Update archives:

Fan Works & Soundtracks--June 8th, 2010

Nosgothic Realm turned eleven years old on the 3rd of this month, and having been unable to work on it for the past several months, there's a lot for me to get caught up on.

22 relatively high resolution images from Soul Reaver's opening animation have been added to the Soul Reaver gallery of promotional images. These images were formerly hosted on GlyphX's website. With that website presently deactivated, I decided to preserve them here for the time being.

I added a new map of Nosgoth to the Defiance section of the site.

Thanks to official material provided by Ben Lincoln of TheLostWorlds.net, additional scene descriptions have been added throughout the Blood Omen dialogue section.  Now, like the dialogue sections for the later games in the series, and in an effort to better convey the writers’ vision, these scene descriptions quote the official script for Blood Omen as much as possible, changing only what was necessary to reflect the final product of the game.

The site received another gift this update in the form of the complete soundtracks for both Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 from NR and Eidos forum member, Raina Audron (a.k.a. theAncientVampire). Most of these tracks were recorded manually, and include all variations of the music for each area of the games.

In addition to 11 new fan arts, and a new set of fan wallpapers, there are 2 very long new fan fictions, including the conclusion of Okida's "Blood Omen 3", (which, in my own opinion, any official continuation of the series would be hardpressed to outdo). Okida is now considering an audio drama adaptation of this story, and would welcome auditions from LoK fans who are interested in participating as voice actors. Feel free to contact him for more information.

There are several major LoK fan projects underway at present, and NR's main Links page has once again been redone to point those interested toward a few of the most ambitious examples, including two separate team efforts to remake the original Blood Omen in updated graphics, and an interactive combination map/timeline of Nosgoth.

Fan Works, Images, Downloads, & SR Gameplay--November 23rd, 2009

This update is much later than I would have liked on account that I ended up working on too many experimental projects for the site simultaneously.  The majority of what I’ve been working on is not included in this update because it still is incomplete, but I will continue to work on these more complex projects. 

In Fan Works, there are 5 new fan wallpapers, 8 new fan art submissions, and 3 new fan fics, (including one continuation, a Twilight crossover, and a new multi-chapter epic).

A map of Meridian has been added to BO2’s Maps page that was restored from an illustration in the game’s manual and generously sent in by NR visitor, Daniel Von Stein.

Various images have been added to the image galleries for each game, some of which are new, while others are better quality replacements for images that were in the galleries previously. 

The cast photos from Defiance’s bonus material have been added to Defiance’s Credits page. 

The Link banner for a Polish LoK fan site has been added to the main Links page.   

A Downloads section has been added to each game’s section of the site.  Under these sections you will find the screensavers that Eidos distributed for SR2 and Defiance, as well as freeware fonts that were created by DarkAngelGenesis based on the logos of Soul Reaver and BO2, and the freeware font, “Lovecraft’s Diary” by Blambot Comic Fonts that was featured in Defiance.  

Content concerning Soul Reaver’s gameplay features that was originally on the site years ago has been revised and restored.  I decided to retain the narrative tone of the information, because I found that it added to my enjoyment of revisiting the game recently, and am considering eventually adding similar content to the site for the other games in the series.

Cartography--August 14th, 2009

With thanks to NR and Eidos forum member, Shrykull (Guilherme Coelho) the Soul Reaver section of the site now has a map detailing all the locations from that game, and the Blood Omen section has a map that compares in-game environments from Blood Omen to the drawn Blood Omen map that came with the PC version of the game. From Shrykull: "The geography in Nosgoth seems, to me, to be a very important/relevant, or even attractive, subject in all this...I’m happy to share all this with the interested fans, and I hope it draws some new attention to their eyes. =) "

I also touched up the images of the maps for Blood Omen and Blood Omen 2 that were on the site previously, and recreated the maps for Soul Reaver 2 to provide better quality images.

In fan works, there is a new chapter in an ongoing fan fic, and 7 new fan arts.

"Blood Omen 2" Dialogue Section--June 29th, 2009

The “Blood Omen 2” illustrated dialogue section is complete.  Though I very sincerely hope never to see another game bearing the LoK title with dialogue that cheesy and out of character, at least it is there for the reference of NR’s visitors, (and, though it was no compensation for the story, I generally enjoyed BO2’s gameplay while putting it together).

A few more link banners have been added to the Links pages, including one for a work-in-progress fan game, titled Prodigal Sons.

There is also a new fan art, and three new fan fics that are definitely worth checking out!

Square Enix Purchases Eidos--April 26th, 2009

On March 25th, Eidos’ shareholders voted in favor of the takeover by Square Enix by an overwhelming majority.  In accordance with a multi-step plan made jointly by the companies, Square Enix will officially acquire everything owned by Eidos on May 6th. Gamers.com reports the promising hearsay that “Square will let Eidos continue to operate out of London and maintain its independence as a developer.”  Hopefully Square’s financial support will prevent the need for further downsizing of Crystal Dynamics beyond the layoffs of thirty people that occurred last January.  Unfortunately there has still not yet been any mention of specific interest in the Legacy of Kain franchise.  However, if the economy improves, and this takeover proves as mutually beneficial as reports predict, who knows what could happen in time. The fanbase is out there.

This update, there are 2 new fan fics (one being a continuation) and 6 new fan arts of various mediums.  I also gave some attention to minor maintenance of the forum and added a batch of color images to the Blood Omen Concept Art page, taken from scans of the artwork on the map of Nosgoth that was released with the Blood Omen strategy guide made by Prima. (Eleven of these images had previously been posted in black and white, but the other three are new to that page.)

Square Enix Makes Offer on Eidos--February 26th, 2009

News hit the internet on February 12th that Square Enix has made a strong offer for the purchase of LoK publisher, Eidos.  While reports said at the time that it is still possible for another party to outbid the offer, the directors of both companies, and some of Eidos’ major shareholders, have already stated their support of the deal.  Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, was quoted as saying, “Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers. Eidos’ products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets. We believe that wide range of both companies’ quality products encompassing major genres will enable us to meet diversified customers’ expectations upon a global basis.” 
At this time, I do not know what this will mean for Crystal Dynamics or Legacy of Kain.  Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, and Kane and Lynch were listed in reports as leading franchises of interest to Square Enix.  LoK was not specifically mentioned, which may or may not be significant.  Along with most of you reading this, I hope that the company to purchase Eidos either provides the resources that CD needs to continue the LoK series, or that if the rights to LoK are sold elsewhere, they are sold to a company that can expand upon the storyline and characters with continuity and careful consideration of fan input.

In news pertaining to Nosgothic Realm, there is a new fan fic and three new fan art submissions. I have revised the rules for fan art submissions to accept digital manipulations under certain conditions. There is a new guestbook. A link can be found in its header to the previous guestbook, which was overfull. (Thank you to everyone who has signed it over the years!) The dialogue mp3's for Soul Reaver that were once hosted here have been restored to SR's Downloads page. More work has been done on the Links pages, and more is still to come. I’ve also added a few more images to the Image galleries for the different games. Though I cannot promise if or when my efforts will be successful, a serious attempt is being made to redesign NR with an improved appearance that better accommodates current standards for browsers and screen resolutions. My thanks to professional website developer and fellow LoK fan, Hadi Abu Rislan for all his advice in this regard.

Links Section Update--January 14th, 2009

I have begun to update the Links pages for each section of the site, and plan to continue doing so in the future.

There are 2 new fan arts and 2 new fan fics.

In light of the uncovered news concerning work on a sixth LoK game that was cancelled in 2004, I’ve also decided to advertise two fan-made petitions requesting the continuation of the series.  I don’t know if they will make any difference, and I still have absolutely no desire to pressure the creators of the games to produce a new chapter in LoK before they have the time, funds, people, and ideas necessary to do the story justice.  But after all this time, I hope that showing those in charge how much this series is loved will encourage them to start thinking about it again, especially if they already had ideas for where to take it next, which they may have been counting on having a chance to address in a next game when they left things as they were at the end of Defiance.  Those petitions can be found at the below addresses:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/956307323
http://www.petitiononline.com/LOK10010/

SR2 Dialogue, Fan Works, & Cancelled Game News--December 9th, 2008

The Soul Reaver 2 dialogue section is finally up.  (I would later like to improve the design for all the dialogue sections on NR, but for now it is in the same format as the others on this site.)  Dark-Chronicle.co.uk has had its own copy of the SR2 script online for years, and remains a great reference that is easy to navigate.  My own version is an illustrated alternative, with some additional detail from the official script that wasn’t included in the game’s “Dark Chronicle” feature.

There are 4 new fan-arts, 1 new fan fic, and 5 new fan wallpapers.

It is also worth mentioning that members of the fan community have discovered what appears to be evidence of a sixth LoK game that was terminated only a few months into its production back in 2004. More details on this news can be found on:
The Lost Worlds fan site, at http://www.thelostworlds.net/,
Nosgothic Realm’s forum, at http://nosgoth.yuku.com/topic/5561, and
Eidos’ forum, at http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=82419

While I do not know the reason/s “Dark Prophecy” was cancelled at this time, its cancellation should not be considered the death of hope that the series will ever be continued.  I, for one, hope that if there is another game, the creators will take all the time they need to do the existing mythos and characters justice, whether that means continuing in the direction they were going with Dark Prophecy or not.  But please feel free to inform them of your interest in another game at the below address. :)

Crystal Dynamics
Attention: Chris Bruno (or) Legacy of Kain Series Team
1300 Seaport Blvd. Suite 100
Redwood City, CA
94063-5538
USA

New Fan Works--October 16th, 2008

There are 26 new fan-arts, 1 new fan fic, and 1 new fan wallpaper.

I've also heard some interest in fan animations. If you've done a LoK Flash-style animation, You Tube video, or even any other type of LoK fan project that isn't currently displayed on NR, and would like to submit it, you are welcome to bring it to my attention through email at . It will take me some time, but if I get enough fan works of a particular category, I will look into making a new section for them on the site.

New Fan Arts and Fan Fics--September 12th, 2008

22 new fan arts and 2 new fan fics, (one being the continuation of a previously submitted fic) have been added to the site. I have decided to leave the fan fics from last update marked as "new" a bit longer because there were a lot of them, and I know they take time to read. I wanted to give them all a better chance at getting the attention they deserve.

Again, if anyone has previously submitted fan works to Nosgothic Realm in the past three years that were not added to the site, I'm very sorry to say that they may have been lost during the change in management, and would welcome re-submissions to .

An illustrated SR2 dialogue section is underway.

Recovery--August 9th, 2008

Nosgothic Realm is finally back to being operational. Due to the fact that the website has been abandoned and relinquished by its founder, (my former partner, “Wolf Reven”) I will be maintaining it on my own from now on. I have been doing work for this site since shortly after its creation in 1999, but lacked the knowledge of how to create, modify, and upload web pages on my own.  Without any idea where to start, it took me over a year to find a way of safely altering the site's online content through web design classes, books, and online help.  Even then, there was a lot to fix and redo. For this reason, I was unable to post any notice of the site’s status, or to remove Wolf’s obsolete contact information before now.  If anyone has submitted fan works to Cyborreaver@hotmail.com or Cyborreaver@nosgoth.net in the past three years, and you do not see them on the site, there is a good chance that they were lost.  Much as I regret asking this of people, please resend them to .  I have no contact with Wolf, and am unable to retrieve emails that were sent to her.  I know there are some great LoK fan creations out there, and I would love to host them. 

This update includes 28 new fan arts and 16 new fan fics. (Some of which have been waiting a very long time to get posted and are exceptionally good!)  The updates newsletter has also been cleaned out of defunct addresses, so feel free to make use of it.

While college will continue to be a priority in my life, I do hope to post updates for this site much more frequently now that I have the means to do so independently.  I am, however, still relatively new to web design, so if anyone is having difficulty viewing any aspect of NR, please let me know.  I’m very glad to be back. There are many projects that I look forward to pursuing for this site and for LoK.  I only regret that it wasn’t possible much sooner. 

I would like to express my sincere condolences regarding the deaths of voice actor, Tony Jay and LoK: Defiance game designer, Kyle Mannerberg, which both occurred since this site’s last update. As most of you probably know, Tony Jay helped bring the Elder and original Mortanius to life with his distinctively ominous voice. I only met Kyle briefly through email years ago when Amy Hennig helped put Wolf and I in contact with him after she left Crystal Dynamics, but I was very impressed by him, and I was very upset when I learned that we had lost him in this manner.

There are several people who I would like to thank for helping to make this update possible. Marie Walter, of the Dark Chronicle LoK fan site, Stephanie Reinking, who recently graduated as a professional graphic designer, and several members of the Realm’s forum all came forward to offer their assistance. Bart Przystawko, (“Baato”) whose new fan fic is included in this update, provided me with invaluable tech support. And, of course, thank you to everyone who submitted their fan works, compounding my motive to see the revival of NR through.

I don’t know if another worthy LoK game will ever be possible, but the existing games continue to generate inspiration, food for thought, and fuel for imagination. May they live on for eternity.

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