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Old 21-07-23, 17:19   #1
Moon-Safari
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Default Paititi is Camouflage

I'm going to find the reason why it was so important to make Paititi exactly the way it was. It's too specific and unexplainable. It's a paradox. There has to be something so deep and full of mystery beneath, that it didn't matter if it slowed down the pace of the game and put all these limitations on the player and Lara. There must be a higher purpose being served.

The fact that the average person sees it as boring sets it up as the same clock camouflage that Lara hammers away at in LC:TR to reveal a vital key in Lara's journey to becoming a god by the end of the film.

Her impatience with Bryce removing the screws one by one is her first use of the hammer (if you don't count TR1), a foreshadowing of Mjolnir. Nobody else in the room recognized it as just a fancy clock cover to hide a monumental artifact discovery hidden underneath the casing. That casing represents time in more ways than one. Besides being a clock, it is also a symbol of time spent on the surface if you only look at the timepiece at face value. You are meant to demolish your perception of what's plainly in front of you and see what's beneath, with knowledge and your intuition guiding you.

Paititi also represents artificial time barriers as a disguise. The time it takes away from globe-trotting. The time it takes you to get through the annoying side missions, the environment is a slog to navigate, it takes time to get back to Lara as herself. Blast through all that camouflage and what key lies beneath the superficial housing of the clock?
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Old 03-10-23, 08:55   #2
jeffrey van oort
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Unuratu, or the royal family.

Etzli is Eggman to be, as he'll be the next builder.
(Affected by the invasion of the serpent guards). Etzli would only be able to build robots, and entrapments to explain what happened when the serpent guards invaded the hidden city. Smart, but Lara would say no.

Rourke, being overrun by the Crimson Fire's hedgehogs, who won't get what a Lara could.

Ix chell is Tomb Raider Lara saying no, and destroying the Scion, a piece of information that Unuratu gives to Lara on their way from Unuratu's rescue. That Unuratu has an idea about your work as a builder as well.

To understand what you've played, you have to find Eggman in the environment.

Computer games are your entertainment. For you. And you must roll, to free your robot buddies from their robot tasks. You haven't seen me.
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Old 03-10-23, 10:30   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon-Safari View Post
There has to be something so deep and full of mystery beneath, that it didn't matter if it slowed down the pace of the game and put all these limitations on the player and Lara.
Nothing deep about it: it was the final game, no one cared anymore.
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Old 05-10-23, 05:56   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by killchan View Post
Nothing deep about it: it was the final game, no one cared anymore.
Preach sis.
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Old 05-10-23, 08:57   #5
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Lol, you sillies think everything has to be vapid because you don't understand it. Well guess what, it really really really is not. It's a spectacular symphony of epiphanies that only the willing will ever discover. Life is one mind-blowing revelation after the next.

What you do with that gift of knowledge is entirely up to you. The Ghalali Key.
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Old 05-10-23, 20:47   #6
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Eidos Montreal probably thought it was a good idea, maybe bc they had some experience with building something like this with deus ex.

Unfortunately, it was not a good idea
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Old 05-10-23, 21:02   #7
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Paititi was a disaster as a whole. From the inhabitants to Lara's dress. Not even talking about the rest.
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Old 05-10-23, 21:20   #8
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Ironically a clock is designed to tick.

The hidden city made sense.
Not the dress code, as the roleplaying is the cover story for case "crazy". (Who are you now?)

Unuratu is just so mean. (Symbolism: Died because Unuratu had built one. Sigh, that is so mean).

And you've rescued Unuratu by playing. Like Unuratu's honorary tactical rescue squad. Perhaps as percival, who on a red horse would slay the serpents.

(You being the red horse, maybe the same red horse Larson gets kicked by, or so Larson says in TRC). There is no red horse.

It kind of sucks to know nothing, and read a really good book, and sort of get an idea what this book could be about, only to be absolutely powerless by learning all this information in that book.

I am knackered of how solid, all this, really is.
That letter written by Lara at the end of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, could be the forum users writing on the Tomb Raider forums. That is where the tea would be. Well at least in the cutscene with Lara there is some tea.
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Old 13-10-23, 12:20   #9
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Wow, you've got quite a lot going on in your post, and I appreciate your enthusiasm for diving into the SotTR lore, but let's break it down a bit.

First off, I totally get what you mean about the dress code in Paititi. It does seem a bit over-the-top, right? But from what I gather, it's more of a gameplay element to keep Lara on the down-low, making sure she doesn't stand out like a sore thumb. It's not really about her being "crazy" or anything like that.

Unuratu, on the other hand, yeah, she could be seen as quite the character, and I totally get your frustration with her. But I'd say the whole thing about her causing someone's demise because she "built one" might be reading a bit too much into it. We have to be careful not to stretch symbolism too thin.

And as for the red horse thing – I'm pretty sure that's not connected to anything in the games. Pierre accusing Larson of getting kicked in the head by a horse in Tomb Raider Chronicles is just a fun bit of banter between them. There's no mention of the horse being red, and it's not related to anything in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

I'm not so sure about that letter Lara wrote at the end of Shadow of the Tomb Raider being connected to forum users. That's probably more of a creative interpretation. The tea you mentioned might just be tea, and not some deep hidden message.
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Old 13-10-23, 20:29   #10
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Not someone's demise, but Unuratu's own.
If you remember, Unuratu already stood at the gate long before Lara had arrived, and signaled Lara not to engage the serpent guards.

That Unuratu died is the reason why Unuratu signaled Lara not to.

Unuratu has built one, and that is why Unuratu died. The arrow in her back symbolised Unuratu's past catching up.

With time.

Clockwork. And the gate where Unuratu sent the signal before not to engage the serpent guards looks like clockwork.

If you can do this. With clockwork.
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