Talk:Samantha Nishimura/@comment-2001:5B0:4BCA:B00:0:FF:FEB8:3462-20180501125224/@comment-2001:5B0:4BCA:F010:0:FF:FEB8:3462-20180509132336

@Winter77

While utilizing elements of the comics COULD be neat, I think the best bet would be to set it after their events, for a couple of reasons:

1. The focus should be on Sam, not Lara. While this could be pulled off with the comic material, you're still emphasizing the presence (or lack thereof) of an alternate heroine who, from her original design, was intended to keep Sam on the wayside. Add to this the difficulty of adapting the material both faithfully enough to appease fans and loosely enough to make for an enticing game, and you have a number of issues that could doom such a product from the start.

2. Unless I'm mistaken, while the comics are considered broadly/mostly canon, they're also considered nebulously so enough that their inclusion or lack thereof would not make or break the game. With a post-comics setting, you have a borderline clean slate; after all between Trinity and everything else there are plenty of reasons for Sam to be kept safe and separate from Lara, and references to Himiko and Sam's supernatural connection(s) can be kept vague enough to infer either game-canon-only information OR connection to the comics. This would mean people who only play the games wouldn't necessarily feel left out of important story details, but the devs could potentially have plenty of opportunities to plant easter eggs for those who have read them (such as Sam finding an old copy of Pride and Prejudice and saying she should give it to Lara, or her being nervous around mirrors.)

Let's face it, horror games tend to be niche in the first place, so if they were to take the Fatal Frame tact for this you're already looking at a limited market. The best bet the development team would have is to emphasize a good game first, and make its Tomb Raider connections largely incidental in as many ways as possible.

Sam as a character can stand on her own perfectly fine, so there's no reason to rely too heavily on drawing the audience of the original games (though you most certainly would be able to.) Focus should instead be on emphasizing her role in the game regardless of other connections, otherwise you're just looking at a lazy tie-in rather than a worthwhile, potentially universe-expanding side story built to take advantage of a fantastic character that's been shelved.