Topic: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate 3DS (Discussion Thread)

[RichterB]

I was tired too, but now it's been a few years and I would really like another one! Not made by IGA, not made by Cox... someone else should make it. I'm sure there's a new generation of developers who have fresh ideas for this - stuff we haven't seen before. All this talk about making Castlevania "mainstream" is so depressing I don't know what to say. I completely understand it from a business point of view, but the whole appeal of the series (for me) was that Castlevania was never like every other game out there.

It may have grown stale but it was always a very special series for me. I enjoy the LoS series for what it is, but it's not the same. And this has nothing to do with me being an IGA fanboy, because like I said - as much as I loved his games, I want someone else to have a shot. And I want it to be more japanese again. But whatever. I'm fine with whatever happens, but I'll never think of Castlevania in the same way again if "mainstream" is the future...

I'd argue that Castlevania was in the mainstream conversation in the 8-bit and 16-bit era, and reached the tail end of its mainstream appeal somewhere around or between Legacy of Darkness and Circle of the Moon. (Judging by magazine coverage). By Harmony of Dissonance, it was pretty much a niche title. I'm not sure whether the effort by Cox/MS has nudged the needle very far one way or another, except in the sense that it's conformed more to modern trends. But I don't think that automatically means mainstream. You can be different and mainstream, I think. LoS experiment is admirable in its own way, but I wonder if it was in vain somewhat, and this blanket statement of "Western" has caused Castlevania to lose some of its uniqueness for no real brand benefit or definite overall improvement in its gameplay evolution.

the funny thing is that after sotn, iga tried to bring back old vania, or at least test the waters for its potential in the new market, and it was seen as mediocre, while the n64 guys deliberately continued the legacy of sotn with cotm.

if anything, why did people have to be terrible and hate chronicles

You have a point, to an extent. When IGA tried to "bring back old vania" he decided to pick old titles and refurbish them (Chronicles and Dracula X Chronicles). I think that was a problem. They didn't come off as new entries, they came off as nostalgic collectors games in a lot of ways. Even the titles, "Chronicles," and how they contained different versions of the games in a "collection" format confused things.

Regarding the N64 guys, I think they were very self-conscious that the overall fan reaction had predisposed people to want SotN more so than what they had done. I think they wanted to cash in on that feeling. CotM is sort of their response to mixing more classic challenge and whip-cracking action to what IGA started. Ironically, this led IGA to come back and say that they were not doing it right, and he'd show them with Harmony of Dissonance. And after that, the marketing identity was snowballing faster than anyone could control it.

[mistressalucard]

Just got my copy in the mail I am thrilled its here but is the game manual missing?  I only see Nintendo Club points and Konami Core.  No game manual?

[Rodriguezjr]

Just got my copy in the mail I am thrilled its here but is the game manual missing?  I only see Nintendo Club points and Konami Core.  No game manual?

No manuals at all.

[VladCT]

Welp, I guess they were smart enough to realize that gamers these days couldn't be arsed to RTFM.

[Zetheraxza]

WTF is this?

[Neobelmont]

WTF is this?

Being a grade A Jackass.

[Black Cat]

WTF is this?

Cox being cheeky. I guess he saw the comments about how LoS's soundtrack sounded like something out of the Dark Knight trilogy.

[Lelygax]

It doesnt anything to do with Batman, its only a example of how stupid he can be with the fanbase, this guy asked what have in his product and he answered like "Did you see me asking for movie companies which music they did include in their movie without watching them?". It would be better if he didn't answered that question.

[Kamirine]

WTF is this?

*sighs*  And the man wonders why some fans don't embrace him...

[Dremn]

Finished the game at 77%, on a hard mode run now.

I enjoyed it way more than I expected to, this is probably my favorite 3DS game right now. Absolute no question, it's a much better game than LoS was to me. Finishing this has me really excited for Lords of Shadow 2 now. Crossing my fingers we'll get to play as Alucard in that game as well.

Loved the final Dracula Battle, probably one of my favorite Drac fights in the series.

Well done Mercury Steam.

[Munchy]

Every time someone making a reboot of a franchise mentions Christopher Nolan, take a shot.

This is my drinking game.

Anyway, about there being no classic tunes... I'm really okay with that, especially because in the past a great majority of classic remixes have been the most obvious ones. And the little bits I've heard in Mirror of Fate seems to indicate they turned up the darkness dial a few notches, which is also good. My main worry is that the game will still loop batches of three songs for multiple areas like the first one.

Loved the final Dracula Battle, probably one of my favorite Drac fights in the series.

I have to ask, does he have a big beasty form like the earlier games?

[Dremn]

I have to ask, does he have a big beasty form like the earlier games?

(click to show/hide)

No, I was expecting one too.

WTF is this?

Well that was awfully rude of him.

[Munchy]

Well that was awfully rude of him.

I suppose it's irritating to get a specific few questions all the time, but yeah, it's generally wise to step back for a while before responding or just ignore certain questions.

Cox never did answer my question about a Thriller-inspired joke ending in any of the games.

[uzo]

WTF is this?

A shining example of Cox and Alvarez's blatant apathy toward the series' rich history and legacy. Forget everything you know about Castlevania, because they're shoving their own thing down your throat now.

[Black Cat]

Eh, I wouldn't read too much into it. Especially since it's twitter and there's no telling what previous experience Cox and this individual have had with each other. This might have just been Cox's way of telling him to be patient (or to check past tweets since I'm pretty sure he's answered this question before).