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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Vampire Killer on May 19, 2011, 07:47:27 PM

Title: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 19, 2011, 07:47:27 PM
Some of my fondest memories from youth are rooted in Castlevania. I grew up mostly poor, even used food stamps for a bit.  So when it came to videogames, I had to be really careful with my selection, as I only got about 3 games a year (birthday and Christmas). Of course like most children, I traded and borrowed with friends to try other games out. Through this borrowing I eventually tried and fell in love with the series, seeing something epic and meaningful in it's quest.  The first Cv I owned was Cv3: Dracula's Curse (and odd title considering Cv2 was the game about an actual curse from Dracula).  And yes, I had by this point beaten the previous two games. When the SNES came out I was stated to get it just in time for Christmas.  I thought my mom would only get me the system itself and nothing else (being poor as we were), but to my grand surprise, I received Super Castlevania 4 with it.

My GOD, WHAT a game! To this day Cv4 is the best material gift I've ever gotten. It took me about four days, but I beat it. Followed quickly by a replay, and then another, and then another. I moved back and forth between Cv4 and Super Mario World for probably months until I finally got Gradius 3. Through the SNES years I beat many a game, but always I went back to Cv4 and marveled at it's beauty. Only SNES game that beat it for my love was Super Metroid (understandably). Point being, I played the heck out of Cv4. With each play-through I noticed new details, sometimes lingering at particular spots to take it all in. Cv4 was the first game that I really did that with, that is, admired it's beauty in the way I would admire a painting or a flower.

As strange as this may sound to some of the haters (and thar be many haters dwelling in the Dungeon, arrrr), I found myself often lost in the same admiration while playing Lords of Shadow. After subsequent play-throughs, I began to notice how much of the old Cv was hidden within LoS. For example, as I've mentioned before, the Brotherhood outfit worn by Gabriel is extremely close to the artwork for Simon on the box of Cv2. So much in fact that I'd say it's definitely deliberate.

Another example, while Cox and team were obviously heavily inspired by SotC for the Titan battles, it's actually possible that the main (or at least part) inspriration for including the Titans at all stemmed from the Cv4 level 5 boss, Koranot.

(http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8023/05boss.jpg)

Whether it is or not, I think you're getting the point of this thread. For those of us who've been with Castlevania through the years and enjoyed LoS, finding the old, sometimes hidden other times obvious, within the new brings a new enjoyment and appreciation of the game. 

What I'd like is for you to list what you've found in LoS that has reminded you of your beloved series. No matter how small or vague the possibility (let's try to keep it serious though). It could be part of an outfit (as I listed above), or an enemy (on the way to Baba-Yaga, those guys that borrow under the earth and throw their heads at you remind me of the medusa heads), an entire stage (parts of chapter 2 remind me a lot of some Cv4 stages), or whatever. Be creative.

Please, no remarks about how un-Cv like LoS is, or how much it sucks. That's not what this thread is for. Thank you.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: crisis on May 19, 2011, 08:01:22 PM
There was a similar thread created a while back (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=2818.0) that revealed pretty much all the classic references LoS had.

I think it's been known since day 1 that Gabriel's armor looks like Simon's.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Kingshango on May 19, 2011, 08:13:32 PM
Even though most (if not everybody) hated the Aghartha segment, it did remind me of the old sinking city stages of Super Castlevania/Bloodlines.



Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 19, 2011, 08:43:20 PM
There was a similar thread created a while back (http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=2818.0) that revealed pretty much all the classic references LoS had.

I think it's been known since day 1 that Gabriel's armor looks like Simon's.

If true, then feel free to merge this Jorge. No need for clutter.

And you're probably right about the armor. Felt like an ass that it took me so long actually.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: darkwzrd4 on May 19, 2011, 09:04:51 PM
Well, I think the most obvious CV thing in LoS is the castle.  It has everything.  The maze garden.  The castle hall.  The castle keep.  Plus, the clockwork tower (which is kind of like a clocktower).

Another thing is that the song in the music box is "Vampire Killer".

And let's not forget that the hero is someone with the Belmont last name and he wields a whip.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 19, 2011, 09:11:32 PM
Even though most (if not everybody) hated the Aghartha segment, it did remind me of the old sinking city stages of Super Castlevania/Bloodlines.






Actually, I liked a lot of chapter 2.  I really wanted to stab Claudia in the chest with a dagger for never STFU though. Wait...maybe that's why Gabriel killed her?.  He's running along after she's said it for like the 147th time, thinking "ok bitch, one more fucking time and I knife you".  And of course, poor Claudia, her being so happy and giddy to finally have another person around after so many long lonely years just can't stop talking. Not to mention the poor lass is socially retarded, having no other company but a mute golem, she can't think of anything to say but to find those shards, all the while thinking "yay, I'm helping!".

Poor poor Claudia.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Ahasverus on May 19, 2011, 09:28:06 PM
There are many CV elements, I will name what I remember.
1- The old man tells Gabriel the Guardian is "In the Forest". Transylvania means forest in romanian,
2- The hunting path abyss (the one we see in the cutscene) has a resemblance to some background of the mountains of Order of Ecclesia.
3- The Dead Bog is almost a 3D reimagining of the swamp level of SCVIV and CV Chronicles  (Toads, Skeleton Dragons and everything!)
4- The ice titan level has a resemblance to the frozen lake in ecclesia.
5- There's some background in Agharta (Can't remember which part) is almost an exact portrait of the final SOTN escene background (Falen pillar, dawn, open sea...) with the same colors and stuff.
6- Waterfalls from Agharta= Waterfalls SCVIV
7- The Cornell Bossfight (and some of his attacks) is derived from the traditional Werewolf battle, especially from the ROB one. Cornell's 2nd form is reminiscent of POR's werewolf.
8- Malphas tower lobby has a resemblance to Walter's Castle main hall.
9- Ruvas forest. Enough said.
10- The vortex at the top of Carmilla's Castle, reminiscent of the one found in SOTN.
11- Wygol is a 3D modeling of the Ecclesia village (Count the buildings!) however, in the vampire fight, it resembles the old "Village in fire" from Rondo of Blood.
12- Abbot's monastery is a reimagining of the area found in Ecclesia. (Even its location matches, along with the Castle)
13- The inner yards of the monastery (Where the portal puzzle is located) is reminiscent of Garibaldi temple.
14- Traps of the monastery are very CV-ish (Spiked roof!)
15- Castle gardens is a reimagining of the old stage from CV-64
16- The trap door from the Castle gate leading to a prison is reminiscent of Nocturne in the Moonlight area.
17- Statues from the garden are similar to Venus weeds.
18- The evil butcherer kitchen has a similar decoration of the one used in AOS (The barrells with meat, the hanged flesh etc)
19- The big statue guarding the upper part of the castle found at the Evil Butcherer stage, classic.
20- The altar from the same room reminds me of something, but I can't recall, I think I saw it on Harmony of Dissonance.
21- Devil statues from Carmilla's castle are simlar to the ones in the Marble Corridor from SOTN.
22- The Whole Castle is just... Castleorgasmic
23- Carmilla's throne room is preceded by long, stairs, with the moon shining in the background, need anything else?
24- The scene with the castle crumbling in Carmilla's cutscene is similar to the one in DXC.
25- Carmilla's attacks are similar to Elizabeth bathory's in Bloodlines. She's also surrounded by a circular shield while flying.
26- The level before baba-yaga's house is similar to one in Ecclesia (I can't remember) scarecrows included.
27- Music Box plays Vampire Killer... enough said.
28- Necromancer lands are similar in aesthethics to the chaos world in AOS and DoS.
29- (almost forgot it) Claudia's Knight is a typical Guardian knight.
30- Olrox Room is just under castle keep. Just like in SOTN.
31- The Dracolich is both a reiagining of the Zombie Dragon and Death's second from from various games.
32- The after-fight climbing from the Gravedigger's battle is similar to the old levels where lava/water/something level increased and you had to go up quickly before it caches you.
33- Satan's level kinda looks like the Chaos Realm.
34- Reverie's castle entrance is a complete reimagining of the traidional entrance (Big windows, white walls, red courtains, staris leading to mermen... great!)
35- Founder's Headquarters are reminiscent of some backgrounds from "Shrine of the Apostates".

And of course there are the adapted enemies... all of them are.

Adapted songs:
1- Beginning (Final Confrontation)
2- Vampire Killer
3- Waterfalls
4- Prologue -SCVIV- (Malpha's tower=
5- Castlevania 1 Dracula's theme (Carmilla's fight unnamed song)

And that's all for now, I will write other ones I could have missed (I didn't mention the obvious ones)
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: uzo on May 20, 2011, 06:10:26 AM
Wow, your first few there are already grasping at straws. I'll consider this list just full of BS then.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 20, 2011, 02:58:31 PM
I lack enough imagination to see anything beyond the scope of my own set parameters.

Not surprised at all

Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: thernz on May 20, 2011, 03:08:09 PM
So Koranot is a ton of rock backwards, but guess what...
The first two titans are tons of rock.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on May 21, 2011, 02:41:36 AM
There were a few tiny nods (I don't know if they're intentional or not) to some other enemy attack patterns. One being the swamp troll attacking with large pillars like the Bloodlines minotaurs, the goblins throwing bombs like... uh... green bag-head guy in Bloodlines. Watching Cornell with the hammer, I was kind of sad he wasn't a cyclops.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Rychord on May 25, 2011, 07:03:37 PM
I've just finished playing through Lords of Shadow, and I felt like the game did a relatively good job of capturing what I like about Castlevania, up until the point where you defeat Carmilla. The last few chapters - especially with the Titan Graveyard and the Nercromancer's Abyss levels, but also the parts with Baba Yaga - felt like it was something different from Castlevania. My main point of reference for Castlevania games consists of the Nintendo (NES,SNES,N64) games, as well as SOTN and the PS2 games, so maybe those levels have similarities with other games, but to me the "feel" of Castlevania went out the window as soon as I got out of the vampire castle. I didn't even know I had fought Death until the Dracolich intro scene. Actually, I'm still not convinced it was actually Death I was fighting since the game calls him the "necromancer", ad his appearance was nowhere near what Death should look like. >:( Also, the titan and Dracolich fights felt like I was playing some other game instead of Castlevania. One of those fights would have been fine, but three was too much out of place tedium for me.

I did get many moments where I felt like I was playing the Castlevania I know and love in the first few chapters. The cut-scene at the beginning I felt was a good reflection of the mood that usually presides over the opening of a Castlevania game. The swamp level made me smile when it gave me a warning that I was going to sink if I didn't hurry up. Wygol village/ the Abbey reminded me of the opening level of many Castlevania games.The vampire's castle as a whole seemed a worthy addition to the series inventiveness with castle design, and the general mood of those levels was familiar.

All in all, I can say it succeeded in making me feel I was playing a Castlevania game, but broke with that feeling in the later parts. The post credit ending scene did redeem it a bit IMO.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on May 25, 2011, 08:43:09 PM
I've just finished playing through Lords of Shadow, and I felt like the game did a relatively good job of capturing what I like about Castlevania, up until the point where you defeat Carmilla. The last few chapters - especially with the Titan Graveyard and the Nercromancer's Abyss levels, but also the parts with Baba Yaga - felt like it was something different from Castlevania. My main point of reference for Castlevania games consists of the Nintendo (NES,SNES,N64) games, as well as SOTN and the PS2 games, so maybe those levels have similarities with other games, but to me the "feel" of Castlevania went out the window as soon as I got out of the vampire castle. I didn't even know I had fought Death until the Dracolich intro scene. Actually, I'm still not convinced it was actually Death I was fighting since the game calls him the "necromancer", ad his appearance was nowhere near what Death should look like. >:( Also, the titan and Dracolich fights felt like I was playing some other game instead of Castlevania. One of those fights would have been fine, but three was too much out of place tedium for me.

I did get many moments where I felt like I was playing the Castlevania I know and love in the first few chapters. The cut-scene at the beginning I felt was a good reflection of the mood that usually presides over the opening of a Castlevania game. The swamp level made me smile when it gave me a warning that I was going to sink if I didn't hurry up. Wygol village/ the Abbey reminded me of the opening level of many Castlevania games.The vampire's castle as a whole seemed a worthy addition to the series inventiveness with castle design, and the general mood of those levels was familiar.

All in all, I can say it succeeded in making me feel I was playing a Castlevania game, but broke with that feeling in the later parts. The post credit ending scene did redeem it a bit IMO.

I really enjoyed the Baba Yaga section, but I totally agree that the "Death himself" thing is yet another pointless namedrop (and that the later parts just turn into Mordor wtf).
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Renonsgoods on May 25, 2011, 08:45:38 PM
I think it was a waste that the necromancer model was NOT used for the character of Death.  I thought it was a brilliant design. All it needed was a scythe in hand.
(http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110418102341/castlevania/images/thumb/7/7e/Necromancer.jpg/452px-Necromancer.jpg) (http://castlevania.wikia.com/index.php?title=Necromancer_(Lords_of_Shadow)&image=Necromancer-jpg)
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Reinhart77 on May 25, 2011, 09:39:05 PM
it felt like i was climbing one of those big Skele-Dragons during the Dracholich Titan battle.  Sure, its got more parts than just the spine and head, but that's where you were most of the time.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on May 25, 2011, 11:01:28 PM
it felt like i was climbing one of those big Skele-Dragons during the Dracholich Titan battle.  Sure, its got more parts than just the spine and head, but that's where you were most of the time.
You were climbing a big Skele-Dragon. That's what a Dracolich is.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Rychord on May 26, 2011, 09:23:58 PM
I think it was a waste that the necromancer model was NOT used for the character of Death.  I thought it was a brilliant design. All it needed was a scythe in hand.

Ah, see I thought that The Necromancer WAS Death, especially since it's the next to last battle, and the fact that his weapon pretty much looks like a stylized scythe to me. But I guess it makes more sense that Zobek is Death, since he is the Lord of the Dead after all. That was actually the biggest gripe I had with the ending, that Zobek finally (predictably) exposes himself as the final lord and gets burnt to a crisp without the player getting a chance to fight him first.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Reinhart77 on May 26, 2011, 09:27:43 PM
i'm sure we'll get a chance to fry him sometime.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: crisis on May 26, 2011, 11:14:56 PM
Quote
Ah, see I thought that The Necromancer WAS Death, especially since it's the next to last battle, and the fact that his weapon pretty much looks like a stylized scythe to me.

Well, actoolee, technicly the necromancer can be considered "Death" too since they are all just an extension of Zobek, who is the "Lord of the Necromancers/Dead." Their character descriptions say that they give up their bodies/souls to become Necromancers, Zobek's puppets so to speak. It's a completely new spin on the "grim reaper" character.

It just bugs me that they made him an adversary to Dracula, or so it seems.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Inccubus on May 27, 2011, 03:20:20 AM
I actually wrote a CV plot way back in the day where Death was actually just using Drac to gather souls for him to be 'rebirth'-ed into the world as a 'living god'. So I don't entirely dislike the idea of them being adversaries. What I hope will happen in the future is for Gabeula to whoop Zobek and get his revenge on 'Death' by enslaving him.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on May 27, 2011, 03:20:53 PM
For what it's worth, I remember people asking Cox on twitter whether the Necromancer was Death, and his response was that "we hadn't seen Death by any means".
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Renonsgoods on May 27, 2011, 03:37:00 PM
I think that, despite what the epilogue seems to imply, Zobek/Death and Gabe/Drac will come to be on the same team sometime during the centuries that follow the game's ending.  It just seems that at the latter part of the millenium they will go their separate ways...not meeting again until the scene in LoS' epilogue.  It does make me curious as to what exactly will transpire to bring them together, what kind of partnership they will have, and ultimately...what leads to them parting ways.  And yes, I AM anxious to see Zobek lay down his more human side to unleash the Reaper within.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Alutwon on May 27, 2011, 08:21:19 PM
For what it's worth, I remember people asking Cox on twitter whether the Necromancer was Death, and his response was that "we hadn't seen Death by any means".

I really think Dracula is going to create the Death we know.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: crisis on May 27, 2011, 08:27:24 PM
sO there will be multiple Deaths in this continuity?
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on May 27, 2011, 11:13:03 PM
Well LoS seems to follow the idea of the necromancers and reapers we see are all physical manifestations of the force we call "death".

Which i think is actually a petty neat concept. If anything, Zobek being the lord of the dead and Dracula's "death" works out pretty well the way i see it.

Never quite understood why Death would hang out with Dracula instead of doing his job. But having the father of all Necromancers who "might as well be Death himself" as his right hand man, makes much more sense.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Profbeanburrito on May 28, 2011, 05:01:54 AM
I really think Dracula is going to create the Death we know.
I think that Death will still be Zobek but maybe Gabriel will control him using the Mask, making him more like the servant of Dracula in previous games
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on May 28, 2011, 05:30:53 AM
I think that Death will still be Zobek but maybe Gabriel will control him using the Mask, making him more like the servant of Dracula in previous games
Yes. Plus Gabriel wants to take revenge on Zobek who betrayed him.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Reinhart77 on May 28, 2011, 07:48:02 AM
not that the game needs any more plot devices, but there's always a chance they'll introduce the Crimson Stone.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Nagumo on May 28, 2011, 08:17:41 AM
Probably the stone that Gabriel hurts his toe on, in a post-credit sequence.

ZOMG 
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on May 28, 2011, 10:10:01 AM
not that the game needs any more plot devices, but there's always a chance they'll introduce the Crimson Stone.
Dont see how. Not in the way LoI uses it on Death. Zobek isnt bound to any such thing, I dont see WHy a stone would make him serve Dracula like it does in LoI. Not unless they completely re-imagine it and make it do something completely different.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: crisis on May 28, 2011, 10:47:15 AM
I was assuming the God & Devil Masks were gonna be this continuity's equivalent to the Crimson & Ebony Stones of LoI.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on May 28, 2011, 11:48:39 AM
Well, God Mask was taken by Marie, so that's gone. And the Devil mask was presumably given to Zobek by Lucifer, which would mean Zobek might not want anything to do with it considering he was played like a fool as well.

But we never know.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: DragonSlayr81 on May 28, 2011, 02:09:35 PM
I was assuming the God & Devil Masks were gonna be this continuity's equivalent to the Crimson & Ebony Stones of LoI.
In the sense that they are cheap plot devices that are easily disposed of, perhaps.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on May 28, 2011, 03:06:55 PM
The Devil Mask is currently in Gabe's possession. Check to beginning of the intro for Reverie, and you can see him holding it in his hand.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on June 19, 2011, 08:21:03 AM
Decided to revive this with a close look at LoS' bestiary: (http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Lords_of_Shadow_Bestiary)
- Lesser/Greater Lycanthrope: Werewolves exist in several CV games. Not a surprise.
- Warg/Great Warg: First enemy seen in SotN, nice reference to make it the first miniboss in LoS.
- Small Trolls/Swamp Troll/Cave Troll: Different from the agile and deadly Cave Troll in SotN/DS games, but seems to be a little reference.
- Giant Spider: May be taken from fantasy stories like LotR, but may be a reference to the recurring enemy Arachne.
- Gremlin: Appeared in various games, most notable in AoS' Clock Tower (as far as I can remember)
- Black Knight Golem: A clear reference to most knights found in Dracula's Castle (Final Guards, Armors, etc.)
- Cornell/Lycan Dark Lords: No need to talk about him (LoD, etc.) Second form is a tribute to the Werewolf bosses.
- Chupacabras: May be a reference to little Thieves (CoD for example) as they seek magical relics. It's also the Cave Troll's Japanese name.
- Swordmaster: Reference to 3D IGAvania's flying ghosts.
- Malphas: Recurring boss/enemy.
- Ghoul: Powerful zombie, appeared in various games (PoR for example)
- Vampire Warrior: May be a reference to CV64/LoD's vampires. Plus Vampires are one of the main things of the CV series.
- Animated Armor: Clear reference to all living armors found in several games.
- Brauner: PoR's main villain.
- Skeleton Warrior: Appeared in a lot of games.
- Mandragora: Appeared in lots of IGAvanias.
- Evil Butcher: Famous enemy from AoS/OoE.
- Olrox: Famous SotN boss.
- Carmilla/Vampire Queen: No need to deal with her. Her second form is a tribute to Dracula's transformations.
- Headless Burrower/Zombie/Creeping Corpse: Classic Zombie.
- Scarecrow: Enemy in various games (HoD, OoE, etc.)
- Gravedigger: Enemy appearing in several IGA games.
- Reapers/Necromancers: Reference to Death.
- Dracolich Titan: Reference to Zombie Dragons, but bigger (SotN, PoR, etc.)
- Flaming Skeletons: Skeletons warriors (various games).
- The Forgotten One: LoI's super boss.

So, 35/48 enemies are directly taken from or a clear reference to original CV games enemies. That's a good point to LoS.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on June 19, 2011, 12:33:31 PM
The Ogre might be a reference to Balore from A/DoS, and PoR. And if not, is still reminiscent of him.

I mean, he fights mostly the same way. Tries to crush you with his fists. The first part of the battle, (right after you fight the trolls with the ogre behind the wall) where his hand sticks out from the wall and attacks you, is VERY reminiscent of Balore from Aria.

And the Mechanical Monstrosity is your standard fare "Frankenstein's Monster", usually fought in places like laboratories and stuff, but with a scorpion shape instead of humanoid. (and even then it has what looks like a fetus or some shit in it's head case)

The Deadly Toys are also reminiscent of the many doll or toy themed enemies you often fight in games like Aria and Dawn of sorrow.

There's also Gabriel's sub weapons.

Silver Dagger
Holy Water Flask

And the Dark Crystals are basically like an item crash. They clear the whole screen like one too.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Svart on June 21, 2011, 10:53:18 PM
uhmmm... much of this ones are a little to pulled from straws.... i mean, titan frozen lake reminiscent of ecclesia frozen lake??? REALLY??? I the assume than the starting village is reminiscent of cordova town because both have houses with windows... or the necromancer abyss is reminiscent to some mountanish ecclesia scenes because both have reddish hue :O.

can you guys give the guy at mercury steam more geniune areas a little credit? D:

still, I concur that the whole Agartha section was really reminiscent to the sunken city face of castlevania which have been present on lots of other games, I remember saying on other forum when someone said that the Agartha section was too uncastlevanish that sunken and ruined city didn't exactly made it's debut on LOS.

there are also other "may be" reminiscensces that are subtle and worked, like the ogre/balore, other than doesn't reminiscent the original at all but are still interesting such as Cornell, and others that are just a plain fail, such as Orlox, and specially Brauner.

what i'm more interested in the sequel is on gameplay aspects. scripted plataforming should be reserved for very few ocassions, mostly on parts after heavy tension, (such as hard battles or true platforming sections) and focus big time on true paltforming, the kind when you have to calculate and measure your jumps, and there are enemies that try to kill you by droping you to the pits... IMO this is missing to make a true castlevania experience...the other things are fine, even titan battles, only 3 in such a long game is a good number, even though dracolich battle was a huge letdown (extremly easy and unispired) taking into account how the gravedigger and pan battles were a lot more memorable.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on June 21, 2011, 11:31:54 PM
Gravedigger and Pyramid head should hang out some time. They could talk and mix/match head... things...
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Claimh Solais on June 22, 2011, 07:09:17 AM
So... I can't believe no one pointed this out...

Aghartha from LoS
Agartha, Albus's gun
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: brandonh83 on June 22, 2011, 10:27:05 AM
I've been trying my best, but I cannot hear the relationship between "Beginning" from CV3 and "Final Confrontation" from LOS to save my life. I think it's a case of people wanting to hear it. I kind of hear the resemblance in one small part, but I'll have to chalk that up to far-fetched coincidence. If it were Oscar's intent to create a nod to Beginning, I believe it would have been a lot more evident.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: uzo on June 22, 2011, 10:43:17 AM
So... I can't believe no one pointed this out...

Aghartha from LoS
Agartha, Albus's gun

Not sure if that was intentional. The story they based the name of Albus' gun and an attack or two off of has nothing to do with any lost cities or anything. If it was an intentional reference, its an Aeon the bake and Aeon the time traveler level of pointless.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Kingshango on June 22, 2011, 10:53:06 AM
I've been trying my best, but I cannot hear the relationship between "Beginning" from CV3 and "Final Confrontation" from LOS to save my life. I think it's a case of people wanting to hear it. I kind of hear the resemblance in one small part, but I'll have to chalk that up to far-fetched coincidence. If it were Oscar's intent to create a nod to Beginning, I believe it would have been a lot more evident.

I believe you can here a small part of "The Beginning" at the last 20 seconds of "final confrontaion" it's played differently but it's there.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow Music - Final Confrontation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvzhoq2SHuk#)

Fast forward to 5:30, I don't think it's that far fetched.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Ahasverus on June 22, 2011, 01:29:24 PM
I knew I'd heard the "Agharta" name before, thanks! (Kinda pointless reference though :P )
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Claimh Solais on June 22, 2011, 02:03:28 PM
Yeah, I think it's them just cracking a useless name somewhere into the game.

Course, it could be what Uzo said. Unintentional.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: D013 on June 22, 2011, 05:07:40 PM
I really liked the Vampire Killer track being used in the music box, just wish they added this into the soundtrack that came with the collectors edition, I was surprised that they didn't use Bloody tears at all as that I believe is probably the most popular of the music in the franchise.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on June 22, 2011, 07:57:22 PM
Not sure if that was intentional. The story they based the name of Albus' gun and an attack or two off of has nothing to do with any lost cities or anything. If it was an intentional reference, its an Aeon the bake and Aeon the time traveler level of pointless.

I still wonder if Aeon the chef wasn't supposed to be named "Ian" and the localization people were just dumb. But the rest of the game has good English, so I dunno.

Am I crazy, or do I remember the Bernhard castle referred to in some of those scrolls as the "Demon's castle" or "Demonic castle"?
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: darkwzrd4 on June 22, 2011, 09:16:38 PM
I still wonder if Aeon the chef wasn't supposed to be named "Ian" and the localization people were just dumb. But the rest of the game has good English, so I dunno.

Am I crazy, or do I remember the Bernhard castle referred to in some of those scrolls as the "Demon's castle" or "Demonic castle"?
Well, I do remember a scroll in the castle saying that it seemed to be constantly changing making it impossible to map out.  It pretty much is that its a creature of chaos.  Plus, there is one that states that the Bernard family summoned a powerful demon that is trapped in the castle.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on June 23, 2011, 01:17:31 PM
Well, I do remember a scroll in the castle saying that it seemed to be constantly changing making it impossible to map out.  It pretty much is that its a creature of chaos.  Plus, there is one that states that the Bernard family summoned a powerful demon that is trapped in the castle.



(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: darkwzrd4 on June 23, 2011, 03:30:53 PM


(click to show/hide)
Well, nothing ever said that TFO was the only demon the Bernhard family messed with.  So, it's a possibility.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on June 23, 2011, 05:15:11 PM
Maybe there is a demon bonded to the castle, giving it it's creature of chaos-ness?
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: darkwzrd4 on June 23, 2011, 07:06:22 PM
Maybe there is a demon bonded to the castle, giving it it's creature of chaos-ness?
Yeah, but which one?  Is it because of the TFO, who is imprisoned in the dimentional rift, Leviethon, or a different demon?  I doubt we will ever find out unless Gabriel returns to the castle in the sequel as its new master.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on June 23, 2011, 07:42:42 PM
Maybe Chaos? Chaos had physical form in AoS, Perhaps he can be reimagined in this continuity, as a demon bonded to the castle or something.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on June 23, 2011, 11:17:54 PM
Maybe Chaos? Chaos had physical form in AoS, Perhaps he can be reimagined in this continuity, as a demon bonded to the castle or something.

This was my guess. If they're going by Paradise Lost (and judging from Satan's speech/mythos/appearance, they are), Chaos and Night are separate beings in a different part of the universe, so it's very likely Dracula would pair with someone of equal or greater power than Ol' Scratch.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on June 24, 2011, 02:43:38 AM
That's be interesting to see how they'd make Chaos appear in a LoS sequel.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: darkwzrd4 on June 24, 2011, 06:45:09 PM
That's be interesting to see how they'd make Chaos appear in a LoS sequel.
This assumes that Chaos will appear in this storyline.  We don't know for sure yet.  Either way, I can't wait to see what happens next. 
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on June 25, 2011, 01:57:49 AM
This assumes that Chaos will appear in this storyline.  We don't know for sure yet.  Either way, I can't wait to see what happens next.
After beating Satan with the help of Zobek, Dracula overcomes Chaos and becomes the true master of Castlevania. Boom!
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Vampire Killer on June 25, 2011, 01:49:07 PM
After beating Satan with the help of Zobek, Dracula overcomes Chaos and becomes the true master of Castlevania. Boom!

Yeah, but then you'd have the "true" Castlevania only appearing in todays technologically advanced world.  Would kill any ideas for sequels based between the end of LoS and the epilogue.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 18, 2011, 12:10:56 PM
I have to bring this topic back. I was playing the crow witch chapters, and I realized something that seemed familiar. When the tower starts to crumble, Pan appears in horse form, and rides Gabriel across a long collapsing bridge.

Sound familiar?

I was reminded of many classicvania's stage of "walk across the collapsing bridge while we throw shit at you"
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: A-Yty on November 18, 2011, 02:23:29 PM
Wow, your first few there are already grasping at straws. I'll consider this list just full of BS then.

Indeed.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: KaZudra on November 18, 2011, 10:11:53 PM
I have to bring this topic back. I was playing the crow witch chapters, and I realized something that seemed familiar. When the tower starts to crumble, Pan appears in horse form, and rides Gabriel across a long collapsing bridge.

Sound familiar?

I was reminded of many classicvania's stage of "walk across the collapsing bridge while we throw shit at you"

that added with the start of SoTN where Maria/ Richter ride a horse.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 18, 2011, 10:29:14 PM
that added with the start of SoTN where Maria/ Richter ride a horse.
That's far more of a stretch...

Its also part of the "Castle crumbles when it's master dies" thing which vania is famous for. Gabriel Kills Malphas, tower crumbles.

Surprisingly, the vampire castle didnt. But that was more plot central. And technically wasnt Carmilla's to begin with.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on November 19, 2011, 01:38:57 AM
Decided to revive this with a close look at LoS' bestiary: (http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Lords_of_Shadow_Bestiary)
- Lesser/Greater Lycanthrope: Werewolves exist in several CV games. Not a surprise.
- Warg/Great Warg: First enemy seen in SotN, nice reference to make it the first miniboss in LoS.
- Small Trolls/Swamp Troll/Cave Troll: Different from the agile and deadly Cave Troll in SotN/DS games, but seems to be a little reference.
- Giant Spider: May be taken from fantasy stories like LotR, but may be a reference to the recurring enemy Arachne.
- Gremlin: Appeared in various games, most notable in AoS' Clock Tower (as far as I can remember)
- Black Knight Golem: A clear reference to most knights found in Dracula's Castle (Final Guards, Armors, etc.)
- Cornell/Lycan Dark Lords: No need to talk about him (LoD, etc.) Second form is a tribute to the Werewolf bosses.
- Chupacabras: May be a reference to little Thieves (CoD for example) as they seek magical relics. It's also the Cave Troll's Japanese name.
- Swordmaster: Reference to 3D IGAvania's flying ghosts.
- Malphas: Recurring boss/enemy.
- Ghoul: Powerful zombie, appeared in various games (PoR for example)
- Vampire Warrior: May be a reference to CV64/LoD's vampires. Plus Vampires are one of the main things of the CV series.
- Animated Armor: Clear reference to all living armors found in several games.
- Brauner: PoR's main villain.
- Skeleton Warrior: Appeared in a lot of games.
- Mandragora: Appeared in lots of IGAvanias.
- Evil Butcher: Famous enemy from AoS/OoE.
- Olrox: Famous SotN boss.
- Carmilla/Vampire Queen: No need to deal with her. Her second form is a tribute to Dracula's transformations.
- Headless Burrower/Zombie/Creeping Corpse: Classic Zombie.
- Scarecrow: Enemy in various games (HoD, OoE, etc.)
- Gravedigger: Enemy appearing in several IGA games.
- Reapers/Necromancers: Reference to Death.
- Dracolich Titan: Reference to Zombie Dragons, but bigger (SotN, PoR, etc.)
- Flaming Skeletons: Skeletons warriors (various games).
- The Forgotten One: LoI's super boss.

So, 35/48 enemies are directly taken from or a clear reference to original CV games enemies. That's a good point to LoS.

Just to comment on this list, Gremlins are also in the X68k game, and spiders are in Simon's Quest, Dracula's Curse, Belmont's Revenge, and CV4, off the top of my head.

What else... there was a Necromancer boss in both CotM and SNES Dracula X (also guy in X68k but he's an ice wizard or some shit), not to mention his LoS wardrobe sort of brings Shaft to mind. The summoning of Dracolich might also be a reference to Shaft's Ghost, who attacked in a similar way.

It'd be fun to send a list of these to Cox and see how many were intentional.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 19, 2011, 01:53:29 AM
I say go for it. Would be neat, and it would be SOME kind of CV related news to munch on.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on November 19, 2011, 07:06:00 AM
You can complete my list and send it if you want to. ;)
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 19, 2011, 12:22:34 PM
How do we contact him, via twitter I suppose?
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: jestercolony on November 19, 2011, 01:38:49 PM
I'm still sticking to the "Power of Dominance" thing in which Gabriel absorbs things with his gauntlet, which is a reference to AoS/DoS. ;o
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on November 19, 2011, 02:28:00 PM
You can complete my list and send it if you want to. ;)

I was thinking maybe stapling it onto Ahasversus's because he had a number that I didn't even think of.

Did anyone mention the Holy Water being completely OP? I think that's a CV1/3 reference, lulz.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: crisis on November 19, 2011, 02:33:01 PM
wow aewsome idea guys!!
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 19, 2011, 03:33:02 PM
Someone's gonna have to reach out to Cox and ask him if he would be ok with answering to these. To see which were intentional and which were coincidence.

Someone with a Twitter. I dont have a Twitter, Or I would do it.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on November 19, 2011, 06:55:34 PM
Too many characters for putting on 'a Twitter'. lawlz.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 19, 2011, 08:24:20 PM
well duh, but someone should ask him if he would agree to it, and then set up some kind of communication.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: C Belmont on November 19, 2011, 08:40:01 PM
Wouldn't a link to this page be enough, I'm sure he could figure out the rest just by reading everyones posts
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on November 19, 2011, 08:46:07 PM
Wouldn't a link to this page be enough, I'm sure he could figure out the rest just by reading everyones posts
Because more official
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Neobelmont on November 19, 2011, 09:25:38 PM
Maybe someone from the Chapel could help. Did Cox not reply to them I am sure, if not make a group on facebook maybe have someone be a representative on behalf of the dungeon. Thats all I got right now.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: TheouAegis on November 19, 2011, 09:54:46 PM
Simple fact of the matter is some references were just name drops. Brauner and Olrox are name drops. Their characters resemble Van Helsing's Dracula and Blood: The Last Vampire's chiropterans. SOTN's Olrox and POR's Brauner were both knockoffs of Nosferatu's Count Orlok.

Werewolves and vampires have been around together before Castlevania. Both werewolves and vampires share the shape-shifter lore (Dracula was either a full-fledged werewolf or a more generalized lycanthrope) and was a popular belief in Hungary. Both werewolves and vampires are cannibalistic. Both have been accused by the Catholic Church of abhorring God and cured/defeated by religion (ha! Catholics always try to steal ancient lore for themselves). At one point it was believed that a werewolf would become a vampire if its corpse wasn't cremated. H.P. Lovecraft's "The Hound" was basically an 18th century European vampiric lycanthrope. And heroic werewolves (now referring to N64 Cornell and Van Helsing) were a feature of the Turks, who revered lycanthropic shamans.

What irks me though is, why does Satan always have to appear where there are demons? Let's not get into the fact that "satan" is a common noun, not a proper noun. And bringing Cthulhu (and whatever that thing was Brauner summoned from his painting) into the series, that kinda chucks God and Satan and all that out the window (you can argue Cthulhu was God's creation, but you are only kidding yourself). So instead, for LoS we get this Christianized D&D mish-mash. Satan never appeared in Castlevania, so why now?

By the way, I haven't played LoS so I gotta leave this post on an interrupted thought and leave this sentence unfinished because my girl wants to play a game and I forgot what I was going to ...
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: C Belmont on November 19, 2011, 09:56:03 PM
Why would it need to be some kind of official thing? he's already said that LOS contains many familar enemies from past games the best response you can expect to get is something like "I told you guys didn't I"

Quote
Vampire Warrior: May be a reference to CV64/LoD's vampires. Plus Vampires are one of the main things of the CV series.
Comparing the Vampire Maids and Villagers found in CV64 & LoD to the vampire warriors in LOS seems like a bit of a stretch, pretty much the only thing they have in common is that they are vampires.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Munchy on November 20, 2011, 01:48:08 AM
Why would it need to be some kind of official thing?
Just for funsies, really.
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Nagumo on November 20, 2011, 03:10:08 AM
Maybe someone from the Chapel could help. Did Cox not reply to them I am sure, if not make a group on facebook maybe have someone be a representative on behalf of the dungeon. Thats all I got right now.

I don't think he really wants to talk to us anymore...
Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Flame on May 07, 2012, 12:13:36 PM
Bringing this back for something I noticed and I'm surprised i didn't notice before,

When the game starts, Gabriel walks up to the large wooden gate, and stands there in an action pose in front of it for a few seconds.

it's VERY familiar...
(http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9769/cscreen1.gif)

Title: Re: The official "Finding Castlevania in Lords of Shadow" thread....
Post by: Chernabogue on May 07, 2012, 12:27:15 PM
Bringing this back for something I noticed and I'm surprised i didn't notice before,

When the game starts, Gabriel walks up to the large wooden gate, and stands there in an action pose in front of it for a few seconds.

it's VERY familiar...
(http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9769/cscreen1.gif)
Yep, agreed.

I did a "comparison" in the Vampire Variations trailer.
Vampire Variations - Final Preview / Launch Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6kABiKRuvU#ws)