Topic: Noob seeks answers! (That'd be me!)

[Deadpan Flook]

Hello everybody! Just stumbled upon this groovy looking forum, and thought I'd say Hi! Quickly glancing through the threads and posts, however, I couldn't immediately find answers to some general questions I would like to ask other Castlevania fans...so, if you would be so kind, I thought I'd ask them here and see what you guys think...(Oh, If it's not the way to go about things here though, then could someone point me in the right direction to find these answers or something? Thanks!)...

1 - What is the general opinion on Castlevania : Lords Of Shadow? Did you guys like it? Do you consider it a worthy addition to the series? And do you look forward to a sequel following on from the rather groovy epilogue? I personally really enjoyed it, noticed more than a few nods to earlier games in the series and would love to play a sequel based on the end of the game.....

2 - Are the PS2 Castlevanias any good? I was thinking of picking them up, but don't want to be too disappointed after Lords Of Shadow...having said that, I even liked the N64 games, so I'm easily pleased! 

3 - If you didn't like Lords Of Shadow (or even if you did I suppose) what direction would you like to see any new games in the series take? More Symphony styled 2d action? A GTA-style open world game? A FPS!?

Anyhoo, thanks in advance for answering these! And I hope to hang around for a bit on here, and meet some other Castlevania fans or general gamefreaks! 

[crisis]

General consesus for your questions is as follows,

1. Lords of Shadow is a decent or pretty good game, has those moments that scream Castlevania but also too many moments where it screams the opposite.

2. Lament of Innocence & Curse of Darkness are average or okay, level design is what holds them back but in the areas of aesthetic & music, they are excellent. Many people prefer Lament over Curse, though I personally feel the cutscenes & narrative were done better in Curse.

3. We just want both classic & symphony-styled 2D games on portables and/or dlc, preferably in the main continuity, whereas the reboot saga can stay on PS3/360. That way, everybody's happy.

[KaZudra]

skyrimvania would be too perfect...

I just opt castlevania game that shifts 3-d and 2-d regardless of continuity.

[PFG9000]

1 - What is the general opinion on Castlevania : Lords Of Shadow? Did you guys like it? Do you consider it a worthy addition to the series? And do you look forward to a sequel following on from the rather groovy epilogue? I personally really enjoyed it, noticed more than a few nods to earlier games in the series and would love to play a sequel based on the end of the game.....

There are a lot of mixed opinions on LoS, so it's hard to say what the general opinion is.  I feel that it's a very well made game, fairly fun with lots of attention to detail, but still with some minor flaws.  The big problem I have with it is that it isn't Castlevania.  Even the parts that a lot of fans fawn over, like the vampire castle sections, didn't seem necessarily CV-ish to me.  And it really bugs me how so many classic CV names were just cut-and-pasted onto generic LoS characters, as if that was supposed to make the game authentic.

2 - Are the PS2 Castlevanias any good? I was thinking of picking them up, but don't want to be too disappointed after Lords Of Shadow...having said that, I even liked the N64 games, so I'm easily pleased! 

They have their flaws, and are not as highly-polished as Lords of Shadow, but they're absolutely worth picking up if you enjoy the 3D Action/Adventure/Fantasy genre.  I find Lament of Innocence to be a great game held back by some truly awful level design.  Curse of Darkness improved the level design slightly by making the levels less flat, but also made them more sprawling and non-sensical, which is not a good thing.  But there's still a lot of enjoyment to be had in both games.  Seeing how cheap they both are now, I say go for them.  Play Lament first, then Curse.

3 - If you didn't like Lords Of Shadow (or even if you did I suppose) what direction would you like to see any new games in the series take? More Symphony styled 2d action? A GTA-style open world game? A FPS!?

I'd like to see a sidescrolling console (i.e. non-portable) installment in the original storyline with the Metroidvania gameplay.  They don't even have to innovate - just give us a new Metroidvania and I'll be happy.  I'd also like to see periodic installments in the sidescrolling classicvania style, right along the lines of CV The Adventure Rebirth.  2D or 3D/2.5D makes no difference to me, as long as it's sidescrolling.  I don't mind seeing new fully-3D games in the series, as long as the sidescrollers aren't abandoned for good.

[C Belmont]

3 - If you didn't like Lords Of Shadow (or even if you did I suppose) what direction would you like to see any new games in the series take? More Symphony styled 2d action? A GTA-style open world game? A FPS!?

What I'd really like is a 2D Castlevania game made to the same quality as Wayforward, Reverge Labs and Vanillawares 2D games but that is  probably expecting way, way, way too much from the likes of Konami so I guess I would probably just be content to see another game like Dracula X chronicles only  available on several home consoles and not just one handheld.However if such a game were in any way related to LOS I would probably never touch it.

[Kale]

I'm one of the few that liked Curse of Darkness... so yea... most people dislike it, and from what I hear and I do agree with, is level design, it was lame for the most part. Final castle run was literally hallway, room, turn right, hallway, room, turn right.... all the way up to the top. (might be a stair case in there but whatever.)

As for the next game... I would like either, tbh. I would love a good 3d CV, which I have yet to see. I would not mind a 2D vania, but with the details of the Lords of Shadow's skill showcase animation level.