I was hoping that by the third, she should have developed some sass, but what we got was..... I don't even know what to call this.

I like viewing her as aro/ace. She doesn't really feel a need to have romantic relationships or one night stands or anything like that. She feels perfectly fine with good friends by her side.

​@turtlesarefantastic9620 as an aro/ace, i respect this take. but as a tomb raider/lara croft fan since i was old enough to hold a controller, i feel like she's a character that works best as a ""blank slate."" lara has been, first and foremost since 1996, a fantasy. men want her, women want to be her. she's an icon that changed the world of gaming and now she's.....following trends and adhereing to modern audiences??? that's not right. that's the opposite of everything this franchise set out to be and accomplish. i see a lot of praise for reboot lara and i don't get it. after 2013, her character becomes static and stale to keep her vulnerable and insecure. you can play any title in this trilogy and it feels the exact same down to the story it tells. lara starts off defenseless and injured and alone and has to regroup to stop the bad guy while gaining confidence through unlocking the same skills under new names like no one would notice. it's redundant and boring. the highlights aren't when she's discovering something or displaying world-class gymnastics but when she goes on a murderous, trauma-triggered rampage. lara is a dangerous girl, she says so herself, but she's no rambo or terminator. her fighting style isn't even aggressive when she's mostly creating distance and dodging. now we have brutal takedowns that paint our screens red in every fight. it's all backwards when exploration, not combat, was what made the original tomb raider such a worldwide success. players learned to care about lara, not because she was a cry baby, but for her badassery and sense of expertise. we know she's meant to survive whatever is in front of her, it's just combining her precision-based skills while keeping an eye on her health and keeping up with saves to do so. the old era felt more rewarding and satisfying for this while this new era holds your hand to the point it's annoying. even making her a "relatable girl next door" doesn't work when she's still considered 11th-generation nobility in this timeline. she's a nepo baby with famous parents, heiress to a billionaire fortune. how is it relatable that she's playing victim by cosplaying the working poor because she's upset her parents are dead? it's the most out of touch lara croft has ever been. she has living relatives, how did roth even get custody of her? why is the topic of her being disowned only a thing in the badly illustrated tie-in comics and a cash-grab dlc? i'm sorry this got long, or if it sounds ranty. i just don't understand a lot of crystal's decisions?? i thought that by the end of this trilogy, lara was going to return to form as the fans were begging for, myself included, since the reveal of the dual pistols at the end of the first game. i don't see an excuse why her acrobatics weren't re-introduced in rise and fully implemented in shadow. all we have of her original skillset now are tumbles/rolls and the swan dive. it would have made an easy bridge to this ""unified"" era anyway, which is just a can of worms in itself lol

@@AimlessThunder I always thought that if Lara has a love interest it should be more like a sexual tension type relationship. someone like Kurtis or Carter Bell who are always challenging her and don’t need to be saved 24/7. The character of Lara Croft isn’t someone who’s a swoop in hero. She relishes a challenge and a dynamic like that would make for a light and not too serious love story.

sam was also the most pampered survivor of the island. whenever we met up with her, she was never dirty or hurt, just understandably scared. i have no doubt himiko did a number on her, but i don't agree with a physically injured, overextended and exhausted, lara carrying her down to the boat. ship stuff aside, that just felt tone deaf to lara's own trauma and abuse from the island. i would have preferred it if they leaned on each other.

I wished Sam had been more present. I loved her character. I love sweet characters. Sue me !

@@NotYetiAlready thats an interesting take, I've enjoyed some of the side characters in the newer trilogy like Sam and Jacob from Rise but most of the others are just okay at best

True. Lara does work better that way. Regardless, I still wished Sam was present more times though. I actually enjoyed her. I have a soft spot for sweet characters. What can I say ?

I miss her too. I think the relationship between the two women is like Hansel and Gretel's (original book). One is the born survivor, yes. But the other is the emotional support, their reason to keep going. One of the series recurring themes, is that Lara has a hard time separating her hobby from the people in the way. Sam is her human side.

That said, my dream cast and game in my made up "TR" timeline is composed by Sam, Doppelganger and Jonas in an adventure that mixes the original "Tomb Raider 2" and "Tomb Raider 3" into one. Then, it's Sam, Amanda and Doppelganger in "Tomb Raider: Last Revelation".

2013

Then why does the upcoming Netflix show take place in the same timeline after shadow. Now I don't know anything about the upcoming game so you might be correct. It just seems weird that the Netflix show would continue the survivor trilogy if the new game is supposedly another reboot.

@@knjegovan9 This is the thing, the new reboot will not erase the past games or all tomb raider adventures. In fact, it's going to be an ultimate refreshing timeline that intertwine everything from the beginning of TR's history. Survivor trilogy will exist as Lara's origin past and the upcoming animated series will be the bridge between the survivor games and TR1/TRA. What we know about the new tomb raider game is that it will take place after all established adventures and specifically after Tomb Raider Underworld, as they teased the doppelganger in new collaborations and gave her a new redesign. Underworld is the latest canonical adventure for this unified timeline/reboot as they stated so we will have the new game set after that

@@knjegovan9 so if anything it's more of a soft-reboot to the established 2013-Shadow timeline except they added classic elements to set it afterwards so we can have all games as canon in one timeline and to make her one lara.

@@niganttana wow. Thank you for the detail

@@knjegovan9the new show is actually supposed to explain how she becomes the “unified croft”. it’s not exactly a reboot but they’re going to bring back the OG Lara with the story that survivor Lara went through

They used to do it, when art still meant something to media.

OK. Have Sam rescue Lara at one point.

Honestly its best if we left the trilogy at what is is rn. Because knowing the gaming industry today, I won't be surprised if Tomb Raider goes woke, having Lara Croft turn into Larry Croft

@@NZealandese Oh. You're one of those.

Roth was arguably the only good side character and they killed him off.

Oh yeah, because Jonah adds so much what with him disappearing for 9 hours in Rise and barely getting mentioned and sitting on his ass for most of Shadow and spending 99% of his time getting KIDNAPPED. Seriously with all the game's combined Jonah has been captured 8 times and if we add in the comics that goes up to FOURTEEN Times. Sam, between the games and the comics has only been captured 5 times and she saved herself and Lara 3 of those times, One which had her winning a Battle of Wills with a Literal Demigod. In fact, Jonah has actually caused Lara Problems in the games as the 3rd act in all three games can be accurately summed up as "And just as Lara fixes the problem Jonah fucks something up that nearly dooms to the world." Sam is awesome and the only issue there is her more badass moments are in the comics but it's a hell of a lot better then Jonah "I fuck up everything I touch and am challenging Princess Peach for the title of Character in most need of rescue in Video Game History."

I think it depends on the person. She did not have the time to proccess what she did, so she kinda just shut her emotions down when it came to the act. The failure is in the sequel not giving her time to proccess the fact she murdered a whole lot of people.

@@JabamiLain I agree makes more sense she would shut off her emotions, but by Rise it was like Lara lacked any empathy for what she was doing and never gave a second thought about killing people, I don't know if different teams at Eidos worked on each game or there was a staff turnover or change in the writers but as a game trilogy they work but story wise they seem disconnected from each other.

The only game of the new trilogy I take seriously is the first one, exactly for that reason.

This is why i hated the new trilogy. Fans defended the trilogy was a prequel as to how Lara became a badass. But im just not buying it The whimp Lara with bow and arrow aint my Lara I miss my twin pistols and sunglasses ps1 Lara

lara was such a loveable and believable and badass character in lau. idk why crystal rebooted her into a mary sue for their knockoff uncharted.

Still miss her, regardless. I think the relationship between the two women is like Hansel and Gretel's (original book). One is the born survivor, yes. But the other is the emotional support, their reason to keep going. One of the series recurring themes, is that Lara has a hard time separating her hobby from the people in the way. Sam is her human side.

you’re very much right lol

​@@crimson_breadme, or the OP ?

I think the relationship between the two women is like Hansel and Gretel's (original book). One is the born survivor, yes. But the other is the emotional support, their reason to keep going. One of the series recurring themes, is that Lara has a hard time separating her hobby from the people in the way. Sam is her human side.

I miss Sam too. Such a sweetheart. My dream cast and game in my made up "TR" timeline is composed by Sam, Doppelganger and Jonas in an adventure that mixes the original "Tomb Raider 2" and "Tomb Raider 3" into one. Then, it's Sam, Amanda and Doppelganger in "Tomb Raider: Last Revelation".

@@JabamiLain that's sounds nice😍 just remove jonas enough of him in rise and shadow games lol let's go full sam mode haha

​@@isaac-gatechnically, in my timeline, there were no "Rise" or "Shadow" before "TR 1/TR: Anniversary", so this adventure of mine (the one that mixes 2 and 3) would be the first and only time you'd see him. Plus, the Doppelganger doesn't seem the best at communication, and I'm going with the old Lara version, who's kind of a lone wolf. Sam needs a more social guy to help her take the first steps in exploring her powers (it's confirmed something of Himiko did pass on to her, hence her presence in these adventures of Lara).