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So why didn't anyone tell me Shadow of the Tomb Raider looked so good?
- Thread starter Deleted member 19924
- Start date
I really enjoyed it. It had its problems and fair criticisms but how it looked wasn't up for debate with me.
Noone... :p
Visuals are not what people complained about this game for the most part. Multiple screenshots threads even had this game during release.
Visuals are not what people complained about this game for the most part. Multiple screenshots threads even had this game during release.
The game looked good in its early sections.
but man the game itself was garbage to me. I hated it.
but man the game itself was garbage to me. I hated it.
Yeah for some reason people loved to hate on this game even though it was fantastic and one of the best in the series. It's funny, a lot of people complained about the lack of combat in the game but they were the same ones saying the previous two had too much action and was more akin to Uncharted than OG Tomb Raider.
Visually this game was the opposite of Rise to me. In Rise the interiors and tombs look incredible but the forest and open hub areas looked dull. In Shadow the open forest areas looked fantastic but then the interiors looked just okay.
I love it when people who like a game act like it's just hated for no reason when people have clearly articulated their issues many times already.
I love it when people who like a game act like it's just hated for no reason when people have clearly articulated their issues many times already.
I think it's the art direction and/or color palette. Image quality is improved, lighting is improved, map size is larger, but it's not as interesting to look at as the reboot or Rise in environment design. Colors feel more muted by comparison as well. There's always been something a bit 'off' with Shadow's presentation.
It lacks a certain polish to it, especially with the animations.
The real reason why no one told you, is because Square-Enix does their best to try to sabotage their own games. Sept 2018 had BOTH Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Dragon Quest XI, released in back to back weeks, BEHIND the mega-hit Marvel's Spider-man.
Even everyone on this forum was passing on both those games in favour of Spider-man.
It's sort of how like EVERYONE skipped over Rise of the Tomb Raider, because Square-Enix has no brain. A week after Black-Ops 3, on the SAME DAY as Fallout 4, and 1 week before Star Wars: Battlefront, in one of the most packed months of the year for games. And I guess some boycotting due to the Microsoft exclusivity thing that was going on.
Which is a shame since this reboot series deserves a lot more attention instead of calling it an "Uncharted Clone"
Even everyone on this forum was passing on both those games in favour of Spider-man.
It's sort of how like EVERYONE skipped over Rise of the Tomb Raider, because Square-Enix has no brain. A week after Black-Ops 3, on the SAME DAY as Fallout 4, and 1 week before Star Wars: Battlefront, in one of the most packed months of the year for games. And I guess some boycotting due to the Microsoft exclusivity thing that was going on.
Which is a shame since this reboot series deserves a lot more attention instead of calling it an "Uncharted Clone"
Yeah that's right, I even think this forum's "Niche-man" meme started in a Spider-man vs Shadow of TTR sales thread.
See that sounds awesome to me, and I'm almost dreading the thought of playing Rise first. I kind of bounced off the first game in the reboot series but have recently been interested in jumping back in it again. But combat is what made me kind of bounce off in the first place. It's not bad, it's just, I find the puzzles more interesting.
RDR2 is a masterpiece, it doesn't matter what a bunch of 30 year old Sony/Nintendo fans in Era think. Anything but Sony/Nintendo exclusive games is called overrated here apparently!Game didn't get a fair shake at all. Critics went extra hard on it, and then overrated the fuck out of RDR2 a month later.
Yeah Shadow looks great, Lara looks better than ever, quite possibly the most beautiful character model ever, and the exploration is fun and relatively varied, story is okay too, and great stealth. I enjoyed it but the insta death Crash Bandicoot segments really hurt the game for me, I hate all that and I don't understand why they're in the game, and the end boss is crap.
Still, 7/10, maybe even 8/10 on a sunny day
Rise is the best new TR imo, at the time of the release it was even on my GOTY list, I 100-percented it and truly enjoyed it, played like God of War or a metroidvania if you like with the hub like levels and gear unlocks. People were far too negative on that one, possibly because of the exclusivity controversy.
Still easily a 9/10 even today.
TR2013 felt too much like Uncharted, still good because it revived Tomb Raider and Lara Croft. The gun play was great and the story was quite okay, at the time it was a solid game but as a whole and when looking back on it I don't think it's worthy of the praise it gets in TR threads here these days.
8/10 on release, 6/10 today.
Still, 7/10, maybe even 8/10 on a sunny day
Rise is the best new TR imo, at the time of the release it was even on my GOTY list, I 100-percented it and truly enjoyed it, played like God of War or a metroidvania if you like with the hub like levels and gear unlocks. People were far too negative on that one, possibly because of the exclusivity controversy.
Still easily a 9/10 even today.
TR2013 felt too much like Uncharted, still good because it revived Tomb Raider and Lara Croft. The gun play was great and the story was quite okay, at the time it was a solid game but as a whole and when looking back on it I don't think it's worthy of the praise it gets in TR threads here these days.
8/10 on release, 6/10 today.
But I told you!
Environments are up there with the absolute best looking games this gen and it looks stunning in 4k HDR.
Not sure why it doesn't get mentioned as often as the usual titles.
Game is rather forgettable though and while Lara's model is impressively detailed something about it always looked off. She also looks like she's wearing a wig.
Environments are up there with the absolute best looking games this gen and it looks stunning in 4k HDR.
Not sure why it doesn't get mentioned as often as the usual titles.
Game is rather forgettable though and while Lara's model is impressively detailed something about it always looked off. She also looks like she's wearing a wig.
The whole series has been great. It always looks amazing, and it's always had the same gameplay structure that the God of War reboot went with which people seem to love. Not sure what about it makes people overlook it.
I wrote a topic about this game a while ago in here and it was drowned in negative comments.
It's the best one gameplay-wise from the trilogy.
It changes the biggest criticized aspect of the new trilogy: too much shooting, and adds a lot of exploring.
The sense of isolation was amazing and I actually felt like I was playing Tomb Raider again.
The new elements were great as well.
The DLCs were really well designed.
And yes, the treatment this game got VS some overhyped games a few weeks later was laughable.
It's the best one gameplay-wise from the trilogy.
It changes the biggest criticized aspect of the new trilogy: too much shooting, and adds a lot of exploring.
The sense of isolation was amazing and I actually felt like I was playing Tomb Raider again.
The new elements were great as well.
The DLCs were really well designed.
And yes, the treatment this game got VS some overhyped games a few weeks later was laughable.
People wanted to hate it so bad at launch due to it not being developed by Crystal Dynamics (basically Tomb Raider's rendition or Arkham Origins). It's in no way a worse game than the other two games in the trilogy and it looks pretty damn incredible.
Yes it does! The game looks really nice even on standard ps4, not to mention pro/X or high end PC. Since we've already soaked into overall discussion about whole reboot trilogy I guess it won't be too off topic to add my 5 cents. I've enjoyed all three games a lot. Yes, they all have some flaws, like some shooting sections and story bits being a bit off, but I still had a great time with all three. And the treatment this games got - it's the thing that sucks the most, epesially the Shadow situation. A lot of people simply missed the game, it didn't sell too well and now it just looks like whole TR franchise is going on the shelf for a really long break, atleast in terms of AAA-reboot trilogy style. And that sucks even more. Idk, here just hoping I will see another big TR game next-generation, I don't want to wait like 8 years for SE to decide "yep, time to try to reboot it again, maybe this time it will work".
I recently completed this and as said, visually it's fantastic, except for facial animations. I don't know why but it's like a lot of stuff that is not cutscenes is delivered with a dead pan look on NPCs and Lara. The level design is good and a lot of the tombs are fun to go through. But everything else is pretty terrible:
- They have managed to make a story with a decent recipe incredibly boring. There's just zero charisma to any of the characters.
- Everything NPCs say is boring to listen. I love the "Lara looking at NPC while backing away from the conversation" animation.
- Item descriptions are not much more interesting.
- Upgrading skillls is irrelevant because you have barely any use for them anywhere in the game.
- Crafting stuff is again pointless because you don't get to use all that stuff.
Played both games back to back on PC maxed out. Shadow's enviromental detail, vistas, asset density is head and shoulders ahead of Rise. Like, it's not even close. Not to mention that Shadow actually has a good AA solution, something that Rise really struggled with. Without downsampling or SSAA that game was jaggies town.
Lara looks amazing in both games. I've seen some disingenious comparisons with people trying to compare Rise's cutscene model with Shadow's ingame model - but in terms of fair comparisons, it's basically impossible to tell the differences.
I honestly think it boils down to the fact that people just generally prefer Rise's location aesthetics. Shadow is admittedly a little one-note with its jungles. But from purely a technical standpoint, Shadow is ahead.
Shadow got a lot of flak on this forum from even before it released. There were so many shitshow threads people straight up calling it a PS3 game. It was absolutely ridiculous.
Dare I say that it's because the game was not an exclusive, so there were no platform fanboys to champion it?
Dare I?
Game looks stunning. Certainly the best looking jungle in videogames.
Dare I?
Game looks stunning. Certainly the best looking jungle in videogames.
I really loved this game, and you're right OP, it can be quite a looker. Especially with its environments. It was my favourite of the reboots, though I do think it's does a few things worse than it's predecessors. The UI, sound effects, some of the feedback in combat. It's strengths however far exceed any of its flaws, and I loved the pacing.
I really enjoyed the DLC too, even if it didn't always fit into the world very organically.
I really enjoyed the DLC too, even if it didn't always fit into the world very organically.
Yes. in my opinion, Eidos Montreal is better than Crystal Dynamics at storytelling.
Give the game a chance, pace is slower but it has a very beautiful, natural world and better exploration.
Literally everyone thought the game looked amazing. Frame rate on the other hand had some serious issues in certain parts of the game.