And lo on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:25:29 +0100, bluetree <nomail@nomail> did  
spake, saying:

> "Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote:
>> And lo on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:30:48 +0100, bluetree <nomail@nomail> did
>> spake, saying:
>>
>> I still play SoulReaver. In ranking terms I put it on the same plinth  
>> as Deus Ex, System Shock and Baldur's Gate.
>>
>> SoulReaver 2 was more of a let-down for me
>>
>> I enjoyed Blood Omen 1, and 2 was fun if disjointed
>>
>> Defiance was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but it was enjoyable how the
>> different timelines of the two characters linked up play-wise.
>
> That's true. I also like SoulReaver 1 more than 2 and it's the same with  
> playing-atmosphere of Blood Omen.

To an extent SoulReaver spoiled a lot of games for me - level loading,  
transport loading; what are they? The fact that you can just travel  
around, that new areas you might not even have realised existed become  
accessible when you gain extra abilities, the whole Spectral Realm shift,  
and of course the storytelling; they're all still something that other  
games should be looking up to and trying to emulate.

> To be able to play both characters in Defiance helped a lot against  
> boredom, because you could develop "different" skills at Raziel and  
> Kain. Changing times and seeing the places intact and in ruins was very  
> fascinating.

It gave a good feeling of depth across time, Prince of Persia: WW managed  
to catch it too.

> I only get confused, when I tried to understand the whole story of the  
> series.
> Because of time travels and paradoxes, which makes all things too  
> complicated.
> ^^

Don't we all :-) It's nice to have a story that doesn't try to hide the  
paradoxes though, but instead has the main story be a paradox (trying not  
to give too much away here). Even that offshoot BO2 adds a tang with a  
entire world of what if.

> But I'm a big fan of it. It's really a pity, that it ends with Janos  
> Audron falling into the abyss.

But that was BO2 and thus declared non-canon ;-)

> (What's with Raziel? :-) I started to play with
> SoulReaver 1, the reason to buy it, was that its cover was glittering and
> changing perspective (both worlds). After that game I began to love the  
> series and bought the other games.)

I think at the time I was just looking for a game that wasn't a tired  
re-tread of Doom and Quake, or C&C and this stood out.

> One thing would be great: A remake of SoulReaver 1 and BloodOmen 1 with  
> nowadays games graphics. *dreamlike*

To be honest I think that's all they'd need - higher resolution textures  
plus bump mapping and a larger polygon count; the engine itself was fine  
if it could be modified to handle that.

Still my favourite thing to do - shift to the Spectral Realm close to a  
return point while holding a weapon then shifting back to the Material  
Realm and watching the weapon fall to the ground.

Most shocking thing - shifting to the SR and watching a Slough or the like  
fade in right next to you :-)

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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