Why is Lara so filthy?

[Kopikatsu]

So, unlike a lot of people, I'm actually pretty excited for the new Lara Croft game. I do have one issue though...

In Resident Evil 6, rolling around in the dirt and such would cause your character to get dirty (dirt stains on their arms, dusty sleeves, etc). It was very subtle and I thought it was a very nice touch. Now, new Lara on the other hand...

I realize a lot of it is actually cuts and blood, but seriously. She looks like she hasn't bathed in months. Is there a reason for this, or are they just going a bit heavy on the grit factor?

 

[Vor Yang]

I think it might have to do with all the running for your life and struggling to survive on an island where everything could kill you.

Now, I'm not sure about you but looking clean and pretty wouldn't exactly be one of my highest priorities in a situation like that.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I think it might have to do with all the running for your life and struggling to survive on an island where everything could kill you.

Now, I'm not sure about you but looking clean and pretty wouldn't exactly be one of my highest priorities in a situation like that.

I didn't say she should be perfectly clean and unharmed, it just seems to be an abnormal proliferation of it all.

 

[chadachada123]

The bloodied pictures (pictures 1 and 3) are probably from right after the incident that caused the bleeding, would be my guess, making them pretty realistic. Alternately, it's just dried blood, and it isn't like there are many mirrors on a jungle island, nor reason to care, yeah?

As for mud, I'm gonna have to agree with the others. Just compare her to, say, Arnold S. from Predator.

For being in a jungle, she actually looks CLEANER than Arnold, though this could just be because she didn't purposely cover her body in mud several hours prior like he did.

I'm very interested in seeing if her look will change continuously over the course of the game, like whether or not she'll be less bloodied after, say, a water section, or whatever.

 

[hazabaza1]

She looks like she hasn't bathed in months.

She doesn't.
I'm assuming the game doesn't take place over months but Lara don't have time to keep clean.

 

[Cavan]

Not bathed in months? Slip over once on a rainy day anywhere even mildly outside a city center and you're easily that muddy, I'd also like to point out that cuts to the scalp like that third picture do actually bleed like crazy.

I actually think that for the abuse they're supposed to have taken, her clothes look only artfully stained. After a single day of heavy sweating in a muddy place your clothes are going to be salt stained and pretty far from white. One day in the sun can actually bleach clothes quite severely if it's a hot enough day, I have shirts that have weird patterns all across them from that.

 

[Voulan]

Everyone here has summed it up pretty well. The poor girl's going through quite a bit, it's hardly surprising. She is trying to survive, after all. Although I think it has been clarified that after some rainy/water sections, Lara will clean up a little. If that is true and my memory isn't just making that up, then I really don't mind the dirt at all. She's looking great.

Captcha: Doctor Who?

No, I don't think that's it, Captcha.

 

[Zhukov]

She doesn't look unreasonably dirty considering the situation.

It's just that damn near every other game character is unnaturally clean.

 

[sanquin]

This is what gaming does to you if you aren't careful. Seeing that Lara Croft and thinking 'isn't she too dirty?', is because you've come to expect unrealistically clean characters in your games/movies, and have started to think that's what's normal. In fact, I'd say Lara is even still a bit clean, depending on how far that is into the game, ingame time-wise. I mean, just slipping and falling onto the ground in a muddy area can already get you dirtier than she is.

 

[BrotherRool]

The shots of Lara there are pretty bad but the just mud covered ones (and maybe the middle one) look like a nice level to me. It's not super clean so they're countering the Action Hero! vibe and tying her closely into the actual story and themes they're aiming at.

But I do hope she washes the blood off at points. This is meant to be a story of how someone becomes a hero rather than just being one naturally right? So if she ends the story caked in blood I'm not sure if that would work. Ideally she'd staff off clean, get worse until about the middle point and begin to clean herself up as she begins to gain control of her situation.

Saying that it still looks so much better than

Spoiler

I hope this game doesn't suck because I don't think I can go back to that version of Lara now. Even from a sexyness perspective, old Croft looks like an inflatable sex doll copy and pasted onto some environment that utterly doesn't suit. (But I forgot didn't they make it so her clothes get wet? Versimilitude!)
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/6300000/Lara-Croft-tomb-raider-6374019-1280-1024.jpg
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/6300000/Lara-Croft-tomb-raider-6374110-1280-960.jpg
http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Daily/2010/12-Dec/09/Lara%20Croft%20detailed/120910_laracroft_content--article_image.jpg

To be fair Underworlds didn't completely suck
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BDCqpuwRnf4/S7B8C1XUjGI/AAAAAAAAFn4/poV9PaXErSI/s1600/lara+croft.jpg
And notice something? She actually has dirt on her in that one =D Even the pictures her look less worse than me after a game of football in the rain so they aren't really going overboard

 

[pilouuuu]

Good! A game where the characters are not shiny people that look made of wax! This is gritty and realistic done the right way. I don't understand what you're complaining about. I love my Lara dirty and filthy!

 

[The Funslinger]

you have obviously never worked in a muddy veggie patch for instance. it doesnt take much for a person to end up covered head to foot in mud and small cuts can bleed a heck of a lot. its a change but its a realistic one

Agreed. OP has obviously never had to play rugby in the winter sleet in a polo shirt and shorts.

Ah, to be a British schoolboy once more...

 

[Khrowley]

That is a questionable amount of her own blood and that simply raises the issue of infection. Dysentery anyone?

 

[Thrashgrinder]

When you don't get to see yourself in a mirror or a puddle of water you don't really notice that your face is covered in mud or blood in a situation that includes high adrenaline. Just roll around on the ground in a jungle for 20 seconds and you'll get the same result. Or just fall down on grass in a rainy day.

 

[tippy2k2]

*Pervert voice: Because Lara is a real dirty dirty girl. Yeeeeaah...she needs to be punished for being such a naughty little dirty...

Alright, I feel like I need a shower if I keep that joke going so I'm stopping there. Everyone has already said what needed to be said, I just really wanted to get that in there somewhere (That's what she NO! tippy2k2, enough dirty jokes! Bad!)

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

I think being dirty would make you harder to spot in some instances. Maybe near a tree trunk or some rocks...