[Mama Robotnik]

Over on the Eidos forums, a user by the name of Rusminin has posted a discovery made during the work on Blood Omen Omnicide (an active 3D fan-remake of the original game).

It seems while exploring one of Nosgoth's many villages for research purposes, the team discovered a passage that had been unnoticed for fourteen years. It is a secret rear entrance into a pub.





In the pub is what appears to be one of the Time-Streaming Devices, like those abundant in Soul Reaver 2.



Stepping on it takes Kain onto a large explorable seaship filled with treasures. There are numerous NPCs on board, who attack Kain with knives and swords in true-pirate style.





The ship is floating on a lake, and the waters and surrounding land can also be explored for further secrets. There's even some more NPCs on the coast.



By using a second Time-Streaming device on the bridge, Kain is briefly time-travelled to an apocalyptic, destroyed future remenant of the vessel (very appropriate considering the what happens to future Nosgoth in Soul Reaver).



Finally, Kain returns to the mainland, and continues the his quest to slaughter the Guardians.

I find it incredible that, a decade-and-a-half after release, a substantial chunk of game had not been discovered until now. Especially when you consider that this franchise in particular has been disected on a code-level to learn its secrets!

Additonal: regarding Blood Omen Omnicide, the fan-project that made this discovery, there's a video here showing their attempts to use the unchanged 2D graphics from the original game to make a 3D enviornment. I think it works rather well.

[Ninja Scooter]

unban Denis Dyack so he can explain this

[Baha]

Is this only in the PC release or has it been confirmed in the psone release as well?

[rollingstart]

that's pretty awesome

[LongDongJunon]

What the what? This is in every version?

[DCX]

EPIC! Almost as epic as finding out that clouds are really bushes and vice versa.

DCX

[Sh1ner]

I hope Hideo Kojima knew of this when making MGS1

[UraMallas]

unban Denis Dyack so he can explain this

He deserves it... if it was his idea. But, Hell, he kept the secret. (Or didn't know/forgot about it.)

[Dead Man]

Wow. Awesome stuff. How did nobody know about this?!

[j_k_redtail]

:lol I want to hear the developers take on this.


"What? Oh, that. Yeah. . ."

[Mama Robotnik]

Is this only in the PC release or has it been confirmed in the psone release as well?

Don't know yet, looking at the screenshots they seem to be the PC version - this would make sense considering the Omnicide team were grabbing images/mapping info for the fan-project.

The PS1/PC versions are very very similar though, even both containing the same cut dialogue files I believe. I'd expect this to be present in both, and the PSN release.

(I always liked that speech by Mortanius, shifts him more towards tragic-hero status, and should have stayed in the game).

[Gomu Gomu]

impressive.

[Azerach]

That is so cool.

Also, the remake project looks promising.. hopefully they will continue working on it, would be a shame if it was abandoned.

[Gospel]

What intrigues me about this the most is that there are likely other games which still have things that haven't been uncovered yet.

[charsace]

Dyack redeemed?

[FTWer]

Damn, this is awesome.
I wonder what other older games still have undiscovered secrets in them.

[Razor210]

...how is this possible?

My mind = blown

[ChackanKun]

omfg that is really freaking awesome :O :O :O

[Gaz Pwnage]

simply amazing

[Tokubetsu]

With everyone mentioning dyack in one thread, I get spooked. Like saying redrum in the mirror three times or something.

[Raist]

What the fuck?

But to be fair, it's a bit of a stretch to say that it was never found before. I mean it's entirely possible that some people found that stuff.

[Sill4]

Paste this in the mind blowing game facts thread. Dew it.

Very impressive.

[Koren]

...how is this possible?

This... In every 8-16 bits RPGs, I tried each space on each wall, especially backdoor entrances. It was so common, many games had at least one (even in ALttP IIRC). And I must not be the only one that did this.

I find it really hard to believe that noone tried this on this game... o_O

[abstract alien]

Floor > jaw

[m3k]

simply awesome

[bloodforge]

The OP missed a pretty important part of the original post. The only way to find it and access the door is by using the “walk through walls” ability of a trainer. i.e. You have to cheat to get to it.

Probably why nobody has found it before.

Edit: http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?p=1335557

It’s leader, VorteX was just doing nessesary work on the project by looking for building roof’s textures, when he suddenly discovered a strange entrance in one of the buildings. The first strange thing about this entrance was it’s disposition on the back of the building, which in Blood Omen leads to impossibility to see it. The second strange thing about it was that it was accessible only via usage of “walk through walls” ability of a trainer. The entrance leads inside the building, where a portal is situated.

[Mama Robotnik]

Blood Omen did have some awesome secrets. The biggest known up to this point was The Lost City of the Werewolves.

For those that may not have found it, in the Lake of the Dead there is a small island with a stonehenge-rune arrangement. In the middle of this is a Time-Streaming device that teleports Kain to a collosal underground city.

This video (and the ones that follow in the sequence) show how to find it. Be warned, it can only be entered during an in-game Full Moon (which happens once every two hours in gameplay time, and only for a short window).

The city is massive, very Aztec, with demons and warlocks. The main enemy (and their only appearance in all five games) are the many werewolves, who awesomely turn back into their frail human bodies before dying!



There's also a ton of secrets and (if I remember correctly) a Spirit Forge.

Amy Hennig was asked about the Lost City in one of her last interviews, oddly enough. She commented that it was connected to The Abyss (Raziel's place of execution in Soul Reaver) in ways the story had yet to explain.

More Werewolves for LOK 6 please.

[Eteric Rice]

Looking at something like this, and recalling how big Daggerfall was...

Were RPGs in the past actually bigger than current ones?

That's kind of funny if true.

[Combichristoffersen]

With everyone mentioning dyack in one thread, I get spooked. Like saying redrum in the mirror three times or something.

Sure you're not thinking of saying 'Candyman' three times while looking at the mirror?

Or eventually you could just say 'Candlejack' and he'll take you a

[∀ Narayan]

Wow!

Amy Hennig was asked about the Lost City in one of her last interviews, oddly enough. She commented that it was connected to The Abyss (Raziel's place of execution in Soul Reaver) in ways the story had yet to explain.

Man. I would love for Naughty Dog to own the Legacy of Kain series.

[Stabby McSter]

I love it when stuff like this happens. You think every single inch has been searched in a game then BAM, there it is.

[abstract alien]

I love it when stuff like this happens. You think every single inch has been searched in a game then BAM, there it is.

Feels like we are learning about the Bald Bull camera flash all over again.

[Mar]

That's pretty damn awesome. I love stuff like that.

I bet some guy out there found it though. All it took was to walk into the back of a building right?

[Koren]

That's pretty damn awesome. I love stuff like that. I bet some guy out there found it though. All it took was to walk into the back of a building right?

According to Bloodforge, you had to use an ability, and if it requires an action (launch a spell for each wall for example), I could better understand how it has been missed...

[Tokubetsu]

Sure you're not thinking of saying 'Candyman' three times while looking at the mirror? Or eventually you could just say 'Candlejack' and he'll take you a

That too :lol

[Galactic Fork]

Oh wow. I bet there's some disgruntled programmer out there thinking "About fucking time asswads! Took you long enough to find it!." Then he returns to his drunken stupor.

[Mama Robotnik]

The OP missed a pretty important part of the original post. The only way to find it and access the door is by using the “walk through walls” ability of a trainer. Probably why nobody has found it before. Edit: http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?p=1335557

Thanks for the clarification, somehow the text must have blurred together when I was reading this bit.

So, while though the environment, enemies and secrets all seem to work perfectly, the designated entrace to the secret is sealed somehow, and that's why the trainer is used.

I wonder how this happend, such a simple thing really. I wonder if it was meant to be one of those mist-form cracks that somehow they forgot to add in?

Still - I consider the OP accurate in that, the various and numerous hackers who have explored the game have not made the discovery in fourteen years either.

Man. I would love for Naughty Dog to own the Legacy of Kain series.

This is the all round best solution. Though part of me is still curious as to what SK theoretically planned to do with the franchise they created.

[Ronabo]

Wow pretty damn cool.

I tried playing the PC version a few months ago. It's just aged so badly that I couldn't get into it. I really loved it when it first came out on PS1.

[Rez]

oh wow, that's just the coolest dang thing

[Neuromancer]

unban Denis Dyack so he can explain this

Haha yes I concur!

Makes you wonder what else we've missed, doesn't it?

[Patryn]

Looking at something like this, and recalling how big Daggerfall was... Were RPGs in the past actually bigger than current ones? That's kind of funny if true.

I thought it was common knowledge that older RPGs were a lot bigger. Compare Baldur's Gate 2 to Dragon Age or Oblivion to, well, Daggerfall.

With the amount of time it takes nowadays to make assets and the like, it's natural that they'd be favoring smaller everything.

[Mesijs]

Respect to the creators of this! _O_

[Alts]

I thought it was common knowledge that older RPGs were a lot bigger. Compare Baldur's Gate 2 to Dragon Age or Oblivion to, well, Daggerfall. With the amount of time it takes nowadays to make assets and the like, it's natural that they'd be favoring smaller everything.

Daggerfall had a procedural world map. Kind of unfair.

[nodle]

That's pretty sweet!

[Blizzard]

That's neat that the areas exist, but too bad if one can only do it with a walk-through-walls cheat. I wonder what the story is.

I am a little reminded of Fort Knox in Nethack. Depending on how the dungeon levels got procedurally/randomly generated, in some games it was impossible to actually get to it, as far as I know.

[Micromegas]

unban Denis Dyack so he can explain this

What makes you think he'd come back?

[NathanMcMahon]

What makes you think he'd come back?

What makes you think he isn't already back?

[big_z]

What makes you think he'd come back?

he loves to talk. someone should unban him and send him a come back and explain email.

[EmCeeGramr]

Jeez, I can't imagine something (even if it required a cheat) staying that hidden for so long. These days games get ripped and analyzed in an instant and GameShark'd to oblivion.


What other secrets have developers hidden for extreme periods of time? I remember Factor 5 and LucasArts somehow keeping the Naboo Starfighter in Rogue Squadron hidden for 6 months between the game and Episode I's release.

Then there was a glitch that let you catch Mew without a GameShark or Nintendo event. That was like 5 years after Red and Blue had been released.

[Micromegas]

he loves to talk. someone should unban him and send him a come back and explain email.

I wish he would come back. He's got alot of insightful stuff to say. Yes, he overshot with Too Human, and got mouthy about it, but that episode of 1upYours he was on, talking about Player of Games, Eve Online, his one-console future, and reciprocity over the internet was pure fucking genius.

Alot of dim-bulbs around here ignorantly derided him, but those who listened understood what he meant, although the delivery of his message was indeed muddled.

And then Too Human came out, and was just... mediocre... yeah.

Anyway. I do wish he'd come back. This would be a better community for it.