Thread 11999747

Discuss the Legacy of Kain games.

This guy here makes some good videos about LoK. His character study videos are pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/@strictlyfantasy

>>11999747 (OP)
Shill thread? I will bump only because i love this franchise.
Soul reaver>defiance>blood omen>SR2>blood omen.
Shame we never got another sequel while tony was alive, i think most of the voice actors passed away at this point?
Do you guys preffer the ending of defiance as closing page of the franchise? Or did we needed another game back in the ps2 era?

>>11999773
Defiance hardly wrapped things up conclusively. They were obviously leaving room for a sequel and I would have liked to get one. But I guess it's not the worst place to end. It at least led to a kind of branching off point that wasn't exactly an ending but a resolution of that particular story arc at least. It was a season finale, not a series finale if that makes sense.

>>11999773
It's not a shill thread, I just wanted to spark discussion. And I think Kain's voice actor is alive and well.
As for the ending, Defiance is better than nothing. Another game in the PS2 era would have been great. I'm not really sure if another game in the modern era would be good. Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun kinda seemed like shit.

>>11999747 (OP)
I beat both ps1 games but don’t know anything about the ps2 era games. How are they? I’m especially curious about blood omen 2, does it play like the original but in 3d?

>>11999908
Blood Omen 2 is nothing like the first game. It gets a lot of hate, some of it deserved. It's viewed as the worst game in the series but it's not as bad as everyone says. It's very enjoyable for what it is: a braindead action-adventure with great gothic vampire aesthetic. It's kinda like Legacy of Kain's Silent Hill 4.

>>11999930
Bloom Omen 2 was my 2nd game (first being SR) in the LoK series and I always loved it. After playing them all, I can see why people dislike it, but I still love it. It scratches that vampire itch for me.

>>11999882
>fuck you, vampire!
I still remember the trailer line.

>>11999939
A lot of games are deemed good or bad by relativistic comparisons. But in a vacuum, unless game is actually a broken, buggy piece of shit with bad gameplay you can usually enjoy them on their own merits as long as you're not autistically making comparisons to other games the entire time.

Sometimes this board loses sight of the fact that games are fun. Even most of the "bad" ones

>>12000028
kek

Favorite voice actor/scene/boss fight?
For it was tony jay, the edge of the coin and the fight betwen raziel an kain in defience.
However vorador voice actor comes close, sadly i think he passed away too.

>>12000390
Everything in the first Soul Reaver and Blood Omen, after that it's very hammy. I don't mind Soul Reaver 2 but it has my least favourite portrayal of Raziel (while conversely having the most interesting portrayal of Kain). BO2 is basically its own thing but at least you get some humour with Kain.

>>12000390
Favorite actor is Michael Bell, as boring a pick as it is. There's some slight differences to the way he voice acts in Defiance and i love his lines there even more than usual

Favorite scene might be Melchia's cutscenes. It's a perfect introduction to the world of SR1 which is very unique. And him going YOU, ARE THE LAST, TO DIE and then going I AM RELEASED as he dies is perfect.

Favorite boss uhhh, this series doesn't have very good bossfights mechanically not gonna lie. But it might be Dumah since he's the only one in that game that still feels intimidating even after you figure out the puzzle to beat him.

Also i have a small, throwaway line that is stuck in my head. It's when Raziel in Defiance is talking to one of the vampire pillar guardian ghosts and it goes "ETERNITY WEIGHS HEAVILY" so Raziel responds with the 1 liner "I have a solution" and as he says solution his eyes open really wide. It's great.

I wish SR2 had real proper bosses, what a shame

>>12000432
I like that the Bosses in SR1 are puzzles. Sure, the surprise and tension is gone over repeat playthroughs but you can appreciate the structure. I wish we got to see the original Turel fight in which you have to trick him into flooding his chamber. Also using each of the elemental Reavers to fight Kain.

They were never going to end that series even if they made a game after Defiance.

Shoutout to that anon who always cries about how gloomy and dark these games are.

>>11999773
>>11999805
I'll never understand people who says defiance was a conclusion/warp up
>the pillars have been destroyed and the hyldens broke free from their prison
I must have played a different game

Defiance felt so visibly unfinished with how you visit so many of the same-looking locations, fight so many of the same enemies and how frequently buggy it is. I think I liked playing through Vorador's mansion the most.

>>12000717
I agree. I really wanted to like Defiance but the repetitive gameplay made it very difficult.

>>12000723
The lack of distorted music in the spectral realm was a real mood kill for me, it was already very muted in SR2, but they made it so it was just spooky wailing and sobbing in Defiance. My problem with Defiance is it seems like they were racing to tie together a bunch of plot threads, include a bunch of features they had been trying to do since SR1, whilst also combining the narratives of SR2 and BO2 in a game that was ostensibly derivative of basic features from Devil May Cry. I don't think it's a bad game but it's a weird case of an unpolished game having an identity crisis.

>>11999773
>i think most of the voice actors passed away at this point?
Tony Jay (mostly Elder God but also voiced Zephon in SR1 and Mortanius and William in BO1) died in 2006
Paul Luakther (Vorador) died in 2014
Rene Auberjonois (Janos) died in 2019
Earl Boen (Hylden Lord) died in 2023
A bigger issue is that a lot of them have retired and are in no condition to reprise their roles - maybe Simon Templeman is only 71 years old and can push himself if he wants to but Michael Bell's fucking 87 years old, give the man a rest and let him train younger voice actors (who are not your talentless e-celeb hacks):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mHaukYYOH4
>Do you guys preffer the ending of defiance as closing page of the franchise? Or did we needed another game back in the ps2 era?
I mean, Dark Prophecy was supposed to be the last game and wrap up the series, but Defiance gave a closure to Raziel and you can kinda figure out how the series would've ended anyway:
>Kain has two goals: somehow unfuck the Pillars and kill Elder God
>latter one is easy, which is why Dark Prophecy was mostly about Hylden Realm where Kain beats Hylden Lord and Elder God
>former one is a bit tricky - coin flip guarantees that Nosgoth is fucked no matter what, and even if they magically come back the entire BO1 scenario will eventually happen again because humans CAN'T manage the Pillars, it HAS to be guarded by vampires
>which is why Kain just needs to get Janos back as the last true vampire (who won't be fucked by Elder God anymore and who can properly turn people into true vampires) by kicking Hylden Lord out of him and leaving Soul Reaver in Avernus after everything's done
>because Reaver purified future Kain, it can also purify young Kain, thus the Balance Pillar gets purified even before Mortanius / Hash'ak'gik fight and the coin flip just NEVER HAPPENS
>Balance Guardian is alive, all Pillars are purified and Janos is now around to guide young Kain and make new vampire Guardians for the Pillars

>>12000819
Oh, and I ran out of space, but just wanted to post these classic outtakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBc_cHKrOo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF51FW_SU2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWM_Vqh8qAg

>>12000712
I'm not sure if an actual definitive ending that wrapped it all up was ever the plan. I think they wanted to always have some dangling plot threads so there was content for sequels.

Most game series don't intentionally end, they just stop wherever the money runs out. It's just that this was more of a problem for the LOK series specifically because it was so narrative-driven so no getting the next installment felt like missing the final chapter of a book or something

>>12000819
A shame we never got an audio book with all of the voice acotrs when they were alive about the final chapter, if cristal dynamics or whoever the fuck own the rights at the time didnt want to spend money on a game then maybe an audio book could have been cheaper.
At this point in time that remaster its all we will ever get, i will always remember kain final line about hope its a great summary of this fandom and the franchise.

>>12000390
My favorite scene is where Raziel meets Turel in Defiance. The dialog in that cutscene is so well written.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wejWbyGnNsg

>Why... stay? Would I remain if I could get out?!