Tomb Raider I-III Remastered from Aspyr - for real this time

[Semiurge]

The more I remember tomb raider the more I despise Eidos:
-Butchered the original tomb raider games past 1
-Butchered AOD by forcing the studio to make two games instead of focusing on one
-Butchered Deus ex/Thief sequels because of console focus

If any other publisher was in charge, we could have decent to great Tomb/Deus ex games for another decade. Hell, even Ea would have done better.

How were TR2-4 butchered? Or Thief 2?

TR3 had plenty of content cut of course, all of the good sequels were more or less rushed out. TR5 and Angel of Darkness were shat out instead.

 

[Lacrymas]

I wouldn't say the TRs past 1 are butchered, but they have a noticeable shift in style. TR2 is infamous for how action-heavy it is, a lot of the challenge comes from human enemies with guns. TR3 scaled down on the human enemies, but ran with a very liberal interpretation of the word "tomb". Most of it takes place in outdoor areas, be it jungle or urban. It also added a lot of background lore which has weird implications for the universe (area 51's aliens, straight up raptors and T-rexes in the South Pacific, etc.). It's not bad, just not the same style and idea as TR1.

 

[Lemming42]

The shift toward action in TR2 always pleased me as a kid, not the combat gameplay itself (which is shit and intrusive) but I really liked the story and it felt like a nice counterpoint to TR1 and an expansion of the possibilities of the series, like Lara Croft can go exploring ancient tombs but she can also get into snowmobile chases and the character works in both situations. Plus, Maria Doria is as desolate and eerie as anything in TR1 (despite the thugs showing up every three steps to force you into a gunfight).

TR3 was where the "okay maybe they should stop now" feelings really set in. I remember the heavily sexualised marketing campaign was atrocious and, even as a young boy who was theoretically the target audience, it repelled and embarrassed me and put me off playing the game; retrospectively feels very much like Eidos exerting their influence. Then the game itself mostly sort of sucks, and has the unfathomably shit "pick your next location" system which is notoriously half-assed with the Nevada trap and also means that there's no real driving force to the story or sense of forward momentum for most of the game, it's just random shit happening in levels that feel like they were rejected from TR2 for being too shit.

London was a cool idea because there's no real reason why you couldn't make a good Tomb Raider level that's about rooftop parkour and urban exploration, but fucking hell the actual levels are the worst in the game. It was only years after the game that I ever even beat Thames Wharf because I got sick of it and level skipped every time I tried to get through it. Aldwych is the only level from the whole set that's redeemable, and it's still far below the standards of anything in TR1/2.

The worst part is that Antarctica is pretty good but there's no motivation to get to it, because you'd have to play through tons of bullshit first.

 

[Semiurge]

It also added a lot of background lore which has weird implications for the universe (area 51's aliens, straight up raptors and T-rexes in the South Pacific, etc.). It's not bad, just not the same style and idea as TR1.

I don't see how Area 51 aliens and dinosaurs are out of place. Aliens are an integral part of pop culture, and the dinosaurs were already in TR1. If you were alluding to the unique nature of the lost valley in TR1, and how adding more dinos elsewhere seems lazy, then I'd understand.

I remember the heavily sexualised marketing campaign was atrocious and, even as a young boy who was theoretically the target audience, it repelled and embarrassed me and put me off playing the game; retrospectively feels very much like Eidos exerting their influence.

I can't help but to think that back then even the target audience sensed how calculating and desperate the marketing was, in a "how do you do fellow kids" way. It was that, but hyper-sexualized marketing gimmicks and the way celebrities (real or virtual) marketed themselves in the 90s feels very nostalgic now. I like it.

 

[Lacrymas]

TR3 feels like a James Cameron sequel of TR1. Australian soldiers shooting at hordes of dinosaurs in the South Pacific, Area 51 housing an alien spacecraft with alien bodies, whatever nonsense is happening in London, etc. It also has massive implications for the the world. TR1 and to an extent 2 just seem like our world with some fantasy elements in the long-forgotten depths of the earth, while TR3 blows everything out of proportion and dinosaurs are a common occurrence in jungle areas, aliens are a fact, Indian ruins out in the open house things that rip out people's hearts, etc.

 

[Lemming42]

TR1's cool because it doesn't really have any straight-up fantasy elements - the Scion is just a machine created by (Atlantean) humans, and the mutants are a result of Natla's scientific prowess. The only thing I can think of in the whole game that's downright inexplicable is the Midas hand, which gets a pass because it's insanely cool, and it could be some kind of machine with a rational explanation, maybe. The dinosaurs are hilarious obviously but not outright fantastical.

I think the first full-on fantasy thing in the series is the Floating Islands in TR2. Great level but I have no fucking idea what's going on there.

 

[Semiurge]

I think the first full-on fantasy thing in the series is the Floating Islands in TR2. Great level but I have no fucking idea what's going on there.

It's not fantasy, it's rooted in chinese folklore/religion. It's a mystical spirit dimension.

 

[Roguey]

How were TR2-4 butchered?

I would guess it's stuff like this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_II#Development

Due to creative differences surrounding Lara's portrayal and the decision to make a sequel rather than an entirely new game, her credited creator Toby Gard left the company alongside designer Paul Douglas, prompting mixed feelings from the other team members.
...
The production schedule, estimated at between six and eight months, was extremely taxing for the team both physically and emotionally, with team members later describing the entire production as a prolonged crunch period.[5][7] Rummery described its production as "insane".[5]
...
While Gard had been unwilling to populate the game with human enemies, Tomb Raider II put a greater focus on combat with armed human opponents, alongside a greater variety of animal and supernatural enemies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_III#Development

As artist Stuart Atkinson explained, the Tomb Raider team wanted at least two years to develop the game in order to genuinely advance the series, but the producers said that, as with Tomb Raider II, development would be completed in under a year because there was a strong consumer demand for it.[10] For the original team, who had been living with the series' demanding development schedules for two consecutive years, "it was just too much", according to Atkinson. As a result, a new team was brought together from other Core Design projects to build a Tomb Raider game for 1998, giving the original team more time to develop their next-generation project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider:_The_Last_Revelation#Development

Production of The Last Revelation began in mid-1998, with development running parallel to Tomb Raider III.[12] By this point, series developer Core Design had produced games annually for publisher Eidos Interactive since completing the original game. This led to both franchise fatigue, and emerging physical and mental health issues among the staff. They were also running out of ideas for keeping the franchise relevant.[13][14] Since they were being given a large amount of creative freedom by Eidos, the staff secretly decided to kill off Lara and close the series. They formed the plan over a fortnight, and managed to keep it secret until it was too late to make any changes. When Core Design CEO Jeremy Heath-Smith discovered the team's plan, he reprimanded the team.[15] Despite ultimately failing, the team were generally happy to have killed off Lara.[14]

 

[std::namespace]

damn, angel of darkness sold!

 

[Baron Dupek]

Anniversary with low sales?
What a shocker... that people realized that it's absolute dogshit project and voted with their wallets.

 

[mastroego]

Well, I for one bought it, on sale...
In my defense, I have no knowledge whatsoever of the old games.
Still haven't played it either.

 

[Tehdagah]

Anniversary is good.

 

[Lacrymas]

It really isn't.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

It seems the game is doing really well in terms of sales

 

[Semiurge]

Anniversary is good.

Only if you like seeing Lara almost cry after having killed Larson, in self-defence.

 

[flyingjohn]

For anybody interested:

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Completed the Peru levels, so far I like these remasters

Graphically I specially like all the new touches to the enviroments - like the holes that let day light in, the falling snow, the sky boxes, etc
Pretty neat, it impoved the atmosphere imo
Also, I can't go back anymore to Lara's dangerously sharp triangle titties, her new plump rounded breasts are simply superior and juicier
In all seriousness, replicating Y2K 3D visuals (with some modern improvements) in a tasteful manner is challenging, but Aspyr seems to have done a good job

Honestly I can't think of anything worth complaining
Been having fun with the photo mode too

more "Tomb of Qualopec" screenshots

 

[Lemming42]

For anybody interested:

Never knew this. That explains why TR3 and especially TR4 feel so disconnected from the first two games.

Heather Gibson and Neal Boyd really do deserve credit for coming up with some of the greatest levels ever made for videogames. I think Gibson's the better of the two just for St Francis Folly and The Cistern, two absolutely perfect levels start to finish. She pulled off the kind of quality that level designers in subsequent 3D platformers could only dream of replicating.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Andy Sandham. No offence Andy, whoever you are, but I think you should be forced to give a public apology for TR3 London and TR5 Ireland. You should also be flogged.

 

[.Pixote.]

Playing this currently and really enjoying the new update. I played the original Playstation version back in 1996, and holy shit the game was frustrating, as well as pretty difficult in certain areas. I am save scumming every second encounter just because I don't have the patience to constantly repeat failed jumps and the like. Thank God they removed the save crystal in Tomb Raider 1, it was pure torture to have to repeat tricky jumps after fucking up time and time again. This was one of the first Playstation games I played and help establish my love affair with the Playstation 1, a console I still have fond memories of.

The first game feels like an act of love from the developers, while the future games slowly die as the publisher smothered the series, and ultimately killed it.

 

[Echo Mirage]

On the subject of the London map. I never thought the London level was that bad because I had always preformed the twist flip at the start which lets you skip a far chunk of the level. For years I had done it and never knew the rest of the level even existed.

 

[catfood]

Playing this currently and really enjoying the new update. I played the original Playstation version back in 1996, and holy shit the game was frustrating, as well as pretty difficult in certain areas. I am save scumming every second encounter just because I don't have the patience to constantly repeat failed jumps and the like. Thank God they removed the save crystal in Tomb Raider 1, it was pure torture to have to repeat tricky jumps after fucking up time and time again. This was one of the first Playstation games I played and help establish my love affair with the Playstation 1, a console I still have fond memories of.

The first game feels like an act of love from the developers, while the future games slowly die as the publisher smothered the series, and ultimately killed it.

The save crystals were a limitation of the PS1 version. On PC you could save at any point.

 

[Semiurge]

For anybody interested:

Never knew this. That explains why TR3 and especially TR4 feel so disconnected from the first two games.

Heather Gibson and Neal Boyd really do deserve credit for coming up with some of the greatest levels ever made for videogames. I think Gibson's the better of the two just for St Francis Folly and The Cistern, two absolutely perfect levels start to finish. She pulled off the kind of quality that level designers in subsequent 3D platformers could only dream of replicating.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Andy Sandham. No offence Andy, whoever you are, but I think you should be forced to give a public apology for TR3 London and TR5 Ireland. You should also be flogged.

The expansion levels were always superior to what's in the base games, they raised the already high bar even higher.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The first time I played Tomb Raider I went in hard - playing Tomb Raider 1 Gold and Tomb Raider 2 Gold back-to-back.

I also 100%'d both games. That means getting to (and beating) a secret level at the end of Golden Mask.

Then I loaded up Tomb Raider 3 Gold... and it was at this point I realized I was absolutely burned out on Tomb Raider after the previous games. I just couldn't go on. I quit after 5 minutes and haven't looked back since. (This would be in 2000-2001 or thereabouts.)

Until now, when I had a go at the remaster.

I did some intial ffaffing about with each game, before sitting down and trying to repeat my past playthrough. Now I'm at St. Francis's Folly and I feel like I've had enough already.

It does not matter what cool and awesome things the original game brings to the table.
It does not matter what cool and awesome things the remastered game brings to the table.
It does not matter how big her boobs are.
If you spend 80% of the time fighting both the clunky controls and the godawful camera, you're not in for a good time.

I am actually amazed, looking back at my past self's accomplishment and wondering how the hell I had the patience and perserverence for it.

So I'm stopping here. I beat it once decades ago, I don't need to prove anything like this to myself anymore.

Overall I'd say this is a good remaster of a game - just don't forget that the game(s) itself is quite a big turd, which people only swallowed because Lara's boobs were bigger.

 

[Lacrymas]

The controls aren't clunky, they are actually very precise and function incredibly well with how the game is constructed. You always have complete control of Lara and her movements are very predictable, you never have to guess whether she can make a jump or not, it becomes second nature very fast.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I replayed TR1 completely a couple of months ago. The camera can be a bit annoying when you're backed against corners and such, but otherwise it's completely functional. How are controls clunky? People never mention anything specific. They really betray too much about themselves with such comments.