Still, Defiance was pretty good. As far as intros go, Raziel escaping from the spirit world was thrilling. Soul Reaver has a better intro than the original LoK.
SR2>Defiance>SR1>BO1>BO2. That's my opinion and it also seems to be most people's (maybe with SR1 and Defiance switched around).
As far as cinematics go, the three "main ones" (both Soul Reavers and Defiance) clearly surpass the Blood Omens in terms of quality. BO1 was a victim of its time (came out in 1995, so you get horrible CG and worse loading times, but a great game nonetheless). BO2 just sucked.
Coincidentally, the two Blood Omens were developed by two different teams, separate from the SR/Defiance one. BO1 was Silicon Knights (yes, Silicon "Eternal Darkness" Knights), BO2 was another team within Crystal Dynamics. And I should get the latest two Tomb Raider games, considering they were made by the good Crystal Dynamics team.
It still contained some of the elements that make the LoK series one of the best in gaming... such as great narration and interesting locales.
I've always been partial towards the voice work, but that may have more to do with the sheer amount of dialogue than anything else. The outtakes were a great addition to the bonus content on Defiance.
I think an appreciation thread is in order.
The voice acting was up to snuff in Blood Omen 2, yes. But it was pretty much the only thing that was, because the only "regular" LoK people who worked on BO2 were the people doing the voices of Kain, Vorador and Janos. Another team made that game, which explains why it's so different in tone from the rest of the series (and also how it could ship so close to Soul Reaver 2 in time).
I was actually referring to the series in general. I loathed playing BO2 because it kicked my ass for almost the entire length of the game. It was still fun, just in a sick, masochistic kind of way.
It still contained some of the elements that make the LoK series one of the best in gaming... such as great narration and interesting locales.
I've always been partial towards the voice work, but that may have more to do with the sheer amount of dialogue than anything else. The outtakes were a great addition to the bonus content on Defiance.
I think an appreciation thread is in order.
The voice acting was up to snuff in Blood Omen 2, yes. But it was pretty much the only thing that was, because the only "regular" LoK people who worked on BO2 were the people doing the voices of Kain, Vorador and Janos. Another team made that game, which explains why it's so different in tone from the rest of the series (and also how it could ship so close to Soul Reaver 2 in time).
I was actually referring to the series in general. I loathed playing BO2 because it kicked my ass for almost the entire length of the game. It was still fun, just in a sick, masochistic kind of way.
But BO2 was freakishly easy. Almost as easy as Defiance. :P
Blood Omen ONE, though, that was fucking hardcore.
Still, Defiance was pretty good. As far as intros go, Raziel escaping from the spirit world was thrilling. Soul Reaver has a better intro than the original LoK.
SR2>Defiance>SR1>BO1>BO2. That's my opinion and it also seems to be most people's (maybe with SR1 and Defiance switched around).
As far as cinematics go, the three "main ones" (both Soul Reavers and Defiance) clearly surpass the Blood Omens in terms of quality. BO1 was a victim of its time (came out in 1995, so you get horrible CG and worse loading times, but a great game nonetheless). BO2 just sucked.
Coincidentally, the two Blood Omens were developed by two different teams, separate from the SR/Defiance one. BO1 was Silicon Knights (yes, Silicon "Eternal Darkness" Knights), BO2 was another team within Crystal Dynamics. And I should get the latest two Tomb Raider games, considering they were made by the good Crystal Dynamics team.
We need another LOk game SO bad.
Come on Crystal Dynamics! Take a break from Tomb Raider for just a sec and give me more Raziel/Kain action!
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Still, Defiance was pretty good. As far as intros go, Raziel escaping from the spirit world was thrilling. Soul Reaver has a better intro than the original LoK.
SR2>Defiance>SR1>BO1>BO2. That's my opinion and it also seems to be most people's (maybe with SR1 and Defiance switched around).
As far as cinematics go, the three "main ones" (both Soul Reavers and Defiance) clearly surpass the Blood Omens in terms of quality. BO1 was a victim of its time (came out in 1995, so you get horrible CG and worse loading times, but a great game nonetheless). BO2 just sucked.
Coincidentally, the two Blood Omens were developed by two different teams, separate from the SR/Defiance one. BO1 was Silicon Knights (yes, Silicon "Eternal Darkness" Knights), BO2 was another team within Crystal Dynamics. And I should get the latest two Tomb Raider games, considering they were made by the good Crystal Dynamics team.
We need another LOk game SO bad.
Come on Crystal Dynamics! Take a break from Tomb Raider for just a sec and give me more Raziel/Kain action!
Couple snags to your plan, though...
1) Amy Hennig (LoK's Hideo Kojima, if you will) has left Crystal Dynamics.
2) Raziel is dead.
3) Not many loose ends left to tie up in Nosgoth's history. Though I guess since there's no Elder God anymore, a new game taking place in the Soul Reaver 1 era could have a bunch of interesting changes to it... though that means Raziel would stay dead since there's no Elder God to revive him. Unless Future Kain From The Past swoops in and saves his life, then you might get a game with Kain and non-wraith Raziel teaming up together against... oh whatever, probably Moebius again, why not. That would rule.
It still contained some of the elements that make the LoK series one of the best in gaming... such as great narration and interesting locales.
I've always been partial towards the voice work, but that may have more to do with the sheer amount of dialogue than anything else. The outtakes were a great addition to the bonus content on Defiance.
I think an appreciation thread is in order.
The voice acting was up to snuff in Blood Omen 2, yes. But it was pretty much the only thing that was, because the only "regular" LoK people who worked on BO2 were the people doing the voices of Kain, Vorador and Janos. Another team made that game, which explains why it's so different in tone from the rest of the series (and also how it could ship so close to Soul Reaver 2 in time).
I was actually referring to the series in general. I loathed playing BO2 because it kicked my ass for almost the entire length of the game. It was still fun, just in a sick, masochistic kind of way.
But BO2 was freakishly easy. Almost as easy as Defiance. :P
Blood Omen ONE, though, that was fucking hardcore.
I may be exaggerating, but it did give me a hard time. I actually gave up on it at one point, only to come back to it later and finally beat it.
It still contained some of the elements that make the LoK series one of the best in gaming... such as great narration and interesting locales.
I've always been partial towards the voice work, but that may have more to do with the sheer amount of dialogue than anything else. The outtakes were a great addition to the bonus content on Defiance.
I think an appreciation thread is in order.
The voice acting was up to snuff in Blood Omen 2, yes. But it was pretty much the only thing that was, because the only "regular" LoK people who worked on BO2 were the people doing the voices of Kain, Vorador and Janos. Another team made that game, which explains why it's so different in tone from the rest of the series (and also how it could ship so close to Soul Reaver 2 in time).
I was actually referring to the series in general. I loathed playing BO2 because it kicked my ass for almost the entire length of the game. It was still fun, just in a sick, masochistic kind of way.
But BO2 was freakishly easy. Almost as easy as Defiance. :P
Blood Omen ONE, though, that was fucking hardcore.
I may be exaggerating, but it did give me a hard time. I actually gave up on it at one point, only to come back to it later and finally beat it.
Come on Crystal Dynamics! Take a break from Tomb Raider for just a sec and give me more Raziel/Kain action!
Can we expect the same from the team without Hennig's direction?
I don't think there's much left on Raziel's side of things, anyway. With him being within the sword and all.
Well, I don't expect the Hylden to have given up quite yet. They could probably figure out a way to hack their way into Nosgoth once again and spread mayhem. You could have a whole game about the Hylden traveling through time and trying to screw up events from all 5 previous games while Kain, the Scion of Balance, chases after them and tries to preserve history as it is at the end of Defiance...
EDIT: All 5 games? Okay, so technically all the events of Soul Reaver 1 have been wiped from history, so all 4 of the other games then. :P
Well, I don't expect the Hylden to have given up quite yet. They could probably figure out a way to hack their way into Nosgoth once again and spread mayhem. You could have a whole game about the Hylden traveling through time and trying to screw up events from all 5 previous games while Kain, the Scion of Balance, chases after them and tries to preserve history as it is at the end of Defiance...
EDIT: All 5 games? Okay, so technically all the events of Soul Reaver 1 have been wiped from history, so all 4 of the other games then. :P
Wasn't Raziel's end supposed to tie in with BO2, though? Kain's altered history, the origins of the Sarafan Lord, Janos's capture, etc.
Well, I don't expect the Hylden to have given up quite yet. They could probably figure out a way to hack their way into Nosgoth once again and spread mayhem. You could have a whole game about the Hylden traveling through time and trying to screw up events from all 5 previous games while Kain, the Scion of Balance, chases after them and tries to preserve history as it is at the end of Defiance...
EDIT: All 5 games? Okay, so technically all the events of Soul Reaver 1 have been wiped from history, so all 4 of the other games then. :P
Wasn't Raziel's end supposed to tie in with BO2, though? Kain's altered history, the origins of the Sarafan Lord, Janos's capture, etc.
The only thing in BO2 that was really affected by the events of Defiance is Janos' presence. He was revived and possessed by the Hylden General, so he was put into that machine, which allowed the Hylden to summon their whole army to Nosgoth, which made Kain lose his battle against the Sarafan Lord/Hylden General, thus triggering all the BO2 events. Without Defiance, Kain would've just taken over all of Nosgoth easymode with no opposition whatsoever, as it originally was in SR1's backstory.
"I don't care if its God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, the only we are going to give them is a fist full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in! Am I right marines?"
"SIR YES SIR"
"DAMN right I am!"
That was one of the few parts that was different depending on your difficulty setting. As exciting as the Halo intro was, Halo 2 seemed sort of 'meh' to me; one of the big problems was Master Chief's "tell that to the covenant" full of cheese and sub-par voice acting (for him).
I always like the opening to Resident Evil (with live actors), although it's not really ...well, 'good'.
...How about Civilization 4...Leonard Nimoy makes everything epic. Unfortunately, only if your computer is exceptionally slow do you ever get past the Earth being a molten ball of rock, so a lot of people probably haven't bothered with it.
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The facehuggers want to play with you in the AvP LP. Facehuggers also want you to check out the TF2 cards here. View the in-progress RE mansion recreation for L4D here.
...How about Civilization 4...Leonard Nimoy makes everything epic. Unfortunately, only if your computer is exceptionally slow do you ever get past the Earth being a molten ball of rock, so a lot of people probably haven't bothered with it.
My laptop ran the intro pretty well the first time but not anymore. I am going to go play it in a little while so I can learn who has that quote about knowing what moves you forward and what moves you back. Now who is ready for beyond the sword?
Blood Omen 2 was definitely the worst of the series, but if you think that the story and dialogue in Blood Omen was bad, then you're beyond hope.
The game was laggy as shit, but the story was amazing.
EDIT: Also, astounding voice acting since day 1. No scrubby text boxes for lok.
I don't think anyone said anything bad about BO1's acting... its FMVs are pure shit, that's what we said, but that's not really something you can blame on the game when its only competition was ReBoot. :P
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HarrierThe Star Spangled ManRegistered Userregular
edited July 2007
How about Wind Waker's opening? It was pretty kickass, and did a nice job setting the scene for the beginning of the game.
Although, reaching back even further, Link's Awakening's opening was similarly awesome and scene-setting.
Harrier on
I don't wanna kill anybody. I don't like bullies. I don't care where they're from.
How about Wind Waker's opening? It was pretty kickass, and did a nice job setting the scene for the beginning of the game.
Although, reaching back even further, Link's Awakening's opening was similarly awesome and scene-setting.
Wind Waker was mentioned already, I believe, but LA is all about the ending. There really wasn't much to the opening when you think about it. Link gets caught in a storm, has his raft destroyed, and is found washed up on the beach. Sounds like a pretty generic opening to me.
Actually, if you haven't seen it yet, don't even bother watching the video. About half of it is gameplay. Go download the demo, it's only like 150mb, and it's worth it.
I think in terms of impressiveness at the time, Final Fantasy 10 had a great opening. Being the first PS2 game I played, those graphics were just outstanding at the time. The whole intro level with running away from Sin was great too.
SirUltimosDon't talk, Rusty. Just paint.Registered Userregular
edited July 2007
Super Metroid.
You turn on the game and get just a fantastic title sequence, with the scary music and the slow pan around the control room. It's all mysterious and dark, and then the music picks up and gets loud when you can see the whole room, with the dead people and the Metroid hatchling, screaming.
Then you actually get into the game. It opens with VOICE! On the Super Nintendo! In 1994! Then you get a cool synopsis of the previous two Metroid games using some of the best cinematic techniques of the day. You see Samus deliver the Metroid hatchling, leave.... and then get called back.
You land on the Ceres Space Station and start the game. It's different from most games. There's no enemies, not even anything all that interesting. You're just going through a seemingly abandoned space station. Then you catch a glimpse of the dead people and scenarios flash through your mind about what could have possibly happened. But it doesn't matter, it's done now, you have to press on. Just a little further and you see it... the Metroid hatchling. You inch closer to it, and then suddenly a glowing eye emerges from the darkness and a figure forms. Ridley.
This isn't right. No, not at all. Bosses, in those days, were only for the end of levels, not the first enemy in the entire game. after the initial shock wheres off you engage in the fight and start shooting at him. Nothing seems to be working on him, but that's okay - You're supposed to lose. After Ridley does enough damage to you he does one more thing that surprises you, he flies DIRECTLY AT THE SCREEN! Then the countdown begins.
You have to escape or you will die. This once derelict space station now feels alive as the emergency lights are flashing and the entire station begins to crumble. It's a race against the clock, and just as you think you're gonna make it the ENTIRE GODDAMN LEVEL STARTS ROTATING! Back in 1994, there was nothing like this. Levels stayed static, they most certainly didn't start to tip partway through. You also never had to race against the clock to escape the tipping level as vicious steam vents knocked you off of platforms and reaching the exit elevator just as the clock hit 0 and blasting away on your ship trying desperatly to outrun the explosion from the space station that's self destructing.
That, my friends, is why I think Super Metroid has the greatest opening ever.
My favorite part of this intro has always been the music to go with it, since it's the Recorder/Magic Whistle jingle from Zelda 1 and Mario 3 turned into its own entire song.
I don't see the fuss over Chrono Cross. I thought it was a vastly inferior game* to CT - though it had very nice music.
*Overly convoluted plot, too many characters/not enough characterization, average combat.
Overly convoluted plot? It's actually pretty basic to understand, the innumerable ties to CT only strengthen it. It's really one of the best game storylines out there.
I don't see the fuss over Chrono Cross. I thought it was a vastly inferior game* to CT - though it had very nice music.
*Overly convoluted plot, too many characters/not enough characterization, average combat.
Overly convoluted plot? It's actually pretty basic to understand, the innumerable ties to CT only strengthen it. It's really one of the best game storylines out there.
Average Combat? Man alive, it has some of the best turn based action on a game ever. Well paced and fun.
The music and the cinematics on that game are on par with the best of the PSX generation.
Final Fantasy 6.
I loved seeing the magitek armor walk up to town with the big mountain backdrop with some of the best music ever. never seen anything so cinematic like that before.
Okay, now someone say I'm wrong about the characterization.
The story was convoluted and the characters were empty, sure. But it had great visuals and the soundtrack is some of the best I've heard in a game, period. I liked it back when it came out, but I doubt I could go back and play it again.
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom stands as one of my favourites. I loved the idea of introducing the player to the protagonist's ancestor and his greatest deed before the primary character. It was as if the game began with the tail-end of a previous game that didn't exist. It came as no surprise when Lufia II expanded that prologue into an entire game.
Also: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. Poor Hu-Man.
I liked Serge and Kid just fine, and I think everyone thought Lynx was awesome at the time.
And if the true ending(Kid in modern times) didn't tug at your heart strings, check your pulse.
I dunno, it was a pretty classic "everything goes back to 'normal' for no apparent reason and you lose your memory, lol" ending. I got tired of them roughly in the middle of the first one I saw.
Posts
SR2>Defiance>SR1>BO1>BO2. That's my opinion and it also seems to be most people's (maybe with SR1 and Defiance switched around).
As far as cinematics go, the three "main ones" (both Soul Reavers and Defiance) clearly surpass the Blood Omens in terms of quality. BO1 was a victim of its time (came out in 1995, so you get horrible CG and worse loading times, but a great game nonetheless). BO2 just sucked.
Coincidentally, the two Blood Omens were developed by two different teams, separate from the SR/Defiance one. BO1 was Silicon Knights (yes, Silicon "Eternal Darkness" Knights), BO2 was another team within Crystal Dynamics. And I should get the latest two Tomb Raider games, considering they were made by the good Crystal Dynamics team.
I was actually referring to the series in general. I loathed playing BO2 because it kicked my ass for almost the entire length of the game. It was still fun, just in a sick, masochistic kind of way.
But BO2 was freakishly easy. Almost as easy as Defiance. :P
Blood Omen ONE, though, that was fucking hardcore.
Come on Crystal Dynamics! Take a break from Tomb Raider for just a sec and give me more Raziel/Kain action!
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
Couple snags to your plan, though...
2) Raziel is dead.
3) Not many loose ends left to tie up in Nosgoth's history. Though I guess since there's no Elder God anymore, a new game taking place in the Soul Reaver 1 era could have a bunch of interesting changes to it... though that means Raziel would stay dead since there's no Elder God to revive him. Unless Future Kain From The Past swoops in and saves his life, then you might get a game with Kain and non-wraith Raziel teaming up together against... oh whatever, probably Moebius again, why not. That would rule.
Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
PM Me if you add me!
I may be exaggerating, but it did give me a hard time. I actually gave up on it at one point, only to come back to it later and finally beat it.
Can we expect the same from the team without Hennig's direction?
EDIT: All 5 games? Okay, so technically all the events of Soul Reaver 1 have been wiped from history, so all 4 of the other games then. :P
That was one of the few parts that was different depending on your difficulty setting. As exciting as the Halo intro was, Halo 2 seemed sort of 'meh' to me; one of the big problems was Master Chief's "tell that to the covenant" full of cheese and sub-par voice acting (for him).
I always like the opening to Resident Evil (with live actors), although it's not really ...well, 'good'.
...How about Civilization 4...Leonard Nimoy makes everything epic. Unfortunately, only if your computer is exceptionally slow do you ever get past the Earth being a molten ball of rock, so a lot of people probably haven't bothered with it.
The game was laggy as shit, but the story was amazing.
EDIT: Also, astounding voice acting since day 1. No scrubby text boxes for lok.
My laptop ran the intro pretty well the first time but not anymore. I am going to go play it in a little while so I can learn who has that quote about knowing what moves you forward and what moves you back. Now who is ready for beyond the sword?
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
I don't think anyone said anything bad about BO1's acting... its FMVs are pure shit, that's what we said, but that's not really something you can blame on the game when its only competition was ReBoot. :P
Although, reaching back even further, Link's Awakening's opening was similarly awesome and scene-setting.
Wind Waker was mentioned already, I believe, but LA is all about the ending. There really wasn't much to the opening when you think about it. Link gets caught in a storm, has his raft destroyed, and is found washed up on the beach. Sounds like a pretty generic opening to me.
I challenge your heart not to stir.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnsJI4rmoVE
Video
Actually, if you haven't seen it yet, don't even bother watching the video. About half of it is gameplay. Go download the demo, it's only like 150mb, and it's worth it.
It *is* very good. Wonderful voice acting.
Hrmm I haven't played that game, I should add it to the gamefly queue... is the xbox version work on the 360?
I am a freaking nerd.
You turn on the game and get just a fantastic title sequence, with the scary music and the slow pan around the control room. It's all mysterious and dark, and then the music picks up and gets loud when you can see the whole room, with the dead people and the Metroid hatchling, screaming.
Then you actually get into the game. It opens with VOICE! On the Super Nintendo! In 1994! Then you get a cool synopsis of the previous two Metroid games using some of the best cinematic techniques of the day. You see Samus deliver the Metroid hatchling, leave.... and then get called back.
You land on the Ceres Space Station and start the game. It's different from most games. There's no enemies, not even anything all that interesting. You're just going through a seemingly abandoned space station. Then you catch a glimpse of the dead people and scenarios flash through your mind about what could have possibly happened. But it doesn't matter, it's done now, you have to press on. Just a little further and you see it... the Metroid hatchling. You inch closer to it, and then suddenly a glowing eye emerges from the darkness and a figure forms. Ridley.
This isn't right. No, not at all. Bosses, in those days, were only for the end of levels, not the first enemy in the entire game. after the initial shock wheres off you engage in the fight and start shooting at him. Nothing seems to be working on him, but that's okay - You're supposed to lose. After Ridley does enough damage to you he does one more thing that surprises you, he flies DIRECTLY AT THE SCREEN! Then the countdown begins.
You have to escape or you will die. This once derelict space station now feels alive as the emergency lights are flashing and the entire station begins to crumble. It's a race against the clock, and just as you think you're gonna make it the ENTIRE GODDAMN LEVEL STARTS ROTATING! Back in 1994, there was nothing like this. Levels stayed static, they most certainly didn't start to tip partway through. You also never had to race against the clock to escape the tipping level as vicious steam vents knocked you off of platforms and reaching the exit elevator just as the clock hit 0 and blasting away on your ship trying desperatly to outrun the explosion from the space station that's self destructing.
That, my friends, is why I think Super Metroid has the greatest opening ever.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2319420358172590879&q=Rainbow+Six+intro&total=40&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7xiK-snyJk
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1512248853904670529
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1110102916016544479
Haha and what about endings? Twisted Metal Black
*Overly convoluted plot, too many characters/not enough characterization, average combat.
The soundtrack, IMO, is probably the only thing worth remembering about CC. Chronopolis remains one of my favorite tracks from a CRPG.
Overly convoluted plot? It's actually pretty basic to understand, the innumerable ties to CT only strengthen it. It's really one of the best game storylines out there.
Average Combat? Man alive, it has some of the best turn based action on a game ever. Well paced and fun.
The music and the cinematics on that game are on par with the best of the PSX generation.
I loved seeing the magitek armor walk up to town with the big mountain backdrop with some of the best music ever. never seen anything so cinematic like that before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9gLZQ2ybGw
PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
Of all time.
The story was convoluted and the characters were empty, sure. But it had great visuals and the soundtrack is some of the best I've heard in a game, period. I liked it back when it came out, but I doubt I could go back and play it again.
Also: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. Poor Hu-Man.