Stellalune

Last time I played I did the same thing. I kept thinking, oh, I'll remember and do it "right" but of course I forgot. Thank goodness for archived saves.

I got sidetracked with other stuff (typical Stella ) but I'll probably be picking up the game on and off. I'm monitoring the thread and I'll bet others are too. So go ahead and post. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

I can't tell you how glad I am to see the new incarnation of LCO. Well, actually I can and have told you, but I just wanted to post here to add my compliments and congratulations to the list. Welcome back, my bro.

LOL! I noticed it too. But, hey, Natla isn't human, is she? And who knows where Atlanteans keep their various organs? That might be her liver or something.

LOL! I never noticed that expression until this play-through. It's like a cross between angry, puzzled and frustrated. Like not again. Why me? Sigh...! Of course I don't wish it on anybody, but it's kind of nice to know I'm not the only one who gets a little sick during the underwater sequences. I guess part of it is the realism. You really feel like you're floating. I'm glad to be on dry land now. And don't worry about playing slowly, I'm in the same boat. (Bad nautical pun intended. ) I'm with you on that. You see a little splash where it hits the water, but I can't believe Lara can find something so tiny once it starts sinking.

Hi, all. It's great to see some of the old gang, along with a few new faces (er, avatars). Welcome, Barrett, Lockey, Alice. And hey, JB, long time no type. I'm playing on Master Survivalist this time just to see if I can still hang. So far so good, but I'll admit I was down to tranqs and pistols by the end of "God of Thunder". I think once I get the hang of the controls and the headshot maneuver again, things will go better. It's been ages since I've played this game, and I kept pressing the damned grenade button by mistake. Missed a couple of treasures and had to go back for them. I always forget the one hidden in the corner in the room with the skinny columns after you get (and lose) the gauntlet. But I eventually got 26/26 plus the relic, so yay! Anyway, I finished the Med tonight and moved into Thailand, but haven't gotten too far in that level yet. It's so pretty. I just want to stand around and admire the view. I'm not taking as many screenshots as I usually do. I'm playing on the laptop this time, so the quality isn't that good. You guys seem to be doing a great job in that department, though. Shrensh, you always manage to crack me up at least once a post--sometimes more. Keep it up. Couple oddball observations: Is it just me, or does Jarngreipr look like a baby turle? It's a small thing, but one of my favorite features of this game is the ability to shoot while climbing. What I wouldn't give to be able to do that in TR1, 2, 3, etc.

Ugh. Feeling a little seasick. When I first played this game, on a big new monitor, after not having played any 3D games at all for a couple of months, I literally had to take Dramamine to get through this first underwater sequence. I was honestly a little scared that my raiding days might be cut short by terminal nausea. But it passed. Thank goodness! Anyway, I'm gonna try and find all these little treasure thingeys without looking at my own walkthrough. LOL! What are they anyway? A friend who also came to video games through tabletop roleplaying said they reminded her of 8-sided dice. Papercraft TRU treasure from paperkraft.blogspot.com Dungeons & Dragons dice

I have a bunch of different versions--PC, Xbox 360 and Wii--but I think I'll play on the computer since it's easier to do screenshots and such. Caity, I agree w/ Eldin about turning down the graphics settings. This game is a huge resource hog. Even with 4 GB RAM, I still have to turn off some effects or it really chugs, especially when there's a lot of water in the level. There's a thingy here [http://systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx] that will analyze your PC and compare it to the specs for the game. That should give you heads-up if something's really below spec. But, again, as Eldin mentioned, if your system meets the requirements but the game just runs really slowly, tweaking the settings may help. Mute2Conversations, I thought the version of the Level Editor that runs on Vista also works on Windows 7. I haven't tried it myself, but that might be an option. I skipped from XP right to 7, without ever owning a Vista system. From what I hear, I'm pretty glad I did.

Hey, everybody! Welcome to another Tomb Raider group play. This time, we'll be enjoying the 21st-century graphic splendor of Tomb Raider: Underworld. In case you're new to this whole "group play" thing, there are no firm rules. It's basically just a way to have fun with a single-player game almost as though it were co-op. A few notes/guidelines: Play on whichever system you prefer. (For this game, there are differences between the PC/Xbox/PS3 version and the PS2 and Wii games. Let us know which you have and we'll compare notes.) It's not a race. Play as slowly or or as fast as you like. Then just share your ideas and impressions and read/comment on what other players' posts. Include screenshots or video if you like. Mention things that were fun, frustrating, glitchy, weird or otherwise remarkable for you. If you want to, set a challenge for yourself. Then share your proud achievements--all kills, no health packs, fastest completion time, slowest completion time (that's me!), trophies/achievements unlocked, something you managed to do this time through the game that you've never done before, etc. A few of our previous group plays have been hosted here on LCO. You can find those threads at the top of the Legacy forum. The game's been out forever, so I think it's OK to post spoilers. (e.g., Lara's mother is not holding court in some mythical paradise Select text to see spoiler.) If anyone is just playing the game for the first time, let us know and we'll reassess. You don't have to use my walkthrough (or any walkthrough, for that matter), but if you do and would like to contribute notes, suggestions or corrections, I welcome them. That's one of the many reasons I like to do this. Oh, and please remember to read and follow the Forum Guidelines. We're guests here, so let's all be on our best behavior. Right! Let's go adventuring...!

No need to email. I'll be sure to check back here before I do any work on the walkthrough. Speaking of which, I know it's in need of a serious overhaul. I'm embarrassed to even look at it sometimes. So if anyone has suggestions, corrections, etc., please don't hesitate to post. I may not include everything, but I'm always open to constructive criticism. Many thanks in advance!

Thanks for starting up the group, Jessica. I'm in, although I'll probaby be playing only sporadically and finish after everyone else. I love this game, though, and it'll be fun to share it with all of you guys.

Still working my way slowly through the shipwreck levels. Added 100+ screenshots to the Wreck of the Maria Doria walkthrough today and thought I'd share this one with anyone still reading. As you probably know, you can shoot the sharks and barracudas through the trapdoor in the ship's bridge. The bad news is they can bite Lara back. Ouch! Learned that one the hard way. EDIT: And now this. No textures whatsoever in the Living Quarters. No wonder those poor sailors want to hit anything that comes near them. They must be so bored living in these quarters.

Such a festive holiday theme here on the forum! Meanwhile, I'm still plodding along through TR2. Added a bunch of screenshots to the Offshore Rig walkthrough today. Man, do I hate being beaten by burly guys with sticks. Many of you have probably already tried this fence bug variation. It's been around for years, but I thought I'd share it here just in case. Outside the fence at the top of the tower near secret #2: Details and a short video here: http://tombraiders.net/stella/walks/TR2walk/details/offshore9.html

Whoo hoo! That's awesome! You deserve a lot more than this cheesy sparkling animated gif, but it was the best I could do on short notice. Way to go! I've done a lot of starting and less finishing, so I can totally relate. Isn't it a great feeling to work hard and finish something, whether it's a course, a game or whatever? That reminds me, I vowed I'd take a walk every other day this week. I've been slacking and need to get moving. So I'm off. Thanks for inspiring me not to quit.

Just checking in. Not much to report, though. I've been hopping around in the game, adding screenshots and a couple of videos to the walkthroughs for the early levels. I'm still not sure whether or not I want to do full-level videos. Some people have asked for them, but I don't know if it's worth the effort. I haven't done them for any of the other games and don't plan to, but these levels are fairly quick once you get the hang of them. For now, I think I'll just focus on the challenges and maybe add more later. While working on the Forgotten Gate level I was really reminded of the classic Tomb Raiders. Lots of platforming here, especially at the end of the level. It's fun and frustrating in equal measure. I like this game a lot. P.S. To Shrensh: I'm not a big time trial fan either, but it does get a lot easier once you've got powerful weapons and speed artifacts/relics. The hardest for me was the Fiery Depths level, but eventually I beat even that one. You can do it if you set you mind (and fingers) to it.

Still working on screenshots for the Spider Tomb level today. In the process, I ran into this exciting bug (no pun intended), in which Lara's normal movement morphs into this crazy pose with arms outstretched. It looks like she's trying to scare the spider. Overall I haven't encountered too many glitches. Mostly things like you guys have mentioned, particularly objects malfunctioning on reloading. For example, here in the Spider Tomb, when backtracking through the first room where you put the ball in the fire pit, after quitting and reloading sometimes there'll be an invisible wall in the doorway where the ball is, as though the ball is taking up the entire space, so you can't go through. Mostly smooth sailing, though. @Mute2Conversations: Yeah, Totec is a lot more heroic in the co-op game. Although late in the single-player story, he does offer to fend of the lava dinos while Lara goes and fights Big Ugly. Oh, wait. Nevermind. That's not very chivalrous is it...? Anyway, my Totec is my son Max, and he's always trying to save me from plunging into lava and being clobbered by monsters. My hero!

Still sick and cranky, but thanks for the good wishes. I'll post more later but I wanted to mention one more thing that helped me beat the Spider Tomb score challenge. That level was the hardest for me. I kept finishing with just under 290,000 points. I didn't know about Marluxia's tip on getting more points with different weapons. I'll definitely expermient with that, but the part about maxing out the relic meter is definitely true. So basically you want to try and beat that big horde of spiders at the beginning without taking any damage. Then your relic meter should be at maximum early on. Then make sure Lara doesn't take any damage. If she gets hit and your relic meter resets to zero, quit and reload at the last checkpoint so the relic meter is back to maximum again. If you play through this way, you should just manage to get the 290,000 points by the end of the level. Perhaps this is obvious, but quitting and reloading if you die also helps with time challenges. If Lara dies and you just let the game reload, everything you did after the last checkpoint is counted on the timer. If you quit and reload, the timer resets to where it was when you first crossed the checkpoint. Hope that helps somebody. Today I'm hoping to add screenshots to the Temple Grounds and Spider Tomb levels. The Spider Tomb is actually one of my favorites, even though I had to play it so many times. It's really well designed. In general I love the way the levels are put together so you keep catching glimpses of where you've been and where you're going.

I think he meant he wanted to replay and have all the red skulls, challenge tombs, etc., reset. AFAIK, you can do it if you start a new profile or delete all your save files. Naturally you'd first want to back those up on a memory card or somewhere else on your hard drive if playing on the PC. I had to create 3 or 4 different profiles to play the Xbox game so I could go back and redo sections I had already completed. I'm home sick today. Going back to bed for a while but hopefully I'll gather the strength to do some gaming. I hate having a cold. And I'm so whiny when I do...

Yay! Looks like some of the last crew are back. Great to see you all. Marluxia, you need an old-fashioned wired controller--or at least some rechargeable batteries I'm going to be jumping back and forth between single-player and co-op. My son offered to help me with the co-op play, but he gets bored with my noodling around trying to get every pick-up, take screenshots, etc., so we've only been doing a level or two every few days. Wish there was online co-op so I could force a couple of you to suffer through my process. I keep telling him it's for SCIENCE, dang it! Anyway, I've just redone the first level, Temple of Light, taking screenshots all the way. I also did a video of the fire trap Reward Challenge. I wasn't able to beat that one the first time (probably could have, but I was in a hurry to get the level finished). Then I got a great tip from GeckoKid on the Eidos forums, which is included in the video. It's totally spoilerific, but if you have trouble with that section, check it out here: Oh, and one more thing...I'm putting together a section with time challenge tips, so if you've got any suggestions for specific levels, please let me know.

Well, it looks like online co-op has been delayed a bit longer. So how about the next best thing: offline group play LCO style? In case you missed our earlier TR1 and TR2 group sessions, here's how it works: Go as slow or or as fast as you like. I'll probably play more slowly than most of you, since I'm also using this opportunity to do screenshots and video for my walkthrough. (If you use it, please feel free to correct/contribute!) Play as much or as little at a time as you like. Then just post your ideas/impressions and read/comment on what other players have to say. Mention things that were fun, frustrating, glitchy, weird or otherwise remarkable for you. Offer help if anyone needs it, and feel free to ask if you get stuck. We're all friends here. Please understand that this topic will inevitably contain spoilers. So when you're posting, try to be considerate of others and include the level name or "spoiler warning" near the top of your post. That way people who haven't gotten there yet can wait to read it if they haven't gotten there yet. If you want to, set a goal for yourself--all reward or score challenges, all red skulls, beat the game on hard, get 100% completion, etc.--then share your proud achievements. The only firm guidelines I have are to play nice--follow forum rules, be courteous and supportive to your fellow gamers--and above all HAVE FUN! So, who's in?

Congrats again to Mute2Conversations! She wrote a great haiku and totally deserves her prize. If anyone wants to check out her poem and the other winning entries, they're here. I'll be taking a break from the TR2 raid in order to play Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Sorry I got a bit sidetracked toward the end there. Lots going on with the GOL launch and not nearly enough free time. Still, it looks like everyone had fun, and it's been great reading about all of your adventures and looking at your screenshots and videos. Thanks so much for doing this with me! I plan to pick up TR2 again later on in order to finish my walkthrough revision, and I appreciate all the suggestions you guys made. Perhaps later in the fall we can do TR3. What do you think? Could be fun.

Working on screenshots and revisions for the Opera House today before I have to go to my "real" job. I noticed a few people asked about the painting of the lady on Bartoli's airplane. Painting pinup girls on planes is a tradition from World War II. So maybe Bartoli is older than he looks--even without his dagger powers--or maybe a WWII seaplane was the best he could afford. Here are a couple of links in case anyone's interested: Wikipedia - Nose Art The Aircraft Nose Art & Pin-Up Site

Yay! I love it when we can figure things out. Big thanks to TRC for posting all the XP/Vista/7 stuff and keeping these classic games alive.

I should have tried TRChronicles first, but I've only had one cup of coffee so far this morning, so I'm not thinking straight. They have Vista version of the Golden Mask. I tried it on Windows 7 and it wouldn't install at first. Then I right-clicked the icon and chose "Run as Administrator". After that, it installed and ran perfectly. Hopefully this will solve your problems too, Eldin. Download link: http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/vista/tr2g_demo.html

I just heard from EldinSuper by email. He's trying to install the Golden Mask levels and having compatibility issues. Not sure which OS he has, but I encouraged him to post here. I wasn't able to install them using 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Keep getting the error "not compatible with the version of Windows you're running" even with compatibility mode set for Windows 98. Any ideas?