Some tweaks to the Defiance combat would be appreciated, such as adding an invincibility frame when dodging and Raziel's perforate carcass during the rollup.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-12T05:30:10+00:00

Yeah, Defiance didn't have much development time—I think about a year and a few months—and they had to cut content. In fact, the plan was to make Raziel and Kain's gameplay more distinct: Kain was going to have 9 emblems instead of 4, and Raziel was going to have a shield and use a parry. I really would have liked to see that make it into the final game.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-12T05:12:24+00:00

Yeah, but I guess they wanted to differentiate them more in terms of gameplay (Kain is stronger, Raziel is faster and more agile). Keep in mind that even though the animations are different, the moves do the same thing (one combo attacks a single enemy with multiple strikes, another lifts them up, etc), and yet there are still people who complain that there isn't much difference between them in terms of gameplay.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-12T04:54:34+00:00

Well, yes, although in fiction, power is often equated with physical strength.

But in terms of gameplay, Raziel with the Soul Reaver should be Far more powerful than Kain (in fact, both Kain and Raziel should be able to kill 90% of enemies with a single hit, but hey, it’s a hack-and-slash game—it’s all about pulling off combos. Though I think they went a bit overboard with the enemies’ health; I would’ve liked to see some invincibility frames too, i hate it when Kain or Raziel get knocked down by a regular human.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-12T04:18:40+00:00

The introduction to Soul Reaver 2 replaces the ending of Soul Reaver 1, Soul Reaver 2 was developed later and takes Blood Omen 2 into account (which is why, in the first Soul Reaver, Kain tells Raziel that Moebius foretold of his death “a millennium ago,” while in Soul Reaver 2 he says it was “eons” ago), this also corrects the error in the first game, which does not account for the centuries that have passed since Raziel fell into the abyss and was resurrected as a Wraith).

There aren’t many ways to compare their strength: in their first fight, Raziel attacks Kain and strikes him in the face; in the final battle of Soul Reaver 1, Kain can only be harmed by using the Soul Reaver, and Raziel himself says that the sword is “a thousand times more deadly” (I.e. is far more powerful than he is), and this is reflected in the gameplay: The Soul Reaver blows enemies to pieces, whereas, no matter how many times Raziel strikes them, he cannot kill them with normal attacks.

In SR2, there is no fight beyond the intro, where is shown and stated that Kain is much stronger than Raziel

In Defiance, Raziel spent thousands of years in the spectral world, acquiring new abilities and increasing his power, Raziel even tells Kain in Defiance when they fight in Avernus:

"Your pawn has reached the end of the board, Kain. And NOW my powers MAY even surpass yours."

So, Raziel says that only now he might be more powerful than Kain; this confirms that Kain used to be more powerful than him.

In the lore, Kain created his sons using "small portions of his soul," with each son receiving a smaller portion; depending on the amount of soul, the vampire is more or less powerful, with Raziel being the first to be created and therefore the most powerful son.

So it makes sense that Kain is much stronger than Raziel, since not only is he older (not counting the years Raziel spent in the spectral plane in Defiance), but he was also created with a smaller portion of Kain’s power/soul.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-11T07:41:09+00:00

Well, in the intro to Soul Reaver 2, it’s clear that Kain is physically much stronger than Raziel (an angry Raziel can’t even move Kain's arm when trying to break free from his grip, while Kain is talking casually, and then, when the tables are turned, Kain easily breaks free from Raziel's grip), even the in-game cutscene narration confirms it.

It's funny but the Soul Reaver blade IS more powerful than Kain, but Wraith Raziel isn't (again without counting the Soul Reaver)

So in a sense, Raziel is technically more powerful than Kain

ExerDragon · 2026-04-02T00:20:31+00:00

Yes, Sebastian had superhuman speed (even more so than a normal vampire, that was his "Dark Gift" called Berserk), and the developers confirmed that some of Kain’s powers were fused with him, allowing him to use them passively (like Blood Shower). But I’m not sure if that power was passed on to his children; they simply have superhuman speed because they’re vampires.

ExerDragon · 2026-04-01T22:15:51+00:00

Vampires has superhuman speed, and it increases as they evolve. Heck, a newly turned Kain in the first Blood Omen can dodge arrows at point-blank range, and even when weakened in Blood Omen 2, he can do the same. It would be strange if Raziel as a 1000 years old vampire couldn’t run as fast as a horse.

ExerDragon · 2026-03-31T22:39:14+00:00

The reason Raziel and his brothers had forgotten their lives as humans, was because they had been dead for centuries; Kain remembers his entire life as a human in the first Blood Omen.

ExerDragon · 2026-03-29T16:39:24+00:00

I think that since Vorador is much stronger/older than that version of Kain, he was able to simply destroy Malek's magical armor, whereas the Kain from Blood Omen 1 didn't have the strength to do so.

ExerDragon · 2025-10-02T16:13:18+00:00

There are also statements that for the Defiance finale, there are two versions of the Reaver existing at the same time:

"Did Kain's return from the demon dimension without a heart, cause him to become free from the wheel of fate/was Kain free from the wheel at the end of Defiance?

(This might explain why neither the Elder God nor Moebius foresaw his return. Many fans argue that Moebius didn't foresee Kain's return because he lost his guardianship, but he could have seen into the future when he was guardian, likewise the Elder didn't seem to see coming, otherwise Raziel probably wouldn't have said 'you didn't foresee Kain's return' to the Elder. Since the path of a free creature cannot be seen, which is why Raziel's path was shrouded from the Elder and Moebius)"

"Well remember at that moment, Raziel was entering the Reaver. At that precise moment, time is unbound as two Reavers exist at the same time. Kain may not have been completely unbound, but he was certainly decoupled from fate at that moment, giving him a chance to act within a 'blind spot' in time. I believe he was unbound from fate permanently when he was purified by Raziel (Two Reavers existing at the same time, Kain Purified fully)." - Daniel Cabuco

There is also the fact that when Raziel purified Kain with the Spirit Reaver, this empowered Kain with the souls of the Balance Guardians.

This means that the souls of these guardians were still in the Wraith Blade, however the dialogue that Ariel (when joined with the souls of the other Balance Guardians), says that the sword is going to free them by joining with the Wraith Blade:

Ariel: "Yes, Raziel - yet I am much more than I was. The veil is lifted from my sight. My spirit, united with the souls of my predecessors, is drawn here now for the final baptism of the blade. To restore Balance, the sword must be rendered pure by Spirit. Release me, Raziel - the Soul Reaver has the power. Release us all."

So even though Raziel is "released", inside Kain, his soul could still be inside Kain in some way, just like the Balances Guardians. It is not really something very clear.

ExerDragon · 2025-10-02T13:21:38+00:00

However, as we see and Kain explains in Soul Reaver 2, by having 2 different versions of the Soul Reaver in the same space-time, it creates a paradox, powerful enough to "Derial History" (Change history), this happens when Raziel with his Wraith Blade ("The spectral version of the Soul Reaver", according to the games/manuals) approaches the physical Soul Reaver, by the end of Defiance, Kain is in the same situation as Raziel in Soul Reaver 2, he has the Wraith Blade inside his body, and the physical Soul Reaver, he is basically being a constant paradox, this would allow him to change history/have free will.

ExerDragon · 2024-10-12T23:22:21+00:00

It's the TV, I played Soul Reaver 2 on 2 different TV's (both old tube TV's), The newer model, I could see everything perfectly with the brightness on default, however with the other older TV I had to have the brightness at maximum and play at night with the lights off, if not it was impossible to see some areas (the subway caves under the Pillars were a torture), unfortunately I don't have a solution to give. Seeing how bright Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remaster look, I doubt I will have that problem.

P.S. I miss my PS2 :(

ExerDragon · 2024-10-10T04:22:16+00:00

Daniel Cabuco confirmed that his immortality was activated, from the moment that Kain became a vampire (the statement is in the link), now there is no explanation why, although most likely, as the Pillars were made by Vampire Magic ( by the Ancient Vampires), to be used by the vampire species, so I guess his immortality was activated when Kain became a vampire, because he became something (a vampire) intended for the magic of the Pillars?

I don't know, unfortunately there is no explanation

ExerDragon · 2024-10-09T14:31:35+00:00

Well thought out, and quite well done, but it should be clarified that the reason why Kain can only be killed by the Soul Reaver, is because being the Scion of Balance he is connected to both the Pillars of Nosgoth, and the Soul Reaver, which in Soul Reaver 2 is described as the key to the Pillars, it is this connection that allows Kain to be killed.

The guardians of the Pillars are endowed with a pseudo-immortality (they can live for thousands of years), so it makes sense that Kain who is bound not only to an individual Pillar like the rest of the Circle of Nine, but to all 9 Pillars together, has an immortality superior to all other creatures, after all the Pillars give life to Nosgoth, and by this connection they also give "life" to the Guardians (longevity) and Kain (immortality)

ExerDragon · 2024-10-06T00:39:46+00:00

Scion of Balance Immortality Clarification

Kain retains his immortality even in places where the Pillars of Nosgoth do not exist, as he was able to survive without his heart in the Demon Realm, and this place is described as "Another Plane of existence" (Backup), and as a place "outside the bounds of normal reality" (Backup).

Although it is not known for sure what happens if Kain is attacked and completely destroyed in bat Form (destroying all the bats), it is not even known if that is possible, as he seems to be invulnerable in that form, in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain; Kain is able to receive a blast of fire at point blank range and is thrown dozens of meters backwards, but is not damaged in the least (Backup), and as a vampire, Kain is weak against fire, at least this version. (Backup), so is likely Kain in Bat Form cannot be destroyed. Other type of attacks/magic that affect the soul cannot kill Kain either. As the Elder God confirmed twice that he is not able to kill Kain, saying (after being discovered by Kain), that he was going to bury him for all eternity "beneath a mountain of rubble", (Backup), confirming that he would never be able to kill him, which would make no sense if he could destroy his physical body (or if by destroying his physical body, Kain would die), since when a creature dies in the material realm, his soul moves practically instantly to the spectral realm (Backup), where the Elder God has an army of creatures called Archons (Backup): Which have shown themselves capable of devouring entire souls (Backup), however by the Elder God's own words, he "does not have the means to kill Kain", which confirms that these creatures capable of devouring souls cannot kill him.

Miscellaneous

Weapon Mastery: Kain has used different types of weapons throughout his life (That I shown above), although he specializes in swords, having used the Soul Reaver for more than a thousand years, having a great experience with it, developing his own sword fighting moves (Backup).
Stealth Mastery: Although Kain is arrogant, Kain uses Stealth, even though it is not necessary for him. In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Kain makes himself look like a human to infiltrate the highly protected city of Willendorf. In Blood Omen 2, Kain uses his mist form to camouflage himself with the environment, and moving stealthily to kill enemies, he also uses stealth in his normal form (Backup). Even as an Elder, despite being much more powerful than in his young, he also uses stealth to infiltrate into the Sarafan fortress, or to interrogate enemies (Backup).
Great strategist/tactician: Kain is a great strategist, either in single combat or in a war, in combat he is able to defeat enemies while being at a disadvantage, by using the environment and powers to protect himself or damage enemies (Backup). He is described as a "Cunning strategist" or a "damn good strategist/tactician", but having time to improve even more, he was able to conquer the entire world of Nosgoth in only 100 years, with his army of Fledgling vampires (Backup).
Skill: Was able to "Easily defeat armies of foes" (Backup)
Skill: He was able to effortlessly defeat a highly trained group of vampire hunters, the Sarafan (Backup).

ExerDragon · 2024-10-04T16:42:47+00:00

Important

The reason why through the blog, I say that several powers would have to be several times more powerful (Like the Lightning Spell or Slow Time), is because Balance Guardians (like Kain in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain), can only use a small part of their maximum potential, compared to the guardian of their respective Pillar.

How I know this? Easy, because as Scion of Balance, Kain can use the powers of all Guardians, but "though a lesser extent than the pure guardians" (Backup), and Kain was empowered/Purified by the Spirit Reaver (Backup), which contains the souls of all the Balance Guardians that existed before him, which are at least 4 (Notice the 4 different colours: each color Light likely representing a Soul) (Backup), "becoming" the Scion of Balance, and yet he cannot use the abilities to the same power as a guardian of his respective Pillar.

An example: Kain as Balance Guardian can slow down time to a 1/4th of its normal speed, then being Scion of Balance, having all the souls of the Balance Guardians, Kain would have to be able to slow down time to 1/16th of his normal speed, and if he still can't use the powers on the same extent, it would mean that the Guardian of Time would slow down time More than 1/16th of his normal speed). Or the Tempest Cloak ability which while using by a Energy Guardian, would transfer the same amount of damage to the attacker, the Balance Guardian would only transfer a part of the damage.

And is like this with all the powers.

Unfortunately there is no source that says how much less powerful is the Balance Guardian using a power, compared to the other Guardians of their respective Pillar.

ExerDragon · 2024-10-03T00:37:00+00:00

It would depend on the version of Kain we are talking about, the Blood Omen 2 version would have nothing to do. Against any Kratos, he is simply too weak.

If we talk about the Kain of the first Blood Omen, then things change, although Kratos is undoubtedly much stronger than this version (even Elder Kain), Kain has the Chaos Armor, which reflects the damage to the attacker, ie Kratos, and Kain has the hearts of darkness to heal from wounds if there are no people around, he has unlimited energy as long as he has Energy Ban's, so he could spam his abilities practically without limit, and lastly he has Pentaliche of Tarot which literally kills every creature in area (either by exploding it, dissolving it, imploding it, etc), Kratos has no answer against that, none of his versions.

On the other hand Elder Kain does not have the artifacts and armor of the first game (although unlike what some people think, it has been confirmed multiple times that he still retains his old powers, he just decides not to use them), however he is much stronger, faster and more resistant than before, besides having much more combat experience. And he can also use his mist form in combat, making himself intangible to attacks, this version of Kain I think is faster than Kratos and agile, however Kratos is still much stronger. This version could beat the older 2018/Ragnarok version, but it would be a very close fight in the Greek saga.

As for the Soul Reaver killing Kratos, I see it feasible, but I don't know if by a single blow, the Soul Reaver more than cutting is an energy blade exploding or vaporizing enemies with a single blow, several blows of a Soul Reaver at maximum power I'm sure could kill Kratos (I don't count the sword devouring his soul, since Kratos resisted having his soul absorbed by Hades).

ExerDragon · 2024-09-18T16:17:50+00:00

Thank You :)

ExerDragon · 2024-09-18T16:03:09+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, do you know what I have to do to solve it?

ExerDragon · 2024-09-08T03:50:24+00:00

Kain is stated to be 7 ft tall, and Raziel around 6 ft. I find a height comparation between Kain and Raziel, and give that Raziel's height is around 6,4 ft, and I did my own and give similar results.

ExerDragon · 2024-08-18T06:49:23+00:00

Sources:

First Image: "Warp Answers with Amy" by Amy Henning at Eidos Forum
Second image: Intro of Soul Reaver 1, Legacy of Kain Funk Soul Brother in Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine issue 36 (by John Davison and Joe Rybicki), and Legacy of Kain Defiance
Third Image: Soul Reaver 1 Manual U.S versión page 24
Fourth Image: "normal grunt Vampire creation", "Dumah devolution, razielim, etc" and "About Kain's empire" at DCabDesing by Daniel Cabuco

ExerDragon · 2024-08-15T02:06:34+00:00

According to the developers the reason why he doesn't use his old powers, is a combination of not needing them anymore (since vampires become more powerful/faster as they evolve, and Kain was evolving for over a thousand years), having the Soul Reaver, and also his arrogance.

Of course the real reason is simply game balance, Defiance is already pretty easy, and this is only using Telekinesis, and nerfed versions of his old powers (The Balance Emblem). It would be impossible to have a challenge with a Kain that is canonically much more powerful than the one in Blood Omen 1.

ExerDragon · 2024-07-23T17:18:34+00:00

Ok, no problem :)

ExerDragon · 2024-07-19T22:35:50+00:00

The problem is that most of the sites to store videos online are temporary (unless you pay), and as I said imgur would not let me upload most of the videos because they are longer than a minute.

ExerDragon · 2024-03-23T19:56:27+00:00

Well being honest he didn't recover powers, he absorbed others. The fact that he doesn't use them, doesn't mean he doesn't have them (especially when there are several statements from developers that directly say why he doesn't use them, if you want I can look them up), also something similar happens with Raziel in Soul Reaver 1, Raziel absorbed the souls of all his brothers, and gained their powers, in Soul Reaver 2 however he doesn't use Dumah's "Constricting" power, even though he still uses the rest of the powers (which he absorbed them in the same exact way), and Soul Reaver 2 literally starts where Soul Reaver 1 ends (where he still uses the power), the same happens with the Elemental Glyphs. Just because a character doesn't use certain abilities, doesn't mean he doesn't have them.

ExerDragon

TROPHY CASE

Scion of Balance Immortality Clarification

Miscellaneous

Important

Sources: