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Experts' Challenge FAQ - written by SYS |
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 What
does it mean? What are the rules?
The
beginning? Who was the first?
What
is the "official" story? Can I see the very first official
Statistics?
This
sounded so impossible that time, didn't it? How do you authenticate
the Statistics? And do you need to be expert? And what is
the point behind HC anyway?
My
own HC-story in a few words...
How
was HC involved into the TombRaiderForums @ TRC?
HC
on the TombRaiderForums?
The
"no scratch" challenge, a.k.a. the HC today, and the future...
My
final words...
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What does it mean? What are the rules?
Well, Hard Core or HardCore,
or HC, or HC-Mode
means the following rules:
 No MediPacks
(you are not allowed to use any single medipack in the game)
No cheats
You have to complete the game with the rules above. That's
the basic, original HC, and it is clear, because everything
what regular is possible with the two rules above, so there
is no exceptions anywhere. But naturally, you can always add
your own plus rules to this. Well, let's see some typical
ones:
All Secrets
(very typical)
Pistols
only
Get all
Pickups and kill all enemies
Use only
Manual Targeting from TR4
Do not use
Flares
Never get
hurt ("no scratch" by Lacek)
And so on...
^Top
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The beginning? Who was the first?
Well, it is not a clear thing actually. Maybe many players
tried to play without using a single medipack during the game,
or maybe many of them just did it accidentally. Tomb Raider
is an old phenomenon, and HC officially started just in the
middle of 2001...
^Top
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What is the "official" story? Can I see the very first official
Statistics?
I remember, Hamster (our WebMaster
@ TR.hu)
mentioned it first in the spring of 2001. Our Community was
very young that time, since he started TR.hu in the middle
of 2000. So, he mentioned that this is already his own style:
"I play TR's with no medipacks,
and this became my usual style already." - this was
what he said, and he called His style "Hard Core". Soon after
this, he created a topic on our old Forum, called "Hard Core
jatekosoknak.", what means about "For Hard Core gamers". The
date of his first post: 1st of May 2001, 20:20.34... He also
created a small section on TR.hu: this is our HardCore
page. If you visit it, you will not understand the text,
since it is in Hungarian, but you will see some dates from
2001, 2002, and so on...
About the very first completion... I checked our HC-page,
and I saw a date: 29th of April 2001 - TR3Gold by Hamster.
However he completed TR3 first, so let's say, it is from the
April of 2001. The two Statistics are here:
First
Second
^Top
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This sounded so impossible that time, didn't it? How do you
authenticate the Statistics? And do you need to be expert?
And what is the point behind HC anyway?
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Yes indeed, many of us were so sceptic. We were experienced
enough, so we could imagine some situations in our head, without
trying it out in the game: "Wreck Of The Maria Doria" with
its high falls from TR2, "RX-Tech Mines" and the long cold
diving from TR3, the locusts from TR4's "Cairo"-levels, and
so on... Many situations seemed to be impossible without using
at least one small medipack. But we have some brave Adventurers,
so many of us started trying to beat HC, after seeing Hamster
first two Statistics...
About authentication... Well, we cannot check the Statistics
and the SaveGames for sure, so it is some kind of a "credo-thing".
If someone is lying about his results, then that is his problem,
I think. Everyone does the challenge mainly for himself and
for his own fun... :) However, Hamster never published any
SaveGames on our HC-page, of course... only Statistic-pictures
and texts, but nothing more...
About being an expert... Well, I think, actually You do not
need to be an expert to beat the HC-challenge: F5 and F6 are
your friends, you know, so sooner or later... ;) However,
you will not enjoy it if you are trying to beat it during
your first completion of a TR-game. AOD is very easy, and
it can be done in HC for the first completion, but TR2 for
example is much harder, so you should try HC only after you
have completed it at least twice... If you are an expert already,
you may add your own additional rules to make the challenge
harder and even harder...
The point behind HC... Come on, this is about fun and challenge!
You make it for yourself and you will learn so much, during
playing. Your skill will improve and you will learn how to
deal with certain situations, like when Lara's energy is low
or when you have to fight with pistols only... Not to mention
that you will see things differently and more shaded during
and after the completion. You know, you are about to try something
different, something new, when you are starting the HC-challenge...
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^Top
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My own HC-story in a few words...
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Well, I was the first who completed all episodes in HC: TR1+Gold,
TR2+Gold, TR3+Gold, TR4Times, TR4, TR5 (there was no TR6 that
time)... And later TR6 (after it has been released), after
Hamster, in 2004. My additional main rules were:
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• All Secrets (my regular rule)
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• Getting all Pickups and killing all enemies (my regular
rule)
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• Saving only when Lara is in safe and while she is
not moving, and underwater saving was not allowed, of course
(my regular rule)
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• Only Manual Targeting for TR4Times, TR4, and TR5 (extra
challenge)
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• Pistols only and no Flares for TR4Times and TR5 (extra
challenge)
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And finally, I wrote a detailed (and therefore boring, LOL)
HC Report for each of my completions. That means a DOC-file
(about 10 pages long, LOL) and Statistic-pictures about all
levels. I did it to completely authenticate my work and for
sharing my experiences (describing situations, giving tips,
etc.); the Reports are in Hungarian only...
Does it sound unbelievable? I mean, getting everything, so
playing like "normal", even in HC? Well, I did it, so it is
possible: that means, you still can be a maximalist, even
if you are playing a HC-completion. There is always a solution,
and you hardly can find real "limits". I always wondered that
if it was intended by the Creators (nothing is impossible
to Lara), or just the game itself is too easy? :) Naturally,
I had some nasty experiences, since Manual Targeting caused
enough problems, and the last episode in TR5 was really tough
(remember the lift and the two Large MediPacks at the end
of the corridor with a dead end, where the 3 guys wanted to
kill Lara at the same time, and that is just one example)...
I started my HC-project in the very end of 2001, and I finished
it in the end of 2002. And I have to mention, I have learnt
a lot, during the adventures... Then Hamster and ProtUs followed
me, as I remember...
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^Top
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How was HC involved into the TombRaiderForums @ TRC?
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Huh, it's a long story, maybe ELEN and other old Members
know the story better*. I registered to TRC in the August
of 2002. I was playing TR5 in HC that time, and I wanted to
ask the experienced Raiders about something: a "missing" enemy
(a Doberman), since I'm a maximalist, You know. :D I'm speaking
about this
topic. I didn't mention HC in that topic, although I was
on "Streets Of Rome" in my TR5-HC completion... Later I mentioned
HC a few times, and the expert Members started to be thinking
about it. I mean, They were interested in it. And They soon
started their own HC-projects with many participants at the
same time! Just a few names from that time: ELEN, Bokkie,
TR-Player..we even have some HC-Statistics from Bokkie, on
our HC-page (2nd page, I even wrote about it in English)...
:)
*Comment by ELEN: It was me who first invited the members
on TRF. SYS had talked to me about the HC challenge, and the
Adventures
of Lara Croft was the first game we played in HC.
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^Top
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HC on the TombRaiderForums?
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Yes, TRF had many HC-competitions so far from TR1 to TR6,
although searching for all those long topics would definitely
take some time (the complete list can be found here). Bokkie
and TR-Player (as I remember) even found out two new mutations/variations
for HC: XHC and XTHC. It's very nice to see how many Players
enjoyed HC anyway... :)
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XHC (eXtra Hard Core) means:
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No cheats
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No MediPacks
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All Secrets
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Pistols only
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XTHC (eXTreme Hard Core) means:
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No cheats
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No MediPacks
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All Secrets
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Pistols only
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Manual Targeting
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No Flares
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All Kills
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All Pickups
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Naturally, there may be exceptions, where it is impossible
to keep the above rules or at least part of them.
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^Top
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The "no scratch" challenge, a.k.a. the HC today, and the future...
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Well, it happened in the middle of 2004 (maybe in April or
May): a Hungarian Fan, Lacek, introduced himself on TR.hu's
HC-page with his AOD results. He introduced his style, and
the new thing was this in it: "never get hurt"... Sick, isn't
it? ;) I started to call this "UberHC", anyway... :D The "no
scratch" challenge truly needs an expert Adventurer who already
experienced a lot and have so much patience and time. As I
know, Lacek already completed all TRs with "no scratch", and
ELEN also started the first "no scratch"-competition on TRF,
in June 2004. It was about AOD, and the participants were:
ELEN, Nicky, Lacek, and myself... Then other "no scratch"
competitions started about TR1, TR2, and nowadays there's
a "no scratch" challenge on TR3... Naturally, "no scratch"
also holds exceptions with or maybe without additional rules...
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^Top
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My final words...
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I would like to thank ELEN for asking me to write this FAQ.
I always wanted TR.hu
not to be just a "seperated from the World due to language"
Community, and TRC helped us a lot in this. Thank You. :)
I mean, here's HC for example, what officially origins from
Hamster, and today maybe most of the World knows this, or
will know the whole story in the near future. I think, this
is something great! :D And I repeat myself: it's also great
to see how many Members got infected with HC and later with
the "no scratch" challenge. We hope (actually we know) You
All had a great time with beating these challenges... So just
raid on... without MediPacks! ;)
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^Top
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This FAQ may be changed, corrected, expanded
in the future, since most of us (ELEN, Lacek, Nicky, and so
on) can add things, tidbits, trivias (Forum-links for example)
to it, and I also can add things what I've forgotten this
time...
SYS - 7th of February, 2005
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