Legacy of Kain fans unite!

[Fenix]

It looks like this time around Eidos is actually taking this series seriously and giving the devs some autonomy. There is a new trailer and screenshots up at www.gamesarefun.com , it's also at IGN and the official site.

The gameplay has been completely Devil May Cry-ized, and as has been hinted at, Raziel and Kain (Soul Reaver Kain, not BO Kain) are both playable.

Also, The Lost Worlds (www.thelostworlds.net) (pretty much the only decent LoK site left) has some good information on it from magazines and the official forums:

[snip]
- Amy Hennig reprises her role as writer and director
- This is not the last Legacy of Kain game
- Our favourite voice actors will be returning
- The combat system has been redesigned to provide a more Devil May Cry-esque type of action, however...
- The plot and puzzle-solving will still play a major part of the game.
- The game works on a chapter system, but not like Blood Omen 2. It will be possible to wander around the world Soul Reaver-style.
- Kain and Raziel will both be playable, and control will switch at predetermined points in the game (Think Onimusha).
- There will be bosses.
- Kain and Raziel will both have a wide array of attacks and magical powers, but the Soul Reaver-style Glyphs will not return.
- Kain is his full super-powerful self, and is not weakened just because he's playable now.
- The camera is now much more cinematic instead of following behind the player at all times.
- There will be optional secrets to find.
- Kain is armed with the Blood Reaver - it does not contain Raziel's soul (yet?). It still sucks blood like at the end of SR2.
- Raziel is no longer assisted by the Elder God in any way, and must find new ways to enter the Material plane. One of these ways appears to be the possession of slain enemies.
- The game will take place mostly around the Blood Omen era, and feature both new and familiar locations.
- It will be "more non-linear and replayable than SR2 was" according to Amy.
- There will be only one ending to the game (contrary to previous rumours).
- It will no longer be possible to pick up weapons like torches, staves, and swords. It will also not be possible to fight with bare claws. Instead, Raziel and Kain will both fight with their version of the Reaver using an array of moves (including juggling enemies).
- Stealth kills will be available, but stealth is not the focus of the combat.
- Kain will be able to feed both by telekinesis (BO1/2 style) and by neck-biting.
- There will be bonus material of some kind
- Kain will have his Bat form from the original Blood Omen
- Only Raziel will be able to shift between planes

[snip]

Needless to say, holy fucking shit.

-F.

[Cherrn]

I don't know. I loved the first Legacy of Kain by Silicon Knights, but the other ones just left me with a bad taste in my rectum; I thought they were awful.

In any case, I hope this'll be good. It has much potential.

[Ham]

What kind of games are the Blood Omen ones?

Iv got Soul Reaver for the DC,and saw BO2 for the XB going really cheap and thought about it.

I take it they play really different?

[Duriel]

Somewhat.

BO2 is level based, in SR you can go wherever you want whenever you get the ability to pass the obstacles.

SR is exploration oriented, BO2 is not.

[Fenix]

BO1 was an old action / rpg game, made by the same people who made Eternal Darkness, and was really good and unique back in the early PSX days.

The Soul Reaver's are like big action / adventure games, like a cross between Jak & Daxter, and Tomb Raider.

BO2 is more like SR/2 only with more emphasis on action and far more linear. Unfortunately it was coded by retards, so it's almost impossible to really enjoy unless you're truly hardcore for the series.

-F.

[Grey]

Originally posted by Ham-Sak
What kind of games are the Blood Omen ones?

Iv got Soul Reaver for the DC,and saw BO2 for the XB going really cheap and thought about it.

I take it they play really different?

Bllod Omen was in the Legacy of Kain series, and it's more of Kain's role in the whole story, they follow kain through his high points in his li.....bit where he had a body.

[ninja]

not the last legacy of kain game? it was my understanding that it WAS the last, thats why its not called soul reaver 3 or blood omen 3, im really anxious to have the story wrap up, ive been playing the series for like 6 god damn years, i wanna know what finally happens, i still love it though.

[Fenix]

Well, I'm pretty sure the reason it's not called BO or SR is because it's no longer a split series. I imagine (unless one of them dies in this game) that both characters will continue as playables until the end of the series. And I'm sure the series will run for as long as we keep buying them, ala every other franchise Eidos owns.

-F.

[Maj]

LOK series has had the best gaming storyline i've ever seen. Just blows away everything else. But the gameplay was so bad and the number of times you had to traverse the world back and forth was so tedious that i couldn't bring myself to recommend it to anyone. It would make an awesome couple of CG movies, but you really can't give someone the feeling of the LOK world and ambience without them playing it and playing it isn't all that much fun. Too bad everyone refused to support FF Spirits Within or Hollywood might have gotten excited about CG movies and started throwing around contracts for that sort of stuff.

But then again, it's pretty hard to complain about movies this year.

[TwistOfFate]

the LoK games have imo the best story line out any game series today. i really wish they would wrap the series up though, i'm a little sick of cliff-hangers

[ninja]

i agree, i love the storyline and i believe its one of the best in video game history but i really would like to see it wrap up so i dont have to suffer another 2-3 years of waiting for the next "chapter".

[Demonicuss]

I am a very happy bastard. As a LoK fan (dug Blood Omens and SR 1&2, want to kill the windowlickers who made BO2), this news about the wonderful thing that is Defiance makes me happy.

Now all we need is Vehiculum Furtus Maximo to come out, and my life shall be COMPLEETE! :supergrin

http://www.thelostworlds.net/3in3Images/VFM-3in3-Kain-Colour.JPG

All Hail Chibi-Kain!

[Killa_Cam]

That Picture fucking owns

[carbonater]

I was compelled to bump this.
A post that Cherrn made in the RE5 thread (http://highervoltage.net/mb/showthread.php?p=516768) made me realize that I finished the LoK saga...I think. That's sad that I have to say "I think" because this series was going in a great direction and just lost me toward the end(?).

I started the saga with the LoK: Soul Reaver game and then read up on the previous games. Fuck! This game/series was unlike anything I had seen. The puzzles were a chore, but it was worth it to fight the bosses and unravel the story. I'm not going to get into the story because we all know it. The only thing that really bothered me was the ending. I prayed that there would be a sequel.

Enter LoK: Soul Reaver 2...This was the first PS2game I purchased along with my PS2. IMO, this is when the series really went downhill. The entire game was a chore to play through. The only thing that gave it a shred of dignity was the ONLY fucking boss fight in the game. The shit was deep.

After SR2 I wasn't even exicted about LoK: Defiance. I happened to be in EB one day and I stumbled upon a brand new copy that was only 9.99. I figured this was as good a chance as any to experience the final chapter for myself. Like the previous game, Defiance was a chore. The only thing that was keeping me going was getting to the next story segment. The story seemed to get too complicated and by the time I was at the end there were more unanswered questions than resolve.

Did anybody else feel this way?

[VeggieH8R]

Yeah, at first it was all occult and cool, then it was "ZOMG! Vampires were here first after they beat the aliens!" and I was like "huh"?

[Here's Johnny]

Blood Omen rocked, but the 3-d stuff looks shanked.

Vampires pushing crates? In the future? I don't get it.

Edit: Whoa! I just realized how old this thread is! And here I thought yet another LoK game was in development.

[Cherrn]

While I hated the initial move to make Raziel the main character of the series, I think it worked out better in the long run. While I think Kain is one of the most awesome protagonists ever, he works better as a villain.

However, I like LoK purely for its storyline and its incredible voice acting. The gameplay is ass in pretty much all the games; Defiance being the only one even coming close to being good.

I also admit that I liked the way the story progressed... except for the Hylden. These days the concept of "common foe" gets thrown around way too much, and I thought the story would've worked better without this outside interference. Still, you'd be hard pressed to find another story of this scale and magnificence in other videogames; it is almost unprecedented.

(by the way, anyone else notice how Fenix's initial post states that Defiance is *not* the last LoK game?)

[VeggieH8R]

The storyline was excellent right up until the Hylden. I would have liked to have kept it strictly vampire vs human since as Moebius/Nupraptor/Mortanius proved that humans with too much power are as powerful as any vampire. They didn't need to throw a third race out of left field. Although I did like how they tied up the "lost brother" Turel's story. The end of Defiance left a last game open, but it'll probably be about the Hylden, so gay.