View Full Version : So I just started playing Tomb Raider
First off all sorry in advance for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
The games finally arrived today and since I only played them for a short while back in the day when they came out, I don't remember much. So it will mostly feel like I've never played them before (and from a certain point on, that will indeed be the case.)
So I started training in the house to relearn all the moves. Seems like subconsciously I still remembered mst of them. At some point I also remmbered, there was I swan dive move, so I was running around the house, jumping and hitting walls, while trying to figure out how to perform the move. Then near the stairs, more by accident, I managed it. Lara performed a swan dive... and broke her neck...
Well that's not how I planned to leave the house :D
So anyway into the main game. After watching the FMV I just stood there for a moment (probably grinning like an idiot ;))
After all that time, I finally returned to this game.
I know it sounds stupid, but it kinda felt like coming home :D
As I said I don't remmeber much of what I've played but I remember I loved the atmosphere and it's the same feeling all over again... no actually I think it's more intense than back then.
But... there's another feeling that returned immediately.
It's really kinda creepy. :D
One would think, playing games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill (and not being 10 or 11 anymore) should prevent getting this feeling when playing TR, but not in my case.
I reached the first main chamber, the one with the two bridges.
Looking around and kinda remembering the place, when I got suddenly shocked by that strange sound the wolves are making.
Because of that sudden sound, I accidently made Lara jump back. Though nothing happened, I remembered that situations like these, more than once led to my death in the past...
Like that wasn't enough there was this mummy-like 2D sprite. I saw him and immediately remembered it's "grinning"... face.
Yeah. Everything was like back then, but I certainly wasn't grinning anymore ;)
Also, after reaching the first save-crystal and killing the bear I failed to jump back and fell down where the dead bear was lying, losing some of my health. Stupid mistakes like that are another thing i'm sure I pulled off often enough, when playing the game for the first time.
But I really adore this whole place, subconsciously I seem to remember several parts (like the area around the save-crystal, or the first trigger you have to pull) And I just looked around, almost losing myself in the atmosphere of the surroundings. It was the right decision to finally buy these games.
Anyway, somehow I managed to finish the first level. And now I'm here to calm myself down :D. Oh and I already missed one secret :p
I wonder which one...
Well I'm not really sure if there is anyone who is even interested in my babbling, but regardless of that I just had to share it.
If I'm allowed to, I'll probably share my other impressions as well while advancing in this.
TR1 is still unmatched. A landmark.
Good to see that you like it and good of you to share your experience with us.
I am sure you'll spend many happy (and creepy :D) hours.
Enjoy!
Glad you are getting another chance to enjoy the original suikos, l am sure you will have many happy playing hours. l miss the old save crystals but much prefer playing the game on the PC these days, graphics look much better. :tmb:
Real Life Raider
22-05-08, 00:29
Excellent post suikos and very well written (there are very few spelling & grammar police here and if they do show up: ignore them!)
TR1 has such excellent and unnerving ambience that is forgotten in the light of the more recent games.
You have reminded us of the sheer pleasure of this incredible adventure.
Nice one :tmb:
TR1 is still the original and best for many of us (myself included). You're right about the atmosphere too - if it's keeping us coming back to the game even after 10+ years, it must be something to write home about. By all means, please post some more of your thoughts from later levels too; I love reading these 'travel diaries' from other TR players. Like a lot of people here, I love the games and have played them to death, and it's always nice to hear a fresh viewpoint on the matter. Happy raiding!
tr1 will always be the best :tmb: I also fell in that pit with bear and lost some health :vlol: And I also didn't find third secret in first level and I still have no idea where it can be :vlol:
da tomb raider!
22-05-08, 09:45
Glad you're enjoying it. Tomb Raider's a fantastic game. :tmb:
tr1 will always be the best :tmb: I also fell in that pit with bear and lost some health :vlol: And I also didn't find third secret in first level and I still have no idea where it can be :vlol:
They're all easy secrets. Just look harder. :p
stereopathic
22-05-08, 14:33
haha. i know exactly which secret you missed. it's gotta be the up+action (not jump+action) secret. :D
great post, suikos! i remember when i went back and played it i was scared outta my wits too. it has an eerie mood and a lonely feel that made me think something was just about to jump out at me. such fun!
Good to see you've returned to the game that spawned an icon, many sequels and most importantly...inspired TRF to be made :D
Have fun!
...PS - I miss many secrets on my playthroughs ;)
First off all. Thanks for all the positive comments and for not getting strange looks for some of the things I wrote. It's also good to know that I'm not alone with the impressions I get... and the mistakes I make :D
l miss the old save crystals but much prefer playing the game on the PC these days, graphics look much better. :tmb:
Yeah I like the extra challenge the limited saves provide. And I really couldn't care less for graphics. I don't consider the graphics bad or something, not even by todays standard. It's hard to explain, but eventhough I know that from a technical viewpoint the graphic of games like Assassin's is far more advanced, I still really like how this game looks. Just because one game has better graphics, the graphics of another game don't get worse.
But then again I played Might & Magic 7 for the first time last year. And that's a game many people would despise, just because of the way it looks.
i guess I'm kinda strange here :D
haha. i know exactly which secret you missed. it's gotta be the up+action (not jump+action) secret. :D
Yeah. Shortly after I created this thread, I remembered there was point that looked rechable, but for some reason Miss Croft wouldn't grab it. I figured I just gave up to soon. But now that you've posted that, I see that I could have tried for hours without any luck :D
Anyway. I started the next level only to be welcomed by a pack of wolves right at the beginning. The whole cave was full of wolves and bats but I somehow managed to kill them all without getting hit.
I started exploring the now "save" area. The pistols still ready to fire, I carefully went into some stables and looked around... only to be attacked from behind by a bear! You know I really like the area around the stables. Without all this bats, bears and wolves that are trying to kill you it would be kinda nice. Speaking of the wolves. I almost got a heart attack when I went through a door and all of a sudden this one wolf lunged at me. I always flinch
whenever something like this happens in a game... and I love it :p
I also managed to find every secret place in this level. Yay me! :D
That's another thing I really like. You kinda get rewarded for being curious. You see something and start to wonder if you can somehow get there, although, at the first moment it doesn't seem like you're supposed to go there. By putting items or interesting places in, The game encourages you to be even more curious about your surroundings. Most other games often just go "You're not supposed to go here, so have fund hitting this invisible wall."
I wanted to stop after that level but somehow I couldn't. So I decided to go on "just a little longer"... yeah right :D
The waterfall is another area I really like. I mean I've seen plenty waterfalls in several games. But this one just felt... right. It felt like it belonged there. That's something I can say about many if not all of the surroundings so far. It just seems believeable, yet everything got this mythical touch to it.
Then I went into that valley.
Although I was kinda... let's say surprised by the raptors everything was still fine until I went a bit further and all of a sudden the earth started to shake, dramatic music kicked in and that T-rex apeared. Being the wuss I am I immediately turned around running for my life. I figured I wouldn't be able to get out of the valley fast enough so I looked for some other way and found something that I hoped would be the entrance to a cave. I climbed up, the rex right behind me, only to see that it wasn't a cave at all. So I thought I would end up as dinosaur food, but somehow the rex couldn't reach me.
Though I think it's been done on purpose, I'm not sure if I just got lucky there.
So I slowly killed the rex from this save place. Not the bravest thing to do, but I prefer being alive over being brave :D
Sorry for getting so detailed about a scene you all probably know all too well. But it was just so... intense. Actually the whole game is.
I really liked all the small caves and places to climb that could be found in the valley, especially the one where you end up on the roof of that small temple.
The way you get there really seemed like you're actually not supposed to be there. Fortunately, I saved in the temple because due to my curiousity I had to reload the game. From the roof of the temple I went further to the left, but at some place Lara got stuck :p
It also seems like that reload led to the dramatic music to kick in a second time, which made me believe there was another T-rex coming at me.
But although I spent quite some time in the area, I still missed a secret in the end. But that's a good thing. I thought I saw everything, but there is still more left.
Also, somehow I managed to not get killed until now... well except for that mansion incident :D
Ah look at this. Even more rambling than the last time. I'm sorry. I'll try to make sure to keep it shorter from now on.
rr_carroll
23-05-08, 00:15
Very atmospheric description. :)
You're getting into a real interesting area, it might be called the meta-game. I mean the thinking that an area looks probably useless, but it seems like you could just move to that ledge there... and pretty soon you're collecting ammo on top of the temple! Or not, it's so wonderfully uncertain. Do the game designers lead you into these experiences, or is it a happy accident?
And the "non-cave"! A T-rex, I"m going to die! Wait, safety in a cave! But it's too shallow! No, he's not sticking his head in! - They bounce your feelings back and forth like you're a ping pong ball! :D
Real Life Raider
23-05-08, 00:41
I'm sorry. I'll try to make sure to keep it shorter from now on.
Please no!
I think we're all agreed here that your posts are interesting and inspiring!
It's a pleasure to read an opinion from someone who has The Game at heart, rather than many players who whinge about graphic quality!
I hope we will be treated to more of your impressions! :)
Yeah I like the extra challenge the limited saves provide. And I really couldn't care less for graphics. I don't consider the graphics bad or something, not even by todays standard. It's hard to explain, but eventhough I know that from a technical viewpoint the graphic of games like Assassin's is far more advanced, I still really like how this game looks. Just because one game has better graphics, the graphics of another game don't get worse.
l am happy with my PC graphics, Lara and that waterfall never looked as good in the pixelated PS1 graphics. l play all the others on the PS1 happily, although l am slowing working through them on the PC, l am addicted to taking screenshots now.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/aussie500/Tomb%201/uvs080523-010.jpg
stop apologizing, we love the details and you describe them so well :)
i like that the graphics leave room for imagination and heighten the atmosphere. theres so much freedom in the early games, especially TR1, compared to now.
edit- nvm
l am happy with my PC graphics, Lara and that waterfall never looked as good in the pixelated PS1 graphics.
Maybe it is a shame to admit, but I have never actually seen TR I on PS 1. My point is that I would love to see how the whole waterfall area looks on it.
Would you be so kind and post a screenshot of it please:o
BTW: That screenshot from your PC looks just amazingly good Oo
Suikos> It is great to read your posts in this thread, I wholeheartly agree with your description of the waterfall - it's purely mythical in the game.
Maybe it is a shame to admit, but I have never actually seen TR I on PS 1. My point is that I would love to see how the whole waterfall area looks on it.
Would you be so kind and post a screenshot of it please:o
BTW: That screenshot from your PC looks just amazingly good Oo
Suikos> It is great to read your posts in this thread, I wholeheartly agree with your description of the waterfall - it's purely mythical in the game.
Unfortunately camera's and old fashioned TV's do not make good screenshots, and l have yet to work out the complexities of using an emulator on the PC, also l have a suspicion even an emulator would improve on the PS1 graphics. Perhaps someone who runs the game on an emulator could post a screenshot, or someone who plays on an LCD or plasma TV could take a snap. Otherwise l do not see how you would see it without playing it yourself, sorry. :(
Maybe it is a shame to admit, but I have never actually seen TR I on PS 1. My point is that I would love to see how the whole waterfall area looks on it.
Would you be so kind and post a screenshot of it please:o
I'll try to get one for you
Here it is:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p189/jjsvale/Tomb%20Raider/Tomb%20Raider/capture_24052008_204248r.jpg
iamlaracroft
24-05-08, 20:19
this is nostalgia at its paramount...
this is what tomb raider is really all about.
TR1 is a phenomenon--a rare superlative jewel that encompasses the very essence of what intense, thrilling, and truly satisfying game play should be...and still eclipses modern games that deign to tout those exact descriptions, which, of course, don't even come close!
All these qualities are precisely what AOD, Legend and Anniversary lack. AOD: I won't even bother with, but Legend/Anni? Come on...there were no moments of flip-flopping self doubt. No eerie music/ strange sound effect-induced "gasps". No goosebumps! No heart arrhythmias! Legend and Anni are, like, pre-played versions of themselves. There is no Tomb Raiding or exploration to be done--no, instead of "Tomb Raider" they should be titled "Rule Abider" or "Emo Play-it-Safe-er."
Where did the suspense go? What happened to exploring, wandering endlessly, clueless as to where-to-go or what-to-do next? Where did our "shoot now, ask questions later" heroine disappear to? Our busty archaeologist was once a woman of very few words...and now she's as chatty-a-cathy as a Valley girl on a sugar high.
Lara of yesteryear was, almost...kinda evil. She didn't care about a peruvian mountain guide. She didn't give warnings to enemies who she was about to decapitate--she simply shot-to-kill whoever or whatever stood in her way. She was curt, tough, and independent. The real Lara would never rely on a man, certainly not two, to aide, assist and comment endlessly on her affairs! Who is this impostor who walks in our midst???:hea:
...and you know...Underworld Lara won't be any different. She will be the same morally-convicted, exorbitantly vocal, male-dependent Legend/Anni Lara we've come to know and hate. This is why we must uphold the sacredness that is TR1. Never again will there ever be a game like it. Soak in everything that is TR1, re-live it and cherish every moment. Be grateful for its existence.
We must treat it like an ancient artifact of mystical powers...
Because it is mystical.
It is powerful.
..and unfortunately, it is becoming ancient. :(
l cannot say l ever thought of Lara as a woman of few words iamlaracroft, when given the opportunity to speak she was very chatty even with her enemies. It was only through the limitations of the technology at the time that we never heard her more. And Anniversary was much more like the old games than Legend.
l love the water on the playstation shot there JJV, l take it you used an emulator to get it? Because when l put the game in my PS1 a few years ago it definitely did not look that good. :confused:
*wanders of to find PS1 emulator for potential new hobby of comparing screenshots between versions*
patriots88888
25-05-08, 04:24
[QUOTE=aussie500;2727836]l cannot say l ever thought of Lara as a woman of few words iamlaracroft, when given the opportunity to speak she was very chatty even with her enemies. It was only through the limitations of the technology at the time that we never heard her more.
Why would it have to do with limitations in technology? If she could speak a little in the game, then she certainly could speak alot. If you are refering to limitations of disk size, then that would be a more plausible explanation aussie. ;)
iamlaracroft
25-05-08, 04:28
Well, aussie500, I don't know about your games, but the classic Lara in my games never made bonehead emo in-game comments like "its SO cold!" or "its much colder in HERE than outside". Your interpretation of chatty is mind boggling. Classic Lara's inquiries and retorts were always one-liners, evasive, sarcastic and dry, a la: "It's hard to say exactly, but, you seem to be doing fine."
In fact, the very first scene in which we meet our tight lipped Lara, she has two lines (unless you consider "oh?" to be both a line and, by your standards, "chatty") for a total of 20 words!
Glean "chatty" from that? I think not.:ton:
Like I said in the previous post, Classic Lara never gave her enemies warning: "Get out of my way..."...or else. She made her way, guns blazing, never looking back. She didn't second guess or have emotions--if she did she never let them show. She was a hard ass, refined...the quintessential Brit.
Nothing like the Lara of today.
Well, aussie500, I don't know about your games, but the classic Lara in my games never made bonehead emo in-game comments like "its SO cold!" or "its much colder in HERE than outside". Your interpretation of chatty is mind boggling. Classic Lara's inquiries and retorts were always one-liners, evasive, sarcastic and dry, a la: "It's hard to say exactly, but, you seem to be doing fine."
In fact, the very first scene in which we meet our tight lipped Lara, she has two lines (unless you consider "oh?" to be both a line and, by your standards, "chatty") for a total of 20 words!
Glean "chatty" from that? I think not.:ton:
Like I said in the previous post, Classic Lara never gave her enemies warning: "Get out of my way..."...or else. She made her way, guns blazing, never looking back. She didn't second guess or have emotions--if she did she never let them show. She was a hard ass, refined...the quintessential Brit.
Nothing like the Lara of today.
Hardly fair comparisons, classic Lara never had a headset, so did not need to let the back up crew know the conditions and how she was doing, and TRA Lara was much younger than the experienced 28/29 year old from TR1. TR1 being the first game Lara does not seem to have much personality as in the later Core Design games but we will see what suikos has to say on it later after the game is finished. As for warnings, l seem to recall classic Lara giving gratuitous warnings to Larson in TR5. And l am pretty sure there were a few veiled warnings over the years.
JJV> Thank you so much, great screenshot, you got it perfectly:hug:
And by the way from what I can see here the game looks quite all right really.
I'd love to have PS, never had any console what a pity.
l love the water on the playstation shot there JJV, l take it you used an emulator to get it? Because when l put the game in my PS1 a few years ago it definitely did not look that good. :confused:
Is that so? I mean it is kind of a surprise for me, because I always thought that PS1 was capable of rendering non pixelated graphics as lets say did Voodoo 1 on PC's. Hence would be the tremendous desire of having such console back then in 96 which had people who had a PC at that time. But guess I was wrong so nevermind:) Thank you guys for your attention.
Like I said in the previous post, Classic Lara never gave her enemies warning: "Get out of my way..."...or else. She made her way, guns blazing, never looking back. She didn't second guess or have emotions--if she did she never let them show. She was a hard ass, refined...the quintessential Brit.
Nothing like the Lara of today.
Probably because in TR1 there was no way while playing Lara "gentely" asking her enemies to get out, because you know, technology of that time didn't allow to? ;) In Tomb Raider 1, she is not even a hard ass - she was just a toy lol I can't believe that people really take that Lara serious. Of course there was the the "little stereoype movies" at the end of each level, but that never helped to develop Lara's character, unlike the last games, which are not as good I agree, but Lara's personality gets more real and more human. TR1's Lara is simply a cold toy for me. TR2 and TR3 are a little better, but only with The Last Revelation Lara gains more depth.
iamlaracroft
25-05-08, 13:32
Hardly fair comparisons, classic Lara never had a headset, so did not need to let the back up crew know the conditions and how she was doing, and TRA Lara was much younger than the experienced 28/29 year old from TR1. TR1 being the first game Lara does not seem to have much personality as in the later Core Design games but we will see what suikos has to say on it later after the game is finished. As for warnings, l seem to recall classic Lara giving gratuitous warnings to Larson in TR5. And l am pretty sure there were a few veiled warnings over the years.
...so which is it, then, Aussie500? You're flip-flopping here.
First you give the excuse that classic Lara "never had a headset" but then you go on to cite TR5 as an example of "classic Lara giving gratuitous warnings to Larson". You must not know your Tomb Raider very well, as Lara donned a headset in TR5. Hello? VCI?
Nowhere in VCI did Lara "let the back up crew know the conditions and how she was doing."
The very fact that you've implied Lara needs a "back up crew" is both laughable and demeaning.
Then you say she was "very chatty even with her enemies" but yet she "does not seem to have much personality"...????
How can she be chatty and lack a personality?
Funny...she must have had enough personality to have sustained a dynasty 10 years running.
As for the "warnings", you've missed the point entirely:
She warned Pierre, not Larson, in TR5 that if he put the stone into the gate, he was "going to get a lot more than he bargained for."
When Larson offered to place the stone in Pierre's stead, she said "that would be one of the stupidest moves you've made...and that's saying something, I think you'll appreciate."
A few moments after Larson places the stone, he is engulfed in fire. Lara explains that Pierre and Larson, in their "usual flamboyant style", have set in motion the "next gate phase" and warns that if "the gate doesn't receive two stones in the next few moments...poof" and motions an explosion.
Nowhere in that scene does Lara give "gratuitous warnings" that she is about to shoot either one of them.
The implication that something was going to happen to them not originating from Lara herself is precisely my point: she gives warnings to impending danger regarding pulling switches, activation of ancient artifacts, etc, because she errs on the side of caution and knowledge...but the real Lara doesn't give her enemies implicit 'heads up' when she subsequently disperses a rain of bullets.
No veil.
iamlaracroft
25-05-08, 13:54
Probably because in TR1 there was no way while playing Lara "gentely" asking her enemies to get out, because you know, technology of that time didn't allow to? ;) In Tomb Raider 1, she is not even a hard ass - she was just a toy lol I can't believe that people really take that Lara serious. Of course there was the the "little stereoype movies" at the end of each level, but that never helped to develop Lara's character, unlike the last games, which are not as good I agree, but Lara's personality gets more real and more human. TR1's Lara is simply a cold toy for me. TR2 and TR3 are a little better, but only with The Last Revelation Lara gains more depth.
As Patriots88888 already pointed out, "technology of that time" has nothing to do with how "gently" Lara spoke to her enemies. The fact that Lara speaks at all establishes technology capable of producing a variety of responses--including "gently". There is a reason Lara was not portrayed in that manner. Cut scenes and readily available biographical info aside, there is in-game dialog in TR1 that support this.
On a side note, if you can't "believe people really take that Lara serious", you might want to consider what your doing on a forum entirely dedicated to the franchise for which she is heralded.
seriously.
:D You misunderstood the all point. TR1's Lara Croft is not a develloped character in terms of personality, I don't even think they bothered at time to give her a more human approach (oh yeah they wrote a biographical story, big deal), that's why I don't get why people are taking that Lara so serious, because clealy for me, she's a very stereotyped main character toy. Still, this is my opinion, I'm not offending anyone, why would I hold back something I think? :confused: I've been playing Tomb Raider games since TR2 and my opinion was always the same since then...
Now, I say: "seriously"...
iamlaracroft
25-05-08, 14:49
:D You misunderstood the all point. TR1's Lara Croft is not a develloped character in terms of personality, I don't even think they bothered at time to give her a more human approach (oh yeah they wrote a biographical story, big deal), that's why I don't get why people are taking that Lara so serious, because clealy for me, she's a very stereotyped main character toy. Still, this is my opinion, I'm not offending anyone, why would I hold back something I think? :confused: I've been playing Tomb Raider games since TR2 and my opinion was always the same since then...
Now, I say: "seriously"...
By all means, say what you think--obviously that's what the forum is for. It just seems pointless to post in a thread that is lauding, re-living and relishing in all the glory that is TR1 only to call the main character "a very stereotyped main character toy" and affect confusion as to why "people" take her seriously. This thread is all about appreciating TR1 and the Lara that comes with it. If you're not as enthused and loyal as the rest of us, perhaps you should start your own thread to name-call TR1 Lara in.
It just seems pointless to post in a thread that is lauding, re-living and relishing in all the glory that is TR1 only to call the main character "a very stereotyped main character toy" and affect confusion as to why "people" take her seriously.
Now, that I would agree to a certain extent :) Sorry, then... TR1 is still a great game, probably my favourite one, but I don't really think TR1's Lara should be considered the best representation of the character. I doubt Lara Croft's complex personality should be base on merely some nonsense lines (Core didn't have clearly the best writers), stereotyped atittudes "I'm such a bad ass, let me kill you" and cold facial expressions. I think Lara gained life in The Last Revelation - a polite sarcastic British woman :D After that was only develop the character :) a bit chessy at times like AoD and Legend, but anyway :p
Sorry, keep writing your experience about TR1 :) I'm loving to read it, can't wait for Palace Midas and St. Francis Folly, they are my favourite levels :D
l love the water on the playstation shot there JJV, l take it you used an emulator to get it? Because when l put the game in my PS1 a few years ago it definitely did not look that good. :confused:
Yes I did but I don't think it looks that different from the original, It probably looks betther because I resize the picture, the original was much bigger,
1600X1200 Version (http://img136.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=59051_capture_24052008_204248_122_10 48lo.jpg)
Sorry for the image host and its stupid ads but it was the only one accepting such a large image.
...so which is it, then, Aussie500? You're flip-flopping here.
First you give the excuse that classic Lara "never had a headset" but then you go on to cite TR5 as an example of "classic Lara giving gratuitous warnings to Larson". You must not know your Tomb Raider very well, as Lara donned a headset in TR5. Hello? VCI?
Nowhere in VCI did Lara "let the back up crew know the conditions and how she was doing."
The very fact that you've implied Lara needs a "back up crew" is both laughable and demeaning.
Then you say she was "very chatty even with her enemies" but yet she "does not seem to have much personality"...????
How can she be chatty and lack a personality?
Funny...she must have had enough personality to have sustained a dynasty 10 years running.
As for the "warnings", you've missed the point entirely:
She warned Pierre, not Larson, in TR5 that if he put the stone into the gate, he was "going to get a lot more than he bargained for."
When Larson offered to place the stone in Pierre's stead, she said "that would be one of the stupidest moves you've made...and that's saying something, I think you'll appreciate."
A few moments after Larson places the stone, he is engulfed in fire. Lara explains that Pierre and Larson, in their "usual flamboyant style", have set in motion the "next gate phase" and warns that if "the gate doesn't receive two stones in the next few moments...poof" and motions an explosion.
Nowhere in that scene does Lara give "gratuitous warnings" that she is about to shoot either one of them.
The implication that something was going to happen to them not originating from Lara herself is precisely my point: she gives warnings to impending danger regarding pulling switches, activation of ancient artifacts, etc, because she errs on the side of caution and knowledge...but the real Lara doesn't give her enemies implicit 'heads up' when she subsequently disperses a rain of bullets.
No veil.
Well the weather conditions in an air conditioned building are hardly going to change, it was your idea to use the examples of "its much colder in HERE than outside" and "its SO cold!" They are not Lara being chatty, that is just her giving information, hardly changes her entire personality. Certainly the TR5 VCI levels seemed to have Lara saying far more than Legend.
Lara warned someone once to get out of her way when she was little more than a teenager, after she got over the Larson incident she showed no further signs of hesitation, so how has that made her any weaker, it was just a scene showing a bit of character development. As others have mentioned, Lara had virtually no character development in TR1, she had almost no character at all, so TRA changed that, as the first game in a long line of games a few things were changed to show she was younger and less experienced than she had been originally. Personally l thought it was an improvement
l was actually referring to Lara warning Larson to look behind him (several times) just before he had a close encounter of the hot and scaly kind in TR5. She was quite concerned for his welfare, so that caring side was always there. :p
Yes I did but I don't think it looks that different from the original, It probably looks betther because I resize the picture, the original was much bigger,
1600X1200 Version (http://img136.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=59051_capture_24052008_204248_122_10 48lo.jpg)
Sorry for the image host and its stupid ads but it was the only one accepting such a large image.
We lost the pretty blue green colour of the water in the PC version at least on modern PC's and although mine no longer shows it, you can also get some brown outlines on the water which ruin the crystal clear effect, making the water look dirty. :(
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/aussie500/Tomb%201/ntvdm2006-10-2817-30-22-34.jpg
For those who want a simple emulator, i'd say pSX is good - it runs all classic TRs flawlessly and doesn't use any plugins and whatnot (haven't tested TR5 though): http://psxemulator.gazaxian.com/
Or you can always go with ePSXe if you want plugin-enhanced stuff instead of 1:1 emulation.
Aussie, how did you do that your TR 1 looks just outstanding?
What graphic card do you have if I may ask.
EDIT: Wow, thanks nathan, great job:D
TR1 for Saturn, actual "screenshot" (I shot my screen :vlol:)
http://tcyr.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/dsc00640.jpg
Yep, the water sure is shiny on PSX.
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8783/tr1wasseriz5.th.jpg (http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tr1wasseriz5.jpg)
Oh, that happens because of texture filtering in the PC version.
The original textures are indexed images. That means that the actual colour of pixels were not stored, but indexes to a table which actually contained the actual colours. That was made so textures could be stored using just 1 byte per pixel, which meant that only 256 different colours could be used (as you can only count from 0 to 255 with only 1 byte).
For transparency, usually one of those 256 colours was selected, so the program will not draw a pixel if it had such index.
In the palette table (that's how the 256 colours table is called, the table where the actual colour is stored), it happened that the entry corresponding to the byte value which was considered "transparent" had a brown tone stored in it. In the game, this colour is never seen, as pixels indexed with that value are not drawn so you can see what's behind.
The water textures were brown squares with some white pixels doing the ripples. When rendered, you only saw the ripples. Everything behind the texture was seen (rendered in a blueish tone).
When you filter a rotated or scaled texture (so it looks softened instead of pixellated), you do mathematical operations with the colour of the individual pixels so you can create transitions from one to another so the pixellation is less noticed. The thing is that you need actual colours to do that, not table indexes.
So what to do? Well, you have to convert your textures so every pixel contains actual colour information (normally using 4 bytes: R, G, B and Alpha), and then you can perform the calculations.
Calculations are done by the video hardware, which just stores the textures and then displays the distorted ones correctly filtered.
To convert an indexed, 256 colours texture to a true colour texture, you just take every pixel in the original texture, look up the actual colour using the index stored for such pixel, and write the actual colour for that pixel in the new texture. If the index corresponds to the transparent colour, the "Alpha" is set to 0 (totally transparent), otherwise it's set to 255 (completely opaque).
What happens when the video card tries to filter the texture? Well, pixels with alpha 0 are not drawn, and pixels with alpha 255 are drawn. The shades in between will create a transition between the opaque and transparent pixels, resulting in pixels with varying degree of translucency. But oh! colour also gets filtered! So the transition to white (in the opaque pixels of water textures) to brown (in the transparent pixels, which are brown although they have an alpha of 0) is also performed, so the translucent pixels in between (which are partly seen) are drawn in the transitional colour from white to brown.
That's why :D
You can avoid it (modern games do it) with special techniques plus designing the textures in true colour.
Sorry that I didn't post here here anymore (though you hijacked this topic pretty good;))
I've got some problems with my internet connection during the last days. Luckily that's solved.
But uhm well that didn't stop me from playing TR, which a finished on wednesdays.
I always wrote those paragraphs right after playing the game, when the impressions still were fresh and well I don't think I would do the game justice by writing about it now, two days after I finished it. Sorry to anyone who might have looked forward to this.
People talking about graphics being better with this and that...you know what?
After trying many enhancement software and playing it on a superdooper PC etc. I found when you change the graphics, it takes away from the original atmosphere....for me personally.
The one with the most vivid atmosphere is on the Playstation version...the way the graphics are grainy but with depth, the way they move and texture shimmer looks alive it seems....the shadow way back.... While if you enhance it or play on the PC with an emulator (I tried many textures) it looks flat and no depth, mechanical like.
On top of that, the save crystals added so much more excitement then the "save anywhere you like, it will be easy" nonsense. That way you needed to be very careful of every step, like you would in real life when you are in those areas. It added so much to the game because you became even more part if it that way.
So I always play it on the Playstation :p
Oh suikos, nice read, keep it up, many are jealous of you because we would like to experience it again for the first time, hehe.
You have to try it on its original platform, the SEGA Saturn. That's the feel :)
Lara was presented in the early days as having a personality/past shrouded in mystery. We knew very little about her and playing through the games didn't seem to offer much more. I think as time past, people were wanting more explanations about Lara, as she was an enigma.
I see how people would be content to keep things as they were, but I think the folks at Crystal Dynamics were wanting to show more about her. They wanted to portray Lara as a person. Showing more conversation and emotion were an attempt to help the player connect with the character more and also a way to present a fresh perspective on Lara to attract new fans to the series. I personally enjoyed seeing her reaction to things throughout Legend and Anniversary.
In conclusion, I like both versions of Lara's personality, and nostalgia aside, I welcome the developers to give us more information on just who she is as a person and how or what she thinks.
Your aweomse then!
Glad you like both, it sucks to see TR fans torn between classic and this new 'Legend' era.
The more we knew about Lara the "normal human", the less I was interested in the games because it became the main focus of the game, the central theme....if I want to experience a corny teeny soap opera, I will watch it on TV :o
But if others like that, so be it, it seems to sell.
But if others like that, so be it, it seems to sell.
I don't think that the recent Tomb Raider games (AoD and afterwards) sell because of the story.
Story is just an extra something but it's not what sells a TR game.
I'm with you though.
One of the few things that i don't like about Crystal is that they tried to make an emotional Lara.I hate to generalize but maybe it has to do because they are an American studio...Maybe they believe that TR's main target group likes these kind of stories.
I think Core's early approach to Lara's character (TR1-TR4) was more appropriate...Less is more.
IMHO, Classic Lara didn't even have a defined persona. Back then, that was not important.
Maybe that's why I don't mind Lara being plain (classic), dark (AOD), or mercyful (Crystal's) as long as she jumps, runs, shoots, solves puzzles and visits great places.
rr_carroll
10-06-08, 19:38
...I think Core's early approach to Lara's character (TR1-TR4) was more appropriate...Less is more.
Agree. If the character is not fully determined, each of us can write his own movie in his head.
IMHO, Classic Lara didn't even have a defined persona. Back then, that was not important.
Maybe that's why I don't mind Lara being plain (classic), dark (AOD), or mercyful (Crystal's) as long as she jumps, runs, shoots, solves puzzles and visits great places.
I completely agree with you.
buffytabor
13-06-08, 05:17
That's awesome that you enjoyed it. And we enjoyed your feedback. It's always nice to hear opinions. :)
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