Having to have full hp to use SR I didn't like and thought it was a shitty gimmick, soul reaver 2's implementation I liked much better.
It's a game where you can't die. Taking the wraith blade away like that was a way to punish you for lazy gameplay that still didn't massively disrupt the pace of the game, which was all part of the different ways weapons complimented one another until the end - the environmental hazards and ad hox weapons you grab remain viable until the end because of the wraith blade weakness while the fire reaver and telekinetic shooting with it is restrained by the need to spectral shift in places and find new fires to light the blade with again.
TBH though, the first Blood Omen and Soul Reaver feel more like they're adping Zelda than Medtroid of Castelvania.
The puzzles I guess are ok? But a lot of them are block pushing shit, and they can get tedius at points, especially if you want/need to take a break, then you'd need to find a save point, etc...
I never found the puzzles to be too bad playing through it recently. The only issue is finding a new fast transport spot to cement your progress with, but it isn't too bad if save and quiet before you locate the latest one.
Also, coming from a metroidvania perspective, I thought the upgrades were garbage too. Being able to shift through cages? Ok, NO WAIT! Being able to shift through cages ONLY in the green plane! Ok...
NO WAIT! Being able to shift through cages ONLY in the green plane, BUT we'll mostly use giant metal slabs instead! Ok, gg, best devs ever.
This is where Blood Omen 1 was better, but the load times to inventory to switch made you avoid wanting to fuck too much with your stuff.
SR had a lot of potentiall tbh, I donno why they didn't just add in more cool, perma upgrades? Why not add in an upgrade for raziel to fly for several seconds? Why not add an upgrade to be able to do plane shifting at any point? Why make the cage shifting thing so restrictive? Why make the climbing so restrictive?
1: Because it was a typical early 90s 3D game.
2: They did, but time ran out and they were forced to cut the ending off (which oddly, turned out for the better):
http://legacyofkain.wikia.com/wiki/Legacy_of_Kain:_Soul_Reaver#Cut_content
In the finished game, Raziel can only use the standard Reaver and one elemental enhancement - the Fire Reaver.
[SR1] Originally, though, he was to have discovered five further Soul Reaver enhancement forges, each one corresponding to the Glyphs in the final game (
Sound,
Stone,
Sunlight and
Water).
[81] Furthermore, the most powerful Glyph was removed; the
Spirit Glyph, and its accompanying
Reaver enhancement.
[81][82] All of these Reavers would subsequently be imbued by passing them through or striking the element, in the same fashion as the Fire Reaver is re-imbued in-game.
[81] There were also two permanent Reaver enhancements, obtained by imbuing the blade with the souls of specific characters - the
Ariel and
Amplified (Kain) Reavers.
[83][84] The Force Glyph did not have an accompanying Reaver.
[81]
One can see they were thinking the same thing when they made SR2, especially with the Wind Reaver and how it enabled more gliding to be in the game.
WTF? How the fuck can you be so wrong?
First, you could always go to the spectral at any place or moment, only the return trip to the material required fairly generously placed portals.
Second, unlimited warping back and forth would break pretty much everything - combat (where it would become an extremely tedious variant of timefreeze plus teleportation, plus healing), puzzles, everyfuckingthing.
I agree with Drax, especially given how there's always a portal nearby to reenter the material world through. Such a mechanic frustrated you, but didn't set you back badly, comapred to Soul Reaver 2 where the specral world isn't used often, and if you die in it you often find yourself having to backtrack quite a bit to reach the nearest portal.
Since these portals were so generous, should have just fucking removed that shit and given you the ability to shift at any point.
Yes, obviously it would fucking break the game if you gave player full freedom with shifting, that's why you have to re-design it somewhat. Also, how would it break combat? You fight a vampire thing, if you lose against it you auto shift to spectral place and then you fill up on hp and shift back... wait a second, that's how they done it!!!!
I don't understand, how is that scene different between the normal SR way or the SR with no shifting restrictions?
To reiterate, you cannot die in the game (which still went to the effect to properly explain why, unlike now). It was annoying but it was supposed to be and to encourage you to grab a nearby physical weapon or environmental vamp killer if you lost patience.
FWIW, the wraith blade has a slow wind up to kill a vamp, that if the vamp came out of a daze, they could easily dodge or another could interrupt, making the spears a good back up to grab and keep with you even if you had max health. The spears remained my primary weapon with the wriath blade being a back up until the reaver could shoot bolts allowing me to by pass most combat from then on.
Having finally finished it recently after doing so last I rented it in '99, I appreciate the almost perfect blending of gameplay mechanics with the story. Everything but the fast travel portals and their odd places in the world are explained while the glyphs and fire reaver aren't meant to be secrets left to discover, so they're not explained.
