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

[Dracul_Belmont]

The Tsuchinoko only appears in Aria of Sorrow, which is set in 2035 and begins in Japan. And the Katana existed long before there was even such a thing as feudal Europe.
LoS2 introduces mechs and space marines in a modern-day setting and has a plot that utterly reeks of stupidity.

So tell me, what is more ridiculous here?

Yes but Katanas were NOT in Europe at that time. LOS2 is set in modern times, apparently 2047, so it could be allowed the appearance of dudes flying and armored robots. Japanese stuff stay un Japan and Europe stuff stay in Europe.

[Viskod]

GigaDen, did you just ignore the sales percentags for thief? 23% on both the PS3 and 360 combined. Its not crazy at all to think that if the game had launched on two additional platforms, how well of a port aside, that have next to nothing available it would have sold just because people who own those systems are looking for something to play on them period.

I have no idea if they could have met that goal, that's why it was a hypothetical consideration that if they had.

[GigaDan]

GigaDen, did you just ignore the sales percentags for thief? 23% on both the PS3 and 360 combined. Its not crazy at all to think that if the game had launched on two additional platforms, how well of a port aside, that have next to nothing available it would have sold just because people who own those systems are looking for something to play on them period.

It's ludicrous to indulge that LoS sold only 22% [14 + 8] what it could have if it were on next gen. I don't think there's a deluge of the 6M people with PS4's wishing that Lords of Shadow 2 was on it and aren't buying it in hopes that it will be ported (which might just happen anyways. Konami is desperate.) I doubt they would've sold a million copies across both PS4 & Xbone combined. I think the quality of the game speaks for the sales. Persona 5 is certainly going to blow LoS2 away and it's only going to be available on 1 console.

[Belmontoya]

I know there's little jokes in the credits and enemy names. The graphic art in the manual of the earlier games was a little silly too.

But I'm talking about jokes actually within the game.

I would say for their times that cv 1-4 were dark. I wasn't allowed to play cv3 at my daycare center because some of the kids got scared by it. Haha. I had it confiscated until the end of the day!

[e105beta]

It's ludicrous to indulge that LoS sold only 22% [14 + 8] what it could have if it were on next gen. I don't think there's a deluge of the 6M people with PS4's wishing that Lords of Shadow 2 was on it and aren't buying it in hopes that it will be ported (which might just happen anyways. Konami is desperate.) I doubt they would've sold a million copies across both PS4 & Xbone combined. I think the quality of the game speaks for the sales. Persona 5 is certainly going to blow LoS2 away and it's only going to be available on 1 console.

Your personal quality opinions aside, it's not a ridiculous observation.

Thief and Castlevania currently sit at similar levels of "niche" in terms of fanbase and following. Thief and Lords of Shadow 2 got similar ratings in terms of reviews. I also highly doubt that the 78% PS4/Xbone Thief sales have a 100% conversion rate to last gen if, for example, Thief was not released on this current gen. Just realize nobody has yet to insinuate that LoS2 would have sold 354% better if it was on PS4/Xbone, just that it probably would have sold sizable more copies if it had been.

So no, it's not "ludicrous to indulge" that LoS2 could have done significantly better if given a wider release platform.

[Dremn]

http://cghub.com/images/view/855326/



http://cghub.com/images/view/855269/



http://cghub.com/images/view/852105/

[Intersection]

Yes but Katanas were NOT in Europe at that time. LOS2 is set in modern times, apparently 2047, so it could be allowed the appearance of dudes flying and armored robots. Japanese stuff stay un Japan and Europe stuff stay in Europe.

This debate is actually rather trivial, but think of it like this: Castlevania is Japanese. According to you, it should have stayed in Japan.

Incidentally, no date is ever mentioned in LoS2. 2047 only came out of fan speculation. As far as I'm concerned, the modern car models and road designs featured in the game simply aren't consistent with cyborgs and flying mechanical armors.

Still, at the moment I couldn't care less about anachronisms, since I'd already given up on LoS2's narrative some time ago. Just don't go about faulting Castlevania for its lack of historical realism, since a game featuring Dracula is as historically inaccurate as it can get. And the "Japan stays in Japan" argument is moot, since its Japanese take on the European mythos was what made the franchise successful in the first place.

[Flame]

Well, looks like I found my new wallpaper.

That Dracula image is neat too

[Mike Belmont]

Maybe if the Tsuchinoko was the main villian in AoS, then yes, let Japan stay out of Castlevania, but that enemy was only present in one lonely room! I always see japanese references as easter eggs in the games, put there by the programers. Or, if I see Japanese buildings, or hear japanese music, or stay in an actual japanese place in a Castlevania game, then again yes, stay out of Castlevania. I don´t like at all the incursion of a japanese teenager in AoS in the beggining, but after playing for a few minutes, fighting skeletons, medusa´s heads, dragons, mermen, bats... I know that I am playing a Castlevania game. Sure, we have a boss in OoE that is a japanese vampire, but again, is not relevant to the whole game, I believe.

I think we should see that references (in both classic CVs, metroidvanias and LoS) as easter eggs, because they not interfere in the main plot of the game.

I would say for their times that cv 1-4 were dark. I wasn't allows to play cv3 at my daycare center because some of the kids got scared by it. Haha. I had it confiscated until the end of the day!

It´s true. Also, I am sure that is a really bad idea to play CVII with little children at home, specificaly taking too much time to put the password with that creepy background music . I will never do that again...

[Ahasverus]

Have all my children, MercurySteam artists.

[Sindra]

So help me out with something, people who may have gotten it better than I did:

What the hell was the point of having the Mirror of Fate in the game at all? All I saw was that it was a fetch quest - padding for the game in order to have interaction between Young Trevor and Gabeula. It has no significance beyond that, right? Except for Gabe to glance at it at the end of the game, and basically negate the whole point of the MoF game by saying "Eh, fuck it." and crushing it....rendering the whole things pointless? No other significance, right?

Seriously, there seemed to be so many things that were forced into being "relevant" plot points that were actually totally needless in this game that it's making my head spin.

We're in the future!

No, now we're in the past!

Wait, it's not the past. We're in a dream!

Wait, Young Trevor is here, and the castle is alive and we have to "jump" between timeframes back and forth. It's....not a dream?

But, Alucard is around, so if Young Trevor is here it has to be a dream! And Marie and Carmilla are dead, but alive and....what?!


Seriously, what the fuck?

[e105beta]

Seriously, what the fuck?

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

[Kingshango]

So help me out with something, people who may have gotten it better than I did:

What the hell was the point of having the Mirror of Fate in the game at all? All I saw was that it was a fetch quest - padding for the game in order to have interaction between Young Trevor and Gabeula. It has no significance beyond that, right? Except for Gabe to glance at it at the end of the game, and basically negate the whole point of the MoF game by saying "Eh, fuck it." and crushing it....rendering the whole things pointless? No other significance, right?

Seriously, there seemed to be so many things that were forced into being "relevant" plot points that were actually totally needless in this game that it's making my head spin.

We're in the future!

No, now we're in the past!

Wait, it's not the past. We're in a dream!

Wait, Young Trevor is here, and the castle is alive and we have to "jump" between timeframes back and forth. It's....not a dream?

But, Alucard is around, so if Young Trevor is here it has to be a dream! And Marie and Carmilla are dead, but alive and....what?!


Seriously, what the fuck?

You're better off not thinking about it. The more you do, the more likely you may end up having an brain aneurysm.

[Ahasverus]

I understand what they were trying to achieve (A Silent Hill 1 vibe of is this a dream or not? It happens the same way) but while in Silent Hill it is all pieced in the game's mythology,  that part is left out in this game. I blame cut content.

[Maedhros]

I thought the Castle represented Gabriel/Dracula. It exists, inside him. Everytime he got something there, it was already with him, just a metaphor that represented him remembering.

Some deep shit, that didn't end all that well.