The original question for Day 17 was "least favorite weapon" but since we sort of covered that one on day 6, I've decided to make up a new question. So what's your favorite Tomb Raider puzzle and why?
The Midas statue in Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Enhanced screenshot by tombraider4ever. Click for larger image.
There are so many wonderful, challenging puzzles, especially in the Core Design games, but I think my favorite is the Midas puzzle in the original game and Anniversary. It's a great combination of mythology and magic combined with an actual brain teaser. Even when you figure out what you need to do, there's still plenty of exploration and platforming needed in order to get all the bricks and open the door.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the Midas puzzle - superb. (Obviously - as I was once told at great length by a pompous bully from Eidos Wimbledon - since Anniversary doesn't count as a separate game but a re-something - rebrand? reboot? rebuff? - I won't include the Midas thing from that.) I also like the glyphs you had to interprete to open the door to Tinnos and the "one and a half buckets of water to balance the scales" puzzle in the Temple of Poseidon (?) in Last Revelation. And let's not forget the amusing Atlantean Lara puzzle room in TR1 - surreal genius.
ReplyDeleteI also like the complex, multi-part puzzles like the Midas puzzle and St. Francis' Folly. To pick a favorite is difficult, but I'll say the HALL WITH BULL GUARDIANS AND HIEROGLYPH BUTTONS. That's the one in TR4 under the sphinx where you have to trap the two bulls in cells and then open the different doors using different hieroglyph combinations. And all the while the bulls are periodically snorting so loud it makes you think maybe one of them has gotten loose and is right behind you :O
ReplyDeleteI liked the Cisten very much in the original Tomb Raider. It's really a challenging problem solving level-scale puzzle where you have to figure out how to use the water to your advantage
ReplyDeleteMidas' Hand was a great puzzle, very fun to watch Lara turn to gold too ;D I also loved the St. Francis Folly puzzle; getting all the keys, dodging those damned knives in Damocles' room, exhilarating :D
ReplyDeleteI think Underworld had some fantastic puzzles, particularly the one in Southern Mexico involving the skull, discs and secret entrance to the underworld.
And of course, you can't forget the classic "find the key and open the door - but it 'aint gonna be that easy" puzzles :D
My favorite puzzle would have to be the DAMOCLES parts of the ST. FRANCIS FOLLY level its equally challenging as well as beautiful to me but Lara still manages to get threw it!
ReplyDeleteI like the Shiva/Kali puzzle in Underworld the most.
ReplyDeleteI greatly agree with you, Stella.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite puzzles are throughout the Last Revelation and Anniversary. The obstacles and puzzles in AOD were good too.
Well, definitly TR4 has the best puzzles in the entire series. I especially like the Lost Library, since the feeling of Lara being "alone" in an underground library, it's really good. And it's a colossal puzzle, the search for the blue gems, to get the stars, tu get the music sheet, and the perfect ending, a small taste of harp... just a relaxing zen moment.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to mention the first big Legend puzzle in bolivia (in the room where the golden reward is). Although not super difficult, it show that the game, in spite of action oriented, hasn't lost any of the Tomb Raider spirit. The fact that we used real physics to solve the puzzle was a great innovation, and I was amazed (I personally loved the swinging thing to get the boxes in the upper level)
I prefer the Legend, Anniversary and Underworld puzzles myself :) don't really know why haha. Maybe for me i just can understand them more and do them more easily? haha saying that, maybe they should be harder? :L <3
ReplyDeleteMy favourite puzzle was... Hmm... I'm not sure. I liked the one in AoD, where you had to kill the tree holding onto the door. I also like the one in TR1, when you got the magnums in the first Greece level.
ReplyDeleteI believe it was in Tomb Raider Last Revelation, where Lara has to run a circuit shaped like a star while two spirits chase her. I had studied circuit problems in a college math course, so I nailed it at first sight during the game. This made me feel very smart at the time!
ReplyDeleteI haven't played any in a long while, but TR2 always brings fond memories as the 1st TR game I played, and 1 of my most enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI just loved the Italian Opera House in TR2. It was so huge when you got inside, then figuring how to get up to the top, then take the swan dive down!
Just loved it!
I loved Xibalba in TRU,Midas Palace and Peru lvl.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard question i don't know really.
This has been the hardest question for me to answer. Puzzles are and have always been one of the most interesting aspects of the game and just like the game itself they have gotten better, more difficult and more fun as the games have evolved. I'd say that I enjoy all the puzzles I have been able to solve by myself ... not the greatest answer, I know, but it's still the truth1
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough one! I think one of the most memorable puzzles for me was the Lost Library part of Last Revelation. First of all, I was blown away by how cool the main room looked (especially the ceiling). Then, I appreciated having to stretch my brain a little to recall how the solar system would have been viewed at the time the Alexandria library existed. From a purely historical and mythological perspective, I enjoyed the Last Revelation puzzles the most.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this truly counts as a puzzle, but another area that sticks out in my mind is that stupid maze at the beginning of the Caves of Kaliya in TR3. I got lost in that place so many times! I think it was one of the spots that originally drove me to seek out a walkthrough site (and thus, tombraiders.net!).
i'd say the midas puzzle, not that its also interestingly creepy how she turns into gold when you step on it, but its a really fun puzzle. saint francis folly would be the most rememorable puzzle since i been stuck on it since childhood. i know how to get pass it now, lol
ReplyDeleteAs many headaches as both gave me, I really the St. Francis' Folly puzzles and the Cistern water puzzles. I obviously needed a walkthrough for both. Way too easy to get lost, haha.
ReplyDeleteAll of the puzzles from Underworld, the brick throwing one from Legend, the Cistern and St. Francis Folly from Anniversary, and all the challenge tombs from Survivor. For me, Tomb Raider is all about exploration and puzzles, and gunplay is just a thing you can do if you want, so it's really hard for me to decide.
ReplyDelete