It's criminal that a million games that function as little more than casinos can be pushed out, but a story like this can never be concluded. Honestly, even if we never get Dark Prophecy, it would be great if they could do what The Borgias did and release it as a book.
I would love for Amy Hennig to write a book to finish the series. I've read the Mass Effect books by Drew Karpyshyn and that worked really well for detailing the backstory of main characters from the first game. I think Hennig could do an awesome job doing that with Dark Prophecy
Most old franchises that gets cancelled and dies also brings their devs with them to the grave, which was not the case with the Soul Reaver IP. Crystal Dynamics is HUGE and, being a subsidiary of Square Enix, has a lot of competent writters. Its incomprehensible how they still didn't revived this series, either with a reboot or a sequel. But then, again, its better for it to die with being awesome than getting rebooted into a horrible mess like most franchises nowadays.
@@abnnizzy Honestly, I wouldn't trust anyone to complete this story besides Amy Henning. Sadly, I think she got burned out and decided not to return to this series out of frustration. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because I remember hearing it, but I can't confirm it.
@@abnnizzy they need to stop trying to chase the coat tails of uncharted with them twisting tomb Raider to be like it. Does anyone even want more of those games? Clearly the demand is for more Kain games.
Same here. This series is a massive piece of art and philosophical depth and I wish that even more people had played and experienced the journey of Kain and Raziel.
Funny enough, Blood Omen 2 was my introduction to the series as a whole. It might be clunky, the story might not be the best, but even this was enough to hook me into this unique universe.
mine was soul reaver 1, my mum's mate (big gamer old dude) gave me Spyro soul reaver 1 and croc. I was a very happy chappy :) I've even got the soul reaver tattoed on me and name my son after Raziel but with a twist :) I also have the rebellion sword from DMC on my arm with my dad and uncle's name on a ribbon around the sword r.i.p
It warms my heart to see people are still interested in this game series. I wish it had gotten more mainstream attention aside from the multiplayer game. One can only hope.
Back in 1999 my brother died mysteriously still don't know how it happened grieving over his death I found this game soul reaver the opening cutscene was so amazing and the fact that the game talked about the afterlife and souls actually made me believe that this stuff could be real of course I was 7 years old at the time sing you make these videos explaining the lore in the story of this entire series is fantastic and amazing I have fully understand the legacy of kain series because of your videos I'm definitely subscribing for sure thanks
sorry for your loss but what a fucked up world to believe your brothers spirit lives in, being a spirit in nosgoth in the spectral realm sounds terrifying
Powerful stuff man, that'll hold a special place in your heart forever. May your brother's soul always be with you, as the Reaver is always with both Kain and Raziel.
I feel the Hylden maybe saw the elder god for what he was. Knowing that the spell to make the vampires immortal would be the greatest curse they could do.
The Hylden were the heroes of the Ancient-Hylden War. Janos Audron was a fanatic and a criminal. Religious fanatics should be kept out of power at all costs or they start doctrinal wars in the name of their false gods when they get power. Our own history is evidence of that.
@@sypherthe297th2 Sypher even if that is true at times, sometimes religions establish morality codes, while communistic atheist communities well killed 10s of millions in only decades. Humanity needs morality in order to advance and survive, and without belief there is no moral spark. But with the hylden, it wasn't about screwing the elder god, it was because they got beat and were angry about it. I liked the hylden tho and BO2, I think SR2 and some of the other narratives later tossed the series on its head. BO1 was suppose to make vamps out to be dark torturer freaks. Seriously vorodore had human women hanging from hooks, and delighted in killing and consuming. This whole janos angle in SR2 was sickening to me as a fan of BO1 for years... That the vamps are angels and shepherds who just want a sacrifice from time to time? Bullshit, real epic spinning in order to turn kain/raziel sympathetic. Really hated where the storyline went with SR2, dunno why so many people bash BO2 over SR2, SR2 was ass.
@@HistorysMysterys if a person or people need religion to have morals than their not very good people at all. Religion has proven time and again to be a crutch that many use to justify thier cruel actions because they can claim when challenged that it's thier religions morals to do the cruel things they did. See the crusades, Salem witch trials/burnings as examples or even all the problems with the catholic church involving the child molestation their priests have committed.
Super deep! I'd say you're all right. Humans are caught between all these societal forces. We run society into a ditch without religion to steady us, AND we also aren't good at following the religion properly when we try that. We're trapped. Limited by our own tantrum-based child souls. Back to the hylden... what if they DID find scientific proof of Eldergod, and when they cursed the Ancients it was done as BOTH punishment and salvation?!?!?! The hylden population would cheer the punishment part, and the hylden illuminati would know they'd just freed the vampires from the true enemy's clutches.
"A cancelled sequel" damn these words hurt. It's rather strange, whenever my life takes a turn for the worse, it's the Legacy of Kain series I feel myself drawn towards.
Well the sequel Crystal dynamics had never got going all that far it was just planned, but around I think 2010 or so Square enix purchased the rights to LOK and were also going to make one called "Dead sun" and cancelled that as well, I've all but given up hope for LOK but it remains one of my favorite series to this day.
@@LilyApus Thank God that wretched game got canceled. It had nothing to do with Kain, Raziel, the Hylden, the Elder God etc. It was just a vampire game they were going to use the LOK name to make money off of. The cancelation of Dark Prophecy was unfortunate though. I'm currently playing through the original Blood Omen now. Fantastic game btw.
I thank you and all the fans in the world for not letting this story die. I'm a German fan and I'm trying to create a novel series based on my interpretation of Legacy of Kain. It must never be forgotten;)
Bitte, mach weiter! Schreib ein Buch, Alter! Selbst wenn es nur für Dich ist, mach es! Diese Story sollte immer weiterleben und noch den nächsten 50.000 Generationen weiterezählt werden! Und wenn es nur in der Familie bleibt. :)
@@seriousegg2315 Hehe^^ Ich denke jeden Tag an Legacy of Kain 😅 Ich tue mich seit Monaten sehr schwer damit die Welt zu erschaffen. Abseits der Welt habe ich schon viel vom groben Roten Faden^^ Allerdings wird blood Omen 2 bei mir nicht wirklich passieren....zumindest nicht so und nicht zu der Zeit wie im Original....(Das Paradox was dazu führt wird es geben^^ aber was daraus entsteht wird andes sein)^^
If you ever do make a novel series about it, or a documentary or some such, I'd be quite intrigued in giving it a read. Like you said, Kain can never be allowed to be forgotten.
Amy Hennig is such a brilliant writer, the fact that she was able to reconcile three visions of Legacy of Kain (Demons and the Unspoken from the first Blood Omen, Her own version of the enemy race from Soul Reaver 2 and the Hylden proper from Blood Omen 2) shows her mastery over the craft and why she was such a good lead for a series that had the potential to end up as a broken and incomprehensible mess. Wish people would praise her not only for the obvious stuff in SR but the things she did and the compromises she took in order to make sure everything worked and fell into place.
I am in the minority, because I loved Blood Omen 2. I thought the story and gameplay was very diverse. Soul Reaver never let men mind control people or burn people alive with my mind.
Another great video! The Hylden were a fantastic addition to the series and the way Defiance wraps them into existing series lore comes off as natural revelations. It cannot be overstated how fantastic Amy Hennig is as a writer along with Carol Wolf, Richard Lemarchand, Paul Jenkins, and Kurt Harland.
"Strange how one's life casts a shadow far beyond one's own understanding. Here, in this alien vault, I discovered a being whose existence was entwined with mine, far more than I could ever imagine." -Kain
@Alex Macmillan ikr! Is almost like a hopeful future for a damned land, just like kayn said at the end of defiance. Reality could be much worse if we dont do something about it
Right? I remember and can quote so much while watching LoK games recently. I played these all back in the day in my early teenage years. I'm 30 now... these games are beautiful. I even remember the bloopers perfectly lol. Tony Jay was and always will be a godly voice actor. Micheal Bell as well. The whole cast honestly.
I imagine some of the inconsistencies with the Hylden's plan might have been explained with the usage of the Soul Reaver, since Raziel's ensnared soul meant that certain rules about history and paradoxes didn't apply, or at least could be circumnavigated unlike other entities in the series. Of course, it was always interesting how the series seemed to suggest that its timeline was always singular, but able to be rewritten or altered depending on the actions taken. Kain delaying Raziel's absorption opened quite the avenue, after all, and we know that apparently a planned sequence in Defiance was to have Kain lay the improved Reaver back in Avernus, so his corrupted younger self could be purified much earlier and possibly open a path at some point in history to finally stop the Hylden and the Elder God.
Similar to how you can "reforge" a weapon and make it brand new physically. Kain had to fix the corrupted soul inside the Reaver(raziels). The only person that could do that was of course Raziel. Therefore the Hylden and Elder God needed Raziel and Kain to fixate on each other as enemies on the same coin rather than allies on the same coin.
Could you go deeper into the cancelled game "Dark prophecy" The main story, the possible events, all we know and all we can assume about it based on the information we have. To provide some kind of closure even though we didn't get one in way what are your thoughts on the ending of the story.
There was a lot of game that were killed during production, one of them was Syrene that he spoke of in the video, last one was kinda of a reloded "Legacy of Kain: Dead sun", that looks like vampire version Assassins Creed, you can check it on YT there are gameplay and trailer leaks. Problem is that there were a lot of projects that were closed and abandoned. Even first soul reaver game is a repatch version of a game that was abandoned...Ingame story is geniously written when looking at the prouduction train wreck behind the stage
My ex loves the Legacy of Kain games, when we got together I found her all 5 complete and watched her play them. Never played (except when she found a boss to hard) but holy hell the story was so damn good. I even found her the Player Selects figures. So happy to see there is still love for this series.
Super interesting, as always. Two things strike me: 1. This series needs a brush up and rerelease so that both the younger audience as well as us old-timers can enjoy the greatness of these games again. 2. Someone needs to get a hold of Amy Hennig and ask how much she needs crowdfunded to get the final instalment of the series in production. One does not simply pull the plug on the Legacy of Kain.
one does indeed pull the plug, the series is dead. even if they release another game it wont be cannon because amy wasn't involved. and you would need millions to get the game going, you need to pay the company that owns it for the right, and amy and her team.
@@UncleDaniel Although you are making good points, you're missing mine. 1. Show that there is a massive support for the series, still, and that fans want the series revived. 2. Get Amy Hennig involved in discussions about a revival and see what she needs to make it happen, should she want to do it. 3. Start a crowdfund to get the project going. Square Enix may just be more willing to get this going if they see that there is that much of a strong support for the franchise and allow for it to happen.
My head canon is that since the hylden lord fled back to the demon realm with Janos' body, he arrogantly thought future Kain was dead and the events of defiance played out with future Kain going into hiding or whatever they initially planned for dark prophecy. Then the hylden lord devised a plan to kill present Kain via the nexus stone in the BO2 intro and left it at that. He didn't know future Kain can't be killed unless with the reaver. 200 years had past and I'm sure he faded from the hylden lords memory, then BO2 takes its course. Good series btw, I always enjoy LoK lore breakdowns.
Idk about you guys, but Blood Omen 2 is one of my favourite games. Because of the story, design and ambient. You get a huge insight about human condition, and exactly who ruled Serafan. It was nice to see that plenty people still supported vampires. And I absolutely love seeing Kain beat the crap of the Hylden Lord.
But I am also wondering: Since Amy Hennig left the team during or at the end of the development of Defiance... would The Dark Prophecy really have kept up with the high level of dialogue and plot quality the other games provided?
I doubt it, given that Blood Omen 2 was made without her, and the story is pretty bad as a result. I literally don't even consider it canon 'cause it would be like a new ASOIAF book coming out that wasn't by G.R.R. Martin.
Seeing these videos so many years after playing the games is so good. Connecting so many dots I couldn’t connect as a child. That being said Blood Omen II is my favorite of the series.
I really liked the hylden and thought they were great additions to the legacy series. Their levels in BO2 were creepy as well. They were a different kind of creepy from what previous games in the series were. They weren't a sneak up and get you creepy, but a manipulating mysterious creepy. They were sadistic and brutal but also slavers, they used us like cattle. They are represenatives of old legends and myths and of course links to von daniken's chariots of the gods. They were very cool and they fit the world, only not initially. The female hylden mural at the end of BO2 is particularly creepy.
I like to think the Hylden looked more human before they developed the Device and started experimenting with The Mass. Usually the creation of a doomsday device like that tends to come at a great cost to the creator as well as there enemy, and in the Kain series great costs usually are reflected visually. The banishment to the demon realm probably futher mutated them afterwords. Excellent channel and content! Ivw been waiting years for good discussion about this series
That's such a clever angle that you said about Hylden and Elder God Hylden understood the nature of Elder God, they prophesized the champion of their own, being Raziel to destroy and Elder God and essentially become a champion of their own in the process. Raziel achieved their ambitions, and nearly achieved 2nd part of the desire to destroy vampire race annihilation. Kain being a rogue element was a problem with Hylden, he represented vampiric race, and needed to be destroyed based on Blood Omen 2 and defiance timelines. Raziel played a part in it. It is also very interesting thought that I just got, what if Hylden were the ones that made the time chamber? They were smart enough to do so. What happens if Moebius just used it? How about the fact that Moebius was a loyal servant of Elder God, and what better way to mess up the timeline is to use Moebius to foil plans of Elder God. I think Hylden knew of Elder God's plans, and avoided him at all cost, by trying to destroy him. Elder God wanted them gone, as they kept souls from going to the wheel of fate, and not allowing Elder God feed on new souls, parasitic nature of Elder God showed that. Also, immortality would not allow new souls to enter Elder God's spectral realm to feed on souls. Imagine if Elder God used his own sneaky plan to use Hylden to afflict vampires with bloodlust? It's INSANE how the logic can branch off into like 5-10 different scenarios. And if Hylden were banished to Abyss, it would clearly devolve their nature into something horrible looking, as Abyss did a number on Raziel as well. They good looks are 100% true, and being banished to that realm destroyed their looks, and perhaps only the strongest have survived. Also...what did Hylden eat in that realm? Kain was a pawn of Elder God. Raziel was a pawn of Elder God and the Hylden, all at the same time, being manipulated by Moebius and Kain as well. Raziel was easily moved through it all, just on his hate for Kain and vampire race. The story is genius, and people that wrote it...knew a lot of interesting concepts.
I think the Hylden were deformed from their staying in the demon dimension and that explains the different look of their earlier and latest depictions in the murals (and the later form we see them have). And yes. I 100% agree that the Hylden were the victims at first but years of exile have made them into tragic "bad guys" now. #TheHyldenDidNothingWrong
Well they did intend to destroy any living thing that wasn’t them, with The Device. Granted the Ancients were dicks and did throw them into a demonic plane, but again the Hylden did intend to nuke everything that wasn’t them and I doubt they’d have destroyed the weapon after killing the Ancients off. Ancients started it and they were dicks, but if you’re answer is “nuke everything that’s not us” then you probably need to stop and consider where that ends.
@@annabella1650 oh I agree... I think the Hylden became hateful and deranged no doubt. So... Well... That's Nosgoth for you, they are all the bad ones. But it would be interesting to consider that maybe the Hylden weren't like that before a holy war was thrust upon them.
@@KatherinaBathory I’d like to have a timeline of when the Ancients worshipped the Elder One, when The Hylden and the Ancients came into being and when the Elder One turned up. That’d answer a lot of questions.
@@annabella1650 oh yeah... To be honest. I would love to have a prequel game (or comic, or novel, or whatever) written hopefully with the aid of Amy Hening and some of the developing team... But sadly that's not happening so we can only speculate from what we have.
for all your criticism, the original soul reaver game was an unfinished masterpiece, blood omen 2 succeeds in developing a narrative that compliments soul reaver 2 in every way. it clearly traded physicality for story driven gameplay. it stands tall and proud on its own without reliance on its predecessor games
While soul reaver was unfinished, plotwise it only lost raziel realizing the elder God had ulterior motives earlier than the released version, blood omen 2 is just a mess because of inexperience and two teams not constantly in talks of their plot, which caused inconsistencies
Please keep making legacy of Kain videos I think with a consistent back catalogue of videos it'll help the series get more well known and gain new fans I think you should make a patreon too I'm sure other lok fans including myself would gladly donate for more content Edit: I'd also like to say the quality of your videos is amazing and I can tell you put a lot of work into them
I just love that your taking the time to bring a franchise that's been long gone (tried to make a come once or twice and failed) and make sense of the 3 sides of the coin
keeps us all going, trust me when i say this... they will make another game. its a classic they'd be stupid not too look what happened when they remastered other games they sold more units than they ever did on ps1 2 3 as people spoke to those who didnt know about it and caused interest. tell your friends and family about this game and email crystal dynamic i already have :)
@@pvmchrisy You're right, the games are still immensely popular. I'm all down for a remake of this brilliant series so long as they use the original voice actors. As for the voice actors who have sadly passed away (Tony Jay for example), they should just reuse the original audio.
@@strictlyfantasy you should start a challenge video and call out any other UA-camr to complete the game in a given time and review it, people will pick up on it and it'll create hype so more old games get remade or continued. do it
the first game i played was Soul Reaver for the PC, It was highly recommended to me by a high school student working as a casual in the hospital i worked in. I came across Blood Omen at EB Games but it was for the playstation platform and i really wanted to play it too so I bought a refurbished ps2 and played the game and fell in love with the story line.
Though Blood Omen 2 had a bad engine, yet you can't deny how far into the Hylden lore it went. Especially my favorite part; The Mass. Made me think if creatures like that existed, what else is there? Honestly, this game deserves a complete remaster.
At this point I just wish they'd release the entire series as books. Imagine an audio book read by the voice actors... hell, why not an audio drama, like japan does all the time?
One thing that I have yet to see anyone speculate on is the degree to which the ancient vampires had the powers which the pillars represent. If they had any measure of the powers the pillar guardians seem to possess then perhaps they had the same capacity Moebius has for anachronistic knowledge and thus their depiction of the hylden may be from insight they had of their potential/inevitable future.
The Legacy of Kain Franchise by far will always remain my number one favorite video game franchise. It's a shame how the series ended on such a cliff hanger and sad that this series never continued and concluded. I would always imagine many stories after Blood Omen 2 and after Defiance on how the overall narrative meets full circle. I would imagine new allies and enemies that Kain and Raziel encounter during their journeys, and the exotic foreboding landscapes and forgotten knowledge found outside of Nosgoth's main continent and deep within Nosgoth's ancient past long before the rise of the Ancient Vampires and Hylden. I'll always treasure those memories and the impact Legacy of Kain had on me has inspired me to write a grimdark fantasy novel about a Villainous Anti-Hero that readers will come to understand why they are the way they are and is cursed by fate where the universe and eldritch horrors are so much against him. Just like Kain and Elric of Malnibone before him.
I've replayed these games multiple times over the years, but only now through watching your videos that the story fully makes sense to me! Its definitely an amazing series that NEEDS more love. Thank you for your videos, and I will definitely be looking forward to watching more. 😃
I never really thought about how the Hylden would have been successful with either of Kain's decisions at the end of Blood Omen. I kept thinking of Kain's sacrifice being that 'happy ending' for Nosgoth. Great observation!
It is simply amazing to find such a lively community fond of LOK after almost a decade! keep going with these videos man and you shall be named as the Guardian of the pillar of Lore
I so wish they could pick up where they left off on the series - but I know so much would be missing if they did. The late Tony Jay missing from production, Michael Bay being so much older, different writing team with a VERY complicated plot... I guess all we can do is sigh and wonder. Thank you for making this video - brilliant!
these are great BTW, recently replayed the whole series over again, and you've been doing these luckily as I have been playing them, I always was a big fan when I was a kid playing them, but now I'm really getting to know the deeper lines in the story, thank you, keep up the good work!
When Hylden Lord posses Janos in Defiance, love that dialogue so much. Wonder if Defiance got a sequel what would it focus on and how it would expand more on Hylden but I'm still satisfied with the overall conclusion of the series.
@@Disconnect350 I know i wish i vould be as accepting. Just a damn shame we will never see how the Hyldan Lord is defeated, and what fate lies ahead for Kain along with the vampire race.
@@danpasquale1620 We actually saw the Hylden Lord defeated, have you not played BO2? After Defiance, possessed Janos opens the hylden gate and then BO2 starts. That's why you find Janos trapped, he is powering the Device. Eventually he gets thrown by the Hylden Lord into the gate and gets banished in the Demon Realm. The Hylden Lord finds his end in Young Kain's hands, getting killed with the Soul Reaver.
@@Dionysus-207 yeah i played all of them BO2 was forever ago (the entire series was :/) forgot that took place after Defiance. The Hyldan lord was the Hyldan army commander not their king/leader. Dark Prophet was supposed to take place in the hell the hyldan were banished in too where I'm sure kain would have slain their king ya know?
Seeing the Legacy of Kain series creep its toes out of the limbo it's in when someone delivers a Legend of Zelda quality examination video is absolutely fantastic! I think it'd be great to see Kain pushed to his limits and giving his all now that there are no pieces on the chess board, or coins to toss, or saviors to rely on. To see him act to end things NOW instead of hold things for future possibilities.
Fantastic video! I always took BO2 to show the arrogance of the Hylden, thinking that, while Kain would do his thing, we could alter history before it happens. As an aside, this series needs to be revived.
Thank you for being one of few that acknowledges that the Pillars would fall regardless of Kain's choice in the first game, that even most in the series seem to ignore since the connection of the Pillars to the Vampires seems to be unknown by many.
Blood omen 2 was my first game in a rental game shop. It was the most fun game I ever played when I was a kid. I played and finished it again last year and the feeling was still the same!
I feel like I owe you an apology, I remember watching one of your videos long ago and thinking to myself " I should subscribe to this man" but I never did... that changes today. So yea sorry and thank you for making more videos on this amazing sires.
Thank you so much for sharing this about the rich lore in the stories. Maybe one day they will bring it back or remake Blood Omen so that the world can be reintroduced to the epic Legacy of Kain. One of my favorite series ever.
I've watched all of your LOK lore series and can't wait to see more maybe on the pillars? Maybe the glyphs from the first soul reaver game? There is so much keep up the fantasic work x
Its great to see that there are still many fans of this frenchise. Good job on the video. Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver 1 was the first game that found me on the PS1 and made a large impact on the games that i like. Im still sad,that there isnt more games made of these.
I also leave this nice little 6 hour long video made of the cutscenes of all 5 games . ua-cam.com/video/w3faOccJsZc/v-deo.html This took away one night of sleep from me. :D
Man I literally just finished playing through soul reaver 2 and then defiance, and I never understood how the pillars were doomed regardless of Kain's choice - thanks for helping to clear that up!
I'm so happy to see a video like this released YESTERDAY. Thank you so much for reviving this art piece. That being said, while I agree with a lot of your analysis, I think it is not a plot hole that the Hylden Lord tries to kill younger Kain in BO2. At that point, he did not need Kain anymore because he had already returned, and killing Kain would not change that. It helps to see BO2 as the last installment in the series story-telling wise.
Thanks for the kind feedback. The thing with "time" in Legacy of Kain series is that it's essentially fixed, except for limited exceptions when two versions of the Soul Reaver meet. When time changes, the future flows on, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations. If the younger Kain is killed by the Hylden Lord, then this would absolutely destroy the timeline because Raziel needs to be brought back as a vampire by Kain so that he can one day resurrect Janos and Kain needs to survive his battle with the Hylden Lord in some shape or form to one day pull the sword free from Raziel as the Elder Kain. If Kain dies in Blood Omen 2, then he can't possibly go back in time to set all these things in motion...
In a way I'm glad the games story doesn't have a conclusion now. The writing and characters were so good, and I just do not believe whoever would take it up would have the gravitas to conclude LoK with any value, especially today
Damn they got to do a remake! But please bring back the crew that created the original Legacy of Kain. I remember playing LOK and being mesmerized by the dialogue and story, it was so thoughtful and convincing.
I have a real soft spot for Blood Omen 2. I was stuck at home sick as hell, and had no games because a "friend" had stolen all my games a few weeks prior. My mum tried to cheer me up by buying a game to cheer me up and Blood Omen 2 was the game she happened to grab, having picked it out because she knew I liked the soul Reaver games. And so I spent that week with only one game, and honestly? I had a pretty good time with Blood Omen 2. Was it as good as Soul Reaver 2? Nah. But I really ended up enjoying it none the less.
It brings me joy there are fans still. I was one of the few that got to start this series since beginning. But back to the Hyldon, I feel like that was such a hindsight error and easily fixed if we ever get a continuous of the series.
Well the hylden Lord fighting the younger kain could be by defeating kain he could break the time loop and trying to break the paradox and giving a chance for the hylden to be free from time travel and fate, flip enough times a coin can land on its edge so blood omen 2 was the hylden flipping it on its side for that one chance to break free
Thank you for another video on this amazing saga. I haven't been able to play all the games and it's been a while since I got into it. The story is deep and complex, but your analysis makes it so much easier to follow. Please keep doing these! :)
This should be a series. Not the greatest of gameplay, it is one of the boldest stories I have ever interacted with. I am very fond of its characters and still say to myself sometimes "free will". Great story!
Really cool!! I have only played the first Soul Reaver game, and i've been catching up with the story through UA-cam videos. I didn't know anything about the hyldens or the games about younger Kain. Great video!!
I hope a studio will pick this series up again, having people who played the games or thought the story as a whole had great potential. I wouldn't care if they started with rebooting the first game or gave us a conclusion to defiance. There is so much material to work with it's a real shame no ones even talked about taking up the mantle yet.
Brilliant video, very informative. Glad to see another channel showing this game series some love. I'm currently doing a let's play on my channel, these games need to be shared! 🔥 Subbed!
The trick to understanding this series is realizing that there are several independent timelines spawned by specific events. Each timeline has a different outcome (BO2 is a different timeline for example).
The more lore videos I watch the more I am convinced that this franchise will make a big come back. Hopefully the remaster of soul reaver does great in sales pushing them to make a remake or something. This whole story is as deep and complicated as something that fromsoft would push yet LOK and soul reaver provide you so much more exposition and interaction with the actual realm of the game.
I actually really like BO2, it was kind of a spin-off, so I didn't mind that it had nothing to do with the other games, I also really liked exploring Meridian. When I was a kid I was hoping they would release a similar spin-off game about Raziel's time as a normal vampire with his own adventures.
if you do a bit of mental gymnastics the series fit all togheter so well, henning was able to take a take-away demon final boss from blood omen and spin him into a diabolical master mind that was secretly behind most stuff in the series and made it also fit with the elder god plot and the paintings of the two warring races, I also loved how kain had the heart of darkness in BO1 and that became a crucial element of Defiance, amazing writing! I'm not kidding, if you look at all the cutscenes of SR2 and then defiance back to back it all flows smoothly like a movie that slowly unravels all its plot threads, it's a shame she is not making videogames anymore
I always felt the Hylden were one of the most awkward parts of the story, and this does a good show of showing why that's the case. The other thing that's always frustrated me, that might make a good topic for a video, is the way vampirism is handled. The ancient vampires didn't have the "dark gift", and ended up dying out because they were rendered sterile by it. Then they "turn" humans by bestowing the dark gift on them, but this is treated as making them into vampires. Somewhere along the way the curse that ended the vampires became identified with vampires themselves, to the point where Kain considered himself the last of their race.
Because creating a Vampire requires the giving of part of one's soul to make it so. That's why all of Kain's descendents become twisted over time, they all inherented his soul corruption he was stricken with by Nauprator, and then passed it down to the vampires he created, who then passed it down to their own children. The giving of the soul is also what transfers the blood curse and immortality. And it's possible that they were also spiked with Hylden blood/soul, as a means of countering the Vampire Champion prophecy, by turning the Vampire's champion into a pseudo-Hylden which caused their greatest weapon, The Reaver, to turn on and devour their own champion due to sensing the latent hylden within them once the bond between user and blade had been fully established. However if this is the case, than it means The Hylden Lord did it to Kain while he was raising him after he realized Mortainous was attempting to complete the prophecy by giving kain the Heart of Darkness, which would eventually create a new Ancient to become the vampire champion from Janos's direct bloodline. (i.e. Raziel's evolution would've been black-feathery wings like an Ancient and would over the next few centuries gradually take on a blue-ish hue as well, and look very much like an original Ancient). Where as Kain by contrast actually looks like a Hylden as he continues to evolve, with the beginnings of that head-crown design forming.
Now that i am older i really believe the Hylden were not evil at all. They saw the ''elder god'' for what he truly was. A parasite and that parasite made the ancient vampires start a war. To this day LoK is still my favorite series. Sad we will never see more of it.
Is there any chance you will do a video about the Ancient Vampire Race in a similar manner to this Video? Also.... What are your thoughts on the Werewolf City from Blood Omen? The Architecture of it is very Hylden/Mesoamerican in style.
i always considered Blood Omen 2 to be in an alternate already past time line. Since Soul Reaver (1) we know that fate has been repeated several times so the Soul Reaver could fulfill his destiny. One Day Kain realized this and started his campaign against fate itself (in Soul Reaver 1). The long presumed clash of the hero of the vampires and the hylden's hero to me is just past the ending of Defiance. Just a few decades before a new alternate Blood Omen 2 timeline begins. But since the description on the walls is pretty vague and leaves room for intepretation nothing yet everthing can be true. Maybe this is why Kain has fought this war: A future no one can foretold and the outcome is unclear.
It's criminal that a million games that function as little more than casinos can be pushed out, but a story like this can never be concluded. Honestly, even if we never get Dark Prophecy, it would be great if they could do what The Borgias did and release it as a book.
I would love for Amy Hennig to write a book to finish the series. I've read the Mass Effect books by Drew Karpyshyn and that worked really well for detailing the backstory of main characters from the first game. I think Hennig could do an awesome job doing that with Dark Prophecy
Agreed
Most old franchises that gets cancelled and dies also brings their devs with them to the grave, which was not the case with the Soul Reaver IP. Crystal Dynamics is HUGE and, being a subsidiary of Square Enix, has a lot of competent writters.
Its incomprehensible how they still didn't revived this series, either with a reboot or a sequel.
But then, again, its better for it to die with being awesome than getting rebooted into a horrible mess like most franchises nowadays.
@@abnnizzy Honestly, I wouldn't trust anyone to complete this story besides Amy Henning. Sadly, I think she got burned out and decided not to return to this series out of frustration. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because I remember hearing it, but I can't confirm it.
@@abnnizzy they need to stop trying to chase the coat tails of uncharted with them twisting tomb Raider to be like it. Does anyone even want more of those games? Clearly the demand is for more Kain games.
It brings me joy to see there are still fans of this masterpiece of a series still making videos about it.
Same here. This series is a massive piece of art and philosophical depth and I wish that even more people had played and experienced the journey of Kain and Raziel.
Legacy of Kain is incredible time capsule xd.i think this level of dialogue is incredible it has similar tone to dialogues in warcraft 3.
Still wishing for a new release
Me too. I sit and pray for a HD remake collection
Same
I bought the whole saga on steam and I love it
Best discovery I made last year
Funny enough, Blood Omen 2 was my introduction to the series as a whole. It might be clunky, the story might not be the best, but even this was enough to hook me into this unique universe.
I'm the youngest of 4 so soul reaver was mine but blood omen 2 was the first one I got to play and didn't have to miss any story
mine was soul reaver 1, my mum's mate (big gamer old dude) gave me Spyro soul reaver 1 and croc. I was a very happy chappy :) I've even got the soul reaver tattoed on me and name my son after Raziel but with a twist :) I also have the rebellion sword from DMC on my arm with my dad and uncle's name on a ribbon around the sword r.i.p
@@pvmchrisy did you know that Raziel is the arch angel of gods hidden knowledge in some texts
@@thomastruant8837 yes i did :)
Same here! I loved this game, more than the others I played after finding this
It warms my heart to see people are still interested in this game series. I wish it had gotten more mainstream attention aside from the multiplayer game. One can only hope.
After Duke Nukem forever, anything is literally possible
@@dannyVulture Very true dude
After "games as a service" permeated consoles, anything's possible
Back in 1999 my brother died mysteriously still don't know how it happened grieving over his death I found this game soul reaver the opening cutscene was so amazing and the fact that the game talked about the afterlife and souls actually made me believe that this stuff could be real of course I was 7 years old at the time sing you make these videos explaining the lore in the story of this entire series is fantastic and amazing I have fully understand the legacy of kain series because of your videos I'm definitely subscribing for sure thanks
Do You still believe?
sorry for your loss but what a fucked up world to believe your brothers spirit lives in, being a spirit in nosgoth in the spectral realm sounds terrifying
Powerful stuff man, that'll hold a special place in your heart forever. May your brother's soul always be with you, as the Reaver is always with both Kain and Raziel.
Reqiescat In pace
My sympathies about your brother.
I feel the Hylden maybe saw the elder god for what he was. Knowing that the spell to make the vampires immortal would be the greatest curse they could do.
The Hylden were the heroes of the Ancient-Hylden War. Janos Audron was a fanatic and a criminal. Religious fanatics should be kept out of power at all costs or they start doctrinal wars in the name of their false gods when they get power. Our own history is evidence of that.
@@sypherthe297th2 Sypher even if that is true at times, sometimes religions establish morality codes, while communistic atheist communities well killed 10s of millions in only decades. Humanity needs morality in order to advance and survive, and without belief there is no moral spark. But with the hylden, it wasn't about screwing the elder god, it was because they got beat and were angry about it. I liked the hylden tho and BO2, I think SR2 and some of the other narratives later tossed the series on its head. BO1 was suppose to make vamps out to be dark torturer freaks. Seriously vorodore had human women hanging from hooks, and delighted in killing and consuming. This whole janos angle in SR2 was sickening to me as a fan of BO1 for years... That the vamps are angels and shepherds who just want a sacrifice from time to time? Bullshit, real epic spinning in order to turn kain/raziel sympathetic. Really hated where the storyline went with SR2, dunno why so many people bash BO2 over SR2, SR2 was ass.
@@HistorysMysterys if a person or people need religion to have morals than their not very good people at all. Religion has proven time and again to be a crutch that many use to justify thier cruel actions because they can claim when challenged that it's thier religions morals to do the cruel things they did. See the crusades, Salem witch trials/burnings as examples or even all the problems with the catholic church involving the child molestation their priests have committed.
@@BansheeKing22 correct. People?, they're not very good at all.
Super deep! I'd say you're all right. Humans are caught between all these societal forces. We run society into a ditch without religion to steady us, AND we also aren't good at following the religion properly when we try that. We're trapped. Limited by our own tantrum-based child souls.
Back to the hylden... what if they DID find scientific proof of Eldergod, and when they cursed the Ancients it was done as BOTH punishment and salvation?!?!?! The hylden population would cheer the punishment part, and the hylden illuminati would know they'd just freed the vampires from the true enemy's clutches.
"A cancelled sequel" damn these words hurt.
It's rather strange, whenever my life takes a turn for the worse, it's the Legacy of Kain series I feel myself drawn towards.
Well the sequel Crystal dynamics had never got going all that far it was just planned, but around I think 2010 or so Square enix purchased the rights to LOK and were also going to make one called "Dead sun" and cancelled that as well, I've all but given up hope for LOK but it remains one of my favorite series to this day.
@@LilyApus Thank God that wretched game got canceled. It had nothing to do with Kain, Raziel, the Hylden, the Elder God etc. It was just a vampire game they were going to use the LOK name to make money off of. The cancelation of Dark Prophecy was unfortunate though. I'm currently playing through the original Blood Omen now. Fantastic game btw.
I thank you and all the fans in the world for not letting this story die. I'm a German fan and I'm trying to create a novel series based on my interpretation of Legacy of Kain. It must never be forgotten;)
Bitte, mach weiter! Schreib ein Buch, Alter! Selbst wenn es nur für Dich ist, mach es! Diese Story sollte immer weiterleben und noch den nächsten 50.000 Generationen weiterezählt werden! Und wenn es nur in der Familie bleibt. :)
@@seriousegg2315 Hehe^^ Ich denke jeden Tag an Legacy of Kain 😅 Ich tue mich seit Monaten sehr schwer damit die Welt zu erschaffen. Abseits der Welt habe ich schon viel vom groben Roten Faden^^ Allerdings wird blood Omen 2 bei mir nicht wirklich passieren....zumindest nicht so und nicht zu der Zeit wie im Original....(Das Paradox was dazu führt wird es geben^^ aber was daraus entsteht wird andes sein)^^
If you do finish that Novel be sure to send some to America I would love to have a copy.
If you ever do make a novel series about it, or a documentary or some such, I'd be quite intrigued in giving it a read. Like you said, Kain can never be allowed to be forgotten.
Guys watch Aquaman 2 seems to me that they used the Hylden concept in the movie
Amy Hennig is such a brilliant writer, the fact that she was able to reconcile three visions of Legacy of Kain (Demons and the Unspoken from the first Blood Omen, Her own version of the enemy race from Soul Reaver 2 and the Hylden proper from Blood Omen 2) shows her mastery over the craft and why she was such a good lead for a series that had the potential to end up as a broken and incomprehensible mess. Wish people would praise her not only for the obvious stuff in SR but the things she did and the compromises she took in order to make sure everything worked and fell into place.
I am in the minority, because I loved Blood Omen 2. I thought the story and gameplay was very diverse. Soul Reaver never let men mind control people or burn people alive with my mind.
The setting was so much better than the other games. It was definitely my favorite
It was a good game
Blood Omen 2 is my favorite game ever made, every other game I consider lore and I love them too
Reinstalling Blood Omen 2.
No, you just burned people down the regular way.
Legacy of Kain has my favorite voice over work and overall story ever
Also Metal Gear
I started my journey with Blood Omen 2.
It will always be special to me.
Play it still this day.
Another great video! The Hylden were a fantastic addition to the series and the way Defiance wraps them into existing series lore comes off as natural revelations. It cannot be overstated how fantastic Amy Hennig is as a writer along with Carol Wolf, Richard Lemarchand, Paul Jenkins, and Kurt Harland.
"Strange how one's life casts a shadow far beyond one's own understanding. Here, in this alien vault, I discovered a being whose existence was entwined with mine, far more than I could ever imagine."
-Kain
LoK gives me life during this times. Amaizing video!
Something about it describes some kind of occult narrative, if even unawares.
Same here!!
@Alex Macmillan ikr! Is almost like a hopeful future for a damned land, just like kayn said at the end of defiance. Reality could be much worse if we dont do something about it
I have a great deal of fondness for Legacy of Kain. To this day I'm still sad they ended with Defiance
This is the only serie that captured me since day one so much that now 20 years later I still go on UA-cam to watch all sorts of LOK videos.
Right? I remember and can quote so much while watching LoK games recently. I played these all back in the day in my early teenage years. I'm 30 now... these games are beautiful.
I even remember the bloopers perfectly lol.
Tony Jay was and always will be a godly voice actor. Micheal Bell as well. The whole cast honestly.
I imagine some of the inconsistencies with the Hylden's plan might have been explained with the usage of the Soul Reaver, since Raziel's ensnared soul meant that certain rules about history and paradoxes didn't apply, or at least could be circumnavigated unlike other entities in the series. Of course, it was always interesting how the series seemed to suggest that its timeline was always singular, but able to be rewritten or altered depending on the actions taken. Kain delaying Raziel's absorption opened quite the avenue, after all, and we know that apparently a planned sequence in Defiance was to have Kain lay the improved Reaver back in Avernus, so his corrupted younger self could be purified much earlier and possibly open a path at some point in history to finally stop the Hylden and the Elder God.
Similar to how you can "reforge" a weapon and make it brand new physically. Kain had to fix the corrupted soul inside the Reaver(raziels). The only person that could do that was of course Raziel. Therefore the Hylden and Elder God needed Raziel and Kain to fixate on each other as enemies on the same coin rather than allies on the same coin.
@@Zarzanator cosmic. This story is so damn good
Could you go deeper into the cancelled game "Dark prophecy"
The main story, the possible events, all we know and all we can assume about it based on the information we have.
To provide some kind of closure even though we didn't get one in way what are your thoughts on the ending of the story.
There was a lot of game that were killed during production, one of them was Syrene that he spoke of in the video, last one was kinda of a reloded "Legacy of Kain: Dead sun", that looks like vampire version Assassins Creed, you can check it on YT there are gameplay and trailer leaks. Problem is that there were a lot of projects that were closed and abandoned. Even first soul reaver game is a repatch version of a game that was abandoned...Ingame story is geniously written when looking at the prouduction train wreck behind the stage
Maybe it's better to forget... haha
@@TheRetroPerspective wish i could
My ex loves the Legacy of Kain games, when we got together I found her all 5 complete and watched her play them. Never played (except when she found a boss to hard) but holy hell the story was so damn good. I even found her the Player Selects figures.
So happy to see there is still love for this series.
Super interesting, as always. Two things strike me: 1. This series needs a brush up and rerelease so that both the younger audience as well as us old-timers can enjoy the greatness of these games again. 2. Someone needs to get a hold of Amy Hennig and ask how much she needs crowdfunded to get the final instalment of the series in production. One does not simply pull the plug on the Legacy of Kain.
Yes.
one does indeed pull the plug, the series is dead.
even if they release another game it wont be cannon because amy wasn't involved.
and you would need millions to get the game going, you need to pay the company that owns it for the right, and amy and her team.
@@UncleDaniel Although you are making good points, you're missing mine. 1. Show that there is a massive support for the series, still, and that fans want the series revived. 2. Get Amy Hennig involved in discussions about a revival and see what she needs to make it happen, should she want to do it. 3. Start a crowdfund to get the project going. Square Enix may just be more willing to get this going if they see that there is that much of a strong support for the franchise and allow for it to happen.
At least the Embracer Group decided to take a stand to never let the series die like that.
My head canon is that since the hylden lord fled back to the demon realm with Janos' body, he arrogantly thought future Kain was dead and the events of defiance played out with future Kain going into hiding or whatever they initially planned for dark prophecy. Then the hylden lord devised a plan to kill present Kain via the nexus stone in the BO2 intro and left it at that. He didn't know future Kain can't be killed unless with the reaver. 200 years had past and I'm sure he faded from the hylden lords memory, then BO2 takes its course.
Good series btw, I always enjoy LoK lore breakdowns.
Idk about you guys, but Blood Omen 2 is one of my favourite games. Because of the story, design and ambient. You get a huge insight about human condition, and exactly who ruled Serafan. It was nice to see that plenty people still supported vampires. And I absolutely love seeing Kain beat the crap of the Hylden Lord.
But I am also wondering: Since Amy Hennig left the team during or at the end of the development of Defiance... would The Dark Prophecy really have kept up with the high level of dialogue and plot quality the other games provided?
Probably yes. Amy had left some notes and she wrote she "passed the torch to capable hands". So I was hopeful (back then... 😭)
Amy hennig played a huge part in the story. Her leaving definitely had an impact.
From what DCab was saying, Ritual wanted to add a lot more action and do things which were not coherent with the current storyline.
@@RainaAudron ok now that's messed up. I haven't read that.. ugh...
I doubt it, given that Blood Omen 2 was made without her, and the story is pretty bad as a result.
I literally don't even consider it canon 'cause it would be like a new ASOIAF book coming out that wasn't by G.R.R. Martin.
Seeing these videos so many years after playing the games is so good. Connecting so many dots I couldn’t connect as a child. That being said Blood Omen II is my favorite of the series.
The Hylden always baffled me in this franchise. Thanks for this, it’s answered a few questions
I like it. I like Kain's dialogues there because of his vast arrogance and baddassery
I really liked the hylden and thought they were great additions to the legacy series. Their levels in BO2 were creepy as well. They were a different kind of creepy from what previous games in the series were. They weren't a sneak up and get you creepy, but a manipulating mysterious creepy. They were sadistic and brutal but also slavers, they used us like cattle. They are represenatives of old legends and myths and of course links to von daniken's chariots of the gods. They were very cool and they fit the world, only not initially. The female hylden mural at the end of BO2 is particularly creepy.
I like to think the Hylden looked more human before they developed the Device and started experimenting with The Mass. Usually the creation of a doomsday device like that tends to come at a great cost to the creator as well as there enemy, and in the Kain series great costs usually are reflected visually. The banishment to the demon realm probably futher mutated them afterwords. Excellent channel and content! Ivw been waiting years for good discussion about this series
they did, there are sketches of them, they have mostly human faces.
I loved the way you could see the blood go through the air in Blood Omen 2.
That's such a clever angle that you said about Hylden and Elder God
Hylden understood the nature of Elder God, they prophesized the champion of their own, being Raziel to destroy and Elder God and essentially become a champion of their own in the process. Raziel achieved their ambitions, and nearly achieved 2nd part of the desire to destroy vampire race annihilation. Kain being a rogue element was a problem with Hylden, he represented vampiric race, and needed to be destroyed based on Blood Omen 2 and defiance timelines. Raziel played a part in it. It is also very interesting thought that I just got, what if Hylden were the ones that made the time chamber? They were smart enough to do so. What happens if Moebius just used it?
How about the fact that Moebius was a loyal servant of Elder God, and what better way to mess up the timeline is to use Moebius to foil plans of Elder God.
I think Hylden knew of Elder God's plans, and avoided him at all cost, by trying to destroy him.
Elder God wanted them gone, as they kept souls from going to the wheel of fate, and not allowing Elder God feed on new souls, parasitic nature of Elder God showed that.
Also, immortality would not allow new souls to enter Elder God's spectral realm to feed on souls.
Imagine if Elder God used his own sneaky plan to use Hylden to afflict vampires with bloodlust?
It's INSANE how the logic can branch off into like 5-10 different scenarios. And if Hylden were banished to Abyss, it would clearly devolve their nature into something horrible looking, as Abyss did a number on Raziel as well.
They good looks are 100% true, and being banished to that realm destroyed their looks, and perhaps only the strongest have survived. Also...what did Hylden eat in that realm?
Kain was a pawn of Elder God. Raziel was a pawn of Elder God and the Hylden, all at the same time, being manipulated by Moebius and Kain as well.
Raziel was easily moved through it all, just on his hate for Kain and vampire race.
The story is genius, and people that wrote it...knew a lot of interesting concepts.
I think the Hylden were deformed from their staying in the demon dimension and that explains the different look of their earlier and latest depictions in the murals (and the later form we see them have).
And yes. I 100% agree that the Hylden were the victims at first but years of exile have made them into tragic "bad guys" now.
#TheHyldenDidNothingWrong
Well they did intend to destroy any living thing that wasn’t them, with The Device. Granted the Ancients were dicks and did throw them into a demonic plane, but again the Hylden did intend to nuke everything that wasn’t them and I doubt they’d have destroyed the weapon after killing the Ancients off. Ancients started it and they were dicks, but if you’re answer is “nuke everything that’s not us” then you probably need to stop and consider where that ends.
@@annabella1650 oh I agree... I think the Hylden became hateful and deranged no doubt. So... Well... That's Nosgoth for you, they are all the bad ones.
But it would be interesting to consider that maybe the Hylden weren't like that before a holy war was thrust upon them.
@@KatherinaBathory
I’d like to have a timeline of when the Ancients worshipped the Elder One, when The Hylden and the Ancients came into being and when the Elder One turned up. That’d answer a lot of questions.
@@annabella1650 oh yeah... To be honest. I would love to have a prequel game (or comic, or novel, or whatever) written hopefully with the aid of Amy Hening and some of the developing team... But sadly that's not happening so we can only speculate from what we have.
Humans are the victims of both Vampire and Hylden. Humans Against Monsters! #HAM
for all your criticism, the original soul reaver game was an unfinished masterpiece, blood omen 2 succeeds in developing a narrative that compliments soul reaver 2 in every way. it clearly traded physicality for story driven gameplay. it stands tall and proud on its own without reliance on its predecessor games
To each their own lol
While soul reaver was unfinished, plotwise it only lost raziel realizing the elder God had ulterior motives earlier than the released version, blood omen 2 is just a mess because of inexperience and two teams not constantly in talks of their plot, which caused inconsistencies
It's such a shame Amy henig never wrote books her writing is fantastic.
Please keep making legacy of Kain videos I think with a consistent back catalogue of videos it'll help the series get more well known and gain new fans I think you should make a patreon too I'm sure other lok fans including myself would gladly donate for more content
Edit: I'd also like to say the quality of your videos is amazing and I can tell you put a lot of work into them
Thank you.
I just love that your taking the time to bring a franchise that's been long gone (tried to make a come once or twice and failed) and make sense of the 3 sides of the coin
keeps us all going, trust me when i say this... they will make another game. its a classic they'd be stupid not too look what happened when they remastered other games they sold more units than they ever did on ps1 2 3 as people spoke to those who didnt know about it and caused interest. tell your friends and family about this game and email crystal dynamic i already have :)
@@pvmchrisy You're right, the games are still immensely popular. I'm all down for a remake of this brilliant series so long as they use the original voice actors. As for the voice actors who have sadly passed away (Tony Jay for example), they should just reuse the original audio.
@@strictlyfantasy you should start a challenge video and call out any other UA-camr to complete the game in a given time and review it, people will pick up on it and it'll create hype so more old games get remade or continued. do it
the first game i played was Soul Reaver for the PC, It was highly recommended to me by a high school student working as a casual in the hospital i worked in. I came across Blood Omen at EB Games but it was for the playstation platform and i really wanted to play it too so I bought a refurbished ps2 and played the game and fell in love with the story line.
Though Blood Omen 2 had a bad engine, yet you can't deny how far into the Hylden lore it went.
Especially my favorite part; The Mass. Made me think if creatures like that existed, what else is there?
Honestly, this game deserves a complete remaster.
At this point I just wish they'd release the entire series as books. Imagine an audio book read by the voice actors... hell, why not an audio drama, like japan does all the time?
Ive rewatched these quite a few times. Never gets old. Always hoping for more
One thing that I have yet to see anyone speculate on is the degree to which the ancient vampires had the powers which the pillars represent. If they had any measure of the powers the pillar guardians seem to possess then perhaps they had the same capacity Moebius has for anachronistic knowledge and thus their depiction of the hylden may be from insight they had of their potential/inevitable future.
The Legacy of Kain Franchise by far will always remain my number one favorite video game franchise. It's a shame how the series ended on such a cliff hanger and sad that this series never continued and concluded. I would always imagine many stories after Blood Omen 2 and after Defiance on how the overall narrative meets full circle. I would imagine new allies and enemies that Kain and Raziel encounter during their journeys, and the exotic foreboding landscapes and forgotten knowledge found outside of Nosgoth's main continent and deep within Nosgoth's ancient past long before the rise of the Ancient Vampires and Hylden. I'll always treasure those memories and the impact Legacy of Kain had on me has inspired me to write a grimdark fantasy novel about a Villainous Anti-Hero that readers will come to understand why they are the way they are and is cursed by fate where the universe and eldritch horrors are so much against him. Just like Kain and Elric of Malnibone before him.
I've replayed these games multiple times over the years, but only now through watching your videos that the story fully makes sense to me! Its definitely an amazing series that NEEDS more love. Thank you for your videos, and I will definitely be looking forward to watching more. 😃
I never really thought about how the Hylden would have been successful with either of Kain's decisions at the end of Blood Omen.
I kept thinking of Kain's sacrifice being that 'happy ending' for Nosgoth. Great observation!
It is simply amazing to find such a lively community fond of LOK after almost a decade! keep going with these videos man and you shall be named as the Guardian of the pillar of Lore
I so wish they could pick up where they left off on the series - but I know so much would be missing if they did. The late Tony Jay missing from production, Michael Bay being so much older, different writing team with a VERY complicated plot... I guess all we can do is sigh and wonder. Thank you for making this video - brilliant!
The voice actor they hired to play "Megabyte" in the awful reboot of Reboot actually sounds like Tony Jay, except when he gets worked up.
@@kevinfisher5492 He came to mind for me as well! As long as Elder God doesn't get too worked up, it could work! lol
Thanks for this video man.
Legacy of kain is amazing.
Great exploration of the lore. I like how you analyze the moral complexity and decay of the Hylden.
these are great BTW, recently replayed the whole series over again, and you've been doing these luckily as I have been playing them, I always was a big fan when I was a kid playing them, but now I'm really getting to know the deeper lines in the story, thank you, keep up the good work!
Bro, thank you for keeping this story alive!!
just love LoK lore, so obscure, yet so shining, truly a hidden gem.
Wish I had the money to buy this IP. So much forward moving potential.
When Hylden Lord posses Janos in Defiance, love that dialogue so much. Wonder if Defiance got a sequel what would it focus on and how it would expand more on Hylden but I'm still satisfied with the overall conclusion of the series.
Sadly we will probably never know :/
@@danpasquale1620 And y'know what? I'm okay with it. Some things are better left open ended and one thing LoK has taught me that nothing is for sure.
@@Disconnect350 I know i wish i vould be as accepting. Just a damn shame we will never see how the Hyldan Lord is defeated, and what fate lies ahead for Kain along with the vampire race.
@@danpasquale1620 We actually saw the Hylden Lord defeated, have you not played BO2? After Defiance, possessed Janos opens the hylden gate and then BO2 starts. That's why you find Janos trapped, he is powering the Device. Eventually he gets thrown by the Hylden Lord into the gate and gets banished in the Demon Realm. The Hylden Lord finds his end in Young Kain's hands, getting killed with the Soul Reaver.
@@Dionysus-207 yeah i played all of them BO2 was forever ago (the entire series was :/) forgot that took place after Defiance. The Hyldan lord was the Hyldan army commander not their king/leader. Dark Prophet was supposed to take place in the hell the hyldan were banished in too where I'm sure kain would have slain their king ya know?
2023 I am holding out for Legacy of Kain: Time's Dogma (or whatever they call it)
Seeing the Legacy of Kain series creep its toes out of the limbo it's in when someone delivers a Legend of Zelda quality examination video is absolutely fantastic! I think it'd be great to see Kain pushed to his limits and giving his all now that there are no pieces on the chess board, or coins to toss, or saviors to rely on. To see him act to end things NOW instead of hold things for future possibilities.
Fantastic video! I always took BO2 to show the arrogance of the Hylden, thinking that, while Kain would do his thing, we could alter history before it happens.
As an aside, this series needs to be revived.
Thank you for being one of few that acknowledges that the Pillars would fall regardless of Kain's choice in the first game, that even most in the series seem to ignore since the connection of the Pillars to the Vampires seems to be unknown by many.
Legacy of Kain is even more complicated than Silent Hill. Way more. So I love researching it. Thank you, good work.
Blood omen 2 was my first game in a rental game shop. It was the most fun game I ever played when I was a kid. I played and finished it again last year and the feeling was still the same!
I feel like I owe you an apology, I remember watching one of your videos long ago and thinking to myself " I should subscribe to this man" but I never did... that changes today. So yea sorry and thank you for making more videos on this amazing sires.
Thank you so much for sharing this about the rich lore in the stories. Maybe one day they will bring it back or remake Blood Omen so that the world can be reintroduced to the epic Legacy of Kain. One of my favorite series ever.
I've watched all of your LOK lore series and can't wait to see more maybe on the pillars? Maybe the glyphs from the first soul reaver game? There is so much keep up the fantasic work x
Its great to see that there are still many fans of this frenchise. Good job on the video.
Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver 1 was the first game that found me on the PS1 and made a large impact on the games that i like. Im still sad,that there isnt more games made of these.
I also leave this nice little 6 hour long video made of the cutscenes of all 5 games . ua-cam.com/video/w3faOccJsZc/v-deo.html
This took away one night of sleep from me. :D
My man I just love this series you started on LOK, couldn't find any decent ones anywhere on UA-cam.. Good job man!
I thought Hennig had bailed by the time Defiance came out?
Edit: I've just seen she left CD after Defiance was done.
Man I literally just finished playing through soul reaver 2 and then defiance, and I never understood how the pillars were doomed regardless of Kain's choice - thanks for helping to clear that up!
These LoK lore videos are really well assembled, glad to see the series getting some love all the way in 2020.
This is the kind of game the developers should be creating.
Love this series
I'm so happy to see a video like this released YESTERDAY. Thank you so much for reviving this art piece.
That being said, while I agree with a lot of your analysis, I think it is not a plot hole that the Hylden Lord tries to kill younger Kain in BO2. At that point, he did not need Kain anymore because he had already returned, and killing Kain would not change that. It helps to see BO2 as the last installment in the series story-telling wise.
Thanks for the kind feedback.
The thing with "time" in Legacy of Kain series is that it's essentially fixed, except for limited exceptions when two versions of the Soul Reaver meet. When time changes, the future flows on, finding the path of least resistance while admitting only the slightest alterations. If the younger Kain is killed by the Hylden Lord, then this would absolutely destroy the timeline because Raziel needs to be brought back as a vampire by Kain so that he can one day resurrect Janos and Kain needs to survive his battle with the Hylden Lord in some shape or form to one day pull the sword free from Raziel as the Elder Kain. If Kain dies in Blood Omen 2, then he can't possibly go back in time to set all these things in motion...
In a way I'm glad the games story doesn't have a conclusion now. The writing and characters were so good, and I just do not believe whoever would take it up would have the gravitas to conclude LoK with any value, especially today
Damn they got to do a remake! But please bring back the crew that created the original Legacy of Kain. I remember playing LOK and being mesmerized by the dialogue and story, it was so thoughtful and convincing.
I have a real soft spot for Blood Omen 2. I was stuck at home sick as hell, and had no games because a "friend" had stolen all my games a few weeks prior. My mum tried to cheer me up by buying a game to cheer me up and Blood Omen 2 was the game she happened to grab, having picked it out because she knew I liked the soul Reaver games. And so I spent that week with only one game, and honestly? I had a pretty good time with Blood Omen 2. Was it as good as Soul Reaver 2? Nah. But I really ended up enjoying it none the less.
Blood omen 2 is my favorite one followed by defiance
It brings me joy there are fans still. I was one of the few that got to start this series since beginning. But back to the Hyldon, I feel like that was such a hindsight error and easily fixed if we ever get a continuous of the series.
Well the hylden Lord fighting the younger kain could be by defeating kain he could break the time loop and trying to break the paradox and giving a chance for the hylden to be free from time travel and fate, flip enough times a coin can land on its edge so blood omen 2 was the hylden flipping it on its side for that one chance to break free
Thank you for another video on this amazing saga. I haven't been able to play all the games and it's been a while since I got into it. The story is deep and complex, but your analysis makes it so much easier to follow.
Please keep doing these! :)
Cant get enough of this universe. Definitely does justice to the vampire genre.
This should be a series. Not the greatest of gameplay, it is one of the boldest stories I have ever interacted with. I am very fond of its characters and still say to myself sometimes "free will". Great story!
Really cool!! I have only played the first Soul Reaver game, and i've been catching up with the story through UA-cam videos.
I didn't know anything about the hyldens or the games about younger Kain.
Great video!!
I so want more videos on this game it was one of my favs from my childhood
I hope a studio will pick this series up again, having people who played the games or thought the story as a whole had great potential. I wouldn't care if they started with rebooting the first game or gave us a conclusion to defiance. There is so much material to work with it's a real shame no ones even talked about taking up the mantle yet.
Brilliant video, very informative. Glad to see another channel showing this game series some love. I'm currently doing a let's play on my channel, these games need to be shared! 🔥 Subbed!
Nah this is one of my favs I played this all night before school regularly and kain is such a badass
The trick to understanding this series is realizing that there are several independent timelines spawned by specific events. Each timeline has a different outcome (BO2 is a different timeline for example).
Please explain more
The more lore videos I watch the more I am convinced that this franchise will make a big come back. Hopefully the remaster of soul reaver does great in sales pushing them to make a remake or something. This whole story is as deep and complicated as something that fromsoft would push yet LOK and soul reaver provide you so much more exposition and interaction with the actual realm of the game.
LoK content in 2020? You have my attetion.
I've subscribed and this channel quickly became a current favourite! Thank you for the great content!
I actually really like BO2, it was kind of a spin-off, so I didn't mind that it had nothing to do with the other games, I also really liked exploring Meridian. When I was a kid I was hoping they would release a similar spin-off game about Raziel's time as a normal vampire with his own adventures.
if you do a bit of mental gymnastics the series fit all togheter so well, henning was able to take a take-away demon final boss from blood omen and spin him into a diabolical master mind that was secretly behind most stuff in the series and made it also fit with the elder god plot and the paintings of the two warring races, I also loved how kain had the heart of darkness in BO1 and that became a crucial element of Defiance, amazing writing!
I'm not kidding, if you look at all the cutscenes of SR2 and then defiance back to back it all flows smoothly like a movie that slowly unravels all its plot threads, it's a shame she is not making videogames anymore
Geez buddy.
Your presentation and video is awesome. Well done.
I always felt the Hylden were one of the most awkward parts of the story, and this does a good show of showing why that's the case. The other thing that's always frustrated me, that might make a good topic for a video, is the way vampirism is handled. The ancient vampires didn't have the "dark gift", and ended up dying out because they were rendered sterile by it. Then they "turn" humans by bestowing the dark gift on them, but this is treated as making them into vampires. Somewhere along the way the curse that ended the vampires became identified with vampires themselves, to the point where Kain considered himself the last of their race.
Because creating a Vampire requires the giving of part of one's soul to make it so. That's why all of Kain's descendents become twisted over time, they all inherented his soul corruption he was stricken with by Nauprator, and then passed it down to the vampires he created, who then passed it down to their own children. The giving of the soul is also what transfers the blood curse and immortality.
And it's possible that they were also spiked with Hylden blood/soul, as a means of countering the Vampire Champion prophecy, by turning the Vampire's champion into a pseudo-Hylden which caused their greatest weapon, The Reaver, to turn on and devour their own champion due to sensing the latent hylden within them once the bond between user and blade had been fully established. However if this is the case, than it means The Hylden Lord did it to Kain while he was raising him after he realized Mortainous was attempting to complete the prophecy by giving kain the Heart of Darkness, which would eventually create a new Ancient to become the vampire champion from Janos's direct bloodline. (i.e. Raziel's evolution would've been black-feathery wings like an Ancient and would over the next few centuries gradually take on a blue-ish hue as well, and look very much like an original Ancient). Where as Kain by contrast actually looks like a Hylden as he continues to evolve, with the beginnings of that head-crown design forming.
So glad I found your page my dude I loved the LoK series since I was young
Beyond happy to see another LOK video 🔥💯
Great video, thanks for the lore dumps. Really getting me back into the games and hoping for a sequel!
Now that i am older i really believe the Hylden were not evil at all. They saw the ''elder god'' for what he truly was. A parasite and that parasite made the ancient vampires start a war. To this day LoK is still my favorite series. Sad we will never see more of it.
Oh they were evil. But they did see the elder god for he was. Just because one is fighting evil, doesn't make them good.
@@kazejah1014 sometimes things aren't so simple, so black and white... there are many shades in between.
@@Knux5577 They were using the humans as chattel. It's pretty black and white lol
Awesome!, I never saw the contradiction with the nexus stone, this blow my mind !!!
Thanks !
Just imagine having this game and this story in a open world mmorpg/action style.
Thank you for keeping the Legend alive
Is there any chance you will do a video about the Ancient Vampire Race in a similar manner to this Video?
Also.... What are your thoughts on the Werewolf City from Blood Omen? The Architecture of it is very Hylden/Mesoamerican in style.
i always considered Blood Omen 2 to be in an alternate already past time line. Since Soul Reaver (1) we know that fate has been repeated several times so the Soul Reaver could fulfill his destiny. One Day Kain realized this and started his campaign against fate itself (in Soul Reaver 1). The long presumed clash of the hero of the vampires and the hylden's hero to me is just past the ending of Defiance. Just a few decades before a new alternate Blood Omen 2 timeline begins. But since the description on the walls is pretty vague and leaves room for intepretation nothing yet everthing can be true. Maybe this is why Kain has fought this war: A future no one can foretold and the outcome is unclear.