mxleader on 4/6/2022 at 03:08
Quote Posted by PigLick
I had a lot of fun with Microsoft Train Simulator back in the day.
It's pretty good for a train sim. Some of the people that worked on the Train Artisan add-on project are still making locomotive and rolling stock for the sim. I still mess around with it but play it in Open Rails which adds more realistic controls, physics and frame rates.
Thirith on 7/6/2022 at 14:17
I'm probably only a couple of hours away from the end* of Arkham Knight. I didn't exactly remember what would happen, having played this ages ago on PS4, and I didn't remember the moment when [spoiler]the Cloudburst activates. It's an impressive setpiece, changing the game's open world, even if it's a relatively small one, completely in terms of its look and feel. Flying above the pulsating, angry orange clouds covering the Arkham City ground is a great, striking moment.[/spoiler]
*Obviously the end I'm talking about isn't really the end, as the game lets you mop up its various plot lines in IMO one of the most effective uses of such a structure. Nonetheless, while I'll happily go back to most of the side activities, I don't think I'll 100% this one, because I'm also ready to move on to something else.
Tomi on 8/6/2022 at 14:57
This week I've mostly been playing the Tomb Raider reboot from 2013. It's... alright.
I've never actually played a Tomb Raider game before, so I don't know how faithful this is to its predecessors. Probably not very faithful. I can see now how the Thief reboot "borrowed" a lot of things from this game, but still somehow managed to make the movement feel more clumsy. I remember the Tomb Raider reboot getting a pretty good reception and positive reviews though. However, I was expecting a Tomb Raider game to have much more exploration and adventure, but this one's quite a straightforward 3rd person shooter on rails, so the game was a disappointment in that regard. So I had to adjust my expectations and played it like it was an over-the-top action b-movie. The story and the characters are quite bland, and I didn't find the shooting bits very satisfying (what is it with shotguns being totally useless in most modern games?), but fortunately the game is just about short enough so that it doesn't get boring.
I guess I'll try the sequel too.
WingedKagouti on 8/6/2022 at 15:05
Quote Posted by Tomi
I guess I'll try the sequel too.
Both Rise and Shadow feature a higher ratio of exploration and tomb raiding versus fighing compared to the first game in the reboot trilogy.
The original games were quite linear and focused a lot on platforming and puzzle solving with a solid amount of combat thrown in. The exploration was mostly for secrets containing health kits, ammo and (a few) weapons.
Komag on 8/6/2022 at 21:30
I really tried to play TR 2013 but it's the ONLY game I've ever played that made me sea-sick/motion-sick. I hate that you cannot turn off the stupid "cinematic" swaying. It's CRAZY! You just walk straight forward, SUPER CAMERA SWAY ALWAYS ALWAYS. (I have it on Xbox, so I can't hack it). I haven't tried the sequels, but I heard the camera sway is toned down in part 2, and there is an option to turn it off for part 3. And if they have a higher ratio of exploration, all the better.
demagogue on 8/6/2022 at 23:30
I haven't played any Tomb Raider since I think Anniversary, which was in like 2007, although I have the later versions.
But I used to be into the TR modding scene, which started with TR4 in 1999, right about the same time Thief FMs were up and running, and I think both of them were really on a high around the same period of 2003-04.
As I guess we all know, something happened when games like that stopped supporting fan missions. They lost their connection to that homebrew spirit and a community, so I was kind of miffed with TR I guess. But also the gameplay itself became more cinematic and gimmicky maybe.
Tomb Raider wasn't as stable with fan maps; there wasn't one unified system, and it was still really just a jumping puzzle game with only so many kinds of jumping puzzles you could really do. But some of the maps were pretty cool and ambitious, and I liked that scene in its time.
I'll get around to the more recent games at some point. I'm not boycotting them; I just never seem to get around to them.
Thirith on 9/6/2022 at 07:19
One of these days I should finally play Shadow of..., but considering my backlog it may still be years...
chk772 on 9/6/2022 at 11:35
Quote Posted by demagogue
I haven't played any Tomb Raider since I think Anniversary, which was in like 2007, although I have the later versions.
But I used to be into the TR modding scene, which started with TR4 in 1999, right about the same time Thief FMs were up and running, and I think both of them were really on a high around the same period of 2003-04.
As I guess we all know, something happened when games like that stopped supporting fan missions. They lost their connection to that homebrew spirit and a community, so I was kind of miffed with TR I guess. But also the gameplay itself became more cinematic and gimmicky maybe.
Tomb Raider wasn't as stable with fan maps; there wasn't one unified system, and it was still really just a jumping puzzle game with only so many kinds of jumping puzzles you could really do. But some of the maps were pretty cool and ambitious, and I liked that scene in its time.
I'll get around to the more recent games at some point. I'm not boycotting them; I just never seem to get around to them.
The last "real" Tomb Raider for me is Underworld. The reboot trilogy which came after it is the biggest pile of crap ever.
Can't say I was surprised though, considering what AAA games are like these days...
Briareos H on 9/6/2022 at 15:21
I really liked the Crystal Dynamics trilogy. Legend and Underworld were flawed but fun, and Anniversary is my perfect Tomb Raider game. They all have a really great balance of campy, linear storytelling and traditional Tomb Raider gameplay (i.e. platform-based exploration puzzles). I only played the first game in the rebooted series and didn't hate it but without puzzles it's just a bland experience. Combat is fun but if I want to play a cover-based or an open-world TPS, there are much better games in my library.
Jason Moyer on 11/6/2022 at 02:39
Anniversary was awesome but I couldn't really get into the other 2.
