2013-12-31 This is about dignity

[Eisu]

Wow! Gary is as good of an artist as Eisu is! Magnificent!

Technically, Gary is doing Life drawing, which is why his sketches look similar to my drawing... cos in that world that I drew them, that is how life drawing looks like... *KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!* <--the sound that I think is made when I think mind is blown but probably not really.

[Optimus Kate]

Sandrita, my little feminist hero.

[Odd Man Out]

Sandra stayed more on top of that than I expected. Good presentation and a plausible argument ready. She might yet rope Tristan over to her side.

[Adamas]

*KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!* <--the sound that I think is made when I think mind is blown but probably not really.

It's usally more of a SPUSH!

[verityheld]

That's actually a good design.

[Geeno]

How many times has Gary put his foot in his mouth now? I lost count.

In my neck of the woods, we characterized Gary's problem as "Athlete's Tongue".

Tristan might actually agree to this, knowing the real reason. He's more likely to resent changes suggested for aesthetic reasons; he'd get defensive and dig in his heels.
The fact that it works aesthetically as well is just a bonus.

[Spidrift]

Bear in mind that the discomfort of the costume in the real world is by rights rather a small concern here; this is about a videogame with an animated character, who could wear anything. It's become an issue because the real-life model has made herself more significant to the project - and because, thanks to her, they're now consciously selling to girl gamers, who may find implausible stripperific costumes annoying - but if Sandra talks about real-world concerns too much, Tarquin can tell her she's missing the point.

[crimzontearz]

Does not hold a candle to Dead Space's deaths but yeah...kinda unnecessary

I'm thinking Tristan's game (and Sandra's reaction at the con) is our lovely team's jab at the new Tomb Raider. (And similar remakes)

I agree

and generally hate those remakes with a passion

[Waker]

I fully expected people would talk about the jiggle factor or Gary's flexible foot-in-mouth form. Although I also thought that at least one person would comment on having a videogame hero with freckles.

[timeline]

So I let this melt in for a while, but after a couple hours I say I would totally buy a game based on the the first 2 panels visuals. It's great balance of nice and kick ass.

[vampire hunter D]

Just a thought, but maybe Pixie Trix should shanghai...er..take on another artist to do stuff drawn by Gary. That way his stuff can be distinctive from any of the 4 comic artists.

[the_Bear]

From what I've seen and opinions I've read, the new Tomb Raider is great game and much positive change in the presentation of the Lara (like stopping the infamous boob growth), even if the death scenes were bit too much (but then, you can always avoid them if you're good player), so I don't see why hate it if it did precisely what Gary and Sandra are trying to do now - change the look of protagonist from obvious fanservice to realistic and fit for athletic woman kicking ass.

[tanonev]

I think the claim is that the bumping of the Tomb Raider series from T to M was unnecessary, not that everything about the reboot was bad. Consider the similar series Uncharted. Nathan Drake gets plenty of opportunities for character development and has a pretty realistic model, all within the bounds of a T rating. The Tomb Raider reboot could have done the same thing.
Also, gruesome isn't the only way to go dark. If you want to wallow in the psychological damage of a protagonist, check out Folklore (also T rated), where a lot of the violence happens offscreen, but the psychological consequences are terrifyingly vivid.

[the_Bear]

It would be better if they did it more like in Uncharted, especially since they clearly inspired the reboot on that series, but still they managed to make Lara more real. My problem is that the comparison seems flawed. Tomb Raider was in large part about puzzle platforming, but still you played archaeologist that apparently majored in shooting dudes, with her thesis being "using two guns you can shoot twice as many dudes", so change to Mature was a simple rating bump. In contrast Chamelia seems to be an "E for Everyone" game that even little girls love playing, so the remake is complete reversal of the game character and intended player base. When considering that new Tomb Raider got rid of the striperrificness, which usually increases in the "dark and edgy" remakes, it just doesn't seem like a valid comparision.

[texasfanboy]

From what I've seen and opinions I've read, the new Tomb Raider is great game and much positive change in the presentation of the Lara (like stopping the infamous boob growth), even if the death scenes were bit too much (but then, you can always avoid them if you're good player), so I don't see why hate it if it did precisely what Gary and Sandra are trying to do now - change the look of protagonist from obvious fanservice to realistic and fit for athletic woman kicking ass.

Video games largely challenge players by forcing them to memorize incoming threats. The brutal deaths, the ones that get their own scenes? Odds are good the average player will see them at least once because the game is designed to force you to experience the death so you can memorize how to avoid it.

Effectively, those horrific death scenes are there specifically so you can watch Lara die over and over again.

So first they redesign Lara. She looks like an actual person now, and she acts like one. She's vulnerable, frequently helpless, and mostly innocent when the game begins. We get to see the horror the first time she's forced to kill or be killed. Then we get to watch her die in 100 imaginatively brutal ways.

The frequency and brutality of it all move us away from a video game and closer to torture porn, and that leaves a bad taste in a LOT of people's mouths.