Topic: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate 3DS (Discussion Thread)

[Kingshango]

Aren't those Febuary numbers? Mirror of Fate came out in March so I don't think it'll count.

Not that I don't think it didn't bomb in sales though.

[Maedhros]

Aren't those Febuary numbers? Mirror of Fate came out in March so I don't think it'll count.

Not that I don't think it didn't bomb in sales though.

Actually... yeah... my bad.
I don't think it'll show up anyway. I stand corrected.

But the PAL ranks are right: it was a mega flop there (39th on NE).

[e105beta]

Could someone provide a link to all these charts and numbers?

[Pfil]

Reverie was in my opinion far more enjoyable than LoS itself, so I'd like to see something in MoF in the same vein of that.
Though I wouldn't know what could that be.

[Maedhros]

Could someone provide a link to all these charts and numbers?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522270

[e105beta]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=522270

Awesome, thanks.

[Flame]

IMO, depending on how LoS2 wraps up the story, It might leave no room for any more stories. That said, if there's room for something in between or whatever, i'm all for it, but I would hope it is not handheld. MS kinda failed at MoF. Unless they can make a more cohesive story and therefore not have characters jumping all over the castle at different time periods, therefore allowing for a more immersive exploration of the castle. But I firmly believe the LoS saga should stay on consoles. It just plain WORKS BETTER there.

Also, I mentioned this somewhere, but a spin off where you play as the Founders of the order, (the Lords of Shadow Pre-ascension) would be neat, and allow for more gameplay variety. (EG they can make them all real different in how they attack monsters)

Also, Really? lower budget than previous Metroidvanias? I find that difficult to believe! Source?

[Dremn]

How OOE was a "step in the right direction" eludes me constantly, I keep hearing people say how great it was but no matter how hard I look I just don't see the potential they see in it.

I loved the art direction, I think people just appreciate it's somewhat linear level structure similar to the original games.

As much as I love Shanoa OoE is not in my list of favorite Metroidvanias.

[e105beta]

I loved the art direction, I think people just appreciate it's somewhat linear level structure similar to the original games.

As much as I love Shanoa OoE is not in my list of favorite Metroidvanias.

Masaki Hirooka's Dracula is probably my second favorite Dracula behind Gabriel.

Also, this thread inspired me to try OoE again. I just popped it into my DS Lite and started a new save.

I'm actually surprised. The hallwayization is worse than I remembered. Ruvas Forest is even just one big hallway.

Bosses go down quicker than I remember, however. Though I haven't gotten to the crab boss yet, and I remember him being quite the sandbag.

[beingthehero]

Ruvas Forest makes more sense on hard mode

[uzo]

Also, Really? lower budget than previous Metroidvanias? I find that difficult to believe! Source?

I haven't heard this either, and I too find that hard to believe. I'd like the source on that as well.

[Maedhros]

Masaki Hirooka's Dracula is probably my second favorite Dracula behind Gabriel.

Also, this thread inspired me to try OoE again. I just popped it into my DS Lite and started a new save.

I'm actually surprised. The hallwayization is worse than I remembered. Ruvas Forest is even just one big hallway.

Bosses go down quicker than I remember, however. Though I haven't gotten to the crab boss yet, and I remember him being quite the sandbag.

I don't really see a problem with these hallway levels... I mean, you go there only one time and NEVER go back again. It's just there, as transition. It doesn't make the game any worse.

[Dark Nemesis]

Masaki Hirooka's Dracula is probably my second favorite Dracula behind Gabriel.

Also, this thread inspired me to try OoE again. I just popped it into my DS Lite and started a new save.

I'm actually surprised. The hallwayization is worse than I remembered. Ruvas Forest is even just one big hallway.

Bosses go down quicker than I remember, however. Though I haven't gotten to the crab boss yet, and I remember him being quite the sandbag.

The small stages like Ruvas Forest, to me they are looking like a bridge connection with the main stages, so i didn't have a problem with them.

[Lelygax]

Yeah, also Rovas Forest is a real nightmare when you play in Hard Mode for the first time and decides to "test" the strength of the medusa heads in there.

[Svart]

dunno, my feelings regarding MOF are really mixed. there are some things that i loved of the game, but the game does have it faults, mostly on the gameplay side (which usually are the most severe faults a game can have).

i'm kinda sad though that 80% of it's bashing feels like biased stuff regarding non important things.

pros: the game visually is astounding and pretty, there was a lot of effort and fresh ideas thrown into the castle, along more classic ones. and the 3d gimmick is masterfully implemented to the point that i can barely think playing the game non 3d (unlike games like fire emblem awakening in which the 3d was nice, but superflous. the game is still amazing though.) the castle feels deep, alive, (even if it had like only 3 types of monsters). and i often found myself stopping just to see the landscape.

musically i think that the game made an improvement from LOS since there were more memorable tunes, some that lingered in your head. BUUT, the way how music is designed to fit in the game sucks hard time, changing battle themes (that IMO arent aruajo strenght) just for one enemy that dies faster than you can say hello really kills the ambient the game was being able to create.

regarding plataforming, it felt a little less scripted than in LOS, and varies enough for not turning too boring, even if more enemies and battle during plataforming would help improve it a lot, outside some shy attempts.

QTE are another mixed bag, having one to open doors and chest is frankly moronic, plus isnt nice to press b repeteadly on a ds. but i enjoyed the lord daemon battle whit trevor, which was one giant QTE. since it felt dynamic, and helped bring variety regarding the other bosses. (plus flying trough the castle on 3d.. should be a disney amusement ride XD).

combat is another mixed bag, the localized attacks are good, but the area attack were kinda OP and once you started abusing them you could easily drain teh challange. the sub weapons and magic modes felt good enough. and i felt myslef often having to drop combos (although a little less than in LOS whose combat was better) in order to dodge, which kinda brings variety... i mean if you wanted to "survive", which brings me to MOF worse point, the death system.

MOF death system is simply atrocius, barely a penalty for dying, means that you dont mind getting hit, and therefore it greatly flattens both the plataforming and the combat. lots of times i found that i t was easy dying on purpose on a trap to "gain health" than to try to survive. whie its nice that they liked to put themselves apart from other metroidvanias omiting the save points, i believe that save points would have greatly benefit MOF. both in making parts of the castle more special and in bringing tension to both plataforming and combat. it suffers from the prince of persia case, a beatiful game ruined by draining the challange in completing the levels, making that you only want to continue playing for looking at more "pretties" instead of because you are having fun.

The story also is narrated in an awkward pace and it kinda disturbed me than they wanted to explain everything except the ending, which imo it should be inverse. and the 100% didnt felt much like one. still, i've never played castlevanias for the plot anyway so not a big deal, glad that the budget in making great cutscenes went to another parts of the game, and kept the cutscenes simple though, lip synch is overrated.

and my final issue was with barrels, i felt that they choosed boring barrels instead of candles only because they would make "more sense" in a realism context (which is also way overrated that everything in games have to make sense in a realism context, dont confuse with coherence which is always nice)... only to put inside perfectly cooked turkey that made even less sense than being in walls or candles.

(oh, and i kinda missed the good voice acting).

still, if you like to play castlevania for "the pretties" which i believe is the reason from a good ammount of metroidvania fans, (a little of myself included). mirror of fate is friggin pretty, there is no deny on that.

off topic: that MOF needed more rpg elements? really? IMO excess of rpg elements is what killed the metroidvanias. OoE was a step in the right direction there greatly reducing all that stuff and making leveling up less important, in fact once i unlocked lvl 1 hard mode and decent gear, ive never went back : D.