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The original trilogy has returned! Revisit Lara Croft's origins with developer Aspyr's carefully measured remasters, which offer a combination of OG visuals along with brand new visuals, hot-swappable with the press of a button. John Linneman returns to the roots of the original games, checking them out on various retro systems and seeing how they compare to Aspyr's new versions. Meanwhile, there's commentary on the games themselves and the efforts to modernise elements like the tank controls.

00:00 - Introduction
01:35 - Tomb Raider's active community
02:30 - The Remastered Version Arrives
03:28 - Texture Upgrades
05:45 - There's More Than Just Textures!
07:12 - Lighting Upgrades
08:13 - Comparison to the Originals
11:41 - Remastered Console Comparisons
13:09 - What's up with the Classic Performance?
14:34 - There's an issue with the PC Version - Solve it Here!
16:47 - It Runs Great on Steam Deck
17:32 - How Does it Hold up Today?



-


Leaving the summary in someone else's capable hands.

 

[YCoCg]

60fps/Max Res all round baby

4k - PS5, XSX
1440p - XSX
1080p - Switch Docked
720p - Switch Portable
800p - Steam Deck

90Hz on Steam Deck OLED

Tries to max refresh rate on PC so 120Hz/144Hz/165Hz, etc, is possible.

Downside is no graphics options on PC/Steam Deck (it'll just go all out since the game doesn't require that much to run), and frame timing stutter in Classic mode due to how the 30fps Lock is handled.

edit: Classic Mode seems to be based on the PS1 version but with no texture warping, audio issues, etc, as John calls it "an idealised version of the classic games".

 

[Xyphie]

How does this not have a 120FPS mode on consoles? Trash devs.

 

[shamoomoo]

How does this not have a 120FPS mode on consoles? Trash devs.

It probably does if this game lets you unlock the frame rate, I'm assuming they dev team wanted to make the game with a set profile with minimal problems.

 

[adamsapple]

How does this not have a 120FPS mode on consoles? Trash devs.

The "Classic" mode is locked to 30 FPS.

Going from 120 to 30 at the press of the button is probably gonna result in a lot of motion sickness.

 

[Fake]

Wait, Frame Pacing Issues? Stutters?

WTF?

 

[Zuzu]

I like the new visuals a lot

I hope a lot of Gen X and Gen Y 90s gamers buy this collection so we get more like it in the future. I doubt many younger gamers will buy them.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

Does it look better than 2007 Anniversary remake ?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Not sure this is worth it for me as I’ve got the originals. There’s probably mods out there that already do this stuff.

 

[Skifi28]

Surprisingly decent, bought.

 

[shamoomoo]

The "Classic" mode is locked to 30 FPS.

Going from 120 to 30 at the press of the button is probably gonna result in a lot of motion sickness.

The game is get 90fps on the steamdeck,that has the same Zen 2 CPU like current gen.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Sounds like a win to me.
Screw the negligible issues and dive in, folks. TR1 alone is worth the package. Incredible game, there’s really nothing like it and there never will be again.

 

[YCoCg]

Wait, Frame Pacing Issues? Stutters?

WTF?

Seems to be how the frame cap is handled on the Classic Mode, on PC you can get around this, the modern graphics mode is fine at a locked 60fps with no stutters.

 

[adamsapple]

The game is get 90fps on the steamdeck,that has the same Zen 2 CPU like current gen.

I don't know what versions they're using as base for the Classic versions, maybe PSX versions hence they need to be locked at 30. Not sure.

 

[Deerock71]

How does this not have a 120FPS mode on consoles? Trash devs.

This is not the conclusion of DF.

 

[Senua]

Great video so glad John did it. Looks exactly how I wanted and am excited to jump back in. I am surprised at the lack of 120fps mode on XSX and PS5 though!

 

[YCoCg]

I don't know what versions they're using as base for the Classic versions, maybe PSX versions hence they need to be locked at 30. Not sure.

The original console versions were around 30fps and the PC ports were also capped at 30fps, so this is them just being "faithful" to the original versions whilst allowing the framerate to be whatever for the remaster part. I doubt there's an actual reason for it to be locked at 30fps as both are running in parallel so it's clearly keeping track of the remaster at higher framerates.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Downside is no graphics on PC/Steam Deck

So is it just a black screen???

 

[YCoCg]

So is it just a black screen???

*Graphics options, edited that in.

 

[newtypepilot]

this is how you do a remaster.

You hear that, rockstar?

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Great video so glad John did it. Looks exactly how I wanted and am excited to jump back in.

Same here!

Glad they didn't balls this up. One of my favourite games of all time was the original.

Between these guys and Nightdive I've had a fun few years with these classics.

More please.

I think we're getting Star Wars Dark Forces next, too. Awsome.

 

[Killer8]

This is incredible. Very tasteful remastering of the visuals. A lot of fuss has been made about using AI art, but let's face it - AI allows us to update things meaningfully while staying very close to the original. I'd take these AI textures over some badly done original texture pack any day.

I love how we can swap between new and old visuals on the fly, like in the Halo remaster. One of the best features that more of these remasters should have. The new save game system John touched on is one of the most interesting aspects as that crystal save system was one of the worst parts about the original games. A new control scheme for people who can't adapt to tank controls (they really should try though) is also welcome.

I have a feeling this is going to go down as one of the best releases of the year. Total love letter to fans of the games like myself. I ended up double dipping - a copy on PS5 for the controller and old times sake (since I started with the series on PlayStation), and a PC copy for Steam Deck. If it does well, i'm hoping they give The Last Revelation and even Chronicles the same treatment as DLC.

 

[adamsapple]

How does this not have a 120FPS mode on consoles? Trash devs.

So, apparently the game *does* have a 120hz mode, but according to VGTech it seems like only Series X does it. Can any PS5 owners verify?

The footage here is from the remastered mode in the game. There is also a classic mode without the remastered graphics which runs at 30fps. This classic mode has frame pacing issues on PS5 and both Xbox Series consoles. No frame pacing issues were found on Switch. Edit: Frame pacing issues on Switch were found after capturing more footage in classic mode.

Xbox Series X runs at 120fps when the console is set to output at 120hz.

PS5 and Xbox Series X render at a native resolution of 3840x2160.

Xbox Series S renders at a native resolution of 2560x1440.Switch in docked mode renders at a native resolution of 1920x1080. Switch in portable mode renders at a native resolution of 1280x720

 

[Bojji]

Lazy developers.

 

[cireza]

Lazy developers.

Budget constrained developers.

They did an awesome job on the remastering of the games, for sure.

 

[Bojji]

Budget constrained developers.

They did an awesome job on the remastering of the games, for sure.

Budget didn't stop them from adding 120fps support on Xbox.

There is no hardware excuse for this, 100% lazy developers who don't give a fuck about majority of their audience.

 

[cireza]

Budget didn't stop them from adding 120fps support on Xbox.

There is no hardware excuse for this, 100% lazy developers who don't give a fuck about majority of their audience.

Maybe it was easier or no effort on Xbox (natively supported or whatever), and actually required some effort on PS5 ?

 

[Bojji]

Maybe it was easier or no effort on Xbox, and actually required some effort on PS5 ?

God forbid requiring some effort from developers! They are charging the same for both versions and one version runs 50% worse.

At least they had time and money to add important warning screen

 

[adamsapple]

God forbid requiring some effort from developers! They are charging the same for both versions and one version runs 50% worse.

At least they had time and money to add important warning screen

They'll probably patch it in with one of the future updates. A couple of other games before, like Dying Light 2, had 120hz support on Xbox a few months before it was patched into the PS5 version.

 

[intbal]

Budget didn't stop them from adding 120fps support on Xbox.

There is no hardware excuse for this, 100% lazy developers who don't give a fuck about majority of their audience.

I don't think they "added" support on Xbox. They just didn't cap the game's framerate. Since any Xbox can be set to 120hz at the system level, the game tries to hit vsync, thus you end up with 120fps.
VGTech didn't mention whether or not he attempted to set the Series S at 120hz.
For that matter, I wonder how an Xbox One X would run at 120hz refresh rate.
But I'm not gonna buy the game just to test it out.

 

[Bojji]

I don't think they "added" support on Xbox. They just didn't cap the game's framerate. Since any Xbox can be set to 120hz at the system level, the game tries to hit vsync, thus you end up with 120fps.
VGTech didn't mention whether or not he attempted to set the Series S at 120hz.
For that matter, I wonder how an Xbox One X would run at 120hz refresh rate.
But I'm not gonna buy the game just to test it out.

This could be it but there is nothing stopping them from adding "120hz mode" in game menu on PS5. Percentage of people having 120hz displays is probably the same for both consoles but PS5 is in many more homes.

 

[intbal]

This could be it but there is nothing stopping them from adding "120hz mode" in game menu on PS5. Percentage of people having 120hz displays is probably the same for both consoles but PS5 is in many more homes.

Like I said when I posted about this yesterday (in the official thread), it's possible the developers aren't even aware of this situation existing.
Maybe someone should send them a tweet.

 

[cireza]

God forbid requiring some effort from developers!

If a feature is not part of your MVP, but it is offered without you doing anything on a platform instead of another, it is a matter of what was included in the MVP to begin with. So a matter of budget.

I am currently playing the game and saying that they didn't make any effort is a complete joke. They made an outstanding release. Stop crying because your console of choice is missing some useless feature.

 

[Bojji]

They'll probably patch it in with one of the future updates. A couple of other games before, like Dying Light 2, had 120hz support on Xbox a few months before it was patched into the PS5 version.

PS5 didn't have vrr at that time so I can get why they didn't want to have super unstable 120hz mode. This was excused.

Like I said when I posted about this yesterday (in the official thread), it's possible the developers aren't even aware of this situation existing.
Maybe someone should send them a tweet.

Maybe but that would mean they didn't test their games.

If a feature is not part of your MVP, but it is offered without you doing anything on a platform instead of another, it is a matter of what was included in the MVP to begin with. So a matter of budget.

I am currently playing the game and saying that they didn't make any effort is a complete joke. They made an outstanding release. Stop crying because your console of choice is missing some useless feature.

120fps is not useless, it has great motion clarity and lowers input lag - perfect for game like this.

This game is published by multi milion dollar corporation not some indie dev, they don't have any good excuse for this situation - hardware and developer tools are there.

 

[intbal]

Maybe but that would mean they didn't test their games.

No it doesn't.

Undoubtedly the Playstation was the lead development platform. That's been the case for every multiplatform game for many years now. If they did all their development and testing on Playstation, then they never would have "set the console to 120hz mode" because no Playstation supports that system level setting.
Since the PS4/Xbone and PS5/XSeries are so similar, the work done on Playstation could have been considered sufficient for running on Xbox. They would only need a DirectX build and then call it complete.

I don't work there, so I can't tell you anything for certain. But it's certainly possible that they only intended to make a 60fps version of the game and the 120fps nature of Xbox Series is just a side effect of how Xbox consoles function.