Karen_Leslie

That's funny, I just started TLR for the first time yesterday too. I'm simultaneously in the middle of TRs 3, 4, and AOD. I think I'd better just stick to TR3 and finish one game before I get totally confused ><. OT but I like Werner in a love-to-hate-him sort of way. I was totally expecting him to try to off Lara after the training level, he just seemed so sinister. Anyway, I felt in the mood to continue TR today, so I finally finished High Security Compound. It was drudgery all the way, but it probably would have helped if I figured out that I needed to up the brightness on my TV sooner into the level^^;;. Being able to see where one is going is a very nice thing! Now I'm wondering: Should I do London next because it's a tad easier than the South Pacific, or should I do London last so I have time to collect some friggin' flares again? I'm thinking the latter...

I'm on the same level, I'm actually not stuck but that level just ruined my enthusiasm for TR3 for a while, so I'm taking a break. Naturally Lara gets her guns back, I just wish they hadn't taken away all my flares! I was using the flares sparingly early in the game because I thought that you could hang onto them after the weapons were taken away, so I had like, 140 flares. If I knew they were all going to get taken away I would have been lighting a flare every other minute in Temple Ruins. I'll get back to it soon, right now I'm playing a couple of RPGs that I've been meaning to get around to forever. I am looking forward to doing London +South Pacific +Antartica, it's really just the High Security level that bums me out.

I think it's a not-so-subtle wink from the developers that they've upped the ante from TR1-- having the T-Rex jump out at you in Lost Valley is one of THE major TR moments, and in TR2 they give you not one but two of them...in the first level. That's what's sort of fun about replaying these games, you notice stuff in the context of the series that you were too engrossed to notice the first time. Anyway, I finished Jungle and just started Temple Ruins: I forgot how beautiful the whole India hub is, sometimes it's tempting to just put down the controller and admire the scenery. I really wish there were more levels like Jungle in TR in general: It's not a cakewalk, but the whole mood of the level is pleasant and there isn't this sense of impending doom that you get in so many TR levels. The sense of danger is part of the appeal, but it kind of bugs me when the entire game is stressful like that;IMO it's appropriate for the first half of the game to be more about exploration than surviving traps and whatnot. Also, I love the monkeys! I think it's great to have friendly wildlife in TR, sure it makes things a little confusing when she pulls out her guns and you're not sure if what she's targeting is hostile or not, but that keeps it interesting. It goes along better with the idea that TR is about using your brain and not just killing everything that moves. I like the idea of Lara only shooting things that pose an immediate threat to her, someone like her probably appreciates wildlife and wouldn't kill for fun. I just wish they kept the friendly monkeys throughout the India levels ><, by Temple Ruins they're out for blood already. I'm going to go finish Temple Ruins now, I'm trying not to save too much now or else the South Pacific and Antartica are completely going to pwn me. Later:).

I find it kind of odd that they bothered to give her an official birthday, because it's obvious that she was meant to magically stop aging in her early thirties^^. I think they're going to stop mentioning the 1968 birth date and just hope that everyone quietly forgets about it.

Yaaay, finally got my TR3 disc! I'm going to start the India hub tonight. I'm probably going to miss most of the secrets though, I don't want to follow a walkthrough and I'm not going to find them all on my own. Slightly off-topic, but i got TR2 and TRLR on the same day, and started TR2 just for fun. I forgot how psycho "The Great Wall" is-- "Walking around the opening level, la-la-la peacefulness, wow the graphics have improved since the first game...OMG GAUNTLET OF DEATH!!!!!!!!!"

I have to go with Xena here, sure Lara's great and all but she fights as a necessity, not for pleasure; her real passion is for exploring. Xena, on the other hand, is all about combat.

Thanks for the welcome everybody^^. I just realized, if I get TR3 for PS it's going to be hard for me to get all the secrets and such because...TR3 is really hard without unlimited saves. Maybe I should look into getting the PC version, I don't like using a keyboard to play TR but that's probably the only way I'll ever get to see All Hallows.

1. I really don't have any specific plot ideas, to me the classic TR plot is Lara goes in search of Treasure X, other peoples who aren't so nice go after Treasure X, Lara goes all over the place while competing with the other peoples, and in the end Lara gets what she wants. It's a stock plot, but I honestly think TR as a series works better when it's light on plot-- Just enough plot that you want to find out what happens next, but never SUCH an engaging story that you're going to rush through the levels to get to the next plot twist-- you're supposed to want to take your time through the levels. One other thing, I'd like it if most of Lara's enemies this time around were animals and mystical creatures as opposed to humans-- I liked it in the original TR when Lara only fought other people out of self-defense. In TRII she started to seem cold and trigger-happy to me. Leave the assasinations to Solid Snake, TR is not about killing. 2. I'd like to see a more customizable weapon system, a la Parasite Eve or Vagrant story. It could add a lot to the game without having to change the basic formula. It could even be an RPG-style system, Lara does have access to money and shops in some places. You could have to combine store-bought weaponry with upgrades that you find in the field. 3. Pacific Northwest region (US/Canada), Australian rainforest, sub-saharan Africa, some fantasy locations like Atlantis in original TR. I still haven't played AOD or Legends (my PS2 broke and I haven't replaced it yet ><), so for all I know some of these may have been done already; if so, I apologize. Oh, and one more thing-- a WORTHWHILE prize for getting all the secrets. Like a bonus level that's actually really original and cool. I never bothered to do All Hallows in TR3, because it sounded like a pretty boring level considering all of the work you had to do to get there.

Hi everybody, I'm just getting back into TR after years of not playing and I think it's cool that you're doing this group-TR-field-trip thing:). I'd like to participate except I need to get another copy of TR III first (I sold back a lot of my PS1 games years ago when I thought that I wouldn't want them anymore-- hah hah, joke's on me.) Anyway, I'm getting a few of the TRs I'm missing off of ebay, so if I get my new TRIII anytime soon I'll try to catch up. Otherwise, keep it up and I'll be following along:).