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The real St. Francis' Folly by trguru

alan 3 3 2 2
CC 7 3 2 2
Ceamonks890 1 1 1 1
Dimpfelmoser 7 3 3 2
eRIC 4 4 4 4
Gerty 8 4 5 5
Jay 6 3 5 4
Jez 7 7 5 4
Jose 2 2 4 3
Kristina 4 2 4 4
manarch2 3 1 2 2
MichaelP 8 3 4 3
Mulf 3 4 1 2
Orbit Dream 7 2 5 5
RaiderGirl 7 4 5 5
Ryan 4 2 3 3
Sash 6 5 5 5
Scottie 2 2 3 2
Sheevah 3 3 3 3
Tombaholic 7 5 3 3
Torry 6 6 5 5
totizedger 7 3 5 3
Treeble 4 5 5 4
WebKnight 1 1 1 1
 
release date: 11-Jul-2001
# of downloads: 259

average rating: 3.72
review count: 24
 
review this level

file size: 13.03 MB
file type: TR4
class: Rome/Greece
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
rmwbowman@ffguru.freeserve.co.uk

Reviewer's comments
"I don't think I saw the end to this level, there's just too much climbing and jumping in huge rooms that just keep going. The platforming was okay at the beginning, but then it got tiring. I wasn't very fond of this one, and there's no way this can be the real St. Francis Folly!" - alan (14-Oct-2022)
"I wasted a lot of time in this trying to line up a swandive that would land me in a one-tile pool of water deep down below the ledge I was standing on. Had I succeeded, it would have gone some way towards explaining why fellow reviewer Orbit Dream extols this level as a - lost gem'; but it didn't work. The walkthrough informed me why: I was supposed to ignore the one-tile pool of water until I'd made my way further down. In the meantime, from where I was standing, several openings were within reach. Each lead to a sliding slope ending in a death tile, a fact of which I was painfully aware; but as it turns out, one of these slopes - get this - has an unmarked climbable wall at its end. It looks exactly the same as the walls in all the other death slides - or indeed, exactly the same as all the other walls in the level full stop - , but this one you're supposed to jumped to and grab. How clever is that?
This is the major source of irritation. There are others. Nor does the vaunted platforming in this level amount to all that much in the end. Some jumps are trickier than others, but most are quite straightforward, and much of the time you'll be performing rather more boring tasks anyway - lengthy shimmies, lengthy corridors to run through, lengthy block-climbing sequences. Of three monkeyswings, none is required for you to progress; I have no idea whether any of them can actually be used for anything or whether the builder keeps repeating a joke because it was so funny the first time. The builder took a stab at lighting, but due to the speed-built nature of the map it never amounts to much and serves primarily to highlight nasty cracks in the wallpapered and almost featureless environment. As far as I'm concerned, this gem may well stay lost." - Mulf (19-Feb-2022)
"A level focused on gameplay , mostly platforming with little else in terms of diversity. Some big and high rooms allowing dives into a square of water , many jumps of course , only one trap if we don't count the death tiles , only one room with (many) enemies (this was fun), only a few pickups. The textures are often streched and texturing repetitive , a couple of thin floors but we have seen worse in other levels in terms of visuals. This was rather pleasant, except for the unmarked climbable surfaces and a ceiling with monkeyswinging textures which seems to be only a red herring." - eRIC (27-Sep-2019)
"Not really a St. Francis Folly level. Yes, there are some deep pits with multiple ledges, where you'll need to do a lot of climbing/descending, but not any other entertaining tasks. The lighting is worked, but the textures are very elongated in all rooms, there are unmarked climbable ladders and I was not able to grab a couple of monkeyswings. There is also a problem in the final room with the water flipmaps: if you pick up the cartouche in the ceiling hole before the cartouche in the crawlspace you can't go to the crawlspace and finish the level; but there's still an option to finish if you go back to the same places to trigger the flipmaps. Not an entertaining level for me." - Jose (15-Dec-2017)
"No real resemblance to the TR1 version and to be honest I'd rather have the original any day. Although some of the jumps require a slight bit of thought, it does get rather repetitive and tedious after a while because that's all you do aside from push a few statues and swim a bit. There's a nice flipmap puzzle which shows some creativity, but this isn't really my kind of game. The stretched, crude and repetitive texturing, bare rooms and a rather boring usage of enemies (eight ninjas at once is pushing it, surely?) don't really redeem it either." - Ryan (05-Nov-2017)
"I don't know whether the builder intended the title to be ironic or not back then, but good lord is this level so aggressively boring(even by the standards of the era it originally released in). Texturing is atrocious, lighting is inconsistent, environments are large & empty and the gameplay as previously mentioned, is utterly sleep-inducing. So in conclusion, don't play this. It's not worth wasting your time over." - Ceamonks890 (07-Oct-2017)
"If you're expecting those lovely, elegant and nostalgia inducing St Francis' Folly textures and objects then I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment as all around you are bland, sandy looking walls and columns. The gameplay for the main part isn't all that exciting either, although one or two of the jumps etc., are definitely not for the newbie player. The enemy(?) is a ninja, so hardly worth mentioning really. Otherwise, it's lever throwing, statue pushing and a rather good water flooding and draining sequence. OK, but nothing spectacular." - Jay (16-Jul-2016)
"The builder must be right, this is really much more like St. Francis' Folly like any other level, let alone the TR 1 one. You see me joking, because irony is the only way I can react to this sea of monotony. The texturing is horribly wallpapered, streched and monotonous in the use of colour (while the lighting is actually not totally bad), the areas are huge and don't spread any kind of atmosphere, the progression is straightforward, the jump sequences and corridors are easy to pass but very, very long and thus this is a very tedious and unattractive level even if it only lasted 15 minutes for me. At least the flooding puzzle was halfway decent although there's a possible dead end if you do things in an unintended order. Oh and I only met a single one out of eight "promised" ninjas. I'd say "highly recommended"; but only if the irony is turned on again." - manarch2 (22-Feb-2016)
"Yeah i know the looks may not be the best but hey this is actually a level with good gameplay especially if you like acrobatics. As i love doing tricky jumps and such this level actually entertained me more than i thought it would. If the textures had been more varied and carefully applied then this would be a real winner. If you don't care about the visuals too much then you will have a good time." - totizedger (07-May-2014)
"This level is getting interesting very late. More or less. First one must open a door. Then it goes in a gigantic room with floating blocks in several floors completely down. In the next gigantic room it goes about several floors and floating blocks again completely upwards. Then it goes... ... correct, you have probably already supposed it. It goes in the following gigantic room about several floors and floating blocks again completely down. And only the next gigantic room is a bit interesting. More or less. First one must switch off a horde of Baddies. Then one must find 3 cartouches. And because the room is sometimes half and sometimes fully underwater, one must already keep to a certain order with get of the cartouches. It's end of work after one has used the three cartouches,. So properly play fun originates not. Everything is gigantic and empty. Constantly this dreary and senselessy jumping. In addition stretched textures where one looks. Only the last gigantic room is interesting more or less. Well, who makes no high demands, can risk a look." - Scottie (03-May-2009)
"And here's another hidden gem. It's hard to rate gameplay higher, as it's almost exclusively about jumping around from platform to platform; but, my goodness, it's fun! The action is basically centered around three huge, deep rooms; each one involving a devious course from top to bottom, complete with monkey-swings, shimmys, back-flips and all the other acrobatics associated with this type of level. This might have become tedious after a while, but the level has an intentionally strong sense of the absurd running through it (naughty monkey-swings that lead to fatal falls if you should be tempted by them; water-filled crawlspaces it is apparently impossible to enter); none of which are unfair, as the player is given all the clues as to which is genuine and which is not. (Be careful at the end, though; if you collect the last two cartouche pieces in the wrong order, you'll be stuck.) The wallpaper texturing and the obvious unconcern on the part of the builder for giving his level any additional polish somewhat lets it down elsewhere, but this is all about athletic gameplay; and, as such, it succeeds completely. A criminally under-rated little adventure." - Orbit Dream (17-Jun-2005)
"This level starts as a clever jumpathon which has the player impressed but as you progress you begin to appreciate that the theme changes. It starts with no enemies and then you get set upon by a small army. Once this is dealt with you need to fill and empty a cistern to find cartouches. The atmosphere and textures are very ordinary but that is not what this level is about." - Jez (09-Aug-2004)
"What a blast! This is purely a jumping shimmying climbing and a couple of tremendous falls into a tiny square water hole level. No enemies(!) no puzzles no secrets. Very plain texturing actually the textures are just a backdrop. Any old wad would have done but here it's a couple of Egyptian ones. I don't know how many times I fell to death trying to grab the monkey swings that weren't monkey swings. And the final area was good where you have to push statues find cartouches flood and drain the water in another huge room. Good fun. The only folly here is comparing it to the original game." - CC (08-Aug-2003)
"What a little gem if you love jumping like I do. Although with sweat in my palms as I don't like heights. Climbing and jumping in rooms from the bottom to the top and vice versa to get to the 3 Cartouches that is the main goal here. Not much of enemies apart from using the last lever than there are seven of them coming at Lara. Well there is plenty of room to jump around. There are also some traps and some monkey climbs work the others do not. Some statue pushing and even a spiked boulder but that one was very easy. Putting the Cartouche in their slots will open the three doors and the level ends there. 18-12-2002" - Gerty (22-Dec-2002)
"Nothing much many jumps and three cartouches for puzzles. All the rooms are textured with brown tiles and there are no objects or enemies except a bunch of ninjas at the end. There is a problem with the cartouche pieces you must pick up the one at the crawlspace first otherwise the water level will lower and it's not possible to access the third piece. A few fire traps and one spike ball. Not really a fun level." - Kristina (10-Dec-2002)
"Excuse me 'real'? Where's the fake? If it is about St. Francis' Folly the awesome TR1 level I am sorry but I choose the fake. This level offers you nothing but a lot of jumps and shimming and it has a very poor texturization mostly with stretched textures and with a few different textures. In the final rooms there were interesting but buggy flipmaps. If you decide to go back before getting the third cartouche you will be stuck." - Treble (07-Nov-2002)
"I found the gameplay highly entertaining as it revolves mainly around jumps slopes and errrr.... more jumps. Unfortunately the author has concentrated on building the jump invested course and neglected things like secrets enemies atmosphere and objects. In fact the whole thing seems to be built with only two textures. There is a nice plunge into a square of water and the flipmap ant the end is quite clever but if you don't get the three cartouches in the right order you can get stuck. The fake monkey bars are only funny once and pushing statues through a maze isn't my favourite activity but otherwise I enjoyed the fast paced gameplay for the 40 minutes it lasted." - Dimpfelmoser (15-Oct-2002)
"This level has no resemblance whatsoever to the original level and comes nowhere near as close to the gameplay of that great level. This one is a labyrinth of huge rooms with enormous drops and the challenge is really negotiating your way either up or down intact. This involves quite a bit of jumping some shimmying and the occasional backflip/turn/grab but otherwise is uneventful. The final large room has a half decent puzzle in getting the room to fill with water and then getting the same room half empty so you can retrieve all three cartouches and exit the level. All in all just a tad over 30 minutes should see you through." - Torry (19-Sep-2002)
"If you're expecting anything like the original level St.Francis' Folly you will be disappointed in this one. But if you like levels filled with tricky jumps and a lot of climbing you'll really enjoy this one. The majority of the level is made up of floating platforms you must get around with some well done traps thrown in - not a lot of enemies though so you can really concentrate on what you're doing. I enjoyed the use of water and finding the necessary objects." - RaiderGirl (25-Jul-2002)
"Although plainly textured throughout besides maybe one or two rooms and a lack of real puzzles I still found myself enjoying this 30 minutes level because it wasn't your average Egyptian style level. The action takes place in mainly 3 extremely high rooms filled with floating platforms and 1 large room that you need to fill with water to find 3 cartouches as I said though there really isn't anything in the way of puzzles but more in the way of using some fun jumps and moves that help Lara progress. I found one funny bug in the water filling room where at one stage an ambush of about 7 ninjas attack but instead of killing them you can make a mad dash out of the room and then fill it with water and when you come back they are all running around underwater and better still you can swim straight through them!" - Sash (21-Jun-2002)
"Yes yes this 30 minute level has all big and boxlike rooms with lots of repetitive stretched and carelessly applied textures or even no textures (e.g. no water textures) but I still enjoyed it very much for its main purpose is a classical platform game. The progression up and down through very high rooms was quite entertaining although I cursed the fake monkey textures a few times. So if you are into acrobatics and can stand the lack of visual interest in a level you may want to check this one out." - Michael (21-Jun-2002)
"Set in a series of enormous and blandly textured rooms Lara gets a workout with an endless series of climbs and descents. A halfway decent puzzle and a gun-battle toward the end redeem the level a bit." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)
"Sorry but this one is a "HUH?"-Level. With the first room looking nice you stumble in the next room that's large empty has nearly no lighting and has stretched textures on its walls. There is one door open there. You jump into the next room (that's as ugly as the second) turn a switch and that's all folks. I had no chance to get back to the second room. Even if I had I believe that the next room would have been as ugly as the others. I'm really sorry for this but I see no chance to give more than 1 Point for it. It was unplayable for me." - Webknight (21-Jun-2002)
"In the first place you can train your jumping and climbing and running skills in this level for there is not so much else to do. You find a couple of large empty rooms and it seems the author didn't use more than 5 or 6 different textures (or was it even 7?). But it doesn't matter most of them were stretched besides they looked like wallpapers in many places. In the end the level becomes a little more interesting when you need to find three cartouches to reach the end. But all in all this level lacks a bit of everything there is nothing really 'thrilling' or challenging. The lighting was okay." - Sheevah (21-Jun-2002)