From the Pit: LoK Merchandise - Japanese Special Releases

Another country that got its own exclusive stuff was Japan.
These are the special releases of Blood Omen (“Kain the Vampire”) and Soul Reaver 2 (in Romaji, “Souru Riibaa 2”) that were available in Japan.

On the left is Kain the Vampire, clearly with a bit of Castlevania inspired artwork (and with an interesting ‘Blood Moon’ inspired artwork, as is seen in the real world in lunar eclipses). The game is dubbed into Japanese and comes complete with a full colour manual booklet (where other versions were partially or completely black and white), including some unique character bios.

On the right is Souru Riibaa 2. It too has been fully dubbed into Japanese and comes complete with a full colour manual including more detailed character bios.  The bonus materials (titled as “introduction”) are a bit truncated with a few bits missing, although it includes both the extended character bios and a narrated recap of the events of Soul Reaver. The game also features a warning for graphic violence when the game is booted up.

For more info on the Japanese Special Releases see here - the Soul Reaver recap can be seen here, and the introduction cutscenes to SR1 and SR2 here and here.

This post originally appeared here

From the Pit: Lok Merchandise - Comic Collection

Here’s completed set of official Legacy of Kain comics. Most were promotional and released as one-off titles at the time of the release of the games - you can however find them online these days and physical copies of the major ones are relatively easy to come by on your local online auction site (although #2 and #4 are notably rarer and harder to find).

1)Left in the first pic (and middle in the second) is the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic by Top Cow. Produced as promotion for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, the comic tells a brief original story set shortly before the events of the game with the vampire Raziel being warned of his coming betrayal, execution and resurrection as a wraith by a ‘Construct of the Elder Gods’ - a warning which Raziel angrily denounces and ignores. The comic notably includes several premonitions of events that were planned but not included in the final game, such as the slaying of the Priestess and the opening of the sounding pipes at the pinnacle of the Silenced Cathedral.

2)Left in the second pic is a promotional ‘Preview Edition’ release of the Tomb Raider comic series -  released some time before the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver comic, it contained preview artwork in monochrome line drawing style for the Tomb Raider comic series and artwork in the same style for the Soul Reaver comic.  

3)Right in the first pic is the Legacy of Kain: Defiance comic by Top Cow, with alternate cover on the far right in the second pic. Produced as promotion for Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the comic tells a brief original story set shortly before the events of the game, with Kain recounting Nosgoth’s and his own history as he battles Sarafan troops and approaches the Sarafan Stronghold - the story effectively recaps the major events of the series so far. Notably the comic has two alternate covers depending upon where the comic was originally bought - with the Gamestop cover shown in the first pic and the Electronics Boutique cover in the second.

4)The third and fourth pics show the German language official guide Das Offizielle Lösungsbuch - Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and its exclusive comic ‘Vorgeschichte’. Produced as part of the German official guide to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , the comic tells a brief original story set shortly into the events of the game with the wraith Raziel recounting how he was betrayed, executed, resurrected and set on the path of vengeance against Kain. The comic is entirely in German, although translations can readily be found online. The comic notably includes several mistaken references and details, presumably relating to the interpretation, unclear language and developmental changes from the very early promotional materials for Soul Reaver.

This post originally appeared here

From the Pit: LoK Merchandise: German Special Editions

Oh the lucky Germans and their exclusive stuff.
These are the special editions of Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance that were available in Germany.

On the right is Legacy of Kain: Defiance which comes complete with full versions of Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 plus a full colour manual booklet. (where other versions were partially or completely black and white).

On the left is the Soul Reaver 2 release which comes complete with several exclusive extras - most notably the inclusion of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. There are lots of other goodies hiding on the disc too  - with some extra concept arts not available elsewhere (although these days they are viewable on the net), extra wallpapers, a poster, a screensaver, a copy of the Soul Reaver 2 soundtrack (in dvd audio format) and four trailers from various stages of pre-release.

For more info on the German Special Editions see here - the trailers can be seen here, here and here (Trailer 2 is a shorter version of Trailer 1)

This post originally appeared here

From the Pit: LoK Merchandise: Promotional Soundtrack

The Soul Reaver Official promotional soundtrack contains a selection of music from Soul Reaver 1 and Soul Reaver 2 (and by extension Defiance as well)

Tracks include:
1) “Soul Reaver 2 theme” (aka Ariel’s Lament)
2) ”Sarafan” (aka Sarafan Stronghold)
3) “Overland”
4) “Dark Battle” (aka Dark Forge - combat variant)
5) “Overland Battle” (Overland - combat variant)
6) “Pillars Battle” (aka Pillars (SR2) - combat variant)
7) “Sarafan Battle” (Sarafan Stronghold - combat variant)
8)  “Necropolis: Danger” (Necropolis - danger variant)
9) “Pillars/Tomb: Danger” (Pillars (SR1) - danger variant)
10) “Ruined City: Combat” (Ruined City - combat variant)

Along with the musical tracks, the disc also features a “sneak preview” of Blood Omen 2 - which consists of an early version of the Blood Omen 2 intro video, complete with some rather attractive views right up Kain’s nose as he sleeps and no Nexus Stone. The video can be found here.

This post originally appeared here

From the Pit: LoK Merchandise: Guide Dang It

Here’s my completed collection of (mostly) official Legacy of Kain guides:

BO1 Prima, SR1 Prima, SR1 Das Offizielle Lösungsbuch (German), SR1 Brady, SR2 Prima, SR2 Das Offizielle Lösungsbuch (German), BO2 Prima, Defiance Prima

So what’s best? Well they all have strengths and weaknesses:
*Surprisingly it’s probably the German ones that have the better production quality, most interesting extras/special features and the best walkthroughs (even if you don’t speak German).
*The BO1 and Defiance Primas have excellent room and area maps (BO1 in particular originally came with a pull-out map of Nosgoth which is virtually impossible to find these days), while the SR1 Lösungbuch has a lot of hand drawn ‘home-made sketches’ providing visual aid and guidance (it’s also home to the German ‘Vorgeschichte’ comic)
*The SR1,SR2 and Defiance Primas have excellent classification and tactics sections
*The BO1,SR1 and BO2 Primas have noticeable snippets of pre-release info
*All of the guides feature several concept arts and/or promotional images.

Personally, I think Defiance Prima is probably the most helpful and BO2 Prima the least, but all have their charms and interesting bits that are worth a look.

This post originally appeared here