Vista points, or vista markers, were environmental features encountered extensively in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. As Kain explored Nosgoth, he verbally commented on his surroundings; standing on a vista point would activate these soliloquies.
Profile[]
All vista points were represented as red, triangular sigils found at places of interest within Nosgoth. When Kain stepped on a point for the first time, it would activate. Audio vista points would play a scripted portion of dialogue, allowing him to uninterruptedly continue exploring while musing on his surroundings, whereas visual vista points would pause his travels to display stills of various areas of the land (usually also accompanied by dialogue).[Blood Omen]
By activating certain visual vista points in the overland, Kain would unlock the ability to travel to some major locations via Bat Form. These included Nupraptor's Retreat, Malek's Bastion, the Oracle's Cave, Dark Eden, Avernus Cathedral and Willendorf. Visual vista points were also frequently found at the foot of signs and signposts - when activated, they would display the signs in closer detail.[Blood Omen]
Vista points would cease to automatically play after being activated once, but Kain could still re-activate them at any time and replay his internal monologue.[Blood Omen]
Notes[]
- The sigil on the vista points resembles one of the symbols in Kain's magic meter.[Blood Omen]
- Vista points themselves are never addressed as a constituent part of the storyline in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, unlike, for example, save altars.[Blood Omen] They did not appear in any Legacy of Kain games after Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, being superseded by cutscenes which would play automatically as scripted events.[Soul Reaver][Soul Reaver 2][Blood Omen 2][Defiance] These factors may indicate that they are to be considered a non-diegetic element of the series - present in the original game for the benefit of the player, but not necessarily to be considered a "real" part of the Nosgoth universe.