KickStarter Poll - Best Tomb Raider

[JamesDixon]

I voted TR1 because I always had a blast with it. TR Reboot trilogy is ass due to Lara being an insufferable 4th wave feminist cunt that throws her male best friend under the bus at every opportunity. Combine that with her BPD and daddy issues she is the epitome of a modern feminazi that I just want to punch in the face.

 

[kangaxx]

I didn't really like the QTE either, but I did in general enjoy testing the old levels with updated mechanics and visuals (except what they did to Atlantis, which was dire). Either way I thought it was miles ahead of the reboot series.

 

[Semiurge]

Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with their re-imagining of "Midas's Palace". It's horribly simplified, but I've no reason to believe that the game engine, or the consoles at the time, were the reason it was butchered. It must be that they were running out of money/time, or they thought the original was too maze-like for modern gamers. The only good thing is that the Midas statue is no longer located in a small cave, in bits and pieces. It makes sense it should be at the heart of the palace, in an open area. Still, there are certain excuses for the original, like cave-ins.

 

[Ed123]

I wish Angel of Darkness had another six months of development. There's something in that game worth salvaging.

Can't recall the exact quote but I remember one dev said it needed at least another year.

 

[MotherMachinae]

Staring at these makes me craving for some pizza.

 

[Ed123]

Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with their re-imagining of "Midas's Palace". It's horribly simplified, but I've no reason to believe that the game engine, or the consoles at the time, were the reason it was butchered. It must be that they were running out of money/time, or they thought the original was too maze-like for modern gamers. The only good thing is that the Midas statue is no longer located in a small cave, in bits and pieces. It makes sense it should be at the heart of the palace, in an open area. Still, there are certain excuses for the original, like cave-ins.

The one level that really struck me was Egypt. In the original, technical limitations meant that the part with the giant spinx takes place in a pitch-black, claustrophobic cave, with the Spinx suddenly looming out of the darkness as you sprint closer to it
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/laracroft/images/3/35/Sanctuary_of_the_Scion.jpg/

In the remake, pretty much the entire chamber can be rendered at once, so it looks like this
https://www.wikiraider.com/images/b/b8/Sanctuarytra.jpg

A great example of unintended consequences, or SOVL vs. SOVLLESS if you prefer

 

[Melcar]

Goddamn technological advancements.

 

[Ed123]

Goddamn technological advancements.

Someone wrote a really good essay on the consequences of technological progress. Can't quite recall his name though.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Tomb Raider 2013 followed by Rise of the Tomb Raider. The old games are overrated shite.

 

[Semiurge]

Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with their re-imagining of "Midas's Palace". It's horribly simplified, but I've no reason to believe that the game engine, or the consoles at the time, were the reason it was butchered. It must be that they were running out of money/time, or they thought the original was too maze-like for modern gamers. The only good thing is that the Midas statue is no longer located in a small cave, in bits and pieces. It makes sense it should be at the heart of the palace, in an open area. Still, there are certain excuses for the original, like cave-ins.

The one level that really struck me was Egypt. In the original, technical limitations meant that the part with the giant spinx takes place in a pitch-black, claustrophobic cave, with the Spinx suddenly looming out of the darkness as you sprint closer to it
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/l...e_Scion.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100715122044

In the remake, pretty much the entire chamber can be rendered at once, so it looks like this
https://www.wikiraider.com/images/b/b8/Sanctuarytra.jpg

A great example of unintended consequences, or SOVL vs. SOVLLESS if you prefer

Another example would be the pursuit of realism. Anniversary's ruins are the same shade of grey with just a hint of their former glory, as you'd expect from 3000 year old architecture. In the original even the sand is bright orange, and the wall murals look as if they were painted yesterday.

 

[Ed123]

Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with their re-imagining of "Midas's Palace". It's horribly simplified, but I've no reason to believe that the game engine, or the consoles at the time, were the reason it was butchered. It must be that they were running out of money/time, or they thought the original was too maze-like for modern gamers. The only good thing is that the Midas statue is no longer located in a small cave, in bits and pieces. It makes sense it should be at the heart of the palace, in an open area. Still, there are certain excuses for the original, like cave-ins.

The one level that really struck me was Egypt. In the original, technical limitations meant that the part with the giant spinx takes place in a pitch-black, claustrophobic cave, with the Spinx suddenly looming out of the darkness as you sprint closer to it
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/l...e_Scion.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100715122044

In the remake, pretty much the entire chamber can be rendered at once, so it looks like this
https://www.wikiraider.com/images/b/b8/Sanctuarytra.jpg

A great example of unintended consequences, or SOVL vs. SOVLLESS if you prefer

Another example would be the pursuit of realism. Anniversary's ruins are the same shade of grey with just a hint of their former glory, as you'd expect from 1000 year old architecture. In the original even the sand is bright orange, and the wall murals look as if they were painted yesterday.

I think Anniversary is made worse by the lower resolution and FXAA filter. I played it a few years back with MSAA https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/screenshot-thread.72409/page-733#post-4766872 and it doesn't look quite as bad as console screenshots - you can pick out subtle variations in colour more easily.

 

[Semiurge]

Crystal Dynamics really dropped the ball with their re-imagining of "Midas's Palace". It's horribly simplified, but I've no reason to believe that the game engine, or the consoles at the time, were the reason it was butchered. It must be that they were running out of money/time, or they thought the original was too maze-like for modern gamers. The only good thing is that the Midas statue is no longer located in a small cave, in bits and pieces. It makes sense it should be at the heart of the palace, in an open area. Still, there are certain excuses for the original, like cave-ins.

The one level that really struck me was Egypt. In the original, technical limitations meant that the part with the giant spinx takes place in a pitch-black, claustrophobic cave, with the Spinx suddenly looming out of the darkness as you sprint closer to it
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/l...e_Scion.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100715122044

In the remake, pretty much the entire chamber can be rendered at once, so it looks like this
https://www.wikiraider.com/images/b/b8/Sanctuarytra.jpg

A great example of unintended consequences, or SOVL vs. SOVLLESS if you prefer

Another example would be the pursuit of realism. Anniversary's ruins are the same shade of grey with just a hint of their former glory, as you'd expect from 1000 year old architecture. In the original even the sand is bright orange, and the wall murals look as if they were painted yesterday.

I think Anniversary is made worse by the lower resolution and FXAA filter. I played it a few years back with MSAA https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/screenshot-thread.72409/page-733#post-4766872 and it doesn't look quite as bad as console screenshots - you can pick out subtle variations in colour more easily.

Screenshots rarely do justice to a game. Even if viewed fullscreen when they have at least the same resolution as your display, with the same in-game settings, you still have plenty of .jpg compression which ruins colour information. Unless they were taken by someone who actually cares to upload lossless images.

The game looks surprisingly good even with hardware FXAA on, it doesn't seem to smudge the textures (further) in this game. Although there's been only one game where I've seen this happen - Witcher 2. Using its built-in AA is no good, it disables shadows. What this game really needs is some 4K textures, but unfortunately there are only
incomplete texture mods for that.

 

[Lemming42]

I'll never understand why modern games are so washed-out looking. I wonder what Anniversary would look like with the original game's colours - the vividly bright green plants in Lost Valley, the orange and yellow walls in Egypt with the bold blue artwork on the walls, the green moss all over The Cistern.

It'd probably look like some kind of deranged acid trip, in a way which was probably more fitting for an odd-looking early 3D game than a """realistic""" modern game. For most games now, I use ReShade to fuck about with it until it looks the way I think it should, which can make a real difference in games with boring grey/brown colours. Will probably try it with Anniversary, if I ever get the rare urge to play it again.

 

[Ed123]

I'll never understand why modern games are so washed-out looking. I wonder what Anniversary would look like with the original game's colours - the vividly bright green plants in Lost Valley, the orange and yellow walls in Egypt with the bold blue artwork on the walls, the green moss all over The Cistern.

It'd probably look like some kind of deranged acid trip, in a way which was probably more fitting for an odd-looking early 3D game than a """realistic""" modern game. For most games now, I use ReShade to fuck about with it until it looks the way I think it should, which can make a real difference in games with boring grey/brown colours. Will probably try it with Anniversary, if I ever get the rare urge to play it again.

Postprocessing filters are the big one (including certain types of AA like TAA), HDR/bloom, "realistic" lighting/textures also contribute. It started around the PS2 era imo, early 3d titles were still very vibrant even at low res.

 

[Bad Sector]

I'll never understand why modern games are so washed-out looking.

FYI, Anniversary is 14 years old and there has been more time between today and Anniversary than Anniversary and the original game :-P

As for why it looks like that... it looks like a spicied up PS2 game because that is basically what it was and PS2 games had to do a lot of multitexturing and framebuffer blending to approximate effects that would later become trivial (and better looking) with programmable hardware. CD's games were also released on XB360/PS3 but everything was designed with PS2 in mind and the additional "next gen" effects in these were largely tacked on with often questionable material quality.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Homosexuals like the old blocky Lara because she confused young men and made them faggots. Any woman with blocks for tits is enough to turn a confused young man fag. Play the newer games and see a real woman. Nice tits and a tight plump ass. That's what Lara Croft is all about. Fuck these losers.

 

[vibehunter]

Homosexuals like the old blocky Lara because she confused young men and made them faggots. Any woman with blocks for tits is enough to turn a confused young man fag. Play the newer games and see a real woman. Nice tits and a tight plump ass. That's what Lara Croft is all about. Fuck these losers.

She was hot in the 2013 game but they butchered her looks in the sequels.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Homosexuals like the old blocky Lara because she confused young men and made them faggots. Any woman with blocks for tits is enough to turn a confused young man fag. Play the newer games and see a real woman. Nice tits and a tight plump ass. That's what Lara Croft is all about. Fuck these losers.

She was hot in the 2013 game but they butchered her looks in the sequels.

Wat? She was super bangable in Rise.

That might have actually been her best look.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I'm getting the itch to play through TR2013 and Rise again. Those were by far my favorite action/adventure games of last gen. They weren't perfect but they shit all over the other cinematic crap like Uncharted and Ass Creed. Fuck those games. Nu Raider was legit.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'll never understand why modern games are so washed-out looking. I wonder what Anniversary would look like with the original game's colours - the vividly bright green plants in Lost Valley, the orange and yellow walls in Egypt with the bold blue artwork on the walls, the green moss all over The Cistern.

It'd probably look like some kind of deranged acid trip, in a way which was probably more fitting for an odd-looking early 3D game than a """realistic""" modern game. For most games now, I use ReShade to fuck about with it until it looks the way I think it should, which can make a real difference in games with boring grey/brown colours. Will probably try it with Anniversary, if I ever get the rare urge to play it again.

Since I'm active in the Thief modding community, I know the main reason why Thief 1 has more vividly colored textures than Thief 2 (which is still a great-looking game tho): colored lighting.

Thief 2 introduced colored lighting to the engine so when you have a torch, it can have orange light, a gas lamp blue light, an alarm red light, etc.
Thief 1 only had white light, no colors to it. That meant they had to bake certain shades of color into the textures to give off a more vibrant vibe. So a lot of the textures are much more saturated and vivid, with tones of orange to give off a warm torchlight/candlelight atmosphere even though the light itself is colorless. Thief 2's textures are less vivid in color because of the updated engine's colored lighting capabilities.

Modern engines can do pretty much everything, so there's no need for artistic workarounds like that.

 

[Ed123]

Homosexuals like the old blocky Lara because she confused young men and made them faggots. Any woman with blocks for tits is enough to turn a confused young man fag. Play the newer games and see a real woman. Nice tits and a tight plump ass. That's what Lara Croft is all about. Fuck these losers.

She was hot in the 2013 game but they butchered her looks in the sequels.

Wat? She was super bangable in Rise.

That might have actually been her best look.

I read something on the Tomb Raider forums a few years back about how Rise used very advanced motion capture and animation middleware. Supposedly this technology became the subject of a legal battle during Shadow of the Tomb Raider's development, they had to switch to a different, more conventional method. Don't know if it's true or not, but I definitely felt Lara's facial animations in Rise were much more impressive than in Shadow.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I read something on the Tomb Raider forums a few years back about how Rise used very advanced motion capture and animation middleware. Supposedly this technology became the subject of a legal battle during Shadow of the Tomb Raider's development, they had to switch to a different, more conventional method. Don't know if it's true or not, but I definitely felt Lara's facial animations in Rise were much more impressive than in Shadow.

I lost interest in Shadow pretty early on and stopped playing. I'm not sure if there was anything wrong with it but it didn't hold my attention like the first two games.

 

[JarlFrank]

I read something on the Tomb Raider forums a few years back about how Rise used very advanced motion capture and animation middleware. Supposedly this technology became the subject of a legal battle during Shadow of the Tomb Raider's development, they had to switch to a different, more conventional method. Don't know if it's true or not, but I definitely felt Lara's facial animations in Rise were much more impressive than in Shadow.

I lost interest in Shadow pretty early on and stopped playing. I'm not sure if there was anything wrong with it but it didn't hold my attention like the first two games.

Shadow is my favorite of the new ones because Lara gets plenty of outfits that show her feet

 

[Neuromancer]

Homosexuals like the old blocky Lara because she confused young men and made them faggots. Any woman with blocks for tits is enough to turn a confused young man fag. Play the newer games and see a real woman. Nice tits and a tight plump ass. That's what Lara Croft is all about. Fuck these losers.

The blockiness in the game sequences of Tomb Raider 1 was only due to hardware limitations at that time (Tomb Raider 1 was first released on the Sega Saturn.). The same applies for the missing ponytail.

The movie sequences of Lara in Tomb Raider 1 aldready show her "well-rounded" and also with complete hair.
So, that was her supposed real look for Tomb Raider 1.

The sequels starting with Tomb Raider 2 remedied this problem altogether.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

Aw yea, sexy af bro. I could fap to that all day.