Topic: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

[mouse_clicker]

I was lucky enough to pick up this little gem for $8 a few days ago in a mall- if you own a PSX or PS2 and haven't played this game, I heavily urge you to do so. I bought it knowing it was made by our beloved Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness is one of my favorite games ever). I've also played Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, before I had even heard of Silicon Knights, and absolutely abhored it- easily one of the worst games I've ever played. Proof that the quality of the series dragged after Crtystal Dynamics took over- a shame, too, because Blood Omen is a perfect combination of puzzle solving, medieval combat, and a superb meld of fantasy and horror that suits the game so well. It only fortifies my love of Silicon Knights's unique style.

[KDR_11k]

The PC-version got some bad reviews, is it better on PS or do you just like it more?

[rpglover]

i think the game is a matter of preference
blood omen was a great game i thought because of the gameplay and story- always a must with silicon knights
soul reaver was an alright game but i think the major problem with it is that it is just not that fun
the battling with enemies gets very old quickly and most of the puzzles in the game are of boxes
but the story in the game warrents a playthrough i guess

[mouse_clicker]

I have Soul reaver for the Dreamcast. I only got about an hour into it- the combat and puzzles were horrible and thoroughly unfun. I couldn't dream of playing through the entire game with such glaring problems. I haven't played Soul Reaver 2 or Blood Omen 2, but I hated Soul Reaver.

[Grey Ninja]

Bah.  Lucky bastard...  I have been looking for the game for YEARS.  Ah well... hope you enjoy the game as much as I would have.  

[rpglover]

i played through soul reaver 1 because i heard it was supposed to be great (check out some web site ratings on gamerankings....) and i didnt like it
the story is fine and the ideas are there but the execution is way off
the fighting is just not fun and the puzzles are just boxes and stuff
soul reaver 2 i played for a little and they did not improve on anything- in fact it is practically the same game
if you played soul reaver 1 you know what to expect from 2 just with a new story
blood omen 2 is another story though- that game is alright, though it gets a little redundant
the fighting is actually nice and you can use different weapons- you also have to suck blood out of enemies to replenish health
its a big step above the soul reaver's but it still has its flaws

[mouse_clicker]

Sucking blood from enemies is prevelant in Blood Omen as well (I assume the main character in Blood Omen 2 is also Kain). Basically, one hit before an enemy dies they go into a waver state where they kind of sway back and forth and bleed. Pressing O (or whatever you've assigned as the action button) will make Kain suck his blood, at which point the enemy will die and you've replenished a portion of your blood vial/life meter. Chained and sleeping people don't even need to be put into a waver state- you just relieve them of their blood.

Anyway, it's interesting to note that the game has a day/night cycle, just as in OoT (except LoK preceded OoT by 2 years). Each day lasts 15 minutes and you're much stronger at night, not to mention less villagers are out after dark. It's not quite as spectacular as in OoT or especially MM, but it is a very nice effect.

[Grey Ninja]

I played a little of Blood Omen 2, but I noticed that there were plenty of references to the first game, so I just stopped playing it, in the hopes that one day I could play the first game.

[nitsu niflheim]

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
I have Soul reaver for the Dreamcast. I only got about an hour into it- the combat and puzzles were horrible and thoroughly unfun. I couldn't dream of playing through the entire game with such glaring problems. I haven't played Soul Reaver 2 or Blood Omen 2, but I hated Soul Reaver.

Blood Omen 2 sucks.  I played Soul Reaver on PS and agree with you.  My addition to the complaint is that I never knew where to go next, the game was so damn wide open I would go all over the place only to wind up at the beginning again.  It would be impoosible for me to continue a game.  I'd have to start all over again and frankly I wouldn't do it even if I was desperate to play a game.

[mouse_clicker]

Exactly- the whole idea of constantly having to defeat enemies just to progress through the game was horrendus, especially when half the time you die anyway. And if you don't "reave" enough "souls", you go back to some alternate dimension and I could never figure out what to do.

[Grey Ninja]

Isn't it amazing how you can go out hunting for something for years, and when you give up, it ends up staring you right in the face?  

I was just snooping through underdogs to see if there was something I might like to play when I happened across this  As far as I know, The Underdogs is a perfectly legal site, and you wouldn't be breaking any copyright laws by downloading this.  It's not Warez.  If any mods disagree with me, feel free to delete this post.

But I was quite happy to see this needless to say. It's a CD Rip version, so I would still be on the lookout for the full copy, but it makes a great demo if nothing else.