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

[Ahasverus]

Guess who got the game?

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ME!

I've played it two hours, I just needed to come here and say this is so good. And the Stealth is one room. Really? is that it? Oh.

[uzo]

Poor Thin Man, Poor automatons, Poor robots that appeared in Kid Dracula series. Poor Mecha Knights and the Gear Steamer from Castlevania Bloodlines....

Bleh, kids these days.

Tinman was a steam powered axe rotator on a wooden canon base. Not a mech.

Automations are the windup toys in OoE, right? Not a mech.

Kid Dracula? Instantly denied. You're just stretching at this point.

And most of the ideas in bloodlines were pretty lame as it is. They really went out there, almost as much as LoS did. I know that's not a popular opinion, but I don't like CV64 or Bloodlines in this regard.

Still, none of these examples are even close to being ED-209's. Sorry, but those are not good comparisons.

Aria also did nothing to take advantage of it's modern setting outside of a zombie type and like 3 weapons.

Which was the smart thing to do.

[Ahasverus]

You are the problem then, not the series. Sorry.

[DragonSlayr81]

Kamirine:

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Alucard is the reason why it fits. He acts similar to the classic character. They are the same.

No, they aren't. The way they were concieved are two different ways. WHAT they are are two different THINGS...

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classic canon Alucard is a Dhampir(child born between the union of a human and vampire, born with powers of both), while LoS Alucard is a vampire. Of course, there's also the little thing about the original canon having Trevor and Alucard as separate entities that coexist as ALLIES. The original canon is too different that LoS cannot fit into it. LoS already says certain events happened a certain way and if you place that side-by-side with the original canon, there's just no way for that to be so. They are different, end of story. Whether or not characters are similar is besides the point.

[Kingshango]

Woah

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Someone just blasted through Aregus's stealth segment in a minute and a half.

[Ahasverus]

No, they aren't. The way they were concieved are two different ways. WHAT they are are two different THINGS...

(click to show/hide)

classic canon Alucard is a Dhampir(child born between the union of a human and vampire, born with powers of both), while LoS Alucard is a vampire. Of course, there's also the little thing about the original canon having Trevor and Alucard as separate entities that coexist as ALLIES. The original canon is too different that LoS cannot fit into it. LoS already says certain events happened a certain way and if you place that side-by-side with the original canon, there's just no way for that to be so. They are different, end of story. Whether or not characters are similar is besides the point.

I think he clarified with his post below saying he mant that this game fits more into the Castlevania tone than Lords 1 and a game with a similar premise in the old cannon wouldn't be an outsider.

[Belmontoya]

What's the big deal with mechs? They're a futuristic weapon that scientists are actually trying to develop along with powered exoskeletons.

This is the first Castlevania game that takes place in the future that actually shows us what that future looks like. We can't be afraid to look. You're going to see futuristic weaponry.

Which was the smart thing to do.

It wasn't smart. It was lazy. I suspect they had the idea to put the game in the future, and then came to find they had no idea what to make that future look like.

[jormungand]

Kid Dracula? Instantly denied. You're just stretching at this point.
Still, none of these examples are even close to being ED-209's. Sorry, but those are not good comparisons.

Hope you know that David Cox loves Kid Dracula series tough.

Based on your judgement, ED-209 is an automaton not a mech btw.

So with this I rest my case and hope to talk about something else.

[EstebanT]

Poor Thin Man, Poor automatons, Poor robots that appeared in Kid Dracula series. Poor Mecha Knights and the Gear Steamer from Castlevania Bloodlines....

Bleh, kids these days.

Don't forget this little guy...
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Gatling_Knight

[jormungand]

Don't forget this little guy...
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Gatling_Knight

Lol spot on!

[DragonSlayr81]

I think he clarified with his post below saying he mant that this game fits more into the Castlevania tone than Lords 1 and a game with a similar premise in the old cannon wouldn't be an outsider.

Visually/art direction, I'd agree. But he said Alucard acts the same, so they're the same.

Visually, I do have to say, it's exactly how a 3D CV SHOULD look. The thing with MS's CVs(even the Vampire Castle/Carmilla/Bernhard Castle in the first one and the art direction of MoF), it seems to carry on the more fanciful looking look as the IGAvanias. Basically, lot of Baroque style, even in times that pre-dates that era and artistic movement(both MS and IGA's guilty of showing that style in the Crusades era of CV). IMO, that's fine, as it's something I prefer over more historical accurate style.

Oddly enough, while I might've griped about LoS in the past(most of it has to do with the gameplay, mainly the arena traps where you are locked in a room/area and can't leave until you clear it of enemies, as well as the horrible QTE and faux platforming such as shimmying, scooting, plankwalking and ledge crawling. But stuff like the robots and such aren't that bad, IMO. After playing the demo, it felt the least "offensive" to my tastes(Dracula controled pretty easily and was able to dispatch enemies fairly quickly, unlike in LoS, which it seemed like EVERYTHING was a tank and Gabriel was weak as fuck against them).

[Kamirine]

DragonSlayr81 clarified what I meant. 

Guess who got the game?

(click to show/hide)

ME!

I've played it two hours, I just needed to come here and say this is so good. And the Stealth is one room. Really? is that it? Oh.

Be sure to tell us what you think!  I'm very curious about the overall gameplay and boss battles.

[e105beta]

UGH, I WANT THIS GAME NOW!

WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TUESDAY!?!?

[dienekes96]

The stealth they are talking about is no doubt the Agreus section.  The rat stealth sections are fun and pretty easy.  The Agreus stealth section is another thing entirely.  The problem is that they only give you 50% of the advice.  The bell to deal with the hunter they share, but it isn't as important as you may think.

What really matters is using Mist to walk across the sections of leaves you have to cross.  Prior to mist, I died about 18 times.  Once I figured out when and how to use Mist, I died about two or three times.

Such a frustrating section, I absolutely believe that it cost the game points.  That said, once you know what to do, it is merely a speedbump in a pretty impressive game.

[Kingshango]

Diving back into spoiler territory a bit but here's the Agreus stealth segment where reviewers were throwing a bitch fit at:

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Done in a minute in a half! Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2 - Walkthrough - Part 8 - [Boss: Toy Maker]
 

Granted, he probably retried this a million times but it seems that these stealth sections feels like they're overblown a bit by reviewers.