Exclusive Interview with Jeff Wajcs Senior Designer at Crystal Dynamics [E3 Special] [By Guns and Grapple]

[Warning! Minor Spoilers, although the piece focuses more on Crystal's approach to tomb design rather than detailed examples and locations.]

As part of the E3 Ambassador Program, I wrote an article for the official Tomb Raider blog about the reemergence of tombs in the latest installment of the franchise. After listening to fan feedback from the previous game, the team at Crystal focused on expanding these areas, making them more complex and captivating. For the piece I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Wajcs, Senior Designer at Crystal Dynamics. I am so happy with how the interview turned out, the answers that Jeff gave were not only informative but there was a clear passion and genuine interest behind the words.

Parts of the interview can be seen in the Return to Tombs article, but I am excited to be allowed to share with you the full interview below. A huge thank you to Meagan to arranging the interview and Jeff for the fantastic answers:

What types of tombs can players expect to encounter in the game? And how to do they differ from each other?

Jeff Wajcs: We have the main critical path tombs the optional challenge tombs. The critical tombs are bigger than ever and feature a variety of gameplay, themed around big puzzles. Additionally, there will also be exploration, combat, and traversal in these spaces, along with collectibles to find. Challenge Tombs are smaller and focus primarily on puzzles. Traps and other dangers appear in both, so Lara will have to stay on her toes no matter which sort of tomb she is raiding.

You’ve announced that you want to improve the tomb experience from the previous game, what is your design philosophy for the new game?

Jeff Wajcs: Besides just having more tombs in general, we have a new philosophy for critical path tombs. Every critical path tomb throws one “big problem” at Lara. She needs to solve a series of puzzles in order to chip away at the “big problem,” bit by bit. We also refer to this as “nested puzzles.” This philosophy lets us insert traversal and combat challenges in the moments between puzzles, and helps us balance the pacing without compromising the puzzle theme of the level. This also puts the puzzles into much larger spaces to explore, and Lara will be able to return to them later to find everything she missed on her first time through.

Has the Next Gen technology and graphics expanded the potential of tombs and puzzles in Rise of the Tomb Raider?

Jeff Wajcs: You bet! Water is one of my favorite things to use for puzzles, and you’ll see a lot of new next gen materials and FX on display. Lara will need to use the different physics of water to solve a wide variety of puzzles. There are changing water levels, water currents, water used as weight, water powering machines- there’s a lot. And Lara will be able to swim around freely in it for this game!

 

 

What is the developmental process for planning and creating tombs? Can you walk us through the workflow?

Jeff Wajcs: There’s no formula for coming up with puzzles. Some like to start with the story component. Others start with the puzzle mechanics. I like to start with the layout of the space itself. Of course, all three of those things need to be decided on and approved early. After that comes the grind- iterating to work out all of the problems. Is there enough of a “wrinkle” with a nonobvious solution? Have all the puzzle mechanics been introduced? Are there any problems with the layout? This all takes place before user testing, which flushes out all kinds of new problems. Why aren’t players finding the rope connection? How can we discourage an idea that leads to a dead end? How many times did the player die on a specific part? It takes a lot to get a puzzle balanced and satisfying to play!

Did you find anything particularly challenging when it came to designing the tombs in the game?

Jeff Wajcs: The most challenging aspect of designing a tomb is always tying in the fiction. The days of random pressure plates and gigantic wall switches are long gone. We work hard to incorporate every puzzle element into the environment and the story we are telling inside of it. The puzzle and story improve each other by quite a lot when they are connected.

 

 

In the previous game, the focus was on Lara learning how to be a survivor, for Rise of the Tomb Raider she’s more experienced. Does this have an impact on the tomb design?

Jeff Wajcs: Instead of stumbling into tombs and trying to escape, this time Lara is actively seeking the tombs out in order to learn their secrets. We put a lot more attention into how Lara finds and infiltrates the ancient spaces of our world. Of course, now that Lara actually wants to get into the tombs, the tombs themselves have to try even harder to keep her out. We’ve prepared a bunch of new traps and hazards that only Lara Croft could survive.

How are you handling the difficulty level? Are the tombs designed so that Lara and the player always have to push that little bit more? And do you have a way of balancing the difficulty so that experienced and new players can both enjoy the tombs?

Jeff Wajcs: Survival Instinct is the key for aiding new players. Every puzzle can be solved without Survival Instinct, and players that enjoy being challenged by puzzles can definitely go without it. Lara will provide more hints the more Survival Instinct is used, so less familiar players can rely on it more. The presence of Survival Instinct is actually what allows us to include the harder puzzles in the game that we hope our longtime fans will appreciate.

 

 

Closely related to the previous question, how are you tailoring the tomb difficulty for players with different levels of experience?

Jeff Wajcs: Tomb Raider has a lot of action gamers in its audience, gamers who may not have a lot of puzzles in their diet normally. It is a great opportunity for us to introduce them to puzzle gameplay, and it is no small challenge. We’ve done a good job breaking down our harder puzzles into their constituent pieces and introduced each individually. For instance, Lara’s rope arrow is something unique to Tomb Raider and has more than one application (including a couple new ones!). Teaching those applications one at a time and ramping them over the course of the game is really important. That way, when players are stumped on the puzzle, it is for the right reason and never too long, and they get the rush of satisfaction from figuring it out.

What kind of rewards can players expect to find in the challenge tombs? Do they unlock achievements or will they affect the gameplay and Lara’s abilities or equipment?

Jeff Wajcs: There are a ton of new skills this time around, and several of them can only be acquired by completing the Challenge Tombs. Tombs also have a ton of crafting resources, which are more important than ever. Lara will also find maps that show her the locations of other collectibles out in the wild. So no matter what kind of player you are and what kind of gameplay you like, Challenge Tombs will have the right reward for you.

 

 

The challenge tombs in the previous game felt a little disconnected from the main storyline. Will the new tombs have a bigger story significance or be tied more closely to game world’s lore?

Jeff Wajcs: One of the biggest improvements to the Challenge Tombs has been in the story department. Each Challenge Tomb has a history for the player to discover, both in the documents left there but also in the environment itself. Each tomb feeds into the broader mystery that Lara is trying to figure out. The environments are certainly much more exciting as a result.

What are Lara’s motivations to enter the tombs? Is she going there purely for archaeological interest or for personal gain or something else?

Jeff Wajcs: Finding the secrets lost in time is important to Lara so that she better understands the world, and what happened to her on Yamatai. There is also Trinity, an organization that exists to use history’s secrets for their betterment. They destroy what cannot be hidden, whereas Lara would rather use those secrets for the betterment of mankind. She will learn a lot as she learns those secrets one by one.

[Transportation, lodging, and E3 badge provided by Crystal Dynamics and Xbox as a part of the E3 2015 Ambassador Program]

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A Return to Tombs A Glimpse into Rise of the Tomb Raider [Full Article] [By Guns and Grapple]

 [Minor Spoilers: Although the piece focuses more on Crystal's approach to tomb design rather than detailed examples and locations.]


A little introduction: a few weeks ago, as part of the E3 Ambassador Program, I wrote an article for the official Tomb Raider blog (and which I can now post here) about the reemergence of tombs in the latest installment of the franchise. After listening to fan feedback from the previous game, the team at Crystal are expanding these areas making them more complex and captivating. For the piece I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Wajcs, Senior Designer at Crystal Dynamics who gave amazing answers.

It's an element of the upcoming game that I am seriously excited about, and I loved having this opportunity to talk about it. Read the article below:

A Return to Tombs

For Lara Croft, her journey across Yamatai was one of survival, which tested her determination and strength to their limits. The struggles she faced through the game shaped her, turning her into the character that many of us grew up with. Her experiences made her more determined, and kindled an interest to learn more about the secrets of the world. The next game, Rise of the Tomb Raider, continues Lara’s story and takes her to new locations in search for new truths, new challenges, and excitingly, new tombs.

Community feedback from the previous game highlighted an interest for bigger and more complex tombs, an element which Crystal Dynamics seems eager to deliver on for Lara’s next adventure. To understand Crystal’s vision for tombs in the upcoming game, I recently spoke to Jeff Wajcs, Senior Designer at Crystal Dynamics.

Instead of encountering tombs as a means to escape enemies or as an optional puzzle, in Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara will be intentionally and actively seeking out these areas. As Wajcs explains, “besides just having more tombs in general, we have a new philosophy for critical path tombs. Every critical path tomb throws one ‘big problem’ at Lara. She needs to solve a series of puzzles in order to chip away at the ‘big problem,’ bit by bit. We also refer to these as ‘nested puzzles.’” These areas combine elements of puzzle solving with traversal and combat challenges, which enables Crystal to “balance the pacing without compromising the puzzle theme of the level”. image

The game will also see the return of challenge tombs. These tombs focus on a single puzzle and a single goal. While smaller than those encountered on the critical path, they are still packed with goodies to entice the player. Lara will be able to collect a number of resources in the tombs, which can be used in the game’s new upgrade system to improve Lara’s weapon and ammo, increasing the level of variety in the gameplay.

“There are ton of new skills this time around, and several of them can only be acquired by completing Challenge Tombs,” Wajcs reveals. For completionists, some Challenge Tombs will hold maps containing the locations of other collectibles outside of the area. “So no matter what kind of player you are and what kind of gameplay you like, Challenge Tombs will have the right reward for you.”

Previously many of the Challenge Tombs were stand-alone areas of exploration, which the player would venture to in search of a reward. This is an element which the team has been focusing on and improving upon for the new release.

“One of the biggest improvements to the Challenge Tombs has been in the story department,” Wajcs explains. Even in these optional areas, Lara’s fascination with archaeology will be growing, and the player will not only collect rewards but discover more about the location they’re in. “Each Challenge Tomb has a history for the player to discover, both in the documents left there but also in the environment itself. Each tomb feeds into the broader mystery that Lara is trying to figure out. The environments are certainly much more exciting as a result.”

Rise of the Tomb Raider sees the return of many features from the previous game, but thanks to next gen technology and graphics, the potential for tombs and puzzles has been greatly expanded. In addition to the scale and the realistic, yet magical appearance of these tombs, the team has been working on creating real-world puzzles to bring a new level of immersion to the title.

“The most challenging aspect of designing a tomb is always tying in the fiction. The days of random pressure plates and gigantic wall switches are long gone,” Wajcs says. One of the improvements made with the tombs is an expansion of the use of physics. “Water is one of my favorite things to use for puzzles, and you’ll see a lot of new next gen materials and FX on display. Lara will need to use the different physics of water to solve a wide variety of puzzles. There are changing water levels, water currents, water used as weight, water powering machines - there’s a lot.” image

The game is also promised to be accessible to players who have yet to play the previous title in the series. The return of the Survival Instinct feature teaches new players how to assess and manipulate the environment.

“Every puzzle can be solved without Survival Instinct, and players that enjoy being challenged by puzzles can definitely go without it. Lara will provide more hints the more Survival Instinct is used, so less familiar players can rely on it more,” Wajcs says. “The presence of Survival Instinct is actually what allows us to include the harder puzzles in the game that we hope our longtime fans will appreciate.”

Wajcs also teased about the challenges that Lara will be facing, as she’s now a more experienced adventurer. “Of course, now that Lara actually wants to get into the tombs, the tombs themselves have to try even harder to keep her out. We’ve prepared a bunch of new traps and hazards that only Lara Croft could survive.”

[Transportation, lodging, and E3 badge provided by Crystal Dynamics and Xbox as a part of the E3 2015 Ambassador Program]

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A Closer Look at Lara Croft: Relic Run (UK Press Event) [By Guns and Grapple]

While Lara Croft: Relic Run has been out for a short while, today (28th May) marks the official global launch date of the title! Last week I had the opportunity to travel into Central London to attend a hands-on demo session for the game, and ask some questions from Square Enix. The demo was also attended by members of the press as well as fellow fansite owners such as Jackali from the Tomb Raider Chronicles/Tomb Raider Forums.

The event was held in a private booth in a cornered off section of The Dean Street Townhouse, and lasted from 12pm to 5pm. The location of the event was pretty stylish and probably not the natural environment for a twenty year old who walked in wearing jeans and had just hurried to catch the train. There were huge armchairs and leather sofas and waiters in tailored uniforms rushing backwards and forwards carrying plates of delicately arranged cakes and scones with cream and jam. It was also the type of place where I had to pause before deciding which bathroom to go into because my brain, which tried to function on four hours of sleep, for a second got confused about the "G" and "L". (The perception of the British stereotype is everything is traditional and that all bathrooms are labelled "Gentleman" and "Ladies", this is rarely the case). So, y'know, this place was pretty damn fancy!

 In the booth, photo frames were dotted around the location which showed the promotional artwork for Lara Croft: Relic Run. There was a sofa along the back wall, a long wooden table in the middle with charged iPads and several large armchairs on the other. We took our seats and Iain Riches, Senior Producer at Square Enix, who worked on the title began to talk us through the game.

For those who don't know, Lara Croft: Relic Run is a free-to-play title, developed by Simutronics in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, which comes out today worldwide for the iPhone, Android and Windows phone. The title has been in development for about a year and was recently soft-launched in the Netherlands and just last week reached Singapore.

Soft-launching a mobile title enables the developers to make additions or changes based on end user feedback, before releasing it to a worldwide audience. The reason why the Netherlands was chosen was because it has an established TR fanbase in the country, but it was also an area big enough to give useful feedback to the team, while at the same time not overwhelming the reviews with bad comments about possible bugs or crashes. So, for example, if the team soft-launched it in an area like the UK, the game might have received low scores from a larger audience, say if there was an issue loading it on some devices. The team would have fixed those issues quickly, but those low scores would still remain, and affect the title's release. So even if the game worked perfectly on launch day, because of an issue early on which had then been fixed, it would still have repercussions. We were told that, as a result, of Relic Run's softlaunch, several bugs have been resolved and it's given the team early insight into how to go forward with the project.

Boss battles, vechicles and wall running.

During the event, Iain talked about how the team view the game to be an "Adventure Runner" rather than an "Endless Runner" title, and while it carries the Lara Croft name, it doesn't rely on it to get attention. From the hands on playthrough this felt certainly true; what Relic Run brings to the genre is interesting combat, vehicle control (such as quad bikes and motorcycles), boss battles on each level, wall running and the sense of progression. The team had the opportunity to set the game in the reboot's timeline but wanted to have those classic fantastical elements in their game where Lara could ride on the back of a T-Rex or find a conveniently placed quad bike in the middle of the jungle.

Despite not being set in the reboot's timeline, it has a place in the Lara Croft series. In the opening cutscene you're introduced to the storyline, which continues where Temple of Osiris left off; we get a glimpse at Lara's journal (tap to turn the page) which explains that we are on a journey to find Carter Bell who has disappeared. However he has left a series of artifacts and clues in his wake. Your goal is to locate the artifacts and discover what happened to the archaeologist.

Upon release two levels will be available, with more adventures due to be added at a later date. The first mission takes place in Cambodia and will take Lara through a beautiful jungle, as well as feature a fight with a T-Rex, a ride on a quad bike, a battle with some Gorn-like creatures and impressive slow motion diving off numerous cliffs. The wilderness is green and lush and feels so much more populated with ruins and shrubbery. It feels much more immersive than most runner gaming experiences. There's also plenty of traps, tight turns and an endless supply of chaos which will test even skilled players.

The second location takes place in the Sahara and is absolutely gorgeous. The map bounces between two areas: moving between the close buildings and markets outside to jumping over dangerous traps inside a hidden tomb underground. The outside is filled with bronze, beige and browns, and with the sand tearing at the building as you run, it feels as though you're weathering a storm. The inside is covered in blacks and bright golds, a strange but beautiful juxtaposition. What you learnt in the previous level is broken down and rearranged as things which you thought were easy before are developed further. In Cambodia, the traps are more like hurdles which you can see and prepare for in a short amount of time, in the Sahara map you must always look and plan ahead. Describing the switch between mindsets seems simple as an idea, but in practice you will die a lot before obtaining your first artifact in the level.

As there's a storyline element to the game, there's also the feeling of progression. To unlock the second map and progress in the story, you'll need to spent gems which can be obtained in the game or by finding relics. You can also purchase gems with "hard cash" or real money at the store.

The variety of locations.

 You won't find the relics immediately on your first run. Instead, Lara must find clues (represented by a magnifying glass or a sheet of paper) which are highlighted by a blue glow. With each new clue, the blue bar on the top left hand side of the screen will fill up. Once it reaches 100%, the relic will appear somewhere close to you on the map. Filling up the bar does not guarantee that you will get the relic; for instance, if you die before you locate it, on your next run, you will need to search for the clues again.

If you die, you can return to the run by spending a Resurrection Ankh, worth 5 gems. As soon as you come back to life, the game's difficulty increases a little and if you die again, you would need to pay an additional Ankh. Each time an artifact is found, you're awarded coins for your effort and it puts you one step closer to unlocking the next location. However, with every artifact you find, the challenge and the number of clues needed increases too.

There's a number of things the player can do to customise the game experience and manage the difficulty level, especially for those last few relics, and you can do this using ingame currency. Lara will pick up coins on her runs, these coins can be exchanged for weapon upgrades (which will be needed to take down the bosses). They can also be used to purchase boosters to help you collect more coins or increase the impact of the clues. Both are incredibly useful if you're looking to unlock that second map. The game also sees the return of the ability to customise Lara's look. However this time the outfits you choose influence your gameplay, with some increasing your score multiplier, reducing enemy accuracy or increasing the Clue Booster time. (Clue Boosters increases the amount a single clue fills up the relic bar.) These upgrades can also be bought with real cash, in addition to the ingame coins and gems. As well as the coins Lara finds in the game, there is a Supply Drop which is refreshed every six hours, where the player can collect ankhs, gems or coins.

Some of the challenges that Lara will face in the game.

While the game is a single player adventure, there's a community and competition element to it. It has online leaderboards updated every month and week, to feature the top players who have achieved the highest score and defeated the most bosses, but the element that I'm excited about trying out are the curses. If you connect to Facebook, you have the option of paying ingame coins to send a curse to a friend. These are around 525 - 875 coins each and will affect your victim's game for thirty seconds. Each one brings an interesting twist to the game. If you survive your curse, you get rewarded for your effort, but if you die, your winnings are sent to the player who cursed you. So far, the curses available are Tunnel Vision, Fun House, Vertigo Poison, VCR Repair, 8-Bit Blues, and Neon Nights. The players who survive the most curses are placed on a leaderboard where they're forced to endure an everlasting cycle of being both recognised as a champion of the curses and sent more as punishment by envious players. If you want to ward off curses, you can purchase the Onyx Turtle Charm from the store for 350 gold, and laugh in the face of your enemies for spending twice the amount. In addition to sending curses to your worst enemies, you can also send ingame currency as bribes.

As with most runner games, the trick to learning to go further is to just keep going. You will die. You will die a lot. However over the runs, you'll become more aware of how the game works and the camera moves. You'll notice subtle indications in the boss' movements and know you'll have to duck or move to a specific lane. Relic Run has a unique experience each time, with new traps and new paths; for instance in one run a door may remain open or a staircase intact, in the next it's the complete opposite. This variety always keeps you always on your toes and you'll adapt to each situation and learn to read your surroundings. You'll learn how to master the wall run and duck when sudden obstacles block your path, and it is really rewarding when you finally get it.

During the presentation the group talked about the future of the game, and where Square Enix would like to take it next. Several ideas are being discussed, but there's no confirmation of any plans so far as many of them depend on community support and feedback. One of the suggestions was to perhaps have Lara narrate more during her adventure; Lara doesn't have a voice actor at present, but this may be something the team adds further down the line. Co-op has also been brought up as a possibility depending on interest. Another topic touched on was new run locations. The third map that will be available soon will be a mountain area, and there was a discussion of Venice potentially being the fourth one. I'm really hoping that is the case! Plus if fans are interested in seeing the quad bike or motorcycle make a more prominent return, that's something the team wants to hear too!

Lara Croft Relic Run is developed by Simutronics, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, and is out now on Apple devices, Android and Windows Phone!

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Article: A Closer Look At The Tomb Raider Pre-E3 2011 Trailer

"A famous explorer once said that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are."

Those were the words introducing us to the first ever trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider game. We were promised big things from Crystal Dynamics and the team at Visual Works and we were not disappointed. A short version trailer was first aired on GTTV (on the channel Spike) at 6am (GMT), with the longer version going on YouTube and the official TR site straight afterwards. Inspired by the Bright Falls breakdown (Alan Wake's promotional series looked at frame by frame) by Machinima; I decided to approach the trailer with a similar technique...Also if you haven't seen Bright Falls, go do so, it's pretty freaky.

The first thing that we can hear is Lara's voice. So far the voice actresses has not been named. There are a few rumors suggesting a variety of different actresses including the final Lara Croft model; Alison Carroll after her twitter message on the morning of the trailer's release. Personally I think it sounds more like Eva Green who played Vesper in James Bond: Casino Royale. She is younger then Keeley Hawes who voiced Lara for the past few years (2006-2010) and it sounds as though she can also make her voice more innocent and more like Lara in the trailer. Furthermore Lara's voice had a slight roughness to it that reminded me of Eva's.

We are introduced to the trailer with Lara saying the following:

       A famous explorer once said; that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are.

Lara Croft

If you tried to put the quote into Google, you probably wouldn't have found anything a part from some links to the Tomb Raider forums. However the quote which Lara was referring to was made by Edmund Hillary. He was one of the first people to reach the top of Mount Everst and also it was his party were the first to reach the South Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 (ironically the South Pole was also where the first Endurance 1912 crashed). The quote in which Lara referred to was:

       People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things
Edmund Hillary (explorer)

The Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics logo then appears on a black background which appears to be like camera film which burns away at the end revealing the ship Endurance which Lara begins the game on. Tomb Raider Reboot Twitter page has recently identified and posted the location of which Endurance is sailing off from. They have identified it as Yokohama in Japan.

Together with the film and the narratation, it gives the impression that Lara is looking back on her adventure. This could either be from two points. The first point is that it's at the end of the game and she looks at the adventure and how it changed her.  The second point is that she's on the island and she starts believing that she might not survive. There is a phone on the desk later in the trailer which might have the ability to record her voice, it would also explain why she was calm (she might have accepted her fate), which makes the next line very interesting:

       I'd finally set out to make my mark, to find adventure but instead adventure found me.
Lara Croft

It's interesting that she called it an "adventure", mainly because the word is linked to travelling and experiencing new things which interests you, and not being stranded on a mysterious island with everyone trying to kill you. This might link back to the Core Design biography where it was through Lara's adventures that she discovered her dislike for aristocracy and decided to do more adventuring.

During the narration, we had the first shot of the new Lara Croft. She walks over to the desk, where we get a good view of what's on the table. The first thing which catches my eye is the piece of paper, I couldn't make out the words clearly until the HQ version of the trailer was released, however many of the words were still hidden due to her phone and smudges on the paper. Nevertheless I managed to read some of it:

Conventional wisdom and n-
the obvious approach to -
Khan's lost fleet. However -
egotistical and over-
of his military invasion -
versions of ?
I believe that once -
devision, as he was -
believe that he sent his -
second fleet around the -
? and travelling a -
? fleet leaving -
as a lure ? -
the ?

KHAAAAAN! The main focus of the text was "Khan's lost fleet" and with Star Trek jokes aside, here's the real history; Khubliai Khan attempted to invade Japan in 1274 and 1281, both times Khan was defeated and in legends it is said that the failure was because of the Japanese emperor's prayers to his ancestors asking them to protect Japan from invaders. In the myth a huge storm occurred which ripped the ships apart. In the 1980s, relics and the wreckage of Khan's fleet were discovered underneath soft mud. It's interesting to see where the connections are between this myth and also what happened to the Endurance. Both were involved in a storm which tore the ships apart. Lara and Roth were apparently in the search for some of the still hidden relics, perhaps whatever destroyed Khan's fleet destroyed the Endurance. If so the "truth" which was mentioned later in the trailer could be about the relics and if they were cursed.

Also on the desk is a map of Japan which Lara later picks up. What is rather interesting about this image is the numbers that Lara had written on the paper

53
712541
3416095

This is the grid reference for the Dragon's Triangle (a.k.a Devil's Sea), if you put the numbers into Google Earth. This isn't the first time that the Dragon's Triangle has been mentioned either. The Dragon's Triangle is similar to the Bemuda triangle, anything that goes over this triangle (located just underneath Japan) ends up either destroyed or missing, and presumably in the game ends up washed ashore on a mysterious island.

Another thing I noticed is Lara's travel mug. There's an image on the side with "Sisters of Art-", judging from the person carrying a bow, it's not a big leap to say it's complete sentence is "Sisters of Artemis". Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, chasity, fertility, wild animals and wilderness (thank you Sports Night*). She is also depicted with a bow (like on the cup). In Greek mythology, Apollo (God of the Sun) was her twin brother and Selene was also her sister. So far it appears that the only connection between this cup and the game is Lara's interest of mythology and later in the game it is revealed that she carries a bow; which can also be seen at the end of the trailer.

There's a brown notebook on the desk also, it hasn't been mentioned before in interviews or in the magazines, but I'm thinking that it might reappear later in the game, perhaps as a place for the protagonist to mark down notes, look at a map or use as an menu.

Moving on to the next scene where Lara opens her locker. The first thing that I notice was the image located at the bottom of the screen. Going back to the story of Khan's lost fleet, the two images are drawings of what was supposed to have taken place during the Mongol invasion in 1281. Both drawings can be found in the public domain. They do seem similar to the image that is taped inside Lara's locker.

As well as the images, we get a little bit more information in who Lara is. In that scene we can see that she has two earrings on her right ear. There is also a small photograph of two people (presumably Lara and her friend, or just two friends) who has just graduated from college. Both of these shows a change between the old Core and Crystal Lara compared to the new rebooted version. This character is more relaxed, and hasn't been led to lead a life in aristocracy like the first few games.

Lara closes the door of her locker, giving us the first shot of the character's face. One small detail I like here is the change of her expression. At the start she looks innocent and slightly unsure, and then her face becomes more determined and confident as the narrator says "but instead adventure found me", I like this section mainly because it shows that even though Lara is at this point still a young woman, she's pretty detirmined and ready for the adventure. Also another theory I have is that the section involving Lara on the boat with the shot of the desk and the locker might be perhaps set after being on the island. It would also explain her facial expression because she remembers what she went through and how that had made her stronger and more of a survivor. Although if that is the case, it would need to be set a few weeks afterwards since all the cuts weren't there.

As Lara closes the locker door and stares at herself in the mirror, something becomes clear...Something's missing. We've seen it in the screenshots and the concept artwork for the character, but in the recent render and in the trailer the green magatama is not seen. I've noticed this on a few forums, that no one quite knows what it really is or why it's there since that information has not been released. When I first looked at it, it reminded me of Maya's necklace from the Phoenix Wright series, a green magatama which is a religeous symbol that was mainly used in Japan, it also symbolizes good fortune. Then on closer inspection in HD it reminded me of the Ouroboros Greek symbol (not the first link to Greek mythology we've seen from the trailer) which represents eternity and survival since the snake is eating itself to grow. It's interesting to see that the pendent doesn't appear at all in the trailer or the render but does in the screenshots. However even though she doesn't wear it before she falls into the water, she is wearing it when she wakes up in the cacoon at the start of the game, so I'm presuming that someone put it on her.

The trailer then skips several hours; It's now completely dark outside and Lara is listening to music in her room. There's also a strange magazine article including a large photograph of a cat on the wall...Not sure this is relevant, but you never know when it might come in handy! She suddenly begins to feel tremors underneath the boat and stands up to investigate, at that precise moment a large waves crashes down on the Endurance causing Lara to fall and hit her head on a nearby table. The room that is in doesn't seem as big as the one that start of the trailer. As she stands up a klaxon goes off and red lights flashes to indicate the danger. Lara goes to investigate and opens the bulkhead door to see the corridor being flooded. What I really like about this scene (and it's also pretty gruesome) is that a crew member can be seen in the waves, I think that with the character being there it added a sense of panic and danger to the atmosphere of the trailer. Without the crew member you could believe that Lara would survive this. I think that's also why I like the next few frames where you just get small shots of Lara underwater, it shows the force of the current and also her desperation, it also shows that she is not always in control of what's happening which reveals a much more vulnerable Lara.

       In our darkest moments, when our lives flashes before us...We find something...Something that keeps us going...Something that pushes us.
Lara Croft

The script is very good in the trailer, ecspecially the choice of where to put certain parts of the sentence. When Lara says "In our darkest moments, when our lives flashes before us" we are, for the first time, introduced to a very vulenerable Lara. She is trapped under the water (with nice CGI bubbles) and unable to change the situation she is in. Previously in Tomb Raider games she was always the one in charge, even if she was trying to find her mother in a celtic underworld. Lara also shouts "Help" when she reaches the surface, which adds more to the drama and pressure of the situation and combined with her hitting on the glass it's quite an emotional moment. Later on when the protagonist becomes more desperate the narration says "We find something", at this point Lara has run out of breath, and the statment could be referring to something she saw in the "flashback" that she remembered something  before she lost consciousness or discovered something later in the storyline.

Next we get the introduction to Conrad Roth, Lara's mentor who drags her out of the water while the narration says; "Something that keeps us going", this gives us a glimpse into their relationship. Lara sees Roth as a role model and he adopts the father figure. What seems a little strange here is the time between Lara being pulled out of the water and her looking up; Roth manages to get to the other side of the ship in a space of about a second. I'm thinking that perhaps Lara is disorientated from hitting her head on the desk at the start, causing concussion and leading to possibly forget moments, it would make sense later on in the game where she wakes up in the cocoon.

Update: Karl Stewart announced in the second podcast (The Crystal Habit) that the man that pulls her out of the water is not Conrad Roth, however the mystery man is going to be an important character which Crystal will announce later. Obviously some days have gone by since Lara was washed up on the  island. If the mystery man is there, he might have been the one who bandaged Lara, since she had no bandages on in the trailer but she did in the screenshots and the E3 preview. As of yet he's only someone who was there at the right time. 

After seeing the ship literally break into two with Roth on the other side, Lara runs to the edge and jumps, preforming a really nice scene in which time slows down. There's a huge possibility she will fall into the water below, but Roth catches her. Unfortunatly for Lara, due to the water, Roth loses grip and she falls into the sea below. Underwater, Lara also appears to be unconcious since there is no struggling and her body slowly drifts down.

The screen then fades in on a brown mysterious island that Lara finds herself on. The focus is on the map of Japan which Lara had put up inside the locker in her room at the start of the trailer, leading to the conclusion that the boat was smashed part. What is interesting however is that when the screen pans away at the end, the Endurance looks battered but I wouldn't say that it's destroyed enough to cause the map to be on the shore when it was in a locked alcove...well not just by the sea at least. As we know that Lara is not alone, I presume that the others on that island are scavengers who raid newly destroyed ships.

Here we get the first image of  "survival-Lara", covered in dirt and blood, armed with a picaxe and with a spike through her stomatch. What I also noticed is this was the render that was used on a number of different magazine covers was of this section where she was wrapping her injured arm into a bandage, but she still doesn't have the magatama which she has at the beginning of the game.

When all seemed lost...I found a truth...And I knew what I must become
Lara Croft

First of all the line does pose several questions, however I do like the first part when Lara says "When all seemed lost", since the developers had admitted that the TV program, Lost, was one of the inspirations for the game, I like the little mention given there. One of the questions the narrator poses in the statement is...What truth? The truth of Conrad Roth? Since she is alone in the scene it's possible that it's about him, perhaps betrayal or he died from blood loss (the leaked script revealed that Roth's leg ends up being mauled by wolves). It's also possible it could be about Khan's missing fleet, since she is amoung a graveyard of ships. Or it could be about the relics since she is not wearing the magatama, she wore earlier.

What does confuse me is the order in which the trailer is set out. From the screenshots released in December of Lara, one of them showed her about to pull out the spike that she lands on after burning away the outside of the cocoon to free herrself. That Lara has the green magatama. However in the CGI trailer she is missing it. The Game Informer article made it sound as though Lara pulled the spike out straight away, and therefore she wouldn't have been on the shore since the screenshot showed a cave. It could be just representing what was in the game, however if that is the case...Why is the magatama not there?

Update: A few fans were talking at the Tomb Raider Forums about whether it was a spike that Lara had pulled out or if she was tightening the bandage on her arm. On closer inspection of the trailer, it appears to be the bandage instead. What's interesting is that there doesn't seem to be a stab wound or blood around her waist, but that might be because it was in shadow or the strap for the bow. Nevertheless the magatama should still be there since she had it at the beginning of the game. 

With that the screen panns out showing the crashed boats and planes on the shore of the mysterious island as the words "A Survivor is born" appears flickering on the screen as the background turns to a dark greyscale filter.

The game is revealed to be due out Fall 2012, on XBOX360, PS3, and PC. Until then I'll be posting news, articles, scans, previews etc about it. Also if you haven't already make sure to check out the Official Tomb Raider Tumblr page for updates as well as Guns and Grapple.

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** The Sports Night reference was a show in the late 1990s. In one of the episodes, one of the main characters were tested about their knowledge of Greek gods in the episode titled "Thespsis. Artemis was mentioned and I've always remembered what she represented because of that scene.

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