Hitman-style episodic content could fit this quite well. Very large, heavily detailed and complex locations with unique challenges, goals and story beats - scratches the GaaS too.
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Where does Tomb Raider go from here?
- Thread starter oni-link
- Start date
Hitman-style episodic content could fit this quite well. Very large, heavily detailed and complex locations with unique challenges, goals and story beats - scratches the GaaS too.
No, I am not.
That's what I was thinking. I'm going to guess that AC has maybe had more console titles also or roughly the same yet it's just gotten rebooted for the first time. It has been able to just remain more popular for longer and COD4 until this year has played largely the same. Same engine and same core concept with just some changes here and there like how the killstreaks work or some aesthetic change like the setting but the core gameplay is the same while Tomb Raider has had two revisions and now there is talk of a third reboot.
It just seems like people get excited at the first entry of a reboot and then excitement quickly tapers off by the time the third game comes out.
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Back to the vault until another re-imagining.
I loved the first one and enjoyed the 2nd enough to get through it, but by the 3rd i felt so done with the formula that i opted not to finish it.
I loved the first one and enjoyed the 2nd enough to get through it, but by the 3rd i felt so done with the formula that i opted not to finish it.
Then I made a mistake in my wording. I am talking about why does Tomb Raider need multiple reboots every few games to sustain lasting appeal.
Reboot, please. Overhauled stealth mechanics with non-lethal options, focus on raiding tombs, actual traversal puzzles and a complete restart of Lara's character. Make her older, more experienced, with personality and charm this time, like she used to have before. Or go wild and ditch the whole rich family background for something completely new.
It goes into a new (third) reboot. Hopefully away from Crystal and Eidos Montreal.
Dunno, any other developer. Choose from some other developer from Square Enix japanese branch, to try something new. Surprise us, change genre, historic period, bring original Laura Cruz, anything!
However, if I had any input on it, I'd choose to feature an older hard-boiled experienced Lara Croft, think Jake Hunter or Kyle Hyde. But story very sporadically delivered. So more Nintendo EAD and less Uncharted.
It'd be more focused on puzzles scenarios in fantasy settings, like the Core Design series, but in an artstyle that would be closer to Fornite, so it allows to present the character jumping unrealistically, Dinosaurs, plotholes, less gruesome deaths, action, oneliners, etc.
Turn the next entry into the Venom of videogames but without any ado, or explanations, or serious plot.
Just pure schlock, fun videogame schlock. With a heavy dosis of puzzles, that's it :D
Dunno, any other developer. Choose from some other developer from Square Enix japanese branch, to try something new. Surprise us, change genre, historic period, bring original Laura Cruz, anything!
However, if I had any input on it, I'd choose to feature an older hard-boiled experienced Lara Croft, think Jake Hunter or Kyle Hyde. But story very sporadically delivered. So more Nintendo EAD and less Uncharted.
It'd be more focused on puzzles scenarios in fantasy settings, like the Core Design series, but in an artstyle that would be closer to Fornite, so it allows to present the character jumping unrealistically, Dinosaurs, plotholes, less gruesome deaths, action, oneliners, etc.
Turn the next entry into the Venom of videogames but without any ado, or explanations, or serious plot.
Just pure schlock, fun videogame schlock. With a heavy dosis of puzzles, that's it :D
Three reboots in 22 years is not that bad. You could say Resident Evil had that, or Zelda. Assassin's Creed has one in 10.
More like the old series in a lot of ways, done with new creativity and imagination. Not just recreating the old ones, but do make new games with that character and a bit of that style. A pulpy fun adventure with a curvy double pistol firing action woman, more emphasis on platforming and fast-paced action, with less survival elements and groundedness.
I like 90s comics like Witchblade and of course the Tomb Raider comic, which crossed over with Witchblade, so we know where I'm at, I want 90s over-the-top fun. Imagine say a popular Japanese studio is making the game, that's the Tomb Raider I want. Actually, it is owned by Square Enix, why don't we just let Japan have a go at it?
And it's always good to see Luca Turilli, I say he can do a couple metal songs for the soundtrack. (an avatar on the last page)
I like 90s comics like Witchblade and of course the Tomb Raider comic, which crossed over with Witchblade, so we know where I'm at, I want 90s over-the-top fun. Imagine say a popular Japanese studio is making the game, that's the Tomb Raider I want. Actually, it is owned by Square Enix, why don't we just let Japan have a go at it?
And it's always good to see Luca Turilli, I say he can do a couple metal songs for the soundtrack. (an avatar on the last page)
Did Lara finally become the Tomb Raider with the latest game? Is her origin story finally complete?
Hopefully a more playful and fun Lara in the future now that she's gotten all her "grimdark"/Edgy BS out the way. please who am i kidding, more weird sex moans/deaths for all!
I dislike everything about the story and characterisation in the reboot trilogy. The mechanics and beautiful art design carried me through two games but by the time Shadow rolled around, I had enough. Burn it all down and build on the game design with a narrative that doesn't drain the lifeblood, energy and enjoyment from the core fantasy. The hyper-violent, faux-horror setting populated with insipid characters and nonsensical conspiracies just isn't a world I want to spend 50-100 hours in.
If ego, marketing or creativity doesn't allow a full reboot, give Lara an estranged daughter who sets out to make amends for her mother's amoral, mass-murdering and heritage-stealing sprees.
If ego, marketing or creativity doesn't allow a full reboot, give Lara an estranged daughter who sets out to make amends for her mother's amoral, mass-murdering and heritage-stealing sprees.
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The original saga made by Core Design was, well creatively and critically, milked to death by EIDOS in a short period of time, due them requiring the developers to do an entry every year. AoD tried to alleviate that, but it was cut short.
Enter Crystal Dynamics with their first trilogy, it was so-so at best, it lived by name only, so it never made an splash into mainstream again.
Nu-reboot with Tomb Raider (2013), had promise, despite being a pastiche of everything trendy, but they never delivered an evolution on the formula.
Mismanaging of the franchise is the answer, I think. From the upper-ups, starting with EIDOS and now Square-Enix.
Soul Calibur 6 in some ways is a great way to approach the next one I'd say. A "soft reboot". And not another origin, in SC6 for example all the characters are established and are as we know them, and they kind of went back in time to when more people were into the series. While also bringing new gameplay ideas and flair to the table.
They also kind of did this already with Tomb Raider Legend, which was cool at the time, and got the series back on track I felt. Just have a Lara who's a bit more classic show up in an adventure that appeals in that sort of style, and run with it. No explanation really needed I guess, though they could just say it's a soft reboot in press stuff.
They also kind of did this already with Tomb Raider Legend, which was cool at the time, and got the series back on track I felt. Just have a Lara who's a bit more classic show up in an adventure that appeals in that sort of style, and run with it. No explanation really needed I guess, though they could just say it's a soft reboot in press stuff.
Preview of next Tomb Raider: "See how Lara becomes the Tomb Raider in THIS one"
I loved Tomb Raider on my Sega Saturn and LOVED the reboot series. I seriously didn't know it was looked down on like this. I just assumed we would just get more of the same since she's the Tomb Raider now..
Kind of depressed you guys saying it's not happening haha.
Kind of depressed you guys saying it's not happening haha.
My hopes are another reboot. Or at least a soft one. If they must maintain that the events of the latest trilogy happened, then so be it. But the new reboot needs to completely distance itself from it. No more whiny unlikeable Lara. No more bow and arrow emphesis. No more pointless weapon upgrades. We need the confident explorer back who enjoys doing what she's doing with a game that has skill based traversal and puzzles and some actual large scale tombs to raid. That would be enough for me.
I'm not asking for shorts and massive boobs in a vinyl green top. I just want the essence of Lara back, because it was lost and the recent trilogy didn't manage to find it in the slightest.
I'm not asking for shorts and massive boobs in a vinyl green top. I just want the essence of Lara back, because it was lost and the recent trilogy didn't manage to find it in the slightest.
I said years ago and still believe it now after finishing Shadow, Tomb Raider will be better as a third person Far Cry 3. And with the style of game that AC Origins was, I think it can take a lot of inspiration from there as well.
Open world hunting would be much more fun than the tiny shoebox areas of the last game, Far Cry and AC Origins have shown you can still have great caves and tombs with puzzles and action scattered throughout large open worlds and with Tomb Raider struggling to get their story, acting and characters at the level you'd expect from linear action adventure games, they could scale it back to acceptable open world quality narratives.
Not to mention Lara on motorbikes, horseback, a day/night cycle, and other cool things the series could take advantage of.
Open world hunting would be much more fun than the tiny shoebox areas of the last game, Far Cry and AC Origins have shown you can still have great caves and tombs with puzzles and action scattered throughout large open worlds and with Tomb Raider struggling to get their story, acting and characters at the level you'd expect from linear action adventure games, they could scale it back to acceptable open world quality narratives.
Not to mention Lara on motorbikes, horseback, a day/night cycle, and other cool things the series could take advantage of.
We need to get Axl Rose on the line, since he famously conquered a similar problem when Guns N' Roses was putting together Sweet Child o' Mine:
But seriously, I'd give the IP a rest.
But seriously, I'd give the IP a rest.
It has been slightly annoying to me that I KNOW they have put in so much more effort into the writing and overall narrative in the current trilogy and yet failed to pull me in as much as the first three games in the series history where it's mostly there to justify the globe trotting and puzzles.
Funnily enough, given her sociopathic (if not outright psychopathic) persona I think she might as well become the next Hitman.
Premise is simple:
Lara is a wet work specialist employed by The Museum (a global conglomerate of international Museum run by Illuminati or some such). They enlist her to tracks down notable members of Trinity who have in their possession artifacts of mystical powers that could change the fabric of the world, or better yet, reality, eliminate them and recover the said artifacts.
Personally, I'd want something that's basically Mirror's Edge but in the jungle/mountains/ancient ruins etc. Maybe more like Titanfall if it has to be more combat-oriented (in terms of movement + combat at least, I'm not expecting big mechs or all that).
I don't think Square would go for that though. Lara'll probably be rested for a few years, maybe appearing in a crossover with some Final Fantasy game. Then she'll come back in a perfectly enjoyable but completely unremarkable trend-follower.
I don't think Square would go for that though. Lara'll probably be rested for a few years, maybe appearing in a crossover with some Final Fantasy game. Then she'll come back in a perfectly enjoyable but completely unremarkable trend-follower.
It needs to go away for 5+ years is what it needs to do. Pronto. No more Tomb Raider until you can bring back the sassy, elite Lara we know and love.
Sure, Mario changes too much sometimes. I don't think adventure-style games are as good as platforming focused games and Odyssey fell kinda flat, but they're still good and close enough to Mario's roots. And they still make games like 3D World and the 2D games.
I dunno. The reboot appealed largely to new people. A lot of the sentiment I heard over and over was "I never got into Tomb Raider before. I love this game!" while a lot of the long-time fans were turned off by the focus on combat and story. A similar thing did happen with Resident Evil where the focus on action turned off some classic fans, and then RE7 brought things back to a more classic style and was very popular. However, RE was a change from Survival Horror to Action Shooter, which is not a huge change in gameplay focus; at least nowhere near as huge as the 2013 reboot changing Tomb Raider from a platforming game to a cover-based shooter.
Take a break, after playing 5 Uncharteds and 3 TRs ( plus the current gen Remasters) in 10 years, I'm just kinda super burnt-out of those type of action-adventure games. The quality doesn't even really matter at this point, I'll just have no interest if it's not been a good few years or well priced.
Needs to have some sort of Sony exclusivity to be taken seriously
Nah jk, it needs
less side characters
less talking
Less story
Less Jonah
Less of mum and dad
Less crafting and upgrade menus
More tomb raiding
Get some horror of fun themes
Maybe a different graphical style
Nah jk, it needs
less side characters
less talking
Less story
Less Jonah
Less of mum and dad
Less crafting and upgrade menus
More tomb raiding
Get some horror of fun themes
Maybe a different graphical style
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It's weird to see the whole "Reboot trilogy isn't what I want." and the demands of another reboot tied along with them. If it weren't selling I doubt we'd have gotten a third one - even with the weird exclusivity of Rise.
That said, I like the reboot trilogy, a lot, but I think Shadow was a bit of a step down. I appreciate the better tombs and puzzles but there should have been a bit more combat. And yeah, the story wasn't fantastic but it really dropped the ball on tying up the whole Trinity arc imo. Such a weird, random plot.
That said, I like the reboot trilogy, a lot, but I think Shadow was a bit of a step down. I appreciate the better tombs and puzzles but there should have been a bit more combat. And yeah, the story wasn't fantastic but it really dropped the ball on tying up the whole Trinity arc imo. Such a weird, random plot.
You kind of missed the rest of my post. AC and CoD don't have many direct sequels. Most of their games have their own unique settings and characters. Infinite Warfare has absolutely nothing to do with WW2, Modern Warfare or Black Ops, for example. Same goes for the AC games. Even AC2 was a significant change from the first game and each iteration since then has only grown more different from the original vision. Only Brotherhood and Revelations were direct sequels and most people didn't really care about those. That's why Ubisoft has essentially rebooted the series with every iteration since then.
It's pretty standard for both movies and games to be "rebooted' after several direct sequels. In fact, it's more common these days to have "sequels" that are essentially reboots in and of themselves. That's how publishers keep annualized franchises fresh.
- Go back to globetrotting Lara, have a sequence of hub locations all around the world to explore. The series needs some variety, there's no reason to be shackled to a single setting if your game is not open world (not to mention good open world games manage to have variety anyway).
- Why so serious? You are trying as hard as you can to be Uncharted, why didn't you copy the lighter tone too? To make things worse, you're trying to be super serious with a story that's utter garbage.
- Keep the mix of fighting and puzzles, the shooting in the new series is good, don't throw it away. If you want to put lots of climbing in the game, don't make it automatic, otherwise it's just a waste of time. Make it challenging.
- Don't try to chase every possible trend in the industry. The RPG mechanics make no sense in TR, either make them count or remove them entirely. Again, your role model Uncharted doesn't have them, and for good reasons. TR 2013 even had multiplayer... why? who asked for it? Money and time wasted.
- Why so serious? You are trying as hard as you can to be Uncharted, why didn't you copy the lighter tone too? To make things worse, you're trying to be super serious with a story that's utter garbage.
- Keep the mix of fighting and puzzles, the shooting in the new series is good, don't throw it away. If you want to put lots of climbing in the game, don't make it automatic, otherwise it's just a waste of time. Make it challenging.
- Don't try to chase every possible trend in the industry. The RPG mechanics make no sense in TR, either make them count or remove them entirely. Again, your role model Uncharted doesn't have them, and for good reasons. TR 2013 even had multiplayer... why? who asked for it? Money and time wasted.
I expect a new series in a few years, that's about it. It won't be another origins story imho, it'll be full-on Lara Croft being a professional tomb raider, and it'll take away the positive aspects of this trilogy to make a hybrid of that and an old school experience. The popularity of soulslike games and BOTW shows people enjoy an open-ended game where you gotta figure out a lot, I feel that when this new trilogy started that wasn't such a clear situation. I fully expect the new game(s) to be an AC: Origins-like evolution of the series, with giant mazes of tombs to explore and such, but also proper RPG-esque character development. I also expect this game to be out in no less than 5 years.
