Soul Reaver 2 - Review / Retrospective 

new finn drop let's gooooooo i'm about to pass out to this SO HARD

I am still pissed that Nozgoth as a setting has been so criminally underutilised, but then I worry that if it was actually used, would it live up to the previous paragons of Blood omen, Soul Reaver 1 and 2?

Man, please do Legacy of Kain: Defiance. This is so nice

I'm always down to listen to someone talk about Soul Reaver

WOOOO. Moar Finn!!! Another review of a game I don't have to play :P

The overcorrection on not using block puzzles probably has more to do with criticism about games in general using them. Crapping on block puzzles was trendy at the time. Also interesting tidbit about the save files and the names they had, I suspect this has a lot to do with the fact that the PS1 LoK games used the 15 block memory cards that only allowed so much save information in the name of the block compared to the PS2 using a more open 8mb memory card that allowed longer save file names. Sure they could have just changed the system for the PC, but that’s work and we don’t like that!

why isn't there a film of these, not even animated one? pretty sure it'll happen someday

Regarding letterboxing during in engine cutscenes: a lot of the time, these are not rendered in real time in order to ensure that the animations don't go out of sync. The models used are often more detailed and have more points of articulation than the in game models as well, so to render these out in real time without loading would be more challenging, especially if the camera moves in a way that the geometry culling routine can't handle, possibly leading to bugs and visual glitches that would disrupt the viewing experience, especially if the game is designed for 60hz and has been converted poorly to 50hz PAL. The letterboxing reduces the size of the video file whilst retaining the same fidelity as the game, so it's actually a bit of smoke and mirrors to make the game appear to be more technologically advanced whilst saving money on lavishly rendered FMV cutscenes that the dev team would need to outsource to a specialist animation studio with top of the line workstations that would have been prohibitively expensive to purchase as compared to using the in-engine tools to render it in a way that more closely resembles gameplay.

7:20 as you said, letterboxing cutscenes was emblematic of the era. That's because TV was 4:3, and when TV broadcasted any movie from cinema, they letterboxed it to account for the difference in aspect ratio (generally; I know they might also cut the frame, or zoom in, but if I recall correctly, that was more frequent once we started to have digital TV and stuff were rather random and non standardized for a bit). So, to an old fart like me, letterbox means "movie!", and games, which were getting more and more cinematic at the time, wanted to capture that feeling.

The human FOV is more wide than it is tall and that's where modern 16/9 or 16/10 come from. These don't represent the actual human FOV, but are merely compromises. No human sees exactly alike. Of course 4/3 was still standard and you wouldn't want to limit what the player can see during gameplay. Letterboxing forces your view to the center, where the camera does the most work, hence "cinematic". Your eyes are supposed to naturally "zoom in"/focus around the center, in which case the wide FOV should feel more natural. A secondary effect is the clear distinction between gameplay and cutscene. You just know when to relax and being visually guided kinda supports this. It kinda does make sense, for its time, but that doesn't mean it has to work for everyone. Perception is always subjective.

I'm so glad u continued the series it deserves so much more love

i adore this game series

26:45 only in the pc version the ps2 version still uses the letter save style

After a grueling 48-hr-ish troubleshooting dilemma that I didn't even solve yet, I can totally use a video review by you to chill out with. Kudos!

Well the game was made when 16:9 televisions didn't really exist in the consumer market. Sure they existed but they were prohibitively expensive and most content wasn't made for them so you would end up with a stretched screen or a lot of unused screen. Letter box was a compromise to get wide screen on the mass majority of peoples televisions at the time it was released. It is a cinematography thing too thats been around for ages to get wide angle shots and lets the director use other resolutions for shots that are between 16:9 and 4:3. 4:3 is still used today too. The reason the cinimatics are in letter box is because of a kew word, cinimatics. It was also used as a way to tell the player something important was happening story wise. You don't have to like it but it was a artistic choice and one by necessity at the games launch. There is no issue with it. Pootis Engage is a great example on the use of the black bars. Also at the time, you had screens that weren't exactly 16:9. Letter boxing is making a comeback with ultra wide shots in cinematics since most people do not have an ultra wide screen. Also, some modern games utilize 4:3 with pan and scan to create claustrophobic atmosphere.

On an old TV the letterbox was to make it look more cinematic but for gameplay you want to see more of your surroundings

This was the 2nd PS2 game I owned. The block puzzles were too hard so it took me like 3 years to finish it.

Good old Legacy of Kain

Thanks for the great video. I think I might get this off gog sometime, it is unfortunate that crystal dynamics hasn't really continued the series for years.

10 minutes intro.... We're still far from the over 2 hours intro of Persona 4. xD Nice and comprehensive review, Finn.

i got introduced to legacy of kain series by starting from the defiance or the very last one which probably not as bad as starting star wars from the phantom menace

Can't watch just yet! Need to finish the Soul Reaver video first! Thanks again! ❤

Cant wait for your Defiance review

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.

blood omen 2 seuraavaksi?

Look at it this way, Finn - the pretentiousness of the letterboxing does fit to thia game series. ;-) Apart from that I want to compliment you on another entertaining work of yours. :-)

I fear they will resurrect this series and ruin it forever with woke propaganda.