Rise of the Tomb Raider

[X-SOLDIER]

Iiiiiis an Xbox One Exclusive, meaning that PC/PS4 users are pretty bent about it.

Official tumblr response to the exclusivity.




X

 

[Super Mario]

:FFFUUU:




Square-Enix/Eidos I'm getting tired of your Xbone dicksucking bullshit. Whoever was responsible for making this an exclusive, please die in a ditch, for I am now deprived of seeing the character of Lara Croft grow. fucking moron whoever thought it was a genius idea to make Rise of the Tomb Raider an exclusive.

 

[Interslicery]

Honestly, it'll come out on pc/ps4 later. I just see zero reason why they would keep it an exclusive even if it takes a few years. Then again Im not sure why they would make it exclusive in the first place, considering any additional money M$ gave them for the exclusivity would most certainly be outmatched by the sales of making it multi-platform. Maybe they're going for that, get the money from M$ then release it later once the exclusivity deal has run out and get most of the cash they would have gotten from multi-platform.

 

[ForceStealer]

Honestly, it'll come out on pc/ps4 later. I just see zero reason why they would keep it an exclusive even if it takes a few years. Then again Im not sure why they would make it exclusive in the first place, considering any additional money M$ gave them for the exclusivity would most certainly be outmatched by the sales of making it multi-platform. Maybe they're going for that, get the money from M$ then release it later once the exclusivity deal has run out and get most of the cash they would have gotten from multi-platform.

Especially considering that Square was so down on the performance of the last one, despite it selling like 7 million copies.

 

[Hisako]

There are plenty things behind the context we could be missing. Square Enix's exorbitant expenditure on marketing might be the reason why they'd want to recoup costs with moneyhats.

Also, the amount publishers can offer to developer companies can actually be vast compared to net profits (sales figures and gross profits are easily larger, but after costs net profits aren't nearly as impressive). Considering the performance financially of the first Tomb Raider, it might not be as surprising that Square Enix/Eidos were glad to take some sort of financial safety net of sorts.

In any case, we can tone down the frothing rage now that we know it's only a timed exclusive.

 

[Ami]

Looks like there's going to be an announcement next week, a release date?

Whatever the case, I'm sure it'll be out for PS4 and PC eventually as previously stated. I'm not too arsed about it being out later, as it'll be mostly bug and glitch free by then.

 

[Ami]

Coming to PS4 and PC in late 2016.

You knew it was timed. WE ALL KNEW IT.

 

[Hisako]

PC comes out a little earlier, innit?

edit: Yeah Spring 2016. That's northern hemisphere spring, I suppose

 

[Ami]

Still not minding it here. Let the Xbone take all the bugs and glitches for a test run and it'll be smooth by the time it hits the rest of us.

I know all the PS4 gamers will be too busy with Uncharted 4, anyway.

 

[Lex]

I am surprised by how much I don't care. The game looks great but it was never a day one buy from me anyway. The Tomb Raider reboot was good, but it wasn't incredible (IMO). I pretty much got all the collectibles in a single playthrough in single player then lost steam with it.

 

[Hisako]

I don't think I bought the original reboot on release either

Still, the thing that grabbed me the most about the game was the amazing level design. On top of being organic, the complexity in which the player gained new tools and abilities which allowed you to traverse and rediscover areas actually reminded me quite a lot of a Metroidvania style. Areas looped back in on themselves in a way that felt a lot more natural, than, say, Skyrim's repetitive and dumb secret-tunnel-at-the-bottom-of-the-dungeon-leading-back-to-the-entrance schtick. Add to that a deceptively versatile combat system (eg. use grappling hook arrow to chain into melee combat) and it was goddamn sweet.

The fact that I actually got invested into Lara Croft as a character compared to her previous iterations was just icing on the cake. Could do with more tombs and actual survival elements, though (iirc they definitely said they'd fix that this time around)

 

[Ami]

This is going to be at EGX, will share some thoughts this time next week when I'm back.

 

[Hisako]

SURPRISE FACE (warning: 4K pic)

PC port comes out on January 28! The port is being handled by nixxes (who did the original 2013 PC port as well as the XBO version of the Definitive Edition), which bodes well for its quality. Game looks to be on track for sales, too - apparently they've punched well over 1m after December for them Xboxes alone.

Minimum specs here. Looks pretty forgiving.

 

[Flintlock]

Started playing, just reached the first base camp. It all feels very familiar so far, but I'd have been surprised if it wasn't; the first game was good, so why mess with a winning formula?

Graphically, it isn't running as smoothly on my GTX 960 as the 2013 game did. I know it's a more demanding game, and that's fine, but I wish it was more stable. When I switch from the high to the medium preset, the game only gains a few FPS (from 55 to 58-59) when I'm in control of Lara, but cut-scenes run at about 45 despite and pre-rendered elements seem to run at 30. The opening was also 30. It's a bit jarring.

Also, further proof that I'll never understand fashion:

That's with "pure hair" disabled. I switched it back on when I saw that. (Note that I bumped up the image contrast in GIMP to make it more visible; the scene is actually a lot darker.)

The faces look great though, maybe the best I've seen in a game since L.A. Noire. But I don't play many triple-A titles so take that with a pinch of salt.

 

[Flintlock]

I completed the main story with about 90% completion so I decided to post this review on Steam. Sharing it here as well in case anyone's interested.

This game plays very similarly to the 2013 Tomb Raider game but with small improvements in most areas. It retains some of its predecessor's weaknesses, however, mostly in the story, which is somewhat interesting on a grand scale but contains few memorable characters and lacks polish in its delivery. I wish that more of the background to the story had been properly integrated instead of being hidden in documents and tapes. Metal Gear Solid V suffered from the same problem, but at least it allowed the player to listen to tapes while doing other things. There's no such feature in this game, so I skipped quite a lot of the content and just collected things for the XP.

The game is more technically demanding than Tomb Raider, but I was able to get 50-60 FPS for most of the game by turning some of the settings down. The frame rate dropped significantly during cut-scenes, and FMVs played at 30, presumably a remnant (pun intended) of this game being initially designed for the Xbox One. It seems like rendering people is what puts the most strain on the engine. I also came across a few bugs, such as not being able to move the camera or being locked in slow motion, but they were usually fixed by making Lara kill herself, which reloads the level from a recent autosave. Only one bug prevented me from making progress in the game, and that was right at the end. The workaround was to disable DirectX 12.

Despite those negatives, I still enjoyed the game a lot, and spent almost twice as much time playing it as I did playing the 2013 release. There are a few linear paths to follow but a lot of the game is spent in "hub" levels, which are bigger and more open than anything in the first game. For a survival/exploration game, that's definitely a good thing. The tombs and other interior levels are well-designed, for the most part, with the Flooded Archives a standout. I'm not really into shooting things in games but the combat is pretty frustration-free, which is all I can ask for. And of course, it looks fantastic; the environments are gorgeous and I'm definitely a fan of Lara's design, which is the best it's ever been in the series.

Recommended.

 

[Lex]

High praise from you. My brother bought me this on PS4 for my birthday but I've yet to try it. I'll need to boot it up at some point soon.

 

[Ami]

Flint, have you tried the Endurance mode? I started playing a couple of weeks ago and it's really enjoyable. You can either play alone or with a friend. I keep going through phases of loving it and then taking a break because I'm playing too much xD

 

[Flintlock]

No, not yet. So far I've been taking it very slowly, exploring every location, collecting as much as I can. The thought of doing a score attack type of thing is pretty much the opposite of that. Though I am intrigued by the thought of co-op. Co-op is always awesome.