If you have a suggestion for a future "Forgotten Gem" title, please add #GemSuggestion in the message, to make it easier to search for and collect them afterwards! Thanks for many cool ideas. :)

Behold a video game series that didn't treat it's audience like children, these types of games are sorely missed :'(

Kain: "Most ironic of all was the last gift that Raziel had given me, more powerful than the sword that now held his soul, more acute even than the vision his sacrifice had accorded me - the first bitter taste of that terrible illusion: Hope." #theNostalgicFeels

Don't forget that the Soul Reaver series was written by Amy Hennig, the writer of the first 3 Uncharted games.

I will always remember this game as the scariest hardest game I tried to play at 7 years old lol.... with no memory card

I always felt that the Legacy of Kain series had one of the better videogame stories.

I can thank the Legacy of Kain games for expanding my English vocabulary.

Amy Hennig's best work. The best voice acting of all time! The best story and dialogue of all time!

While I enjoy this video, the notion that the second half in Soul Reaver 2 was "planned all along" is actually incorrect. Originally, the first game would have continued past the Chronoplast area into the realm of Turel and eventually a final confrontation with Kain. The player's final act would have been the complete eradication of the vampire race through the activation of the Silenced Cathedral, giving that particular area of the game a plot significance beyond simply being the lair of one of the game's boss fights. This is one of the Kain series' well documented cases of a game being hindered and cut short by the publisher forcing an earlier release than intended, a problem that would plague the franchise all the way up through Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2, and even Defiance, which was supposed to have yet another final act to its story after the conclusion we got that was likewise cut. This is worth mentioning because the scenes you see in the Chronoplast time-vision portals actually were from the cut ending to the game, including a glimpse at the location that final fight with Kain would have taken place in and a look at the amped-up version of the Soul Reaver that Raziel would have obtained by absorbing Kain's soul, the color scheme of which can still be used with a cheat code through the pause menu, and which would have enjoyed the original Blood Omen 1 sword's ability to utterly destroy enemies in a single strike. The writers definitely deserve credit for an artful change in creative and narrative direction to compensate for being forced to cut their story short, though. - Lewis

_"But does one ever truly have a choice? One can only match move by move the machinations of Fate, and thus defy the tyrannous stars."_ The story/dialogue in these games are mind-blowing, even as early as Blood Omen.

The intro cutscene to the first game is still one of my favorite of all time. I remember watching it when I was young and being absolutely mesmerized.

“Redeemed and destroyer... pawn and messiah... Welcome, Time-spanned soul... Welcome. To your destiny.

The Legacy of Kain series has one of the richest stories of all time. I would love to see a reboot.

"Damn you Kain! You are not God!" "You are weak. You must feed." Ah, the memories. Good times. I wish they'd remaster this series.

An amazing series. I remember begging my stepdad to let me stay up and watch him play them when I was a kid.

Raziel is hands down the most dynamic, interesting, and badass video game character I've had the pleasure of playing as.

Oh no this was never forgotten by me. I pray daily they make a new one

This game was such a large part of my childhood.

3:20 - The First? Kain wasn't the First. He was the *LAST*. 4:00 - Originally, Blood Omen was suppose to be it's own circle of thing. But with all things, change comes unexpectedly. 4:48 - " _..to burn forever in the bowels of the Lake of the Dead._ ", also referencing fallen angels being banished from the Heavens. Kain, seemingly in a fit of jealous rage did this, but the truth was deeper. 6:38 - The ever-awesome Shift-At-Will ability which was cut sadly but can be accessed through cheat codes. As can so much other stuff. 7:48 - Like a Vincent Van Gogh painting ~ 9:24 - Actually Soul Reaver had originally a very different ending originally. After destroying Turel, Raziel would use the smokestack to ascend into Kain's Hideout and with the Ariel Reaver in hand - the only power that could kill Kain - he would kill Kain and absorb Kain's soul, binding his and Ariel's soul together into the reaver ( _Ariel's tormented screams could be heard I believe from being bound forever with Kain_ ). Raziel would use the the Mountain Retreat to glide all the way over to the Silenced Cathedral where he'd be assaulted by every Vampire he'd encountered as they'd attempt to stop him from blasting a hymm of death, by activating the Silenced Cathedral to kill every living being in Nosgoth to save the world. Afterwards he would be congratulated by the Elder God on this success. Elder God: " _From this summit, the pinnacle of the Silenced Cathedral is within your reach. Hurry Raziel! With the Soul Reaver thus enhanced, no obstacle can thwart your progress, no enemy obstruct your path - But take heed! The Vampires of this world can sense your intentions and will hunt you desperately._ " Raziel: " _As they swarmed after me, I felt the terror that must filled their wizened hearts. They knew what I had to do here and it would spell their downfall, but I too might perish by the very act. This Tower had stood too long as a grotesque symbol of Kain's perverse intent. The Time was ripe indeed past due for me to exploit my newborn talents and send a hymm of death across this land..._ _Enough to banish sanity.. Enough to send the children of the night, plocking at their eyes, tearing open their own throats! Enough to destroy every vampiric creature on the face of this bruised and bleeding land. My goal was in reach. All that remains, was to open each and every sound pipe..._ " Elder God: " _It is done, Raziel. Your destiny has been fulfilled. Though you have destroyed every creature that may call you kin, the world is born anew. The cycle of birth and death, stalled and stagnat these long years - once again beings to flow._ _You have done well.. My servant._ " 10:28 - That's because.. They ran out of time. 13:00 - The greatest part of Soul Reaver 1 is that everything you see in the Chronoplast are things that *WILL* happen, even though one may think one avoided them. End: Legacy of Kain to me is a huge source of artistic inspriation and they're just amazing masterfully crafted games. But it's also clear that they did run out of times numerous of times and had to change things around because of that. However, that did lead to the game evolving further into Defiance where the series unfortunately abruptly ended. Blood Omen I believe was mainly meant to be a stand-alone dark fantasy game that was self-contained, but when Silicon Knights was acquired by Eidios ( _or however that happened_ ), they were looking to create a new game with an idea inspired by Shakespearian writing and stories like Paradise Lost, where the plot followed that of a fallen Angel. This was tied into a sequel to Blood Omen and it became Soul Reaver. Blood Omen 2 however was never meant to be a Legacy of Kain game. It was forcefully crowbared into the world to fit and it doesn't fit. While many can admit of liking the general gameplay, the story is just painfully and very obviously bad. The most painful thing in modern times is that Square now owns the rights to Legacy of Kain, and they attempted to reboot the series with an awful, mediocre title that was never released ( _because Square is Square and Square are colossal idiots in modern times_ ) in favor of instead releasing Nosgoth, a game that takes Legacy of Kain behind the shed and axes it to a blood pulp. Aside from this, the fans are the ones that causes me the most pain by their insessant need and desire for a reboot, basically bending over to Square and asking to blow their _beep_ for a reboot, not realizing that they're asking Square to destroy the franchise by doing so. Personally, the series ended for me with Defiance. The only way it could ever truly end would be if Amy Henning would return as series supervisor and story writer, to finally tie up the Legacy of Kain into a complete circle. That's all ~

To me, the Legacy of Kain defined the bar of video game writing for me. It was perfect in every way and it will always be a huge influence in my own work and parts of my life.

This is a game which I keep coming back trough the years... sometimes to the entire saga I have to say, and even to this day realize how they working on this titles to make them unique. Thank you so much for all the work invested in your videos!!!

This really is a great game, maybe it's nostalgia, but I have fond memories of it from my younger years.

forgotten? not in MY heart!

The Legacy of Kain series is my absolute favorite. My first tattoo was actually Kain's symbol. I recently replayed all of them from Blood Omen to Legacy of Kain Defiance :)

It's 2018 and I'm still hoping for a sequel. These were some of my favorite games in childhood and I even play today as an adult because I love the story and Kain in Defiance and Blood Omen 2.

I wish they make an animated series like castlevania in netflix

Best story and voice acting all time. Not a hype but simple fact

Loved this game! The voice acting was outstanding.

This series was amazing & seriously needs a remastering. I wish Amy Hennig would return to the helm of this series. The story arc from SR1, SR2, & Defiance was absolutely amazing

Just the other day I was telling a friend of mine that so many, much more recent games, get remakes and remastered versions and yet... not Legacy of Kain :(

The Legacy of Kain is one of, if not the best videogame series ever. The should have finished the story with the Dark Prophecy instead of leaving it rot in the past...

These games were some of the best I played. I'm sure I didn't even play them through 100% because there was so much hidden content. The gameplay was solid and the story was amazing.

This video was super well done. I remember playing the demo disc on Ps1 as a kid, but I never knew how deep the philosophical elements were. Awesome video!

I WILL NEVER FORGET SOUL REAVER!

This is probably one of the best stories in a game ever created. So deep and immensely complex, it screams to be written down or renewed. So sad that it doesn't get the attention it deserves. One of the best games ever!

I have never forgotten this series and I'm still passionate it about it! Arguably one of the best-written stories and hands down the best voice acting in any videogame series.

Fucking superb video man. The way you worked the music into the narration with the clips is perfect. Really brought me back to playing each game.

I... have not idea why youtube suggested this video to me. But boy am I happy it did. Subscribed.

"The decent had destroyed me... and yet... I lived" "Raziel... you are worthy..."

I had one of those moments where I randomly remembered an obscure memory from my past and now here I am watching this vid lol. I vividly remember rotating between GTA3 and this game on a regular basis. I had no idea what I was doing with Soul Reaver 2 but somehow was able to solve the puzzles and beat it.

First video I found from your channel. Nice work! I would only suggest that Legacy of Kain: Defiance was the essential conclusion for this collection of stories. The story didn't feel like it had finished at the end of Soul Reaver 2, but at the end of Defiance it feels like the circle has closed and a new chapter in the series can begin. I was also surprised you didn't mention Amy Hennig's involvement, given how much of a household name she has become in the wake of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, though of course there were other fine writers on the Legacy of Kain series. It was a video game trilogy that set out to defy narrative (and voice acting) expectations for the medium. It's clear from the affection with which it's regarded by its fans that it succeeded. I'll be surprised if you've played this one, but here's my #GemSuggestion - Panzer Dragoon Saga. You'll have to emulate it, but it's worth the effort. Also, subbed. :)

It's worth noting how many (probably intended) parallels there are between Blood Omen's Kain and Soul Reaver's Raziel. Kain is reborn in a fiery world, Raziel in water. Kain starts out wanting to regain his humanity and ultimately comes to the realization that humans are worse than vampires, Raziel the complete opposite. It's worth thinking about this and trying to find out all of the little things that tell you what sort of heroes these two are. Legacy of Kain's writing and gameplay are strictly amazing, which is why it's probably better that nobody bothered to touch and reboot it, nobody but Hennig and the original writing team could do justice to the narrative. And the gameplay, while clunky, at least allows the player to fail and expects something out of him/her.

I'll never forget the Legacy of Kain series.

I automatically love you and subbed because you included Legacy of Kain as a forgotten gem. Thank you.

Your story telling skills are simply amazing... i wish i had played this series before, it is fenomenal by all means!

when I was five years old this was the first franchise I ever saw on the PlayStation I still have a big place for this game series in my heart. if the legacy of Kain series were released as a remastered version I would buy it at full price I don't like paying half price for a game that's good. without this game series I would not see video games as a place for good stories.

Thanks for the video. Soul Reaver is one of my favorites of all time, as evidenced by my profile pic. If the history of the hilden (or is it "hylden"?) vs the vampires were to be fully fleshed out, we could have an Lord of the Rings-scale epic realized.

This was one of my favorite games growing up!!! Played all of them from Blood omen to the ending. Definitely a forgotten gem.... thanks for paying homage to this wonderful game.

Actually playing legacy of kain: blood omen right now, got stuck on where to go then this video was recommended. Love this whole series. Wish they remaster all these. After watching this I might just continue to play the whole game series. I own them all on PS consoles. Great video. You just earned a sub.

still salty about nosgoth, and not getting a final propper ending chapter to the whole saga

I was obsessed with this series in my teens. Amy Hennig is a boss. As much as I love the series though, I think it'd be best left alone. There's loose ends, but Legacy of Kain Defiance does wrap up the central dramatic thread started in Soul Reaver. Plus, that Dead Sun game looked awful.

Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver was by far MY FAVORITE game at the time, and continues to hold a special place in my gaming heart! Great video!!!

Legacy of kain, is still my favorite game of all time

soul reaver is one of my favourite games. A post apocalyptic fantasy setting with zelda esque gameplay and amazing lore. There's not been many games like it since.

These games are one of the best examples that prove just how integral great voice acting can be to your experience playing the game and just how much can be achieved if you have good voice actors who are really working to make their character feel real. Voice acting is too often overlooked, either by not having decent voice actors, or having them cast in roles that don't suit their voice, not being properly directed, a lack of effort making it or even being ruined by being produced in poor quality. Yet here in these games the voice acting especially for the three main characters only make the experience far greater, which is more impressive considering SR1 was back when voice acting in games was still in its early days Also everything I've said applies to the soundtrack too. Sound in general is very important to our perception and the makers of these games definitely did not forget that.

Such an epic game! Compelling storytelling, amazing mechanics, voice acting, the complete package! Funny to look back on the graphics, how amazing they looked to my eyes in the year 2000. Memorable to this day!

I really hope Crystal Dynamic brings this amazing series back.

Very high-quality content in this video; you certainly did Soul Reaver justice. Thank you for spreading awareness for such an excellent series. (And thank you for actually bothering to pronounce the names in the end accurately. It is such a pet peeve of mine when people don't give any respect to the way a name or word in another language is pronounced.)

Definitely a forgotten gem. I loved playing this as a kid, and at the time it looked amazing. Great upload

I loved the game back in my childhood, thank you for this!

I think what worked about the first Soul Reaver was that it had good plot but the gameplay was solid and it was straightforward enough so that someone who wasn't as interested in the plot had something to keep coming back to. Conversely, we get all the way to Defiance which had a fun first level, but after that it was tedium as we went from one art gallery viewing to another. There was also that mural that depicted a bunch of losers from the Eidos forum if I remember it right.

i played and still have soul reaver on ps1

I personally think that anyone who played the Legacy of Kain series will never forget any of its titles. The dialogue alone makes the series worth playing and are, as far as I know, without any equal in videogame history. The plot is definitely its main point, and keeps the player interested along its numerous twists and turns, time travels and revelations. The way it all adds up in the end, the paradoxes and the revelations about the characters' pasts are real great moments in gaming. Not only that, the character desing, the architecture of the levels, the ambiance, the whole feel of the games was (at least at the time of their release) perfectly crafted. Yes, the games were edited - you could feel that they were trimmed down (especially SR1, with the Human Citadel areas and the Chronoplast scenes) but, despite all the trimming, they story works really well in the end. You have to play at least 4 titles to fully grasp the magnitude of its entire plot, along with its themes, but I assure you that by the end of LoK: Defiance, you will never see video games in the same way. It's not just the gameplay, it's the whole story and world around it that makes it so interesting. On a final note, the craftsmanship of the dialogues in this series is borderline ridiculous, in a good way. It has been 20 years since I first played Lok: Soul Reaver, but I still know every line of the intro, and it still sends some shivers down my spine. That's how good it is, in my opinion. Truly a Gem, which will hardly ever be forgotten.

Almost cried with all the nostalgia that this video caused me! haha I started to write books and create stories and it's funny to see how deep this series had influenced me as I grew up.

Please please please please please do another episode in the future on Blood Omen. That game is so god damn good and even a lot of legacy of kain fans haven't played it!

What was a king to do?

These games, especially 2 , started a lifelong interest in the concepts of "Time" and the "Butterfly Effect". As I get older, I find myself identifying more and more with Kain. I always look for the coin landing on its edge.

I recently discovered this channel and have been enjoying the back catalog. One thing that keeps occurring to me in the episodes I've seen is how empty most early 3D games felt to me. It's all empty geometry with a bare minimum of characters with any story. I adored Ultima 6 and 7 and their large, interactive worlds full of stuff and people. I think one of the things Zelda 64 got right was making it's arguably fairly empty 3D world, feel lived in (if in a dollhouse kind of way.) This game never clicked with me at the time and I enjoyed your video on Shadow Man but I feel like I'd bounce off it in the same way. When I was young Raiders of the Lost Ark on Atari VCS was this mysterious open world I spent hours and hours exploring but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone today. Its mysteries all exposed online and its shallowness laid bare. The rampant, hungry imagination of youth and later nostalgia are both powerful drugs.

Still waiting for a reboot at some point.

how about "Tenchu" those were awesome probably set the foundation for the assassins creed franchise

Good god the childhood memories are flooding back. Thank you, dude.

Funny enough my favorite game in the series is the even less talked, first Blood Omen. It's very different from the Soul Reaver games but damn it's awesome!

I've been waiting to see a video like this for some time thank you OP

Great video broski .. man that was a great voyage down memory lane it will always be one of my favorite game ..so thanks

One of my favorite games of all time. The story was pure genius. Deserves a reboot.

Dear Ragnar, thanks for putting out consistently top-quality content. Since there's a Steam sale going on right now, are there any lesser known games that you would recommend with good quality/price ratio? - Cheapskate from Czechia

It is propably becaus of ethanol and all the praise this series gets, but now it got no.1 spot on list of series I should play.Your videos are so good that even old people would start to think that video games are art.

Great video, thank you for paying tribute to my childhood franchise. Great channel. Subscribed.

Wow!! I was just mentioning this game to a friend this morning and now I find it in on home screen in YT. Loved this game!! Never finished it though. I couldn't get past the Water Boss. I actually took a weeks vacation from work to stay home and try to pass the stage LoL. Thanks for uploading this 'Forgotten Gem'!! Btw, do you remember the TV ad for Soul Reaver? Guy BBQing and putting a lot of Fluid in the Grill and blowing himself up and the Narrator saying "At least he kept his soul" LOL One of my all time favorite commercials

Ah it's you m8. Recognized your voice. Really enjoyed your point of view on Masquerade Bloodlines, so I'm more than pleased to see you've caressed yet another vampire game. Cheers!

one of my most favourite series ever they need to remake these

Always glad to see Soul Reaver love. Can't believe you took two out of the series to do it though - it really is a complete package. Also, while they've done a spectacular job writing the whole thing, it's not like Soul Reaver was conceived to go the way it did. I remember waiting for the game before the internet was really useful for these things, hearing the new release date, showing up the day of, and being sent back with a new day (between 2 weeks and 2 months) over and over again. I year of delays on this game. Which you can tell due to it's lack of a whole boss fight (one brother was never addressed in SR1 as indicative by the opening movie) and it wasn't meant to be a to be continued story. I heard recently that they had intended the cathedral to be the mechanic to which all vampires left would be vanquished. But in the end, these changes were for the better of the series - it gave them more room to tell a better story, and they even wrote the last brother in (later in the series) in what I consider a spectacular retcon fix as I'd ever seen (and can only be appreciated fully if you've played Blood Omen and understand the history there). So thanks for bringing the light on Soul Reaver, but a followup addressing the whole series would be recommended. Especially considering Raziel's journey doesn't even end at the end of SR2...

This will never be forgotten. I will forever love the series

I think this series is my favorite thing on your channel. Please keep doing this shit, I love it.

Loved Blood Omens too! Kain has one of the best voice actors (Simon Templeman)

Liked and subscribed!! Great video! Thanks for the nostalgia :D

This definitely qualifies. The atmosphere, the storytelling, and VA being horrifically underrated. Its an experience. You either have gone through it and love it or you havent played it

I see you raziel... You are worthy

It was such a good game!

Unfortunately I never played Soul Reaver so much. But played Defiance and Blood Omen 2 as hell. Loved the games so much. Defiance was special since you played with Kain and Raziel so you had two different playstiles. And some puzzles were hard as hell. Nice vid mate.

One of the best franchises in gaming. Kain and Raziel are so iconic with their awesome designs

Easily, my all-time favorite game series. It's so depressing that we'll never really get a true ending to this series. At this point, I honestly wouldn't even want a sequel to the LoK series. Both Tony Jay (the Elder God) and Paul Lukather (Vorador) have died and Amy Hennig, the series game director and writer (with the exception of Blood Omen I & II) left Crystal Dynamics 15+ years ago. She went to Naughty Dog and created the Uncharted Series. She left N.D. a few years ago and she's now w/ Visceral making an un-named Star Wars game. Add to that, C.D. hasn't made a non-Tomb Raider game since 2005. Sadly, the best hope for fans is if Square Enix decides to do remastered versions of the old games.

Holy shoot! A video of LoK by you! I love this gem, and thank you very much for showing the love it deserves. I absolutely ADORE the LoK intro, the 80's vibe music and the line from the squid God saying: "Raziel...you are worthy", still give me goosebumps till this day. I definitely need to replay the games! I just beated Bloodborne for the first time and it reminded me a bit of this game and MediEvil for it atmosphere and lore. Hopefully you'll do a video of Blood Omen in the future, I couldn't play none of those games, but hopefully one day I will.

LOK series is dear to my heart. one of the first games I played as a kid aside my n64. I recently bought a Dreamcast again and am adding this to my collection once again.

What I remember the most about these games is that they had an OUTSTANDING voice acting. Like really good, specially if you consider the contenporaries of that era.

Thank the gods someone remembered the jewel of the PS2 generation 🙂

I loved this series soooooo much growing up.

I remember being 5 years old when this game came out and my mom bought it for me, it was amazing I had it on PlayStation 1! There was no HUD there was no map and the DualShock controller had just came out and somehow my mom got me one and nobody even know how to use it! It was amazing it was so cool the game was brand new nobody ever played a game or seen a game like that on a video game system I was so young it was like one of the first games I played, it was like an adventure it was full of Mystery it felt so intense it was the first game I ever played with blood and gore! I remember getting lost in this game and not knowing where to go but still being on edge from excitement of the unknown and the adventure of this game oh my God you younger kids will never get to experience that pure joy and excitement it was amazing there was none of this very Advanced video games we have now was like right at the beginning of video games awesome! It almost reminds me of the first time I played Resident Evil nobody knew how scary the game was going to be but they knew it was going to be f****** awesome!

"Machines: Wired for War" is my absolute forgotten gem when it comes to real time strategy games. The music is awesome too! One of my favorite videogame soundtracks. I hope RagnarRox will get his hands on it some day :)