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Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun (updated with E3 2012 Square Enix Teaser and Pre-Boss Video)

Joqu

Member
Well it looks great which doesn't exactly make me feel better about the cancellation...

You know Square-Enix, I think it's madness this was cancelled in the first place but if you ever decide to bring this back I'll gladly throw my money at it. Fucking hell. :l
 

Lumine

Member
I watched the whole thing and have more or less the same thoughts except the last point.
In my eyes the section looked really bad.
Nearly everything, the batman like battle system with the animation, the repetitive enemy-voice, the generic look of the level, the sound design.

The positive thing is, I'm confident to say that I'm not sad that this thing got cancelled.
I simply can't imagine that this game would have been good.

Actually after watching the whole thing and reading this:

Sorry. But the plan was: platforming, puzzles, dungeons, huge bosses, a MASSIVE amount of exploration. Outside the tutorial bit (which is in the video), no handholding. Jumping was automated (like Zelda meets AA), but the actual platforming was all puzzle based (realm shifting, tricky jumps, having to move quickly, planning in advance etc).

The combat was very Batmanish, though, only much faster. Like an angry pinball with fatalities.

I have to say I probably would have loved to play this. It might not actually capture the LoK/SR universe quite as I would've liked to see, but I'm a huge sucker for Zelda-type games. Shame really.
 

Philippo

Member
tumblr_mmeix9vj1g1r5xzspo1_500.jpg


Based MamaRobotnik as usual.
 

gafneo

Banned
Watched the whole vid.
Cons- Face designs look like crap
Pros- atmosphere, interesting story so far, brutal combat, large scale world, at times looks like Soul Reaver, flying, running and jumping like an actual vampire, female enemies has exposed tit, also get a Game of Thrones vibe.
 

MattyG

Banned
I think it looks A LOT like Shadow of Mordor in terms of tone and environments (at least later in the video). It even seems to have the "ghostly companion" thing going too. I never played any of the other LoK games, but this looks like something I would've been into.
 

deeptech

Member
Kane is deified. Super interesting info, such a shame. Fucking hurts.

Man , can someone argue that this isn't the best video game intro ever made. I don't think so.

This thing though , the leaked footage doesn't seem all that impressive to me. Still who knows if this would've been its final form. But just the colors do a very good job of pushing me away from it. Also the dialog/VA doesn't seem worthy to the series :p
 

gafneo

Banned
I dont understand how so much work can go into a game of a highly successful franchise, only to have the rug pulled from underneath. What was going through the peoples's heads when they decided to pull the plug.

I know, one fancial duece looked at it and gone it went. Why not show it to the fans to project it's financial probability?
 

Honome

Member
Well it looks great which doesn't exactly make me feel better about the cancellation...

You know Square-Enix, I think it's madness this was cancelled in the first place but if you ever decide to bring this back I'll gladly throw my money at it. Fucking hell. :l

I think this game could be another good investment opportunity for Microsoft on similar basis as the Tomb Raider production. They could easily help financially the game to be finished in exchange of exclusivity, timed or life. Even if they did not recovered 100% of their investment selling the game they would, at least, have another exclusive to market and maybe even give it free on XBO bundles. For sure it would be much cheaper than creating a game from zero since the game seems to be at least 1/3 done and LoK is an already known IP...
 
Just watching the video and this looks really impressive. Striking how many similarities it had to Shadow of Mordor, and I think the realm switching mechanic in this looks much smoother and more impressive; the way colours fall away like paint looks amazing.

Always thought Climax could do a really good action/RPG given the right time and budget ever since Sudeki and a couple of their other games from the PS2 era, and it's a shame this got cancelled.
 

martino

Member
I'm a huge soul reaver fan and don't like at all art and story shown in this video. So not a big miss from my pow
 
I think this game could be another good investment opportunity for Microsoft on similar basis as the Tomb Raider production. They could easily help financially the game to be finished in exchange of exclusivity, timed or life. Even if they did not recovered 100% of their investment selling the game they would, at least, have another exclusive to market and maybe even give it free on XBO bundles. For sure it would be much cheaper than creating a game from zero since the game seems to be at least 1/3 done and LoK is an already known IP...

This is a completely different situation to Tomb Raider though - first and foremost being that Phil Spencer has said they bought the timed exclusive on that in order to have an 'equivalent' game to Uncharted for the end of this year. Another being that Legacy of Kain is nowhere near as well known as TR and the series hasn't really been a big deal since the original Soul Reaver from 1999. Plus, I think the only Bayonetta 2-style situation where MS has outright rescued a game from cancellation is probably Dead Rising 3, and that series has prior association with the Xbox. I can't really see them taking an interest here.
 

Locuza

Member
Actually after watching the whole thing and reading this:
[...]
I have to say I probably would have loved to play this. It might not actually capture the LoK/SR universe quite as I would've liked to see, but I'm a huge sucker for Zelda-type games. Shame really.
On paper I really have loved to play many games, but the reality looks different.
The video really convinced me, that I definitely wouldn't be a fan of the game.
 

Honome

Member
This is a completely different situation to Tomb Raider though - first and foremost being that Phil Spencer has said they bought the timed exclusive on that in order to have an 'equivalent' game to Uncharted for the end of this year. Another being that Legacy of Kain is nowhere near as well known as TR and the series hasn't really been a big deal since the original Soul Reaver from 1999. Plus, I think the only Bayonetta 2-style situation where MS has outright rescued a game from cancellation is probably Dead Rising 3, and that series has prior association with the Xbox. I can't really see them taking an interest here.

I think it would depend on how much money they would have to invest in the game for it be finished, but i agree the series is nowhere near the popularity of Tomb Raider. Really never gonna happen anyway... :(
 

Verger

Banned
Gotta love it when publishers shelve games that are nearly done because "reasons". Sucks to be the dev on those things to see all your hard work never see the light of day, even when it is in a near-complete state. :(
 

Nekofrog

Banned
while an amazing game for its time (Soul Reaver), i feel like any further sequels would just be another drop in the ocean of 2dark2edgy mainstream titles that aped off of Soul Reaver endlessly.
 
You can definitely see some of the influence this game has in nosgoth. Especially that double wing attack.

I really like nosgoth, but I would really like this also... even with batman style combat.
 

Rflagg

Member
Mama Robotnik threads are always so amazing and well done, but the only ones I have ever been lucky enough to see are about cancelled legacy of Kain games which hurt so bad. This hurts even more because of how far along the game seems to have been.
 
Id be a little concerned with the art direction and just the direction in general that the game was going in based off that gameplay footage, but I guess it doesnt matter since its been scrapped.

Square Enix needs to sell the rights to somebody who will do something worth while with the IP. (a MP shooter is NOT the way to go)
 
Id be a little concerned with the art direction and just the direction in general that the game was going in based off that gameplay footage, but I guess it doesnt matter since its been scrapped.

Square Enix needs to sell the rights to somebody who will do something worth while with the IP. (a MP shooter is NOT the way to go)

Amy Hennig is at Visceral I believe. Not sure how I feel about that studio besides Amy though....
 

Xemnas89

Member
Well it's a shame this got cancelled. I think seeing the gameplay actually makes it worse than it was before because we can see just how far along it was. It won't happen but I wish they would start this project back up and finish it.
 
Id be a little concerned with the art direction and just the direction in general that the game was going in based off that gameplay footage, but I guess it doesnt matter since its been scrapped.

Square Enix needs to sell the rights to somebody who will do something worth while with the IP. (a MP shooter is NOT the way to go)

I would give a kidney to have a REmake-style update of the original Soul Reaver. It was so damn good in so many ways, and each subsequent instalment has been regressive in one way or another. Had they built on it properly I think it could have been a strong and consistent fantasy series much like Zelda or The Elder Scrolls.
 
Watched it again (to torture myself) and i'm so amazed this got cancelled, if this was released as a PS4 launch game it would have been far better than most of the stuff released then - by then Darksiders was dead and there was nothing of a similar vein going then, this could have slotted in to a void long since left

What are SE thinking?

right now (and i knw this wouldn't be poplar) but i'd love a Bayonetta style savior to step in here - Nintendo or otherwise, this is an IP with so much potential
 
Thanks for the really nice comments about the thread everyone, I'm really glad you found it interesting!

I worked on this game. Glad something has come out of it, even if that's just excitement from people who can see what we were going for. (And this was running on 360, so remember that - the creaking you can see was the engine running two entire levels at the same time, so that you could shift realms at any point, something that UE3 really isn't designed to do.)

I hope somebody leaks some videos of other parts of the game. I don't have any, annoyingly, but others who worked on it might have a video of The Temple Of The Whore Saint, which was one of the dungeons. The thing to remember is that this bit is a small chunk of what was essentially Hyrule field - an expanse designed to lead from place to place. The person playing this is really taking their time with a bit of the game that has zero missions - the actual structure was far more Zelda/Soul Reaver than this might appear.

The game looked great, I'm sorry it was cancelled. I have a really specific question if you are able to answer it.

I was told something off-hand, could you clarify it for me? Someone said that one of the plot points of this game would have involved Kain fighting his younger self. Is there any truth in this or have I heard wrong? Also, just to broaden the question a bit, would Kain have definitely appeared in the game? What would have been his role, if so?
 

Mr. Tibbs

Member
That's a shame. Thanks for the detailed look behind the scenes, Mama Robotnik.

Square-Enix have made some terrible bets recently. Absolution missed much of what the series great and Thief was just a mess. At least the next Deus Ex will likely be awesome and IO's open letter gives me hope for the next Hitman release.
 
What a f`***** shame. Three years of work.
Man this looks so good, so interesting. There was even a MP....can`t believe it.
I feel like half of the game was copied for Shadow of Mordor.
No way to bring this back to life? Kickstarter?
Damn you Square Enix !!!
 
I would give a kidney to have a REmake-style update of the original Soul Reaver. It was so damn good in so many ways, and each subsequent instalment has been regressive in one way or another. Had they built on it properly I think it could have been a strong and consistent fantasy series much like Zelda or The Elder Scrolls.

Yeah I agree that the gameplay was never all that great (except Soul Reaver which was awesome for the time) but the stories were still amazing. I think Soul Reaver 2 probably had the best in the series.
 

Voror

Member
Doesn't look too bad at all really and I certainly would have been interested in playing it. I would be a bit iffy regarding how good the storytelling might be, but it's hard to really judge based on what is shown I think.

Would have been fantastic if they'd been able to get Simon Templeman back as Kain.
 

jimboton

Member
Sorry. But the plan was: platforming, puzzles, dungeons, huge bosses, a MASSIVE amount of exploration. Outside the tutorial bit (which is in the video), no handholding. Jumping was automated (like Zelda meets AA), but the actual platforming was all puzzle based (realm shifting, tricky jumps, having to move quickly, planning in advance etc).

The combat was very Batmanish, though, only much faster. Like an angry pinball with fatalities.

Oh. Great. And out of all the misguided rebooting going on (Thief, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman) they had to scrap this? What a shame.
 

Nosgotham

Junior Member
Interesting take for sure but why the he cant we just get an HD remake of blood omen. It is the best in the series and the damn voice acting still stands the test of time
 
Interesting take for sure but why the he cant we just get an HD remake of blood omen. It is the best in the series and the damn voice acting still stands the test of time

Probably the same reason we haven't seen an FF7 remake yet. It would be almost as expensive as making a new AAA game from scratch and would be even less likely to recoup it's costs. I'd love to see it though.

EDIT: Unless you're just talking about remade HD assets. In that case, I think the gameplay wouldn't hold up well enough to justify the expense.
 

Labadal

Member
I saw the thread title at work and instantly knew who the OP was. Game looks like it had some cool stuff. It's a shame this got canned and we got Nosgoth instead.
 

Majmun

Member
Three years of hard work flushed down the toilet?

Square Anus are fucking scum. This is depressing as shit.
 

Bastos

Member
Thanks for this thread, Mama. I read your texts since when I was just a lurker and not a member.

And seeing this gameplay... Why does it hurt so much? :CCC
 
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