What are you playing now

[BruceVC]

 

On topic: I'm playing Tomb Raider.

 

(the reboot)

 

I'm sort of torn over this game. The audio-visual experience is extremely polished, the story delivery is very fluid and natural, the controls are the best they've ever been in a TR game... but the game commits every "modern game sin" one could think of. Obnoxious QTE, linear and railroading the player excessively, grimdark obsession with violence , a lot of pointless scavenger hunts to bump game length... even "evil russians" of all things... to top it all some token feminism thrown in for good measure.

 

The old Lara was essentially a comic book type badass character. You could, in a comic book way, believe she could do back flips and fire dual pistols on a tiger at the same time. The new Lara is a "vulnerable girl" "oh its so hard, I'm falling apart"...traumatized murder machine. What she supposedly is and what she does doesn't really connect.

 

If they lighten up the tone and bring back the focus on exploration of exotic locales instead of playing "lord of the flies" it would be great.

is odd, but we have never played a tomb raider game. am thinking the avatar turned us off 'cause it seemed too ridiculous... unnecessary pandering.  am gonna concede the inherent hypocrisy as we did play games with "comic book type badass"  toons who, male or female, were drawn no less provocative or silly. am actually not certain why superheroes is ok for us, but final fantasy Giant swords, lineage 2 warrior girls in stiletto heels, and lara croft b00b avatar sets our teeth on edge. that being said, is not as if we is ok with all superhero stuff-- is still a fuzzy line which we has difficulty crossing. odd.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Hi Gromnir

What do you mean by unnecessary pandering? Pandering to who and in what context concerning Tomb Raider?

[Gromnir]

...

 

am gonna do a sarcasm check first. is possible you is being sardonic and Gromnir is missing.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[BruceVC]

...

 

am gonna do a sarcasm check first. is possible you is being sardonic and Gromnir is missing.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

No Gromnir I'm not attacking you I am just not 100% sure I understand your point

[Gromnir]

 

...

 

am gonna do a sarcasm check first. is possible you is being sardonic and Gromnir is missing.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

No Gromnir I'm not attacking you I am just not 100% sure I understand your point

 

we didn't think you were attacking, but we thought sarcasm were possible.

 

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/pander

 

now, given the game avatar in tomb raider looks like...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=lara+croft&rlz=1C1KMZB_enUS560US560&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GAlOU4LfBZKryAS7jIKoCg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=979

 

we suspect that bruce should recognize what we considers unnecessary pandering... or not. am trying with breadcrumbs... really big and obvious breadcrumbs. 

 

*shrug*

 

HA! Good Fun!

[BruceVC]

 

 

...

 

am gonna do a sarcasm check first. is possible you is being sardonic and Gromnir is missing.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

No Gromnir I'm not attacking you I am just not 100% sure I understand your point

 

we didn't think you were attacking, but we thought sarcasm were possible.

 

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/pander

 

now, given the game avatar in tomb raider looks like...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=lara+croft&rlz=1C1KMZB_enUS560US560&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GAlOU4LfBZKryAS7jIKoCg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=979

 

we suspect that bruce should recognize what we considers unnecessary pandering... or not. am trying with breadcrumbs... really big and obvious breadcrumbs. 

 

*shrug*

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

 

A sarcastic response is a form of attacking someone. Okay I think I get it, basically you are saying the female character in Tomb Raider is too perfect and represents the female form unrealistically? This would lead to people, and mostly men, buying the game just to ogle some attractive women character, well this would be one reason

[Gromnir]

am not certain we would personally describe lara croft as looking "too perfect"... particularly her earlier incarnations. that being said, the game avatar were clear designed to appeal to the prurient interests of male purchasers o' games.  is little different than bikini car washes and similar enterprises. the girls might be the best darn washers o' cars in the whole, wide world, but we find such overt pandering to be insulting. we tend to be less intrigued by such endeavors rather than more.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps we do not envy your world if you see every sarcastic comment as an attack.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Gromnir

[BruceVC]

am not certain we would personally describe lara croft as looking "too perfect"... particularly her earlier incarnations. that being said, the game avatar were clear designed to appeal to the prurient interests of male purchasers o' games.  is little different than bikini car washes and similar enterprises. the girls might be the best darn washers o' cars in the whole, wide world, but we find such overt pandering to be insulting. we tend to be less intrigued by such endeavors rather than more.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps we do not envy your world if you see every sarcastic comment as an attack.

 

Okay thanks for explaining, that's what I thought you were saying but I wanted to be sure. Sometimes I have misunderstood peoples comments so nowadays I rather ask than just assume.

Edited April 16, 2014 by BruceVC

[Humanoid]

Not missing anything. I think I played the demo of the first game back in the day of magazine demo discs. Let's just say Lara Croft is terrible at washing cars, and I haven't taken a second look at the series since.

 

To be fair though, all 3D shooter-platformers of that era were terrible.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Humanoid

[Drowsy Emperor]

 

On topic: I'm playing Tomb Raider.

 

(the reboot)

 

I'm sort of torn over this game. The audio-visual experience is extremely polished, the story delivery is very fluid and natural, the controls are the best they've ever been in a TR game... but the game commits every "modern game sin" one could think of. Obnoxious QTE, linear and railroading the player excessively, grimdark obsession with violence , a lot of pointless scavenger hunts to bump game length... even "evil russians" of all things... to top it all some token feminism thrown in for good measure.

 

The old Lara was essentially a comic book type badass character. You could, in a comic book way, believe she could do back flips and fire dual pistols on a tiger at the same time. The new Lara is a "vulnerable girl" "oh its so hard, I'm falling apart"...traumatized murder machine. What she supposedly is and what she does doesn't really connect.

 

If they lighten up the tone and bring back the focus on exploration of exotic locales instead of playing "lord of the flies" it would be great.

is odd, but we have never played a tomb raider game. am thinking the avatar turned us off 'cause it seemed too ridiculous... unnecessary pandering.  am gonna concede the inherent hypocrisy as we did play games with "comic book type badass"  toons who, male or female, were drawn no less provocative or silly. am actually not certain why superheroes is ok for us, but final fantasy Giant swords, lineage 2 warrior girls in stiletto heels, and lara croft b00b avatar sets our teeth on edge. that being said, is not as if we is ok with all superhero stuff-- is still a fuzzy line which we has difficulty crossing. odd.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

While there was a certain amount of pandering to gamers in the old TR games, its the sort of thing that dissolves when you actually start playing. The focus is on platforming and fighting, there is little story apart from cut-scenes and little characterization as far as Lara is concerned. The point is, you literally stop seeing her while you play because your attention is elsewhere.

 

 That said, the old games are borderline unplayable now due to how blocky the graphics are and terrible controls. 

[HoonDing]

Lara gets impaled somewhere in the beginning of the game without much ado, then later there's an entire cutscene focused on her getting crippled and whimpering after she falls two metres down.

 

That was funny.

 

That, and the zombie samurai army she kills entirely on her own. I think she kills more than old-skool Lara does in all her games combined.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Lara gets impaled somewhere in the beginning of the game without much ado, then later there's an entire cutscene focused on her getting crippled and whimpering after she falls two metres down.

 

That was funny.

 

That, and the zombie samurai army she kills entirely on her own. I think she kills more than old-skool Lara does in all her games combined.

 

It was bizarre how the game completely ignored the wound from the beginning. Wolverine regeneration ftw

 

Yes, the focus is way too much on graphic killing for my tastes. In the new Tomb Raider everything wants to kill you and you need to kill everything else, either because its an obstacle or for xp and salvage. 

Edited April 16, 2014 by Drowsy Emperor

[Mamoulian War]

And got all Battle Trophies for Sarah in Star Ocean 4, now only Miurya and Edge to finish and then I can go to Faize BT run

 

Only thing which puts me off of this grinding little bit, is that for Edge I need to perform more than 22,000 kills
 And it would be harder and more time consuming than my Arumat's killing spree. Soon it will be 3 and half years after I started the game and still like to play hour or two once in a while and grind in the game... Am I strange?

[BruceVC]

And got all Battle Trophies for Sarah in Star Ocean 4, now only Miurya and Edge to finish and then I can go to Faize BT run

 

Only thing which puts me off of this grinding little bit, is that for Edge I need to perform more than 22,000 kills

 And it would be harder and more time consuming than my Arumat's killing spree. Soon it will be 3 and half years after I started the game and still like to play hour or two once in a while and grind in the game... Am I strange?

 

Nope you aren't strange, that just shows commitment  for me

[Nepenthe]

 

 

I'm about to play Deus Ex :HR, it looks good. I'm excited

 

Its better than it looks, you have the director's cut, I take it?

 

I do indeed, any advice without spoiling the story?

Not really, I haven't played it in a while and can't remember the details on that level... A non-lethal playthrough is an experience and the PEPS is tons of fun

[Guest Slinky]

That said, the old games are borderline unplayable now due to how blocky the graphics are and terrible controls.

While that's most likely true, I'm lucky enough to be a massive nostalgic. TR 1&2 was amongst my favorite games back in the day and just the theme song of TR1 alone is like coctail of potion of extra defense against crappy graphics and heroin.

 

Too bad I didn't play Alpha Centauri back in the day so I could play it today too, I get all grumpy cat every time someone even mentions it.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I started with TR2 and liked it, but never fell in love with it like some people did. It was too difficult for me to enjoy, back in the day.

[213374U]

 

 

I'm about to play Deus Ex :HR, it looks good. I'm excited

Its better than it looks, you have the director's cut, I take it?

 

 

I do indeed, any advice without spoiling the story?

 

 

Remember that a headshot is a lethal takedown.

 

Also, the ability to tear down walls could be said to... pay for itself.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Still Tomb Raider. Its growing on me. I still wish some things were done differently (too much combat) but the game is so well made I'can't fault it too much.

 

I imagine they limited the game to a single location and the majority of the enemies to humans to cut down on costs, seeing as how scenery, animations and character models can and are reused in the game.

[Keyrock]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat with a few mods, nothing game changing though.  I'm using AtmosFear 3, which, in addition to making things look prettier, does change the weather patters and introduces a new storm type, but doesn't radically change the game, and Absolute Nature 3 and Particle Paradise, which are strictly graphical mods.

 

The Zone is an eerily beautiful place, but if you stop for too long to admire it, it will kill you.  I've only just started.  I got the artifact from the Dredge, then made my way to the Sawmill and scooped up the basic toolkit for Cardov.  I thought about taking out most, or all, of the zombies there to make getting the toolkit that much easier, but there are just so many of them there that I would have chewed up all my ammo in the process.  Granted, I could recoup some of that with all the goodies off the corpses.  Instead I opted for a sneaky approach until I got close, took out a couple zombie stalkers that were in my way, sprinted inside the building and up the ladder, grabbed all the goods up there, including the toolkit, fired a few rounds to get their attention and draw as many zombies into the building as possible, then hopped out through a window and made my escape nice and clean.  While I was in the area, I went ahead and scooped up the SVD hidden behind the tree near the gate.  Now that I have a legit sniper rifle, it's on like neck bone.

 

When I got the artifact from the Dredge, I completed the mission the shady way by giving Tuna the artifact, chasing him for a bit, then gunning him down and taking the artifact back.  I think I got far enough away that his two mugger buddies didn't see me gun him down, but I'm not sure.  Either way, now that I have the SVD, I may just go back over toward the Dredge and kill both of them from a good safe distance and loot their corpses for profit.  Hey, they were going to gun me down if I didn't hand over the artifact, they have it coming.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Call of Pripyat was great. The only thing that didn't work was the finale and the game could have used more polish.

[Keyrock]

Call of Pripyat was great. The only thing that didn't work was the finale and the game could have used more polish.

Yeah, the end game stuff isn't the greatest, but I'm a very long way off from that and the journey there is so worth it.  The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games create there amazing dynamic moments of tension and desperation.  Slowly stumbling, wounded, irradiated, out of breath, out of first aid kits, toward Yanov Station.  Hearing a blowout approaching and desperately trying to make it to shelter while muties chase you.  The first time encountering a chimera.  Good times.

[marelooke]

 

Lara gets impaled somewhere in the beginning of the game without much ado, then later there's an entire cutscene focused on her getting crippled and whimpering after she falls two metres down.

 

That was funny.

 

That, and the zombie samurai army she kills entirely on her own. I think she kills more than old-skool Lara does in all her games combined.

 

It was bizarre how the game completely ignored the wound from the beginning. Wolverine regeneration ftw

 

Yes, the focus is way too much on graphic killing for my tastes. In the new Tomb Raider everything wants to kill you and you need to kill everything else, either because its an obstacle or for xp and salvage.

 

 

Well they had to replace all the puzzling by something... Guess they went with combat. While I never actually finished a Tomb Raider (I think I quit the first one after Palace Midas). I always thought the level wide puzzling was a defining characteristic so I'm somewhat sad the puzzles have been relegated to very small and very optional puzzle rooms.

 

Call of Pripyat was great. The only thing that didn't work was the finale and the game could have used more polish.

If I get in a Stalker mood I tend to fire up SoC and not CoP (and certainly not CS...)

 

I guess I just like the premise and atmosphere better in SoC. If it were possible to run SoC in CoP's engine I'd be all over that...

[Amentep]

I liked the first Tomb Raider when it came out (I'd been watching out for it back when the press of the time was presenting it as an action/exploration game with a male and female lead...)

 

I thought that the second Tomb Raider wasn't as good as it exchanged exploration and puzzle solving for more killing AI people.  I couldn't finish TR3 because it pushed away further from what I liked about TR and that was it for the series for me.

 

Paradoxically, even though Lara is a murder machine in Tomb Raider Reboot and probably kills more people than Lara in TR 2 and 3 combined, I enjoyed exploring the island and I liked the system enough that...yeah I really enjoyed the new game even though I recognize that it has its own set of problems.

 

I do hope that any sequel has more puzzles and exploration to it (most of the puzzles were perfunctory or unnecessary to the completion of the game in the reboot) and yeah...I'd be okay with a similar combat system coming into play.

[SadExchange]

I really enjoyed the latest Tomb Raider.  I thought it was a good blend of combat with some easy, minor puzzles and problem solving, but I thought it had a decent story from beginning to end and it looked great doing it.

 

After reading through these pages, I noticed that someone mentioned Sacred 2.  So, because of that, and inbetween my time with Diablo 3 scouring for loot, I've decided to start a High Elf on Silver Difficulty, and after getting 8 levels to my character, I feel like I can finally deal some damage.  Thank goodness for the expansion and the community patch, because I remember beta testing this game back in the day and sending pages of reports to the devs of problems, and now, with a newer graphic card (thanks to those on the board for help and advice), the game runs silky smooth with physics enabled and looks pretty good.  I understand Diablo 3, being a loot driven game has a good amount of loot, but damn, does Sacred 2 impress me all the time with the amount of loot and mechanics in the game that go into your character, spells/abilities, weapons, armor, etc.  Too bad this game released in such a horridly buggy state, because I wonder about the following it would have garnered without all the bugs and crashes.  

 

Other than that, waiting for Dark Souls 2 on the pc and when I get a chance, playing through Lego: The Hobbit to unwind.  Something about the lego games just seems to click when sitting on the couch and wasting time at the end of the day, plus, I enjoyed the Hobbit novel and movies so far.

[Amentep]

Yeah a compelling story is probably one of the things that appealed to me in the TRreboot.  I enjoyed the story as it unfurled and also finding the various text pieces that hinted at the back stories going on.