09-11-13, 09:56 | #1 |
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,851
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FINALLY beat it, and WOW!
I don't remember exactly because I was so young, but my best guess says I've owned this game since...2005? Probably earlier but I can't say for sure. So in 2005 I would have been 11 years old and in 5th grade. I'm happy to report that eight years later as a 19 year old adult, I've beaten it!
As a kid I never got farther than The Opera House, and I remember that level being too frustrating and too scary. I then remember using the level skip cheat to get to the Offshore Rig level. The alarms and baddies coming after unarmed Lara was way too overwhelming for me, and I gave up after that. It was too hard and I didn't have the attention span for it - go figure. Hahaha. Anyway, I've never been a hardcore gamer, just a casual player, so I guess that's why I didn't go back to finish TRII earlier. I started a new game this summer and played it on and off up until now, and I'm kicking myself for waiting around all this time! I'll just start with this: The Wreck of the Maria Doria. Holy crap. This is easily the coolest location in any Tomb Raider game; I don't care what anyone else says, they're wrong! It's not an outright tomb, but it's certainly a tomb in its own respect. The Living Quarters was thrilling to explore in a very haunting way. Maybe I'm being a little over dramatic, but these levels tell a story of their own, y'know? And without the aid of a single cutscene. I was in such awe playing these levels; it's really kind of silly considering it's just a game, and one that's more than 10 years old by now. Even as much as I enjoyed the new TR, none of the island had the same sense of thrill and wonder as the Maria Doria. God I am being dramatic. I almost think that the grainy textures and blocky map leave more to the imagination - your mind fills in the missing details for you. Kind of makes the game tailored for you. Today's high-def games are so sharp and detailed - not a bad thing, but there's no wiggle room for that kind of "imagination." Moving past those majestic underwater levels (), I next have to rave about the overall level design. Throughout the entire game I was constantly impressed with the non-linearity of the levels. I'll cite the Barkhang Monastery as a really good example. You have this huge monastery filled with all these hallways and all these rooms and it all seems so massive. And from the outside you can sometimes see a balcony up above. My first assumption, a decoration for added realism. Not somewhere you could actually get. Then later Lara finds a key labeled "rooftops." No way! Yes way man, there are rooftops and they want to be explored. You can throw Lara off that balcony on the rooftops all the way to the bottom of that courtyard from before (should you so desire)! The different floors of the monastery are connected. You go to this floor and pop out here, then head back over there, and then you open a new door and wind up back where you were before, etc. etc. It sounds like a bunch of nonsense, but if you'd played it you know what I mean! The way everything is connected is so cool. Everything clicks. I've been playing around with the level editor since I was in junior high school, and when I think of how much thought and development had to go into creating these interconnected tunnels and rooms and passages, I'm just astounded. Maybe if I give it another eight years my attention span will be great enough for me to sit down and think out a great colossal temple like this with all the same interconnectedness. Not all of the levels have this same grander design, and I'm perhaps exaggerating, but nevertheless it stood out to me. I found the level design very advanced, to put it simply. They don't make games quite like this anymore. At least not the ones I've been playing. If there are, please point me in the right direction!! Filling the winding connected corridors is all the good TR stuff you'd expect: traps, switches, keys, doors, platforms, pushable blocks, and lots of baddies. Some people weren't big on it, but I for one didn't mind the heavy action. It was fun seeing how much ammo I could collect and how little I could use to take out a particularly nasty pack of bad guys. In fact I was disappointed at how quickly I took down the dragon at the end and how much ammo I had left over. I'd hoarded 61 grenades and only used about half in my battle with dragon-Bartoli. Next time I'll be a big more generous with my resources. I didn't know what to expect, after all! I can only say I wish I'd played this game much, much sooner, as I really had no idea what an awesome adventure I was missing. TRI was good and it set the fundamentals for TR as a game, but Core really outdid themselves with this sequel. More action, more baddies, lots of exploration and really stand-out locations! This really is Tomb Raider at its finest. Well thank you for reading my "first impressions" thread, if you could still call it that after all this time. Here are my final statistics. I'm super proud to have found all the secrets on my first complete playthrough! I only outright cheated to find a couple of them. Maybe a dozen. The majority I actually found on my own! Last edited by Kapu; 07-12-19 at 17:02. Reason: replaced missing image |
09-11-13, 11:26 | #2 |
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 65,567
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Well done on beating TR2 with all the secrets. Now you gotta beat TR2 golden mask with all secrets.
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09-11-13, 13:18 | #3 |
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 869
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Really enjoyed reading that! Congrats, glad to hear that the old levels can still meave their magic on newer generations so effectively
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09-11-13, 14:01 | #4 |
Beyond The Floating Islands
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 45,256
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Excellent read, you make some good points. Glad to see you enjoyed it, better late than never huh?
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09-11-13, 18:57 | #5 | |
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 8,695
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Great read Kapu, and glad to see you enjoyed the game. It really is spectacular.
By the way, I love this statement: Quote:
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09-11-13, 20:15 | #6 |
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 36
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Gj bro.
Good job on completing TR2. I am trying to get all of the TR games for PS1 in the next couple of months. Can't wait to play them, used to a lot when I was younger, but never got anywhere.. I thought they were scary actually, the way the enemies acted and everything.. Now's the time to re-visit Lara after all these years as my older-self. Can't wait.
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09-11-13, 20:40 | #7 |
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,851
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I'm glad you guys enjoyed the read. And yes, definitely better late than never, Spong. Onto TR2 Gold now, as peeves said!
We're on the same page, sheepman! Fewer tombs, but you're still exploring these long untouched places. In this way TR1 and 2 compliment each other really well. TR1 has all the tombs and TR2 has more urban settings, but you still explore these lost isolated places. Your story sonuds exactly like mine, CsDaKillah. I own all the classics with the exception of TR3. Never got far playing them as a kid. Watched my older sister play, but they were either too scary or too hard for me. If you're like me you won't be disappointed coming back. I own the PS copies as well, but for this playthrough I used ePSXe and a PS3 controller to emulate the game on my computer so I could bump up the resolution and the graphics a bit. And you can take screenshots this way too, if you'd like. I'd totally recommend it! |
09-11-13, 21:50 | #8 |
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Joined: Aug 2013
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Congratz, I'm glad you liked it. I loved Maria Doria levels, while most of Let's Players I watch hated it. Good thing I'm not alone.
So yeah, TR2 gold time. And after that... The best is still to come (my 2 favourites: TR3 and 4, and my 2nd favourite: TR3 gold). |
09-11-13, 21:52 | #9 | |
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Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,294
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Quote:
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09-11-13, 22:25 | #10 | |
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 3,851
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Quote:
Don't have TR3. Played a little bit of it, but just the India levels. I'll get around to buying it one day, but at the moment I'm a bit TR'ed out. lol. TR4 was my first TR game, and it had always been my favorite. Mostly because it's what got my into TR in the first place. I'm incredibly ashamed to say I've never beaten it. Like TR2 I sat down and started to completely play through it - about a year ago, I think. I actually played this one when I was younger, but with the help of my older sister. She did most of the work but we traded on and off for a bit. We got to Cleopatra's Palaces and used the beetle too many times until it broke, and we were stuck with no older saves to fall back on. Now I know there are other ways to progress if you mess up, but we thought we were done for and quit! I'm currently in one of the Cairo levels but I'm stuck and they're so dark, and I've never gotten around to going back. So it lingers, nearly done but unfinished. TR4 mesmerized me with it's level design too. Especially the way Lara travels back and forth between different levels. They're less of levels in the usual sense, but more like different hubs. I never owned TR1 until two or three years ago, I think. My mom bought me a factory sealed copy and everything. I suppose if I'd saved it like that the value might've gone up, but screw that I wanted to play it! hahahah. That one I beat in a timely fashion. I finished it over the course of a couple months, rather than several years. Chronicles I've beaten. Always in chunks using the level skip cheat from the menu. The Rome section I beat as a kid, the Base and VCI more recently and Ireland last. Oh god, more embarrassment. Haven't finished AOD. It's less shameful when you look at my video game collection on the whole and see that I really don't finish any games; it's not TR exclusive. I don't really have a strong desire to finish AOD. It's not that I didn't like it, but it's a little too dark for my taste. And from Legend onwards, all beaten. |
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