Legacy Of Kain

"Zephon: The prodigal son! There is no returning for you, Raziel."

"Rahab: Raziel..."

"Dumah: Unbound at last! I thank you, brother."

"I don't know how many people know this, but initially, it wasn't actually a sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain at all – our original proposal was a concept for a new IP we named "Shifter", loosely inspired by Paradise Lost. The protagonist was essentially a fallen angel of death, a reaper of souls hunted by his former brethren, and now driven to expose and destroy the false god they all served. The "Shifter" concept was the genesis of the game that would become Soul Reaver; the core ideas were all there. The hero was an undead creature, able to shift between the spectral and material realms, and glide on the tattered remains of his wing-like coattails. We conceived the spirit realm as a twisted, expressionistic version of the physical world. The hero was bent on revenge after being betrayed and cast down by his creator – like Raziel, he was a dark savior figure, chosen to restore balance to a blighted, dystopian world."

"There were so many different inspirations, it's hard to just name a few… As I mentioned earlier, the original idea was very loosely inspired by the rebellious angels of Milton's Paradise Lost. The spiritual structure of the world was based on the philosophy of Gnosticism, the belief that the cosmos is ruled by a malevolent "pretender" god, that humans are prisoners in a spiritual lie, and that mankind's struggle is a fight for free will in the face of seemingly insurmountable Fate. We wanted to give Nosgoth's dystopian future a decaying 19th-century industrial aesthetic, while the look of the spectral realm was inspired by the twisted architecture and disorienting angles of 1920s German Expressionist cinema. Regarding the dialogue, we obviously took a cue from Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, with its florid language and ornate monologues. We wanted to carry a similar style into the sequels. I also drew inspiration from the dense, literate dialogue of historical dramas like A Man for All Seasons, Becket, and A Lion in Winter."

"Our biggest challenge, hands-down, was getting the data-streaming working, to allow us to have a seamless, interconnected world with no load events. I think we were one of the first developers to tackle this problem (along with Naughty Dog, on Crash Bandicoot). It proved to be way more difficult than we had initially anticipated – if I recall, we were still struggling to get the textures to dynamically pack correctly, just a couple months before release. We ultimately got it working by the skin of our teeth, but I wonder if we would've embarked on such an ambitious plan if we'd known how difficult it was going to be! Our second challenge, of course, was figuring out how to store two sets of data for the spectral and material realms, and how to implement the real-time morph between the two environments. Our initial plan was over-ambitious, involving texture-morphing as well as geometry-morphing, but we realized pretty early on that our texture memory (and time) was too limited to achieve this. We came up with the idea of leveraging the 3DS Max animation timeline to attach spectral values to the vertices in the geometry – i.e., frame 0 was the material world, and frame 1 was the spectral realm (or vice versa; I can't remember for sure). This way we could alter the x,y,z coordinates of each vertex, as well as its RGB lighting values, to create a twisted, more eerily lit version of the physical realm. Our ultimate challenge, though, was schedule and scope. Conceived as an open-world, Zelda-esque 3D adventure game, Soul Reaver was incredibly ambitious. Crystal Dynamics’ Gex engine gave us a leg-up on the 3D technology, but in essence we were writing a game engine from scratch, while developing a new IP. These days, a developer wouldn't think of attempting such a thing in less than three years (minimum), but Eidos wanted the game in less than two. In the end, we shipped Soul Reaver in under 2.5 years, but not without some unfortunate eleventh-hour cuts which still pain me today. The scope of the game was definitely too ambitious, but if we had shipped the game that Fall, instead of that Summer, I think we could have reduced the scope of the game more elegantly."

"To hit the August '99 release date, we had to cut the last few levels of the game, and end on a cliffhanger that set up Soul Reaver 2. Originally, Raziel was going to hunt down and destroy all of his former brothers as well as Kain – and then, using his newly-acquired abilities, he would've activated the long-dormant pipes of the Silenced Cathedral to wipe out the remaining vampires of Nosgoth with a sonic blast. Only then would he realize that he'd been the Elder God's pawn all along, that the purging of the vampires had devastating consequences, and that the only way to set things right would be to use Moebius’ time-streaming device to go back in time and alter history (in the sequel)."

"I hope it's remembered as a well-constructed game with an original vision and an engaging story, and as groundbreaking in terms of what we were able to achieve on the PlayStation at the time. Our approach to voice acting and performance was also innovative for the time, the way we brought the actors in to record their dialogue together rather than in isolation. The performance capture process we use on Uncharted today – where we involve the actors as collaborators, and have them play the scenes together on the stage – owes its origins to the techniques we established for Soul Reaver fifteen years ago."

"In today's video games, the open world is now commonplace - a single, continuous gameplay area that offers a vast canvas for developers to populate, to varying degrees of success. At the most fundamental level, what makes these sandbox games work is their ability to stream in world data on the fly as you play, with no loading whatsoever to disrupt the flow during traversal. What is now the norm was once the most ambitious of gaming concepts - one that initially came to fruition in the console space with the classic Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver for the original PlayStation."

"So how does it work? Essentially, the game is broken down into a series of units, with each unit representing a room, hallway or path to other rooms. Once the game is running, Soul Reaver stores three of these units in memory at any point - the room the player is standing in and the two adjacent units. As the main character moves into a new unit, the furthest one from the player that resides in memory is cleared and the next one loaded. Maps are designed so that loading a new unit into memory requires less time than it takes the player to cross the current unit. Clever, right?"

"Further complicating level streaming, the design for Soul Reaver also called for dimensional shifting. During gameplay, players swap between the spectral and material planes - a key gameplay concept that ties in closely to both puzzle-solving and storytelling. Loading two different versions of the map would have placed too much strain on an already heavy system, but Crystal Dynamics' solution was elegant, innovative and efficient. The same basic map data is utilised, but geometry is mapped to different coordinates in each version of the level. Shifting between planes interpolates from one set of geometry to the other. Per-vertex colour data is also modified when shifting between planes, adding further to the illusion."

"Michael Bell as Raziel"

"Tony Jay as the Elder God"

"Simon Templeman as Kain"

"Michael Bell as Raziel"

"Tony Jay as the Elder God"

"At the beginning of the game, a young human, Kain, enters the local tavern as he passes through town: Barkeep: "The tavern’s closing - best be on your way, stranger!" Kain: "What, no mug of ale for a weary traveler from distant Coorhagen!? I can reward you well, for I am of noble blood!" Barkeep: "I stay open for no man in these dark times. Things come with the night that no sane man would welcome". Kain: "And so I left - cold of heart and soul. Forced to the road, and the long, bitter night"."

"Kain walks away from the gate as it explodes and collapses behind him, destroying the Hylden already in Nosgoth. He considers what the future will hold: "Umah... What was it she said to me in that fateful moment when she took from me the Nexus Stone? How would my rule differ from that of the Sarafan Lord? If you had lived, Umah, you would have learned the difference. You should have trusted me... The war was over, and yet there was another battle to be fought. The cruel masters of Nosgoth, the Sarafan - now leaderless - still had to be put down. There were cities to be rebuilt, and order to be restored. And a new rule, my rule would then begin. To the victor go the spoils. At last, Nosgoth would be mine"."

""I have lived long enough to dispose of you"."

""Cowards and traitors deserve no second thoughts, only their complete annihilation"."

""Strange how one's life casts a shadow far beyond one's own understanding. Here, in this alien vault, I discovered a being whose existence was entwined with mine, far more than I could ever imagine"."

""My mind was in fragments like shattered glass"."

""From the shards of tattered dreams, I rose - unwilling... Tossed upon tides of pain that flowed and ebbed and left me searingly awake. And more revoltingly - alive .. It was then I saw her, for the first time"."

"Marcus points at Kain and uses his gift. Kain clutches at his head, but shakes off the influence with ease: Marcus: "What? Impossible!" Kain: "What manner of creatures have you been practicing on? Dull mortal fools, with their minds full of commerce and dung? My mind is far too strong for your powers"."

""I sentence you to the hell of your own making - a prisoner for all time"."

"Did it not occur to you that perhaps my cause, and not yours, is the cause of right and justice? That your ambition to rule this world is but the youthful craving of a petty noble, who has gained too much power, but never enough?"

""Bathe them in fire. Let them learn, as they writhe in the flames and their bones dissolve, the futility of their actions. The vampire and all of his kind shall be razed from the land. This world will be made pure by my hand. I will give you the peace you seek, Kain.. Your death beckons you"."

""So I see. Kain, the Disruptor, the pebble in the pond who destroys all he touches"."

"Umah: "Tell me, since you remember your name, do you also remember your nature?" Kain: "Of course"."

""That you awoke at all is a miracle. When we found you, there was but the barest thread of life left in you. We nurtured it, fed it, and now you rise and walk again"."

""There is a Magical operation of maximum importance: the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood". Quote originally from Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4, written by Aleister Crowley check"

"Call your dogs! They can feast on your corpses!"

""You are the tragic hero"."

""Strange, isn't it Kain? That one cannot quite accept that which sustains him: you in your death and me in mine. But death cannot reign in a world without life and soon you will find the quest ahead of you is yours and yours alone... I can assist you no longer"."

"You will have the blood you hunger for..."

"Upon examining the Soul Reaver: "Time fades even legend... and the origin of the Soul Reaver has been lost long ago. But its purpose remains - to feed on the souls of any creature it strikes. Kindred, this blade and I"."

"Upon encountering Vorador's brides: "Their charms were visible through the gauze of their clothing, yet beauty such as theirs delivered only death"."

""The winds carried screams from the west... I could not help but smile. Someone in this world was suffering more than me"."

"Life without blood. What a travesty!"

""Worms and maggots fed upon his festering skin, the scent of tainted blood seeped through the wounds upon which they feasted. Pity, such a waste-- good blood gone bad"."

"While holding Nupraptor's severed head: "Alas, poor Nupraptor. I knew him well... Well, not really"."

""Their sneering faces were forever etched upon my memory. I had crossed death for this moment. My mind was empty save for one thought; I would kill"."

""Reputed to have been ripped from the chest of the greatest vampire who ever existed, Janos Audron. The heart of darkness restores vampiric unlife. Life is precious, as Janos discovered, as it was torn throbbing and bleeding from his own body"."

"After being killed and waking in his mausoleum: "I woke to the pain of a new existence, in a dank womb of darkness and decay"."

""Vae Victis - suffering to the conquered. Ironic that now I was the one suffering. Not anything as pedestrian as physical pain. Rather the cruel jab of impotent anger - the hunger for revenge. I didn't care if I was in Heaven or Hell - all I wanted was to kill my assassins. Sometimes you get what you wish for. The Necromancer Mortanius offered me a chance for vengeance, and, like a fool, I jumped at his offer without considering the cost. Nothing is free. Not even...revenge"."