The music heard in this video is from Nathan McCree's Tomb Raider Suite and Peter Connelly's Dark Angel Symphony. The art for my intro, this video's thumbnail and title card was done by artist Azuma Yasuo. You can find links for all of the creatives in the video's description!
Crystal Dynamics did NOT release the Tomb Raider Remastered trilogy, that was entirely the work of Aspyr. Crystal Dynamics did not want anything to do with classic Lara.
I mean why reskin a game and consider it "remastered"? If they didn't have a hand in it... why package a reskinned original? That's kind of disrespectful to the originals no? If a new dev was going to remaster it they would need to completely recreate it. Otherwise fans will always think a reskinned original as a cash grab slap to the face.
@@bud389 So then what is the point? Cater to a nostalgic generation and a quick little cash grab from modding it? Whoopty do, that cash grab should be saved for the original developers.
@@peptoyoThe point is to remaster the game so it's playable and updated with quality of life fixes. And the original developers are gone. CORE Design doesn't exist anymore.
I'm sure somebody has already written it in the comments but Crystal Dynamics DID NOT remaster TR1,2 and 3. In fact, after the fans petitioned for a remaster of the classic games Crystal Dynamics officially stated that they were not interested and had no plans leading in such direction. The situation changed recently when Crystal Dynamics and some other studios were acquired from Square Enix by the Embracer Group. Embracer with the aquisition became the new owner of the TR IP and decided to hire Aspyr Media and it's parent company Saber Interactive to begin working on the remasters. If the decision making were left to Crystal Dynamics alone I'm pretty sure we'd never have the first three Core Design games remastered and published since they had their own different agenda.
What I'd like to know is why they were against the remasters, which would let a new generation of gamers experience the works that put them in the hall of fame of the entertainment industry.
@@Caydiem I imagine that if pushed, CD would likely have dressed up their objection to remastering the originals as either some kind of bizarre "we look forwards, not backwards" ethos, or perhaps, in an attempt to maintain positive feeling amongst the retro community, a claim that the games are fine as they were. It's that or financial reasons (if I'm to be less cynical). I myself suspect that there's a stubbornness at play behind the scenes, perhaps that CD are worried that they'd be effectively admitting their faults with the modern titles were they to develop the remasters, and regression would ultimately cause too much damage to their brand. One should never underestimate the power of public relations, no matter how duplicitous and false their press releases and social media messages may actually be if you try reading between the lines. It's a rather fascinating prospect, observing how many of these modern developers react to the ever-growing numbers of remastered games we are seeing. Innovative, fresh ideas for new games seems to be a concept somewhat running out of steam. It's marvellous that modern tech allows the reimagining of the worlds and characters we only dreamed about back in the 90s/early 00s, and frankly, if that pulls more of today's gaming generation towards the classics we loved, then surely that can only be a good thing (provided that said classics are not over-diluted, simplified, or amended too heavily in such a fashion that it detracts from the original experience). Are we going to see a gaming world where both remastered favourites and new creations exist strongly, and in harmony?
@@Caydiem "the works that put them in the hall of fame" - well, that's the thing- Crystal Dynamics had nothing to do with the Classic Tomb Raider games. The fandom has always been pretty divided about the reboots and CD has a pretty huge stake in being on one particular side of the fence.
I am so frustrated when every time I learn about the story behind the greatest videogames in history are always plagued with inhumane overworked people who are so broken that they would rather quit than getting a million pounds
@@HOTD108_ Crystal Dynamics said that the Unified Lara Croft wallpaper you can download on Tomb Raider's official site is their "vision" for Unified Lara. Why would they give her shorts and duel pistols if that's not part of their vision? Not to mention, Crystal confirmed that the anime will bring back those iconic features of her. The anime is the first step to unification.
@@iamarabicandiloveamericanp7137 I thought it was going to be about the animal abuse until I squinted, like wtf if anything it's just a bunch of toxic dudes lmao Are the temples offensive? What's the issue
How can I even begin to explain how much of an impact has this character has in my life. As a teenager, she ignited my curiosity for ancient civilizations, specially egypt, as it was Unfinished Bussiness and Tomb Raider IV the ones I played the most. Lara Croft was, and still is, the embodiment of a capable, strong and fearless woman. And, as a man, I can only strive to be as strong as she is. Being smart, strong and agile were qualities that usually didn't come in a single package, yet Lara was this and so much more. I believe that Lara is, and will always be, an icon. A role model for many, an object of lust for many others, a source of inspiration, someone to strive to be like. And I sincerely hope she continues to inspire future generations as much as she inspired me when I was younger. What I mean with this is, all those days of hard work that the development team had to endure, the burnout, the dread of work, and the sad reality of hating something you do love to do very much, it all paid due, as Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, managed to break records, barriers of language, media, and everything around her to become the cult idol she is today. Thanks for this documentary, and even though they might never read this, thanks to all the people who poured their lives out for this character for so many years, in spite of their own personal lives, just to give fans what they wanted: a character that can never be forgotten.
Yeah as a young boy obviously puberty set in but I always liked playing Tomb Raider because she was a bad mf, shooting and being agile. I wouldn't be surprised if Dante from DMC was partially inspired by Lara's combat style.
The bit at the end regarding audio is absolutely tragic and incredibly abhorrent and ignorant on Jeremy’s part. Fortunately, Nathan’s passion created some of the best sound design for the time. The classic TR games have such a unique sound, I love them.
Beyond audio itself, it gives me the impression that a big part of the reason why the devs were burning themselves out on those games was that they had so much higher quality standards for their work than the guys asking them to release as many of them as fast as possible. It's quite depressing, I think...
@@Caydiem _Slight_ correction, many would have bought it _initially._ But once word gets out that you shipped a game with no audio, the sales numbers are gonna fall off a cliff. Not to mention, all the ones purchased at Funcoland (that's what my GameStop was called back in 1996... I don't know how universal that was) are gonna get returned. Then, naturally, for your next game most people are going to wait until it's confirmed whether or not there's frichen audio in this one, before purchasing. All-in-all, the worst take your higher up could possibly have.
What I heard was that they were told their sacrifices and efforts meant nothing except that it fell in line with Eidos' financial goals for the sake of generating money. Even near the beginning, this was apparent, but to have it said to a passionate designer is just so stereotypical higher ups tyranny. The true villains of the series.
For someone who'd been a part of the games industry as long as he had, I'm shocked how clueless Jeremy could be to say that the sound was not important. Games reviewers don't buy the games, gamers do. And I'm pretty sure the reviewers rated the game based on the playability in the knowledge that it wasn't a finished product and the assumption that sound would obviously be added in the finished product.
Back then crunch was something people did out of passion for the art they believed in, now crunch is pretty much expected no matter what the artist thinks.
I’ve seen a lot of these tomb raider docs and I’ve never heard that last Nathan audio clip before. What an absolute legend, the ambient sounds in the original TR’s give the game so much atmosphere and the soundtrack for every moment and level is iconic. The game would not be the same without him and even modern games now still fail to create an ambient soundscape as well as the Maria doria.
In one corpo I worked for, managers would ofter warn us to not do any unpaid overtime/overdeliver - the explanation was, that if we overdeliver, the customer (or in case of video games - publisher) will consider it a baseline and we'll have to do more work for the same pay. I understand that at times alternatives are even worse, buy maybe, Core's first mistake, was delivering TR2 on time.
This is standard practice for companies with targets/quotas, I think. At least the ones I worked for we got paid more for going "above the norm" - until the norm was shortly raised while the pay remained unchanged. Also I remember one time we got called over for a meeting with management where we were told that in recognition of how efficient we've become we will now be expected to do more work for less money, basically. They pretty much meant it as a reward.
If you've got to deliver a product every Christmas, then you only bring out one year's worth of work. I don't remember ever finishing a Tomb Raider game because there was so much there. Overworking programmers to the point where you then can't keep people and bring out.A good sequel is not pacing yourself as a company.
As a young girl, i never felt like I truly had a character I could look up to in video games. I always played as princess peach or definitely wanted to save princess Zelda - but i never wanted to “be” either of these characters.. That all changed when I first got a glimpse of the gorgeous Lara Croft. Oh, I was enamored. She was not only beautiful, but intelligent, agile, witty, capable, funny, stern - determined. Lara was the epitome of a strong, capable and independent woman who values knowledge and adventure above all else. Who followed her own agenda and lived her life exactly however she wanted with no one’s opinions ever impacting her dreams. i spent so much of my childhood daydreaming of being just as cool as Lara Croft. Just as smart, just as sexy, just as strong, just as athletic. Lara was definitely “sexualized”, she was made to appeal to a certain audience and to deny it is to be a fool. She had some crazy sex appeal. However, that sex appeal NEVER overpowered her incredible wit and charm. Being sexy and being strong, being capable and being feminine. Her duality, to this day, entrances me. Being hot only takes one so far, Lara was a cult icon because her character balanced so many aspects of her. Lara meant everything to me as a little kid. She was the epitome of what i wanted to be as a woman. I pursued my career, i valued knowledge, and i sure as hell sweat at the gym to get that helluva bod inspired by Croft herself. Thank you, Lara. You impacted my life incredibly. I know you made so many people happy.
Lara Croft had a lot of "UK Pride" around her in the 90s. Part of why she crossed over to mainstream fascination & was on covers of culture magazines in that era was LC was seen as being part of the "2nd Swinging Britain" hype, when it felt like there was renewed focus on the UK as a pop culture generator & centre of creative energy. The character of Lara --- the fact she was British, had been made to be so by her UK-based parent company --- was seen as such a point of pride that there was a huge snit in UK media when it was announced that the movie version of Lara Croft was an American. It seems so silly now but there was that much attention at the time during the whole casting process, then on release a number of UK-based reviews for the movie also assessed whether or not Angelina Jolie was able to authentically portray LC's "Britishness".
I have to tell you, you and your countrymen were absolutely right about that. Angelina Jolie is certainly masterful at some roles but she is no Lara! I felt even someone like Liz Hurley, or even Rona Mitra should have played her. Angelina had the acting part nailed but everything else about her was wrong for Lara! Too short, not the right kind of curves. Even her movements are slightly off, abrupt and short instead of the graceful but lanky way Lara Croft is meant to move. since Lara is meant to be taller. The whole first two films fall a bit flat. Alicia Vikander was a step in the right direction. But the screenplay and director chose to make her a mere participant in her own movie. Whereas Angelina Jolie at least had the right "nothing-bloody-phases-me" attitude, Vikander was passive, always off guard, reactive not proactive, and seemed more like a side-character than one who is meant to drive the plot almost completely. A proper Tomb Raider film still has yet to be made!
Do you have in mind something like the Ashton Kutcher film about Steve jobs movie? You and I would love it, just picking out the actors would be worth hours of entertainment. The rest of the mass audience might be totally lost, though.
This is around the time Lady Diana Spencer was divorcing Prince Charles, so it is possible the wife thought she had a chance now that Prince Charles was back on the market. :p
This was produced very well, it really makes me feel for the developers and what they went through, I wonder what would happen if all of them came back together today to actually instead of remaster and remake the original trilogy
The fact that dev teams were encountering problems with upper management even back in the 90s - 2000s shows how terrible the working culture is in the gaming industry. Nothing has changed since then and it's absolutely amazing that games are still managing to release at this point in time. It's all thanks to the hardworking people in these dev teams that sacrifice their health for their passion. Unfortunately though, this is not something we should be normalising to any degree. What a shame.
Man, the 90s truly were a different time. The amount of creative freedom these people got would intimidate the shit out of me, since I'm way too risk-averse and scared of failure even though I know it's something inevitable in order to improve your craft. Just imagining what it might've felt like being a pioneer in 3D-graphics blows my mind.
Ha you're right about the creative freedom...I mean they literally decided to kill her so they couldn't be forced to make another game, and the big boss didn't even know until the press release 😂 that's a level of petty I aspire to be at my work 😂
you know, it's sad to say but little old 2003 me really liked Angle of Darkness i even remember owning the strategy guide and reading it at school so i could learn how to get better at the game
Why is that sad to say? Fair play if that's your view. I myself don't particularly like the newer Survivor games I've played, not next to the original series, but I have nothing against people who do. It's when others slag off certain games without playing them that I get annoyed. It's entirely your decision what you do or don't like. Without trying to sound too sarcastic, that's the simple beauty of freedom of thought and expression.
I will always have a soft spot for Chronicles. It was the first TR game I was able to play at home, rather than at someone else's place. It was bad and I could see it. With some games you could tell they were stretching the limits of their engine to do as much as possible, regardless of how clunky it felt in execution (grappling hooks anyone?). Yet playing Chronicles felt like playing an obituary. The team's sour feelings were palpable. In the opening CGI Lara is on an opera stage rained with roses but in the first playable level she's literally off the stage and into the back alleys. The only levels I genuinely like even up to this day are the Ireland levels for their gloomy, supernatural horror atmosphere. The context of a group of friends telling each other memories of Lara's life and then the devs releasing the level editor with the game's PC release was a loud "Lara's dead and we're done telling her stories. Now it's your turn - craft your own Croft adventures." message that I hadn't seen up to that point in gaming.
I also like Chronicles. You can feel everything wrong with it but for what it is, it's a fun time killer and feels like an expansion to TLR more than a sequel.
1:06:55 I actually disagree. I'm a game-dev, and one of the things that causes delays is when there are too many developers on a project. If we all programmed the exact same way, this would be true, but everyone has their own "style". So, when assets and functions need to be shared, if the person editing it wasn't the same person who created it, the chance for errors (bugs) rises significantly. Now imagine passing this along more than two programmers... now imagine programmers not catching bugs/errors right away. BOOM. Huge delays. And you won't necessarily know who made the mistake. And everyone needs to dig through everyone else's code. So yeah, "too many cooks" is a real thing. Cyberpunk had TONS of devs and it still took the game a monstrous amount of time to get to an acceptable state, and they are STILL squashing bugs. There's a documentary (I think done by IGN, not sure) where CDPR completely changed their organization of developers into "Strike Teams" to mitigate this issue.
Crystal Dynamics with all their effort and resources have never understood why people like Tomb Raider. Their games work as sub-par Uncharted clones but are completely devoid of the sense of atmosphere, fun and surmountable challenge of the Core Design games. The survivor trilogy in particular should be studied in how you can stray from what makes a game unique or remarkable.
its ironic how much they tried to turn tomb raider into an uncharted clone when uncharted took inspiration from the original tomb raider. In the OG tomb raider action was not the main focuse of the game, exploration and mistery was, it only has action here and there to break the monotony of the exploration, uncharted does things the opposite way, action is the main focuse with exploration and mistery elements here and there to break the monotony of the action. With the reboot they went for the uncharted route.
Only liked the 1st one from 2013. The rest just kept getting worse and worse. You go from releasing the highest selling TR of the franchise to then one of the lowest. Shadow of the Tomb Raider did not meet Square's sales expectations and I thought the franchise would be forever shelved. Given the rumors I've heard for Crystal Dynamics' Embracer Group upcoming Tomb Raider game, I'm not hyped.
You know that Crystal is also responsible for making the Legend trilogy. While some may not be impressed with those games, they are by no means Uncharted clones. If Crystal returns to the formula that made Legend work, I'll be happy.
@DubDub-si8xs, True, they did end up getting rid of their Western studios. Not that Embracer Group has been much better. Cough *Saints Row 2002* cough. And they reformed Free Radical to bring back Timesplitters, only to then shut them down and kill Timesplitters, again. Best thing Embracer has done recently was remaster the Core Tomb Raider Trilogy.
These Incredible people lost blood sweat and Tears, but theyve Created an Masterpiece, a Story, a Character, a Soul that inspired my whole Life and the Lifes of many many young People on this Planet!
Yer damn right, TR 1 thru even Chronicles, are a legacy of the true golden age of gaming 1997-2002. Games have been nowhere near as amazing since. Most are mere consumer products like Big Macs and Crest toothpaste...
It’s sad what happened with Core Design, their TR games are still my favorites from that era. I hate Crystal Dynamics for rewriting and changing Lara’s character to the point that she is unrecognizable with the name slapped in.
1:04:33 That's insanity to me that Jeremy Heath-Smith said to Nathan McCree, "nobody gives a s**t about audio". Nathans music is practically one the reasons the original tomb raiders are so damn good
I think I've developed Stockholm Syndrome from AoD being the first game I ever played and existing in the TR fandom where that game has a much warmer reputation these days than you'd expect, because hearing you call it "the worst game you've ever played" was honestly pretty jarring, especially considering a lot of the absolute slop you've played in the past. I think I can see where you're coming from, at least. It's hard to have a clear perspective on something you've grown up with. I've developed an appreciation for how the game plays, but I think that has more to do with 20 years of getting used to how it feels rather than it being actually good. I'll at least say I do think it has somethings going for it. Aesthetically it's really great, I think, with this kind of late 90's cybergoth vibe to it. I honestly think Lara's camo pants and black shirt combo is her best look in the series, the music is absolutely phenomenal (thank you London Symphony Orchestra), and I do think there's some decently creative platforming at points, even if it isn't- very graceful. Plus, I actually like Lara in this game quite a bit? She's very bitter and antagonistic in a way that does feel kind of jarring, but it's honestly too entertaining for me to really care all that much. Her intimidating the jouranlist in the first Prague level is deeply mean and also absolutely hysterical. It's a shame it's so deeply unfinished, though, you can really feel how hacked together the whole thing was. The fact that in the early game it starts as a pseudo-RPG with the whole Ghetto area, and then that's immediately dropped in favor of a more linear level structure is extremely telling. I mean you can straight up access the rest of the unfinished tutorial level with a glitch that's very easy to do, but for some reason is caused by bracing yourself against a random door in the Ghetto??? The game just has so much weird shit in it, and a lot of it really is localized in the first part of the game where Lara is wearing her blue jeans outfit. I wonder why they didn't just cut the currency system out entirely when there is literally only a single thing in the entire game you can ever use money for, and it's extremely missable. The little sewer area beneath the Ghetto you can get some extra trinkets in is apparently part of the same map as Bouchard's Hideout because they share the same loading screen, despite this random sewer so obviously not being Bouchard's Hideout. It's funny, too, maybe it's just because I have it on my original PS2, but I must have the most stable copy of the game ever printed, because I've basically never experienced the glitches people have shown off. I think there was one instance where I fell through the ground in a back alley of the Ghetto and that's about it. Certainly never anything as extreme as ragdolling after a jump for no reason.
Excellent video! Incredibly interesting story to hear, especially for someone who bought the Saturn version on release day. It also brings some things to light that I'd always feared were the case with Eidos over the years. You can't give anything but huge kudos to Core Design in their attempts to stick to their principles in the face of the rush to make money by their parent company. I'm just glad they didn't actually lose any developers quite literally, as in the case of Team Andromeda, the developers of Panzer Dragoon Saga (the game that resulted in the deaths of two team members, such was the torrid history of its creation). I think it's incredibly important to understand, remember and respect the blood, sweat and tears that went into such legendary games, especially around the mid to late 90s.
Thank you so much for making this video!! The story of Classic Lara Croft and Core always makes my heart ache and now it's amplified by your delicate approach to the topic! When I played Angel of Darkness back in 2006 I couldn't understand the hate it got, maybe major bugs were fixed with the developer patch, but the only moment that frustrated me was Boaz fight (shown at 58:16) bc the game wouldn't lock the target right so i couldn't beat the boss omg. Other than that, it felt like a fun and immersive game to me. Mind you, it was my first Tomb Raider game, so maybe I just didn't know better. Sad that its ambition and lack of proper management killed the character of Lara. Reboot Lara was good, they really nailed it with Legend, but as I get older I miss classic Lara more and more. I'm so happy we get to have Remastered 1-3 games now, still honoring the hard work of dedicated teams.
I think I understand Gard and Douglas decision leaving CORE from the artistic standpoint. And I don't blame them. They do it for passion on making Tomb Raider, not for Greed.
I think this can be a wake-up call for other studios. As titles grow more and more ambitious, so is the budget, the technology, the hype... and the eventual crunch which is unacceptable at this point if we truly did care for the developers. If Core Design struggled to even make each Tomb Raider game up until the end to the point that they got sick of it, I can't imagine how other studios like BioWare, NetherRealm, Naughty Dog and more are dealing with stuff like this, becoming desensitized at best and unwilling to let their imagination flow at worst. The working culture in some of these studios, across the globe, needs to be called out as it is: insanity. And when I see the results that the movie did, all I see in one thing: trying to please all crowds can lead to one thing: hurting your core, no pun intended.
I think what happens with most games is, one or two guys/girls have a great idea for a game. But no idea how to make it happen and/or no finances. A studio gets wind of it, plans are made, budgets drawn up, people are hired w varying degrees of commitment, time, and zeal for the game. Then the studio, who lacks everything necessary to make a game except the financing, says "ready set go!" and beats everyone with a whip to get the game to market as fast as they can since, time really is money. Then the whole mess is sorted out by somebody, tested, and dropped onto the gamers en masse. Any enthusiasm the devs ever had for it getting lost in the shuffle. Maybe this is why most games aren't worth the Steam page they're written on.
What a fantastic video ! My friends and I used to live in halls of residence at St Christopher's Court, behind 55 Ashbourne Road (you can see it in one of your photos). And we could easily see into their offices as they worked late into the night. Some of the students were photography students at the nearby Britannia Mill campus, so they had top tier camera equipment. They would use massive zoom lenses and take photos and videos of what Core were doing, and then sell anything interesting (like new animation features that hadn't been announced) to the Playstation magazines for 50 quid or more (which was alot of beer money to a student in 1997 !). I went to school with composer Nathan McCree too. Used to sit next to him in physics class with Mr Dunthorne. He was a choir boy at St James' church, and had a bunch of expensive keyboards even back then. He hung out with the cool kids, and smelled of cigarettes all the time.😀Nice guy though.
I relate to the progression of development and the feelings associated with crunch so much. Devs need freedom to express different creative ideas. Do new things. Even working on a single project for a year makes humans feel some resentment to it sometimes. It's not surprising at all that OG's like Toby wanted to leave to do different things pretty much right away, and new blood from TR3 was already fed up by the end of TR4. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if these sentiments are also part of the reason why Crystal Dynamics are doing what they've done with TR lately. Some fans would say Crystal are killing the franchise themselves, and I'd agree they could be, but just in a different way. If for whatever reason they're not allowed to work on something completely different, they'll turn what they're working on into something different, perhaps out of spite, even though the executive decisions for these things may simply come from a handful of individuals on a team of dozens. I genuinely believe that those forced to repeatedly work on Lara long-term, will always come to hate her. Same goes for any creative work tbh. Burnout leads to love lost. And while fans have the luxury of taking a break from playing TR games and doing other things in life like going to work, or just playing different video games, there is no such escape for dev teams and other creatives in an industry.
Easy to forget just how much of a cultural icon Lara was in the 90s and early 00s - literally any time computer technology or pop culture was mentioned or discussed anywhere for about a decade, there were pictures or videos of Lara Croft 😂 *Fun Fact:* The fake "Naked Lara/Nude Raider" myth was so prevalent (with """the cheat""" being printed in _every_ magazine and code book going), that Core Design eventually decided to troll the audience - They put out Tomb Raider III's "Naked Lara" cheat code _themselves..._ Only it didn't make Lara naked... it made her *explode* So for all old heads wondering *why tf* there is an "exploding Lara" cheat in Classic TR; that's why! It was to troll the thirsty 😂
Basically, there were problems at Core Design and Eidos amplified them to the point of killing the studio. TR1 > best overall experience TR2 > if fun can be resumed in one game TR3 > the best and the worst at the same time TR4 > the best and the worst at the same time too, but for opposite reasons TR5 > this game had no ambition at all and is short. They improved the engine again but nothing use those improvements. It's still not a bad game but simply mid in a time where everyone was tired of the classic engine. TR6 > unfinished game that could have been at least good Crystal Dynamics' Legend was a flawed but fun soft reboot, then they stole the IP when Core wanted to remake the original. In 2013 they rebooted the series with a game that could have been a fun spin-off if the main character wasn't named Lara Croft, every game after is a "remake" of that one with some gameplay improvements but worse and boring story. PS: People tend to give a little too much credit to Toby Gard, yes he created Lara Croft but Vicky Arnold made a lot of corrections in the story and her biography, if he is Lara's father then she is Lara's mother.
Gard gets too much credit for the series creation. He created Laras appearance, Douglas bought her to life in the game and Arnold gave her a character and personality. The others worked on the level design, music and so on. All important roles.
Even though the franchise had some ups and downs, Tomb Raider still remains one of the most consistent franchise that hasn’t gotten the respect it deserves (Thanks, Nathaniel Drake). I’m still hoping that Embracer Group get their act together after massive layoffs and make the next 12th Tomb Raider game back to its roots.
Embracer were responsible for cancelling a new Deus Ex halfway through development so... we'll see. Might have had good reasons but still. More likely to get similar remasters of the IPs they bought.
It doesn't get the respect it deserves because, yes, the reboot trilogy is dogwater. Modern day CD doesn't know Tomb Raider, and I'm beginning to think they hate it.
@@jase276 they didn’t hated it. The franchise needed a change in direction after the mess was Angel Of Darkness nearly doomed the franchise, so Eidos booted Core Design and Crystal took over by Sept. 2003. Crystal did a great job handling the franchise into something that they haven’t seen before. And if it wasn’t for the success of the Survivor Trilogy reboot games, Square would’ve stick with the franchise much longer. But nope, they sent the franchise and CD to Embracer, who is a company that nobody is trusted and not giving us a third Deus Ex game is a slap in the face.
this video isn't even really about crystal dynamics. everyone in the comments just venting about their subjective hatred of crystal dynamics' 2nd tomb raider trilogy. like calm down and watch the video first. jeez
@@secondchance6603 I don't know what you're insinuating, but if your comment is a jab at me there are a few things that need to be said. I'm not saying that people should like Crystal Dynamics, that you should agree with them, or that you shouldn't express discontent at all. I'm saying there is a time and a place to express such things. I agree with Realgamergirl4638 that complaining about Crystal Dynamics in a video that doesn't even really touch such a subject is needlessly provocative. If this is a Melonie Mac video where she consistently complains about Crystal, I wouldn't take the issue. But when people shout insults to Crystal when they try to share with the fans something exciting, is rude and disrespectful! Please, people, have class! Besides, why are YOU TAKING ISSUE over my comment? Don't I have the right to express discontent too???
@@throughthelookingglass5973 It's rather presumptuous of you to assume I'm TAKING ISSUE with your comment, perhaps you believe I don't have a right to express myself. As for; 'I'm not saying that people should like Crystal Dynamics, that you should agree with them, or that you shouldn't express discontent at all. I'm saying there is a time and a place to express such things.' Who are YOU to tell people when they should or shouldn't be allowed to comment?
@@secondchance6603 "Perhaps you believe I don't have a right to express myself." That is presumptuous too. I apologize if I misunderstood you. But you judged me also by telling me that I shouldn't encourage others to display good manners by watching what they say. That's calling the kettle "black."
Excellent video. The title is misleading however. This isn’t a story of Tomb Raider so much as it is the story of the original development studio behind Tomb Raider. You do an excellent job of documenting the struggles and insights of that original dev team, but I kept expecting you to then go into talking about how the differences in the development situation between Core and the later Tomb Raider developers post-buyout led to changes in Tomb Raider’s design, leading to the “death” of the series in terms of living up to its original design. It may just be me, but the title including “Death of Tomb Raider” made me expect talk about an actual “death” of Tomb Raider, not its original development team. I’d love a follow up video that goes into what I’m describing as it really felt like that’s what you were building to.
To be honest, I loved the remakes, I'm just finding out now that the remaster of the originals came out, that a bunch of people hated them for whatever reason they may have.
@@matheusarantes2989 because they lack the brain capacity for tank controls is one reason, which was built for the grid system and works incredibly well with it. The originals will never be beaten. The remakes hold your hand through most of it, which a lot of players cant seem to go without in todays gaming lol. They are good games, but they don't come close to the originals. The remasters are just chefs kiss. A timewarp back to the golden age of gaming while preserving the feel and bringing the graphics somewhat up to date.
@@ArcticVXR1 Yes, for sure, the reboot is a product of it's time, where games are made so you can play them even without thinking about it, in this circumstances, I think they are very good games. Is a case of "we have this big IP on our hands and we need to revive it for a new audience", with the audience we have today, it was the right choice. It is a "good Tomb Raider game"? Maybe not, but it sure threw Lara Croft and Tomb Raider back in the spotlight.
@@DXFromYT no honestly thank you, I've been forced into military training by my country and this video has been one of the few I watched after I went home for the first time. It's bringing so much nostalgia.
Growing up, I was too young to appreciate the old PS1 TR games, so I didn’t care much for the following games after either. …that was until we got the TR Reboot. I still remember being absolutely stocked for the 2013s release. I ran to Best Buy and got the collectors edition in its release date. The design of Lara Croft is absolutely breathtaking 🤤 And I thought they did an excellent job at making you feel Lara’s pain whenever she got stabbed, smacked very hard onto a floor or wall, cauterize a wound, and her desperation for survival. Bloody hell, they made me feel for a characters well being. Needless to say, I absolutely love that game and I followed very closely the next 2. I’m aware the reboot didn’t bode well for the long time fans. Because of Lara’s redesign, new approach to gameplay, lack of duel wielding pistoles etc. And while I get it, I don’t really care. The series was in a downward spiral. TR and TRII sold 7mil. TRIII 6mil. TRLastRevelation 5mil. Then 1.5mil, 2.5mil, then it picked back up to 6.4mil for TRLegends. Then went straight back down to 1.3mil for TRAnniversary. And TRUnderworld for 3.8mil. …Then TRrborn came out and BOOM! It sold 14.5million. Thats more than the 1st 2 games combined. It was widely praised from critics and fans. RtTR and StTR sold 11.8mil and 8.9mil, respectively. Both again widely praised by fans and critics. Personally, I had issues with StTR. It’s not as good as the 1st 2 in the reboot trilogy. I still come across old disgruntled fans of the old games from time to time, and boy do they fume about it. I guess they reuse to see that the reboot was very necessary to revitalize the franchise and breathe new life into it as it was pretty much dead in the water before the reboot. The sells and praise is proof of that. However, I would love to see Lara finally transform into classic Lara in the next game. Teal top, short shorts, high boots, duel pistols and all. And of course I do appreciate the old games, as without them and the creative minds behind it all, we never would’ve gotten the beautiful Lara Croft or TR. And with the release TR I-III Remastered, I plan on diving into the original trilogy soon enough 👍🏻
I remember back in the day Rhona Mitra was the cosplay model for Lara croft imo she made the best in the whole world cosplay and was the one that captured the true Lara croft the most.
Absolutely incredible video. Honestly, your attention to detail and scripting of this - what I'll basically call a documentary - is insanely high quality. Well done.
I was ambivalent to the topic. Never being a big fan of the series, I wondered if I would like this video. But, I thought to myself "DX always puts out fantastic content. Just trust that his passion for the topic will make me fall in love with the video." And, sure enough, it did. Great work.
Really nicely done video. If any of the former Core employees happen to come across this and see my comment, thanks for all your hard work. You made an indelible piece of my childhood.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:03 *🎮 Introduction to Tomb Raider's Origins* - Overview of the founding of Core Design and its evolution from Gremlin Graphics. - Discussion on key individuals involved in Core Design's formation and early projects. - Introduction to the development atmosphere and culture at Core Design during its inception. 01:25 *🧱 Early Development Challenges and Team Formation* - Challenges faced by Core Design in the late 1980s and the formation of Core Design by former Gremlin employees. - Insights into the initial team structure, key hires, and the development of Core's first games. - Discussion on the transition from Gremlin Graphics to Core Design and the company's early projects. 03:03 *🖥️ Evolution of Core Design and Introduction of Tomb Raider* - Evolution of Core Design's team composition and internal changes during the early 1990s. - Introduction to the concept and initial development stages of Tomb Raider, including the creation of Lara Croft. - Discussion on the challenges faced during the early development of Tomb Raider and the pivotal role of key team members. 06:02 *🌟 Technological Innovations and Development Progress* - Adoption of 3D graphics technology and the challenges faced in creating environments for Tomb Raider. - Introduction of key programmers and designers who contributed to the development of Tomb Raider. - Insights into the creation of the level editor and other technological innovations that shaped the game's development. 09:28 *💼 Challenges and Milestones in 1996* - Overview of the challenges faced by Core Design during the final stages of Tomb Raider's development. - Discussion on the marketing and promotional efforts for Tomb Raider, including its reception at gaming conventions. - Insights into the last-minute additions to the development team and the pressure to meet release deadlines. 21:01 *💻 Development Challenges of Tomb Raider* - Development challenges faced during the creation of Tomb Raider, - Sega Saturn version released 6 weeks before other platforms, causing scheduling mayhem, - Intense pressure on team members to meet deadlines, leading to illness and long hours. 22:33 *🎮 Gameplay Mechanics of Tomb Raider* - Description of Tomb Raider's grid-based framework and gameplay mechanics, - Consistency in Lara's movement and controls within the game's grid, - Rewarding experience for players mastering Lara's maneuvers and tight platforming. 23:28 *💰 Financial Success and Impact on Team* - Financial success of Tomb Raider exceeding sales expectations, - Royalties-based contracts for developers leading to substantial earnings, - Departure of key team members due to creative differences and dissatisfaction with marketing decisions. 26:37 *🎮 Development of Tomb Raider 2* - Composition of the Tomb Raider 2 development team, - Challenges and improvements in sequel development, - Introduction of new team members and their roles in the project. 28:16 *🚀 Enhancements and Iterations for Tomb Raider 2* - Polish pass on Tomb Raider technology to improve stability, - Expansion of Lara's animations and movements, - Increased focus on developing sequel with lessons learned from the first game. 29:10 *📰 Lara Croft's Popularity and Cultural Impact* - Lara Croft's emergence as a mainstream cultural icon, - Inclusion in popular British media and magazines, - Impact of Lara Croft's popularity on the gaming industry and British culture. 31:27 *💔 Personal Impact of Development Crunch* - Strain on personal relationships and mental health due to development crunch, - Divorce and family strains experienced by team members, - Financial success not sufficient to alleviate personal challenges. 34:35 *🔧 Development Shifts for Tomb Raider 3* - Departure of key team members to work on new projects, - Introduction of fresh talent for Tomb Raider 3 development, - Changes in game design philosophy and approach for the third installment. 36:12 *🔄 Innovation and Experimentation in Tomb Raider 3* - Departure from linear level design towards more exploratory gameplay, - Utilization of PlayStation hardware capabilities for improved visuals, - Introduction of new enemies and gameplay mechanics to refresh the franchise. 38:40 *🎬 Expansion into Other Media and Continued Development* - Announcement of Tomb Raider movie and expansion of the franchise, - Ongoing development crunch and its toll on team members, - Pressure from publishers to continue producing yearly sequels despite team fatigue. 41:59 *🎮 Tomb Raider 4 Development and Lara's Fate* - Overview of Tomb Raider 4 development decisions and challenges, - Secret plan to kill Lara and its consequences, - Reception and aftermath of Tomb Raider 4's release. 46:12 *🕹️ Transition to Tomb Raider Chronicles and Next Generation* - Frustration and discontent among the team regarding working on Tomb Raider Chronicles, - Division of labor between teams working on Chronicles and Next Generation, - Early development plans and vision for Tomb Raider Next Generation. 49:13 *💻 Evolution of Tomb Raider Next Generation* - Expansion of the Next Generation team and changes to the game's concept, - Hiring of a writer to revamp the game's narrative, - Shift from episodic adventure to a single game format. 53:19 *🔧 Troubles and Changes in Development* - Impact of Sony's hardware changes on development, - Lack of organizational structure and communication within the team, - Gavin Rummery's return and efforts to salvage the project. 56:30 *⚔️ Drastic Changes and Scrapped Content* - Decision to scrap episodic format and significant portions of the game, - Notable cut content and features from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, - Continuous struggles and delays in development. 58:29 *🎮 Release and Reception of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness* - Personal opinion on the game's quality and reception, - Critical reception and commercial failure of Angel of Darkness, - Impact on the Tomb Raider franchise and core's future. 01:03:14 *⏰ Impact of Crunch Culture* - Description of intense work hours and pressure faced by developers at Core Design, - Testimonials from developers about the toll of crunch culture on personal life and relationships, - Jeremy Heath Smith's approach to game development prioritizing deadlines over quality. 01:04:22 *💼 Attitude Towards Game Development* - Nathan McCree's anecdote illustrating Core's prioritization of deadlines and sales over quality, - Culture of overwork and sacrifice among developers to meet unrealistic deadlines, - Perception of audio and other game elements as secondary to meeting review expectations. 01:06:24 *🎮 Evolution of Development Practices* - Recognition of the limitations of short development cycles for increasingly complex games, - Growth of development teams and strain on studio resources due to multiple projects, - Shift in perception towards the need for changes in development culture and practices. Made with HARPA AI
What an excellent and in depth documentary, thank you. Lara my love. Tomb Raider was my everything, first "I'm all grown up" game (Alley Cat and Super Mario were baby stuff you see) at the ripe age of 12, it's always so sad to find out how tortured the development cycle was. Loved them all due to growing up with them, even Chronicles and AOD- I hear the PAL region version is less buggy, I had no game breaking bugs with it myself back then. It's still one incredible concept with gorgeous music, I really wish they got to complete it. Fingers crossed Aspyr gets to release The Last Revelation remaster next ✨
I'll never forget the summer my cousin and i beat Tomb Raider. No guides. I did the same with TR2 and 3, no guides. Some of my most insane gaming achievements to this day. The original TR games were amazing for the time, still a lot of fun but obviously dated. I'll never forget the sounds of lawns being mowed, the smell of freshly cut grass, that summer breeze flowing, and TOMB RAIDER! The 90's were dope.
This is video game history at its finest! I never even played the games and just know about them from playing demos as a kid. This was a great lesson and makes for a good argument for why game projects shouldn't be rushed for some kind of corporate goal due to generating sales which eventually only led to poor sales in the long run.
I am still a staunch believer that Crystal Dynamics has absolutely no respect for CORE DESIGN. That much is evident by there disclaimer at the beginning of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
Given how much has been said in some forums from actual Crystal Dynamics employees at times, shown by interviews in some cases and from what some people have found in the games themselves, plus how they have not only changed Lara so much to remove her identity and didn't even want to bring back Classic Lara, yes I firmly believe Crystal Dynamics have no respect for Core Design, the original Tomb Raider games, Classic Lara or the fans who have stuck with the series for nearly 30 years. Its no wonder there's been a resurgence of interest in the Core Design games and Classic Lara ever since the remasters came out, people want ACTUAL Lara Croft, not whatever Crystal Dynamics puts out!
Literally.... It's an amazing story and the og Core dev team (PS1 namely) seemed like an amazing group of ppl. Shame how Edios and their "JUST MAKE GAME SO WE GET MONEYZ" corporate greed literally bled it dry
The first two games had such a huge impact on me going into my twenties. I hadn't experienced anything like it before. I always go back and revisit these games every couple of years or so.
Thanks for producing such an excellent documentary. It's always kind of inspiring to hear these stories in detail and know the people and their foibles behind these iconic projects. It's almost tragic that these stories are mostly untold. So thank you for taking the time to cut something of this length and detail to explore of all of this. Great work.
Its insane that a corporations stumbles upon a golden goose and what do they do? They don't let it naturally lay its damn eggs and instead strangle it to death trying to get as many golden eggs as fast as possible. I mean damn, look at Zelda, they spread out their releases by multiple years and every release is considered a cultural moment and that's been going on since before the first TR until this day, and there's no reports of Zelda's devs ever coming out with horror stories like these for any Zelda game. And today we have devs on the franchise who hate everything about the classic iconic games in the series instead of all the amazing original devs who, most of which maybe, would still be happily working on the series making something amazing and true to its roots because they didn't get strangled in the early days.
Think I might have been the only teenage boy to play the originals before hitting puberty in a country without sexualised ad campaigns. I reasoned that since she could hang off ledges for ages and push large blocks, she must have normal boobs with big pecs underneath. She was genuinely just someone I hero worshipped. Anyways, apparently I'm a dumbass.
This video was really good and it gave me that Matt my muscles vibe of how the games (Tomb raider series) went from being iconic to being boring more than just a series that was taken over by just what the industry has created as a sort of normality that is working so hard on a game series to the point that it feels so much like the annual call of duty series where they really were struggling towards the end and could not recover from whatever was left behind as a love project instead of a..Develop…release…feel the reflection of what was done before and never learn from the past to make a better new…repeat.
As probably one of the 12 people that played Project Eden and loved it, I was surprised to hear about its inception and how tied it is to Tomb Raider. While not the greatest of games technically, there was something really unique about a Cyberpunk Horror coop puzzle game
I know this isn't related especially after watching the video but I'd really like for Lara to go back to her sexy, dual-wielding pistol design and go back to her fun-loving, adventurous roots instead of the much darker and bloodier direction the 2013 reboot games have taken her in. I think they've run their course and it'd be really refreshing to see a confident, sexy female character in the limelight again that wasn't from an Eastern studio. But given the censorship that Crystal Dynamics forced on the OG trilogy with the recent remasters, I doubt that's ever gonna happen. 😔
I thoroughly enjoyed the video. I also appreciate your pronunciation of British place names. It always makes me cringe when someone mispronounces names (not just British ones) and shows you put effort into your research. Good work.
Thanks for providing a deeper insight of Core Design and the classic TR series. I've always wondered what happened to Core Design. I've played both the old and the new. I'm fine with both though I've a feeling I wouldn't be buying any more TR from Crystal Dynamics from what I'm reading about the next TR.
Hi, sorry for the late reply, I've been dealing with some health issues. I added a credit and link in the description and edited the pinned comment. Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!
Interestingly, Toby Gard eventually had a second go at Tomb Raider and contributed to Legend, Anniversary, Underworld, ànd Tomb Raider (2013), which were produced by new developer Crystal Dynamics. The last game in this list presented (the first major part of) Lara Croft's origin (story) as a Tomb Raider. Thank you for creating this excellent documentary DX! Even though I knew most of the highs and lows of Classic TR, I still learned some stuff I didn't know before👍
Honestly I'm so disappointed in the "remastered" more like half assed they just made her remastered and some of the details in the games I thought it would look so much better
Jeremy Heath Smith legit sounds like a great dude that whilst was profit driven, saw the bigger picture and was uncorrupted by greed to the point he took care of his subordinates and genuinely wanted the best for them. Update: nvm, just made it to the last part of the video.
I think Jeremy was speaking out of frustration more than anything. If he didn't care, he definitely wouldn't have allowed the Angel of Darkness team to record the soundtrack for the game using the London Symphony Orchestra. That couldn't have been cheap.
@@DXFromYT greed could take many forms. Him agreeing to record the soundtrack with an entity as prestigious as the London Symphony could very well being drive by pedigree motives than a genuine care for the games.
That's fair, but seeing as how Jeremy didn't think that Core would have to do TR3 so quickly, and he outright thought that the team would take 1999 off, I don't believe he pushed the team into crunch and yearly sequels of his own volition. Jeremy also allowed the development of Herdy Gerdy to go on for 7 years until he finally had to put his foot down because the costs were bleeding the company so much. I wouldn't say he's without faults but I think the true greed with the franchise lies on Eidos and the clueless board members. I believe Jeremy also tried to get a 4-6 week extension for Angel of Darkness and failed. Edit: Jeremy also negotiated a higher royalty rate for the team working on Project Eden. It was even higher than when they were working on Tomb Raider.
@@DXFromYT Absolutely. Eidos were basically used to the Tomb Raider games paying for their yearly bills at that point so I would agree that alot of the blame falls on Eidos for overworking Core Design. Also yes Jeremy likely made some mistakes and said some things in frustration but he definitely didn't want to overwork Core Design.
Corporate greed is even worse than it was back then. I feel really sorry for the dev team being forced to work those really long hours, where work was (literally) taking over their life. No dev team should have to be forced to work in such a ridiculous crunch time.
Whilst not as extreme, the software industry in general shares many of the issues described here. Most issues in software development are due to poor management and poor control of project scope. Team/Project Managers are either micro-managers who stifle their team or are completely absent trying to manage multiple teams, leaving the team without focus and left to drift. Product Managers often have overly ambitious high-level ideas, but don't do the detailed work of breaking down the exact scope of work that needs to be done, or if they do, it changes every couple of weeks necessitating developers doing constant rework.
An absolutely amazing piece of video game journalism, thankyou 😁. Although it's really sad to see how far the industry was pushing employees even back then. The negative effects of this corporate money machine really do taint what eventually is created.
The music heard in this video is from Nathan McCree's Tomb Raider Suite and Peter Connelly's Dark Angel Symphony. The art for my intro, this video's thumbnail and title card was done by artist Azuma Yasuo. You can find links for all of the creatives in the video's description!
Is it multiple people?
@@waltervanlille2263 Nah, just Azuma
I'm happy they gave Lara some actual arms for a change.
I don't know what happened man but I cannot join the discord.
@@Kate-yd8yk Does it give you an error?
Crystal Dynamics did NOT release the Tomb Raider Remastered trilogy, that was entirely the work of Aspyr. Crystal Dynamics did not want anything to do with classic Lara.
That's why Classic Lara so good.
I mean why reskin a game and consider it "remastered"? If they didn't have a hand in it... why package a reskinned original?
That's kind of disrespectful to the originals no? If a new dev was going to remaster it they would need to completely recreate it. Otherwise fans will always think a reskinned original as a cash grab slap to the face.
@@peptoyo It's a remaster, not a remake. You don't completely remake the game if you're remastering it.
@@bud389 So then what is the point? Cater to a nostalgic generation and a quick little cash grab from modding it? Whoopty do, that cash grab should be saved for the original developers.
@@peptoyoThe point is to remaster the game so it's playable and updated with quality of life fixes.
And the original developers are gone. CORE Design doesn't exist anymore.
I'm sure somebody has already written it in the comments but Crystal Dynamics DID NOT remaster TR1,2 and 3. In fact, after the fans petitioned for a remaster of the classic games Crystal Dynamics officially stated that they were not interested and had no plans leading in such direction. The situation changed recently when Crystal Dynamics and some other studios were acquired from Square Enix by the Embracer Group. Embracer with the aquisition became the new owner of the TR IP and decided to hire Aspyr Media and it's parent company Saber Interactive to begin working on the remasters. If the decision making were left to Crystal Dynamics alone I'm pretty sure we'd never have the first three Core Design games remastered and published since they had their own different agenda.
What I'd like to know is why they were against the remasters, which would let a new generation of gamers experience the works that put them in the hall of fame of the entertainment industry.
@@Caydiem cause then too many pple would compare to their current trash games and they really fear the comparisson.
@@Caydiem I imagine that if pushed, CD would likely have dressed up their objection to remastering the originals as either some kind of bizarre "we look forwards, not backwards" ethos, or perhaps, in an attempt to maintain positive feeling amongst the retro community, a claim that the games are fine as they were. It's that or financial reasons (if I'm to be less cynical). I myself suspect that there's a stubbornness at play behind the scenes, perhaps that CD are worried that they'd be effectively admitting their faults with the modern titles were they to develop the remasters, and regression would ultimately cause too much damage to their brand. One should never underestimate the power of public relations, no matter how duplicitous and false their press releases and social media messages may actually be if you try reading between the lines.
It's a rather fascinating prospect, observing how many of these modern developers react to the ever-growing numbers of remastered games we are seeing. Innovative, fresh ideas for new games seems to be a concept somewhat running out of steam. It's marvellous that modern tech allows the reimagining of the worlds and characters we only dreamed about back in the 90s/early 00s, and frankly, if that pulls more of today's gaming generation towards the classics we loved, then surely that can only be a good thing (provided that said classics are not over-diluted, simplified, or amended too heavily in such a fashion that it detracts from the original experience). Are we going to see a gaming world where both remastered favourites and new creations exist strongly, and in harmony?
@@Caydiem "the works that put them in the hall of fame" - well, that's the thing- Crystal Dynamics had nothing to do with the Classic Tomb Raider games. The fandom has always been pretty divided about the reboots and CD has a pretty huge stake in being on one particular side of the fence.
@@aka-47k im so confused are we saying the CD croft games are bad now? this is new, we have spent damn near a decade talking positively about them
I am so frustrated when every time I learn about the story behind the greatest videogames in history are always plagued with inhumane overworked people who are so broken that they would rather quit than getting a million pounds
As much as I liked the Crystal Dynamics reboot for Lara I really missed her original design. So I'm glad the double pistols and short shorts are back.
They're not back. They just put out some remasters of the original trilogy. The new games probably won't feature this design.
@@HOTD108_ Crystal Dynamics said that the Unified Lara Croft wallpaper you can download on Tomb Raider's official site is their "vision" for Unified Lara. Why would they give her shorts and duel pistols if that's not part of their vision? Not to mention, Crystal confirmed that the anime will bring back those iconic features of her. The anime is the first step to unification.
@@HOTD108_exactly especially with trigger warning they put in the remaster and they call us sensitive
i take it your pro censorship then?@@iamarabicandiloveamericanp7137
@@iamarabicandiloveamericanp7137 I thought it was going to be about the animal abuse until I squinted, like wtf if anything it's just a bunch of toxic dudes lmao
Are the temples offensive? What's the issue
How can I even begin to explain how much of an impact has this character has in my life. As a teenager, she ignited my curiosity for ancient civilizations, specially egypt, as it was Unfinished Bussiness and Tomb Raider IV the ones I played the most. Lara Croft was, and still is, the embodiment of a capable, strong and fearless woman. And, as a man, I can only strive to be as strong as she is. Being smart, strong and agile were qualities that usually didn't come in a single package, yet Lara was this and so much more.
I believe that Lara is, and will always be, an icon. A role model for many, an object of lust for many others, a source of inspiration, someone to strive to be like. And I sincerely hope she continues to inspire future generations as much as she inspired me when I was younger.
What I mean with this is, all those days of hard work that the development team had to endure, the burnout, the dread of work, and the sad reality of hating something you do love to do very much, it all paid due, as Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, managed to break records, barriers of language, media, and everything around her to become the cult idol she is today.
Thanks for this documentary, and even though they might never read this, thanks to all the people who poured their lives out for this character for so many years, in spite of their own personal lives, just to give fans what they wanted: a character that can never be forgotten.
That is the developers’ and Toby Gards true legacy.
"A character that can never be forgotten" ♥️
Yeah as a young boy obviously puberty set in but I always liked playing Tomb Raider because she was a bad mf, shooting and being agile. I wouldn't be surprised if Dante from DMC was partially inspired by Lara's combat style.
I just think she's hot.
The bit at the end regarding audio is absolutely tragic and incredibly abhorrent and ignorant on Jeremy’s part. Fortunately, Nathan’s passion created some of the best sound design for the time. The classic TR games have such a unique sound, I love them.
Yep.
No kid would've bought the game if it had no audio at all.
Kinda insane to assume otherwise.
Beyond audio itself, it gives me the impression that a big part of the reason why the devs were burning themselves out on those games was that they had so much higher quality standards for their work than the guys asking them to release as many of them as fast as possible. It's quite depressing, I think...
@@Caydiem _Slight_ correction, many would have bought it _initially._ But once word gets out that you shipped a game with no audio, the sales numbers are gonna fall off a cliff. Not to mention, all the ones purchased at Funcoland (that's what my GameStop was called back in 1996... I don't know how universal that was) are gonna get returned. Then, naturally, for your next game most people are going to wait until it's confirmed whether or not there's frichen audio in this one, before purchasing. All-in-all, the worst take your higher up could possibly have.
What I heard was that they were told their sacrifices and efforts meant nothing except that it fell in line with Eidos' financial goals for the sake of generating money. Even near the beginning, this was apparent, but to have it said to a passionate designer is just so stereotypical higher ups tyranny. The true villains of the series.
For someone who'd been a part of the games industry as long as he had, I'm shocked how clueless Jeremy could be to say that the sound was not important. Games reviewers don't buy the games, gamers do. And I'm pretty sure the reviewers rated the game based on the playability in the knowledge that it wasn't a finished product and the assumption that sound would obviously be added in the finished product.
Back then crunch was something people did out of passion for the art they believed in, now crunch is pretty much expected no matter what the artist thinks.
I’ve seen a lot of these tomb raider docs and I’ve never heard that last Nathan audio clip before. What an absolute legend, the ambient sounds in the original TR’s give the game so much atmosphere and the soundtrack for every moment and level is iconic. The game would not be the same without him and even modern games now still fail to create an ambient soundscape as well as the Maria doria.
His music in TR 1 was beautiful, part 2 was OK- but tge music in Part 3 is awful.
In one corpo I worked for, managers would ofter warn us to not do any unpaid overtime/overdeliver - the explanation was, that if we overdeliver, the customer (or in case of video games - publisher) will consider it a baseline and we'll have to do more work for the same pay.
I understand that at times alternatives are even worse, buy maybe, Core's first mistake, was delivering TR2 on time.
This is standard practice for companies with targets/quotas, I think. At least the ones I worked for we got paid more for going "above the norm" - until the norm was shortly raised while the pay remained unchanged. Also I remember one time we got called over for a meeting with management where we were told that in recognition of how efficient we've become we will now be expected to do more work for less money, basically. They pretty much meant it as a reward.
If you've got to deliver a product every Christmas, then you only bring out one year's worth of work. I don't remember ever finishing a Tomb Raider game because there was so much there. Overworking programmers to the point where you then can't keep people and bring out.A good sequel is not pacing yourself as a company.
As a young girl, i never felt like I truly had a character I could look up to in video games. I always played as princess peach or definitely wanted to save princess Zelda - but i never wanted to “be” either of these characters.. That all changed when I first got a glimpse of the gorgeous Lara Croft. Oh, I was enamored. She was not only beautiful, but intelligent, agile, witty, capable, funny, stern - determined. Lara was the epitome of a strong, capable and independent woman who values knowledge and adventure above all else. Who followed her own agenda and lived her life exactly however she wanted with no one’s opinions ever impacting her dreams. i spent so much of my childhood daydreaming of being just as cool as Lara Croft. Just as smart, just as sexy, just as strong, just as athletic.
Lara was definitely “sexualized”, she was made to appeal to a certain audience and to deny it is to be a fool. She had some crazy sex appeal. However, that sex appeal NEVER overpowered her incredible wit and charm. Being sexy and being strong, being capable and being feminine. Her duality, to this day, entrances me. Being hot only takes one so far, Lara was a cult icon because her character balanced so many aspects of her. Lara meant everything to me as a little kid. She was the epitome of what i wanted to be as a woman. I pursued my career, i valued knowledge, and i sure as hell sweat at the gym to get that helluva bod inspired by Croft herself.
Thank you, Lara. You impacted my life incredibly. I know you made so many people happy.
Lara Croft had a lot of "UK Pride" around her in the 90s. Part of why she crossed over to mainstream fascination & was on covers of culture magazines in that era was LC was seen as being part of the "2nd Swinging Britain" hype, when it felt like there was renewed focus on the UK as a pop culture generator & centre of creative energy. The character of Lara --- the fact she was British, had been made to be so by her UK-based parent company --- was seen as such a point of pride that there was a huge snit in UK media when it was announced that the movie version of Lara Croft was an American. It seems so silly now but there was that much attention at the time during the whole casting process, then on release a number of UK-based reviews for the movie also assessed whether or not Angelina Jolie was able to authentically portray LC's "Britishness".
I have to tell you, you and your countrymen were absolutely right about that. Angelina Jolie is certainly masterful at some roles but she is no Lara! I felt even someone like Liz Hurley, or even Rona Mitra should have played her. Angelina had the acting part nailed but everything else about her was wrong for Lara! Too short, not the right kind of curves. Even her movements are slightly off, abrupt and short instead of the graceful but lanky way Lara Croft is meant to move. since Lara is meant to be taller. The whole first two films fall a bit flat.
Alicia Vikander was a step in the right direction. But the screenplay and director chose to make her a mere participant in her own movie. Whereas Angelina Jolie at least had the right "nothing-bloody-phases-me" attitude, Vikander was passive, always off guard, reactive not proactive, and seemed more like a side-character than one who is meant to drive the plot almost completely.
A proper Tomb Raider film still has yet to be made!
They really should make a movie about Core Design. So much drama in a company that created such a loved and iconic character.
Do you have in mind something like the Ashton Kutcher film about Steve jobs movie? You and I would love it, just picking out the actors would be worth hours of entertainment. The rest of the mass audience might be totally lost, though.
Lara Croft is life, Tomb Raider is Hometown.
"...his wife thought he was having an affair when he was really just working on the game."
Boy, she must have felt stupid.
This is around the time Lady Diana Spencer was divorcing Prince Charles, so it is possible the wife thought she had a chance now that Prince Charles was back on the market. :p
Who is that Lara laidy you are dating, you liar!
This was produced very well, it really makes me feel for the developers and what they went through, I wonder what would happen if all of them came back together today to actually instead of remaster and remake the original trilogy
The fact that dev teams were encountering problems with upper management even back in the 90s - 2000s shows how terrible the working culture is in the gaming industry. Nothing has changed since then and it's absolutely amazing that games are still managing to release at this point in time. It's all thanks to the hardworking people in these dev teams that sacrifice their health for their passion. Unfortunately though, this is not something we should be normalising to any degree. What a shame.
Man, the 90s truly were a different time.
The amount of creative freedom these people got would intimidate the shit out of me, since I'm way too risk-averse and scared of failure even though I know it's something inevitable in order to improve your craft.
Just imagining what it might've felt like being a pioneer in 3D-graphics blows my mind.
Ha you're right about the creative freedom...I mean they literally decided to kill her so they couldn't be forced to make another game, and the big boss didn't even know until the press release 😂 that's a level of petty I aspire to be at my work 😂
you know, it's sad to say but little old 2003 me really liked Angle of Darkness i even remember owning the strategy guide and reading it at school so i could learn how to get better at the game
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Don’t let anyone ever tell what you can and can’t like.
Fellow AOD lover 🙋🥰
@@gabrielcaroyou're gosh darn right 👍
Bro I still replay whiplash and that game is high class garbage
Why is that sad to say? Fair play if that's your view. I myself don't particularly like the newer Survivor games I've played, not next to the original series, but I have nothing against people who do. It's when others slag off certain games without playing them that I get annoyed. It's entirely your decision what you do or don't like. Without trying to sound too sarcastic, that's the simple beauty of freedom of thought and expression.
I will always have a soft spot for Chronicles. It was the first TR game I was able to play at home, rather than at someone else's place. It was bad and I could see it. With some games you could tell they were stretching the limits of their engine to do as much as possible, regardless of how clunky it felt in execution (grappling hooks anyone?).
Yet playing Chronicles felt like playing an obituary. The team's sour feelings were palpable. In the opening CGI Lara is on an opera stage rained with roses but in the first playable level she's literally off the stage and into the back alleys. The only levels I genuinely like even up to this day are the Ireland levels for their gloomy, supernatural horror atmosphere.
The context of a group of friends telling each other memories of Lara's life and then the devs releasing the level editor with the game's PC release was a loud "Lara's dead and we're done telling her stories. Now it's your turn - craft your own Croft adventures." message that I hadn't seen up to that point in gaming.
I also like Chronicles. You can feel everything wrong with it but for what it is, it's a fun time killer and feels like an expansion to TLR more than a sequel.
the rogue warrior namedrop is a great full circle moment for this channel. well told and interesting story, lots to learn from.
1:06:55
I actually disagree. I'm a game-dev, and one of the things that causes delays is when there are too many developers on a project. If we all programmed the exact same way, this would be true, but everyone has their own "style". So, when assets and functions need to be shared, if the person editing it wasn't the same person who created it, the chance for errors (bugs) rises significantly. Now imagine passing this along more than two programmers... now imagine programmers not catching bugs/errors right away.
BOOM.
Huge delays.
And you won't necessarily know who made the mistake.
And everyone needs to dig through everyone else's code.
So yeah, "too many cooks" is a real thing.
Cyberpunk had TONS of devs and it still took the game a monstrous amount of time to get to an acceptable state, and they are STILL squashing bugs.
There's a documentary (I think done by IGN, not sure) where CDPR completely changed their organization of developers into "Strike Teams" to mitigate this issue.
Jason Gosling single-handedly ported Tomb Raider to Saturn? MVP right here. Wow.
Crystal Dynamics with all their effort and resources have never understood why people like Tomb Raider. Their games work as sub-par Uncharted clones but are completely devoid of the sense of atmosphere, fun and surmountable challenge of the Core Design games. The survivor trilogy in particular should be studied in how you can stray from what makes a game unique or remarkable.
its ironic how much they tried to turn tomb raider into an uncharted clone when uncharted took inspiration from the original tomb raider. In the OG tomb raider action was not the main focuse of the game, exploration and mistery was, it only has action here and there to break the monotony of the exploration, uncharted does things the opposite way, action is the main focuse with exploration and mistery elements here and there to break the monotony of the action. With the reboot they went for the uncharted route.
And somehow make almost the exact same game three times with the only difference that Lara is more annoying each time
Only liked the 1st one from 2013. The rest just kept getting worse and worse. You go from releasing the highest selling TR of the franchise to then one of the lowest.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider did not meet Square's sales expectations and I thought the franchise would be forever shelved.
Given the rumors I've heard for Crystal Dynamics' Embracer Group upcoming Tomb Raider game, I'm not hyped.
You know that Crystal is also responsible for making the Legend trilogy. While some may not be impressed with those games, they are by no means Uncharted clones. If Crystal returns to the formula that made Legend work, I'll be happy.
@DubDub-si8xs, True, they did end up getting rid of their Western studios. Not that Embracer Group has been much better. Cough *Saints Row 2002* cough. And they reformed Free Radical to bring back Timesplitters, only to then shut them down and kill Timesplitters, again.
Best thing Embracer has done recently was remaster the Core Tomb Raider Trilogy.
This channel is quickly reaching Ahoy-levels of quality
Ahoy's my biggest influence, this means a lot. Thank you!
Nice to see another DX video! Thanks!
These Incredible people lost blood sweat and Tears, but theyve Created an Masterpiece, a Story, a Character, a Soul that inspired my whole Life and the Lifes of many many young People on this Planet!
Yer damn right, TR 1 thru even Chronicles, are a legacy of the true golden age of gaming 1997-2002. Games have been nowhere near as amazing since. Most are mere consumer products like Big Macs and Crest toothpaste...
It’s sad what happened with Core Design, their TR games are still my favorites from that era. I hate Crystal Dynamics for rewriting and changing Lara’s character to the point that she is unrecognizable with the name slapped in.
I love the survivor trilogy Lara. Looking forward to seeing that Lara take on a T-Rex and Zombie Centaur.
You mean the creators of Lara, cause Toby Gard is the one who helped reboot Lara. Specifically for the legends timeline
1:04:33 That's insanity to me that Jeremy Heath-Smith said to Nathan McCree, "nobody gives a s**t about audio". Nathans music is practically one the reasons the original tomb raiders are so damn good
I never played a Tomb Raider game. But hearing that they made all those games in such a short time for 3 years straight is crazy to think about
Well if you try remastered at this point, you're either gonna love or hate Lara.
The remastered Trilogy is a fantastic way to experience the games. You should check it out.
Alternative title: How Tomb Raider dug its own grave
*Tomb. How Tomb Raider dug its own tomb. :D
More like Eidos dug Tomb Raider's grave, the crunch and harsh deadlines forced them into a corner which they were never able to escape from.
I think I've developed Stockholm Syndrome from AoD being the first game I ever played and existing in the TR fandom where that game has a much warmer reputation these days than you'd expect, because hearing you call it "the worst game you've ever played" was honestly pretty jarring, especially considering a lot of the absolute slop you've played in the past. I think I can see where you're coming from, at least. It's hard to have a clear perspective on something you've grown up with. I've developed an appreciation for how the game plays, but I think that has more to do with 20 years of getting used to how it feels rather than it being actually good.
I'll at least say I do think it has somethings going for it. Aesthetically it's really great, I think, with this kind of late 90's cybergoth vibe to it. I honestly think Lara's camo pants and black shirt combo is her best look in the series, the music is absolutely phenomenal (thank you London Symphony Orchestra), and I do think there's some decently creative platforming at points, even if it isn't- very graceful. Plus, I actually like Lara in this game quite a bit? She's very bitter and antagonistic in a way that does feel kind of jarring, but it's honestly too entertaining for me to really care all that much. Her intimidating the jouranlist in the first Prague level is deeply mean and also absolutely hysterical.
It's a shame it's so deeply unfinished, though, you can really feel how hacked together the whole thing was. The fact that in the early game it starts as a pseudo-RPG with the whole Ghetto area, and then that's immediately dropped in favor of a more linear level structure is extremely telling. I mean you can straight up access the rest of the unfinished tutorial level with a glitch that's very easy to do, but for some reason is caused by bracing yourself against a random door in the Ghetto??? The game just has so much weird shit in it, and a lot of it really is localized in the first part of the game where Lara is wearing her blue jeans outfit. I wonder why they didn't just cut the currency system out entirely when there is literally only a single thing in the entire game you can ever use money for, and it's extremely missable. The little sewer area beneath the Ghetto you can get some extra trinkets in is apparently part of the same map as Bouchard's Hideout because they share the same loading screen, despite this random sewer so obviously not being Bouchard's Hideout.
It's funny, too, maybe it's just because I have it on my original PS2, but I must have the most stable copy of the game ever printed, because I've basically never experienced the glitches people have shown off. I think there was one instance where I fell through the ground in a back alley of the Ghetto and that's about it. Certainly never anything as extreme as ragdolling after a jump for no reason.
the game is mechanically jank but you can clearly see the signs of a great game in there.
Excellent video! Incredibly interesting story to hear, especially for someone who bought the Saturn version on release day. It also brings some things to light that I'd always feared were the case with Eidos over the years. You can't give anything but huge kudos to Core Design in their attempts to stick to their principles in the face of the rush to make money by their parent company.
I'm just glad they didn't actually lose any developers quite literally, as in the case of Team Andromeda, the developers of Panzer Dragoon Saga (the game that resulted in the deaths of two team members, such was the torrid history of its creation). I think it's incredibly important to understand, remember and respect the blood, sweat and tears that went into such legendary games, especially around the mid to late 90s.
Thank you so much for making this video!! The story of Classic Lara Croft and Core always makes my heart ache and now it's amplified by your delicate approach to the topic!
When I played Angel of Darkness back in 2006 I couldn't understand the hate it got, maybe major bugs were fixed with the developer patch, but the only moment that frustrated me was Boaz fight (shown at 58:16) bc the game wouldn't lock the target right so i couldn't beat the boss omg. Other than that, it felt like a fun and immersive game to me. Mind you, it was my first Tomb Raider game, so maybe I just didn't know better. Sad that its ambition and lack of proper management killed the character of Lara.
Reboot Lara was good, they really nailed it with Legend, but as I get older I miss classic Lara more and more. I'm so happy we get to have Remastered 1-3 games now, still honoring the hard work of dedicated teams.
Really enjoyed the video, really liked that you focused on the people behind the games rather than the games themself
keep it up!
I think I understand Gard and Douglas decision leaving CORE from the artistic standpoint. And I don't blame them. They do it for passion on making Tomb Raider, not for Greed.
An hour long DX video? *grabs popcorn*
"Ship the game without sound" I hope no one do that and call the game "The Quiet Man"
I think the correct title would be "How Crystal Dynamics destroyed Tomb Raider"
I think this can be a wake-up call for other studios. As titles grow more and more ambitious, so is the budget, the technology, the hype... and the eventual crunch which is unacceptable at this point if we truly did care for the developers. If Core Design struggled to even make each Tomb Raider game up until the end to the point that they got sick of it, I can't imagine how other studios like BioWare, NetherRealm, Naughty Dog and more are dealing with stuff like this, becoming desensitized at best and unwilling to let their imagination flow at worst. The working culture in some of these studios, across the globe, needs to be called out as it is: insanity.
And when I see the results that the movie did, all I see in one thing: trying to please all crowds can lead to one thing: hurting your core, no pun intended.
I didnt have my glasses on wen i read ur comment.
The whole way through i was thinking, wat does he mean, as titties grow??
I think what happens with most games is, one or two guys/girls have a great idea for a game. But no idea how to make it happen and/or no finances. A studio gets wind of it, plans are made, budgets drawn up, people are hired w varying degrees of commitment, time, and zeal for the game. Then the studio, who lacks everything necessary to make a game except the financing, says "ready set go!" and beats everyone with a whip to get the game to market as fast as they can since, time really is money.
Then the whole mess is sorted out by somebody, tested, and dropped onto the gamers en masse. Any enthusiasm the devs ever had for it getting lost in the shuffle. Maybe this is why most games aren't worth the Steam page they're written on.
What a fantastic video !
My friends and I used to live in halls of residence at St Christopher's Court, behind 55 Ashbourne Road (you can see it in one of your photos). And we could easily see into their offices as they worked late into the night. Some of the students were photography students at the nearby Britannia Mill campus, so they had top tier camera equipment. They would use massive zoom lenses and take photos and videos of what Core were doing, and then sell anything interesting (like new animation features that hadn't been announced) to the Playstation magazines for 50 quid or more (which was alot of beer money to a student in 1997 !).
I went to school with composer Nathan McCree too. Used to sit next to him in physics class with Mr Dunthorne. He was a choir boy at St James' church, and had a bunch of expensive keyboards even back then. He hung out with the cool kids, and smelled of cigarettes all the time.😀Nice guy though.
That is incredible! Thanks so much for sharing, must have been a super fun time.
I relate to the progression of development and the feelings associated with crunch so much. Devs need freedom to express different creative ideas. Do new things. Even working on a single project for a year makes humans feel some resentment to it sometimes. It's not surprising at all that OG's like Toby wanted to leave to do different things pretty much right away, and new blood from TR3 was already fed up by the end of TR4. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if these sentiments are also part of the reason why Crystal Dynamics are doing what they've done with TR lately. Some fans would say Crystal are killing the franchise themselves, and I'd agree they could be, but just in a different way. If for whatever reason they're not allowed to work on something completely different, they'll turn what they're working on into something different, perhaps out of spite, even though the executive decisions for these things may simply come from a handful of individuals on a team of dozens.
I genuinely believe that those forced to repeatedly work on Lara long-term, will always come to hate her. Same goes for any creative work tbh. Burnout leads to love lost. And while fans have the luxury of taking a break from playing TR games and doing other things in life like going to work, or just playing different video games, there is no such escape for dev teams and other creatives in an industry.
One of the saddest stories in gaming history. And yet they delivered gold after gold until everything was dust.
Great video, DX man! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Easy to forget just how much of a cultural icon Lara was in the 90s and early 00s - literally any time computer technology or pop culture was mentioned or discussed anywhere for about a decade, there were pictures or videos of Lara Croft 😂
*Fun Fact:* The fake "Naked Lara/Nude Raider" myth was so prevalent (with """the cheat""" being printed in _every_ magazine and code book going), that Core Design eventually decided to troll the audience - They put out Tomb Raider III's "Naked Lara" cheat code _themselves..._
Only it didn't make Lara naked... it made her *explode*
So for all old heads wondering *why tf* there is an "exploding Lara" cheat in Classic TR; that's why! It was to troll the thirsty 😂
Basically, there were problems at Core Design and Eidos amplified them to the point of killing the studio.
TR1 > best overall experience
TR2 > if fun can be resumed in one game
TR3 > the best and the worst at the same time
TR4 > the best and the worst at the same time too, but for opposite reasons
TR5 > this game had no ambition at all and is short. They improved the engine again but nothing use those improvements. It's still not a bad game but simply mid in a time where everyone was tired of the classic engine.
TR6 > unfinished game that could have been at least good
Crystal Dynamics' Legend was a flawed but fun soft reboot, then they stole the IP when Core wanted to remake the original.
In 2013 they rebooted the series with a game that could have been a fun spin-off if the main character wasn't named Lara Croft, every game after is a "remake" of that one with some gameplay improvements but worse and boring story.
PS: People tend to give a little too much credit to Toby Gard, yes he created Lara Croft but Vicky Arnold made a lot of corrections in the story and her biography, if he is Lara's father then she is Lara's mother.
Gard gets too much credit for the series creation. He created Laras appearance, Douglas bought her to life in the game and Arnold gave her a character and personality. The others worked on the level design, music and so on. All important roles.
Even though the franchise had some ups and downs, Tomb Raider still remains one of the most consistent franchise that hasn’t gotten the respect it deserves (Thanks, Nathaniel Drake). I’m still hoping that Embracer Group get their act together after massive layoffs and make the next 12th Tomb Raider game back to its roots.
Embracer were responsible for cancelling a new Deus Ex halfway through development so... we'll see. Might have had good reasons but still. More likely to get similar remasters of the IPs they bought.
It doesn't get the respect it deserves because, yes, the reboot trilogy is dogwater. Modern day CD doesn't know Tomb Raider, and I'm beginning to think they hate it.
Tomb Raider XII has been already released though.
@@jase276Are you talking about the survivor trilogy?
@@jase276 they didn’t hated it. The franchise needed a change in direction after the mess was Angel Of Darkness nearly doomed the franchise, so Eidos booted Core Design and Crystal took over by Sept. 2003. Crystal did a great job handling the franchise into something that they haven’t seen before. And if it wasn’t for the success of the Survivor Trilogy reboot games, Square would’ve stick with the franchise much longer. But nope, they sent the franchise and CD to Embracer, who is a company that nobody is trusted and not giving us a third Deus Ex game is a slap in the face.
this video isn't even really about crystal dynamics. everyone in the comments just venting about their subjective hatred of crystal dynamics' 2nd tomb raider trilogy.
like calm down and watch the video first. jeez
Totally agree!👍 I'm getting sick of running into Crystal hate comments all over the internet, even when nothing calls for it.
@@throughthelookingglass5973 Agreed, people having different views than me shouldn't be tolerated.
@@secondchance6603 I don't know what you're insinuating, but if your comment is a jab at me there are a few things that need to be said. I'm not saying that people should like Crystal Dynamics, that you should agree with them, or that you shouldn't express discontent at all. I'm saying there is a time and a place to express such things.
I agree with Realgamergirl4638 that complaining about Crystal Dynamics in a video that doesn't even really touch such a subject is needlessly provocative. If this is a Melonie Mac video where she consistently complains about Crystal, I wouldn't take the issue. But when people shout insults to Crystal when they try to share with the fans something exciting, is rude and disrespectful! Please, people, have class!
Besides, why are YOU TAKING ISSUE over my comment? Don't I have the right to express discontent too???
@@throughthelookingglass5973 It's rather presumptuous of you to assume I'm TAKING ISSUE with your comment, perhaps you believe I don't have a right to express myself. As for; 'I'm not saying that people should like Crystal Dynamics, that you should agree with them, or that you shouldn't express discontent at all. I'm saying there is a time and a place to express such things.' Who are YOU to tell people when they should or shouldn't be allowed to comment?
@@secondchance6603 "Perhaps you believe I don't have a right to express myself." That is presumptuous too. I apologize if I misunderstood you. But you judged me also by telling me that I shouldn't encourage others to display good manners by watching what they say. That's calling the kettle "black."
Excellent video. The title is misleading however. This isn’t a story of Tomb Raider so much as it is the story of the original development studio behind Tomb Raider. You do an excellent job of documenting the struggles and insights of that original dev team, but I kept expecting you to then go into talking about how the differences in the development situation between Core and the later Tomb Raider developers post-buyout led to changes in Tomb Raider’s design, leading to the “death” of the series in terms of living up to its original design. It may just be me, but the title including “Death of Tomb Raider” made me expect talk about an actual “death” of Tomb Raider, not its original development team. I’d love a follow up video that goes into what I’m describing as it really felt like that’s what you were building to.
Core's Tomb Raider is dead, the title is fine. The intro also lays out exactly what the video will be about.
The Tomb Raider remake was awesome, one might argue it saved the license.
To be honest, I loved the remakes, I'm just finding out now that the remaster of the originals came out, that a bunch of people hated them for whatever reason they may have.
@@matheusarantes2989 because they lack the brain capacity for tank controls is one reason, which was built for the grid system and works incredibly well with it. The originals will never be beaten. The remakes hold your hand through most of it, which a lot of players cant seem to go without in todays gaming lol. They are good games, but they don't come close to the originals.
The remasters are just chefs kiss. A timewarp back to the golden age of gaming while preserving the feel and bringing the graphics somewhat up to date.
@@ArcticVXR1 Yes, for sure, the reboot is a product of it's time, where games are made so you can play them even without thinking about it, in this circumstances, I think they are very good games.
Is a case of "we have this big IP on our hands and we need to revive it for a new audience", with the audience we have today, it was the right choice. It is a "good Tomb Raider game"? Maybe not, but it sure threw Lara Croft and Tomb Raider back in the spotlight.
@@ArcticVXR1it works fine with modern controls tho…
I absolutely love how consistant DX fan videos are, ive been watching for years and this factual fun delivery has always been there. Thank you man.
Thank you!
@@DXFromYT no honestly thank you, I've been forced into military training by my country and this video has been one of the few I watched after I went home for the first time. It's bringing so much nostalgia.
Growing up, I was too young to appreciate the old PS1 TR games, so I didn’t care much for the following games after either.
…that was until we got the TR Reboot. I still remember being absolutely stocked for the 2013s release. I ran to Best Buy and got the collectors edition in its release date. The design of Lara Croft is absolutely breathtaking 🤤 And I thought they did an excellent job at making you feel Lara’s pain whenever she got stabbed, smacked very hard onto a floor or wall, cauterize a wound, and her desperation for survival. Bloody hell, they made me feel for a characters well being. Needless to say, I absolutely love that game and I followed very closely the next 2.
I’m aware the reboot didn’t bode well for the long time fans. Because of Lara’s redesign, new approach to gameplay, lack of duel wielding pistoles etc. And while I get it, I don’t really care. The series was in a downward spiral. TR and TRII sold 7mil. TRIII 6mil. TRLastRevelation 5mil. Then 1.5mil, 2.5mil, then it picked back up to 6.4mil for TRLegends. Then went straight back down to 1.3mil for TRAnniversary. And TRUnderworld for 3.8mil.
…Then TRrborn came out and BOOM! It sold 14.5million. Thats more than the 1st 2 games combined. It was widely praised from critics and fans. RtTR and StTR sold 11.8mil and 8.9mil, respectively. Both again widely praised by fans and critics. Personally, I had issues with StTR. It’s not as good as the 1st 2 in the reboot trilogy.
I still come across old disgruntled fans of the old games from time to time, and boy do they fume about it. I guess they reuse to see that the reboot was very necessary to revitalize the franchise and breathe new life into it as it was pretty much dead in the water before the reboot. The sells and praise is proof of that.
However, I would love to see Lara finally transform into classic Lara in the next game. Teal top, short shorts, high boots, duel pistols and all.
And of course I do appreciate the old games, as without them and the creative minds behind it all, we never would’ve gotten the beautiful Lara Croft or TR. And with the release TR I-III Remastered, I plan on diving into the original trilogy soon enough 👍🏻
100% agree, I loved the last three games. They were so detailed and fleshed out. Really enjoyable story, gameplay, etc.
May I ask where you got the orchestral version of the TR Theme around the 10 minute mark? It's beautiful
In The Blood from Nathan McCree's "The Tomb Raider Suite."
@@DXFromYT thank you!!!
I remember back in the day Rhona Mitra was the cosplay model for Lara croft imo she made the best in the whole world cosplay and was the one that captured the true Lara croft the most.
Absolutely incredible video. Honestly, your attention to detail and scripting of this - what I'll basically call a documentary - is insanely high quality. Well done.
Thanks so much, means a lot.
Shoutout to Tony Gard who had the idea in the first place and everyone followed his vision
I was ambivalent to the topic. Never being a big fan of the series, I wondered if I would like this video. But, I thought to myself "DX always puts out fantastic content. Just trust that his passion for the topic will make me fall in love with the video." And, sure enough, it did. Great work.
Really nicely done video. If any of the former Core employees happen to come across this and see my comment, thanks for all your hard work. You made an indelible piece of my childhood.
I worked with Autodesk softwares 3 years after TR1. Thoughts and prayers for what these devs went through :(
Your pronunciation of UK towns and cities is spot on lol
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:03 *🎮 Introduction to Tomb Raider's Origins*
- Overview of the founding of Core Design and its evolution from Gremlin Graphics.
- Discussion on key individuals involved in Core Design's formation and early projects.
- Introduction to the development atmosphere and culture at Core Design during its inception.
01:25 *🧱 Early Development Challenges and Team Formation*
- Challenges faced by Core Design in the late 1980s and the formation of Core Design by former Gremlin employees.
- Insights into the initial team structure, key hires, and the development of Core's first games.
- Discussion on the transition from Gremlin Graphics to Core Design and the company's early projects.
03:03 *🖥️ Evolution of Core Design and Introduction of Tomb Raider*
- Evolution of Core Design's team composition and internal changes during the early 1990s.
- Introduction to the concept and initial development stages of Tomb Raider, including the creation of Lara Croft.
- Discussion on the challenges faced during the early development of Tomb Raider and the pivotal role of key team members.
06:02 *🌟 Technological Innovations and Development Progress*
- Adoption of 3D graphics technology and the challenges faced in creating environments for Tomb Raider.
- Introduction of key programmers and designers who contributed to the development of Tomb Raider.
- Insights into the creation of the level editor and other technological innovations that shaped the game's development.
09:28 *💼 Challenges and Milestones in 1996*
- Overview of the challenges faced by Core Design during the final stages of Tomb Raider's development.
- Discussion on the marketing and promotional efforts for Tomb Raider, including its reception at gaming conventions.
- Insights into the last-minute additions to the development team and the pressure to meet release deadlines.
21:01 *💻 Development Challenges of Tomb Raider*
- Development challenges faced during the creation of Tomb Raider,
- Sega Saturn version released 6 weeks before other platforms, causing scheduling mayhem,
- Intense pressure on team members to meet deadlines, leading to illness and long hours.
22:33 *🎮 Gameplay Mechanics of Tomb Raider*
- Description of Tomb Raider's grid-based framework and gameplay mechanics,
- Consistency in Lara's movement and controls within the game's grid,
- Rewarding experience for players mastering Lara's maneuvers and tight platforming.
23:28 *💰 Financial Success and Impact on Team*
- Financial success of Tomb Raider exceeding sales expectations,
- Royalties-based contracts for developers leading to substantial earnings,
- Departure of key team members due to creative differences and dissatisfaction with marketing decisions.
26:37 *🎮 Development of Tomb Raider 2*
- Composition of the Tomb Raider 2 development team,
- Challenges and improvements in sequel development,
- Introduction of new team members and their roles in the project.
28:16 *🚀 Enhancements and Iterations for Tomb Raider 2*
- Polish pass on Tomb Raider technology to improve stability,
- Expansion of Lara's animations and movements,
- Increased focus on developing sequel with lessons learned from the first game.
29:10 *📰 Lara Croft's Popularity and Cultural Impact*
- Lara Croft's emergence as a mainstream cultural icon,
- Inclusion in popular British media and magazines,
- Impact of Lara Croft's popularity on the gaming industry and British culture.
31:27 *💔 Personal Impact of Development Crunch*
- Strain on personal relationships and mental health due to development crunch,
- Divorce and family strains experienced by team members,
- Financial success not sufficient to alleviate personal challenges.
34:35 *🔧 Development Shifts for Tomb Raider 3*
- Departure of key team members to work on new projects,
- Introduction of fresh talent for Tomb Raider 3 development,
- Changes in game design philosophy and approach for the third installment.
36:12 *🔄 Innovation and Experimentation in Tomb Raider 3*
- Departure from linear level design towards more exploratory gameplay,
- Utilization of PlayStation hardware capabilities for improved visuals,
- Introduction of new enemies and gameplay mechanics to refresh the franchise.
38:40 *🎬 Expansion into Other Media and Continued Development*
- Announcement of Tomb Raider movie and expansion of the franchise,
- Ongoing development crunch and its toll on team members,
- Pressure from publishers to continue producing yearly sequels despite team fatigue.
41:59 *🎮 Tomb Raider 4 Development and Lara's Fate*
- Overview of Tomb Raider 4 development decisions and challenges,
- Secret plan to kill Lara and its consequences,
- Reception and aftermath of Tomb Raider 4's release.
46:12 *🕹️ Transition to Tomb Raider Chronicles and Next Generation*
- Frustration and discontent among the team regarding working on Tomb Raider Chronicles,
- Division of labor between teams working on Chronicles and Next Generation,
- Early development plans and vision for Tomb Raider Next Generation.
49:13 *💻 Evolution of Tomb Raider Next Generation*
- Expansion of the Next Generation team and changes to the game's concept,
- Hiring of a writer to revamp the game's narrative,
- Shift from episodic adventure to a single game format.
53:19 *🔧 Troubles and Changes in Development*
- Impact of Sony's hardware changes on development,
- Lack of organizational structure and communication within the team,
- Gavin Rummery's return and efforts to salvage the project.
56:30 *⚔️ Drastic Changes and Scrapped Content*
- Decision to scrap episodic format and significant portions of the game,
- Notable cut content and features from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness,
- Continuous struggles and delays in development.
58:29 *🎮 Release and Reception of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness*
- Personal opinion on the game's quality and reception,
- Critical reception and commercial failure of Angel of Darkness,
- Impact on the Tomb Raider franchise and core's future.
01:03:14 *⏰ Impact of Crunch Culture*
- Description of intense work hours and pressure faced by developers at Core Design,
- Testimonials from developers about the toll of crunch culture on personal life and relationships,
- Jeremy Heath Smith's approach to game development prioritizing deadlines over quality.
01:04:22 *💼 Attitude Towards Game Development*
- Nathan McCree's anecdote illustrating Core's prioritization of deadlines and sales over quality,
- Culture of overwork and sacrifice among developers to meet unrealistic deadlines,
- Perception of audio and other game elements as secondary to meeting review expectations.
01:06:24 *🎮 Evolution of Development Practices*
- Recognition of the limitations of short development cycles for increasingly complex games,
- Growth of development teams and strain on studio resources due to multiple projects,
- Shift in perception towards the need for changes in development culture and practices.
Made with HARPA AI
What an excellent and in depth documentary, thank you.
Lara my love. Tomb Raider was my everything, first "I'm all grown up" game (Alley Cat and Super Mario were baby stuff you see) at the ripe age of 12, it's always so sad to find out how tortured the development cycle was. Loved them all due to growing up with them, even Chronicles and AOD- I hear the PAL region version is less buggy, I had no game breaking bugs with it myself back then. It's still one incredible concept with gorgeous music, I really wish they got to complete it.
Fingers crossed Aspyr gets to release The Last Revelation remaster next ✨
Awesome done Documentary! I was so shoked with the end of Tomb Raider IV. Even when i knew she cant be dead. But still 4 is my favorite.
I teared up at the end of this video.
like you said:
Nothing lasts forever 💔
Toby Gard and Paul Douglass: "We sure showed them!"
I'll never forget the summer my cousin and i beat Tomb Raider. No guides. I did the same with TR2 and 3, no guides. Some of my most insane gaming achievements to this day. The original TR games were amazing for the time, still a lot of fun but obviously dated. I'll never forget the sounds of lawns being mowed, the smell of freshly cut grass, that summer breeze flowing, and TOMB RAIDER! The 90's were dope.
This is video game history at its finest! I never even played the games and just know about them from playing demos as a kid. This was a great lesson and makes for a good argument for why game projects shouldn't be rushed for some kind of corporate goal due to generating sales which eventually only led to poor sales in the long run.
I am still a staunch believer that Crystal Dynamics has absolutely no respect for CORE DESIGN. That much is evident by there disclaimer at the beginning of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
That disclaimer annoyed me so much. Such weak stuff to put there.
if they could they would give Lara an afro.
make her hold sanctimonious speeches about feminist activists and such.
its that kind of studio.
Given how much has been said in some forums from actual Crystal Dynamics employees at times, shown by interviews in some cases and from what some people have found in the games themselves, plus how they have not only changed Lara so much to remove her identity and didn't even want to bring back Classic Lara, yes I firmly believe Crystal Dynamics have no respect for Core Design, the original Tomb Raider games, Classic Lara or the fans who have stuck with the series for nearly 30 years. Its no wonder there's been a resurgence of interest in the Core Design games and Classic Lara ever since the remasters came out, people want ACTUAL Lara Croft, not whatever Crystal Dynamics puts out!
Now Presenting _Tomb Raider: The Killing of the Golden Goose_
Literally....
It's an amazing story and the og Core dev team (PS1 namely) seemed like an amazing group of ppl.
Shame how Edios and their "JUST MAKE GAME SO WE GET MONEYZ" corporate greed literally bled it dry
The first two games had such a huge impact on me going into my twenties. I hadn't experienced anything like it before. I always go back and revisit these games every couple of years or so.
Thanks for producing such an excellent documentary. It's always kind of inspiring to hear these stories in detail and know the people and their foibles behind these iconic projects. It's almost tragic that these stories are mostly untold. So thank you for taking the time to cut something of this length and detail to explore of all of this. Great work.
I can't believe Jack The Nipper had a cameo here, I remember playing the second game when I was a wee lad in the late 80's.
Its insane that a corporations stumbles upon a golden goose and what do they do? They don't let it naturally lay its damn eggs and instead strangle it to death trying to get as many golden eggs as fast as possible. I mean damn, look at Zelda, they spread out their releases by multiple years and every release is considered a cultural moment and that's been going on since before the first TR until this day, and there's no reports of Zelda's devs ever coming out with horror stories like these for any Zelda game.
And today we have devs on the franchise who hate everything about the classic iconic games in the series instead of all the amazing original devs who, most of which maybe, would still be happily working on the series making something amazing and true to its roots because they didn't get strangled in the early days.
Thanks for the video. Also love that you used our Dark Angel Symphony version of Tomb Raider Chronicles track❤
It's so cool! It sounds like something out of a spy film, fell in love with it the second I heard it.
I'm so sorry but I LOVE Tomb Raider Chronicles😂
Me too! I really like it.
Think I might have been the only teenage boy to play the originals before hitting puberty in a country without sexualised ad campaigns.
I reasoned that since she could hang off ledges for ages and push large blocks, she must have normal boobs with big pecs underneath. She was genuinely just someone I hero worshipped.
Anyways, apparently I'm a dumbass.
This video was really good and it gave me that Matt my muscles vibe of how the games (Tomb raider series) went from being iconic to being boring more than just a series that was taken over by just what the industry has created as a sort of normality that is working so hard on a game series to the point that it feels so much like the annual call of duty series where they really were struggling towards the end and could not recover from whatever was left behind as a love project instead of a..Develop…release…feel the reflection of what was done before and never learn from the past to make a better new…repeat.
As probably one of the 12 people that played Project Eden and loved it, I was surprised to hear about its inception and how tied it is to Tomb Raider.
While not the greatest of games technically, there was something really unique about a Cyberpunk Horror coop puzzle game
I loved every bit of this presentation and the music at the end as well as the clips to follow....10 out of 10 video
I know this isn't related especially after watching the video but I'd really like for Lara to go back to her sexy, dual-wielding pistol design and go back to her fun-loving, adventurous roots instead of the much darker and bloodier direction the 2013 reboot games have taken her in. I think they've run their course and it'd be really refreshing to see a confident, sexy female character in the limelight again that wasn't from an Eastern studio. But given the censorship that Crystal Dynamics forced on the OG trilogy with the recent remasters, I doubt that's ever gonna happen. 😔
Just like Dreamworks on the super ambitious Trespasser.
I thoroughly enjoyed the video. I also appreciate your pronunciation of British place names. It always makes me cringe when someone mispronounces names (not just British ones) and shows you put effort into your research. Good work.
Thanks for providing a deeper insight of Core Design and the classic TR series. I've always wondered what happened to Core Design.
I've played both the old and the new. I'm fine with both though I've a feeling I wouldn't be buying any more TR from Crystal Dynamics from what I'm reading about the next TR.
Great video. Thanks very much for using my music. If you can mange a credit that would be great! ;-)
Hi, sorry for the late reply, I've been dealing with some health issues. I added a credit and link in the description and edited the pinned comment. Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the video!
Huge props for pronouncing Birmingham and Derby correctly. Also, very informed video. Nice!!!
Imagine if developers were paid as well as those at Core were in the early days. I think the game industry would be so much better.
unfortunatelly you need a huge team to make an AAA game nowadays
"He was mixed on the idea of a game led by a woman because it hadn't been done before."
Samus Aran: Am I a joke to you?
"Metroid" wasn't popular in the UK, as far as I'm aware.
ya hate to see it. what happened here reminds me of what the Mortal Kombat team is going through now
Thank you for going out of your way to actually pronounce names correctly in this video. Not a lot of UA-camrs bother. Great video.
Thank you! It was hard, haha.
Interestingly, Toby Gard eventually had a second go at Tomb Raider and contributed to Legend, Anniversary, Underworld, ànd Tomb Raider (2013), which were produced by new developer Crystal Dynamics. The last game in this list presented (the first major part of) Lara Croft's origin (story) as a Tomb Raider.
Thank you for creating this excellent documentary DX! Even though I knew most of the highs and lows of Classic TR, I still learned some stuff I didn't know before👍
This is one of the Best game documentaries I have ever seen. I cried a little. That is all.
Thanks so much! That means a lot.
So weird how the time surrounding a new release or remaster of X game leads to a lot of videos related to that topic.
Not weird to capitilise on the algorithm
Honestly I'm so disappointed in the "remastered" more like half assed they just made her remastered and some of the details in the games I thought it would look so much better
Jeremy Heath Smith legit sounds like a great dude that whilst was profit driven, saw the bigger picture and was uncorrupted by greed to the point he took care of his subordinates and genuinely wanted the best for them.
Update: nvm, just made it to the last part of the video.
I think Jeremy was speaking out of frustration more than anything. If he didn't care, he definitely wouldn't have allowed the Angel of Darkness team to record the soundtrack for the game using the London Symphony Orchestra. That couldn't have been cheap.
@@DXFromYT greed could take many forms. Him agreeing to record the soundtrack with an entity as prestigious as the London Symphony could very well being drive by pedigree motives than a genuine care for the games.
That's fair, but seeing as how Jeremy didn't think that Core would have to do TR3 so quickly, and he outright thought that the team would take 1999 off, I don't believe he pushed the team into crunch and yearly sequels of his own volition. Jeremy also allowed the development of Herdy Gerdy to go on for 7 years until he finally had to put his foot down because the costs were bleeding the company so much. I wouldn't say he's without faults but I think the true greed with the franchise lies on Eidos and the clueless board members. I believe Jeremy also tried to get a 4-6 week extension for Angel of Darkness and failed.
Edit: Jeremy also negotiated a higher royalty rate for the team working on Project Eden. It was even higher than when they were working on Tomb Raider.
@@DXFromYT Absolutely. Eidos were basically used to the Tomb Raider games paying for their yearly bills at that point so I would agree that alot of the blame falls on Eidos for overworking Core Design. Also yes Jeremy likely made some mistakes and said some things in frustration but he definitely didn't want to overwork Core Design.
I've onky played the reboot Tomb Raiders from 2013 and after. I enjoyed them a great deal ans didnt know any of this history
Will there be a continuation of this video? I loved it and would love to see how things continued...
Fantastically done documentary. I found you from the G.I. podcast. You have a great content!
Really enjoyed watching this vid. Crazy to think how hard these developers worked to get projects over the line.
Corporate greed is even worse than it was back then.
I feel really sorry for the dev team being forced to work those really long hours, where work was (literally) taking over their life. No dev team should have to be forced to work in such a ridiculous crunch time.
Whilst not as extreme, the software industry in general shares many of the issues described here. Most issues in software development are due to poor management and poor control of project scope. Team/Project Managers are either micro-managers who stifle their team or are completely absent trying to manage multiple teams, leaving the team without focus and left to drift. Product Managers often have overly ambitious high-level ideas, but don't do the detailed work of breaking down the exact scope of work that needs to be done, or if they do, it changes every couple of weeks necessitating developers doing constant rework.
An absolutely amazing piece of video game journalism, thankyou 😁. Although it's really sad to see how far the industry was pushing employees even back then. The negative effects of this corporate money machine really do taint what eventually is created.
omg them killing Lara to be able to work on something else is the funniest shit