The Tomb Raider Reboot Controversy.

[KirbyKrackle]

There's been a wee bit of controversy about the new tomb raider e3 trailer with lara croft being beaten up like a damm abuse magnet, and even having a quicktime "don't get raped" event. Here's the trailer.

and here's an article about it.http://penny-arcade.com/report/edito...-lara-croft-to

(also, yes, I know the article is on a penny arcade site and the whole dickwolves controversy has really soured some people on them but please don't derail this thread into an argument about that, because I'll just jump from the burning wreckage and won't look back) K thanks.

So with that out of the way, what are your thoughts on this?

[Personamanx]

Wow, they weren't kidding when They said they were taking the series in a new direction. And Yeah, it's a wee bit unsettling but I'm gonna wait and see on this one. It definitely dark but it's supposed to be and until we really see the entire game's content it's hard to tell if it's too much yet.

That being said, The game looks amazing. Assuming that's all in engine footage (or most of it). It looks spectacular. The swing of her pony tail is the only thing that takes me out of it. And hair is always difficult to get to look good in a game engine. I'm gonna have to keep on eye on this now, maybe ask some of my instructors what kind of techniques they developers used. Can't notice anything obvious like Normal mapping.

Also Penny Arcade is awesome... that is all.

[Morrison_Lad]

Jesus. That's pretty grim.

Forgetting about the specific content for a sec, it LOOKS amazing. I didn't like the voice acting, especially for Lara. But it does look stunning.

This is definitely something new, more intense, darker.

[Hugin]

Jesus. That's pretty grim.

Forgetting about the specific content for a sec, it LOOKS amazing. I didn't like the voice acting, especially for Lara. But it does look stunning.

This is definitely something new, more intense, darker.

Why is TOMB RAIDER grim'n'gritty? Why can't she just be a chick who climbs ancient ruins? I want less Sin City and more Indiana Jones in these games.

[Morrison_Lad]

Why is TOMB RAIDER grim'n'gritty? Why can't she just be a chick who climbs ancient ruins? I want less Sin City and more Indiana Jones in these games.

Well, it wasn't all unicorns and flower petals in the previous games. But certainly they've ratcheted up the threats, and darkened the tone.

The creators said that they wanted to show what made Lara into the steely, powerful woman she eventually becomes. Since this is sort of prequel, I can understand the idea of wanting to put her into very nasty situations where, after finally escaping and overcoming them, she is the total badass she obviously is when we know her later.

[Personamanx]

Why is TOMB RAIDER grim'n'gritty? Why can't she just be a chick who climbs ancient ruins? I want less Sin City and more Indiana Jones in these games.

The answers of course being "Why Not?" and because they think it might sell better. Have not really paid attention to the Tomb Raider series since Anniversary but haven't the last few Lara Croft games been on a rather lighter end of the spectrum and sold poorly?

[zemo]

Why is TOMB RAIDER grim'n'gritty? Why can't she just be a chick who climbs ancient ruins? I want less Sin City and more Indiana Jones in these games.

Well, in the past it was all about climbing ruins, killing some animals from time to time, and then some mystical creatures, and then possibly the odd human. And then it got more human centric, to increase tension, I assume. So, in a way, this is a logical next step.

All of that said, and to quote the Penny Arcade article's quote of Crystal Dynamics' head: I don't think the breaking down and rebuilding of the characer necessitates defending against rape. So what, the next GTA is going to show us the male hero defending against a prison rape, because this will show us how hard he's fighting to get back up? Didn't think so. Rape's only to make women grow, amirite?

[BnL]

Disgusting. They would NEVER treat an iconic male protagonist this way. And I don't just mean the amount of violence she's being subjected to, with the added threat of rape. It's also in the way that she's portrayed as a feeble, whimpering victim. They've taken one of gaming's most visible and kickass female lead characters, and turned her into a timid slasher movie scream queen.

Also, I can't help but notice how familiar the terminology they use is. The whole "tear her down and build her back up" thing? I seem to hear this strategy a lot when it comes to powerful female characters. And I know it's a common technique in fiction, and it's used with male characters as well. But when applied to women, it seems to always have that extra layer of degradation. It's as if the thinking is that a woman can't be this strong without having suffered through some major trauma, whereas it is less often the assumption with powerful male characters--and when it does happen to male characters, it's certainly not to this extreme. Male characters are more likely to be "allowed" to be awesome just because they were born with a strong will and fighting spirit.

[zemo]

But when applied to women, it seems to always have that extra layer of degradation.

Which quite often is sexual assault or rape. Somehow people seem to have gotten the idea that you can't tear down and build up a woman unless you throw in some sexual violence.

[Alan Lynch]

The creators said that they wanted to show what made Lara into the steely, powerful woman she eventually becomes. Since this is sort of prequel, I can understand the idea of wanting to put her into very nasty situations where, after finally escaping and overcoming them, she is the total badass she obviously is when we know her later.

I'm personally not interested in that. It's a problem I have with prequels as a whole; if the original story is good enough then who cares what came before? I don't need to see how Lara Croft became the character we know already. It's a personal thing of course, which doesn't affect whether or not the game is any good.

The answers of course being "Why Not?" and because they think it might sell better. Have not really paid attention to the Tomb Raider series since Anniversary but haven't the last few Lara Croft games been on a rather lighter end of the spectrum and sold poorly?

They've also been shite, not to put too fine a point on it. I'm not sure the series needed a drastic change of direction, rather it just needed to be better made. The Uncharted series is a great example of what current-gen Tomb Raider could've been.

I'm a bit curious as to where this leaves the series if it's super successful. Is every game going to have to find a way to handicap Lara like this? And I agree that while the game engine looks amazing - not to mention the idea of making survival in a hostile environment genuinely difficult - some of those scenes made me uncomfortable. Surely the stakes are high enough without chucking rape in there? It's hard to say exactly how it'll look in full context, hopefully the game doesn't feel as exploitative as the preview.