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Anticitizen One · Mar 27, 2013

So one of the big complaints with the new Tomb Raider is that the cool looking japenese creatures/monsters that were shown when concept art for the game leaked out a few years ago are nowhere to be found in the game. Originally it was going to be inspired by old school Resident Evil, Shadow of the Collosus and Ico instead of Uncharted and Call of Duty. Instead replaced by generic military guys and

samurai swordsmen

. I was doing some digging and apparently this website has video footage showing the game when it was still going to be an open world metroidvania survival horror reboot instead of a "Survival" game:

http://stickskills.com/2013/03/18/tomb-raider-reboot-originally-featured-monsters-and-demons/

and here is concept art of what i'm talking about:

Blablurn · Mar 27, 2013

looks interesting. thanks for posting it.

Ghost_Protocol · Mar 27, 2013

I was disappointed too, but I expect them to show up in the sequel (which is absolutely being made).

Meelow · Mar 27, 2013

That looks...Awesome

I hope they'll go back to this idea in the next TR.

Anticitizen One · Mar 27, 2013

Everybody keeps saying maybe in the next game but will they really do 2 Tomb Raider games that take place in Japan with Japenese esque mythology? I doubt it. I'm concerned there going to continue copying more militaristic games where you fight waves of soldier guys on turrets and QTE the head mercenary leader.

JesseZao · Mar 27, 2013

Tomb Raider 2: Even More Visceral

Grisby · Mar 27, 2013

Thread about this a few days ago (last week?). Same video and such.

Definitely looked interesting.

sn00zer · Mar 27, 2013

To be fair

Super samurai demons

is very Tomb Raider

Jawmuncher · Mar 27, 2013

Oh Wow that just looks awesome.
Even the Prototype footage was pretty rad.
Honestly I think I would have enjoyed the game a whole lot more had it taken this route instead.

Anticitizen One · Mar 27, 2013

sn00zer said:
To be fair

Super samurai demons

is very Tomb Raider

they werent even demons though if you look closely they look like regular humans only the

big Oni guy actually looked like a zombie under the mask and made growling noises. I don't even know if the samurais were supposed to be undead or if there just descendants of the original stormguard still living on the island

hteng · Mar 27, 2013

yea, when i was playing through the game, i kept hoping for some supernatural enemies but all i get were some lame ass samurais.

Grisby · Mar 27, 2013

I still love the little triangle guy following Lara.

Here was the thread too. I just wanted to find it to prove I wasn't going insane.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525210&highlight=tomb+raider

sn00zer · Mar 27, 2013

Anticitizen One said:
they werent even demons though if you look closely they look like regular humans only the

big Oni guy actually looked like a zombie under the mask and made growling noises. I don't even know if the samurais were supposed to be undead or if there just descendants of the original stormguard still living on the island

Thats just being picky.... I would not mind more supernatural threats in the next one...hopefully its not as hardcore though

Dusk Golem · Mar 27, 2013

I was disappointed these guys never showed up. While I really enjoyed the game,

the Oni just being samurai warriors left me a tad underwhelmed.

Interesting to see, and hope more creative enemies come into play in the sequel:

PaulExcellent · Mar 27, 2013

This is reeeeeeally cool.
I will buy Tomb Raider 2 if it has this.

JDSN · Mar 27, 2013

No wonder the finishers are so rough, they werent meant to be used on human. Shame that this will never see the light of day playable.

iammeiam · Mar 27, 2013

Honestly the most surprising part to me is that there was a version of the game in which Lara wore full-on pants at parts. Pants!

Atomski · Mar 27, 2013

Probably realized horror like stuff wouldnt sell as well.

Eusis · Mar 27, 2013

Anticitizen One said:
Everybody keeps saying maybe in the next game but will they really do 2 Tomb Raider games that take place in Japan with Japenese esque mythology? I doubt it. I'm concerned there going to continue copying more militaristic games where you fight waves of soldier guys on turrets and QTE the head mercenary leader.

Well, I doubt they'd recycle the exact setting again, but it does seem possible they'd move away from the direction this one went in if it's underperforming enough. And it did go from a game that sounded REALLY interesting to a victim of the current industry trends, which are really getting absurd.

krae_man · Mar 27, 2013

Oh god, that cone thing with eyebrows is nightmare inducing.

Correctomundo · Mar 27, 2013

iammeiam said:
Honestly the most surprising part to me is that there was a version of the game in which Lara wore full-on pants at parts. Pants!

She isn't wearing pants in the final game? Because they sure looked like pants to me.

Ghost_Protocol · Mar 27, 2013

The Resident Evil 4/ Tomb Raider venn diagram would have been complete.

iammeiam · Mar 27, 2013

Correctomundo said:
She isn't wearing pants in the final game? Because they sure looked like pants to me.

oh god, I'm an idiot. You're right.

Unspeakable Evil · Mar 27, 2013

That looked cool.

FroJay · Mar 27, 2013

I'm happy with the direction they went with in the final game, definitely my GOTY so far.

Anticitizen One · Mar 27, 2013

FroJay said:
I'm happy with the direction they went with in the final game, definitely my GOTY so far.

It's a good game but just like Dead Space 3 and ME 3, decided to become a slave of industry trends instead of being a trailblazer that stands on its own two feet and that shits getting old. A real shame because the game has so many other things going for it like beautiful graphics and art direction, a good score and some fun gameplay.

Valnen · Mar 27, 2013

The prototype looks more interesting. Oh well.

synce · Mar 27, 2013

I thought the final game was perfectly fine except for Lara's face model, but my expectations were about as low as they could get

GavinGT · Mar 27, 2013

You'll want to protect the child while you protect Lara.

ChosenPredator · Mar 27, 2013

that look dark and scary and almost futile for lara like it made sense for her to be running away & surviving

Pagusas · Mar 27, 2013

Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

Easy_D · Mar 27, 2013

Pagusas said:
Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

But Tomb Raider has always had monsters and demons. It's nothing new to the franchise.

Camp Lo · Mar 27, 2013

I don't know how I'd feel about that... but considering I loved fighting the

Japanese

moreso than regular goons, I would have gone for that.

Pagusas said:
Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

Did you not play the first Tomb Raider??

Jac_Solar · Mar 27, 2013

Wow. That was awesome. In regards to them putting this into the sequel; has any developer actually intentionally gone back to making a more "risky", or niche-y title after making a decent hit?

I gotta wonder when they made this, though. It must have been at least 1+ year ago, I assume, considering how much has changed. Is it normal to make pre-pre alpha, or early test versions as indicated by this (For concept approval or whatever.), that look this good/advanced?

Pagusas said:
Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

Monster closets aren't limited to monsters -- they are used for mobs in general.

krae_man said:
Oh god, that cone thing with eyebrows is nightmare inducing.

The carrot?

Anticitizen One · Mar 27, 2013

The art and footage is from 09. Seems like they changed direction when Uncharted 2 and fucking Modern Warfare 2 blew up

Replicant · Mar 27, 2013

I love the early prototype. I wish they had made it like that instead of having annoying soldiers and lame Samurai.

BowieZ · Mar 27, 2013

Pagusas said:
Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

etc

krae_man · Mar 27, 2013

Jac_Solar said:
The carrot?

I think it's the evil eyebrows.

JBourne · Mar 27, 2013

Everything is better with Mogwai.

Eusis · Mar 27, 2013

Pagusas said:
Seriously? That stuff looks horrible. I hate seeing monsters in games that are trying to be somewhat grounded. Monsters ruin so many games (far cry, crysis (aliens), crackdown, uncharted) they suck all the humanity and interest out of a game for me. Why fight commandos or smugglers who can fire back and use tactics on you when developers can just throw in monster closets or "just rush the target" monsters. I hope one day games (that aren't about monsters) stop randomly throwing them in.

How grounded is "somewhat grounded"? Because Tomb Raider's always been derived from pulp magazine-type action as I recall (just as Indiana Jones is), and as noted always embraced the more fantastic from the start unlike Uncharted, which saved it for very late in 1 and 2. Plus I get the impression these wouldn't have been a late game twist but something that's out there right near the opening.

plainr_ · Mar 27, 2013

What the shit? That concept video looks awesome.

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