Legacy of Kain: Defiance

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Legacy of Kain: Defiance
Developer(s)	Crystal Dynamics
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Series	Legacy of Kain series
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release date	PlayStation 2: November 11, 2003 February 6, 2004 Xbox: November 18, 2003 February 2, 2004 Microsoft Windows: December 15, 2003 February 6, 2004
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M USK: 16+ PEGI: 16+ OFLC: MA15+
Media	1 DVD (PS2, Xbox) 2 CD-ROMs (WIN)
System requirements	700 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 32 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 9.0, 2.0 GB available hard disk space.
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse, gamepad

Legacy of Kain: Defiance is a video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos. It is the fifth and thus far final game in the Legacy of Kain series. It was released in North America in November and December of 2003, and in Europe and Australia in February 2004. The game acquired high reviews upon its release, with the site Gamespy giving it three out of five stars, and both IGN and TeamXbox rating it eight out of ten. The game was praised for finally answering many questions posed in previous installments, but criticized for its repetitive gameplay and awkward camera controls.

Defiance continues the journey of the Vampire lord Kain and his lieutenant-turned-wraith Raziel. After having Raziel killed to be revived by the Elder God as a wraith during the events of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Kain travels backwards through time and is followed by Raziel into Nosgoth's past, uncovering the conspiratorial events that led to the land being doomed to an eternity of corruption. After establishing his free will by refusing to kill Kain when prophesied, Raziel discovers that Moebius the Timestreamer had originally manipulated Kain into igniting a genocidal war against Vampires until he was the last of his kind. In manipulating Raziel who has free will and thus whose decisions and actions cannot be foreseen by Moebius, Kain hopes to find a way to undo the consequences of his actions and restore Nosgoth to its former glory.

Contents 1 Development 2 Gameplay 3 Story 4 Reception 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Development

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[edit] Gameplay

Defiance is the only game in the series where both Raziel and Kain are playable: previous Soul Reaver installments focused on Raziel while the Blood Omen series focused on Kain. Unlike previous games where Raziel and Kain could acquire different types of weapons, in Defiance the only available weapon for either of them is their respective versions of the Soul Reaver - Kain possesses the material Reaver while Raziel possesses the Reaver's spectral form.^[1] By killing enemies, Raziel and Kain learn new combat techniques, including uppercuts, mid-air slashes, and firing orbs of telekinetic energy. Some techniques are shared by the two, others are unique to them, such as Kain's "cadaverous laceration". Raziel and Kain can also acquire various elemental powers that give them new abilities - the Flame Emblem lets Kain use his telekinesis to light torches while Raziel's Dark Reaver lets him turn invisible and pass certain obstacles and enemies without being noticed. When an enemy is weakened, Kain and Raziel can either absorb their blood/soul to replenish their health, or slay them with the Reaver, gradually filling up a meter that lets the Reaver unleash an area of effect spell to attack groups of enemies. Both Raziel and Kain can acquire various runes to increase their health and allow them to use their telekinetic powers more often. A menu system is used to display the character's combat experience, the runes they have collected and the various combos they have learned to execute.^[1]

The game begins with players controlling Kain, but at set intervals they will acquire control of Raziel and play as him for a time before switching back to Kain. Both possess similar powers, including climbing walls, gliding in mid-air and phasing through certain gates.^[1] However, both also have abilities exclusive to them: Kain can jump large gaps, transform into a swarm of bats and cannot swim, while Raziel swims and can shift into the spectral realm to bypass enemies and obstacles before finding an appropriate place to shift back into the material realm. Kain is also able to use his telekinesis to pick up enemies and either throw them into obstacles or pull them towards him, an ability Raziel lacks at first and must acquire during the course of the game.^[1] Enemies include Sarafan warrior-priests, Vampire hunters, Hylden-possessed corpses called Revenants, and various types of Demons.

[edit] Story

Defiance continues from where Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 left off. In Soul Reaver 2, Kain saves Raziel's life by drawing the Soul Reaver from him - Raziel was meant to enter the blade and become its soul-devouring spectral half. This causes a paradox that changes time for the worse, and strands Kain in the past with no means of discovering how such a thing occurred while Raziel vanishes into the spectral realm.

Kain's part of the game follows him seeking Moebius the Timestreamer, a time traveling mystic for answers to how he has changed time, and later following a lead Moebius gives him to explore a Vampire citadel. During his quest, Kain also finds and completes a broken talisman of Vampire construct known as the Balance Emblem.^[2] Kain discovers murals during his quest dictating an ancient war between the first races to inhabit Nosgoth, the Ancients and the Hylden. After sealing the Hylden in an alternate dimension using the Pillars of Nosgoth, the Hylden cursed the Ancients with blood-thirst, sterility and immortality, turning them into the first Vampires. Kain discovers from the murals that it was prophesied that both races would have a champion arise - a Vampire champion wielding the Soul Reaver, and a Hylden champion wielding a flaming sword. Because he possesses the material Soul Reaver depicted and is the last of his kind, Kain comes to believe he is the prophesied Vampire champion. The outcome of the battle between the two champions remains ambiguous.^[3]

Raziel's part of the game begins five hundred years later, in a quest that occurs parallel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Held captive by his master the Elder God, Raziel is forbidden to leave the spectral realm, but escapes his master and discovers a way to manifest in the material realm using the corpses of the dead. Raziel travels about Nosgoth hoping to find a way to avoid his fate of being imprisoned in the Soul Reaver, imbuing his own spectral version of the sword with the souls of the original guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth during his journey. After being told by the Vampire Vorador who forged the Reaver that only the deceased Janos Audron, the last of the Ancients, can give him the answers he seeks, Raziel travels to Avernus Cathedral to find Janos' heart and revive him.^[4] Raziel also finds numerous murals of the Hylden and Ancients, showing the Ancients becoming horrified at their newfound immortality and many of them committing suicide. Raziel later discovers this is because the Ancients worshiped the Elder God, who had decreed all souls had to spin in a cycle of life and death known as the Wheel of Fate. Because they were immortal, their souls could not follow this doctrine and the Ancients became the bane of the entity they once revered.^[5] Raziel also finds murals of the two prophesied champions, and is shocked to discover the Hylden champion and its flaming sword resemble him and the spectral Soul Reaver.

Upon Raziel entering Avernus Cathedral to search for Janos' heart, in the past Kain explores the Vampire citadel's deepest chambers and is contacted by the Elder God who tells him of what Raziel plans. Kain, knowing what Janos' revival would cause (see Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain), accepts the Elder God's assistance and is sent to Raziel's time. In Avernus, Raziel discovers from Mortanius the Necromancer that he was, along with Moebius, the leader of the crusade against the Vampires and used Janos' heart was used to revive Kain as a Vampire in order to atone for his mistakes and return the Pillars of Nosgoth to Vampire control.^[6] After Mortanius teleports form Avernus, Raziel returns to the cathedral's chapel moments after Kain arrives himself. The two battle, with Kain temporarily gaining the upper hand on Raziel and advising him against reviving Janos. Raziel refuses to listen and defeats Kain, tearing Janos' heart from his chest and attacking Kain with an orb of telekinetic energy after which Kain, seemingly dead, vanishes. Raziel revives Janos, and the two travel to the Vampire citadel. In a side chamber to the place where Kain had met the Elder God, Raziel finds a forge meant to give the Soul Reaver its greatest power. However, the Elder God's tentacles emerge and attempt to bury the forge. Raziel fights off his master and has the Soul Reaver absorb the soul of Ariel, one of the former guardians of the Pillars of Nosgoth, and combined with the souls of the other eight guardians he has absorbed, the Reaver is rendered pure of spirit. Ariel tells Raziel that this purified Soul Reaver is meant to be used by the Scion of Balance, the being destined to return guardianship of the Pillars to the Vampires; however, all evidence points towards Kain being the Scion of Balance, confusing Raziel as he returns to Janos.^[7]

At this time during the events of Blood Omen 1, Kain's past self refuses to sacrifice himself to restore the Pillars of Nosgoth, shattering them and weakening the Hylden's seal enough for the Hylden Lord to possess Janos. The possessed Janos strikes down Raziel's physical body and causes him to shift to the spectral realm where he is again held captive in the Elder God's lair. At this time, Kain finds himself alive in the Hell dimension of the Hylden, and fights off their demons to return to Nosgoth. Entering the Vampire citadel, Kain finds Moebius the Timestreamer, whom his past self had killed just hours ago, alive and reporting to the Elder God although neither of them can see the entity. Kain kills Moebius, causing his soul to shift to the spectral realm where Raziel impales him on the spectral Soul Reaver. Upon this, Moebius' sight is purified, allowing him to see the Elder God and grasp the error of his servitude before his soul vanishes into the Wheel of Fate. Raziel then considers all he has learned, and realizes that, through starting the war between the Ancients and the Hylden, and the war between humans and Vampires through Moebius, that the Elder God has been the cause of almost every hardship the land has faced in an attempt keep its Wheel of Fate turning.^[8] Raziel uses Moebius' corpse to manifest in the material realm and tricks Kain into stabbing him with the material Soul Reaver before the manifestation completes. Although Kain is horrified when he realizes what he has done, Raziel submits to his destiny and enters the blade, granting Kain a Soul Reaver of highest power and purified sight. This allows Kain to see the Elder God, the "true enemy" he is meant to fight and destroy. Kain defeats the Elder God, and the entity warns it cannot be killed and will return before being buried under the rubble of the collapsing Reaver forge.^[9] The game ends with Kain looking out on the Pillars of Nosgoth his past self had just corrupted, silently thanking Raziel for "that last, terrible illusion - hope".

[edit] Reception

IGN gave the game 8.0 out of 10, praising the game's plotline for finally resolving many questions that previous installments had left unanswered, as well as being able to play as both Raziel and Kain and the new combat system revolving around various combos and spells unleashed by the Soul Reaver. The differences in their gameplay, with Kain's quests revolving around combat and Raziel's around puzzle solving, were also enjoyed. However, the poor collision system, auto-locking combat view and awkward camera controls were criticized for making combat difficult as the player would target enemies that couldn't be seen. The reviewer also noted the graphics for the Spectral Realm were distracting and made their son physically ill.^[1]

Gamespot gave the PC platform 6.9 out of 10 and praised the series as a whole for not one but two involving and memorable protagonists. However, the camera controls were noted to be confusing and the combat system was criticized for focusing on the Soul Reaver as well as the lack of variety in enemies, leading to players utilizing the same combos over and over to defeat them. The site also noted that Raziel and Kain play identically with very similar controls and abilities. Raziel's need to shift between the Material and Spectral planes to complete his quest was criticized for being too tired since the mechanic was introduced in the first game and were less fun than Kain's combat-oriented quests. The site overall said the storyline would please fans of the series, but the gameplay was disappointing.^[10]

TeamXbox gave the game a rating of 8 out of 10, noting the simultaneous similarities and differences in the controls for Raziel and Kain. However, the need to re-imbue the Soul Reaver with elemental powers that it had already gained in previous games was noted to be confusing and led to similar gameplay as in previous installments revolving around gaining a new Reaver power and using that power to advance forward. The camera system was heavily criticized for being confusing and leading to players unwillingly backtracking when the camera angle shifts suddenly. The game's shift to combat and away from puzzle solving was also criticized. The graphics were noted to be high quality, but not as groundbreaking as previous games in the series.^[11]

GameSpy gave the game three stars out of five, greatly praising its combat system but criticizing the puzzle element of the game for being reliant of block puzzles as its predecessors were. Despite the praise for the combat system, the similarities between the controls for Raziel and Kain were cited as the game's weakest point, to the extent where abilities either of them possessed in previous installments were dropped to make them play almost identically. The need to backtrack without the assistance of a map or clear objectives was also criticized. The site overall said the combat system and graphics were well done, but the game's reliance on puzzles and backtracking was a weak point.^[12]

[edit] Notes

• Although the in-game script implies that Raziel is the Hylden champion and Kain is the Vampire champion^[13][14][15], series writer Amy Hennig has since stated that because Raziel possesses free will, he is both and may choose either role, which is why Raziel is referred to several times as "redeemer and destroyer" in the game. In allowing Kain to kill him and acquire the means to defeat the Elder God, Raziel triumphs and destroys himself at the same time.^[16]
• There is a major glitch in the game for Vorador's mansion. When you go after the blood drinker spear, you can fly through a window into the mansion while in the spectral realm. This then forces you to restart your file as there is no escape route.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Legacy of Kain: Defiance at MobyGames
• Official Site
• Nosgothic Realm

v • d • e Legacy of Kain series Games Blood Omen · Soul Reaver · Soul Reaver 2 · Blood Omen 2 · Defiance Major Characters Kain · Raziel · Moebius · Elder God · Mortanius · Hylden Lord · Ariel · Vorador · Janos Audron · Turel · Umah The Circle of Nine Nupraptor the Mentalist · Malek the Sarafan · Bane the Druid · Azimuth the Planer · Dejoule the Energist · Anacrothe the Alchemist · Moebius the Timestreamer · Mortanius the Necromancer · Ariel of the Balance Other characters Dumah · Rahab · Zephon · Melchiah · Morlock · William the Just · King Ottmar Races Ancients · Vampires · Hylden · Sarafan The World of Nosgoth Battle of the Last Stand · Soul Reaver