Legacy of Kain blowjob thread

[Vaarna_Aarne]

And the level design in SR is fantastic, never forget that.

 

[Murk]

Like many before me, I probably spent 30+ minutes banging my head on the wall before I realized how to climb up into the Cathedral ;(

 

[Reject_666_6]

But the human vampires, assuming they would live long enough, would eventually "evolve" into the form of original vampires, wouldn't they? Was Raziel the only one who ever happened to sprout wings? Hmm, now that I think of it, his wings actually looked quite a bit like a hylden's, so I guess that was probably due to the whole prophecy thing.

To be honest, I think Raziel's wings were just his own evolutionary thing. All the other generals were going into their own direction, like being spidery, aquatic, blind but sensitive to sound, so Raziel being the one moving towards flying seems natural.

Raziel thought of it as really important when looking through Avernus, but his interpretation of the prophecy was his own only. In the end, it led him to the right conclusion, though, so I guess the prophecy was indirectly coming true in all this time.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

This series has always been one of the more notable omissions in my play-history of vidya gaming. After going down a weird rabbit hole in the adventure gaming sub-forum, Andrew Plotkin finally convinced me to take the plunge and go through the whole rigmorale of getting Blood Omen 1 working on Windows 10. I've now played for a few hours and I just killed Nupraptor. So. What's the verdict? Um...

This game is not very good. That's not to say that it's bad per se, and there are some things that it does amazingly well, especially considering the year of its release, but as a game...? Yeah... it's kind of crap so far.

The good:

+VA- I was expecting this based on it's reputation, but yes, this is some of the best VA I've ever heard in a videogame, even with the muddied 90s audio fidelity.
+Prose- some of the best I've ever heard/read in a video game. It's hard to totally divorce this from the top-tier VA, and perhaps I'm over-estimating its quality for that reason, but the prose of the text is delightfully "crunchy" and "chewy". Almost every line of text is aesthetically and auditorily pleasing, and it's clear that the writers had a genuine (but not precious) appreciation for alliteration, consonance, and verse. Very well done.
+Art Design- It's aged well, and is properly evocative of gothic fantasy.

The Meh:

Combat- I mean, there's just nothing fucking to it so far. Press X to kill bad guys. Wow.
Difficulty- I haven't died yet. I haven't even come close. I have like 50 stacks of the insta-kill glaive just sitting in my inventory already, but I don't even see the purpose of using them because the game is already so fucking easy.
Setting- I don't really care for grimdark settings in general, but this one also seems very generic thus far. My understanding is that the setting is greatly developed as the series progresses and ultimately becomes something fairly special, so I have high hopes here.

The Bad:

--Level Design- My previous (negligble) exposure to Blood Omen led me to believe that it was a Link to the Past clone, which thus far is very much not the case. Perhaps this is a fault of my own expectations, but thus far the game has been extremely linear (far more so than any Zelda title I've played, which is saying something). It's just been a series of corridors. Once in a while there's a "hidden" room off of a corridor. Cool.
--Puzzles- Hah-fucking-hah just kidding there are no puzzles. There are trial and error segments where you figure out which of the three switches need to be activated for the door to open. What an absolute joke.
--Controls- Maybe I'm just dumb, but they just don't seem to work very well. For example at least half of the times I try and jump across a spike pit in my wolf form the game just refuses to acknowledge the input and instead I just run into spikes over and over. Not that big a deal overall I suppose considering the general level of ease, but still pretty fucking annoying.
--Ambient audio- Walk into a dungeon > immediately hear five different peasants exclaiming "PLEASE, HELP ME KIND SIR!" over and over while the VA is staggered .3 seconds apart and the VA is at ~%250 of all other volume. No idea how that made it through a QA pass. Especially baffling considering the otherwise excellent audio direction.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention that Nupraptor fight. It might have the distinction of being the single-worst/easiest boss fight I've ever seen in a game. Just a total fucking joke.

So am I wrong? Does the game get substantially better as it goes on? I'm committed to playing through Blood Omen because I specifically want to play Soul Reaver, but if this is indicative of the general quality of the franchise... well, I think its exalters might have some nostalgia goggles on, and I'm not sure I'll continue past Soul Reaver.

 

[Pound Meat]

Are the load times better on PC? On Playstation they're quite annoying.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Are the load times better on PC? On Playstation they're quite annoying.

They're non-existent. Like under 1 second non-existent.

 

[A horse of course]

This series has always been one of the more notable omissions in my play-history of vidya gaming. After going down a weird rabbit hole in the adventure gaming sub-forum, Andrew Plotkin finally convinced me to take the plunge and go through the whole rigmorale of getting Blood Omen 1 working on Windows 10. I've now played for a few hours and I just killed Nupraptor. So. What's the verdict? Um...

This game is not very good. That's not to say that it's bad per se, and there are some things that it does amazingly well, especially considering the year of its release, but as a game...? Yeah... it's kind of crap so far.

The good:

+VA- I was expecting this based on it's reputation, but yes, this is some of the best VA I've ever heard in a videogame, even with the muddied 90s audio fidelity.
+Prose- some of the best I've ever heard/read in a video game. It's hard to totally divorce this from the top-tier VA, and perhaps I'm over-estimating its quality for that reason, but the prose of the text is delightfully "crunchy" and "chewy". Almost every line of text is aesthetically and auditorily pleasing, and it's clear that the writers had a genuine (but not precious) appreciation for alliteration, consonance, and verse. Very well done.
+Art Design- It's aged well, and is properly evocative of gothic fantasy.

The Meh:

Combat- I mean, there's just nothing fucking to it so far. Press X to kill bad guys. Wow.
Difficulty- I haven't died yet. I haven't even come close. I have like 50 stacks of the insta-kill glaive just sitting in my inventory already, but I don't even see the purpose of using them because the game is already so fucking easy.
Setting- I don't really care for grimdark settings in general, but this one also seems very generic thus far. My understanding is that the setting is greatly developed as the series progresses and ultimately becomes something fairly special, so I have high hopes here.

The Bad:

--Level Design- My previous (negligble) exposure to Blood Omen led me to believe that it was a Link to the Past clone, which thus far is very much not the case. Perhaps this is a fault of my own expectations, but thus far the game has been extremely linear (far more so than any Zelda title I've played, which is saying something). It's just been a series of corridors. Once in a while there's a "hidden" room off of a corridor. Cool.
--Puzzles- Hah-fucking-hah just kidding there are no puzzles. There are trial and error segments where you figure out which of the three switches need to be activated for the door to open. What an absolute joke.
--Controls- Maybe I'm just dumb, but they just don't seem to work very well. For example at least half of the times I try and jump across a spike pit in my wolf form the game just refuses to acknowledge the input and instead I just run into spikes over and over. Not that big a deal overall I suppose considering the general level of ease, but still pretty fucking annoying.
--Ambient audio- Walk into a dungeon > immediately hear five different peasants exclaiming "PLEASE, HELP ME KIND SIR!" over and over while the VA is staggered .3 seconds apart and the VA is at ~%250 of all other volume. No idea how that made it through a QA pass. Especially baffling considering the otherwise excellent audio direction.
Edit: Also I forgot to mention that Nupraptor fight. It might have the distinction of being the single-worst/easiest boss fight I've ever seen in a game. Just a total fucking joke.

So am I wrong? Does the game get substantially better as it goes on? I'm committed to playing through Blood Omen because I specifically want to play Soul Reaver, but if this is indicative of the general quality of the franchise... well, I think its exalters might have some nostalgia goggles on, and I'm not sure I'll continue past Soul Reaver.

This belongs in the screenshot thead.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

This belongs in the screenshot thead.

I genuinely don't get whatever joke you're trying to make, but regarding the piracy rating: my understanding is that due to Silicon Knights dissolution Blood Omen 1 is firmly abandonware (and the fact that it's available and labeled abandonware all over the web, but unavailable for purchase anywhere reinforces that).

 

[A horse of course]

This belongs in the screenshot thead.

I genuinely don't get whatever joke you're trying to make, but regarding the piracy rating: my understanding is that due to Silicon Knights dissolution Blood Omen 1 is firmly abandonware (and the fact that it's available and labeled abandonware all over the web, but unavailable for purchase anywhere reinforces that).

There is no such thing as "abandonware". It is either legal, or it is not. You are a thief.

 

[A horse of course]

Those idiots rating my poast negatively, please read one of the numerous sources debunking the concept of "abandonware", such as: https://bit-tech.net/reviews/gaming/pc/abandonware-the-ethics-and-essentials/1/

Just because you greasy-haired lanklets with your metallica tees and gravy-smeared leather jackets keep repeating the "lol it's really old so it's ok" meme doesn't mean that it becomes reality. Clean yourselves up, get a job, and start contributing to society.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

This belongs in the screenshot thead.

I genuinely don't get whatever joke you're trying to make, but regarding the piracy rating: my understanding is that due to Silicon Knights dissolution Blood Omen 1 is firmly abandonware (and the fact that it's available and labeled abandonware all over the web, but unavailable for purchase anywhere reinforces that).

There is no such thing as "abandonware". It is either legal, or it is not. You are a thief.

I mean, if you want to live in a world without nuance where legality dictates morality I won't stop you, but that seems like a sad and limiting way to live.


Edit: It would also be great if anyone could actually answer my original question of whether or not Blood Omen improves or if this is just what I'm in for.

 

[A horse of course]

This belongs in the screenshot thead.

I genuinely don't get whatever joke you're trying to make, but regarding the piracy rating: my understanding is that due to Silicon Knights dissolution Blood Omen 1 is firmly abandonware (and the fact that it's available and labeled abandonware all over the web, but unavailable for purchase anywhere reinforces that).

There is no such thing as "abandonware". It is either legal, or it is not. You are a thief.

I mean, if you want to live in a world without nuance where legality dictates morality I won't stop you, but that seems like a sad and limiting way to live.


Edit: It would also be great if anyone could actually answer my original question of whether or not Blood Omen improves or if this is just what I'm in for.

First of all, I reported you to the authorities, secondly: not really. The game is essentially a Zelda clone, so there is some degree of backtracking for secrets and items as you acquire new powers or equipment (e.g. the flail to smash boulders, wolf form or mist form to reach new areas), but overall it's a very linear experience. Some of the dungeons are larger or involve more exploration before finding the correct item or switch to progress, but a child could deal with them and still not get lost. The controls were always awkward, though they are - like the classic Tomb Raider games - consistent. With wolf form, for example, you're meant to jump at a specific point - not too early/late, or it continues the moving animation instead.

If you don't enjoy the story, atmosphere, voice acting, environments and such then no, it doesn't really improve. It does get more difficult though.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

First of all, I reported you to the authorities, secondly: not really. The game is essentially a Zelda clone, so there is some degree of backtracking for secrets and items as you acquire new powers or equipment (e.g. the flail to smash boulders, wolf form or mist form to reach new areas), but overall it's a very linear experience. Some of the dungeons are larger or involve more exploration before finding the correct item or switch to progress, but a child could deal with them and still not get lost. The controls were always awkward, though they are - like the classic Tomb Raider games - consistent. With wolf form, for example, you're meant to jump at a specific point - not too early/late, or it continues the moving animation instead.

If you don't enjoy the story, atmosphere, voice acting, environments and such then no, it doesn't really improve. It does get more difficult though.

Thanks, that's sort of what I expected, and like I said I'm in it for Soul Reaver, so I will persevere.

I am really enjoying the atmosphere and voice acting; environments have been a little bland, but hopefully they diversify as the game progresses. Regarding the story: that's another thing I forgot to mention in my mini-review. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on. I'm not saying that's a negative, many of my favorite narratives have started me off in that state, but... uh... yeah. There's some guys who just randomly killed me? but then a necromancer revived me in hell? as a vampire? and then he told me there was a secret conspiracy against me? and then I wandered down the road and some dead lady told me that the government had all gone bat-shit crazy and I needed to kill them? I don't think it's bad, and it's definitely not badly presented, but it does feel disjointed and jury is still out on whether or not that is intentional. To be fair, I wasn't playing with subtitles on for the first couple hours, so I may have missed some key points of context.

 

[A horse of course]

First of all, I reported you to the authorities, secondly: not really. The game is essentially a Zelda clone, so there is some degree of backtracking for secrets and items as you acquire new powers or equipment (e.g. the flail to smash boulders, wolf form or mist form to reach new areas), but overall it's a very linear experience. Some of the dungeons are larger or involve more exploration before finding the correct item or switch to progress, but a child could deal with them and still not get lost. The controls were always awkward, though they are - like the classic Tomb Raider games - consistent. With wolf form, for example, you're meant to jump at a specific point - not too early/late, or it continues the moving animation instead.

If you don't enjoy the story, atmosphere, voice acting, environments and such then no, it doesn't really improve. It does get more difficult though.

Thanks, that's sort of what I expected, and like I said I'm in it for Soul Reaver, so I will persevere.

I am really enjoying the atmosphere and voice acting; environments have been a little bland, but hopefully they diversify as the game progresses. Regarding the story: that's another thing I forgot to mention in my mini-review. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck is going on. I'm not saying that's a negative, many of my favorite narratives have started me off in that state, but... uh... yeah. There's some guys who just randomly killed me? but then a necromancer revived me in hell? as a vampire? and then he told me there was a secret conspiracy against me? and then I wandered down the road and some dead lady told me that the government had all gone bat-shit crazy and I needed to kill them? I don't think it's bad, and it's definitely not badly presented, but it does feel disjointed and jury is still out on whether or not that is intentional. To be fair, I wasn't playing with subtitles on for the first couple hours, so I may have missed some key points of context.

I don't recall Blood Omen being difficult to follow. The assassins are explained much later, though you should have noticed by this point that the roads are full of highwaymen and brigands anyway, so being murdered in the dead of night outside some shithole hamlet in a dying land is not particularly implausible. Did you read the manual? Nosgoth is meant to be "maintained" by a coven of whizzards with a fisher king-esque relationship to the world. They've all gone insane and started summoning demons, mass murdering everyone and so forth, so the land in turn sickens and its people are riven by conflict.

 

[Pound Meat]

https://legacyofkain.fandom.com/wiki/HMCS_Bitter

HMCS Bitter was a secret location that can be accessed in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, resembling a large sailing ship and often interpreted as a pirate-based scene. The Bitter area remained undiscovered in the game until a project to recreate Blood Omen in 3D uncovered it in early 2010. Legitimate access to the area was discovered in 2020.

In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, there is a similar (albeit much smaller) ship in an almost identical location within Nosgoth and this may be evidence that Crystal Dynamics was aware of Bitter.[Soul Reaver][1][6]

The gift that keeps on giving. Amazing.

Edit:

https://www.thelostworlds.net/BO1/HMCS_Bitter.html

You can compare pics from both games there.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Did you read the manual?

I looked for a decent scan for a couple minutes, but the top hits were all pretty low-res, so I just ended up skimming it. Pyrric Piracy Karma I suppose. I'll make more of a concerted effort to find a decent scan.

But it's not so much the in-game events that are confusing as it is the cut-scenes. I have zero clue how they relate to the in-game narrative aside from a couple Proper-Noun-People being mentioned in both places.

 

[A horse of course]

Did you read the manual?

I looked for a decent scan for a couple minutes, but the top hits were all pretty low-res, so I just ended up skimming it. Pyrric Piracy Karma I suppose. I'll make more of a concerted effort to find a decent scan.

But it's not so much the in-game events that are confusing as it is the cut-scenes. I have zero clue how they relate to the in-game narrative aside from a couple Proper-Noun-People being mentioned in both places.

Such as? The opening cutscene explains the Vampire purge, which will be especially relevant later, as well as introducing important figures like Vorador and Malek. It also depicts the murder of Ariel. The cutscene after Kain's assassination shows him being brought back by Mortanius in exchange for revenge. Soon after the tutorial areas you meet Ariel's ghost, who explains that her death sent her lover mad, who in turn caused the circle/pillars guardians to go bonkers, which is polluting the world itself, and how they need to be splatted (I can't recall Kain's motivation for this, something Ariel or Mortanius says to him I think).

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Such as? The opening cutscene explains the Vampire purge, which will be especially relevant later, as well as introducing important figures like Vorador and Malek. It also depicts the murder of Ariel. The cutscene after Kain's assassination shows him being brought back by Mortanius in exchange for revenge. Soon after the tutorial areas you meet Ariel's ghost, who explains that her death sent her lover mad, who in turn caused the circle/pillars guardians to go bonkers, which is polluting the world itself, and how they need to be splatted (I can't recall Kain's motivation for this, something Ariel or Mortanius says to him I think).

Yeah I missed most of this. I'm not sure if it's a function of using an .iso being a filthy pirate or if it's just the source sound quality of the recording, but I have a very hard time understanding what the VA is saying without subtitles (and I am not ESL). What's interesting to me is how much I still enjoyed the VA prior to turning the subtitles on; I could only understand every other word of what was being said, but the whole experience was undeniably atmospheric.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Blood Omen is the definition of a storyfag game. Unfortunately, it was pretty much edgy Zelda (but not really) for 16 year olds when it came out (I was incidentally one of those 16 year olds at the time and I loved it). Gameplay is quite weak and you should count yourself lucky that you didn't have to suffer the original Playstation version's incredibly long load times (just getting to menus, which you do a lot in this game, used to take something like 5 seconds) and slowdowns (the game used to slow to a crawl in tightly packed areas, especially if you zoomed out).

I'm usually not one for storyfag games but the Legacy of Kain series is one of two notable exceptions for me (the other being Bloodborne). The foundations in Blood Omen are solid and you'll want to understand them if you really want to follow the remaining games. Soul Reaver is especially great (again, weak gameplay for different reasons).

 

[Dayyālu]

Thanks, that's sort of what I expected, and like I said I'm in it for Soul Reaver, so I will persevere.

The exalters usually don't have the nostalgia goggles on, because most will admit that the gameplay, ironically enough, wasn't the best in any entry. And it gets steadily worse up until Defiance and Defiance is.... a thing.

Don't get your hopes too high for Soul Reaver either. Despite starting as a completely different game bolted on the LoK lore ( Shifter, I think it was originally called) it's not particularly spectacular despite some very nice ideas about combat and exploration. I'd almost argue that some puzzles are outright asinine just because.

The atmosphere, tho, that's great. Magic post apoc may be one of the many genres that nowadays people try to ape, but chrissakes SR is maybe one of the few that truly nails it down.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

puzzles are outright asinine just because

You're just putting them in the same box now.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

This thread is 10 years old and in that ti'me i've never played any legacy of kain game.

Even more puzzling is the fate of our OP Reject_666_6. If the codex is not part of the path you walk, I hope life finds you well all the same my friend

 

[Darth Roxor]

The exalters usually don't have the nostalgia goggles on, because most will admit that the gameplay, ironically enough, wasn't the best in any entry.

The gameplay was very good in at least both the Soul Reavers. However Blood Omen 1 and 2 are a bit wonky and Defiance is total shit, but so it goes.

I'd almost argue that some puzzles are outright asinine just because.

scrublord

 

[A horse of course]

Such as? The opening cutscene explains the Vampire purge, which will be especially relevant later, as well as introducing important figures like Vorador and Malek. It also depicts the murder of Ariel. The cutscene after Kain's assassination shows him being brought back by Mortanius in exchange for revenge. Soon after the tutorial areas you meet Ariel's ghost, who explains that her death sent her lover mad, who in turn caused the circle/pillars guardians to go bonkers, which is polluting the world itself, and how they need to be splatted (I can't recall Kain's motivation for this, something Ariel or Mortanius says to him I think).

Yeah I missed most of this. I'm not sure if it's a function of using an .iso being a filthy pirate or if it's just the source sound quality of the recording, but I have a very hard time understanding what the VA is saying without subtitles (and I am not ESL). What's interesting to me is how much I still enjoyed the VA prior to turning the subtitles on; I could only understand every other word of what was being said, but the whole experience was undeniably atmospheric.

Have you tried watching footage on youtube to compare? Whilst the audio can be a lttle "crackle-y" on the PS1, and perhaps the audio mixing was a little off sometimes, I recall the VA actually being a little too loud rather than the opposite. I mean, it's no Nolan movie.

 

[Dayyālu]

The gameplay was very good in at least both the Soul Reavers. However Blood Omen 1 and 2 are a bit wonky and Defiance is total shit, but so it goes.

Spoiler

I find, for some insane reason, Blood Omen 2's gameplay the most fun

I know it wasn't even a LoK game to begin with

Also, I know but I can't explain it