Jerad

I haven't been playing much during the last week, felt like doing stuff around the house. And as that's not always the case I figured I'd better take advantage of it!! :-) Anyway, I'm up to the Crash Site level in the Islands area. Thank goodness the Village bit is over, I was getting tired of all the clowns with poisoned blowpipes. No animals, no women or kids, just a bunch of crazed dudes with evil eyes. Not sure I'll like dinosaurs any better though! This morning I tried finding my way around the crash site and I found it hard to see stuff. Looks like this is another level I'll be better off playing when it's darker in my house.

No more texture problems! (I have the patched version . . . I think) And I've finished the Nevada levels. Got a little lost trying to get around Area 51 but eventually got it!! Decided to do the South Pacific stuff before London and quit after having trouble finding all the flares at the bottom of the crocodile lake. Sometimes it's just easier to wait 'til it's darker where I am so I can see the screen better. As long as I remember to quit and go to bed eventually! :-)

I've played TR1 and 2 and will move onto The Last Revelation after finishing 3. This morning I had a weird thing happen in the Nevada Secured Area level. The textures loaded incorrectly a few times. I kept dying 'cause . . . . I was stupid basically. And when the game reloaded sometimes the textures of the walls and stuff were wrong. It was very weird. I hope it doesn't do that again, makes it hard to see some stuff.

PS I've always hated the boss fights. The first TR game I played was Anniversary and, never quite getting the hang of adrenaline dodges, just about quit at the T-Rex and Centaur fights. There was one in Legend that I struggled with a lot but when I replayed it a few weeks ago I found it quite easy. I suppose my favourite game really is . . . hmm . . . I'll have a think. I haven't played Last Revelation or Chronicles or Angel at all yet. I like Legend a lot. Anniversary . . . never finished. There's that difficult sequence of jumps in the pyramid that I've never got. Underworld is very, very good. Except for some dodgy camera moments and one (unnecessary) motorcycle run which I never got I think ti's lush and gorgeous and not many big boss fights. I love the graphics and the textures and the sounds. I started it again a few weeks ago and got to the Kraken. Lovely stuff. And much more enjoyable the second time around. Hmm . . . is there a 'favourite TR' thread?

Well, after a weekend off watching the end of the Olympics and putting together old Bionicle sets my son no longer wants so we can sell 'em on ebay I started on the Arizona levels. I found the last two levels of India pretty easy, especially compared with the first couple. But all much better on a PC vs a PS because of being able to save and save and save!! :-) I love the Arizona 'look' having grown up in New Mexico and having seen a few rattlesnakes in my time. Don't remember any vultures though . . . Anyway, sounds like I've got a lot to look forward to (Stefy and Hunter). A gamer friend of mine said he thought TR3 was the best video game he'd ever played! He liked the locations and the traps and the plot. I have to say, as much as I like the Crystal games (and I agree with Stefy, Legend is a fine, fine game) I'm beginning to see his point. TR3 is great. A bit hard in places (especially near the beginning, WTF?) but I'm enjoying it very much now. :-)

Can't sprint while swimming!! (Or can you?) Anyway, got the 5th Ganesh Key after carefully reading Stella's advice. Am now at the beginning of the River Ganges level. I remember now, I never got to the first secret on this level so it all new to me. Got the first secret and got the quad-bike to the golden gate. It's after 11pm now so I think I'll quit for the night. Glad to be done with Ganesh Keys!! :-) Although generally I don't get on well with vehicles in TR. Really hated the motorcycle runs in Legend. But with slower things I just go slowly and save a lot.

4:10 AM? You're mad. That's 3:10 AM here in England. Actually, I might have been awake at that time too . . .

Got the 4th key, I wasn't sprinting to the first switch, DUH!! (Thanks Stefy) But I've just tried the 5th key about 10 times and I'm just not getting that one either. Sigh. I don't mind trying stuff 5 - 10 times but after a while . . . I just get frustrated and want to quit. Especially when I don't think I'm making progress. Sigh. I'll try again later. I know it's possible. But I wish it was a bit easier.

Hopefully the gerbil will be okay. Everything crossed!! Can I just say, for the record how much I HATE getting the 4th Ganesh Key? I remember working hard to get it before . . . I'm not sure I ever did to be honest. Why do game designers feel the need to make some bits really, really tough. Or is it just me? Sigh. I just can't get the swerve to the second switch down. I'll persevere but no more tonight. Can you crawl between the descending spikes? Hmmmm . . . Map . . . I'd love to map out whole levels . . . maybe someday . . . when I'm stuck in the hospital . . . or I've broken my leg. :-)

Played a bit this morning but quit when I got to that damned timed run with the spiked wall just before getting the First Ganesh Key. Last time I tried TR3 it took me a lot of tries to get that . . . expletive deleted thing. I'm gonna have to be in a good mood and have had at least one glass of wine first. :-)

I'm in . . . what comes after the jungle? Temple ruins? 'Killed' the statue and got through the dart room underneath. I forgot how much I hated jumping between the tree branches. But at least now a) I'm a more better player and 2) I can save anytime I want! Heh heh heh. A good way to end a day that included finding a stash of my son's dirty clothes and one of the gerbils being sick or ill or something. And my foot hurts. Oh well, it happens. Anyway, I'll try and get another hour of play in tomorrow. Depending on the gerbil. I'm not taking any screenshots, I hardly ever do while I'm on holiday either. Good thing I don't write walkthroughs! I am tempted to do a map though . . .

Just finished the first level of TR3. Doing much better the second time around and on a computer rather than the PS2. I love being able to save whenever AND having health top-up crystals. :-) I think I only used one small health pack and that was 'cause I handled something stupidly. So . . . Yeah!! And Andy Murray won Olympic Gold yesterday. Cool.

Just finished TR1 (PC version, played on a Windows XP partition on a Macbook Pro). Have already finished TR2 earlier so will be starting TR3. I tried TR3 a few months ago on a PS2 but the graphics on a modern TV made it hard to see items on the ground. So I'm going to have a go on my laptop. Stella suggested I join this forum. Be nice. Unless I'm boring. Then . . . whatever.