General TRAOD Thread

[Stryke]

Can anyone explain how a "room" is defined in AOD vs TRLE? Is the concept the same or are there any differences? I was just curious.

[CheshireBitch]

Originally Posted by Stryke

Can anyone explain how a "room" is defined in AOD vs TRLE? Is the concept the same or are there any differences? I was just curious.

I am not the best person to answer that but I don't think that "rooms" as we know them in trle were still a thing for aod. It was a very different way to build for aod with completly different softwares and I don't think levels were cut into severals rooms like the og games

[HarleyCroft]

Okay I have a theory.. Lara was intoxicated a lot of AoD, at least in Paris.

She stumbled around due to crap controls, was in really bad shape (LC having a stamina bar? No.), was constantly picking up bottles of Cognac, was cussing more than usual and flirted with a scumbag.

They vetoed the idea of making her an alcoholic and burning down Croft Manor really early in production but I only took the possibility the subtext still inadvertently exists into serious consideration like a few minutes ago and the whole game makes so much more sense.

I don't want her to be a drunk but now I can't unsee

[Darkon]

Originally Posted by HarleyCroft

Okay I have a theory.. Lara was intoxicated a lot of AoD, at least in Paris.

She stumbled around due to crap controls, was in really bad shape (LC having a stamina bar? No.), was constantly picking up bottles of Cognac, was cussing more than usual and flirted with a scumbag.

They vetoed the idea of making her an alcoholic and burning down Croft Manor really early in production but I only took the possibility the subtext still inadvertently exists into serious consideration like a few minutes ago and the whole game makes so much more sense.

I don't want her to be a drunk but now I can't unsee

Lara did become an alcoholic after the events of TLR but AOD is actually just hallucinations from an intoxicated Lara, each of the characters she encounters are just abstract representations of her inner demons and sins she's committed, triggered by the guilt of burning her manor down:

Carvier - Greed: The old woman has a lot of money and pricey possessions she doesn't really need. She represents the sin of greed which Lara is also guilty of due to her lavish lifestyle.

Parisian Hobo - Envy: The homeless man at the start of the game who asks Lara for spare change suffers from strong envy, he craves others possessions for himself. He represents the sin of envy, Lara is also envious of others' happiness having ruined her own life.

Bernard - Sloth: The man is unbothered to do anything in life, he claims he's "busy" but in reality he's just justifying his own laziness. He represents the sin of sloth, of which Lara is also guilty after becoming a drunkard.

Janice - Lust: She claims that every man around the ghetto knows her really well, this was clearly innuendo for something else. She represents the sin of lust, one that Lara knows too well having spent many nights with multiple men to quench her loneliness.

Bouchard - Pride: He has too much pride and thinks he's really powerful but can't accept having been bested by the Monstrum. He represents the sin of pride, Lara is also too proud for her own good.

Muller - Gluttony: He is an insatiable glutton, when Boaz is feed to the pod it was actually a metaphor for his gluttony since he's the creator of the pod creature. He represents the sin of gluttony, Lara's own gluttony is represented across the game when she is shown to have no qualms about eating rotten chocolate bars she finds on the sewers.

Kurtis - Wrath: Blinded by fury after his father's assassination he has swore vengeance against the responsible ones, no matter the cost. He represents the sin of wrath, a feeling pretty familiar to Lara since that is what drove her to burn the manor down in a fit of rage.
This is the final sin Lara envisions, he possesses demonic powers signifying a complete descent into hell, notice how Lara is infatuated with him, metaphorically meaning she's accepted her fate and is beyond redemption, ready to lose it all.

Karel? He was actually a good guy, he's a priest that's come to Lara's aid, an angel if you will, but she's far too gone now and sees him as her enemy, unwilling to let go of her malicious lifestyle.

[HarleyCroft]

^Darkon, you just blew my mind

[Shirley_Manson]

Originally Posted by Darkon

Lara did become an alcoholic after the events of TLR but AOD is actually just hallucinations from an intoxicated Lara, each of the characters she encounters are just abstract representations of her inner demons and sins she's committed, triggered by the guilt of burning her manor down:

Carvier - Greed: The old woman has a lot of money and pricey possessions she doesn't really need. She represents the sin of greed which Lara is also guilty of due to her lavish lifestyle.

Parisian Hobo - Envy: The homeless man at the start of the game who asks Lara for spare change suffers from strong envy, he craves others possessions for himself. He represents the sin of envy, Lara is also envious of others' happiness having ruined her own life.

Bernard - Sloth: The man is unbothered to do anything in life, he claims he's "busy" but in reality he's just justifying his own laziness. He represents the sin of sloth, of which Lara is also guilty after becoming a drunkard.


Muller - Gluttony: He is an insatiable glutton, when Boaz is feed to the pod it was actually a metaphor for his gluttony since he's the creator of the pod creature. He represents the sin of gluttony, Lara's own gluttony is represented across the game when she is shown to have no qualms about eating rotten chocolate bars she finds on the sewers.

You are quickly becoming my favorite poster here.

I wonder if Lara wins against her demons and what her life after what happened in AOD is like.

[Darkon]

Originally Posted by Shirley_Manson

You are quickly becoming my favorite poster here.

I wonder if Lara wins against her demons and what her life after what happened in AOD is like.

Thank you I'm full of theories

She does win, each time an NPC dies it represents Lara conquering that particular sin, Carvier dies first so Lara gets over her greed as the first step and so forth and so on. Finally after exorcising the evil out of her life, represented by Kurtis being slain and killed for good by Boaz, she begins to walk a path of recovery and repentance.

Karel didn't really die at the end, it was actually a metaphor for the priest succeeding in bringing the light back into Lara's life, he's engulfed in light before exploding which represents ascension and triumph over the darkness, he and Lara become very good friends moving forward

[straychild]

Originally Posted by Darkon

Thank you I'm full of theories

She does win, each time an NPC dies it represents Lara conquering that particular sin, Carvier dies first so Lara gets over her greed as the first step and so forth and so on. Finally after exorcising the evil out of her life, represented by Kurtis being slain and killed for good by Boaz, she begins to walk a path of recovery and repentance.

I don't know if you are being sarcastic here but it is pretty entertaining to say the least.

Originally Posted by Darkon

Karel didn't really die at the end, it was actually a metaphor for the priest succeeding in bringing the light back into Lara's life, he's engulfed in light before exploding which represents ascension and triumph over the darkness, he and Lara become very good friends moving forward

I don't know what priest we are talking about now, but I don't like to have Lara being followed by bad spirits all the time, it was a long run with crystal she had

[Jathom95]

Why does everyone always assume that a lot of the human enemies in AOD are police?

Even if not privy to the development info of them being Cabal mercenaries, there's plenty to distinguish the fact that they're not even in the vanilla game.

1) The actual police in the first few levels don't automatically shoot at Lara on sight, the mercs do. In fact, Lara isn't even given a weapon with ammo to actually do harm to them until after they're no longer in the game at all.

2) When Lara talks to Carvier, she specifically talks about being on the run from the police. When Lara speaks to Pierre later, she refers to the goons in the club as "gunmen", not police. They also speak Czech, and while this is often seen as an error due to being in Paris, we know later that the Cabal themselves are based in Prague and the heavily armed mercenaries are obviously under their control. These are just lower-ranked guys or something.

3) In Prague itself, same thing. Everyone assumes the guys walking the streets are more police, despite the fact that once again - they shoot Lara on sight instead of trying to arrest her as the actual french police do.

I see this thrown around a lot, so I'm genuinely curious what makes people automatically assume this is the case. I never thought they were police, even back in the day. Even in the Louvre levels, they make the distinction of having Lara with non-lethal options for the guards, who actually are innocent.

[Girafarig32]

Originally Posted by Jathom95

Why does everyone always assume that a lot of the human enemies in AOD are police?

Even if not privy to the development info of them being Cabal mercenaries, there's plenty to distinguish the fact that they're not even in the vanilla game.

1) The actual police in the first few levels don't automatically shoot at Lara on sight, the mercs do. In fact, Lara isn't even given a weapon with ammo to actually do harm to them until after they're no longer in the game at all.

2) When Lara talks to Carvier, she specifically talks about being on the run from the police. When Lara speaks to Pierre later, she refers to the goons in the club as "gunmen", not police. They also speak Czech, and while this is often seen as an error due to being in Paris, we know later that the Cabal themselves are based in Prague and the heavily armed mercenaries are obviously under their control. These are just lower-ranked guys or something.

3) In Prague itself, same thing. Everyone assumes the guys walking the streets are more police, despite the fact that once again - they shoot Lara on sight instead of trying to arrest her as the actual french police do.

I see this thrown around a lot, so I'm genuinely curious what makes people automatically assume this is the case. I never thought they were police, even back in the day. Even in the Louvre levels, they make the distinction of having Lara with non-lethal options for the guards, who actually are innocent.

Interesting analysis! I guess I never thought about the police vs. cabal merc components that deeply. The police do tend to use nonlethal means to arrest Lara, while the mercs immediately shoot to kill and speak Czech, like you said. One notable exception are the guards in black clothing in the louvre... are they also police since they shoot at Lara? I can't remember for certain, but I think they speak French. Perhaps they only shoot because, well, we see them in the cutscene at first aiming in the room once triggered by the alarm. Then they run after her and shoot, which might imply that they see Lara as a running threat with weapons and take a more deadly approach.