Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is an overlooked gaming masterpiece marred only by surface-level issues such as poor controls, glitches, and a rushed production cycle spurred by Eidos wanting the game to coincide with the movie which forced Core Design to cut a fair chunk of content
Its storytelling, atmosphere, visual style and soundtrack are all masterfully composed by film and gaming industry adepts who were masters of their respective fields.
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>horrible gameplay, levels and controls
>surface level
>surface-level issues such as poor controls, glitches, and a rushed production cycle
>surface-level
>When Lara Croft is accused of the murder of her former mentor, Werner Von Croy, she embarks on the quest to clear her name, beginning in the seedy underbelly of Paris where a serial killer known only by the name "The Monstrum" runs rampant. In search of Von Croy's killer, Lara becomes entangled in a centuries-old struggle between the occult "Black Alchemist", Pieter Van Eckhardt, and the remnants of an ancient order known as the Lux Veritatis, whose aim is to prevent Eckhardt from reviving the biblical angelic Nephilim race and gaining ultimate power in the process.
Lara crosses paths with Kurtis Trent, the last of the Lux Veritatis knights' bloodline who had abandoned the order before completing his training, making his way back into the fray only after his father was killed by Eckhardt.
>He watches, waits, he bides his time. He wants revenge, and Lara will help him extract that revenge. For the first time, there is another playable character in Tomb Raider. A character whose abilities combine the supernatural with the superhuman. He has a different approach to Lara, less subtle perhaps, but still effective against certain opponents
(Artist/animator Jerr O'Carroll)
Tasked with developing the story of what Core Design wanted to be a refreshing, new direction for Tomb Raider, writer Murti Schofield constructed an extensive collection of notes, concepts, fact files, and background lore pieces for even the most minor characters in the game. When first approaching the story for Angel of Darkness, Schofield took particular inspiration from his research and readings on biblical figures and stories, in particular the Nephilim, as well as the occult and his own travels in Turkey where he explored cave systems which were, according to legend, home to a race of "sleepers": godlike beings who would awaken once again someday.
>1/ The Nephilim race were once a flourishing breed. Ancient texts (including the suppressed Enochian Gospels) say they were the ill-considered offspring of angels and mortals. Their unusual appearance inspired superstitious loathing in ordinary mortals from the very start.
>2/ Their civilisation developed and flourished in the remote heartlands of Anatolia what is now Cappadocia in central Turkey. This region was harsh and unattractive to other nation states of the time. Only when their growing numbers and achievements began to be seen as a threat did the mortals, more warlike than themselves, unite to wipe them out.
>4/ By the year 1000 the Nephilim were a forgotten race mentioned only in a few suppressed biblical texts. There were only nine survivors’ and their powers had waned after countless dispirited generations. They were in decline. But they also had a dream, based on a prophecy – that the Nephilim would return to their full power and inherit the Earth. With the lessons learned from their brutal history of extermination they had changed, become darker, more unforgiving in their outlook. They had learned from their persecutors. They were determined never again to fall prey to the inferior mortals.
(Tomb Raider AoD initial story/lore note documents)
Renowned by fans for its gothic, horror visual style, Angel of Darkness represented a sharp turn in direction for the tone of the franchise, a new direction which was intended to last the duration of a trilogy. Lovecraft and the idea of the occult are cited as key inspirations by both the game's writers and artists.
>Some may see elements of various filmmakers, such as Luc Besson and David Fincher
>Some may see elements of various artists: Grunwald, Bosch. All will see something they haven't seen before.
(Mark Donald, artist, and James Kenny, artist)
>underworld, anniversary, and legend are the best tomb raider games
>i played them all when they were new
>you cannot change my mind
>favourite level from any of the games is TR3: nevada though
Angel of Darkness also boasts what is largely regarded by fans to be the best soundtrack of the series. Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and composed by Peter Connelly and Martin Ivesen, the music helps illustrate the dark and mysterious atmosphere of the world Lara is being submerged in.
>For the music to match the scale of the production, we decided to use the same process that major film studios use. In this case, The London Symphony Orchestra.
>It's an overwhelming thought, having your music played by 84 of the world's top musicians. But the effect of the music when playing Angel of Darkness will be well worth the shredding of our nerves. We wanted the music to be ever present; draw you into the world without you noticing. Part of the style of this game is that all of the elements work together, bide their time, wait for the moment when they're needed.
(Peter Connelly and Martin Ivesen, composers)
I'll be honest that premise is great. Too bad we never got a proper game out of it.
Absolutely based, aod is my personal favourite.
youtube.com
Hopefully a fanmade project will get off the ground one day and do this game the justice it was stripped of by Eidos
Nu Lara fucking sucks
I knew I couldn't be the only one
That track is absolutely god tier. 1:33 to 1:50 sends shivers down my spine. That aura of mystery and suspense as you run around Paris is beyond intense. The way the people you met talked about The Monstrum and the murders was so unnerving. Such an absorbing game.
yeah, the game has some pretty good parts
It´s a clunky piece of shit and one of the most broken pc releases of a AAA game I have ever experienced
Peter Connelly and Martin Ivesen's project to remake the music of TR4, Chronicles and AOD was recently completed and is available on Spotify and Youtube, probably other places too
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Some wonderful new takes on the AOD tracks. I like the new version of "Searching for Eckhardt" which had its name changed to "The Periapt Shards". Also there's a lot more jazz influence in tracks like "The Accused" which works surprisingly well. These guys are geniuses
Do you think we'll ever see the classic, snarky, spoiled-rich-bitch-who-shoots-up-tombs-for-fun and doesn't take shit from anybody Lara ever again? Or will the next game be a continuation of Square Enix's reboot starring a slightly more competent but likely just as whiny and unlikeable version of Nu-Lara?
I think nuLara killed the franchise.
go play classic custom levels
trle.net
AoD is shit at its core. They fucked up the perfect controls they had in the previous games. Unforgivable.
Nice bait, OP.
>She doesn't have giant boobs, so she must be bad.
you have shit taste.
funny thing is, in game, her tits are just as large, it's her waist that's normal sized making the tits appear smaller.
She's certainly a stain on the reputation of the franchise and has ruined the casual perception of Lara Croft to the point that she's no longer a household name, but I still think it's salvageable. It depends largely on what Square Enix's next move will be. If it's a sequel to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, then the series will be in REAL trouble. If they re-introduce gameplay and style reminiscent of the classics, then I think it'll be a real hit.
TRLE is great but I'd love to see classic Lara brought back into the modern world with a new AAA cutting edge game on the next gen consoles.
>Can't look past clunky controls or glitches, or even install mods to fix those issues, to fully appreciate AOD's magnificence
I bet you guys would turn the other way and mod the fuck out of Bethesda Game Studios games too
>Can't look past clunky controls
no, I can't look past the most important thing in a game.
Are you trolling or shilling, or are you genuinely just this stupid? Bethesda's games are a constant source of mockery and ridicule on the basis of their buginess even with mods.
>surface-level issues such as poor controls, glitches, and a rushed production cycle
>surfeace level
Dare I ask what you consider real issues?
That's not wrong
lol
>D-cup
>giant boobs
Dial 8.
Old hag Lara crawled so the true Lara could run
Disgusting Squeenix bootlicker.
Keep snorting the literal ashes of something that has been dead for years I guess, schizo
True art stands the test of time. Based classic Lara still has a healthy following of fans 17 years after her last game
Will the same be said of nu-Lara? Doubtful.
It's really just you 1-5 people who keep making this thread, schizo
funny when the new Lara is way more restricted in her move set
whether you're pretending or you genuinely believe this, you're retarded
It's a fact
Yeah old Lara totally didn't move like she had a massive baseball bat up both her ass and vagina
Your taste sucks
What makes Nu-Lara more likeable than Classic Lara besides the fact that you prefer the way she looks and the fact that there's more hentai of her for you to wank off to than there is for old Lara?
Yes
where's your evidence?
Isn't that enough? Sure you are going to pretend now you loved old Lara for her character it's just that everybody knows you are bullshitting and that you wouldn't have cared one bit for her if she weren't a titty monster sex symbol
Its a shame it never got finished, it had great atmosphere
Over 3000 custom made levels by fans of the classics is proof that people cared about the them, not just Lara.
That's just mental illness
Not really. Personally, I played the games when I was super young, not even ten years old, and yes sex appeal does still play a part at that age, but it's minimal. Not to mention I wasn't really exposed to the adverts or marketing material that sexualised Lara, just what was presented in-game where she was barely sexualised at all beyond the fact that she had big titties.
Lara was snarky, fun-loving and charismatic. She was cool as a cucumber and her take-no-bullshit attitude made her legitimately badass. She's even cooler when you get older and realise that she's just some rich bitch who steals shit not for preservation but because she WANTS it for the sake of having it. She gave no fucks, if she wanted something she'd get it.
Nu-Lara arguably has greater sex appeal depending on your preferences (I'd say she's more attractive just by virtue of having a more realistic model) but personality-wise she's bland as fuck. She just whines and despite being marketed as a strong independent female role model she's quite the opposite. She's utterly incompetent and annoying. Case in point: "I hate tombs". Like, fuck off, this bitch is just so boring it's insane.
I want the protagonist to be having fun *with* me as I explore tombs and temples and shoot the shit out of things, not actively go against my current state of mind and bring the mood down for the sake of having a "realistic" and "relatable" origin story.
Which reminds me, Lara fucking Croft didn't need an origin story in the first place, her origin is that she's a spoiled rich brat who abuses her wealth to get an adrenaline rush. Sure, sprinkle some mommy and daddy issues in there if you want to like the Legend Anniversary Underworld games did, but the crux of her character must remain the same. Nu-Lara sours the experience.
We've finally reached contrarian critical mass
>It's good, except for everything that doesn't work
You should know... anyway, we're done here.
>It's good, except for everything
fifty
>e marred only by surface-level issues such as poor controls,
Hmm
>Appreciating finer individual details which merge together to create what would have been the main attraction of the game even if the other aspects were polished to perfection is contrarian.
AoD is a masterpiece and you will not change my mind
Cope, brainlet
You people simply lack an appreciation for art
Take your meds
I bet you think a blank canvas is art.
Care to explain why you have a video of a tall, muscular Chad on your PC, user?
Ah, so you're either a retard or a troll. Gotcha.
Move on, people. Nothing to see here. Don't entertain him anymore.
How do I get gf that is like Lara?
>5 hours later and this thread is still here
you don't.
