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

[JayDominus]

Don't you be dissin' Simon. best redesign IMO. kept the best of both iterations. barbarian, and redhead

Hell yes this. BDSimon ain't got shit on LoSimon.

[uzo]

Don't you be dissin' Simon. best redesign IMO. kept the best of both iterations. barbarian, and redhead

I cant get over the retarded face belt.





Oh also, in response to my own query (also highly likely I could have missed it before in this thread) there seems to be a cutscene compilation for Lords of Shadow 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80dlL1MFoWo

Really though, 3 and a half hours? That's Metal Gear territory.

[ChibiMaddiChan]

Alright, played the game two and half times now so I'll give my thoughts.  And try to stay serious and on track, but no promises.

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1.) I'm just going to smack the shit out of this dead horse, but what the fuck was up with Victor getting such a rotten deal in this story? The Belmonts can't catch a fucking break and he's just the latest in a line of it.  I understand it, I get why, but damn.  What a waste of a potential bad ass character! 

2.)I could look at Dracula all day. Hot damn, is he sexy.  But I'm not a huge fan of the way Alucard looks here.  I mean he's okay but why the cracks on his face?  Or wait, those may be scares. Whatever, looks odd cause he's so damn pale. Whatever, back to look at Dracula. 

3.) I think I just like this particular horse as I keep beating it but that final battle was lame, especially after Zozo's/Death's battle. But then again for me, Satan is just sucks as a villain compared to Zozo as whole, so in a completely odd way, I'm not surprised.   But damn, it was lack luster.  The odd thing is, I actually get where it was going and it even made sense:  Satan thinks/apparently sees how important Alucard is to his father so uses him, in the hope of having some advantage over Gabe. Gabe dupes Satan into leaving Alucard and like a coward, he flees, resulting in getting killed.   But that's it?  No final form?  No grand finale?

4.) Heh. Resident Evil subplot was weird.

5.) Music wasn't as forgettable as it was in as it was in Lords1 for me.  Gameplay tried some new things but ultimately didn't impress me. Not a bad thing since I wasn't expected to have mind blowing gameplay and it was passable enough for me to enjoy it. The hand holding did get old fast though.

6.) The ending.  After seeing it a second time, I don't hate it as much, but it still annoys me.  I suppose because there really isn't much that conveys Gabe may have changed his mind about wanting to stick around and live instead of finally finding peace in a true death.  He just looks at the mirror, smirks, and breaks it. Then is all like "S crew fate, let's do our own thing son! Now let's get us a blood smoothie before we go to bed! Ha ha!"  And Alucard just stands there like "What."  And that's how I felt. "...What."  This story never felt like it was suppose to have an open ending like that.  I really hope the DLC clears this up because otherwise, I hate that Mercurysteam essentially had to change their fucking ending just so Konami could sponge more off the story with future games. (Not the original where Gabe is captured and tortured. That was just fucking stupid.)

7.) I seriously don't want another game in this branch of the series if Mercurysteam isn't doing it. Call me an ass if you must, but I feel like this is 'their' baby and their story.  I can see it getting all mucked up giving it someone else. More so if they try to make it fit in more to please older fans of the series anymore than MS already had to.  As a stand alone story in the series, I like it.  Add some DLC to finish this shit up then move on, I say.

All done. Time for waffles.

[Flame]

I cant get over the retarded face belt.

Really? I liked it. Didn't look like he could bend over, but it looked cool. Reminded me of something I may have seen in a history book, regarding ancient armors, kind of like how samurai faceplates had demon mouths on them.

Oh also, in response to my own query (also highly likely I could have missed it before in this thread) there seems to be a cutscene compilation for Lords of Shadow 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80dlL1MFoWo

Really though, 3 and a half hours? That's Metal Gear territory.

3 and a half hours is HARDLY Metal gear territory. That's actually, for a 20 hour game, pretty small time.

[Dremn]

3 1/2 hours is nothing, MGS4 has over 24 hours of cutscenes. I should know, I had a lot of free time once and watched every single cutscene in the game, it was like the length of 5 trilogies or something.

[ChibiMaddiChan]

3 1/2 hours is nothing, MGS4 has over 24 hours of cutscenes. I should know, I had a lot of free time once and watched every single cutscene in the game, it was like the length of 5 trilogies or something.

I know some people may that about MGS as a whole, but I commend a man that damn dedicated to his story.  I wish more games were half as dedicated. I mean fuck no, I don't want every video game to have stories as long, my attention span is far too short for that, but damn. Awesome dedication. I salute him.

[Nagumo]

I think it's also worth adding that the Dracula-Alucard gambit is the most convoluted plan ever.

[Flame]

Especially since Zobek, as lord of the dead, can not be killed- considering he was already killed once before, and Satan, similarly, was already killed by gabriel once before. When satan is killed, he just goes back to hell.

game does nothing to establish why these two deaths are any different than their last two.

[Chernabogue]

Why has no one uploaded the Belmont Lineage illustrations yet? :V

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You know it's only Drac, Alucard, Trevor, Marie, and Victor, right ? 

[Viskod]

I've seen this misunderstanding a lot over the game, but Dracula does not break the Mirror of Fate at the end, what he breaks is the Wolf Crest, which shows he chooses staying there with Alucard over staying in his own world in the Castle with those visions (ghosts?) of Marie and Trevor. You can see the crest glow with the same blue glow that it does every time he gets it out and holds it up.

Then you can just chalk up him saying "Who knows what fate has in store for us" to bad writing and a plot hole.

[Little Dracula]

I've seen this misunderstanding a lot over the game, but Dracula does not break the Mirror of Fate at the end, what he breaks is the Wolf Crest, which shows he chooses staying there with Alucard over staying in his own world in the Castle with those visions (ghosts?) of Marie and Trevor. You can see the crest glow with the same blue glow that it does every time he gets it out and holds it up.

Then you can just chalk up him saying "Who knows what fate has in store for us" to bad writing and a plot hole.

Really?,

(click to show/hide)

I think is the mirror, he looks at the mirror to see his future, he likes it, smile, and breaks the mirror, he don't need it anymore because he will find peace soon.

My opinion about the game.

In my opinion is a great game, first of all, reviews below 7 are total BS, never had any problem with the stealth parts, a non issue for me and to be honest I have fun with them but I must say that they don't belong to a Castlevania game.

I feel like they dropped the ball with the last 3rd of the game, the story feels rushed, characters underused, the last boss is mediocre, and the ending was OK but not the ending to close the LoS saga, they better have a kickass last boss and ending in the DLC.

The combat is super fun but the mastery system is pointless. Music is amazing, the art in the castle is amazing as well but the city is mediocre at best. Love the Carmilla and Toymaker parts but I'm dissapointed at Alucard's role in the game and the absence of Simon, the story had a lot of potential but they barely scratched the surface, overall I love Gabriel in this game, probably in my top 3 of favourite Castlevania characters.


Overall, taking into account that Castlevania was a dead corpse before, MS not the most prestigious company with lack of resources, I think they have done a great job, no matter what happen with this game, the franchise is alive thanks to them and for that I'm grateful, plus LoS1 is one of my favourite games of last gen.


Now is up to Konami to chose the right developer to continue the franchise but they must know that some fans can't stand change, they live in the past and they can't accept anything but SoTN clones, good luck with that.

[derision]

I've seen this misunderstanding a lot over the game, but Dracula does not break the Mirror of Fate at the end, what he breaks is the Wolf Crest, which shows he chooses staying there with Alucard over staying in his own world in the Castle with those visions (ghosts?) of Marie and Trevor. You can see the crest glow with the same blue glow that it does every time he gets it out and holds it up.

Then you can just chalk up him saying "Who knows what fate has in store for us" to bad writing and a plot hole.

You're wrong. Even from behind the object's ornate rim is recognizable.

It's the mirror.

[jormungand]

The plot sounds hilariously awful. Did anyone make a compilation of the cutscenes on Youtube yet? I think I have to see this trainwreck in action. Got some popcorn ready.

Enjoy the trainwreck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONvrNOh9EF4

[Intersection]

Now this is more personal preference, but the perfect ending to this game would have been something along these lines: Gabriel is ready to use the Vampire Killer on himself, but Inner Dracula doesn't allow it. He takes over Gabriel which ensues in a fight against Victor who gets the Vampire Killer and uses it to fight Dracula. Then, the fight would then flit between that and a mirror'd fight with a dark manifestation of Inner Dracula. So while Dracula fights Victor in real life, Gabriel fights Dracula in his mind. Then, Gabriel beats Dracula, symbolizing the letting go of his hatred and grief, and Victor uses the opportunity to impale Dracula with the Vampire Killer. Big impressive moment with light and blood and screaming and then bam, Gabriel dies and finds himself in the arms of Marie or something like that. That kind of ending would have utilized the themes of the series so much better.

And that is one delicious ending.

[Viskod]

You're wrong. Even from behind the object's ornate rim is recognizable.

It's the mirror.

I am. I watched it again after posting that just to be sure, and you're right, the difference in the ornate borders of the two items is noticeable.