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

[Chernabogue]

Less than 10 days to go. Gnnnnnn.

[Intersection]

This ending is incredibly disappointing. LoS2's plot had such a promising setup that I had actually expected something interesting from MercurySteam. But this... This is just... *Bangs head on table*

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I mean, happy family ending? Is this Barney or something? So much for the "unique tragedy" Cox was advertising since the game's inception... There are no such things as 'happy family endings' in plots like these. MercurySteam could have delivered such a compelling story here -- the target was miles wide and they had to miss it.

[Nagumo]

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I was expecting an incredibly stupid twist for the sake of having one, so the ending seems fine to me. Except what happens to Gabula's character arc? Doesn't he hate humanity anymore because reasons? And aren't his deeds a bit easily forgiven?

Also, I just read Spainkiller's review. He gave the game a 83/100.

Hating:

• First he compares the first game to Satan's appearance from that game, he thinks he looks great. Then he compares LoS2 to Satan's new design: still looks like Satan, but lost all subtlety. The game perhaps tries to be hard to be epic.
• An example of this is the story: it's a very simplistic plot that loses its focus due to it being unnecessary sidetracked a lot of times throughout the game. Fun fact: the city is actually called "Castlevania City", he evens insists it's not a joke.
• Some story tidbits: Satan's daughter is a scientists who wants to turn everybody into demons with a virus. Dracula's castle doesn't exist anymore in the modern era, only as fragments of his memories. He thinks the plot is confusing and just an excuse to look for McGuffins in various areas. 
• The script is very shallow, and he is disappointed such great voice actors are wasted on it.
• He says graphically the game is very inconsistent. He thinks the level design in, for example, the laboratory area, is very dull. On the other hand, he thinks the castle areas looks fantastic. 
• He then concludes what the game's problem is: it wants to do too many things that have totally nothing to do with Castlevania. He says the first Lords of Shadow also broke many conventions of the series, but most of the changes turned out well. 
• He critizes the stealth segments quite heavily. He doesn't really say anything new here.

 

The positive:

• Despite the above points, the game is actually quite good with a good battle systen that is about more than mindless button mashing. However, he expected the game to be one of the best games of the year, so he is a bit disappointed.
• The enemy designs look very good.
• The boss fights are the highlight of the game. They require some thinking and good control of the combat system.
• About 30% into the game, it changs from "fun but confusing" to "amazing and unique". After that point, he completely understood the combat system and the game stopped holding his hand. The story improved as well.
• It's a worthy conclusion of the LoS trilogy.

 

[Hagathrom]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/18/5419932/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2s-dracula-is-a-tony-soprano-nosferatu

[flyingchai]

I don't agree that the ending sounds "happy."

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Even if he and Alucard patch things up, Dracula still didn't get what he wanted, which was to die.
He still has to remain as a creature of the night who "cannot die, yet cannot live." Same would go for Alucard. A father and a son forever cursed with vampiric immortality does not sound happy to me.

[crisis]

yesterday i turned on my 3DS for the first time in months, and lo and behold, it worked! it was malfunctioning before the b button just would not work for some reason but now its back to normal now i can finally play starfox64 3D, its been sealed in its original plastic since it came out lol. now i can finish chrono trigger & kirby super star

but anyway who here has preordered the European Limited edition "Dracula's Tomb" edition Lords of Shadow? i wanana get it but since i live in friggin America i have to order it via ebay and scalpers are trying to sell it for like $300. i already have some rare los promo items and materials that arent available to the public so i dont knowe if i should throw down the coin on this package i dont think its worth anymore than $150 although i been proved wrong before in fact with my hand accidented on the piano and lied you, feel myself guilty. the dlc is going to get delayed most likely

[thernz]

Fun fact: the city is actually called "Castlevania City", he evens insists it's not a joke.

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[Ahasverus]

Wasn't it Wygol City? I think Castlevania city is a rethorical name.

[Nagumo]

Castlevania City is now canon.

Please let that sink in for a moment.

[VladCT]

Aaand flashback to that horrible Worlds of Power novel.

[Ahasverus]

Castlevania City is now canon.

Please let that sink in for a moment.

Only Simon's Quest had acknowledged the name "Castlevania" before right?

[e105beta]

http://www.reddit.com/r/castlevania/comments/1y6jkv/for_the_past_month_weve_been_working_to_create_a/

Review embargo lifts 25th, guys. Don't get your hopes up.

[uzo]

underwhelming is subjective- but glitchy? what

See my previous post on it here:

OK so I tried the LoS2 demo, PC version. Wow. I can't believe how bad that was.

Just to put this into perspective, not 5 minutes into the game I somehow glitched through the floor on the Titan for no reason and fell through the titan and  backgrounds until I died at the bottom of the glitch void.

So when I could actually do things on the Titan, and not glitch into the void, the Titan was as bland and boring as I expected, if not more so. Spending 5 minutes making a dude shoot rivets was just lame as hell.

And then it ended, just as they were going to let me kill the stupid sniper. Super short. Not satisfying at all.

The only good thing I can say is, the combat was smoother than LoS was. Though perhaps a bit heavy on the effects, making it hard to see at times.

I actually expected the game to stand up way better than that, but after that pathetic demo I don't even know if I'd play it for free. It's certainly not getting my money.

[theplottwist]

Castlevania City is now canon.

Please let that sink in for a moment.

This is absolutelly ridiculous, seriously. Now I understand the whole "city growing from the castle" shenanigans, but holy crap this name is horrid... Why not call the city... "Castle City" maybe? Or "Castille" if we're going full blown spanish? But no... Castlevania City it is. All that is left now is to have Dracula as a mayor.

Only Simon's Quest had acknowledged the name "Castlevania" before right?

Nope. Order of Ecclesia also did it on enemy descriptions. Symphony of the Night did it too on the prologue text.

Y'know, I always found it strange that the game calls the castle "Castlevania" so rarely.

[Ahasverus]

It's not Castlevania city in game, it's Wygol

. Wygol Village, one of the areas found in Lords of Shadow, has become the city in which Lords of Shadow 2 is set. The village, which was set beside Dracula's castle, grew after the castle was left deserted.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-08-the-god-of-war-comparisons-really-pissed-us-off