Man, don't let the QTE's turn you off, they're only like 1/50 of the game. Anniversary is a fine remake.

Oh yes. I lost tons of time to the first TR back when I was in high school. It was just such a brilliant damn game. Sure, the graphics look atrocious now, but back then they were pretty. Especially the environments. It was amazing to see what they'd actually done with the world. You'd be stuck in some claustrophobic tunnel and then suddenly there'd be a little bit of light at the end of that tunnel. You'd emerge into this lush valley that seemed to stretch on forever, and it'd be covered with vegetation, or, depending on the level, you'd walk into a cavernous room decorated with all these intricate carvings all over the walls and support pillars.
And then, just as you were standing around in awe at what you were seeing, this sweeping musical accompaniment would kick in and remind you just how awe inspiring what you were seeing was really supposed to be. It was an absolutely amazing effect, and while the second game still had that style and zest, I think, the third and the fourth and the fifth, pretty much got progressively worse, which is what a lot of people say, too.
But Legend? And Anniversary? I definitely think they managed to get the formula right with those. They've really managed to get back to the roots of the series with those and recapture what made the original game so darned good in the first place.

I never got to play Angel Of Darkness but it looked like that had potential to be a real genre breaker. A combination of Tomb Raider's environmental exploration and puzzles with a Broken Sword style narrative driven adventure
Its like AOD & Broken Sword 3 were both reaching for the same place but neither quite got there

Oh yes. One of the moments I remember most in Anniversary was standing there thinking "Shit, I'm sure that T-Rex used to be smaller!"

I only own 2 TR games, original for PC and the new remake for PS2. While the original is still better, the remake was damn nice too, or it was sugar coated with nostalgia, but I liked it anyways.
BTW, PC version of original TR looks damn nice with Glide patches and voodoo2, too bad its DOS game so experiencing it with Glide is not that easy anymore without setting up comp for it. Then again I got my old Voodoo2 and 900MHz Athlon + mobo and GF2Ultra in my closet... :P Don't tempt me with these nostalgia threads damn it!

This might sound strange, but I was 13 when Tomb Raider was released. I never once was "attracted" to the character, probably because I had already played games that had female leads playing strong characters. So when I saw sequels come out with the ads obviously showing people obsessing over Lara Croft, I didn't get it.
I rented it for the Playstation shortly after it came out, and to be quite frank, I wasn't impressed. I didn't care much for the camera or the controls, and when I saw the T-rex, it was more of a "Ok, WTF is this" then amazement or fear. I did try the demo for the second game I think (it took place in Venice I think, and you were shooting random guys)and it seemed like more of the same.
I've never played a Tomb Raider since.

neither did i , i liked the parcours type of levels but shooting the bears and solving those very easy puzeels didn't appeal to me.
i just downloaded some pics of angelina and it was more satisfying :)

The first game was kind of interesting, but the series was on a long, downhill slope since. I lost interest completely pretty early on.

And now you have Mirror's Edge for your parkour fix :D.

Yeah, I meant the Rex. I could write an entire dissertation on how the remake messed it up. It's ridiculous, really.

The Diary of a Tomb Raider Fanatic

I remember tomb Raider 2 as being really good too. Some awesome environments to explore.
Also, another good memory for TR1 was trying out all the cool moves, i remember spending ages experimenting with doing handstands, backflips, and swan dives off high ledges into pools.
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I think i must also be the only guy who really hated the new ones. I know Legend got universally great reviews, but i played it for FREE on gametap, and i still gave up about 1/3rd of the way into it.
I appreciated what they were trying to do, but it just didn't feel right. I think i found the camera way too zoomed in on lara, so i couldn't see around properly. and i never got much of a feeling of control with the movement (not like PoP). Plus I hated the combat (which was never a strongpoint of course).
I actually started playing one of the older TR games on Gametap just after (the one where she starts as a young girl) and enjoyed it more, despite the aged graphics and tank-like controls.

I have to say I'm very happy to have found a community where this kind of nostalgia gets immediate and similar response. Thank you for that, fellow gog'ers.
I should probably mention I've only played the PC version.
And speaking of the unforgettable/best moments in the original, the T-Rex of course wins my vote also. I can still return the very moment of it getting into view and how I felt then. First came disbelief, then hesitation and lastly panicking horror!
Another good memory is of the swimming/diving levels where there where crocodiles/alligators. Even the thought of them crossing you kept you on your toes when swimming without knowlege of how far the next ledge is.
And dive jumping! I did that so much and the higher the better. Did anyone else do those even to solid floors just because you were so high above and it looked so nice? I wonder if it was the level with the Damocles's Sword where you had to climb really high on some plaltforms? I tried so many times to dive jump from the top to the bottom floor, to find some hole in there where I could get through all the way...
Maybe the main part of the reason why the QTE's bother me so much is because I play with PC and abhor the mixture of gamepads and computers. If I cannot play it good enough with my keyboard and mouse the game has lost me. I could never get the QTE's to hit when trying the demo of Anniversary so it's doubtful to change in the full game.
I also tried the demo of Legend and it felt pretty good up until to the point that I'd have to start shooting people. It just broke the game for me completely. Survival and progress in tough nature conditions is the adventure I want in Tomb Raider games, not combat. It was well brought in in the original since the player was not the one who did the initiative but was being hunted. This is a crucial difference to me; who makes the first offensive.

Obviously, the T-Rex was great, everybody remembers the T-Rex. But, for me the best moment was the puzzle in Palace Midas, the one with metal bars and Midas' hand. I thought it was an especially nice touch that the game rarely gave very many hints on how to solve the puzzles and for me this was one of the most inventive. Turning Lara to gold was pretty cool too.
Ah, St. Francis' Folly where I discovered the best scream in video games.

Or the head of the sphinx in TR3 (I think it was) where you can't even see the floor its so far away (or the draw distance is that damn short). I killed her so many times just for the fun of that dive
Underworld did something good there, it has an option to dial down the combat so you get less of the annoying small fights and only the major ones. There was definitely too much combat in Legend, particularly the kazakhstan missions

HELL yes, one of the best unpleasant surprises I've had in a game