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Castlevania gate: Insider dev from MercurySteam vents internal problems. [Up: More]
- Thread starter Ahasverus
- Start date
I dunno OP, it sounds like you're trying to censor this guy's horrible, tyrannical vision for the studio and the game. Do you not respect his artistic integrity of treating people like shit and running the project into the ground? For shame!
In all seriousness, this Alvarez guy sounds like a real piece of work. It's always disheartening to hear about projects being ruined by control freaks and egomaniacs like him.
Yes, there was just a little sarcasm in that.
In all seriousness, this Alvarez guy sounds like a real piece of work. It's always disheartening to hear about projects being ruined by control freaks and egomaniacs like him.
More accurate translation of relevant parts:
-The entire team is aware that the game we made is a complete piece of shit, we wish it was fit to lick the boots of the original game.
-Enric Alvarez is to be blamed. Without a doubt he's the one who screwed up the development of this game, basing everything on his own personal criteria, ignoring programmers, desingers and artists.
- There's no corporate culture, just a handful of people working in the blind and at the mercy of the whims of an alleged visionary.
- Absolutely all design decisions are approved, appropriated and cut by Enric Alvarez.
- Future expectations are pretty much null. The publisher, Konami, isn't happy at all with the mediocre game we've made.
dat enric
MarkMan
loves Arcade Sticks
I remember that, crazy times. I think it was from GameFAQs though!
Takamura-San
Member
Greetings, given the situation, I would like to shed some light about the development of this game. I work for mercury steam and i would like to share my story anonymously about the things people don't know, the frustrations and information about the day to day of working there. This is dedicated to those that have put sweat and tears (he used an idiom that basically means the same) in the development of this game, specifically those that worked until the disaster that is lords of shadows 2.
- Kojima had nothing to do with the development of the first game, he put his stamp, came to the studio, signed a few things and that's it... no one should think otherwise. He had less to do on the sequel.
- The majority of the people that worked on this game believes that this game is pure shit (he add some things about shit on shoe soles). No one should be surprised about reviews.
- Enric Alvares is the one to blame for this. Without a doubt he is responsable of messing up the development of this game based on his judgment that overrode the opinions of programmers, designers and the people in charge of art.
- In spite of the good appearance he gives to the press, this "visionary" has more in common with David cage and Molyneaux. All style and no substance. This guy is serious trouble.
- This guy is all over himself (I presume that's what he means with "Mezquina y Altiva". Since the "success of lords of shadow 1" his ego has grown over the edge to the point that he doesn't even greet you when you pass him by on the studio. He doesn't believe on his staff.
There's more, but I have to go.
I overshoot my 10 mins estimate.
- Kojima had nothing to do with the development of the first game, he put his stamp, came to the studio, signed a few things and that's it... no one should think otherwise. He had less to do on the sequel.
- The majority of the people that worked on this game believes that this game is pure shit (he add some things about shit on shoe soles). No one should be surprised about reviews.
- Enric Alvares is the one to blame for this. Without a doubt he is responsable of messing up the development of this game based on his judgment that overrode the opinions of programmers, designers and the people in charge of art.
- In spite of the good appearance he gives to the press, this "visionary" has more in common with David cage and Molyneaux. All style and no substance. This guy is serious trouble.
- This guy is all over himself (I presume that's what he means with "Mezquina y Altiva". Since the "success of lords of shadow 1" his ego has grown over the edge to the point that he doesn't even greet you when you pass him by on the studio. He doesn't believe on his staff.
There's more, but I have to go.
I overshoot my 10 mins estimate.
To Far Away Times
Member
It seems like the things that Lords of Shadow 1 excelled at such as art design, variety, and a smart cohesive design have been thrown out. Now it seems that the most the game will offer is a slightly better than God Of War (but still sub-Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry or Bayonetta) combat system. I'm not sure if that's enough.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Ugh, that translation is horrible. Anyone knows where the original posts are?
EDIT: nm I found it
reading the original source, everything makes more sense.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
If he's talking about the guy I saw doing interview rounds for Mirror of Fate and getting furious at Metroidvania comparisons, while squelching common fan complaints towards the direction of the series with "most successful Castlevania ever"... then yeah, he did seem like a guy who had his head up his own ass, as said here.
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
Jesus fucking christ. I would love to know just how valid that forum post is before completely declaring this to be the absolute truth, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised. I wonder what Konami is going to do with this? It's likely that they'll wait on sales data before reprimanding anyone, but I doubt the quality issue's will be totally overlooked. This is looking like the end point of Mercury Stream and castlevania.
No, that was Cox ("GoW comparisons really pisses us off" ... dude, I think LoS1 is a better game than every last-gen GoW but at least own it and admit what your inspirations were)
Vampirolol
Member
Oh I remember that. MoF was actually pretty good to me, too bad Los2 had these problems!
The Contra teaser and the one that Cox has going now are two different projects are they not?
The original C Trailer was rumored to be by a different dev house and later scrapped.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
I stand corrected. If he's somehow worse than that guy and is the lead director, then I don't even know.
I think this bears repeating. I'm still definitely enjoying it. It's not the complete masterpiece the first one was, but that doesn't mean it's a trainwreck. Far from it.
I'll be interested to see where MS goes from here.
It's not about the part, it's about his response. Don't you think it was a little harsh?
sixteen-bit
Member
Shouldn't you be out enjoying Japan?
I think he's back already
Hopefully with a less challenging game that is more basic and has less amrgin of error. A FPS or something. But knowing them, they'll probably go for the next Skyrim
And fail miserably.
liquidekkah
Member
Yeah, it does seem like everything starts going well, then one guy gets a big head and decides that he knows better than everyone else.
I'm looking at you, Casey Hudson.
deathkiller
Member
I have been told similar things about Enric Alvarez and the current situation of Mercury Steam by former workers and friends of current workers, so, I wouldn't be surprised if the anonymous post is accurate. I don't know anything first hand though.
This is an interesting article, but we need to remember to take it with a grain of salt.
There's three sides to every story - his side (1), his side (2), and the the truth that's somewhere in the middle.
Where there's smoke there's fire, so I'm sure something wasn't quite right at the studio, but I wonder if the reviews had been overwhelmingly positive for LOS2 if this information would have come to light?
Interesting information regardless.
There's three sides to every story - his side (1), his side (2), and the the truth that's somewhere in the middle.
Where there's smoke there's fire, so I'm sure something wasn't quite right at the studio, but I wonder if the reviews had been overwhelmingly positive for LOS2 if this information would have come to light?
Interesting information regardless.
liquidekkah
Member
That is an interesting point. If the game had gotten gangbuster reviews, would people even be mulling over this? Is this just an example of finger pointing after the fact now that the game is getting mixed reviews?
That track record.
It was being done by Yager, the makers of Spec Ops: The Line, but they've since moved on.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
So for those who have played the game, is it a total disaster or is it one of those games where some parts are great and others totally suck and they couldn't pull the entire package together?
I'm deployed right now and I won't be able to play it until I get back, but the first game was one of my favorite of this gen.
I'm deployed right now and I won't be able to play it until I get back, but the first game was one of my favorite of this gen.
The latter. There are good parts, but stuff like the texture work shown in some images shows something is up with the development. The core combat is fine, but everything else becomes a here-or-there thing. The castle stuff is interesting and atmospheric, yet the modern stuff is painfully generic and absolutely out of place for a Castlevania game.
The devs must feel really awful. Imaging working for years on a game, trying to make it as good as possible, but then you have to watch it turn into shit because of one single asshole, and there's nothing you can do. And then the reviews are published. And the sales numbers. And you read hundreds of posts or tweets full of disappointment, mockery or even insults.
Spare me the sarcasm.
Shmuely Bully
Member
The latter. There are a number of things that don't work as well as they could, but at its core it has extremely solid gameplay and great art in a number of places.
Probably this:
Apparently Platinum did a similar thing with Bayonetta to improve the flow of the game (scaled the environments up by 50%). Of course that kind of scaling stands out way more in a modern real-world scenario full of everyday items like cars, chairs and... doorframes.
liquidekkah
Member
The "disaster" of the game is getting blown up right now because of some anonymous message saying the Enric is a tyrant and claiming that the dev team thinks LoS2 sucks.
I don't think it's a disaster. Prior to reading any of this, I would have given the game a 8.5/10, and I just finished the Agreus part. I'm enjoying it that much.
It's when the negativity starts getting thrown around that my spirits drop, but that's to be expected.
It really must be awful.
I mean, I can't know exactly how they feel, I'm not one of them, but as someone who is really liking this game and was hoping to see this world and its characters explored in greater depth, or at least just see some of its mechanics and style find a foothold in future Castlevania games, I hope it all doesn't get ruined by one man.
I mean, I can see the warts this game has. I can see where bad development environment could have bungled it. For what it actually is, the potential is astounding.
liquidekkah
Member
Whoops. Accidentally posted again when I meant to edit.
Facism
Member
Ill get back to you on that im at work on a phone
brandonh83
Banned
Well, I don't think he's wrong. It was very easy after setting up a strategy.
Rogue_Ledr
Banned
I'm straight up using a walktrhough for Agreus.
I don't have the time or patience for this crap anymore.
I don't have the time or patience for this crap anymore.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
Don't know if this is legit, but if it is, it's understandable.
Based on personal experience, as everyone else would know as well, one sour Apple can ruin an entire batch. A bad team leader can destroy moral and work quality for sure. When they're not at work, everyone's happy and having fun.
It happens all the time. Not saying that was the case here, but I can understand why the game suffered IF it was.
Based on personal experience, as everyone else would know as well, one sour Apple can ruin an entire batch. A bad team leader can destroy moral and work quality for sure. When they're not at work, everyone's happy and having fun.
It happens all the time. Not saying that was the case here, but I can understand why the game suffered IF it was.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Holy shit.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Besides having better combat, bosses, graphics, and music, you mean...?
Even though I'm really enjoying the game (i'd give it an 8/10 so far), none of these details would surprise me at all. There are a number of pacing and gameplay issues that are completely jarring and bizarre. There definitely were some serious issues throughout, but I still feel there's a lot of value here.
Though they've definitely got to get their act together here. Seriously, this game should've been way better.
Though they've definitely got to get their act together here. Seriously, this game should've been way better.
That's what happened with LoS2. The game has all of that.
I know those feels, took me like 20 minutes to manage that broken shit.
Shmuely Bully
Member
The pacing and platforming are also notably improved, though like many I'm missing the whip swinging from LoS and MoF.
Biggest issue so far has to be the art design in the city, although I'd consider it more mediocre than bad.
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