Tomb Raider

Play them in release order. None should be avoided, none are really terrible. II and III are the best ones. IV is the longest, V is the shortest.

>>3150724
>V
Having not played a Tomb Raider title before, I didn't even know they went up that high.

>>3150698
In release so you can appreciate how the series evolved. None of the Core Design games are bad at all, Chronicles is a bit weak but overall is still fun.

Avoid the Crystal Dynamics games like the plague though lol.

>>3151470
Isn't everything past VI a crystal dynamics game?

>>3151475
Yeah Angel Of Darkness was the last Core game. CD rebooted the series with Legend and are up to Rise of The Tomb Raider today.

But like I said, you can avoid all of those because not retro and the Crystal games are all pretty shit. Anniversary is meh just to see TR1 re-imagined and how pretty St. Francis Folly is, otherwise most of the levels are too drawn out and the game is linear and boring.

>>3151479
I'm not saying the Crystal games are great but I don't get why people so vastly prefer the Core games. TR1 was amazing but 2 mucked it up by switching the focus to shooting instead of platforming, and while they fixed that with 3 the level design also went out the window and most of the time you're savescumming so a boulder doesn't roll over you right after you move in its way. TLR fucks it up by trying to tell a complex story with shitty cutscenes and writing, though it has good atmosphere. Chronicles is a joke, and it's so obvious that Eidos made Core shit out sequels without caring about quality. I'll take Legend and TR2013 over most of the Core games any day.

>>3152931
2 has even more platforming than 1, it's just that 1's levels are a lot more empty so there's usually nothing BUT platforming + exploration. Enemies are scarce.

I don't think this means 2 "changed the focus" though just because it has a lot more enemies. The levels are more complex and complicated across the board, and I think it has the best ones in the entire series. Stuff like Barkhang Monastery and Temple of Xian are absolute aces.

>>3152949
You're probably right, though I'm not big on all the humanoid hitscan enemies as opposed to the melee creature from the first one. I also find that the man-made locations that started appearing in the Core games look hideous because the engine was still designed for caves and the level design never changed. Why does every house in Venice have doors wider than they are tall, and require buttons to push them instead of just opening them, and why is every one filled with crates and levers?

I don't play TR for the graphics but the architecture soils the art direction. Again, I grew up playing these games and they're enjoyable but I don't get why people love games like III but won't play Underworld or something.

>>3152931
>I'm not saying the Crystal games are great but I don't get why people so vastly prefer the Core games.
For me it's the freedom of movement, non-linear level design and interesting levels/puzzles core made. TR Legend and Underworld felt very constricted and linear, not to mention short, like vast swaths of the game got cut or something. Plus idk if it's my PC version, but Underworld is buggy as fuck, near unplayable with how the camera does whatever the hell it likes. Plus, like Legend, it felt short and rushed. Like there was no 'umph'.

>>3150698
None. Just don't bother. Ugly, tank-control garbage that only sold because it had a pair of tits attached to it.

Anniversary is the only pre-2013 Tomb Raider worth touching and it's not retro.

>>3153030
You could not be more wrong even if you tried.

>>3153060
This gentleman is correct.

Glad to see Tomb Raider getting the respect it deserves around here. It has a lot of things about it to attract the casual hate, such as not being easy, having tank controls, game series not continuing etc.

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>>3150698
Just play them in release order. They're all pretty good, up until the fifth, Chronicles, where it becomes pretty obvious that Core just didn't care anymore, it's that sloppy.

Also remember that there are additional level packs released for the first 4. Unfinished Business for part 1, The Golden Mask for part 2, The Lost Artifact for part 3, and the Times exclusive bonus level for the Last Revelation.

>>3153082
Weird to see someone agree with me on here, usually I'm in the minority with opinions. Anyway, tank controls are such a non-issue. That's the only thing I'll ever use the 'git gud' meme at. I've always sucked at vidya, I can't even beat Mario without exploiting lives, but I mastered the TR controls when I was 10. If you take some time to get comfortable with them, the game is smooth, I honestly believe that the core games control much smoother and are less janky than the crystal games.

>>3152949
>1's levels are a lot more empty so there's usually nothing BUT platforming + exploration. Enemies are scarce.
That's the reason it is an amazing game though. Much more focused.

>>3150698
Tomb Raider 1 on PS1
Tomb Raider Legend on PS2
I really hate Tomb Raider 2. I just got stuck on an enemy and gave up. It was mostly cool until that point.

>>3152979
>Legend
Legend had some of the coolest environments, motorcycle levels, and unlockables though. I thought the story was really cool. The graphics had a better art direction that 2013.

>>3153228
I found it all bland and uninspired. The motorcycle scenes were the worst and the only real unlockables were outfits and some dinky cheats.

2013, as much as I hate it, was more inspired and had better art direction.

>>3153228
Replace Legend with Underworld and we'd have an agreement.

>>3153339
Underworld is even worse...

>>3150735
>Didn't know they went up that high
They're on number 9 or 10 now I think.

>>3150698
Just played the first five and I recommend all of them (maybe except V, but probably because it is the only one I didn't play when u was younger. It is short though).
Especially II is amazing, I'm shivering just by imagining the Venice music... Both the classic boat music and, even more, the somehow unknown soundtrack in the chandelier room in Bartoli's Hideout.

I'm not going to play angel of Darkness though. At first I wanted to, just to be able to say that I played every TR. But it was so horrible that I stopped. I even forced myself through a couple of levels but it just got worse and worse.

I'm replaying the crystal dynamics games soon. I personally loved them all up to underworld, but somehow felt weird playing the newer "Tomb Raider" because it lost 100% of the flair (even the legend trilogy saved some of it, in my modest opinion).

What format does VR recommend for playing the original Tomb Raiders? Steam and GOG have them all for sale but I read that they basically don't work at all on any operating system without doing a bunch of work and don't even support controllers. Should I just emulate them?

>>3153676
Hey, I'm this guy >>3153635
I scored TR 1-10 + that Guardian of light or whatever it is called on steam for about 10€ some months ago. I only tried the first six, and they all worked. The newer ones probably work too. I don't know about your sources, but steam version worked fine for me. Win10 here, so not necessarily the most restro-accepting system

https://firedrop.com/51309441a183f022
https://firedrop.com/f097bc69df7c11bb
https://firedrop.com/e25f71c96741c297
https://firedrop.com/1dbb384f32fadb7a
https://firedrop.com/c65eafd4f3ba855c
https://firedrop.com/23303d9e2d4dad72
https://firedrop.com/88d9e192f2c7057c
https://firedrop.com/d34037bbcc9e61ab
https://firedrop.com/a326a73faab1f647
https://firedrop.com/45b5e69dabf6688e
https://firedrop.com/8bfbd67890edad84
https://firedrop.com/d67f114a1d1fd77e
https://firedrop.com/6d9207ea3d2ed972
https://firedrop.com/9cb6f99ec16f9086

>>3154450
tbr 1-5

>>3154450
What is this?

>>3153698

Really? Did you play the game with a controller? Or do you need a 3rd party program to get that to work?

Either way if you what you say is true I might just end up getting the steam versions.

>>3155185
It is true. I don't play with a controller though, so I cannot certainly say anything about that. I don't own controllers either, otherwise I would've tested it now.

If I'm not wrong, the steam versions already came with the necessary software set up. Just hitting the shortcut started the game... It has been almost a year, but I think they used the regular dosbox to start at least the first one. Went without fps breakdown too

>>3150735
1-5 are the original series, Angel of Darkness was the PS2 game, then you get Anniversary which is a remake of 1, and there's also Legend and Underworld. Then you get the reboot.

The post-5 TR games aren't that good. I've heard good things about Legend but I've yet to play it.

>>3153676
PC version. The load times are horrendous and you will die a lot, and you will die all the time.

The Steam and GOG releases work on my W7 machine out of the box.

how the fuck did people play these without a guide? Theyre cryptic as fuck

Im playing TR1 at that level with the changing water currents, and Ive gone back and forth for an hour combing over the whole level and I cant for the life of me figure out what to do

>>3155321
They're not really cryptic.

Do understand this; the game's levels have two "states", and certain things switch the states. "But anon this level had at least three!" you say, nope, that's a result of clever level design. Knowing that makes things a bit simpler on your head.

What's the level actually called? I'm rusty on my TR.

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>>3155326

Tomb of Tihocan

Ive already lowered the water level here but it doesnt seem to have done anything other than reversed which way the current flows, which just takes me back to the start

>>3155342
I just replayed TR1 on PC a month or so ago, and I got confused by that part for a while. I can't remember exactly what I was missing... I think it was something that made me feel stupid in retrospect, like thinking there was only one way to swim out of an area, but there are actually two.

>>3155342
That down there is where the crocodile is and near some chopping doors, right? Shimmy along the ledge and pull the lever down to raise the water. This will let you swim to a ledge you couldn't reach previously. Go through that, kill the rat, and proceed from there.

>>3155360

I think I already did that, because I already knew about the switch

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>>3155374
It's easy to miss. It's a short corridor with a rat in it in that very room, and a pool of water at the end of it.

On the subject to Tomb Raider, what was with this mummy anyway? Was he bugged and not made untargetable or was it intentional? Either way he became a jump scare in the remake.

>>3155360
>>3155374

I was actually completely wrong. Looked it up on YT and I had completely missed that ledge

Thanks, anon

I saw some screenshots of the old Tomb Raiders in the "retro nightmare fuel" thread and immediately bought 1-3 off GoG. I've been playing it on and off, I only finished level 2 in the first game.

So CTRL is for shooting, and ALT+DIRECTION is for dodging, so in combat I often end up flipping my screen upside-down or sideways.

Here is a thing that happened:
>level 2
>see a trough, examine it a bit, then walk away
>for a moment, as the camera moves, real close to the camera I think I see part of a bear, behind Lara
>lol it was just part of the trough real close to the camera, where would a bear even come from?
>then a fucking bear leaps at Lara from behind

>>3154785
Tomb Raider 1-5 PC

>>3155545
Yeah, the bear in Lv2 gets everyone at least once. Also, all enemies in Tomb Raider 1 are already placed on the map, and have to become "activated" unlike in the later ones where they are spawned in.

In certain areas, you can jump over the square that triggers them and they just sit there unactivated. A similar bug can be used to skip the entirety of the fourth level.

>>3156558
Oh okay well thank you for sharing. I'm actually looking to get my hands on TR 1-5 for PSone, want to try it out on some different emulators. Is nointro on archive.org the way to go?

Were the original tomb raiders ever officially ported to psp? I can use psx2psp of course but then they wouldn't use the entire screen.

>>3156603
>Were the original tomb raiders ever officially ported to psp?
Just looked on wikipedia, says no.

>>3150698
Angel of Darkness is shit. EIDOS back-seat-drove CORE off of a cliff with their constant meddling, producing a game with shitty controls, and shit everything.

Plus the CD games are just plain boring and unimaginative.

So basically just play the PS1 games.

>>3153030
Except with Lara's back to you for most of it you rarely saw said tits, and the controls were spot-on and precise if you used the D-pad instead of the analog stick which was by design because the first two TR's were made around the D-pad controls as they pre-date the analog stick for the PS1, and the rest just recycle the game engine from the first two.


And for the record your post is the archetypical post of someone who played it for 5 minutes, got frustrated, and quit.

>>3156812
>And for the record your post is the archetypical post of someone who played it for 5 minutes, got frustrated, and quit.
Almost the archetypal /vr/ post. Just need to throw in a 'kid' and you'd have nailed it.

>>3156609
The PSX releases on the Playstation Network can be played on the PSP if I recall.

Since you don't really need the second shoulder buttons it works fairly well.

>>3156590
>Is nointro on archive.org the way to go?
Yep, I have all my psone games from there all working fine. If you get confused over the .bin and .cue stuff just google it, easy to figure out.