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They say the dead know no pain. Things are about to change!

Meet Raziel: a vampire-turned-wraith, who will show you how to have a soul-devouringly good time for just $5.99 on GOG.com

Soul Reaver is technically the second installment in Legacy of Kain series, but practically it’s a beginning of a new adventure. What is important is that the game brought the franchise into 3D and introduced a completely new character while maintaining the uniquely dark and seductive atmosphere. The player controls Raziel, once one of six powerful lieutenants of Kain who was later broken and killed by his former master. Reanimated in the Spectral Realm as a wraith by The Elder God, Raziel serves as the deity's "angel of death" and will not stop unless his five undead vampiric brothers--and Kain himself!--are destroyed.

The gameplay is flawless, fights are violent and gory, and the game requires you to shift in real-time between the material and spectral planes to solve puzzles and defeat monsters. Raziel, the series’ new anti-hero is a character who feels real despite his wraithlike nature. His striking visual appearance (a wrap hiding his jawless face, radiant pupilless eyes, tattered wings, and claws and feet), tragic nature, personality change throughout the game, and his blue symbiotic blade, made him one of the most recognizable characters in gaming history.

Once you get ahold of the Soul Reaver sword, you will never want to stop hacking and slashing, especially for just $5.99 on GOG.com.
Yes! Finally, my favourite game series on GOG. But I hope we'll see Blood Omen 1 on here too.
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kblood: Without a mouse, FPS is just not FPS.
Yet the vast, vast majority of FPS gamers play with a gamepad.
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Sequiro: FYI: Silicon Knights was working with Microsoft and made Too Human for the 360, a very fund and good game with a few glaring issues that put people off. Though really what put people off this game the most and gave it quite unfair backlash was comments made by Denis Dyack before and after the games release. He kinda pulled a Fable where he hyped the game up to be the best thing ever and then when it wasn't he rather childishly made a few comments. The gaming community professional and otherwise was rather overly harsh on an otherwise great game that just take some time to really get into and master.

Too Human was meant to be a trilogy but no word has been said and no real news about it's future if it's been canned or what. SK also helped in some regard in the creation of the game Darksiders. They are credited in the credits of the game. And there is rumors they are working on a couple other projects.. perhaps even an Eternal Darkness 2.


As for Legacy of Kain. Amy Henning is no longer at Crystal Dynamics, she works at Naughty Dog and is a big part of the Uncharted games. in fact pretty much everyone thats worked on the LoK series is either moved on or died. There continues to this day to be rumors that they are rebooting the Legacy of kain series soon. But with Tony Jay passed away and Amy Henning no longer writing story I just don't see how it would ever be as good as before.
They made Too Human? Geesh, poor guys. :(
Oh man, to think that they went from PC/PSX to Nintendo to Microsoft, these guys go places...like the unemployment line. *badumtish*
No, seriously, I like the guys, I enjoyed most of their games (at least all the ones I was able to play) Too Human flew under my radar, I only heard from it's bad reception, but didn't really know who made it or what it was. I stopped bothering with consoles 4 years ago. ^^"
They do seem to have the heart at the right spot, their games have soul if I can put it that way. But somehow their games get flagged or gone by unnoticed because of some circumstance or another. As I stated before, Blood Omen somewhat under the Radar, at least from what I can tell, the first time it was really noticed was when Soul Reaver became Popular und it put most people off because it was nothing like Soul Reaver.

Eternal Darkness was a great game, a scary game an overall fun game, but I guess the problem that made most people avoid it or completely ignore it was that it was on a Nintendo Console. At that Time nobody really thought that a really scary game would be released on a Nintendo Console. MInd you that the last real horrorgame for a NIntendo System was RE 2 on the N64 and that thing wasn't even released in all regions. And the RE Remake/Zero where far from released at that time Re 4 was merely a title than everything else.

Twin Snakes was a funny dilemma. Some didn't even know that it existet. I mean, the last Metal Gear for a Nintendo System was on the NES, what are the chances?
ON the other hand, even if some knew that it existet, people still would accouse it of being inferior because its on a Nintendo System, "it can't be cool, it's on a kiddy console, we, the PS2 guys have the real Metal Gear!" Afterall it was a really faithful Recreation of Metal Gear Solid in the Engine/graphical Style of MGS 2. Some people complained about the matrixesque fight scenes that were absent in the original Metal Gear Solid, which I didn't care much about, for me they just were fluff that changed nothing on the gameplay spects.
Other people were bothered by Psycho Mantises interactions with the player, breaking the forth wall by telling him what games he has played, how he was percived by the game during gameplay and most importantly, making the controller move. Funny thing is, mostly PC guys were complaining about that, since in there old version this was truly abscent. But not on the PSX release. THe PC version was simply stripped oft that feature since it had no memorycard the game could check, it would've had to read the registry for games and on the PC there could have been so much variations of games, that they simply didn't bother. Now, if the former can be faultet to Silicon Knights, is debateble, who knows how much creative freedom they had when they made it? The latter is definetly not their fault, it was in the original so that goes back to Konami.

As for Darksiders...I love that game, one of the games that came out in recent years where I could say that I truly enjoyed them. That the SKs where partially involved totally flew under my radar, although now that you mentioned it I think I recall reading a mention of them in the Credits, though that could just be because of the fact that I typed their Name so often this afternoon/evening that I probaly will be fed up with it as soon as I go to bed. ^^" But glad to hear that they are still around.

Now about the LoK remake/reboot...please don't. I mean geese...Tomb Raider is getting the second overhaul just as we speak and in my opinion what they did in Legend was completely fine and honestly Legend and Anniversary gave me everything a Tomb Raider game could give me, so I don't see a point in doing it all over again, even if the game looks more crisp and it's a new setting and Lara looks even hotter..the train has long since left the station.

And the same way it goes with me on LoK. The games are fine, yeah, they had their highs and lows, but overall, it was and still is a fine series. Yeah, they could retell it and clear out some plotpoints that obscured the original story, they could release a new Blood Omen 2 and give the young Kain something more useful to do than just making him rip holes into the plot.

But I don't want that, I would want a resolution on the Defiance Cliffhanger that was never resolved. And then, still, since Amy isn't with CD anymore and most of the other guys that worked on the series aren't, I overall don't see a chance on an overall satisfying result.

Also I don't trust Square as far as I can throw an elephant, fearing that in their hand it becomes a tedious endless franchise (like final fantasy), an anime fest (like final fantasy (don't get me wrong, I love my anime...when it was and is anime..and the hair isn't too insane)) or it becomes a cashcow that fans will put more and more money in in the vain hope that one final day it will be as good as when it started (like final fantasy).

tl;dr Silicon Knight rock but have bad luck with their games, Is a revival/revamp/reboot of LoK really neccessary and will square even bother to get that damn straight? ^^"
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StingingVelvet: Oh, can anyone speak to how this works on Intel integrated graphics? I wouldn't mind playing this while overseas, but a laptop is all I got.
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DCT: Depends on what one you have it runs fine on my old Laptop which has a intel GMA X4500mHD
I don't know the number of mine, honestly. I never figured out where to discover that, it's not in the Intel app as far as I can see.

It's a bargain basement laptop though. It struggles with most 3D games, but it can play really old ones like Deus Ex okay.
Not trying to troll or horribly bash the game, but I have a bit of a "love/hate" thing with Soul Reaver.
On the one hand it had some great new gameplay elements, fun combat to play around with, nice game world and was technically impressive too, the "no loading during the game" (even the console versions) in particular stands out.

***SPOILERS***





On the other hand, it felt like there should have been more. The game is a bit short and ends somewhat abruptly on a cliffhanger compared to the first BO: LoK game which was the biggest problem, it felt like more interesting gameplay elements could have been done with the Glyphs, the game world should have had a bit more to do in it, and the combat was a bit on the easy side if I remember correctly.
I guess what i'm saying is that I was expecting Soul Reaver to blow me away after playing through Blood Omen and playing the Soul Reaver demo, but SR ended up being sort of a letdown for me. There were some things that were done better in SR and others that were done better in BO.
I honestly thought I would dread Soul Reaver coming to GOG, but I still kind of want to play it again despite the negatives I mentioned. I guess that old excitement I had pre-ordering, picking up and playing the PS1 version of the game at launch is still with me. Might wishlist it and wait for GOG's end of the year sale they usually have.
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DCT: Depends on what one you have it runs fine on my old Laptop which has a intel GMA X4500mHD
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StingingVelvet: I don't know the number of mine, honestly. I never figured out where to discover that, it's not in the Intel app as far as I can see.

It's a bargain basement laptop though. It struggles with most 3D games, but it can play really old ones like Deus Ex okay.
Well then it shouldn't have too much issues with this game then since it was coded for Direct X 7 cards and most PS1 era games aren't too taxing on most lower level intel GMA's
Post edited April 26, 2012 by DCT
Oh, dang, i just ordered the DC version last week. Still one the best releases on GOG to date. Is it true that the PC version is based on thr PSX version and doesnt have textures as good as the DC one?
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kblood: There is also a Splinter Cell HD collection for PS3. I bought it for my brother, and it sounds like its very good.
Unless they fixed it with an update, it was one of the worst HD re-releases ever. The framerate was worse than the PS2 versions, thats insane. They didnt even bother getting things right. And if i recall correctly, the first and second games didnt even run in 1080p, only Chaos Theory did.

The best HD re-release this generation was Strangers Wrath on PS3. Thats an example of how it should be done. They took all the assets from the original and completely reworked them on the PS3, making new textures, better models, new effects and a lot of nice features. Splinter Cell HD and Silent Hill HD, on the other hand, are examples of how it should not be done. Theyre worse than the originals. And more expensive too.
Post edited April 26, 2012 by Neobr10
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Neobr10: Oh, dang, i just ordered the DC version last week. Still one the best releases on GOG to date. Is it true that the PC version is based on thr PSX version and doesnt have textures as good as the DC one?
It's been awhile since i've played the PSX version, but looking at GOG's screenshots of the game I can already tell you that the PC version's textures are better than the PSX version's.
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Gundato: I haven't played this since shortly after release, so correct me if I am wrong, but how much of that is actually IN Soul Reaver (1)?

Visual cues (like the skull thingie) are really just nostalgia
You only talk to Moebius ONCE in the original Soul Reaver
And I am pretty sure the last one was also only an issue in later games.

Seriously, it is just like MGS. If you haven't played the first two games, Grey Fox is just "Some guy". If you HAVE played them, you actually give a crap about the guy (even without the characterization added by the flavor text).

I am not saying you are better NOT having played Blood Omen. But it is no reason to not play Soul Reaver while it is available.

And, for the most part, the series is VERY good about providing recaps and enough context.

Plus, let's be honest here: If you want the TRUE experience, you shouldn't play Blood Omen. Raziel wasn't around for those (shhh :p), so you shouldn't know the details of Kain's journey outside of what you learn from the intro movie and manual. By Defiance (when you get to BE Kain), yeah, Kain becomes a POV character. But until then?
But for SR1 and SR2? Raziel shouldn't know that, so do yourself a favor and don't know it either.
Geesh, I didn't nerd out as much in years. xD

Well, as I stated I just mentioned some examples and left many details out.
When played before SR, Blood Omen also gives you extra KNowledge on the Pillars, what they stood for, who they once represented (or vice versa), know more about Moebius schemes, although true, in Soul Reaver he appears only shortly, but still, it carries out in the Series. You'll know more about Voradors motivations behind his character. (In Soul Reaver 2/ Defiance he always came off to me as too much of a goofball) You'll alot more about Ariel and her demise, which also connects with the Stoneskull thingie etc *koff koff*.

I'll agree with you on that, that you don't have to have played Blood Omen beforehand to understand what's going on in the latter games while making some things that normally seem rather vague or hinted at more clear ( like an ah-ha-effect).

But as you suggestet, you can play Blood Omen later, avoiding integral spoilers but still get a reverse Ah-ha-effect by recognizing things from the other games and finding out about their past/origin. If you play them chronologically by release or timeline is really up to you and of course everyone else. ^^

Recommending the Series to someone new to it I would suggest the order: Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen, Defiance and last Blood Omen 2 (BO 2 last since it only really makes sence when played after Defiance and even then just barely ^^").

Maybe this is the order they will release the series on here, maybe they release it like sr,sr2,bo,bo2,d or they release them in release orde and bo will never be here because of the lincense? Maybe SR was a oneshot and the next game of the series will not be released here until a year or more pass, who knows?

I'm just saying that if BO gets released here and I hope it does, people should give the game chance on it's own merits, instead of comparing it to a game which came out much later and had an whole other image in design in mind when it was created. It's not fair to compare them back to back and some people will just be put off by the downgrade in graphics. For some it's just easier to go up the ladder (f.e. quake, quake II, Arena, IV) instead of down and some people out there won't even look back. ^^"
For those that may be less familiar with the series, here is the "Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" Intro (Upscaled 720p)

I can't thank GOG enough for bringing this back. Hopefully we might get some more bonus material, concept art, etc. I seem to recall there also being some outtake video footage of the voice acting sessions floating around as well.

Edit:
For comparison sake, Here is the PS1 version of the intro. The dialog is slightly different between the two.

As a testament to this game's awesomeness, back in the early days of youtube this intro consistently stayed in the top rated within the gaming section.
Post edited April 26, 2012 by HampsterStyle
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BreOl72: Never played this one.
Is it good?
[my opinion]It's the best game ever made.[/my opinion]

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MoP: Not buying since there's a neat boxed anthology around
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Daedolon: There is? Never heard of such a thing.
In Poland only. I refered to it on these board several times.

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greyzebra: That's ok. I have downloaded it somewhere long time ago :p And we can still hear it in the game right?
Actually the PC soundtrack is considerably shorter compared to PS1 version, but look here:
here.

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JudasIscariot: I found a site that shows some of the excised content of Soul Reaver...

http://www.thelostworlds.net/SR1/index.html
Lost worlds is a brilliant site. Ben has been doing an excellent work for the community.

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Blackhand: In Poland. For ~12 bucks. But it doesn't contain Blood Omen :(.
Actually, you coud try to get it, it's probably in English (at least it's pointed that way on the cover), though I suppose launcher and installer are in Polish.
It's full English (installers included). Good thing nobody tried to translate the game itself. The only thing that is missing in English is Defiance manual.

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mistermumbles: I really liked this game when I had my ill-fated Dreamcast, but I don't think I ever finished it. I guess now's my chance to correct that. :)
Remember that a Dreamcast port was released a while after PC and PS1. As a result it was noticeably better on the technical part.

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Daedolon: I'm not 100% accurate on how the acquisition went, but generally Blood Omen is not that well tied to the rest of the games.
Actually it ties in perfectly, or should I say - the sequels tie in perfectly with the original (excluding BO2, which was a big disappointment).

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Ric1987: How is this compared to the PS1 version, anyone played both?
There isn't much in the way of extras here so I'm leaning towards getting it on PSN so I can play it on my PS3 or PSP.
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DCT: Well the big diffrence is better draw distance, no cheap fake fog, and higher resolution the PC port is on par with the dreamcast version and the dreamcast port was considered the best version of the game on consoles.
Well... the textures. are much better on Dreamcast.

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JudasIscariot: Wow, this game looks a lot better on PC than the PSP/PSN version...
But sounds worse (or should I say - sounds less). And looks worse than the Dreamcast version.

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spinefarm: As far as I know... they are thinking for a HD release on the series... so we will see
I would like to see a source for that. I've heard many rumours, but HD release is not one of them.
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haydenaurion: Not trying to troll or horribly bash the game, but I have a bit of a "love/hate" thing with Soul Reaver.
On the one hand it had some great new gameplay elements, fun combat to play around with, nice game world and was technically impressive too, the "no loading during the game" (even the console versions) in particular stands out.

***SPOILERS***





On the other hand, it felt like there should have been more. The game is a bit short and ends somewhat abruptly on a cliffhanger compared to the first BO: LoK game which was the biggest problem, it felt like more interesting gameplay elements could have been done with the Glyphs, the game world should have had a bit more to do in it, and the combat was a bit on the easy side if I remember correctly.
I guess what i'm saying is that I was expecting Soul Reaver to blow me away after playing through Blood Omen and playing the Soul Reaver demo, but SR ended up being sort of a letdown for me. There were some things that were done better in SR and others that were done better in BO.
I honestly thought I would dread Soul Reaver coming to GOG, but I still kind of want to play it again despite the negatives I mentioned. I guess that old excitement I had pre-ordering, picking up and playing the PS1 version of the game at launch is still with me. Might wishlist it and wait for GOG's end of the year sale they usually have.
Well, it seems short because the devs were rushed and had to cut the last few hours of gameplay. Cut content found on the disc (and through gameshark codes and the like) revealed that the overall plot (of the series) would have been similar, but there were (probably) some changes, and everything was a lot more fleshed out.

But, the funny thing is, this was a GOOD thing. Yeah the cliffhanger sucked, but it turned what would have been a fun game with a few twists into something that, almost a decade after the final installment (Defiance was 2004 according to wiki) is STILL being analyzed and discussed.


SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE SERIES:
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If memory serves, there were cutscenes of whatsherface (Aerie? The balance spirit lady who got killed to spark the plot of Blood Omen) being absorbed by Raziel, as would happen later in the series.
And the time travel was still going to be a factor, to some degree.
And based off of the Soul Reaver (physical) breaking when it stroke Raziel, the Soul Reaver (Manifested as a Wraith) and Kain being happy about that does suggest that they were going to team up.
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END SPOILERS
I've just been inspired to dig my Blood Omen out of the loft.
What do you know, on XP, it works straight off.
Soulreaver has just become a much more attractive (& instant!) purchase.
Still want Blood Omen on here though.
;-}
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kblood: Without a mouse, FPS is just not FPS.
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StingingVelvet: Yet the vast, vast majority of FPS gamers play with a gamepad.
And yet all of them would be destroyed in a head to head matchup against Mouse/Keyboard players.
In case it's hasn't been stated loud enough yet - hurry up and release original Blood Omen already :).

Vae Victus!