As I found myself materialised within the realm of episode 3 of Soul Reaver 2, flashes of the future I had previously experienced quickly faded from memory, a future showcasing the finale of my journey that was not meant to be seen by my inexperienced eyes. Were these visions of episode 6 a foul trap laid by Moebius? Or perhaps more of Kain’s nefarious machinations? Regardless, with new found resolve I pushed ahead, the timeline shuffled and reorganised so that I may proceed to my goal unfettered. Welcome to Soul Reaver 2 Episode 3. You can watch episode 4-6 on Patreon now if you’d like ;)
Vorador murdered six guardians. Their replacements would be Anarcrothe, Ariel, Azimuth, Bane, Dejoule and Nupraptor. Mortanius under The Dark Entity's control would kill Ariel leading to the birth of the final guardian born Kain.
And now you know why Moebius was scared when you encountered him previously. It wasn't because he didn't have his orb to disable the Reaver. It was because there were two Reavers in the room, a paradox was in effect, Raziel *could* have killed him there and changed history. It's easy to be brave when you know you're locked into a script, quite a bit harder when you can't be sure of the outcome.
14:33 "It was at this moment I realised this fathomless truth: that Mapo had successfully used Moebius's time streeming device. Thus armed, he could warn his fellow suscribers that his past errors were about to be reedemed. I silently rejoiced that his progress would not be heretofore impeded for long. But why, I wondered, had he hitherto forgotten about the darkness reaver's purple color."
It just makes me so happy to see someone discover the brilliance of this series, by far one of the most underrated stories in gaming. Can’t wait to see how you feel about defiance when you get there
From the future onwards, they're really expecting you to be using the Reaver more often than not. You've got enough health that you can tank the health drain for a pretty long time, and recovering health in the spectral realm to come back at full strength is easy enough. And the health saving in killing your enemies in a couple of hits is more than worth it. (Probably too late for this playthrough, but you can quick activate/deactivate the Reaver by double tapping the Devour Souls button)
I agree it's insane how quickly some people come up with great stories and are able to write and create an entire game in such a short time. Remember Knights of the old republic 2? The development was rushed sure. But damn, the writing is superb. And it released just a year after the first game. That's just incredible.
It had qoutable characters to be sure, but its unfinished nature and the rather brutal angle it goes for with its story has led to a number of people in recent years analyzing it with greater scrutiny.
Yep. Kain may bend the truth and leave things out to manipulate you, but I don't think he ever actually lies. The Elder God meanwhile lies all the damn time.
Honesty is very important to him, which makes him such a well written character. He gets manipulated early on, but instead of becoming what he hates, he insists on the opposite. "Hate me, but do it *honestly* " is what he says to Raziel. You can trust Kain to tell you the truth. He gives you the truth from an absolutely biased perspective, and as he feels like giving it, but he's not lying.
57:47 - It's even better than that. Remember when Moebius was so confident Raziel wouldn't kill him when we first met him, but terrified earlier when you had the blade with him earlier. He was confident earlier because he knew history was mostly immutable, but terrified later because he knew that if Raziel could had killed him there and derailed history. He would have died before having manipulating Kain and would have never have had the chance to create his crusade.
Fun Fact: The head of Vorador the statue of Mobius is holding is the actual head, not a carving. It was supposed to be part of a quest to revive Vorador, but the quest was cut from the final version of the game.
Yeah, the difficulty spike after the time travel is pretty ridiculous... the devs probably thought the gameplay sections would be too short otherwise... Anyway, again it's so great watching you react to this amazing story! Also, if it's not too late for that I would love to watch you react to the "behind the scenes/bloopers" videos of this game as a bonus episode of this playthrough (or after finishing Defiance which also has these). They are quite funny and are a way to watch the great voice actors at work. They are all on TH-cam I think.
Raziel served Kain for a Millenium. All his rage, hatred and vengeance cannot undo that trusting obeying instinct of a thousand years I think. Kain is the Dark Father of Raziel's rebirth as a vampire, and Raziel carries a part of Kain's soul within. There's a powerful authority that Kain holds over Raziel through that relationship.
1:00:00 Well said mapo. I've noticed most media has somewhat strayed away from true storytelling. Pale grey stories surrounded by bright lights, intense music, and interesting mechanics. Much like modern movies have thrown away story in favor of flashier graphics; so to have videogames. It gets more interesting when you realize 70s-90s is really the peak of storytelling in our culture; which is also the time period that most heavily influenced this game generation. Consider for both movies pre 90s and games pre ps3; that they lack the graphical fidelity to shirk story. Makes me so happy that you cover these kinds of classics.
54:40 Wow I've played through these games dozens of times and i don't think i ever picked up on how altered the history was. Raziel became the soul reaver because mobius altered history to try and exterminate all vampires.
Welcome to the third timeline. The twists just keep coming. And yeah the demons are annoyingly difficult. Only main gripe i have of this game are those Goddamn demons.
in general you can use the soul reaver way more, from how it looks you are good enough at the combat that you'd come out ahead in health from the shorter fights but i love you so much for playing these games of my childhood AND HELL YEAH THE LORE it pretty much informed my idea of what is cool for a decade xD
This series was my first contact with time travel shenanigans and like the best magic systems imho, they work best when there are some clear rules and limitations to them. For a ttrpg campaign a more freeform take is more to my liking, but when it comes storytelling in games, movies etc. this approach is better. And it seems that I'm in the minority (referrin to other comments here), but I actually liked fighting those demons. I appreciate their design, the creepiness of them growling "Rrraaazzieelll" and that they feel much more of a threat, which in turn encourages using the Reaver and the balancing act that's attached to it.
Agree. IMO, this game still demonstrates the best handling of time travel I've seen in gaming, and is amongst the best in wider literature. If you're going to have time travel in your story, it needs to be there right from the very beginning.
The difficulty spike sucks indeed. I learned at that point in the game to just run past enemies until the game just blocks me and to use the Reaver as much as possible while dodging after attacking once, rinse and repeat. Then cheesed the spirit realm to get health and rinse and repeat. Which takes the fun out of the game a little bit. In theory lore wise i get the spike in difficulty because i assume the Elder god is just not happy with Raziel being a badass in choosing his own path and is trying to stall time for whatever reason.
It has been a long time, so I might not remember correctly, but I think you need to bait an attack and dodge it to create an opening when the enemies are turtling behind a block.
1:14:00 he didn't really exercise kains will, Kain said to think for himself, find his own answers. It's vorador that said Janos is still alive in this time, so hes looking for him, his own choice, vorador never told him to do that, just gave him some info.
Its likley because games today are treated more like movie productions rather than novel's with interactive segments, and while that has led to them being rightfully taken seriously as an art form, it come with all the drawbacks as well.
wait a minute! a mere century into the future? didn´t Kain and Raziel come from a time 1000 years later (aka SR1)? where were these demons in the prior game?
@@masterluckyluke he says the regular reever is purple and the dark reever is a slightly darker purple. He is unable to see the difference between blue and purple. I wouldn't be surprised if he is unable to tell the difference between the spectral reaver (green) and the light reaver. (yellow) Yes it did help confuse him because he didn't realize the power is lost after he went to the spirit realm.
@@mrw5102 There can be so much more solutions. Sometimes it's just a badly adjusted screen, or sunlight in the room. Or, as I said, color confusion. If he was colorblind in some sort, it should happen in other games too. :) There are so many games that use blue and purple as colors for effects. It could even be that he's just tired. Eyes are tiring over the day like all the rest of the body.
@@crust5909 I would recommend rewatching that segment as I just did. He doesn't State any colors. in fact he States: I'm just bubbling around turning things and solving the puzzle. It simply does not sound as if he realizes that he's making different colors by turning those things.
![Merely At The Threshold - Soul Reaver 2 | Blind Playthrough [Part 4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tgIt7aMUGoU/mqdefault.jpg)
![Merely At The Threshold - Soul Reaver 2 | Blind Playthrough [Part 4]](/img/tr.png)
![The Pillars Are The Lock...And The Reaver Is The Key - Soul Reaver 2 | Blind Playthrough [Part 5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/efmkfEyfu7Y/mqdefault.jpg)
As I found myself materialised within the realm of episode 3 of Soul Reaver 2, flashes of the future I had previously experienced quickly faded from memory, a future showcasing the finale of my journey that was not meant to be seen by my inexperienced eyes.
Were these visions of episode 6 a foul trap laid by Moebius? Or perhaps more of Kain’s nefarious machinations? Regardless, with new found resolve I pushed ahead, the timeline shuffled and reorganised so that I may proceed to my goal unfettered.
Welcome to Soul Reaver 2 Episode 3. You can watch episode 4-6 on Patreon now if you’d like ;)
Vorador murdered six guardians. Their replacements would be Anarcrothe, Ariel, Azimuth, Bane, Dejoule and Nupraptor. Mortanius under The Dark Entity's control would kill Ariel leading to the birth of the final guardian born Kain.
and how do we know it is really Mapo and not a vampire in human disguise sent by Moebius? 🤔🧐
I love that, major plus points for immersion. ^^
hahaha nice man, excellent save
Mapo the Time Streamer intern x)
And now you know why Moebius was scared when you encountered him previously. It wasn't because he didn't have his orb to disable the Reaver. It was because there were two Reavers in the room, a paradox was in effect, Raziel *could* have killed him there and changed history. It's easy to be brave when you know you're locked into a script, quite a bit harder when you can't be sure of the outcome.
That's the talent of Amy Hennig, she wrote the first three Uncharted games within a decade too.
Still, I shan't hold that against her.
14:33 "It was at this moment I realised this fathomless truth: that Mapo had successfully used Moebius's time streeming device. Thus armed, he could warn his fellow suscribers that his past errors were about to be reedemed. I silently rejoiced that his progress would not be heretofore impeded for long. But why, I wondered, had he hitherto forgotten about the darkness reaver's purple color."
It just makes me so happy to see someone discover the brilliance of this series, by far one of the most underrated stories in gaming. Can’t wait to see how you feel about defiance when you get there
The artwork in this game is incredible. I'm so enthralled! Edit: The future Mapocolops edit gave me a good chuckle 🤣
From the future onwards, they're really expecting you to be using the Reaver more often than not.
You've got enough health that you can tank the health drain for a pretty long time, and recovering health in the spectral realm to come back at full strength is easy enough. And the health saving in killing your enemies in a couple of hits is more than worth it.
(Probably too late for this playthrough, but you can quick activate/deactivate the Reaver by double tapping the Devour Souls button)
I agree it's insane how quickly some people come up with great stories and are able to write and create an entire game in such a short time. Remember Knights of the old republic 2?
The development was rushed sure. But damn, the writing is superb. And it released just a year after the first game. That's just incredible.
It had qoutable characters to be sure, but its unfinished nature and the rather brutal angle it goes for with its story has led to a number of people in recent years analyzing it with greater scrutiny.
Kain rarely tells lies, he considered lying to be a tool of the weak and foolish, he isn't either so it is beneath him.
Yep. Kain may bend the truth and leave things out to manipulate you, but I don't think he ever actually lies. The Elder God meanwhile lies all the damn time.
He only lies if he has to as part of a disguise. When he does he sounds disgusted that he has to lie.
Honesty is very important to him, which makes him such a well written character. He gets manipulated early on, but instead of becoming what he hates, he insists on the opposite. "Hate me, but do it *honestly* " is what he says to Raziel. You can trust Kain to tell you the truth. He gives you the truth from an absolutely biased perspective, and as he feels like giving it, but he's not lying.
Mapo: Can you stop blocking for one second?
Demon: _Can you stop attacking for one second?_
Dude I love this series and your play though of it. Glad your enjoying yourself with this legendary series.
57:47 - It's even better than that. Remember when Moebius was so confident Raziel wouldn't kill him when we first met him, but terrified earlier when you had the blade with him earlier. He was confident earlier because he knew history was mostly immutable, but terrified later because he knew that if Raziel could had killed him there and derailed history. He would have died before having manipulating Kain and would have never have had the chance to create his crusade.
Great to see Mapo do some "light" puzzeling... The power of darkreaver compelles you!
With a thumbnail like that you know this game hits that good good nawmean?
It was confirmed by the creators, that was INDEED Moebious projecting himself, NOT his ghost. Raziel called his bluff.
ha! That old mofo
Fun Fact: The head of Vorador the statue of Mobius is holding is the actual head, not a carving. It was supposed to be part of a quest to revive Vorador, but the quest was cut from the final version of the game.
Yeah, the difficulty spike after the time travel is pretty ridiculous... the devs probably thought the gameplay sections would be too short otherwise...
Anyway, again it's so great watching you react to this amazing story!
Also, if it's not too late for that I would love to watch you react to the "behind the scenes/bloopers" videos of this game as a bonus episode of this playthrough (or after finishing Defiance which also has these). They are quite funny and are a way to watch the great voice actors at work. They are all on TH-cam I think.
Think the GOG version has the also bloopers and behind the scenes in the Extra section of the platform.
iirc you can kill the demons in two shots each with the fully charged reaver and they can't block it either. Makes these fights 10x easier.
Raziel served Kain for a Millenium. All his rage, hatred and vengeance cannot undo that trusting obeying instinct of a thousand years I think. Kain is the Dark Father of Raziel's rebirth as a vampire, and Raziel carries a part of Kain's soul within. There's a powerful authority that Kain holds over Raziel through that relationship.
It's great to just bask in the atmosphere of Kain and Raziel's conversations. This and Avernus (Defiance) is my favourite.
1:00:00
Well said mapo. I've noticed most media has somewhat strayed away from true storytelling.
Pale grey stories surrounded by bright lights, intense music, and interesting mechanics.
Much like modern movies have thrown away story in favor of flashier graphics; so to have videogames.
It gets more interesting when you realize 70s-90s is really the peak of storytelling in our culture; which is also the time period that most heavily influenced this game generation.
Consider for both movies pre 90s and games pre ps3; that they lack the graphical fidelity to shirk story.
Makes me so happy that you cover these kinds of classics.
Because of the text font the game uses, I believed for a good while that the dark reaver was actually the "park reaver" lmao.
54:40 Wow I've played through these games dozens of times and i don't think i ever picked up on how altered the history was. Raziel became the soul reaver because mobius altered history to try and exterminate all vampires.
Welcome to the third timeline. The twists just keep coming.
And yeah the demons are annoyingly difficult. Only main gripe i have of this game are those Goddamn demons.
Thanks for this.
The plot thickens.
in general you can use the soul reaver way more, from how it looks you are good enough at the combat that you'd come out ahead in health from the shorter fights
but i love you so much for playing these games of my childhood
AND HELL YEAH THE LORE it pretty much informed my idea of what is cool for a decade xD
This series was my first contact with time travel shenanigans and like the best magic systems imho, they work best when there are some clear rules and limitations to them. For a ttrpg campaign a more freeform take is more to my liking, but when it comes storytelling in games, movies etc. this approach is better.
And it seems that I'm in the minority (referrin to other comments here), but I actually liked fighting those demons. I appreciate their design, the creepiness of them growling "Rrraaazzieelll" and that they feel much more of a threat, which in turn encourages using the Reaver and the balancing act that's attached to it.
Agree. IMO, this game still demonstrates the best handling of time travel I've seen in gaming, and is amongst the best in wider literature. If you're going to have time travel in your story, it needs to be there right from the very beginning.
This type of writing is definitely rare these days. Cyberpunk and it's recent expansion are very well written for it's genre.
The difficulty spike sucks indeed. I learned at that point in the game to just run past enemies until the game just blocks me and to use the Reaver as much as possible while dodging after attacking once, rinse and repeat. Then cheesed the spirit realm to get health and rinse and repeat. Which takes the fun out of the game a little bit.
In theory lore wise i get the spike in difficulty because i assume the Elder god is just not happy with Raziel being a badass in choosing his own path and is trying to stall time for whatever reason.
I do so love the story of SR2, but damned if I don't like the combat or puzzles 😮💨
It has been a long time, so I might not remember correctly, but I think you need to bait an attack and dodge it to create an opening when the enemies are turtling behind a block.
Just like irl
1:14:00 he didn't really exercise kains will, Kain said to think for himself, find his own answers.
It's vorador that said Janos is still alive in this time, so hes looking for him, his own choice, vorador never told him to do that, just gave him some info.
Hardly impetuous, took all the wool I could muster. 👍💪👌💯💯
I know this is late but for enemies that block it's best to wait for them to begin to attack before you attack. It's like a set rhythm to it
1:00:00 I believe overcooked fits the gaming industry also
Its likley because games today are treated more like movie productions rather than novel's with interactive segments, and while that has led to them being rightfully taken seriously as an art form, it come with all the drawbacks as well.
wait a minute! a mere century into the future? didn´t Kain and Raziel come from a time 1000 years later (aka SR1)? where were these demons in the prior game?
It's been a long time since I've played... are you able to charge the strong attacks?
no. But Raziel can block though. Useful against those demons.
Lol, the material reaver blade isn't purple by default. It's blue. The dark reaver is purple.
Machst blood omen und defiance auch noch is echt schön mal die alten Spiele aus meiner Kindheit zu sehen 😊
use the soulreaver to thin out the enemy's so it's not that hard on you.
yes
Hey mapo, whats happening with the starfield playthrough? No new uploads in 2 weeks
no big deal.... the game is profoundly boring anyway 😜
@@stefanforrer2573 in your opinion sure. Me personally, I'm over 100 hours in and still having an absolute blast playing
Lol!
have you ever been tested for any type of color blindness.
I only ask because colorblind people have problems telling blue and purple apart.
There are so many types of colorblindness, and there is also general confusion.^^
@@masterluckyluke he says the regular reever is purple and the dark reever is a slightly darker purple.
He is unable to see the difference between blue and purple. I wouldn't be surprised if he is unable to tell the difference between the spectral reaver (green) and the light reaver. (yellow)
Yes it did help confuse him because he didn't realize the power is lost after he went to the spirit realm.
@@mrw5102 There can be so much more solutions. Sometimes it's just a badly adjusted screen, or sunlight in the room. Or, as I said, color confusion. If he was colorblind in some sort, it should happen in other games too. :) There are so many games that use blue and purple as colors for effects. It could even be that he's just tired. Eyes are tiring over the day like all the rest of the body.
thats unlikely. He solved that puzzle in Soul Reaver 1 where you need to mix blue light + red light to create purple light without any trouble.
@@crust5909 I would recommend rewatching that segment as I just did. He doesn't State any colors. in fact he States: I'm just bubbling around turning things and solving the puzzle.
It simply does not sound as if he realizes that he's making different colors by turning those things.