Just gotta say, this game has the most beautiful water I have ever seen in a game. It looks so real it’s unreal. Beautiful.
(And no, that’s not a dig or a reference to Spider-Man ‘s puddles. It is an honest observation 😄)
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@NecuVise Just to come back to your question from earlier in the week, I started New Game Plus this morning and yes, you can re-select the difficulty to be higher, lower or tweaked to your personal preferences. You can also select one of three paths, as I suspected, which grants access to bonus abilities from your favourite third of the skill tree, as well as a unique outfit and weapon, all of which you're shown before you select, so you can make an informed choice.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Thank you for sharing your balanced view on this. It's common when someone is a big fan of something like Tomb Raider their judgement is often clouded and are unable to see the faults of the game. I knew an super fan of Batman who stubbornly refused that the Arkham games had any faults with them what so ever lol.
So cheers!
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
More bite sized impressions —
After several days of being unable to play, I got some time to play last night and I have to say my enjoyment is only escalating. For me this game is one of those that I just am getting immersed in and I’m finding myself struggle to quit a play session and go to bed because I just want to keep going. It’s a good problem to have.
Really, it’s not that different from the previous game, but it just feels so fun to run around in. I like the jungle setting a lot more than the settings in Rise. It just fits the character and idea of Tomb Raider so much better. Going through the tombs and solving puzzles feels much more akin to the old games and the satisfaction of just surveying a situation, climbing around to figure out what the next part of the puzzle is, and then having the “Aha!” moment when you discover it is very enjoyable and much like I remember feeling when I played the older games years ago.
Getting to the first town in Peru (can’t recall the name), I was slightly concerned at how small it looked at first because I was expecting huge open cities that they talked about in the previews, but it was deceptively large. Well, not ‘large’ so much as there was just plenty of little things to do and people to talk to and do my first side quest. I thought I would wander around for an hour or so there before moving on to the story check point, but before I knew it I had been uncovering relics and documents, learning ancient languages from those monuments, buying and selling at the first merchant, chatting with people, finding challenge tombs, and just running around in general for about 3 hours and still not seeing everything I wanted to there. I am a bit obsessive about clearing an area before advancing the story mind you.
One other quick thought - I had mentioned weeks ago that I was disappointed when the developers were touting the underwater exploration in the game as I typically don’t like games with those types of sections. But I have to admit, I enjoy swimming around and exploring underwater environments here. It’s much easier to see and make out environmental underwater detail in this game than in lot of other games, which is one of my complaints traditionally. Also I haven’t struggled with severe issues with running out of breath constantly and feeling like I’m going to drown all the time. Of course, because I don’t care for the pressure that comes with the timed gameplay mechanic accompanying diving underwater, I immediately used my early skill point to level up swimming speed and breath holding, so maybe that’s why I’ve been enjoying it more. But I honestly think it’s mostly because the design of the underwater exploration is much better, so far.
....Well, this started out to be a short report and it ended up a wall of text. Lol, sorry people.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@JohnnyShoulder Well, your friend is right, because anything with Batman in really is flawless (na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, kidding).
Seriously, I'm really grateful for you saying that, because I totally am a fanboy who can and will frequently obsess over the things he loves. Regardless of the final product's actual quality, I was certain that I was going to adore Shadow (unless they did something crazy, which they didn't... on the contrary, it plays things very safe at times, which is both good and bad, depending on your perspective).
The last thing I'd wanna do, however, is mislead any of you guys around here by letting that part of me do the typing. I really enjoy hanging out on Push Square and dread the day somebody says to me "Hey, that sounds awesome, I'll give it a try!" and then, a couple days later, comes back and says "Thanks a bunch, I wasted good money on this garbage because of you!" Additionally, I'm also very aware that my game, film and television tastes are quite different from what's considered normal, so I always try to keep my own enthusiasm separate from a straightforward, more objective analysis.
Is my inner fanboy excited to go back on later and take more screencaps in Photo Mode? You bet. And that's okay; it's his reward for letting me give Shadow anything less than 11 out of 10.
@Th3solution I'm glad you're enjoying it; no apologies for walls of text (although I'm one to talk)!
That first town is great. Like you, I stayed there far longer than perhaps I should have. You've picked up on what I said about Paititi - yeah, in terms of square feet, there are bigger places in other games but none have ever felt quite so dense. There are no wasted streets, no cut-and-paste empty buildings, nothing like that. It feels alive, lived in, and it's that illusion of going to new places, meeting new people and exploring new cultures that Shadow does so well (and was a common criticism of previous Tomb Raider games, and other adventure games, that I'm glad to finally see addressed, even in these relatively small ways).
The underwater sections were a huge deal for me. I think we've spoken before about how we usually hate them, because they're confusing, pressured and obfuscated by overly-intrusive water effects, but Shadow nails them. Lara's default breath-holding ability is quite generous and only gets better with the upgrades, to the point where I sometimes forget to surface (when before, I was surfacing every thirty seconds just in case). Usually, swimming is the last thing I'd do in an area, but as soon as I arrived in that first town, the water was the first place I explored.
Hope you continue to enjoy!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Guys, could you please stop talking about this game, as with your every post my desire to play it increases and waiting for delivery gets more difficult
@NecuVise Ha, ha! Yeah, er... it’s total rubbish. You’ll hate it.
Excuse me, gotta go ... I, uh...I need to cover myself in mud and blend into the shadows so I can bring down a ruthless international organization and save the world. ...And I have a lot of plants to pick too...
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I got the soundtrack on CD for this free with a mag. If anyone from the UK wants it, give us a shout and I can post it to you. I'll post some photos of it later.
If anyone is not keen on leaving their address here, you can add me on PSN. My ID is the same as my forum name.
I’ve been rummaging through Paititi for hours! This area is just so packed. The game does a good job of gradually opening up and adding icons to the map, but in a matter of a couple hours with talking to everyone and going into each and every hut, I have so many icons on the map to treasure hunt out that I just need to move on with the story. It’s very enjoyable but a little overwhelming, since the area is so maze-like in the arrangement with a lot of verticality as well. I try too hard to obsessively get all the collectibles and missions in an area before I move on, but I may have to leave some of these for later. Lots of resources here as well! I’m still really liking the gameplay and focus on exploration. I’m starting to feel confident that this is the best of the recent trilogy. I’ll withhold final judgment, but at about 40% completion now, I see a real possibility that it slides into my top 10 PS4 games.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@NecuVise Wow, that’s unfortunate. I’ve always bought at retail where I walk out with game in hand. A couple times I’ve ordered online from Amazon and it’s been fine, but this is quite a delay you’re having!
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Wondered if you'd come here to elaborate...
Yeah, if you're somebody who wants to tidy up the map before moving on, then Paititi is a real pace-killer (although there are two or three major story beats that happen in the immediate area and bring you back there afterwards, so you can space some of it out if you wanted to... in fact, I think I'm only enjoying it more in NG+ because I know what's coming and know what I can do and when; it's the uncertainty about ever being back there that made me stop and tidy everything up the first time).
I'm glad that you're feeling so positive about the game, though. As I go back through it, I'm feeling more and more confident about calling it the best of the reboot trilogy, and my second-favourite Tomb Raider game of all time (after Legend). It's definitely been a PS4 highlight for me.
@NecuVise Holy cow! They should give you a full refund at this rate, and still let you keep the copy (if it ever arrives). Hope you manage to get it soon!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger It’s good to know that I’ll have more opportunity in Paititi. I know there is always the travel back options via base camps, but I tend to forget where all the barriers that require certain equipment is, so if I remember there was one nearby, then I try to go back and take care of said barrier and explore it’s contents right away before I move on. When I got the rope ascender (I think it’s called) from that woman during the first side quest, I knew I’d seen a couple doors requiring it recently so I backtracked a little to take care of those while I was there and while the doors and how to find them was fresh in my mind. I just never know if I’ll remember how to find some of these barriers again because some are rather tucked away or hidden. Which I love by the way, when I see a bunch of icons for items or murals and I can’t figure out how to get them, and then I explore around and find a climbing wall or a tree I can climb that I hadn’t noticed and before I know it I’m exploring around in a completely new area with a ton of cool stuff.
Another random observation, I think the map design is great and I love it when games seamlessly integrate a mechanic or animation to allow for loading the next area without needing to have a loading screen. So here, when Lara has to trudge through the mud and so your character slows down as she struggles through the pathway for a bit, I’m pretty sure that’s the game giving you something to do while it loads the data for the upcoming area. So genius. Likewise then Lara has to squeeze slowly through a tight crevice. In Uncharted they have similar things (Nate and Sully lift up a fallen item obstructing the path, signifying the end of one area and loading another) but it’s usually one way as you can’t tend to back track in those games.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@MadAussieBloke It's like you haven't read any of the posts here at all...
@get2sammyb Well, I'd hate to speak on anybody's behalf, but as a general summary the handful of folks around here who've been playing it and responding with their thoughts have all been really positive. There's an undercurrent of surprise, that people thought it wouldn't be as good or as fun as it actually is, and a lot of appreciation for the priority of tomb raiding over combat, which is incredibly sparse. Aside from agreement on a few pacing issues (the story has excellent momentum to begin and end with, but there's a middle focused around a large city which doesn't quite get the narrative / gameplay balance right and falls into a couple of standard open-world traps) it seems to be considered the highlight of the reboot trilogy, as well as just a really decent Tomb Raider game overall.
Your actual mileage may vary, of course, but I'd say to anybody looking for a lavish exploration game peppered with half-decent combat that it's definitely worth a look-see when time and budget allow.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Th3solution I kept wanting to go back for those barriers, too, but by the time I'd unlocked some of the equipment and / or weapons required to get through them, I'd moved the story along too far to want to backtrack and spend a couple hours re-tracing my steps. I had a much easier time in NG+ because you've (mostly) got everything you need for your first run through. I've got far, far less to tidy up at the end now. Shouldn't take me very long at all.
I do love that blind old mystic lady, though. You meet her and she speaks with such weight and wisdom, and then suddenly goes "So, wanna buy an SMG and a lock-pick, or what?" By the time you've completed the side quest, it's explained that she leaves Paititi to find unique items to help those in need, but without that context she's just so random!
Oh, and I'm glad you picked up on the mud, too! I always call such moments in games "Normandy Scanners" because the first time I ever noticed one, it was in Mass Effect 3 when walking between the tactical command centre and the main bridge of the Normandy SR-2. There's a body scanner which, every single time, requires Shepard to stand and be scanned twice. Sometimes the officers on duty will have unique banter which you can listen to whilst you wait, but it's a glorified loading screen for the two different parts of the ship, albeit a clever one, just like the mud. For that specific one heading into Paititi, they must keep the little bit of the town you can see loaded at all times, because it's completely seamless. Awesome.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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