The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread

[Viata]

I like to believe Tomb Raider 2013 was made by 3 devs. One did the story, another did the gameplay, and the third one put everything together. It's the only way to explain how stupid that game is when the plot and gameplay are against each other.

 

[Zombra]

But the question remains: what games do a similar thing, but better?

Well the problem is that the "thing" they do is so disjointed, mashing up several games that don't belong together.

Off the top of my head ...
Do you want a prescripted story with lots of cutscenes and emotional involvement? As one example, Telltale's Walking Dead does it a million times better.
Do you want great 3rd-person shooting action and interesting adventure levels? Resident Evil 4 & 5.
Do you want to traverse a tough, puzzle-like environment? Trine, La Mulana, or even Lara Croft Temple of Light.
Do you want a big open world to explore and find fun little things to do and collect? The Riddler trophies in the Arkham games are much more fun than this.
Do you want character building, leveling up items and building a skill tree? Any RPG ... or even any action RPG does it better than this.

Do you want to mix them all up at once and have a good coherent game? Ehhh maybe that's not such a good idea.

Actually, on reflection, I can't think of anything that the TRs do that the Arkham games don't do better except soft core torture porn and snuff scenes on a teenage girl.
and if that's what you want you can do better elsewhere as well

 

[Correct_Carlo]

I like to believe Tomb Raider 2013 was made by 3 devs. One did the story, another did the gameplay, and the third one put everything together. It's the only way to explain how stupid that game is when the plot and gameplay are against each other.

I agree with this, but this is also why I love the game. It's very rare that you get a miscalculation that's as expensive, good looking, and polished as Tomb Raider 2013. It has a special place in my heart for that.

Ok then, so you agree that they provide some fun anyway.
I can acknowledge your agenda or even actually agree they aren't prestigious.
But the question remains: what games do a similar thing, but better?

As to 3rd person action games, I'd say stuff like the Arkham series and Darksiders were better. In terms of stealth, the Styx series is better. However, the Tomb Raider reboots do stealth + action much better than "Assassin's Creed." So you can do better and you can do worse.

I'm not bashing the Tomb Raider reboots, though, as I like them over all. They have shallow gameplay compared to some others, but they are fun mindless action games. They also have incredible graphics (I don't think they get credit for being as graphically impressive as they are. "Rise of the Tomb Raider" with graphics turned all the way up has amazing in game facial detail. Its cut scenes are all rendered in-engine and they are some of the best I've ever seen with all the detail turned up. Although, I think that might speak more to the quality of the animation, than just graphics alone. Mass Effect: Andromeda has really good graphics as well, but no one notices because the animations are such shit).

 

[Ash]

What does it better? Good question. Loads of old school games really.

Nu TR is a blend of weak platforming, popamole combat, simple puzzles, weak exploration and lite mostly-meaningless RPG elements.

what does it better?

First handful of games in the Prince of Persia series.
Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden are all precisely each of those things done better, only trade platforming emphasis for combat emphasis.
The original Tomb Raider games dominates the new in regards to platforming, exploration and puzzles. The combat is equally shitty, maybe a little worse, and there are no RPG elements, not that there specifically needs to be any.

Pick old school 3D action games at random. In the mid-late 90s especially it was action game staple to blend combat, puzzle elements, platforming and exploration. Typically with clunkiness yet not overly easy like NuRaider, which actually is what counts.

 

[Viata]

The original Tomb Raider games were fun and hard as fuck. I miss having fun in Lara's Mansion, finding secret places and whatnot.

 

[racofer]

The original Tomb Raider games were fun and hard as fuck. I miss having fun in Lara's Mansion, finding secret places and whatnot.

 

[mastroego]

But the question remains: what games do a similar thing, but better?

Well the problem is that the "thing" they do is so disjointed, mashing up several games that don't belong together.

Off the top of my head ...
Do you want a prescripted story with lots of cutscenes and emotional involvement? As one example, Telltale's Walking Dead does it a million times better.
Do you want great 3rd-person shooting action and interesting adventure levels? Resident Evil 4 & 5.
Do you want to traverse a tough, puzzle-like environment? Trine, La Mulana, or even Lara Croft Temple of Light.
Do you want a big open world to explore and find fun little things to do and collect? The Riddler trophies in the Arkham games are much more fun than this.
Do you want character building, leveling up items and building a skill tree? Any RPG ... or even any action RPG does it better than this.

Do you want to mix them all up at once and have a good coherent game? Ehhh maybe that's not such a good idea.

Ok I see your point but I don't think it's such a heresy to have those elements mixed together, even though obviously TR is far from perfect.
I believe you about Arkham but it's not my cup of tea, AND I'm truly tired of superheroes and comic book characters.
I think I'll try the Resident Evil series eventually.

 

[Blaine]

Look, you want a real answer?

https://af.gog.com/game/little_big_adventure_2?as=1649904300

This isn't a joke. This game is the hidden gem to end all hidden gems. The first one's almost as good.

 

[Zombra]

Do you want to mix them all up at once and have a good coherent game? Ehhh maybe that's not such a good idea.

Ok I see your point but I don't think it's such a heresy to have those elements mixed together, even though obviously TR is far from perfect.

Honestly, the effort to bring together elements from different genres to make a more robust game isn't necessarily a bad idea ... but in TR's case it didn't come together. One zebra's opinion.

I think I'll try the Resident Evil series eventually.

Read reviews before you decide where to start, the series is mostly good but for a lot of different reasons from game to game. RE5 is a very enjoyable zombie shooter but terrible survival horror, RE1-3 are the opposite for example.

 

[mastroego]

Anyway, achievement unlocked: shot a thrown bottle out of the sky.
Now, how many games let you do THAT?!
:kwafuckyeah:

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyway, achievement unlocked: shot a thrown bottle out of the sky.
Now, how many games let you do THAT?!
:kwafuckyeah:

GUN lets you shoot arrows and other projectiles outta the air.

 

[Outlander]

So does 1987 Operation Wolf.

 

[JarlFrank]

Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 4 are the best TR games and should be played by everyone. 3 is decent but a little disjointed, 5 is meh, Angel of Darkness is a half-finished mess cause they didn't have enough time to finish and polish it, but it's still better in tone and story than the new ones.

Legend, Anniversary (obviously, because it's a pretty faithful remake of the first game), and Underworld are pretty good too and worth a playthrough.

And then the series ends. New ones are called "Tomb Raider" but your main occupation is no longer raiding tombs.

 

[Krivol]

Yeah, they could have call it in different way and create a new brand. I'm playing TR 2013 rught now and it's not that bad, but really it's so far from the original. It's like making dumb FPP from Fallout franchise.

Oh wait...

 

[Dexter]

Jurassic World Evolution, official Jurassic World theme park sim from Frontier Developments:

They released a gameplay video today



I was hoping it'd show guests wandering over to the fences to get a look, but they've still got time.

Imagine how much BANK this would have made if it came out somewhere between ~1995-98, instead of this:


Regarding the other discussion, you realize there's a thread about "Tomb Raider" you can discuss this in? Even left my impressions about it back in the day, although someone retardedly changed the thread title: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/tomb-ryser.77861/page-39#post-2606205

 

[markec]

Jurassic World Evolution, official Jurassic World theme park sim from Frontier Developments:

They released a gameplay video today



I was hoping it'd show guests wandering over to the fences to get a look, but they've still got time.

Imagine how much BANK this would have made if it came out somewhere between ~1995-98, instead of this:

Well we did have something even better.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I played the demo of this one a lot. The best targeting system in any FPS :D

(your hands and aim move with the mouse, and your viewpoint/head moves with the numeric keypad)

 

[Adon]

- I'm playing Rise right now on Survivor difficulty. There's NO autoheal. You have to get medicinal herbs and bandages.

Oh, fuck! Well in that case, sign me up!

I dunno man, I replayed New Vegas last month, just finished Prey, and recently started on a long-time-coming replay of System Shock 2. My popamole tolerance is at an all-time low at the moment.

I gave TR an hour. I almost could have played through that hour by spanking the keyboard with my dick. The most "challenging" part was shooting the wolves when Lara gets snared, which wasn't challenging at all. When does it get semi-tolerable?

The 2013 reboot never gets semi-tolerable and it only gets worse as you go further on. It is comical at parts, but ultimately not worth going through it.

Rise is better on the other hand than 2013, but as mentioned by others, is mostly a mediocre game. A fun time-waster with decent bits here and there, more committed to the survival theme; at least on Survivor where yes, no health-regen, and "scarcer" resources. Still, the game is easy even on that difficulty to the point where it felt like what the Normal difficulty should've been.

 

[Country_Gravy]

Who loves Lego games?

 

[Blaine]

Who loves Lego games?

Your kids, if my friends list has been any indication these past few years.

 

[Ash]

People ITT claiming Legend was good...are we sure about that? I only played it briefly and thought it was absolutely awful and not Tomb Raider based on that.

-QTEs
-Frequent cutscenes
-Linear
-Simplistic Mechanics and challenges

 

[Latelistener]

There's a pause but well all it does is pausing the game (at least now). There's no turn based combat, but you shouldn't be afraid as each INSOMNIA battle is well though from the game design point of view and there are always covers you can use to hide from the attackers. Wait till they are out of ammo and do you best to kill them.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/783170/discussions/0/1697169163400771994/https://steamcommunity.com/app/783170/discussions/0/1697169163400771994/

 

[Jinn]

Half off today.

Great game that deserves more codex love. GO GET IT!

 

[AwesomeButton]

Half off today.

Great game that deserves more codex love. GO GET IT!

It's a deal, though I'd wait one day for the GOG discount which will most likely follow.

 

[Latelistener]

I'd wait one day for the GOG discount

Edit: If the reason for the question is not obvious, Expeditions: Conquistador is DRM free on Steam, so Viking should be too.