Legacy of Kain (Series Retrospective) - Never Forget | BoukenJima
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- I love few gaming franchises as much as the Legacy of Kain-there is nothing else out there quite like it. That's why it's time for a Legacy of Kain Series Retrospective in this new rendition of Never Forget.
Shoutout to RainaAudron for letting me use his Soul Reaver 1 footage.
His channel: / @rainaaudron
Follow me on Twitter at: / boukenjima_
I rarely replay these games, but every once in a while I watch all the cutscenes from all parts. They make a great experience on their own.
I've done this maybe... 3 times... after my third full play-through... i just want the story so i do this.
@@Lunchbox_motorsports Same. The games are a little too laborious to make me wanna play through again, but I will watch cut scenes on youtube all night.
I'd play the first blood omen any day over any of the sequels honestly
they are great from a story telling point of view but gameplay and graphics ingame have not really aged well compared to blood omen
ua-cam.com/video/w3faOccJsZc/v-deo.html
I re-watch this 1 or 2 times a year :D better then any movie.
I felt like this should have been given a open world game before the voice actors retired or died or just a CGI animated movie I wish I still had my comic books from soul reaver and legacy of kain
I never want a reboot of this series, but I would kill for a remaster of the series in the exact same way Shadow of the Colossus was remastered. The series would retain the exact same voice acting, story and the only change would be visuals, gameplay tweaks, character models and world design to fit today's standards.
They should remaster the entire series and just release them in one huge collection similar to the Spyro and Crash Bandicoot collections. Bluepoint Games must be the developers of the remaster, I just don't see any other dev doing the series remaster justice.
boom!
Amen to that brother
Yes please
Yes and have all the cut content worked into it as there was a shitload cut from it, obviously can't kill kain as was originally planned due to canon reasons for future games, but can still include turel and just have him escape like kain as raziel says this anyway at the end of soul reaver 2
@@lycan6014 you mean "omen" lol
Here is an idea. Remake the whole series but use the same story and voice acting, while redoing the graphics and gameplay.
Alorand That would be great. Keep the voice lines and music and redo everything. I really have no clue how feasible that is though. If the original recordings are still kicking around in acceptable quality and all that.
bundle them into one DVD like the MGS Legacy Collection.
The voice of the elder god is dead, I believe.
The others would likely be recruitable.
I would also love if we could get platinum to do the combat.
I would buy them. Soul Reaver 2 in particular needs a serious gameplay overhaul, it was such a bland chore to play. I liked all the other games even BO2 but SR2 was a real disappointment to me because of the 1 button mash combat.
It's really sad the voice actor for the ancient god died. His voice acting, along with pretty much everyone else involved was amazing.
I've never forgotten that series and I never will.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm your clone
I started with Soul Reaver when I was 13. I'm allmost 30 now and LoK is STILL my personal number 1 gaming franchise. The story is just TOO good, and voice acting is IMHO one of the best, if not THE best in gaming.
With the success of the Castlevania Netflix series, I think an animated Legacy of Kain series would probably work.
I would throw money at that If I Could.
.........Ok, time to go pay Netflix's suggestion page a visit again.
Only if Simon did the voice of Kain again.
Oh please no, not Netflix. Not another mercilessly mediocre show with cheap flash and zero substance with a 4-episode first season...
as much as I wish this could happen, it would simply not be the same without Tony Jay (RIP) and the rest of the original voice actors.
Hell yeah
No time-travel plot or story had been able to impress me more than LoK did 16 years ago. However, I'm still not losing hope in the genre :)
Hell yeah you finally did it
I hope you enjoy it, Mandalore-fampai.
what if they just remaster it like tweaks and graphical upgrade would it work ?
mandalore! tnks for your review of darwood that game was all that i will ever whanted
And now Mandalore has brought it back.
I love that this is a thing.
2020 and I still watch the play the game and watch the cut scenes because of the pure artistry that went I to this series! I still say that this is the beat series of games ever
yup same. this is probably the most beautiful story of any game by far
You don't skip the cutscenes, no matter how many times you play through. I've never played the first one, and the last three only twice each (originally on Xbox, then on Steam in 2016...even bought USB Xbox controller for them), but SR1 was my first Dreamcast game in 1999 and I couldn't even venture a guess as to how many times I've played through it.
Still have to say that the voice cast is not only legendary but also have a quality human spirit from looking up interviews, comic con, and movie board talks
The first soul reaver was always my favourite. Its clunky yes, but I absolutely adored the exploration and world design. I even liked the puzzle like combat where I had to discover a way to kill the enemy rather than just fight them to death. Sure I would have probably liked it more if they fully embraced it and didnt reveal all the ways to kill them from the start. I love how if you dont suck the souls of the enemies you have killed, their bodies will forever remain where they died, creating a sort of gallery of death for you to come back to. And I think that is the real reward for getting through relatively unharmed. If you are not hurt and dont need the soul, you get a piece of grotesque art instead.
That's a detail I didn't think about actually but I guess it totally makes sense that the souls can't move on if Raziel doesn't reave them.
@@BoukenJima but if raziel goes on spectral mode, the soul will become a foe
To me world design was one of the weak points. It felt very... stitched together. And that's exactly what happened. Separate development team groups worked on separate rooms and once they were all done, they just stitched them together. So you get oddities like ancient Egyptian tomb-esque rooms on the upper floors of a Gothic-Steampunk cathedral.
Navigation is pretty bloody awkward.
Soul Reaver 2 had much better level design.
I also enjoyed it alot
unlimited971, that's what the lore says, but in practice in the game it doesn't happen. Unabsorbed vampire souls never mutate into wraiths.
vae victis
warchief ultradeath conan barbarian terminator.... Your arrogance is boundless, Kain.
Go Cheese!
Hahahaha ha ha ha
Flay on, Little Vampire... flay on..
I always used to imagine if I won the lottery I would have an exact replica of Voradors mansion built and live in it...I still would
Why not invest on making the greatest movie or movies with the same voice actors
Every time I play Defiance I am thinking the same thing!!!
I would get a real life size Sarafan Lord sratue in the garden, in front of the street :D
The first game... Legacy of Kain is in my top 5 all time favorite games of any genre, any system, pc, whatever... one of the great games in console history especially. I watched that Malick intro sooo many times. I played through that game at least 50 times. The voice performances and writing are among the best ever in games. Way ahead of its time with the voice acting and script. The gameplay in the first one for me was really great. Maybe just because I was so used to it. The armor, weapons, abilities... loved them all. The throat slitting, blood sucking mechanics were so fun, and that laugh... that perfect maniacal laugh... perfect.
Listen to that writing. That voice over when he returns as a vampire... brilliant.
Believe it or not, this whole series is the only reason I'm still a gamer seventeen years later! I'm still longing for the nostalgia and complete satisfaction that the series produced in my mind so long ago and here we are in "2019" and the memory of feelings this series etched into my mind , heart, and soul - have never been reproduced by any modern title since! Never, again ever!!!
This is amazing. I'm glad there are still people out there that love the world and lore of LoK. It deserved better than it got, but even with its flaws it is still one of my favorite game series. All of the games had some charm that helped create a tangible world that I wish we could revisit in some new game, but I agree that I don't know how they could do that and it be any good.
And Blood Omen 2 was a pretty fun romp.
Pretty sure that the Crystal Dynamics tweet was a reference to the anniversary of the company. Also, if they ever touch this franchise again, it should be a HD remaster of existing games, with the story and voices kept untouched.
Yesss! I totally agree with the Remaster thing that keeps all the voice acting and dialogue intact. I was initially planning to say something like that in my addendum at the end but I wasn't sure if that's even feasible, technically. Like I'd assume voice lines from 1996 would sound weird in a modernized remaster.
I agree. But I'd rather the audio for the dialogue and music stay the same, even if the quality isn't quite as good as other games now. Just because it was that good. I'd love a full on graphical remake of SR1 with touched up gameplay, and the original story/ending thrown in as an option. Seeing how the recorded dialogue for all the deleted scenes is still out there and easy to find, I don't see how that would be too much to ask. And it wouldn't cost so much to develop I would think seeing how graphics are the only thing that would need to be drastically redone.
Maybe re-add the unfinished bits.
Actually I think a reboot would be better. Keeping the voice acting and the story, but scrubbing off everything else to create an actually playable game. No more fixed camera bullshit, no more wonky annoying platforming, and decent combat system. I would be surprised if it wouldn't sell as an AAA game series.
The best way to make this a reality is to start a campaign among gamers to show the company it would be profitable.
It is incomprehensibly sad to know this series will never be solidly concluded with the same original thread of creativity that bore it into existence. As you've said, the window of time for that to have happened closed long ago. It's the same with most video games, but for a series so based upon story rather than gameplay it becomes so much more apparent when imitators try to haphazardly make another. With the passing of each of the actors behind the series we're drawn further and further away from that creativity and window of time.
To quote Kain: "Eternity is relentless"
I think it did a pretty good job closing most of the loopholes except what happened to the pillars at the end of it, it did never explain how Kain planned to fix the corruption he is bound to or if he intended to at all. It ends the paradox of the Reaver and Raziel and traps the elder God but as far as I know Nozgoth is still destined to ruin and a slow decay so long as Kain lives.
a story that is not just an annoying distraction from gameplay, This game series was important.
I feel blessed to have been able to fall in love with this game series as a kid. All thanks to a JAMPACK demo disc!
Finally found an appropriate retrospective. The length and content covered is perfect.
Thanks,
- A true Legacy of Kain fan
Nah
Got enough salt off that guy to preserve meat for an entire hamlet.
Ill be honest, I really like SR1 combat, it's much more interesting than just slapping shit.
And I played SR2 and one thing I missed was the combat.
*FUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU*
BLEARRHRHAJGRHRGH
I agree with you soul reaver 1 was a game changer for me
Yep. At least the Soul Reaver was not a glorified key, like in Soul Reaver 2.
Completely disagree with you about Soul Reaver's combat. I had an absolute blast burning and impaling vampires, chucking them into wall spikes or fires. Maybe by today's standards it's lacking, but back then it was an incredible amount of fun.
As for a sequel, I'd only support it if the right people were involved. I'd much rather see a remaster. Update the graphics and game play, but leave the music, sound effects, story, and voice acting alone.
Agreed I thought the combat was awesome
I agree with you Solar Prophet nothing felt more pleasing than to burn or especially to impale vamps in Soul Reaver Blood Omen 1&2 to feed was pleasurable I miss this franchise alot
Watching him play, it looks like he doesn't know about lock-on, which really helps when you want to dodge and stuff.
Really...after Tonay Jay died I kinda lost some hope...i mean if we are to have the Elder God.
But I will say whoever voiced the Sarafan Lord would make a decent Elder God...i think it was Ed Boon? Anyway
It wa such a trip to me back in the day that you couldn't simply beat them to death. You had to find a way to impale, burn, drown or toss them off cliffs. So badass
I remember getting lost for years as a young kid, playing soul reaver. Loved the game, even still. Always came back to it but it probably took me 5 years to beat it for a first time lol.
For me the first soul reaver had the perfect gameplay :)
I love BO2. It's ridiculous and clearly an odyssey through Kain's embarrassing teenage years, but it has a lot going for it too, and the switch in theme and play style is refreshing.
Great video, although you got a few minor facts wrong you really manage to showcase what makes these games so special. I think you're absolutely right that they could never make another installment that was worth the effort. What I would like to see is a remastered version of BO1 which is my favourite, and maybe SR1.
Wish you would've gone over spoilers. Most people have not played this game and are likely never going to. Love the video, love Legacy of Kain
I dunno man, I doubt I could accurately portray some of these twists. Probably would've just come off as anti-climactic.
I'd love a follow-up examining the cancelled games, the lore, anything. I remember when Soul Reaver 2 was just out and the Nosgoth forums were the place to be for theorising. I also remember the sense of deflation following Defiance's release and Amy Hennig's departure. I really hope they are re-released so I can play them again, I only have Blood Omen and Soul Reaver on disc.
Ichabod Crane agree 100%
play it lazy and shut up
@@seonaidhkennedy6784 In all honesty I feel the most disappointing aspect of Defiance was the complete neutering of the gameplay differences between Raziel and Kain. I don't mean fighting styles, which they kind of preserved, I mean mechanical differences. Not including BO2, the entire series went through huge efforts to preserve mechanical nuances (such as black blood from undead, green from demons, blue from spirits, and red from humans as in BO1, preserved in SR1&2, despite Raziel not being a blood drinker), such that it was disappointing to not see that same attention to detail
Raziel doesn't *die* when his physical form is destroyed - he just gets kicked into the spectral realm, but in Defiance it was still game over. It just made me mad.
Contrary to popular belief, I think the series' story was fully completed.
Defiance showed that the grand conspiracy driving the story came down to one goal. That goal was for the hylden to be freed from imprisonment and conquer the world.
The events of BO2 are the direct result of the events of defiance, which would make it the conclusion to the story if not by causality alone.
There was an evil plot, the plot was realised but ultimately dismantled by the protagonist. Maybe not perfect, but the whole LOK arch is complete.
That wasn’t the only goal. There’s the Elder God’s motivations to take into account as well, who still remains alive after the ending of Defiance. The Hylden weren’t explored enough for my liking either. They weren’t truly defeated at the end of Blood Omen 2 and we never really knew the full extent of what harm was caused by the heart being put back into Janus. Then there’s the heart itself and Kain being the scion of balance. Why was he able to survive having the heart ripped out of him, and what did it really mean to be the scion of balance?
I’m not sure what you mean by the plot being dismantled by *the* protagonist either. Which protagonist, Kain or Raziel? I did like how Raziel’s arc came to an end. His story could definitely be seen as complete. I also liked how Kain remarked that Raziel gave him hope. It’s definitely a better ending to that of Soul Reaver 2, and we could fill in some gaps with our brain. But there’s also a lot more that could have been done with the story and Kain’s further motivations.
That's good stuff to chew on. You're right, there are a lot of details in the story that could have been fleshed out, but I can't imagine what dragons are left to slay in this world.
At this point the Hylden, EG, and Moebius are down. Each of the; circle of 9, the sarafan, ancient vampire lords, Raziel's brethren, Kain's generals, and Janus have been absorbed, redeemed, or otherwise dissolved.
I agree completely, EG is still a potential wildcard. Sadly though, there will never be another Tony Jay. It'd be hard to justify another adventure without fabricating a hitherto nonexistent challenge or antagonist.
The story of the Scion of Balance redeeming the world, while enticing, wouldn't make a successful game. LOK's strengths have always been metaphysics, philosophy, and lore. If there were to be a full conclusion, I'd like to see it explored in a medium somewhere outside of the AAA game market.
With the critical conflicts resolved, an "action adventure" structure isn't equipped to carry the momentum of the story any further. Kain is essentially a messiah figure now. One who's power is to see truth, and goal is to seek balance. This has all the makings of epic messianic pilgrimage myth.
Messiah stories are about deeply meaningful deeds and how those deeds impact and inspire the people and their world. There's a reason why no one's ever heard the myth about Jesus using mirrors to bounce a beam of light into a crystal to turn on a giant fan.
The scope and pacing of a faithful conclusion is beyond what I would ever expect to see. So, I choose to believe the end of BO2 to be the ultimate result of the coin landing on it's edge. I'll just have to accept that EG's role will remain incomprehensible.
Janos’s fate was left open. We don’t know what happened to him. Down doesn’t mean out, but you’re right that Tony Jay is irreplaceable. It would be very hard to make the Elder God work without him. Paul Lukather is also dead. But it’s still annoying not knowing just how exactly Vorador survived to be in BO2.
I think those Lost Chronicle fan made videos, actually did tie up the story fairly well. I see them as the real ending. Although I think there’s more could have been done with them.
gilgamesh310 lost chronicle? Haven't heard of that. Do you have a link?
ua-cam.com/video/lYsYGbTBV8M/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/hMli6o9I9TM/v-deo.html
I'm not sure if these links will go through to you, but let me know if you got them.
I was really surprised how much you hated Soul Reaver. It's my favorite entry in the franchise, and probably one of my favorite games of all time. I had never seen a game quite like this before, and the storytelling was unbelievable.
Outlaws Revenge you just play other games , blood omen is a masterpiece
And blood omen2 is massive story and lore
my favorite is Blood Omen but Soul Reaver was very unique for it's time.
Hey, thank you so much for being a fan of Legacy of Kain and for not shitting on Blood Omen 2. It's my absolute favorite in the series and the game that got me into the series. This series needs to be remade or remastered, preferably.
Outstanding video, you have done this series justice. As a huge, long-time LoK fan, you're the kind of person I'd love to sit next to while playing through the series. Well done, sir.
I actually really liked the fighting system in first Soul Reaver. Felt a bit more unique that you had to impale people, throw them in shit. I also enjoyed the boss fights that were more of a puzzles. The later games changed that and they felt lacking (combat was just attack attack attack dead).
What really fucking annoys me with first Soul Reaver is the imprecise awful early 3d platforming, lack of map (I was always lost because everything looks the same) and as you said, the box puzzles.
TadejVig Yeah a friend of mine made the same point to me which is why I ended up at least mentioning that this was an innovate approach to combat back then. I honestly wish I could like Soul Reaver but it was by far the hardest game to go back to haha.
Like poster wasn't the combat for me them damn annoying block puzzles. That's what I want to do spend ten to 15 minutes pushing multiple boxes in a place that I noticed as soon as I walked in. Some of the puzzles were truly worth it and I still hold it as a watermark for puzzle sections in a "zelda" style arpg.
That and every tunnel looking like the last are missing a jump during a platforming section and cruelly having a long period of playing just to get back to that section.
Combat fun, puzzles were good minus all the damn box moving, texture similarity, but OMG still probably one of the games if not the game behind UO I sit back and put on them beautiful ruby red sunglasses and enjoy the memories with.
@@karalas What makes it all worse is that they hadn't *intended* to make them all block puzzles. They'd all come fresh off Tomb Raider (which was all block puzzles), and then split off into small groups to invent and make the puzzles. Then they all came back together and were like, "Crap. We all did block puzzles." The only part I remember not being blocks were the strange small handle things that you turn in the... giant pipe organ level.
@@joshmartin2744 my eyes just twinkle at that thank you that was a great puzzle. I think there were a few puzzles that were levers and shifting as well, I still struggle enjoying any game with a block puzzle to this day. Oh SR you might of ruined some other games for me but I regret none of it
Yeah and it makes sense with everything being immortal.
Always nice to hear someone else appreciating this amazing series. LoK is my favourite game series, and perhaps my favourite story of all time. But, I agree that LoK needs to stay dead. Dead Sun scared the bujeebuz out of me. Nothing new could possibly hope to fill the shoes the series left.
Hell yeah man, it's the best. Although I read just yesterday that Square Enix is specifically looking to reboot more older franchises in 2018 so I'm still worried they'll try and revive it. Ain't nothing to be done but wait and see.
BoukenJima A worrying prospect, indeed.
@@BoukenJima even if they do try to reboot it, we will still have the originals to look back on fondly.
Feel in love with the Soul Reaver Light House Demo that came in the Volume 8 demo disk that my older brother had. This is actually the first game I have purchased. After passing it several times I picked up Blood Omen, a friend had told me the story was dark but this was years before I had Soul Reaver. Can you belive that you can play these 2 copies via digital download on the Ps3, PSP, but requires you to mod your PSVita to run Blood Omen for some reason. Just picked up a second copy of each game in the series in mint condition because I lost or thru away my original boxes years ago. I have a big tattoo of Raziel on my back that is how much I love these games.
57:34 I like that little touch of you managing to mostly sync your audio up with that little clip of dialogue from Kain in Soul Reaver 2.
Your end statement about not wanting this series to come back . . . I wholeheartedly agree. Defiance doesn't tie up the story, but it ties up the characters. Kain's arc is finally having hope in a better future. That fits the theme and tone of the series so beautifully that any continuation is a doomed enterprise.
H.D Beird only a Remake would be fine with keeping story, voice acting and game as complete as possible some gameplay improvements like in the homeworld remake
Like the Oddworld games?
I agree. Look at other games that tried to end all the storylines. The only one that did it right was MGS4
@@blainealexander5091 Metal Gear Solid 4 is the best movie that ever wrapped up a video game series. I spent 22 hours of gameplay time, but only about 8 to 10 of that was actually playing the game.
I literally needed something alcoholic to cope with the fact that the ending cutscene was an hour and 27 minutes.
When I was playing, it was pretty fun though.
@@blainealexander5091 HHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAAHAHAH
The original Blood Omen is my favorite. It’s in my top 10 all time games. The voice acting is top notch.
I know this is an old video, but I've been replaying LoK and watching just about anything I can find on the franchise. You stated your case as to why there should never be a reboot. I respect your opinion yet I'm compelled to respond.
Like you, I feel the best part of this franchise is the story telling and lore. And the complaints you make about the gameplay in this series definitely make sense. As I'm currently finding out, much of the weak points of the series are all the more frustrating after playing modern games which have mostly learned from the mistakes and shortcomings of previous generations. And this is why I say that now is the perfect time for a reboot. LoK is a series lauded for it's storytelling, yet when it first appeared very few games put so much effort in atmosphere. Now games as art, games with immersive atmosoheres and stellar narratives and voice acting are standard. Yes, we have lost some voices and writers in the series. But many actors and voice actors have become Batman. Many different writers and artists have put their own pieces into Superman. And that is why these characters remain great decade after decade. From developers to voice actors, from writers to producers, the gamin industry has no shortage of talent. And I'd love to see what some of this talent could do with our beloved Kain and Raziel.
Anthony Padlo I don’t know. These days, there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much effort put into storytelling or voice acting into games. If most people thought differently, legacy of kain would be long forgotten about, as there would be games with amazing gameplay as well as atmosphere, voice acting, and storytelling. Many people feel that repeat remakes of comics don’t do justice to the originals. Iconic characters such as Superman and Batman are probably iconic on their own, without the constant reboots. Legacy of Kain has much more complicated characters than most iconic characters that are super mainstream and much simpler. I definitely agree with your opinion on continuing the characters and storyline. I just don’t trust new developers, storyboard writers, and voice actors to fully grasp the complexity of the storyline while preserving how iconic the characters really are.
@@naragrace3870 This is non sense. These days there are a lot of AAA games and indie games with great story and voice acting and combine with great gameplay. LoK is remembered because its complex story and voice acting is ahead of its time but also it is the only thing it is remembered for. The gameplay of all these games has aged very poorly
First of all why not make remake using voice actors and strory from oryginals
@@killert41 as many as possible, one passed away a fair while ago
i love Blood Omen 2, it has absolutely fantastic visual design, and the gameplay is awesome too, i love that you can walk around in human cities, and Kain having different awesome looking costumes in every level is amazing.
As a huge fan of the series, I would love a remaster of the series instead of a reboot or continuation. Thanks for this retrospective, truly wonderful.
Fantastic video about a series that has enchanted me since childhood. Thanks for all your hard work.
I appreciate it man, thanks!
Amazing video my friend, I only ever watched my father play the first game as a child but i never forgot how enticing the world, it created, was. Thankyou for doing it justice and giving me a great perspective of how great it truly was!!
I just found this video and I love it. Legacy of kain is one of my favorite games on the playstation. The atmosphere and ambient music were incredible. That game is amazing. I got bored and lost and then frustrated with Soul Reaver. It felt too empty. Now I need to play them all to get the complete story.
great franchise. i loved soul reaver, and played all the games up to LOK:BO2. never played that one, but i recently watched a full playthrough of it. there is a definite difference between Reaver and Kain games, but i only have fond memories of all of them thanks for all your work!
Have to agree, this series has always been a favourite of mine, in large part due to the story and voice acting. Love hearing Kain's speeches, dark, menacing, but also eloquent and a little pompous. Perfect for a noble turned vampire god.
An hour long video you say? Challenge accepted!
Raziel has always been my favorite. So cool, so deadly... And that defiance ending almost broke me...
Two words: "Vae victis!"
I still hear it sometimes .
I actually played Defiance first, and as a kid it was one of my favorite games. Just now playing it again and having a blast. To anyone seeing this in the future: get the game!!
Soul Reaver was SO good. Me and a friend enjoyed countless hours taking turns on my playstation playing that game.
Haha, me too!
I just recently started replaying these games and i think it would be an awsome idea to revamp these games into one large game and fix the flaws and make it great
I keep telling my young millennial co-workers that they missed out on the golden era of gaming. It was all so new and innovative. Writing and game flow never insulted the gamer.
Unless you are playing Gex enter the gecko but these are the types of games that are the reasons why I am a gamer only games of their kind from it time period in gaming
The rumor that Bluepoint is working on a Blood Omen remaster fills me with all sorts of glee, though I’m taking it with a huge grain of salt. Thank you for this glorious retrospective!
Are you sure ?? :O
You know what they say about rumors... they're rumors, not facts.
Sony doesn't own the ip crystal dynamics does. IE Square Enix.
Clearly this wasn’t the Souls game Bluepoint was working on, but that won’t stop me dreaming
10:00 May I point out the interesting fact that Kain's audio doesn't just cut out when you enter a new area, but rather the game waits until Kain has finished speaking? Too many games mess this up and just interrupt characters speaking.
The story telling in this game is so sick! I absolutely love these games! I pray we get a true remaster one day!
As a writer, a new Legacy of Kain story can be told. The key is to play as vampire Raziel from newly raised until his execution at Kain's hand. Build an empire, build a clan, inter-clan fights/alliances, gaining/losing territory, battling humans of all sorts, developing new Dark Gifts/Evolving so that you grow stronger as time goes on, and interacting with your brothers/Kain, giving you the chance to flesh them out as side characters, choosing your own descendants from the plethora of enemies, and much, much more. "I have served Kain for a millennia." Let's see that story from the point of view of Kain's favorite son. Be an eloquent, arrogant, self-righteous, self-deluding, and cruel over-powered Raziel. Bully your brethren and siblings, be smug over Kain's favoritism, and get cocky because pride comes before the fall.
......So Shadow of Mordor/War?
.....Fuck it, I'm down.
What should that accomplish? Telling a story we already know and need nothing to actually be told?
@Pale Shadow okay, but what would that accomplish? we don't need to know what happened beacuse there's no message or narrative worthy of the past games. for example MGSV tells a story that connects to the old MG and you know how it ends, but it's good nonetheless because it explains previous plotholes and gives new meaning to past events. It encapsules all the themes which MGS is know for. how can a supposedly spin-off of LOK accomplish the same if it just tells minor events of no importance to the greater picture of things to happen later(or before) in the saga, considering the games focus heavely on time travel, deception and destiny?
The problem with an idea like this is that we've seen it in at least one form, but that can just as easily be a move to support it. There was a comic that released before the game to hype it up. LoK tried to mass-market itself when Soul Reaver came out, toys, comics, collectibles, etc.
@@TungstenViper
I'd argue that MGSV wasn't necessary either. MG2 already explained the big boss barely survived the end of the first game. His followers hauled him out before the bombs dropped and fixed him up with cyborg tech.
Neither did we need an explanation for why big boss went rogue. MGS3 not only set him up as a covert ops hero, but also left him disillusioned with the very establishment that set him against his mentor in the first place so it's not hard to imagine what a few more decades of that fuckery would do to his mentality. Back to the first MG games again and you have big boss starting off as the commander of fox hound only to revile he'd been secretly working behind the scenes all along. Which kinda goes against him being a well known international mercenary/terrorist.
Finally MGS4 was just such a perfect way to end the series. Tied up all the loose ends, brought together all the characters from over the years, and had plenty of fan bait, and call backs that served as homage to the rest of the series. Personally when ever I play though the series, I like to end it right at the epilogue where Snake kills himself in the graveyard, that bit about Big boss coming back from the dead to save snakes life, give a final speech about zero returning to nothing, then dying kinda seemed a little tacked on.
I understand how harsh he is about Soul Reaver, he is right, but I can’t understand why he didn’t point out the one ground breaking thing it did that seemed to plague its predecessor. It has no load times, none. As far as I remember. This was amazing, considering it was reading directly from disc.
If that's true that's cool. I don't play old PS1 games regularly these days so I don't necessarily notice things like that anymore.
In many ways, Soul Reaver was amazing from a performance viewpoint. It was shocking to have no load times, in fact, the only way to force a loading screen (on PS1) was to remove the disk from the console. And the game would still play, if you wanted to go to the next area, you had to insert the disk again.
That, to a 7 year old me, blew my fucking mind.
The only loading screen I remember was the obvious from the main menu to the CGI and from the CGI to the actual game. Add that to dodging and lock-on combat mechanics in the mid 90s gaming scene and you have a gameplay masterpiece.
I'm still curious if there is the chance for a reworked edition of the first part of Soul Reaver, based on the beta-version of the game, including an encounter with Turel, an Ariel-Reaver and a final fight with Kain - yes of course with the Kain-Reaver to finish the story. What do you think about this kind of reboot just for a single game?
I still want to play this whole series. The only one I was able to complete was Soul Reaver on the Dreamcast. I was probably in 7th grade so I still have fond memories of the game.
Overall I have no problems with the combat and spacial change. I thought the spiking of enemies was a cool combat system and not being able to move physical things in the spectral realm was part of the puzzle solving.
Oh man, the intro alone in Soul Reaver set up the story and atmosphere so well.
Haha omg same hahaha,
A game that Amy Hennig had a big role in too. Really cool!
100 % nailed it at end,dear god it would be train reck if they did reboot , best not to even risk it.
Yes, lets not risk it since it would teleport all OG games out of existence if they did rebbot it *rolls eyes*
Funny to know that "Vorador" comes from the spanish word "Devorador" wich means "Devourer"
Around the time I saw the leaked footage for Dead Sun for the first time, I remember saying, "Suffering to the Conquered. Ironic, that now we fans of the original games, are the ones suffering. Not anything as pedestrian as physical pain, rather the cruel jab of impotent anger."
Played these games as a kid, but never got far because they were too hard. I should play them again, now that I'm older.
I loved playing these games, so immersive, such a great story. wish these were re released on xbox one.
I was a big fan of the Legacy of Kain series and Blood Omen 2 was my favorite one.
Dude, Blood Omen 2 is my ironically 2nd favorite game of the series.
First being Defiance.
I LOVED Blood Omen 2.
Don't like Blood Omen 2 but Defiance is also my favorite in the series. The combat in Defiance was awesome and the visuals are beautiful along with huge improvement with the character models.
Blood Omen 1 is the best game in the series if you ask me. Extremely fun to explore Nosgoth, and it's held up really well.
I don't want a new game, exactly, but I do want a remaster with tighter gameplay, maybe some revamped music (though true to the original), original dialogue, and just a total package of all five.
If you change gameplay, it's not a remaster, you want a very faithful remake. like MGS Twin Snakes or RE1 for GC
This series as influenced me in the type of characters and stories i like.
It was my first dip into the "Anti-Hero" (even though i loved Star Wars and Vador, he was a Villain, not an Anti-Hero).
My actual D&D character is a mix of Kain( his name is Kain...) and Guts from Berserk, a Tiefling, Vengeance Paladin/Warlock Hexblade, with a bio-mechanical arm and his Pact Weapon is called the "Chaos Reaver"...
Excellent retrospective, sir!! Bravo!!! These games will always be a part of me!
This game series had a profound impact on my youth. I was in middle school when SR1 came out, and went back to play BO1. [Edit: I followed the series all through my high school career, graduating in 2004 hoping for more to the story!] The eloquence surely impacted my language acquisition, and writing ability as an adolescent. I sometimes think that I'm a language arts teacher in part because of this series. Fantastic recap of these games. Next time hit the spoilers, it only adds to the depth and helps sell the series. The twist of SR2, and integration of BO2 was fantastic.
Heh, you can't stand SR1 gameplay and prefer BO1 - complete opposite of me. I played BO1 only once and I cheated just to get through it and see how the story unfolds, combat system sucked so hard. SR1 however I still like. You don't need to kill everyone, and if you impale them and then you don't consume their soul, they will stay dead. Platforming is still clunky but miles better then Tomb Raider for example. Plus I love the semi open world, which was lacking in SR2 and Defiance.
These games are ridiculously good. So beautifully atmospheric, such incredible dialogue and charismatic characters, the kickass music i love it. How you could not like Soulreaver on the points you made is understandable, but i've played far far worse, i didn't find it clunky, it was revolutionary for its time, its ageing well, was a challenge and personally it has replay value. Love your review though, was late for work because of it. Keep up the great work.
I'm happy that you took the time to give this series an entire hour of love. Many thanks dude!
The soul reaver 1 combat was amazing. It was unique and no other game even dared do anything like that at the time. You're right though, the animations and the camera can make it very frustrating sometimes
Clues to reality in these games
Yeah, I was solidly in the camp of it getting a remake/reboot and was legit excited when I found out about black sun. My response was basically the same as yours as it looked more like a teen's fanfiction love letter to the series that couldn't have missed the point harder about the games and their dialogue set ups. LoK was an adult game series and Black sun was a child putting on a hooker's outfit calling themselves adult.
As far as games go the series is effectively dead and I'd be too terrified of them taking a deep departure from the series story as they tried in BS (ha). However, it could do with novelizations and/or a miniseries to serve as a retelling of the series for those that just can't be bothered with the gameplay, either because it's too infuriating to get through or difficult. A remaster like other comments have pointed out wouldn't be a bad idea either, for ALL of the games, just to bring it in to new players while ironing out some of its gaming kinks. Though even that thought is kinda scaring since even a remaster can go haywire.
I wonder if Ms (Mrs?) Henning ever shared what the ending for the series was gonna be like, she was the head writer after all. She could do what the writer for HL3 did and just put it out as a "novel" or something.
Abit late to the party Great video :D I would love a remake just like what bluepoint did with shadow of the colosus
Lol i just watched this now as well. Bored at work. I also commented.
My favorite game all through highschool. Played them in the order they came out, and it more than anything inspired me to write.
We are not worthy... to continue this legendary series.
And I love the first Soul Reaver combat. It's savage and brutal, the slow animation only adds meaning to the hunger and angry state of Raziel and his pitiful journey beyond, being the pawn of the Elder god. I always thought, "Which spike should I stick this mf at? Should I just throw it to the sun ray instead and enjoy its scream? Damn my journey is long and all of you must pay". It's entertaining just like Kain's evil laugh after he drove his sword to his enemies.
Excellent video.
"Fuck off explosion"
Hehehehe!
I enjoyed watching this a great deal, especially your thoughts about Blood Omen 2, the one title that I have yet to play. As you might already know, Soul Reaver 1 that would've solidly concluded the story in one game. However, time constraints and other problems forced a lot of that to be dropped. There's over seven minutes of this extra dialogue that has been collected into one video: ua-cam.com/video/_5l-CsiaNlw/v-deo.html It could make for an interesting video of your own as I like your style of retrospective.
Huh, I did not actually know that. I knew about the human citadel but not that there was a different ending planned. I doubt I can turn this into some kind of video but thanks for bringing it to my attention haha.
You're welcome. I sometimes listen to it when I simultaneously want a new Legacy of Kain game, yet know that it would be immensely difficult to do correctly, if at all. So the cut content Is a kind of closure for me, even though it's not really canon.
I have the fondest of memories of the original. I played it with my step dad way back.
Man I love this series. Such fond memories. I would be thrilled if they rebooted it. They have so much story material already done to work with. It could be great if done right.
I don't think this ever got mentioning but I guess I'll throw in my opinion on which versions of each game to get if possible
Blood Omen: *Now it's on GOG! Play that version*
Soul Reaver: Dreamcast if you own one. If not, I'd say PS1 only because the PC port has a few issues, at least when I tried to get it working (especially with modern gamepad support)
Blood Omen 2: I only played it on Xbox but I think the PC port's decent for this one.
Soul Reaver 2: Same rule as Blood Omen 2 but SR2 only had a PS2 release otherwise. I can't attest to the PC port's full quality, mainly regarding gamepad support, as the actual performance in this video seems just fine and it's a "6th gen port", making it easier to set up than Soul Reaver 1
Defiance: Xbox or PC
Great list. With BO2 and SR2 I definitely had some gamepad issues on PC (mostly triggers not being recognized) so I just ended up using keyboard controls. It was feasible.
BoukenJima Yeah. And I imagine a program like Xpadder can work if you want to map the Keyboard controls to gamepad
If possible I'd actually suggest you try to get Blood Omen 1 on PC. There are no loading issues on the PC version, nor the problem with it being too dark that I've seen PS players complain about. That being said I have to keep an old win'98 laptop just because it's the only machine the game runs on...
Nobody should listen to you. Just get everything for the PS
all of them were playable on pc, I finished them all that way with my dualshock 3
7 people were abhorred by history
history, abhors a paradox.
Rasiel is such an unfortunate character. **Spoiler Alert**
Rasiel dies over and over again. He's killed by a strange creature, raised into a vampire, thrown into the abyss, raised into a soul reaver, gets a ravenous soul attached to his arm, goes back in time, kills his past self, gets pissed at the elder god, finds out the soul on his arm is his from the future, goes to the future, kills himself and becomes the soul in the sword... Seriously. Rasiel just needs a hug.
Not only is he unfortunate but he's a DAMN LIVING PARADOX!
like you said, not only does he kill his human self, who was a vampire hunter no less, BUT he also becomes the ravenous soul inside the Soul Reaver which then gets attached to his arm and he uses as a spectral blade
There is still a lot of potential left untapped with this game. I bellive that a prequel to Soul Reaver (with Raziel flying) or a remake of the games with modern graphics but the same old voice acting could work just fine.
The Legacy of Kain has always been one of my favorite video game franchises as well. I was fortunate enough to be able to play them during the days when they were released. I remember reading about them in magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, PSM, OPM, Gamepro, Gamefan and other periodicals of the day. The excitement and the hype was always a big deal for my friends and I, and we would have long discussions about the games, and come up with theories of the games to come. This franchise, without a shadow of a doubt, has one of the greatest story lines in all of gaming history. The writing is elegant, gritty, and thought provoking. The characters are deep and multifaceted, their motivations ambitious and epic in scale and complexity. They were icons in their time, and legends today. The music was impeccably composed; it was moody and atmospheric, rousing and electrifying.
There are few video game franchises that have ever even come close to the masterful narrative that bites, slashes, and explores complex themes and ideas through five wonderfully flawed installments. I will Never Forget The Legacy of Kain.
Note: I do have to say that I would love to see a remake of Blood Omen with today's technology. But, only if the kind of care that Capcom took with the Resident Evil 1 and 2 remakes is being utilized. Not some half-assed cash grab. Wouldn't it be amazing to play as Kain running around a massive open world Nosgoth. I am thinking it could take some inspiration from The Witcher 3 in this regard. There would be so much potential for a remake of Blood Omen. Not to mention, Simon Templeman as Kain once again would be music to the ears. It really could be amazing if handled in the right way.
I 100% agree. Just let this game rest in peace rather then disfigure it with modern standards. Especially the voice acting, you cannot beat that. Like you said, this series has a small cult following and nobody would probably like it.
The series never had it's own identity gameplay wise and weren't that fun to play.
Hey Bouken, You got some inconsistencies wrong with the plot. The Tenth Guardian was Janos Audron, the keeper of the ancient blade called the "Soul Reaver". The Pillars of Nosgoth were served by the Circle of Nine (aka the Nine Guardians), and Kain, at the end of Blood Omen 1 discovered that he was the 9th and the Balance Guardian.
Alright.
On top of that, according to Umah from Blood Omen 2, she said: *"In addition to our physical superiority, Vampires also possess, "Dark Gifts". These are our supernatural abilities. Our curse develops differently in each of us, giving us unique powers."*
I suppose that numerically he was the 10th guardian featured in BO1?
No, Kain was the Ninth Guardian after Ariel's murder. Janos was the 10th in SR2.
NOTIFICATION SQUAD
Just finished watching the video.
Awesome work dude, loved it
As a fan of LoK myself, you hit pretty much all the points I would have brought up in a discussion about the series. I get why you didn't include spoilers, but talking more about the story in this story-based series would have been an awesome addition.
Keep it up Bouken :D
Startale Thanks dude! I also wanna talk about the story more cause there are probably still so many details I'm not aware of. But yeah going into detail on that stuff would probably just ruin the parts for the people who are interested in checking it out.
Just started getting back into these games. Still epic, for exactly the reasons you said.
Blood Omen 2 was my intro to the series and even though I loved the game it was confusing as hell, giving me a reason to look into the series I did and this is still in 2020 my favorite game.
Good to see some people still value this game series as much as I do. I used to be a big gamer from about 8 years old (1989), up until 26 years old (2007). In 2007 I kind of gravitated away from it. But of all the games I have played, the one game that has stuck with me and I still think about to this day is the Legacy Of Kain series. I even have a sizeable tattoo of Raziel on my back. Numerous friends have tried to get me to return back to gaming over the last 12 years, and my response is always the same: when they conclude (or at the very least revisit) the Legacy Of Kain series is when I will come back to gaming. Until then, there is NO GAME that will ever make me go out and purchase another game console. No story line ever captured my imagination in quite the way LoK did. No movie, no book, no game....nothing. I sit here in the video game wilderness, and with each passing year since LoK: Defiance, I believe this is where I will stay.
I personally love how stuff form blood omen 1 is still being paying of in the final in the last game.
One nice thing about getting older is that if you haven't played a game or series in 20 years, you've forgotten so much you kind of get to experience it all for the first time again.
Obviously not exactly the same thing, but we take what we can get
I think we don't need a new title we would need some remakes :)
Legacy of kain is one of my favorites sagas ever.
The dialogue alone in Legacy of Kain got me into reading books cause I love the alliteration. I wish they made another one.