PixlBit

I've had that quite a bit recenlty. Although now I have too many games to get through.  I made the mistake of starting Skyrim, Morrowind AND Daggerfall recently, I get tired just thinking about it and don't touch either one for days.  Plus I'm hooked on Dwarf Fortress, which is a time vaccum itself. And someone gifted me the THQ Steam pack, which has like 10 games, huge ones like Saint's Row 2 and 3. Not to mention all the games I don't have that I want to check out

But maybe it's a good thing I have a backlog like that. Besides Wasteland 2 and Dragon Crown, I'm not enthused about much coming out this year. The next biggie for consoles is the new MGS, as far as I'm concerned. Say what you will about Kojima, but it's always a huge event when he drops a new MG.  He usually tries to push the envelope of game design.

I would add Binding of Isaac, Dwarf fortress, and Rogue Survivor.

 I don't get your desire to defend something you admittedly haven't played.  I'm just telling you what's in the game. Has nothing to do with opinion. If you think anything I said isn't in the game, then counter those points with evidence.

And really, if the developers themselves hadn't made a big deal about how so much more fleshed out NuLara is, or how they portrayed realistic emotions and reactions, it wouldn't be so laughable how much they botch the follow through and make the game look like a Micheal Bay movie.  I'm calling them out, just like I called out Oblivion and XCOM for not living up to claims they're developers made. 

 On the bright side, you will probably enjoy the platforming aspect, environments, atmosphere, graphics. They're still the strongest part of the game, as the amped up gunplay doesn't get the job done as well as other shooters.

 And I don't know where you're getting the mainstream/indie divide from.  I never said anything about indie games.  Tomb Raider was already mainstream. Have we come to the point where anything besides mindless shooting, gore and hand holding is indie or 'hardcore?'

 Your review will probably be as good as usual, and since I dont absolutely hate the core gameplay, I suspect our opinions may not be too divergent on that front and you'll note the the advantages and drawbacks of each design choice.

Marketing tells people want it wants them to believe

 As an outsider looking in, I'm not sure you realize just how severly they undermine this humanity you think was added, to the point it doesn't matter and has no influence on game mechanics or plot. 

You say you're tired of action heroes, yet multiple people who have played the game are telling you that's exactly what you get in this game.  The game is full of 90s and 2000s action girl tropes trying to come off as serious business. Every thing you think this game doesn't do, it does.

 You can't rationalize any of this away, especially as you have not touched the game yet.  You'll have to be content with what it is, a game about Jane Rambo who cries in cutscenes but is a cold blooded super killer in play.  Just as cheesy and action movie as Tomb Raider of old, but with even bigger leaps of logic.

We're consistent.  The way the game was divided into measurable squares is what was outdated about the old Tomb Raider, not platforming and puzzles. The people who expect Tomb Raiding in a Tomb Raider game weren't complaining about puzzles platforming. Those tons of people in the Uncharted vs. Tomb Raider were probably shooter fans, not puzzle and platforming fans. 

So the equivalent ot Mall-Rats or Juno would be...Bully?  Aren't you one of the people always praising that underrated game?  I think that's why Rockstar games are so popular: settings that are familiar and relevant to the average person.  Harder to relate to a made up fantasy world than the Old West or de-facto New York City.

I'm comfortable with the idea that writing may not evolve. Even when we get it, it's mostly ignored or not noticed if it's not in your face (Planescape, Dark Souls, Grim Fandango).

I think one thing we need to get away from is the dependency on fantasy and science-fiction to be interesting. It's like the sugar used to help the medicine go down.  It's kind of childish in a way, because it's usually more about monsters and cool swords than saying anything about culture or politics or behavior, etc.

It depends on whether you like the typical western developed, cinematic 3rd person shooter adventure, and the gunplay isn't as good as Gears or Vanquish.  On the flip side, It's more polished than RE6, controls better, but it doesn't have that Japanese action game flair you like.

 Platforming is a little above Enslaved level of simplicity, but not much.

 I know I harped about the ludonarrative dissonance, but that's just a discussion point, it's easily ignored.  But don't expect something plausible or any deep insight into the character.  She's fragile in cutscenes, but Rambo during gameplay,

 I would rent or borrow first. I kind of loath the game and what it represents, but you might just want some mindless violence for an hour here and there.

There may be many problems with the damsel in distress trope, but one of them is not that it's a man doing the saving.  I'm confident in saying that in the history of mankind, there have been even less women cut out for heroic adventure and violent action than the minority among men who have been capable of it.  A princess, pampered her whole life, even less so.

The problem with the trope, in my eyes, is that it is a trope.  It's tired', it's been exhausted ad nauseum, just like the Campbellian Hero's Journey, 'chosen one' stories, and stories with prophecies about the one true evil/true hero.

Heh, was just thinking this myself. I wouldn't even say it's above average. Game offers no challenge, game mechanics and story are at odds with each other, the optional tombs in this Tomb raider game are ridiculously simple to navigate, full of QTEs that contribute nothing of substance to play, feels like it was designed by shareholders instead of creative designers, checks all the tired current gen AAA shooter boxes, gunplay is been there/done that, and the origin story is no more interesting than what was already established. 

Man, marketing is really effective these days.  Do you honestly think this going to be as good or better than Wasteland 2, BIoshock Infinite, Company of Heroes 2, GTAV, Total War Rome 2?  I'd say Heart of the Swarm is already more of a contender.