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I'm having a hard time playing Tomb Raider (2013)

Well it really takes you out of the experience since she can regret health, skin, etc. at an alarming rate. It's so jarring to see her shrug off being impaled in less than a day.
 
Im not feeling your assessment at all.. All those places felt deadly to me, I had a constant sense of danger while navigating these environments.
And your argument is also silly in a way, can't there be some safer zones inside an overall dangerous setting?

Now who is being vague. Tell me which areas that you felt that were deadly and why? and are you seriously telling me you felt tension for your character while traversing the environment in this game outside of QTE sections? lol It was a breeze, and lara turning out to be a expert killer in the most gruesome methods helped too. Hell even in combat they would have enemies talk for a long time so you could hear and plan your attack if you want to.

So no I'm not saying 'some' safe zones. Outside of QTE's the whole game was filled with them. So again as my initial point made to you, it's a slipper slope. If yo uwant to argue one aspect of the game to be realistic be ready to for arguments as to questioning the 'realism' of many other aspects of the game as well.
 
I find it amusing that when someone likes something, "hey, I like it" is enough. But when someone doesn't like something, they have to break down each little corn kernel of shit to impress upon you how MUCH they hated it.

Tomb Raider was a cool game. I enjoyed it.
 
Tomb Raider is the OG of objectification in games. It's no secret about what her original character designs purpose was for. This series was seen by some as a way to "re-appropriate" her as a female role model, especially when a female writer was brought on for the script. What we got, is lame action origin story about a weak willed woman, who would be lost completely without her old male mentor. The entire game is her going through a series of test to become a man.

What I meant by the melee, is that since the ability to do so is from the start of the MP and is in single player, I figure if it is in Sp, it would be tied to some contrived plot point about where once again she has had enough and can now be even more brutal. Or maybe something more trivial, where it's just from scavenging and upgrading and camp sites. Either way it would suggest she has to work towards the ideal "tomb raider" ie her mentor.

At least in the original she was doing the shit for her own pleasure, like a cat burglar to the extreme. But now they're tying her name and legacy to some old guy who essential "creates" her.

Uncharted is completely linear, while Tomb Raider is at least partly open. Maybe you just a more linear level focus?

Interesting. I went back and forth over that as well and couldn't decide if the game passed the test. I did enjoy it thought and I hope the sequel grows her character more. I did feel that by the end she had proven than she didn't require the mentor to be strong.
 
Dont take this the wrong way but,

is it because she is a woman?

I played the original dead space and currently playing tlou and the deaths of the main characters in that are pretty gruesome, but no one makes a fuss
 
Now who is being vague. Tell me which areas that you felt that were deadly and why? and are you seriously telling me you felt tension for your character while traversing the environment in this game outside of QTE sections? lol It was a breeze, and lara turning out to be a expert killer in the most gruesome methods helped too. Hell even in combat they would have enemies talk for a long time so you could hear and plan your attack if you want to.

So no I'm not saying 'some' safe zones. Outside of QTE's the whole game was filled with them. So again as my initial point made to you, it's a slipper slope. If yo uwant to argue one aspect of the game to be realistic be ready to for arguments as to questioning the 'realism' of many other aspects of the game as well.

There were psychotic enemies at every corner, wolfs, deadly heights, dangerous jumps, broken and decaying facilities(boats, electrified water, etc) dangerous climbs and dangerous rope transversals. Think about actually dealing with all that IRL.. The setting felt very dangerous to me.
Oh also, the part where you are going down the river is not QTE's.
 
Agreed. If you play games for story, then ok, go play the Uncharted crap. If you want some actual game in your games, Tomb Raider was a far superior experience.
Why wouldn't you play a third person action/adventure for both story and combat? TR combat may be superior to Uncharted but it's not THAT good. It's not Arkham Asylum/City tight. It's still a flawed system.

If you want to play video games purely for combat systems go play a fighter or some bland first person shooter. Tomb Raider has a competent combat system and a competent story. It's a very entertaining game.
 
I think if the OP doesn't care for the game after an hour or two he should probably stop playing it.

Personally I think the new Tomb Raider is better than all of the Uncharteds, but the game doesn't get drastically different than how it is in the first few hours.
 
I played the first two hours, got bored of just basically pushing forward and doing QTEs and then quit. I didn't get what the fuss was about.

However when I got a new PC I thought I would give it another go. Glad I did as I had quit just before it turned into an actual game. Once you get to a bit involving reaching a radio tower you get into the good part. Hardly any QTEs. Fun combat, platforming starts getting better and a bunch of collectables to find.

Not close to game of the year or anything but a fun game none the less. Glad o gave it a second chance.
 
There were psychotic enemies at every corner, wolfs, deadly heights, dangerous jumps, broken and decaying facilities(boats, electrified water, etc) dangerous climbs and dangerous rope transversals. Think about actually dealing with all that IRL.. The setting felt very dangerous to me.
Oh also, the part where you are going down the river is not QTE's.

You had regen health, plenty of weapons and ammo...so I really can't imagine being in such a situation whatsoever :P

Those psyotic enemies were pretty easy to deal with...no different than any regular enemy in another action game tbh. I thought those samurai guys would be much more dangerous but after avoiding them the whole game suddenly we go rambo on them..wasn't too difficult to deal with either in the end.

I will agree with you on the wolves, seeing them coming out in the dark was pretty great. Forgot about those guys.

I guess calling them QTE's might not be right...but it was pretty much the same thing. swing from side to side and shoot the odd destroy-able fence.
 
I just started the DE version for PS4. I want to like it (it looks great on the ps4) but the violent ways of having your character get killed or injured while she moans just makes it hard to watch. I was thinking of just putting it down to easy to play, but apparently that is only for combat, and it's more the QTEs that are getting me. Just wondering if anyone else felt that way, and if they did, did they still play through the game? If so, is it worth playing through? Or should I just go back to playing Mario and Kirby and whatever?

Well, the reason that the difficulty only affects combat is because everything else on the game is set to "not challenging at all" mode. Not that that combat offers a good challenge itself. The difficulty just affects how much damage you take, I think. The AI is pretty stupid and repetitive regardless.

What I really don't like about the game is that it shifted the focus away from exploration, challenging platforming, avoiding traps, and solving puzzles to a third person shooter. It still has jumping and climbing but it's been dumbed down to such a degree that you are just following heavily signposted paths that take no skill or contemplation to follow. The puzzles have mostly been relegated to a very small selection of side rooms that take only a couple of minutes to figure out at most. The game has a lot of action and pretty exploding set pieces but very little player agency. The game is well made but I feel a large reason why it has no major glitches is because it hardly does anything with what it has. Anything with a modicum of complexity is heavily scripted.

I've posted these gifs before but they perfectly illustrate the problem.

Tomb Raider 1:
iPzU94YHHozWU.gif

Simple yet challenging platforming section requiring skillful timing and precision.

Tomb Raider (2013):
iCqnG4BZzrHji.gif

Playable cutscene.

And I'm not arguing for a return to grid based tank control platforming, either. Just well designed levels where you have to think about where you are going and make jumps that actually require skill and timing. Have a plethora of traps to get past and puzzles to solve. I don't want to just hold a direction and tap jump occasionally, I don't want to slide down a hill and dodge/shoot obstacles, I don't want QTEs. I want more player agency and less scripting. That gif from Tomb Raider 1 is an example of a low bar and the reboot doesn't come anywhere close to reaching it.

Basically, my feeling coming away from the reboot was that they made would have been nice if they made a game with it instead of a demo. And though people who liked the game are hoping they'll make the sequel be the game this game should have been you know it won't be. This third person shoot fest sold a lot so they're going to stay the course for sure.
 
Tomb Raider doesn't come close to matching Uncharted's set pieces. Tomb Raider just has a bunch of explosions and structural damage, Uncharted has levels on a train, a plane, the Himalayas, etc.
 
You had regen health, plenty of weapons and ammo...so I really can't imagine being in such a situation whatsoever :P

Those psyotic enemies were pretty easy to deal with...no different than any regular enemy in another action game tbh. I thought those samurai guys would be much more dangerous but after avoiding them the whole game suddenly we go rambo on them..wasn't too difficult to deal with either in the end.

I will agree with you on the wolves, seeing them coming out in the dark was pretty great. Forgot about those guys.

I guess calling them QTE's might not be right...but it was pretty much the same thing. swing from side to side and shoot the odd destroy-able fence.

You are arguing from a gameplay standpoint while Im arguing from a story/context perspective. The danger/hardship might not translate well into gameplay(which that is true to EVERY GAME EVER MADE, how can you compare swinging a sword IRL to clicking a button to swing it for instace..) but from a setting/context POV the death animations felt right and were consistent with the setting. You can argue that the game is too easy and unchallenging but that wasn't even the point of my original argument.
 
everything is subjective, that goes without saying, but damn if Tomb Raider doesnt perfectly fit in the type of game a lot of people here bitch about regarding the industry in general

Except it doesn't fit with those things.

Yes it has terrible writing, plot, and characterisation.

And yes there's disparity between the reactions of the protagonist and the actions on screen at times.

However, the combat is outstanding, the visuals are great, the gameplay mechanics are solid, and the exploration is suited to the style of game they decided to create.

It's not amazing, but it's definitely good. It has weak points, but the actual gameplay is worth it.
 
You are arguing from a gameplay standpoint while Im arguing from a story/context perspective. The danger/hardship might not translate well into gameplay(which that is true to EVERY GAME EVER MADE, how can you compare swinging a sword IRL to clicking a button to swing it..) but from a setting/context POV the death animations felt right and were consistent with the setting.

Nope I'm arguing from all of those angles. Even from a story/context level the game was inconsistent when it comes to danger to your character.

and can't you see..you are following the exact path I told you that you would :D You are starting to say, 'well it's a game' now

The reason people have an issue with those deaths/violence is because it feels out of context and/or inconsistent with the rest of the game. Take out regen health, limit supplies, make enemy AI better and stop making those encounters so easy and it will feel much better. Which is why I'm hopeful for the next game as I'm sure devs are still learning the ropes
 
I was kind of shocked at how graphic some of the failed QTE sections were but it didn't detract from the quality of the game.
 
i haven't played it yet, but from the looks of it, the game seems to take itself too seriously. am I off?
In terms of the narrative, yes. And that wouldn't be a bad thing if it weren't so bad at being serious. It's a great game hindered by silly narrative trappings. At its best (and least serious), it plays like Arkham Asylum or Metroid Prime.
 
Nope I'm arguing from all of those angles. Even from a story/context level the game was inconsistent when it comes to danger to your character.

and can't you see..you are following the exact path I told you that you would :D You are starting to say, 'well it's a game' now

The reason people have an issue with those deaths/violence is because it feels out of context and/or inconsistent with the rest of the game. Take out regen health, limit supplies, make enemy AI better and stop making those encounters so easy and it will feel much better. Which is why I'm hopeful for the next game as I'm sure devs are still learning the ropes

You are not giving me any arguments towards the narrative/setting, you only argue with gameplay things like regenerating health xD.
"Even from a story/context level the game was inconsistent when it comes to danger to your character. " - How so..
"The reason people have an issue with those deaths/violence is because it feels out of context and/or inconsistent with the rest of the game." - Why?
You have yet to explain these in light of what I said - "There were psychotic enemies at every corner, wolfs, deadly heights, dangerous jumps, broken and decaying facilities(boats, electrified water, etc) dangerous climbs and dangerous rope transversals. Think about actually dealing with all that IRL.. The setting felt very dangerous to me."

If your argument is that there is a disconnect between setting and gameplay.. Okay that's fair but I think that's true to every single game for reasons I have already stated.
 
From what i remember, the button combination were always the same with them qte's,.. like square, and then triangle, or something like that, but there the same every time. Think of it like shock therapy if your too slow ?, improve your reflexes or else!. or this might be a key opportunity to desensitize yourself to horrific violence, it may come in handy if aliens ever invade.
 
Like you, I was initially put off by this game. The tone was gross. The QTEs were annoying. The story was silly. The setting was groan-worthy. It's a game that gets in its own way in the beginning. But once it finds a rhythm and ditches the idiotic storyline, it's really quite good.

Give it some time. Give it a few hours until you get to the exploration hubs. There isn't a lot of combat in the game after those opening sections, and after those opening few hours, there also aren't a lot of those annoying QTEs.

Did you accidentally switch discs or something
 
Agreed. If you play games for story, then ok, go play the Uncharted crap. If you want some actual game in your games, Tomb Raider was a far superior experience.


Agreed. The combat in uncharted is down right awful. Same with last of us
 
Maybe it's because I haven't played Uncharted 2 but I could barely stand to play the first uncharted. I think I got up to some water cavern or something, the character is charming but everything just felt flat to me. The biggest problem was that it was another "wave shooter" with no fun or interesting shooting mechanics. Not to mention the horrid qte's (I stopped at the parachute scene after 10 retries, that's 9 more than I should have gave it). Although in the short amount of time I played it the game already had more tombs and puzzles and platforming than all of Tomb Raider.

Outright ridiculous that enemies would spawn again and again and again. First time I put a game on easy just so I wouldn't have to deal with the shooting. Never beat it.

Same way with Tomb Raider that had an even more ridiculous story but was just the same. The shooting felt dry and I don't get how people like the "headshots" in this game. I enjoyed Gears, Splinter Cell and even ZombiU (especially with crosshairs turned off) headshots far more.

I think the biggest problem with both games where the "weight" of the gun or that "oomph". I'm not sure how to describe it but I immediately stopped using the pistol with Lara when the gun just didn't feel right. Even the animation felt wrong (she barely reacts to the recoil but this is superwoman). Uncharted had some good animations but it also lacked anything. Now I'm hearing that U2 and U3 have the same weak gameplay makes me even more put off by it even more. I didn't see much of a difference in gunplay between uncharted and tomb raider, both where just boring.

I guess thats why I was able to complete The Last of Us, the story was great but it was the incredible shooting and soft cover that had so much weigh to it. Not super accurate, you could feel the shot impacting the environment and you could slide into cover so clean. Also the largish maps made for some excellent mobility and there weren't knee high conveniently placed covers everywhere, you used the environment around you.

If the next Uncharted game uses the last of us combat I'll be in for sure.

Rather than being uninterested in Tomb Raider (like I am with Uncharted, I don't care for that game at all) I dislike it because it means we won't return to classic gameplay unless another major reboot is made.

Those are just my 2cents with the game and games like it. RE4 was so fun because of its incredible gunplay, how so many games failed to get this just ticks me off.
 
I've posted these gifs before but they perfectly illustrate the problem.

Tomb Raider 1:
iPzU94YHHozWU.gif

Simple yet challenging platforming section requiring skillful timing and precision.

Tomb Raider (2013):
iCqnG4BZzrHji.gif

Playable cutscene.

Still milking those GIFs I see. Anyway you'll get basically the same response again.

It's only challenging because the controls are shit, just look at how much prep work is required to perfectly align Lara before she begins jumping.

If you want an example of "simple yet challenging", play Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze.
 
I really liked the game for the exploration and platforming, it felt like next gen jak and Daxter. Lara controls really great and the set pieces are awesome. The Island feel really cohesive too, like in jak and Daxter.
The story was terrible and the shooting mechanics were average and serviceable.
 
What bothers me is that they cheaped out and used that death sequence for multiple parts of the game. It isn't even that bad, TR always had violent ways to kill Lara.

Yeah but they weren't so gratuitously animated. Most of them werent even animated they just happened as part of the physics. This impaling thing you can tell someone spent alot of time and care, they had her flailing around wildly until she realises this thing is going through her head, then she dies, its fucked up. Its weird the whole tone of these games sometimes.
 
Still milking those GIFs I see. Anyway you'll get basically the same response again.

It's only challenging because the controls are shit, just look at how much prep work is required to perfectly align Lara before she begins jumping.

If you want an example of "simple yet challenging", play Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze.

Again, pointing out that I've used the gifs before, which I already pointed out, is not an argument. It's an ad hominem.

And again, it's not only challenging "because the controls are shit". The reboot could do the same thing with the controls it has. The "prep work" in that gif was only holding the walk button to walk up to the starting line (PS1 games back then didn't have analog controls), but a less precise set of obstacles would still be good. Any kind of challenge ffs.

And yes, DKCTF is challenging. It's not Tomb Raider. Different games offer different things. This game does not offer what Tomb Raider offered and no other games really do.
 
Yeah but they weren't so gratuitously animated. Most of them werent even animated they just happened as part of the physics. This impaling thing you can tell someone spent alot of time and care, they had her flailing around wildly until she realises this thing is going through her head, then she dies, its fucked up. Its weird the whole tone of these games sometimes.

This was something I kept noticing in this game. This game has a big deal about impaling. From the arrows, to the animated deaths, someone could write an essay on the phallic imagery.
 
I had so much fun with Tomb Raider. I'm not sure what people are saying about the lack of exploration. My favorite part was exploring every inch of the environments to find all the collectibles. The fact that all the collectibles would eventually show up on the map made me want to get all of them. Each was like a mini puzzle: knowing where each collectible was, but trying to find out exactly how to get there. Maybe people didn't have fun with it because they were optional? I dunno.

As for the death scenes, only two stand out in my mind: the infamous river scene, because that one is pretty much unavoidable your first time through, and the one in which Lara falls into the water and hits her head on a rock, mainly because it happens whenever you fail to make a jump in the jagged rock watery area, and it's always the same death scene no matter where the failed jump is. I don't remember any others. Just try not to die, I guess. I see the death scenes as just another way to get you play more carefully so you don't see them in the first place.

I honestly don't remember any QTEs in the game. I know that they were in there, but I don't remember any specific ones, so it's weird to me that people put so much emphasis on them. I guess I should play through the game again.

The story was crap, but easy enough to ignore in favor of the gameplay.
 
You must have started with Underworld.

Nope I was Day One for the original TR... Day one for TR2 and 3.. But those type of games just wouldn't work well in this day and age. I can honestly understand going towards more of a Uncharted route with this game. While the storyline is questionable.. The TR series has always had questionable storyline.

The only reason why it was so popular back then was because of Cone Boobs for boys and maybe some of the puzzles hahaha. One had dinosaurs.. Two had Dragons, Yeti's, and flying Asian statues and killer birds.. Don't remember much about Three except for dying a lot from baddies on snowmobiles

Edit: I think the next game will be better (hopefully).. If they can just improve on some of the things I think it would be a awesome series again... More puzzles and skillful timing
 
I just started the DE version for PS4. I want to like it (it looks great on the ps4) but the violent ways of having your character get killed or injured while she moans just makes it hard to watch. I was thinking of just putting it down to easy to play, but apparently that is only for combat, and it's more the QTEs that are getting me. Just wondering if anyone else felt that way, and if they did, did they still play through the game? If so, is it worth playing through? Or should I just go back to playing Mario and Kirby and whatever?

Just quit dying... Nah I'm just kidding, just remember that it is a game and not realistic in any way. You want messed up watch the ending to Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros, this is nothing. The QTE's are pretty terrible, I screwed up pretty much all of them my first time because they sneak up on you and are fast. If you are thinking of not playing then don't, no sense pushing through something making you miserable when it gives you no joy.
 
Not really, and not even close in variety. Also, as gratuitous as some of the deaths are, I don't remember any actual gore like in RE4.

I miss the super over the top gory deaths of Resident Evil, chainsaw dude was scary as hell when you knew he would literally lop off your head.
 
It's a fun game in the same style as Uncharted.

The gameplay itslef is nothing mindblowing but had nice settings, graphics and set pieces. Plus this one has a bit more puzzles and exploration.


Personally I don't mind blood and gore in my games and I think it was fitting given the darker tone and setting of the game
 
Not really, and not even close in variety. Also, as gratuitous as some of the deaths are, I don't remember any actual gore like in RE4.

Acid face. Was hard to get as it only happens when Leon had red health but good lord.

Though the qte's in tomb raider are awful. Most of RE4's qtes outside the boulders and swimming where controlled by you (stun an enemy, get a free qte attack).
 
Nope I was Day One for the original TR... Day one for TR2 and 3.. But those type of games just wouldn't work well in this day and age. I can honestly understand going towards more of a Uncharted route with this game. While the storyline is questionable.. The TR series has always had questionable storyline.

The only reason why it was so popular back then was because of Cone Boobs for boys and maybe some of the puzzles hahaha. One had dinosaurs.. Two had Dragons, Yeti's, and flying Asian statues and killer birds.. Don't remember much about Three except for dying a lot from baddies on snowmobiles

Edit: I think the next game will be better (hopefully).. If they can just improve on some of the things I think it would be a awesome series again... More puzzles and skillful timing

The shooting wasn't even fun until 3, just side jumping out of the way of tigers, and by then the love of the series was gone. 1 and 2 were definitely about puzzles. The second one even had the remake of the house so you could practice before hand. Three dropped you in front of a bunch of guys to kill right away.
 
Apart from my parents shouting "Turn the porn down!" I found the game enjoyable. The deaths made me look away or cringe, but you get used to it

The deaths didn't make me cringe, they pissed me off because the only times I died were binary instadeath bullshit QTE sequences where you die instantly if you make a single mistake. The forced-stealth section at the beginning, anytime you slide down a river and have to avoid debris. It's just stupid.
 
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