Was there an artifact in Unfinished Buisness?

[!Lara Croft!]

Was there an artifact in Unfinished Buisness?

[Larson_1988]

No, there wasn't any artifact in that game. :)

[Crimson Tears]

I don't remember artifacts in this game...So no, there's probaly no artifacts.

[Verdilet]

I haven't played Unfinished Business, but I heard that Lara went to Egypt to find a jade cat, like the one sitting in front of the cat temple in City of Khamoon. Several jade cats like that were displayed in Lara's pool room in TR3 and in her trophy room in TR2. I think she then went to Atlantis to destroy a bunch of mutants, but as I said, I never played Unfinished Business.

[Explorer]

Verdilet, although you haven't played Unfinished business your pretty much spot on there. Specifically Lara's return to Egypt is known as "Shadow of the cat" where she brings back a jade cat as mentioned. The return to Atlantis is known as unfinished business

http://i35.tinypic.com/2mwuw6r.jpg

This screenshot is admittedly a bit small, but notice the cat on the platform to the right.

Also, the cat from Egypt in the mansion below (TR3 Home)

http://i36.tinypic.com/1128i7s.jpg

And talking about jade cats (http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showpost.php?p=2845564&postcount=89)

[Verdilet]

Thanks Explorer, but your images aren't showing. I think you need to upload them to somewhere like photobucket or tinypic in order for them to be visible.

[Explorer]

Very strange, they showed up when I first posted, but didn't display after. Anyway uploaded to tinypic so should now be visible :)

[Verdilet]

Thanks Explorer, I can see the screenshots now.:)

[frodrigues]

I think I've never played UB as a whole either. I don't even remember finishing TR-1, even tho I did. Anyway, what's the story for returning to Atlantis again? Was it to grab the pieces of the Scion to herself? Cause she has it on TR3's manor.

[!Lara Croft!]

People are very confused about why lara Returns to atlantis. Well she doent Return she Continues. Here is the proper timeline of events...

TR1, lara goes to atlantis and escapes down steep shaft.
UB, lara arrives at the end of the shaft (atlantis) and carries on from there.
TR1, final FMV of lara escaping the pyrimid.
UB, Years later lara returns to egypt to find a jade cat.

Thats how CORE intended it, info from an iterview with a CORE employe.
I dont know how they got the levels mixed up before release, but to play it properly you need to...

Finish TR1 but save before the final FMV.
Skip the first two levels of UB then play it till the end.
View the TR1 FMV that you made a save of right before it commenced.
Play the first 2 UB levels that you skipped before.
Time for TR2.

[rr_carroll]

From the TRGold_Manual.pdf:

THE SHADOW OF THE CAT
Lara returns to the city of Khamoon to discover the secret of the
strangely beautiful cat statue, and sets off on a new adventure following
the trail of the cat to it’s deadly and mysterious conclusion.
“The cat statue discovered in the original game triggered off a series of
ideas – what if Lara returned to Khamoon to investigate?...what if the
ruins had become flooded?...what if the cat statue actually pointed the
way to an undiscovered tomb – dedicated to the legendary Egyptian
cat-goddesses? – we developed a story with a very strong cat motif, in
murals, in hieroglyphics, benevolent cats that guide, malevolent cats
out for your blood! Puzzles where developed based on the Egyptian
interpretation of the ‘nine lives of the cat’ – so you KNOW that you’re
not going to have much luck with Seth’s room!”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Two expert levels of Lara’s dramatic return to Atlantis – Lara has discovered
the existence of a ruined segment of the alien city, allegedly
containing a hive of surviving creatures guarding an alien hatchery. She
must destroy the aliens before they infest us again!
“The idea behind ‘Unfinished Business’ was to create an alternative
ending to the game, where Lara would come face to face with an almost
overwhelming horde of alien creatures defending the ‘hub’ of their territory...
It is pitched as an ‘expert’ challenge, and is intended to be
played as a continuation of the original game. A tangible form of alien
architecture was created with logical locations and connections, so that
the alert player could make informed decisions about where the goals
of the levels lay. Transparencies were used everywhere to help generate
this ‘sense of place’, and of course to foreshadow future (and often
deadly) confrontations!”

[Explorer]

Firstly, isn't it funny when these type of threads go off on a tangent :rolleyes: ;)

Thanks rr_carroll for the official line, makes things clearer ;)

From the TRGold_Manual.pdf:

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Two expert levels of Lara’s dramatic return to Atlantis – Lara has discovered
the existence of a ruined segment of the alien city, allegedly
containing a hive of surviving creatures guarding an alien hatchery. She
must destroy the aliens before they infest us again!
“The idea behind ‘Unfinished Business’ was to create an alternative
ending to the game, where Lara would come face to face with an almost
overwhelming horde of alien creatures defending the ‘hub’ of their territory...
It is pitched as an ‘expert’ challenge, and is intended to be
played as a continuation of the original game. A tangible form of alien
architecture was created with logical locations and connections, so that
the alert player could make informed decisions about where the goals
of the levels lay. Transparencies were used everywhere to help generate
this ‘sense of place’, and of course to foreshadow future (and often
deadly) confrontations!”

People are very confused about why lara Returns to atlantis. Well she doent Return she Continues. Here is the proper timeline of events...

TR1, lara goes to atlantis and escapes down steep shaft.
UB, lara arrives at the end of the shaft (atlantis) and carries on from there.
TR1, final FMV of lara escaping the pyrimid.
UB, Years later lara returns to egypt to find a jade cat.

So, looking at the official line, it would seem Lara makes a return both to Atlantis and Egypt, although the "return" to Atlantis is not in the same context as that of Egypt, since its a continuation of TR1, which !Lara Croft! is correct to say.

Below is Phil Campbell talking further about TR1 Gold

NGO: Tell us how the idea for Tomb Raider Gold came about?

Campbell: It started off as a 'labor of love'! - We expressed an interest in producing more levels for Tomb Raider, coming up with secret levels, alternate endings to the game, etc....and from a short list of about 6 new proposals Core decided on two - I think that we're all glad now that we DIDN'T do "The Lair of the Monkey-King"!!!!

NGO: You were the first person other than a Core developer to create Tomb Raider levels, what specific techniques did the original developers want you to follow?

Campbell: I obviously had to stick very closely to the original 'spirit ' of the game, and with "Unfinished Business" the idea was to provide a new ending to the original game, retaining the same look and feel for Atlantis, and ultimately produce what would essentially be 'expert' levels, i.e. meant to be played immediately after the completion of Tomb Raider One - by which stage it is likely that the players will ALREADY be playing at an 'expert' level! I completed the first new adventure at Core's offices, under the watchful and helpful eye of the original creators - the technology used to create the game is so stable and seamless that I was able to pick it up very quickly.

NGO: There are two new levels in the Tomb Raider Gold pack, how did you make each unique, and each worthwhile for players who have played through both Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider 2?

Campbell: There are actually two new ADVENTURES - a total of 4 new levels, each about as long as the longest of the original levels. First, both new adventures had to tie into TR1, and 'Shadow Of The Cat' developed as a kind of return to Khamoon - was I the only person intrigued by the Cat Statue found there? I used as a jumping-off point the idea that the original ruins had since flooded ( what with all the earthquakes and such in the game!), and the player would initially be introduced to a small segment of the 'Sphinx' and 'Cat' room, both changed in subtle ( and not-so-subtle-flooded!) ways, before leaping off into a new design and a new exploration based on the mythology of Egyptian cats. I started off using the original texture maps to create the same 'ambiance', and then slowly introduced new textures created by our Lead Artist, Rebecca Shearin, here in San Francisco...We tried lots of new things, night skies, running textures, strange desert landscapes - PLAY THE GAME!!!!!

source (http://web.archive.org/web/20001202100000/www.cubeit.com/ctimes/en/news/news0154a.html)

[krycekuva]

cool,.... so then the two extra levels of atlantis are supposed to be fitted right after lara enters the dark ramp at the end of TR1 and before the fmv???

[NemesisxAngelus]

cool,.... so then the two extra levels of atlantis are supposed to be fitted right after lara enters the dark ramp at the end of TR1 and before the fmv???

Yep. When you enter the third level, which takes place in Atlantis, you begin sliding down the slope. I always assumed she killed there the rest of the surviving Atlanteans and after that the FMV starts playing.

[Drone]

was there any fmv in u/b?

[Verdilet]

was there any fmv in u/b?

From what I've heard, none of the gold add-ons contained any cutscenes or fmvs.

[Explorer]

From what I've heard, none of the gold add-ons contained any cutscenes or fmvs.

That's affirmative. It certainly does not decrease the quality of the levels though. But it would have been pretty good if there had been. :)