Lara at the movies, done

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Archived from groups: alt.games.tombraider (More info?)

finally finished going through this set of levels. overal not too bad,
though the last two 'sets' of movies I wasn't to keen on. if you're not a
fan of timed runs and (sometimes) very tricky jumps you may want to pass
this one up. in a number of places the level designers took advantage of the
foibles in the game engine in order to make the level work. there are
sufficent med packs and ammo to carry you through, and flares...well I ended
with somewhere around 500 of them. if desired I could write up a movie by
movie set of comments and general tips(things to watch out for, not a
blow-by-blow how to)
rex

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.tombraider (More info?)

In the dead of night, a faint whisper from Rex Reynolds was heard, at
about 04/29/2005 03:34 AM, and I could have sworn it said ...
> finally finished going through this set of levels. overal not too bad,
> though the last two 'sets' of movies I wasn't to keen on. if you're not a
> fan of timed runs and (sometimes) very tricky jumps you may want to pass
> this one up. in a number of places the level designers took advantage of the
> foibles in the game engine in order to make the level work. there are
> sufficent med packs and ammo to carry you through, and flares...well I ended
> with somewhere around 500 of them. if desired I could write up a movie by
> movie set of comments and general tips(things to watch out for, not a
> blow-by-blow how to)
> rex
>
>

I'm on theatre six, or just about to enter. Although I have this
sinking feeling I forgot to pluck the star after theatre 4. I don't
have star #4 in inventory!!

And I liked the Stargate levels (theatre 5). Some pretty inventive
stuff in it.

Although you're absolutely correct, a lot of the level designers seemed
to have either tried to put those "foibles" in on purpose, or they were
so determined to get the terrain they wanted, they didn't care how many
glitches they introduced. The whole thing needs some polishing.

But considering that I've built a couple levels and it took *forever*,
I don't hold too much against these guys. But then again, even though
the design on my levels was almost non-existent ("design-as-you-go"
philosophy), I worked hard to make puzzles and scenery as glitch free as
possible. That's the part that took so many hours to do. Work the
terrain, test, redesign. I went in circles like this for a good 50% of
the construction time.

---
PW

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.tombraider (More info?)

"Pistol Whipped" <pwhipped@NOtampabaySPAM.rr.com> wrote in message
news:l4Ece.40734$_t3.33578@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
> In the dead of night, a faint whisper from Rex Reynolds was heard, at
> about 04/29/2005 03:34 AM, and I could have sworn it said ...
>> finally finished going through this set of levels. overal not too bad,
>> though the last two 'sets' of movies I wasn't to keen on. if you're not a
>> fan of timed runs and (sometimes) very tricky jumps you may want to pass
>> this one up. in a number of places the level designers took advantage of
>> the foibles in the game engine in order to make the level work. there are
>> sufficent med packs and ammo to carry you through, and flares...well I
>> ended with somewhere around 500 of them. if desired I could write up a
>> movie by movie set of comments and general tips(things to watch out for,
>> not a blow-by-blow how to)
>> rex
>
> I'm on theatre six, or just about to enter. Although I have this sinking
> feeling I forgot to pluck the star after theatre 4. I don't have star #4
> in inventory!!
>
> And I liked the Stargate levels (theatre 5). Some pretty inventive stuff
> in it.
>
> Although you're absolutely correct, a lot of the level designers seemed to
> have either tried to put those "foibles" in on purpose, or they were so
> determined to get the terrain they wanted, they didn't care how many
> glitches they introduced. The whole thing needs some polishing.
>
> But considering that I've built a couple levels and it took *forever*, I
> don't hold too much against these guys. But then again, even though the
> design on my levels was almost non-existent ("design-as-you-go"
> philosophy), I worked hard to make puzzles and scenery as glitch free as
> possible. That's the part that took so many hours to do. Work the
> terrain, test, redesign. I went in circles like this for a good 50% of
> the construction time.
>
> ---
> PW
from my own efforts in making game mods(non-tr) I'ld say testing is more
like 80-90%(or should be). some of those timed runs in theater 5 were
killers(literally). I got the feeling that the levels could have stood some
'newbie' testing...my 1st impression of treasure isle was less than
impressed, but after what led up to it, it was a welcome break. there should
be this bit in the readme, if/when you get a camera fly-by, save your game.
rex

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.tombraider (More info?)

"Pistol Whipped" <pwhipped@NOtampabaySPAM.rr.com> wrote in message
news:l4Ece.40734$_t3.33578@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
> In the dead of night, a faint whisper from Rex Reynolds was heard, at I'm
> on theatre six, or just about to enter. Although I have this sinking
> feeling I forgot to pluck the star after theatre 4. I don't have star #4
> in inventory!!
>
well the good news is, I think that you don't need to have it if you managed
to get out of the theater...you might however need the info inscribed on it.
rex
s
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p
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p
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star 4 has this written on the back:
xx3xx-c4
5x

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.tombraider (More info?)

In the dead of night, a faint whisper from Rex Reynolds was heard, at
about 04/30/2005 03:15 AM, and I could have sworn it said ...
> "Pistol Whipped" <pwhipped@NOtampabaySPAM.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:l4Ece.40734$_t3.33578@tornado.tampabay.rr.com...
>
>>In the dead of night, a faint whisper from Rex Reynolds was heard, at I'm
>>on theatre six, or just about to enter. Although I have this sinking
>>feeling I forgot to pluck the star after theatre 4. I don't have star #4
>>in inventory!!
>>
>
> well the good news is, I think that you don't need to have it if you managed
> to get out of the theater...you might however need the info inscribed on it.
> rex
> s
> p
<snip spoiler>

Thanx for that. Doesn't quite seem fair to make you go all the way back
through the levels, *with* all puzzles reset, just to get that *damn* star.

You'll notice that though you get them in a "movie theatre" level, you
can not go back through its puzzle rooms to get the stars. Even Core
never broke that rule of design.

No secrets, of course, don't have that rule. But a design should never
allow you to pass up a critical item and still be able to proceed to a
point beyond its retrieval. I believe that is almost verbatim from the
TRLE manual. Technically, I guess, you can go back ... but talk about a
*long* backtrack!

So, I think, I'll be using that spoiler of yours, rather than go back
through the "baskervilles" level again. Ugh, that thing was *so* full
of glitches, not to mention it being unnecessarily complicated. That
level seemed almost as if it were built to practice adding switches and
doors.

---
PW