TR2 No Scratch Question

[fallenangle]

I thought I'd try a TR2 'No Scratch' run. I know there are later points, on the Maria Doria, levels where you can not avoid fall damage, but this is not about that.

I've just done Venice successfully keeping my perfect no scratch stats up to this point and I'm now onto Bartoli's Hideout.

Problem is I can't find a way of entering the opened double doorway into the main part of the building without taking a small amount of fall damage. If you slide and hang-drop off the roof on the right to the block below LC loses a small amount of health, side jumping or back-flipping from the awning to the raised entrance likewise.

Is there any legitimate way ie. not using bugs or the flight patch you can avoid damage there?

[laravision]

As you've stated that you are not using bugs (bug method) I went ahead and investigated further, as I was sure that I had seen a non bugged method in recent years, and here it is!

[fallenangle]

Thanks, I went looking and never found that video - VERY helpful.

I wondered about jumping from that platform rather than the awning and tried things like swan diving hoping it was low enough for her to go into a forward roll (something you need to use later high up in the chandelier puzzle room), rolling (too late apparently) back-flipping and side-jumping but she crumpled and died or took damage.

Looks like I was just using the wrong technique, not thinking to use roll immediately before the 'jump'.

Only downer is now I've got to go back and redo it from the level start as I thought it was impossible. Whilst progressing further into the level I accidentally over-wrote the save I'd made at that point.

EDIT

Did it and actually very easy to do. Rest of the level done with all secrets, no scratch although the gunman in the 'garden' who shoots before the door is even opened was a pain to deal with. Took 6+ attempts using the grenade launcher and finished him before he'd done any damage to LC.

All kills too but, I'll have to check this again, I'd swear the end stats said 38 kills whereas all the guides I checked afterwards said there are only 37.

I'd forgotten but re-discovered the shortcut where you can end the level with all secrets (minus several kills), not needing the detonator key at all. If you're not bothered about all kills it makes the no scratch run easier.

[The Great Chi]

Those masked gun men in the Venice levels, are vicious and keep pumping out bullets. Anyway glad your sorted

As you mentioned, the worst loss of energy is in the Maria Doria's yellow rubber boat drop in the cave, as its a great height to drop, and even with Lara having full energy, you do not have much left after that drop into the yellow boat

[fallenangle]

I did a no medipack run on TR2 a few years ago and I remember I spent the last part of that level with barely a sliver of health after the dingy drop and a few mistakes.

It certainly adds a whole new level of puzzle content to the game, finding ways of doing jumps, avoiding traps and dealing with enemies without damage forces new strategy you've never thought about using even on a no medipack run.

[fallenangle]

I forgotten about the second drop to the 'wooden' lifeboat in the Wreck Of The Maria Doria. If you haven't minimised the fall damage at the collapsing floor near the start you can get into big problems later on if you were doing just a no medipack run.

With a no scratch run it doesn't really matter how much damage you take there as the idea is not to take any more. But in a level with unavoidable damage like that I'm playing my no scratch run to mean: with minimum damage at those points.

With this in mind I completed that level with over 60% health left which is with just the minimum damage I could manage from those two drops. As I'm also going for all secrets and kills areas, like the 2 sharks/3 barracuda pool, were really tough.

In fact if any one is interested I can quantify it very accurately as I took screenshots to compare health bars. At the resolution I'm using 1280x1024 the whole health bar display icon is 105 pixels from left to right. The HP after the two drops, measured from the left side of the icon, was 67 (65%) and so the damage taken was 38 (35%) and that's what it was at the end of the level.

Can it be done better?

What I didn't realise until now is that there are other levels where full no scratch is impossible too. Apart from well know raft drop in The Deck in the previous level the Living Quarters, if you're going for all secrets, which I am, the gold statue location here does damage getting both too and from its location. I've not found a solution and all the sources I've found indicate there isn't one.

BTW one reason I'm not doing all pickups, although I think I've got them all so far, is that some are missing because of graphical glitches. One bad guy is supposed to drop two sets of harpoons but if you kill him in the wrong place his body embeds in the scenery and no matter where you stand you can't even see them let alone pick them up.

EDIT 26.11.17

Also found three other places where you are forced to take damage:-

Level 13 Catacombs Of The Talion:-

Hang dropping into what was the water filled pool after it is emptied, the second hang drop to the floor does a sliver of damage.

I've tried everything I can thing of to land on the slightly higher floor area under one side of the pool but a bending fall or jump actually does more damage than a hang drop.

Level 14 The Ice Palace:-

1). Hang dropping into the dark room with spikes and yetis below does a sliver of damage.

2). However you do it you'll get damage sliding or hang dropping into the final area with the large gong before the Guardian of the Talion boss fight. Least damage (about 15%) is by sliding down the side, far left or right, and bending the fall so LC lands sliding down the outside of the angled block.

Again if anyone knows a cheat free technique for avoiding damage in any of these places please share.

EDIT 30.11.17

Finally finished the TR2 'no scratch'/all secrets/(all kills?) run. Found another unavoidable damage locations to add to the others previously mentioned and that's at the

Level 15 Temple Of Xian:-

Where you use the first spring board to get up to the front of the temple there's no way down without getting at least a sliver of damage hang dropping anywhere I tried.

There are ways you can avoid it by using the legitimate shortcut from the Gold statue alcove but you can't backtrack from there to get the other two secrets.

You can also cheat and use a corner glitch at the ladder to avoid the need to go up to the temple roof but I wanted to do the whole game cheat free, so I didn't use it.

There is also a pickup I couldn't collect, a small health pack, in the room with the spiked walls. You see it later from below in another location too. It feels as though the timing
should make it possible to do but although I 'perfected' all jumps/lever pull/exit and collected it successfully I couldn't do it without some spike or other damage.

Hardest 'no scratch' level?

I thought Home Sweet Home, The Dragon's Lair and Floating Islands were going to be tough and they were in places. But it was a couple of the Maria Doria levels that were the most difficult due to cheating gunmen lying in wait after a swim section and the place where you face 2 sharks and 3 barracuda. The latter I spent most time on getting all the kills without damage and learned to hate the almost useless harpoon with a passion.

[fallenangle]

I've just come back to this trying areas where I took damage doing them again to see if I could improve on what I did before.

The place I've been back to recently where I could not find a way to do it 'no scratch' is very near the start of the The Opera House. You have to jump over the canal, through the ceiling 'door' opened by the switch and down into the room with the thug with a baton to get the key.

Even if you land on the slightly raised platform there you take about 5% damage. I've tried about every jump, position and technique I can think of.

Can it be done 'no scratch'?

[laravision]

Originally Posted by fallenangle

The place I've been back to recently where I could not find a way to do it 'no scratch' is very near the start of the The Opera House. You have to jump over the canal, through the ceiling 'door' opened by the switch and down into the room with the thug with a baton to get the key.

Can it be done 'no scratch'?

There is indeed a way.

I've prepared a video for you. Note that it doesn't have to be extremely precise; just experiment with different positions and visuals. The movement I used was as follows:

At far left - pull up
X2 side-step left (barely noticeable)
Side-step right
Turn and look for visual
Walk forward
Turn and look for visual
Jump forward (hold forward)



Good luck!

[fallenangle]

Thanks - as usual very helpful.

It is that little 'jink' she does landing on the tiles right on the edge. So she's effectively landed safely, on the sloped roof, but the precise positioning means she slips down into the room rather than slides back off the roof.

Excellent, I'll try that. I was jumping and diving from a position very close to the one shown so it must just be very precise positioning that is required. Thanks again.

[Woops]

Holding roll makes this trick easier^^