The 30 Year History of Crystal Dynamics - Noclip Documentary
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- Опубліковано 10 чер 2024
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We explore the history of Crystal Dynamics by talking to the people behind decades of classic games.
Noclip's work is 100% crowdfunded.
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Edited by Danny O'Dwyer & Jeremy Jayne
Filmed by Jeremy Jayne
Gameplay Capture Frank Howley
0:00 - Intro
2:04 - The 3DO Era
8:45 - GEX
18:51 - Blood Omen
21:46 - Legacy of Kain
33:33 - Whiplash
36:52 - Deus Ex: Clan Wars / Project Snowblind
38:53 - New IPs
41:25 - Core's Tomb Raiders
47:53 - Tomb Raider: Legend
53:23 - Tomb Raider: Anniversary
58:10 - Downfall (cancelled)
59:59 - Rebooting Tomb Raider
1:12:57 - Tomb Raider (2013)
1:23:27 - Rise of the Tomb Raider
1:33:04 - Marvel's Avengers
1:40:37 - Crystal's Legacy
1:47:55 - CREDITS
© Square Enix
© Marvel - Ігри
Extended cut interviews from this doc coming to patrons over the next few weeks; patreon.com/noclip
Is there any one in particular you want to see?
You should do a video on Anno
All of the Legacy of Kain materiel.
The one about avengers
Will it eventually be available off of patreon?
Legacy of Kain. Especially since crystal dynamics recently got over 100k responses on a survey asking what to do with the title. They normally get around 3K responses regarding any other game. That’s over 30x more interest
Legacy of Kain making a come back would be a dream come true. A next gen Soul Reaver sounds incredible
VAE VICTIS! ua-cam.com/video/fgnLO7iJZaA/v-deo.html
My uncle was a marketing director for Crystal Dynamics back in the early days of PS1. I remember him giving us Gex 2, Gex 3, Blazing Dragons, and Pandemonium for Christmas, (not Legacy of Kain because we were too little). This video is giving me some NOSTALGIA
The section on Legacy of Kain was sorely needed. Such great interviews. We got to peek at Blood Omen's design document and see concept art that we haven't seen before, like Dark Eden and Nupraptor. What a treasure!
I loved the insights form the dev team and would watch hours of LOK content like this.
NoClip does such phenomenal work every time, and I can’t thank them enough for the high quality productions they produce that give such human insight into the worlds we love :)
Thank you for watching!
be sure to contribute on patreon!
Soul Reaver really deserves a modern gen remake
it stands apart very strongly
They recently did a survey about LoK and said 'typically when we put out a survey we get about 3,000 responses. This LoK survey got over 100,000 responses.' So they are keenly aware of the fan support behind the series and I am willing to put money on them doing a remaster/remake/sequel in the near future.
I don't trust studios or publishers to even make remakes anymore, I'd much rather a remaster instead of potentially implementing a level-up/perk system in it.
@@Arikdefrasia the world and setting was just so unique and interesting. the core gameplay and a lot of the heavy lifting design wise is already done. It should *relatively* easy to just remake those environments and modern combat systems etc. You can re-use the original audio files even. It's just so good it really does deserve a contemporary version
not just that game i pretty much want a remake of everything in that series except defiance because that stil looks fairly oke.
No, please. No more remakes. There are too many remakes of too many games.
The opening to the Soul Reaver section gave me chills, Tony Jay's performance is iconic, so glad the video's out!
Was hoping Amy would make an appearance but I’m so happy the love Soul Reaver got
We talked to her and tried to organize a time but she was incredibly busy and we kept missing each other. We are holding onto our Legacy of Kain interviews and working to get more people involved so we can release a full documentary on Legacy of Kain in the future. It was easily the toughest game to get people to talk about and in the end one of our patrons managed to get us Daniel.
@@NoclipDocs thanks for letting us know! I’ll be there day one!
@@NoclipDocs Fantastic news, more Kain is always a good thing
@@NoclipDocs Super cool, I love LoK and there's so much story to tell with that series.
@@NoclipDocs AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
That 'Gexels' tidbit might be my favourite thing.
Measuring Lara Croft by the number of Gexes it just.. *chef's kiss* peak game design.
This is one of the first times I've ever seen any insight into Whiplash. That's one of the most underrated and hilarious games ever made. Love it.
The Legacy of Kain series is one of my favs and after many years is still vivid in my memories. I sincerely hope it will make a comeback soon :)
I do as well I just really hope they don't follow the sliding decline of best practices quote unquote of the game that plays itself like assassin's Creed went from Prince of Persia where you actually did you know things in the game and controlled the character with the controls LOL to assassin's Creed where you just hit a rhythm button game and and then things just happen you know like you're playing a glorified quick time with extra steps.. like I do I was absolutely like why aren't people screaming to the hills about this when assassin's Creed III took out it took out jumping LOL your character just jumped himself he just you know you climb up the wall by hitting the forward button you just you just go forward and we take care of the rest you know.. the one time to try to bring it back with unity ended up being one of the most disastrous releases for them and they never made that mistake again.. and apparently the mistake was gameplay.. not the other things that people actually mentioned when it was released LOL God I hate that I hate that it actually they actually tried to do it right and then that was the the embarrassing failure LOL and then everything was just bland on top of land for the next outings.. I feel like we had this brief moment in like 2013 around the the new consoles and then about 2017 it was like no this is stupid, Halo is right we should just have the game play itself.. honestly what matters is the microtransactions anyways.. we start throwing in gameplay mechanics at a entire generation of gamers that have grown up on this stagnated time loop of a dual analog controller that never really achieved its you know potential as a design, and basically required games to play themselves.. not as a stop Gap but now is as the official feature forever.. and honestly you might not even be able to fix that cuz anytime you change anything, or add anything improve anything that's not the most subtle of things.. especially something that involves actually learning a new system even if it's better or exponentially better the fact that it's different and especially the fact that it might actually require player input at this point...
It really worries me when you start having these franchise comebacks.. just seeing what happened when games moved on from PC to their primary console development platform.. looking at system shock 2 and SWAT for going into BioShock.. complete joke gameplay-wise fear same thing, crisis, one of the most just fully flushed out examples of player agency and character control.. turned into Halo with slightly more mechanics and all of the hit this button in order for game to play.. it seems to be a common trend and it worries me and it's like. You had more agency on a game designed around a controller that didn't have like even remotely competent rotational controls.. and despite the very small amount of buttons on a modern controller this had less buttons LOL.. so it's not even that that's the excuse and that never really was.. it didn't help but nowadays it's like everything gets so streamlined that eventually you're just not even playing anymore LOL.. and apparently the secret is to make it think like you're playing good bungee special..
I mean look at all the cool things you can do in the assassin's Creed games and it's like dude that's a quick time event I can see the button prompts.. it's just quick time with extra steps.. and that's just the combat LOL the other part is just hold down the button to go forward and the game will just keep playing...
Same here
I wouldn’t hold your breath. The last Kain projects was such a disaster that I think developers are terrified to try it again.
I have been looking for YEARS for a game I played as a kid. I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of it. Once I got to around 8 minutes in and saw the FMV cutscene, it all came flooding back. Thank you for doing this documentary as i'm sure I will be seeing more games I forgot about lol.
Legacy of Kain remains one of gamings most unique experiences, and always will be in the hearts of its fans.
Edit: it's so nice to see this much love for LOK in the comments and deservingly so. I hope one day we see a quality sequel.
The Legacy of Kain series is one of my favorite collection of games. Never seeing the conclusion of the story of Kain and Raziel is one of my greatest disappointments. So happy to see an amazing channel talk to the people involved, provide missing pieces of the story, and weave a narrative of video gaming history. Continue the amazing work, and thanks for the video!
Such an underrated series. SSoul Reaver is one of my favorite ps1 games. Still keeping my hopes up for a remake
They're remaking it I believe. SO I'm SURE they'll bring out a game to finish the EPIC story. The greatest story in gaming EVER.
@@rooneye I sincerely hope you're right. They only did a survey, but it got an unprecedented number of responses, so maybe CD will finally realize what gem they have in their possession.
What do you mean? I thought Defiance was a decent end to the series. Open ended, sure. But I felt it really worked and did not need a sequel.
@@rooneye yes its the best story of all time for me
The B-roll shots of the art bibles and design documents are amazing!
I hope you guys get to keep showing that sort of thing in the future.
To whoever made Tomb Raider Anniversary : Thank you from the bottom of my heart, that game was perfect, the ultimate remake, a big love note to TR fans.
i replayed it like 15 times already alongside TR Legend & Underworld
Every time I watch a No Clip documentary, I come away saying the same thing..."not only was that excellent (from editing and music choices through to intelligent questions posed) but it's important...this channel is a time capsule for future generations of gamers to harken back to and see the genesis of the whole industry".
Totally agreed! 🤓
49:04 ”Lara is the key to the Tomb Raider franchise, and nailing her is the most important part if it.”
There is Rule 34 for that.
Phrasing!
Exact thought went through my head when he said that, I even said out loud "it sure is"
Exactly, what they apparently forgot in 2013
Legacy of Kain Blood Omen and Soul Reaver are masterpieces till this day. There are no other games that would have such incredible production values. Writing, soundtrack, voice acting, atmosphere and graphics at the time cteated an ungorgettable experience that echoes in us, fans, till today. Please bring it back "DO NOT TARRY!"
TR Anniversary being made in 9 months is crazy.
A unique, fun game!
So much years but I'm still have goosebumps when hear Elder and Raziel voice from opening scene
The recollection about Legacy of Kain brings tears into my eyes... We REALLY need this game back! Remaster of all parts, and even better, a continuation. Thank you Noclip for making this video!
an old face from the nosgothic realm i see
Just a remaster? Absolutely not. It's been 20 years since the last game I want full on remakes.
@@ericocccams5865 I'll never forget Nosgothic Realm, so many great memories 🥲
at least we need a one last final game to complete the story.
Very thorough, fantastic. Thank you for all the effort you put into these documentaries.
This is hands down one of the best channels on UA-cam. Extraordinarily researched, narrated, and cut as always
Hopefully with this released the community at large can help get more interviews for the Legacy of Kain doc. It's clearly a missed title and franchise.
Gex, Pandemonium, Legacy Of Kain, and The Unholy War were such great games
Really great job with these docs. The one about GTA/Rockstar was also stellar. Maybe BioWare/Naughty Dog in the future… 👀
I am so excited to see this finally released! I really wish there had been more discussion around the development of Tomb Raider Underworld and the evolution of Ascension, which was going to be the true narrative "third" game for that version of Lara. All the while it seemed like Crystal was trying to break through with Downfall and then Underworld ended up barely making it past the finish line. The last level in particular feels almost primitive in comparison to the quality of the rest of the game.
I loved the insight into Arkane's canceled titles like Return to Ravenholm and The Crossing and was hoping for similar insight with Underworld and Ascension (and maybe more exploration of how Crystal worked with Eidos Montreal through Shadow). This was still a great documentary though, love you guys! Can't wait to see what comes next.
Really enjoyed this! As someone who has been in the industry for 21 years, and been playing games for 34, I cant help but think that CD has been part of who I became as a dev :)
"Lara is key to the franchise, so nailing her is the most important part" XD XD XD
I didn't knew Glen Schofield also worked at Crystal Dynamics. He's a wonderful guy.
It's fascinating to hear all these behind the scenes experience of the developers, the teams and the decision making that each project goes through. I think you're doing a fantastic service to the game development industry and gamers alike, and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to learn from what you do.
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary, thank you so much for all your hard work!
This was great and it's good to hear you guys haven't given up on your mission to get a full Legacy of Kain doc made. It must be incredibly to get the right people to talk about it.
Nothing quite as cosy as sitting down to watch a new noclip doc. Stellar work.
I remember when I first saw trailers for the Tomb Raider reboot. It instantly went from a franchise that I cared nothing about and kind of looked down on to a series that I'm now producing a full cinematic series from. Thank you Crystal Dynamics! You've down some truly amazing work!
The thing about the Avengers game is really still visible in the game to this date; the first few missions are very linear and story focussed, and play like an amazing singleplayer story. Then you get to the ship and it all just falls apart.
Whiplash was an insane blast from the past. Thats a 20 year old memory you just unlocked for me. I likely would have gone the rest of my life without ever once thinking about that game.
God damn, I remember it looking perfect, high fidelity. Memory is strange.
I can’t wait for them to do remasters of Tomb Raider, Legacy Of Kain, and Gex!
I've been following Legacy of Kain since the launch of Blood Omen in 1996, and I just learned that Amy no longer wanted to work on more Soul Reaver games and wanted to switch to Tomb Raider. I was always under the impression that Legacy of Kain was left in the dust because of big wigs trying to get more money out of Lara. Interesting. Also very clear where Uncharted came from when she left for Naughty Dog. I can only imagine how much better Tomb Raider would have gotten, had they given her the chance.
Amazing work on this, it's so nice to see anything about Legacy of Kain these days, between this and the recent survey, we're eating good.
Great Doc guys!!! I LOVE the Legacy of Kain series. In the survey, I specifically requested a Remaster of the 1st Soul Reaver, with an option, unlockable after clearing the game once, to replay it with all the cut content restored, we NEED the full version of that masterpiece!
I second this, a remaster of the 1st Soul Reaver is well overdue!
Gex is truly the Silent Hill of platformers.
Been waiting for this one! I love you guys!
Sorry for the wait, we wanted to get as many games in here as possible and some took a lot of work!
GEX DOC
GEX DOC
GEX DOC
GEX DOC
GEX DOC
GEX DOC
Thank you for this amazing documentary. It was a pleasure to get immersed into the world of Crystal Dynamics. So much history. I have the feeling that the gaming industry opened up to you and sees the value in your productions. I'm sure anyone involved in CD enjoyed watching this as much as anyone who's peeking in from the outside.
This was a wonderful documentary and the best Soul Reaver ad I've ever seen. Nothing builds hype quite like hearing brilliant people talk about things they love.
Amazing documentary as always guys! Thank you for this, Crystal is one of my favorite studios :)
Gex and Tomb Raider were, in my eyes, defining games for Crystal Dynamics. I am 30 now but I grew up playing Gex and Tomb Raider on the PSX demos. Thank You to all the devs for making these games. Much appreciated for making what was part of my childhood and I thank my family for having a playstation 😌
I've always been a big fan of Crystal Dynamics. I would've never guessed we'd get one of these for them. Very happy.
What a heartwarming journey. I did not like Avengers, but loved Guardians. They always rebound.
Love these guys hope they bring gex, and LoK back and REALLY interested in the new Perfect Dark to see what they do on the project..
This was such an amazing watch. Thank you so much No Clip! You are telling the stories that will inspire future developers.
What a fantastic video... the amount of effort and quality is astounding. Thanks Noclip!
Noclip does amazing work! I love how you got the devs to show you the old design documents from all these games, the attention to detail in the way the editing is made is excellent!
Absolutely brilliant journey. Thank you for your hard work in telling these stories.
Amazing production as always. Thanks guys!
That Soul Reaver 1 footage looks so clean, was that the PC port?
Also, lovely documentary Noclip!!! It's always heartwarming to see Soul Reaver being talked about, I have a lot of hope on the future revival, we just have to wait :)
Yes, they've shown the pc version.
i gotta give props for how professionally made these documentaries are, it feels like a tv show. i also like how you do docs on how certain games were designed, it might end up helping me out a bit as I work on my own game
Great documentary and so very good to hear that Crystal Dynamics is really aware of the fans wanting Legacy of Kain back. Let's hope that will turn out to become a real thing in the coming years.
These have been my favorite documentaries for the last couple of years. Sometimes, I'm in a certain mood and I just want to watch something relaxing like this!
Finally got around to finishing this doc. Thanks for telling these stories.
Love love love what you guys do!
Such high quality and passion in what you do 🤘
Danny and Team,
I *loved* this one. You all outdid yourselves with this introspection of Crystal Dynamics’ history and legacy.
I’m excited for the new Tomb Raider that was announced to be in developement couple years ago watching this.
Just wanted to congratulate the team on this doc. I enjoyed it a lot!
Super solid doc. Always love your work. My grandma's love for Tomb Raider is kinda what the gaming history of my family is built on, fascinating to see the stories behind it all.
Oh man. I was really burned about dragging my ass into work today. This will help deeply. Y'all have made my entire morning.
I loved this! Thanks for grilling them about revisiting Legacy of Kain 😅
I loved Tomb Raider Anniversary and the reboot, hope it’s going well for Crystal! And of course the documentary is top notch as well. It’s great to hear from the different branches and generations of developers. Even if it‘s a bit fluffy I think that the studio deserves praise for what they did well.
Whoever is responsible for putting up the plate that said "Lord Zoda - Supreme Predator, Dark-Sai Dominion" deserves a raise. That was a wonderful visual joke!
Great docco, thanks! Excellent to see devs loving their work and making great games.
Crystal Dynamics devs, thank you for all the great childhood memories! Especially Soul Reaver was so damn good!
Even though I don't play their games, it is great to see a studio make the 30 year mark. This year we hit 30 as well :)
Love your videos! I know you guys did a series about the development of the Outer Worlds, but I think a video that covers Obsidian’s entire history would be very interesting to see.
Second. They’ve definitely had a massive cultural impact on the industry
All I can say to these guys is THANK YOU! These games brought me so much joy as a child.
these are so interesting, thank you and everyone you interviewed :)
I absolutely love these developer documentaries and i hope you do more No clip!!! Crystal dynamics and Eidos montreal made some of the most iconic video games during the golden age of gaming. seeing all the developers remembering all the emotions and memoroies of their past work really made me feel closer to the devs in a way i didnt think was possible. Thank you Crystal Dynamics and Eidos montreal for everything!
"You ain't seen nothing yet" - Crystal dynamics, 2022
Hell yeah, Noclip team! I always love to see a new doc drop.
Another interesting, informative and impressive video from the Noclip team! 🙌
I've never played a single LoK game but that ending managed to get me very hyped for whatever they do with the franchise.
Great work as usual, Danny and co!
This was so interesting to watch! I loved hearing about all of the work that went into these games and building the studio. It's my dream to be a part of it one day :3
They tried really hard not to make the Avengers sound like a complete disaster that it was.
There was definitely strong denial when talking about that game. He looked so uncomfortable.
The way they were talking about how the original pitch for the game was for it to be a classic linear singleplayer game like TR makes me think that Square Enix pushed them to turn it into a soulless shitty live service game just because that's what Square considers a potential moneymaker. It's really sad to think of what we could have had if it weren't for Square Enix's bullshit, but at least Crystal Dynamics aren't owned by SE anymore.
i feel the disaster is was it was the fault of someone at the top of the chain
Square not just crystal...
It wasn't great, but it wasn't a disaster. Way to condense it in a false way.
I'd love another triology of Tomb Raider.
they were originally planning of streamlining the two trilogies into one cohesive narrative. that was before square enix letting eidos go so i don't know where it stands now.
Regarding the Tomb Raider Legend trilogy on PC:
Legend: game lacks some visual tricks from X360/PS3, which is unfortunate. Game also breaks at 120+ fps during the bike scenes (it's too hard). Game also crashes at one particular level without a fix (or DXVK).
Anniversary: Engine downgrade vs Legend 7th gen, but better than 6th gen. Also best visuals on PS3 only, which was a later port, so there's that.
Underworld: besides the infamous post-end game DLC being Xbox 360/One/Series exclusive to this day, the PC version also lacks dynamically generated shadows from the flashlight. This is a really minor thing tho.
Fantastic video as always!
I loved this doc and hearing the story of Crystal Dynamics. Thanks noclip for putting this together.
Another banger. Love what you folks do at Noclip!
Man, watching these retrospectives is so hard sometimes. There’s so many IPs that sit in purgatory from the 80s and (especially) the 90s.
The tech behind Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was so ahead of its time. All of that innovation came from an underrated game that many didn't play. I don't know a lot of people who know about this game.
You know you've got a good doco when 2hrs later it finishes, and you crave more, what an awesome insight into Core/crystal dynamics/silicon knights/embracer/ n what nots history, thus is an incredibly interesting watch, I've known the majority of these facts but it's great to see everything in one big doco extravaganza, colossal thanks for your work putting this, together in one big watch
These guys are legends. As a PC/PS1 player in my youth they were always one of the most exciting developers around.
Cracking doc, great work all involved. And yeah, LOC.
Such great work as always, and I really laughed at the Gexels part, so funny.
Wonderful documentary, I really enjoyed this.
I was so immersed in Soul Reaver at the time. The game was so atmospheric.
I'd put it at the top of my list for a remake.
Great documentary. My favourite part was the deep dive into the production process shifting from the waterfall model to the vertical slice model. Some great points there about the pros and cons of both.
Amazing work but... why didn't you include Tomb Raider Underworld? It's one of the most important Crystal game.
Awesome Documentary again Noclip crew
Thank you so much for this!
another top quality noclip documentary
Wow - almost 2 hours of documentary-fun 😍
Already appreciate the hard work - will watch this soon - have to take some time to really sit for it 😁
Great documentary!
Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raiders are some of the very few games I pay full price for at launch. That money was well spent, they earned it!
I am really looking forward to the next Lara Croft outing using Unreal Engine 5!