Line #20 YMMV/TombRaiderII


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
2	** The theme for the [[https://youtu.be/VWsICxqgt5w Venice level]] in ''TR II'', which sounds like it was composed in the 18th century by some powered-wigged, high-heels-wearing Italian.
3	** Don't forget the soothing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGXPRnZrAvk Main Menu]] music.
4	** The techno heavy song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALXgyclMge4&list=PLCE4D1F2D636C63A4&index=19 that plays when Lara first gets on the snowmobile]], which also incorporates some notes from Lara's Theme, titled Lara Plays in the Snow.
5	* BreatherLevel: After the rather long Temple of Xian and Floating Islands, the next level is really short (though it contains the final boss) and the epilogue level in Lara's Home is just an enemy rush that only takes a few minutes to complete.
6	* BrokenBase: This game was the start of the division among fans. Depending on who you ask, you'll either hear how the game is an EvenBetterSequel or hear that the game focuses too much on combat and action and not enough on the puzzles or exploration. This was also around the time that Toby Gard, who was the creator in the first game, had left the team after [[CreativeDifferences having a different view on how the games should proceed compared to what Eidos wanted]], which may also explain the shift in the game's tone and style.
7	* DemonicSpiders: The Jade Statues in the later Great Wall levels. They're huge, tanky, shred Lara's lifebar like cheese and have a scripted instant kill move if you make contact with them below a certain level of health. Their only saving grace is that they can only dish out melee attacks but don't think that means you can snipe them from a distance because [[YouWillNotEvadeMe THEY CAN FLY AND WILL FOLLOW YOU EVERYWHERE!]]
8	* FridgeBrilliance:
9	** The Talion Guardian seems to be garuda, a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. The garuda are enemies to the naga, a race of intelligent serpent- and dragon-like beings, whom they hunt. This has a relation with the Guardian of the Talion and the Dragon of Xian. The Garuda guards the Talion, which can open the way to the dagger, and thus, the dragon.
10	** The reason why the very first level, "The Great Wall" is so tough and demanding? That's because Lara returns there at the very end of the game, opening the gate that stopped her originally and following to the final levels. So it's less of an EarlyGameHell and more of [[FinalDungeonPreview a glimpse at how challenging the final levels are.]]
11	* GoddamnBats: Flamethrower Guys, as they have a habit of attacking you before you realise they're there, and you're highly likely to be caught on fire if this happens, which is basically a guaranteed death, unless you happen to be near water. Also, they never drop any pickups when you kill them.
12	* HarsherInHindsight: The final line of the game, [[BreakingTheFourthWall "Don't you think you've seen enough?"]], gained completely new meaning just few years later, when it became common knowledge how sick and tired people from Core were with making yet another ''Tomb Raider''.[[note]]And the group that made both the first and the second game outright threatened to quit if they weren't given free time to make [[VideoGame/ProjectEden their own project]], rather than another TR.[[/note]]
13	* NightmareFuel: "Floating Islands", thanks to its creepy high-pitched drone soundtrack, enemies that can float so there's never a truly safe spot to hide, and the [[NothingIsScarier bottomless pits in a black void.]]
14	** If you have a fear of drowning or of the deep sea, the Maria Doria levels are going to be hell and a half. The first level begins with Lara smack dab in the middle of a seemingly endless, pitch black expanse of ocean with the player needing to blindly navigate their way into the hull of the ship before they drown and later levels involve similar sections of extended swimming where you damn near have to drown Lara in order to finish what needs to be done and that's without sharks and barracudas threatening to chomp on you and MASSIVE eels [[JumpScare hiding around every corner to ambush Lara.]]
15	* PolishedPort: The [=iOS=] and Android ports have higher resolution textures in the level geometry and the skyboxes are also in higher resolution.
16	* ScrappyMechanic:
17	** The springboards found in the Ice Palace and the Temple of Xian. You'll only get a big jump forward if you're already running or jumping forward, and remember to ''hold'' forward when landing on it too. Landing on the springboard completely straight or letting go of forward before landing on it will only launch you straight up and you'll take massive fall damage over and over until you die.
18	** It's pretty cool that the monks of the Barkhang Monastery will fight Bartoli's men for or with you, but attempting to help them can be very tricky. The game's auto-targeting system means you generally aim your guns at the nearest enemy, and the monks are considered fair game. And if you shoot one, either accidentally or on purpose, ALL the monks will turn against you. Trying to shoot only Bartoli's men when there are seven or eight people fighting each other is very difficult. It's often best just to let the monks do what they can, and shoot any of Bartoli's men that survive.
19	* SequelDifficultySpike: Your first enemy encounter is a tiger (which is similar to the bears from ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderI TR1]]'' difficulty-wise), not a bat. You'll encounter deadly traps in the deeper parts of the first level. Things only escalate from there.
20	* SlowPacedBeginning: The game really takes a while to properly pick up pace. The Great Wall is a strong first level, [[ThatOneLevel despite its difficulty]], but then Venice becomes incredibly combat heavy, causing it to just ''drag'' and then there are the offshore rig levels. Each of these five levels, the three Venice levels and the two offshore rig levels, take roughly an hour to finish, nothing really interesting happens in them and ''then'' there are the levels inside of the Maria Doria wreck. After finally being done with those, the game moves to Tibet and suddenly cranks up the action on overdrive, never slowing down even a bit, while introducing more and more of the surreal elements.
21	* {{Tearjerker}}: Though the series' infamous straining of the definition of the word "tomb" started here, it can't be ignored that that is exactly what the wreckage of the Maria Doria is. A luxury liner used by mobster Gianni Bartoli and bombed by the Barkhang monks to prevent the Seraph from being used to gain access to the Talion and by extension, the Dagger of Xian, the atmosphere of the place (when you're not being shot at by Marco Bartoli's mooks) has a distinct feeling of sadness permeating the place unlike most of the other tombs Lara visits given this was once a place of relaxation and entertainment, destroyed out of necessity and damning anyone who had been left on board to the bottom of the ocean.
22	* ThatOneAchievement:
23	** While most of the secrets in the game are not too difficult to find, the Gold Dragon in Ice Palace stands out for being extremely well hidden, with the moveable block it's hidden behind being very well camouflaged against the wall. That's not even mentioning how you ''then'' have to figure out how to get over to it after finding the block.
24	** In the 2024 remaster, there is an achievement where you must make sure all the monks survive. While the monks can handle themselves just fine, there's still a small chance that they can be killed by the cultists if the monks' AI derps out or they get outnumbered badly. You can assist the monks by shooting the gunmen, but there's no swift way to switch targets since Lara can auto-target a monk and you can wind up shooting them by accident (which gets all the monks gunning for you in retaliation). It's also possible for enemies to spawn off screen and the monks going after them without you noticing, which means it's possible for a monk to die without you even knowing about it. Lots of SaveScumming will be involved if you aim to get the achievement.
25	* ThatOneLevel:
26	** The first level, The Great Wall, is infamous for its ridiculous amount of timed runs and death traps in the latter part of the level (especially for first-time players). Oh, there's also the fact that [[spoiler: there are ''2 T. rexes'' in one (optional) area]].
27	** "Opera House", only the fourth level, is ''loooong'', and has that "I hope I'm doing things in the right order" feel. You would be forgiven for resorting to a strategy guide to beat it.
28	** The Oil Rig, where the first level is a NoGearLevel and both levels are huge, have a lot of key items to find, and also introduce mooks with flamethrowers.
29	** All the Maria Doria levels can fall into this, but the last one in particular, The Deck, is notable for how ''massive'' it is, and it can certainly take a long time to explore it all. There's also the infamous required fall to a key, which takes away almost the entirety of Lara's health.
30	** Wreck of the Maria Doria is an incredibly long level and whose main objective requires finding 3 circuit breakers strewn throughout the ship to put out furnace fires in one of the piston rooms so Lara can pull a movable block up to a room that's out of reach. Finding them all can be tedious enough what with the various deathtraps around the wreck, enemies around every corner that can easily pick off Lara's health from afar, and simply just trying to figure out where to go at any given moment. A player who has conserved enough medipaks however can just tank the flames and pull the block through them since there's a relatively convenient pool of water close by, though this skips half the level and guarantees missing out on secrets.
31	** Floating Islands is considered to be hell for many. The first half of the level takes place over a BottomlessPit and your only sources of safety are the aforementioned floating islands. The black void beneath you also makes it more difficult to judge distances, so jumps that seem safe can easily result in a screaming descent and death. Ancient warriors disguised as statues can come to life and ''fly'' to you, especially if you're on an island. The second half of the level is not much better since you are dealing with more of the warriors, lava pits everywhere, and tricky jumps.
32	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
33	** The save system on the console version was copied from the PC version where players could save anytime and anywhere, unlike the first game where players could only save at designated save points. People complained that the save system removed all difficulty, so the developers combined the save system of the first two games for ''Tomb Raider III'', but everyone complained about that too.
34	** The secrets were regulated to dragon statues and there are always three in every level. You won't get the cache of items unless you find all three statues. Some found this to be a step down from the first game where it had more than three secrets in some levels and each secret always gave supplies. This was reverted back to the old system in the next game.

Context YMMV / TombRaiderII