16-03-24, 16:51 | #1 | |
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Did the DLC create a plot hole in Underworld?
Okay so recently I've been rewatching gameplay videos for the DLC levels and I noticed something that doesn't make sense (to me at least). Basically this dialogue between Natla and the Doppelganger in "Lara's Shadow":
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Am I missing something or is this just outright impossible? Reasons being that: 1 - Natla couldn't have gone to Helheim prior to Lara acquiring the Mjolnir, it's established early on she never got a hold of the artifact needed to open the path. 2 - She already created a Doppelganger before without using this machine in Anniversary, she presumably used Atlantean knowledge/technology to create the previous one (retroactive plot hole maybe? Although one could say they were different kinds of doppelgangers as an explanation perhaps?) 3 - Why would there be such a machine in Helheim in the first place? A device to heal Natla and create doppelgangers? So why did Natla need Lara to open the path to Helheim if she was apparently already able to go there after being requested to create that creature by Amanda? . Is this really a plot hole or did I miss something? |
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17-03-24, 00:02 | #2 | |||||
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I really wish they'd have offered an actual explanation about all of this stuff, but I'm fairly certain they were just making up things as they went hoping it would all somehow add up. It's been a long while since I've played LAU, but if I had to speculate I seem to recall there were many different Niflheims (e.g. the one at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the other one in Thailand) and Helhaims; all across the globe and across different civilizations/cultures which had their own various legends/myths/interpretations of them, but ultimately they were the same thing and they all appear to have come from the same source (the source being the ancient world).
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EDIT: One other thing I'm realizing just now is that the Natla X Richard Croft relationship is a bit of a mess. She hired him some time after her awakening in New Mexico to find the Scion, but he was unable to locate Qualopec's tomb and thus Qualopec's piece of the Scion. At the beginning of Anniversary, Natla tells Lara: Quote:
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We know Natla had one and only one goal all along: she wanted to bring forth the 'Seventh Age,' which was essentially a reset of the world through a giant cataclysm. I guess she could achieve that in two ways -- either use the Scion to access its full power which is what she got frozen for by Tihocan and Qualopec, or she could trigger the same event by using the Midgard Serpent in Helheim. With all the pieces of the Scion damaged beyond repair by the end of Anniversary, she'd moved onto plan B in Underworld. Also, continuity error: why is Natla shown in her "scorched" form (the way she appears at the end of the game) in the intro to Anniversary, when in the original game she looked just like she did when she got frozen? I.e. in her human form and Atlantean get-up. Anniversary clearly shows the crystal breaking due to the explosion, but she flies away in her mutated form, and when we see her again she's in her human form and has no wings??? The wings are odd because when Lara reaches the top of the pyramid they're part of the ceremonial dress she wears (I presume) although she also has them in the flashback, and in Underworld they seem to be attached to her skeleton in some way. A MESS, Your Honor. Last edited by [Xmas]; 17-03-24 at 14:44. |
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17-03-24, 21:36 | #3 |
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^That was a really insightful post, thanks for taking the time to post that! You're right about TRU doppelganger not being created in Helheim! I just noticed the cutscene shows them walking from a snowy location into some sort of temple where the machine is housed so they clearly were outside of Helheim by that point, I feel so dumb for not noticing that now .
You're right about the Richard Croft plot holes, how come he never warned Lara besides the message in Thailand? Also how come Lara only obsessed about her Mother's death but never found her dad's death suspicious or anything? And oh let's not get started on Natla's inconsistent design . I guess they wanted the opening cutscene to look more edgy by featuring scorched Natla instead, it wouldn't make sense for her to have mutated since she was literally frozen. Maybe her wings are retractable or something? And she had them hidden through most of anniversary until she got to Atlantis, it requires some magic anatomy of course because she clearly wasn't just hiding them under her clothes as it would be impossible not to notice it, then Amanda was kind enough in Underworld to craft her a custom prisoner outfit with holes for her wings . I really wish they had expanded more upon the "different names, same myth" concept but the Norse connection was clearly and afterthought after Legend, ultimately all these interesting subplots fell really short in the end and many things amounted to nothing. How come the most ambitious stories never pull through in this franchise . |
17-03-24, 23:11 | #4 |
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Hey, no problem! It was fun recounting/revisiting the storyline after so many years! I was always fascinated by the overarching themes in the LAU trilogy, though I will say that after rewatching the cinematics on YouTube, the rose-colored glasses have definitely worn off lol. I'd realized how LAU foreshadowed many of the same pitfalls Crystal Dynamics would go on to repeat in the Survivor trilogy. No matter what mainline entry they create, they always have these huge lofty ambitions -- especially in terms of the story, which isn't necessarily a bad thing per se, but it's just funny to me how both Legend and TR2013 set up these interesting plot threads only for them to either never go anywhere, or they get resolved in the most underwhelming of ways.
(Btw, I think the Doppelganger birthplace with the health restoration device was still in the Arctic Sea, most likely in some ruins hidden not so far from Helheim that Lara obviously didn't even know were in the area. I suspect this because A) in spite of how strong the Doppelganger is, she still wouldn't have been able to carry wounded Natla too far on foot, and B) Natla mentions Amanda cut the power to the entire temple which I believe happened when Amanda realized she must join forces with Lara to foil Natla's plan near the end of Underworld.) But coming back to the inconsistencies and other glaring stuff that doesn't quite add up -- 100% agreeing with what you said. It's unfortunate the people in charge of the story were so dead set on shoehorning the whole Richard/Amelia/Natla sub-plot into the story that it all kind of blew up in their faces and stood in the way of a satisfying conclusion. I feel like out of all the different plots across the three games, there's not a single one that ever receives full focus. In Legend, Amanda faking her own death and then showing up as the game's main villain feels rushed; in Anniversary, Richard's presence feels like an afterthought only so Lara can have an emotional investment in the quest; in Underworld, the dais and the Excalibur are suddenly forgotten about and it's all about Norse mythology, and surprise! Natla is alive, but enough about that.. Lara's doppelganger is blowing up her manor! Oh and Amelia is a thrall now lolz. It's like they were throwing everything at the wall -- a literal masterclass in bad storytelling. In the end, there's no time to address it all and thus so much gets skimmed over, or doesn't get fully addressed at all. You could argue that none of it really matters as the trilogy is essentially about Lara's healing process and learning to let go of the past and move on, but then I'm like... GAWD, these are TOMB RAIDER games we're talking about here, not some epic drama series which I feel like is the tone they were going for. Imho, the reason they rebooted the franchise (for the second time) isn't because the series was growing stale by Underworld, it's because they quite literally wrote themselves into a corner, and needed a fresh start. WHY THEN did they include the same tired family drama again? I'm sorry, I just cannot. Last edited by [Xmas]; 17-03-24 at 23:16. |
17-03-24, 23:37 | #5 | ||||
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Why on earth they felt the need to repeat the formula AGAIN in Survivor and make it 10x more dramatic is beyond my comprehension . |
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19-03-24, 16:40 | #6 |
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Joined: Oct 2023
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Because of Crystal Dynamics corporate ideology of rehash the story to get the product out faster. They don't care at all about plot holes in story or about what the fans would like to see happen in the series. It's all about making a quick buck with Crystal Dynamics. Sad isn't it?
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23-03-24, 14:19 | #7 |
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Thanks to all of you for all the info above. I read it all. Interesting. I have to admit, I just play all the games and don’t focus too much attention to past storylines.
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