Tomb Raider Forums  

Go Back   Tomb Raider Forums > General Forums > Video Games

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 16-10-17, 10:08   #111
fondantcookie
Member
 
fondantcookie's Avatar
 
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 4,822
Default

Getting this game tonight and I cannot wait :-)
fondantcookie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-17, 12:18   #112
dcw123
Member
 
dcw123's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,582
Default

Wow this turned into a massive post so gonna bulletpoint it.
Got to chapter 11 and this is my verdict so far.

* Seb has some serious split personality. With Lily he is caring and like his old self.
During conflict with baddies however, he turns into Leon from RE5 - not kidding. So cliche and not like his character at all.

* After defeating Valentino, the game dips in quality IMO it turns into something else.. again felt like RE4 and 5.
A female character even looks like a Sheva/Claire hybrid.
Defend the cabin, daytime areas and fire enemies WTF

* overall character design and acting felt generic and uninspiring. The original was very unique and different. This game tried to emulate other games in specific moments - and it felt off in my opinion.

The white stuff which is the theme of the game is such a rip off of RE6's Carla segment. There is a part of TEW2 which is JUST like it aswell..
The original was.. well original with the barbed wire enemies at least..

*The ghosty flashbacks should have been part of the main game path - showcasing Beacon etc to those who missed the first game.. instead of being optional. If you just played the main missions - you could bypass all this.

The also reused a cutscene from TEW2 shot for shot (falling down a hallway and hitting a floor like a wall)

*the Shade v2 monster should have had MUCH more inclusion in the game. It showed up for a 80 second fight and to guard a key on one room - thats it?
Kidmans Shade monster followed you for the entire DLC and it was scary. Like Nemesis in RE3.
Such a wasted opportunity!!

* any NPC you meet you only really see once and they become useless after that. They should have been more involved in the storyline IMO

* cover system is better than TEW1 but it isn't perfect. Especially if the camera isn't centred.
The amount of times Seb get glued to a wall and refused to let go.. or not corner properly if I moved the camera to see an enemy..

* lack of areas and variety. It was all kind of the same.
TEW1 had a wide variety of locations which were all unique.

* The ghostly flashbacks and ghost lady were cool - a Beacon area too - but this only happens twice so far.. and it seems like the game decided to forget all that and move on. Hopefully it'll wrap this up later?

Didn't wanna bash this game - but the latter half felt so mehhhh compared to the first half and the first game.
If there is only 14 or 15 chapters (guessing here) then I am near the end.. and it felt like I haven't really done much.
The camera dude and his helper were the best part - City Hall was awesome but too short

Whats everyone elses opinions on this?

Edit 4 : so I got to the secret Marrow Restricted Area and this is where the game starts to head back on track in my eyes.. more like the old game. Creepy and dark not knowing if enemies will come to life and attack

The ghost lady sections were the best part IMO showing how the first game affected Seb. Are all these parts optional though. Felt like they were off the main path/storyline.

If anything they should have focused MORE on Beacon and his past in this way (obviously ghost hide and seek would become boring, but the hospital setting is perfect)

Last edited by dcw123; 16-10-17 at 19:42.
dcw123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-17, 21:10   #113
Tombraider95
Member
 
Tombraider95's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 13,126
Default

Contains some spoilers up to Chapter 11.

I've got to about near the end of chapter 11 and I do agree on some of your points. I don't wanna bash the game either as I haven't finished it yet. I agree the ghost lady parts are great but sad that a player can avoid her and the beacon parts completely. (so far anyway).

Chapter 11 so far has been pretty good, but 9/10 were sooooo short it makes me sad if there are only 15 chapters. 9 and 10 in the first game were some of the best and each quite long. Chapters 7 and 8 were also really short since all you have to do is run to the paintings, get the key and destroy the statues, then run back to the premiere. Then the premiere chapter is just a boss battle. Both of these should have been one chapter together.

Chapter 10 was literally hold off the enemies in the house, do some walking, sneak past some fire enemies and then drop into the safe house.. Boom chapter over. I was like... What??? I'm just hoping the rest of the chapters are longer. Needs to be another town area to explore.

I'm hoping Obscura comes back, as I agree we haven't seen enough of it. The Clara white stuff is similar but it wasn't really used much in RE6, so I wouldnt call it a rip off. I like it. It was more Gray in Re6.

What cutscene did they re use shot for shot? Are you talking all the long hallway with the candles during chapter 9?

But yes I do want there to be more varied areas. So far it's pretty much just town areas and the Marrow. Had a bit of catacombs but it didn't last long at all. I'm kinda missing being thrown around to different places like the first game did. But I guess some people didn't like that and complained it ruined the pacing.

Will continue on tomorrow!
Tombraider95 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-17, 21:19   #114
dcw123
Member
 
dcw123's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,582
Default

Gotta say.. I think the writing is really off in this game.
Looks like the director must have changed or something..?
The twists (so far chapter 13) were pretty predictable (even more so if you played and understood TEW1)

The 2nd monster reveal made me laugh more than anything. Would have been scarier keeping it a mystery (like Pyramid Head in SH2)
Then boom.. over before it even began - again.

The whole 2nd half of the game felt almost rushed to me. Like the dev team cut back on story development, acting etc
It feels sloppy at times compared to the original. Even my partner agreed and he only saw snippits of TEW1.
To say this is a long awaited sequel I'm not overly impressed. I mean it was OK but the first game is miles ahead - thats my opinion anyway.

The best parts of the game were those which linked directly to the previous game.. Sebs past etc.

Yet to finish, but I'm close. I honestly dunno if I can force myself to replay it though. And I finished TEW1 like 4 times.
Really sad
Oh well.

Other people will love it so I don't wanna drag it down too much. Maybe my expectations were too high?

The fact the locations don't really vary that much compared to the original.. maybe they shot themselves in the foot there.
The fact Kidman isn't even there did it for me too.. could have been better if she actually appeared in game - though storywise I understand why she isn't..

Mehhh.. hope we get some DLC with her again. Dunno what else they can add to her but

Last edited by dcw123; 16-10-17 at 21:31.
dcw123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16-10-17, 23:10   #115
trfan16
Member
 
trfan16's Avatar
 
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,858
Default

Ordered my copy this weekend. Hope to get it by tomorrow or Wednesday.
trfan16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-10-17, 09:23   #116
dcw123
Member
 
dcw123's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,582
Default

Finished it last night. Tried to explore everywhere and only missed 1 collectable. Got most stuff. Took me 19 hours LOL

The ending was OK if a little predictable.. to be honest, the whole ending felt rushed.
The entire game we don't really know whats going on and than Bam.. it tells you everything at the end all at once.
The ideas were cool though and a nice way to end it.

The fact we get actual unlockables and they aren't DLC micro transactions was really nice too.. like the good old days.

The whole melodramatic family stuff got kind of tiring in the end. The cheesy music and writing - instead of being upsetting or moving - half the time me and my partner sat there giggling at how silly it all was.
Maybe thats just me - but the writing and acting in this game was a little off par.
Nothing wrong with family drama, when its done properly.
Since we never knew Lily or Myra and don't see much of them - it was hard to care about them.
This is the trap most games fall into - like ROTTR with the villagers ambush.
Playing COD for the first time and honestly felt more for what happens to Soap in MW3.. because it built up a chatacter arc. I felt bad for him even if he was a grunt.

Classic Mode difficulty sounds like a nightmare.
Speaking of - played on Normal so gonna try Nightmare Mode next with the unlocks I have.

Most reviews while giving a high score, say this game lacked some horror. I guess thats coz it focused more on side quests and all that extra stuff nobody wanted.
Union as a whole was kinda boring for me too..
I loved the more surreal landscapes and puzzle areas best.. those areas more like the first game.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/ventu...gh-horror/amp/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/metro.c...d-7004920/amp/

Reviews are mixed. I know the first game didn't do great either - but I gave it a chance and liked it a lot. Mainly coz it had a decent storyline. This sequel however at times felt conviluted/complex for the sake of it at times. Seb was conflicting in terms of personality - going from a RE4 Leon wannabe to James Sunderland from SH2 in the an instant. Acting and writing was bad.. lets face it.

Could this be the end? Do people like survival horror anymore?

Maybe if they kept it true horror and left out the open world, RPG talk systems, scavenging crafting and all the added rubbish - it may have done better perhaps??
It tried to modernise and be something its not.. it let it down IMO the original game was miles better.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9ud-TgSfTIA

This guy gets it too. Side quests and open world not that great. Union was bland etc
Clunky combat and graphical/framerate issues.

Honestly, I get the levels are large and everything - but at times the rooms were REALLY low poly. Like worse than PS2. For a next gen game I was shocked to see that stuff. Luckily its rare but it is there in certain indoor areas (which is strange as you'd think the less rooms to loaf meant more details)

Just read that this game sold less than 1/4 of what the original did in physical sales. You could argue digital downloads are more common now, but I see it as a sad thing. People just aren't interested?

EDIT: So I loaded a Clear Save for New Game Plus.. only to find that I cannot select a higher difficulty.
So its either play on normal with unlocks or start from scratch on Hard.

Messed around in a few alternate outfits which are kind of lackluster.. apart from one which was cool.
Found myself skipping every cutscene I could and sprinting the whole time through.
I'm just not getting excited replaying this.. feels like a chore which is such a shame.

I'll see if I missed any areas or items but I'm pretty sure I got everything first time around.. not the locker keys though. I only got like 10 of those lol

Last edited by dcw123; 17-10-17 at 14:51.
dcw123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-10-17, 19:14   #117
Tombraider95
Member
 
Tombraider95's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 13,126
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcw123 View Post
Just read that this game sold less than 1/4 of what the original did in physical sales. You could argue digital downloads are more common now, but I see it as a sad thing. People just aren't interested?
I read that too. It's misleading and makes it sound really bad. The game was only out for a day before the sales got counted. Yet the first game came out on a Tuesday, so it had more time for sales obviously.
Tombraider95 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 24-10-17, 12:05   #118
dcw123
Member
 
dcw123's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,582
Default

Replaying this game on New Game Plus with all your upgrades etc is such a bore.

I think this game.. like many other modern games.. take themselves so seriously, with characters talking to themselves every 5 minutes (like TR reboot) that they become boring and repetitive upon replaying.

Its strange.. old games I can replay like 20 times and have fun. When games are TOO cinematic and story driven however, having to watch the same cutscenes and go down a forced path in a specific order can get boring.

Am I alone in thinking this way?

Funnily enough I replayed the original and DLC several times.. something about this sequel made me not really wanna play it again.

Same with RE7 and Rise of the TR.. they were just Mehh 2nd time around.
dcw123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 24-10-17, 12:16   #119
Tombraider95
Member
 
Tombraider95's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 13,126
Default

That's what happens when people complain when the main character doesn't talk enough and has no personality bla bla bla...

Why not put the game in another language when replaying?
Tombraider95 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 24-10-17, 13:22   #120
dcw123
Member
 
dcw123's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,582
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tombraider95 View Post
That's what happens when people complain when the main character doesn't talk enough and has no personality bla bla bla...

Why not put the game in another language when replaying?
I thought he had plenty to be honest haha

All he says is 'Lily!' and " I have to find her" over and over again. Reminded me of Lara and Sam in TR2O13 lol

Shame they did the reverse to every other character like Kidman.. she had tons of backstory and personality and they totally butchered her in the 2nd game IMO
dcw123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT. The time now is 23:49.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Tomb Raider Forums is not owned or operated by CDE Entertainment Ltd.
Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are trademarks of CDE Entertainment Ltd.