General Chat

[jajay119]

Originally Posted by Blackmoor

What's your guess on when we'll hear something + release date?

It depends on what promo strategy they're going to use and when they plan to release. Typically TR launches in September-November time. If they're doing that again and sticking to the 'short announcement to release' strategy of Shadow, which I prefer, I don't expect to see anything until 2023. If they're going for the same but planning to release earlier in the year like AOD/Legend/Reboot then it's possible we could hear something at the later end of 2022 (unless of course they're aiming for March 2024 and onward but I think that is too far). If they're going for a long promo period they could announce it next year. Personally I hope they don't do that. So many things change in development that they show things that end up different or they show too much..

[Blackmoor]

^I really, really hope they don't have a long promotional period and that once they start showing stuff, the game is released not long after.

I can't stand long build ups any more. I'm not even talking about TR really, TLOU2 put me off long build ups forever.

Originally Posted by tomblover

Yeah, I'm expecting another TRU-TR2013 kind of gap, to be honest.

We're probably not getting anything whatsoever until 2023, or at least not anything substantial.

I could see them maybe putting out vague teasers - like, one later this year, and another one at E3 next year - but nothing more than that.

And, by vague teasers, I mean like, a promotional image of Lara's silhouette for Christmas (incredibly unhelpful ), and for E3 2022, a trailer no longer or more informative than this.

I just hope, similar to Shadow, that once they actually reveal the game, its release won't be far off.

Seeing that teaser reminded me how exciting Shadow seemed when I first saw hints of it. All that darkness and lovely S. American pyramids and jungle, and Lara climbing up this enormous structure in the middle of it all.

Waiting till 2023 for news will be hard on here, it already feels a bit hmmm struggling to find things to talk about at times. But I'd rather they took a decent amount of time to reposition the franchise for the next 3 games than feel rushed into anything.

[Lara_Fan1]

I really liked the short time period between reveal and release of Shadow. I had prolonged announcements and it always backfires. Look at the Last of Us 2, they revealed the game far too early and we had to wait a further 4 years and many delays before we got to play it.

However, I think they do need to rethink about their promotional trailers. Shadow started off strong with the CGI trailer but the others were pretty lackluster if I'm honest. It wasn't until after the game had been released that they started showing us amazing trailers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ljxwoq0ng

This trailer should have been shown before the games release perhaps as the first in-game trailer we had. It gives nothing away but shows the beauty of Shadow. The music really hypes you up as well (an not because it has the classic theme in there).

[Chamayoo]

I don't think we'll have concrete news until mid or end of 2022, because I'm not certain the game would be advanced enough to show anything. However if we have something before, they would probably do a little teaser in the line of what they did for Avengers in 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq_V6WHSmQs

[Jamise_Croft]

Originally Posted by Chamayoo

I don't think we'll have concrete news until mid or end of 2022, because I'm not certain the game would be advanced enough to show anything. However if we have something before, they would probably do a little teaser in the line of what they did for Avengers in 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq_V6WHSmQs

I would be happy with just a teaser like this one tbh

[tomblover]

Originally Posted by Blackmoor

Seeing that teaser reminded me how exciting Shadow seemed when I first saw hints of it. All that darkness and lovely S. American pyramids and jungle, and Lara climbing up this enormous structure in the middle of it all.

Waiting till 2023 for news will be hard on here, it already feels a bit hmmm struggling to find things to talk about at times. But I'd rather they took a decent amount of time to reposition the franchise for the next 3 games than feel rushed into anything.

I thought the teaser was better than the actual trailer, honestly. Less melodramatic, and more visceral, with the hectic cuts and lack of narration.

It certainly sells the apocalyptic premise of the game better, since they didn't end up focusing all that much on Lara's morals in the end.

Speaking of which, I'm praying they'll stop trying to sell us on foregone conclusions, if they aren't going to subvert our expectations where the game's story is concerned.

Shadow didn't particularly dwell on Lara being an antihero - but it's wasting pages in the script, to write those kinds of inner conflicts in at all, without resolving them in a satisfactory way.

We know that the game's ultimately going to posit Lara as the greater good. Having her express all of this self-doubt, then, without it materially affecting her in some way (like Jonah ditching her bitch-ass ) that she can rebound from, is nothing but cheap drama.

For example, Lara knows from the start that taking the dagger is a bad idea, so when Dominguez chides her for doing so, there's really no impact.

She gets very defensive and preachy about it, which paints her in a bad light - but realistically, there was no way she wasn't going to take it, because we are implicitly aware that the dagger would've been worse off in Trinity's hands.

It becomes a stupid non-issue to have Lara wring her hands and whine about, especially since she is obviously hesitant in the first place. That conscience is already there, it's poor storytelling to keep harping on it.

Jonah is upset with Lara for like, point-five seconds, but he never blames her for anything. She drowns half of Cozumel, and buries the mission under a ton of mudslide, but she doesn't lose anything that isn't abstract to her.

The Last Revelation, by comparison, also presumes that Lara's going to save the day - but she nearly kills herself, in the process.

She isn't happy about unleashing Set, and it shows in her behaviour throughout the game (she really thought she could just yoink the amulet, which she wasn't racing anyone else to find, and get away with it), but she doesn't complain about it.

It's not about playing the hero, either. She'll 100% die if she doesn't, and that's all there is to that choice.

If they're going to make it seem like Lara's kind of the villain, then she'd better be kind of the villain, that's all I'm saying.

[Raider8]

Originally Posted by Jamise_Croft

I would be happy with just a teaser like this one tbh

Perhaps this time the glasses would be round and red.

[Blackmoor]

Originally Posted by tomblover

I thought the teaser was better than the actual trailer, honestly. Less melodramatic, and more visceral, with the hectic cuts and lack of narration.

It certainly sells the apocalyptic premise of the game better, since they didn't end up focusing all that much on Lara's morals in the end.

Speaking of which, I'm praying they'll stop trying to sell us on foregone conclusions, if they aren't going to subvert our expectations where the game's story is concerned.

Shadow didn't particularly dwell on Lara being an antihero - but it's wasting pages in the script, to write those kinds of inner conflicts in at all, without resolving them in a satisfactory way.

We know that the game's ultimately going to posit Lara as the greater good. Having her express all of this self-doubt, then, without it materially affecting her in some way (like Jonah ditching her bitch-ass ) that she can rebound from, is nothing but cheap drama.

I loved the trailer apart from the voice over... "I've come so far....I'm not turning back...After all I've sacrificed...I have to wonder...What will I become...."

Yeah, it's too navel gaze-y and melodramatic. And eludes to something that never happens. Lara never does anything in the game to prompt such a dramatic "What will I become?". She's a little rash as usual, makes a mistake that sets off the apocalypse, but didn't do it knowingly. Is in a bit in a rush to get to the next bit to put things right instead of being like Jonah and helping out the locals recover from the flood. Gets a bit angry when she thinks Jonah is dead. Helps the goodies beat the baddies and then saves the day.

For example, Lara knows from the start that taking the dagger is a bad idea, so when Dominguez chides her for doing so, there's really no impact.

She gets very defensive and preachy about it, which paints her in a bad light - but realistically, there was no way she wasn't going to take it, because we are implicitly aware that the dagger would've been worse off in Trinity's hands.

It becomes a stupid non-issue to have Lara wring her hands and whine about, especially since she is obviously hesitant in the first place. That conscience is already there, it's poor storytelling to keep harping on it.

Jonah is upset with Lara for like, point-five seconds, but he never blames her for anything. She drowns half of Cozumel, and buries the mission under a ton of mudslide, but she doesn't lose anything that isn't abstract to her.

I couldn't agree more. They're so against placing her character anywhere but in the "definitely good" camp that all these so issues just feel pointless and resolved before they even start.

I found no sense of scariness that Lara had set off something terrible or that it even mattered because of course it was all going to be put right. And at the same time, I never felt any concern about her morality, because of course she was going to come out golden in the end.

Nearly all her challenges and obstacles (external and internal) feel ankle-high to me in these games. They don't have to give her a blackened heart, that's not what I want and I'm sure most don't, but I would like some genuine suspense, surprise, feelings of dread and fear, and a lack of predictableness to the whole thing.

Put some mystery in there.

I say this a lot but I think I'm in the minority of one on it, but I think that TR would benefit from going more towards the TLOU route. With less hub environments and more dramatically designed worlds that are linear but feel open. Maintaining all the skills she has to get around but placed in more complex, less fields and woods and caves, environments. And then meeting strange beings and creatures (depending on location and mystery) that feel plausible and real, are connected logically the storyline and create fear and apprehension. And a complex storyline on top - genuinely mysterious but also emotionally interesting.

And human enemies used sparingly in some games and more mob-like in others. Get away from anything formulaic and expected.

That's what I'd prefer anyway.

[Samz]

Saw a clip from Uncharted 4 where Nathan Drake sniped an explosive barrel while swinging from a rope.

So we're officially at the point where Nathan Drake is more acrobatic in combat than Lara Croft.

Is it that hard for Crystal Dynamics to actually give Lara acrobatic moves in combat?

[jajay119]

It's been a while since I played Uncharted 4 but I'm pretty sure you can't do that. It may have been scripted.