VIDEO What are you currently playing?

Glad you are enjoying Tomb Raider, the reboot is fantastic. I played them again last summer and had a blast!! Do you have a favourite from the series?

 

Tomb Raider (2013) is one of my all time favourite games, which I rated 9.5/10. I loved Rise of the Tomb Raider as well, but the first game is definitely my favourite. If Shadow continues this strongly, it could end up beating them both.

 

Couldn't agree more. On my first play through, I preferred Rise of the Tomb Raider. However, on the second play, I enjoyed TR (2013) a lot more, I preferred the environment. This made it steal 1st place from Rise of the TR

 

I absolutely loved the action sequences and set pieces in the 2013 game. It honestly blew my mind for the entire playthrough.

 

I played the Demo of Rise several months ago. Seems like it'll be a good game; I've been playing the TR games since the early 2000s beginning with "Tomb Raider Anniversary". I'll probably get Rise by the Fall when the price has gone down substantially and I'm done with World of Final Fantasy.

 

Re: Tomb Raider reboot 2013 / 14

There were a few things that greatly marred this for me - to the degree that I'm not sure if I should start Rise of the Tomb Raider:

• Even on Easy, it is still a very unforgiving game. Lara can't take much damage, the enemy AI is very smart, the QTEs are very unforgiving.
• The QTE / chase / escape failure sequences were excessively nasty.
• It used QTEs when it shouldn't - the infamous Russian rape is the example of this. In that sequence you should be on Lara's fear and dismay, but instead you have to ignore that to keep an eye out for the button prompt so you don't have to watch again. The QTE actively works against the story telling.

Despite these factors, I can see what they were going for. How do you make a series very similar to, yet distinct from Uncharted? You whack up the violence, blood, gore and grit.

Some of the escape sequences are masterpieces of design, especially when it's clear as to where to go and do as you can more enjoy the audio-visual splendour. Similarly, the last level of the game where I had a fully tooled up Lara was hilarious. Hmm, shield guys? Meet Grenade Arrows. The boss on the boat was hilariously gruesome, as Lara takes on a 7-8 foot armoured hulk. It was: Ok she's dodged that hit, dodged that, counter button.... Oh, she's.... Ripping his face off with an ice pick! Okaaaaaay.

Graphically, the game was more than a match for its lighter competition and the way the island fit together was very neat. The story telling, when it wasn't doing dumb QTEs, was very effective - it did keep me playing or, rather, returning to the game twice after giving up on it.

 

I haven't played Shadow but I definitely preferred Rise over the first one simply because the tombs were way better. Both games are great though.

 

Of course the real best Tomb Raider is the 90s original with its terrible controls and unwieldy camera and oh who am I even kidding.

 

Lol, I played the first 2 on my PS3 (it can play PS1 games) a while back, I stopped after that and ended up watching the others on YouTube as the controls were not easy

 

Gave FFXV another go.

This time it was point-warps that were a pain in the arse - the display doesn't help, suggesting all you need is triangle. Despite this, however, the gang took out a Lv 32 super-cow to do a quest. Were a few other fights where it flow quite nicely, though my gang is way over-leveled but whatever works.

Did a bit of exploration and driving around, which really showed off the design aesthetics of the world quite neatly. For all it falls down in some areas - like a finite battle area - in others, it has a very neat look to it.

Once I've reacquired combat skills I might actually stop doing sidequests. Oh yeah, got an upgraded Engine Blade, not yet tried it out.

 

Starting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 dlc: The Golden Country.

Hope it's as good as main story, with less rex voice acting.

 

Super Robot Wars Z




And I did. It's got Overman King Gainer, which is awesome. It's also got Gundam SEED: Destiny which is a crime against humanity. So in conclusion it's impossible to say whether it's good or not.

 

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Picked this up again in the first time in 3 weeks. Just found my way to Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, took ages to get the blue flame up to it as it kept raining or my stick would break!

 

I think the time for me to replay this game is drawing nigh. I lost my 100+ hour save when I sent my Switch in for repair last year, but starting from scratch seems great. I booted it up while showing off my Switch to a coworker who was considering getting one, and it got me craving a return.

 

Rime
I've so far had two short sessions with this game. What I immediately enjoy about it is it's colourful and clean art style, as well as its relaxing, calm tone.

 

Not currently playing it as I just got home but my local Fred’s is going out of business and having a blowout sale. My eyes just happen to fall on Dues Ex Mankind Divided for XB(I didn’t know they had games..) for $5.24 so I got it. Have never played one but they always catch my eye when shown at E3/Tokyo shows.

Opinions?

 

That's $5.24 more than I paid for it but it's fine I guess.

 

Surviving Mars. I find it incredibly addictive and relaxing.

 

I loved Human Revolution last generation. Mankind Divided was more of that, but felt much less exciting as a result. Still mostly enjoyed it though. I would strongly suggest playing HR first. It's backwards compatible on the Xbox One.

 

Sniper Elite 4. Love sniping and being sneaky.

 

And, in the next post, @themoth admits to spending far too much time lining up the perfect testicle shot.