The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2

Moby ID: 6083
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Following the events of Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, the vampire Kain has assembled an army of vampires to take over the world of the humans. Fighting across Nosgoth, his goal is to make his way to the great city of Meridian and take control of this stronghold. However, upon reaching the gates of the city, the army is challenged by the Serafan Order, an organized force of vampire hunters and its leader, the magical Serafan lord. Kain engages the Serafan lord in single combat, is struck down and defeated. Kain's sword, the Soul Reaver, is claimed by his enemy. Unconscious for 200 years, Kain awakes under the care of the vampire Umah to a world he barely recognizes. Following the defeat of Kain's army, the vampires have been hunted down by the Serafan and only a few remain. The city of Meridian is ruled under martial law by the Serafan Order, which is very oppressive towards its citizens. Strange glyph magic is used to power machines and fuel industry and at the same time is deadly to vampires and used as wards throughout the city. Kain swears revenge on the one who defeated him and seeks to reclaim his place as the ruler of the vampires.

The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2 is a third person action game with adventure elements, more similar in perspective to Soul Reaver than the first Blood Omen game. The player views the environment from behind Kain's shoulder, moving him in different directions, attacking, jumping, using dark gifts, and grabbing on to ledges. Kain's life energy steadily depletes and must be replenished constantly by drinking blood. Blood is found by consuming any living creature nearby, often requiring defeating an enemy through combat first. As Kain consumes blood, his meter is filled up. Once full, Kain gains additional health. Kain also learns new dark gifts throughout the game by defeating boss creatures. Some gifts include: the ability to blend into mist, fire projectiles, use projectile telekinesis or make a great horizontal leap. Many of these abilities can be used to perform stealth kills which will instantly defeat a foe. Kain will fight using his bare hands or by picking up daggers, swords, axes, and other weapons. These weapons all attack differently, eventually breaking, and may also be thrown at enemies from afar.

The Serafan Order uses glyph magic, partially because it is deadly to vampires. Kain will often encounter areas where he is barred from progressing because of glyph barriers and must find a way around them. Additionally, glyphs function similar to electricity in that they power machines and switches. Many of the puzzles featured in Blood Omen 2 involve needing to create a glyph circuit in order to deliver power to a specific point. Glyph energy glows as it travels down its path, allowing the player to see exactly where the energy spark is.

Spellings

  • Наследие Каина. Blood Omen 2 - Russian spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

145 People (136 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

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Crystal Dynamics Director
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Critics

Average score: 73% (based on 45 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 61 ratings with 6 reviews)

Who cares if it's not the classic Legacy of Kain stuff?

The Good
Honestly, when I started playing Blood Omen 2, I thought "OMG, who the hell made the key map for this game?". It was impossible to play on the keyboard, and I was lazy about reallocating the keys. So I decided to use a joypad... what a difference!

Blood Omen 2 made my day with its combats! It is the only game in the whole series in which blocking attacks is an important thing! There are those who say that the attacks are repetitive. For Christ sake, in Soul Reaver 1 and 2 all you had to do is punch, punch, punch, all the time, to get the enemies killed! At least in Defiance you have other options, like playing "badminton" with your enemies, what makes its combats slightly better than in Blood Omen 2. But in trade, Defiance has that annoying camera that forces you to take giant turns only because the direction of this or that platform changed during your jump!

There's something cool introduced in Blood Omen 2 that became worse in Defiance: Kain's leap. In Blood Omen 2 you can choose the distance and direction of your leap, and that was a feature underexploited in game, although excellent. In Defiance, they had fixed those absolutely arbitrary red circles! I think that it was a challenge to the possible realism of the game. I imagine Kain think to himself "man, if I only had one of those red circles around here, I could be in the other side in no time! I really miss the time when I was self-sufficient, like in Blood Omen 2"!

More about the combats: the dark gifts Fury, Berserk and Immolate gave me part of the most stress-relief moments ever granted by a game (much like the head-shots in Counter Strike). You're there, taking all the pain you can get from your enemy, and suddenly, a la Rocky Balboa, you just finish him with a bunch of really hard blasts! Immolate made it less funny, once the enemy get to suffer less, >:) .

Of course it was a two-edged sword, once you could just keep blocking until your bar was full, and then kill the guy with just one strike. But it depends on the player...

The thing of having many ways of killing is something really fun. You can punch them to death, burn them away once and for all, get silently close to them and kill them in several ways, etc. Defiance is also good in this aspect, no doubt about it.

The Bad
As mentioned before, whoever made key map for this game must be fired! The game is quite unplayable with the keyboard. Everyone knows that console ports usually suck, but hey, what about a little effort of making it easier for us keyboard users, eh? Good thing I had a joypad around...

The story is kind of apocrypha, but it fits in the whole series plot. And don't even start with the "WTF is Vorador doing there?" crap, there are reasonable explanations. It is the same that happens to Phantasy Star III: the story is apocrypha and the graphics are different from the rest of the series, so hardcore fans hate it. In both cases, blame it on the development team (which is not the same from the rest of the series), but I still respect their work.

The puzzles are too weak (actually, none of the series' games is better than Soul Reaver in this aspect), and some Kain's dark gifts are underexploited (like the domination thing: what's the point of dominating one's mind if all you can do is to make him pull levers?). In fact, the puzzles doesn't even qualify for it, once you don't need to think to solve them.

The Bottom Line
In the end, what saves Blood Omen 2 is the fun I had with it. It doesn't matter if the story is torn, if Kain looks like he'd just left a beauty contest, if the game is easier than dying by a head shot. The game is as fun as hell (at least for me), and even if it had not the "Legacy of Kain" trademark, I would like it (some would say that if it wasn't a LoK game, it would be good, but not me).

Windows · by chirinea (47504) · 2007

Toto, you're not in Soul Reaver 2 anymore.

The Good
I'll say something. The only other Legacy of Kain game I have played in Soul Reaver 2...and although this game came out several months after SR2, the graphics are actually worse and so are the controls. You'd expect some upgrades, but nah, you don't get that. However, these are fairly minor issues. The highest point in the game is easily the environment and atmosphere. You're a bloodthirsty vampire (EXCESSIVELY bloodthirsty I might add) stalking the streets of a medieval town, with a full moon, dark sky and great architectural drawing. The background goes perfectly with the game and is drawn great, much like the beautiful architecture of the Sarafam Castle in SR2. However, unlike SR2, this world is alive. In that game, the only people you'll meet are the ones you kill and a few people you talk to who develop the plot. This game has people wandering around, who, if not killed, will chat about various topics with each other and provide an interesting backdrop. You don't have to kill everyone, although the game somewhat encourages it. However, there are a lot less cutscenes and the plot doesn't seem to advance as dramatically as in SR2, where confusing and amazing new twists show up at every corner. The next high point, especially compared to Soul Reaver, is the combat. Although the controls are sometimes unresponsive which causes unlimited aggravating deaths every now and then, the combat system itself is very well done. As Raziel in Soul Reaver, you could win the game just by going, whack whack whack, against every foe until they backed down, and occasionally jumping over the stronger attacks. Here,you have to block to live, because the enemies are as skilled and smart as you, and they won't let you score a hit if they can help it. You have to know when to hit and when to block, and some of Kain's Dark Gifts reward blocking too. Another definite high point is the plot itself. You have to have played or at least read about the plot of the whole LoK series to appreciate the depth and complexity of it; this one is not as deep as the time-travelling twists of the previous game. However, once you see how the game ties in with the larger plot, you'll nod in realisation. Kain has a variety of Dark Gifts, or vampiric powers. He starts out with two: one which allows him to power up by blocking and do extra-powered attacks, and one which lets him absorb himself into the mist and do overly-nasty stealth kills on his enemies...extremely useful for ridding yourself of the hordes of knights accompanying that guy with the stupid magic armour, to be sure. As he defeats the various bosses in the game he will gain new powers, which allow him to do things like jump long distances (needed to passs some areas but also great for long-range pounces) and take over the minds of mortals to do his will. Finally the voice acting was great, as in the other games. The actors do great impressions...especially the villagers putting emotion into it, whether its fear (usually fear) or anger in their little conversations. The

The Bad
Now, despite it being a good game, anyone would have quite a few complaints, some more than others. The worst one I have is the puzzles. They are all just throwing switches and pulling crates. That's pretty much it. Gone are the intricate mazes and ancient ruins of Soul Reaver 2. Whoever designed the puzzles fro that game should have been brought in for this one...it had some of the most ingenious puzzles I've ever seen..although that isn't saying much...but still. I found myself aggravated often by those puzzles but now I long to do something more in my puzzles than push boxes and turn wheels. The control failures can cause combat to be unnecessarily annoying, for sure. Too many times I have stood facign away from my enemies while they delivered beatdowns to my helpless back, because the autoface button wasn't working and I couldn't turn around while being walloped. Something has to be done about this, possibly in a patch, and the next game, which I presume there will be one of. Now, although the dark gifts are cool, they are very limited in their use. While Fury, Berserk etc can be used in any combat situation and are great against those stronger enemies and bosses, the rest of them cannot be used widely. Mist is very useful and fun, but you have to have a layer of mist already on the ground to use it, which does not always show up when you want it, and if you step out of the mist your cover is blown. The Jump is good for long distances and pouncing kills, but you can't reach great heights with it (like the boss that you killed to get it). And Charm and Telekinesis are mainly used to flip switches...people under your control cannot fight, or move too far from you and are only good for opening doors. One of my serious quirks is that the game basically encourages you to butcher everyone you meet and drink their blood. Because when your blood/health bar is full, any blood you drink goes toward you Lore Bar, which is essentially experience, once you get enough your max health goes up. So you can make it go up faster by killing off every civilian that crosses your path. It's not the desensitising violence that I'm complaining about here, although I must say that's pretty bad too. THe problem is that it takes away from the depth of the game: Here's some people, kill them. If there were a reason NOT to do this, I would much appreciate it, but the game provides no real incentive not to mercilessly slaughter everyone you see. ANd because of this, the little blood-sucking cinema (which is wierd because rather than biting anyone, Kain sucks the blood out of the body from up to 5 feet away..you have to wonder what the fangs are even for) gets old real fast. THe game would be more interesting if it helped you to be discreet rather than leavign a trail of destruction. My last complaint would have to be Umah. I had thought the LoK games had a good enough plot and gameplay appeal to get all the fans they needed, without having to resort to the ridiculously voluptous, Barbie doll figure lady to haul in horny teenagers. However, it appears they've joined the club. Not only does this badly-disguised hooker alternate between staggering drunkenly around and swaying her hips like she's a doing a striptease, she also dresses in stuff that even the most open minded will be shocked by. There's more cotton in the top of an aspirin bottle than in that outfit. This is just a sorry attempt to attract more interest and should have been toned down...I thought all the feminine attractiveness this game needed was the half of Ariel's face that wasn't torn and mutilated...these games don't need to resort to such ploys. Well, I think I've badmouthed the game enough. Here goes.

The Bottom Line
Overall...this game will appeal to those who like action with a good plot, even one with not so much attention paid to it, to give motivation for the gore. If you are offended by people being whacked bloodily around and streams of blood flying into a guy's mouth, don't play it at all. It's not SR2 graphically with Raziel's complex motions of every limb and karate moves, and the puzzles are disappointing. As an introduction to the LoK series, it's not so great...but it is an overall satisfying game, even if you want to try it out with someone else who has it before you buy.

Windows · by munchner (10) · 2002

You're a blood-sucking vampire, what more could you want? Well, better frame rates.

The Good
Blood Omen 2, like its previous edition, has you in control of the vampire Kain. Two hundred years after his defeat on the walls of Meridian, Kain once again, rises to take his place as the ruler of Nosgoth. The characters in this game, from Kain to the Serafan Lord, were all expertly drawn and rendered. Environments, on the other hand, just didn’t seem to have the right mood set to them. Buildings and walls did not look as textured as they should have for a game of this caliber.

The Bad
After all is said and done, there just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of good to say about this game. For instance, the fighting involves about 30% timing, 10% skill, and 60% luck. I can’t count the number of times that I got handled like a cheap tool, died, restart and not do anything to vary my tactics, and come out on top. In addition to the repetitive fighting, some of the puzzles in the game just seem overly pointless. There is almost no sense of accomplishment after figuring out a puzzle, in fact, you could almost want a swift, sharp kick to the head, for not figuring it out sooner. Another bad mark for this game, has got to be the frame rate. At times, the game can slow down to a pathetic 10 fps or less, and every once in a while, I noticed the word “loading” appear on screen. Even worse, I even had the game completely freeze on me. While these marks don’t do much good for the overall rating of the game, at least the voiceover sucks. No, I take that back, the voice acting was done quite well. Fans of the series will notice that the actors for as Kain and Vorador have returned for this latest installment, but the mixing seems as though it was rushed along without much quality control. As the game progresses, players will note that the dialogue gets more and more ‘off’ with the scenes on the screen, until it seems as though you are watching a bad Godzilla movie.

The Bottom Line
Overall, I would describe this game as Soul Reaver on pot. It just dosn’t live up to the hype that the Soul Reaver games has set up for it. If you’re curious about the beginnings of Kain, and possibly a peek into the origins of Raziel, then by all means, play this game. If, however, you are just looking for a good game to play, may I suggest that you look elsewhere. There just won’t be much interest for you here.

PlayStation 2 · by Jon_Talbain (20) · 2002

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

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Trivia

Development

Many of the art and characters, and the main storyline has been recycled from an unfinished Dreamcast sequel of Chakan, a Sega Genesis title. The main reason for the similarity is that both the cancelled Chakan game and Blood Omen 2 share their lead artist, Steve Ross. He also co-wrote the Blood Omen 2 story. In addition to the general similarity of themes, Chakan himself differs from the Blood Omen 2-era Kain only in that his body and face are harder-worn and he wears a hat, a worm-riding character is clearly the predecessor to Umah, several enemies bear the "broken ankh" symbol of the Sarafan in Blood Omen 2, enemy designs range from very similar to virtually identical, and the depiction of the streets of the city is essentially a futuristic version of Meridian.

Here's part of the planned storyline:

The City has existed since the beginning of time. Once it was a place of transcendent beauty and purity governed by five beings known as the Aeris. Then, many centuries ago, a catastrophic plague ripped through The City. This scourge cleaved each Aeris into two separate entities: A Siren, a being of light and song, and a Daemon, a dark, vile creature.

The Daemons soon overwhelmed the Sirens beginning a long reign of brutality and horror. They stripped away the Sirens' souls turning them into pitiful empty creatures who wander aimlessly through The City. The Daemons imprisoned the Siren souls in Soul Worlds; strange domains existing beyond space and time.

With no one left to challenge their power the Daemons began to feed on The City's population. They did not feed on the flesh of their victims, but on their souls, their life force. Through centuries of dark rule The City was transformed from a place of peace and serenity into a cruel, hard, twisted place. A place of horror, death and decay.

The striking similarities between these projects and Blood Omen 2 led many Kain fans to believe that Blood Omen 2 was some sort of re-branded Chakan. Some concept artwork was available http://www.andnow.net/chakan/artwork.html

There are also some connections to a cancelled game called Siren. More information on the topic is available on the fansite The Lost Worlds.

Hylden

The Hylden are those yellow creatures that were depicted fighting the blue winged vampires in the ancient murals that Raziel kept finding all the time in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2.

Soul Reaver

Despite the depiction of Kain holding the sword known as Soul Reaver on both the game's cover art and it's title screen, in fact Kain is lacking the Soul Reaver, having it taken from him before the game even begins.

Voice Acting

A sample of Kain's famous "Vae Victus!" battlecry (used extensively in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain) was recorded for the name but not used.

Vorador

There has been quite a lot of discussion about whether the appearance of Vorador in Blood Omen 2 has a real explanation or it's just a pulled-out-of-the-nose item, like to give the voice actor something to do. Near the ending, Kain and Vorador engage in a discussion from which it raises a challenge for a future confrontation between them. In this discussion, Kain already says something about Vorador being 'reborn a second time'. This not only begins to explain that there is an explanation behind Vorador's presence in this game, but also might hint the possibility of more installments of the series.

Information also contributed by bächtÍrmän, Mark Ennis and WildKard

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jon_Talbain.

GameCube added by Corn Popper. Xbox, Windows added by Kartanym.

Additional contributors: Corn Popper, Shoddyan, Slug Camargo, Klaster_1, Patrick Bregger.

Game added March 31, 2002. Last modified March 3, 2024.