, but I'm finding some parts sloggier than usual and the areas where "You need a specific item to progress" a tad too obvious.

Resident Lara.

TOMB RAIDER WITH ZOMBIES: CROFT MANNER FOOTAGE.

edited 2nd Sep '16 2:00:37 PM by Guy01

Wasn't too sure were to put this: Someone on reddit spotted someone working on a presentation titled Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Kotaku confirmed it with their sources.

I confess, I really hated this game when it first came out. Well, hate is a strong word but after the first game I was so incredibly hyped that Rise of the Tomb Raider was a real disappointment to me. I've recently restarted playing it and the Baba Yaga adventure really elevated it a bit and my somewat lowered expectations made it a much more enjoyable game for me. However, the problems I had with the game were manifold.

1. Ditching Lara's supporting cast except for Jonah. I'm not a Sam and Lara shipper (I'm not against it either) but the humanizing aspects of the characters were really appealing. Then everything is set back to zero for no reason. I really think she could have benefited from a Nathan Drake-esque group.

2. The anti-religiosity of the whole game kind of irritated me. Trinity as a secret Vatican conspiracy rubs me the same way as some people were irritated by the Da'at Yichud, except Trinity is explicity EVIL for no reason. Then we discover the Prophet/Jacob is also a huge fraud who passed off some Atlantis-esque bullshit as God's holy light.

My dislike of Trinity is something that also effects my love of the comics as every time they show up, the feeling of the story stops dead. Lara becomes psychotically obsessed and "You killed my fathhheerrrrrrr!' Which is not what I really want to see from my Tomb Raider games. They were positioned as her archenemy and they're such an offensive cariacture.

3. The game really feels like a rehash of the original up to the point of fighting hordes of evil cultists until you suddenly switch to fighting supernatural zombies.

4. And my weirdest complaint in you gather a bunch of Soviet "artifacts" during the game and I'm curious who thought items from 30 years ago are relevat to an archaeologist.

On the plus side, it's still a very fun bunch of gameplay and the Baba Yaga DLC could have been its own Tomb Raider game.