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The Templar Treasure - Part 1 by Thierry Stoorne

Adrian 10 8 9 8
Bigfoot 10 10 10 10
DJ Full 6 8 8 7
French Triumvirat 5 6 7 9
Jay 8 9 9 10
JesseG 7 10 9 9
Jorge22 9 10 10 10
McRaider 10 10 10 10
Phil 10 10 10 9
Ryan 8 9 10 10
 
release date: 20-Mar-2020
# of downloads: 124

average rating: 8.93
review count: 10
 
review this level

file size: 277.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: nc
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
thierrystoorne@aol.com

Reviewer's comments
"I have never seen a level succeed that much at pretending to be good. It took me many episodes to play and every episode took more effort than other games take to complete entirely. Yes there are good moments but six or seven in 12 levels are a joke. Everything else is a filler, at least 90 kilometers out of 120 (!!!!) could be removed, and I'd normally ask if the betatesters were asleep, but from the Triumvirat's review I see they were just ignored. Meanwhile, builders who make everything meaningful get overlooked. But to the possible players, I can still swear Thierry made good levels in the past, including my favourite ones, so don't let this one distract you from them, and play those instead." - DJ Full (23-Apr-2021)
"• Introduction: This review was written by 3 fans who tested the level together until its end. “Templar Treasure” is a long adventure, a series of 12 levels, relatively well rated (9.41 for 8 reviews) at the moment, although overrated in our opinion. Generally speaking, this TRLE adventure remains very clean and we are aware of the work and time the builder has spent on it. However, it was a feeling of weariness that filled all three of us as we progressed through the levels. Here is our opinion, criterion by criterion.
• Gameplay & Puzzles (5/10): After playing a few hours, one quickly gets the feeling that the rooms and the puzzles are regularly repeated due to a lack of activity in the space, an abusive use of certain objects and jump switchs as well as a lack of important visual clues (trapdoor hidden in the floor without a handle, door to be opened with a crowbar or not?) which moreover makes certain puzzles difficult to solve in the sense that their resolution would not come to mind (chain hidden in the chandelier in the theatre, invisible black targets at the end of Parabaïlarlabamba, box to be exploded under water in the final level). On top of that, let’s note the few hitbox problems with the objects or the setting (chairs in the flooded theatre, underwater collisions), a gameplay that is sometimes difficult for novices and an exploitation of the engine’s flaws pushing the player to use banana jumps or half jumps to progress. The idea of the diary, although good, is unfortunately under-exploited and the scenario lacks a lot of clarity due to the lack of information between levels and in the fly-by. Some positive points nevertheless, we appreciate the few inventive rooms that make conscious use of the space (skull room, flooded theatre), the new traps and the innovative animations such as the one to get out of the water by a ladder.
• Enemies, Objects & Secrets (6/10): For the enemies, there is not much variety in the bestiary, which is a shame but not dramatic. A lot of disappointment for the object though, there is an abusive use of the same objects for the same level (e.g. old key, artifact…) which are often dropped by an enemy and almost invisible because of the same colours as the ground texture: we talk about artificial difficulty because it forces the player to go back on his steps by looking everywhere with a flare. By talking about flare, we note there are far too many of them missing: the lighting being often low, flares are necessary to find objects or hidden trapdoors and their “under-number” forces the player to reload the game to save them. Finally, there is a good distribution of ammunition according to the enemies and the action scenes remain dynamic, notably thanks to the unexpected use of grenades (one-shot) which push the player to stay on guard.
• Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras (7/10): We sincerely regret that there is little variety in the scenery and the generally bland atmosphere as well as a lack of camera when using some levers. However, the sound design is correct and there are some good fly-by scenes!
• Lighting & Textures (9/10): Although the lighting is rather weak and the number of flares doesn’t help, we often appreciated the quality of the textures, not often as good in a TRLE level.
• Conclusion: To conclude, being all 3 French, we invite Thierry to come and discuss with us if he wants more details on this review. We wish him good luck for the part 2 building and we hope he will take our comments into account." - French Triumvirat (24-Mar-2021)
"12 huge levels, a huge amount of tasks, huge places to navigate and back and fro to exhaustion equals over 25 hours net playing time and over 112 km on my counter. Pff... That was huge. So huge I can't remember most of it anymore. But I have the general idea of what's been keeping me busy for weeks. Is it true that it counts a little too much on pushables and levers? Maybe so, but it probably has to when you think of how long the game is, so one could also argue it counts on inventive puzzles, much orientation, some platforming, a bit hard-to-handle traps, a few fights, quite interesting timed runs, riding a motorbike (I think, I can't be 100% certain anymore) and what-the-ever-not. The texturisation and the general architecture look extremely well done, even if the settings may end up feeling a bit repetitive globally. There was that issue with the grenade gun, in which Lara explodes if she doesn't fire the grenades from a long enough distance - and they're actually needed, at least at a couple of specific moments, especially because I didn't find the crossbow. Some of the baddies are quite dangerous too, because they fire actual exploding grenades, not just the kind that generate fireworks, so ammo has to be used very wisely at times. Good atmosphere. You always get some kind of audio warning when something's about to happen and I can't complain of any lack of visual scenes showing what a particular action has achieved. I thought the very ending was sudden. All in all, I believe The Templar Treasure (part 1) does rank among the best trle games ever crafted. So, well done and thank you." - Jorge22 (10-May-2020)
"This massive adventure is definitely one for you explorers. Huge amounts of massive, wide-open buildings and flooded areas to traverse will undoubtedly keep you occupied for hours on end (and we all need to keep ourselves busy during the current pandemic, don't we). My only complaint about the exploration factor is that a lot of the areas tend to look rather similar after encountering them numerous times, which did get slightly confusing and tedious. There was rather an overuse of switch pulling and object moving puzzles too. Having said that, there's a great deal of enjoyable gameplay throughout this epic as well, with challenging bike rides, shootouts, flipmaps, traps and brilliant timed exercises, which do offset the repetitive parts. The atmosphere is really well done, the surroundings are absolutely gorgeous and imposing and Lara's various outfit changes were neatly executed. I'm glad I saw it through because although it does require some patience, it is an ultimately rewarding experience. Spent 15 hours net gaming time here." - Ryan (06-May-2020)
"This is a truly herculean release, ideal for playing during the stay-at-home restrictions imposed by the current pandemic. Indeed, my play clock registered more than 26 hours when I finally reached the end, but much of this time was invested in the walkthrough that I added to bit by bit over more than a month. I had played both the Setback series and the BtB level, but everything here was as fresh to me as if I were seeing it for the first time. The gameplay is quite challenging in places, duly pointed out where necessary in the walkthrough, yet I was able to grind my way along without ever having to resort to a savegame. My only complaint would be the relative darkness in many areas, although I was always able to see what I was doing, and I would have been much happier with more color and festive scenery. That's a small quibble, however, and I have nothing but positive memories of my playing experience. Thanks, Thierry, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the release of Part 2." - Phil (06-May-2020)
"It's certainly one of the top game of this year with 13 levels. And personnally each levels deserve 10/10/10/10. We are even a complete remake of Setback. The full adventure is good and even very good but a bit hard sometimes. I have loved the many locations visited by Lara and I think my favorite is Paris, specially the Theater. I loved this level :-D !! I spent more of 15 hours through this game but more, more time in real time. I hope play a day the sequel of this adventure because some questions has no answers and I'm very curious to see where Lara was teleported after level 2 and what happened after the last level. To conclude: A very good adventure with lot of pleasure and fun surprises. Not maybe for the begginners but still recommended." - Bigfoot (05-May-2020)
"What an enjoyable set of varied levels packaged into one. Some expansive architecture and rooms, not always holding many objects - but then this is a raid/quest and we SHOULD have to go looking and try every door & look in every nook and cranny, not have it always handed to us on a plate. Some good puzzles and I always like the tantalising glimpses of areas not yet reached. Occasionally repetitive with the last guard always having a key, but overall an excellent Part 1 of a magnus opus. Bravo! I look forward to the second heap helping of the same or better..." - Adrian (27-Apr-2020)
"Well this epic has kept me quiet for several weeks, mainly because I could only play it in small doses, it being surprisingly challenging at times. When it’s good, it’s very good indeed, but I can’t help but feel it would have benefited greatly from a judicious ‘prune’ here and there, especially in the middle sections which began to feel very similar. There’s an over-reliance on pushing boxes/puzzle pieces around at times too. However, there’s also plenty of exciting timed runs/bike riding/agility tests etc. in compensation, the different sections are beautifully made and Lara gets to change her outfits from time to time. Overall I’m really glad I stuck with it." - Jay (25-Apr-2020)
"Here we have lots of exploration, jumpswitches, and tricky platforming. I got a bit of a "cookie cutter" feeling from many of the beginning levels; quite a few areas are large, partially flooded chambers with many pillars, and I got a bit fatigued after seeing so many of them. It doesn't help that these areas tend to have the same textures, making them blend together instead of each area having its own sense of purpose. Unfortunately this feeling also pervades the initial gameplay, which constitutes running back and forth while using keys and switches. A few things felt unfair due to inconsistency, such as crowbar doors looking exactly like non-crowbar doors, as if the player should be expected to approach every door and press action just in case. Same goes for the floor trapdoors, lacking any visual differentiation from the rest of the surrounding floor. Perhaps the most frustrating part was the motorbike, which is used on narrow paths with dead-ends that are easy to get stuck in, and spontaneously lights Lara on fire if she takes too sharp of a turn over certain corners. Thankfully the experience improves as the game progresses, keeping Lara on foot with engaging traps and puzzles, and in the end it was a fulfilling raid. The lighting is great, probably my favorite part of this whole adventure, and the use of objects is well done. There is no denying what an impressive feat it is just to release an adventure of this magnitude, and considering the current pandemic, the timing was opportune. 16 hours 7 minutes." - JesseG (07-Apr-2020)
"My experience was great! A very entertaining level with different puzzles, some very creative. The texturing and lighting was a plus in view of the size of the rooms, which can sometimes be monotonous, but not in this case. Be somewhat challenging but nothing that the player can not handle. Due to the gameplay, the author's career, which deserves my respect .. I found it an excellent level, which I have enjoyed until the end. Thank you very much for the adventure! !" - McRaider (07-Apr-2020)