Topic: "The Dragon Returns" - Castlevania Lords of Shadow Sequel (HERE BE SPOILER INFO)

[Belmontoya]

I can assure you that my posts are tempered intersection. You might note that my whole post started with how much I like Pfil. She's a nice girl and a passionate cv fan. I think very highly of her.

With all do respect I find it offensive for Pfil to imply that fans of LOS know nothing about castlevania. THAT is a BS comment to make, and I stand by what I wrote. I couldn't care less to know what information you wish to get out of my posts Intersection.

I can assure you that LOS was made to appeal to CV fans. I experienced a genuine cv out of it and noticed nods to Cv4 as well as other games. You're not going to convince me that LOS was developed without CV fans in mind. That idea is absurd.

And I didn't start the 'I've been here longer than you argument". Pfil said that LOS fans know nothing about older cv games. I was merely citing myself as proof that that statement is false and again, presumptuous.

And just so you know, I am a fan of many IGA games, so please don't assume that I am not simply because I also enjoy LOS.

By going on to a LOS sequel thread, and doing nothing but bash the games, and mock the development team, you are bound to start to annoy some people.

And by the way, I thought about calling myself rude, and then I thought better of it.

[Pfil]

I know a lot of fans like this, and LOS brought them back. Then there are the did hard fans like me who have been around since damn near the beginning, and we love LOS. That's what I call appealing to the true older fans.

I'm not since the beginning just because I'm 24, but I would have been otherwise, you can be sure of that.
But I want to make clear that I stated that many LoS fans know nothing about CV. Of course not all of them.
Here we have some CV fans tat like it, but we don't have a million fans that bougth a million copies. In that million people, you will mostly find modern gamers that never played a CV game until LoS.

It really seems to me that you like the idea of castlevania being this obscure anime Metriodvania game that has a niche crowd. That's not the way it was back in the day and thats not the way many fans want it. It seems like you feel threatened by castlevania being on the big stage again and getting new fans.

You can be sure of that. I'd love portable MetroidVanias to come forever. Low budget, some recycled sprites, simple stories, but new stages, new music and new characters every time. That's my ideal, yes. Only home console MetroidVanias would be better than that.
But I'd be happy with many downloadable titles as Rebirth too, provided they have new CV stages and music.

LOS is every bit as legitimate as any IGA game in CV. That's fine if you don't like it, but it would be nice if you could stop raining on the parade for those of us who are excited for the sequel. On this particular thread it's a little rude.

OK, I started it as a joke. We were just making fun of MS thinking what they would do with another franchises, based on the way we perceive them.
I will respect that.

By the way, thanks for how you started your post, I like you too 

Yeah, I want it to stop too. However, I bet it will start up again if someone else gets the opportunity to make CV games and they reboot the series (almost guaranteed to happen). At which point, both the fans who are complaining now and the fans of the LoS series will start bitching. I don't mean to be negative, but this is just the impression I get.

Oh, and what I said about before about IGN and other reviewers, I may have over exaggerated the way things are and how they work, but my point remains the same.

You can be sure there will always be people complaining. The only way to shut up all of us would be to develop a home console 3D CV with Yamane's style of music, a portable MetroidVania and keep LoS as a separate franchise.
People will always complain when they take away or change what they love. And reboots are the worst thing that can happen to people many times.

And about IGN, I just don't understand Colin Moriarty. He gave a 4,5 to MoF but he loves LoS. I just don't understand it. First, MoF is more CV than LoS the way I see it, and 2nd, you either like them both or dislike them both, how can you give 8,5 to on and 4,5 to the other if they look the same, have the same music and the stories merge?

All this time, I'd been wishing LoS was a separate franchise; yet I'd hope CV would fare better than being relegated to a low budget wing -- for "some sales" only.

I'm all for a bold reimagining of Castlevania; yet this particular one went so far that it got lost in its own dream. When it came out it wasn't Castlevania anymore!
Here's the bottom line: I truly enjoyed Lords of Shadow -- but simply not as a Castlevania game.

That's exactly what I think.

But Pfil: you have to show some kind of optimism towards future games; yes, Konami isn't known to pamper its franchises, but we can always hope for a true breakthrough.

I know, but I just can't when the music is that music. I would forgive anything else and I would have a little more optimism had things been a little different.

[Kingshango]

The "Lords of Shadow isn't Castlevania" arguments are so 2009, the iPhone 3GS just came out.

Really tho, just think in 5 more months the Lords of Shadow arc is ending and a new dev team will replace MS.

Then will all have b&m sessions about the next Castlevania reboot then it's back to square 1.

[Pfil]

And we will have the same complains over and over.
As I said, the only way there will be no complains is if they make home console 3D CV's, portable MetroidVanias, downloadable ClassicVanias and keep releasing LoS games as a separate franchise.

[shelverton.]

Alright, just to spread some luv in this thread (which after all is about LoS2) I'm gonna name some positive things about this upcoming game. Because as much as I disliked LoS and MoF, not everything is all black and white.

For example:

- The graphics and the environments we've seen so far in LoS2 look (IMO) gorgeous. LoS1 was a pretty game too but I honestly think Mercury Steam has topped it. Hats off for them!

- The exploration aspect excites me, and I'm glas MS listened to the feedback. Time will tell if they pulled it off, but it's probably safe to say that LoS2 will have more exploration than LoS1. Cause it had none, basically.

- The concept of going between a modern city and the old castle is new to the series, and I'm interested to see what the "modern" setting will be like. Are we jumping on roof tops? I wanna know.

- The camera is no longer fixed. It should make for a less claustrophobic experience and, if done well, really help those fancy graphics come to life.

- The titan battle in the demo looks VASTLY superior to the ones in LoS1. Stuff is actually happening while you climb, and it seems much more dynamic and less repetitive.

- Dracula wielding three weapons should make the combat less monotonous. Enemies will probably have a bit too much health this time as well, but if Dracula has a few other powers up his sleeve (which he should, according to MS) it could mix things up a bit.

- Slogra might be in this game. What do you think?

...so, there. I was positive! I actually liked being positive and constructive. Weird feeling... :S

[Maedhros]

I have high hopes to LoS2. If they make other characters playable, better yet.

[Belmontoya]

 

[Munchy]

- Dracula wielding three weapons should make the combat less monotonous. Enemies will probably have a bit too much health this time as well, but if Dracula has a few other powers up his sleeve (which he should, according to MS) it could mix things up a bit.

This reminds me... I kinda enjoyed the combat in LoS1, but did anyone else have that problem where all you could do on higher difficulties was X X X - dodge, or else get hit? And does anyone who is good at the combat have any tips to circumvent this?

[DragonSlayr81]

Yeah, I want it to stop too. However, I bet it will start up again if someone else gets the opportunity to make CV games and they reboot the series (almost guaranteed to happen). At which point, both the fans who are complaining now and the fans of the LoS series will start bitching. I don't mean to be negative, but this is just the impression I get..

Final Fantasy in a nutshell. For a series where fans openly preach about change and how "true fans" are ones that accept it(because Square SAID FF is about change), they abandon all of that once the change doesn't agree with their precieved notion of what FF should be like. You saw the bulk of this start with FFVII, where the series became more mainstream, and the newer fans were all, "Yeah, older fans, FF's different now! Go sulk somewhere else, because it's OUR series now and we accept the new way it's going!", and the old fans were, "Naw, we want the old games and classic FF settings with Black Mages and such!". Then eventually came FFIX where the newer fans were all like, "What's this change? I don't like it! It's too cartoony!" and old fans were like, "Yay, but why do the characters look like treasure trolls?", then you got various bumps back and forth between settings, and people arguing about each other, pretending to be "enlightened" because they accept a current game, then the second the NEXT one comes out, change their stripes and start ranting how the series is dead!

I think I've said this before on GameFAQs, but nobody is that indifferent to be unbiased against all change. Everybody has a breaking point that, depending on their taste, pushes them over the line where they eventually say, "Yeah, I don't like it!". And to a point, that's fine. You don't have to like everything. It's human to like and dislike things. It's human to rant about things(takes some frustration out, vents some steam). Though, the bit about the lot of ours proposed "rebooted MS versions of other Konami franchises" was more done in fun and jokingly. It wasn't meant to be malicious. It was a poke of fun. It actually can also poke fun at reboots altogether(as the collective of reboots, MS or not, tend to revolve around the same ideas of stripping a franchise of it's soul and mass-marketing it to the mainstream audience... MOST of the time, not ALL the time). It's kinda like poking fun at the idea of Contra, a movie by Michael Bay. Instead of Red Falcon being aliens, it's going to be an army... evil army. There's going to be more explosions, more squad based stuff, and a scene where they are preparing for battle in front of the rising sun.

Ya know, speaking of Goemon, where the hell has he been lately. I could really go for a fun co-op insanity platformer right about now.

It's dead, dude. Personally speaking, I wouldn't mind the series to be revived and given some good attention. I could go for an anime-esque quirky action game. Hell, they can also make it into some cool, large ass adventure ARPG. But, Westerners no likey cartoony quirkiness. That's for babies. It's not gritty, grounded or realistic! And while some people are allowed to think that way, I would hope the majority would just get over that shit. A fun game is a fun game. Who cares if it's super realistic, cartoony, quirky, surreal or grounded? I mean, it's funny that when I was young, everybody taught me not to judge a book by it's cover, because what's inside counts(my generation, that was kinda pounded into our heads), and then you realize that's not really the case. Many good things in this world get overlooked because people don't give them a chance. Shame. What an enlightened age we live in!

[Ahasverus]

And we will have the same complains over and over.
As I said, the only way there will be no complains is if they make home console 3D CV's, portable MetroidVanias, downloadable ClassicVanias and keep releasing LoS games as a separate franchise.

I'll complain if LoS was a separate franchise. Separate from Akumajou, sure, but I'd take western Castlevania over japanese castlevania every day. i simply can't trust the japanese industry now. LoS is my Castlevania now, I'd get whatever Konami throws out though. I'm not picky. Just avoid anime, camp and IGA at all costs. I'll be fine.

[Pfil]

Anime and IGA, yeah!
I don't think they will return, to be honest.

"Only time will tell who shall emerge victorious".

[Kingshango]

This reminds me... I kinda enjoyed the combat in LoS1, but did anyone else have that problem where all you could do on higher difficulties was X X X - dodge, or else get hit? And does anyone who is good at the combat have any tips to circumvent this?

I just use XXYY then launch, then come down with a guillotine.

[Lelygax]

I opened the article. I read: "Lords of Shadow is the best 3D Castlevania game ever made". I closed the article. I upvoted Rugal's post.

That's all.

"MercurySteam’s maiden Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow, is the best 3D Castlevania ever made. Not only is its gameplay solid, but it truly understands what Castlevania is all about, if not in how it plays, then in how it looks and feels. Indeed, Lords of Shadow, in many ways, feels like a modern-day Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, an adventure that was about far more than just treking through Dracula’s fortress. It felt meatier and more substantial – though not as traditional – than many entries in the franchise."

After saying this, thats what happened with this guy:
News Reporter Can't Stop Laughing

Ya know, speaking of Goemon, where the hell has he been lately. I could really go for a fun co-op insanity platformer right about now.

Maybe he was being smart and hiding like a ninja so one remembers of him for now, I mean, Contra didnt hide and look who is coming to grab it now.

The "Lords of Shadow isn't Castlevania" arguments are so 2009, the iPhone 3GS just came out.

OMG you are a genius, thanks to you I could read the hidden message in this statement:
"Lords of Shadow isn't Castlevania"
Swap some words and voila
"MercurySteam isn't Konami"
or even
"Cox isn't IGA"

- Slogra might be in this game. What do you think?

Yes, but it will looks like Slogra or be like this?

(click to show/hide)

[DragonSlayr81]

Maybe he was being smart and hiding like a ninja so one remembers of him for now, I mean, Contra didnt hide and look who is coming to grab it now.

I think for Goemon, even though I'd love the series to make a comeback, I'd rather it not if it means, to comeback, it has to be chewed up and regurgitated by the "mainstream trend maker". I see it all similar to Dr. House's explaination of "Circle Queens", which also best describes mainstreaming trends and being "in trend". As long as everything is inside the circle of "trend", it's relevent, but anything outside of the acceptable circle should be beaten, broken and reset so it can be brought into the circle, therefore be worthy of attention.

[e105beta]

I'll complain if LoS was a separate franchise. Separate from Akumajou, sure, but I'd take western Castlevania over japanese castlevania every day. i simply can't trust the japanese industry now. LoS is my Castlevania now, I'd get whatever Konami throws out though. I'm not picky. Just avoid anime, camp and IGA at all costs. I'll be fine.

There is no Akumajou, only this single series you see before you!

But seriously, isn't the fact that "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2" is now called "Akumajou Dracula: Lords of Shadow 2" in Japan officially send the message that Konami doesn't really see a difference?

I think people need to get over the fact that Konami isn't making the games as love letters to them and just like what they like and don't like what they don't like. Maybe the series goes back to Japan, maybe Lawds-style games become the norm, maybe it becomes an FPS-Adventure RPG. Who knows? Let's just wait and see what we get.