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Old 29-04-20, 03:53   #1
\Tomb Raider/
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Default Lara and her environment

Playing underworld you can tell crystal put a lot of time and effort in making Lara interact with her environment, pushing shrubs, reacting to her environment, touching walls, covering her face when the sun is in her eyes, Lara sweats, and most importantly the mo cap making her moves way more fluid through her environment.

Point of this thread, what is something the previous games had environmentally that you wish they had kept for all future titles, including Lara?

For me the mo cap for her acrobatics, the way she moved through her environment, minus the choppy way she turned to fast. Loved how lush and inviting the water in underworld look. How Lara reacted to shrubs in her way which would be nice if they kept in shadow.
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Old 29-04-20, 11:16   #2
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I wish the environments had continued to have been designed with what Lara can do in mind rather than the reverse. I'd much rather have had environments with set rules for navigation such as running jumps, pressing a button to latch on to walls, areas being consistently grabable even if they don't go anywhere important. Given Lara command over her environment to me was the important thing. I was never really too bothered with her touching walls or pushing shrubbs etc. It was a nice added detail so if they do add it I won't complain but I think Lara's environments need major overhalls.
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Old 29-04-20, 12:18   #3
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THIS!

Thailand was probably one of the best levels Crystal has ever made.. and it felt VERY classic TR.
The level should also be an enemy.. pitfalls and heights etc

One moment I thought while replaying TR2013 felt (kinda) like this.. and it was one of the more open sections without wall ledges and linear gameplay.
It was the section of cliffs where Lara needs to find Captain Jessop.. near his flares when the wind blows the rope fixture out of place.

There jumps and having to kinda guess if she'd make it felt quite classic to me..
The fact its more platforming than simple wall ledges.

Now if only entire levels were like this - and the fact that Lara can actually walk/fall of edges without the invisible wall thing (she can't even roll off which is dumb AF)
Like.. at least make it like LAU or Uncharted where she could grab the edge on the way past when she rolls over an edge..
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Old 29-04-20, 16:36   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jajay119 View Post
I wish the environments had continued to have been designed with what Lara can do in mind rather than the reverse. I'd much rather have had environments with set rules for navigation such as running jumps, pressing a button to latch on to walls, areas being consistently grabable even if they don't go anywhere important. Given Lara command over her environment to me was the important thing. I was never really too bothered with her touching walls or pushing shrubbs etc. It was a nice added detail so if they do add it I won't complain but I think Lara's environments need major overhalls.
Mod Edit: Oversized Gif removed. Please keep to the 500kb limit.

I feel like the modern TR games are more made by artists than actual level designers, which isn't a good thing for an action game. A lot of the sections where Lara does the most floaty jumps just scream "No, we can't have this ledge closer to the other one or else this environment won't look 100% as I want it to! Just make Lara jump further so she can reach this ledge!" This series just needs consistent jumping distances back! IMO that's even more important than acrobatic combat or more complex level design because then at least the platforming could become challenging again.

Last edited by Rai; 01-05-20 at 17:12.
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Old 29-04-20, 17:49   #5
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Nice points, I agree with OP and every posts here !
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Old 29-04-20, 18:24   #6
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Loved how lush and inviting the water in underworld look. How Lara reacted to shrubs in her way which would be nice if they kept in shadow.
I vastly agree. The water in Thailand was short but so very enjoyable. The music, the calming waves, the nonthreatening sharks,... everything about it was relaxing and radiating good vibes.
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Old 29-04-20, 22:04   #7
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I agree so much, for me Underworld had magnificent interaction with the environment, It also gave you freedom on how you wanted to approach the different environments. I miss this in the recent TR games.
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Old 01-05-20, 16:27   #8
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I agree so much, for me Underworld had magnificent interaction with the environment
Huh ??

I agree it had the most varied moveset out of the whole franchise , but the interaction with the environment was abysmal imo . The game was riddled with invisible walls and ledges/structures that looked like they could be grabbed/stood on but actually aren't .

"Freedom" and Underworld just don't mix .
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Old 03-05-20, 23:25   #9
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Huh ??

I agree it had the most varied moveset out of the whole franchise , but the interaction with the environment was abysmal imo . The game was riddled with invisible walls and ledges/structures that looked like they could be grabbed/stood on but actually aren't .

"Freedom" and Underworld just don't mix .
I don’t think they were talking about the invisible walls but the way Lara interacted with shrubs, things blocking her way, underworld had a good interaction with the character and how the Environment looked to bring it to life. You look at a game like red dead redemption 2 and you can instantly see how a live the environmental feels, the clouds move, the grass, trees, shrubs, a characters hair, the list goes on. Tomb raider needs a more complex environment not only too look beautiful but can also be threatening not just an environment that contains a puzzle.

We need heights, calculated jumps, weather affecting how we explore or traverse leges or slopes.....
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Old 04-05-20, 00:06   #10
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I think Underworld is a special case. It didn't give you much freedom about where you interact with your environment, just for the main path or the secret ones. I admit hubs in Reboot and Rise did better jobs for instance in this particular case.
However when you interact it gives you more options about how you approached your environment.
If you want to draw your weapon while climbing, go ahead. If you want to make a cartwheel on a beam, be my guest. If you want to stand up above a bar, etc... Sometimes just for the style, sometimes for spice things up. In this case, later games were quite minimalistic.

Last edited by Chamayoo; 04-05-20 at 00:10.
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