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Old 30-08-18, 22:01   #31
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Overly praised? No, not at all: it has been savaged and maligned for years by the gaming press. Even Crystal Dynamic threw in a bit of shade by burying the AOD Lara model in the Peru level of TR: Legend.

I do think AOD had a lot of potential. I still think of The Hall of Seasons as one of the best Tomb Raider levels ever, but the game suffered from being unpolished and unfinished.

Maybe one day we'll see it remastered and restored. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.
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Old 31-08-18, 21:15   #32
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Absolutely not. It is perfection from start to finish once you look at the story, art, soundtrack and atmosphere around it. If it had been completed it would've easily been the best game of the PS2 era and even beyond.
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Old 31-08-18, 21:48   #33
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Classic music isn't for everybody. same with AOD. maybe game unfinished and flawed but it has something that other game's doesn't. I personally found replying very enjoyable. as its so atmospheric that gives me a great feels.AND ART is hands down best. you can't find such a details in another game. everything is memorable. I can imagine how great it would be if it was finished as planned. I'm sad about few things in my life, AOD is one of them.

P.S. I think main influence on me is MUSIC and Lara herself as shes most badass and beautiful Lara in my opinion.
P.S.S if TR4 had AOD Lara and graphics it would be for sure my favorite. hardest and longest game so far. Jeez, I finished it just once, I don't remember how to do it again, but great experience.

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Old 01-09-18, 23:44   #34
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YES. I love AoD, or at least aspects of it, I do, but it's literally just the Holy Grail of wasted potential. Apart from the beautiful soundtrack, there isn't ONE finished aspect to the game. Literally anything praised about it is just "this WOULD have been amazing IF", which a good game does not make. And let's be real, rushed or not, Core Design did not know what the hell they were doing. What they delivered wasn't a rushed game, it was a ****ing unfinished mess, they were plenty at fault with their horrid time management, Eidos wasn't the only one to blame. Even if in theory it sounds like it could have been a masterpiece... do we really know that? RPG elements, flashback sequences, an entire other section of levels, when Core could barely build a viable movement engine? Doubtful
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Old 18-09-18, 20:47   #35
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For me it's a huge NO.
The game we had released for tomb raider 6 wasn't finished, it got cut and badly managed from the beginning to the end.
I consider it as a "big concept / demo" like an idea on how tomb raider 6 should have been, i never really considered this precise TR as something "serious" because it's clearly nothing compared to how amazing the story and concepts were.
To me this is a well deserved "Praising" because it's the best storyline we had for a franchise like tomb raider and clearly deserves attention from square enix (even if that's never gonna happen...) simply because it is ahead of it's time.
Look the game was done around 2002-2004 and yet i always see this as something we can get from a triple A game trilogy nowadays. Better than the whole trinity thing.
I mean, nephilims, alchemy, secret society, dark science, esoteric symbolism, tombs under the louvre museum etc... it's clearly original and can be used with anything today.
The artworks and concepts speak from themselves... it inspired for some of them the lara we have in reboot (on one concept of aod we saw lara with a bow and / lara defending herself from a snake with a knife like when in shadow she is attacked by this "murene")
I think it's everything around the game that makes it "overrated" to some but we can't deny it was really impressive.
I've always wanted aod story to get used for making some comics or even animated movies because it's clearly sad that it's left like that with all the potential it have...
It deserves to get finished.
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Old 19-09-18, 20:50   #36
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To be honest I don't think there is a single person on Earth who thinks the final product we've got is "perfect" as everyone will agree it has its quirks, such as:
- Uninspired gameplay which difficulty level relies on absurd controls, and so...
- Clunky controls that make even the biggest fan reconsider why he even likes TR
- Major plot holes such as Lara knowing first nae of one of the most important antagonists even though she never met him or even heard before
- Lack of titular tombs (although it has Tomb of Ancients, so still more tombs than TR3)

On the other hand even the final version has:
- Superb soundtrack that practically everyone appreciate
- An incredibly interesting, deep storyline which portrayal in the game is only but a tip of the iceberg and the game clearly states that. It makes you want to learn more about the background of the happenings in the game and that's some clever writing skills.
- Fantastic art direction that feels a bit noire and reminds of old detective movies.

That being said, the original idea of TRAOD could have been the greatest game in the series, unfortunately too ambitious. That's why it hurts so much, because it is not an entirely bad game, but it could have been just so much better.
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Old 19-09-18, 22:03   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jackraider
Yeah I know AOD was supposed to be great, but it isn't. Even with all the scrapped material leaks — how does all of that still make AOD the best game in the series? I understand the story, the concept, etc all had the "potential" — but that potential was never established. Personally, I think AOD has the worst replay-value because it's so unfinished, sluggish, and gimmicky. Even with fan patches.
This. While seeing the whole concept, unreleased materials etc is definitely fascinating and provides some insight which is all well and good. The only problem with that when you're looking at the game itself is that none of that is in the final game. Someone trying AOD for the first time won't have access to any of that and can only critique what gets put in front of them.

Last edited by LuigiEspadachin; 19-09-18 at 22:05.
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Old 20-09-18, 04:40   #38
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AOD's controls felt like I was teaching a toddler to walk.
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Old 20-09-18, 07:59   #39
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Personally I had zero problems with controls back then. only ''issue'' was slowass Lara. its same as classics.
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Old 20-09-18, 08:34   #40
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I must admit that after growing older and less forgiving I find TRAOD Lara's controls extremely irritating.
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