Theory: Chloroform was a late addition to VCI.

Samz · 28-10-24, 17:49

Lara's takedowns in Chronicles were a bit of a poorly explained odd system (Especially since the Russia level requires you to use the crowbar, an item we've always associated as a non-combat puzzle item aside from this point.) but one thing that bugs me is that it seems like the Chloroform item for VCI was a very last-minute addition.

I know having Lara "Interact" with an enemy to attack them is technically possible (The "Battle Arena" TRLE has it as a mechanic for AOD Lara, where pressing action next to an enemy has her kick them.) but I assume it's tricky to set up for specific stealth takedowns that you want to be disabled for if an enemy was alerted.

The unused takedown (later reused for one of the title screen demo videos, where Lara pushes the guy into the furnace) doesn't have Lara use a chloroform at all and the laser soldier you can chloroform in 13th Floor notably has very off sync sound effects that sound like Lara's punching him.

I think at some point in development, Lara could just press action behind enemies to do a stealth takedown.

Presumably this was changed because they would have had to set up a takedown cutscene for every single enemy Lara could potentially get behind and then make sure it works properly and is disabled if the enemy is alerted, so the chloroform item was added. (as the takedowns being a disposable item means they only have to worry about the player doing it a few limited times as opposed to AOD Lara being able to theoretically stealth kill any enemy she can get behind but using in-game animations instead of a scripted cutscene.)

The sound being wonky is also true of 13th Floor, where Lara audibly snaps the guard's neck so I assume the "Chloroform" animation may actually have been intended for just a neck snap on regular guards and the laser guard was supposed to have a different animation.

I think in 13th floor there's even a specific guard you can get behind with chloroform if you pick it up but then shoot the laser guard anyway but Lara can't use the chloroform on him due to it being more of a scripted "puzzle" (internally in the game's mechanics) rather than a non-scripted move like AOD and the developer didn't account for this.

28-10-24, 17:49	#1
Samz Member Joined: Jun 2018 Posts: 6,632	Theory: Chloroform was a late addition to VCI. Lara's takedowns in Chronicles were a bit of a poorly explained odd system (Especially since the Russia level requires you to use the crowbar, an item we've always associated as a non-combat puzzle item aside from this point.) but one thing that bugs me is that it seems like the Chloroform item for VCI was a very last-minute addition. I know having Lara "Interact" with an enemy to attack them is technically possible (The "Battle Arena" TRLE has it as a mechanic for AOD Lara, where pressing action next to an enemy has her kick them.) but I assume it's tricky to set up for specific stealth takedowns that you want to be disabled for if an enemy was alerted. The unused takedown (later reused for one of the title screen demo videos, where Lara pushes the guy into the furnace) doesn't have Lara use a chloroform at all and the laser soldier you can chloroform in 13th Floor notably has very off sync sound effects that sound like Lara's punching him. I think at some point in development, Lara could just press action behind enemies to do a stealth takedown. Presumably this was changed because they would have had to set up a takedown cutscene for every single enemy Lara could potentially get behind and then make sure it works properly and is disabled if the enemy is alerted, so the chloroform item was added. (as the takedowns being a disposable item means they only have to worry about the player doing it a few limited times as opposed to AOD Lara being able to theoretically stealth kill any enemy she can get behind but using in-game animations instead of a scripted cutscene.) The sound being wonky is also true of 13th Floor, where Lara audibly snaps the guard's neck so I assume the "Chloroform" animation may actually have been intended for just a neck snap on regular guards and the laser guard was supposed to have a different animation. I think in 13th floor there's even a specific guard you can get behind with chloroform if you pick it up but then shoot the laser guard anyway but Lara can't use the chloroform on him due to it being more of a scripted "puzzle" (internally in the game's mechanics) rather than a non-scripted move like AOD and the developer didn't account for this.