Tomb Raider Legend

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:02 pm

I wonder if anyone except Gambit is into Tomb Raider here? I really loved the first two games back then, then got bored with them from TRIII onwards. I purchased Legend yesterday, and so far, I'm having a lot of fun in playing it. It plays like some mix of the old TR games and Prince of Persia. So far, I have just completed the first level, but it already seems to be very good.

Post by **Gambit37** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:29 pm

I downloaded the demo the other day but haven't had time to play it much. I'm using a dual-analogue controller on PC but no matter how I configure it, the camera is a pain compared to Prince of Persia.

Remains to be seen if I can be bothered to train my self to like it.

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 1:33 pm

I also downloaded the demo for the PC and had a bit of trouble with the camera and the controls, but I also played with keyboard and mouse only since I don't own a gamepad. I now play the game on my PS2, and the camera issues are relatively minor, since you can set the camera directly behind Lara with the press of a button (L2 is the default one on the PS2). Still having a blast to play it.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:46 pm

Yep, playing it right now :-)

Tom Hatfield · Post by **Tom Hatfield** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 6:44 pm

Not enough drive space at the moment, but I promised myself I would check it out as soon as possible. I haven't actually played a Tomb Raider since the second one came out. I thought the shots looked nice, and I'm an explorer type. Love me some ancient ruins.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:25 pm

Well, there's plenty to explore with well over 100 secrets to be found so that's a definite plus (and works really well). Also the controls are excellent (in particular compared to the last one, which was awful!) and plays very well.

On the downside, it's extremely short. In my first playthrough I found about 90% of all the secrets (so was doing plenty of exploring!) but still finished in about 10 hours. In fact, when you finish there's a "time-trial" mode where you try and beat each level against the clock and the total target time to complete the entire game is only about 2 hours!

Without giving anything away, the ending is also a bit rubbish with the final boss trivial to beat leaving the feeling that it wasn't the end (because there'd be a harder one later) and therefore when the credits roll its a bit of a shock as at that point your expecting the next level to load...

What there is of it though, is still a great game and I've got about 10 secrets to find and most of the time trials to beat so there's plenty of replay value left. :-)

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:36 pm

Hm, I feared it would be very short... I haven't played as much as I would have liked the past two days, I just finished Tokyo and the game tells me my progress is already 36%! That is indeed a bit sad... Oh well, the replay value definitely seems to be there, so I hope this will compensate.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 7:05 pm

Hmmm - I'm begining to get into this now. The time trial mode is actually pretty difficult and gives loads of replay value.

I'm now 100% complete on the secrets and can complete the entire game in 2h:40m:18s. Sadly the target for the time trials is 2h:18m:30s - just how I'm going to shave another 22 minutes off though I've no idea; lets try and find a few more shortcuts!

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 7:55 pm

Jeez.... I've heard reports of people finishing it 'normally' in 5-8 hours.

I know modern games are generally short, but that's utter rubbish. As I can't even get to grips with the controls in the demo, looks like getting excited about a new WORTHY Tomb Raider game was a bad move.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:13 pm

Gambit37 wrote:Jeez.... I've heard reports of people finishing it 'normally' in 5-8 hours.

I know modern games are generally short, but that's utter rubbish.

Bear in mind that I'm talking about doing speed time trials in ~2-3 hours in Tomb Raider, not the ordinary game play. To take another example, just because PaulH can complete DM in 58 minutes, it doesn't mean that that's all there is to explore

That said, the general point you make I completely agree with; most games are far too short these days. I certainly prefer the 50-100 hour ones myself (and I guess that most people on these boards will as well given their DM background!).

Post by **Gambit37** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:49 pm

I was referring to people playing it normally, not on a speed trial, who claim to have finished it with the bulk of secrets in around 5 hours.

That's crazy.

Anyway, I finally played the demo all the way through and got a bit better at the controls but the camera still sucks. Remains to be seen if I'll ever bother buying the full game...

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:26 am

I have now played 9:23 hours, found 71% of everything and am not done. Then again, I guess I have just become a slower player. Still, even if it is short, it feels great and seems to have quite some lasting appeal. I have to say that this feels to be the best TR game since TR2 to me.

Post by **Gambit37** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:35 am

Actually, it may well be my controller. I have some Saitek crappy thing and I had similar problems with the prince in PopSot. Maybe I need to invest in a better dual-analogue PC controller... can anyone recommend one?

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:01 am

I'm afraid not Gambit, since I don't even own a gamepad for the PC. I just finished the game on my PS2 - 9:50 hours, 91% completed. All in all, it was great fun, though indeed way too short. Still, there are secrets to be found, a more challenging difficulty setting and the time trials. I think I will be spending several hours more with it.

Post by **Sophia** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:25 am

Gambit37 wrote:Maybe I need to invest in a better dual-analogue PC controller... can anyone recommend one?

I use an adapter that lets you connect a Playstation controller to a USB port, and use... a Playstation controller!

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:58 am

I think 10 hours for an ordinary playthrough is about right I think.

Someone claiming to have done a first run through in 5 hours is either doing a spot of internet bragging or wasn't playing to enjoy it! Looking on some of the Tomb Raider forums, I see the people claiming to have done it so quickly are also claiming to have completed GTA:VC in 10 hours (I'm sure i spent nearer 100 on that). I'm sure it's possible to do it that quickly, but only if you really *try* to go for speed right from the offset.

The way I played was to wander around having a look in all the areas, enjoying the scenery etc. To do it in half the time, would mean missing out on "the game"; not playing to have fun - which is what games are for!

That said, 10 hours is still a bit short for a first run through. That, that said; it's still a good game - I've spent a further 10 hours finding secrets and trying to beat the time trial mode. Only about another 2 minutes to find now

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:59 am

BTW - a playstation controller is definitely the way to go. I've been using one and hadn't noticed the camera at all (the game is *that* immersive) until you mentioned it!

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:38 pm

Yay!

Finally completed all the time-trials. Total time 1h:59m:36s

For what it's worth, the total cumulative time spent playing was just over 20 hours (i.e. lots of replaying of levels!).

If anyone's interested I've put my level times below (padded so it's not obvious how many levels there are to prevent spoiling). I made at least one mistake - dying or falling off and having to redo a section - on each, and sometimes more so I'm sure the times can be bettered, probably down to the 1h:45m region, but it's something for anyone else to aim at. Enjoy!

0:00:00 (dummyx x)
0:00:00 (dummyx x)
0:00:00 (dummyx)
0:00:00 (dummy x)
0:00:00 (dummy xx)
0:00:00 (dummyx)
0:00:00 (dummyxxxx)
0:00:00 (dummy)
0:11:53 (Boliva)
0:19:14 (Peru)
0:11:36 (Japan)
0:16:48 (Ghana)
0:26:30 (Kazakhstan)
0:19:55 (England)
0:10:39 (Nepal)
0:03:01 (Boliva)
0:00:00 (dummy)
0:00:00 (dummyxxx)
0:00:00 (dummyx)
0:00:00 (dummyxx)
0:00:00 (dummyx)
0:00:00 (dummy x)
0:00:00 (dummyx x)
0:00:00 (dummyxxxxx)

Right, back to RTC

Tom Hatfield · Post by **Tom Hatfield** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:14 am

Okay, I don't understand this. The game is seven and a half gigs. It's bigger than Phantasmagoria. How the hell can it only be ten hours long?

That said, I'd like to say it's good, except I can't because of this insanity-generating sound stuttering bug that makes me want to throw my entire desk through a window. I won't be able to finish the first level until they release another patch that addresses this.

*sigh* Second game this month I want to set on fire.

Post by **Zyx** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:19 am

Tom Hatfield wrote:*sigh* Second game this month I want to set on fire.

Maybe you should try Timber games. *runs*

Post by **Gambit37** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:32 am

Tom Hatfield wrote:Okay, I don't understand this. The game is seven and a half gigs. It's bigger than Phantasmagoria. How the hell can it only be ten hours long?

Really? That's ridiculous. Although, the demo alone was 753MB and it was tiny -- I think it's a texture issue as there don't seem to be that many repeating/tiled textures -- lots of unique stuff (?)

Tom Hatfield wrote:*sigh* Second game this month I want to set on fire.

I've just ordered it, more on Amazon price than anything else. I hope I don't feel the same way.

Post by **Sophia** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:58 pm

Tom Hatfield wrote:Okay, I don't understand this. The game is seven and a half gigs. It's bigger than Phantasmagoria. How the hell can it only be ten hours long?

Or, more to the point, what compels anyone to release a 7.5GB game?

You may say "only" ten hours, but I like games that don't require spending half your life on to feel some sense of progress! (Of course, the tradeoff there is not spending half my HD space on them too!)

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:14 pm

Sophia wrote:I like games that don't require spending half your life on

Hmm; you might be talking to the wrong people with these forums

Adamo · Post by **Adamo** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:56 pm

I like games that don't require spending half your life on

ha! wait for my "Dungeons of Death" then

Post by **Gambit37** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:14 pm

Well, I got it during the week and have played around 30% already -- this really doesn't bode well. I got as far as trying to defeat Nakamoto but found the whole thing an exercise in frustration. It seems as if my patient days of gaming are over. I have resorted to downloading a save game of the start of the next level...

On the down side, the controls definitely need some work, there are too many cinematics which are too long, not enough exploration, too much dumbing down (icons telling you what to do) and that damn annoying spoiler-headset is getting on my nerves. It's good for a little exposition but gets old real quick during the game proper. The character animation is pretty dated and the lip-synch is awful, espeically when you see what Valve did in HL2 two years ago. It's also really dumb how when Lara is chatting on the headset, you pan the camera around and her lips don't move.

On the up side, although I can't run next-gen graphics on my machine, I'm liking the environments which do evoke a feeling of "being there" despite their flatness. There have been some good moments -- the bike chase was fun and some of the leaping about can be a bit hair raising. Oddly enough, I've enjoyed exploring Croft Manor and have spent a fair bit of time in there.

I reserve judgement until complete.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:33 pm

I think the %age is calculated on the number of secrets found not your progress through the game. Because the bronze secrets are so numerous (and obvious) the two measures are of course quite well correlated!

Anyway, it means you'll get to 90-95% pretty easily, but getting that last few % (in particular a couple of golds are real sods to find) will take you somewhat longer.

BTW - I liked the croft manor too, probably my favourite level (ironic given that it's not really a level!).

BTW2 - Just run up to the japanese bloke and shoot him from a few feet away. Don't bother with trying to dodge the green stuff (although you can jump over / roll under it easily enough), at close range your shotguns (dropped by the men throughout the level) are lethal and it will only take 10 or so shots to kill him off.

Post by **Gambit37** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:00 pm

After getting to 50% percent and the khazakstahn boss, I gave up. The camera sucked so much on this bit I found it completely unplayable.

I left it a few weeks and went back to the game the other night. I found similar problems with the other bosses too and ended up resorting to save games to bypass them. So I finally completed the game by having to cheat, which I hate.

Overall, I'm very disappointed with this game. It's an action game with Lara Croft in it, it's not Tomb Raider. I'll write up a full review when I get some time.

Verokh · Post by **Verokh** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 11:38 am

After reading the comments here I decided to rather spend the money on "Prince of Persia: Two Thrones", which I hadn't the opportunity and time to play yet.

Tomb Raider lost its charm with the third episode. 1+2 were great because you actually had to "raid a tomb/ancient ruins/sunken temples", which I think is the true spirit of this game, discovering the unknown and not walking through <insert any city's name, that appears in any episode, here>, shooting gangsters. Tomb Raider 1 was the greatest of them all in my opinion.

Tom Hatfield · Post by **Tom Hatfield** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:27 am

They released a patch that supposedly fixes the sound issues, but I don't have the drive space for it anymore. Oh, well. I started playing Soldat instead, which is a good action game.

zoom · Post by **zoom** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:36 pm

"Soldat" like the german word for Soldier?