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Old 27-03-17, 01:31   #151
Blackmoor
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I think talking about a characters height in a video game is valid. If it wasn't something of some issue, the developers wouldn't have clearly defined what it was or asked Toby Gard to clarify what it was in the original games.

Things like this CAN matter............ we are dealing with visual storytelling, not just dialogue. And creating a sense of character through visualisation.

I get fed up of on here how things are laughed at without realising that if you worked in any kind of industry developing products sometimes do matter and are considered. I think when some of you move into real jobs (not just school holiday jobs etc) you may be in for a bit of a shock.

Last edited by Blackmoor; 27-03-17 at 01:35.
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Old 27-03-17, 01:49   #152
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I'm sure discussing Lara's height difference has its validity, but it is highly off topic..... (coming from the OP)
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Old 27-03-17, 04:13   #153
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Well, I can get it back

TR2013 didn't feel that dark and gritty to me and I think part of that is because of the story.

In the beginning I did feel a bit like the underdog Brian Horton talked about, but I think it kinda deflates after the first kill and it further shrinks with the Endurance Crew. Everyone likes Lara at least a little bit. Even Reyes the person who seems to have a real problem with her is ultimately trying to help her...by getting on her case apparently...and even the Solarii are quaking in fear of her and her murdering abilities. She has at least two people in love with her - Sam and Alex and Alex dies for her. Lara even saves a damsel in distress. It felt a bit too fantastic and actually sort of upbeat. It's not like the The Last of Us where characters you've seen built up for ages die unexpectedly or characters do anything to survive. It never really went darker than killing people. It's not even close to gritty.

If this game were really dark the survivors would get increasingly angry at each other for lack of food. Combat would be way harder. Characters would have arguments and accidentally kill each other. Whitman would have sold someone for iodine tablets or something. Lara would have had to sacrifice Sam.

Even the Solarii were nice. They called each other brother and helped each other whenever they needed assistance. They were loyal and never particularly cruel, just doing what Mathias told them. The groups of people are just...too nice.

Last edited by ancientIo; 27-03-17 at 04:17.
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Old 27-03-17, 07:57   #154
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Originally Posted by ancientIo View Post
Well, I can get it back

TR2013 didn't feel that dark and gritty to me and I think part of that is because of the story.

...
I don't know how you missed things like rape, cannibalism, heaps of corpses and skulls everywhere, various body parts rolling about, pools of blood, Lara's constant torture porn. I get what you're saying and that's part of the problem with the game: it's obvious they were trying to go for dark and gritty but it was a poor attempt at best. Now, personally I don't think it would work with TR even if done brilliantly, but to rub salt in the wound it wasn't even done properly, it was half assed. It was dark and gritty in a cartoonish way without any self awareness and totally humorless. That could work as a parody, but that game was taking itself painfully seriously and it was cringey. Same goes for Rise, taking itself way too seriously there.
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Old 27-03-17, 11:57   #155
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TR2013 wasn't dark imo , just gritty and violent . But Rise was dark tbh , the themes it dealt with , Lara's psychological struggle and Konstantin's character , that scene in which he crushes the eyes of one of his men saying things like : "don't scream , don't fear the pain" was really shocking
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Old 27-03-17, 12:34   #156
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Originally Posted by benjamin_2010 View Post
I'm sure discussing Lara's height difference has its validity, but it is highly off topic..... (coming from the OP)
That's ok. I've made my point which wasn't directed specifically at your post.

---------------

Regarding the dark theme.......... I think it would be great to see actual dark and gritty. I haven't seen many Nolan films, especially not the Batman one's (as I find superheros not my kind of thing in general). I've seen Inception (which I think is extremely good - the concept of layers of consciousness forming different realities... worlds within worlds... reminds me of Philip K. Dick). And I've seen Interstellar... which I find utter rubbish. So it's difficult for me to comment on that aspect.

However, I do think it might be interesting to see dark and gritty done fully. It might not work like Coffin Fodder says, but I think it's worth trying. Alongside more realistic graphics, unrealistic actions can grate.

I don't equate dark and gritty has having to be characterised by "sadness" and I don't think the reboots are doing that. There are deaths and horrible things happening, but I think it's to show there are consequences and to heighten drama. Both games have ended on "hopeful" and "stirring".

Although dark things are happening in both games, I find them both fantastical.......... the whole interactions with the remnant people (for example) is fairy tale to me. Nothing I don't see in other games too, but I would personally find it interesting if these things were done differently. Another problem that I feel impacts is the typical timespan covered by TR games... days instead of significant periods of time, which would work much better in terms of storytelling.

Last edited by Blackmoor; 27-03-17 at 12:35.
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Old 27-03-17, 14:46   #157
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Originally Posted by _Doppie_ View Post
Maybe 1.80m is her AOD's height?
Yes, 1.80m is Lara's height in AoD. They updated her bio yet again for that game and even left out her birth year because she started to become old. But I wonder if there even was an official height for Lara before AoD.

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Oh Karl.... What I find particularly interesting is that Lara towers over Jean Yves in TR4 but in FMVs he's taller. going by cutscenes can yield strange results especially since the people involved with the FMVs and the people making the in-game cut-scenes are different.
I always put cutscenes above FMVs canon-wise because the cutscenes show the exact same things we also face in the levels. And somehow I always thought that the levels themselves are the most canonic storytelling devices in TR.

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Originally Posted by ancientIo View Post
It's not like the The Last of Us where characters you've seen built up for ages die unexpectedly or characters do anything to survive. It never really went darker than killing people. It's not even close to gritty.
I actually would've preferred if more if not all main characters died. Since Sam was disliked by most fans and after TR2013 only appeared in the novel and comics but was abandoned in RotTR, her survival was kinda pointless anyway.
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Old 27-03-17, 19:54   #158
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Originally Posted by Wooxman View Post
Yes, 1.80m is Lara's height in AoD. They updated her bio yet again for that game and even left out her birth year because she started to become old. But I wonder if there even was an official height for Lara before AoD.
Her height was officially 5'9" (or 1.75m) in the classic games. I'm not sure where 1.80m comes from since I don't recall her height ever being changed for AOD. Her bio in the prima strategy guide still lists her as being 5'9", although you're right about them leaving her birth year out and keeping her age ambigious.

I do prefer the taller Lara from the classic era over the new pocket sized one.
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Old 28-03-17, 20:56   #159
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Originally Posted by Krumpet View Post
Her height was officially 5'9" (or 1.75m) in the classic games. I'm not sure where 1.80m comes from since I don't recall her height ever being changed for AOD. Her bio in the prima strategy guide still lists her as being 5'9", although you're right about them leaving her birth year out and keeping her age ambigious.

I do prefer the taller Lara from the classic era over the new pocket sized one.
It's kinda stated in the manual:

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Described as Caucasian, brunette, about 1.8m and of slim build, she was wearing jeans, denim jacket and a pony tail.
Source: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/st...f?t=1447356981
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Old 30-03-17, 19:59   #160
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Originally Posted by Wooxman View Post
It's kinda stated in the manual:



Source: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/st...f?t=1447356981
I think that her height is actually 1.75, but in the manual it's rounded up.

Last edited by TR-Freak; 30-03-17 at 20:03.
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