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David Cox Hints At Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 For 2012
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Hm. Mildly interested. The first game, while much more impressive than any of IGA's more recent 3D attempts, had it's fair share of problems with flashes of brilliance here and there. I'm open to a second go around though.
It's more resembling of the older games than SotN or any of it's copy/pasta brethren ever were.
It's more resembling of the older games than SotN or any of it's copy/pasta brethren ever were.
Rahxephon91
Banned
Because the story was awful. Beyond the fact that it was awfully told (time for 30min exposition!) it was just a predictable mess with pretty much one of the of the most forgettable leads this gen. I would say the rest of the characters were forgettable, but I don't remember who they were. Other then that it was predictable and honestly I just don't care if we ever see them again. The only memorable thing was a twist ending that didnt even make sense with the shipped game. So no I'd be perfectly fine with this developer just making a Castlevaninia that had no story connections to LoS, it wouldn't be a big loss. They obviously have the game part down though.
I also don't understand what was "Japanese" about the game's story.
Noisepurge
Member
yes, make it, but do not call it Lords of Shadow 2! 
IrishNinja
Member
ain't gotta be an SOTN fanboy to not dig reskinned god of war games, though.
Totally it would be only bitching and not a legit reason to point out a game that couldn't even maintain 20 FPS.
The Return of
Banned
Wait huh? I am missing some sort of joke here or something? It didn't feel japanese at all. Can you give a reason why you felt it was "japanese"?
Spoiler for the ending of the first game:
I hope it will be in modern day, like it was hinted in the scene after the credits. It could be interesting.
Please, no. Castlevania doesn't need to be Devil May Cry.
The game, in very few areas, actually runs at 60 FPS. Just most of the time it's running at like 24.
The game, in very few areas, actually runs at 60 FPS. Just most of the time it's running at like 24.
I know very well that the game doesn't always run like total shit.
The problem is I rather a 25/30 FPS then a frame that goes from 16 all the way up to 60.
Rahxephon91
Banned
DMC1 was more Castlevaninia then LoS.
I prefer action games to be shorter, just cut out all the filler, get straight to the point and make each section the best it can be. Makes the game much more replayable.
Like the first two chapters of LoS, they were terrible and should have just been cut from the game.
WickedLaharl
Member
Sweet LoS was enjoyable and I'd like to see MS refine their skills with another crack at the franchise.
Hopefully this signifies the end of IGAvanias.
Hopefully this signifies the end of IGAvanias.
I wouldn't get my hopes up over this idea until this one comes out and see if Konami is willing to continue to let MS have the series if the deciline is sharp.
Why? Order of Ecclesia was one of the best games IGA's produced. It's everything I want from a Castlevania game. I mean shit, LoS doesn't even have the difficulty many hold the series to, and that's my biggest gripe with the core game. Too much handholding, checkpoints and QTE/Ring stuff.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Rising
LoS at it's core doesn't play anything like God of War does; it's much more defensive based. God of War basically boils down to "mash bread'n butter all day and occasionally dodge". It's very shallow and uninteresting combat. LoS is more about reacting to what your opponents do with counter attacks. The problem with this is, is a lot of the enemies attacks aren't telegraphed to the player nearly as well as they should be. The low framerate doesn't help either.
Also, I find it odd you'd lambaste LoS for being a "reskinned god of war" when the majority of the IGA games are nothing more than reskinned versions of SotN, which in turn was a reskinned version of Super Metroid with worse level design, tons and tons of reused assets, and a literally copy/pasted second half of the game.
Not that I don't find SotN good, but I find siting there and pretending it's some beacon of ingenuity to be highly disingenuous.
IrishNinja
Member
harsh, but fair.
we can - and should - have both tank-control/classic castlevanias, and still get iga stuff on handhelds/DD.
I hate GoW and have trashed the series plenty but this is still complete and total bullshit.
Moving beyond the standard difficulty system mashing square or Triangle will get you killed very fast.
God of War was clearly the template for LoS battle system, including moves that look almost Identical when performed by Gabriel as well as things like the slow down when hits connect are handled almost identically to the GoW system.
Beyond that The Magic Light/Dark system is very similar in use to the Rage System with only very small added elemtents to it that doesn't do much to add all that great of vareity.
IrishNinja
Member
quite right on the defensive bit, i only played the first few hours but that much was evident - it's got more depth (felt a bit more difficult, too) to combat than GOW, fair enough. but it's still not much of a castlevania in my opinion.
reading a bit into things, aren't you? i didnt even say a word about igavanias, no idea where there's this weird dichotomy in this thread that if you dont like LOS, you must only want those. I do dig em, but i also enjoy old-school vanias like the gem we got on the PSP.
if people dig LOS and want more of it, that's great too. but when i say reskinned, i simply mean it's taking an engine that has little to nothing to do with the franchise and sort've dumping it in, more than critiquing the details.
I get what you mean. It's sort of perplexing to see Castlevania, a series older than many other types of action franchises, result to essentially copying ideas and mechanics from other games. Symphony of the Night was an evolution of Simon's Quest with more popular associations with Super Metroid, but Lords of Shadow isn't really an evolution of any previous Castlevania game. Maybe you can argue the combat is a more experienced based version of Lament of Innocence, but that game was trying to be Devil May Cry in terms of gameplay.
Crazy story that makes little sense.
long, awkwardly directed cutscenes.
Super clunky lost in translation dialog, especially half the stuff baldy had to read between each chapter.
Its castlevania, they don't need some crazy plot, just have a vampire pop up in the beginning and go "blah I'm a vampire look at me sparkle" and then have bob belmot chase after it for 12 hours.
Actually, it isn't. The game often punishes you for experimenting whit it's combat system due to how horribly telegraphed your opponents moves are.
Funny, because I beat God of War 1 on hard mode without much difficulty when was released doing nothing but mashing the bread and butter combo (squarex2 triangle iirc) while occasionally dodging. I never went back and did the hardest because I didn't find the game appealing enough to run through it again.
Actually, I'd say they ripped quite a bit of moves from DMC as opposed to the God of War games.
Either my memory is failing me, or this doesn't happen in LoS at all. Link to video?
I'm pretty sure the light/dark system has been used in a lot games prior to the RAGE system >.>
Noisepurge
Member
The combat was much closer to Ninja Gaiden than God of War. And as for being a Castlevania, i loved all the references to the previous games. They even tell how the Vampire Killer weapon is created!
There were no Japanese people involved with the story direction and plot, so this 'too Japanese' thing makes little sense. It was Cox, the main game designer, and two comic book writers that penned the story.
So it's like every video game ever.
IrishNinja
Member
okay, that bit seems like it was kind've cool. also the spoiled ending sounds interesting, though it kinda borks any prior attempts at a timeline, heh.
i guess i quit too early to catch more references. what i saw had, i dont know, narnia-esque mythological creatures, and arduous puzzle-solving at certain intervals. again, i was several hours in i wanna say, and combat was getting kind've repetitive, if id encountered much lore i might've hung around more - just didnt stike me as castlevania-like.
The Return of
Banned
So you were joking after all about it being too japanese lol? Some ridiculous reasons you mentioned especially like someone said, the story was made by David Cox and comic book writers.
Similar systems have been used, that applies to almost everything gaming these days. That said it feels like Rage when you factor in everythign else.
I'm not going to link to a video, all it takes is playing LoS for five mintues and you will see the Slow down on any big hit that is similar to how they added weight and fell to God Of War, something that has no invaded DMC thanks to DmC.
As for the idea of LoS having moves that feel like DMC, well I can't disagree more.
Oh I know cox did all the story, it just reminded me of a JRPG more then anything, like cox was apping the style because he was trying his hardest to please kojima. Maybe "too japanese" is not the right way to put it, how about, it was fucking terrible and had way to many awkward cutscenes.
Really? I am constantly perplexed by this criticism. Many action games are short, and when a notably longer one comes out, the problem with the game is it's too long? I may not love the game in and out, but outside of Bayonetta, Lords of Shadow is the only other action-adventure game that I thought was worth full price. Enemy and location variety sold me on the length.
The quality of the arcs was what one can argue about. The vampire arc, without much shock here, is the best part of the game. The beginning has a very slow buildup, and the end is...well, the trope of modern games one being shade of brown.
I'd blame the comic book writers and their amateurish attempts at making a story with weight and 'gravitas', as Cox loved pimping the plot out to be.
He worked on Leedmees and Otomedius Excellent.
IrishNinja
Member
This has been rumored since the end of 2010. The only confirmation we ever had about a 'vania on 3DS was a prototype made by MercurySteam, so one may assume they are currently the main developer for the series.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Seriously, are people crazy? In this gen of 6-8 hour no replay value campaigns being standard, I'd much rather a game be too long (which LoS WASN'T btw) than too short. I bought LoS for like $20, and my first thought after I finished it was "That would've been worth all of $60 even if I only played through it 1 time." There are probably 10 singleplayer (only) games that fall into that category for me this entire generation.
The Return of
Banned
It really wasn't the right way to put it at all since a lot of western games are like that lol. But yes, I agree, I thought it was terrible
Well, I'd imagine that a reason to complain about the length is because certain arcs felt like filler and were bad. The location variety and all that was good to me, but like I said earlier in the topic if I do not find the levels good then length doesn't mean shit to me really. There were really a lot of areas that just felt like they were there to make the game longer and it was annoying and boring. I'd hope in the sequel they can do a better job at this and have better pacing.
Pacing wise for me, the third act was a little tiresome but that's probably because the second act was awesome and
the coffin enemies were so fucking annoying
: Revengeance
Roland Deschain
Member
Loved the first, problems and all. Didn't think it was a success though. Or maybe they're trying to make a profit with the second one when they can reuse the engine, assets etc?
I belive LoS has been the best selling 3D entry in the series, and probably the best selling game in the franchise since Circle of the Moon. I believe that was the last title to sell over 1 million copies, and I'm unsure what LoS' number is.
whatevermort
Member
Yeah, I really didn't think much of it - some really dodgy level design, some irritating and clumsy combat, ripped-off bosses and the worst writing/script (even down to atrocious grammar) I've seen in a AAA game. But I know people who adored it, so there's definitely some marmite going on here.