Official LAIR thread

sonycowboy said:
Seriously, is this in the US or abroad? It's not supposed to be out until Tuesday/Wednesday.

EBgames has been selling it for a few days now. Don't think there was an actual Street Date just an estimate of when it might get to retail
 
Just in case, people should keep in mind that the Sixaxis determines position based on the controller laying horizontal/flat as if it were laying on a surface. Just keep that in mind with posture. I can see people holding the controller a different way having a tough time. I admit it would be nice to have a calibration or sensitivity option, but I still think the controls work well as they are.
 
I didnt get a grip on the controls for flow. Some people seem to have mastered it. I think it will some time before we all get used it and devs get better at applying it.
 
patsu said:
chubigans, what model of PS3 do you have ? 20Gb or 60Gb ?

My Lair experience is closer to the third person in your post.

I thought it's very weird that the low scoring reviewers all have control issues, which is largely absent from my own playing.

20GB. As far as framerate issues...runs fine to me. Not silky smooth, but it's not choppy either.
 
Belfast said:
Just in case, people should keep in mind that the Sixaxis determines position based on the controller laying horizontal/flat as if it were laying on a surface. Just keep that in mind with posture. I can see people holding the controller a different way having a tough time. I admit it would be nice to have a calibration or sensitivity option, but I still think the controls work well as they are.

I think Sony should add a "Sixaxis showcase section" in the XMB so that people can toy around with a 3D model Sixaxis much like Phil Harrison did at the E3 2006 press conference. That would be so cool.
 
honestly, i don't think its right to give Lair anything under an 8, its really a great unique game. I actually love that fact that im having trouble with the controls, its part of the challenge. I've started getting the hang of it and have gone back and picked up silver medal on the first few level. How few games really tried to do something original from a control standpoint and I think its dumb as hell that they are getting blasted for it. The craziest thing is I look at how nice the game looks and the detail and then I think, :damn if I had a 1080p set it would look better.

If you are on the fence still, seriously grab a copy and join us in never reading another printed review from someone you can't actively talk to. I mean im really pisssed now at some of what I've read. WTF its this square water, 'chugging' frame rate crap. FIRE WTF.
 
BobTheFork said:
If you are on the fence still, seriously grab a copy and join us in never reading another printed review from someone you can't actively talk to.

I'm not trying to troll or be argumentative just for the sake of it. But I fully disagree with this post. After 10 minutes of playing this game I NEVER want to turn it on again. The controls aren't "hard"...they're fundamentally flawed. It is not a mater of practive but a matter of impossibility to succeed at controlling these dragos.

I feel sick for having spent $60 on this crap...and I'm being 100% sincere.
 
BobTheFork said:
I mean im really pisssed now at some of what I've read. WTF its this square water, 'chugging' frame rate crap. FIRE WTF.
The fact that you don't have a 1080p set may be saving you from that. Apparently people have been saying it runs better when you set it to 720p.
 
Justin Dailey said:
I'm not trying to troll or be argumentative just for the sake of it. But I fully disagree with this post. After 10 minutes of playing this game I NEVER want to turn it on again. The controls aren't "hard"...they're fundamentally flawed. It is not a mater of practive but a matter of impossibility to succeed at controlling these dragos.

I feel sick for having spent $60 on this crap...and I'm being 100% sincere.

I don't get this. Do I just have better hand-eye coordination than the average human? Controlling the dragons is so easy.. you want to to go left, tilt left; go right, tilt right. The controls work exactly like they should and actually make the game more enjoyable for me since I actually get 'into' the game and really start to make some extreme gestures when I'm close to dying. :lol
 
The game controls easy just as I thought it would, 180's are so easy just move up, so I dont see the problem. Lock on is fine also for a dragon without rader tech:lol and being able to swoop in after locked on is a nice touch. The story is decent also imo, defenitly enough to keep you wanting more. Graphics are awesome, the big snake is just wow up close, and on ground fighting is more fun then I ever thought it would be, the slow-mo looks great so does the fire. The water looks better then Bioshocks and I dont know where
the one reveiwer gets crappy sand from.



The controls aren't "hard"...they're fundamentally flawed

What is flawed about tilt left and you go left? This game is like golf, you got the skill or you dont.
 
Darn, I cant decide on getting this game or not. If it was about reviews, it would be a hell no, but people I know tell me its not hard to control at all :S Ill wait for a demo or something. I just thought that this game would easily kill Drakengard, which wasnt bad. Pretty shocking.
 
Justin Dailey said:
I'm not trying to troll or be argumentative just for the sake of it. But I fully disagree with this post. After 10 minutes of playing this game I NEVER want to turn it on again. The controls aren't "hard"...they're fundamentally flawed. It is not a mater of practive but a matter of impossibility to succeed at controlling these dragos.

I feel sick for having spent $60 on this crap...and I'm being 100% sincere.
Thats your opinion, but I think just in this thread have we more than enough people successfully controlling dragon to debunk any talk of "fundamentally flawed." Its just for everyone I suppose.

Those close up Dragon to Dragon fights are soooo damn nice. Oh Fady, just buy Justin Dailey's copy for slightly less, he doesn't want it.
 
BobTheFork said:
Thats your opinion, but I think just in this thread have we more than enough people successfully controlling dragon to debunk any talk of "fundamentally flawed." Its just for everyone I suppose.

Those close up Dragon to Dragon fights are soooo damn nice. Oh Fady, just buy Justin Dailey's copy for slightly less, he doesn't want it.

Im starting to get tempted! I need to just try it out for myself to see if im one of the few fated to control the dragon without much irritation :( They did mention a demo release after the game though yeah?
 
Fady K said:
Im starting to get tempted! I need to just try it out for myself to see if im one of the few fated to control the dragon without much irritation :( They did mention a demo release after the game though yeah?
yes, thats really a damn shame when I think about it. I think the best way to knock back some of the criticism would be some hands on time with a demo. You really do have to play it more than one time though a demo to get the feel of it. Maybe they felt too time is better than no little time to try it out.
 
I just played the canyon searchlights level (playing, actually...still havent beat it) and HOLY FREAKING CRAP. The music...absolutely beautiful, haunting, majestic. The graphics...astounding, with a night sky full of stars, the rumbling ocean beneath, and the spotlights illuminating every crevice. WOW, what an amazing atmosphere F5 were able to put together...I think I might capture some footage for Youtube since I cant find any online.

That level alone brings up my impressions of this game...if you have a PS3, you must rent LAIR. What a flawed, beautiful game.
 
BobTheFork said:
yes, thats really a damn shame when I think about it. I think the best way to knock back some of the criticism would be some hands on time with a demo. You really do have to play it more than one time though a demo to get the feel of it. Maybe they felt no time is better than no little time to try it out.

What really pisses me off is not the fact that people might not buy/rent this game due to those reviews complaining about the controls. I dont really give a crap.

What pisses me off is the fact that other developers will now think twice before releasing a motion sensor-based game. They will go "omg look at those reviewers disliking the motion sensor so much. We are fucked! Let's do something more traditional!". Moreso when you think of Lair as a showcase of the tilt thingy (which is what Sony thinks, rightly so).

I do hope Lair sells fine despite the reviews. This should help "selling" the motion sensing to the devs community.
 
All right, so I just finished the 2nd-to-last mission.

This game is NOT a 4.5. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

I've played a whole slew of games that are far worse than Lair, and most of them were given scores in the 7 range.

chubigans said:
I just played the canyon searchlights level (playing, actually...still havent beat it) and HOLY FREAKING CRAP. The music...absolutely beautiful, haunting, majestic. The graphics...astounding, with a night sky full of stars, the rumbling ocean beneath, and the spotlights illuminating every crevice. WOW, what an amazing atmosphere F5 were able to put together...I think I might capture some footage for Youtube since I cant find any online.

That level alone brings up my impressions of this game...if you have a PS3, you must rent LAIR. What a flawed, beautiful game.
Lair is almost worth a playthrough for this mission alone.

There are a few more maps later on that just take your breath away due to their sheer scale and density. At times, I found myself tempted to pause the game and take a break because of the overwhelming visual activity I was experiencing.
 
TTP said:
What really pisses me off is not the fact that people might not buy/rent this game due to those reviews complaining about the controls. I dont really give a crap.

What pisses me off is the fact that other developers will now think twice before releasing a motion sensor-based game. They will go "omg look at those reviewers disliking the motion sensor so much. We are fucked! Let's do something more traditional!". Moreso when you think of Lair as a showcase of the tilt thingy (which is what Sony thinks, rightly so).

Very true. I'm pissed that there seems to be a good deal of blurring the line between "Flawed" and "I don't like it" Flawed to me would be the tilt functions not working as advertised and not being sufficient to control the dragon. Too many of these craptacular reviews I've read are solidly of the latter opinion. They need to give the game its due; just because the controls can been polarizing doesn't mean its poorly constructed of implemented.
 
Aiight... Sony should package this game in every PS3 and call it "SIXAXIS Diagnose" or something. :lol

At this point, I'm seriously thinking Sony should contact chubigan and examine his faulty SIXAXIS. Lair's control is p.r.e.c.i.s.e. (Although I may change/reassign some button functions).
 
You know, I'm thinking there has to be something up with the individual controllers here.

Aerial motion controls are completely functional and responsive for me; only a handful of times have I mixed up a 180 degree turn with a dash manoeuvre.

Wasn't there an article not too long ago that had Sony acknowledging a "dead zone" with earlier batches of SIXAXIS controllers? Do you think that has a role to play at all?
 
I am really surprised by the great diversity of reports. IGN, Gamespot, EGM all claim this is a well below average game, ranking (IMO sucky) unoriginal games like Tiger Woods and Madden way higher. And when looking at videos the game looks to be a pretty original game sporting some impressive graphics and then we have some very positive reports from other reviewers, websites and consumers.

Something seems to be wrong here. From IGN I already expected a bad rating, as IMO they were completely unfair with regard to the cheap PSN game Super Ruba-Dub (giving it a destructive 2.9). The most heavily criticized point brought forward by the reviewers was that the motion sensing would be inaccurate, having earned my gold ducky IMO they were just incompetent (or have faulty controllers). Yes a shaky hand can trigger the duck to jump, but why doesn't it happen to me if it's really a sixaxis/game related flaw?

I and my girlfriend have had a lot of fun playing Super Ruba-Dub, I will wait for the demo of Lair to make up my own mind.
 
they're basically trying to outdo one another with a lower review score to get more hits. I mean, if Lair wasn't hyped, they would have given it like, a 6.5, but since IGN gave 4.9, Gamespot just had to do better and give it a 4.5

I'll laugh if Edge gave this game a 7 or something, haha
 
TTP said:
I think Sony should add a "Sixaxis showcase section" in the XMB so that people can toy around with a 3D model Sixaxis much like Phil Harrison did at the E3 2006 press conference. That would be so cool.

Or at least, like I said, add some kind of calibration so you can set your own dead point. I usually play with my controller tilted somewhat towards me and I'd love to set it that way.
 
Yeah, some sort of calibration or random tests would be amazing - I'm still not sure how sensitive the controller is or what it's capable of.
 
TTP said:
What really pisses me off is not the fact that people might not buy/rent this game due to those reviews complaining about the controls. I dont really give a crap.

What pisses me off is the fact that other developers will now think twice before releasing a motion sensor-based game. They will go "omg look at those reviewers disliking the motion sensor so much. We are fucked! Let's do something more traditional!". Moreso when you think of Lair as a showcase of the tilt thingy (which is what Sony thinks, rightly so).

I do hope Lair sells fine despite the reviews. This should help "selling" the motion sensing to the devs community.

Well, anecdotal evidence: I bought the last copy at my Gamestop and there was someone on the phone at the time asking about it. So, at least some people haven't been dissuaded by the bad reviews.
 
Greg said:
Yeah, some sort of calibration or random tests would be amazing - I'm still not sure how sensitive the controller is or what it's capable of.

It'd also help for other genres like racing. Yes, you might be able to steer using the Sixaxis as is, but it feel strange when it's laying horizontally. If you could hold it upwards the whole time like you were actually gripping a wheel and then tilting it side to side, it'd work ten times better.
 
TTP said:
What pisses me off is the fact that other developers will now think twice before releasing a motion sensor-based game. They will go "omg look at those reviewers disliking the motion sensor so much. We are fucked! Let's do something more traditional!".
That probably won't happen because two other games that use motion sensing a lot (Warhawk and HS) were never blasted for their use of sensing - in fact the reviewers were often pleased at how well such controls have been implemented. There's also a lot of people who really like motion sensing implementation in Folklore or Uncharted.

I just think F5 should have mapped things like 180 turn and dragon smashing on sticks and buttons, and there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints.
 
There are people who complained about SIXAXIS control in HS's arrow/puzzle solving. I remember seeing it somewhere (perhaps in a preview/review).

Warhawk SIXAXIS use is optional, so people who can't use it well (or with faulty SIXAXIS) will simply choose to use traditional controls without sayng a word.
 
Marconelly said:
That probably won't happen because two other games that use motion sensing a lot (Warhawk and HS) were never blasted for their use of sensing - in fact the reviewers were often pleased at how well such controls have been implemented. There's also a lot of people who really like motion sensing implementation in Folklore or Uncharted.

I just think F5 should have mapped things like 180 turn and dragon smashing on sticks and buttons, and there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints.

I'm talking about games that are based around the motion sensing, not those that offer it as an option. If flOw was to offer it as an option, many could have endend playing it with the stick losing on the awesomeness that it is by playing with the motion sensor alone.

I want to see games that couldn't be done otherwise or couldn't feel right with a traditional control method (which is the case with Lair).

Development on Folklore and Uncharted began before Lair reviews :P
 
this game's awfulness beggars every relevant adjective in my lexicon. not only is it homely, it's unplayable, and this is coming from a guy that likes flOw's controls.
 
Drinky Crow said:
this game's awfulness beggars every relevant adjective in my lexicon. not only is it homely, it's unplayable, and this is coming from a guy that likes flOw's crontrols.
But how do you really feel?
 
The game is really weird.

I'll go from loving it one moment to absoltly hating it the next.

It's so inconsistent, the motion controls don't bother me when you don't have to track or follow enemies, or find them for that matter. when I am going mostly in a straight linear path they are great. It's when you have to do a lot of turning and manuvering when they drive me nuts.

There are times it goes from the best looking next gen game to one of the ugliest in the same damn levels, It's hard to explain unless you've seen it.

It's frustrating because the game could have been brilliant, if they scaled it back a bit, and re-woked the controls.

Some of the non mo-capped anims on the creatures is awful while others are great. You can def tell what creatures their senior animators were put on.

And my god are the in game cut scenes poorly directed. while the in between level ones are great albeit kinda cheesy.

This game is defintely a ying/yang experience. I'd recommend every Ps3 owner try it. But at the same time i wouldn't recommend buying it.
 
Drinky Crow said:
this game's awfulness beggars every relevant adjective in my lexicon. not only is it homely, it's unplayable, and this is coming from a guy that likes flOw's controls.

Drinky Crow, this is going to sound like an interrogation but it's really not.

What resolution do you play it with ? What is your PS3 model ? (60Gb or 20Gb) ? Did you try flOw again after Lair and if so, does the control still feel the same ?
 
jesus christ, i just read this thread, and the cognitive dissonance on display is mind-blowing -- from the guy who likes bad controls because "it's more challenging" to folks trying to pretend that the people who hate it have busted controllers. gaf, you've sunk so very low this time.

and who on earth is praising the visuals? there's lod errors and muddy tesselation artifacts everywhere on the terrain -- the ground looks like a sea of oozing diarrhea. wtf, people!
 
720p, 60gb model. fuck if i know or care about the serial number or the make. i'll try flOw later just 'cuz, but my daughter played it (flOw) this morning with no issues.
 
wireless. i can make the dragons move in the right direction and all, but it's hardly appropriate control for a game that moves at the pace it does.
 
WOW so people are liking this? What to do, what to do!

I think Im gonna get it. I dont see anything that will make me dislike the game...
 
Stench said:
You know, I'm thinking there has to be something up with the individual controllers here.

Aerial motion controls are completely functional and responsive for me; only a handful of times have I mixed up a 180 degree turn with a dash manoeuvre.

Wasn't there an article not too long ago that had Sony acknowledging a "dead zone" with earlier batches of SIXAXIS controllers? Do you think that has a role to play at all?

There HAS to be something wrong here. I can turn my dragon left and right. Gamespot cannot. This is more a hardware issue than a software issue methinks.
 
Ah I see...

I do feel that the speed of the dragon may cause some to pull their hair out. I only played the game twice (finished level 5), but I can't remember if there's a speed control button. Does L2/R2 slows the dragon down (when held down) ? Or are they just for landing and grabbing soldiers ?

I don't remember slow down and speed up buttons.
 
I need to pilot the dragon again to confirm my experiences... but now I'm playing the role of a good father, keeping my family companied. Have to wait till tomorrow and then the dragon rider shall fly again (into the mud). :lol

Seriously, the game control was spot on when I tried it (about 1-2 hours).
 
The motion to do a 180 is to move the controller up, but also tip it towards yourself at the same time... it is not just moving the controller up. So move the controller up, and also tilt it from a flat position, to a position where the face of the controller is facing you. Maybe this is giving people problems. I can do a 180 every time without fail.
 
FWIW, I'm using 20Gb, played @ 720p with controller plugged in. The game is unique and decent, though not addictive (at level 5). And yes, there are drawing issues (quite a bit), but there are also nextgen moments you can't find elsewhere. I agree with a previous poster that the visual is all over the spectrum.

I was thinking it could be 60Gb wireless interfering with SIXAXIS, but chubigan has a 20Gb and a frustrating Lair experience, so that theory doesn't fly. It may be an isolated SIXAXIS issue or controls that need getting used to.

I am going to try using L2/R2 more (to slow things down mid-flight) and see if it plays better.

SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
The motion to do a 180 is to move the controller up, but also tip it towards yourself at the same time... it is not just moving the controller up. So move the controller up, and also tilt it from a flat position, to a position where the face of the controller is facing you. Maybe this is giving people problems. I can do a 180 every time without fail.

Yes, I thought it's quite natural.
 
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