Games Worth Playing: Soul Reaver I

IntoTheWow

is awesome32277 Posts

January 12 2009 21:55 GMT

Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Platform: PSX / PC / DC
Release: Aug 16, 1999.
Genre: Adventure / Action / Platformer
Disks: 1 (342Mb)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBLdQJONghc
Great opening scene! watch now

Story

Set in a gothic atmosphere, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, narrates the story of Raziel, a once lieutenant vampire, struggling through the lands of Nosgoth, fighting against his own blood, looking for vengeance. The target? Kain. Once a leader, but now a betrayer, Kain sentenced Raziel to die in the Lake of the Dead for evolving before him.

The Lake of the Dead is a endless pit of swirling water. Because vampires are immortal by nature, the lake acts as an eternal pain for any vampire thrown into it. This is the fate of our anti-hero Raziel.

Vampires + Water = Menthos + Coke

Unknown to all vampires, below Nosgoth The Elder God lives. This Gods controls the fate of souls that leave the land, to follow a path of reincarnation and to keep the world moving. Because of vampire supremacy due to Kain's ruling and because vampires are immortal, the souls cannot leave Nosgoth to complete their cycle. This is Nosgoth's demise.

To fix this, The Elder God saves Raziel from the bottomless pit before his body is fully consumed and sets him on the mission of killing Kain. Raziel is now on the way to get his vengeance.

Over one thousand years have passed though and things have changed. His skin is burnt to the bone and beyond, his jaw is missing and he has a reminder of what used to be his wings on his back; things do not look good. Raziel no longer eats blood, but souls. Kind of like a reverse extreme make over.

Om nom nom souls

Gameplay

One of the key elements of Soul Reaver is the existence of two realms: the material one and the spectral one. On the spectral realm, enemies are weaker, water behaves like air and many things behave in a different way. Some things though, require Raziel to have a physical form. To change from the spectral realm to the material one, Raziel must be full health and stand on certain insignias. The material plane holds more impediments though. Harder enemies (mainly vampires), water (a reminiscent vampire weakness) and many other things.
Switching from the material to the spectral has no requirements, it can be done with a menu, or by depleting our health. Staying in our physical form is harder too: health is slowly drained from us, and we will need to feed on souls to stay "alive". Enemy blows also deplete our energy of course, taking us one step closer to becoming wraiths.

The game uses this two plane play to keep Raziel from entering certain areas before he gets new abilities. For example, when the game beings, if Raziel falls into a pool full of water he will die (switch to the spectral plane) and he will need to climb his way up using a ladder or platforms; later on he can swim.

Puzzles make great use of this too. Blocks must be moved while on physical form, ledges and columns change shape and form on each plane. An unreachable ledge with a regular jump might turn to be of a shorter distance in the other plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO2KJZEbmWo#t=2m40s

Combat is pretty simple. It revolves around pushing the only attack button Raziel has. Raziel can also lock the camera on a cerain enemy and dodge attacks. If our enemy is human or spectral he will die after a number of hits.

AAAAAAAAAAA!!!! a ghost!!!

If our enemy is a vampire though, after being hit around some he will stand dizzy in a "finish him" pose. This is when you get creative, you look around and look for ways to kill a vampire. a spike in the wall? Lift his body and throw him against it so he gets impaled. A torch on the wall? pick it and light your enemy on fire. To put it in Raziel's words:

I knew my opponents' weaknesses, having suffered them myself. Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire's immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved. Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight's touch... I would have to modify my tactics to suit my foes.

We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn ♫ Burn motherfucker burn~

Raziel can also wield weapons he finds in the game to finish his enemies off with the addition of a spectral weapon that we will gain later on (our Soul Reaver).

Design

Even though it's not officially divided by chapters, after getting to the end of each region, you will fight one of your vampire brothers. Each one of them has a certain weakness and a way of defeating him. After you are done with them, you will get special abilities to explore new regions of Nosgoth.

Sorry, I can't make a joke with just water

Level design is very good. If somebody told me Soul Reaver is based on a book I would believe them. Everything is gothic looking but regions are different from each other. The amount of detail considering it's a game from '99 is outstanding.

Not the best attacking angle

The music is fitting, slow and thumping, reminding us of how everything is dead and at the verge of extinction. Music changes during combats, bosses, or depending if we are on open areas or inside a sanctuary. It adds to the whole atmosphere.

What really stands out is voice acting, even though few are the characters that speak. Remember these are Gods and Vampire lords and they speak as such. The Elder God acts as a narrator through some parts of the game and his eloquence while speaking adds another layer of mysticism to the plot.

Being an anti-hero is hard too

The only problems are see with Soul Reaver is the camera sometimes and the story being linear, though the latter one is just a consequence of how the game must work to fit the story. The game going by logic should have no re-playability, but I have finished it 3 times or so.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is an excellent game you should play if you like any sort of adventure or platform games. It's also has a real vampire story, not like that twilight faggotry :3

Yay

Intriguing plot.
Excellent scenario and character design.
Entertaining puzzles.
Eloquent dialogues and superb voice acting.

Nay

Some problems with the camera in some jumps.
Linear Story

ilovezil

United States4143 Posts

January 12 2009 22:12 GMT

Sick, sick graphics. It's hard to believe this game is for the play station console.

I love the Mortal Kombat-like concepts of choosing your fatality. Burn that vampire, burn baby burn! :D

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

January 12 2009 22:55 GMT

I remember when this came out (I feel so old now.) It was really fun to play - nice write up

IntoTheWow

is awesome32277 Posts

January 12 2009 23:01 GMT

Thanks! : ]

indecision

Germany818 Posts

January 12 2009 23:28 GMT

If only I had more time...

[edit] Loving your blog series so far though

CFDragon

United States304 Posts

January 12 2009 23:40 GMT

Awesome game. Everyone should play this game now. I remember loving this, I just wish I could find my disc. And, just curious but what's so wrong with linear gameplay? I know adding nonlinear makes it more adventurous in some regards, but I still don't think that there's anything so negative about a game being linear.

IntoTheWow

is awesome32277 Posts

January 12 2009 23:43 GMT

I just mentioned as something people would find as an "Issue" though i did say its because of the story. Linear story doesnt matter if the plot is well developed, i agree : ]

PePe QuiCoSE

Argentina1204 Posts

January 12 2009 23:54 GMT

i loved this game when i was playing it. Pity the CD was scratched and was never able to go further than the first part =(

riotjune

United States3394 Posts

January 13 2009 01:13 GMT

Got this for the dc, great game, though I would've liked spending less time on puzzles (carryover from tomb-raider, how many times do I have to push/flip this damn box) and more time shattering vampires and other monstrosities with the soul reaver. Contains a number of optional quests/tricks too.

Awesome review~

ShadowDrgn

United States2497 Posts

January 13 2009 01:29 GMT

#10

The original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain game was great too, although the controls were clunky and the game was too difficult because of it. I don't know how well it stands up to the test of time because I haven't played it since the 90's, but I remember Kain's narration being extremely good for an early PSX game.

IntoTheWow

is awesome32277 Posts

January 13 2009 01:38 GMT

#11

Well if you like the more flashy combat side of the game, try Soul Reaver 3: Defiance, is combat oriented with more combos, ways of killing etc.

I'll probably write reviews for Soul Reaver 2 and 3 too.

Thanks for the feedback / comments

Lachrymose

Australia1928 Posts

January 13 2009 05:54 GMT

#12

excellent game.

the points in your "yay" section are sum it up well. even with the game being linear the nature of the puzzles and the design of some areas really did make it feel like you were exploring i found.

raziel was such a beast!

another great review, now vagrant story! :D

Nyovne

Netherlands19137 Posts

January 13 2009 13:21 GMT

#13

Sick writeup again agu, god I played this game to death with one of my friends along with MSG :D.

PePe QuiCoSE

Argentina1204 Posts

January 13 2009 16:37 GMT

#14

On January 13 2009 10:29 ShadowDrgn wrote:
The original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain game was great too, although the controls were clunky and the game was too difficult because of it. I don't know how well it stands up to the test of time because I haven't played it since the 90's, but I remember Kain's narration being extremely good for an early PSX game.

I have played it and i don't really remember of having hard controls. Neither do i remember the game being hard (maybe you were young when you played it?). What i do remember is being a bit pissed when you had to travel half the map to check something (even with bats) or be sure you didn't miss any hallway or else you would though that you were stuck.

Ethenielle

Norway1006 Posts

January 13 2009 16:37 GMT

#15

such awesome blogs ITW, Im gonna go play this game right now

keep up the good work

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