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

[The Last Belmont]

Bought the game a day after release and finished it a few days ago. I have to admit this game is good, DAMN good. They finally got the difficulty right and it feels like a pre SOTN release. The plot was very well thought out and really keeps you into the game and the big twist at the end was great. The only real flaw I saw was the lack of classic music. The in game music is good but it would have been really cool if they would have put in some old school remixes like bloody tears for Simon or Aquarius for Trevor.

[Flame]

Just finished Simon's quest for a second time today.  I'm in no hurry, so I beat it on Normal Mode, then before switching to Alucard Mode,

haha, I was reading this and thought "What's he talking about, Alucard Mode, in Simon's Quest?"

Then it took me a good 5 seconds to realize you were talking about MoF.

[Pfil]

I was never fond of remixes of old tracks in Castlevania new games. Unless they add a new part to them, like what Michiru Yamane did with Cross Your Heart in Portrait of Ruin.
I always prefer (and would have liked Mirror of Fate to have them) to have new music in the same vein of classic CV tunes. But new tracks, not just remixes. That's the only thing I found a little dissapointing of Rebirth and, on the other hand, that's the thing I liked the most about Judgment and Harmony of Despair: the new tracks (especially in HoD).

[Munchy]

I was never fond of remixes of old tracks in Castlevania new games. Unless they add a new part to them, like what Michiru Yamane did with Cross Your Heart in Portrait of Ruin.
I always prefer (and would have liked Mirror of Fate to have them) to have new music in the same vein of classic CV tunes. But new tracks, not just remixes. That's the only thing I found a little dissapointing of Rebirth and, on the other hand, that's the thing I liked the most about Judgment and Harmony of Despair: the new tracks (especially in HoD).

My main problem is that any remixes tend to be super obvious ones. Want a remix of Forest of Monsters? Or maybe Psycho Warrior? Nah, fuck that noise, you get Bloody Tears for the thousandth time.

I did appreciate the

(click to show/hide)

Heart of Fire motif in the Library area

; that was a nice surprise.

[Zetheraxza]

I tried to do Bloody Tears in Orchestra version and it sounds Genric as hell. The way those old tracks were composed was more fitting to electronic or rock genre. I don't know if this was intentional but Vampire killer orchestrated wouldn't sound good in anyway possible unless you change some notes. But it fits perfectly as a lullaby for the musical box and even then, some notes were altered for arranging for making it dark and soft. It retained the original "D-minor" scale from the NES, but some notes were different from the original. A lot of the original tracks won't sound good orchestrated and arranging that will be hard if going for the orchestra approach, the best thing is for Oscar is his usual, add hints of the old track in his original composition. That being said, his music in MoF is much catchier and more fitting for a Castlevania title, if not less far from it. I'm currently arranging Simon's Theme in the same fashion as Oscar Araujo. LoS original design isn't fitting for a Gothic Atmosphere. It's more Dark Fantasy. I'm trying to add solo violins for my arranged track for more sorrow and melancholy feel for Simon but if that we're in MoF, it wouldn't fit it because my gothic track will not fit a game that visually reeks of Dark Fantasy genre. It's too out of place. Sound production isn't really easy, after the game is done with its storyboard and they have rough visuals for the music director, you have to play what you feel in that scene and then you have to pick your scale, tempo and instruments carefully to fit that scene. If the storyboard writers, art directors and the producers aren't going for the classic Gothic atmosphere in Castlevania to begin with, how do you expect the musician to who has no control over the project but to produce what he sees. Maybe Oscar can be the musician but they can hire Michiru Yamane (If she wants) to advice Oscar Araujo for creativity productivity. Oscar Araujo is a very talented composer and he can probably compose dark gothic tunes, and quite well too probably. He is just at a wrong Castlevania project 

That being said, I spoiled the game because I still couldn't find the 3DS. HD release it is...

[Flame]

This Orchestral version sounds alright to me

Castlevania - Bloody Tears Orchestra

It's all about the instrumentation. A harpsichord, for example, goes a long way into presenting some gothic into the tune. And Violin never seems to hurt a Castlevania tune.

[Gecko]

So while yeah, he did give Satan a speech about forgiveness, he was desperately trying to hold on to his sanity by that point. He's traumatized and scarred by his ordeal to that point. Not being able to revive his wife, and losing his Humanity and gaining superb demonic powers pushed him over the edge.

Like they say, You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

To take that further, he lost his humanity for the sake of the world and became a vampire so that he could beat the Forgotten One. I think he then saw that he was beyond God's forgiveness, since he had lost his humanity. That probably broke him. Despite all he did to save the world and return order to the metaphysical universe, he was condemned. He saw that he was condemned from the start, betrayed by EVERYONE. He has plenty reason to be pissed at everyone. Gabriel explains the changes he feels himself in the loading screens of the Resurrection DLC. He loss of humanity made revenge into his major drive according to his monologue before the first stage of the chapter. Being a vampire, as well as being THE Lord of Shadow really changes him.

[Pfil]

My main problem is that any remixes tend to be super obvious ones. Want a remix of Forest of Monsters? Or maybe Psycho Warrior? Nah, fuck that noise, you get Bloody Tears for the thousandth time.

I did appreciate the

(click to show/hide)

Heart of Fire motif in the Library area

; that was a nice surprise.

Exactly.
I'm risking to get some -1 with this, but I'm really tired of Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears, and it was so all over the world for so many years that I'm also tired of Simon's theme.
I want new music to take that place now, we've had enough by now.
Gaze up at the darkness from PoR, Monastery from OoE, Study from AoS, and so on...
If they want to remix, they should do that ones (like they did in CV:HoD on PS3).

[Flame]

Actually, I'd say Simon's theme isn't quite as bad in remixes. Bloody Tears, the Beginning, and Vampire Killer are the BIGGEST offenders. I wouldn't mind a Simon's theme arrangement... IN A GAME FEATURING SIMON. I'm actually really surprised they didn't make Simon's theme for MoF.

[Pfil]

Nah, Araujo just wouldn't do it.
He wants to do THAT he always do, and only THAT.
Of course it would have been a nice detail to have some track linking to each hero, one from CV1/2/4 for Simon, one from CV3/CoD for Trevor, and one from CV3/SotN for Alucard... but no... he just wouldn't.

[Flame]

I don't know how much is him and how much is MS/Cox wanting to stand apart from the rest. LoS1 had a good few remixes.

[Pfil]

It could be said, I guess, but they lacked the power they need to have, at least to my tastes.
But yes, Cox surely has something to do with this musical vision.

But checking another Araujo games and movies, I found out that it sounds always similar to LoS.
I don't know the order of events in time, but my guess is that Araujo built a personality in the film industry as a composer and MS approached him for the soundtrack of a game previous to LoS (I don't remember the name).
Araujo used his typical sound, MS liked it, and so when the time came to make CV: LoS they all decided to stick with what have worked in the past, also killing two birds with one stone for Cox, since he wanted to stay away from typical CV.

At least that's how I see it.

[Inccubus]

To take that further, he lost his humanity for the sake of the world and became a vampire so that he could beat the Forgotten One. I think he then saw that he was beyond God's forgiveness, since he had lost his humanity. That probably broke him. Despite all he did to save the world and return order to the metaphysical universe, he was condemned. He saw that he was condemned from the start, betrayed by EVERYONE. He has plenty reason to be pissed at everyone. Gabriel explains the changes he feels himself in the loading screens of the Resurrection DLC. He loss of humanity made revenge into his major drive according to his monologue before the first stage of the chapter. Being a vampire, as well as being THE Lord of Shadow really changes him.

Are you talking about LoS or a more robust and convoluted version of Bram Stoker's Dracula?

[Flame]

There's a difference?  XD

Castlevania Dracula has been based on the Coppola Dracula since LoI actually made him a knight from the crusades. And LoS seems to follow suite with a similar holy knight story.

[Zetheraxza]

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheERGOChannel?feature=watch

Mirror Of Fate OST. I think they ripped most of it out...