View Full Version : Remember playing TR1 for the first time?
TombRaiderTim
10-03-08, 19:26
This brings back many memories since it was my first ever platform game, I had no idea what to do......
Introduction
What a way to start the game, something i saw on the first FMV, A SNAKE! One thing which I am frightened to death of! Confused about what this mechanism thing was, a first glympse at the shape in the machine, I thought a mutant mad woman! Meeting lara in the cafe I had no idea who the main character was until I saw the bigfoot magazine then I realized! Seeing natla for the first time, I thought she was a friend of lara's and seeing snow (which I love) made me think peru was a nice, safe place...
Lara's Home
I never played this level first as it was not the first thing that showed up on the title, I discovered this after completing the game many weeks later...:o
By the time I found this, I sort of mastered the swan dive but learned never to do it over the banisters as it would kill lara...at the same time I asked myself "How can she talk when she is dead!?" I liked the gym except that lara was telling me what to do and I already figured it out by completing the game and I did drownd lara by "accident" in the pool a few times...:o
Caves
Seeing the nice FMV at the beginning, I instantly found out who I would control as the main character as lara jumped from a height and killed the wolves that made me panic when I saw them go after the guide, I shouted "OMG RUN AWAY!!! YOU WILL BE EATEN!!!" Seeing lara fall that high, I thought I could do it too with no problem, quickly learning how to move lara around I come across the darts which I was not good at dodging....On this level I fell and killed lara, also getting killed by wolves, not a good start but I got there eventually!
More Soon!!!
my first time started on choosing from city of vilcabamba or the caves,.. i got the game already installed on anotherones pc,.. and i dint knew anything about any cutscene until my birthday when my brother game an original cd with the game...
i was so freaked out when i first the footprints of the wolves, and later on the bridges,... when i finally saw the first cutscene i stopped breathing...
the trex made me loose my girlfriend (she got jealous because i wasnt paying enought attention to her while playing, and left me.......) for a while (a month??)...:confused:
Andromeda66
14-03-08, 15:47
Hehe the first time I was in the Caves, I fell into the pit under the wooden bridges where the two wolves are. Of course I didn't know there were wolves down there at the time. Got a nasty little surprise. Then the TRex got me jumping and running around in mad circles.
I do remember, the forst time that you are forced to fight woles head on I panickes and made my sister kill them for me. :o
TheStoryteller
18-03-08, 23:39
Sure I remember!
I had no speakers, only the built-in beeper when TR1 freshly came out. I killed Lara so often because she was deaf, that right after the weekend I bought my first set of pc speakers :D
Yeah, but I had played TR 2 first so all I could really notice is that her hair was gone and her boobs were pointy...
..and it upset me.
But I loved the game, an instant favorite for me.
Eddie Haskell
19-03-08, 02:12
Sure I remember!
I had no speakers, only the built-in beeper when TR1 freshly came out. I killed Lara so often because she was deaf, that right after the weekend I bought my first set of pc speakers :D
Ahhh, the "olden days of gaming", I remember them well. I played Wolfenstein 3D with only the internal pc speaker, until I heard the game played on my brothers pc with the original Soundblaster. I bought it and speakers the next day. By the time Tomb Raider came out I was not "sound challenged" any more...:)
Rachel Croft
19-03-08, 02:20
This brings back many memories since it was my first ever platform game, I had no idea what to do......
Introduction
What a way to start the game, something i saw on the first FMV, A SNAKE! One thing which I am frightened to death of! Confused about what this mechanism thing was, a first glympse at the shape in the machine, I thought a mutant mad woman! Meeting lara in the cafe I had no idea who the main character was until I saw the bigfoot magazine then I realized! Seeing natla for the first time, I thought she was a friend of lara's and seeing snow (which I love) made me think peru was a nice, safe place...
Lara's Home
I never played this level first as it was not the first thing that showed up on the title, I discovered this after completing the game many weeks later...:o
By the time I found this, I sort of mastered the swan dive but learned never to do it over the banisters as it would kill lara...at the same time I asked myself "How can she talk when she is dead!?" I liked the gym except that lara was telling me what to do and I already figured it out by completing the game and I did drownd lara by "accident" in the pool a few times...:o
Caves
Seeing the nice FMV at the beginning, I instantly found out who I would control as the main character as lara jumped from a height and killed the wolves that made me panic when I saw them go after the guide, I shouted "OMG RUN AWAY!!! YOU WILL BE EATEN!!!" Seeing lara fall that high, I thought I could do it too with no problem, quickly learning how to move lara around I come across the darts which I was not good at dodging....On this level I fell and killed lara, also getting killed by wolves, not a good start but I got there eventually!
More Soon!!!
if you love snow so much, you should come to Utah, USA. we literally have the best snow on the planet because of what our Great Salt Lake does to the water when it evaporates. anyway...:off:
Well I never understood in the FMV why Natla thought the snow was so cool. Though that might be because I'm from Finland :p
Anyway, what was she trying to prove? That it's cool to make fake snow in the studio? Or was it real snow? And if it was why would it make Lara's "wallet rumble"? And how does that help Natla to get Lara to Peru? Sure an adventurer knows what snow looks like? Err.
i was lost & confused in the City of Vilcabama, scared of the wolves, terrified of the bear, wandered around alot, and years later had alot of fun & loved the quiet exploration in contrast to newer TRs.
Well I never understood in the FMV why Natla thought the snow was so cool. Though that might be because I'm from Finland :p
Anyway, what was she trying to prove? That it's cool to make fake snow in the studio? Or was it real snow? And if it was why would it make Lara's "wallet rumble"? And how does that help Natla to get Lara to Peru? Sure an adventurer knows what snow looks like? Err.
it was suppose to be money, "how does this make your wallet rumble", in other words, "look at all this money i'll pay you." then lara "no, i adventure for fun, not money." then natla shows her the snowy place, then lara smiles at the place because it looks like fun...
^ Ah, of course... thanks.
I remember playing Tomb Raider for the first time. I was amazed by it! :)
I remember watching the game being played for the first time (eventually led me to play the game) on a friend's Saturn. The intro scene was the first FMV I had ever seen and I was dumbstruck.
i was *obsessed* with TR1 i loved all the levels:jmp: :D
I remember playing it, it was probably one of the first and best games I played and it terrified me. My mum used to have to sit next to me and do the bits I couldnt and then she had to kill the raptors and t-rex while I hid behind her :rolleyes:
I didn't play the beginning. I watched my stepdad play through the caves and he was all impressed by the graphics (It was 1996 people :p), once we got to vilcabamba My aunt took control and screamed when the wolfs came out after her, xD then after she played a bit I got a turn :jmp: I ran into that little area where the bear comes out and died :( Was still fun though, so after that I just kind of watched them reach the lost valley and kill the T-rex, at that point I was so sure the game was almost done :vlol: I thought we were close to the end. :p same with TRII, I thought venice was the last level :vlol: (I guess when your around 6-7 you don't really imagine a game being as long as TR1 ended up being.)
As you can tell by how many emoticons I used, Its a very nice memory in my mind xD
rr_carroll
22-03-08, 23:11
remote91 & Lenochka, really charming stories. :)
i was so impressed
grapics were groundbreaking at the time and i though it was the best game i ever played.
untill final fantasy VII came along in my ps1
but those two are my all time faves
i just remember being so scared through all the levels of tr:1 somthing newer tomb raider games lack IMO!
I can't really remember when I started playing TR. I believe it was in 96, but I'm not sure.
I was amazed with the graphics at that time, the female character, always strong and filled with courage.
Best game ever!
I remember playing when I was very young and being eaten by that bear in the Mountain Caves. I was so scared of TR back then that I never played again until I was about 11.
first time i saw and played it i loved it, didnt have a PSX at the time, played it for a good hour or so.
by the time i bought a PSX it was already out on platium, graphics werent so amazing then but i still loved it!
ancllo_2006
06-05-08, 12:04
I was about 12 when it came out, my dad used to play it all the time and i used to sit transfixed to the tv screen. Completely mesmorised (if thats how you spell it lol). So one day i decided to have a go...got killed by the three bats at the beginning of the city of vilcabamba and didnt play it again til about a year ago.
Just recently bought all the TR and have all of them now, had a dabble on all of them and TR1 still stands out compared to the others.
SparkleCroft07
06-05-08, 17:01
I bought it in about 1999 - 2000, but it never worked on my pc. :(
I used to watch my friend play in on PS1 aswell.
VampiraJen
06-05-08, 18:22
the first door in the caves, it took me ages to realise you had to flip a switch to open it. and in tomb of quolipec, you have to jump up into a hole in the side of the wall but it took me ages to notic that. feels abit silly now. can still remember the very first time i played it and just being amazed at the scale of everything. it was one of the first game si played on playstation
Well, it is a really great memory.
I was 16 when I played it on the Sega Saturn!! A few months later I played it on the PS.
But although the graphics were poor on the Saturn it is still one of the greatest gaming experiences I had.
One of the moments I enjoyed most was performing the great swan dive to the mini pool in the middle of the lava pit of the Great Pyramid, just before the battle with Natla! :D
TombRaiderTim
07-05-08, 15:32
Well, it is a really great memory.
I was 16 when I played it on the Sega Saturn!! A few months later I played it on the PS.
But although the graphics were poor on the Saturn it is still one of the greatest gaming experiences I had.
One of the moments I enjoyed most was performing the great swan dive to the mini pool in the middle of the lava pit of the Great Pyramid, just before the battle with Natla! :D
An atlantis fan and natla!
First time I played Tomb Raider - I had only ever played demo games before (apart from doom ) and as I was unemployed at the time and not claiming any state benefits I didnt really get a lot of money but I decided to blow £10 ($20US) on the game because they were on special offer at the local store.
I was praying this was gonna be as good or better than doom.
Opened the box and first time I loaded it - (cant remember if at that time I had a pentium 3 or 2) anyway at first I thought it was crap but the more I played it the more i realised how great it was. I never cheated once and never looked at any walkthroughs (mainly coz I didnt even know they existed back then) I think that game took about 3 or 4 weeks to complete like that - it was amazing infact thats what makes Angel Of darkness so disappointing is thinking about the excellence of the first 4 games.
I have just finished Angel and I am gutted that I hated the whole experience from beginning to end
lara_fanatic
08-05-08, 01:07
I remember when I was like 5 or 6 and I had no idea how to play video games. I didn't even get 25% into the first level cuz i was so little. Now im 15 and ive beaten it several times. I'm playing it right now and the T-rex STILL scares the heck outta me and the mutants too.
It was my mums originally, she got the 1st, 2nd and 3rd TR game. The 1st one is the best and still is, unfortunatly can't play it on PC because, of stupid Vista.
Got them on PS originally, and oddly enough it was my mum who managed to kill off the giant mutant at the end of the game! :o :vlol: She was about 38, 39 or 40!
She past them on to me when I was old enough, about 9 or 10, and I was about 5 or 6 then, !memories!
TombRaiderTim
08-05-08, 21:02
the most horrible thing was when i was young, i saw Tomb Raider Unfinished Business (I never look at cases) and i bought it, not having a computer at the time I thought it was for PS1. I put it in and it was not working so i thought it was broke! :o Eventually 5 years on, i got's me a computer and boy i was happy! :D
Still it was XP and i had a hard time setting it up!
Now in the present time my CD tray is broke so it is like having deja vu all over again...
I hate having a Deja Vu, they're so repetative lol!
first time i saw and played it i loved it, didnt have a PSX at the time, played it for a good hour or so.
by the time i bought a PSX it was already out on platium, graphics werent so amazing then but i still loved it!
Me too!
It was my 1st ever playstation game and I was only about 7 or 8 at the time. I remember turning it on and watching the demo run through, then I looked at my Parents and cried out" Mum? I CAN'T DO THIS". I was terrifed until I began to play it and then I loved it like a puppy.I remember then walking past a save crystal then turning it off relaizing I hadn't saved it. ( What an Idiot,I should have read the instructions).
I am really protective of all my TR games, even now no one in my house is allowed touch them accept for me!
:)
Legend of Lara
14-05-08, 19:19
1997. I was only four, yet I loved it. :D I wasn't much of an expert gamer, though.
1997. I was only four, yet I loved it. :D I wasn't much of an expert gamer, though.
Me too. I was older than 4 because i got it in 2003 just after AoD was released. I found the game on the Skygaming channel on Sky digital, played the AoD game on there for a day for free, then the free pass ran out and I asked to get TR1 and When I did I loved Iy!!!!I used to think it was hillarious to make Lara jump off the top of the pyramid or St Franics follyand make her scream. And watch her fall over and sigh when she lost all her health,then my mum told me" You killed Lara Croft," I burst out crying!!!!!!
Then she said I was too obsessed so I didn't play it again until lately. I also grew up and got into otherthings. Then watched some tr stuff on youtube and now I love it even More!!!!!!!
i'm still not an expert gamer yet I play it more and more. The Memories of Tomb raider will be with me for live, TR until I die:):D:D :D:):)
The Memories of Tomb raider will be with me for live, TR until I die:):D:D :D:):)
And you could even request that the title theme music be played at your funeral! Not to lower the tone or anything...:tea:
Eddie Haskell
14-05-08, 20:11
And you could even request that the title theme music be played at your funeral! Not to lower the tone or anything...:tea:
Interesting idea. It would make for quite an emotional ceremony I would think. I may request that the the main theme be played as my casket is lowered into the ground.
I hope my funerals not for about 70 years. I'm only young, I haven't even finished school yet. I mght do that. Even when I die TR will still be with me!!!!
If I sit down at night and listen to the TR1 theme, I begin to cry. It's so beautiful:cool:
Sure I do.
Great old times. I think I played it in 1998 or 99 or 97.. ah I don't remember well but I played it, that's for sure. I remember being afraid of bears, letting wolves running around in the caves because I thought they looked cute :D
I remember of not being able to pass Vilcabamba :p Killing the T-rex from the cave after finally passing Vilcabamba. So good memories...
silver_wolf
14-05-08, 21:07
I remember. All the levels were unlocked by my mom (the TR master under whom I studied) so I chose one at random. First level I played was The Great Pyramid. Promptly fell off the ledge and watched in horror as Lara smacked into the burning ground 10 stories below. I was about 7. :D
Sure I do.
Great old times. I think I played it in 1998 or 99 or 97.. ah I don't remember well but I played it, that's for sure. I remember being afraid of bears, letting wolves running around in the caves because I thought they looked cute :D
I remember of not being able to pass Vilcabamba :p Killing the T-rex from the cave after finally passing Vilcabamba. So good memories...
I used to think the wolves were cute, especialy when they had that weird howling, it sounded like someone was trying to start their lawnmower.
I'm only at secondary school and feel so old. They're Memories that make me want to stand on top of the school building Screaming " I LOVE TOMB RAIDER AND I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE AT THIS SCHOOL THINKS ABOUT IT":D
everyone thinks I'm mad anyway so would it make a difference if I made them think I was completely bonkers?
Love TR ,as long as I live I will be a TR fan, actualy come to think of it, I'll still be a TR fan when I'm dead.
I remember. All the levels were unlocked by my mom (the TR master under whom I studied) so I chose one at random. First level I played was The Great Pyramid. Promptly fell off the ledge and watched in horror as Lara smacked into the burning ground 10 stories below. I was about 7. :D
I remember falling off that ledge too. (Iwas about 8 or 9 I can't honestly remember, it was so long ago!). After Lara died my mum told me I killed Lara Croft. I started to cry because I though i mureded her, then 10 mins later the load screen came up and I said to my Mum" You thought Lara Croft could die?Are you completely mad? You gotta have faith mum, Lara can't die!!!" then I fell of again and again just to hear her scream, the classic scream is hillarious:jmp::D
i first played it on my sixth birthday. i remember trying to shoot the arrows right at the start!
I remember getting stuck in the Lost Valley, then finally realising you had to climb over the whiteish rocks at the back of the cave. God, I wasn't ready for what was on the other side... :D
fallenangle
15-05-08, 21:10
I was considerably older; the third game I played on my new PS bought in 1998 and the first I completed. Suddenly to be in control of a recognisably realistic character in a believable environment just blew me away. It was just the type of experience I took up gaming to have, each new area bought new deilights and surprises.
I still remember the adrenaline rush when those first bats attacked and the bear below just before the first save. Making that jump scared the living **** out of me but I was so proud when I'd made it.
That's what I remember most: the fear of messing up a jump, of there being a a nasty beast hiding somewhere or simply doing something wrong and killing LC. My imagination was working overtime looking for traps and indications of danger. But the intense satisfaction when you got it right and she survived to the next save crystal was a pleasure no other form of media entertainment had ever given me.
I remember getting stuck in the Lost Valley, then finally realising you had to climb over the whiteish rocks at the back of the cave. God, I wasn't ready for what was on the other side... :D
Yeah from seeing animals you would expect to see, to others you wouldn't! :eek:
I remember playing this game well into the early hours of the morning!
I remember trying to get the sound working on my old computer, then I gave up and went onto Tomb Raider II (still my favourite of the series). As a result, I remember the traps in the Great Wall, the shock of seeing a shark in Forty Fathoms, and exploring the Tibetan Foothills far more vividly than any TR1 classic moments. But of course, nothing ever measures up to the T-Rex moment! I actually turned around (the slow way - I had no idea you could roll! Needless to say, I had no healthpacks at this stage because combat was so difficult!) and ran back to the cave!
Ahh, memories!
Tyrannosaurus
17-05-08, 01:03
My first TR experience must have fallen short of the one you guys had. I played it on a 486, on which it worked rather well, despite the fact that this computer couldn't play the FMVs for some reason, and the music/cutscenes could only be heard when I attached headphones to the CD rom outlet. Nonetheless, I made my way through the game, following the plot as best I could (from the Nick Roberts strategy guide that I read whenever my parents went to at Barnes & Noble but didn't buy). I eventually brought it over to a friend's house, with a disk that had all my saved games on it, so we could play through it and watch all of the FMVs as they were meant to be seen. I thought they were amazing.
lisa_croft
17-05-08, 10:19
I remember my mum bought the game and i stole it from her ^_^ hehe.
First time i saw the bear, oh gosh-so scared!!! always ran for it.
and at the end of Tomb of Qualopec when the cieling crumbles, always made me jump, i was also scared of the mummies, they made weird noises =(
And the wolves were scary, and the t-rex :(
Heh i reckon i can say i was a S*** bag when playing this game haha!! But i love it!
Played a demo from a PC magazine first... :)
icecreamkiller
21-05-08, 02:02
I actually started playing it for the very first time today (I'd only played a few minutes of it - never even got halfway through Caves). I'm in the Colosseum now (it hurts to spell it this way - it was bad enough that you put the Coliseum in Greece, Core, you couldn't at least attempt to spell the name right? :rolleyes:), and I can honestly say that I'm amazed. This isn't the first TR game I've played - I've played TR3, 4, 5, AOD, TR:L and TR:A, but it's only by playing the original that I get the feel of what Tomb Raider really is. I even love the hideous primitive graphics (I've always thought old, bad graphics had a special kind of charm to them ;)), and it's great finally playing through some classic TR moments, like the original T. rex and St. Francis' Folly. Not to mention the fact that it's impossible not to love Triangular Boob Lara!
rr_carroll
21-05-08, 04:20
...it was bad enough that you put the Coliseum in Greece, Core, you couldn't at least attempt to spell the name right?...
The Online Etymology Dictionary
coliseum
c.1710, M.L. variant of L. colosseum, amphitheater of Vespasian at Rome, neut. of adj. colosseus "gigantic" (see colossal).
Eddie Haskell
21-05-08, 12:37
I actually started playing it for the very first time today (I'd only played a few minutes of it - never even got halfway through Caves). I'm in the Colosseum now (it hurts to spell it this way - it was bad enough that you put the Coliseum in Greece, Core, you couldn't at least attempt to spell the name right? :rolleyes:), and I can honestly say that I'm amazed. This isn't the first TR game I've played - I've played TR3, 4, 5, AOD, TR:L and TR:A, but it's only by playing the original that I get the feel of what Tomb Raider really is. I even love the hideous primitive graphics (I've always thought old, bad graphics had a special kind of charm to them ;)), and it's great finally playing through some classic TR moments, like the original T. rex and St. Francis' Folly. Not to mention the fact that it's impossible not to love Triangular Boob Lara!
I have been waiting to read a post like this. Please keep us updated, and post your conclusions after you finish. I am very interested in the reactions and reviews of gamers playing the original game for the first time, particularly those who have played the modern ones first.
I agree, but I'm kinda ****ed everytime someone calls old graphics "bad". They are not "bad". They are "awesome". Top notch using the available hardware back then, so awesome. The game ran on a 8Mb Pentium 60 with no accelerator card (although I managed to run it on my 100Mhz 486DX4) or a humble PSX with integer 3D math... So what you are getting is somewhat the most you could get of that hardware, so it is hardly "bad".
Eddie Haskell
21-05-08, 12:58
I agree, but I'm kinda ****ed everytime someone calls old graphics "bad". They are not "bad". They are "awesome". Top notch using the available hardware back then, so awesome. The game ran on a 8Mb Pentium 60 with no accelerator card (although I managed to run it on my 100Mhz 486DX4) or a humble PSX with integer 3D math... So what you are getting is somewhat the most you could get of that hardware, so it is hardly "bad".
"Bad" is subjective. But we know he/she must mean less detailed and therefore it is not an entirely negative comment. And you are right, when I play the game I do not see large pixels, I see a world. Think about how difficult it must have been to create a realistic, immersive world with the limitations of the technology in 1996. And yet they achieved it in spades. :)
Exactly. I consider it far more difficult to achieve such level of immersion and athmosphere with the hardware available 12 years ago than what's easily achieved nowadays with the monsters we have under our tellies :P
I don't. It's a matter of gaming background and expectations.
Believe me, it's way more complicated to do a level with TRA's detail. Of course there are lager teams nowadays, but, at face value, it's tougher to do it these days.
Eddie Haskell
21-05-08, 14:48
I don't. It's a matter of gaming background and expectations.
Believe me, it's way more complicated to do a level with TRA's detail. Of course there are lager teams nowadays, but, at face value, it's tougher to do it these days.
Just to clarify (I am a bit puzzled by your response):
Are you saying that it is easier to achieve a level of immersion and atmosphere with the old engines/graphics/hardware? Because that is what we were discussing. Or are you simply stating the obvious; that it is more difficult/time consuming to make detailed games today?
icecreamkiller
21-05-08, 16:55
It wasn't a negative comment about the graphics - they're "bad" when compared to today's standards, but I'm well aware that they were great graphics at the time the game was released. It was more of an affectionate way of referring to them than anything else :)
And uh, whoops! re: Colosseum. Sorry? D:
Finished the Colosseum just now and am currently playing through Palace Midas. The atmosphere this game creates is perfect; while I found that TR3 at times became exhausting and TR4 seemed to drag on endlessly during particular bits (though I'm a huge fan of both games, don't get me wrong - TR4 more so than TR3), TR1 nails it in terms of atmosphere and gameplay. Though I thought TR:A was excellent (and still do), I finally get what everyone was talking about when they said the remake couldn't replicate the feel of the original. It just seems too clean and sometimes a little cold when compared to this game. I'm even warming up to Shelley Blond, whom I wasn't a very big fan of before. While Jonell Elliot stills stands as my favourite voice actress for Lara, the first game presents a reasonably nicer Lara, and Jonell always comes across to me as though she emphasises the more acidic side of Lara. Though it did take me a while to stop chuckling at the sound this Lara makes when vaulting onto a block or ledge - sounds more like someone choking on a peanut rather than making any sort of physical effort. :P
Just to clarify (I am a bit puzzled by your response):
Are you saying that it is easier to achieve a level of immersion and atmosphere with the old engines/graphics/hardware? Because that is what we were discussing. Or are you simply stating the obvious; that it is more difficult/time consuming to make detailed games today?
I was replying to Na_th_an last post. I'm saying I don't consider it harder to achieve a good level of immersion and atmosphere with the old engine in the context of 1996. Because of what people were accustomed to it was easier to impress and in fact some hardware limitations even helped, like the the draw distance, or lack thereof (to this day I still feel the Lost Valley in particular doesn't feel like the Lost Valley because it feels too bright but then again it would feel stupid to have a black ceiling in such a place nowadays). Also, back in the day, you didn't need the level of expertise to model or animate most things that you need nowadays because the expectations where substantially lower.
I still disagree with you.
Now it's more time-consumming, but nowadays you can do almost whatever. Light effects, athmospheric effects, shaders... Whatever you want.
Back in 1996 you just had unfiltered, lightmapped gouraud-shaded low-res textures. Creating such an athmosphere like TR1 or Quake 1 have was far more "difficult" in therms of you have to cope with the uberlimmited resources you have. You had to arrange the little stuff you had to make something look "shiny", or "wet", or "rough" ...
Now you have a full set of coloured crayons to draw your world, but back then you just had a humble pencil. What's more difficult?
Yes but back in 1996 people were easier to please, they were not used to having such large 3D environments to explore, so Tomb Raider was considered fantastic, we loved the atmosphere and immersion came naturally. These days we play photo real games and if one creature does not look realistic we complain it ruins the entire game. Gamers consider themselves experts now at picking the faults in things. Gone is that childlike acceptance of Core's rendition of a T-Rex, perhaps the fact that the old environments were not as detailed actually helped, it was not realistic so perhaps we did not expect a lot. Now we get realistic and we are not happy, or at least some are not. It is a lot harder to make games now than it used to be, because of all that extra technology needed to make things look as realistic as they can with today's technology, but it is also harder to get the player immersed in the gameplay despite the more realistic graphics, it seems large environments and fantastic graphics are no longer enough. Which is one reason l think why the story these days is becoming so important in the Tomb Raider games, they are trying to draw the player in through the story, and a more cinematic movie like experience.
I don't think so. Tomb Raider was outstanding for it was really outstanding. Compare to nowadays' Assassin's Creed, for example. Just compare with games from 1996. I'll give you a list with the most successful games from 1996:
Super Mario 64
Quake
Crash Bandicoot
Donkey Kong Country III
Tekken II
Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire
Graphics and athmosphere in Tomb Raider was far ahead from its contemporaries, in every aspect.
It's not that people are more demanding now, it's just that they can be more demanding. In 1996 you couldn't get any better than they got, IMHO.
As I see it, nowadays it's not harder, but more time consumming, which is not the same thing. Now a bunch of artists spend months modelling every little detail, but they know the hardware will cope with it easily so they can add and add and add. You need to recreate a tomb, you can model every stone and add dust and lots of floating particles, add spiderwebs and whatever you like, with great dynamic lighting and objects which cast shadows and look real. You got your ambience, 'cause you can mimmick reality almost perfectly. No limits. The art director wants "X"? - he gets "X".
In 1996 you had to trick the player to make him or her believe he or she was on a tomb. And that's what Core managed greatly with no hardware beasts. That's what I call "hard". Choosing the right texture from a palette of, say, 64, to make a distant cave wall look not blocky nor tiled was really, really a work of art.
IMO people back then didn't care that much about eye-candy and actually used their imagination to "finish" a couple of polygons on the screen into a grand ancient temple. That's what made those games great. I mean, you were battling through a nazi infested castle back in Wolfenstein 3D, not just a bunch of square rooms they are now.
Nobody'll use their imagination nowadays, as it's no longer necessary - everything's right before you as it is, no "mind" changes allowed.
Hence, no need to be "smart" and creative to overcome such limitations, as they don't exist. That was my point.
Well, as it's harder to please the players now, developers naturally have to devise new ways to attract them - and that's a different kind of being 'smart'. Unfortunately, most of them take the "easy" route of 'ultra realistic graphics' or 'awesome story' or both, and tend to exclude gameplay and other elements.
I mean, perhaps because those games weren't solely centered around visuals, developers managed to blend music and level design and gameplay and what story there was into one great experience instead of focusing on 'this' and 'that' as the strongest points of their game.
I don't think players are now harder to please than they were twelve years ago, either. I was around in 1996 and I was as demanding as nowadays. I expect videogame developers to put the hardware to work. That's all. I diss every game which doesn't use what's under your telly. That's why I consider Shadow of the Colossus to have awesome visuals, even though it can compare to modern games such as the mentioned Assassin's Creed or the nice Uncharted, 'cause it pushes the PS2 to its limits.
People are very impressed with eye-candy, I agree with you on that. But that only lasts a few moments. If a game doesn't have great gameplay, it's far from a great game. On the contrary, a game with mediocre GFX but great gameplay is also critizised, but it generally ranks better. Take Warriors: Orochi for the PS2, to name something recent. The GFX are far from good, but it boasts great gameplay and replay value. It has got better ranks than games which are great visually but are a bore to play, for example Bullet Witch for the 360 (please DON'T even come close to that pile of dire!).
I'm playing videogames since circa 1987, so I think I've seen a lot of stuff happening around, and I can assure you: back then, it wasn't very different than nowadays. It's like when picking up a couple: most people are impressed by the looks, but if the boy or girl doesn't have an attractive inner-self, it fails to qualify (unless the one picking up is as void :vlol:).
What has changed is the kind of player. We have more casual players, and more "in-a-hurry" players who want to manage to master the game on day 1 and abandon if the game is a bit more "difficult". We also have more players. That's why, sadly, most franchises have toned down their contents. In order to be competitive, you have to appeal to as many players as possible. 10-15 years ago, most players were teenage males. Now, the spectrum is far wider. But I'm going off-topic so I better stop :D
Ah yes, i was rather young back in the days when first TR games came out and those seriously borked my head with their difficuty level, as well as impressed me in all other departments.
Then i guess it's because most young players in the past were impressed with something else than pretty bump maps and god-knows-which version shaders that they gladly replay old titles even now. And newer ones are spoiled by realistic visuals and newb-friendly gameplay. Funny thing is i should be closer to the second group yet i gladly replay Doom2 and others.... Too bad i missed Space Quest...
This game made me buy a PS1. Back in the day it was tick :wve:
iamlaracroft
26-05-08, 20:25
i will never forget playing tr for the first time...every sound, every noise made me jump...and that t rex scarred me for life.
...still scares the crap outta me. Same for the wolves and raptors and mutants. *shudders*
Ah yes, i was rather young back in the days when first TR games came out and those seriously borked my head with their difficuty level, as well as impressed me in all other departments.
Then i guess it's because most young players in the past were impressed with something else than pretty bump maps and god-knows-which version shaders that they gladly replay old titles even now. And newer ones are spoiled by realistic visuals and newb-friendly gameplay. Funny thing is i should be closer to the second group yet i gladly replay Doom2 and others.... Too bad i missed Space Quest...
l would never consider a game ruined by realistic graphics, l love realistic graphics, now l no longer need to use my imagination to finish the scenery off. It has never stopped me becoming immersed in the game, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the newb-friendly gameplay, constantly having hints and instructions popping up all through the game does ruin it a bit for me. l am not as devoted a gamer as l used to be so shorted games and more user friendly controls l do not mind, l no longer have a few spare weeks to "master" the controls with constant play. l started playing Chronicles on the PC last night and am already stuck due to my inability to master the controls, l will persist, but it does nothing to endear the game to me. It is my own fault though, l am a console player at heart, my fingers are just useless with keyboard controls, which is why l gave up playing Tomb Raider on the PC in the first place. :(
l would never consider a game ruined by realistic graphics
But i wasn't talking about games (i don't mind pretty stuff myself), but rather those who play them - they are spoiled by all the graphical innovantions devs are throwing at them with each new title. Most of the modern games won't even touch 2D games for example, because they're too used to three dimensions.
Mother Dear and I had a gift card. We thought we'd go out and buy something fun to break the monotony of the daily drag. We found TRI Gold with the help of a sales assistant who will never know how he ended up shaping my life.
We got home, installed, drooled at the FMV and proceeded to jump around and accomplish nothing because we hadn't learned the ctrl button function yet. Once I realized you could vault onto low platforms, it was like a whole world of possibility had opened up. My brother was our resident gamer back then, and as we were young, he felt inclined to hog the new game from his little sister. The nice thing was that after Vilcabamba, everyone lost interest. Except me :)
The howling wolves, the t-rex, the Cistern, everything about Larson and Pierre. They sold that game almost as much as Lara. I do so love those gents. But entering Atlantis for the first time and hearing that rhythmic beating... nothing compares.
rr_carroll
27-05-08, 09:35
...But entering Atlantis for the first time and hearing that rhythmic beating... nothing compares.
Right. Like Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". :)
That's right.
TR was nothing new. It was a blend of many things that had been successful in the past 20 years of videogaming. It was so successful 'cause of two main aspects:
1.- The blend was exquisite, I mean, they took the best from several games (mainly Prince of Persia, Rick Dangerous and a couple more) and combined it flawlessly.
2.- Technically, it was a BLAST.
Now we are so used to Lara Croft and the franchise that we think that it was always this way, and that a game with Lara on it will be automaticly sucessful. But when TR1 came around, that didn't happen. The game was so successful 'cause it was so damn good.
TombRaiderTim
16-06-08, 06:22
The scariest part in your TR1 experience? What was that? Mine was when i entered the tomb of qualopec and the mummy fell when i got close to it! ^^
P:S: This topic should be stickied! :D
Happystick
17-06-08, 16:23
I've just bought TR and TR2, as I have not played these yet.
I've not long finished TRLR and thought it was really good, enjoyed it more than Legend and anniversary, not sure why as the graphics on the newer games are better, but they do seem to lack someting from the older games.
Gonna get started on TR tonight if i can install ok. It will be interesting to see what I make of it as I played annniversary first.
TombRaiderTim
17-06-08, 17:52
personally, i think TR1 is the best as the TRA was a remake and they cut all the siderooms off the central shaft area in atlantis and saying that to give the player a break from the main area of the level with relaxing their worries by going into side rooms was not such a good idea and so they cut them off to keep the worries of the player falling down the shaft and the only way to get safe is to reach the top in one great effort but then this excludes the atomasphere and adventuring for this level.
Download and listen to the central shaft commentary to see the reason why:
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/cgi-bin/dl08/dl.pl?au_tombraideranniversary_commentary
These are all the commentarys!
Happystick
17-06-08, 18:41
Any ideas why Lara is invisable after installing TR!????
View this (http://www.tombraiderhub.com/faq/tr1.html#dgvoodoo). If you have any further problems, please open a separate thread for your issue.
Happystick
18-06-08, 08:37
Thanks Neteru, now I can see Lara! Yay!
i'm ready to start TR1, I've had a go at the manor to get a feel for the controls, and it is weird to think this is where it all started, the first game I played was TRLR.
it will be interesting to see how anniversary measures up....can't wait!
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