What is your favorite Legacy of Kain game?

  • Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

    Votes: 23 46.9%
  • Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2

    Votes: 3 6.1%
  • Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

    Votes: 14 28.6%
  • Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • Legacy of Kain: Defiance

    Votes: 4 8.2%

  • Total voters
    49
That is...actually a hard choice.

I've loved all of the games, each had a unique grasp to it and the overarching story was beautiful, even to this day I still return and watch whenever I am dull. From Blood Omen's dark tale to the hopeful end of Defiance; the Legacy of Kain is, as Denis had perfectly put it, 'Memorable'. Even Blood Omen 2 despite its apparent disdain compared to the rest of the arching story, with its purpose being the repercussion of Soul Reaver 2's Paradox from Raziel's original fate.

My first real attention into the series came when I was real young and my father was playing Soul Reaver. That intro captured me and my imagination, it had an influence that I will forever treasure and appreciate in ways I can't really describe. The shakespearean language that the series used, the fantasy violence, the styles of the setting and the vampires was so unique and different, and growing up - it only grew from there to the point my dad often tease me if I was a vampire.

I almost fell into a rant just thinking about it all. All in all, they are all my favorite - despite the puzzles. I would even suffer the puzzles to enjoy this series and their secrets are still being unveiled to this day! When I found the small coven of communities that had the same passions as I, I had a certain peace to know that the Legacy of Kain will not die if by some cruel fate that I would wander away.

However, if I had to make one choice - it would be probably Soul Reaver because of Kain and his empire. Even if it is just a leap from Blood Omen and its original placing, I can say with all my heart, it was a good sequel that few games these days can't truly match.
 
The Correct Answer will always be Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain.
It was the first really dark game I played and was so excited to get it at launch {though i'm sure i was a little bit under age but my parents didn't mind} and it so far has been the best dark game I have played.
Hoping it will be replaced by DHS of course, but it will always have some great memories for me.
 
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My favorite Legacy of Kain game had to be defiance. I know I never played blood omen 1, soul reaver 1 and 2 but I did go back and watched the entire story of the games.
Gameplay wise, bosses, small little dialogue here and there. From start to finish. Which is usually about 6-8 hours depending on the channel. Defiance just had a nice story that I was clearly missing a huge chunk of but I did enjoy the nice combat mechanics and brutal execution style to empower the regular reaver and the wraith blade even healing yourself. As well as doing crazy combos in defiance makes you see how brutal Kain and raziel can truely be. Even though I played blood omen 2 and legacy of Kain defiance there isn’t a shadow of a doubt that I still love the series from the start of Kain being assassinated and becoming a vampire thanks to mortanius all the way to raziel giving up his life to become the soul reaver again and curing kains corruption and healing him allowing him to fight the elder god and eventually give him a small taste of hope.
 
Im a huge fan of the series. Soul Reaver had to take place as my favorite because it was the first game I was introduced to via my buddy who couldnt beat it legit. I barrowed the game, played the game, beat the game. more than once. I learned things here and there searched every corner of the physical and spectral realms. it was awesome. After that i played blood omen when I learned about it. Obviously both SR2 and BO2, I was hooked. Then Christmas eve after the release of Defiance, i begged my mom to let me open a gift that I believed was the game, she did, it was, and I played the game until I beat it in one sitting. I loved it it was so great.
 
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I'll admit, I'm a bit biased on this one. Soul Reaver was my original introduction to the world of Nosgoth, and I remember the very first time I played it on a demo disk for the PSOne back when I was a kid. I immediately fell in love with the dark gothic world, deep character stories, and the wonderful voice acting.

My favorite thing about the entire series was the fact that this was a vampire story, and they were MONSTERS! Growing up I constantly see vampires used in some sort of a romantic sense. Seriously, it's everywhere! Legacy of Kain was the first time, and currently one of the only instances, where there is no 'romance' subplot of some kind, nor is any EVER even alluded to. These vampires were monsters, and quite content with that as well. They were not designed to look overtly appealing or sexual, they were the monsters that lurked in shadows. These were vampires that would terrify you at their very appearance, you wouldn't even dare to think they would show anything resembling mercy beyond a swift death.

I hate to admit, but I played the entirety of the Legacy of Kain series, EXCEPT Blood Omen. That was because until only just recently, I had never even seen a physical copy of the original game before. I could find copies of every single other game in the series, even digital versions, but never Blood Omen!

Thankfully, I am proud to say that less than a week ago I finally tracked down a copy of the original Blood Omen, and am currently in the process of playing it for the very first time in my life. I'm still in the beginning stages of the game, so I don't have an entire opinion just yet. But I can safely say that I am happy to be back in the land of Nosgoth once more!
 
I'm really surprised that less people say Soul Reaver 2. The PS2 technology massively helped it, even though Blood Omen and Soul Reaver set the raw groundwork. No loading times, lack of block puzzles and great graphics (although BO and SR1 are easily some of the best looking games of the PS1) really helped it be more fun to play. Also seeing Raziel get pissed at Ariel, the Elder God and Moebius for stringing him along compared to his more calm self in SR1 where he trusted the Elder God's every word was an interesting development. It also really opened up the story from SR1 where Kain's machinations are mostly unknown... oh yeah, and way more Kain than SR1. I think it has the best "chunk" of story to boot (because it's impossible to separate any of the game's narrative from another IMO) but I'm too tired to explain lol

Also it has a lot of really memorable quotes. Except for the obvious ones like the Pillars scene, Raziel threatening to eat Moebius soul and lifting his cowl was cool. Because the cowl makes it look like he has a chin I keep almost forgetting he has no jaw

My second favourite is probably Blood Omen. My biggest problem with SR1 (SR2 and Defiance have this to a much, much smaller extent. Strangely in BO2 it feels like there were a lot more people, maybe because human civilisation is still prominent) is that you have giant stretches with no dialogue, whereas in Blood Omen it feels like Kain is always talking. Some of the other characters (like Azimuth and Elvizir) weren't the best though, but they have like 2 lines of dialogue each so it's not a dealbreaker at all. The 1996 bitcrushed audio is also really charming... P.S. the best Circle Guardian except for the obvious Moebius and Mortanius is queen DeJoule
 
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I only have a least favorite (blood omen 2).

The rest are all major achievements of their time and still represent some of the best storytelling in the medium to date.

That said, I think judging graphics and mechanics based on modern standards is a bad idea, but in that respect I think they were all ahead of their time except for blood omen 2.
 
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For me it's a tie between Blood Omen and Defiance. Both just had much more fun gameplay than the others, and while I love the story of all the games, that story being in a stronger game made a huge difference.
 
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If it got down to brass tacks, I'd say that Blood Omen 2 is my favorite by virtue of it being my introduction to the Legacy of Kain. I wasn't too much a fan of the steampunk, nor of the hylden (especially after I played all of the other games) but I really dig this young, not quite fledgling's take on unlife. In Blood Omen 2, Kain is in every way that matters much like Marvel's Namor: Self assured, arrogant, and filled with an impassible willpower to boot.


Kain evolves from this mindset over the source of the games, but it was just something I appreciated. Even when he's defeated (or about to be, at least) he still refuses to give up to the point that Umag forcefully teleports him away from the Hylden Lord. I can understand why it doesn't appeal to everyone, but I guess it was what I wanted to see when the game came out.
 
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I have to say Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain. The main reason was it came out on my Birthday back in the day. I have always had an interest in RPGs and myths about Vampires and the undead. So this this game was just perfect. The story line was amazing, the graphics were good despite there being only a few FMVs. I also enjoyed listening to the music which played along on my journey in Nosgoth. Little did I know that back then this would inspire me so much to write my own fiction. Also that I would following the Kain's story and beyond.
 
My favorite is Blood Omen 2 which I know is unpopular but I played it as a kid which made me love it. Soul Reaver 2 was actually my first LoK game, I traded my skateboard for it (damn good trade). I loved Soul Reaver 2 of course but I found myself watching the trailer for blood omen 2 which was included on the disc over and over and obsessively wanting to play it.

Every time I went to my local gamestop I would dig through the giant metal cage bins of used ps2 games they had sitting in the middle of the store. I searched every game in those bins every time but could never find Blood Omen 2. Until one day I went there and actually found 1 copy of it. I was so excited, but there was a dilemma. The game was rated M and I had no parent with me. I stood there feeling a nervous panic thinking of what I should do, either hide the game at the bottom of the bin and come back at some unknown later date with my parent or try to buy it now. And the main worry of course was that someone else would find it and buy it before I could get my mom or dad in there.

I decided to try to buy it. Took it to the register and handed it to the cashier with wide eyes and just prayed he would let me buy it. And to my elation the cashier went through with ringing it up. I remember he said "This game is awesome" or something to that effect and surely he could tell how badly I wanted it.

I remember I loved playing it but the whole searching for it and finding it made me treasure it even more. Pure childhood wonder.
 
LOVE the first legacy of kain and the two soul reaver games

didnt really like blood omen 2 and defiance
 
Blood Omen was by far my favorite.

I've always felt like we've missed the true story. Soul Reaver and all after took the game in such a different direction than the story that was built around Blood Omen. While not bad stories, I've always wondered what it would be like to see the true vision Denis had for Nosgoth.
 
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I don't have a favourite.

Because I never played any of the games :(
 
Soul Reaver 2, no question

While I will concede the gameplay has aged poorly, I personally enjoy the series for it's writing and voice acting, and I feel the series is at its best in this entry. I could gush about a lot of the scenes for hours lol