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

[DragonSlayr81]

I have no idea why they hate him so. Such a shame that the Danesti clan is ignored even though in real life they are the rivals of the Draculesti clan.

Again, that's one reason I want a "family" focused CV series. They can do sooo much with all the different clans(especially in the CV unverse where it's not just the Draculesti and Danesti, but the Belmonts, Belnades, Bernhards and such), the rivalries, the alliances, and even betrayals. This concept is one they really don't go into, in EITHER canons(original and LoS).

the irony is that if lords of shadow had indeed dropped the castlevania title & been its own series, we'd prolly be arguing how it could still be an "honorary castlevania" due to its similarities

I actually wouldn't have mind if LoS was it's own thing. And as own thing, IF it didn'g get greenlit as a CV, no doubt they'd tread down a different path regarding themes. Nothing wrong with Konami sprouting out a new IP(they can use more series other than MGS and Castlevania, since they are reluctant to do anything with the bulk of their OTHER franchises). Hell, the "dark fairy tale" thing, it could've been the North-Western Europe equivalent of CV(the Eastern Europe action adventure). Instead of focusing on Dracula, horror, focus on Norse and Celtic lore of the British Isles and Scandanavia. The Seelie and Unseelie Court, the Wild Hunt, the Thin Places, pagan cults, druids, vikings and the good and evil supernatural forces of those lands. THAT could've been fuckin COOL! And all those British actors and actresses would've felt far more naturally connected to THAT sort of fantasy world, IMO. Kinda would've liked to see a similar thing with Getsu Fūma Den(rebooting, or bringing it back as a Japanese styled CV Action/Adventure game). By that, you'd have Konami with control over a trinity of lore:

Castlevania(Eastern Europe, horror/dark fantasy based)
Lords of Shadow(North/Western Europe, dark fantasy based)
Gesu Fuma Den(Japanese, dark fatnasy based)

Would also open each title up for loose connections to each other(they could all exist within the same world, and are spread far enough apart to allow each to happen in their own respected region).

Oh well, it doesn't mean there still can't be another game like the one I proposed.

[The Puritan]

Too many pages for me to go and check, so: did anyone else chuckle when they realized Zobek's Bodyguard had

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samurai-like aspects?

[KaZudra]

Alucard was almost a waste to put in this game, Victor was a complete waste...

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Victor Dies almost immediately after you beat him, Alucard's Identity was foiled when Dracula called him "boy" when they first met, Give him Crisseagrim, and NOT EVEN USE THE FUCKING THING when Possessed by Satan, instead you get the Muramasa.

Also...

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Satan, built up looking like a more buff version of the frontman in metalocalipse, you don't even fight 1v1, suprisingly, he was way more of a challenge in the first game

This game obviously had some development hell, I think there was alot of Crunching to finish the game, as you see there was alot of ideas in the game and some sections being all-out half assed, Part where they give you too many hints, parts where they give you no hints...

[Maedhros]

This story is completely bullshit! BWAHAHAHA, what a fucking joke! They fucking killed Alucard character in this.

God, I need to finish this already... just these chalenges and I can finish this shit already and probably never touch EVER AGAIN!

[Dremn]

What? Might be all Cox needs: a good release to relieve stress this game provides. I mean, I would help Gabe find the release he needs.  I'd show him men can be more than a miserable pile of secrets.  So

Good lord woman

[meanguyjones]

got a good laugh out of how people are overly excited at this game being mediocre


no wonder IGA bailed

[Darkson]

Honestly, even if he could come back, I doubt he wants to. The man spent a decade on the series. Even if you love something, it'll become tiresome after a while. That's why most authors go to different projects, to spice things up.

[Maedhros]

Finished. 100%.

I'm never going back. The ending was even worse than it was when I readed it, holy shit. It's obvious that it was completely changed on the last minute.

Overall, I can't give more than 6.5/10 for this game. It was worse than the first LoS.

[Darkson]

Well, at least you gave it a chance. I, personally, think the game is a solid 9.

Only cons I can think of are:

-victor is underused, but the presence of the mirror shard does explain that he could be being controlled by fate itself
-stealth sections, while simple puzzles in a more active form, could've been more forgiving.
-Golgoth guards should've became late game enemies
-ending is lackluster, but it does convey hope for the future in Gabriel, who spent the beginning wanting to die.
-modern sections are a bit bland

But enemy variety, combat, story (pretty good. Not great, but pretty good), atmosphere, music, and the castle environments are just spectacular. Lovely game, though it seems that its a "love it or hate it" sleeper hit situation.

[Flame]

If the modern areas were as interesting as the Castle areas, i would really consider this game 9/10 on that alone. The Castle areas are FANTASTIC, and their enemies are pretty cool.

The city areas, aside from major setpieces like the train, are boring, and fighting the same demons or mechs/riot police gets old fast. Their designs are not memorable at ALL. And neither are the majority of the city areas.

So that alone makes half the game boring and uninteresting past the initial playthrough. The city was cool enough the first time I was going through it discovering new areas and shit, but once you are done with the game, and you start item hunting, while the streets are full of Dark Monks, Horned Demons and Satan soldiers, or Riot mechs, it quickly becomes a chore. The castle also had much more creative "platforming". Sure it was the same shimmy and balance beam shit as the rest of the game, but you know what? at least it looked cool, and in places like City of the Damned, was creative, like the giant chains.

In the City, it's all scaling concrete walls or elevator shafts.

I'll probably occasionally go back to this game for the castle areas alone. Even then though, there's missed opportunity. Why Can't you visit the throne room at will? WHY? I mean even in the story event, you dont even visit it, you visit the book behind it.

That bugs me the most, that you cant visit the throne room.

But aside from that, the castle is all i'll revisit.

And i wish you could refight bosses through some bonus options. Would give the game some more replay value. I know, metroidvanias dont let you. But they at least eventually incorporated a boss rush mode!

[VladCT]

So apparently the game has an unhandled error bug, at least in the PS3 version:
「Castlevania: Lords of Shadows 2」 Bug #04 ~ "Unhandled Error"
Dunno how the player triggered it, but it's there.

[Darkson]

With dlc, we are likely to see a boss rush mode. Besides the alucard dlc, I suspect we may see something involving those doors with the hands jutting out of them.

As for the error: odd.

[Flame]

You know, i had a thought as to one of the reasons the city was boring.

The post apocalyptic city in flames thing.

Darksiders did it well. Darksiders also had 100 years between doomsday and the start of the story mode, in between the environment was altered or reclaimed and stuff.

But While in the screenshots I was expecting to actually be Dracula in 20XX, modern city, hopping across rooftops in a gothic city, with a castle right next to an LCD screen, what I got, was ruins. The Asylum looked cool, the rooftop fight with the Riot Police was cool, and the area AROUND Bioquimek looked cool. But when everything is in flames, it all becomes generic apocalyse imagery.

Does anyone else know what I mean? The modern city, for all it's corporations and sewers, could still have been interesting if it was still alive and bustling with people going about their daily lives, unaware that the prince of darkness was running across the building rooftops chasing a demon.

Also enemy variety, i mentioned this before about the catsle, but it had enemy variety, and different areas had their unique enemies. harpies were ONLY outside the Gorgon's lair, Jailers and their minions were ONLY in City of the Damned, and brotherhood knights were only in the Bernhard Wing and exterior areas.

The demons in the city though are the same ones everywhere. They could have done much more. Like, include a graveyard with zombies. Or specific demon types for specific areas.

[Maedhros]

Well, at least you gave it a chance. I, personally, think the game is a solid 9.

Only cons I can think of are:

-victor is underused, but the presence of the mirror shard does explain that he could be being controlled by fate itself
-stealth sections, while simple puzzles in a more active form, could've been more forgiving.
-Golgoth guards should've became late game enemies
-ending is lackluster, but it does convey hope for the future in Gabriel, who spent the beginning wanting to die.
-modern sections are a bit bland

But enemy variety, combat, story (pretty good. Not great, but pretty good), atmosphere, music, and the castle environments are just spectacular. Lovely game, though it seems that its a "love it or hate it" sleeper hit situation.

All these problems and a solid 9 eh? Ok then.

I agree with everything. And that's why I can't give it a better score. In fact, playing this game was a chore. I completed it only because I started it already. 6.5~7 for me is playable, but not essencial. A regular game.

The castle areas were too short. They were pretty, but too short. In fact, I would have preferred if MS dropped the city altogether and made 4 more areas inside the Castle. When you get to the map room and see the Castle, you think it'll be huge... but it really isn't. Total bummer.

Victor AND Alucard are fucking useless on this game.

Stealth sections are ridiculous. Completely unnecessary, I dont care if it makes sense on the story, it simply sucks. And RAT Dracula... someone is using some great shit on MS, WORST IDEA ever. Seriously... why? Everytime I had to transform into a rat I was already getting angry.

The music is completely forgetable, for most part. Besides the battle themes and one the plays when you visit Chupacabra, which was pretty cool. It's no news that I simply don't like this type of music at all.

The gameplay, while improved from the first game, after you master your weapons it tends to make you rely on 3 or 4 movements. The weapon variety was cool, so, it was more like 12 movements, which is ok. Void Sword was my preferred weapon. The movement where Gabriel spin the sword and goes in one direction was OP as fuck!

The story is a complete joke. Sorry for people who liked it, but it's objectively bad. What about the redemption? Fuck.this.shit MS. In fact I didn't want redemption at all, but this open end was lame.

Bring the new Castlevania already. I don't want to see more LoS in my life. In fact, I'll simply forget everything about it in the future.

[crisis]

itd be funny if the next producer reveals at E3 "forget everything you knew about lords of shadow"

buuuuurrrrrrnnnnn!