Soul Reaver 2 prologue

"Raziel... Redeemer and destroyer. Pawn and messiah. Welcome, time-spanned soul. Welcome... to your destiny."

- Moebius

Prologue is the introduction chapter to Soul Reaver 2, presented as a cinematic which recaps the concluding events of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The chapter shows a slightly altered version of the confrontation between Raziel and Kain at the Chronoplast and follows Raziel as he pursues Kain through a portal into the past and is met by Moebius.

Profile

 * Name: Prologue
 * Classification: Soul Reaver 2 chapters
 * Game: Soul Reaver 2
 * Protagonist • Raziel
 * Objectives: N/A
 * Setpieces: • The Chronoplast • The Time-streaming chambers
 * Era: The Soul Reaver era • The pre-Blood Omen era
 * Timeline: • The second timeline
 * Preceded by: Showdown With Kain
 * Followed by: A Reaver in Time

Plot
In pursuit of his former master Kain, Raziel enters the Chronoplast - the long abandoned Time-streaming chamber of deceased Time Guardian, Moebius - to find Kain awaiting him in the main chamber. As Kain slowly activates the dials of the chamber, they two begin to debate the morality of their actions - of Raziel's murder of his brothers and of Kain's ordering Raziel's execution. Kain responds to Raziel's furious challenges by explaining his discovery and study of the Chronoplast, and his conclusion that Fate is predestined and Free will is an illusion. Raziel angrily changes the subject to Kain's blasphemous raising of Sarafan saints to be his lieutenants as he lunges at Kain, but Kain is easily able to rebuff Raziel's attack. Raziel once again praises the martyrs of the Sarafan succeeding in pinning Kain against a wall, but Kain denounces their agenda as merely lust for power and once again escapes Raziel's grasp, knocking him to the floor.

Mocking Raziel, Kain throws the last dial, activating a time portal and promises more dramatic turns before escaping through the portal. Raziel rushes across to the portal and - pausing only briefly to draw the Wraith Blade - he passes through the threshold. As the smoke clears a voice addresses Raziel by name and the figure of Moebius himself appears and welcomes Raziel to his destiny.

Conclusions

 * Seeking revenge for his execution, revived wraith Raziel has eliminated his brothers and after discovering their shared heritage in their human lives as Sarafan warriors, has pursued their master Kain to the Chronoplast – a Time-streaming chamber once occupied by legendary Time Guardian Moebius.
 * Kain discovered the Chronoplast centuries earlier and has spent some time studying the Time-stream, coming to the conclusion that the future is predestined and Free will is an illusion.
 * Kain has rebutted Raziel altruistic beliefs about the Sarafan and retreated through a time-portal into Nosgoth's past.
 * Raziel has followed Kain through, and has been met by Moebius himself on the other side.

Background
The Chronoplast confrontation between Kain and Raziel appears as the location of the final boss battle in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in the final chapter Showdown With Kain, and this confrontation is revisited and recapped in GlyphX's Soul Reaver 2 opening video, with some minor dialogue edits and more cinematic action. Several other design changes were seen between the renditions of the chamber, though it essentially maintained the same structure:


 * Raziel's line "I will not applaud your clever blasphemy" is removed.
 * Both Raziel's line "You are lost in a maze of moral relativism, Kain. These apparitions and portents... what game are you playing now?" and Kain's return "Destiny is a game, is it not? And now you await my latest move..." – which led into the battle in Soul Reaver are removed.
 * The Elder God's warning "Be warned, Raziel – once you cross this threshold, you are beyond my influence..." is removed.
 * The final epitaph read by Moebius "Where Time is but a Loop, A Loose Stitch in the Universal Cloth, A Streamer might Seize upon a Chance, a Fatal slip – And plunge the Fate of Planets into Chaos..." is removed.

Ultimately whereas the Soul Reaver area was designed by Crystal Dynamics developers as a boss arena, the Soul Reaver 2 area was designed by GlyphX and was to be used purely for a cutscene full-motion video using the upgraded technologies of the Playstation 2 over the Playstation and thus the area was redesigned for more cinematic action. The production of the Soul Reaver 2 introductory Prologue also caused some conflict between the developer and animation studio centering on the amount of action and effects that should be present in the scene. One animator commented: