[Terramax]

Originally Posted by Dasilva

Since when does a 3rd person action adventure compete with a open ended RPG?

I clearly state that the original games allowed a great deal of exploration.
Not a single section of Legend was half the size of the average location in the original game for starters. But if you want to get nitpicky, comparing it to other action adventures like the Tenchu series, Shadow of the Colossus, Psychonauts, Far Cry, Mercenaries etc it still falls flat on its face.

Well, I would think most people can do actions and listen to sound at the same time. I found the dialog in the game quite a nice touch, otherwise it would be too solitude for the player, the developers want you to feel that your not alone in these eviroments. And maybe your dialog volume is a bit lower than it should be? Because I can hear all the dialog perfectly while rocks are falling, people at gunning me with a shotgun etc.

a good point to a certain degree, but considering the American accents are boring and both the dialog and story itself are pretty pathetic, in a way I guess I should have congratulated that I couldn't always hear it.
As for feeling alone, I didn't have a problem with the previous games when pitting Lara on her own.

There are 4 (I think) different aiming/gunplay settings in the menu, are you sure you didnt fiddle around to find the right one for you instead of being frustrated?

I think you've got me there. It still doesn't help me jumping off edges.

Okay. Toby Guard was the creator of Lara croft & Tomb Raider. He left after the first game (which is the best in the series). Now Core Design were making 6 odd sequels to what Toby Guard created, now if Im not mistaken Toby Guard IS Tomb Raider, his the man that knows what makes lara tick, Core Design are pretty lost without Toby I think, thats why Lara become so sexualized over the next games, Toby never wanted something like that, but it was out of his hands. And Angel of Darkness is solid proof that core Design don't have the direction that Toby could of given them.

You contradict yourself congratulating Lara for her sex appeal when he didn't want it in there in the first place. Further more, I doubt he was the only contributor to Lara. He may have designed the character visually, but that may be about it. Core Design were never 'lost'. They simply gave the fans what they wanted most. More sex appeal, more action. The franchise subdued because of giving the audience too much of a good thing. As for Angel of Darkness, they had a good direction, but were forced to release the game before it was completed (hence the bugs). If I'm correct Dri3er suffered the same consequence.

So Tomb Raider aint dead, because Toby is back with Tomb Raider Legend, Tomb Raider Anniversary & Tomb Raider 8. I think TRL is a revitalisation for the series, Tomb Raider 8 will take it to the next step.

For me if it remains as linier and tedious as this game I'll carry on thinking it as dead. From what I've heard also Toby is nothing more than a marketing ploy.