Topic: Something(s) I thought Lords of Shadow 2 should have had more of.

[Anglachel]

When listening to Lords of Shadow 2's music, one change I would have made to the music is to put in more strings. Listen to the Power of Void.

The Power of the Void (Event II) - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 OST

It gives off a very classical, timely feel, especially around 0:20. It's very different from hearing electronic beats in the music. In fact, it sounds very Castlevania to me.

Something else I thought would be epic, would be a song like this.

The Rains of Castamere (extended cut)

Wouldn't a song, like "Rains of Castamere", have been cool for LOS2? A song about Vlad the Impaler, the Order of the Dragon, the Brotherhood of Light, and Dracula's Castle, would have been quite a nice touch.

It would have been awesome had they done the "Bram Stoker's Dracula" take and intertwined Vlad the Impaler with Gabriel Belmont. Lining up his castle with impaled Brotherhood soldiers, making the "Forest of the Impaled."

[Inccubus]

Some actual video game music even half as catchy as the original series would have made all of LoS better.
I'm just being a crotchety old fart about it at this point, though.

[Mike Belmont]

Some actual video game music even half as catchy as the original series would have made all of LoS better.
I'm just being a crotchety old fart about it at this point, though.

Absolutely this.

I have nothing against Araujo´s music, but there is more videogame music composers. The first question would be, why to put a movie orchestator in charge of the music of a videogame like Castlevania? I have nothing against orchestal music in videogames, really. Let´s hear for example to Rygar: The Legendary Adventure OST. I love its music, is kind of catchy (to me) and is performed by the Moscow International Symphony Orchestra. I prefer the japanese composers, but I like a lot the works from other guys outside Japan, like Cris Velasco, Sascha Dikiciyan, or even Jesper Kyd, for example.

As I said before, I have nothing against the LoS music (even the game itself), but his music could be better. A real Castlevania game deserves a REAL Castlevania music (sorry if this words are harsh... even at this point).

[LuxKiller65]

mhhh one change... one change...

[Aiddon]

Some actual video game music even half as catchy as the original series would have made all of LoS better.
I'm just being a crotchety old fart about it at this point, though.

That is the thing about LoS; the soundtrack is just so...generic. It's every Hans Zimmer/John Williams ripoff soundtrack you hear in EVERY game trying to be a big blockbuster. It doesn't hold a candle to the Metroidvania or even the classic OSTs. Yamane is probably one of the best and most unique game composers around. Stuff like The Tragic Prince and Wandering Ghosts from Symphony or An Empty Tome and Clashing of Waves from Ecclesia were not only great, but had identities. She was able to fuse different styles and genres from classic, to rock, to even techno giving a very eclectic sound to the franchise. I can listen to ANY of the old OSTs and never grow bored of them. Heck, I'm listening to my OST collection as I am typing this.

In all honesty, it's not just the music that's so bothersome about LoS, but the aesthetic in general. It just never felt like a Castlevania game no matter how much Cox, Konami, and Mercurysteam tried to say otherwise. This sudden change of EVERYTHING with LoS was partly to blame for why the series fell of a cliff so quick. The reason SotN and the Iga era was able to get away with a radical change in playstyles was due to two things. 1) He still kept the general aesthetic. Everything still had the series' gothic look and feel with the sprite art and the OSTs also helped that. 2) He kept the lore. The history was still around, the Belmonts were still kicking all sorts of ass and we still had recurring characters. Heck, the first time he did this was with Symphony being a sequel to Rondo of Blood where the old players came back. It helped eased the transition. LoS made the mistake every "reboot" makes by throwing out everything and then slapping the franchise's name on the cover. Not how things in the real world work, my friends.

[Kingshango]

To be fair, LOS2 had ALOT of problems. So much so that, in my opinion, music was the least of it's problems.

That's when you know a game has problems when an issue with the first game appears in the second game but is overshadowed by glaring issues in the sequel.

[Anglachel]

I don't disagree with you guys. I like the music in Lords of Shadow, but I wanted classic music in the games too. At least one rendition of "Bloody Tears" would have been superb.

Aiddon, I agree somewhat with the lore issue. What did make the old series really cool was the long spanning lore that it set up. For a fan of the LOS  series (like me), there was very little lore in comparison to support it. There were only 3 games to try and make the new lore. One was basically a prequel (which I thought did a good job), the second was a handheld (mistake), and the third was SO far away from what we expected it to be.

Even with that, I think it would have gone better if MOF was taken out of the equation and the 2nd game was solely devoted to Dracula and his time. His fight against the Belmonts during the medieval times, his awakening in modern times, and his final fight. I actually thought that the first half of the second game would have been that, and we only would have gotten to modern times about halfway into the game.

[DoctaMario]

I didn't love LoS2's ost but I think it was appropriate for the game. If they'd done something similar to old school CV I don't know that it would have fit the tone of the game if that makes sense.

[Aiddon]

Aiddon, I agree somewhat with the lore issue. What did make the old series really cool was the long spanning lore that it set up. For a fan of the LOS  series (like me), there was very little lore in comparison to support it. There were only 3 games to try and make the new lore. One was basically a prequel (which I thought did a good job), the second was a handheld (mistake), and the third was SO far away from what we expected it to be.

Even with that, I think it would have gone better if MOF was taken out of the equation and the 2nd game was solely devoted to Dracula and his time. His fight against the Belmonts during the medieval times, his awakening in modern times, and his final fight. I actually thought that the first half of the second game would have been that, and we only would have gotten to modern times about halfway into the game.

Mirror of Fate's problems had NOTHING to do with it being on a handheld. Just look at the GBA and DS titles; yeah, they were on handhelds but they didn't let that deter them. With the three GBA titles being released on VC, I'm revisiting them and frankly there's nothing about them that was as flawed as MoF; they're all great titles with great design (although admittedly some are better than the others) that are fun to play and get lost in.

No, MoF's problems were in design. Frankly, it was schizophrenic. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be about exploration or about fighting and ended up making both halfbaked. Fighting just got tedious, especially with the damage sponge enemies that just wouldn't die and exploration felt completely token. And then we have the multiple playable protagonists that at the end of the day had bugger all to make them different enough from one another. Instead of having distinct play styles like, say, Dracula's Curse or the secret characters of the IgaVanias, you're just left wondering why they didn't just stick with ONE character that had all the abilities of the cast. Again, just an example of a studio that clearly didn't know what they were doing.

[DragonSlayr81]

I didn't love LoS2's ost but I think it was appropriate for the game. If they'd done something similar to old school CV I don't know that it would have fit the tone of the game if that makes sense.

I always hear this, but I dont' think we really know how it would be considering it's never done, or the industry doesn't have the balls to do it. They've nestled themselves into the trend of "epic score" which everybody else and their moms are doing. IMO, it's the safe route. It's the experimental folk that go against the grain and try ideas many others would scoff at and believe won't work.

[Lelygax]

LoS taught me that music is more important in games than it seems to be.

[DoctaMario]

I always hear this, but I dont' think we really know how it would be considering it's never done, or the industry doesn't have the balls to do it. They've nestled themselves into the trend of "epic score" which everybody else and their moms are doing. IMO, it's the safe route. It's the experimental folk that go against the grain and try ideas many others would scoff at and believe won't work.

Castlevania 64's score was similar in a sense. It's about creating an experience, and the music is a component of that experience, but not necessarily the whole experience. The music's there in a sense to form a buffer. If it weren't there you'd definitely notice it, but it's not supposed to be obtrusive and in your face.

[crisis]

First Return to the Castle - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 OST


sorry guys but this track is incredible & fits right in with the series

[Anglachel]

I didn't expect this thread to turn into this discussion. There were a few pressing things on my mind I thought LOS2 would have benefited from and I shared them.

Although, there are a lot of things LOS2 would have fared better with and it is always good to hear from others their opinions. So, I thank ye.

[Anglachel]

I don't know if all of you have heard this, but I think that classic fans can appreciate this.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Super Castlevania IV Soundset (SNESology)