I think I know why AOD and Legend will be not finished.

[kurtistrent2]

The reason is that Lara Croft Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness and Legend will be not finished is that the good story is without the ending.
You know what I have in mind. When the (for example game or movie) has not got the ending, when you played/wached it you will fink of it.
If the Angel of Darness or Legend had the clear end, you will knew all and it will be not intresting anymore, but when they have not have the 'crystal clear' ending you are finking what happened? did he/she dead? what will be next? and so on.
That all I wanted to say (for now).

[Eddy Bones]

Thought Legend was going to be finished. They are making more Legend games.

[Mangar The Dark]

Nice theory, KurtisTrent2, but the reason AOD isn't being finished is because the majority of people did not like it. Reviews slammed it mercilessly. Gamers complained nonstop. So there's not much sense in continuing down that road. Core DID plan out the full story, and they had intended to tell it all, but after AOD's failure, Core was taken off the TR projects, and Crystal Dynamics started fresh with a new story, with hopes of reinvigorating the franchise. I suspect Legend's story will be completed, considering the fact that Legend is doing very well in terms of critical acclaim and sales. Eidos would be foolish to abandon it.

[Sophia Leigh]

If for whatever reason Eidos decided not to continue the Legend (I realise at this stage they are continuing it) story I would be very off! Its bad enough that they didn't continue AOD but if they did that again I'd have to seriously think about not playing any more TR

[Mangar The Dark]

Originally Posted by Mum

If for whatever reason Eidos decided not to continue the Legend (I realise at this stage they are continuing it) story I would be very off! Its bad enough that they didn't continue AOD but if they did that again I'd have to seriously think about not playing any more TR

I agree. I'm actually surprised, after the failure of AOD, that they opted to do another multi-part story. You'd think they'd try a one-shot, self-contained game, and then if it succeeded, maybe try another multi-parter. After all, TR1, 2 and 3 were all one-shot games, and they worked quite well. Even TR4 was really a self-contained game, until they decided to (sort of) continue it in Chronicles and, to a lesser degree, AOD.

On a side note-- One of these days, I should get around to actually finishing AOD. I enjoyed what I played of it, but I got stuck in the Sanitarium (Kurtis's part), and then somehow never got around to completing it. But knowing that it doesn't really come to a proper ending kind of makes me not care all that much about playing it through.

[gervas]

what core, eidos and this guys that say that are TR developers, aka CD(HATE THEM) should do is to release game editing tools, and tools for the modders...i find it stupid to say the least, not to release this tools, cuz this would allow TR to grow a lot more in fame, and enjoyment if there were mods of TR...maybe even total Conversions like we see in games such as Rome total war, and TES4: Oblivion...so that the modders are able to make mods, and finish what core began and was not allowed to finish...AOD should have been finish...i don't understood, and continue not to understand all thos AOD Bashers...im a TR die hard fan, since 1996, and don't understand why they say it was bad...had great graphics, great story, even one great character(kurtis)..well the game was a bit different form the previous TR's, but it was ok..when i played AOD i could recognise lara, i was playing with lara..if they bash AOD, why don't they bash Legend? if there is a TR that is strange and different is Legend, is small, the controls are stupid, i've seen better stories, the whole game mechanics isn't the best thing i saw in a TR game...well it has great graphics..but TR isn't about graphics...is about gameplay...i really don't understand, why aod that was Revolutionary was bashed even by the critics, and legend don't...guess the gaming world changed...they dump gameplay and game identity, for graphics, we are getting more americans by the year...
(im not bashing USA, but there are several market studies-read it in a magazine-that show that american players prefer graphics, and more shallow gameplay, and european, and eastern players prefer gameplay above graphics..this explains the sucess of games like cossacks, and tr in europe and a bit less in america and why graphical novelties such as oblivion are such sucesses in america)

[Mangar The Dark]

Originally Posted by gervas

but TR isn't about graphics...is about gameplay...

Exactly, and to many people, Legend was more FUN than AOD. I'm not an AOD basher, because I actually thought it was an okay game, but I have to say, Legend was the more fun of the two games, and no, not just because it looked nicer. It was more fun because it controlled better, had better locations, fluid gameplay, highspeed motorcycle chases, etc. Yes, it was too short, but what it offered was quite good.

guess the gaming world changed...they dump gameplay and game identity, for graphics

Again, they didn't "dump gameplay." Legend's gameplay (to most people) surpasses that of AOD. And it definitely has identity (Lara is the most likeable in Legend, I think... she's still tough as nails, but she's also fun-loving, unlike her miserable self in AOD.)

we are getting more americans by the year...
(im not bashing USA, but there are several market studies-read it in a magazine-that show that american players prefer graphics, and more shallow gameplay, and european, and eastern players prefer gameplay above graphics..this explains the sucess of games like cossacks, and tr in europe and a bit less in america and why graphical novelties such as oblivion are such sucesses in america)

Oh yeah, Oblivion is a VERY shallow game.... Come on, don't be ridiculous! Oblivion is a hell of a lot deeper than any TR game. It seems like you just can't accept that a game can have nice graphics and STILL have good gameplay/depth.

As for why they're not releasing a level editor, two reasons come to mind immediately. First, I assume a level editor for Legend would require 3D modeling tools. So even if Eidos released the basic editing tools, you couldn't create levels unless you also owned additional software which would cost you several hundred dollars. Since the average gamer won't want to invest in such software, there isn't much incentive for Eidos to waste time making a user-friendly editing suite. Also, once they release an editor, the current engine becomes obsolete (because people could just create their own Legend-style levels.) TR8, then, would need an entirely new engine. Logistically and financially, this wouldn't make sense for CD. Why not try to get at least one more game out with the current engine? You'll notice Core did not release the level editor until they were ready to retire the old engine.

[gervas]

i have oblivion, and i don't agree with you, i have the pc version, and although the game is deeper the TR, and with all the mods around, the game is not as deep as his predecessor, Morrowind...another example of dump gameplay for graphics...oblivion is a fine game, while it lasts, wich isn't much...you complete the game with two diferently orientated characters, and won't go into it again, cuz although the game advertises the wide veriety of gameplay of Morrowind, its not so..the away to do things might be diferente but the outcome seldomly is diferent...in the end i ended up dumping graphics for gameplay, going from oblivion back to morrowind...it has older graphics but is a lot more fun to play...
the same is happening with legend..i beated the game 2 times...and went back to the old TR's wich i have beaten countless times... TR Legend is way too small...
and AOD was to me a full fledged TR...it had everything a TR should have, mystery, tension, and although not much, ancient places...the fact that it was too urban, and not so tomby, i like it this way...at least you know how and why you get to the tomb, and not teletransported around...legend is good in this, but AOD is better...and AOD has that ambience no TR had...that tension of being always on the run of the cops...fearing that when you are in public the cops will come out and snatch...i loved it...to me it was although unfinished a revolution that was misunderstood...

i admit i like good graphics, but i prefer a game with excelent gameplay and less than perfect graphs, to a game that is only for show and has no real juice....

[Mangar The Dark]

Originally Posted by gervas

i and AOD was to me a full fledged TR...it had everything a TR should have, mystery, tension, and although not much, ancient places...the fact that it was too urban, and not so tomby, i like it this way...at least you know how and why you get to the tomb, and not teletransported around...legend is good in this, but AOD is better...and AOD has that ambience no TR had...that tension of being always on the run of the cops...fearing that when you are in public the cops will come out and snatch...i loved it...to me it was although unfinished a revolution that was misunderstood....

Actually, now that I'm thinking back about AOD, I do kind of agree with you. I think the idea behind AOD was great, and yes, if it all worked as well as intended, it would have completely blown Legend away. Actually, I said in another thread that I give points to AOD for the effort it made in attempting to revolutionize Tomb Raider, whereas Legend was very much a "back-to-basics" game.
And, like you, I also thought it was kind of cool to work our way into the tombs, rather than just being placed there. So I didn't mind the fact that AOD started in the urban environments (and some of those urban environments were pretty cool anyway-- I loved the storm drain level. That felt like classic TR to me.)

What did bother me about it, though, was the undeniable fact that it was unfinished. It seems like Core got too ambitious. The ideas were great, but they weren't well implemented. When I read about the game before it was released, I absolutely loved the fact that we'd get to have dialogues with other characters, and a touch of role playing. But when I played the game and found that the dialogue bits were badily done, and the RPG elements were contrived, I was disappointed. Of course, I know this happened because Core ran out of time, but it's still a disappointment.

With Legend, it felt like CD wanted to avoid making the same mistake. Instead of trying to do something revolutionary, they figured they would do a streamlined version of the old TR games. This wasn't nearly as ambitious, but at least they managed to release a finished (though quite short) game. And moving Lara around in Legend just felt a lot better than in AOD.

It really is a shame AOD was never properly finished. It had incredible potential and could have revolutionized the franchise. Legend is great fun, but doesn't really take things in a new direction the way AOD tried to do.

[shaahinkaaveh]

As I understand the main post he/she means why the story isn't finished and not the sequel.
Still I wonder wether you deliberately replace "think" with "fink" or not!

[digifan]

Nah.

Just look for the big "The End" for the big finish.

We didn't see it in Legend and I was very frustrated after playing AoD to take notice.

NTL I hope there will be more sequels to Legend coming soon. This game is the embodiment of Lara's history and her world wide resources dating back to TR1. I hope the game developers from Crystal Dynamics will recognize this and run with it.