24-07-19, 12:29 | #21 |
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 867
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I know but as I said: I meant a pyramid we can reach in the jungle, enter it or climb on top of it, whatever - explore it on our own, not in a scripted sequence. For example, a simple walking up the stairs of one of the pyramids would've been a cool feeling for me at least) Love Shadow as it is, don't get me wrong, but I DID expect smth like that in there, just like I expected actual characters and meaningful interaction with them in Paititi since that's what devs went with, a huge hub filled with people
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24-07-19, 13:00 | #22 |
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,089
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I enjoyed it the first time but I got exhausted afterwards. Should've been ruins with either the yaaxil or wildlife or both of them.
Paititties destroyed the whole story pacing. "Rush to stop the apocalypse" my ass |
24-07-19, 13:29 | #23 |
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Joined: Oct 2007
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^Yeah... biggest problems in Shadow imo start with Paititi, that's when the game slowed down drastically going against the story, Lara is forced to wear carpets and skeletons on her, Jonah is left to sit on a bench for the rest of the game and her interactions with new 'characters' in Paititi are all pretty much meaningless. The moment we leave Paititi for San Juan the game is great again, Lara is interesting again, Jonah and Lara get more cool moments tohether, everything falls back into place basically... same goes for the second time we leave and go to to do the final chapter.
Edit: just remembered, for comaprison: in San Juan there is faaaar less people than in Paititi but they are so much more interesting and developed in the time they get with Lara, first the old guy remembering his adventuring days or smth (i forgot now) and than that girl who recognizes THE Lara Croft. But in the whole Paititi area we didn't get a single interesting npc to interact with, how did they manage to do that? Last edited by jackoimina; 24-07-19 at 13:32. |
24-07-19, 13:41 | #24 |
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Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 545
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Yo, what if the game's conflict was that every once in a while, the habitants of paititi would have to sacrifice a chosen one with the dagger (meaning that you couldn't just put the dagger in the box without a sacrifice, otherwise there wouldn't be any effect and the apocalypse would happen) and Lara comes in, and interrupts it and.... Well the apocalypse happens and the whole city turns against her
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24-07-19, 14:23 | #25 |
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Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 8,193
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Mmm, I’m not sure how to answer this question.
Tbh, I think a darker, more unwelcoming version of Paititi, accompanied by a smaller map with interesting challenges instead of boring side quests, would have worked fine. Lara could be blamed as “the outsider who caused all the corruption and cataclysms which ruined the village”, thus making Paititi a dangerous warzone that Lara has to carefully weave her way around. Or, alternatively they could have just given us a big and challenging jungle with some neat landmarks and tombs to check out. That’d be nifty too, I guess. |
24-07-19, 14:38 | #26 |
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Joined: Jan 2016
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I already talked about this before, but I proposed that there should have been two Paititi's.
One Paititi is in the present, ruined and mostly all jungle stuff. The second Paititi is the past Paititi where we have the people and the outfits and such. My story would have been that Paititi was trapped within an alternate dimension between space and time. Both the dagger and the box are used to keep Paititi cut off from the real world. Removing the dagger upset the barrier keeping Paititi in it's own dimension causing a clash between the two Paititi's which triggers an apocalypse since time and space is being torn apart at the conflict. It would explain why removing the dagger causes the cataclysms that we see in Shadow. It would also explain why in the past Paititi Lara wears only tribal stuff. Although I think past Paititi should have just been for story purposes mostly and that most of our experience should have been in the modern ruins of Paititi. |
24-07-19, 15:05 | #27 |
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Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 373
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I like Paititi as is in general but I do feel that it is a bit disconnected from the story outside of the discrete paths. When we come into the city one of the first people we meet warns us of the Jaguar guards. I'd like to see that mean something.
For a city that is pretty much divided in a civil war we really didn't get to see too much of that while roaming around. Yes, for the most part the citizens would be going about their daily routines however there would certainly be incidents and an undercurrent of hostility. especially closer to where the two city districts come near each other. The marketplace especially would've been tense. As far as interesting, distinct NPCs they should've fleshed out the mission giver's a little more. We have Hakan, Uchu, Etzli and Q'orianka in the dlcs but, whereas they stand out, could've been enriched a little more as characters. I really don't have an issue with the fact that Paititi remained concealed since it was not a passive concealment. Having an area blacked out from satellite surveillance wouldn't be all that difficult for a group as powerful as Trinity. Showing a little more of their attempts keep the city concealed may have been a worthwhile add such as finding Trinity surveillance stations around in the jungle. In general I think having Paititi being so static was a negative. As the game progressed I would've liked to notice the changes in Paititi as the death of the sun drew near. Weather and a change in lighting as the sun moves through a day/night cycle. |
24-07-19, 15:24 | #28 |
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24-07-19, 15:46 | #29 | |
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 13,255
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Quote:
We're told that there's an apocalypse in motion , we just aren't shown that . Everything looks so passive , peaceful and ordinary when it shouldn't . Where's the gradual progression of the apocalypse ? why haven't they took notes from TR4 ? y'know : red skies , ancient Egyptian creatures invading the modern world , abnormalities to animals (unusually giant scorpions and beetles) , peculiar weathers for a region like Giza etc . We saw nothing of that . Shadow is honestly one of the worst games featuring an apocalyse theme , it's like the game forgot what it's supposed to be about in favor of...Paititi . It doesn't help that the game barely features any different weathers or times of day other than sunny mornings/afternoons (a tinsy section at nighttime befor San Juan or at the beginning isn't enough) , it creates repetitive visuals which adds to the culmination of flaws Paititi had . A single location in Rise (Geothermal Valley) was available to explore (at different points in the story) in 4 different states : cloudy afternoon with drizzle and faint sun rays , a sunny morning , at sunset with the marvelous orange vibes and at nighttime during a rainstorm . Then there's the mountain village in TR2013 also featuring different weathers and times of day plus having tangible changes during the story affecting its design (the first plane crash and how it altered the way we explore the village and opens new paths) , that's how you save places from being montonous when you decide to do a one-location per game formula , and Shadow suffers greatly from the lack of that treatment . Last edited by Patrick star; 24-07-19 at 15:48. |
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24-07-19, 15:51 | #30 |
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 8,227
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Facts!!!
TR4 over Shadow anyday. Amazing how a 1999 game can give you the chills and goosebumps and make you pretty scared. Those thunderstorms as a kid still haunt me. Shadow on the other hand failed completely. Shame. Imagine everything TR4 did with Shadow's graphics. Last edited by Athukraz; 24-07-19 at 15:53. |
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