Re: The Game Thread
Welp, powered through Squenix's latest installment of "Tomb Raider"
Well. If you liked the one they did back in '13 then you should like this one too, not much has changed. except for a much larger focus on Hunting and on the move item creation
Weapon customisation has been expanded so that not every upgrade stacks with every weapon within the progression, a revolver speed loader doesn't carry over to semi-auto pistols. But extended magazines would work for any magazine fed pistol. With this it's no longer simply upgrade one path and done, and inflates the time to upgrade everything quite a bit even if artificially... Although all the additional weapon variety seem rather lackluster after you acquire the Bolt-Action rifle, and have that fully decked out with suppressor, laser sight and grenade launcher (Even though suppressor is glitched currently, floats like four inches in front of the gun, and doesn't actually do anything to muffle the gun when fired) A bad point to this is the amount of time you'll spend back tracking through landscapes hunting bunnies for fur or hunting people for salvage (Uncommon Loot) or "Technical Parts" (Rare Loot)
If you've played the first one, then you'd be familiar with the pacing of this one too... Entire game builds up to an obvious revelation that leads to someone getting kidnapped and whisked away to final area where the bad guys you were fighting before start getting their asses kicked by the native supposedly immortal/unkillable badder guys... Who also want you dead.
So while your re-introducing the unkillable to the business end of whatever weapon you wish them well with, the original bad guys do bad things in a ritual room that you need to stop. So you do. But not before a boss fight that goes the mandatory three rounds... Kitezh or Yamatai... Pretty fuckin similar shit overall
I've overlooked the microtransactions for in game credits (Especitally since I THINK I may have found a way to earn unlimited Creds in game ANYWAY...) which I was sure was gonna be the biggest flaw I was gonna have with it... Or at least I hoped as much
Of course, if there's that much optimism left, someone has to crush it
If you remember in the earlier game after you finish the game, they would allow you to reload your save from RIGHT BEFORE the final battle, in order to head back and collect everything?
Well because someone had the genius idea to put collectables in a flashback they changed that. Beat the game. And it autosaves again. Opening up the three quick travel points within that flashback... But also DISABLING your map's functionality... Why is this a big deal?
You have TOMBS marked on map
You have CRYPTS marked on map
You have RESOURCES marked on map
You have EXOTIC HUNTING locations marked on map
Caves, relics, documents... Whatever you had on your map, is gone... The have been wiped from the map, and you can not even mark personal navigation points to lead yourself by memory
Meh, just collectables, right? Don't need that kinda OCD bullshit...
But this even includes BASE CAMP LOCATIONS, doesn't matter if you spend that 4 hours searching for that ONE cave that had that last relic or goofing off on a waterfall enjoy running around in circles for the next few hours searching for the way back cause no more map to help with that
With the exception of the absolute SHIT decision to kill the map post-game, the game was overall pretty fun. Especially with the added difficulty provided with Survivor Difficulty. Remember that action game hero regeneration Lara seems to have? Yea... On Survivor difficulty that's gone, not only does one good burst of machinegun fire keel you over, but you stay injured. Sure you "Recover" a bit after the battle, but your STILL injured until you either patch yourself up, or find a campsite (Beginning to see why those being on your map are important, yet?)