As Shadow of the Tomb Raider is only 3 months away I wanted to talk about the first game in the 3d Tomb Raider series, Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born, and more specifically one of my favorite characters of the series and her relationship with the series lead Samantha Nishimura. To give a bit of back story I was going through a rather hard time before the release of Survivor and I had been looking forward to the new TR game ever since it's announcement and for a number of reason, which I will not be going into, I really needed Lara to win and by that I mean she and Sam both needed to come out of this alive.
I wasn't really a fan of the character, yet, but I still really wanted Lara to save her as Lara's struggle in this game was reflective of my own at the time it made saving Sam all the more important to me which made Lara and Sam making it off Yamatai something that actually helped me get through a my own issues. Though originally Sam was suppose to die in the original ending but that was changed due how much test players liked her and her relationship with Lara and how, out of all the supporting characters Sam was the one who contributed the most to the plot and Lara's character, even more so then Roth.
Let's take a quick look at Rise of the Tomb Raider. Like Survivor's original ending Lara would be forced to sacrifice something/someone in order to save the world from a great evil but unlike Survivor the ending that was planned was the ending we got. In Rise Lara destroys the Divine Source which is the only thing that can vindicate her father's name just like how Lara would have been forced to kill Sam to ensure Himiko wouldn't endanger the world. The reason Rise's ending remained unchanged while Survivor's ending was completely re-written was because players didn't connect with Richard the way the did with Sam. This was only further compounded by Sam's very well written character arc in the comics which really fleshed her out as a character.
While I enjoyed Rise and I am looking forward to Shadow I do feel that without Sam the series is missing something. Something that can't be replaced by Richard, Jonah or the thrill of adventure. Sam is, in my opinion, every bit as awesome as Lara and is someone who adds to her character and as shown in the most resent God of War for the PS 4 which had Kratos fighting alongside his son for 97% of the game and showed how giving a "Lone Wolf" someone to fight alongside them can only add to the game.
I do think that Sam will return and if/when that happens I hope they take full advantage of her as she is every bit as awesome as Lara which is an opinion that seems to be shared by most of the writers of the series. Hell I would also love to see her get her own spin-off game with her dealing with her own personal issues along with her own personal villains. Sam is awesome and she is what helped make Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born one of my all time favorite games.
Sam is the Key
As Shadow of the Tomb Raider is only 3 months away I wanted to talk about the first game in the 3d Tomb Raider series, Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born, and more specifically one of my favorite characters of the series and her relationship with the series lead Samantha Nishimura. To give a bit of back story I was going through a rather hard time before the release of Survivor and I had been looking forward to the new TR game ever since it's announcement and for a number of reason, which I will not be going into, I really needed Lara to win and by that I mean she and Sam both needed to come out of this alive.
I wasn't really a fan of the character, yet, but I still really wanted Lara to save her as Lara's struggle in this game was reflective of my own at the time it made saving Sam all the more important to me which made Lara and Sam making it off Yamatai something that actually helped me get through a my own issues. Though originally Sam was suppose to die in the original ending but that was changed due how much test players liked her and her relationship with Lara and how, out of all the supporting characters Sam was the one who contributed the most to the plot and Lara's character, even more so then Roth.
Let's take a quick look at Rise of the Tomb Raider. Like Survivor's original ending Lara would be forced to sacrifice something/someone in order to save the world from a great evil but unlike Survivor the ending that was planned was the ending we got. In Rise Lara destroys the Divine Source which is the only thing that can vindicate her father's name just like how Lara would have been forced to kill Sam to ensure Himiko wouldn't endanger the world. The reason Rise's ending remained unchanged while Survivor's ending was completely re-written was because players didn't connect with Richard the way the did with Sam. This was only further compounded by Sam's very well written character arc in the comics which really fleshed her out as a character.
While I enjoyed Rise and I am looking forward to Shadow I do feel that without Sam the series is missing something. Something that can't be replaced by Richard, Jonah or the thrill of adventure. Sam is, in my opinion, every bit as awesome as Lara and is someone who adds to her character and as shown in the most resent God of War for the PS 4 which had Kratos fighting alongside his son for 97% of the game and showed how giving a "Lone Wolf" someone to fight alongside them can only add to the game.
I do think that Sam will return and if/when that happens I hope they take full advantage of her as she is every bit as awesome as Lara which is an opinion that seems to be shared by most of the writers of the series. Hell I would also love to see her get her own spin-off game with her dealing with her own personal issues along with her own personal villains. Sam is awesome and she is what helped make Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born one of my all time favorite games.