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[SeeNoWeevil]

Could they have written any less personality into this character? What a crushing bore this character has become. One facial expression, one tone, the same monotonous dialogue over and over. Combine that with a somewhat bizarre urge to throw herself into incredibly dangerous situations without any thought - a borderline psychopath with the most paper thin motivations for everything. The half a dozen polygons of classic Lara gave off a more varied set of emotions than the one we have now. I'm not sure I've cared any less for a protagonist and their motivations than I have for new Lara.

 

[matrix-cat]

Drink every time she says "I must..." "I've got to....", etc and you'll be off your face in no time.

 

[Krejlooc]

When I think of classic laura croft, I think of like tomb raider 1-3... and she was pretty wooden there.

 

[SeeNoWeevil]

Drink every time she says "I must..." "I've got to....", etc and you'll be off your face in no time.

2 games and the reboot needs a reboot. Must be some sort of record.

 

[Poona]

Yeah, Keeley Hawes is best Lara. I don't have much love for whiney Camilla Luddington version.

 

[SigSig]

She totally is. The ruination of the classic gameplay would be a lot more bearable if they actually did something meaningful with the series. The way things are now, Lara Croft: GO is the only good thing the reboot has brought us.

 

[SliChillax]

I agree. I could barely finish ROTR because of her.

 

[Lime]

Yup, it's absolutely eye-rolling characterization. Made a similar thread earlier this year, albeit with a different point of departure.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Yeah, Keeley Hawes is best Lara. I don't have much love for whiney Camilla Luddington version.

Keeley Raider will always reign supreme.

 

[Yopis]

Loved ROTR disagree with this. Not sure what people are looking for. Glad she was not corny like Drake. Glad she was not over the top like Tess.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

2 games and the reboot needs a reboot. Must be some sort of record.

Thank god Naughty Dog is releasing Uncharted: TLL so Enix can watch and observe how good female adventuring characters are written.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Honestly, everyone in the modern TR games is dull and boring.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

Drink every time she says "I must..." "I've got to....", etc and you'll be off your face in no time.

Lmao, alcoholic by end of game

 

[Rondras]

Isn't like the original was a well written character. Lara Croft was always a good character just in her actions, not how she is as a person.

 

[Harlequin]

Yup. She's not an interesting character, she bears almost no similarity to the original Lara Croft (In terms of personality, I mean. I'm perfectly fine with them giving her a more realistic appearance and more practical clothing.) to the point where you have to ask yourself whether the writers are even familiar with the original games and, worst of all, she's actively annoying. But then, it's not just her, it's almost all the characters in the reboot games. I think there are only two or three in total (across both games) who aren't stereotypical cardboard cutouts and the overall writing in the games can pretty much be summed up with one word: cringeworthy.

 

[HK-47]

Lara Croft has always been a boring character. This is nothing new.

 

[Coreda]

She totally is. The ruination of the classic gameplay would be a lot more bearable if they actually did something meaningful with the series. The way things are now, Lara Croft: GO is the only good thing the reboot has brought us.

People always seem to forget the marvelous other Lara Croft series from Crystal Dynamics. Certainly the first one was very enjoyable.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Yep.

I mean I understand they're going for an inexperienced, supposedly less capable (despite that not really ever being shown) Lara, but gods is she just dull to the point of being annoying.

Original and first reboot Lara weren't exactly deep admittedly, but at least they were likeable. Young Lara is a charisma black hole, not helped by either the plodding writing or fucking awful voice acting.

 

[Sande]

Drink every time she says "I must..." "I've got to....", etc and you'll be off your face in no time.

Yup, her entire character pretty much boils down to "says the current objective out loud" and "likes old stuff".

That's a huge part of why I didn't like the reboot very much. Everything felt so soulless.

 

[CryptiK]

They just need to bring back Old Lara.

 

[Smoolio]

Glad she was not over the top like Tess.

Shoulda kept Sam in the series, the romantic symbolism was the best part of the first game.

 

[Raylan]

I agree. I could barely finish ROTR because of her.

True. I want an evolution of the Tomb Raider 1-3 games. Not.......stuff like TR/ROTTR. Horrible.

 

[VeryNicePerson]

Drink every time she says "I must..." "I've got to....", etc and you'll be off your face in no time.

Hahaha

 

[excelsiorlef]

Lara Croft has always been a boring character. This is nothing new.

Seriously, Tomb Raider is a fucked up franchise in terms of how they treat Lara Croft.
They've never cared on making her anything in terms of writing, I mean fuck early Tomb Raider games were all about how hot she was hence Eidos hiring out Models to dress up as her and sell the game.

CD tried with their little trilogy Legend, Anniversary, Underworld but she still wasn't all that great but much better than original series and this new one for sure.

 

[liquidtmd]

FWIW I liked Tomb Raider 2013 and ROTR (only a quarter way through) but absolutely she is dull and unlikeable.

No charm and crucially (as already swiftly mentioned) her motivations are bollocks. Her representations in the early games (I played the original and 2 back in the day) weren't better technically but the previous games didn't need that.

They didn't try to throw in a plethora of emotional angst so some cute, dry one liners and minimal motivations weren't as scrutinised. Less WAS more as you could project more onto her.

 

[LordRaptor]

Yup, it's absolutely eye-rolling characterization. Made a similar thread earlier this year, albeit with a different point of departure.

Huh, yeah, unsurprisingly I still agree with myself.

OG Laras characterisation was rich girl thrill seeker, which is certainly a tropey type of character, but not one you usually see in a contemporary setting being exemplified by the Amelia Earhart types of the 1930s.

Modern Laura Craft is, you know, the female lead from every horror film ever, psychologically brute forced into being competent via trauma.

You've come a long way baby!

 

[Zolbrod]

Just finished ROTR, and I agree wholeheartedly.
The reboots take themselves WAY too seriously and there's just no sense of fun and adventure anymore.

 

[Yopis]

Horrible character from Last of us.

 

[Mediking]

I'm so tempted to dig deep into this because she has alotta potential but I would be going into fanfiction levels so I'm just gonna shut up...

 

[tuxfool]

Lara Croft has always been a boring character. This is nothing new.

Old Lara had a certain style but the games didn't bask in her character to make the lack of depth important, she was an archetype. The problem is that the new ones make a big deal about it, they devote time and effort but what is there is utter rubbish.

 

[Peru]

I really like the new character of Lara Croft, dissonance aside. I like it when she gets angry and heads into fights. I like the introduction, bruised and battered, learning to ignore the dull pain under duress. She has the right motivation to do the things she does as well.

 

[Yopis]

Just finished ROTR, and I agree wholeheartedly.
The reboots take themselves WAY too seriously and there's just no sense of fun and adventure anymore.

Have all of the games. Still play the older ones time to time. I enjoy this version.

Thought even the death scenes from the reboot were true to the series. Weird they toned them down for the vocal minority.

Kinda cool to see it more grounded. Hope they finish this story out. Maybe they will bring a lighter tone game for some fans alongside.

 

[spekkeh]

I don't really agree.

Classic Lara was just pointy looking TnA with an English accent, because that obviously makes her even more masturbation worthy.

I quite liked her characterization in Reboot. For lack of a better word at some point I wanted to protect her, she showed quite some character growth and there was this semi interesting interaction with Sam where they were college dorm BFFs but maybe there was something more too.

ROTTR though, oy vey. She suddenly has daddy issues, gives constant exposition of her one dimensional state, and it doesn't help that none of it makes sense really. They had to drag in a late mcguffin to make sure we weren't killing all these people because Lara is pouting over her dad. Every time I press X at a campsite I'm like shut up, shut up, noooo why do you have start yapping again.

 

[FriedConsole]

I like the reboot character. For a video game, she is easily a top 10 in complexity for a potaganist in a active series.

 

[Hostile_18]

Disagree completely, love her in the new reboot games.

As for the motivations well I'm only half way into Rise but her flawed motivations are getting called out by the supporting characters/journals (subtly).

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Since TR2013 came out, I've seen people groaning and complaining about the new Tomb Raider. They say Camilla Luddington is a bad actress, they say the games are poorly written, they say they're generic third-person shooters, they say Lara has no personality, they say Lara is weak, and so on and so on.

And the only conclusion I can come to is that people who feel this way are from a different universe than me. I am in Earth A, where the new Tomb Raider games are the platinum standard for modern action adventure games, and people like you must be on Earth B, where where the new Tomb Raider is bad.

After three years of engaging in this debate, fielding criticisms and offering my own insights, the only truly logical possibility is this. You are simply from a wholly different reality than the one I live in. NeoGAF is piece of glass between our two planes of existence and we can peer just beyond it to see how the other dimension feels about Tomb Raider, but that is all.

Really makes you think. Greetings from Earth A. I wonder what else is different?

 

[Carl]

Yeah Camilla whatsherface is terrible which doesn't help

 

[Tecnniqe]

I loved the reboot but I can't for the life of me get properly into ROTR.

 

[SeeNoWeevil]

Since TR2013 came out, I've seen people groaning and complaining about the new Tomb Raider. They say Camilla Luddington is a bad actress, they say the games are poorly written, they say they're generic third-person shooters, they say Lara has no personality, they say Lara is weak, and so on and so on.

And the only conclusion I can come to is that people who feel this way are from a different universe than me. I am in Earth A, where the new Tomb Raider games are the platinum standard for modern action adventure games, and people like you must be on Earth B, where where the new Tomb Raider is bad.

After three years of engaging in this debate, fielding criticisms and offering my own insights, the only truly logical possibility is this. You are simply from a wholly different reality than the one I live in. NeoGAF is piece of glass between our two planes of existence and we can peer just beyond it to see how the other dimension feels about Tomb Raider, but that is all.

Really makes you think. Greetings from Earth A. I wonder what else is different?

Ha, I feel exactly the same about people who bemoan Dark Souls 2 constantly!

 

[chrislowe]

I think TR 2013 is one of the best games in the last few years. Easily better than uncharted imho.
If she says boring stuff I dont mind since the game was really good.

 

[Kaleinc]

Old Lara was triangular boobs with british accent and beggar shades.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

When I think of classic laura croft, I think of like tomb raider 1-3... and she was pretty wooden there.

Who?

 

[Jobbs]

I like her. I think as a video game protagonist she's an excellent vessel to guide us through a video game adventure.

The problem is she keeps getting put into stories that suck ass.

 

[family_guy]

Classic Lara wasn't glowing with personality either. It wasn't until years later they tried to do more with the character when Crystal Dynamics took it over starting with Legend.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Oh yeah, she's terrible but overall not worse than her previous incarnations nor the average male protagonist. When you want more minority representation, you sometimes get a dud like Lara Croft. That doesn't mean that she's free of criticism but it's okay to try and fail.

I have more of an issue with the gameplay than the character.

Since TR2013 came out, I've seen people groaning and complaining about the new Tomb Raider. They say Camilla Luddington is a bad actress, they say the games are poorly written, they say they're generic third-person shooters, they say Lara has no personality, they say Lara is weak, and so on and so on.

And the only conclusion I can come to is that people who feel this way are from a different universe than me. I am in Earth A, where the new Tomb Raider games are the platinum standard for modern action adventure games, and people like you must be on Earth B, where where the new Tomb Raider is bad.

After three years of engaging in this debate, fielding criticisms and offering my own insights, the only truly logical possibility is this. You are simply from a wholly different reality than the one I live in. NeoGAF is piece of glass between our two planes of existence and we can peer just beyond it to see how the other dimension feels about Tomb Raider, but that is all.

Really makes you think. Greetings from Earth A. I wonder what else is different?

Finale Fireworker from Earth B has good taste in games.

 

[Nev]

All of the characters in TR2013 are complete embarrassing garbage. I can't believe these walking stereotypes were ever considered acceptable for a game of its scope/name. They're seriously characters made by a 16 years old teenager. Lara was absolutely the best of the bunch, so go figure.

 

[Freeman76]

She is a mug. I dont know what their angle is, but she comes across as a twat, who is stressed to the max even when describing an ornate handle of an ancient dagger relic.

 

[NeoRaider]

Reboot maybe, yes.
ROTTR, no.

 

[Shadax the wizard]

Agreed.

 

[stryker1138]

Playing through ROTTR at the moment, and while I'm enjoying it overall, I do find myself feeling disappointed in her character. She has "motivations", sure, in that her ultimate aim is to find this thing her father spent his life chasing, but at nearly every juncture she just allows other people to control the situation and seems content to go along for the ride. It's like she's being swept along in a current that happens to be heading toward her destination.