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Old 03-08-19, 08:53   #1
Newraider75
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Default Could a Gold Team developed Chronicles have saved AoD?

A thought recently popped into my head about TRC and it’s obvious lack of a need to exist in the first place. Obviously splitting up the AoD development team and letting all the inexperienced members work on the new engine whilst leaving the experienced members to create yet another game on the classic engine that they were so tired of they tried to kill Lara was never a bright idea but what if the team was never split in the first place?

Time and time again on this forum threads pop up about the possibilities of a TRC-less world but after replaying TR3 Gold recently and marveling upon the brilliance of the Gold Team level design across all 3 of the expansions they created I began to dream about the possibility of a version of TR5 created by the Gold Team. This way the AoD team is never separated and the first year of development isn’t lost, but we still have a TR5 that’s based on the classic engine (that would probably have more than 5 good levels )

What do you all think? Would AoD still have been doomed? Would Chronicles have turned out any better? Or do you think ultimately a TR5 produced by the Gold team would not have changed the trajectory of AoD and ultimately the franchise in any way?
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Old 03-08-19, 09:33   #2
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That is an excellent idea, tbh! Yes, the man power that went into TRC would surely have only benefited AoD (since that development couldn't have been much worse). Things would be so different if that happened.
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Old 03-08-19, 10:40   #3
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The Gold team was dismantled after TR3Gold and some of its members were working on TRLE at that time.
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Old 03-08-19, 13:43   #4
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The Gold team was dismantled after TR3Gold and some of its members were working on TRLE at that time.
Yep and it was a dumb move.

Heck they could have just made TR4 Gold (which was planned) and released it on Consoles as well as a new title and it probably would have been well.
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Old 03-08-19, 14:43   #5
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I believe Core Design NEVER had enough time to develop an extended chapter for TR5.
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Old 03-08-19, 17:38   #6
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Originally Posted by _Seth View Post
That is an excellent idea, tbh! Yes, the man power that went into TRC would surely have only benefited AoD (since that development couldn't have been much worse). Things would be so different if that happened.
Exactly! If I’m remembering correctly one of the lead directors + the most experienced designers worked on TRC as the junior designers in Core worked on AoD but by the time TRC had finished nothing was done on AoD - the team kept introducing new ideas without actually finishing anything they introduced and the whole thing was scrapped.

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Yep and it was a dumb move.

Heck they could have just made TR4 Gold (which was planned) and released it on Consoles as well as a new title and it probably would have been well.
Yes, especially with the story of TR4 Gold being focused on a younger Lara in her search for the Fountain of Youth, could have been a perfect way to have a TR game post TR4 that didn’t resolve the cliffhanger at the end of TR4/ advance TR4’s story too much.
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Old 03-08-19, 21:10   #7
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It was such a violation of logic to let the veterans do the filler game while everyone else set about prototyping the next big thing. I wouldn't be surprised if that honestly was the first and the last nail in the coffin, for AOD.

I wonder what made them go about it this way...

Eidos actually developed the Gold games themselves, as I recall, but I'm not sure if the team was consistently the same for all three of them.

Maybe they could've taken on Chronicles - if anyone had to make Chronicles at all, but I suppose Eidos dictated they had to - and the whole of Core could've started on AOD. I don't know, it's kind of pointless to speculate on what could've been, now.

Do we know why TR4G was cancelled, by the way - was there a specific reason for it, or did it just not pan out? Was it because they were putting the level editor together?
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Old 03-08-19, 23:59   #8
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It was such a violation of logic to let the veterans do the filler game while everyone else set about prototyping the next big thing. I wouldn't be surprised if that honestly was the first and the last nail in the coffin, for AOD.

I wonder what made them go about it this way...

Eidos actually developed the Gold games themselves, as I recall, but I'm not sure if the team was consistently the same for all three of them.

Maybe they could've taken on Chronicles - if anyone had to make Chronicles at all, but I suppose Eidos dictated they had to - and the whole of Core could've started on AOD. I don't know, it's kind of pointless to speculate on what could've been, now.

Do we know why TR4G was cancelled, by the way - was there a specific reason for it, or did it just not pan out? Was it because they were putting the level editor together?
Maybe because the Veterans were the only one who could throw Chronicles together quickly enough? I dunno.
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Old 04-08-19, 05:11   #9
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Originally Posted by TRExpertgamer View Post
I believe Core Design NEVER had enough time to develop an extended chapter for TR5.
Core Design never had enough time to develop anything
It's a miracle that Tomb4 is actually complete
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Old 04-08-19, 11:01   #10
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Do we know why TR4G was cancelled, by the way - was there a specific reason for it, or did it just not pan out? Was it because they were putting the level editor together?
That's always baffled me and the question in the OP is very valid. It is likely that the decision to release the editor had a lot to do with that.

Keep in mind that the gold team had no experience in creating a new title from scratch, and Chronicles had quite a few new little things here and there, not to mention all the FMVs and cutscenes, meaning they needed a more-less complete team anyway. One thing I'm sure of is that Eidos was completely against ANY golds being released in place of a full title and Chronicles was made simply because they (Eidos) were hungry for money.

It's also possible that Chronicles was in fact inspired by TR3 Gold and its structure and in Eidos' minds Chronicles was essentially a way to capitalize on Gold's good reception by making a main release in the same vain.
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