It's such a strange thing to remove humanity almost at the very beginning. I remember Flame mentioning how he thought we'd be chasing monsters over rooftops while humanity below Dracul was entirely unaware. THAT is stealth.
thats exactly what I was expecting. I mean, we saw the mechas and shit, so i was expecting this to be the grand battle between Dracula and Satan, with Humanity caught up in the middle.
I mean, some level of apocalypse is ok, I mean, thats what it was, but to just "lolded" all of the humans was just a cheap copout. And the apocalyptic modern scenery was bland and boring. all concrete parking lots and walls and shit.
You can clearly see the drops in quality. the area where Dracula exits the church is great, nicely made, as is the exterior of the corporation. but once everything goes to shit, it all becomes the same shitty hues of yellow/red and musty brown. As opposed to the vibrant, yknow, "FUTURE!" of bright neon lights and billboards. that kind of shit looked neat. I was expecting everything to look like that. instead it was the same old architecture only with pipes and wires now.
"lolmutants" was a shitty enemy.
notice how each section of the castle had unique enemies? Exterior areas had Order Knights, who also appear in some of the more "open" areas of the interior, such as the ballroom. the underground city had those wardens and their minions, along with skeletons, and a brief encounter with Harpies of the Depths, and culminates in a fight with Gorgon sisters.
Library had skeletons and Carmilla, who, aside from being a vampire queen, was also known to have turned her loyal human servants into skeletons to serve her in undeath. despite not fighting many skeletons in loS1's castle, they were still a staple for her, considering she's not a vampire in her LoS2 appearance. yknow?
Bernhard Wing had vampires, some knights in the ballroom, harpies in the large well/watery place, since it's really vertical, and culminates in a golem boss fight in the void room
maybe it's just because many of the enemies in the castle are at least somewhat relatable to classic enemies, but they seemed much more vivid and appropriate for their areas, and they were in specific areas- for example the balcony has harpies, because its outdoors- but the modern city just has the same exact variations of mutants EVERYWHERE and all the boss fights are some kind of demon or something. i dont even remember the modern city boss fights except for Victor and Death. Which are, of course, iconic characters. Death and a Belmont. Both who fight as youd expect them to, and in appropriately designed areas.
LoS2 just makes me so damn sad. Its such wasted potential. I mean, set pieces like the overlook tower where you fight the Second Acolyte, that whole part, is glorious. Dracula dragging him to his own world, where he has the strength of his castle.
Oh, also, im disappointed Gabriel never impales anyone. Carmilla doesn't count. (though it was brutal as fuck and I loved it) I mean like, Vlad style spitroast.