Ragnarok

Finished the game yesterday! I don't know how long it took me in hours, but I started playing on Saturday and wrapped it up on Sunday. It failed to live up to a couple of my expectations (particularly the "What Could Lara Do?" thing) but otherwise I think it's an absolutely fantastic game and a definite improvement over Legend. The graphics were gorgeous and some of the cutscenes are among the very best I've seen in any Tomb Raider game ("YOU CAN DIE TOO!" stands out for me! God, that cutscene was brilliant) .

Got the game yesterday afternoon and after a few hours of gameplay am on the second Southern Mexico level, Xibalba. Loving the game so far!

Oh, I'm aware of that; I call it creative not because it was particularly revolutionary in style, but because it was a very good composition. Not to mention it was performed excellently, by the musicians and the singer, as well as boasting an excellent arrangement. Not only that, it has a very specific quality to it - while brass sections and string orchestras were by no means rare in popular music in the middle of the 20th century, John Barry and his arranger(s?) made songs that had that particular feel to them that made it so you instantly connected them with the Bond franchise. Whereas the latest two themes seem to lack in those departments, though I think the latest one comes closer. On the other hand, it's what you said - the song tries too hard and ends up not going anywhere. I guess it just comes down to a matter of personal taste, really

Aw, come on! I do agree that it wasn't a fitting Bond theme, but it was a great song. Different from anything any other pop singer could have come up with. Great rhythm, great melodies, excellent production (just listen to those violins!), interesting lyrics. It's a good song! I was far, far, far more disappointed with her because of this crap new album she has out. I mean, come on... a woman who shook up the foundations of Western civilizations, who encouraged freedom of expression, who encouraged the destruction of taboos, who advocated equal rights for women, racial minorities, the LGBT community, who spoke out openly against war, who campaigned fervently for the developed nations of the world to take a stand in relation to the enormous level of poverty in Africa, who shone a light on the AIDS crisis when it was still a huge taboo... and then she hands over production of an album to a team of "artists" who only make music based on a pre-defined formula, who sacrifice artistic expression for the sake of commercial success, who go against the basics of what art is (creativity!) to sell a product and instigate superficiality (because really, when everything sounds the same, everything becomes quickly replaceable and no one is recognized for who they are or their talents, they're just the current face on the cover of Rolling Stone and nothing else - which translates into people treating everything superficially, though of course the industry of manufactured pop music is not the only one to blame)? Whereas with any of her previous albums, you heard a song and you thought "this is Madonna", because no one could have done the same, with this last album it sounds exactly like what Timbaland/Justin/Pharrell came up with for a number of other artists. Not that the album isn't fun to listen to, but it's one thing to think a song is fun; it's another to think it's artistically relevant. Fun? A lot of the songs on the album are. Good? Not a single one. Of course, given that I've followed her career for about 95% of my life and the fact that she is who she is, a defining force in music (a college professor here once said that Madonna isn't a person, she's a place - in pop music, there's a sign reading "MADONNA" and an endless list of artists who would not be doing what they do if it hadn't been for her) and an idol of mine, I still paid a significant amount of money to get Hot Area tickets for one of her concerts here in Brazil. And I'm sure it'll be one of the best nights of my life. Buuut let's not stray too far off-topic. o.o You know, I think I like the secondary song for that film better than the actual theme. "Where Has Everybody Gone?", by the Pretenders: I'm not sure why it wasn't picked as the main theme. I heard once that it was simply because the title of the film is never sung in the lyrics, but I'm not entirely sure that's the truth. Who knows?

I'm not sure I'm against comparison, since really, it's difficult to ignore all the 20 Bond films that came before "Casino Royale". When something comes in to walk on the tracks of something else, it has a standard to live up to, which I don't think "You Know My Name" managed to do. And while I don't disagree that Chris Cornell's version fit the mood of the film, I was very, very sorely disappointed by the fact that they had taken something as legendary and creative as the legacy of Bond theme songs and manipulated it so it could be played on the radio. (Although of course you could argue that they'd been doing that since "Die Another Day" with Madonna's song - which I don't think was as good as the classic Bond themes - but at least her version was different and innovative, with those distorted, cut-up violins and that swirling electronica. And, plus, you know. She's Madonna. I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find a woman bigger than her in the music business.)

But! But! That is a real Bond song! I'm not against re-invention; matter of fact, I usually have little patience for people who think absolutely everything was better in the past, but like all things, re-invention can go down a good path or a bad path. In the case of the Bond theme, it was the latter. The Bond franchise has always been geared towards commercialism, but the theme songs were one of the aspects where creativity and undiluted, unadulterated talent shone. They were incredible songs. With the last one, they let the commercialism poison the theme song, too. I mean, how many songs are there that sound exactly like the one Chris Cornell did?

About the Bond theme... does anyone remember the theme for the last one? God, what the hell is that? Where are the majestic strings, the blaring brass section, the big female voice, all the dramatic characteristics of a proper Bond theme? Instead of something in the same level as Dame Shirley Bassey singing the fantastic "Diamonds Are Forever" or Garbage doing "The World Is Not Enough" or Tina Turner performing "Goldeneye", we get that made-for-radio pop rock trash designed to appeal to teenagers everywhere. That theme song was a disgrace. I'm not entirely surprised that the new one is, too. Though at least it comes a lot closer to a proper Bond song than the last one.

It's not so much the lack of alternatives, it's just... you know, climb onto this ledge, then jump to grab the painfully obvious - er, grabbable thingy on a column, then look back and jump off to grab another painfully obvious grabbable thingy on the other column, and so on and so forth. I liked Anniversary a lot (though I'm one of those who really believe they could have delivered a much better game with Legend, regardless of it being their first TR game), but I get the feeling they followed the same basic gameplay formula with this one. Not to write the game off altogether while we know so little about it - I'm definitely very excited for it and will play it when it comes out - but in all honesty, this video did take away a bit of my excitement.

The moves certainly look nice, and I'm very glad for the return of blood (come on, it was ridiculous to see Lara look down at her "blood-stained hands" after shooting Larson in TR:A), but I'm worried that this is going to follow the same formula of the two previous games, and CD isn't going to deliver all they promised. It certainly looks like I've played this a few dozen times already. :/

Instead of receiving rewards for collecting all the secrets in a level/in the game, I'd really prefer if the secrets (in the event that they are in the game at all) were pick-ups like in TR1, 3 and 4. They were very useful, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm much more compelled to look for them if I know I'm going to get ammo and/or medipacks rather than a bonus mission at the end of the game.

So I don't know how many of you have already seen this - it's been around for about a week, I think, but I only just saw it today so I thought I'd post it here in case I wasn't the only one who hadn't seen it yet. (I looked around to see if anyone else had posted it, but I couldn't find anything. In the case that it has already been posted, I apologize.)

I really don't mind swearing of absolutely any sort. They're only words used for emphasis (what matters is not the word used, but the sentiment behind it; a word should only ever offend if, in that particular case, it is being used to offend a specific person or group - I would not consider the exact same word offensive if it were used in a non-confrontational context), and considering how common swearing is, it'd make for a higher level of realism. It would be a relatively insignificant aspect of the game, though, so I don't particularly care either way.

You're not supposed to press anything when the T. rex roars. When it roars, stop shooting, keep running in one direction (not towards the T. rex and make sure there's nothing in Lara's way) and when the screen blurs slightly and the blue direction arrows appear on the corner of the screen, hit Crouch/Roll. Then, when the red circle appears and you hear the "beep" sound, shoot once. Also, make sure you keep the target lock button pressed down. I find it much easier to set it to toggle on and off.

Are you playing on the XBox 360? Because if not, don't bother with any of the flags throughout the game, unless you want to use them as quick save spots. Collecting them on the PS3 and PC versions will do absolutely nothing.

Looks great, but am I the only one disappointed that they made it painfully obvious how you're supposed to kill that thing?

If Harrison Ford's still at it at 65...

Finished Assassin's Creed yesterday and TR1 a few days before that (I'd never played the first game before O.O). Both games were amazing in their own ways. Assassin's Creed was also useful in the sense that it told me I need a new graphics card and one more GB of RAM if I intend to be playing next-gen games on my PC often. I've currently got an Intel Duo Core processor, 1 GB of RAM and an NVidia GeForce 8600 GT card. Awesome for 6th-gen games, but it looks as though I'll be needing an upgrade soon. And those ain't cheap. At any rate! I intend to get started on Beyond Good and Evil this weekend. Looks like a good game from what I've seen and read; hope it lives up to my expectations. (:

The goddamned mutants in the Great Pyramid/Final Conflict. You know, the ones that looked like tougher, non-mummified versions of the cat mummies from Egypt. I much preferred taking on the flying mutants than those guys, argh. They had a thing for managing to corner Lara, knocking her down and tearing away at her with their claws. The gorillas were also tricky when I first met them, but the cat mutants were definitely the hardest for me to kill. I managed to master the adrenaline dodge before the T. rex fight, and I never had any trouble with any of the bosses in the game (I actually really liked the centaur battle ). Also, should Natla's henchmen be in that list? You never actually fought any of them...

I hope it's like Anniversary - no music for most of the game, but it's there during key moments and combat. The music for Anniversary was wonderful, and I'm a huge music lover so I like to hear a lot of interesting, powerful, cinematic tunes in a game I like so much - at the same time, the absence of music contributes significantly to the sense of isolation that should come with a TR game. Troels B. Folmann is an excellent game composer. I wish they could manage to get Peter Connelly (who composed for AOD) and Troels Brun Folmann to collaborate on a soundtrack. Say whatever you like about AOD, but it remains unparalleled in terms of music in the Tomb Raider series, and Anniversary's soundtrack was brilliant as well; I've no doubt that the combination of these two great game composers would be awesome.

Haha, CD made her classier then. I remember in AOD when Lara would pick half-eaten chocolate bars from the sewer floor and eat them... those were the days. And in bit of a delayed reply to Timperial, you really can't dive underwater in that lake. I agree that it's probably to keep us from seeing the serpent before it attacks us.

If it makes you feel better, you're actually in the third level, The Lost Valley. Also, I don't know exactly what you're having trouble with so it's difficult to help, but Stella's site - http://www.tombraiders.net/stella - is a website every Tomb Raider player should have in their bookmarks. Just go to the Anniversary section, click Walkthrough, select the level you want and look for the part where you're stuck. She'll tell you what to do.

This game is incredible! I started playing it last week, and I'm midway through Memory Block 5. The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is amazing, and the storyline is really good for a videogame. I agree that it does get a bit repetitive after a while, but that somehow doesn't stop it from being really fun. I may take a break from it since I just started playing TR1, but I may end up playing them both at the same time (well... not at the same time, but you get what I mean), because AC is just so, so good. A must have.

So the game accidentally put you in the places you should only see in the cutscenes? Or is there a way of getting there?

I've searched for it, but since she saved over the file as opposed to deleting it, it's nowhere to be found. Also, ironically, the whole thing happened because of the pen drive. She accidentally saved a slightly older version of the same file that was on the pen drive over the most recent version that was on her C: drive. I've even tried downloading file recovery programs such as Undelete (saving it on my iPod and running it from there to avoid the system writing over whatever remains of the file there were due to disk activity), but no such luck. She's been forced to accept the fact that she's going to do the lost pages over again. :/ Thanks anyway!

It's set to save every 10 minutes, oddly. o.o I don't get why there are only two autosave files in the folder. Ah, well...