Today, I wish to bring to you this blog's very first game review. I was chosen as the best person for the job since I'm the group's (self-proclaimed?) rabid fangirl of the Legacy of Kain series.
This review is of a game that hasn't come out yet so I have yet to try it out for myself. Once it is released, I shall write a more thorough review of it. So we can only hope for the best! *two thumbs up*
Spoiler Warning: This game takes place in the Legacy of Kain universe. Information on it will give (a lot) of spoilers for the original series If you have not played or finished the original series and actually wish to, then I suggest you don't read this. If you don't plan on it or don't mind spoilers then ago ahead and read. ^^
So, without further ado, we'll be focusing on the new free online PvP game currently in production from Square Enix: Nosgoth. Nosgoth coming from the land in which the entire Legacy of Kain series is set in.
This is a Player vs. Player PC game consisting of a two-factions character base, in this case: Vampires vs. Humans.
Vampires going by their respective clans from the original series but given given class names: Dumahim - Reaver, Turelim - Tyrant, and Razielim - Sentinels.
The humans go purely by class names: Scout, Alchemist, and Hunter.
Now, this game has been out in the open for sometime now (several months), but knowing me, I'm very slow about finding out about new games. Wly and Hex introduced me to the concept about a week ago or so. I was kinda iffy when they first told me about it and didn't think much about it until they showed me a production video.
Personally, I am a sucker for graphics (one of the reasons I loved the new Tomb Raider game) and the production video showed some beautifully awesome graphics and landscapes. The crimson of the blood may just blind you! I found myself greatly interested in what this game had to offer. I kept watching and was rather pleased with what I had seen except for one little detail. That detail would be the existence of the Razielim clan as playable characters.
Here's where we're gonna need a little backstory for those of you that don't know the series or don't remember much of it. Feel free to skip it if you want.
During the Soul Reaver game of the original series, there was a vampire emperor named Kain (guy the series is named after, pretty self-explanitory. sorry.). Kain had six vampire sons he had raised from dead human soldiers, their names were: Raziel, Dumah, Turel, Rahab, Zephon, and Malchiah. Each son was given their own land to make their clans (armies?) and each clan was named after them (example: Raziel had the Razielim. Real imaginative, Raz....).
The opening cutscene of Soul Reaver shows the elegant (*coughVaincough*) Raziel, Kain's 1st lieutenant, wearing his clan banner on his shoulder as he's walking into Kain's throneroom to greet the emperor and other clan leaders. He's there to show off the new dark gift (special vampire power) he has just gained. Events quickly spin out of control and soon Kain is having Dumah and Turel throw an injured Raziel of a cliff and into a swirling (acid green) watery maelstrom. Water, being like acid to vampires, burns Raziel alive until he dies.
At the end of the cutscene (set waaaay in the future of their timeline), Raziel is semi-revived as this horrific blue skeletal wraith missing a bottom jaw (Not so pretty now but I still think he's handsome in his own creepy way). He quickly hides that facial disfigurement by making a cowl out of his water-beaten clan banner, setting out to find and destroy Kain (with a little help from annoying squid constantly talking in his head).
Now in the game, Raziel sets off to find a means to destroy Kain and heads for Malchiah's clan territory for answers. But, sadly, the only way to get there is through Raziel's own clan territory. As Raziel enters it, he is devastated to find that his clan is gone (heavily emphasized by in-game conversation to them being hunted down and murdered) and that the Dumahim have taken it over.
It's also hinted at that Kain took the chronoplast (time machine) to the future to meet up with Wraith Raziel soon after Vampire Raziel was executed. He has his reasons.
End Backstory. There's much more to the story but that's all you need to know to get what I'll be talkin' about.
Now, back to my issue with the Razielim being a playable class is that it is believed the Razielim were all hunted down quite soon after Raziel was executed (murdered?). Raziel's territory is surrounded by everyone else's territory, meaning no escape plan for the Razielim.
The game Nosgoth, is speculated (by the creators) to take place about a couple hundred years after Kain disappeared in the chronoplast. This leaves the left over clans fighting among themselves for territory and coincidentally giving the humans time to bust out of slavery (Kain enslaved most of Nosgoth's human population) and evolve their weapons for vampire hunting. Though, this may be the reason the a few of the Razielim made it.
The thought that at least a few of the Razielim were still alive and acually able to grow their dark gift (wings) seemed highly unlikely to. Though, listening to the creators' interview and reading the lore they've put together has help me come more to terms with them being alive. My biggest issue is that the brother that found them was Dumah, and he actually let them live. I personally find it hard that such an egotistical nutjob like Dumah would actually let them live and help fight against the humans that have begun to revolt. I personally would have believed it easier if it had been a brother like Rahab or Malchiah. But, that's just me.
Despite how much I find the Dumah section iffy, the creators did a wonderful job sticking close to the lore and trying to make it believable. As a lover of the lore, I am quite fond of their excellent efforts.
Gotta split now, please check back for my second part of the review. ^^ Later guys!
