Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

nix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUcUz5Vo6iw

So, anybody else hyped to play this game?

The last one was such a gem, i bought it out of nostalgia for Castlevania when i seen it in the shops. And was blown away at how well put together the game was and how little hype was put into it marketing wise. I loved every minute of the game, was such a surprise and refreshing to be actually playing a good game. In retrospect, to me it was the best console game in the last 10 years.

There is so much they can do with the game storywise and im predicting there will be two playable characters, one good, one evil...

oh baby..

Retr0gamer

I liked the first one but it wasn't a castlevania game, more like a God of War clone but with less button mashing to it's combat. I'll get this one when it is cheap but won't be rushing to buy it.

nix

Ah it was a step in the right direction though, nice use of puzzles in the boss fights. I dont think many would have bought the game, myself included if it was a 2d side scroller, leave that for the hand helds. Although in saying that, the new 3DS one isn't full on 2D either..

bugs

Bit of a weird title, I'm assuming the lords of shadow won't be appearing...

Really liked the first, so I'm hoping they can improve on it.
Any release date? I think I saw one it somewhere but it looked very soon.

Retr0gamer

nix wrote: »

Ah it was a step in the right direction though, nice use of puzzles in the boss fights. I dont think many would have bought the game, myself included if it was a 2d side scroller, leave that for the hand helds. Although in saying that, the new 3DS one isn't full on 2D either..

Not for me it wasn't. I expect something more from Vania. I liked it for what it was and wouldn't be a blind vania fan that hates it, it was a pretty decent game but it never comes close to the perfection of the 2D games. I'm hearing bad things about the 3DS game, it tries to be a metroidvania but is frustrating due to the dragged out combat.

I'd have preferred if Konami had kept Iga on the series or split the the franchise between him and Mercury Stream but they've totally cut Iga out of the loop unfortunately.

GhostInTheRuins

I've yet to play a 3D castlevania game, and I don't have the slightest urge to give one a go. I just watched some gameplay footage of lords of shadows there on youtube, and for all I know it could actually be a good game, but it's not a castlevania game.

I suppose it's just easier to sell a game when you slap a recognisable brand onto it.

nix

Why is it not a Castlevania game?? Because its not a 2D sidescroller?

I suppose Mario 64 isnt a mario game? And Ocarina of time isnt a Zelda game?? And the countless other games which have evolved throughout the ages..

Cmon!

Retr0gamer

Mario 64 was a mario game brought into 3D. Ocarina of Time was a zelda game brought into 3D.

Castlevania was a God of War clone with the Castlevania name.

The closest we have gotten to a Castlevania game in 3D in all but name is Demon's/Dark Souls.

nix

Haven't played D souls game, what does it offer over the Lords of shadow?

Big Knox

nix wrote: »

Haven't played D souls game, what does it offer over the Lords of shadow?

I'm a big fan of Lords of Shadow and will definitely be getting this when it comes out. A much superior GoW imho but as much as I like it it doesn't compare to the masterpiece that is Dark Souls (or even Demon's).

Evilsbane

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

I've yet to play a 3D castlevania game, and I don't have the slightest urge to give one a go. I just watched some gameplay footage of lords of shadows there on youtube, and for all I know it could actually be a good game, but it's not a castlevania game.

It is a Castlevania game - just not the kind you mean. It's what Super Castlevania IV would be like if it was made today.

deathrider

Big Knox wrote: »

I'm a big fan of Lords of Shadow and will definitely be getting this when it comes out. A much superior GoW imho but as much as I like it it doesn't compare to the masterpiece that is Dark Souls (or even Demon's).

I really must get around to the Souls games and see what all the fuss is about. Everyone's been banging on about them for a while now, and they seem to be held in very high regard.

Big Knox

deathrider wrote: »

I really must get around to the Souls games and see what all the fuss is about. Everyone's been banging on about them for a while now, and they seem to be held in very high regard.

You won't regret it. Just have a bit of perseverance and expect to die a lot while learning from your mistakes and you will soon be enjoying one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming!

Temptamperu

The first was a good game with a great ending, I cant wait to see the follow up... might just pre-order now as a matter of fact.

Retr0gamer

Evilsbane wrote: »

It is a Castlevania game - just not the kind you mean. It's what Super Castlevania IV would be like if it was made today.

I'd rather hope something like Castlevania would aspire to be something more than another God of War clone with too many QTE's.

saiint

got the first one
lords of shadow

as a present of my mother for christmas
didnt ask for it, just a little present she gets as a surprise

and it was the best game i had that christmas
honestly couldnt believe how good it was
for a game that has little-no advertisment i was shocked at how brilliant the game was
who made it again? was it capcom or komai? either way has to be one of their best games to date
shall get this

johnny_ultimate

I forgive the original for being a God of War clone because, impressively, it was superior to God of War. There were also a lot of secrets and branching paths in the otherwise linear levels - a concession to the classic games while still providing a straightforward adventure with very, very impressive sights (wonderful art in Lords of Shadow). Symphony of the Night ripped off Super Metroid anyway, so its not like its derivative nature was a particularly new trait for the series The first wasn't perfect by any stretch - the combat was engaging throughout, especially the intriguing health / magic system, but undoubtedly could have been better - but it was still very good indeed. The creative direction the story took have me excited for what they'll tackle in the sequel.

Oh, and one problem with 3D 'Metroidvania' is that other games have already offered it. Stuff like Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime or Darksiders fulfill that particular itch more than sufficiently IMO.

Big Knox

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I forgive the original for being a God of War clone because, impressively, it was superior to God of War. There were also a lot of secrets and branching paths in the otherwise linear levels - a concession to the classic games while still providing a straightforward adventure with very, very impressive sights (wonderful art in Lords of Shadow). Symphony of the Night ripped off Super Metroid anyway, so its not like its derivative nature was a particularly new trait for the series The first wasn't perfect by any stretch - the combat was engaging throughout, especially the intriguing health / magic system, but undoubtedly could have been better - but it was still very good indeed. The creative direction the story took have me excited for what they'll tackle in the sequel.

Oh, and one problem with 3D 'Metroidvania' is that other games have already offered it. Stuff like Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime or Darksiders fulfill that particular itch more than sufficiently IMO.

Agree with pretty much all of this, good post! I'm happy with the direction they took. I am not a fan of QTE's it has to be said so the less of these in the 2nd the better but I'm really looking forward to it!

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Oh, and one problem with 3D 'Metroidvania' is that other games have already offered it. Stuff like Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime or Darksiders fulfill that particular itch more than sufficiently IMO.

Stmphony of the Night took Super Metroid and made it an RPG which no other game had done before it.

I don't mind that it didn't take a metroid approach either, what I'm thinking of is the older vania games. In terms of game design they are some of the best designed games ever with every level and the controls thought out perfectly. There's a wonderful series of articles on the early Vania games (which is still on going) at telebunny explaining why they are so good. The button mashy QTE filled combat doesn't say Castlevania to me when compared to the rest of the series even though I still liked the game. I will be buying the sequel and think the combat in Lords of Shadow is a step above God of War.

As I said Dark Souls is a much better Vania game than lords of shadows. It's open ended and has the RPG mechanics of the symphony of the night type games but also has the wonderfully designed and implemented combat I expect from an older vania game.

Temptamperu

Big Knox wrote: »

Agree with pretty much all of this, good post! I'm happy with the direction they took. I am not a fan of QTE's it has to be said so the less of these in the 2nd the better but I'm really looking forward to it!

QTE's are part and parcel with these kind of games, its a shame I used to like sitting back and watching the end of the fight as a cut scene, we don't get to do that no more. You gotta wait for the big immersion killing button to show up and get it wrong only to be forced back to fight the monster that should just be dead, again.

Big Knox

Temptamperu wrote: »

QTE's are part and parcel with these kind of games, its a shame I used to like sitting back and watching the end of the fight as a cut scene, we don't get to do that no more. You gotta wait for the big immersion killing button to show up and get it wrong only to be forced back to fight the monster that should just be dead, again.

Ahh I know they are but they just aren't needed. As you said very frustrating to miss one and be thrown back into the fight!

I don't agree with the button mashey comments either. You can of course complete the game on lower difficulties doing this but put the game on it's hardest difficulty and you won't last 2 minutes doing it.

Even with GoW I find this to be a massive difference in enjoying the game. I always enjoy my 2nd playthrough on Titan or the equivalent as it requires you to really learn the combat mechanics inside and out and it completely removes any form of button mashing which people often use as a negative for the genre. Having said that the combat is still some way off the level of Dark Souls of course!

johnny_ultimate

Yep having completed Lords of Shadow on hard I have to disagree with the button bashing remarks - in fact, it was amongst the most punishing and demanding combat systems I've experienced in recent years. Blocking and the trio of interlinked energy bars were techniques that had to be mastered to stand a chance of progressing past some of the more challenging bosses.

Yeah, certainly not Dark Souls / Bayonetta levels, but they're ludicrously high watermarks. But on its own terms Lords of Shadow offered an intense combat system. Long after the memory of the QTEs have faded, I'm left recalling some of the more frantic boss battles as I had to face off against adversaries with a fraction of a health bar. And, with enough care and attention, such obstacles could be overcome.

sweetie

anyone play the dlc for the first game, Lord of Shadow?

Evilsbane

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd rather hope something like Castlevania would aspire to be something more than another God of War clone with too many QTE's.

Hang on.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd rather hope something like Castlevania would aspire to be something more than another [Devil May Cry clone] clone with too many QTE's.

Fixed that for... wait, that's not right either.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd rather hope something like Castlevania would aspire to be something more than another [[basically Super Castlevania IV in 3D] clone] clone with too many QTE's.

Fixed that for you. When I said it's what Super Castlevania IV would be if they made it today, I meant it. They decided to go back to the hack-n-slash roots of the early non-Metroidvania games: level-based, with nothing but platforming (jumping and using the whip to swing around the place) and combat, with occasional secrets hidden around the place.

EoinHef

Playing through the first Lord of Shadow now,went on sale on steam this week. €6.50 or so for the ultimate edition:)
Not too far into it,just near the end of chapter 1. Already died about 20 times lol,the combat is tough!! Really enjoying it so far,amazed at how well its holding up graphically,looks beautiful:)
Been waiting to pick it up cheap for awhile as Lord of Shadows 2 really caught my eye as a game i want to play but though i should play through the first one....well first:)


Heres a screen at 1440p(slightly resized for boards):

wes

On steam for pre-order 35.99 euro. Will probably wait till some other digital vendors have there prices before ordering.

**EDIT**
Demo is also on steam. Downloading it now .

EoinHef

wes wrote: »

On steam for pre-order 35.99 euro. Will probably wait till some other digital vendors have there prices before ordering.

**EDIT**
Demo is also on steam. Downloading it now .

Sweet, didnt know the demo was available:)
You get to play it?

Im a bit hesitant to start 2 before I finish 1 with it being a game with such a good storyline

MitchKoobski

EoinHef wrote: »

Sweet, didnt know the demo was available:)
You get to play it?

Im a bit hesitant to start 2 before I finish 1 with it being a game with such a good storyline

If you're enjoying it, you should definitely at least finish 1 and the DLC.

EoinHef

MitchKoobski wrote: »

If you're enjoying it, you should definitely at least finish 1 and the DLC.

Cool,i got the DLC with the game. Really enjoying the atmosphere that 1 has,the difficulty just adds to it imo. Im finding there is a learning curve but i expected that when i was buying it.

Im fairly new to this genre,another game i was looking at was Devil May Cry but it just didnt appeal to me,Lord of Shadows 2 really caught my eye though from trailers/reading. Glad i made the decision to grab 1 when it was on sale,€6.50 for all that content is a steal:)


Sorry for clogging the thread with talk of the original but hopefully the imminent release of LOS 2 gets the thread going again:)

MitchKoobski

I really enjoyed the story for the first, but I'm trying to figure out whether or not to play through Lords of Fate. Gameplay isn't supposed to be great, but seeing as its meant to bridge the gap between LOS 1 & 2, I'm thinking it could definitely add to the story for 2.

wes

EoinHef wrote: »

You get to play it?

Not yet, will probably give it a go today or tomorrow.

wes

Tried the demo, and can't get it to display at 1080p (can't even get it to display 720p). There is no option for those resolutions for me. Went into the game config file and tried to change, and it still didn't work. Might give the PS3 demo a look instead.

johnny_ultimate

Jesus, Edge absolutely crucified this one in the latest issue, calling it a massive step down from the previous game. I wasn't expecting anything brilliant here (although was hoping they'd build on the potential of part one), but I was surprised at how damning this review was - obviously just one voice, but a cause for concern nonetheless.

wes

If this get more bad reviews, and with the issues with getting the demo to run on my PC, may wait to pick this up on a steam sale instead.

EoinHef

wes wrote: »

If this get more bad reviews, and with the issues with getting the demo to run on my PC, may wait to pick this up on a steam sale instead.

Im offwork sick today so ill download it and see do I get the resolution issue also.

Be a bit bummed if it turns out to be terrible, defo gonna hold off making any pre order or anything

EoinHef

Just finished the demo there,was no issue changing resolution in my case(1440p) but there were a lot of flickering textures and stuttering for me,id say thats because im running a crossfire setup. Could disable 1 card and it would be fine id say,hopefully theres a crossfire support on release but id say ill be waiting:(

Thought it looked good,definitely be waiting till its out and a few more review/thoughts about it surface though. Im enjoying 1 at the moment anyway so not in a rush in my case so ill wait n see

Retr0gamer

Well this is getting slated pretty badly in reviews. While I don't think the first game was as good as some people think it was a good hack and slash. Seems to be lots of silly problems with this game such as forced stealth sections that suck. One to pick up in a sale.

Maybe Konami will give us a game that actually feels like Castlevania now that Mercury Stream are off the series. I'd have preferred if both types of game could exist side by side but this is probably the end of Castlevania especially with Konami in such a bad position at the moment.

Reiketsu

Round up of review scores so far;

IGN 6.5/10
Gamespot 7/10
Edge 4/10
Polygon 5/10
Game Informer 6/10
Eurogamer 5/10
GamesTM 5/10
Joystiq 4/5
CVG 8/10
Videogamer 6/10
Gamereactor 8/10
NowGamer 4/10
Play UK 81/100
OXM 8/10
Strategy Informer 7.5/10
Digital Spy 3/5
EGM 7/10
Hardcore Gamer 2/5
Push Square 7/10
Game Revolution 3/5
XONE Magazine 8/10
PSU 9/10
Xbox Players 8.3/10
BT Games 3/5
Inside Gaming 7.5/10
Gamesided 8/10
Expansive DLC 6/10
Metro 4/10
NGB 7/10
NGB 7/10
The Gamers Pad 7/10
Kotaku No

http://theomeganerd.tumblr.com/post/77804443095/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-review-round-up Links to reviews here.

I'll be waiting on the postman on Friday and will be doing a disappearing act over the weekend :P

Star Lord

Jaysus, that really is what you'd call mixed reviews!

I've it pre-ordered for digital download, and just finished the first one, so looking forward to playing it.

Reiketsu

Just started playing this about an hour ago. Pretty sweet so far!

Reiketsu

Not sure what the reviewers were smoking when they were playing this. I think its great. There isn't all that much of the stealth sections in it - just one here and there and they don't last long. Although I'm baffled at people finishing it in like 11/12 hours. I keep getting lost though :pac:

Mr. K

I've played about five hours over the weekend and I'm enjoying it so far. The combat is great and the bosses I've fought have been class.

The stealth sections are poor, but they seem to be few and far between.

I don't like the modern environments that much, but the sections in the castle are lovely

.

The narrative lacks the focus the original game had, all the stuff about

Satan's Acolytes

is dull. I want to get more of

Gabriel/Dracula's inner struggle

, I found him quite fascinating in LoS.

calex71

Pinch of salt with this one I guess, hard to know how credible these things are

http://www.xboxachievements.com/news/news-17465-Castlevania--Lords-of-Shadow-2-s-Allegedly-Troubled-Development-Exposed--Studio-Director-Blamed.html

"The vast majority of this team is aware that the game we’ve done is a real piece of **** that has nothing to do with the first one’s quality and production values," he said. "Nobody is surprised by the low reviews we’ve got."

Mr. K

calex71 wrote: »

Pinch of salt with this one I guess, hard to know how credible these things are

http://www.xboxachievements.com/news/news-17465-Castlevania--Lords-of-Shadow-2-s-Allegedly-Troubled-Development-Exposed--Studio-Director-Blamed.html

It'd be nice if these whistleblowers came out before the game was released.

Nody

Mr. K wrote: »

It'd be nice if these whistleblowers came out before the game was released.

Even whistleblowers want to earn release sale bonuses...