@liquidprince: I think it has less to do with her being a girl and more to do with developer intention and voice acting direction. If Nolan North had been directed to make similar noises when injured in order to make us "empathize" with him more, I'd think it was just as skeezy.
Regardless, I'm glad you never got that sense out of it. The 2013 reboot has been on Steam sales enough times that most of my pals have bought it and played it by now... and we're of like minds about it, for better or ill. Heck, a Gamestop clerk and I laughed about this very subject while I pre-ordered the game. "Yeah, no objectifying here. Just creepy death moaning. We've come a loooong way. Much better."
But heck, maybe you're right. Maybe it does say more about us and our shared fascination regarding eldritch puzzle boxes. :-P Har har.
A moan is a moan. If you think that it sounds sexual, you're bringing that into it yourself. I don't really understand the sound you would rather her make... a yip? She's in pain, shes gonna moan. Nothing sexual about it, and people saying otherwise are really reaching. Drake does the exact same thing.
They occasionally got a bit... voyeuristic in the first game. Kind of hoping they toned that aspect down a bit.
No they really didn't... You're misusing the word. Graphic, sure. Voyeurism implies that a certain pleasure is drawn from seeing her get mutilated, and I'm pretty sure that was the opposite of the intended effect.
Meanwhile, rebooted Lara sighs, pouts, and grunts in an "if I close my eyes, this game sounds like a snuff film" fashion.
I think you're bringing a lot of that into the equation yourself. I never EVER got that sense. It was graphic and painful to look at in the same way that many deaths in rated M video games often are. I think the voyeurism angle is brought up simply because she's a girl. It's similar to how people said her moans of agony sounded sexual... like... what?
They occasionally got a bit... voyeuristic in the first game. Kind of hoping they toned that aspect down a bit.
No they really didn't... You're misusing the word. Graphic, sure. Voyeurism implies that a certain pleasure is drawn from seeing her get mutilated, and I'm pretty sure that was the opposite of the intended effect.
In contrast to the first game, which had you murdering mercs by the dozens and then abruptly remembered to go "oh hey supernatural stuff!" in the last third
That wasn't really what the first game was like at all. It had a very steady build up to the reveal, as @brad says that Rise seems to.
I distinctly remember the supernatural enemies toward the end of that game feeling perfunctory and not very well justified by the story.
There were spooky things sprinkled throughout the early parts, and the middle very clearly showed you the ghostly samurai dudes. A lot of the optional Tombs hinted at the supernatural stuff too, but I guess that just depended on how much of those areas you were engaging with. Either way it's nice to hear that you feel like Rise does what I thought the original did well, even better.
In contrast to the first game, which had you murdering mercs by the dozens and then abruptly remembered to go "oh hey supernatural stuff!" in the last third
That wasn't really what the first game was like at all. It had a very steady build up to the reveal, as @brad says that Rise seems to.
Eh, looks okay but will probably wait for some reviews to see if it isn't a broken mess like most of Bethesda's games. In the meantime I'll be busy playing Rise of Tomb Raider. #TeamLara.
I think everyone's fascination with Platnium games is weird. They've fallen off the wagon a long time ago. The only two decent things they've ever put out are Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising.
I don't particularly like them. I feel like they're good at making fighting systems and bad at about everything else. All their environments in all their games save maybe Bayonetta 2 look real bland/flat.
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