New v/s old Lara Croft

[ParabolaWaVe]

Revisiting these games again made me realize that I actually like many elements from the new Lara Croft character, and also, that I wasn't attached to the old character as much as I thought.

What I actually preferred about the old games were its slower pacing, the puzzles, the greater sense of exploration and discovery. Even the clunky controls added to the charm. But Lara herself?... Here, I have to separate the visual component from Lara Croft's personality.

I do prefer her original body model, perhaps. More fit and, of course, sexy. Someone as acrobatic as her should have a very athletic body, its even a matter of logic. But at the same time, personality wise, the old Lara seems today (puzzlingly) much more "modern" and girlbossy than the new. She isn't very different to the female action hero of all modern entertainment, with somewhat aggressive and masculine attitudes.

The new Lara Croft was, in contrast, a more feminine, more realistic, more vulnerable take as a female lead. Personally, I don't think I've seen many "vulnerable female leads" in recent action films and games.

So, after playing these classic games again, I'm left with the feeling that if we forget all about the visual design of the characters, the old Lara Croft actually followed the more "modern", girl-boss entertainment formula we're so familiar with, at least, while the new version was, ironically, much closer to a classic, more femenine lead character. Which, I'd argue, is somewhat refreshing in current times. Feel free to disagree.

[Valiento]

In a sense I guess.

If you compare to other female characters of 80’s and 90s along lines of Ripley or Sarah Conner. Where they showed vulnerability at times and other times were badassesses depending on the story and script, as needed..

Old Lara was very much more like average comic book super hero of the 80s. With a id of Indiana Jones and James Bond thrown in.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sAhMZXB0Qts

[ParabolaWaVe]

Another thing to consider, is that the new Lara, despite having a vulnerable personality, featured in the most action packed games in the entire franchise. Maybe the character would have worked better in later games had these been "Tomb Raiding", puzzle-exploration settings. Like these classics.

[Cú/Moon]

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

the old Lara seems today (puzzlingly) much more "modern" and girlbossy than the new. She isn't very different to the female action hero of all modern entertainment, with somewhat aggressive and masculine attitudes.

The new Lara Croft was, in contrast, a more feminine, more realistic, more vulnerable take as a female lead. Personally, I don't think I've seen many "vulnerable female leads" in recent action films and games.

So, after playing these classic games again, I'm left with the feeling that if we forget all about the visual design of the characters, the old Lara Croft actually followed the more "modern", girl-boss entertainment formula we're so familiar with, at least, while the new version was, ironically, much closer to a classic, more femenine lead character. Which, I'd argue, is somewhat refreshing in current times. Feel free to disagree.

Hahhhahahahhahahahahhahahahhah ah, hahahahahhahahahahahhahahahah, ha ha. Oh. Good laugh thanks.

[Valiento]

Originally posted by CR/Moon:

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

the old Lara seems today (puzzlingly) much more "modern" and girlbossy than the new. She isn't very different to the female action hero of all modern entertainment, with somewhat aggressive and masculine attitudes.

The new Lara Croft was, in contrast, a more feminine, more realistic, more vulnerable take as a female lead. Personally, I don't think I've seen many "vulnerable female leads" in recent action films and games.

So, after playing these classic games again, I'm left with the feeling that if we forget all about the visual design of the characters, the old Lara Croft actually followed the more "modern", girl-boss entertainment formula we're so familiar with, at least, while the new version was, ironically, much closer to a classic, more femenine lead character. Which, I'd argue, is somewhat refreshing in current times. Feel free to disagree.

Hahhhahahahhahahahahhahahahhah ah, hahahahahhahahahahahhahahahah, ha ha. Oh. Good laugh thanks.

Most people don’t think about the storylines to be honest ;)

[Dreamer]

And I hate the new Lara with a passion—all that crying, ugh.

[AnxiousBlue]

Originally posted by Dreamer:

And I hate the new Lara with a passion—all that crying, ugh.

With the stuff she goes through, can't really blame her for daring to have emotions.

[Valiento]

New Lara feels more like Katniss. She really needs two guns soon…

[ParabolaWaVe]

Originally posted by Dreamer:

And I hate the new Lara with a passion—all that crying, ugh.

The big problem of the modern character, I believe, was a visual thing. Crystal Dynamics and Enix started with a still sexy version of Lara for the reboot. But in later games, they took away more and more attractiveness from her instead of adding it, and as a result, the character ended with a very bland, very boring look. It sucks in our perception of the character too, because looking sexy is, at the same time, looking confident.

I can bet this is still a visual design problem, I'm sure that if the games are modded to return the sexy appearance to the rebooted Lara, the character would show its hidden potential.

[vinyblaster]

That's such a bad take.

The old Lara was a real strong female character. She was ruthless, she was finding treasures and that's it. She just wanted to collect treasures because she thought it was cool, and kill some bozos in the process. And that's it.

Yeah there was a short backstop that she got lost in Tibet after a plane crash and what not, but it'd barely 3 lines in the manual.

She was a strong female character that doesn't shove the strong female character down your throat.

The new Lara is an unsufferable whiny idiot. Of course she has to experience some weird trauma, of course she has to feel remorse for killing these men. Cause that's how we built female characters nowadays. It's not their fault, they got traumatized and now they're just rebuilding themselves.

Anyways, the character is not even important for the game. And the old games were awesome while the new ones suck.

[ParabolaWaVe]

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Anyways, the character is not even important for the game. And the old games were awesome while the new ones suck.

I like the old games better but for the gameplay. Not the character. Old Lara wouldn't have worked as a character at all in the new games.

[DyNaMiX]

The newer games have a massive advantage of being released at a time when games are capable of conveying great narrative.

TR1 came out on PC for DOS... not long from a time when we read the story of games in manuals before playing them, and then read the final "cutscene" text at the end before the credits. The idea of in-game cutscenes was one of those 'innovative' aspects. Now we take it all for granted.

[Zamza]

Did you see Lara's new "unified" design from CD? https://www.ign.com/articles/tomb-raider-dev-reveals-lara-crofts-official-redesign

[1234]

I did enjoy young Lara going from vulnerable to learning to kill to survive from the Tomb Raider reboot. I didn't like they extended that through the next games like she never killed before despite we killing so many people. It felt fake and forced. Did not make much sense in Shadow of Tomb Raider to keep her so whiny. There was no progression on her personality which is a shame. Still, it's a minor issue.

[ParabolaWaVe]

Originally posted by Zamza:

Did you see Lara's new "unified" design from CD? https://www.ign.com/articles/tomb-raider-dev-reveals-lara-crofts-official-redesign

I would've expected a design like this for future games. Personally, I'd like to see some mixture between old and new in the gameplay aspect too, adding more exploration and proper "tomb raiding" on top of what was before. Tombs and puzzles can help with character development, actually, since Lara is taken away from the stress of combat, and put in exploration/adventure mode, where the writers can develop different aspects of the character.

Personality wise, I'd like the writers to keep at least some vulnerability in her in future releases.... I think we're all very tired of "girlboss" characters in 2024.

[Cú/Moon]

Originally posted by ParabolaWaVe:

Old Lara wouldn't have worked as a character at all in the new games.

Agree because they CHOSE to write a garbage story.
Lara is a feminine, adrenaline junkie who flirts with death, people like this exist, she is realistic.
Nu-larua is not this, and NOT realistic due to the incongruence of her actions leading to cognitive dissonance for anyone with half a brain.