After watching that whole video, I REALLY don't see what the problem that everyone (i.e. GI and Edge) seems to have with this.
The combat looks worlds better than the first, especially in the way that you're now clearly allowed to fight in the air without getting instantly fly-swatted.
The stealth seemed simple enough, and story-wise it is completely explained.
The platforming looked better than LoS1's, mostly speeding it up.
The voice acting was no better or worse than LoS1.
The graphics look
fine. Environments are detailed and beautiful and the particle effects look appropriately toned down.
I'll be disappointed if this does poorly because of the reviews. As someone who loved Lords of Shadow, this looks way better.
The game only holds your hand when it's the first time Dracula uses a particular power.
It just seems like a lot of hand holding because...there are a lot of powers to get acquainted with in just the first hour.
And since we've already seen via recent gameplay footage how some players just totally suck, it's kind of understandable why the initial use hand holding to show the player how to use a power is appropriate.
Spainkiller did say that the hand-holding ends, and like you say, while we're all pro-gamers here on Castlevania Dungeon, obviously that does not hold true for everyone.
I mean, the beginning explained to this guy in no short terms how to sync-block, and yet he clearly has no idea how to do it.