History YMMV / LegacyOfKain

* MostAnnoyingSound:
** Kain's catch phrase, "Vae Victis" turns into this in the first game for his tendency to shout it at the top of his lungs every three or four swings of a sword. It it MUCH less annoying in Defiance, as he does much the same thing but not as frequently in a more sinister sounding voice.
** Also in Blood Omen are those chained humans going "OOOOOH! Oh please! Help me kind sir!" again and again and again. The irony is that this gives you an incentive to kill them all, as quickly as possible.

** One specific event that is forgotten is that Kain himself might have free will because of one thing that happened to them both [[spoiler: they both died and were resurrected unnaturally, outside of the regular "wheel of fate]].

* SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming: A major selling point for ''Soul Reaver'' was that, due to various coding tricks, the game has no load times. While not actually true[[note]]There ''are'' load times, but they're short and hidden by the animations for things like doors and gates opening, which is why such things are located in seemingly arbitrary places[[/note]], in practice the game does allow players to travel across Nosgoth in realtime without ever having to view a loading screen.

* FollowTheLeader: ''Defiance'''s combat system is obviously inspired from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', which had come out 2 years prior. When you think about it, it was actually one of its first followers, before ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' made everyone forget about it.

** ** [[LastOfHisKind Poor]], ''[[GodIsEvil poor]]'' [[EpiphanicPrison Janos]] [[FateWorseThanDeath Audron]].

%%** Janos Audron]].

* MagnificentBastard: Once a petty noble in the world of Nosgoth, murdered and revived as a vampire, Kain has chafed at the tyranny of fate. Establishing a vampire monarchy, but wishing for a way to save the world without sacrificing his own life, Kain condemns his right-hand man Raziel to the Abyss, knowing Raziel will survive and return as a wraith, allowing Kain to manipulate him, the one being with true free will, into changing fate to the point of even averting his own predestined death, as well as saving Raziel from his own fate of being consumed by the Reaver. Kain proceeds to overcome a multitude of dangers with his wit and skill, constantly able to keep pace with the most powerful players in Nosgoth to the point he is able to even defeat the monstrous EldritchAbomination, the Elder God, who has been responsible for all the bloodshed and horror Nosgoth has endured for eons, while never losing his sardonic wit or dark charm.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6vEbiez5ZI Janos' Retreat]] captures Janos' intimidating aura with a haunting introduction, then becomes more serene, conveying his kind personality underneath the exterior.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: It's entirely possible that characters other than Raziel have free will. Free will seems to be a matter of existing outside the normal laws of time and fate, like Raziel and the Elder God do. As the Timestreamer, able to freely see through time and travel forward and backwards as he wishes, Moebius seems like he would fit the bill for that description. And he ''does'' seek to actively change history a couple of times, despite the fact that the series claims that's impossible to do without free will. Kain definitely has the power to change fate by the end of ''Defiance'', but what gave him that power is ambiguous with all he goes through in the final chapters, and for all we know he always had free will and just never realized it. Besides, if only a select few special individuals get to have free will, don't you think [[spoiler:the Scion of Balance, the prophesied figure who will save Nosgoth]], would be one of them?

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The series is not really known for its soundtrack, but that doesn't mean it has nothing worth a listen.

* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: ''Nosgoth'', being an MMO action game, has not been very well received by most fans, who loved the original games for their gothics stories.

** The very final boss battle against Hash'ak'gik in the ''Blood Omen'' is extremely simple and rather tedious. The only thing the boss does throughout the entire battle is to sink into the ground and try to rise up underneath you to deal CollisionDamage. That's literally all. For the most part the attack can be avoided simply by walking in a straight line. He does not even attempt to walk towards you or swing his claws at you. You almost get the feeling they simply ran out of time to draw sprites for anything more complex.

** The very final boss battle against Hash'ak'gik in the ''Blood Omen'' is extremely simple and rather tedious. The only thing the boss does throughout the entire battle is to sink into the ground and try to rise up underneath you to deal ContactDamage. That's literally all. For the most part the attack can be avoided simply by walking in a straight line. He does not even attempt to walk towards you or swing his claws at you. You almost get the feeling they simply ran out of time to draw sprites for anything more complex.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Doing battle with Kain in ''Soul Reaver'' isn't very impressive in comparison to his sons. Each time you smack him three times while he stands still and shoots lightning bolts at you, and then you watch a cutscene.

* BrokenBase: The announcement of ''Nosgoth'' created one between fans who were okay with the idea, and fans who were disgusted that after eleven years the series is brought back to life... bringing no resolution whatsoever to any lingering plot threads from ''Defiance'', not helped by the fact that since Nosgoth is a Team-based deathmatch game, the odds of any story ''at all'' are slim. This was ultimately rendered irrelevant, as the game was canceled before it got out of beta testing.

* FollowTheLeader: ''Defiance'''s combat system is obviously inspired from ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'', which had come out 2 years prior. When you think about it, it was actually one of its first followers, before ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' and ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' made everyone forget about it.

* SugarWiki/GeniusProgramming: A major selling point for ''Soul Reaver'' was that, due to various coding tricks, the game has no load times. While not strictly true[[note]]There ''are'' load times, but they're short and hidden by the animations for things like doors and gates opening, which is why such things are located in seemingly arbitrary places[[/note]], it does allow players to travel across Nosgoth in realtime with nothing to hinder them.

* AwesomeMusic: The series is not really known for its soundtrack, but that doesn't mean it has nothing worth a listen; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNWSDvDqm9g Ozar Midrashim]] remains memorable as its one iconic theme.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The sprite-based ''Blood Omen'' not withstanding, the entire series received acclaim for looking gorgeous, with the last game, ''Defiance'', looking amazing for the [=PS2=].

* AngstWhatAngst: For all the stuff Kain goes through, he doesn't seem to react much to most of it.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: It's entirely possible that characters other than Raziel have free will. Free will seems to be a matter of existing outside the normal laws of time and fate, like Raziel and the Elder God do. As the Timestreamer, able to freely see through time and travel forward and backwards as he wishes, Moebius seems like he would fit the bill for that description. And he ''does'' seek to actively change history a couple of times, despite the fact that the series claims that's impossible to do without free will. Kain definitely gains the power at change fate by the end of Defiance, but what gave him that power is ambiguous with all he goes through in the final chapters. And if only a select few individuals get to have free will, don't you think [[spoiler:the Scion of Balance, the prophesied figure who will save Nosgoth]], would be one of them?

* GeniusProgramming: A major selling point for ''Soul Reaver'' was that, due to various coding tricks, the game has no load times. While not strictly true[[note]]There ''are'' load times, but they're short and hidden by the animations for things like doors and gates opening, which is why such things are located in seemingly arbitrary places[[/note]], it does allow players to travel across Nosgoth in realtime with nothing to hinder them.

* MagnificentBastard: Kain and Moebius, arguably. Their ability to time travel and see the effects of predestination give them advantages that most Magnificent Bastards don't have, but nonetheless, their manipulations are pretty impressive. Kain is probably superior to Moebius, because while Moebius is working with the Elder God and the predestined timeline, Kain is working against them and nonetheless manages to manipulate on a fairly even footing. Also, Kain most definitely has the Badassery, and the LargeHam style and flair that Magnificent Bastards usually posses, while Moebius is inferior in that regard.

** It takes place entirely in an alternate timeline created in ''Defiance'' and destroyed in ''Soul Reaver 2''. If you skip it you miss nothing [[spoiler: except an explanation of what the Hylden are, and how they relate to everything else in the setting which all gets repeated in ''Defiance'' anyway]].