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15 Years of Tomb Raider II

So many memories of this game. I don't know how many times I played the demo before the game came out. It was great that the full game really exceeded my expectations too. Still my favourite Tomb Raider!
 
My brother got a PlayStation for his birthday, and he got this game with it. Got damn, brilliant game.
 
You know what kinda bugged me about Tomb Raider II? Lara goes through all of that trouble to find
the seraph at the bottom of the ocean and all of that shit in the Barkhang Monastery, and the first room and other rooms in the Catacombs of the Talion has an open ceiling where you can see the sky!
 
just bought this game still sealed off ebay for psx. will need to buy another version so i can play it for the first time. :)

(i'm not opening a sealed classic).
 
Cool vid....the original 3 are classics. If I had to rank them:

Tomb Raider II > Tomb Raider >>>>>>>Tomb Raider III.


The old Tomb Raider games were awful. They really lacked the kind of strong, woven narrative that creates an emotional connection with your character, and in the end boiled down to little more than searching through ancient tombs for lost treasure.

LOL, nice.
 
Butler in the fridge.

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TRII is the only TR that I have ever finished. I did play a good chunk of the first one as well. Moments that stand out in my mind are the time I fell into a pit, looked around and this "wonderous" type of music started playing and fighting a T-Rex. Me and my friend were scared as hell.

I think at the end some guys raided her house while she was in the shower or something and you have to take them all out. That was pretty cool.
 
I think at the end some guys raided her house while she was in the shower or something and you have to take them all out. That was pretty cool.

Close. Lara's sitting on her bed admiring the dagger she found and then the security alarm goes off. The baddies break in and the killing spree ensues. Lara saves her shower (which we were never fortunate enough to see ;P) for the last cut scene.
 
Great job OP.

Tomb Raider II is easily my favorite game of all time.

Huge part of my affection for this game comes down not only to the fact that it was my first game in the series but it was also my first 3D adventure game ever. Just imagine the overwhelming impact it created on a 12-year old kid who just got his own PlayStation. Boy, it was a cultural shock.

More importantly IMO the game had all the constituents that made it such an exceptional experience. For a 1997 console game the graphics were absolutely mind-blowing, the game had one of the best texturing work ever and the whole art direction was so fresh and enticingly delightful.

Also I have yet to see an adventure game rivals TRII's incredible level design, the game designers successfully managed to balance between open world/environmental areas and urban/industrial areas without breaking the exploratory nature of the game.


The Great Wall:

Greatwall02.jpg


Venice (Bartolli's Hidehout):

tr2bartoli016.jpg


The Opera House:


289435-tomb-raider-ii-windows-screenshot-the-opera-houses.jpg



Offshore Rig:

offshore67.jpg


Rick of the Maria Doria (My personal favorite):

tr2wreck015.jpg


Catacombs of Talion:

Catacombsoftalion.jpg


Gameplay-wise, I have met many people who were genuinely disappointed that TRII had less exploration and more "action" than the first game. This was not a problem for me personally and I felt the pacing was perfectly fine. Overall TRII did not only improve upon the basic gameplay set up of the original game but it also introduced new vital elements that made the game even more brilliant, such as Lara's extra abilities and moves, the ability to use vehicles, new enemies and the wider range of weapons.

I still play the game frequently on my PC, yeah the controls are definitely showing its age but the whole game is still enjoyable as ever. Kudos to the original team members of Core Design and all the people who contributed to the making of this timeless masterpiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URRC3nLxR7g

Hahaha, awesome track. Sounds like something Paul Oakenfold would play on his sets back in the days.
 
Back in the day, I played this for probably a good four hours one afternoon. Then it refused to recognize my memory card. I haven't touched it since.

I own the first game for Saturn. Next time I go back to my parents, I'm going to grab my Saturn, and play through it. Then maybe I'll try to play through the second on the Playstation.
 
Funny how everyone is calling this the best Tomb Raider ever when there are these godawful do nothing but shoot humans sections.

Is the second half of the game god tier or something?

TRII has too much human shooting, but the combat doesn't replace awesome level design and platforming. The oil rig levels are the only truly bad levels.
 
Gameplay-wise, I have met many people who were genuinely disappointed that TRII had less exploration and more "action" than the first game. This was not a problem for me personally and I felt the pacing was perfectly fine. Overall TRII did not only improve upon the basic gameplay set up of the original game but it also introduced new vital elements that made the game even more brilliant, such as Lara's extra abilities and moves, the ability to use vehicles, new enemies and the wider range of weapons.
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Couldn't agree with you any more. Great balance between exploration and action as I tried to convey in my video. :)

By the way, have any of you tried the Core Design game Project Eden? Highly recommend it if you have not. The same team responsible for TRII made the game and it's great. Think of a futuristic Tomb Raider where you can switch between 4 different characters at pretty much any point in the game. Many of the games puzzles (which there are loads of) require more than 1 character to solve. You can also remote control a rover and flycam to reach areas that are inaccessible otherwise. There is a demo available here if you're interested in checking it out.
 
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