Soul Reaver 2 was mostly a disappointment in the gameplay department, but the plot was absolutely amazing. Totally worth 6 dollars. Still can't top the original or Defiance though.

I played Soul Reaver 1 a bit on PS1, but was more interested in RPGs than action/puzzle platformers at the time.

I was barely aware that they made a sequel. Looks like they did almost as bad at naming as LucasArts did with Dark Forces / Jedi Knight:

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
The Legacy of Kain Series: Blood Omen 2
Legacy of Kain: Defiance

versus

Dark Forces
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2
Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Hooray for brand dilution! Of course, few people know about Blood Omen (I only know because a former roommate picked it up from a bargain bin at one point), so it's more excusable than the people who think Morrowind was the first Elder Scrolls game just because it was the first one on consoles.

HunterZ wrote:

{snippage}

...so it's more excusable than the people who think Morrowind was the first Elder Scrolls game just because it was the first one on consoles.

You hit the nail on the head, it's almost like if it doesn't appear on Consoles then it never existed before hand.

Too bad more folks didn't get into gaming when it started way back when.

I wonder how many even know what an Atari VCS Console looks like.

Blood Omen 2 was actually kind of a bastard child. It wasn't originally intended to be a LoK game, but rather a sequel to the rather bad game Chakan on the MegaDrive (or Genesis if you live in the USA!). Somehow they made a LoK game out of this, it never made too much sense, but it was kind of interesting story wise, although you have to beat Soul Reaver 2 to truly understand what's happening.

I find the story in the LoK series to be amazing, especially if you consider that it wasn't meant to be more than a single game at first. It's probably the greatest story I've ever read/heard/watched etc in terms of overall concept and twists.
If I had to pick a favourite, I'd easily say the first Soul Reaver game is the best, because of how great it still plays and how amazing it was back then on a lot of levels, excellent story and music, fun and open world-ish gameplay and also technically impressive (seamless transitions without loading screens!).
Defiance was also going to be Soul Reaver 3, but they decided against it because they were going to have both Kain and Raziel playable, so it didn't make as much sense.

Totally agree on the Dark Forces series though hahaha. When are we going to see another one of those, I kinda miss Kyle Katarn. Dark Forces 2 is my favorite of the bunch, probably because it was my first exposure to anything Star Wars related and because it still plays pretty darn well (in contrast to JK 2 🙁 )

BigBodZod wrote:

I wonder how many even know what an Atari VCS Console looks like.

I still own my Atari 2600 😀 Unfortunately the games haven't aged as well as the NES library, although casual Facebook/iOS/Wii gamers might actually like them (if grinding, gifting and/or in-app purchases were added anyways 😉).

F2bnp wrote:

Totally agree on the Dark Forces series though hahaha. When are we going to see another one of those, I kinda miss Kyle Katarn. Dark Forces 2 is my favorite of the bunch, probably because it was my first exposure to anything Star Wars related and because it still plays pretty darn well (in contrast to JK 2 🙁 )

I'm sure that Jedi Academy 2: Jedi Outcast 2: Jedi Knight 4: Dark Forces 5 will be out soon 😉