Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - first person adventure from MachineGames and Todd Howard

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I'd love a first-person exploration/stealth/puzzle/occasional FPS Indiana Jones game but I just don't see it happening.

Totally. That would basically be my dream-scenario for this game. I think the only way it happens though is if they actually get Ford to do VA (extremely unlikely) or if they get someone incredibly good at mimicry to voice Indy; somewhat cosmically coincidentally Mark Hamill might actually fit the bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMm0DLg8CE

 

[DeepOcean]

Pretty sure they're just gonna make Uncharted with whips.

I dont see Indiana Jones walking around clearing outposts what is the AAA alternative to that, so, yeah, it will be an Uncharted/Last of Us "cinematic" game with basic stealth, crafting and basic shooting with lots of cutscenes and setpieces. The worst possible expectation is they killing Indiana Jones half way through and forcing you to play with his killer that is actually his abandoned stronk and independent daughter and the game will be about some incoherent nihilist bullshit to "reinterpret" Indiana Jones as this is 2021 and we cant just give what the players want, we need to educate them about today's world and beat them on the head with depression as nothing is sacred and good because that is supposedly deep and artsy.

The meh expectation is that it will be a straight Uncharted clone written by completely nobodies, so what will come from that is totally unexpected. The best thing we can expect is just Indy killing nazis again because it is safer and with videogame writers being what they are, that is actually a good idea as there is a 75% chance of them being completely mediocre to bad.

The best expectation is a modern Tomb Raider/Fallen Order clone, Tomb Raider games actually have puzzles that are clever and Fallen Order at least tries to hide it is an on rails cinematic Uncharted game. I dont see they making this first person at all.

 

[JDR13]

I'd love a first-person exploration/stealth/puzzle/occasional FPS Indiana Jones game but I just don't see it happening.

Totally. That would basically be my dream-scenario for this game. I think the only way it happens though is if they actually get Ford to do VA (extremely unlikely) or if they get someone incredibly good at mimicry to voice Indy; somewhat cosmically coincidentally Mark Hamill might actually fit the bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMm0DLg8CE

An emphasis on those aspects would be great, but third-person would be a better choice.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I don't think it matters much what we would think is important and what we would like to see in an Indiana Jones game by Bethesda/MachineGames.
It is not as if those people are going to take notice of this discussion thread and take it into account.

I expect a clone of one of current day games but dressed up as an Indiana Jones story.

 

[JDR13]

It is not as if those people are going to take notice of this discussion thread and take it into account.

What do you mean? All the major devs are constantly monitoring the threads I post in to get my input.

 

[DalekFlay]

but third-person would be a better choice.

NEVER!

 

[Ezekiel]

I don't think it matters much what we would think is important and what we would like to see in an Indiana Jones game by Bethesda/MachineGames.
It is not as if those people are going to take notice of this discussion thread and take it into account.

I expect a clone of one of current day games but dressed up as an Indiana Jones story.

Yup. It will be a standard AAA game in an Indiana Jones skin. The only difference is that you will be punching almost everybody instead of shooting almost everybody.

 

[Ash]

Wait, Machine Games...So this is gonna be cinematic SJW popamole. So why does this thread exist? Oh, Morgoth, OK then.

 

[kangaxx]

Pretty sure they're just gonna make Uncharted with whips.

The best expectation is a modern Tomb Raider/Fallen Order clone, Tomb Raider games actually have puzzles that are clever and Fallen Order at least tries to hide it is an on rails cinematic Uncharted game. I dont see they making this first person at all.

I remember liking Infernal Machine when it came out, and I'd probably play a new Indy game with TR1-style puzzles, platforming and atmosphere. I just wish the actual TR series hadn't lost its way so badly.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I remember liking Infernal Machine when it came out, and I'd probably play a new Indy game with TR1-style puzzles, platforming and atmosphere. I just wish the actual TR series hadn't lost its way so badly.

One of the few things I would like to have changed is that the camera/player vision can be controlled with the mouse, making looking around and fighting some enemies a little easier.
When I played it again a few years ago it was still quite a challenge as I had forgotten the solution to a lot of the puzzles.

In what way has the TR series changed?

 

[OctavianRomulus]

This is good. After the last game, I don't want them touching my Doom or Quake. Keep them occupied.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

In what way has the TR series changed?

This is one of the most adorably naive things I've read on these forums.

The reboot trilogy is sadly a fundamentally different genre from it's source material. Check out a youtube let's play if your morbid curiosity compels you.

I thought the first one was actually okay for what it is, but Rise and Shadow are absolute trash-tier AAA nonsense.

 

[ADL]

In what way has the TR series changed?

This is one of the most adorably naive things I've read on these forums.

The reboot trilogy is sadly a fundamentally different genre from it's source material. Check out a youtube let's play if your morbid curiosity compels you.

I thought the first one was actually okay for what it is, but Rise and Shadow are absolute trash-tier AAA nonsense.

Feels bad man

(never released, leaked a week or two ago)

 

[ADL]

Shame this guy died back in 2015. He played Doctah Jones in Emperor's Tomb and Han Solo in Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds and always thought he did a decent job.

 

[kangaxx]

Feels bad man

(never released, leaked a week or two ago)

I'd dearly love to see a return to this kind of game from TR. Actually I'd take another game like TR Anniversary, which I reckon was a happy medium between the new and old styles.

What are the odds this Indy game will look anything like that?

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

This is one of the most adorably naive things I've read on these forums.

The reboot trilogy is sadly a fundamentally different genre from it's source material. Check out a youtube let's play if your morbid curiosity compels you.

I thought the first one was actually okay for what it is, but Rise and Shadow are absolute trash-tier AAA nonsense.

I am asking because I never played the series as I was into much different games at the time.
Whatever knowledge I had about the original entries has long faded from my mind since.

I do know that the reboot series was very different, but again it did not really appeal to me so I never checked it out.

 

[ADL]

Zero. You can't make a game like that anymore because everything third person, especially in the "triple-A" space, has to be an overproduced, cinematic mess filled with animation locks. I was lukewarm about Anniversary because it lacked the atmosphere of the original and wasn't too fond of the way Lara controlled but seeing what came afterwards, I'd gladly go back to the days of Legend and Underworld.

 

[kangaxx]

This is one of the most adorably naive things I've read on these forums.

The reboot trilogy is sadly a fundamentally different genre from it's source material. Check out a youtube let's play if your morbid curiosity compels you.

I thought the first one was actually okay for what it is, but Rise and Shadow are absolute trash-tier AAA nonsense.

I am asking because I never played the series as I was into much different games at the time.
Whatever knowledge I had about the original entries has long faded from my mind since.

I do know that the reboot series was very different, but again it did not really appeal to me so I never checked it out.

The 2013 -> remakes basically butchered Lara's 'witty badass' character by making her a whiny, emo, spoilt rich daddy's girl on an extended gap year (written by Rianna Pratchett so I guess to be expected).

They also turned the series from generally smart/serviceable puzzle platformers with reasonable levels of combat to nearly pure bloodbath shooters with some piss easy platforming and QTEs. Microtransactions included of course. SOTR tried to move back toward puzzles and got stuck halfway, resulting in one of the worst £50 I've ever spent.

In short, IMO the new series is an abortion and a neat window into what's wrong with the AAA market.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Ah I see now. Thank you for explaining.
I can understand now why that would be a decline of the franchise to its fans. Going from something that had an identity of its own to become somewhat more generic to appeal to a large audience that did not care for what the series originally was.
But that is not something people on the Codex have not experienced before.

QTEs, I honestly hate that mechanic ever since it was put into gaming. I get the feeling someone took a little too much inspiration from the old Dragon's Lair and Space Ace laserdisc games.
Microtransactions. Of course, because if you can milk gamers for money by selling the aesthetic crap or gameplay enhancing crap that should have been in the core to begin, or even alters the core game why shouldn't you?

 

[Kem0sabe]

This shouldn't feature a lot of shooting and over the top violence like uncharted. Wouldn't feel like indiana jones at all.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

This shouldn't feature a lot of shooting and over the top violence like uncharted. Wouldn't feel like indiana jones at all.

That was also a criticism I did sometimes have about Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Indy killed a lot Russian soldiers.

 

[ADL]

It's been a really long time since I played Emperor's Tomb but I recall it having a significantly better melee to ranged combat encounter ratio against stuff like Uncharted and nuTomb Raider.

 

[Bad Sector]

The 2013 -> remakes basically butchered Lara's 'witty badass' character by making her a whiny, emo, spoilt rich daddy's girl on an extended gap year (written by Rianna Pratchett so I guess to be expected).

They also turned the series from generally smart/serviceable puzzle platformers with reasonable levels of combat to nearly pure bloodbath shooters with some piss easy platforming and QTEs. Microtransactions included of course. SOTR tried to move back toward puzzles and got stuck halfway, resulting in one of the worst £50 I've ever spent.

IMO Crystal Dynamics butchered Tomb Raider in general way before the 2013 reboot. In Core's Tomb Raider games you can grab, climb, etc anything that looks like grabbable or climbable and the maps are very readable (largely due to the grid system which works similar to how 2D tiles work in a platformer that help you judge distances, though i'm not 100% it was intentional - on the other hand there is so much visible tiling even in later TR games that it most likely was). In Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider you can only grab predefined parts of the map and the game will even strafe you mid-air to ensure you climb it. Sometimes there are gimmick gadgets where you can only use them in specific places that have an icon appear (note that i am not against action indicators, what i dislike is "single-purpose-ness"). Also in Core's Tomb Raider your have very precise control over Lara and every motion will always get the same predictable result whereas in Crystal Dynamics the game tries to "smooth out" your input since you have less precise control (e.g. you can't exactly align Lara, you can only rotate the camera and push her towards some direction). Now TBH this has a better overall "feel" than in Core's tank controls, but at the same time it automates parts of the gameplay that in Core's titles relied on player skill.

(as far as the character goes in CD's earlier games, dunno, not a big opinion, though i still prefer Core's lone wolf Lara)

 

[Neuromancer]

I don't know if it's "bad" necessarily but I do not find Emperor's Tomb fun to play because of the controls and cumbersome gameplay.

Fixed!

 

[kangaxx]

Bad Sector you're right, the Legend/Anniversary/Underworld series made concessions on the platforming by eliminating tank controls, and therefore necessarily some of the mechanics that added to the challenge of the originals.

I get the feeling they tried to make up for it with the grappling hook mechanic. They also managed to include some surprisingly difficult climbing puzzles that involved getting timing right (or get burnt or sliced). On harder difficulty settings the game seems less forgiving about strafing mid air etc.

Tank controls are something of a meme in this day and age though. So assuming we'll never go back to that, I'd take the CD series as an acceptable compromise on the puzzle/platforming that was key to the success of the Core games. The newer series failed very hard on that front IMO.

I also preferred the Core Lara, but even the CD one is leagues above the tosser in the reboots.