Is it Worth It?: A Veteran's Review

[ddracarys]

On 1/4/2018 at 10:54 AM, zeit86geist said:

first off great review, really appreciated. second: how tough would you say are the challenges? that's the only task i'm really scared off because i think it's pretty time consuming. overall this game looks more than fun + the game is on sale (20€)

 

Sorry, I didn't see this until now. Thank you for the kind words and I apologise if I'm late to answer your question. I assume you're talking about the Score Attacks? They're honestly very doable, and not as hard as they look. Some may take more time than others (only rarely will you struggle), but overall you should be completing all of them on your first attempt. I recommend keeping Score Attacks to last, so by then you would have mastered the game. Once you are finally going for the Score Attacks, keep shooting lanterns, collecting wisps and loot to keep your combo up. Try your very hardest to keep your combo as lasting as possible! If you lose it however, don't beat yourself up over it. Most times you can still get a Gold Star even if you lose your combo. For the very short and very long Score Attacks however, you should be aiming to keep your combo throughout the Score Attack when possible.

 

If you have a lot of Credits (which you should by now), you can go into your desired Score Attack's Leaderboard and copy the highest ranking players settings for 2000 Credits. This will copy their cards and difficulty, which will optimize your chances of Gold. Make sure to always play on the hardest difficulty for triple the points per kill, and if all else fails, feel free to follow dormouse03's video guides on all the Score Attack's in Rise of the Tomb Raider. I used these guides for some of the very short Score Attacks that I was struggling with, and they helped a great bunch by mimicking the video! 

[wackt1]

I bought the game a while ago but still need to start it, i do have a fairly sized backlog. Also as a side question; can the tomb raider shopaholic and max lvl trophies grindable with two players?

[ddracarys]

14 minutes ago, wackt1 said:

I bought the game a while ago but still need to start it, i do have a fairly sized backlog. Also as a side question; can the tomb raider shopaholic and max lvl trophies grindable with two players?

 

Yes, while grinding for your levels you will be earning Salvage on the side each game. By the time you have reached Level 60, you should have enough Salvage to have purchased all the characters, minus The General. Keep in mind that you do not need to purchase anything from the Loadouts menu, as a long-time exploit allows you to earn Shopaholic upon restarting the game after you have purchased every character (once again, minus The General). There are two different ways you can boost levels, one you can complete alone and the other with two people. The more people you have in the game, the faster you can grind the levels. Here is the solo method and the two player method. I understand there is other methods out there, but these seem to be the most reliable, and the method for two people seems to be the fastest.

[wackt1]

33 minutes ago, ddracarys said:

 

Yes, while grinding for your levels you will be earning Salvage on the side each game. By the time you have reached Level 60, you should have enough Salvage to have purchased all the characters, minus The General. Keep in mind that you do not need to purchase anything from the Loadouts menu, as a long-time exploit allows you to earn Shopaholic upon restarting the game after you have purchased every character (once again, minus The General). There are two different ways you can boost levels, one you can complete alone and the other with two people. The more people you have in the game, the faster you can grind the levels. Here is the solo method and the two player method. I understand there is other methods out there, but these seem to be the most reliable, and the method for two people seems to be the fastest.

I didn't know I could boost it solo, thanks for telling me, does it work on ps3 too? Also, for the shopaholic glitch. I may have bought an upgrade and a character. Will this stop the glitch from working?

Edited January 17, 2018 by wackt1

[ddracarys]

1 minute ago, wackt1 said:

I didn't know I could boost it solo, thanks for telling me. Also, for the shopaholic glitch. I may have bought an upgrade and a character. Will this stop the glitch from working?

 

No problem! And no, that shouldn't stop the glitch from working. I know in the Trophy Guides out there they state that the Shopaholic glitch is a bit luck based, but I can confirm that this is wrong and that the glitch works indefinitely. I have Platinumed TR 2013 so many times, and each time the glitch worked. So you should be good buddy!

[wackt1]

1 minute ago, ddracarys said:

 

No problem! And no, that shouldn't stop the glitch from working. I know in the Trophy Guides out there they state that the Shopaholic glitch is a bit luck based, but I can confirm that this is wrong and that the glitch works indefinitely. I have Platinumed TR 2013 so many times, and each time the glitch worked. So you should be good buddy!

ok thanks for reassuring me, i'm like two trophies away from platinum

[ddracarys]

Just now, wackt1 said:

ok thanks for reassuring me, i'm like two trophies away from platinum

 

Good luck! Level 60 may be boring at times but reaching the finishing line is always so satisfying.

[TheGavGav7]

12 hours ago, ddracarys said:

 

First of all, thank you for the follow and the kind words towards this thread / my review! I am very proud of this review, but even so, when people post in here I am kinda surprised haha!

Good job on completing the Campaign for Tomb Raider (2013), however why won't you finish off the trophies? It's a pretty easy and, quite frankly, fun Platinum! I've helped a lot of people out on the game including my siblings and this also isn't my first PSN, so I've 100%ed TR 2013 a lot. I haven't 100%ed ROTR as much as I did with 2013, I've only done it once more since this review (so twice in total). ROTR was a great improvement from 2013, but it still had several flaws which were noticeable and, at some points, aggravating. The first time I was 100%ing ROTR, I had to finish the Campaign seven times for my last trophy to pop, and in kind, the Platinum. I was so glad to be done with it afterwards. But then months went by and I had the itch again, so I decided to help my siblings with it. I'm very excited for the upcoming Tomb Raider movie and what surprise it will bring to the series. I don't know if you've heard, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider basically got confirmed. Just waiting for the official announcement now.

 

You should be proud of this review, you got me really hyped so thank you for writing it! 

 

I've never really been a 'multiplayer' kind of guy, it feels kind of intimidating to be honest and I don't really have any friends that play PS4 to help me out with the multiplayer trophies (I got one multiplayer trophy because it's easy to do by yourself in a private match, the Monkeying Around trophy). I also need to play through the campaign again because I missed a couple of story trophies (Chatterbox, Get Over Here, Dead Eye (which I know I can do in Shantytown anytime, which I'll do soon), Former Adventurer). My goal is mainly to just complete stories and get at least a 70% trophy completion or A rank, but I'm also really itching for some Platinums as I only have 1 (and that's a LEGO game haha). I only got a PS4 for Christmas after having a PS3 for 4 years and being a casual gamer, and now I'm starting to really become addicted to collecting trophies. So hopefully one day I can get the Platinum.

 

It's great you've done ROTTR twice now - that's still something, and I'm currently playing through my first time and I'm loving it so far. These Tomb Raider games are just amazing, I love them, and so glad there's going to be a 3rd one (well, I'm waiting anxiously for the official announcement). Excited for the movie too! I hope it does the first game justice while also doing its own thing. I don't really need a rehash, but I love the story from the first one so it's going to be something to see it. 

[ddracarys]

12 hours ago, Gavinh2013 said:

You should be proud of this review, you got me really hyped so thank you for writing it! 

 

I've never really been a 'multiplayer' kind of guy, it feels kind of intimidating to be honest and I don't really have any friends that play PS4 to help me out with the multiplayer trophies (I got one multiplayer trophy because it's easy to do by yourself in a private match, the Monkeying Around trophy). I also need to play through the campaign again because I missed a couple of story trophies (Chatterbox, Get Over Here, Dead Eye (which I know I can do in Shantytown anytime, which I'll do soon), Former Adventurer). My goal is mainly to just complete stories and get at least a 70% trophy completion or A rank, but I'm also really itching for some Platinums as I only have 1 (and that's a LEGO game haha). I only got a PS4 for Christmas after having a PS3 for 4 years and being a casual gamer, and now I'm starting to really become addicted to collecting trophies. So hopefully one day I can get the Platinum.

 

It's great you've done ROTTR twice now - that's still something, and I'm currently playing through my first time and I'm loving it so far. These Tomb Raider games are just amazing, I love them, and so glad there's going to be a 3rd one (well, I'm waiting anxiously for the official announcement). Excited for the movie too! I hope it does the first game justice while also doing its own thing. I don't really need a rehash, but I love the story from the first one so it's going to be something to see it. 

 

I understand your feelings towards Multiplayer, I'm not huge on the aspect myself. In fact, ROTR is one of the very rare games that actually did an online mode correctly, in my opinion. Endurance was the funnest thing about the 100% personally. It was so fun playing with friends, completing challenges, and just generally surviving. I don't really like playing Multiplayer modes, but I don't necessarily hate them either. Two definitely stand out from the bunch however, ROTR Endurance and TLOU Factions. I understand your trophy concerns, if you want some easy games to finish off there's a bunch on PSN that do not take much effort to Platinum. However most of them can be boring, I guess it just depends how you look at it. Anyway, being addicted to trophies has probably been the biggest downfall / regret of my gaming life haha.

 

Oh nice, you've already started? How far did you get in? I know right? Tomb Raider has long been a favourite series of mine, since the PS1 days (Tomb Raider was among the first video games I ever played), and seeing how far the series has gone makes me feel proud. These games seem to get funner and funner as they release, so I definitely am looking forward to more additions into the series. I feel like there's gonna be a post credits scene in the Tomb Raider movie which announces the next game, so I'm gonna be staying after those credits when I go to watch the movie. 

Edited January 18, 2018 by ddracarys

[ddracarys]

I've gone through a major update to the original post, so it's easier to read, follow, and understand now. It's been almost two years since I posted this review, and since then, I have been blown away with the response. Thank you all so much for the comments and messages. I would like to think that this review has helped some people, as it has definitely given me a handful of lovely friendships. Once again, thank you to everybody. I hope this review continues to help others. And remember, I am always here to answer your questions or help you in Endurance Coop!

[sephiroth4424]

Few questions :

1) I see the game has some glitchy trophies after a patch.Would it be better to play the game unpatched? (for the single player of course).This will determine if i buy the game from the store or get a physical copy.I already faced glitched trophies in the first game,had to start from scratch.

 

2) How many players are needed to get every mp trophy, main game and all dlcs

[ddracarys]

On 4/11/2018 at 6:16 AM, sephiroth4424 said:

Few questions :

1) I see the game has some glitchy trophies after a patch.Would it be better to play the game unpatched? (for the single player of course).This will determine if i buy the game from the store or get a physical copy.I already faced glitched trophies in the first game,had to start from scratch.

 

2) How many players are needed to get every mp trophy, main game and all dlcs

 

1. As I am sure you've read around the internet already, Rise of the Tomb Raider is unfortunately a glitchy mess in terms of trophies. The game itself has no glitches, but every trophy is glitched. Any trophy can glitch at you at any time, so keep back-up saves handy (especially while going for the collectable trophies). Some small patches have helped reduce the amount of glitches, but they are still very much active. Therefore, playing the game unpatched will only make this worse for you. Currently the only fixes for these glitches is to either load an earlier save, or delete your save file entirely and begin a new (what I had to do). Don't let this discourage you, since the game is great, but I can guarantee that at least one trophy will glitch for you.
2. Only two players are needed to earn the Endurance trophies, including you (so just one other person).

Edited April 16, 2018 by ddracarys

[sephiroth4424]

1 minute ago, ddracarys said:

 

1. As I am sure you've read around the internet already, Rise of the Tomb Raider is unfortunately a glitchy mess in terms of trophies. The game itself has no glitches, but every trophy is glitched. Any trophy can glitch at you at any time, so keep back-up saves handy (especially while going for the collectable trophies). Some small patches have helped reduce the amount of glitches, but they are still very much active. Therefore, playing the game unpatched will only make this worse for you. Currently the only fixes for these glitches is to either load an earlier save, or delete your save file entirely and begin a new (what I had to do). Don't let this discourage you, since the game is great, but I can guarantee that at least one trophy will glitch for you.
2. You only need one other person for the Endurance trophies, so two people total including you.

Thanks.Already bought a physical copy in case i need to play it without patches.But i'll play with them and hope for the best.So only two dlcs need ps plus,good to know

[ddracarys]

5 minutes ago, sephiroth4424 said:

Thanks.Already bought a physical copy in case i need to play it without patches.But i'll play with them and hope for the best.So only two dlcs need ps plus,good to know

 

Nice, my bad for the slow reply. Been pretty busy with life. I'm glad you got the game though, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! And yup, only the Endurance and Endurance Co-op DLCs will require PlayStation Plus. Luckily they're not so long either, so even if you need to redeem a free trial of PlayStation Plus, that should be enough to cover you for earning all of the trophies there.

[Paleblood]

Just played through it about an hour ago. TLDR: I'd give it a 6/10 for the experience itself. With optimization and graphics in mind I'd say 7/10.

 

I liked the game more than I expected. Having tried Tomb Raider 2013, I thought this reboot just isn't for me. I hated the guts of that game.

Now, having played through Rise of the Tomb Raider I'm even somewhat looking forward to Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Still nonetheless this game has some flaws I'd consider major, especially the writing and the general nonsensical story. But my major could be your minor, well opinions...

 

The gameplay is where the game shines in my opinion. There are actually not that many games that pull this off all too well. The 'running & gunning treasure hunter' genre doesn't have that many entries in this kind of setting. Uncharted being the obvious comparison only managed with it's 4th entry to not suck ass gameplay-wise. Here everything runs buttersmooth and no matter what goes on, be it explosions, set-pieces or loads of enemies, the game rarely drops any frames. I liked that quite a lot. In addition there is a heavy post-process pipeline, the effects all look nice and the clean looking high resolution support make this game a visual force to be reckoned with.

 

My main gripe with the game is the overly serious tone in the story (despite it actually feeling kinda pointless). I also would've liked a bit more 'flesh' for the relationship with Lara and her father. All I actually know about it is that she had a father. Nice. She often goes on about how much he meant to her but yeah, kinda obvious with him being her father and all...

I don't want to go super in-depth here, but wtf was going on with Jacob?

Spoiler

He knows everything and still let's you go on a wild goose-chase risking your live and countless others in the process for then to nod like a dick when Lara asks ''You knew all along?'' In her super fake 'british' accent of course.

Also there are loads of little inconsistencies in the story. I didn't mind them all too much but only because the story was never the selling point for me anyway.

 

All in all it was a fun thrillride with not too many highs. Still enjoyed it though.

 

J

Edited May 21, 2018 by Stardew Shelly

[ddracarys]

On 5/22/2018 at 2:52 AM, Stardew Shelly said:

Just played through it about an hour ago. TLDR: I'd give it a 6/10 for the experience itself. With optimization and graphics in mind I'd say 7/10.

 

I liked the game more than I expected. Having tried Tomb Raider 2013, I thought this reboot just isn't for me. I hated the guts of that game.

Now, having played through Rise of the Tomb Raider I'm even somewhat looking forward to Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Still nonetheless this game has some flaws I'd consider major, especially the writing and the general nonsensical story. But my major could be your minor, well opinions...

 

The gameplay is where the game shines in my opinion. There are actually not that many games that pull this off all too well. The 'running & gunning treasure hunter' genre doesn't have that many entries in this kind of setting. Uncharted being the obvious comparison only managed with it's 4th entry to not suck ass gameplay-wise. Here everything runs buttersmooth and no matter what goes on, be it explosions, set-pieces or loads of enemies, the game rarely drops any frames. I liked that quite a lot. In addition there is a heavy post-process pipeline, the effects all look nice and the clean looking high resolution support make this game a visual force to be reckoned with.

 

My main gripe with the game is the overly serious tone in the story (despite it actually feeling kinda pointless). I also would've liked a bit more 'flesh' for the relationship with Lara and her father. All I actually know about it is that she had a father. Nice. She often goes on about how much he meant to her but yeah, kinda obvious with him being her father and all...

I don't want to go super in-depth here, but wtf was going on with Jacob?

  Hide contents

He knows everything and still let's you go on a wild goose-chase risking your live and countless others in the process for then to nod like a dick when Lara asks ''You knew all along?'' In her super fake 'british' accent of course.

Also there are loads of little inconsistencies in the story. I didn't mind them all too much but only because the story was never the selling point for me anyway.

 

All in all it was a fun thrillride with not too many highs. Still enjoyed it though.

 

J

 

Haha, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Rise of the Tomb Raider (and Tomb Raider 2013)! I always enjoy reading other player's opinions on one of the most important gaming series to me. It's a shame you did not enjoy Rise of the Tomb Raider as much as I did. However, overall, we technically sit in the same spot. The story being mediocre, while the gameplay being awesome. Unlike you though, gameplay is never a selling point to me in games. And for me, the story is what matters most. Because of this, I too was disappointed to play through a story that didn't completely piece together. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the relationships that were formed and revealed, as well as the action-packed intensity of some sequences throughout the game. I also appreciated seeing Lara grow, develop, and learn a bit more on her journey this time too. You can clearly see the internal conflicts Lara is going through this time, which I am expecting will only become more noticeable in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

 

In terms of Richard Croft, Lara's father, I think the reason why they don't gloss over him so much is because, they probably expect that the player knows enough anyway. Basically, he was a successful businessman and an undercover archaeologist, except Lara did not discover the latter until much later in her life. She finds out that her father was addicted to an undying spiritual being, pursuing this in hopes of bringing Amelia Croft, his wife, back from the dead. This spirit was Himiko, of course. Knowing this, Lara gathered a crew and set out to Yamatai, determined to continue her father's work. The Croft family is full of survivalists, all growing to a particular type of work. Unfortunately, they all eventually find something which breaks them. Richard's breaking point being his obsession with immortality, and the fact that he never got over his wife's death. We have yet to see Lara's breaking point, so I wonder who or what will bring her to that point ultimately. If you haven't already, I recommend watching the Tomb Raider movie (2018). This movie does a great job at enforcing Richard through Lara, and in kind, gives us more insight on Richard in general.

[Paleblood]

1 hour ago, ddracarys said:

 

Haha, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Rise of the Tomb Raider (and Tomb Raider 2013)! I always enjoy reading other player's opinions on one of the most important gaming series to me. It's a shame you did not enjoy Rise of the Tomb Raider as much as I did. However, overall, we technically sit in the same spot. The story being mediocre, while the gameplay being awesome. Unlike you though, gameplay is never a selling point to me in games. And for me, the story is what matters most. Because of this, I too was disappointed to play through a story that didn't completely piece together. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the relationships that were formed and revealed, as well as the action-packed intensity of some sequences throughout the game. I also appreciated seeing Lara grow, develop, and learn a bit more on her journey this time too. You can clearly see the internal conflicts Lara is going through this time, which I am expecting will only become more noticeable in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

 

In terms of Richard Croft, Lara's father, I think the reason why they don't gloss over him so much is because, they probably expect that the player knows enough anyway. Basically, he was a successful businessman and an undercover archaeologist, except Lara did not discover the latter until much later in her life. She finds out that her father was addicted to an undying spiritual being, pursuing this in hopes of bringing Amelia Croft, his wife, back from the dead. This spirit was Himiko, of course. Knowing this, Lara gathered a crew and set out to Yamatai, determined to continue her father's work. The Croft family is full of survivalists, all growing to a particular type of work. Unfortunately, they all eventually find something which breaks them. Richard's breaking point being his obsession with immortality, and the fact that he never got over his wife's death. We have yet to see Lara's breaking point, so I wonder who or what will bring her to that point ultimately. If you haven't already, I recommend watching the Tomb Raider movie (2018). This movie does a great job at enforcing Richard through Lara, and in kind, gives us more insight on Richard in general.

 

I really enjoyed reading your post!

Don't get me wrong though, for me too story mostly is the selling point of a game. However being scarred a bit from the previous game I was in a much more forgiving state, just trying to have a blast with a larger than life character. The fact that I'm even discussing the story shows me that the games are headed in the right direction. I wouldn't have bothered if I hated it, I just feel like there are loads of missed potential that could have made the game great - even for such an overly critical grumbler as I am. 

 

J

[ddracarys]

12 hours ago, Stardew Shelly said:

I really enjoyed reading your post!

Don't get me wrong though, for me too story mostly is the selling point of a game. However being scarred a bit from the previous game I was in a much more forgiving state, just trying to have a blast with a larger than life character. The fact that I'm even discussing the story shows me that the games are headed in the right direction. I wouldn't have bothered if I hated it, I just feel like there are loads of missed potential that could have made the game great - even for such an overly critical grumbler as I am. 

 

J

 

Thank you, and I agree. Lara Croft as both a character and a gaming series definitely has a lot more potential than it actually gets. As you said, Lara is a larger than life character, who should be put into a world which can make even somebody that big feel small. I didn't mean to assume your opinion on story versus gameplay either, that came out wrong on my end. I'm glad we can agree on preferring story anyway though! I guess all we can do now is hope for Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make up for Rise's weaker points. To be fair though, it has already been reported that the next installment will be Lara's "darkest and grittiest adventure yet", so with that in mind, I think a lot of changes will be coming.

 

However Shadow of the Tomb Raider is presented to us, at the end of the day, I will still love it. Tomb Raider is a massive part of my life, being among the first video games I ever played, back on the PlayStation. I have already preordered the Croft Edition of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and it is currently my most anticipated game.

Edited June 7, 2018 by ddracarys