Mother Gamer Plays The Tomb Raider Reboot Trilogy

I knew of the Tomb Raider games, but I never really played them. After playing Uncharted many people suggested the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy to me saying that I would like it a lot. I picked up the trilogy and started my adventure as Lara Croft. First up of course was the first game in the trilogy. Since this was a reboot, it was a way to start fresh. With the first game it was clear that Lara is young and this is her first expedition to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Right from the beginning the first game is action packed with a crazy storm and the ship sinking, stranding Lara and her friends on the island of Yamatai.

Lara get her bearings on the island.

Exploring the island was exciting and a bit scary with some jump scare moments. I did like the fact that I could adjust the difficulty settings in the game and turn on tutorials so I could figure out the combat system. I did like taking moments to stop and explore the island and appreciated a lot of the view. There's definitely a lot of climbing and jumping while using Lara's various tools to get around the island. 

Lara climbs up. 

It was fun using the tools and zip lining everywhere. The battles are fun, but sometimes a little frustrating with the sheer amount of quick time events. I would die in the game and have to try again and sometimes the quick time events were not always accurate. It didn't deter from the enjoyment of the game for me because I really liked the story and reveals in the game. In order to save the game and craft items, you can rest at a campfire. This is also where you can upgrade your skills and weapons as you level up. 

Craft and upgrade skills here.

I had a great time with the first game and learning about the island of Yamatai. There were definitely tense moments that scared the heck out of me which added to the game. Sometimes the controls could be a little clunky, but I had fun. Next was Rise Of The Tomb Raider which opens in Syria with Lara trying to come to terms with what she saw in the first game. It was interesting to see Lara trying to wrap her mind around seeing something she could not explain from the first game. Her adventure in Rise then leads her to Siberia in search of the prophet of Constantinople. There were lots of beautiful scenic vistas in Rise Of The Tomb Raider and I stopped often to check them out. 

Taking in a beautiful view. 

I felt the map in the second game is a little better because everything is laid out clearly with side quests, optional tombs, and the main story quest. I also loved the fact that you could place custom markers on the map because me being the derp that I am, I need to be able to see clearly where I need to go. 

Finding my way around the map. 

I loved that you could change Lara's outfits and each outfit had a beneficial use for her with things such as better agility, more health, or bigger inventory space. The campfires seem to be the staple for all the games so they were in the second game as well. Using salvage found in different areas helps Lara to craft arrows, upgrade her tools, and even create makeshift grenades. 

Changing up Lara's outfit.

I loved the story in Rise because it showed us a new mystery as well as a new villain in a secret cabal organization known as Trinity. The story also showed more of Lara's back story and what happened to her father which gave great insights into why she was obsessed with finding out the truth about her father's research into various artifacts and legends. I also liked exploring the optional tombs. These offered puzzles to solve and the reward for figuring out the tombs was not only treasure, but revelations that tied into the main story. The art and music in the game was beautiful and I appreciated the thought and time that was taken to make them shine. I kept playing because I wanted to see where the story took me and it delivered greatly. 

Lara explores a tomb.

Finally, it was time to play Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. The story is set two months after the events of Rise Of The Tomb Raider and Lara and her friend Jonah are working together to stop the activities of Trinity. Honestly, right from the start I fell in love with Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. Lara walking around in Mexico during a Dia de los Muertos celebration, seeing the ofrendas, and all the thoughtful details that went into it warmed my heart. This is where the story really starts as Lara runs into some of the Trinity operatives, but also learns where to go next in her adventure. 

The beauty of Dia de Los Muertos. 

Getting to explore the Amazon in Shadow was incredible. There was so much to see and do and the element of danger was definitely heightened. I had a bracing, scary fight with a jaguar and had to use all the tools at my disposal. It was also a lot of me running away and yelling, "Oh no!" because let's face it jaguars are beautiful big cats and scary as heck predators.

As the story continued, I got to learn more about Trinity and the artifact Lara was looking for. I loved interacting with the indigenous people of Paititi. I loved it because it brought up important discussions about Lara and her reckless behavior. Jonah had these conversations with Lara before about the importance of looking at the big picture and understanding that sometimes it's better to take a step back. I loved seeing the people and how they lived. There are side quests you can do in the game that are part of the story and involve helping many of the villagers. I especially loved Unuratu because she was smart, brave, and cared deeply about her people and the world. I was fascinated by her and enjoyed getting to know her as the story progressed. 

Unuratu is amazing!

The skills and abilities have been overhauled and is more colorful as well as adding some new abilities. Campfires are still in the game and serve the same purpose they did in the previous two games. This is where you upgrade your weapons, unlock your new skills, and craft different types of arrows. I feel that there were more options with the weapons like the bow and arrows which I liked because I tended to use the bow and arrows often for sneaking around enemies. 

The skills menu has been updated and it's more colorful. 

You can also change Lara's outfits here and each outfit has tactical advantages. There are also outfits that celebrate the clothing the people of Paititi wear. I had a giggle over the fact that you can change the outfits on Lara to make her look like her old school original character design. Some parts of the story would have Lara automatically change into disguises which was a lot of fun. 

Changing outfits. 

I can say with all sincerity that Shadow Of The Tomb Raider is my favorite in the entire trilogy. The story is well told and talks some about colonialism. It really turns the mirror around on Lara and forces her to self reflect on her past actions. Jonah is a good foil to Lara because he's thoughtful and kind, but he is not afraid to challenge his friend and tell her that she's wrong, that there are dangerous consequences to her actions. These interactions that Lara has with others throughout the story are important and it's interesting to see this darker side of her as well as seeing her coming to terms with her actions and trying to make things right. You get to see Lara learn and grow throughout this whole experience. 

There are optional tombs with some pretty interesting puzzles. The puzzles are a little more complex, but I had a good time figuring them out. The platforming in the game is much better and I enjoyed the combat. One of my favorite parts of the game however, was getting to pat all the llamas in Paititi. I love it when a game lets me pat cute animals. 

I can pat the llamas! 

The ending for Shadow I felt wrapped things up nicely and showed how far Lara had come from the first story and how much she had matured and learned from her journeys. I am glad that I got a chance to play the reboot trilogy because all of them were fun for me. I liked Lara, her friends, and her adventures. It was exciting to explore these different locations and see where the story took me. I liked the extra quests and puzzle solving in tombs. Overall, the games were fantastic for me! 

*The Tomb Raider Trilogy is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox one

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Persona 5 Royal: A Royally Good Time

I am a big fan of the Persona series and have played them all and Persona 5 became a big favorite with me so of course I picked up Persona 5 Royal immediately. Is Persona 5 Royal the same game? Yes and no. The story is the same, but there are some extra things added with some new bells and whistles that frankly make the game even better. Let's dive in and go over those things. Some spoilers will be in here so if you haven't finished the game yet, do that first. If spoilers don't bother you read on.

One thing that is different is there is a brand new opening and theme song which looks incredible. It's vibrant, colorful, and fun. The story starts in the usual way with the Phantom Thieves pulling off a heist with one small difference. It introduces one of the two new confidant characters, Kasumi who is also a romance option for Joker. When you meet Kasumi she is in her metaverse costume showing her to be a Persona user, but you don't learn about that until later in the story. Kasumi is the Faith arcana confidant. You also meet another confidant, Maruki who is the Councilor confidant.

Kasumi is a new character in Royal. 

Having played through the original Persona 5 a few times, I was excited to see what was different in Royal. The introduction of Kasumi and Maruki happen very naturally and fit into the story quite well. I liked Kasumi and Maruki a lot. They were interesting characters and the introduction of them into the story happened organically and fit perfectly with Joker and his friends. The anime scenes for Royal are crisper with more color palettes. I noticed that right away with the initial first anime scene with Joker and Ryuji.

Joker and Ryuji in the first chapter. 

The metaverse palaces have been revamped. They are essentially the same, but with some cool new tweaks. One of those things are Will Seeds. There are three Will Seeds in each palace and they are hidden so you really have to look for them using Joker's third eye ability. Morgana will also give hints about the location of  a Will Seed telling Joker that he senses it nearby. Each seed is a different color of red, green, and blue. The doors to the room holding a seed are a distinct design. The third door is guarded by a mini boss that the Phantom Thieves have to fight. This boss is challenging, but can be taken down easily with technical and elemental attacks.

Phantom Thieves ready to take the third Will Seed. 

When you find all three seeds they fuse together forming a crystal skull. This introduces you to an addition to an upgrade to Mementos. When you go into Mementos you meet a young boy named Jose who is exploring Mementos also. This leads to a collection quest of sorts. Jose tells everyone he is studying humanity and exploring Mementos. You can now collect flowers in Mementos and star stamps. Jose will be on different floors in Mementos and you can trade him flowers for various items such as healing items. The number of star stamps you have allow you to change the cognition of Mementos. Talk to Jose to do this and you can have the shadows grant more experience points or find more items. With the crystal skulls, you can give them to Jose and he will craft them into an accessory that Joker and his party can equip. For example, there is an accessory that can nullify all physical attacks. It's worth your time finding those Will Seeds and finding the collectibles in Mementos.

Will Seeds fuse into crystal skulls. 

The boss battles in metaverse palaces have been upgraded too with some new additional mechanics making the boss fights a little more challenging, but still a lot of fun. There is also the introduction of disaster shadows. Disaster shadows look very pretty, but they can be quite deadly so you can focus on them first and when you defeat a disaster shadow they explode and can take out the other shadows next to them. If you're lucky, sometimes the disaster shadows drop extra money and rare items.

Disaster shadows are worth the reward. 

The portraits for the different characters during conversation scenes are redone. I noticed right away that Ryuji's portrait was different. I like the new portraits. They're sleeker and make the characters stand out more and add to the great art design Persona 5 has already. There is also another cool feature known as the Thieves Den. Here, you can go and decorate with collectibles from the Persona 5 universe. You can also play a card game with your fellow Phantom Thieves known as Tycoon which feels like a more complicated version of Hearts. This is a good way to earn tokens which you can use in the Thieves Den to buy collectibles to decorate with. There is also an art gallery and a wall where you can watch the movie scenes from the game. It's a really cool thing and I enjoyed gathering all the collectibles and playing cards with the Phantom Thieves.

New portrait for Ryuji.

It was great to see the extra scenes with the Phantom Thieves and with the new characters. Kasumi was very nice and I was curious about her. Getting to know her I found I liked her personality because she appeared to be confident, but there were moments where she was vulnerable. Her conversations with Joker are interesting and if you decide to romance Kasumi it is very sweet and endearing. When it comes to Maruki, there are some pretty complex conversations about relationships and struggle. Maruki is nice and it's intriguing to see how he treats all the kids like equals and doesn't talk down to them.

Maruki has a conversation with Joker. 

There are new things to do with your social links in Royal. You can go to the batting cages in Yongen Jaya and you can now go to Kichijoji where you can play billiards and darts with your friends. This is also where you can find Kasumi and Akechi to hang out with them and increase your confidant rank with them. Yes, you can now hang out with Akechi in a social setting not just as part of the story. I liked that Royal gives you this option and it is a welcome addition to the game because you get to really know Akechi and gain a little more insight into who he is and why he became the person that he is. There isn't just an ending to Royal, there is now a true ending and a third semester. There is an important detail that the game doesn't necessarily tell you in order to get these. It involves Kasumi, Maruki, and Akechi. In order to get the true ending you need to max out your social rank with all three before November 18th because that is when Maruki leaves as part of the story. Kasumi only goes to rank 5 at first so that is done easily. With Maruki, you want him to be at rank 9 and Akechi at rank 8 because both of them rank up to max level as part of the story. If you want the true ending and third semester unlocked, get that done. Hang out with them when they invite you and watch the story unfold.

Joker at the batting cages. 

The bells and whistles that come with Royal are worth it. You can upload your original Persona 5 data which gives you extra money and items. You can also get the DLC Legacy bundle for free in the Playstation Store. This gives you all the school uniforms from all the Persona games, maid outfits, butler outfits, Christmas outfits, as well as outfits from the game Catherine and Shin Megami Tensei IV. The Christmas outfits look different for each character unique to their own style. You also get a social rank with your fellow Phantom Thieves beyond max rank 10 which makes their Personal more powerful. The Velvet Room is different too with the introduction of fusion alarms. When a fusion alarm happens this gives you a great chance to fuse powerful personas in the various arcanas.

Yes, the story in Royal is essentially the same, but with all the extras that have been added it has made the game itself amazing. You can of course change the difficulty in the game tailored to your personal play style and when you finish the game, you can start new game plus which carries over all your social stats, money, items, and persona compendium. Persona 5 Royal is a royally good time and if you are a fan of the Persona series, it is absolutely worth picking up and playing. Now, I'm ready to start my new game plus adventure!

Enjoying some signature outfits.

*Persona 5 Royal is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4

*Join our community on Twitch as we enjoy games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer