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

[Shiroi Koumori]

I wonder if that's how Alucard will get more abilities, by drinking the defeated enemy's blood?

I think the abilities are set at 4 max.

Not much difference interview wise but here it is being played on a 3dsxl
so big 

That is why i'm getting a xl. 

[Flame]

What i mean was if that is how he will get maybe some of the others.

Maybe not, but it would be neat.

Actually, given that finishers ARE in this game, like in LoS, maybe one of his finishers will involve some neck chomping action.

[Inccubus]

It's not about gamers being idiots. I'd bet they didn't originally have the shiny platform thing, but in alpha or beta testing realized that the direction the player is supposed to go wasn't always terribly obvious. No reason to turn an action game like LoS into a "Where do I go now" type of thing like Simon's Quest.

That seems like speculation. Plus I don't remember not seeing these shiny surfaces in any of the videos that ever showed ledge action. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but turning LoS from an action game into an a platformer with heavy exploration aspects like SotN is exactly the point of this game. At least that is the impression I got from Cox's rhetoric.

The problem is that there are a lot of ledges that blend into the background and/or don't look like anything you could potentially grab onto. Unless the camera focuses in on your path (which it didn't always do in LoS), having the shiny platforms is a simple way to highlight the path. I don't see an issue with it, especially since it's not like older games where the objects you have to interact with have a slightly different look than ones that are merely meant to be background.

There was nothing stopping them from doing exactly like the old games and making them more obvious. However, I disagree about the ledges not being obvious enough. I don't see them blending into the backgrounds like that even with the crappy quality of these YouTube videos.

Same goes for the whip swinging points. Some of them don't look like they'd be things you could swing from. Having the player need to do a lot of aimless jumping and dying just to find out which way you're supposed to go isn't exactly a product of good design either.

That's easily remedied simply by making them all look alike as they did in SCV4. "The Cave" has swing points for one of the characters and they don't even look alike in all the different area, but they simply didn't design any other background objects to look like a hook coming out of the wall for no good reason.

God... the castle looks so fucking empty...

Alucard is Trevor.

This.

[Munchy]

God... the castle looks so fucking empty...

Yeah, I'd say this is my main complaint so far. Needs more enemies, especially where platforming is concerned. I thought they'd take advantage of the air-dash mobility by having more jerks trying to fuck up your jumps like in the old ones, which they kinda do this with some of Simon's parts and some flying dudes, but then he just uses the Sypha-shield and can just ignore them.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Actually, given that finishers ARE in this game, like in LoS, maybe one of his finishers will involve some neck chomping action.

It would be great to see that neck chomp finisher.

Yeah, I'd say this is my main complaint so far. Needs more enemies, especially where platforming is concerned. I thought they'd take advantage of the air-dash mobility by having more jerks trying to fuck up your jumps like in the old ones, which they kinda do this with some of Simon's parts and some flying dudes, but then he just uses the Sypha-shield and can just ignore them.

Ah yes... but I think they are also trying to bring in newbies who are not ready for intense platforming + crazy enemies.
They can't please everybody.

[Chernabogue]

You might have more mofos in hard mode.

[Maedhros]

You might have more mofos in hard mode.

This is a modern game. I doubt it. 99% that there's no new enemies, just more hp to the enemies the Castle already have. The enemies encounters seems fixed/scripted, just like they were in LoS.

Seriously, they really need to know how to design a 2D game better...

[Ahasverus]

This is a modern game. I doubt it. 99% that there's no new enemies, just more hp to the enemies the Castle already have. The enemies encounters seems fixed/scripted, just like they were in LoS.

Seriously, they really need to know how to design a 2D game better...

Why don't you go and help them Mr Miyamoto?



If there were more enemies traversing would be a shore. The game is an action game where long combos are preffered so the more enemies the longer it takes to kill them all the more the pacing goes to the toilet.
See?

[Dark Nemesis]

Why don't you go and help them Mr Miyamoto?



If there were more enemies traversing would be a shore. The game is an action game where long combos are preffered so the more enemies the longer it takes to kill them all the more the pacing goes to the toilet.
See?

I would rather have more enemies that they take less hits to die, like the old Castlevanias, than having few enemies, that they required a big amount of hits to take them down. You know why? Because when enemies are more, they offer more of a challenge, but when they are 2 or 1, once you learn its pattern, you can easily avoid its attacks, offering less challenge.

[Chernabogue]

Why don't you go and help them Mr Miyamoto?

When I see all that recycled stuff from Mario, I'd rather not call him.

[Ahasverus]

I would rather have more enemies that they take less hits to die, like the old Castlevanias, than having few enemies, that they required a big amount of hits to take them down. You know why? Because when enemies are more, they offer more of a challenge, but when they are 2 or 1, once you learn its pattern, you can easily avoid its attacks, offering less challenge.

That's correct and I actually prefer the way you are saying, but it seems that's not MercurySteam's idea so the fewer enemies decision is right for the kind of game MoF is, even if I wished it as less hack and slash-y

[beingthehero]

If there were more enemies traversing would be a shore.

?


One of the best things about OoE's hard mode was that there were new enemies and obstacles, especially in the forest areas.

[Ahasverus]

?

YOU WIN THIS TIME 

[Akuma]

You think Gabriel really is short Prologue level only?

Seems like a waste if you ask me.

[uzo]

If there were more enemies traversing would be a shore. The game is an action game where long combos are preffered so the more enemies the longer it takes to kill them all the more the pacing goes to the toilet.
See?

That doesn't have to be true. If you design the game so that the player's abilities make it easier and quicker to take down previous area enemies, then you can achieve a quicker rate of exploration for past areas, while retaining higher difficulty for the new areas. Typically this is most successful when the majority enemy introduced in the current area, is best handled with the upgrade found in the current area. It is what you should be striving to do.

You can layer this effect if you want a mismatch of combat and platforming ability progression. The easiest way is simply to have a leveling system on the side, while having platforming and mobility upgrades done by items. The harder is progressing the combat and platforming abilities side by side, making sure they don't get too far ahead of each other in proportion, and the abilities don't stack to imbalanced spikes of power increase.

Though, I don't find it much harder to balance using all scripted powerups on both sides of the progression. It's not done as much for fear lesser players will get discouraged, and it takes only a little more thinking on balance pure scripted powerups.

Lords of Shadow kind of goes for a middle road, and one I generally approve of, where your combat is split up, with some experience granting you new abilities, and key upgrades relegated to scripted times. Where Lords of Shadow, and seemingly Mirror of Fate, are doing it wrong are that the enemies have so much HP, and the upgraded moves don't bridge the gap (plus the moves cannot be used due to length of setup time / imbalanced hit-stun), there by reduce the number of enemies to 'fix' the problem, but create other problems as a result (ie. empty halls).

See? No Miyamoto required.