Author Topic: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive  (Read 9383 times)

Offline idolminds

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Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 08:05:45 AM »
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Dear Tomb Raider Community,

As you may have seen, we’ve just announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming Holiday 2015, is exclusively on Xbox. We consider all of you to be the lifeblood of Tomb Raider and the work we do at Crystal. I’d like to give you some insight into this decision, and why we feel this is the very best thing for the Tomb Raider sequel we’re creating at the studio.

Tomb Raider in 2013 was a success due in large part to your continued support. Our goal has always been to deliver something truly special with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Today’s announcement with Microsoft is one step to help us put Tomb Raider on top of action adventure gaming. Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011. We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past - we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft.

This doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from our fans who only play on PlayStation or on PC. Those are great systems, with great partners, and amazing communities. We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms this December, and Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is available on PS4.

We know that there are probably many more questions and concerns. Please do send them to us, and we’ll answer to the best of our ability. Meanwhile we’re going all out to try and make something truly special - the most ambitious Tomb Raider game ever built.

Thanks,

Darrell Gallagher
Crystal Dynamics Head of Studios
Not even PC. I think Jim Sterling summed it up pretty well.
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So Tomb Raider sells under expectations and Square Enix makes Rise of the Tomb Raider an XBO exclusive. This industry.

Offline Cools!

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 09:06:50 AM »
Great. Makes complete sense. :P

Offline idolminds

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 09:32:51 AM »
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CEO Kaz Hirai ‏@KazHiraiCEO 3h

Rise of the Tomb Raider is now exclusive to Xbox One. Square Enix clearly wants the game to be uncharted: as in, not entering the charts.
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Patrick Klepek ‏@patrickklepek 1h

It's a testament to how the industry has bungled the term "exclusive" that no one knows what today's Tomb Raider announcement really means.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 12:19:54 PM »
In other news, 10 million PS4 units sell all the way into consumers' hands.

If someone isn't kicking themselves in the head, they should be.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 01:03:40 PM »
Wow. Needless to say, it's a silly move from Square-Enix.

Tomb Raider Definitive Edition was highly praised on the PS4, especially for its added usage of the DS4 features and its adherence to 1080p at constant 60fps, giving it an edge over the Xbone version. It's a very strange move for the sequel, indeed.

How worried should we really be? Apparently Ryse: Son of Rome (the Xbone EXCLUSIVE) is coming to PC... for some odd reason.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 02:46:37 PM »
How worried should we really be? Apparently Ryse: Son of Rome (the Xbone EXCLUSIVE) is coming to PC... for some odd reason.
This.

And don't forget - that so-called "XBO Exclusive" Dead Rising 3 is PC bound.
"Console exclusive" often seems to be "timed-console exclusive", these days + age.


Offline gpw11

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday, August 12, 2014, 09:23:59 PM »
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So Tomb Raider sells under expectations and Square Enix makes Rise of the Tomb Raider an XBO exclusive. This industry.

Goddamn it.  Obviously the guaranteed revenue from an exclusivity agreement was an appealing enough proposition to Square Enix that they decided it outweighed the revenue potential of having the game on different platforms.  Obviously, the agreement was lucrative enough that they decided it had a higher chance of delivering a return on investment than the other option. And obviously, pretty much any company, when faced with such a decision would opt to mitigate the risk of not covering the costs of development and would go that route.

BUT IM A  GAMES JOURNALIST.  I BLOG AND MAKE VIDEOS.  LET ME FIRE OFF A QUICK, DIRTY, AND SENSATIONALISTIC TWEET THAT DOESN'T ADDRESS ANY OF THESE ASPECTS AND PRETENDS THAT SALES ARE THE BE ALL AND END ALL OF RUNNING A COMPANY. THERE, MY WORK IS DONE FOR THE DAY.

This industry indeed.

Offline W7RE

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #7 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 03:58:37 AM »
Goddamn it.  Obviously the guaranteed revenue from an exclusivity agreement was an appealing enough proposition to Square Enix that they decided it outweighed the revenue potential of having the game on different platforms.  Obviously, the agreement was lucrative enough that they decided it had a higher chance of delivering a return on investment than the other option. And obviously, pretty much any company, when faced with such a decision would opt to mitigate the risk of not covering the costs of development and would go that route.

BUT IM A  GAMES JOURNALIST.  I BLOG AND MAKE VIDEOS.  LET ME FIRE OFF A QUICK, DIRTY, AND SENSATIONALISTIC TWEET THAT DOESN'T ADDRESS ANY OF THESE ASPECTS AND PRETENDS THAT SALES ARE THE BE ALL AND END ALL OF RUNNING A COMPANY. THERE, MY WORK IS DONE FOR THE DAY.

This industry indeed.

Jim Sterling is the same guy that called it "The Xbox One: A Lying Failure Machine". He's just as sensationalistic as most other games media outlets, but tries to seem different by having "controversial" opinions. These opinions conveniently match what gamers are saying though, so that viewers will say, "Fuck yea! He's so right!" He does the same trolling that you see on the worst gaming forums, and getting views because he's a little more well known.

And yea, ideally all third party games would be on all capable platforms. Tomb Raider took a while to break even though, so I guess getting a lump sum from MS up front helps them attempt to avoid that with the new one. I'm personally not invested enough to have an opinion. The last Tomb Raider game I played was Anniversary.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 05:49:58 AM »
Except whatever exclusivity deal can't possibly make up for a lack of sales, can it? Especially since the Xbone presence has been really underwhelming so far? I can't even think of anybody that has or wants one off the top of my head, other than W7. No matter what they've got going behind the scenes, it seems like a weird move. Especially for Tomb Raider, which just doesn't seem like a franchise that would draw crowds. Does anybody really give a fuck about TR anymore? I know the newer ones have done a bit better, but none of them ever appear to sell to expectations. Which makes me think that expectations of the franchise are sort of way the fuck off.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 08:52:47 AM »
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Especially since the Xbone presence has been really underwhelming so far?
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Does anybody really give a fuck about TR anymore?

You are right on both accounts, and its really why this deal took place. I mean TR does have *some* draw but not the likes of other triple A games now. So square enix is hoping to make up some loses by going exclusive and microsoft is hoping to sell more Xbones to try and regain lost ground to Sony.

Offline W7RE

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 09:53:15 AM »
Does anybody really give a fuck about TR anymore? I know the newer ones have done a bit better, but none of them ever appear to sell to expectations. Which makes me think that expectations of the franchise are sort of way the fuck off.

I have a friend who still says it's his favorite game of last year, by far. I don't think he played any previous TR games. He's one of those guys who plays Call of Duty and Madden, and not much else.


People hate Microsoft because it's popular to do so. Yea, the Xbox One is slightly weaker than the PS4, and costs the same. That's a pretty hard sell, but people are literally saying that they want MS to get out of the gaming industry. I personally chose Xbox One because of the exclusives (I like shooters, and not many Japanese games, and that was the major different between MS and Sony for me last generation). The other big one is that I have half a dozen friends that I spent hundreds of hours with on Xbox Live playing Halo 3/4, Borderlands 1/2, Gears of War 2/3, and several other games. How hard would it have been to convince everyone to switch to Sony, where there would be no Halo or Gears? Pretty hard. The one guy that bought both consoles is now facing the dilemma of whether to play the superior version, or the version his friends have. (He's got Destiny pre-ordered on PS4, where he has no one to play with.)

XB1 over PS4 just makes sense for some people, even if they're in the minority. I don't care if my console "wins", as long as it keeps getting games. I had an Xbox and an Xbox 360, and never owned a PS2 or PS3. I still had plenty of games to play.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 10:59:32 AM »
Oh, sure. I'm not saying nobody owns it, just that it's clearly the loser in this cycle, and not doing anything to gain ground with most people I know. I feel like they represent a pretty reasonable slice of the overall demographic, but maybe not. I don't know. I'm obviously not in the running opinion-wise as I don't even want any of the new consoles, since we seem to be stuck remaking the same games over and over again and mostly there isn't anything that's tempted me that badly (yet ... yet). But TR still seems like a weird franchise for exclusivity to me. I can see the arguments, I guess just from my admittedly limited perspective they don't make a lot of sense.

And to be fair, I hate Microsoft because they earned my hate with the 360, not because it may be popular to hate them. I just didn't like how they handled their defective console, so I wrote them off. I suspect that's why a lot of people hate them now.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 01:07:23 PM »
Yea, though to be fair Sony had a fairly giant blunder themselves last gen with PSN being down for 2 months.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Re: Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 02:13:49 PM »
Except whatever exclusivity deal can't possibly make up for a lack of sales, can it? Especially since the Xbone presence has been really underwhelming so far? I can't even think of anybody that has or wants one off the top of my head, other than W7. No matter what they've got going behind the scenes, it seems like a weird move. Especially for Tomb Raider, which just doesn't seem like a franchise that would draw crowds. Does anybody really give a fuck about TR anymore? I know the newer ones have done a bit better, but none of them ever appear to sell to expectations. Which makes me think that expectations of the franchise are sort of way the fuck off.

Well, I think that Giant Bomb guy had the most worthwhile comment - no one really knows what "exclusive" means with announcements like this.   I have a feeling its definitely a timed exclusive and we'll be seeing it on PC/PS4 sooner rather than later.  The sales loss in that case probably wouldn't be huge.

On the other hand, Microsoft knows where they stand right now, and are probably investing heavily in locking down exclusives in order to gain more ground.  I imagine they probably had a pretty good offer.

Sure, Tomb Raider is a good choice, but it kind of makes sense:  people know the IP, the last game was VERY well received, and it can be seen as a counter to Sony's arguably largest IP at this time.

I don't disagree with you, but think its less of a head scratcher than Nintendo funding Bayonetta 2, of all things.   Like, there's a game no one ever asked for.


Offline idolminds

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 09:33:53 PM »

Offline MysterD

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Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday, January 05, 2016, 04:29:16 PM »
PC Version minimum requirements revealed.

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OS: Windows 7 64bit
Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD equivalent
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 650 2GB or AMD HD7770 2GB
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 25 GB available space

Offline Xessive

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday, January 06, 2016, 05:51:14 AM »
For anyone that missed it, the PC release date is 28 January 2016.

For PS4 it is still slated for Holiday 2016.

Offline MysterD

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Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #19 on: Thursday, January 28, 2016, 05:31:23 PM »

Offline Xessive

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #20 on: Thursday, January 28, 2016, 10:32:48 PM »
I can confirm that it is running beautifully.

I think Nixxes has done a fine job porting it to PC. The UI changes instantly when you switch between m+KB and gamepad. The menu interface is very different for m+KB, generally making more sense for the mouse usage.

Overall, I'm loving it.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #21 on: Friday, January 29, 2016, 08:40:11 PM »

Offline ren

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #22 on: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 10:17:12 AM »
I just finished the 2013 Tomb Raider on PS4 and absolutely loved it. Does this game live up to the first?

Offline Xessive

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #23 on: Monday, October 31, 2016, 01:26:38 PM »
I just finished the 2013 Tomb Raider on PS4 and absolutely loved it. Does this game live up to the first?
Absolutely. I personally felt it was even a tad bit better.

Visually it's a gorgeous game. In terms of gameplay it's really just more Tomb Raider but there are some subtle improvements spattered here and there.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #24 on: Friday, February 10, 2017, 04:56:35 PM »
Okay, I started this up this past Sunday.

I'm about 9 hours into this game.

This feels basically like a much better paced + much more polished Tomb Raider (2013 Reboot). It feels way more polished story-wise & plot-wise, as well.

TR 2013 felt more like it tried to work on character development (which it wasn't always great at, BTW - but it tried to do some ambitious things most games wouldn't even actually try) + this new style of gameplay (i.e. TR 2013 + Rise of the TR are both a somewhat semi-open world games with a mixture of both platforming + 3rd person action/stealth elements with minor RPG character+skill upgrading elements). Meanwhile, Rise of the TR focuses mostly on story + plot-related stuff here, which this game is very good at. And, there are also interesting plot-twists + other things that happen in this game, as well. There feels like there's more small tweaks + additions to gameplay, but these seem to be scattered all over the place.

There's just plenty of little things, here and there, too. Besides the Tombs (those are Side Quests - these are mostly exploring areas, platforming, + solving puzzles within a certain area), there are other Side quests are offered-up on the map also, often with a quest-giver giving them - and doing these can gain XP and get special rewards (learn new skills). The NPC might even have you find X items, destroy X things, or whatever.

There are other little cool things, too - for example, there's a can that is a distraction item (for stealth purposes, so you can get a enemy to go to the item and you can sneak behind them, go around them, whatever). Well, there's also a skill that you can learn where you can pick up cans & if you have even scraps, while on-the-fly, you can build a grenade, and then toss it very quickly. Awesome.

Also, I have to mention this here: even at Medium at 1440p, this game is absolutely stunning. B/c of performance issues, where frames on my 970 here can jump anywhere from 35-60 Frames Per Second here, I just use MSI Afterburner to force it to 45FPS max to keep it in the 35-40FPS range. I could not do 4K on this game, often tossing me into the 20-60FPS range. No surprise, as the 970 card isn't really meant for 4K settings, in most instances. Performance was all over the place, awful, and often below the 30FPS standard.

I'm loving this game, so far. Must play more - WAY MORE.

Offline Cools!

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #25 on: Sunday, February 12, 2017, 11:49:27 PM »
I really liked TR 2013. I'm looking forward to playing Rise at some point. :)

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #26 on: Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 04:50:19 PM »
My Review for Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam / PC):
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mysterd/recommended/391220/

MYSTERD'S VERDICT:
EXTREMELY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

REVIEW...
For both Rise of the Tomb Raider (base-game) & Baba Yaga DLC:

INTRO:
Tomb Raider (2013) was a great game, despite having a few flaws, still took the Tomb Raider Franchise in a new + different direction paid off majorly. TR 2013 reinvented + rejuvenated the entire franchise. Despite its few shortcomings, the TR 2013 Reboot was a little bit short of greatness.

With much improved combat, upgrading-style RPG mechanics, lots of platforming, and a semi-open world experience - TR 2013 absolutely soared to new heights in the gameplay department. While its character development, story + plot wasn't anything really special, it was still solid.

Enter Rise of the Tomb Raider, which fixes most of the issues that players likely had with TR 2013.

IMPROVEMENTS + TWEAKS EVERYWHERE:
Rise of the Tomb Raider (RotTR) has much better pacing overall, way less usage of quick-time events, and actually has a pretty good plot + story to it, when compared to the previous entry (TR 2013). A lot of the puzzles got moved over to the optional Tombs that you can explore in TR 2013. While some of the early Tombs in TR 2013 offered up not much of a puzzle and/or difficulty (unlike earlier TR games), RotTR right off the bat offers up a Tomb that is bigger + has more puzzle pieces to it than early Tombs in TR 2013 did.

Besides the fair amount of Tombs found in RotTR, there are both Collect-A-Thons and Find-A-Thons in RoTTR, there are also fetch quests that NPC's even offer up in RotTR (destroy X items, find X items, etc), offering up a bit more of the kitchen sink + variety here. Lore consisting of all kinds of stuff (audio-logs, ancient relics, etc) is also littered all over the place, for the player to gain more information + insight on characters, the game-world, and environments, to keep the player invested in Rise of the TR here.

Platforming, especially when using a gamepad, absolutely feels great. It feels quite liberating, being Lara out there in the semi-open world, running around, leaping, jumping, climbing, hunting, and moving around these environments. She can find items, salvage things, craft equipment, and other items + equipment. Lara can upgrade her skills + abilities at Campfires, so she can improve herself so she can survive in this very harsh game-world.

If this all wasn't enough, Rise of the TR also takes on the smart approach that made certain sequels like Assassin's Creed 2 + Half-Life 2 so fantastic. Both of those games, they often have you play around with a new skills, item, or gimmick for a little while, in many different ways & shapes & forms. Once you might feel like you're just about to get tired of this feature or it's just starting to get over-used, a new one is thrown at the player to use for a while to keep the variety and fresh-ness in the game going. Never do you really get enough time to get tired of something b/c Rise of the TR often introduces something new at the right time + place.

COMBAT:
The combat from TR 2013 feels as good as ever, but with more tweaks and additions to it. Feeling more like a typical third-person shooter, it feels great with its cover-and-shoot system (like Gears of War and many other 3rd person shooters) and you can also use stealth tactics to sneak + take down enemies. When you learn some skills, you can do some cool on-the-fly MacGyver type of stuff. You could pick up a can, use parts to MacGyver it into a grenade, and then chuck it. You could maybe take a dead body, take their phone, turn it into a C4, turn it into a bomb, and then it detonates when an enemy gets near it. Simply put: RoTTR takes an already great combat system & finds ways to do creative + interesting things with it.

STORY (FOR THE BASE-GAME):
The story in the base-game of Rise of the Tomb Raider follows up the previous TR 2013 Reboot. Lara goes embarks on a quest to find what her father was looking for, known as The Divine Source. This Source is supposed to make people immortal. The problem is this: a group, by the name of Trinity, wants this item, so that they can ue it to become more powerful. Throughout the game - which is loaded with more twists, turns, and turning over-used tropes found in the story of action-games upside its head, by the way - so that the story + plot never loses interest & intrigue b/c of how extremely well this is all executed.

BABA YAGA (DLC):
One of the things that might seem lacking in Rise of the Tomb Raider (base-game) is boss fights. B/c of how some enemies do seem important, sometimes the player never gets a boss fight with a certain character, which might feel disappointing. Honestly, this game never really needed many of these, TBH - but this is one thing that the Baba Yaga DLC actually does have here.

With a mixture between both action + puzzle elements, this DLC's boss fight is one of the highlights of this DLC. While the boss fight + new area does have its own story & Lore + also does feel very important, value and "bang for the buck" can be the big question mark here, feeling a bit lacking. Unless one gets this DLC in a sale or when buying the Season Pass cheap or Rise of the TR: 20th Anniversary Edition where it's packaged with it, it can be a bit tougher to recommend it.

While the new area is very interesting, very cool to explore, and has a great boss fight - it's length is only around 1-3 hours tops, so most players won't be able to justify getting it in for non-sale type of pricing. Catching it on sale, though - it's a definitely worthwhile DLC to take on for the boss fight, cool new area to explore, and the actual reward for finishing this quest and DLC.

PERFORMANCE + GRAPHICS:
Performance of RotTR is also another minor factor + issues here, in some ways. With the in-game 60FPS cap on while it et at Medium settings with a 1440p resolution, the game bounces around b/t 28-60 frames per second. To keep the game much more stable, using a 45FPS cap with MSI Afterburner running solved the problem of the framerates going bonkers. Even at Medium settings, the game is absolutely breaktaking to look at, with its beautiful environments & interesting locations, both artistically + technically. Performance might not be ideal here, but for the most part, it handles itself just fine on my system. The game is nothing short of stunning to look at it + to see in motion, when playing, here on my rig (i7 950 Bloomfield; 16 GB DDR3 RAM; GTX 970; W7 64-bit).

OUTRO:
After about a little over 25 hours, both Rise of the Tomb Raider (base-game) + Baba Yaga DLC were finished. When taken altogether, this experience was absolutely fantastic. Improving on TR 2013 in pretty much every way, Rise of the TR is an easy recommendation; especially to fans of the TR 2013 Reboot. With better pacing, storytellnig, less QTE's, lots of little tweaks + improvements everywhere, I just can't recommend Rise of the Tomb Raider enough. It's nothing short of great. This game is flat-out an absolute must play.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #27 on: Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 08:33:15 PM »
Thanks for that detailed review.  The QTEs have been a sore spot for me before, so I'm happy to see that they have been cut back.  Your high recommendation makes the game hard to ignore.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #28 on: Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 09:03:01 PM »
I have a waaay less detailed review but I also say it's highly recommended.   Great game.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #29 on: Friday, March 10, 2017, 10:21:02 PM »
Yes, you guys were right.  This was quite a special treat, and the first real workout for my new system.  Ran at mostly high settings, with triple buffering [or so I thought] (vsync on), SMAA, and ambient occlusion off.  60 fps locked nearly always, with some occasional dips in very large areas populated with patrolling enemies or villagers.  [This turned out to be the fault of double buffering, when I intended triple.]  Heavy action did not seem to impact frame rate at all, which was surprising.  The dips were not bad either, with the brief stutters hardly affecting the pacing.  Quickly checking graphs in process explorer after quits to the desktop reveal CPU usage somewhere between 60 and 75% (all cores, graphed individually) and GPU usage at around 33%, with less than 3 GB of its RAM in very steady use across time.  Clearly, CPU-bound on my rig under DX11.  The 1060 is just loafing along.

While still not at all a fan of heavy scripting and QTEs, on the whole I had a terrific time with the action, the locales, and the progression.  I played with the controller, which worked extremely well.  Great story, good acting and execution.  Absolutely epic, gorgeous and compelling scenes all the way through. 
(click to show/hide)
  The character progression gets major praise as well, with all the creative use of gathered resources, and power ups based on skill points.  The parkour isn't up to AC standards, but it was certainly more varied, and offered the most fun challenge in the game.

Thanks for bringing this one to my attention.  After assuming the whole game was going to be a QTE-fest like the demo I played on the Xbox, I had pretty much written it off.
« Last Edit: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 07:58:39 AM by Cobra951 »

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #30 on: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 06:56:14 AM »
@Cobra
What resolution are you running Rise of the TR PC at?

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #31 on: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 07:30:39 AM »
1360x768 (768p).  Sorry, I thought you knew that from the PC thread.

Here the rest of the settings, right from the game launcher:

Texture quality: High
Anisotropic Filter: 4x
Shadow Quality: High
Sun Soft Shadows: On
Depth of Field: On
Level of Detail: High
Dynamic Foliage: Medium
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Pure Hair: On
Specular Reflection: Normal
Vignette Blur, Motion Blur: Off
Tesselation, Screen Space Reflections, Lens Flares, Screen Effects, Film Grain: On

Refresh: 60 Hz
Vsync: Double* Buffered
Anti-aliasing: SMAA

* The vsync setting somehow reverted to double-buffered, apparently.  Don't know why or when.  That may be the cause of some of the occasional stuttering.  I'm going to have to check again with triple set again, and the village after the ending is a good place for that.  (Lots of detailed open space and NPC activity.)

As I said before, the GPU is loafing.  I feel good about jumping to 1080p at some point.

Edit:  No evidence of stutter now--none!  I could kick myself.  I thought I changed it to triple-buffered when I got to the village initially.  (That's when I first noticed some stutter during the playthrough.)  I should have rechecked, because some settings don't take if applied inside the running game.  A few need to be set in the launcher.  I noticed that with something else (I forget what), and it makes sense that frame rendering would also need at least a game restart.  Problem is that the game doesn't give you any indication of that.

Now I wish I had kept a save of the part at . . .

(click to show/hide)

That was the most demanding in the whole game.
« Last Edit: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 07:56:32 AM by Cobra951 »

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #32 on: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 08:30:44 AM »
6GB GTX 1060 card should crush ANY game at 1080p.
768p should be a cakewalk.

It should do "okay" at 1440p, but not spectacular.

GTX 1070 is a 1440p card, pretty much.

GTX 1080 Ti is the 4K60FPS card.

EDIT:
I normally don't use VSync. I only turn it back on if I have issues of physics, animations, hit detection, and/or other stuff going out the window. I'd rather keep my extra frames,if possible.
« Last Edit: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 09:09:00 PM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #33 on: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 04:35:10 PM »
I prefer the software refresh locked to the hardware refresh.  An unlocked frame rate varies constantly, and leads to jitters, tears*, and pacing issues.  If I can get a steady 60 fps, I'm willing to put up with a tiny bit of extra lag.

*  For some reason, nothing seems to tear on this box--not even in windowed mode.  I'm guessing the Nvidia driver or hardware is enforcing some sort of vsync even when turned off in games, emulators or movie players.  If something jitters, turning vsync on in the program gets rid of it; but even with the jittering there is no tearing, ever.  I should look into that, if I ever want a truly unlocked display refresh.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #34 on: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 09:08:14 PM »
Okay, maybe I should be more specific.

I normally turn V Sync Off and also run MSI Afterburner to lock framerates down to wherever I see fit for games specifically.
Normally, that's somewhere b/t 30 frames to 60 frames.
Often, I'll lock it down to where it's most consistently lingering around for frames on a regular basis.

B/c I normally am running games here at 1440p w/ my GTX 970 + aiming for Medium or above, the max I'll see is maybe 60FPS.

EDIT:
Also, for some games, using NVidia's Fast Sync is a pretty good option, too. It seems like a decent between option b/t having V Sync On or Off, more or less. You get some of benefits of performance having VSync Off (i.e. you will way better performance than VSync On), but it'll still try and keep the game from any graphical weirdness. And, it usually does a pretty good job of that - even though you might get a few oddball weird frames, here and there.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #35 on: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 05:36:43 AM »
You mentioned MSI Afterburner earlier.  I'm not familiar with it.  My card's a Zotac, and the FireStorm utility for that is pretty limited (fan-speed profiles, some mild OC--which I'm staying away from).  I don't know what Nvidia Fast Sync is either.  I still have a lot to learn.  I've been out of this game for so long.  I didn't know there was a way to cap fps other than vsync.  Not that it surprises me; it just hadn't crossed my mind.  That's actually pretty cool.  If you can't hit 60, don't sync, and dial it back with a tool.

Edit:  Oh, (I think) I see.  You're saying that Nvidia Fast Sync is what I'm experiencing, when I say I have no screen tearing ever?  It makes sense, re-reading what you wrote about it.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #36 on: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 06:06:21 AM »
You mentioned MSI Afterburner earlier.  I'm not familiar with it.  My card's a Zotac, and the FireStorm utility for that is pretty limited (fan-speed profiles, some mild OC--which I'm staying away from).
MSI Afterburner's really sweet. You can use it w/ any NVidia card - i.e. I've always used it w/ EVGA cards. You can use it to OC (if you want), change fan speeds, limit the GPU to output its power or temperature (in case it gets too hot), frame-rate capping (what I normally use it for) and just about anything else.
I also use its On-Screen Display (which overlays during your game) and let it tell me VRAM usage on my GPU, GPU temps, CPU temps, regular RAM usage, and things of that sort.

Quote
I don't know what Nvidia Fast Sync is either.  I still have a lot to learn.  I've been out of this game for so long.
I explained what Fast Sync does 2 posts up in the EDIT section. :P

As I stated: "Also, for some games, using NVidia's Fast Sync is a pretty good option, too. It seems like a decent between option b/t having V Sync On or Off, more or less. You get some of benefits of performance having VSync Off (i.e. you will get way better performance than VSync On here), but it'll still try and keep the game away from any graphical weirdness. And, it usually does a pretty good job of that - even though you might get a few oddball weird frames, here and there."

Fast Sync was introduced by NVidia in their 900 series of cards.

More details on how FastSync works here:
NVidia on Fast Sync -

TONS of details, explanations, & examples from this Youtuber Battle(non)Sense  -


I basically use FastSync on Homefront: The Revolution. B/c that game was originally force-capped to 30FPS (they allowed for unlock in a patch b/c PC gamers complained about the 30FPS), things can really hit the fan when unlocking the framerate or even if you use V-Sync On to 60FPS (especially if it ain't hitting 60FPS)!!!! It has tons of shadow + texture flickering issues, for lots of players (including myself) - so, your best options to keep it down (especially if you don't feel like upgrading drivers or you might actually have issues w/ upgraded drivers, for some damn reason) is actually NVidia Fast Sync (good solution, but it isn't always ideal - it sometimes doesn't have a "best frame" to pick from b/c of how poorly HF:TR sometimes renders, if you have that flicker issue like crazy) or use NVidia V-Sync On to 1/2 Refresh Rate if you have a 60hz monitor (which 1/2 Refresh V-Sync will force the game to basically 30FPS with V-Sync On - which is unfortunately your best option here to kill the flickering entirely b/c you'll be stuck playing a FPS at a crummy 30FPS).

Quote
I didn't know there was a way to cap fps other than vsync.  Not that it surprises me; it just hadn't crossed my mind.  That's actually pretty cool.  If you can't hit 60, don't sync, and dial it back with a tool.
Yup, MSI Afterburner's great for capping - it works on most games. Though, they do have to be DirectX-based.

I use custom caps for certain games w/ MSI Afterburner. Depending on where it floats w/ V-Sync Off - then I'll cap it somewhere.

But, yeah - if a game's running at 60FPS with V-Sync Off and stays there (happens on older games), I will throw V-Sync On and see if it runs the same with it on. If not, nope - V-Sync goes off + I go back to the 60FPS cap.

I usually try to get as much resolution + visual quality as I can. To make me happy, I usually aim for at least above 30FPS. Preferablly, I'd rather be capping things around say at these numbers: either 35FPS, 40FPS, 45 FPS, 50 FPS, 55FPS, or 60FPS via MSI Afterburner. I don't really care much for 30FPS, b/c if you take a nasty hit in performance, it can go into lower territories - i.e. things can clunky once you go below 25FPS and get even more stuttering once you go below 20FPS and can be horrible in the 10's and slideshow territory when under 10.

At those 5-step intervals for frame-caps, likely shit won't hit the fan w/ physics, animations, hit detection, etc when V-Sync goes off. Most games are aiming for 30FPS or 60FPS these days, anyways - whether PC or consoles. 

I have a 4K monitor and my GTX 970 can't handle most games at 4K with above 30FPS, so I'm fine w/ setting things at 2560x1440 (i.e. considered 2K, but it's honestly really 2.5K technically) with cranking AA + AF as far as I can go (to kill the blur effect that can occur from downgrading a game to lower resolution than what my native monitor is).

Also, for example - Bethesda's engines are normally best capped at 30FPS or 60FPS (i.e. Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, etc) b/c that's what they really build the game around, if you decide to force V-Sync Off via INI. They normally force V Sync On and there's not much you can do about it, other than force it off via INI. Otherwise, capping it away from 30FPS or 60FPS, shit hits the fan - physics goes out the window.

There are a few games recently that actually have in-game caps in their graphics options menu, which is great. That way, I can avoid MSI Afterburner, if need be. Plus, MSI Afterburner doesn't always get along w/ every game - i.e. a lot of recent Ubi games, it just don't work. Dishonored 2 has some in-game caps you can use (or not), if you so choose - i.e. 30FPS; 45FPS; 60FPS; 90FPS; etc. I've used V-Sync off w/ 45FPS cap there for in-game settings; worked out fine for me. Ghost Recon Wildlands Open Beta was sweet, as they have 10-FPS intervals you could in-game cap it at in their in-game Graphics Menu, if you so want to - i.e. 40FPS, 50FPS, 60FPS, and so on. Personally, I used 40FPS cap (since I was not getting above 42FPS in that game, pretty much) when set at 1440p with mostly Medium setting + V-Sync Off.

I use on Batman: Arkham Knight PC a 30FPS cap in-game normally b/c otherwise, the game just performs like crap and framerates jump all over the damn place, no matter where I put it (unlock it completely, 60FPS cap in-game, whatever) - yeah, and this is a on a bloody GTX 970 at 1440p. Had same performance issues even on a 960 4GB card at 1080p, before getting the 970. Awful PC port, but pretty good game.
« Last Edit: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 07:18:41 AM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #37 on: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 06:43:58 AM »
MSI Afterburner's really sweet. You can use it w/ any NVidia card - i.e. I've always used it w/ EVGA cards. You can use it to OC (if you want), change fan speeds, limit the GPU to output its power or temperature (in case it gets too hot), frame-rate capping (what I normally use it for) and just about anything else.
I also use its On-Screen Display (which overlays during your game) and let it tell me VRAM usage on my GPU, GPU temps, CPU temps, regular RAM usage, and things of that sort.

Sweet!  I'll be grabbing that, then.  Thanks for the details.

On a related note, new Nvidia drivers are out with a claimed boost in DX12 performance of 33% for RotTR.  Looks like a dozen games get DX12 improvements.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #38 on: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 06:52:37 AM »
Sweet!  I'll be grabbing that, then.  Thanks for the details.
MSI Afterburner normally works well w/ DirectX games. It won't work with other API's.

MSI Afterburner link - https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner

When running Doom 2016, Afterburner does NOT work when using Vulkan. Not that you'll probably need it b/c you'll likely have 60FPS or be way above that, anyways - since it's so low-level of an API.
Doom 2016 when using DirectX API in the render options, though - Afterburner works fine.
If you have the newer WHQL NVidia drivers w/ Vulkan support (368.69 and above), just use Vulkan API for Doom 2016; it runs TONS better with Vulkan API.
Plus, you can turn on the in-game graph/On-Screen Display in the Menu to show framerates and monitor all that stuff anyways.

Quote
On a related note, new Nvidia drivers are out with a claimed boost in DX12 performance of 33% for RotTR.  Looks like a dozen games get DX12 improvements.

Yeah, I saw that; but I'm not feeling too ambitious on uninstalling + installing drivers right now.
I'll get to why momentarily.

I've had all kinds of issues w/ installing newer NVidia drivers, the last few times they've released newer drivers. So, I likely won't be upgrading any drivers anytime soon, unless some game is really going to get me to be ambitious b/c I need that newer driver to actually boot-up a game.

I've tried numerous times uninstalling + reinstalling drivers; used DDU (Display Driver Uninstalled) and then done uninstall + reinstall of drivers; and still they won't install. I've had this issue on both my laptop + desktop since the new GeForce Experience 3.0 crap was introduced + the 368.22 were installed (on laptop + desktop). After a fail, it (Windows) keeps reverting back to the 347.09 drivers now on my desktop PC - ugh. Oh well, I guess. [shrug]
« Last Edit: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 07:20:08 AM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbone exclusive
« Reply #39 on: Sunday, March 12, 2017, 08:40:22 AM »
This is the 2nd set of drivers I download from Nvidia, and I haven't installed either one of them.  I'm very leery of fixing things that aren't broken.  So yeah, I'm with you on that.  Whatever came with Windows 10 Anniversary update is what I'm using, and so far it's peachy. 

Sorry you're having so much trouble.  The release notes (pdf here) have a section on dealing with driver uninstall, and install.  I don't understand why there has to be any user effort beyond running an update installer, but whatever.  Clearly, it's an issue for somebody in the mix, whether deservedly so or not.

Grabbed the MSI Afterburner.  Thanks for the link. I don't have time to futz with it now.  Will do later.