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Tomb Raider Remastered just quietly censored one in-game detail after most recent patch

Elios83

Member
It's a minor thing that most people won't even notice but it's embarrassing that they got orders to make these changes.
Sex appeal is part of what made the character a huge success in the 90s.
I fear that Crystal Dynamics simply isn't the right studio for this game.
 

Hardensoul

Member
The hurr duhh brigade who say who cares? Are pretty short sighted it maybe just something inoffensive as posters been removed now, but that’s how all this starts. Little by little they will normalise it chopping and changing games as they see fit. if you are remastering something you have a responsibility to present it as it originally was. You are in no position to decide to alter it years later to try to win woke points with the danger hairs like some sad little simps.

Makes me glad I play mainly Japanese stuff as western gaming is slowly going down the toilet.
It’s creeping into Japan. Pokemon company recently open search to hire a DEI manager. Niantic San Francisco base developer recent made changes to the female trainers to look less feminine to have more of a masculine feature in Pokémon Go. A Japanese liscense IP, biggest IP in world.

This is why we care, it starts small then grows over time. We need to raise our voices now.
 
Totally unacceptable.

Haven't played the original five in twenty some years, but if that shot is from one of lara's places, isn't a bit weird to have sexy posters of herself?

Well maybe IRL actresses and actors have themselves on walls for vanity too
 

WoJ

Member
People who say "who cares" are either willfully ignorant, in favor of removing content from old games that is now deemed offensive, or lack critical thinking skills.

I didn't buy these remasters and really didn't plan on it to begin with because it wasn't on my radar but now definitely won't. I could care less about removing background posters of Lara Croft. But the very idea that developers, some 30 years later, think they know better than the people who made these games in the 90s, is narcissistic and pathetic. It's not right that some dork in 2024 can claim they know better and can remove content from something 30 years old for whatever reason. Whether it's games, books, movies, or whatever. If you're going to promote something as a re-release of an original don't change it.

The even bigger irony here is that those of you saying "who cares" or "what a bunch of snowflakes" are generally the people who walk around claiming "games are art". Personally I've never been someone who believes that viewpoint, but you can't argue games are art and then claim its okay to change the artists vision 30 years later because some activitist decided something is now offensive.

People okay with this are clowns.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Imagine being so fragile that you feel the need to do this.

Imagine you’re so petty, you do this a month or more after release.
This is obviously a move from those “I love to take away the things you like”, permanently-online TwitterX goblins. It’s absolutely impossible that the people who did this didn’t know the posters were there before releasing the game.

It’s incredible that on this forum of all places, some people need to be explained that this is not about masturbating to in-game posters showing images that have been online for 25 years. But it’s about the fact that the people who feel the need to remove those posters from the game are unquestionably, not to mention unashamedly, mentally ill. These are the people that as kids, would let the house dog stomp on their birthday cake and eat it just so their siblings couldn’t have a slice. Psychos, pure and simple.
 
Such a pointless change, you already released the damn game, if you were gonna do that, do it before you release. Opening a can of worms where gamers won't trust you in future purchases. For what? Nobody was even talking about the game anymore, let alone those posters, which no-one, not even woke crybabies brought up.

Just Why??? I'm convinced more than ever that its all for DEI funding now. There's just no way these companies continue to do exactly what nobody wants for no reason
 

Saber

Member
I'm surprised to see that some here say "who cares".

Where does it end? Who gets too decide what history to erase and what to leave behind?

And why do you care if others complaint? Because it doesn't bother you? What happens when they decide to change something you care about? Will you still just accept it and not say anything?

These guys are so bland and simple minded that I believe even if the game has nazi flags or transform Lara in a purple haired trans they would still don't care because they can just play the game and ignore everything. The who cares crownd are the ones who opened the doors to microtransactions, ads ingame, battlepasses and many others.
 
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tenor.gif


It's not a major enough change for me to not get a game trilogy that's still one of the best out there, yet it's just hard to wrap my head around removing the very much tongue in cheek nature of the posters with Lara's history in mind. What's really being gained here?

But the biggest damning thing here is this insistence on sanding down everything that made Lara's identity her own - a sexy, self-assured, self-motivated thief. Pure and simple. This isn't a knock against adding complexity to the character where some growth is beneficial, but just changing it to something altogether different.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider imo was the biggest step closer we had towards the original trilogy giving me hope that they could really nail it with whatever came next. Now? What's the point of Tomb Raider if you're not raiding tombs? Is she supposed to put it back? Make a cross campus apology tour for white colonialism?
 

NickFire

Member
Almost every game is minor in the grand scheme of things. So I’ll concede this change is minor. And will also skip any game published by this company because those are too minor to spend money on as well. They can sell it to the people who agree with them on this shit instead.
 
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GHound

Member
These guys are so bland and simple minded that I believe even if the game has nazi flags or transform Lara in a purple haired trans they would still don't care because they can just play the game and ignore everything. The who cares crownd are the ones who opened the doors to microtransactions, ads ingame, battlepasses and many others.
I like to keep this for close encounters with the undead.
MtUuJY4.jpeg
 


Before

vB3RtXZ.jpeg


After

SrEpUNW.jpeg


Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered players are ticked off by the game’s most recent patch, which censors in-game pin-up posters of Lara Croft.

Unfortunately, the most recent patch for the game has caused quite a stir, as amongst some routine bug fixes and performance enhancements, it’s also removed in-game content.

Twitter user Smash JT posted screenshots of the game before and after the patch, saying: “Crystal Dynamics censored out the pics of Lara in the update on Tomb Raider.”

The pictures in question are lewd pin-up posters of the protagonist Lara Croft, which can be found in the fourth level of the third game.

One player called it a “huge problem with modern games,” saying they can now be “ruined AFTER people buy them”.

Another player called it “turbo cringe,” going on to say, “These people have the job of sucking whatever fun and nostalgia they can out of their supposedly fun product. It's so weird and disheartening.”


Jessica Chastain Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live


the great indoors roland GIF by CBS

Crystal Dynamics must think most people are like the Goku racist meme

 

keefged4

Member
I bought at launch and am now firmly passed the refund window from Steam, but rest assured Aspyr are now on my shitlist. They'll see no more money from me. Regardless of context, removing content like this no matter how small to appease any audience shouldn't be tolerated.
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Although on the surface this may be seen as quite minor, this is a remaster. It should be a showcase of the original piece of art in its purist form using modern day technologies , kind of like when an old movie gets a 4K re-release, you don't see those getting edited* they are a representation of a point in time, to make the piece of art accessible (in a literal sense) to people on modern platforms.

If you want to fuck around with stuff do a remake and take some liberties and/or use a bit of artistic license.

Tomb Raider was a cultural phenomenon in the 90s. This was a time when in the UK, where Lara was made, magazines like FHM and Maxim ruled the shelves and Lara Croft was an icon of this era, these kind of photos in the game were a nod to the culture that was prevalent at the time (rightly or wrongly). To take them out of the 'remaster' is a slight on the original developers and their vision, and does a disservice to future generations that will not get a true representation of the game as it was intended.

Like people have said, why not have some kind of disclaimer at the start of the game or a toggle for people that find background photography of virtual women offensive 🫠

*probably some do
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Although on the surface this may be seen as quite minor, this is a remaster. It should be a showcase of the original piece of art in its purist form using modern day technologies , kind of like when an old movie gets a 4K re-release, you don't see those getting edited* they are a representation of a point in time, to make the piece of art accessible (in a literal sense) to people on modern platforms.

If you want to fuck around with stuff do a remake and take some liberties and/or use a bit of artistic license.

Tomb Raider was a cultural phenomenon in the 90s. This was a time when in the UK, where Lara was made, magazines like FHM and Maxim ruled the shelves and Lara Croft was an icon of this era, these kind of photos in the game were a nod to the culture that was prevalent at the time (rightly or wrongly). To take them out of the 'remaster' is a slight on the original developers and their vision, and does a disservice to future generations that will not get a true representation of the game as it was intended.

Like people have said, why not have some kind of disclaimer at the start of the game or a toggle for people that find background photography of virtual women offensive 🫠

*probably some do
They actually do have a disclaimer lol. Still removed it anyway.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Damn, I looked at those two pics for like 5 minutes thinking it was about her bust size or how far down her wetsuit zipper was pulled :p

Removing the posters is just silly. Probably cost them $10,000 in "DEI consultant fees" to be told that little tidbit 'cause gosh darn it, yah gotta complain about SOMETHING to justify that paycheck!
 

hinch7

Member
Whelp Crystal Dynamics on a speed run to go broke. Reminds me of Blizzard erasing art from their old game - Classic WoW, and replacing it fruit (not joking). And the direction they've taken the franchise.
 

Fess

Member
They wish, at least Nathan had personality, nu-Lara is so sensitive she had to apologize to an antagonist after killing him "in a gentle way"
😅 She did? Could you refresh my memory on that?
Old Lara would’ve said a cool one-liner.

Problem with Uncharted though is that ND is just as focused to please the modern audience as CD and Nathan won’t likely do any more adventures. Best case scenario we’ll get another adventure with Chloe but they’ll likely tweak her to fit some agenda. Or maybe they’ll do something with Nathan’s now adult daughter but I don’t expect any highlighted femininity there.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
A good chunk of Lara's success during the 90's and 00's was thanks to her sexappeal. Trying to hide from that now while still trying to sell her old games is hyprocrisy of the highest octane.

The way some devs are able to shit on the lineage of older games is sickening. This shit reminds me of Epic removing Unreal Gold from their store, like wtf dude. Disgusting stuff.
 
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Forsythia

Member
The removal is ridiculous, and it's even worse considering they are removing it NOW when people have already paid for it. Fuck this shit.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Comments like this on forums like this just make me shake my head.

This is a GAMING section on a forum...if people aren't going to talk about this here, then where? Are you expecting no posts at all regarding this? wouldn't be a very active forum then. Or do you think people should post about how often they're having sex on a gaming forum?

FFS, get over yourself and this stupid attitude.

No, the point I was making is that a small update like that shouldn't turn into a BIG deal. You can dislike it. That's fine. Even talking about the change is fine. But some are acting like the developer is now off their "buy" list going forward. And in my opinion, that's a bit much.

And it makes me wonder why such a harsh attitude towards small updates like this. The culture wars are getting out of hand on ALL sides at this point. It's like people are looking for a reason to be pissed about stuff these days.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Agreeing with others, nobody cares except like 0.00001%. It doesn't change the game in any meaningful way.

Exactly

Big fuss about nothing on all levels. I don't get why the pics were removed and I also don't get why people would be so upset about the pictures in the 1st place either.

Thank you.

It's a principle thing. You can't go around saying you'll leave everything in the game only to cut out whatever like a damn sleazeball ninja.
People will find out and call out.

Thats whats happening. The fact that its a bunch of posters doesnt change the fact that we were lied to.
If you cant understand this and want to make it about 30 year old virgins, you obviously don't understand what we're on about.

It's a gaming forum. We're talking about games. You are the only one making this about sex. No-one else.

I totally understand the anger since it was removed "AFTER" people bought the game. That anger is totally fine and reasonable on the principle only. But to say this developer is dead to you going forward feels a bit much. Does EVERYTHING have to be a crusade nowadays?
 

Raven117

Member
Weird (well, not really that weird) how "woke" is swinging all the way around to some very weird very strange puritanism.
 
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PanzerAzel

Member
Big fuss about nothing on all levels. I don't get why the pics were removed and I also don't get why people would be so upset about the pictures in the 1st place either.
It’s not about the pictures.

There’s an entire debate to be had here about art, who owns it, if creators have the right to go back and alter their works after they’ve been embraced by the broader culture. All works are a reflection on the period of their release, and I don’t want even the most minimal of alterations to any art to bring it up to “modern” standards or sensibilities, because it infringes upon the integrity of that work in the period it represents and was released in. I want this shit in old works of art…..I want racism, I want sexism, I want sexual objectification, I want imperfections….not because I value these things individually, but because I want to be able to peer back to a period and witness works that spoke to it.

Not to be too pretentious (yeah, too late) but I do think it’s a valid and important argument to be had. IMO, companies and creators have absolutely no right to go back and deprive their works, and by extension, the broader culture, of that statement in time that endures through time, imperfect and offensive it may be. It needs to be valued, and it needs to be preserved.

Frankly I’m amazed that there aren’t laws to ensure this, but it is what it is.
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
Are these the same folks that put on the disclaimer that made some of us angry and said it would lead to taking other things out?

It is nothing by trying to create power and making others bend to their will if they want to play in their garden. Simple control.

Soon down the road they will start making certain art inaccessible to the masses and want to control what we can see. History will become the present, statues will be taken down completely, the founding fathers made into enemies, just like they are doing with Indian artwork in New York and other states after changing federal regulations. Working on the documentary of Idiocracy and 1984 at the same time.

Sounds like we are in full swing of it happening, already. All under the guise of helping those who need their help with their virtue of knowing what is best for everyone else.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Of course it doesn't, but dumb shit like that would lead me to search for a nude mod, just because. If I would own those TR games. I don't have enough interest in them anyway... and if someone actually want's to get aroused there is ton of material with Lara that is much more graphic than these old poster of very outdated Lara. It serves no important purpose and I doubt anyone stopped there to jerk off... But removing instead of embracing her past, is just weird nevertheless.
Lara became what she is today because she was sexualised. Same as Bayonetta or Eve now, or Bond since forever. All those official cosplay models incl. Angelie Jolie used that. Practically all singer, athletes, actors, male and female, owe part of their success to that, sometimes it enhances their money gains sometimes it is the core of their fame.

Seriously have way too much time on your hands. I can't even finish playing the games I have now, let alone nit pick at tiny details changed in a remaster of a 20+ year old game.
 
Seriously have way too much time on your hands. I can't even finish playing the games I have now, let alone nit pick at tiny details changed in a remaster of a 20+ year old game.
(Not a personal attack)

I always find it funny when people express the sentiment that someone "has too much time on their hands" as they post on social media. As if the time they spent reading, formulating a response, then typing it out is somehow more valid than someone else's.

Everyone reading and writing on this forum "has too much time on their hands" (for better or worse). With that said, thanks for reminding me to close my laptop and go play some Gamecube.
 
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They care so much about fictional 3D characters. Next up they will start using animals in video games instead of "humans". Not allowed, not allowed!

I feel the Rage Against the Machine is very close lol
 
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It's not so much that they removed those specific posters, it's the principle of removing content from the game that people payed for months ago. It could happen with anything and this is should be a good warning to anyone in future.
 

laynelane

Member
No, the point I was making is that a small update like that shouldn't turn into a BIG deal. You can dislike it. That's fine. Even talking about the change is fine. But some are acting like the developer is now off their "buy" list going forward. And in my opinion, that's a bit much.

And it makes me wonder why such a harsh attitude towards small updates like this. The culture wars are getting out of hand on ALL sides at this point. It's like people are looking for a reason to be pissed about stuff these days.

Everyone has different thresholds. You call this "small updates" and others call this "censoring". Refusing to financially support unacceptable practices is a perfectly valid way of responding to this. It may not be your way, but it is for people who hold the opinion that this (censoring a remaster after release) is not okay.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
(Not a personal attack)

I always find it funny when people express the sentiment that someone "has too much time on their hands" as they post on social media. As if the time they spent reading, formulating a response, then typing it out is somehow more valid than someone else's.

Everyone reading and writing on this forum "has too much time on their hands" (for better or worse). With that said, thanks for reminding me to close my laptop and go play some Gamecube.

Sort of valid but sort of not. Taking the time to potential search out something like that to "make sure it was there", screen shot it, post about, etc, seems a bit more than few posts on a forum.

I get your point, but it's one thing to discuss gaming with like minded people on a forum, as sort of an extension of playing games.
It's another to whine about the most inconsequential thing ever. It's almost akin to me starting a seperate thread because I couldn't play gta storymode as the Easter Bunny. Or a thread about how the last of us remaster had a wall that looked worse than the original. Pointless.
 
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