[Katie]

Did everyone catch Karl's live interview today on GTTV at E3? If not, one of the most important points he made was that there will not be any swimming in Tomb Raider. Thoughts on that? Personally I find it very disappointing. Dropping it 15 years into the series, reboot or not, has lost some major points on my end.

[Naids]

I think it's very disappointing too Katie. I used to love to swim around and explore underwater. It made the games that much more fun and rewarding.

[Amulet]

I'm disappointed at the lack of swimming, it was one of the things I really liked about the classics. Lara wasn't as good a swimmer in CD's games and a few people complained about it, perhaps that's why it's been left out of this game? It doesn't really make sense when Lara's been shipwrecked though. Maybe they don't want her to escape too quickly?

[Katie]

There's a huuuge thread over on Justin's forums about this too and it seems like the majority are upset. Even if there was some waterfall she came across and wanted to explore below that would be cool. It just seems so odd they'd take it out. No explanation as to why either yet from Crystal...

[trps1]

I noticed in the gameplay vid that there was no health bar displayed. It looks like they're doing away with the health bar and are going with showing actual damage to Lara. She limps along holding her side, gets covered in cuts and bruises, etc. I guess this makes it all look and feel a bit more realistic. I suppose if they drop the health bar then they would also drop the breath bar. That would make the underwater sections more difficult when you don't know how much longer you can stay under. Maybe that is one of the reasons why they dropped the underwater sections?

[leepaynetombraider]

CD mess it up again. Will they ever get the series rite. What a boar no harpoon gun and no sharks. Some one put TR2 on please. And while ya at it knock some sense into CD.

[Amulet]

Something has just occurred to me: What if Lara can't swim? This is the reboot and meant to be an origins (character building ) story so perhaps this is all part of it? Although if she can't swim to start with I would've hoped she'd have learnt by the end, after her adventure. Perhaps let us have this new ability as a reward for finishing the game or something?

[Katie]

Amulet, on 11 June 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

Something has just occurred to me: What if Lara can't swim? This is the reboot and meant to be an origins (character building ) story so perhaps this is all part of it? Although if she can't swim to start with I would've hoped she'd have learnt by the end, after her adventure. Perhaps let us have this new ability as a reward for finishing the game or something?

Could be a possibility, but just to play devil's advocate, don't most people learn to swim as kids? Would seem odd a 21 year old didn't know how to swim...then again, we don't know her "new" story.

[Deano]

Why not? I'm 26 and I can't swim.

[Amulet]

Deano, on 14 June 2011 - 05:08 AM, said:

Why not? I'm 26 and I can't swim.

Snap I can't either.

[Mercury Rapids]

Nor I...


We all let Lara do our swimming.

[Amulet]

Mercury Rapids, on 14 June 2011 - 09:33 AM, said:

Nor I...


We all let Lara do our swimming.

Yeah, and the swan diving which presumably has also been removed if she can't swim. It makes me wonder if all the other "classic" moves will be gone too, like the handstand pull up? I know none of these things were ever absolutely neccessary to complete a game but I always associate them with Lara now.

[Katie]

Really?! My bad then. I wonder if that has anything to do with location. Interesting....makes me want to research and see who can/can't.

Well I will add that I can't swim without plugging my nose!

[trps1]

I have a couple of friends who are Brits and can't swim. Don't know if it is a common thing though. Is it too cold there? Not many swimming pools? My friends are weird? Too cold for swimming where I am anyway...

[Katie]

Well I'm the biggest wimp when it comes to swimming here, I refuse to do it. Down south only, and I've only been there twice when I was 12, and Cuba 2 years ago! Other than that when I was a kid I used to swim all the time at outdoor pools, indoor, friends pools, etc. Are outdoor pools rare in the UK?

[Amulet]

^I think indoor pools are more common here. There used to be an outdoor public pool where I live but it was demolished after they built a new indoor one, even though there were protests. It was only open for a few months a year so it just didn't make enough money to keep it running.

[Marc1]

She's stranded on an island without the ability to swim?
Doesn't seem right to me.

[TheLegend]

I see no problem with this. Way I see it is that Lara doesn't yet know how to swim, being the rise of the Lara Croft we know.

[Drøgynn]

Swimming and underwater exploration was a big part of the classics.. I cannot imagine a Tomb Raider game without it at this point.
Sure it's an origins story.. So make her less athletic maybe.. But not beïng able to enter the water? That's silly in my opinion.

Though before getting too mad about this I will give it a fair chance. Just wait and see, maybe it will come out ok.
Besides, if it's an origins story, we can expect a sequel in which Lara is trained and ready for true tomb raiding. It would be a good thing in terms of character development.

[Amulet]

In a magazine article on Mercury Rapids' site (sorry can't remember which article ) "cave diving" was mentioned but I'm not sure what was meant by this if Lara can't swim. I wondered if it meant that she could swim underwater in the caves but couldn't swim in the sea, but that would be even weirder than no swimming at all.