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[Hero of Time]

I just finished this game the other day. I had a okay time with it, but throughout the game both my sister and I were talking about how the story was just so boring.

Early in the game I tried listening to every audio tape/document I found, but halfway through I just gave up and started to skip them, they were so uninteresting. The biggest victim of this games writing though is definitely Lara, she's just so... bland. I feel like they really need to lighten up the tone, this ultra dark, gritty Lara just isn't working.

 

[Oneself]

Except from the first kill, the terrible VA and characters; TR13 wasn't all bad story-wise up until the end. Then; the ending, the supernatural stuff and stupid explanations were such a letdown.

And well, I have yet to finish ROTTR (terrible pacing) but this whole focus-group writing is just unbearably boring and bland.

 

[Innolis]

They should've gone with the depressing ending for the first game. None of the side characters were memorable in any way shape or form. Killing them all would've been a mercy...I can't believe anyone playing the game would be depressed by their dying. Did they focus test it with teenagers?

Rise is just terrible all around, I have a super high tolerance for writing (mostly out of ignorance of what "good" writing should constitute) but with RoTTR it felt downright cringey at times..

 

[General Lee]

I think the juxtaposition of the gritty realistic Lara and the arcady combat situations doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and because of that it might have been better to not try to make Lara a realistic character that should believably react to the psychological impact of the situation. No believable character would go on such a rampage from her starting position. The other option would be to make the combat encounters far more toned down, but that would be a very different game. I think many would've preferred a more toned town survival game, but since the game does appeal to a more casual mass market as it stands, the "mow down waves of grunts" combat is probably considered more fun than something a normal person could conceivably overcome. Overall the new TR is a fairly shallow third person shooter catering to the masses, and the gritty realism of Lara is only skin deep. That's why I think the game gets a lot of flak on GAF, but in general most people find it a fun game regardless.

 

[nampad]

I read the whole article and not only the quoted parts.

While I can believe that Pratchett wasn't responsible for the story alone and lots of decisions were made by Crystal Dynamics, I still think she is to blame for a lot the abysmal stories/narratives of both games.

I have literally nothing positive to say about the writing of both games. The characters, something that apparently she focused more on, were the worst (though lots of this is also on Luddington's horrible performance). Heck, when I finished RoTR two weeks ago I played Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta and enjoyed the Nathan Drake knock-off and his friends more.

I feel like she is trying to distance herself of what is considered by many a weak narrative and putting all the blame on others. To be fair though, TR 2013 and RoTR had many other weaknesses too which made it felt like an amateur hour.

Except from the first kill, the terrible VA and characters; TR13 wasn't all bad story-wise up until the end. Then; the ending, the supernatural stuff and stupid explanations were such a letdown.

And well, I have yet to finish ROTTR (terrible pacing) but this whole focus-group writing is just unbearably boring and bland.

I can't even remember much of the story of TR 2013, it was so forgettable. I do remember one of the most cringeworthy scenes though:

Spoiler

That guy dying on the ship.

 

[Lime]

"Something like that would never be a controversy in anything else," she says. "There were some people who said, you can't do that to Lara. That would never happen to Lara, which is a disturbing line to take, to suggest there are women, albeit fictional ones, that that sort of thing doesn't happen to and shouldn't happen to. It's like, well, it shouldn't happen to any woman, but in fact things like that happen to all women in all walks of life. Just because you're seen as a tough video games character, that doesn't mean that sort of stuff wouldn't happen to you."

It's almost as if Pratchett still don't get why it's a problem to have female characters experience attempted rape as a form of character development.

This interview actually makes me even more disappointed with her. She doesn't even address the dumb stereotypes she wrote in TR1 (she doesn't even mention she would have changed it when asked about it) nor does she seem to understand why the narratives in both of her games have been lambasted for their nonsensical and eye-rolling dialogue.

 

[grosvenor_92]

After reading that I would of much preferred to get the Lara she wanted to have in the first game. The jump from first killing everyone was done way too quickly.

 

[Kremzeek]

Sounds like writing by committee. No wonder it turned out so horribly (IMO).

agreed - writing by committee just has too many cooks in the kitchen.

making a game is definitely a team effort, but something like writing the story which is the whole backbone of the entire thing, needs to be crafted by a small group of people.

 

[Lime]

I don't think the excuses "this is the trouble of working with AAA game development" or "this is what Crystal Dynamics wanted, so I had to write around that" absolve Pratchett from criticism of her writing ability. If you look at her portfolio there's almost no entry that would be considered to be good writing - in fact I'd say it's pretty subpar all around when you look at the titles she's been involved in:

That's not to be mean or anything, but sometimes it's just a case of someone not being able to craft decent to good narratives with admirable characterization in the context of video games. You could also just look towards her work in the comics that she wrote, which have similar flaws as her work in game development.

 

[Tosyn_88]

Trying so hard to be an uncharted knock off has been thier problem. Until they realise that the classic tomb raider has the best template gameplay wise for what they are trying to do, they will continue to be known for the copy cats that they are, yes crystal dynamics and square

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

That's not to be mean or anything, but sometimes it's just a case of someone not being able to craft decent to good narratives with admirable characterization in the context of video games. You could also just look towards her work in the comics that she wrote, which have similar flaws as her work in game development.

Alot of those games have awful stories though.

 

[Lime]

Alot of those games have awful stories though.

That was my point. Her work speaks for itself.

 

[Fardeen]

i wished the game was more depressing