Get Back Up

[Metalrocks]

nice article. at least someone who got it right and did proper research.
also on the official TR website http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=115168&page=10
there is a big discussion regarding this topic. also the links they post from other article are just amazing how stupid these journalists are. claiming how bad it is in a game, blah blah blah...

CD creates an more human, realistic looking, emotional character that makes a far more believable impression, and thats the thanks they get from some stupid retards dickheads who cant understand the concept of the character or even bother to do proper research.
also these stupid hysterical mothers who think they protect their children from becoming bad, which never worked anyway.

 

[The Random One]

Hello. I had a massive breakdown this evening and my head is thumping and I cried and cried. The reason for this breakdown was a horrible thing in the past. Take a look, Tomb Raider. This is what happens? ?When horrible things happen. Not strong, interesting game characters. Broken and terrified and awful evenings like this. There. I said it. Please Retweet that. All these four tweets. The industry needs to know what really happens as a result of stuff like this. #tombraider

(Source.) [https://twitter.com/notquitereal/status/213028158302199808]

You are wrong, Susan. You are very, very wrong. The desire to write a strong female character does not give one free reins to make a traumatic, horrible thing part of your story. You are essentially saying 'well, rape sucks for those people who got raped, but I want my game with a cool character!' Your priorities are misguided. Do not attempt to defend a horrible thing, even if you think the horrible thing was not meant in earnest, because that's how we get used to horrible things.

I'll add that it's obvious from the internet reaction that the people who created that game never tried to talk to a rape victim and probably think trigger warning is something you shout on the shooting range. I don't think video games can't portray rape. I think the modern games industry can't.

 

[Voulan]

Thank god. There are other people who really get it.

This game isn't just about a girl being placed in a terrible situation - it's about an average person in a terrible situation. Regardless of gender, Lara is in a place that no one really has to face, and here she struggles to survive. But this is only the first part of the game. Later, Lara learns to adapt, and then overcome her situation. This is a journey of hardship, and people seem to forget that we've only seen her beginning. If we ever get to see more of the end of the game, where Lara strikes back on her environment, then maybe people will be more mature about the game. This is about a scared person, not just a woman. It's desperate situations that show someones true character, and Lara certainly shows her strength and courage even when things look bleak, even before she has become our Tomb Raider.

And besides, rape isn't even in the game. At all. It isn't even the focus of the scene - it's about Lara's first kill. So, these accusations about using rape to define characters and to write stories is pointless - it isn't even there to begin with.

 

[fanklok]

I agree, what's more I think this makes Lara a more interesting hero and this a more interesting story than in most games ever.

In the end it stops being brave or exciting or virtuous to see badass videogame protagonists survive yet another explosion, yet another helicopter crash landing. All it means is that in those universes, explosions don't mean much, conflict doesn't mean much, pain doesn't mean much. They're not tough, because being tough means that there is some genuine struggle going on there.

In the end, one of the most iconic heroes ever is Solid Snake/Big Boss etc and whilst they had their moments of awesome they spent a lot of time dealing with hardship as well. Big Boss was a badass because he got his eye cut out and it hurt but he dealt with it. Would MGS4 have been as great if it wasn't Snake being pushed beyond every limit he had and we could see that they were genuine limits. He almost didn't make it across the microwave chamber and that's what makes the difference and is a much more grown up and interesting story, when things really are difficult they really are hard.

And it means Lara will genuinely have an arc. Rather than being the generic protagonist whose a hero just because she is or Backstory! she'll become a hero because she was put in an impossible situation and she had to grow and survive or die. I've never cared about Ms Croft before (her 'personality' wasn't the most interesting character trait before) but now not only do I care, but if they pull this off, she'll be a turning point for gaming and iconic for a deserving reason

Whoa whoa whoa, Big Boss' eye was not cut out it was shot out.

Susan I think you just sold me on the new Tomb Raider, I'll still await the Escapists review of it and do some poking around to see whether or not it deserves a new purchase or a used one a few months down the road.

 

[Kargathia]

Rosenberg came off sounding like a condescending chauvinist who doesn't understand the first thing about the player's relationship with Lara.

Actually, I think the guy sounds like someone who completely understands a male player's relationship with a completely inexperienced, 21-year-old female character who they are playing as in the third-person.

Well, he did come off as a condescending chauvinist. Which is not to say I wouldn't be putting my money on him being right.

Personally I suspect there's a real danger of reading entirely too much in character actions here. When it comes down to it the trailer shows very little, and much of what I hear bandied around so far is largely projection, conjecture, and assumption.

Of course it's entirely possiblethat Crystal Dynamics will deliver a robust, yet subtly complex character, but on the whole I suspect we really shouldn't hold our collective breaths for it to be anything beyond a cardboard cutout of the stereotypical Break the Cutie [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakTheCutie] - even though that arguably would be a huge improvement over the current "characterisation" of being a pair of tits with a love for hidden treasure.

 

[the-kitchen-slayer]

Well said, congrats Susan, this is why your one of my favorite people at the Escapist

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I'll be honest and say it's the first Lara Croft game I've even been remotely interested in. All of the others I've seen snippets of play her as the unstoppable, violent, sociopath that constantly flaunts her body to the camera, and wanted none of it. This one, of watching her endure all these hardships because the alternative is letting someone else down, was much more appealing. Nice to see her limping and reacting slightly slower, after some of those injuries, though I wonder how long that will last. Nathan Drake was dehydrated and could barely stand after a few days in the Rub Al-Khali desert, and yet he still managed to shoot down an entire ruined city filled with baddies, despite the hallucinations and exhaustion. No way in hell he'd be reacting that fast, in those conditions.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

If a man endures hell and comes out stronger for it, he's a badass and we cheer. If a woman endures hell and comes out stronger for it, the developers are sexist and we hate it. Apparently it's only men who are strong enough to be badass and women are precious little flowers that we must be ever so careful with our words when discussing.

Someone says he created a character he wants people to have an urge to protect and suddenly he's an idiot. That's funny, because I don't think a single person in the world would say it's sexist if Lara was a man. Oh that's right, women are special creatures we all need to approach carefully. Wouldn't want to treat a female the same you would a man. No! It's an entirely different issue when no penis is involved.

Equality at its finest. I'm beginning to think no one actually wants true equality, they just want to look good, fighting for the poor old women folk.

 

[tzimize]

I agree, what's more I think this makes Lara a more interesting hero and this a more interesting story than in most games ever.

In the end it stops being brave or exciting or virtuous to see badass videogame protagonists survive yet another explosion, yet another helicopter crash landing. All it means is that in those universes, explosions don't mean much, conflict doesn't mean much, pain doesn't mean much. They're not tough, because being tough means that there is some genuine struggle going on there.

In the end, one of the most iconic heroes ever is Solid Snake/Big Boss etc and whilst they had their moments of awesome they spent a lot of time dealing with hardship as well. Big Boss was a badass because he got his eye cut out and it hurt but he dealt with it. Would MGS4 have been as great if it wasn't Snake being pushed beyond every limit he had and we could see that they were genuine limits. He almost didn't make it across the microwave chamber and that's what makes the difference and is a much more grown up and interesting story, when things really are difficult they really are hard.

And it means Lara will genuinely have an arc. Rather than being the generic protagonist whose a hero just because she is or Backstory! she'll become a hero because she was put in an impossible situation and she had to grow and survive or die. I've never cared about Ms Croft before (her 'personality' wasn't the most interesting character trait before) but now not only do I care, but if they pull this off, she'll be a turning point for gaming and iconic for a deserving reason

In short: Yep.

Also to OP: I completely agree.

Also in general: I wish people stopped being so fucking offended all the time. Or even better, BE offended, but know that its ok to be offended and that the offensive item still exists.

I wish game companies grew some fucking balls and learned that offending people might not be a bad thing. Dont offend for the sake of it of course...but as for the hinted rape...DO IT. Its an unusual thing to do, and its an uncomfortable thing to do...but that makes it interesting. Experiencing this situation in a game does not mean that anyone playing the game is supporting rape.

Goddamnit people can be so extremely dense.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Rape is awful I just hope the game handles it sensitively

There is no rape in the game. A man beats up Lara and if you fail to fight him off, Lara dies.

No rape.

I'm glad to see someone actually taking a reasonable approach to this. This whole situation is ridiculous.

Hey guys, remember at the end of FEAR 2 where Beckett gets fairly graphically raped by Alma, both physically and mentally, while you're controlling him no less? And do you remember the massive manufactured outrage over that? Oh, there was no outrage? Right, I wonder what the key difference there could have been.

No biggie. I mean, it's just a man being raped. But don't you dare show a woman being raped! Even though there is no rape in the game and it's all been blown out of proportion by knee-jerk feminists and white-knights... Still, don't you dare!

EDIT: Sorry, Abstract! Quoted the wrong person

 

[Alterego-X]

I think, Rosenberg's original comment isn't all that different from this article, it's just more carelessly worded.

But it's the same basic idea, that Lara is not supposed to be IDENTIFIED WITH, as an audience self-insert, as your avatar that you are experiencing exciting adventures with, but EMPATHISE WITH, as the protagonist of a story who you are attached to and who goes through hardships while you follow her.

It speaks ill of gaming's future when we basically adopting the old media's assumption that everything that's happening in a game is a "simulator" of personal fantasies; just as GTA was called a "murder simulator", or Mass Effect a "sex simulator", now even we are talking like this:
For example, how anything with a main romantic plot is called a "dating simulator", even if the POV protagonist is a self-conscious character on his own right.
Or this time, there is a story where hardships and suffering play an important role, and the first thing we think of is that it must be a "torture simulator" for people who enjoy this kind of thing, and even a comment that the player is supposed to "want to protect" the main character, is met with hostility, even though obviously normal people feel protective about others' suffering, but if it happens in a game, it must be some sort of "white knighting-simulation". Because it isn't possible that a game is intentionally trying to invoke NEGATIVE emotions, right, in one way or another, it must be a simulator of your fantasies.

 

[BrotherRool]

Don't you see? Lara's moments of falling, scraping, dangling, impaling... they ARE the explosions, the helicopter crashes. They fulfil the exact same role, and their frequency makes them every bit as meaningless as any other barely survived explosion/chopper crash in other games, because she will always survive, she will always get up again.

It is a trailer so frequency is hard to judge, but I will give you that there is a point in the trailer where it gets too much, but there is easily hope that things are going to get better over the course of the game.

And I wasn't saying I disliked the helicopter crashes and explosions just the way they are treated so minorly. Think of all the military shooters where your helicopter goes down and it's never even thought to suggest that it might have hurt. What's the point of the crash in the first place if you're going to do that?

And it leads to an arms race where the explosions get bigger. Suddenly it's nukes and radioactive clouds etc

 

[BrotherRool]

I've never been a big Lara Croft fan, so I was wondering if you could explain which direction it should have gone in in updating/giving Lara 's/a character?

I'm not sure, but it would definitely have involved shooting dinosaurs.

*cough*

Okay, maybe not.

More seriously, I'd have played up the supernatural/horror aspects. If you want to make a young and inexperienced Lara afraid of something then make her afraid of undead spirits, or monsters, not sweaty dudes with guns. Play it slow at first, with an emphasis on atmosphere, exploration, puzzle solving. In fact if I was doing the reboot I'd likely have few or no human enemies - the prevalence of them in the later games of the series was arguably when it started to lose direction.

So... quick pitch: Lara gets shipwrecked on an uncharted (no pun intended) island. She's salvaged a shortwave radio and manages to communicate with someone on the other side of the island. It's not clear who they are but they say they can help her - if she can get to them, because they can't come to her. It sets up a nice mystery for later on, and in the meantime she's got people to talk to, to show character development (and provide exposition.)

The beach where she's landed is surrounded on all sides by unscalable cliffs. The people on the radio tell her that the island is riddled with ancient catacombs built god knows when by god knows who. If she wants to get up the cliffs, and across the island she will have to enter those catacombs, and they are huge - the entire island being the centre of some long forgotten death cult. Essentially she's shipwrecked on R'yleh. Not literally of course, but in the general feel of it.

Etc etc. Just my idea.

Edit: all of which is a long way of saying I have nothing in theory against the character arc that's apparently being plotted out, but I do not like the tone in which it's being done, as it's all too gritty and real for Tomb Raider.

And this is just that again, if every gain has these fantasy badass tanks, why not have someone who actually struggles and has setbacks? And if Lara Croft was a women in a sea of macho-thugs why not capitalise on that and show that the weakness can be more interesting than Alpha Male strength?

It's very true that the needs of gameplay have almost always led to the jarring disconnect between the character you see in the cutscenes and the character you play in the game. As Ross Scott of Freeman's Mind said, realistically the only way Gordon could survive the story of Half Life is if he was a paranoid homicidal sociopath, because normal people don't adapt that quickly to gunning down dozens of people.

There's nothing inherently wrong with playing with an audience's perceptions of a well known character, but only if there's a good pay off at the end. I'd cite Casino Royale as a good example in that they played with the expectations of Bond fans throughout the film, but then delivered an absolutely knockout ending that kept true to the character without diminishing the changes that were made to bring him up to date.

I just don't think CD have the skill to pull something like that off, and the relentless emphasis being placed on Lara's vulnerability in everything we see and everything they say does not reassure me one bit.

Your idea is fine, but I meant more, what you have done in terms of her character, rather than setting?

Incidentally if you meant the new Casino Royale, well played, I hated that and I guess for similar reasons that other people hate this. I think maybe a difference is in Casino Royale they took away the suaveness of Bond and didn't actually replace it with a personality. I can't tell you one thing about how Daniel Craig would react in any situation. He was in a lot of pain but he wasn't reacting emotionally to the pain. It just hurt.

Whereas here there's an emphasis on what Lara is actually thinking about this and the emotional content. Also Lara Croft was never really suave (to be honest we've got a lack of that kind of hero too at the moment. The game industry has really done nothing with character over the last 20 years) so she was already in many ways a Daniel Craig James Bong

 

[BrotherRool]

In short: Yep.

Also to OP: I completely agree.

Also in general: I wish people stopped being so fucking offended all the time. Or even better, BE offended, but know that its ok to be offended and that the offensive item still exists.

I wish game companies grew some fucking balls and learned that offending people might not be a bad thing. Dont offend for the sake of it of course...but as for the hinted rape...DO IT. Its an unusual thing to do, and its an uncomfortable thing to do...but that makes it interesting. Experiencing this situation in a game does not mean that anyone playing the game is supporting rape.

Goddamnit people can be so extremely dense.

I agree that the gaming community is becoming increasingly negative at the moment and it's just as bad having companies fall over themselves trying to fix it. It'd be nice is people just thought 'Hey we're getting a new Deus Ex, could be cool!' rather than 'My childhood will be ruined!' We're getting a bit Lucasy about everything at the moment.

Saying that I'd say no to the rape, it's just such a traumatic thing for people who know about it, that you'd need a really really good reason to justify including it, rather than another reason to show hardship

 

[BrotherRool]

Whoa whoa whoa, Big Boss' eye was not cut out it was shot out.

Susan I think you just sold me on the new Tomb Raider, I'll still await the Escapists review of it and do some poking around to see whether or not it deserves a new purchase or a used one a few months down the road.

Darn did I go with cut in the end?

I was trying to remember and as far as my recollection went Ocelot was playing his ridiculous roulette again and Boss stopped him, and the shot went off and took out his eye? But in my head I was thinking, how can you shoot out someones eye and not give them a bullet in the skull too?

 

[GangstaPony]

In Mafia 2, Vito Scaletta is nearly a victim of prison rape and has to fight the prisoners off. Nobody cared. But now that Lara Croft, who's practically a spoiled little kid in this game gets into dangerous situations it's OH NOEZ!! POOR LARA!! DAMN SEXIST, EVIL DEVELOPERS!!

Also I get the whole protect thing. It's supposed to imply that Lara is just a child and we are the adults responsible for getting her safe from danger by teaching her how to survive.

 

[Sixcess]

Your idea is fine, but I meant more, what you have done in terms of her character, rather than setting?

Yeah, I did drift off topic somewhat there. My bad.

I've got nothing against the new game's proposed character arc, in theory, I'd just prefer if it was in a setting more befitting Lara's roots. I haven't played Uncharted but from what I've seen of it that series doesn't play up the mystical/fantasy elements like Tomb Raider always has, so wouldn't that have been a valid way to make the reboot distinct?

Alternatively they could have went the Saints Row 2 route and embraced the inherent absurdity of the character. SR2 has a serious underlying story but it plays out almost as if the characters know they're in a video game (like in the ludicrously high number of murders Gat is on trial for.) Just Cause 2 would be another example of that kind of game. It's not deep, but it's fun.

Incidentally if you meant the new Casino Royale, well played, I hated that and I guess for similar reasons that other people hate this. I think maybe a difference is in Casino Royale they took away the suaveness of Bond and didn't actually replace it with a personality. I can't tell you one thing about how Daniel Craig would react in any situation. He was in a lot of pain but he wasn't reacting emotionally to the pain. It just hurt.

Whereas here there's an emphasis on what Lara is actually thinking about this and the emotional content. Also Lara Croft was never really suave (to be honest we've got a lack of that kind of hero too at the moment. The game industry has really done nothing with character over the last 20 years) so she was already in many ways a Daniel Craig James Bong

And yet most people would say that Casino Royale 'humanised' Bond in ways the previous films hadn't. It's all a matter of individual perspective. Again, like Lara, Bond's lack of 'realistic' personality never bothered me, since that's not what the franchise is about, and he did get character development when it mattered.

I am curious about how much of the negative reaction is coming from long term fans of Tomb Raider, like myself. I'd do a poll on it, but I think we have more than enough threads on this subject as it is.

 

[Project_Xii]

Finally. Nice to read some sanity and actual intelligent analysis of the trailer, rather then people trying to convince other people that they should be angry because something in the trailer might upset other people, even if it doesn't affect them.

There's so much rage-mongering on this site I forget that there's a few worthwhile writers on here who know how to look at games for more then just sources of controversy.

 

[carpathic]

A very thoughtful article, but I have to disagree with one of your core concepts. Media is now mostly telling western men that we are superfluous. That it is good and proper that men are held up as object of ridicule, while mothers and women are the smart ones who really save the day.

I think there is value in what you are saying about the trailer, but I think in some ways that your views on the enculturalization of women may not be 100% accurate. In the case of these survival guides, the blowback that has occured clearly speaks against your point. The company tried to make a sexist product and the market has pushed back. They did not push back because of the subject matter of the boy's book, but rather because of the difference between the boys and girls book, and most especially because of the girl's book content.

Also, for the record Scholastic apologized, and I suspect we shant be seeing books like that again. In reality when we start to see sitcoms where moms are idiots too, not just ones where the dad is an idiot, then we can start talking about fairness in media.

I know the argument that comes back inevitably falls down onto "but women are paid 70% of what men are", or the other usual horses that people like to ride into this battle. Fine, I would argue that within the next generation that will be radically different (owing to the VAST disparity between men and women in university graduation rates). I don't want to start a men are discriminated against battle here, because we are, but EVERYONE is discriminated against and to pull that out is just playing the victim card. It wont advance the argument. However, I am not sure that it is fair or balanced to only talk about an injustice done to women, it would have been easy for you to focus on the fact that in the video the men were bad people, that rape appears to have been sanctioned in this situation - what kind of a role model for men is that? And how would that advance the dialogue between a girl trying to discover her identity through video games and a strong father figure in her life?