Tomb raider 1 (Playstation 1) : Appreciation thread

Dr Evilest

Ah yes the original Tomb Raider, what a game. Just the name St Francis Folly gives me goose pimples! The scenery, the exploring, the puzzles, the baddies (especially those creepy ones towards the end of the game).....pure gaming bliss. Ok so the shooting bits were pants, but who cares!

I've don't think I've played a game since that created such an amazing atmosphere & such tension. One of the things that helped create this was the outstanding music.

I must have played & completed the game 3 or 4 times & it is still the only game my wife ever showed a real interest in & completed too.

bonzobanana

Half the charm for me was the beautiful music, it had a sadness to it that was sooo atmospheric. One of the best soundtracks ever.

Just been playing the original Quake on the dreamcast a little while ago and it hasn't aged well. Seems so basic now. Tomb Raider has aged much better because of the atmospherics I think.

fallenangle

The original Quake on the DC? Some form of emulation?

Played Quake ll on the PS for the first time only a couple of years ago. That was still a great game and apart a quirky control system played superbly.

Big old school TR fan ie. TR1-4 and mostly enjoyed TR: Anniversary on the PS2, the only TR Crystal Dynamics have done worthy of the series IMHO. The original TR was one of the first games I bought for my Playstation, my first home console, and it was the first I completed.

Agree about the music. The minimalist use of incidental sound effects and Nathan McCree's compositions are a hugely under appreciated elements in the creation of the unique atmosphere all the older TRs have. If I hear them now, the main menu music or even similar music (there's a Samsung phone ad on the TV (UK) at present which uses music that sounds as if it could be an old TR theme) I'm immediately transported back in time to that seminal point in my gaming history.

bonzobanana

Quake II is also on dreamcast too but I don't think it has sound. This is Quake 1 though.

YouTube - ‪QUAKE - Sega Dreamcast (unofficial port)‬‎

Nice fast version but the gameplay does seem pretty basic nowadays. Not much to do but shoot and find secrets.

You used to be able to download the dreamcast version off the web quite easily with the shareware pak file. I'm not sure if thats still true. It wasn't very large.

http://www.dcevolution.net/index.php?id=quake_dcevo___10th_anniversary_release

Haggler

Not wanting to sound like an arse here but can you please keep this thread to the discussion of tomb raider, one nibble leads to another and so on eventually we end up discussing a totally unrelated game, feel free to open yourselves a new thread for the discussion of dreamcast ports or wait for a month or so until i post a pc quake appreciation thread.

Hope you understand thanks guys

Snake79

I have the demo of Tomb Raider for the Saturn and really enjoyed it but couldn't get to grips with the controls. If I remember correctly it was hit and miss with regards to shooting and dodging. I did want to get the full game but I was in college and money was tight and as a result didn't buy many Saturn games during that time.

The years passed and I finally bought a TR game which happened to be Tomb Raider: Underworld for the 360. Admittedly I haven't played it much but it's the only TR game I have played since the original and how things have changed. The controls are still similar but it's much easier to play while retaining the feel of the original.

There have been many Tomb Raider games since then but few have had the impact the original had, creating a global gaming, female icon and a new style of gameplay.

vinvader

Tomb Raider was one of my first Playstation games, I bought it on release and it was one of my favourites.

As others have said I also thought that the music was fantastic. Sometimes I would just leave the options screen open to let the music play. The in game music was quite sparse but very atmospheric when it played.

A lot of people moan about the controls but I could run, jump and grab ledges with ease. I have fond memories of one of the last levels where I climbed right to the top of a really high cliff and did a running dive off landing in a really small pool.

I remember finding a cheat/glitch where by standing very close to a wall and panning the camera you could look slightly through walls and doors.

I completed and really enjoyed the first two games but lost interest half way through the third.

fallenangle

That high dive or, for most people, jump is very near the end of the game and a classic TR moment.

Have to disagree with ^ snake79 - Underworld and the first Crystal Dynamics 'TR' game: Legend are not much like the original in the controls and certainly not in atmosphere. The grid based movement system used in old TR was absolutely vital to the gameplay.

It was often used as THE puzzle element and that dive into the pool just mentioned is a perfect example. With the modern analogue controls such a precision jump would have to be accomodated by making the target area bigger or it would just become a matter of trial and error. In TR: A there are certain jumps which seem exactly like that.

In the original if you recognised and executed the jump/dive required perfectly you could land in that small water filled square first time and every time. But, similarly, making a wrong choice and Lara always went splat.

Making the controls easier and more forgiving exposed this fundamental difference in new TR as opposed to old TR most noticeably in the transition game: Angel of Darkness, Core's last TR game. They updated the controls to a more modern system but at certain points of the that game tried to apply it to old TR style physical puzzles. In AOD there were precision platforming tasks which would have been bread and butter elements using the old grid based system but actually made harder using the newer supposedly easier controls.

Crystal Dynamics recognised this and dealt with the problem simply by making
that type of thing more forgiving and even side stepping the issue altogether by using that game's designers lazy solution the QTE (quick time event) instead.

Consequently the baby has, almost, been thrown out with the bath water. The controls have been updated but this has required all the emphasis to shift away from that orginal core (and Core) TR gameplay to something else. That doesn't mean it's always easy but speed and timing now are key whereas before thoughtfulness and precision dominated.

raigraphixs

20yr old retro ad

                                                                       

SilentE

Got it with my first PS1 and as my first game on Christmas 98' morning. I still own a PS1 and the game and played it just a few months ago. It still holds up even with all those jaggies and Laura's cone boobs .