I have no idea why on earth I waited so long to get this game. It’s not only lives up to SR1, but is SO much better in so many areas. The story is amazing even though it relies on the usual clichés of “saving the world from the dark forces” and the like, the cast is just… wow. I can’t accurately put into words just how much I love this game.
The twinks they gave to the battle system fall a bit short, but they are appreciated nonetheless. Having to use more than just the Reaver was a nice change and finding enemies that actually have a slight chance of killing me was an excellent surprise. On the other hand, weaponry is still limited to spear-like weapons and some swords, and the battling itself is somewhat monotonous, with only two different attacks, blocking and dodging. I don’t understand the lack of “spells” like the ones in SR1, since they could actually be useful here whereas they were meaningless before.
The voice acting is sliiiiiiightly weaker than in SR1. I know the cast is the same, but the voices sometimes lack a bit of character, with Raziel sounding more relaxed (It’s a small variation in the tone, but it’s there) and Kain occasionally letting slip the British accent. Raziel is awesome though. No, he’s more than awesome, simply brilliant. His lines are always great, sometimes noble, sometimes enraged and vengeful, but nothing beats when he’s goading and feeling triumphant (“Ah yes, I like that look in your face Mobius”). They should make an audio drama or something with just him verbally abusing people for half an hour.
I love the new puzzles. I can’t say if they are harder or easier, but just the fact that they consist of something else than moving crates around is a great improvement. I just wish they hadn’t marked everything with the elementals needed to make them work, it feels a bit too obvious and lowers the feeling of accomplishment when I solve them.
To sum it up: Holy shit I’m loving this. I’m taking a break to ask two questions:
[ul]
[li]Should I play Blood Omen 1 & 2? It doesn’t seem like there’s anything I already didn’t hear from the characters or the summary in the Extras, and the Blood Omen 2 preview included in the game looks really sucky.
[/li][li]The game after this would be Defiance, right? Or there’s some other?
[/li][/ul]
By the way, I’m just past the Fire Shrine, so if you spoil anything past that for me I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND THROW YOU INTO THE BLAZING FLAMES OF HELL’S FORGE ITSELF. Just be careful when posting.