Topic: Lords of Shadow Sequel Ideas (spoilers...a lot of them)

[thernz]

It'd be interesting to have more fresh blood from other mythology and literature! It beats reusing Castlevania character names.

[Alutwon]

I think elemental magic would be a nice addition. Combine the light and dark with the elemental to get different effects.

[DragonSlayr81]

It'd be interesting to have more fresh blood from other mythology and literature! It beats reusing Castlevania character names.

^^ That's actually what I wanted to see in LoS opposed to reusing Olrox, Brauner and such names(though I didn't have a problem with Carmilla). Find some way to worm in the Marquis de Sade into the mix.

[Dracgou]

 Dracula's soul brother Prince Mamuwalde is long over due for his Castlevaina apperence.

 

[Zobias]

I Think that the DLC thats being worked on should set after Lords of Shadow and cover Gabriels Transformation into Dracula while being hunted by his Order for his actions in LOS. Gabriel should lose the ability to use light magic at the 1/2 mark of the game - only allowing him to use Shadow Magic in conjunction with his new abilities.

[Valtiel]

I Think that the DLC thats being worked on should set after Lords of Shadow and cover Gabriels Transformation into Dracula while being hunted by his Order for his actions in LOS. Gabriel should lose the ability to use light magic at the 1/2 mark of the game - only allowing him to use Shadow Magic in conjunction with his new abilities.

And get health from bloodsucking. Mmmmmmh.

[nicoduches]

I just finished watching the entire walkthrough on youtube and feel that I need to share my crazy opinions...

Quick comment about the game : the level design, rivals and events only became interesting to me after the first third of the game (after Cornell)...

As for the storyline, here is a script excerpt after the fight against Satan (comments in bold) :

Gabriel: I am alive? No, I do not want this. Why has my life been given back to me?
Marie: It is your fate. You have been given back what was wrongfully taken from you. To repent your sins. To make amends. (My guess is that this is understood as a divine punishment for Gabriel. To stay alive in order to repent, and constantly feel the pain of not being with Marie. That would be enough to hold a grudge against God)

Gabriel: But without you..?
Marie: You freed them all, you saved us all, my Gabriel.
Gabriel: I couldn't save you.
Marie: I knew I could not tell you or despair would have eroded your resolve and everything would have been lost. (So actually she didn't fully trust him or his good heart... that's a cruel betrayal from the one you love)

Marie: I had faith in you, hoped that would be strong enough to free the world and you did not let me down. (This part of the script was added to keep the player's mind away from what I've pinpointed in the previous sentence)

Gabriel: I am not worthy of your faith, your love... I am nothing. (Notice how Gabriel can't seem to focus on the positive outcomes of all of this. He keeps thinking about his pain and negative feelings)

Marie: You are a good man Gabriel. You are as God intended, fallible yet capable of great things. I loved you then as I love you now. I see before me a man who has regained God's favor and who has my forgiveness and the forgiveness of all the lost souls in this world. You have saved us all and... you have saved yourself. (Still trying to convince him that everything's fine...)

[Gabriel reaches for the mask]
Marie: The mask is a powerful device. It allows us to see through God's eyes.
Gabriel: Can it really bring the dead back? (See? He doesn't give a damn about having saved the world. He only wants to be with Marie again)

[They kiss, she takes the mask away]
Gabriel: A fool's hope...
Marie: It is too late for me my love. I cannot go back.
Gabriel: No... no, don't go. (Notice how she approaches her hand to take his, but he holds out his "gauntleted" hand and she backs away)

Marie: It is my time, the light is calling. I'm not afraid.
Gabriel: No, please stay. Stay with me!
Marie: It's beautiful Gabriel... so beautiful... It's calling to me... calling (These words make him feel that she is taken away from him. Grudge against God rises over 9000 )

Gabriel: I love you Marie, I love you... forgive me.
[She vanishes, Claudia appears and vanishes too, Gabriel falls on his knees, looks above and cries. Then the camera freezes on Zobek's mask. Credits roll.]

And after that is the ending in the 21st century where Gabriel is Dracula and seems to live as a hermit and doesn't harm humans.

So why did he become a vampire and became known as the Prince of Darkness ?
Maybe Gabriel used Zobek's mask to become a vampire, or was bitten by one (could be a normal enemy or Laura). He had to make things such as ruthless ruling, war or dark magic stuff in order to become known as the Prince of Darkness. He learned romanian at some point. "Eu sunt Dracul" could translate as "I am Dracula" or "I am the Dragon".

As for Zobek, it seemed pretty obvious that he died in the game, burned by Satan. So why the heck is he still alive? He wishes to fight Satan. For Gabriel, joining the fight would also mean fighting for God...

Dracula: I cannot die, yet I cannot live.
Zobek: Help me and I can free you of your immortality (So basically Gabriel has to be used by and rely on others again in order to find peace and happiness)
[Camera zooms onto Dracula, he seems to be giving a thought about the situation, but shouts and vanishes with bat screeching sounds]
Zobek: Soon old friend, soon it will be over.

Judging from their looks, Dracula has the casting of an antihero and Zobek that of a boring helper/rival. Based on that it would not be surprising that a sequel would feature Dracula as the playable character in a Legacy of Kain-esque game.

If the game is truly a reboot of the Castlevania story (like the new Batman movies), Gabriel is not Leon Belmont's ancestor and most likely never fell in love again and never had children. There is no Vampire Killer whip made by Rinaldo's alchemy and Sara Trantoul's soul. Mathias Cronqvist most likely never existed. So there's no point in assuming the previous Castlevania characters and events are part of the new storyline.

[Oralox]

^^^^^I Like your explanation of the ending! Good job!^^^^

[Alutwon]

A fine analysis of the Marie-Gabriel scene. A lot of things (like the gauntlet thing) i didn't even notice. They have a lot of potential with the story hope they don't F it up.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

You didn't mention that when he puts on the mask, he sees her alive, that's when he says "A fool's hope".  It's almost like he's just wearing the SotN Holy Glasses, haha.  He only wears it for maybe 5 seconds.

But yes, I like your deconstruction of the scene.  Good jorb.

[thernz]

Haha, yeah.The ending made me think of Marie as a bit of a jerk, tricking and using Gabriel like that. Well, Gabriel gets used by everyone in LoS.

[shelverton.]

So, I didn't play the game but I watched a walkthrough on youtube. Can't believe I actually did that, but what's done is done...

Anyway, I am MIGHTY confused. Maybe cause I only watched a walkthrough and missed parts of the story. Or maybe cause the story wasn't all that great to begin with? Help me out;

Can someone explain what the two different masks really do? I understand the devil mask (or whatever it's called) has the power to control people and make them do evil things. What about the other mask, the one that this entre game is all about? It doesn't bring the dead back, but is there another purpose? Can you really "rule the universe" or whatever Zobek says, or was that also a false statement, made up by Satan? I don't trust Zobek cause he was duped all along... In the end, Marie says the mask is a "powerful device". In what way? After watching the walkthrough I felt the mask was a goddamn piece of plastic hoax. I'm thinking the person playing the walkthrough skipped something, or I was just not paying enough attention to what was said, cause I can't get this storyline together in my head. I'm not even sure exactly why Satan was the final boss, and what his intentions were. Did he want the mask or did he not?

The ending doesn't mention the masks either. I'm guessing Gabe/Drac has both of them when Zobek comes to visit him in the ending. Or something. But Zobek says he and Gabe will become Satan's pets. Which means that Satan already have the masks? Or is Satan "above" the masks? If so, the masks are kinda irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. It's very confusing to have an ending that takes place a 1000 years after the actual game. I can't wrap my head around it.

I'm not the right person to talk about what I want in a possible sequel, cause I haven't even played LoS. I did notice that enemies can take an awful lot of damage though and it looked a bit tedious at times. Would you say the enemies had too much health? Surely there must be other ways to make a game challenging. It absolutely kills the pace and I can totally see why this game is 15-20 hours long - drawn out combat! Other than that it looked like a very classy game, and it actually was a blast to watch, lol! I'd like to see a greater variety in enemies and maybe a few more classic CV monsters. Also the camera seemed a little weird at times. I bet the developers think they did a great job with it, mainly because they already know where everything is in the game. For the rest of us it's slightly disorienting. I was impressed that the person playing actually knew where he was supposed to go sometimes.

[Alutwon]

Goo why would you do that? You ruined an experience I can tell you that much

lol @ the masks. I'm sure we will see more of them in the future.

Enemies take a lot of damage if you aren't fighting them correctly and exploiting weaknesses, that much is true.

[crisis]

confusion

The whole God/Devil mask duality was kind awkward for me as well. It's never explained where they come from, or what their true purpose is. Marie explains the God Mask allows its wearer to "see through the eyes of God," while Zobek gives a much more distinctive description on what it can do (destroy the universe yadda yadda). Satan wanted it because he thought it would make him equal to God. When Gabe put it on, all he could see was a flesh Marie, so what was Satan seeing when he was wearing it??

I'm guessing the upcoming DLC will shed more light on this subject.

[Ahasverus]

i don't understand why people is still asking  "Why is Zobek alive?"
The "modern" Zobek is different to the old Zobek. Remember that Zobek becomes The Lords of the Dead after wearing the Mask. The mask was unharmed after Satan's fight. Conclusion? Zobek lives in the mask, he only needs a wearer and BOOM he's back. It's pretty obvious IMO.