What Game Are You Playing Right Now?

Oriphiel · 10-16-2018, 05:06 PM

My first Tomb Raider game. It's just one of those series that I'd always meant to give a shot someday, but never seemed to get around to. I probably shouldn't have put it off for so long, 'cause this game is actually really great. Super fun and smooth platforming, fast and acrobatic gunfights (if a bit on the easy side), driving segments that don't suck, and lots of charm.

Very cinematic, without sacrificing the gameplay experience. Skippable cutscenes are a plus. Good show all around.

Lara Croft is super fun to control. Her gunplay makes Dante's look flaccid in comparison.

After a slew of really ****ty games, I expected this to be awful too. But it surprised me, like a birthday cake inside of a vat of guacamole.

Too bad it ends on a cliffhanger. But hey, the sequel came out like ten years ago, so it's not like I have to wait for a conclusion.

The Batlord · 10-16-2018, 09:00 PM

Awesome game. I love the reboots but on some level they're merely referencing the glorious swashbuckling Bond vibe of the early games. Legend and the games after also have the benefit of a camera you can move. Having to control Lara with direction keys with a fixed camera isn't... it's not the best in 2018. I still need to get Anniversary and Underworld too.

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-17-2018, 12:36 AM

While they're kind of a pain in the ass to play at times, I like the PS1 Tomb Raider games more than the Crystal Dynamics games.

They just also have more of a sense of mystery, atmosphere and tension.

The Batlord · 10-17-2018, 12:58 AM

It's been forever since I played any of them so you might be right but those controls really are dated. How would you say 1 holds up to Anniversary?

Unitron · 10-17-2018, 01:09 AM

I've only played a little bit of the first game at a friend's house years ago, and I honestly couldn't deal with the controls. I've thought about giving it another try, but who knows.

Recently got an original Xbox, don't have a whole lot of games yet, but picked up Burnout: Revenge today and it's a blast. There is little more satisfying than essentially playing an endless car chase scene. Plus the soundtrack has one of the best Apocalyptica songs, so that's another plus.

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-17-2018, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 66Sexy

It's been forever since I played any of them so you might be right but those controls really are dated. How would you say 1 holds up to Anniversary?

Yeah, the controls are clunky, but I've been playing some TR earlier this year - both old and new games. You get used to it fast enough, really.

Anniversary was a game that I was pretty impressed with back when I first got it, but in retrospect, it doesn't have remotely as interesting level design as the original. It's actually 100% different layouts with only slight thematic connections between the levels of the new game and the original.
The original will have you checking walkthroughs and cursing at the screen much more than Anniversary, but I feel like the price paid to get that more streamlined, easy to play re-interpretation of the old TR has been too high.

TR1 was basically way more creative and cleverly designed in terms of level layouts. Anniversary looks good and plays smooth, but the soul is missing. I really do prefer flawed and dated but interesting over something strictly speaking more playable that is also more safe and bland.

Oriphiel · 10-17-2018, 05:35 AM

I always take criticisms of remakes and reboots with a grain of salt. Nobody ever wants to review them fairly. It's always either "10/10 perfect, ty for making my nostalgia fresh" or "1/10 how dare you **** with my precious memories."

A remake can be tightened considerably, improved on nearly every level, given a few twists to mix things up for the old fans who have memorized everything, and ultimately crafted by a better company that cares way more about the product (and the charm shows throw in spades), but people will always find something to complain about, usually resorting to the cheap shot of "it just doesn't have soul, man."

And yet I've felt that same way before. Wild ARMs can be pretty flawed, but it had way more life to it than the PS2 remake, Alter Code F. Adorable sprites and chibi-style polygons, bigger towns with more NPCs, super bizarre monster designs, and very strange sound clips (for some reason, goblins make cat noises when they get hit), and way way better music.

But on the flip side, I'd always heard that the original RE was the superior game. When I finally tried the REmake, it absolutely destroys the original in a way that almost totally makes it obsolete as anything but a fun curiosity. Because it's the game that RE was always supposed to be, made by people who wanted to do justice not only to the series but survival horror games in general. I still pop in the original for a laugh every now and then (dat voice acting, oof), but unless you really have some sort of emotional connection to it, or just straight up have a thing for the PSX era and its numerous issues (which is fine), it's almost a waste of time to not just be playing the REmake instead. That's how much better it is.

Sorry for the wall of text, I just felt like talkin' 'bout games. I haven't played the original Tomb Raider nor Anniversary, but after the awesomeness of Legend, I think I'm gonna give both a shot. I've heard about the clunkiness of the first, but that don't confront me none. I grew up with a SNES, where picking up games at Blockbuster or wherever was like playing russian roulette with my weekend. ****ing Wizard of Oz. I laughed so hard when the AVGN reviewed that piece of ****, 'cause I got stuck with it back in the day (and still own a copy, god knows why).

Oriphiel · 10-17-2018, 12:21 PM

So earlier, I mentioned that I'd been burned by a bunch of ****ty games lately. Here's one of them:

I know that people tend to exaggerate when they **** on a game, for comedic effect. But I'm being completely serious when I say that this is one of the few games I've ever played that actually made me physically ill. It was like Thor ripped open my skull and ****ed my brain, giving me a bitch of a headache.

The problem is the camera, you see. It sucks.

You know how some games have fixed angles, where the developers want to be able to control where the player is looking? And then there are games that let you look wherever you want? This game tries to do both. At the same time. I'm not talking about the game stopping every now and then to swivel the camera around in a cutscene, like "Hey, look at this big environment filled with stuff to climb". I'm talking the game just randomly jolts, and I mean jolts, the camera in some weird ****ing direction, right in the middle of ****ing platforming segments. No pause. No warning. And if you happen to be moving the camera manually when it tries to switch to a fixed angle, the two camera systems fight for supremacy, and the camera freaks out and jitters all over the place.

Motion sickness. So much motion sickness. And randomly flying off of cliffs because the camera is in some weird existential struggle, and can't decide what it ****ing is and what it ****ing wants.

The rest of the game is just as confused with itself. Half of the time, it tries to force you to be "stealthy", constantly pushing stealth mechanics in your face and begging you to play the game "the right way". But the "stealth" (read: a girl in a bright red kimono crouch-walking in circles like a jack-ass while guards watch and yawn) is so clunky and pointless, since you can just murder everyone in five seconds, that it makes me wonder why they even bothered implementing it. And the other half of the game just immediately throws you right into hordes of enemies and bosses and ****, as if they realized partway through development that nobody was going to play it stealthy anyway, and just said "**** it, have some mobs."

The one good thing is the main girl's starting weapon, a wire that can slice people up from afar. But it gets old pretty quickly.

And yet, in spite of all that, there are worse games out there. Games that were released before the developers had even properly finished them. So hey, props to Vivendi for at least trying.

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-17-2018, 01:39 PM

The soundtrack was nice, I guess.

I agree with your take on the game. I have two more complaints about things that I found annoying.

1) The wire weapon has an unnecessary extra step to it but can't actually do anything interesting. It's just a mid ranged weapon with extra button presses. Just give me a sword instead or something.

2) It really ****ed me over how touchy the analog controls are. Crouch walking is too slow to catch up to a guard with his back turned, so you often wanna slow-walk. But push the stick forward one micro-step too far from center and your character goes zooming forward at mach 3, right up in the ass of the enemy. Cover blown pretty badly.
It made it really frustrating to actually try and be properly careful and stealthy.

~~MicShazam~~ · 10-17-2018, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oriphiel

I always take criticisms of remakes and reboots with a grain of salt. Nobody ever wants to review them fairly. It's always either "10/10 perfect, ty for making my nostalgia fresh" or "1/10 how dare you **** with my precious memories."

A remake can be tightened considerably, improved on nearly every level, given a few twists to mix things up for the old fans who have memorized everything, and ultimately crafted by a better company that cares way more about the product (and the charm shows throw in spades), but people will always find something to complain about, usually resorting to the cheap shot of "it just doesn't have soul, man."

And yet I've felt that same way before. Wild ARMs can be pretty flawed, but it had way more life to it than the PS2 remake, Alter Code F. Adorable sprites and chibi-style polygons, bigger towns with more NPCs, super bizarre monster designs, and very strange sound clips (for some reason, goblins make cat noises when they get hit), and way way better music.

But on the flip side, I'd always heard that the original RE was the superior game. When I finally tried the REmake, it absolutely destroys the original in a way that almost totally makes it obsolete as anything but a fun curiosity. Because it's the game that RE was always supposed to be, made by people who wanted to do justice not only to the series but survival horror games in general. I still pop in the original for a laugh every now and then (dat voice acting, oof), but unless you really have some sort of emotional connection to it, or just straight up have a thing for the PSX era and its numerous issues (which is fine), it's almost a waste of time to not just be playing the REmake instead. That's how much better it is.

Sorry for the wall of text, I just felt like talkin' 'bout games. I haven't played the original Tomb Raider nor Anniversary, but after the awesomeness of Legend, I think I'm gonna give both a shot. I've heard about the clunkiness of the first, but that don't confront me none. I grew up with a SNES, where picking up games at Blockbuster or wherever was like playing russian roulette with my weekend. ****ing Wizard of Oz. I laughed so hard when the AVGN reviewed that piece of ****, 'cause I got stuck with it back in the day (and still own a copy, god knows why).

I get what you're saying, but I'm perhaps a bit more inclined to believe that people really do not enjoy a thing for more fair reasons than just disappointed nostalgic expectations.

In any case, I most certainly could go on a tedious 3 hour ramble about exactly why the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider titles have all let me down, despite some ways in which they improved on the series. I'm not even a big fan of the original PS1 titles tbh, but they have some qualities that no other games have quite been able to match, so I still got 4 of them (I don't have TR Chronicles). I've got a lot of games that fall in a similar category; namely flawed games that also have something interesting going on. Deathtrap Dungeon comes to mind... Hard to recommend for several good reasons, but I kind of love it?

This made me think of game re-boots/re-makes in general. I wonder if there's even all that many that I like? Can't think of even one off the top of my head, but there ought to be some games somewhere I think did it well.

10-16-2018, 05:06 PM	#11101 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	My first Tomb Raider game. It's just one of those series that I'd always meant to give a shot someday, but never seemed to get around to. I probably shouldn't have put it off for so long, 'cause this game is actually really great. Super fun and smooth platforming, fast and acrobatic gunfights (if a bit on the easy side), driving segments that don't suck, and lots of charm. Very cinematic, without sacrificing the gameplay experience. Skippable cutscenes are a plus. Good show all around. Lara Croft is super fun to control. Her gunplay makes Dante's look flaccid in comparison. After a slew of really ****ty games, I expected this to be awful too. But it surprised me, like a birthday cake inside of a vat of guacamole. Too bad it ends on a cliffhanger. But hey, the sequel came out like ten years ago, so it's not like I have to wait for a conclusion. __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

10-17-2018, 01:09 AM	#11105 (permalink)
Unitron Paragraph President Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Burning Star Posts: 837	I've only played a little bit of the first game at a friend's house years ago, and I honestly couldn't deal with the controls. I've thought about giving it another try, but who knows. Recently got an original Xbox, don't have a whole lot of games yet, but picked up Burnout: Revenge today and it's a blast. There is little more satisfying than essentially playing an endless car chase scene. Plus the soundtrack has one of the best Apocalyptica songs, so that's another plus. __________________ Last.FM RYM

10-17-2018, 05:35 AM	#11107 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	I always take criticisms of remakes and reboots with a grain of salt. Nobody ever wants to review them fairly. It's always either "10/10 perfect, ty for making my nostalgia fresh" or "1/10 how dare you **** with my precious memories." A remake can be tightened considerably, improved on nearly every level, given a few twists to mix things up for the old fans who have memorized everything, and ultimately crafted by a better company that cares way more about the product (and the charm shows throw in spades), but people will always find something to complain about, usually resorting to the cheap shot of "it just doesn't have soul, man." And yet I've felt that same way before. Wild ARMs can be pretty flawed, but it had way more life to it than the PS2 remake, Alter Code F. Adorable sprites and chibi-style polygons, bigger towns with more NPCs, super bizarre monster designs, and very strange sound clips (for some reason, goblins make cat noises when they get hit), and way way better music. But on the flip side, I'd always heard that the original RE was the superior game. When I finally tried the REmake, it absolutely destroys the original in a way that almost totally makes it obsolete as anything but a fun curiosity. Because it's the game that RE was always supposed to be, made by people who wanted to do justice not only to the series but survival horror games in general. I still pop in the original for a laugh every now and then (dat voice acting, oof), but unless you really have some sort of emotional connection to it, or just straight up have a thing for the PSX era and its numerous issues (which is fine), it's almost a waste of time to not just be playing the REmake instead. That's how much better it is. Sorry for the wall of text, I just felt like talkin' 'bout games. I haven't played the original Tomb Raider nor Anniversary, but after the awesomeness of Legend, I think I'm gonna give both a shot. I've heard about the clunkiness of the first, but that don't confront me none. I grew up with a SNES, where picking up games at Blockbuster or wherever was like playing russian roulette with my weekend. **ing Wizard of Oz. I laughed so hard when the AVGN reviewed that piece of **, 'cause I got stuck with it back in the day (and still own a copy, god knows why). __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

10-17-2018, 12:21 PM	#11108 (permalink)
Oriphiel Ask me how! Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: The States Posts: 5,354	So earlier, I mentioned that I'd been burned by a bunch of **ty games lately. Here's one of them: I know that people tend to exaggerate when they on a game, for comedic effect. But I'm being completely serious when I say that this is one of the few games I've ever played that actually made me physically ill. It was like Thor ripped open my skull and *ed my brain, giving me a bitch of a headache. The problem is the camera, you see. It sucks. You know how some games have fixed angles, where the developers want to be able to control where the player is looking? And then there are games that let you look wherever you want? This game tries to do both. At the same time. I'm not talking about the game stopping every now and then to swivel the camera around in a cutscene, like "Hey, look at this big environment filled with stuff to climb". I'm talking the game just randomly jolts, and I mean jolts, the camera in some weird *ing direction, right in the middle of ing platforming segments. No pause. No warning. And if you happen to be moving the camera manually when it tries to switch to a fixed angle, the two camera systems fight for supremacy, and the camera freaks out and jitters all over the place. Motion sickness. So much motion sickness. And randomly flying off of cliffs because the camera is in some weird existential struggle, and can't decide what it ing is and what it ing wants. The rest of the game is just as confused with itself. Half of the time, it tries to force you to be "stealthy", constantly pushing stealth mechanics in your face and begging you to play the game "the right way". But the "stealth" (read: a girl in a bright red kimono crouch-walking in circles like a jack-ass while guards watch and yawn) is so clunky and pointless, since you can just murder everyone in five seconds, that it makes me wonder why they even bothered implementing it. And the other half of the game just immediately throws you right into hordes of enemies and bosses and , as if they realized partway through development that nobody was going to play it stealthy anyway, and just said "** it, have some mobs." The one good thing is the main girl's starting weapon, a wire that can slice people up from afar. But it gets old pretty quickly. And yet, in spite of all that, there are worse games out there. Games that were released before the developers had even properly finished them. So hey, props to Vivendi for at least trying. __________________ ---------------------- \|---Mic's Albums---\| ---------------------- ----------------------------- \|---Deafbox Industries---\| -----------------------------

10-17-2018, 12:36 AM	#11103 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	While they're kind of a pain in the ass to play at times, I like the PS1 Tomb Raider games more than the Crystal Dynamics games. They just also have more of a sense of mystery, atmosphere and tension.

10-17-2018, 01:39 PM	#11109 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	The soundtrack was nice, I guess. I agree with your take on the game. I have two more complaints about things that I found annoying. 1) The wire weapon has an unnecessary extra step to it but can't actually do anything interesting. It's just a mid ranged weapon with extra button presses. Just give me a sword instead or something. 2) It really ****ed me over how touchy the analog controls are. Crouch walking is too slow to catch up to a guard with his back turned, so you often wanna slow-walk. But push the stick forward one micro-step too far from center and your character goes zooming forward at mach 3, right up in the ass of the enemy. Cover blown pretty badly. It made it really frustrating to actually try and be properly careful and stealthy.