(no subject)
Day 30: Favorite game/series of all time
The Legacy of Kain
The Legacy of Kain is a series of games by Eidos Interactive (The people behind Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and many others. They recently became Square Enix Europe)
The game revolves around the Guardian of Balance, Kain. The game heavily revolves around pre-destiny and fate. Kain’s of which, is less than desirable. Although he has two choices of his fate, either dooms Nozgoth. Essentially, at the conclusion of the first game, Blood Omen, he refuses to accept his destiny and dooms Nozgoth to decay and ruin. He raises a vampire empire and conquers Nozgoth for himself. When his oldest lieutenant surpasses him in evolution, he has him cast out and left to burn in a lake (Oh, they even follow the vampire rules, water is acidic) for an eternity. Raziel, however, does not die but instead, becomes a wraith, a vampire that hungers for souls. In Raziel’s absence, Kain goes from Wisely Arrogant to Arrogantly Wise. Raziel finds himself, to Kain’s delight, with the ability to deny fate and destiny. Raziel was no longer part of the machinations of fate and destiny.
The voice acting, settings, characters, lore, back story, well just about everything was just perfect. My favorite quote is from the epilogue.
Now at last, the masks had fallen away, the strings of the puppets are visible and the hands of the prime mover, exposed. More ironic of all, was the last gift Raziel had given me. More powerful than the sword that now held his soul. More acute, than the vision his sacrifice has accorded me. The first bitter taste of that terrible illusion… Hope.
The Background lore of the game is intense and well written. The origin and the type of Vampires remain true, yet still maintain creativity. (Fuck you, Mr. Sparkly) The Ancients were blue skinned, winged angelic warriors that waged a war with the Hylden, a race seen as tan-skinned angels. The Ancients sought to eradicate the Hylden for their immortality offended their Elder-God, who fed on death. Upon imprisoning the immortal Hylden, they unleashed a curse that birthed the first Vampires. As a mockery, they bestowed upon the Ancients, blood thirst and immortality. This caused the whole race go berserk and consume itself after the Elder-God forsaken them. The binding imprisoning the Hylden weakened over the ages, forcing the last Ancient Vampire, to create new guardians to watch the nine pillars. The curse spread to humanity when the first human, Vorador, became a vampire. The curse spread and unrest forced the humans to rise up and slay the vampires and take the Pillars of Nozgoth for themselves. Kain is an entirely different breed of Vampire. When the last Ancient Vampire was slayed by human Raziel, (Moments before Raziel’s future-self murdered his mortal form. Haha) they locked Janos Audron’s heart away, branding it The Heart of Darkness. This artifact was used to resurrect Kain following his murder. Kain would create a whole new race of Vampires. Traditionally, Vampires are born with dark-gifts that grant them great abilities. Vorador had the ability to shape shift into a werewolf, for example. These gifts can be stolen if a vampire drinks the blood of another vampire. Kain was born without any dark gifts; he was forced to steal them from other vampires. Naturally, he would undergo metamorphosis and evolve his own dark gifts. This trait was passed upon his ‘children’. Over eons, the people cursed with his form of vampirism would constantly evolve into mindless gibbering horrors.
Whew! What a mouthful!
Raziel is the Blue guy wielding the Spectral Reaver, while Kain is the Red angry guy with the Soul Reaver.
Kain and Raziel by this point are polar powers, both wielding the only weapon that can kill one-another.
Want a mindfuck? Raziel wields a paradox-copy of his own soul as his weapon, while kain wields the material-form of the same weapon.