
Killing Lara Croft - tangue
https://quarterly.camposanto.com/killing-lara-croft-869cd174ae34#.xd4cfcltn
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ethbro
As someone who remembers the first Tomb Raider, it was a weird time in
gaming^. I'd sum it up as everything was either 'the epitome of 2D gaming' or
the first steps into 'a 3D version of {insert game concept here}'.

Laura Croft was a 3D version of James Bond and Indiana Jones' love child. The
hook was that it was one of the first 3D games were things looked kind-of,
sort-of, maybe-if-you-squinted-at-them realistic. And also the first 3D game
that I saw with realistic translations between animation states.

It's probably a lost cause trying to explain it to people who have grown up
with high fidelity graphics, but there's a certain magic to "Wow, that hedge
looks like a hedge!"

PS: So much hate for TR2's canal level
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0r_Wp-
EtU&t=8m30s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0r_Wp-EtU&t=8m30s)

^For reference, 1996 was Duke Nukem 3D, Civ 2, Time Crisis, Super Mario RPG,
Resident Evil, Metal Slug, Pokemon, Quake, Super Mario 64, NiGHTS, TES II:
Daggerfall, Pilotwings 64, Wipeout 2097/XL, Marathon Infinity, MoO2, C&C:RA,
DoA, and Diablo (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_in_video_gaming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_in_video_gaming)
)

~~~
RHSeeger
> PS: So much hate for TR2's canal level

To this day, my wife and I still talk about that level, and trying to solve it
together so many years ago.

~~~
GrantSolar
I remember playing through TR2 with my brother as youngsters. I don't think
he's forgiven me for 'progressing' in the level by killing a couple of
enemies, using all the medkits, and overwriting the only save with low health
at this point [1] - just before you have to climb a ladder into a small room
with two enemies

[1][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0r_Wp-
EtU&t=9m15s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0r_Wp-EtU&t=9m15s)

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rawnlq
> “we talked about things like having her visibly decapitated, but then we
> thought that [Heath-Smith] would kill us. And we always had a fondness for
> Lara, we were just sick of her, really. We were buying houses because of
> Lara. Because of Toby, in hindsight. I don’t think we actually wanted to do
> anything brutal to her.”

This is funny since there were tons of scenes worse than decapitations in the
2013 reboot:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyVHV7ct4gU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyVHV7ct4gU)

~~~
pault
This "push button to not die" BS is why I don't play console games anymore.

~~~
justinpombrio
Some modern games are best thought of as semi-interactive movies.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Which explains the popularity of a lot of YouTube channels.

I watched someone play "The Last of Us" and "Uncharted 4" the whole way
through. It was very enjoyable (partially because I found someone who could
keep their mouth shut through a lot of the cut scenes), and I knew I was
probably never going to play through those games all the way through.

~~~
dkersten
I did the same for "The Last of Us" (and also watched a video where the guy
barely spoke; I wonder was it the same one you watched...). I watched it
because I heard all the good things about it and thought since it was a PS3
game that I'd never play it. I loved watching it.

Then later it got remade for PS4 and I bought it and played it the whole way
through. Despite having watched the entire thing, I really enjoyed playing it
just as much as I assume I would have without watching it, and, interestingly
enough, I enjoyed the gameplay much more than I was expecting.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I'm pretty terrible at video games, especially tense FPS ones like The Last of
Us; I own a copy, but I was hoping my wife would play it so I could watch it
that way :P

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hashberry
I remember playing the original Tomb Raider as a teenager, and while Lara did
have "sex appeal," it was the action and violence I enjoyed the most. Let's
not kid ourselves--violence sells video games. Imagine if Lara Croft never
died and never killed anything/anyone. She wouldn't be Lara Croft. Almost
every photo in this article shows a woman holding two guns. She is a killer,
and I love her for that.

~~~
shmerl
I was more interested in the exploration aspect. Levels in the first Tomb
Raider are very good, with puzzles and spooky traps. Violence plays quite a
minor role there.

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ukyrgf
What's the story behind this blog? It just occurred to me that the domain is
for the developers of Firewatch; are the authors of the articles employees of
Campo Santo?

~~~
chrisper
I think they used to use it to provide info about the progress of Firewatch. I
remember getting thiese quarterly reviews as a newsletter during development.

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rbrtdrmpc1
fun fact, campo santo in italian means graveyard

