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Offline TheFallenAlchemist

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #495 on: April 29, 2017, 01:28:06 AM »
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I was going to cover it for my page The Grim Tower, but I guess I am the only one in the universe experiencing major bugs that affect gameplay. Running Win 10 on a Toshiba Satellite 2016 model.

The biggest problem I am having with the game is screen transition. Often I will walk from one screen, wait about two minutes or so while I see a bunch of garbled pixels and then it will take me to the next one. But, here lately the game has a mind of it's own. When I walk past the statue in Saint Augustine, there will be a longer pause than normal, as the game plays an effect that sounds like crashing glass and Efrain sort of jumps down from the ceiling, landing near the left edge of town. If I move past that screen, I will again hear the sound of crashing glass and fall down all of the way to the screen on the left side of the statue! The bug literally takes me around in circles and I can't get anywhere.

When I first fired up the game again after finishing the first level, saving and calling it a night, I had a very weird bug happen that I may have recorded in my soon to be uploaded playthrough. This bug happened when I first began my walk towards the Inn. Again, crashing glass right after I walked to the right, just past the statue and then a weird text box showed up telling me that I had obtained the "wind statuette." An empty text box swells just below that, completely empty. Then my character is literally frozen, with the only way to make him move forward being the attack button,  to which he sort of jaggedly moves as if stuck to the ground or weighted down by some heavy object. You could either move to the left and hope that you don't encounter the bug, or you can find a place to die and reload, hoping you don't get the bug. I have tried both exe's to no avail. I won't be able to finish the game unless something is done about these bugs. I just finished the first Count in his mansion.

BTW, slight nitpick. The first time I defeated the count and found almost all of the special items and passages in his castle, I decided to look at the statue. Inescapable battle with a superboss is not cool. I ended up dying, had to defeat the count again and go back and get all the items again. Could you at least kind of warn players about an inescapable battle there?

Offline Dracula9

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #496 on: April 29, 2017, 01:47:29 AM »
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Howdy, neighbor. Fancy seeing you here.  ;)

There's a save point in the room right before her. It's hardly unfair, and as much as it might suck clearing the area and then dying to her, it isn't the game's fault you went and fiddled with something unknown without saving first.

She's also not really a superboss--no there are simply no earlygame weapons able to do enough damage. Once you have better gear, she's a pushover.

I do, however, agree that there should be some kind of indication further interaction leads to a boss battle--but not because of it being difficult or inescapable, for the above reason.

There are many other interactable statues (all of which have their own unique appearances, so it's not as if hers being facing away from you is enough indication) in the game that exist to give information, and you encounter several prior to the Count's mansion. This establishes a precedent that interactable statues give information that either describe the world lore or provide a piece to a later puzzle. Considering there is one such puzzle just a few floors above her statue, this precedent is doubly implied.

So for her statue to, by all appearances, suggest to the player it's the same as the others, and then lead to a fight no earlygame file is going to beat, then I think some other indicator needs to be there. Normally I'd say something like "make her statue glow all evil-like," but the same problem of established precedents exist, as by that point in the game linearity there isn't anything else enough to establish that "this glow means bad stuff, be careful."

Perhaps a prompt something to the effect of "An uneasy aura flows around this statue. Touch it? Y/N" or whatever.

To reiterate--I think there should be some secondary confirmation or indication of her statue being a boss (which at that point in the game nobody's got a chance of killing) due to the violation of the established gameplay precedents involving interactives and statue busts, not due to the outlandish difficulty spike of her fight at that point in the game.

EDIT:

Having thought more on it, I think I can understand why it exists in its current state: to scare the player, evoke fear, that sort of thing. But I don't think it does this as effectively as it could.

Of course, everyone's different and processes things differently, but ignoring for a moment the gameplay precedent issue mentioned above:

For me, stuff I can't hope to kill yet popping out of nowhere is not what ever made Castlevania scary for me growing up playing it. It was the building of tension in brutal stages that I knew all too well would culminate in some crazy awesome new boss I didn't know anything about yet. It was about killing one tough enemy with only a sliver of health left and praying there wasn't a second one the next screen over. It was evading one Medusa Heard over a pit and not knowing if the next one was coming high or low.

Now, the statue woman doesn't build anything like this. There's no substance to the fear factor. It's not unlike cheap jumpscares in B-grade horror films, actually. Now, she doesn't need a whole level building up to her, since she shows up at its start and that's obviously not practical. But there are other ways to build tension and suspense--the Book of Caged Souls later on is a prime example of this.

First time I found it, I read its description, felt uneasy about what would happen if I said yes and opened it but also anxious to see what it contained. THAT is the kind of thing that made Castlevania scary for me. Not knowing what could happen next and having all the freedom of choice to make that leap or run away.

The statue ghost being early-game unbeatable is a great way to encourage a precedent for backtracking with new equipment later on, and a good reminder that it's always handy to pick up that stronger new weapon at the shop as soon as you can. But her current state does not build the fear and shock value I believe she's intended to have. She just comes out of nowhere like a bad jumpscare, and instead of fear or anxiety when encountering her the first time, I had a moment of "wait, what the fuck? Why am I in this new room now?" followed by an impatience and annoyance to get killed and the fight over with once I realized I wasn't gonna beat her.

If she was meant to scare, then at least for me she dropped the ball in how she does so. Good horror conveyance is not about a scary untouchable thing showing up out of nowhere--it's hearing it thump around downstairs, or being told of its horrible nature in hushed whispers or scrawled testaments in an old and forgotten page in a dusty book, or catching a glimpse of it lumbering down the far hall as its breathing echos all the way down to where you're standing. The demons and what-ifs conjured up by the uncertain mind are more terrifying than any horrible monster jumping out at you from nowhere. If she had the same prompt as that Book later on, I would have doubtlessly had the same reaction of cautiousness mixed with anxiety, and THAT would have made her pocket dimension and imposing fight convey to me elements of fear.

But she does have potential. I merely think that her execution is somewhat lacking for what I'm fairly certain is her intended purpose.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 09:38:27 PM by Dracula9 »


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Offline theplottwist

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #497 on: April 29, 2017, 02:20:03 AM »
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I do, however, agree that there should be some kind of indication further interaction leads to a boss battle--but not because of it being difficult or inescapable, for the above reason.

I second this. I didn't fall for the statue's trick because I saved EVERYTIME previous to interacting with anything. It's just how I play games like these. But not everyone is like me, and just as D9 said, previous statues to this one do not surprise-teleport you to a boss battle arena.

There is another funny case on this game that makes the statue battle come as a bit of a weird choice:
(click to show/hide)

Given the above example, I believe this should be the statue's case too. Something like: "Here it is written 'You're not worthy of witnessing my beauty'. Do you wish to turn the statue and look at its face?"

Of course I'm not lambasting the current choice. It's not a game breaker and I think that Mig placing it right at the entrance of the level is him guiding you to actually interact with it right after you saved the game (so, nothing of value is lost). But I feel that offering the player the chance to not fall into a trap unprepared would be a bit more insightful, design-wise. It just feels a bit odd that a very early-game instance of this does not offer a chance of escape, but a late-game one does.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 02:26:10 AM by theplottwist »
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Offline Pemburu Vampir

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #498 on: April 29, 2017, 03:27:21 AM »
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Great game. I'm enjoying it so far. BTW, I have a question: Does anyone know where the saved data is stored? I want to back it up in case my computer give me problems.

Offline Aceearly1993

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #499 on: April 29, 2017, 04:54:47 AM »
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Great game. I'm enjoying it so far. BTW, I have a question: Does anyone know where the saved data is stored? I want to back it up in case my computer give me problems.

It's stored at  C://user/(your user name)/AppData(hidden folder)/Roaming/MMFApplications (The same location as LC1)
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 04:56:37 AM by Aceearly1993 »
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Offline TheFallenAlchemist

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #500 on: April 29, 2017, 09:21:42 AM »
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Yeah, I completely agree about the statue. But can anyone give me feedback on the bugs? It really is kind of funny when you can't get to the other earldom because the game is transporting you all of the way over to the opposite side of town.

Offline Pemburu Vampir

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #501 on: April 29, 2017, 10:36:35 AM »
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It's stored at  C://user/(your user name)/AppData(hidden folder)/Roaming/MMFApplications (The same location as LC1)

Thank You! :)

Offline Foffy

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #502 on: April 29, 2017, 02:41:02 PM »
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If I can give some feedback on a very annoying bug, I have one with the map and audio.

Sometimes, when I back out of the map screen, it will reload the map screen, double the music volume while on the map screen, and then when returning to gameplay, all music stops and all enemies in the room respawn. The only way to restore the music is to reset the game.

I normally thought this happened by hitting the jump button to back out of the map, but this also happens when using the attack button.

I've been lucky to where this has happened in sections where I wasn't too far from the save room, so I could save and reset, or just straight up reset, but it's an issue nonetheless.

I also have a solution for those of you using PS4 controllers and had the issue I did with pausing and the sub menu; have your PS4 controller detected as "hidden" in DS4 to XInput Mapper.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 02:48:26 PM by Foffy »

Offline Castle34hk

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #503 on: April 30, 2017, 06:47:34 AM »
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I are 100% done with the game now and WOOOOOOW!

Where should I start.... I can say this game is one of the best game in my life for sure 100% and one of my best CV EVER made.

Everthing is perfect the enemies,the bosses,the music,the levels/design .....

This game is a dream come true you should make a atoher sequel but this is fair enough.

 BIG MILLION THNXS MIG and you team I MEAN IT TRULY! ;)

 So he is a cool bonus video maybe I can call it what I rec on my own one of the coolest places in game I think just a quick privat video nothing big but its something

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fciXUG3TVF0


Offline Aceearly1993

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #504 on: April 30, 2017, 07:12:38 AM »
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I'm 100% with everything and cleared Boss Rush mode! Though I have several complains about Boss Rush mode...

(click to show/hide)


« Last Edit: April 30, 2017, 04:57:46 PM by Aceearly1993 »
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And he can't find who caused this."

Offline Castle34hk

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #505 on: April 30, 2017, 08:14:02 AM »
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I need the full OST on a download link plzz?
« Last Edit: April 30, 2017, 08:19:53 AM by Castle34hk »

Offline Belmontoya

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #506 on: April 30, 2017, 11:21:03 AM »
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I need the full OST on a download link plzz?

I will be uploading the full ost to YouTube soon.

I'm trying to decide whether to do it song by song, or in groups level by level. It will be a lot of work and many, many videos because of the large size of the ost ???? And because I actually have to program in proper endings since the songs were all made to loop and I don't want to just fade every song out. I apologize for not having this ready with the launch.

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Offline piscesdreams

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #507 on: April 30, 2017, 11:52:51 AM »
+1
I will be uploading the full ost to YouTube soon.

I'm trying to decide whether to do it song by song, or in groups level by level. It will be a lot of work and many, many videos because of the large size of the ost ???? And because I actually have to program in proper endings since the songs were all made to loop and I don't want to just fade every song out. I apologize for not having this ready with the launch.

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You could do one entire video with everything timecoded, but crossfade the tracks.  Though that would muddy up some of the intros.

Offline Foffy

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #508 on: April 30, 2017, 02:56:14 PM »
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You could do one entire video with everything timecoded, but crossfade the tracks.  Though that would muddy up some of the intros.

I second this. This is most convenient unless you make a Bandcamp account and do tracks in order.

Offline Chernabogue

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Re: CASTLEVANIA THE LECARDE CHRONICLES II April 2017
« Reply #509 on: April 30, 2017, 03:56:30 PM »
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^Instead of doing cross-fades, just do a fade-out on the tracks.

 

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