Tomb Raider Franchise Going Forward...

[Fappy]

So without spoiling plot specifics it's safe to say that the thematic idea behind the reboot was to show Lara Croft go from an ordinary person to a survivalist/mass-murder/super hero/bad ass (i.e. the Lara Croft we all know and love). I thought it worked pretty well for the most part and I was genuinely interested in the character. Though, now that she's become a die-hard bad ass... where do we go from here?

I'd hate to see sequels cut corners and present us with an invincible protagonist who has no internal conflict to speak of. If the story doesn't help Lara grow as a character will it really be a story worth telling?

So yeah, share your ideas on the subject. I'm just going to spitball some random ideas. Possibilities for a sequel:

- Lara's haunted by her father's accomplishments and wants to live up to his name
- Lara's dealing with PTSD after the events of the first game (unlikely considering the note the game ended on)
- Lara's haunted by the hundreds of men she had killed and fears she may be losing touch with her humanity.
- Lara becomes obsessed with discovering the truth behind a specific mystery and it comes a sa determent to herself and those around her.

 

[m19]

Well her view of the world was completely turned upside down and the ending suggests she feels a strong need to make sense of things again. But perhaps she's charging forward so fast to escape dealing with what happened. Or she is still figuratively trapped in the brutal reality of the island because she says, "I'm not going home," like she never escaped and is unable to return to normality and now belongs in another place like the island.

 

[XMark]

I see all sorts of room for the more realistic rebooted Lara Croft's development. About now she'd be facing survivor's guilt and PTSD. There are a few people who she tries and fails to save throughout the game, so that would be a major source of guilt right there. And on the other side of the coin she's had a taste of adventure and will want to get back in the game despite the other side of her telling her not to. It's a really good recipe with all sorts of dramatic potential for sequels IMHO.

 

[Smertnik]

She dies from tetanus and infected wounds. Later on, while filming another documentary, Sam strands on a more mysterious island with a more hostile populace and instead of getting kidnapped has to survive on her own in this even harsher environment, this time using grenades and a rocket launcher. At some point one of her arms is torn off by a grizzly forcing her to make an artificial limb out of branches and a rope. She may or may not say 'It's just a flesh wound' at the time. The arm can then be upgraded with an attachable chainsaw, amongst other things.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh God, please no PTSD! Whatever happens it needs to stay an action adventure, no Spec Ops: The Line shenanigans please.

Just have the sequel be about some mystery that holds personal significance to her. Show some vulnerabilities she might have regarding it, and then have her overcome them. Done.

In all honesty I'd rather the developers focused a bit more on characterisation for the sequel, because everyone in the reboot besides Lara was dreadfully flat and stale. Nerd guy wearing glasses and shirt with Esc button, reading comicbook took the cake.

 

[Darquenaut]

In the game, near the end, you find some documents which give massive hints to the next game:

Spoiler

Something about Trinity and the Star Phenomenon (probably what gave Himiko her powers.

so logic dictates it's going to revolve around that. As for Lara herself, now that she has been "reborn" as a survivor, perhaps it would have to take the next step and work from that angle. From what I would like to see- maybe at the beginning she's kind of a few screws loose- not like Spec Ops, but now maybe having become and adrenaline junkie. Due to that, she becomes reckless, endangers more people and she has to survive once again, all the while solving the riddle of that game's magic McGuffin. Y'know common video game plot device.

I would like to see more of a "pacifist" element though in the next game. I have no problem with facing off against dozens of crazies trying to kill me for their Sun Queen or whatever. At the same time, considering the game has taken the approach in making Lara seem more "human," I think it would be cool to see if they can add more to the whole stealth element, and hell, give some humanity to the grunts that are just living there/ doing their jobs/ whatever.

 

[Uhura]

I'm with DVS BSTrD and j-e-f-f-e-r-s on this. I want more tomb raiding and less shooty action/sob story. I loved the first game and I really want to support the Tomb Raider franchise but judging from some let's play videos I've watched, the new TR has very little to do with the original game... I just find it really difficult to get excited about it. So yeah, hopefully the next TR game is closer to the original. I want tons of solitary tomb exploration and occasional bear/wolf/dinosaur/crocodile attacks. And I really don't need any dramatic & emotional character progression for Lara (god no PTSD! :O ).

 

[shadow skill]

How about no more designated red shirts. I spent the whole game so far just waiting for a certain character to die because I knew it was going to happen about five seconds after he was introduced. I figured that this character's death would be my cue to either slowdown and explore the island or stop all together and save it for my eventual PC purchase when there is a sale on Amazon. This sort of complaint isn't limited to video games, but it would be good if videogames could stop wasting my time like that.

While I think that Lara's character is fine as far as action fare goes it is a bit boring to me. After playing Revengeance I have to wonder what it might be like if your character starts out as Lara did, but over the course of the game develops a taste for killing? How might the game have changed if certain people were already dead before the start of the game and Lara was depending on her memories of them to draw inspiration for how to handle situations?

The stealth element really seems to make the game too easy, I'm playing on Hard and can barely control the game and the only encounters that have given me any trouble are the ones you can't stealth because I have to do weird things with the controller in order to be able to aim since there are no southpaw options or button mapping on the 360 version that I rented. I can only imagine how much easier the game would be if I could actually control it properly.

Edit:Also why are the tombs so damn easy? I don't even like puzzles that much but for a game called Tomb Raider the game should have more intricate tombs to explore.

 

[Fappy]

Yet probably the only reason people will support the new tomb raider franchise is because Lara no longer has huge breasts. I'm sure the reboot was a good game but compared to when I watched my cousin play through the originals and the footage I've seen they really are two completely different games.

But the crux is once again consumers and marketers making a problem out of nothing. I mean it is ironic to me that people hated the old lara for being a pin-up girl but at the same time we have people who demand that video game characters act more like real people. To which when you think about it, wouldn't having a character actually having fun and posting pictures online of themselves pretty realistic? If anything all that marketing that made lara in her "negative" image also made her quite realistic as well. Kinda an ugly truth if you really look at it. Lara's downfall was that she was being made to be more than just a female Indiana Jones and while she had all those traits it was the consumers that didn't understand the game that cast her aside by making the best big boob jokes they could.

I wasn't a Sony kid, so I never really got into Tomb Raider back in its heyday. I didn't really have an opinion of the franchise until now and definitely wouldn't have bothered with this game if it wasn't marketed the way it was. I play games to have fun, but I generally don't buy $60 AAA games these days unless they have a good story to tell. It wasn't a storytelling masterpiece by any means, but it had a compelling and quasi-realistic protagonist, so I took the bait.

Despite the motivations from the developers or the ideas people had of her prior to the release of the game I think the new Lara Croft's a really good character and has a lot of potential.

 

[shadow skill]

Yet probably the only reason people will support the new tomb raider franchise is because Lara no longer has huge breasts. I'm sure the reboot was a good game but compared to when I watched my cousin play through the originals and the footage I've seen they really are two completely different games.

But the crux is once again consumers and marketers making a problem out of nothing. I mean it is ironic to me that people hated the old lara for being a pin-up girl but at the same time we have people who demand that video game characters act more like real people. To which when you think about it, wouldn't having a character actually having fun and posting pictures online of themselves pretty realistic? If anything all that marketing that made lara in her "negative" image also made her quite realistic as well. Kinda an ugly truth if you really look at it. Lara's downfall was that she was being made to be more than just a female Indiana Jones and while she had all those traits it was the consumers that didn't understand the game that cast her aside by making the best big boob jokes they could.

I wasn't a Sony kid, so I never really got into Tomb Raider back in its heyday. I didn't really have an opinion of the franchise until now and definitely wouldn't have bothered with this game if it wasn't marketed the way it was. I play games to have fun, but I generally don't buy $60 AAA games these days unless they have a good story to tell. It wasn't a storytelling masterpiece by any means, but it had a compelling and quasi-realistic protagonist, so I took the bait.

Despite the motivations from the developers or the ideas people had of her prior to the release of the game I think the new Lara Croft's a really good character and has a lot of potential.

I took a look at Tomb Raider Underworld and she doesn't seem to have a very large bust, so I don't know what would make this game more palatable aside from it being mechanically a better game. Then again I never really paid any attention to Tomb Raider at all, I would have been just as happy if the game was named something completely different. I might go take a closer look at some of the earlier games though.

 

[Fappy]

-Snip-

I'd say the only problem with the new Lara is that it leaves that big "where do we go from here" because a good deal of the game basically can't really exist again as it was a prologue to her eventual development of being a professional. Nevermind having to change the way she looks as she grows up physically as well.

And that's basically what this thread is about XD

From a game mechanics perspective it'll certainly be interesting considering so many of the "RPG" elements in the game are centered around Lara learning how to survive/kill (skill points) and going from nothing to a full-blown upgraded arsenal. It would be pretty lame if she just started out with nothing again unless there was a good reason for it.

 

[bafrali]

Do we really need internal conflict for every game protagonsit for a good story? I see the importance of the character development in the reboot. But after that we really get the party going without much "what ifs?

 

[zumbledum]

really quite liked the reboot going forwad i would just like to see a little more tomb raider and a little less uncharted. i rarely felt like i was playing a tomb raider game, not enough beauty shots or jaw drop temple reveals

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

I'm impressed with how they handled the reboot, they did a really good job, my only complain with it was the tombs, there weren't that many and not as challenging as from the other games, so if they fix that, that would be great

 

[hazabaza1]

Lara goes to the plastic surgeon, gets her trademark massive mammaries and kills a kraken.
PROGRESS.