Core Design's Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition - Media & Discussion

[Boobandie]

Originally Posted by ESCachuli

Kinda sad, if you think about it. Still we are just judging an early document. Maybe the "forgiving traps" part could have been in "Easy Mode" and would have a "Hardcore Mode" without the helps.

I think by 'forgiving traps' they mean they would be getting rid of cheap deaths you can't see coming. Traps would be just as lethal, but you'd have a little time to react and dodge it, or you would be able to see the mechanism beforehand and prepare. The classics did have a few traps that you could basically only avoid if you already knew it was there, which is bad game design. They player, if attentive, should be able to get through a level first time without dying. We saw this with the trapdoor spider. It's an instant death, but you can see it hiding if you're paying attention.

Walking two steps to the right in the first kings quest and getting eaten with no warning. Bad design.

[ESCachuli]

Originally Posted by Boobandie

I think by 'forgiving traps' they mean they would be getting rid of cheap deaths you can't see coming. Traps would be just as lethal, but you'd have a little time to react and dodge it, or you would be able to see the mechanism beforehand and prepare. The classics did have a few traps that you could basically only avoid if you already knew it was there, which is bad game design. They player, if attentive, should be able to get through a level first time without dying. We saw this with the trapdoor spider. It's an instant death, but you can see it hiding if you're paying attention.

Walking two steps to the right in the first kings quest and getting eaten with no warning. Bad design.

That would be sensible, no t forgiving. They were clear, forgiving means "being able to avoid after failing" like being able to auto-hold the cliff before falling to the spikes and such.

But I agree some traps were very mean xd

[sackboy123]

That's what I loved about the traps, you never see it coming

[Wooxman]

Originally Posted by Blackmoor

Yes but to me that's only a level 1 answer. My (rhetorical) question was more concerned about why things seem to be getting dumber and dumber generally...ie, is the world getting dumber... And if so, what is the cause. I also have concerns about feedback loops... the dumber the stuff you feed people, the less stretched they have to be, the dumber they want it, the less stretched... and so on.

Which leads to me to wondering if in fact elitism in the arts, etc, albeit exclusionary and pompous, has a role in dragging the population forward in terms of creativity, innovation and what-have-you. That's what I always liked about the BBC in the UK - it isn't reliant on advertising revenue as funding and so can divorce itself from "mass popularity". And because of that, doesn't always create content for the lowest common denominator, as such, just because it generates a wider audience. But this is not appropriate for discussion here. Although that sentence I highlighted in the Core proposal made me muse on these things inwardly. :/

You can't really have this with video games as long as they're mostly financed by their sales. AFAIK the BBC is funded by the government, right? We've similar TV channels in Germany and they also can create programs that aren't suited for the masses. But that doesn't work with video games, at least not yet. Crowdfunding is one solution of the problem, but it's kinda risky for the consumer as not every project gets finished and it never happens with triple A titles.

Originally Posted by Blackmoor

I think you could see it a bit with AoD too - I felt that game isn't anywhere like the difficulty / complexity of TR3 - although the Hall of Seasons bits (and others) had their moments.

It's already there in Chronicles. I'm currently replaying it and the game is like a walk in the park. Even enemy wise it's not as heavy as TR I-IV. An example: When the dragon in TR II spits fire on you, Lara will burn until she dies or gets into one of the water holes. The serpents in Chronicles have to hit Lara a few times before she ignites and the serpent battle isn't even as hard as the dragon battle since you can hide at the sides of the building and the water hole is pretty close by.

[JACOBryanBURNS]

I just read the Tomb of Ash thing and now I just want to crawl into a corner and cry for what never was. Like ugly cry.

Also, Lara's younger, sexier, dodgy cousin?

So Bimbo Raider?

[LaraCablara]

I'm sorry but that document didn't sound too good The whole multiplayer aspect and trading treasure sounded ok but it seems really out of place given what kind of game Tomb Raider 1 even was.. Those aren't the changes I wanted to see and knowing they were using "updated" 1996 assets and "updated" AI from Tomb Raider 4 and "updated" classic controls sounds like a hot mess waiting to happen.

Melissa Croft just sounds lame too. Some of the updated assets sounds embarrassing too, resampling the original FMV sequences? Eh I hope this is fake.

[Boobandie]

Remember it was an early document. The game eventually became a fully fledged remake when it was planned to just be a spit and polish. The original fmv's would have been an unlockable extra according to later interviews, we have some storyboards showing the revised versions of the cutscenes.

[JACOBryanBURNS]

Originally Posted by Boobandie

Remember it was an early document. The game eventually became a fully fledged remake when it was planned to just be a spit and polish. The original fmv's would have been an unlockable extra according to later interviews, we have some storyboards showing the revised versions of the cutscenes.

Can you link me to these? I'd greatly like to see this.

[Boobandie]

I'd love to but my hard drive (containing a ton of irreplaceable files and all my compiled TRAE stuff) got corrupted near the beginning of the year. Best bet is to search on here for them. The released storyboards are for the intro explosion and the cafe with Larson.

[JACOBryanBURNS]

Ouch. That makes my heart hurt for you.

I'll dig around. Thank you!