Food For Thought

[billie2001]

Somehow you can always tell a new "classic" from an old "classic".
The newer ones look and feel completely different, even if they use only classic resources.
The lighting is different, there are more transition textures, more objects, but most of all the gameplay is different.
If you re-texture TR1 with HD textures and a fancy Lara model but leave the gameplay unchanged, it will still feel classic.
So maybe we can set a date and just call them "old levels". IMO "old" are the pre-NGLE levels (with very few exceptions).

[eRIC]

for me , a classic is a level that serves as reference for (or is representive of) its own type of level, i.e a level that follows the said or unsaid characteristics of this particular type so that players "identify" them rather easily.
If we make a parallel with movies , Open range is a classic western movie , Usual suspects is a classic in the thriller type of movie , etc...
It does not have to be necessarily a masterpiece (if so it would not be a classic but a great classic), but needs to be good enough to be qualified as such.
Back to TR levels : Classic for me has little to do with how old the level is (although it is easier to consider such particular work as classic in retrospect) but has to do with Identification.
(for ex , think "classic raiding" for a gameplay that follows the mainstream 'spirit' of the official levels : exploration , atmospheric immersion, action , puzzles ...)
Recent levels that i would consider as classic just to name a few : Mystery of the Lost Pyramid by Sabatu , The Swamp by Feder , and many more.

Now with trle new types of levels have seen the day of light : Easter levels , Joke levels , Hardcore challenging levels , ...and maybe some of them can be qualified as Classic of their own new type ?

[billie2001]

I agree with eRIC but what Phil proposed was to bring to the spotlight good old levels since everybody now focuses on newer releases.
That's why I proposed to use the term "old" and not "classic".

There is another identification that IMO is more important and this is a how easy/difficult a level is.
I've been watching the classic TR community in Twitch for quite a while and a lot of viewers have said that although they think TRLEs are great, they are too difficult.
Most of them started with the newer and high-rated ones which usually are not a walk in the park and then gave up on TRLEs altogether.
Even some streamers choose to stream very low-rated levels with the notion that they are easier.
If we could set this identification (easy/medium/challenging/very challenging) I think we would attract more players and spare them the frustration.

[Storm Chaser]

Some of the levels on TRLE.net do have difficulty ratings, but not all.

[Phil]

What may seem easy to an experienced raider may be something else entirely to a beginner. Our review system is valuable in many ways, not the least of which is to give prospective players guidelines regarding a given release's level of difficulty.

[billie2001]

What may seem easy to an experienced raider may be something else entirely to a beginner.

And that's exactly why our precious reviews are useless for this purpose.
I can recognise the names and the majority of the reviewers are experienced players.
I think it is not that difficult to set a standard. Wouldn't you say that the official classics are of medium difficulty?
If we agree on this, the rest is easy to set.

[Storm Chaser]

I’d classify the original games as:

TR1 = Medium to hard.
TR2 = Hard.
TR3 = Hard.
TR4 = Medium to hard.
TR5 = Medium to hard.

[Phil]

And that's exactly why our precious reviews are useless for this purpose.

Not useless, please. From browsing the reviews I can usually get a general idea of how player-friendly a level may be.

If you'll read my early reviews of the Legacy of the Gods series, you'll see that I groused a bit about the constant worry I then had about encountering the next trap around the corner. But now that I'm replaying these levels some 15 years later, I find the need for constant vigilance to be quite invigorating. Playing skills improve, and tastes change, over time.

[vimmers]

Playing skills improve, and tastes change, over time.

indeed so do our brains
i have played many older levels lately
and can barely remember that i played them before

[Jay]

@ Vimmers As to that, we have a saying in our household, i.e. "I've slept since then". In fact, I sometimes forget where I'm up to in a level after lunch.