A first bitter taste of that terrible illusion...

[Ardeth Silvereni]

Originally Posted by Zulgbrtzchllha

Oh I know about the Final Solution. I was just making a joke. A joke in bad taste of course.... Maybe I should have used a smiley.

Sorry! Text-based communication sucks at conveying humour/sarcasm/irony. I should know that by now!

[Linikratyo]

Right people, on Nosgothic Realm they have declared that according to this article there won't be a new LoK during E3

[Paradoks]

You are surprised? As I said - don't expect anything soon. Not until we get some hints that actually come from Eidos. Besides - look at Thief 4. That game was announced more than two years ago and they haven't even released a single artwork yet.

[Linikratyo]

I have a new theory, which might again be too far reached but alright. What if they started working on a LoK when Square Enix took over? and what if they decided to step back in order to take the time needed to make it really good... which is about 3 years (that was the case with Blood Omen, Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2 I thought) and if an announcement is to be made then that is usually made only a couple of months before its release, which means it would take at least another year. Again, it might not be very likely, for I doubt there is any team left at Crystal Dynamics to work on it, but what are your thoughts?

[Corlagon]

What if, what if. Nobody knows.

[Paradoks]

Originally Posted by Linikratyo

and if an announcement is to be made then that is usually made only a couple of months before its release

Like Thief 4?
But seriously - that would mean minimal fan feedback. Which could turn disastrous considering how many things can potentially go wrong with a LoK title.

Originally Posted by Corlagon

What if, what if. Nobody knows.

Exactly. Let's try not to speculate until we have some basis to do so.

On a side note - it's interesting how that one post on a forum has spread through the gaming sites. Even if it's fake than at least it has generated some noise about LoK.

[Xen]

Agreed all the noise about LOK on all these gaming might even get higher powers attention

[Linikratyo]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

Exactly. Let's try not to speculate until we have some basis to do so.

Well... there has been some basis. Soul Reaver in Legend, Game Informer magazine interview, the leakage of Dark Prophecy material, GoL character pack, the survey, the P3Zine article + all the other articles on the web.

Perhaps not anything strong for a basis, but a lot of hints indeed


But now all the prophecies have failed. We are the last of our kind and if Square Enix' hunters find us, it will all have been for nothing.

[Paradoks]

Originally Posted by Linikratyo

But now all the prophecies have failed. We are the last of our kind and if Square Enix' hunters find us, it will all have been for nothing.

Let them come. We will make them drown in their own blood (or acid, or ectoplasm - depending on what sort of hunters they send ).

[Linikratyo]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

Let them come. We will make them drown in their own blood (or acid, or ectoplasm - depending on what sort of hunters they send ).

and then their dogs will feast on their corpses!

[Pietras]

Obviously no idea if related but maybe?

Originally Posted by @CrystalDKarl

@lazygamers dude, I am so taking a break for a few weeks. Need my energy and focus for our unannounced project over the next few months

source: http://twitter.com/#!/CrystalDKarl/s...71307995680768

Karl Stewart is of course CD's Global Brand Director. Could they be gearing up for a project reveal? It surely can't be their new IP project as that one is only starting. If the survey leak was true and Eidos was testing names for new LOK game, it would fit that they would do that a few months prior the reveal.

Anyway, just letting you know, don' kill the messenger if it turns out to be nothing LOK-related.

[Paradoks]

Originally Posted by Pietras

Obviously no idea if related but maybe?

Most probably that new IP that we've heard about. But you never know.

[Shreav]

Year after year... I feel like I'm drowning in disappointment.

I need an LoK game. It's been too long since I last had one. Far too long, and I'm losing control of my body.

[Paradoks]

Originally Posted by Shreav

Year after year... I feel like I'm drowning in disappointment.

No, no, no! Disappointments go here. This thread is for optimism .

[Pietras]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

Most probably that new IP that we've heard about. But you never know.

Once again, it can't be. That one is only starting, they just hired a guy to put a team together. Karl's job is marketing/image of their brands & franchises etc. If he's doing some heavy work, it means they're preparing marketing/brand presentation IMO. Hence why I think they're prepping a reveal.

[Paradoks]

I still think that this new IP is in fact Downfall and we know that some work has been done on that one already. And even if it isn't - it won't really be "just started" in the next few months when they reveal it.

[Pietras]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

I still think that this new IP is in fact Downfall and we know that some work has been done on that one already. And even if it isn't - it won't really be "just started" in the next few months when they reveal it.

It takes like 3 years to create a new IP from scratch (at least). If they've began to put a team for it just now, there's absolutely no way they would reveal it this year. Late 2012/2013 at the very earliest.

Downfall got canned years ago and many of the ideas from it are already being incorporated into TReboot.

Also, the project is not a sequel to Lara Croft and GOL, they've confirmed they ain't working on it nor plan to work: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/10/cr...game-focus-is/

[Paradoks]

The fact that Downfall was cancelled doesn't mean anything. Chakan 2 was also cancelled and we all know how that ended up. But let's just wait and see.

[Shreav]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

No, no, no! Disappointments go here. This thread is for optimism .

My bad. I was to be optimistic, though. Is there any reason to be?

[Bazielim]

Originally Posted by Paradoks

Chakan 2 was also cancelled and we all know how that ended up.

Yep - it was cancelled! 'Shifter' is the only one that got 'absorbed' into LoK;
and it's an irritating unsupported belief that many think Chakan/Sirens was, despite developer comments that the similarity is all about the artwork of Steve Ross (who as lead artist has simply brought up similar themes). BO2 may have been partially inspired by 'Chakan 2' and 'Sirens' but they did not 'become' BO2.

[Paradoks]

Don't tell me this doesn't look familiar (not just the art style).

[Bazielim]

Wow that's some interesting generic animations, with nothing there to suggest anything.
Seriously -the only semi-official words about it are by Steve Ross admitting similarity because he was Art Director on all three; anything beyond that is a "fans want to believe" situation - I'm well aware that many believe this as 'fact', but it does not stand up to scrutiny. It seems to me that many have read the article on TLW and just ignored the bits they didn't like...

And as someone who's working on cataloguing the series, I find bits where 'fans' ignore official words to promote their own beliefs about the series quite irritating, I'm sure you can appreciate. Believe what you want - just don't promote it as fact when it isn't. Don't let me de-rail the optimism though

[Paradoks]

You see generic animations - I see animations strikingly similar to Blood Omen 2 (I refer to the "long jump" here). Simply something that convinces me does not convince you. But you are right that it was a poor choice of words on my side, because indeed I have no hard evidence, just strong (personal opinion) circumstantial evidence.
Besides - I can't remember anyone at Eidos ever officially saying anything about Shifter being turned into Soul Reaver so technically it's also just a theory .
And I think that we can generally agree that we will never know the full story behind Chakan.

My point was that assets can be easily redone to suit other projects.

On a side note - Steven Ross is working on a side project - a graphic novel called Sirens.

[Bazielim]

Yeah I see your point, regardless of whether Chakan/Sirens had much influence on BO2; Cancelled Games can be re-worked etc. As I say, as an admin on the wiki, I generally have to be quite strict on what is canon and what's fanon.

Shifter is a bit of a weird case because it was 'semi-fanon' until fairly recently, where it has gone up to a slightly higher degree of 'officialness' - as it is now credited on artist websites as 'Shifter'. Which is why we have a page/pages at the Wiki for Shifter (and that's one of our 'complete' , referenced ones). The Chakan/Sirens theory does not have the same support to be able to pull it away from the 'fanon' category really and personally, I really don't see 'Jump' at all in those animations, (all that looks reminiscent to me is the Hylden Warrior's 'two blade lunge', which is hardly unique to BO2). I'd agree though we probably won't hear anymore on the subject so it's possibly a moot point.

ROFL about Ross' current project though - does he do anything that isn't steampunk?

[The Hylden]

The arguments for the influences of Chakan and Siren can be found here, in case anyone by this point hasn't seen it:

http://www.thelostworlds.net/BO2/Chakan_and_Sirens.html

There's never been an official word from Eidos, or CD, so this is all we'll most likely ever know.