hisbrokenbutterfly

  The last playthrough in my Tomb Raider Nostalgia Series is that of the very first game, both of the classics and the series as a whole. The original Tomb Raider game is a pure vintage gem with so much sentimental value that it makes up for the fuss that you have to go through in order to decently run and record it on a modern computer system.  The resolution is a bit low in the main game, but everything is smooth and running well in Unfinished Business, the Gold expansion, which, by the way, is one of the two classic Tomb Raiders that I have played less (along with The Lost Artifact, as I mentioned in my Tomb Raider III report). Now playing UB again, I remembered why: although it is beautiful visually and very elaborate as far as gameplay and puzzles are concerned, I soon got fed up with those mutant mummies with their annoying (insert non-decent characterization here) screeching noises. Regardless, the Gold expansion, like the main game, is a lovely game, and very interesti...

Next up in my Tomb Raider Nostalgia Playthrough Series is Tomb Raider 3, the third installment of the classics. There were quite a few innovations in this game compared the to the first and the second, the most memorable being the fact that, after the first section was completed, you could play the subsequent three adventures in any order you wanted. Like in Tomb Raider 2, a brief but fabulous bonus level would unlock if you completed the game with all secrets found. Since these playthroughs are going to be a one-time thing - that is, I will probably won't be replaying the classic Tomb Raiders in full, any time soon at least - I am trying to cover as much stuff as possible. Random kills or pickups that have no interest or are simply in the regular path, may be left behind, but I do find all the secrets and if there is exploration involved (including pickups) in areas that are optional, I go for them as well. In this game in particular, I am referring to the legendary River Ganges l...

Going on with my Tomb Raider Nostalgia Playthrough Series, I am now playing Tomb Raider: Chronicles, the fifth game of the classics. I remembered Chronicles fondly, and when I started to play it again after so many years I realized why, but then I got to the notorious VCI section and everything got a bit messy. The last three levels of the game are among the best of the classic Tomb Raiders, and maybe the most original and innovative compared to the rest of the series of that era, but at the same time they are so hard and so incredibly buggy that eventually the VCI adventure turns into an assemblage that could only be compared to Stefano Valentini's morbid creations: on the one hand the bugs can be hellish; from frustrating to literally game-stopping. Although sometimes said bugs may also have fortunate outcomes: as you will see in my video, at some point I tried to make Lara stealthily neutralize a guard, which she refused to do; at that point, the guard surprisingly turned around...

My second favorite from the classic Tomb Raiders after the Last Revelation, and the second that am playing in my Tomb Raider Nostalgia Playthrough Series, had always been Tomb Raider II, what with its emblematic Venetian environments and music, its complex puzzles and sceneries and its unforgettable arch-enemy Marco Bartoli. Like with my Last Revelation playthrough (you can read the report and a brief intro for this series of playthroughs here ), I play mostly from memory, and for this reason I am not getting all pickups or kills, but I do go and find all the secrets in every level, and if a pickup is tricky or challenging, I do go for it (like the legendary Uzis in the first level of The Golden Mask expansion). Again the run is split in parts. Main game: Part 1 includes The Great Wall intro and the Venice levels: Venice, Bartoli's Hideout, Opera House. Part 2 I call it The Deep Sea, and it includes the levels that take place at the rig and on the Maria Doria shipwreck, namely: Of...

  I decided to replay my old loves, the classic Tomb Raider games, in a series which I am calling "Tomb Raider Nostalgia Playthrough Series". By the term "classic Tomb Raiders", I refer to the first five Tomb Raider games (1-5) and their Gold expansions or add-on levels, that were released from 1996 to 2000. The classic Tomb Raiders were among the very first video games that I played many years ago and the first of the Action/Adventure genre that I ever had the chance to know. I was an avid Tomb Raider player back then, having even developed a certain virtuosity, since I participated in extra hardcore challenges set around the "No Damage + Pistols Only" rule which, at times, proved to be extremely difficult. Since then, many things have changed, including the always evolving PC systems due to which running those old games now can be a real pain. The graphics look stretchy, the resolutions look weird and it's almost impossible to record the included FM...