Legacy of Kain series

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Anyone a fan of this classic Playstation game series?
I hope GOG ports the games; I'd love to play them on a modern computer.

For those who don't know (SPOILERS AHEAD):

"Legacy of Kain is a series of fantasy action-adventure video games developed initially by Silicon Knights in association with Crystal Dynamics. After a legal battle, Crystal Dynamics continued the series without Silicon Knights and Eidos Interactive became the publisher. Each game in the series incorporates elements of action and puzzle-solving in its gameplay and all are set in the fictional setting of Nosgoth, united by the character of Kain, the series' amoral vampire antihero. Although technically a pentalogy, the series is effectively made up of two trilogies telling the separate stories of Kain and Raziel, both culminating in Defiance.

The series features an extensive storyline that is expanded during each game. Most of the individual games deal with a subset of the storyline; since the general timeline is non-linear, later games include pieces of the story from the past, present and future. The uniting element of the series is the unlife of the vampire Kain, but the story introduces the player to many other characters and sub-plots. Every game in the series is narrated in past tense by either Kain, Raziel, or both.

Nosgoth is an ancient battleground for which two species have been at war since before history - the Ancient Vampires and the Hylden. The Hylden in earlier times waged an all out war, but in modern times, fight through surrogates and pawns. The level of sophistication their warfare has developed is staggering, and much more realistic for such a protracted battle than the wasteful, exhaustive and ultimately short-term warfare style originally endorsed by both species. Each species moves in some way from behind the scenes, manipulating events slowly and deliberately, moulding and preparing the lesser peoples of the world (humanity) to act eventually in their favor, with individual moves often taking centuries or millennia to completely unfold.

In ancient times, the Hylden had attempted to put a decisive end to the war by developing a super-weapon which would extinguish the life of the world. This weapon violated a number of the fundamental laws governing the nature of the world and reality, severely upsetting the balance of life and death, which the Ancient Vampires held to be sacred. The Pillars of Nosgoth were erected in order to restore balance to the land and ensure that these governing dynamics, which the Ancients divided into nine spheres, held firm. Furthermore, the Vampires enacted a massive exile, banishing the Hylden race from Nosgoth. Each of the nine pillars represents one of the governing forces of the world, and each pillar had a Guardian. The nine spheres of law are Death, Conflict, States, Energy, Time, Dimension, Nature, Mind, and Balance. It is not ever made clear what the Guardians of the Pillars, known as the Circle of Nine (one for each pillar) duties are in Guarding his or her Pillar. Or, whether the Pillars are destructible and/or subject to physical damage, inflicted by physical or magical means. The first Nine Guardians were ancient vampires whose ghosts can be seen in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Later, the Pillars were taken over by the Human Guardians as seen in Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen. How the original guardians died is unknown. Killing the Guardians seems to be the only documented way of damaging them, though seemingly nothing happened when the original guardians died. However, major catastrophes happen when the human Circle of Nine dies in the events of Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen.

By the time of the games, their power is waning and some (most notably the Hylden) seek to destroy the pillars entirely. It is unknown whether there was ever a time of peace in Nosgoth or whether one will ever come to pass. It is also revealed later on that the Pillars served a dual purpose: along with preserving the balance of the land, the Pillars acted as a gateway, banishing the Hylden into a desolate dimension, inhabited by numerous monsters which are known as "Demons" in the games. The Pillars also act as the lock to this gate, and as long as they stand the Hylden are trapped; this is the reason behind the Hylden's use of numerous pawns and surrogates during the games (for as long as the Pillars continue to weaken the Hylden are able to manifest themselves physically especially by possessing the bodies of the dead).

Another interesting game mechanic in this series is that the player takes the role of two different characters during the course of the games. For example in the Blood Omen games the player controls Kain, but during the Soul Reaver games Raziel is controllable and the story is resumed from his point of view. Finally in Legacy of Kain: Defiance the player assumes the roles of both Kain and Raziel at regular intervals.

One of the true innovations of the Legacy of Kain series is the greatly involved storyline, with believable characters, and shifting alliances and betrayals. Nosgoth is a dark fantasy land with an elaborate and involved history, and that history is often revealed in reverse; new information often shows that what is believed to be true is a lie. Furthermore, nearly every major character, or groups of characters, has both aspects of heroism and villainy.

An underlying element of the story is heavily concerned with destiny and throughout the series fatalism is a strong theme. The idea that a person's destiny can be foreseen and thus altered is presented to the player. Much of the final game, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, is devoted to discovering whether this hypothesis is true or not. Some characters try to use this facet to their advantage by attempting to manipulate other characters' (notably Raziel's) destinies. Free will is also challenged during the story and a great number of the in-game characters believe that no one truly possesses free will, except Raziel. Therefore these characters believe that Raziel is the key to altering destiny. Manipulation also plays a major point in the progression of the story since nearly every character, at some point in the story, is manipulated by another.

Much of the story behind Legacy of Kain contains time travel. It is used as a method for creating a diverse and very non-linear timeline. This time traveling ability is obtained through time streaming chambers and the Chronoplast, all of which are credited to Moebius the Timestreamer, who is the Guardian of Time (one of the nine guardians of the Pillars).

Many paradoxes are introduced during the story. These paradoxes further add to the confusion, as each paradox that comes up throughout the games tends to rewrite history and the course of past, present, and future events. The most notable and consistently mentioned of these time changing paradoxes is the one in the original Blood Omen, where Kain travels back in time and kills a past king (and future tyrant). In the series, the only consistent cause of these paradoxes is the meeting of a past version of the Soul Reaver weapon with a future one.

The events of Blood Omen 2 (see below) are the product of a paradox created in Soul Reaver 2, a fact which initially confused fans before enough time had passed for notes to be compared between games.
"

The games in the series are:
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen (1996)
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (2000)
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 (2001)
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 (2002)
Legacy of Kain: Defiance (2003)

I really hope the series is revived with a new sequel. It's one of my favorites next to KQ.

[Baggins]

Does GoG port console games to PC? I thought they only dealt with bringing back PC classics.

I think GameTap has done emulation of console games, for pc access.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Does GoG port console games to PC? I thought they only dealt with bringing back PC classics.

I think GameTap has done emulation of console games, for pc access.

All of the Legacy of Kain games were originally released both on console and on PC.

[Fierce Deity]

I'm familiar with the series, and have been waiting for a sequel since the cliffhanger in Defiance. The series is great, and what I love about it is the arcing storyline that pertains to every installment, but does not remain exclusive. [spoiler]For instance, Raziel's importance to Kain's cause (his prophecy), and his will to avoid it was what made Raziel such a great nemesis to Kain. However, Kain still wanted to avoid being a Guardian, and Raziel wanted to make up for his transgressions. He fused himself with the Soul Reaver so Kain could not only see the Elder God, but could destroy it.[/spoiler]

The whole plot came together at Defiance, and included every element that made both Blood Omen and Soul Reaver an extraordinary experience. But now, Crystal Dynamics doesn't seem to be too interested with series anymore. You can tell by their list of games that they have been working on, that Tomb Raider is their pride and joy. Nothing but HD remakes, PSN games, and the new Tomb Raider reboot. 

[dark-daventry]

I might have to give this series a shot... Time to download a playstation 1 emulator and download some ROMs... For the record, I'm not sure that Gog.com has the rights to distribute this game anyway; they've only reached agreements with certain companies, and I'm not sure if Square Enix or Silicon Knights is included among the companies they have deals with. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't; I honestly have no idea. I know there are a lot of games I want GOG to add, but whether they will or not is another question entirely (come on, give me my Quest for Glory already! I'm itching to start the series!).

[Baggins]

Dark daventry apparently no reason to download Playstation ISO's if I get this straight, there were specific PC ports made already.

Thus GOG wouldn't have to 'port' them, they'd just have to offer the PC versions if they get the rights.

[Fierce Deity]

Dark daventry apparently no reason to download Playstation ISO's if I get this straight, there were specific PC ports made already.

Thus GOG wouldn't have to 'port' them, they'd just have to offer the PC versions if they get the rights.

I don't know if Eidos (or rather Square-Enix as it were) would be willing to lend the rights for the series. By looking at the lineup, the only games that they think are profitable are Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Kane and Lynch. I'd like to see a new Legacy of Kain, as well as remakes, PC digital releases, the whole nine yards. But it's been eight years since Defiance, and they haven't given any indication that any support is coming down the pike. The only thing that even made me hopeful was this. Would it be too much to ask Phoenix to revive this series?  

[dark-daventry]

well, a lot of the games on gog are forgotten relics. The companies that own them have essentially abandoned the games available on the service, hence why they're there; I imagine that if a PC port of the Legacy of Kain series exists, gog will add that eventually.

haha phoenix won't be reviving this franchise (or any other) unless Square Enix comes to us and tells us they want us to. The chances of that are next to impossible anyway. Believe me, there are PLENTY of franchises I'd like Phoenix to bring back, but two cease and desists is enough for us; we're going completely commercial and original after TSL.

[Fierce Deity]

haha phoenix won't be reviving this franchise (or any other) unless Square Enix comes to us and tells us they want us to. The chances of that are next to impossible anyway. Believe me, there are PLENTY of franchises I'd like Phoenix to bring back, but two cease and desists is enough for us; we're going completely commercial and original after TSL.

Understood, it was just a joke. I do think that this series would be on the top of my list of games that I want to be revived. The ending of Defiance would drive me to madness without some sort of resolution or conclusion. Raziel and Kain are finally back on the same team (so to speak), and the world is nearing destruction. Despite how Kain felt about the world, he needs to fulfill the prophecy, and was willing to do so at the end of Defiance. Now, Nosgoth is doomed to fall to the Hylden. Oh Noes!!! 

[dark-daventry]

I know it was a joke; the internet failed to convey the tone of my response well.

[Fierce Deity]

I know it was a joke; the internet failed to convey the tone of my response well.

It's cool. The "haha" was enough to convey that you got that it was a joke. I was just responding to the PR response. That was my bad. 

Still, franchises that get lost in time because they aren't the "next big thing" is a shame. I like a lot of franchises (King's Quest among them) that I feel deserve more attention, but I know it'll never happen through the proper channels. Fan fiction will be the only conduit for a series' resurrection. I was just hoping that Legacy of Kain's story could conclude. They were so close, but failed to get to the ending that was pretty much inevitable.

[dark-daventry]

I feel like companies are going to start doing more retro revivals soon; it's becoming a trend lately in hollywood, and it's starting to happen in the video game industry as well I notice; I wouldn't be surprised if this series did get a reboot/revival. Doing a reboot allows a company to re-introduce an established franchise to people, but not have to take the risk that a new IP offers. A reboot has the advantage of it's legacy doing some of the promotion for it. Yes, some reboots end up sucking, but that's not always the case. In any event, only time will tell. In the meantime, I need to try procuring a copy of this series...

[Fierce Deity]

Emulation isn't a bad idea. It's better than trying to find copies on eBay, and then spending over $70 per title. If you can find them for very cheap, than go for it. Also, Blood Omen 2 isn't a must. It was a decent game, but story-wise, you aren't going to miss anything. It just builds a backstory on Kain's character.

(Posted on: September 05, 2011, 03:03:07 AM)

I just remembered. I don't know how much they are, but Blood Omen 1 and Soul Reaver 1 are both on the PSN Store as PSone Classics.

[dark-daventry]

I think I'm just going to stick with emulation. It's cheap and easy for me lol.

[Baggins]

Why bother with emulation when you can play native PC version? Better compatibility even as far as I know.

Obviously if you are going to pirate, both versions are out there on the torrents, I'd assume...

[Fierce Deity]

I wouldn't care what system I play it on, as long as I get to play it again. I was watching an LP for Soul Reaver 2 and fell in love with the story all over again. I was enthralled with the plot twists that would happen every so often throughout the game.

I consider emulation to be easier than torrents. Plus, I don't feel like I'm pirating, because I'm downloading games that are no longer available to the market. So I might emulate too, but if I have too many issues with the emulator, I might try to find the games for PC somewhere. Defiance should be the easiest to find, no doubt.

[Baggins]

Many people who emulate download the torrents! Mainly because the used console copies can sometimes cost more than the pc versions...

That being said, how is the emulation for the Legacy of Kain games? I did a search on google, and it looks like some of the emulation is incomplete, or buggy for some of the games.

BTW, you can get used copies of the PC version Amazon, for pretty cheap.

[Fierce Deity]

Torrents for the PC version would be a better option I suppose. I haven't even tried the emulation yet, but if it's incomplete, I might as well get the PC version downloaded. Honestly, I don't trust used sales online. If I can't see what I'm buying, then I can't just shell out money. Things would be so much easier if Valve just got the rights from Eidos and Crystal Dynamics to release the entire series on Steam. I would buy it simply because the series is a classic and would be worth buying, in my opinion.

If the Deus Ex, Hitman, and Tomb Raider reboots are successful across the board, hopefully Eidos will give Legacy of Kain another shot. I don't think the series is completely dead. They did have Kain and Raziel character skins for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. But canceling a sequel because of mediocre sales is a hard thing to come back from.

[Baggins]

Thank goodness the Deus Ex game isn't a reboot but an actual prequel.

[Fierce Deity]

Thank goodness the Deus Ex game isn't a reboot but an actual prequel.

I wasn't sure. I know it looks a lot different than the other entries, but I haven't played it yet. Is it any good?