Thursday, March 22, 2012

Game C1 : Blood Omen - Lord knows I've tried...

Ok, that's it. I'm done with that game. I started everything again from the beginning, pumping 5 more hours into it. I really enjoyed my second playthrough. I've searched every nook and cranny, taking notes on whatever seemed suspicious, and I realized I had missed a few nice things on my first try, including a whole new power! (and a great one at that, which could make the enemies go fight against each other).

I had secured a few other power-ups, and considering I was much more at ease with the battle system, I arrived at the same spot where I was stuck in half the time, and with a lot more items in my inventory.

And then, the same glitch happened.

It happens when you enter a dungeon called "Dark Eden". When you enter you have three doors, one on the front, one on your right and one on the left. The front and right doors are already opened. What I did in my first playthrough is that I went for the right door, found a switch there, which closed the front door... basically doing the reverse of every other switch since the beginning of the game who usually OPEN doors... Then I saved my game, thinking it was normal for the course of the game. After a few hours wandering around, I realized there was no other way around it, and considering two of the targets of my main quest were in this dungeon, I was basically fucked... (pardon my french, but I'm really pissed right now)

So I went for my second playthrough, really enjoying the game, really looking forward for the following of the adventure, understanding more and more of the fascinating story and lore that makes The Legacy of Kain. Then it's "Dark Eden" again. I won't go for the same mistake (I have a few backup saves too, this time). I go through the front door, battle a few foes, find a few items... then end up in another room, completely stuck.

Then I did what I swore I wouldn't do : I went for a walkthrough.

I've looked a few walkthroughs on the internet. They all say that the front door is locked at first. You're supposed to go through the right door, pull the switch, that's supposed to open the LEFT door (and not close the front one), then find another switch that finally opens the front door. I can only assume that, when you do that in this order, the rest of the dungeon works fine and you can proceed...

But I've tried and tried again, there is no way for me to open the left door.

Considering I seem to be the only one with this problem, I'm wondering why it happens. I can only think of one explanation : someone at Sony messed up big time when emulating the game for the PSN. It happened to me once with another product of the PSN : Silent Hill Origins. I bought the game, for 40 bucks, played it on my PSP, and the cutscenes simply didn't work... I contacted Sony, they told me thanks for the information, that nobody had told them about this problem, and that they were looking into it... and no, they wouldn't give me a refund, because it was against PSN policy... great.

I had to wait for three months for the correcting patch to appear. If I had been to my local used games stores, I could have fetched Silent Hill Origins on UMD for half the price, and it would have been in perfect working order.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong, maybe my Legacy of Kain glitch has another explanation, but anyway, I can't complete this game, and what's worse is that I had really really started enjoying it.

So thanks Sony, once again, you make a great advertisement for piracy!

I'm sorry about the bitter post, I'm sorry I didn't have any screenshot to put in it, and I'm sorry about the fact that I'm not sure I'll be able to put a COWARD rating on this game, considering I don't feel like I've had the chance to see how everything unfolds at the end.

Maybe I'll go through it again one day (on PC for sure), because even with all the glitches and poor combat controls, it was really a fascinating game.

Thanks again Sony. I want a refund for the last fifteen hours of my life.

5 comments:

  1. That sounds like a terrible glitch. I've only played the PlayStation version. Maybe you should report to Sony so someone else doesn't stumble upon it.

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    1. I'll probably will, but considering the really bad consumer service Sony has, I think I'll wait a bit for my anger to come down if I don't want to scream at an innocent employee ;)

      One day, I'll probably try to find an used original copy in order to play it on my PS2, but for now I think I'll move on to the other games on my list...

      I still feel bad about this game, I think I'll do a list of pros and cons before moving on, in the hope it will get someone to give it its chance (but not on the PSN version, please ;)

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  2. That really sucks Alfred!

    Is there a Let's Play out there that could at least let you know what happens at the end? Given how much of the game you've already played (twice), you could probably apply the COWARD rating to it after watching it.

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  3. Trickster has a good idea here. It's up to you, of course. I'm so sorry for your frustration. I would be so beside myself.

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  4. I'll follow your advice, guys. I've started watching a let's play and I think I'll be able to put a COWARD rating afterwards...

    Feels a bit like watching a friend playing a game at his place as he always refuse to let you try the game by yourself though ;)

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