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Soul Reaver may have been the most overly ambitious game ever. (research thread)

ferr

Member
Very nice thread, loved SR and SR2. They had that right amount of depth in the story that drops hints of a secret past or some kind of alternate reality that has faded out of memory. Kind of like with Xenogears.
 

MNC

Member
I might have to play these series once, just to see what the fuss is all about. Do I play all Legacy of Kain games? Or just Soul Reaver subseries?
 

BKJest

Member
Further, I wonder if these sections would have added a bit more variety into the overall formula. There is an awful lot of block pushing in the game.

I've never played SR2. Is it a) good and b) does it vary up the gameplay? I really want to play something like a puzzle dungeoner.
Oh god the block pushing and turning and stacking while fighting endlessly respawning enemies and carrying the enemies into sunlight or fire or onto stakes (otherwise the respawning enemies couldn't be killed). I loved the game but learned to hate those block puzzles.

The follow ups have been streamlined a lot where you ended up fighting up bigger and bigger monsters as the game went on instead of a Zelda like exploration. They were very linear experiences but without the annoyances of the first game. They were not nearly as exciting either though. Highlights were the few remaining dungeons where the block pushing was replaced with beam redirecting. In the end I liked the story more than the "what could've been" and it was worth to play 2 and Defiance just for the conclusion.
 

AAK

Member
I bought this game as a PS1 classic.

I'm too spoiled by the 2 generations of advancement in control. :( I couldn't get used to simply using the d-pad for movement. It's pretty foolish of me but I did give the game a shot.

Presentation was phenomenal though.
 

Naked Lunch

Member
Soul Reaver has an incredible story, atmosphere, and especially character design (of the enemies at least - Raziel looks like a tool) BUT the gameplay of every Soul Reaver is pure fucking garbage. It gives me a headache just thinking of playing those games.
 
I got chills down my spine whenever I played this game. It was so beautiful running on the Dreamcast, and the voice acting was the best at that point in time. And the music... that fucking music was the Halo theme before there was Halo.

A next gen game in this series is needed RIGHT FUCKING NOW.
 
I bought this game as a PS1 classic.

I'm too spoiled by the 2 generations of advancement in control. :( I couldn't get used to simply using the d-pad for movement. It's pretty foolish of me but I did give the game a shot.

Presentation was phenomenal though.

Umm... it worked with the analog stick.
 

Ahasverus

Member
Oh yes it is! It's an open world epic with gigantic bosses no load times excellent animations textures out of this world (for its time) and don't get me started in its geometry transformation (plane shifting). It's incredible, a real masterpiece.
 

scitek

Member
Damn thread made me realize I've never beaten this game. I played it back on the PSX, though, and remember really liking it. I just picked it up from GOG for $7. I figure it's easier than scrounging for a used copy somewhere.

There's a mod someone put out that allows it to run in proper widescreen (minus the stretched HUD) and at 60fps.

kain22012-08-2612-45-odigv.png


kain22012-08-2612-52-x7igs.png
 

Ahasverus

Member
I'd love to have a Soul Reaver remake when you are given the choice of following the storyline or just go with the original vampire killing story.
 

Mr. RHC

Member
I'm really eager to experience Sould Reaver as soon as possible. I only remember playing the PSX demo and then never touching it again.

About time I check out the "cut" version!
 
Geez. Amazing wealth of info in the OP. I've mostly enjoyed Uncharted as a diversion, but it comes across as really shallow (albeit gorgeous) compared to the rich LoK world. I'd love to see a new Soul Reaver game now that game engines can finally do that amazing conceptual artwork justice
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Amazing thread for an amazing game. Dat intro, dat music, dat 60fps goodness on the Dreamcast....

Never played Soul Reaver 2 (was waiting for the DC version :( ), did it not answer questions from the first game?
 

Ahasverus

Member
Amazing thread for an amazing game. Dat intro, dat music, dat 60fps goodness on the Dreamcast....

Never played Soul Reaver 2 (was waiting for the DC version :( ), did it not answer questions from the first game?
Heeeelll no. If anything the true sequel to SR is Defiance (LoK 5). You only need one little point from SR2 ending to understand it and it answers every question in SR.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Damn thread made me realize I've never beaten this game. I played it back on the PSX, though, and remember really liking it. I just picked it up from GOG for $7. I figure it's easier than scrounging for a used copy somewhere.

There's a mod someone put out that allows it to run in proper widescreen (minus the stretched HUD) and at 60fps.

kain22012-08-2612-45-odigv.png


kain22012-08-2612-52-x7igs.png

This is watch BC should look like! not grainy blurred upres shit.
Love SR
 

KorrZ

Member
Fuck this, I'm buying Soul Reaver on PSN and playing it right the fuck now. I miss this series so much. It's an absolute travesty that it hasn't seen a revival in this generation.
 

Terra_Ex

Member
Great game but hell it was blatantly obvious even back in the day that it suffered heavy content cuts. I remember that I completely missed the human citadel the first time through the game (only way to get to it was via some nigh-impossible jump-glide from the big waterfall place). Upon finally stumbling upon it in my second playthrough I was really excited to see what I'd missed, which turned out to be pretty much nothing, just a shell of a city with humans milling about. There was clearly more planned for it (remember reading all the lofty plans in magazines at the time) as if you made it to the citadel without ever killing? a human the residents and guards wouldn't attack Raz. Great thread though, nice reminiscing and a shame so much stuff never made it into the game (and what a great intro sequence).
 
The most ambitious game had to have been Shenmue. Spanned multiple hardware, enormous budget, tons of features/locations cut, etc. It remains an immensely detailed game and it's kind of ridiculous to think that a lot of things were cut out.
 

soultron

Banned
Fantastic thread, MR.

I've always wanted to play these games but have never found the time. I remember playing the SR1 demo as a youngin' and Raziel's animation when he sucks up souls was terrifying to me. He has no lower jaw!
 

lifa-cobex

Member
Absolutely fantastic game. I remember thinking "how the hell am i gonna remember my way around?". Felt totally overwhelmed.

3 or 4 play through's later, Fucking ace!
Just kept thinking there must be even more to discover each time.

Bit of a love and hate relationship with SR2. Something about it just didn't sit well with me.
Defiance was cool though.
 

GQman2121

Banned
I will be playing this sometime this week - I hope - on my Vita. The PSX patch goes live on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing this game on the compatible list.

My second favorite game of all time - cliffhanger ending and all.
 

GQman2121

Banned
Bit of a love and hate relationship with SR2. Something about it just didn't sit well with me.
Defiance was cool though.

Lack of those memorable boss battles from the original hurt a lot. Also, you're essentially doing the same types of puzzles over and over again to open up the map with the various reavers.

Defiance was a good game, but I hated the fixed camera angles. Seemed very unnecessary.
 

lifa-cobex

Member
Lack of those memorable boss battles from the original hurt a lot. Also, you're essentially doing the same types of puzzles over and over again to open up the map with the various reavers.

Defiance was a good game, but I hated the fixed camera angles. Seemed very unnecessary.

yea. starting to remember bits a pieces now you mention it. Just getting one power to the next and cut scenes of story.
I know the ending was good though. Even if it was too way easy lol.

yeah me too, I've been interested for a while. I dont really know where to start though. What's the chronology? Is it best to follow that or is there a better path through them

If you wanna go all out story wise. Get Blood omen 1 and 2 first. Then start on the Soul Reaver series
 

Izick

Member
Fantastic thread. Really great stuff. I can't believe I missed out on this entire series though, it's weird. Hopefully we get an HD remake or something one of these days.
 

goodfella

Member
Everything about this game is/was somehow perfect.

I'd love to see a Legacy of Kain collection with updated graphics on PC, but it will never happen, and if it did, it would be disappointing somehow.

I particularly love the original (while still a normal vampire) Raziel design, and the Kain design.
 
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