Tras unas 8h y intentarlo multiples veces, hay que ser logicos, toca drop.

Todos mis problemas con la primera parte siguen presentes en este y algunos incluso estan mas exagerados.

Comprendo la direccion que quieren tomar con cosas como la falta de viajes rapidos, o algunas decisiones como la existencia del peso como mecanica, pero estoy en un momento que estas mecanicas, para mi no son mecanicas, son trabas a la diversion del jugador.

Ignorando por un momento el nulo interés que genera la historia principal con algo ya contado 50 veces y que ni siquiera lo hace especialmente bien, unos personajes horriblemente escritos, con lineas de dialogos que tranquilamente las ha podido escribir una IA, el juego es una pasada visual, al menos eso se ha arreglado del primero.

Pero es que el resto, el combate sigue siendo una combinacion de aporrear botones a lo loco mientras te quedas plantado viendo como esquivar algo con la poquisima mobilidad que tiene el juego y subirte a los bichos grandes para darles en ciertos puntos. Pero se que tiene 0 interes, es 0 estimulante, todos los combates son lo mismo -> rush adds, que los pawns pillen aggro del resto, soltar 4 leches y que se mueran.

Y precisamente ese combate junto a la absurda decision de que la stamina baje aun fuera de combate, hace que la decision de no tener viajes rapidos facilmente accesibles sea aun peor, tener que pasarte entre 5 y 10 minutos andando de un sitio a otro, multiples veces, por unos caminos que estan infestados de cosas seria algo interesante si el combate fuera estimulante, pero no, me he encontrado poniendo cara de desidia y corriendo mientras dejo a los pawns atras y ya, porque no queria volver a pararme para darle espadazos a 4 goblins y dos lobos OTRA VEZ.

Los pawns siguen siendo lo mejor del juego, y solo espero que alguna vez, alguien, nos de un juego divertido de verdad con un sistema como este.

Una preciosa experiencia para recordar la necesidad de volver a los clásicos. Porque los clásicos son inmortales y la figura de Lara Croft permanecerá por siempre en el imaginario colectivo de los videojuegos. Pero la realidad hoy en día es que ni con un intento tosco de controles modernos ni con una capa de pintura (literal esto, es loable, pero es lo que es) se consigue despegar la trilogía inicial de TR de lo que es: un producto de su época. En concreto de los 90. Es tremendo lo que consiguieron hacer con las capacidades técnicas de aquella. También se entienden bien los ciclos de desarrollo y de costes al ver cómo están hechos y planteados.
Es un producto interesante y una experiencia a la que hay que acercarse al menos una vez en la vida para entender lo que Tomb Raider dejó de legado, pero ya está. Es una colección importante y necesaria, pero ya está. La serie Legend cambió demasiado el estilo de juego y la serie Survivor convirtió a Lara Croft en otro personaje.

Quizá necesitemos ver a esta Lara de nuevo en acción en un juego nuevo, pero si es así, ojalá sea reflejando lo mejor que tenían estos juegos (los rompecabezas, el plataformeo, los secretos, la ambientación y el SILENCIO de la exploración) y aprendiendo de lo que ha funcionado y lo que no por el camino.

The worst thing the internet ever did to me way back when was selling me on the idea of Dark Souls as this SUPER HARD GAMER series for GAMERS! GIT GUD and PREPARE TO DIE! When in reality it’s this really offbeat and interesting interpretation of an RPG where even though it’s entirely skill-based, and it can be pretty hard, there’s still more than enough to form personal attachments with outside of the gameplay itself. It’s very light on narrative but fosters mechanical storytelling through its nonlinearity and some of its wonkier mechanics. Getting cursed in Depths and having to climb my way out, having my weapon nearly break halfway through a bossfight and having to swap around on the fly; two emergent situations that aren’t really all that significant, but were memorable enough to hold onto and help my playthroughs feel ‘mine’. Working towards the Dragonslayer Spear only to realise I just transformed my only good weapon into something I’m 10(!!) levels away from being able to use would probably come off as cheap in any other game, but I found myself eager to work around this sudden frustrating wrench in my build when the whole game builds itself around putting you in uncomfortable situations and telling you to deal with it.

It’s a vibes game to me, really. It’s hard for me to imagine there’s many of that GIT GUD crowd still grinding out DS1 when games like DS3, Sekiro and Elden Ring exist because it just doesn’t offer the same mechanical depth or extreme upper limit of challenge compared to them, and it only gets easier when you realise you can deal with most of the enemies in the game by circle strafing and backstabbing where possible. But that’s not the point, right? It’s more than just a set of challenges, it’s a world to be explored and overcome. Combat encounters aren’t just enemies to be killed and walked past; they’re part of the world they live in, to transform threatening environments into dangerous ones and communicate the hostility of the world. “Easy” sections lighter on combat allow themselves to exist in order to punctuate the danger for feelings of peace, introspection, foreboding; Kiln of the First Flame, Lost Izalith, the empty space in Anor Londo. Challenge is part of the aesthetic, but it’s not *the* aesthetic.

Something I noticed even when I was playing DS3 as my first Souls game, and have only grown more vindicated on as I’ve gone back, is that the slow combat is much better to emphasise the games’ stellar visual design than the faster-paced lean the newer games have taken. Taking DS3 as the example, most combat encounters with anything too much harder than basic Hollows take a lot of focus to the point where it’s hard to take in anything that’s around me until they’re done, and in bossfights I’m spending too much focus on the attack cues to focus on really anything else. Not that DS1 doesn’t take focus, but there’s enough downtime *during* combat to take in everything else; to focus in on bossfights, there’s only one fight in DS3 - Gael - who I’ve been able to appreciate for anything except for the kinetic feel, whereas one of my favourites in DS1, being Gaping Dragon, I love for practically everything *but* the gameplay.

It’s probably not that surprising from this to hear that I have more of a strained relationship with From’s later titles, but this game really hits such a good blend of atmospheric exploration and slow and simple yet punishing combat that I just can’t get enough of, even when it’s not putting its best foot forwards. Anyway I can’t wait for King’s Field to beat my ass

Estupendo mod de Portal 2, cubriendo el hueco entre las dos entregas, reutilizando las mecanicas de la segunda parte y rompiendo la monotonia de la saga sacandote de las salas y moviendote por todo Aperture.

Ademas de un par de companions con un estupendo cast y un guion que encaja perfectamente en el humor de la saga.

Valve, DADME UNA TERCERA PARTE

Such a rollercoaster game, full of goty tier highs and I-don't-want-to-play-anymore lows. For example I found really frustrating to have visually impressive and extremely fun combats with bosses and Eikons (kudos to this part, because even if using QTEs they manage to feel so epic and keep you engaged) followed by way too extended downtime with filler quests and repetitive conversations. Also annoyed by the fact, perhaps due to the weight of carrying Final Fantasy as part of the title, to not really go full action/hack and slash as the game really screams it should be but instead take the soft action rpg route with half baked open areas with pretty much nothing interesting to find and basic rpg systems and quest design. Not sure what really happened there because I doubt anyone was pleased with the result of that part of the game; the moments FFXVI really shines are the more lineal dungeon parts and the story focused bits. I really liked Clive evolution throughout the game and most of the characters (even if I feel Jill was a missed opportunity) and specially during important combats the music is mindblowing at times.

It feels so bitter to talk about this game, mostly because I feel it has a lot more potential than what the final product really is. even if it is a good and recommendable game, but it could be much more than that.