gunsmoke on 3/5/2013 at 13:40
I got you on Monday, bob, broke until then though.
Dia on 8/5/2013 at 13:32
I'm still rather towards the beginning of this game (Coastal Forest), but am already frustrated as hell. I knew I should've invested in a console-type controller for my PC first (I've only ever played TR on the PS series), but went ahead and started playing it anyhow. Only to realize that the keyboard controls for this game are awkward, at best. You only get certain menus at certain points in the game and they're not exactly what I would call interactive - more like you get an option to click on a couple different categories. No inventory menu that I can find yet.
I've only just found a bow and a knife tied to a stick (used as a crowbar), but have found the aiming of the bow to be awkward and innaccurate. Lara holds the bow like one would hold a crossbow, which throws the aiming off considerably; you can't site down the center of the bow, but rather to the side of it - sometimes even an inch to the side. The target/site looks like '_._' and is located off-center of the bow. The symbols turn red when you're on-target and even then the controls are needlessly complicated in that you aim with the right mouse button and fire with the left (guess I got used to aiming/firing with one mouse button via Thief - and other games). There are instances when you have to make Lara kick at an assailant or scramble up a slope which require you to rapidly toggle between 'A' & 'D' then quickly switch to 'F' to get her to do something else. I don't know if it's just that my fingers are slower than most (I'm not left-handed either), or if this was just bad-porting of the game from the console to the PC, but it's awkward and it seems as though not all of my keystrokes register all the time. If Lara fails/dies, then you're booted back to the previous check-point save or a save you made manually; something you can do a lot more often than the checkpoint saves at least.
My biggest complaint is that I haven't been able to play TR Reboot for more than about 3 to 4 consecutive minutes (if that) before the controls are frozen as it slips into yet another cutscene. And there are soooo many cutscenes! Granted, they had to set the stage to give you an idea of where Lara was, how she came to be there, and to kind of flesh out the other characters in a ludicrously long beginning cutscene and granted, the cutscenes are almost seamless (which is frustrating when it takes you a few seconds to realize you don't have the controls at that point). But this is ridiculous! I wanted to PLAY the game, not just sit there and watch it. I doubt even having a console-type controller would matter at this point. I'm hoping that all the cutscenes are due to the fact that I'm still at the beginning of the game and that this part is more or less a tutorial. God, I hope so.
Great graphics, though.
Renault on 8/5/2013 at 21:49
Quote Posted by Dia
My biggest complaint is that I haven't been able to play TR Reboot for more than about 3 to 4 consecutive minutes (if that) before the controls are frozen as it slips into yet another cutscene.
And there are soooo many cutscenes!Agreed 100%. I picked this up on the Steam sale ($25), and am a few hours in. What is with devs and quicktime events and cutscenes? Are they so concerned with showing off fancy tech that they forget that end users just want to play the game? It's like they're trying to implement Heavy Rain type moments into a game that's pretty much the antithesis of that. There's also a couple of ridiculous, completely immersion breaking places where the player loses control of Lara just for a few seconds so she can just squeeze through a crevasse or duck under a log/tree, etc. Maybe this is some type of game design, checkpoint saving method, but if so, it's horrible.
Sad thing is, the visuals are nice, and some of the gameplay is classic Tomb Raider - the game could have been so much better with just a minimal amount of effort. It's still fun, but extremely limiting. We'll see if this keeps up as the game goes on.
smallfry on 9/5/2013 at 03:10
Well, heck, I really had a darn good time with this game. I agree with a lot of the complaints. I guess my two major complaints are 1) the camera having a mind of its own (one time I was trying to run across a bridge and had to do some jumps, but the camera was not looking directly down the bridge but rather slightly off to the side, so pressing "W" made Lara run at a slight diagonal, which made the jumps way harder), and 2) the enemy AI being dumb as nails (funneling through choke-points; as soon as you alert one guard they all know exactly where you are at all times, even if you're hidden behind walls). Oh and I guess one more thing: 3) the upgrade system is pretty cool but I had way more skill points and salvage than I could ever use, and I didn't even go out of my way to look for things. You don't make any hard choices on what to upgrade because you have enough points to upgrade everything all the way.
Quote Posted by Brethren
the game could have been so much better with just a minimal amount of effort.
I kept thinking this same thing the entire time I played. But, I still really enjoyed the game and I can't wait for more. It was very exciting, the graphics were aMAZing, the combat was still pretty fun despite its shortcomings, and the tomb puzzles were neat.
Dia on 9/5/2013 at 03:55
No, Brethren, it doesn't get any better. There are a few cutscenes you can skip, but just a few. I was hoping the devs would ease up some on ripping the controls away from you just so they could show you how kewl their animations are, but sadly they don't and you end up watching about as much of the game as you're allowed to play. I don't understand the fascination for this type of crap; who in their right mind wants to be yanked out of the game every five minutes only to sit there and watch several minutes of cutscenes? I've loved TR since the first game came out but have been progressively more disappointed with what's been done to it over the past several years. The mandatory cutscenes and other little well-woven-in animator control sequences (i.e. when you try to squeeze through a tight place, etc.) have broken any immersion I may have been feeling while playing this game. I soundly curse the devs/animators responsible for this tripe! And any younger players who think this is the 'norm' need to play some of the older games so they'll understand just how wrong this is.
Some of the 'speed-runs' are just batshit crazy! It's so damn difficult to control Lara when she's being carried along by a rushing river (or sliding down a mountain path?) and you have to avoid protruding pipes and broken tree limbs - I swear sometimes the keys I'm 'mashing' just don't register. You're going so damned fast that it's pretty much a given you're going to die several times before you memorize which keys to punch, mash, and push so you make it to the end of the stupid speed-run. The puzzles were all pretty much no-brainers (almost embarrassingly so), compared to some of the puzzles in the older (original and worthy of playing) TR games. Also, some of the sudden camera shifts are disorienting and annoying, and try as I might I can't figure out how those camera shifts improve or enhance the game in the least. Though this reboot does have a few true Lara moments, there just aren't enough to make me happy.
Yeah, pretty graphics notwithstanding, there's relatively little if any immersion factor here. The game goes from being so easy a 6 yr. old could play it to so knuckle-breaking difficult that you wonder if at that point the devs had a sudden major intake of caffeine laced with shots of Jack Daniels. I shudder to think that this game may be an indication of the absolute crap that game studios 'think' gamers want. Nothing could be further from the truth, imo. Unfortunately, I'm stubborn and am going to play this game through to its bitter end. And then I'm going to write a long and very nasty letter to the TR Reboot devs.
Morons.
P.S. If EM does the same things to T4 that have been done to TR I'll probably end up in the hospital with a stroke.
:mad:
Dresden on 13/5/2013 at 00:42
You spend the majority of of T4 killing people with a few houses to rob as side objectives for upgrading your bow! Game of the Year!
Slasher on 13/5/2013 at 06:36
So long as the T4 bow can be upgraded with a red dot sight and a sound suppressor, I'll be happy.
gunsmoke on 14/5/2013 at 03:57
Speaking of bows, I don't believe I have ever heard a game-bow actually sound anything remotely like any of the dozens of bows I have had in my lifetime. I'd like a game to step up.
faetal on 14/5/2013 at 08:50
There is a skyrim mod which uses actual sounds recorded from archery to replace its bow sounds. I know that's not what you meant, but in case you ever want to know what it's like...
gunsmoke on 15/5/2013 at 02:36
A good start!
