I love Blood Omen, but I cannot take Dyack’s comments about the sequels seriously. The man is bitter and loves to blame everyone but himself for his problems (see the Too Human debacle) and his criticism that LoK was slapped onto to the game Shifter at the last minute to make Soul Reaver is blatantly untrue. Amy Hennig might not have liked being forced to make Shifter into a Kain game, but the mandate came down only a few months into Shifter’s development and she put in a lot of work to make sure Soul Reaver got with the lore established in Blood Omen. Finally, there’s the comment a Crystal Dynamics rep had about Silicon Knights back in 2007, how SK had only put out two games since Blood Omen and they’re own Kain sequel likely never would’ve happened given how long Too Human was in development hell. I’m inclined to agree. And given the state of Too Human, I’m not sure we’d even want an SK-developed Kain sequel.
Wow, so the GOG has 100 secrets? I remember the PS1 version having a bug that only lets you get 98 or something like that. I have very fond memories of watching my mom play the PS1 version. It's kind of bittersweet too. She just passed away in may and i have her copy in my collection
It's not bugged, it's just so obscure to do after map changes you'd never find the last secrets. You have to flip switches that used to be in the four corners of the map, but they rearranged the map and now you're expected to find secret hidden switches at random parts of the world to get to a secret boat. We only discovered it in 2010 by going into the data of the game.
@@wareforcoin5780 That isn't included in the 100 secrets and you can get the full 100 without doing that, even on the PS1 version. The two that most people miss are during the time travel sequences. You get one secret for going through a moon door before travelling, then another for doing it in the past (which means waiting two literal hours), and then another for doing it once you return to the altered present (ANOTHER two hour wait). Most will only get one of these and then think they're done with that particular gate. It's ridiculous, but I still love the game.
I know Crystal Dynamics didn’t have the initial vision, but I like how the sequels built on aspects of this game that were innocuous at first but had huge ramifications in sequels. Like how in Defiance a major mystery was the location of the Heart of Darkness; if you played the first game, you’d know Kain had it because it was a pickup!
it's funny, in any other game series, the twists and turns would seem ridiculous and unfitting, but in the Legacy of Kain series it just seems to work out
@@Selnathornit dosen't just work out, its the story writers who worked around and somehow madenthe stories of each game make sense and keep each other in check mostly.
Very good review! You did get the nemesis thing a little wrong though. When Kain goes back in time and kills William the Just, that's just nemesis as a young man. William became nemesis through moebius corrupting him. No possession just became an asshole when he got older lol! Looking forward to you reviewing the sequels and other strange games!
Thanks for the correction. The backstory and lore in this series is so dense. I figured I didn’t get everything right. I plan on covering the entire LoK series eventually!
@@dungeonchillHaving tricked Kain into killing William, Moebius uses this event, the assassination of William the Just by a vampire, to rally the populace to destroy all vampires. Returning to the present of this different timeline, Kain now finds himself to be the last of his kind. Moebius' goal and motivation for pursuing it are revealed much later, in LoK: Defiance.
I enjoyed the video, and I particularly liked the approach of not viewing Blood Omen through the lens of later titles. The series would have played out much differently had Silicon Knights developed it, and while I do love Crystal Dynamics' work, I think we would have received a more compelling story if Denis Dyack had retained creative control.
Have to utter a minor but major (story) point at 42:12 you say the Nemesis took over the body of William the Just. Mobius went back in time and presented William with the Soul Reaver which then turned him into The Nemesis of the present. Two Reavers now exist in the past. When Kain defeats William, the timeline is then altered. Vorador has his mansion overrun in the new timeline. As Kain returns to the present (and the new timeline) he witnesses the death of Vorador. The army of The Nemesis never existed and William the Just has been killed by a vampire. The way time works in Blood Omen is linear. You can never change the past, because you never did. With 2 Reavers existing in the same place at the same time it causes a paradox. Only then can time be altered. Great review otherwise.
What raises a bit of confusion in the story is that the game doesn't tell you there's a 470 year time gap in the intro cutscene, and another 30 year time gap when the game begins.
@@rolandotorres9741 Blood Omen opens during the attack on the circle (SR2 ending) i.e. the day Ariel was born. Then on the following scene we see Ariel being murdered (SR2 opening). The player has no idea that 470 years passed between these two cutscenes.
I know this is a strange place to put this; but I just need to describe my frustration with how Naughty Dog treated Amy Hennig. In Uncharted 3; there is a scene where Nathan meets Elena again. In this scene, Nathan points to her wedding ring and says "You're still wearing it" and in that moment; that one tiny piece of dialogue, you as the player are told everything you need to know about their past and current relationship and their dynamic. You are understand that they were married but now separated and you understand that there's still feelings between them; but things are complicated but there's still hope. In that one tiny exchange of dialogue, Amy showed you quietly and quickly an entire backstory between Uncharted 2 and 3 and it's incredible. So of course Neil Druckmann forced her out of the company and wrote Uncharted 4. For anyone not aware, Uncharted 4 has a scene between Nathan and Elena where they are trapped in a lift together, airing out their relationship problems in the most verbose and melodramatic way possible. The writing is fucking terrible and you are forced to witness it through contrived means. The nuance and subtly of Amy's writing was completely stripped from the Uncharted series after she was forced out and this terrible poorly written scene is prime example of it. Now... I have no evidence for my next conspiracy but the timeline makes sense... The Last of Us 1 is so wonderfully paced and the idea to do it over seasons of the year is brilliant. The dynamic between Joel and Ellie is nuanced and well developed. TLOU was being developed at the same time as Uncharted 3... Is there a chance that Amy Hennig worked on TLOU? Possibly the one who developed the themes and was the scenario writer? Because if you believe TLOU 1 and 2 were written by the same person (Neil Druckman) then you haven't played TLOU2 yet. I think Amy got her name stripped from TLOU1 If you think Druckman isn't an egomaniac who would remove someone's name from the credits... Bruce Straley wasnt credited as one of the creators of The Last of Us in the HBO series.
What, no mug of ale for a weary traveler from distant Coorhagen!? I can reward you well, for I am of noble blood! I don't know why that first line is always what comes to mind when I think of Blood Omen. Great game, and great video! I enjoyed the longer format (the short videos in between are great too though) and I liked that you went a bit into the muddy development history. Now I want to replay the game, and Soul Reaver too...
Thanks! Even though the longer videos take awhile (I’d been working on this since the end of last month) I really like making them. I think I’m gonna do Soul Reaver for the next long review. I want to do the whole Kain series eventually.
The one that's stuck in my head is: "Alas poor Nupraptor. I knew him well. Well...not really." Lol. Or "out of my way, peasant! The stench of the field hangs over you like a pall!" Kain is such an a-hole.
@@AuspexAO I love kain as a character, arrogant and ahole-ish in a great way. small price for his investigation into the corrupt of nosgoth and its pillars
@@AuspexAO The moment that lives rent free in my head is Kain refering to Vorador telling of his fight with Malek (AKA the thing that kicksarts the whole game) as a "borish account". It's really captivating how Kain doesn't give two shits about anything happening in Nosgoth and just goes witht he flow to be rid of his curse.
I will never forget playing this with my Playstation upside down. About a third of the way through this game the laser lens crapped out on me. Only way to get it to work was turning the system upside down.
It's kinda funny listening to someone explain the story who hasn't experienced the story of the other LoK games yet. He quickly brushes through very significant events like the fight with William the Just. Obviously there's no way for him to know this yet, so no fault of his. Just interesting.
I only ever played Blood Omen out of the series, but I have been mishearing and saying "Yay Victus!" for over 25 years. Yikes. Also, between this, Icewind Dale, and King's Quest VI, Tony Jay's voice evokes such a visceral late 90's nostalgia for me.
@@vanyadolly Yeah, back in the PS1 era, I always wondered where's Kain buddy Victor was lurking since he's always giving him a shout out everywhere he goes. 🤣🤣🤣
I was watching a friend stream her playthrough of Starfield last Friday. When they mentioned, "Vay Victus," in the game, I damn near spit out my drink! I know it's probably a old phrase, but having ever heard it come from Blood Omen, I couldn't help but wonder if it was a reference.
Blood Omen is a fantastic example of developers using pixel art to make the most of the technology. Like Symphony of the Night. It feels like a lot of modern games use pixel art as an excuse to make games look simple.
I have precious memories growing up as a kid in the 90's playing this with my late uncle Pat. This and castlevania sotn are really close to my heart, glad you're getting into the series great video
I did enjoy this game, but I really prefer what we ended up with rather than what I have heard of the original plan. Especially since they essentially made Blood Omen and Soul Reaver into two stories that dovetailed together quite excellently and that more or less used time travel in a reasonably sensible manner, as well as pre-empting the modern, clumsy 'I have meta knowledge' storyline infecting so many rehashes now by making that a literal point of the plot. Sure a lot of people got screwed over and their ideas pushed into the series to much grumbling, but the end result is something quite impressive, and I feel it was worth it to the players. Not to mention this series of events also lead to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, another excellent game on it's own.
Looked up Ken McCulloch as I've never heard of him. I see....more or less what I expected. This game was so ahead of its time when it came to video game voice acting. Simon Templeman is so damned good as Kain. I just can't imagine anyone else nailing the role. He is Kain. And of course just Tony Jay in general, man that guy's voice is amazing. Then Michael Bell in the Soul Reaver games. Those performances coming out around the same time as the first Resident Evil, lol.
I'm not sure why everyone is so squeamish about saying it: he had pictures of kiddie porn on his computer. We don't have to like it but we certainly don't have to cover for the creep by pretending it didn't happen, either.
@@CopiousDoinksLLC I think it's more that UA-cam tends to block and demonetize channels that say things like that, no matter the context. That's why people have danced around topics like that on UA-cam the last couple years. They can't even say the words murder or suicide without the chance UA-cam will demonetize the video or even the whole channel.
More or less what i expected. It's the "land of freedom" these days, however, this kind of thing might very well get legal soon due to the wokie nutters. On the other hand, in USia you can get incarcerated for just about anything imaginable, prisoners are profitable after all. Pictures on your PC ? In the jail you go, work you slave.
I remember reading about this game when it came out, it looked interesting but there was always this "no horror" rule in my house, so I couldn't give it a shot. But I did play once a demo of Soul Reaver. That was fun. And funny thing about that pirate ship, they were talking about it even back when it came out, but I guess it was way too complicated to figure it out and no one found it until recently apparently. Aside from the reviewers who talked about it and showed screen shots.
Apparently there are invisible switches in the game world that are in areas the player can’t reach, so you have to use projectile magic to hit them. I think there are some videos out there of people showing how to do it. It’s neat that secret stayed hidden for so long.
@@dungeonchill It's funny how well hidden it is, with no way of knowing if you've triggered it correctly or not. I read somewhere the developers assumed people would find it in a couple of months or so. And yet, the hidden fatalities in Mortal Kombat were discovered in minutes.
I actually purchased this game when it came out. I spent hours upon hours digging through all of its gameplay, and story to find out that you could actually beat it at only 20% or less. We missed out on a good chunk of the game, both my friend and I did beat it, and Then moved along. Over 25 years later, it might be worth pulling out again because I do still have it… But for PlayStation one.
Don't do the PS version. He wasn't exaggerating about the load times. You're better off spending the $5 or whatever it is on GOG and playing it there. If you have any ounce of self love, you will avoid the playstation version.
William the Just and The Nemesis are the exact same person. There is a split in the time stream. In one Kain defeats him, the other Kain is defeated. The Nemesis is the result of Kain's failed attempt on the young king's life.
I have the full on LOK series myself and yet my dudes i come to conclusion myself that my mind will never be forever changed is the Blood Omen Legacy of Kain is far by the most epic game in the history of games.... I still play it and its like 2024 like c'mon thats how good the game is guys you can't blame me for playing such game that takes hold of being the No.1 game for centuries to come
11:02 too bad too sad but you sign the contract ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ anyway; it wss s great game series. I liked the later ones more then the earlier ones. But the earlier ones felt more free. It had more heart & it felt realer. But the action was better in the laster ones.
One of the things about Blood Omen is that the PS1 version has a faster frame rate than the PC version, but has terrible amounts of loading on everything that negates the speed boost.
Honestly, this is still one of my favourite games. As an RPG with an open world, it gets a lot right where most modern games fall on their face. (But I would love a remake, please and thank you!)
This video was released 7/14/23. At 40:40 we here this quote "So we're about to have time travel introduced into this place and, Oh man, I'm just getting a little light headed here." The video "Weirdest Time travel Video on PS2 | Shadows of Memories" was released 11/11/23. At 26:20 we get this quote: "Me, other timelines? I've got a headache, I need to go lie down." Love the circular references!
Honestly I don't really understand the angle of "Crystal Dynamics bought rights to the franchise from SK when SK was under financial duress so CD were evil and should have lost the lawsuit". These are two companies. They entered into a contract. A contract is a contract. Financial duress is not a special occasion, it is commonplace in the industry. Unless there was direct sabotage on the part of CD, what was their fault exactly? And why would Activision task SK with a sequel if the rights to the series are with CD? I don't see any merit in introducing ethics of interpersonal interactions into the realm of contractual obligations between companies.
Kain is a bastard but vampires themselves are not inherently evil, right? Like Vorador, the dudes go killing all vamps and he just kinda sorta gets a righteous revenge, but looking at the lore from the surface: vamps=evil but that's just because Kain is a total psycho, I love that Raziel puts an even wilder twist being a vamp, seraphem and spooky ghost.
I loved the blood omen (or, as I called it then, Legacy of Cain), and when i got the sequel, soul reaver (it, as i called it then, Legacy of Cain 2) i was very disappointed by the changes. It was a cultural sick to me, when i later learnt most people loved the second game and never heard of the first one.
there's not as many 2d top down Zelda-esque games as you'd think there would be considering how popular and beloved they are, so I always appreciated this game very much for being a unique twist on that style with the dark bloody themes.
Mandy on: "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen" " The official title is "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain". This could be hard to tell from the logo. If you weren't aware already, this is a series of games and the naming scheme is very convoluted across all of them. So we start with "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", and the "Legay of Kain" part is huge on every version of the game. Then they switched it around for the sequel. Now it's titled "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver", but the "Soul Reaver" part in the logo is gigantic. So it's settled, these are the "Legacy of Kain" games, right? Nope. The sequel is just called "Soul Reaver 2". What? That one was followed up by "Blood Omen 2", and finally "Legacy of Kain: Defiance". It's a complete mess. So I'm gonna call it "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen", because that's what makes sense. "
"Nothing ever changes when it comes to AAA game development." Thank you. People like to pretend that the gaming industry was all sunshine and rainbows back in the day. Things haven't really changed. Video games have always been an industry and in any industry money reigns supreme. Broken unfinished games have been being sold since the Atari 2600, there'e just more games being developed these days and there's more information about their development available. Even people complaining about 70$ games don't realize that that was the price of SNES and N64 games (almost double if factoring in inflation). In the grand scheme of things nothing has changed except now publishers realize they can use the internet to make even more money.
Oh My I Love This Game- My first experience game that I Play a VAMPIREEEE and the Soundtrack to this game was superb, I played and beat all the Legacy of Kain Series, what a cool game franchise at the time 🎉👊☝️👍 🧛♂️
Crystal Dynamics regained control of the whole series last year. It had been owned by Square Enix for the last decade. Now, that it’s back to CD, we might see some remasters and stuff. Hopefully!
So I want to preface by saying what ended up happening to Silicon Knights with Legacy of Kain sucked, nobody should get rug-pulled on a mythos and setting that they themselves made for corporate greed. HOWEVER given the direction that Denis Dyack ended up going, I do not trust that Legacy of Kain would be praised and remembered nearly as much today if Soul Reaver and Defiance had never happened. And given Too Human and how badly he fell apart regarding that, I think it is safe to say it was for the best of the whole series IN RETROSPECT that Silicon Knights lost Legacy of Kain. Because we NEVER would've gotten Soul Reaver, no matter how dead the series is now it would've been dead LONG AGO if Silicon Knights owned it.
I played this game on PS1, and I was only like 14-15 years old. I beat it. I had a VHS tape of recording all of the CGI Full Motion Video scenes. I would encounter them, then use the memory card to go back and replay the scene to record them. One thing I loved about the game was the voice acting and especially ya boi from Quasimodo Disney Animated movie villain. To me, he is the quintessential voice actor for any villain.
certain sounds in this game are so engraved in me from childhood that when you mentioned the chained-up innocents I automatically yelled "PLEASE! HELP ME KIND SIR!" before hearing it. probably scared my roommate. good times 😌
I can't recommend enough, that you do yourself a favor and play the rest of this series. If you only played Soul Reaver 1 you've only played half that story- they were meant to be one game. SR1 ends right when Raziel, and the player, begins to learn what's really going on - and that it's actually very much tied to Kain and the events of the first game. This becomes even more clear in Defiance (skip Blood Omen 2, it's not - oh wait no. You're like me; you like to play deeply flawed forgotten pieces of game history- by all means play Blood Omen 2). Defiance is unfortunately just a very mid brawler, but the way it ties everything together is so satisfying, and brings it all back to the events of the first game, and Kain's characterization/decisions.
I love Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. First I rented it. After renting it, I bought it. I Still have my original PS1 version. But, that being said, the GOG is the superior version to play through. Those load times are just killer. + the Ps1 version has that nasty little camera jerk every time you face a new direction that gets super annoying. If only they could add the PS1 original load-up screen, that nostalgic crescendo is a masterpiece.
I really enjoyed the "you died" intro to the game lol. I like when games do stuff like that. Also i had zero clue what the cinematic was depicting, so thank you for explaining some of the backstory
4:55 Fun Fact: Ariel is voiced by Anna Gunn, who would later play Skyler White on Breaking Bad. EDIT: 16:45 Spoke too soon. You just mentioned it yourself.
I downloaded blood omen years ago for emulation. The intro was stuck in an infinite loop. “I can reward you well for I am of noble blood…. What?? No mug of ale for a weary traveller from distant coorhagen? I can reward you well as I am of noble blood… What???” Etc. until I bought the actual game for ps1 and upload to emulator
"Alas, poor Nupraptor - I knew him well. Well, not really." 😂I loved this game and the whole series back in the day and used to really nerd out about the whole twisted self-referential lore. Very interesting to know that it's actually the result of legal and publishing bullshit.
Kenneth McCulloch was arrested and charged with sexual assault in a child pornography case. There, that easy. Obfuscating this information doesn't feel respectful to anyone but Kenneth and I don't know why you'd glide over it.
Oh man....i remember playing this as a kid, this needs a remaster SO BAD!!!! Like...a decent one from a decent company...not the overpriced shit we get nowadays...
Honestly, I simultaneously love and hate that I watched this. Even though I didn't play Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the voice actors and the music both hit so many nostalgia points that it was almost painful. xD
William the Just and The Nemesis are the same person, he was corrupted by power/Moebius by being gifted the Soul Reaver. Not 100% on the last part, but sure they're the same dude.
I recently replayed this and I was surprised how well it held up tbh Great game. I adore the voice acting and dialogue in this as well as Soul Reaver. I can't help but feel that a modern game wouldn't possess the same charm, it'd be filled with self-referential nonsense.
Yes. Just yes. How do you think things would have gone if Ariel literally tipped the scales the other way as she died? Might Kain have become angel and so forth?
It’s always nice when someone has actually played the game when doing a review. I hate when someone does a review and just regurgitates old talking points and untruths. You nailed most of the issues with the game. Since we’re in the age of remakes, Legacy of Kain would actually be a prime candidate. Sort out the hit boxes so the combat works right; use controller shoulder buttons for quick changing items, spells, weapons, and armour; Give the whole thing a nice graphical update to smooth out the rough edges. Then everyone could play a nice modern version of what is such a great story. The poetic nature of the dialogue is fantastic and the characters, even the smaller parts, are so interesting. The way Kain starts off regretting his choice but slowly descends into blood lust is great. I feel really bad for Malek. That guy constantly ran into battle against more powerful entities with no thought for his own safety and gets rebuked and punished for it. Doomed to eternity without a body and still does his job like a pro, defending the people who did it to him.
William the just become the nemesis cause of kain, his body wasn't taken over. Its apart of the themes of fate and inevitably that become important in the last two games
Considering how crystal dynamic got there hands on the series it makes it hard to feel bad for them losing there say in the series as it just seems kinda like karma at that point....karma that screws over gamers.
That history segment is crazy. Cause it's not often a developer makes a game, it does well and the publisher just kicks them to the curb. Like I'll be real I didn't even know Blood Omen existed. To think Crystal Dynamics did something so gross. Like they essentially made it so that the original game isn't known about.
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To save yourself some time (it wasn't worth looking up), Ken was arrested for possessing and creating CP.
Who Ken?
@@ericstaples7220ken mccolloch, lead artist, lead designer and story writer for this game
@@ericstaples7220 at about the 8:00 mark the video references Ken McCulloch as the art director and story writer.
That is a most unfortunate thing to hear, for all parties involved.
@@Draliseth nah we got his ass one less weirdo out there
I love Blood Omen, but I cannot take Dyack’s comments about the sequels seriously. The man is bitter and loves to blame everyone but himself for his problems (see the Too Human debacle) and his criticism that LoK was slapped onto to the game Shifter at the last minute to make Soul Reaver is blatantly untrue. Amy Hennig might not have liked being forced to make Shifter into a Kain game, but the mandate came down only a few months into Shifter’s development and she put in a lot of work to make sure Soul Reaver got with the lore established in Blood Omen.
Finally, there’s the comment a Crystal Dynamics rep had about Silicon Knights back in 2007, how SK had only put out two games since Blood Omen and they’re own Kain sequel likely never would’ve happened given how long Too Human was in development hell. I’m inclined to agree. And given the state of Too Human, I’m not sure we’d even want an SK-developed Kain sequel.
hey don't gloss over eternal darkness. probably one of the best games of all time. i much prefer blood omen to soul reaver tho so im biased.
Wow, so the GOG has 100 secrets? I remember the PS1 version having a bug that only lets you get 98 or something like that. I have very fond memories of watching my mom play the PS1 version. It's kind of bittersweet too. She just passed away in may and i have her copy in my collection
It's not bugged, it's just so obscure to do after map changes you'd never find the last secrets. You have to flip switches that used to be in the four corners of the map, but they rearranged the map and now you're expected to find secret hidden switches at random parts of the world to get to a secret boat. We only discovered it in 2010 by going into the data of the game.
@@wareforcoin5780 That isn't included in the 100 secrets and you can get the full 100 without doing that, even on the PS1 version. The two that most people miss are during the time travel sequences. You get one secret for going through a moon door before travelling, then another for doing it in the past (which means waiting two literal hours), and then another for doing it once you return to the altered present (ANOTHER two hour wait). Most will only get one of these and then think they're done with that particular gate. It's ridiculous, but I still love the game.
your mom sounds like she was cool as hell RIP
I know Crystal Dynamics didn’t have the initial vision, but I like how the sequels built on aspects of this game that were innocuous at first but had huge ramifications in sequels.
Like how in Defiance a major mystery was the location of the Heart of Darkness; if you played the first game, you’d know Kain had it because it was a pickup!
it's funny, in any other game series, the twists and turns would seem ridiculous and unfitting, but in the Legacy of Kain series it just seems to work out
@@Selnathornit dosen't just work out, its the story writers who worked around and somehow madenthe stories of each game make sense and keep each other in check mostly.
Or the reason Malak was too late to save the council was because Mobius deliberately delayed him!
@@solarprophet5439 loved that in the ending of SR2
Very good review! You did get the nemesis thing a little wrong though. When Kain goes back in time and kills William the Just, that's just nemesis as a young man. William became nemesis through moebius corrupting him. No possession just became an asshole when he got older lol! Looking forward to you reviewing the sequels and other strange games!
Thanks for the correction. The backstory and lore in this series is so dense. I figured I didn’t get everything right.
I plan on covering the entire LoK series eventually!
@@dungeonchillHaving tricked Kain into killing William, Moebius uses this event, the assassination of William the Just by a vampire, to rally the populace to destroy all vampires. Returning to the present of this different timeline, Kain now finds himself to be the last of his kind. Moebius' goal and motivation for pursuing it are revealed much later, in LoK: Defiance.
I enjoyed the video, and I particularly liked the approach of not viewing Blood Omen through the lens of later titles. The series would have played out much differently had Silicon Knights developed it, and while I do love Crystal Dynamics' work, I think we would have received a more compelling story if Denis Dyack had retained creative control.
@@dungeonchill Just wait til you get to Defiance. It's absolutely incredible just how well tied up this series' lore is.
@@D--FENS That is a great pity!
Have to utter a minor but major (story) point at 42:12 you say the Nemesis took over the body of William the Just. Mobius went back in time and presented William with the Soul Reaver which then turned him into The Nemesis of the present. Two Reavers now exist in the past. When Kain defeats William, the timeline is then altered. Vorador has his mansion overrun in the new timeline. As Kain returns to the present (and the new timeline) he witnesses the death of Vorador. The army of The Nemesis never existed and William the Just has been killed by a vampire.
The way time works in Blood Omen is linear. You can never change the past, because you never did. With 2 Reavers existing in the same place at the same time it causes a paradox. Only then can time be altered.
Great review otherwise.
Love the bit where he defeats Mobius and says "but I am dead as are you"
"I've seen the future and you're not in it"... " And neither are you"
What raises a bit of confusion in the story is that the game doesn't tell you there's a 470 year time gap in the intro cutscene, and another 30 year time gap when the game begins.
Explain please lol
@@rolandotorres9741 Blood Omen opens during the attack on the circle (SR2 ending) i.e. the day Ariel was born. Then on the following scene we see Ariel being murdered (SR2 opening). The player has no idea that 470 years passed between these two cutscenes.
@@papapapa16 Thanks!
@@papapapa16 Source: Trust me bro
@@xThunderxWolfx or just play SR2
"...NOT Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, How dare you?" subscribed.
I know this is a strange place to put this; but I just need to describe my frustration with how Naughty Dog treated Amy Hennig.
In Uncharted 3; there is a scene where Nathan meets Elena again. In this scene, Nathan points to her wedding ring and says "You're still wearing it" and in that moment; that one tiny piece of dialogue, you as the player are told everything you need to know about their past and current relationship and their dynamic. You are understand that they were married but now separated and you understand that there's still feelings between them; but things are complicated but there's still hope.
In that one tiny exchange of dialogue, Amy showed you quietly and quickly an entire backstory between Uncharted 2 and 3 and it's incredible.
So of course Neil Druckmann forced her out of the company and wrote Uncharted 4.
For anyone not aware, Uncharted 4 has a scene between Nathan and Elena where they are trapped in a lift together, airing out their relationship problems in the most verbose and melodramatic way possible. The writing is fucking terrible and you are forced to witness it through contrived means.
The nuance and subtly of Amy's writing was completely stripped from the Uncharted series after she was forced out and this terrible poorly written scene is prime example of it.
Now... I have no evidence for my next conspiracy but the timeline makes sense...
The Last of Us 1 is so wonderfully paced and the idea to do it over seasons of the year is brilliant. The dynamic between Joel and Ellie is nuanced and well developed.
TLOU was being developed at the same time as Uncharted 3...
Is there a chance that Amy Hennig worked on TLOU? Possibly the one who developed the themes and was the scenario writer?
Because if you believe TLOU 1 and 2 were written by the same person (Neil Druckman) then you haven't played TLOU2 yet.
I think Amy got her name stripped from TLOU1
If you think Druckman isn't an egomaniac who would remove someone's name from the credits... Bruce Straley wasnt credited as one of the creators of The Last of Us in the HBO series.
Loving your channel. Nice dry humor. Thorough review of a game I'm not likely to ever get around to playing but I'd love to learn about anyway
Try it on the Vita or even PSP. It's a good portable game + you can then play PS1 Soul Reaver on the same portable device 👍😎👍
What, no mug of ale for a weary traveler from distant Coorhagen!? I can reward you well, for I am of noble blood!
I don't know why that first line is always what comes to mind when I think of Blood Omen. Great game, and great video! I enjoyed the longer format (the short videos in between are great too though) and I liked that you went a bit into the muddy development history. Now I want to replay the game, and Soul Reaver too...
Thanks! Even though the longer videos take awhile (I’d been working on this since the end of last month) I really like making them. I think I’m gonna do Soul Reaver for the next long review. I want to do the whole Kain series eventually.
I stay open for no man in these dark times. dangers come in the night, no sane man would welcome.
The one that's stuck in my head is: "Alas poor Nupraptor. I knew him well. Well...not really." Lol. Or "out of my way, peasant! The stench of the field hangs over you like a pall!" Kain is such an a-hole.
@@AuspexAO I love kain as a character, arrogant and ahole-ish in a great way. small price for his investigation into the corrupt of nosgoth and its pillars
@@AuspexAO The moment that lives rent free in my head is Kain refering to Vorador telling of his fight with Malek (AKA the thing that kicksarts the whole game) as a "borish account". It's really captivating how Kain doesn't give two shits about anything happening in Nosgoth and just goes witht he flow to be rid of his curse.
Gosh I get so happy every time I see someone talk about this series.
Same
I will never forget playing this with my Playstation upside down. About a third of the way through this game the laser lens crapped out on me. Only way to get it to work was turning the system upside down.
The Old Lore is strong with this post!
It's kinda funny listening to someone explain the story who hasn't experienced the story of the other LoK games yet.
He quickly brushes through very significant events like the fight with William the Just.
Obviously there's no way for him to know this yet, so no fault of his. Just interesting.
I only ever played Blood Omen out of the series, but I have been mishearing and saying "Yay Victus!" for over 25 years. Yikes. Also, between this, Icewind Dale, and King's Quest VI, Tony Jay's voice evokes such a visceral late 90's nostalgia for me.
Ha, I wish he said Yay Victus! And Tony Jay is a legend. Video games definitely wouldn’t be the same without him.
You're not alone. 😂 My mom still refers to the whole series as "Hey Victor!" because of this game.
@@vanyadolly Yeah, back in the PS1 era, I always wondered where's Kain buddy Victor was lurking since he's always giving him a shout out everywhere he goes. 🤣🤣🤣
I was watching a friend stream her playthrough of Starfield last Friday. When they mentioned, "Vay Victus," in the game, I damn near spit out my drink! I know it's probably a old phrase, but having ever heard it come from Blood Omen, I couldn't help but wonder if it was a reference.
Wait he doesn't say that? Lol then what does he say?
Blood Omen is a fantastic example of developers using pixel art to make the most of the technology. Like Symphony of the Night.
It feels like a lot of modern games use pixel art as an excuse to make games look simple.
I have precious memories growing up as a kid in the 90's playing this with my late uncle Pat. This and castlevania sotn are really close to my heart, glad you're getting into the series great video
I did enjoy this game, but I really prefer what we ended up with rather than what I have heard of the original plan. Especially since they essentially made Blood Omen and Soul Reaver into two stories that dovetailed together quite excellently and that more or less used time travel in a reasonably sensible manner, as well as pre-empting the modern, clumsy 'I have meta knowledge' storyline infecting so many rehashes now by making that a literal point of the plot. Sure a lot of people got screwed over and their ideas pushed into the series to much grumbling, but the end result is something quite impressive, and I feel it was worth it to the players. Not to mention this series of events also lead to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, another excellent game on it's own.
43:20 lol the way he pops out from behind that pillar is great 😂
Looked up Ken McCulloch as I've never heard of him.
I see....more or less what I expected.
This game was so ahead of its time when it came to video game voice acting. Simon Templeman is so damned good as Kain. I just can't imagine anyone else nailing the role. He is Kain. And of course just Tony Jay in general, man that guy's voice is amazing. Then Michael Bell in the Soul Reaver games. Those performances coming out around the same time as the first Resident Evil, lol.
I'm not sure why everyone is so squeamish about saying it: he had pictures of kiddie porn on his computer.
We don't have to like it but we certainly don't have to cover for the creep by pretending it didn't happen, either.
@@CopiousDoinksLLC I think it's more that UA-cam tends to block and demonetize channels that say things like that, no matter the context.
That's why people have danced around topics like that on UA-cam the last couple years. They can't even say the words murder or suicide without the chance UA-cam will demonetize the video or even the whole channel.
@@EarthboundX Or rape, and for a while if you said "underage girls" so youtubers started calling girls "underage women" for a while.
More or less what i expected. It's the "land of freedom" these days, however, this kind of thing might very well get legal soon due to the wokie nutters. On the other hand, in USia you can get incarcerated for just about anything imaginable, prisoners are profitable after all. Pictures on your PC ? In the jail you go, work you slave.
@@wareforcoin5780 lmao that is so much worse wtf youtube
this is such an excellent halloween game
... so is Blood Omen 2 👍
I remember reading about this game when it came out, it looked interesting but there was always this "no horror" rule in my house, so I couldn't give it a shot. But I did play once a demo of Soul Reaver. That was fun.
And funny thing about that pirate ship, they were talking about it even back when it came out, but I guess it was way too complicated to figure it out and no one found it until recently apparently. Aside from the reviewers who talked about it and showed screen shots.
Apparently there are invisible switches in the game world that are in areas the player can’t reach, so you have to use projectile magic to hit them. I think there are some videos out there of people showing how to do it. It’s neat that secret stayed hidden for so long.
@@dungeonchill It's funny how well hidden it is, with no way of knowing if you've triggered it correctly or not. I read somewhere the developers assumed people would find it in a couple of months or so. And yet, the hidden fatalities in Mortal Kombat were discovered in minutes.
This was the first game I played when I got my PS1 back then. Had so much fun.
THRILLED the algorithm led me to your channel. I’m a huge Grimbeard fan and your channel hits similarly. Ez sub.
I actually purchased this game when it came out. I spent hours upon hours digging through all of its gameplay, and story to find out that you could actually beat it at only 20% or less. We missed out on a good chunk of the game, both my friend and I did beat it, and Then moved along. Over 25 years later, it might be worth pulling out again because I do still have it… But for PlayStation one.
Don't do the PS version. He wasn't exaggerating about the load times. You're better off spending the $5 or whatever it is on GOG and playing it there. If you have any ounce of self love, you will avoid the playstation version.
William the Just and The Nemesis are the exact same person. There is a split in the time stream. In one Kain defeats him, the other Kain is defeated. The Nemesis is the result of Kain's failed attempt on the young king's life.
At the time it was one of the only games in which you played as a "villain". It was glorious.
I have the full on LOK series myself and yet my dudes i come to conclusion myself that my mind will never be forever changed is the Blood Omen Legacy of Kain is far by the most epic game in the history of games....
I still play it and its like 2024 like c'mon thats how good the game is guys you can't blame me for playing such game that takes hold of being the No.1 game for centuries to come
kain should be in mortal kombat one
Hey DC are you still planning on doing a Soul Reaver video? This was really well done and would love to hear your thoughts on SR. Thanks!
Eventually! I want to do the whole Legacy of Kain series.
This game was/is dope af. I filled out that questionaire for the new one. I want more Kain!
i'm confused, you said the humans divided in 2 camps, william the just and the nemesis, but they are the same guy so.... ?
Such a great, if madly confusing timelined, franchise.
Please help me! Kind sir.
Very memorable game. It was very hard
I think your channel is my next binge watch. This is my 3rd vid after Kuon and Ecko Night and you're killing it
11:02 too bad too sad but you sign the contract ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ anyway; it wss s great game series. I liked the later ones more then the earlier ones. But the earlier ones felt more free. It had more heart & it felt realer. But the action was better in the laster ones.
“You have to open menus for everything... also I never remembered the hotkeys” 😂
Love this series, but only played Blood Omen once. I should remedy that some day.
Shame there's so few games like Blood Omen where you play as an unapologetically evil monster, reminds me of the Undead campaign in WC3.
One of the things about Blood Omen is that the PS1 version has a faster frame rate than the PC version, but has terrible amounts of loading on everything that negates the speed boost.
Honestly, this is still one of my favourite games. As an RPG with an open world, it gets a lot right where most modern games fall on their face. (But I would love a remake, please and thank you!)
I love this game and i love that you covered this content. Thank gog for their rerelease of this classic
would love to see a remake of this one - loved to play it back in the 90s on my psx
They would definitely need to use the original audio somehow. These voices could never be recast.
I never get tired of hearing Tony Jay's voice in video games. He was awesome as the Lieutenant in Fallout 1.
This was a great video. I played BO1 back in 1997 and have been in love with the franchise ever since. Great to see it is still attracting new players
This video was released 7/14/23. At 40:40 we here this quote "So we're about to have time travel introduced into this place and, Oh man, I'm just getting a little light headed here."
The video "Weirdest Time travel Video on PS2 | Shadows of Memories" was released 11/11/23. At 26:20 we get this quote: "Me, other timelines? I've got a headache, I need to go lie down."
Love the circular references!
This needs a remaster like Diablo 2
Honestly I don't really understand the angle of "Crystal Dynamics bought rights to the franchise from SK when SK was under financial duress so CD were evil and should have lost the lawsuit". These are two companies. They entered into a contract. A contract is a contract. Financial duress is not a special occasion, it is commonplace in the industry. Unless there was direct sabotage on the part of CD, what was their fault exactly? And why would Activision task SK with a sequel if the rights to the series are with CD? I don't see any merit in introducing ethics of interpersonal interactions into the realm of contractual obligations between companies.
Kain is a bastard but vampires themselves are not inherently evil, right? Like Vorador, the dudes go killing all vamps and he just kinda sorta gets a righteous revenge, but looking at the lore from the surface: vamps=evil but that's just because Kain is a total psycho, I love that Raziel puts an even wilder twist being a vamp, seraphem and spooky ghost.
That was great. I can't wait to see Soul Reaver get this treatment.
I loved the blood omen (or, as I called it then, Legacy of Cain), and when i got the sequel, soul reaver (it, as i called it then, Legacy of Cain 2) i was very disappointed by the changes.
It was a cultural sick to me, when i later learnt most people loved the second game and never heard of the first one.
there's not as many 2d top down Zelda-esque games as you'd think there would be considering how popular and beloved they are, so I always appreciated this game very much for being a unique twist on that style with the dark bloody themes.
Okay, this needs to be addressed: you keep mispronouncing Amy's surname as "Henning." It's Hennig. Heh-NNIG.
Mandy on: "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen"
"
The official title is "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain". This could be hard to tell from the logo. If you weren't aware already, this is a series of games and the naming scheme is very convoluted across all of them. So we start with "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain", and the "Legay of Kain" part is huge on every version of the game.
Then they switched it around for the sequel. Now it's titled "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver", but the "Soul Reaver" part in the logo is gigantic. So it's settled, these are the "Legacy of Kain" games, right?
Nope.
The sequel is just called "Soul Reaver 2".
What?
That one was followed up by "Blood Omen 2", and finally "Legacy of Kain: Defiance". It's a complete mess. So I'm gonna call it "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen", because that's what makes sense.
"
"Nothing ever changes when it comes to AAA game development."
Thank you. People like to pretend that the gaming industry was all sunshine and rainbows back in the day. Things haven't really changed. Video games have always been an industry and in any industry money reigns supreme. Broken unfinished games have been being sold since the Atari 2600, there'e just more games being developed these days and there's more information about their development available. Even people complaining about 70$ games don't realize that that was the price of SNES and N64 games (almost double if factoring in inflation). In the grand scheme of things nothing has changed except now publishers realize they can use the internet to make even more money.
Oh My I Love This Game- My first experience game that I Play a VAMPIREEEE and the Soundtrack to this game was superb, I played and beat all the Legacy of Kain Series, what a cool game franchise at the time 🎉👊☝️👍 🧛♂️
26:11 this game could do with a remake, but it's part of Crystal Dynamics? Or was that just Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver?
Crystal Dynamics regained control of the whole series last year. It had been owned by Square Enix for the last decade. Now, that it’s back to CD, we might see some remasters and stuff. Hopefully!
So I want to preface by saying what ended up happening to Silicon Knights with Legacy of Kain sucked, nobody should get rug-pulled on a mythos and setting that they themselves made for corporate greed.
HOWEVER given the direction that Denis Dyack ended up going, I do not trust that Legacy of Kain would be praised and remembered nearly as much today if Soul Reaver and Defiance had never happened.
And given Too Human and how badly he fell apart regarding that, I think it is safe to say it was for the best of the whole series IN RETROSPECT that Silicon Knights lost Legacy of Kain.
Because we NEVER would've gotten Soul Reaver, no matter how dead the series is now it would've been dead LONG AGO if Silicon Knights owned it.
I played this game on PS1, and I was only like 14-15 years old. I beat it. I had a VHS tape of recording all of the CGI Full Motion Video scenes. I would encounter them, then use the memory card to go back and replay the scene to record them. One thing I loved about the game was the voice acting and especially ya boi from Quasimodo Disney Animated movie villain. To me, he is the quintessential voice actor for any villain.
certain sounds in this game are so engraved in me from childhood that when you mentioned the chained-up innocents I automatically yelled "PLEASE! HELP ME KIND SIR!" before hearing it. probably scared my roommate. good times 😌
I can't recommend enough, that you do yourself a favor and play the rest of this series. If you only played Soul Reaver 1 you've only played half that story- they were meant to be one game. SR1 ends right when Raziel, and the player, begins to learn what's really going on - and that it's actually very much tied to Kain and the events of the first game.
This becomes even more clear in Defiance (skip Blood Omen 2, it's not - oh wait no. You're like me; you like to play deeply flawed forgotten pieces of game history- by all means play Blood Omen 2).
Defiance is unfortunately just a very mid brawler, but the way it ties everything together is so satisfying, and brings it all back to the events of the first game, and Kain's characterization/decisions.
I love Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. First I rented it. After renting it, I bought it. I Still have my original PS1 version. But, that being said, the GOG is the superior version to play through. Those load times are just killer. + the Ps1 version has that nasty little camera jerk every time you face a new direction that gets super annoying. If only they could add the PS1 original load-up screen, that nostalgic crescendo is a masterpiece.
I really enjoyed the "you died" intro to the game lol. I like when games do stuff like that.
Also i had zero clue what the cinematic was depicting, so thank you for explaining some of the backstory
4:55 Fun Fact: Ariel is voiced by Anna Gunn, who would later play Skyler White on Breaking Bad.
EDIT: 16:45 Spoke too soon. You just mentioned it yourself.
I downloaded blood omen years ago for emulation. The intro was stuck in an infinite loop. “I can reward you well for I am of noble blood…. What?? No mug of ale for a weary traveller from distant coorhagen? I can reward you well as I am of noble blood… What???” Etc. until I bought the actual game for ps1 and upload to emulator
one of the greatest PS1 OSTs ever
That Dollmaker track is so good.
"Alas, poor Nupraptor - I knew him well. Well, not really." 😂I loved this game and the whole series back in the day and used to really nerd out about the whole twisted self-referential lore. Very interesting to know that it's actually the result of legal and publishing bullshit.
Kenneth McCulloch was arrested and charged with sexual assault in a child pornography case. There, that easy.
Obfuscating this information doesn't feel respectful to anyone but Kenneth and I don't know why you'd glide over it.
Oh man....i remember playing this as a kid, this needs a remaster SO BAD!!!!
Like...a decent one from a decent company...not the overpriced shit we get nowadays...
Honestly, I simultaneously love and hate that I watched this. Even though I didn't play Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, the voice actors and the music both hit so many nostalgia points that it was almost painful. xD
William the Just and The Nemesis are the same person, he was corrupted by power/Moebius by being gifted the Soul Reaver. Not 100% on the last part, but sure they're the same dude.
I recently replayed this and I was surprised how well it held up tbh Great game. I adore the voice acting and dialogue in this as well as Soul Reaver. I can't help but feel that a modern game wouldn't possess the same charm, it'd be filled with self-referential nonsense.
Yes. Just yes. How do you think things would have gone if Ariel literally tipped the scales the other way as she died? Might Kain have become angel and so forth?
It’s always nice when someone has actually played the game when doing a review. I hate when someone does a review and just regurgitates old talking points and untruths.
You nailed most of the issues with the game. Since we’re in the age of remakes, Legacy of Kain would actually be a prime candidate. Sort out the hit boxes so the combat works right; use controller shoulder buttons for quick changing items, spells, weapons, and armour; Give the whole thing a nice graphical update to smooth out the rough edges. Then everyone could play a nice modern version of what is such a great story.
The poetic nature of the dialogue is fantastic and the characters, even the smaller parts, are so interesting. The way Kain starts off regretting his choice but slowly descends into blood lust is great.
I feel really bad for Malek. That guy constantly ran into battle against more powerful entities with no thought for his own safety and gets rebuked and punished for it. Doomed to eternity without a body and still does his job like a pro, defending the people who did it to him.
I had this for dreamcast recently and I couldn't figure out how to play it so I sold it.....
Played this accidentally back in the day, meant to get legacy of kain soul reaver. But got this, wasn’t disappointed
Damn, I clicked on this because I was thinking of Legacy of Kain Blood Omen
like, actually… lol
William the just become the nemesis cause of kain, his body wasn't taken over. Its apart of the themes of fate and inevitably that become important in the last two games
Interesting the developer described it as such. I always thought of it more as a "Vampire approach to a Zelda game."
Yes, it is still worth playing. The whole story, including the Soul Reaver series, is fantastic, in my opinion.
I replayed it last year. Left a note for myself to never play it again. So, I'd have to say no. It's janky, slow Zelda. Play Zelda instead.
What the...? I didn't even know there a retro like PC Version. I thought the PS1 version is the original. Wow
I wish we'd get another LoK game, but only if it's done correctly. Kain's story needs to be finished!
Silicon Knights still owes me for what they did to me by convincing me to buy and play Too Human.
Considering how crystal dynamic got there hands on the series it makes it hard to feel bad for them losing there say in the series as it just seems kinda like karma at that point....karma that screws over gamers.
Soul reaver just didn't have the same impact as blood omen
I remember playing LoK for the first time when it came out and thinking by the end of it "Shut up Kain".
Honestly, I think it might have gotten worse over the years, since Blood Omen's development.
I own this game but I don't have a PlayStation anymore. Thank God for Gog.
Too bad Cain did ask NPC’s for sherry. That fraiser comment was hilarious to me.
FEY VICTUS
I really need to play this series one day
I’ve only ever played this and Soul Reaver. They’re both really good. I plan on doing videos for the whole series eventually though.
@@dungeonchill Absolutely do this. The gameplay has aged all the games, but I think you'll find the story is good enough to carry the games.
Don't ever interrupt Kain's monologue!
I had it on CD for PC in like, 1999. It even came with a booklet and map.
One of the best games ever made… 100 hours played and still didn’t see all of it..
That history segment is crazy. Cause it's not often a developer makes a game, it does well and the publisher just kicks them to the curb. Like I'll be real I didn't even know Blood Omen existed. To think Crystal Dynamics did something so gross. Like they essentially made it so that the original game isn't known about.
Kain lives in death! Wait, sorry, wrong game. Still true though...
Yeah i remember trying to play to this as a kid and i never got very far in this