Beta and so much more - diary (sort of)

[lord gaga]

YAH! I was waiting for this thread to return!

[KIKO]

THE RIVER SEINE

"Obviously Werner never had the chance to collect it"

As we enter Renne’s Pawnshop to deliver the passports, a rather rude stranger walks in the corridor
“Step aside” he says.
The whole thing is destroyed! That guy must be responsible for this! Lara leaves the passports on the table and we get the chance to check the place out but quick, we don’t want the police to misunderstand the situation as the odds won’t play in our favor.

Daniel is dead and there’s blood on the floor, forming an odd symbol. I wonder what it means… Take his wallet. Now, now, I know what you’re thinking and I’m really sorry for the guy but we’re in business here, not in a funeral, Lara is as cold as she can be. There’s a code in the wallet, use it next to the heavy door.
“Werner obviously never had the chance to collect it”
Here’s our hardware. Pick it all up.“Damn it!”
For some reason the door has closed and the lasers activated a bomb that was lying somewhere inside the store. Press the button to open the door and hurry up. You can’t go back through the main door because of the lasers that stand in your way

Find a trap door on the floor
“Looks like a way out” she points.
Quickly open it and get in, run for your life, or hers, as the fire starts to burn the building. Run as fast as you can or the flames will get you.
Kurtis is smoking a cigarette next to the river as Lara emerges out of the tunnel into a final jump. She lands safely on the boat. Mr. Trent throws his cigarette in the water (Bad Kurtis :slaps: ). I don’t know what the hell is he planning…

Eckhardt: Esteemed Cabal members the hour of your reward grows ever closer. As you know we already possess three of the Obscura Paintings. Our contact Professor Von Croy located the fourth one for us here in Paris. When we have this we will reassemble in Prague. It is time to awaken THE SLEEPER. Hopefully we will be more successful this time. We are also closer to the fifth and last Obscura Painting in Prague. We will gather at the Strahov. Gunderson
Gunderson: Master Eckhardt...
Eckhardt: Dispatch your team for the fourth painting.
Gunderson: Immediately!

SCRAPYARD – PARIS MAP D (Picture taken from BITS interview with Adrian Smith, Core Design)

This is the proof I need to justify the second part of this entry. It seems the numbers give away some level sequence but assuming it’s a very early concept, I’m going to start from the boat into the scrapyard/junkyard, otherwise I’d have no explanation as to why she comes across such place.

THE SCRAPYARD

After the cutscene of the Cabal meeting, we see Lara arriving by boat at a strange place.
“I think this is the place, better check the map”

If you are to trust Lara’s feeling that you don’t need to select the map in the inventory, otherwise see it for yourself. You’ll notice that during the trip she changed into a different outfit, the camouflage outfit.

There’s a fence around the place, if you approach it Lara will take a peak at what’s inside. It’s a Scrapyard, in other words, a car cemetery. You can’t go in because it’s locked so we better find another way around. Remember, our goal is to find the entrance to the sewers of the Louvre and according to the map it’s somewhere amidst those cars.

Take your time to explore the surroundings and eventually you’ll discover a way in. Beware of the dogs! Take them pea shooters out and kill them. There’s a small shack standing in the middle but before you enter, try to find the entrance. Once you find it, go to that house.

The place is rather old and there’s stuff lying everywhere. You’ll eventually find the crane controls. This will trigger a cutscene where Lara uses the controls to remove the cars out of the sewer entrance. Once the work is finished, you’ll be noticing a man pointing a revolver at Lara. Not very friendly I’d say, let’s just get out.

Now we just need to get to that entrance, which is not far but the piles of cars and cranes stand in the way. If you haven’t practiced climbing until lately you better find a way around the mess, but if you have improved Lara’s climbing skills, you should be able to work your way around the crane and climb it. Take this as a reward for mastering Lara’s climbing skills. If you haven’t improved these skills but did improve running skills, don’t worry, you’ll find your reward later on.

Once you see the entrance, slide down to end the level.

MISSING*BETA*REMOVED*CUT
- Scrapyard Level

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That's it for now. I've been busy with college, that's why I haven't written that much. Concerning the Scrapyard, please, if you can come up with a better theory than mine, feel free to express yourself
EDIT: Thanks !Lara Croft! for your ideas and everybody else of course!

[lord gaga]

How sexy! I wish this game could be finished

[tr fan 4 ever]

Good work KIKO!
Looking forward to next chapters

[vinnyvis]

Scrapyard!! Awesum!! I would have love to see that. So you mean lara goes by boat to the scrapyard.. and then.. the louvre drains.. But how did she got the boat.. ??? Do you know

[KIKO]

Originally Posted by vinnyvis

Scrapyard!! Awesum!! I would have love to see that. So you mean lara goes by boat to the scrapyard.. and then.. the louvre drains.. But how did she got the boat.. ??? Do you know

That boat is the one on River Seine. The one she lands on after catching fire xD The one I took pictures off

[Ceamonks890]

KIKO, judging from those screenshots you took of the River Seine area, I don't think those buildings are the ones from Parisian Backstreets. I think the route back to the Parisian Backstreets levels would have been originally the road to the right of Renne's antique shop(in the final game, it's just scenary, blocked by construction fences). I still think you could find a couple of shops in the River Seine level, but all the doors to the shops would be locked, as most people would be too scared to do business, because of the Monstrum.

I also think there would still have been money lying around in alleyways, as well as a few empty/abandoned apartments that Lara could raid for gun ammo, money and valuable items. The thing I wonder is how we would be able to sell and buy weapons or useful items like flares, since Renne is dead by this point.

I can't think of any reason for why Lara would want to go to a junkyard for, other than for exploration purposes.

[lord gaga]

So we had a vehicle planned! Also kiko how did you get these screens?

[!Lara Croft!]

My theory is that the River wasnt actually a playable level. Rather cutscene terrain. The cutscene would have pretty much what we had in game, only after the cabal meeting it would have lara diving the boat, slow to a stop outside the scrapyard and say something. "I think this is the place, better check the map." (Yes i know that line is in the storm drains...) Because she was searching for a way into the Louvre's storm drains, the entrance being in the scrapyard...

[Ceamonks890]

That's a pretty good theory, !Lara Croft!, using the junkyard as a route to the Lourve Storm Drains. Two things I don't get is why she would run away from dogs, if she has weapons, and blow up the junkyard with explosives, if all she is planning to do is find a route to the storm drains.

Judging from the level design concept for the junkyard, it would have been like a maze to walk around in. Maybe Core deleted this(besides obviously rushing the game out), because most players might get lost and frustrated.