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So I looked and there isn't any kind of Tomb Raider community thread so I figured I'd make a quick and dirty TR thread given with the release of Shadow it seems like an appropriate time to gather TR fans old and new and discuss the series im general. Favourite TR game? Least favourite TR game? When did you start the series? Most memorable moments in the franchise for you? For me Tomb Raider is absolutely a franchise that has shaped me as a gamer.
The original PS1 games in particular are some of my favourite games of all time. Tomb Raider 1 was one of the very first 3D games I ever played, and certainly the first of its kind. It blew me away.
I recently installed tomb raider and when i play the game at the beginning a message appears showing something like 'congratulations on instaling this game.' I cant get past this message box, when i click OK button or close button or use esc it closes and almost before. After being in the works for more than a month, the thrilling Tomb Raider 2013 reboot developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix has been successfully ported to Linux.
Having these open 3D environments to explore took my breath away. That feeling when the T-Rex comes of nowhere good lord. God TR1 was soooooo good. Slight side note.
God the way Anniversary handled that scene pissed me off. TR1 was such an atmospheric game and the level design is top notch. Actually juat finished replaying it and it's still amazing.
I think TR2 was a fantastic follow up and better in pretty much every way. Exploring the mansion in TR2 is some of my most memorable moments in the series. We all loved locking that damn butler in the freezer! But in general TR2 just really stepped up that level design and it all just felt so much grander. I think TR2 had the best music in the series too. For me TR3 was a bit to frustrating due to its save system, but I still really enjoyed the game just not as much as 1 or 2.
The Last Revelation though! I think TR4 is the best in the series. It's a bigger step up than people give it credit for, and it was the first in the series where I cared for the story. Chronicles was.good. Really enjoyed it but it was a clear step down from TLR. Angel of Darkness!
The first PS2 TR it's going to be amazing! Didn't quite work out that way, but I still liked the game much more than most. Best story in the series imo and had some good ideas, but the game was unpolished and clearly unfinished.
Then of course we had Crystal Dynamics take over the series and their first effort.made me very angry back in the day. Seriously my disappointment with Legend cant be overstated. It did not resemble a Tomb Raider game to me. The thing is I did really enjoy the game. Beat it 100% and it was enjoyable from start to finish. But man, the completely, linear approach, short length, action focus and weak puzzles hurt me. It was a very good game, but at the time I was very much in the not my Tomb Raider mindset.
Have my issues with it but by this point I'd more made my piece with 'new' TR and the game was a big step up from Legend. Underworld was also a game I liked but it was very unpolished. Underwater gameplay in Underworld was phenomenal. New new Tomb Raider! 2013 was a fantastic game. Took the series in a different direction but it was well executed and showed great potential, which Rise and especially Shadow have followed up on.
Shadow getting rid of the handholding is a godsend, and the more focus on exploration and platforming is something I love. Tomb Raider is a rare long running franchise where I've liked every single game in the franchise. To varying levels. I might do a replay of the whole series.
Finished TR1 recently and I'm playing Shadow at the moment. I think I'll do a TR2 play soon. I played the ps1 games which I really liked.
But they're just too dated for me now, in terms of controls. I never played the mid 2000's trilogy, aside from maybe a demo of Legend.
But I do absolutely adore the reboot series. I played 2013 and Rise several times over (I think 2013 maybe 3 times and Rise twice) and really enjoying Shadow right now. I can definitely see the flaws people tend to point out, but mechanically, they're very solid games. I love the metroidvania aspect of the level design and I actually really dig the combat too. The darker tone of 2013 and Shadow also rent the games a unique feel. Plus, Shadow has some really really great puzzle set pieces. I also like Camilla Luddington as Lara, I think she's doing a great job.
I know some people can't stand her, but eh. I definitely am glad this franchise exists and hope that it will continue to do so. I love these type of blockbuster adventure games - and honestly there isn't many of them. There's Tomb Raider and Uncharted. That's about it. I am playing through the first reboot trilogy and it is still fun to this day, It isn't as good as the original trilogy but it is fun for what it is.
The biggest issue I have with the reboot trilogy was her parents being the reason she became an adventurer. I preferred Lara being disowned by her family and getting rich on her own as it was a much cooler back story. The current reboot series is still disappointing to me due to all the things people have stated before.
Hopefully they reboot the series again and make it more like the original (aka braided Lara, Lara's family disowning her, more puzzles and with less human enemies). Tomb Raider III was the first one I played, well, it was actually my uncle playing and I was watching him, but still:v Actually, I remember once I overwrote his savegame somehow on the old PS by using that glitch that gives you a save crystal on the manor. I ended up looking into every nook and cranny in that game. I really enjoyed how atmospheric it was, from every music track and sound to the dangerous locations and exotic enemies.
Solving puzzles was really rewarding with intrincate scenery to explore. And then there was Lara Croft, a superhero-like personality that enjoyed to do this dangerous business just for sports. It's a great game series with a lot to give, quite talented developers have worked on it. Anyone played The Prophecy? Shame a sequel was never made.
Got into the series with Legend, and then went on to Anniversary, which I still love to this day (even after playing the original). I have since went through the newer games, including the Lara Croft games, which are also very good, especially Lara Croft GO. It took a few tries, but a couple years back I was finally able to get into classic Tomb Raider with TR2, then back to 1 lol.
I should finish up TR3 someday, but not sure if I will get around to the three other titles from Core. I did also go through TR2 Gold and The Lost Artifact, which the latter in particular is so freaking good.
I am putting Shadow on the backburner for the time being, but will get around to it sometime in the next couple months or so. Looking forward to dropping some memories in this thread but, yeah, it shaped me too. I actually live (and grew up) in the town where Core Design were based and Tomb Raider is in our history. Mainly because we don’t have many other big things going on. We had a new big road built at some point and the council held a big vote on what to name it based on things related to the city. ‘Lara Croft Way’ won by a whopping 95% and, lo and behold, I spent a good amount of my late 20s living down the road from Lara Croft Way.
I was lucky enough to visit Core while at high school and explore the studio while they were making Angel of Darkness. It was fascinating. I adore Tomb Raider.
Classic or new, it’s a series I love. I have Shadow installed at home but I haven’t had chance to play yet. Gonna put some hours in tonight. Tomb Raider died with Angel of Darkness (a good game despite its technical shortcomings). Everything that came after ranged from laughably bad (Rise) to pedestrian (Underworld and Anniversary). The Game Boy Color games are great. Haven't played Shadow.
Also, you can put the butler in the fridge only starting with III if memory serves. Favorite one is probably the first. For me it goes I IV II V AOD 3 II has spectacular levels, the best in the series, but way too many enemies.
III was clearly rushed out and not sufficiently polished. Levels were too meandering for my tastes. IV had great atmosphere and great hub levels. AOD is impeccable from an artistic point of view and it's core mechanics (acrobatics and puzzle) are good. V is basically a DLC of IV. I is pure 3d platforming-exploration-puzzle solving bliss.
The game boy color games really show how much Tomb Raider is basically a 3d version of Prince of Persia. Tomb Raider is perhaps the only series to have successfully migrated the cinematic platformer genre to 3d.
When I was little I wished I could be as cool as Lara. I used to telling people I would become an archeologist to be like her. Self confident, always on top of the situation, visiting beautiful places. Cultivated, rich, classy. New Lara makes me boil with rage. They took away from the character everything that made me like her, everything for which I valued her and that made her a role model to my eyes.
People simply can't begin to comprehend how much of a disgrace new Lara is to the eyes of (some) old fans like me. The difference between the new character and the old one is truly saddening. I became a fan of PlayStation thanks to Tomb Raider 1, I absolutely adored that game and then my favourite was Last Revelation. After that I kinda left the franchise because it didn't look like it was going to interesting places. I tried Legends and Anniversary, I liked them but not that much and I was already away from the series by that time.
When 2013 released and I looked reviews and comments and I thought it was the moment to come fully back but no, honestly I thought the game was average and very long, it felt like a game with set pieces and storytelling from a really old era of 3D action adventure games. Playing was ok but the bigger moments were the same: runaway from explosions, and the story and voice acting was really really bad, pretty disappointed.
I still expect to play Rise at some point, or at least try it but It'll have to be on PS+ or being like $5. For whatever reason I never really got a chance to play the PS1 Tomb Raider games. The only one I played was the first one, which I remember enjoying but never picked it up.
Next one I played was Legends which I thought was pretty cool. Underworld, despite being unpolished and rushed out of the door, had me completely smitten. Thailand and the Mediterranean Sea levels were absolutely incredible and the DLC content was pretty fun as well. The newer games were mostly meh.
Clever puzzles were replaced with braindead ones and engaging platforming was replaced with decent but not spectacular combat. I Redbox'd Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the game is pretty boring.
I feel like the devs were headed in the right direction when they dialed back combat but, like the problems I had with Uncharted 4, the other mechanics are nearly engaging enough to make up for the lack of combat. Plus the whole vibe of the game feels drab as fuck compared to the lively adventure feeling you got playing the older games or even Guardian of Light/Temple of Osiris (amazing games).
I think Anniversary did some things right and some things very wrong. But there's absolutely no doubt it was new school Tomb Raider, not old school.
Magnetic ledges, mostly extremely linear level design, quick time events etc. It was a continuation of Legend gameplay just done better. I never understood this 'reboot Tomb Raider isn't Tomb Raider!' Mindset from people when we were coming off the Legend trilogy. The Legend trilogy was VERY different to the originals and closer to the 2013 trilogy in design philosophy and gameplay. But I suppose there's a whole generation that grew up with that Legend trilogy and that's the Tomb Raider they know, not the PS1 games. Looking forward to dropping some memories in this thread but, yeah, it shaped me too.
I actually live (and grew up) in the town where Core Design were based and Tomb Raider is in our history. Mainly because we don’t have many other big things going on. We had a new big road built at some point and the council held a big vote on what to name it based on things related to the city. ‘Lara Croft Way’ won by a whopping 95% and, lo and behold, I spent a good amount of my late 20s living down the road from Lara Croft Way. Tomb Raider is much better when you're fighting dinosaurs and mummies. TRI-IV are extremely solid games.
IV (The Last Revelation) is my favorite partly for being entirely set in Egypt but in the world where EIDOS didn't milk the series to death it would serve as the first actual evolution in gameplay for the series and had an actual overarching narrative that was absent in the first three. You had puzzles that didn't involve pulling switches, hub worlds where you could travel back a forth between as you please, first person aiming for certain weapons. Chronicles felt more like an expansion to IV. Since Lara is presumed to be dead after TRIV, the game just delves into side stories. Angel of Darkness is unfortunately an extremely buggy game with even worse controls than the original. If you want to experience AoD, I would honestly just recommend listening to it's soundtrack and imagining what it could have been.
Legend-Anniversary-Underworld are fun games. I think the new trilogy gameplay wise is much better with actual 3rd person combat, more bombastic set-pieces, and more exploration to be had, where as Legend and Anniversary had much more charm than the new games.
Underworld is probably my least favorite besides AoD, it honestly serves as the precursor to a more serious TR that the new trilogy. I found it really hard to care about much of the game especially upon replay. TRIV TRI TRII TRIII TR2013 Legend Anniversary Rise Chronicles Underworld AoD. I think TR1 is a masterpiece.
2 I enjoy but less so. I think the early game is far more memorable than the late game. The Opera House level is so amazing. I don't care for 3.
The Last Revelation is quite great, though visually it's a lot more monotonous than the trilogy. Chronicles meh. Angel of Darkness is bad but I really have a soft spot for it because the atmosphere is just so thick and wonderful. Legend I think is really good. Anniversary is fantastic.
One of my favorite remakes ever. Underworld I.dunno.
Didn't dig it really. The new series is good.
I think I preferred TR2013 to Rise. I have shadow but am going on vacation for a week so will try it when I get back. Last Revelation 2 1 Chronicles Anniversary 2013 TR3 Rise Angel of Darkness Legend Underworld. Not rating Shadow until I beat it. But right now I'm thinking above Anniversary. But then I thought highly of Rise as I was playing it but as I got close to the end I started to sour on it. And one of my biggest issues with Rise is VERY much back in Shadow, which would be the insane amount of pointless collectibles.
Like, I really hate that approach to game design. By attempting to give the player constant gratification with collectibles all over the place and constant XP gains, you end up giving the player no sense of gratification at all.
Contrast that with the secrets to find in something like TR2. There's not many of them in each stage and when you find them, there's a sense of accomplishment there, which is associated with the little chime that plays. Was still in a TR mood after finishing Shadow and decided to check out the originals since I had never played them. Started playing TR1, currently two hours in doing Lost Valley.
I was deciding between the original and Anniversary but from watching comparison videos, Anniversary seemed too much like modern TR compared to the original. By that I mean the level design in Anniversary seemed more linear and obvious in the route you have to take, plus I didn’t want to deal with more ledge grip QTEs I’m surprised by how fast I adjusted to TR1’s controls. For one, the tank controls are much less.tanky than I expected.
And I’m really liking how much control you have over movement. I totally get now what people were saying about the movement and jumping being grid-based.
It sounded weird on paper but it is really intuitive in practice. It gives the platforming this deliberate technical pacing that I can’t recall from any other platformer I’ve played Anyway, got the 1+2+3 bundle from GOG (much cheaper than on Steam btw, 9.99 for all three). I guess I should get Last Revelation and Chronicles as well; they seem to be pretty well liked in here. I think Anniversary did some things right and some things very wrong. But there's absolutely no doubt it was new school Tomb Raider, not old school. Magnetic ledges, mostly extremely linear level design, quick time events etc.
It was a continuation of Legend gameplay just done better. I never understood this 'reboot Tomb Raider isn't Tomb Raider!' Mindset from people when we were coming off the Legend trilogy. The Legend trilogy was VERY different to the originals and closer to the 2013 trilogy in design philosophy and gameplay. But I suppose there's a whole generation that grew up with that Legend trilogy and that's the Tomb Raider they know, not the PS1 games. I think TR1 is a masterpiece.
2 I enjoy but less so. I think the early game is far more memorable than the late game. The Opera House level is so amazing. I don't care for 3. The Last Revelation is quite great, though visually it's a lot more monotonous than the trilogy. Chronicles meh.
Angel of Darkness is bad but I really have a soft spot for it because the atmosphere is just so thick and wonderful. Legend I think is really good. Anniversary is fantastic. One of my favorite remakes ever.
Underworld I.dunno. Didn't dig it really.
The new series is good. I think I preferred TR2013 to Rise. I have shadow but am going on vacation for a week so will try it when I get back. Will always have a soft spot for the original tomb raiders, I still remember parts of those games from when I was a kid, in fact I still have the tomb raid main menu stuck in my head it was that iconic. Whilst I enjoyed just about every tomb raider game, and I liked tomb raider (thought rise was meh), I hate the new direction they have taken the series. Just so scripted and linear campaigns, much like uncharted they have become movies.
I also don’t care for the fragile Lara angle they have been slowly building up, they promised to change it more in rise but I didn’t see much difference. Whilst I will probably pick up shadow just to finish the trilogy I’m not liking some of the changes they seem to have made. Would love a return to a more open world, a more confident Lara.
Give me horizons zero dawn with Lara, with less quick time actions, more go anywhere you choose,lots more puzzles to find. Actually, I just started my first real playthrough of Tomb Raider 3 last night.
Got it on Steam and have it working in Big Picture mode with a DS4 controller. I absolutely love, to this day, TR1, TR2 and The Last Revelation yet somehow missed TR3 back in the day. I tried the demo when it came out but it was just so fucking hard I chose not to buy it. I played about 3 hours last night, only made it to level 2 so far and despite the punishing difficulty and quite frequent bullshit-gotcha moments that can't even be telegraphed, I'm having a ton of fun and I'm already addicted. The first four games just have such insanely good and intelligent level design and this one is no exception so far. Also, the atmosphere is absolutely top notch again.
As always, I'm a huge fan of the original series style of platforming. The grid-based, Prince Of Persia in 3D style ultra-precise approach always really resonated with me.
It's very unforgiving and precise, which I appreciate and there's nothing else like it out there. I understand you can fundamentally not be into this seemingly cumbersome approach, but to me that's really the core of the game. The level design and traversal itself is the main puzzle element in these games, not pushing blocks and hitting switches, and TR3 so far really drives this home in its first level already. The whole challenge of a huge level being to cross a body of water is awesome to me. Was still in TR mood after finishing Shadow and decided to check out the originals since I had never played them. Started playing TR1, currently two hours in doing Lost Valley.
I was deciding between the original and Anniversary but from watching comparison videos, Anniversary seemed too much like modern TR compared to the original. By that I mean the level design in Anniversary seemed more linear and obvious in the route you have to take, plus I didn’t want to deal with more ledge grip QTEs I’m surprised by how fast I adjusted to TR1’s controls. For one, the tank controls are much less.tanky than I expected.
And I’m really liking how much control you have over movement. I totally get now what people were saying about the movement and jumping being grid-based.
It sounded weird on paper but it is really intuitive in practice. It gives the platforming this deliberate technical pacing that I can’t recall from any other platformer I’ve played Anyway, got the 1+2+3 bundle from GOG (much cheaper than on Steam btw, 9.99 for all three).
I guess I should get Last Revelation and Chronicles as well; they seem to be pretty well liked in here. Played em all myself except for the recent Shadow and TR3(which is the only one I abandoned early in). Anniversary is probably my favorite as I really love how CD retained and expanded on the tombs, scope, and puzzle design of the first outing.
Last Revelation is easily the strongest and most accessible of the classic games that still holds up today. TR2013 was mostly a collectible hunt with nonstop spectacle chases, but it was engaging for being that. Most of the others languish somewhere in the middle for me with nostalgic hooks for TR1/2. Legend and Underworld had moments, but both felt like they were missing something. I actively disliked Rise of the TR, which doubled down on a lot of what I disliked of TR2013, while adding very little new.
Some expanded challenge tombs weren't enough given disappointing the whole of the game felt. Also wasn't a fan of TR3, but admittedly I quit a few levels in. Very poor opening levels though.
Angel of Darkness I suppose could be given pity points for Core attempting to mature and grow the series out of its formula, but the execution wasn't great. As my sister's favourite videogame series and one of my favourites too, I can gladly claim to have played all Tomb Raider games so far (I yet have to play Shadows but I'll get it soon). I have not finished all of them to be fair (not without cheats), partly thanks to the fact I was a kid when I played some of the classics.
The original series is an extremely unique blend of exploration and puzzles with controls that are sure heavy by today's standards, but were shockingly precise, and the level of freedom gave way to today's open world games. Angel Of Darkness was an odd one: development hell and cut content made a promising storyline turn into a horrible and bugged game with tons of shit missing, making the game overall a miserable experience. The next trilogy from Legend onwards was good: a decent storyline, usually a solid balance between exploration, puzzles and action (Legend was a bit too linear, Anniversary had little action, Underworld had the perfect balance), and overall a very enjoyable series.
The reboot took a lot of great concepts from other open world and action games and 'Tomb Raider'd' it nicely, offering spectacular worlds, creative (if easy) puzzles and solid gameplay. Even the Lara Croft twin stick shooter spin-off games are, in fact, pretty good.
Great series that is, unfortunately, too often overlooked nowadays. It does so many things better than other third person action adventure games. The new trilogy is missing some soul. I feel the new trilogy should have had some type of theme to Lara. An iconic theme that is recognizable like Nathan Drake Theme. On top of that, some levels needed some type of music immersion IMO. ( Especially when you finally find a new artifact, or simply exploring an ancient tomb) Music can be very powerful for the medium if utilized correctly.
Even Legends had some iconic tracks like this: The new trilogy needed more of that. Hell, even tracks from NIER fit perfectly.
Imagine listening to the following track as you explore the unknown. It changes everything. Agree or disagree? Being honest, I played some of the older Tomb Raider games when I was a kid, and something didn't click on me. Never liked them, nor even finished them.
Bought the entire package in GOG to see if now older I may like them. Anyways, after that, when I was a teenager, tried to play Anniversary and Underworld, and still, didn't like them. Never have finished those two. It was until 2013 that I finally took a liking to the series.
Not a perfect game but still enjoyable. Also played, finished and liked the sequel.
Also, I liked the Angeline Jolie Tomb Raider movies, even the second one.