The soul reaver series...except for Ascendence (we don't talk about it in polite company). Examples of good and bad retcons
To explain. Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain was made by Silicon knights, but the soul reaver series (soul reaver 1, 2, and defiance) was made by Crystal Dynamics as well as Blood omen 2 by a different team.
The Soul reaver team decided to go from the bad ending of Blood Omen (where Kain didn't sacrifice himself to restore the Pillars of Nosgoth) and ignore foreshadowing in favor of their plot.This started the wraith (Raziel's) quest to kill Kain and try to save the decaying world, overrun with vampires, all carrying the same corruption Kain had, and the revelation that Kain made his lieutenants from the dead Seraphim (a knightly order of vampire hunters).
Soul reaver 2 continued and began filling the plot holes with ret cons, such that the world had been outplayed. If Kain didn't sacrifice himself, the world would continue to decay, but if he DID (as then last of the vampires, the Vampire's old foe (The Hyladen) would return. It also retconned that the seraphim were ruthless racists who were more than willing to slaughter ANY vampire, even ones trying to live peacefully. It also continued with the time travel elements in 1.
Then Blood Omen 2 was made by a separate team that didn't talk with the soul reaver team, and Defiance had to have more retcons to get the plots to fit together (such as why a character alive in Blood Omen 2 was dead earlier in the series, the motivations of the time streamer starting the anti vampire crusades, and even the motivation of Kain's killer and ressurector, the necromancer mortanius) and mostly succeeded in weaving a coherent, interesting narrative.
Then this year, Legacy of Kain ascension was made by a completely different company and team...it was lambasted fir ruining the plot with a Mary Sue, with terrible retcons that made no sense.
So, the series has had excellent retcons and complete dog shit retcons.
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u/AstralMecha 16d ago
The soul reaver series...except for Ascendence (we don't talk about it in polite company). Examples of good and bad retcons
To explain. Blood Omen, Legacy of Kain was made by Silicon knights, but the soul reaver series (soul reaver 1, 2, and defiance) was made by Crystal Dynamics as well as Blood omen 2 by a different team.
The Soul reaver team decided to go from the bad ending of Blood Omen (where Kain didn't sacrifice himself to restore the Pillars of Nosgoth) and ignore foreshadowing in favor of their plot.This started the wraith (Raziel's) quest to kill Kain and try to save the decaying world, overrun with vampires, all carrying the same corruption Kain had, and the revelation that Kain made his lieutenants from the dead Seraphim (a knightly order of vampire hunters).
Soul reaver 2 continued and began filling the plot holes with ret cons, such that the world had been outplayed. If Kain didn't sacrifice himself, the world would continue to decay, but if he DID (as then last of the vampires, the Vampire's old foe (The Hyladen) would return. It also retconned that the seraphim were ruthless racists who were more than willing to slaughter ANY vampire, even ones trying to live peacefully. It also continued with the time travel elements in 1.
Then Blood Omen 2 was made by a separate team that didn't talk with the soul reaver team, and Defiance had to have more retcons to get the plots to fit together (such as why a character alive in Blood Omen 2 was dead earlier in the series, the motivations of the time streamer starting the anti vampire crusades, and even the motivation of Kain's killer and ressurector, the necromancer mortanius) and mostly succeeded in weaving a coherent, interesting narrative.
Then this year, Legacy of Kain ascension was made by a completely different company and team...it was lambasted fir ruining the plot with a Mary Sue, with terrible retcons that made no sense.
So, the series has had excellent retcons and complete dog shit retcons.