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News Archive
(November 1997 - December 1997)

Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide News Archive
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Dec 19, 1997 09:00
Dobermans and
Thugs and
Cultists, Oh My!

Ugh! This game is no picnic, friends. The first game seems like a walk in the park compared to this game. It sure is challenging, and I'm not sure if I'm up for this challenge.

I'm on the Opera House level now (there are people who are laughing at me I'm sure =). It's not particularly 		straightforward, but I'm managing well enough. I welcome corrections and suggestions if you are kind enough to send them to me (ichou@ trinity.westhost.com). I keep getting the feeling I'm missing something. There are simply too many different distracting (and often deadly) little sidetracks to this game, and the way I play, I wonder if I'll ever finish this game.

Progress has been slow. I've been told that there 		are already walkthroughs springing up all over the web (something like four or five of them including this one). So how do I plan on selling more copies of my guide than the others? Well, I'm still working towards finding you the best and easiest way through. I hope to be a little more detailed in my descriptions (even in comparison to my first guide, which some people still find hard to follow). I regret not using the compass to give directions in the first guide, and now I really miss it.

The biggest problem I've found in the sequel is these trigger-happy Italian cultists with their sub-automatic rifles. Not only are they annoying, in many cases, there are no "safer" means to dispatch them without a full frontal assault, which almost always results in damage. My hopes of being able to not use Medi Packs on levels has been dashed by the Opera House level, where I'm taking on lots of lead from these guys. I would really (more...)
like to tell you painless way to deal with every one of these guys, but many of encounters with them leave no recourse but to take the damage like a man -- or a digital woman as it were.

But for your information, the best way to deal with cultists has been either to charge at them with guns blazing if there is no better hiding place, otherwise, standing in a hidden spot and 		jumping up and down or side to side to take pot shots at them has been quite effective. Unlike the pipe/bat toting thugs which are easy enough to stay away from. If you have specific strategies for dealing with them in any of the Veince levels, I'd be happy to hear them. Please don't send me spoilers for the rest of the game (yet).

 New Old Things

Well, if you've been 		following the progress of my new guide, based on the suggestions of a friend (Thanks Brian!) you'll notice that I've put back the individual pick up numbering and now I've also added numbers for kills too. Pick ups are in blue and kills in red. This should make it easier to check to see that you've gotten everything, but also it cuts down on errors I make in writing the walkthrough. For example, I was convinced that there were only 18 kills on the first level, whereas there were actually 23. And the game told me 23, and I just didn't believe it, until I numbered the 5 spiders in front of the rope slide. My bad.

The one thing I don't like is the way the numbers give away the location of the secrets. You don't need to be smart to notice that if numbers jump from 7 to 10, then somewhere nearby there is a secret. Oh well, can't please everyone, but at least everything is more accurate this way, and of course, that's what's (more...)
really important, right?

But if you're stuck on some level and you're the kind of person that doesn't want even a hint of where secrets are, don't read the walkthrough. The hints page, as always, are still secret free. (old news...)

Dec 4, 1997 12:48
Work In
Progress

So "official work" has begun on the Tomb Raider II Traveler's Guide. However, I've still yet to purchase my own copy of TRII, so my pages may be a bit spotty as I jot down what I can remember from playing on a friend's machine. Keep in mind that I had made three trips through the original Tomb Raider before I began work on the First Traveler's Guide. I'm not really comfortable typing 		out my first impressions based on fuzzy memories, but I'm going to give it a shot. I will only publish a level once I'm completely finished it at least once through.

So does this mean that I've made up my mind to release the second guide one level at a time? Yes and no. You can access the second guide only via this News page (or your own bookmark). I will not publish it on the Title Page until the second guide is complete.
Beta
Raiders

Because this second guide will be in "beta" for the entire time I work at finishing the TRII, and working at finding the easiest method of doing so, if you choose to read my second guide, I encourage you to e-mail me at ichou@trinity.westhost.com and let me know 1) if you find any additional items or kills that I have missed 2) if there is some easier way to do something, and 3) If the 		description on any page needs clarification. Your input on any page that has been made available is welcome, but please do not e-mail me any help for levels I haven't gotten to yet.

Lots of
New Stuff

Whew! TRII has a lot of new stuff: New moves, new weapons, new items, new secrets, new enemies, new keyboard commands, vehicles, and a Windows 95 (more...)
engine. All this means there's a lot more information for me to get out to you. Check things out. I note them down as I discover them. I think I've been pretty thorough, but people need to keep me honest. Check out the new General Guide and General Hints and let me know what you think. I'm still working on screen grabs of the enemies, so be patient with that section. (read old news...)
Nov 24, 1997 09:54:38
Comming
Soon?

Maybe you're wondering when I plan on writing up the next volume of the Tomb Raider's Traveler's Guide. After all, the "Tomb Raider II, the Dagger of Xian" has already been released in several countries, right? Well, it's not that simple. As much as I'd like to spend hours on end playing Tomb Raider and writing up a witty and informative web 		guide to all the in's and out's of Tomb Raider, there simply aren't enough hours in day for me to hold down a full time job, play Tomb Raider, and write pages for this site.

Does that mean that I don't intend to update this site anymore? Absolutely not! I hope to purchase a copy of Tomb Raider II sometime around Christmas or New Year's (after Christmas presents are bought for everyone else on my list) and 		start playing Tomb Raider II and working on my guide in my spare time immediately thereafter (unless Eidos or Core reads this, has pity on my situation and decides to send me a copy. In which case, I'd start working on it immediately! Hey! A guy can dream, can't he?).

Don't expect to see much of anything in terms of updates to this web site in the next couple of months. The holidays are around the corner, and if anyone with a family knows that means it gets 		more busy (rather than less) during the holidays. But don't worry, in the months following, you can expect to see a tour guide's view of Tomb Raider II as well as hint pages and a walkthrough with the same attention to detail as you have come to expect from my guide.

I am undecided as to whether I should release the guide a level at a time or as a completed guide (I did the latter with the first guide), but in the meanwhile, there already exists a (More...)
walkthrough on the web for you to consult (I don't remember the URL off hand).

 Appetizers

In case you're wondering what I have in store for you, well, there's going to be a lot more of the same. Good sound advice. Strategies and tips. The "easiest route from point 'A' to 'B'" tm. "ON" and "OFF" pictures. Lots of new and different pictures.

 		Along with all that, I will be adding one new feature: "ON" and "OFF" secrets! Some people simply don't want to know where the secrets are. I can respect that. So for those people I have added a new cookies-based-feature, in which you can choose not to see any of the secrets in the walkthrough or the guide by simply selecting a check box on the table of contents page. The text that describes how to find the secrets will disappear from your view while the text of the rest of the page and the text it contains should flow smoothly. (This feature will only be available for the new pages I write. Going back and putting them into the first guidewould take too long.)

In the meawhile, let me give you a little preview of what's to come. You can click on the link below to view some of my "work in progress". Keep in mind that I am in the middle of working on these pages 		and they are based primarily from the internet demo, so the information may not be accurate if you are playing the real game. Also many of the links do not work and the pages may change as you view them. Anyhow, here's what I've already got and what I plan on doing. Click to preview the work-in-progress of Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide Volume II. Then feel free to drop me a note at ichou@trinity.westhost.com and let me know what you think. (Disclaimer: I reserve the right to ignore you.)
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