Tihocan Centaur bugs - possible solution at last

[stellalune]

I know there are about a million centaur threads here and elsewhere. The adrenaline dodge has been described and screenshotted and game-videoed to death, but people still seem to struggle with the bug in which Lara will not grapple or pick up the shields and/or the subsequent bug in which the player loses control of Lara and has to shut down the game.

I'd like to put forth a potential solution to both bugs. This isn't my discovery. It was sent to me by a PS2 player named Janine. If you've experienced either of these bugs, I hope you'll try this out and let me know if it works for you.

I paraphrase what she wrote here:

• When fighting the centaurs normally, I could not grapple either shield. So, I tried the alternate method—getting a lock on one centaur, swimming down the underwater tunnel and waiting for its health bar to disappear completely. This happened very slowly, but eventually the first centaur did die.
  
  
• I then swam up to the surface and found that, although centaur 1 had disappeared, I could not pick up its shield. So I began to attack centaur 2 by avoiding his green ray and adrenaline dodging him.
  
  
• At this point, the fight music had stopped, and centaur 2 was still making a throwing motion at me but with no fireballs being discharged whatsoever.
  
  
• I found that if I stood near centaur 1's dropped shield, centaur 2 did not seem to harm me (charge me, run me over, etc.). So I did all my 'fighting' with centaur 2 while standing on centaur 1's shield. Doing this both protected me and avoided the 'loss of control of Lara' bug from occurring.
  
  
• When centaur 2 used the green ray against Lara, I stayed near the shield and crouched to avoid being petrified by the ray. At first I thought the loss-of-control bug was activated when centaur 2 turned Lara to stone if you didn't crouch quickly enough, but when I used the strategy of staying near the shield, I did actually get turned to stone once and was able to break free without activating the bug. So I think the key is where Lara stands.
  
  
• When adrenaline dodging centaur 2, it was enough to stay near the shield. The shield was on the left part of the arena near the corner in the back (as Lara gets out of the water and faces the flames) and I think staying in the left corner generally means you can play on without the game freezing. I think moving to the centre or right side of the arena (as Lara gets out of the water, facing the flames) might activate the bug that causes Lara to freeze.
  
  
• I thought that, seeing as I wasn't able to grapple centaur 1's shield, I would not be able to grapple centaur 2's shield. This was not the case. As long as I attacked centaur 2 standing on or near the first shield, I was able to attack normally and grapple the second shield, eventually killing him.

I've never experienced either bug in the PC game. So I eagerly await your feedback.

[Ol.a]

I had no bugs defeating Centaurs, so I can't really have an opinion.
The trick of hiding in the underwater tunnel didn't work for me either,
because after 20' minutes in the cave, the Centaur's health bar was stuck in the middle and it just stayed there, no more moving..
So, I gave up and went to fight the Centaurs face to face.
(Sorry about my english).
Good luck with this..!

[Love2Raid]

Hi Stella!

I have got only the pc version of TRA and have beaten those centaurs quite a few times. I have never encountered a bug when fighting them though, but I must say I have never tried the 'hiding in the cave' technique......

Hope this helps in any way!

[stellalune]

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad neither of you had trouble there, but I'm primarily interested to hear from people who have encountered these bugs, in case this work-around may help them.

I'm not too worried about PC gamers, since I don't think these bugs even occur on the PC, and it's easy enough to just load someone else's save file if you're unable to do the adrenaline dodge. My hope is that Xbox 360 and PS2 players who can't grapple the shield and/or experience Lara freezing up so the game has to be rebooted will read this and find it helpful.

__________________
Regards, Stella

Stella's Tomb Raider Site
The definitive, highly detailed and fully dressed TR walkthroughs!
http://tombraiders.net

[stellalune]

I've got another update on this, in case anyone's interested. Again, this is not my discovery but comes from another player, pArTyb0y, using the Xbox 360 game. He said that even though he was using the correct controls, he was not able to do the adrenaline dodge succesfully--not here and not previously when fighting the T. rex.

So, he asked around and someone on the GameSpot forums suggested that he go back to the beginning of the City of Vilcabamba level, where the adrenaline dodge is introduced in the tutorial with the bear, and instead of just fighting the bear any old way, be sure to actually do the adrenaline dodge. pArTyb0y tried it and, sure enough, when he got to the T. rex, the adrenaline dodge worked as it should. He played on to Tihocan and was able to use the adrenaline dodge to beat the centaurs as intended.

This is actually a very old discovery that I'm ashamed to have filed and forgotten. But lately I've been replaying this section and came upon my old notes. This isn't exactly the same problem as the grapple issue, but hopefully it'll help someone.

[stellalune]

Hey, LC. Nice to meet you too. I actually lurk here quite a bit but don't post much unless I've got questions...or answers. Lately there hasn't been much going on.

In any case, thanks for your centaur feedback. May I ask which system you're using?

[stellalune]

Thanks again.

I don't have any type of PlayStation, PSP or Macintosh, but I've played all the classics on PC and the newer games on PC, Xbox 360 and Wii. Plus, people with other systems are always sending me their feedback. That helps a lot.

[TheNoize]

I tried the swim method, and waited for their health bar to go down and disappear. Then waited some more time.

But upon diving in the water again to go back up, a couple of fireballs would mysteriously explode on Lara and kill me in a matter of seconds, not even giving me the chance to swim back up.

Is my difficulty level too high? (medium)?

It's still kind of ridiculous that this shield lifting bug exists. I bought the mac game. It was $45 dollars. The PC game is being sold for $7 on amazon. I feel like I've been robbed by Eidos. I was sold a $45, bug-filled game with no downloadable updates to solve the problem. Did Eidos even bother to play-test this game before packing and distributing it? :/

[a big house]

it does sound very silly but eventually if you havent lost control and cant pick up the sheild, shooting the centuars will kill them

also a tip is that when you begin that part imediatly run to the right and hide behind the cornor, if done correctly only one centuar will activate enabling you to shoot the other one untill its rage is full and it activates the second

[GeorgiaGirl07]

I don't know if it's just me being unable to kill these stupid things, but when I target lock onto the first centaur and enrage it, both centaurs rear and charge. I can't seem to be able to dodge both of them at the same time, and the second one runs me over before I can shoot the first and stun him.
I've tried doing the cave but the centaurs health only goes down a little before it stops and when I try to swim back up I get fire-balled to death.


I've been on this same level for three months now and it's taking all the joy out of the game. Has anyone else had this same problem or is it just me?

BTW, I'm on xBox 360. Thanks in advance!

[Love2Raid]

That's strange!

Are you sure you are doing the Adrenaline Dodge right? (Do the two grey targets appear and become one red target?)

Try changing the combat mode in the options menu, use Advanced Toggle or Advanced Hold. It could be easier, since Lara will keep her pistols locked on one enemy.

[Sharbear]

I have been trying for months to get past the Centaurs! I have read through most of the posts and have been surfing the net vigorusly for a soultion. I am playing on PS2 on easy...I am never stuck for this long on any game! I have tried fighting them normally, swimming under the cave (all techniques) saving here, saving there, going back to the other tunnel and doing gymanastics, tried to play it in the "gold" costume...EVERYTHING! I cannot do this!! I am ready to send someone my memory card for them to defeat the Centaurs for me!! lol! The sad thing is I really like this game and its making me not like it even more with this nonsense! Eidos has created some difficult boss's and at times I struggled for a few days, but NEVER something as unrealistic as this!!! Someone please help me!! I cannot wait to resume with the game and move past this! ugghhh

Thank you!

[Sharbear]

Just died again for the 500,000th time! HELP!

[stellalune]

Hey, Sharbear. I'm so sorry to hear you're having trouble, but you're not alone. A lot of players have problems with that fight. Are you having trouble doing the adrenaline dodge maneuver? Maybe it isn't working for you or you're not sure how to do it.

I don't know if you've already read a million walkthroughs, but maybe a breakdown of the dodge technique in words, screenshots and video would help. My walk has all three. It also covers general strategy for this section and a couple of potential glitches that may occur. You can find it here:

http://tombraiders.net/stella/walks/....html#centaurs

You're also welcome to email me (link on that page) if you need advice/clarification. Good luck!

[WinterSoldier]

If you can play that level in the "Golden Lara" outfit, doesn't it mean you've already beaten the game once?

[Randy 54]

During this fight, the guns must be out and able to target. Keep some distance between you and the foes and engage one at a time. Run back and forth to avoid the fire balls while shooting. When the green glow appears, STOP and holster the weapons. Stand still until the glow disappears, then
resume shooting. At this time, the rage meter should be topped off and
the beast will charge, ....stop shooting but keep the guns drawn, when the screen blurs and goes into slow motion, immediately perform an adrenaline dodge. If done properly, two gray reticules will come together to form a single red one. A chime will sound, fire one shot only, the Centaur will be stunned and a grapple point will be visible on the shield. Holster the weapons, throw the grapple at the shield and pull it to the ground. Now repeat the process on the second one. After both shields are on the ground, stay close to them. Take on one Centaur at a time, shooting and dodging until the green glow appears. Now holster the guns, pick up the shield and reflect the glow back at the beast. This will turn it to stone. Get in there and start blasting it with the guns. It takes a certain amount of hits to kill it, if you
didn't get enough in, it will come back to life. Repeat and finish it off.
Repeat on the second one. You need to be fast as this all happens very quickly. There is a pattern to thier actions, .........fireballs, green glow, and
charge, ........fireballs, green glow, and charge. Hope this helps.