Topic: Critic's Corner -Mr Cox(or team) please read for honest fan feedback.

[thernz]

Instead of more open arena combat areas, I think it could've benefited from more diverse arenas. Like, enemies on different heights and etc. Kinda like the pool of water with the Sword Masters too.

[Munchy]

Well anyways, they still should look at 70s horror music  ( more specifically at  Fabio Frizzi's and Goblin's works)

I agree heavily with this and the organ music sentiment. Also Stravinsky would be a good influence if they go with an orchestra again.

[Harrycombs]

I just finished the game, and I actually really enjoyed it, but there are a few things that need to be addressed.

Spoilers:

Agartha was weird. Why is there an Aztec-like ruin in Romania (Gabe speaks Romanian at the end, so we know generally where it took place)? If you were trying to contrast pagan areas (with Pan) and the more Christian oriented areas at the end, wouldn't it have made more sense to make these areas looks more Greco-Roman? The whole segment with Agartha was really out of place and hurt my enjoyment of the game. In fact the first 3 chapters were very inferior to the rest of the game, it got off to quite a bad start.

The Titans weren't particularly well designed and were annoying. Please don't bring them back if there is a sequel.

Platforming is weird at times. It feels really restricted. For instance, when climbing up a wall using the whip, sometimes you are able to press Square to jump of the wall to get above another obstacle or to get closer to a wall behind you. Why can't you always do this. The fact that you are only allowed to do certain actions when the game wants you to practically tells you exactly what you need to do all the time. Also, sometimes the jumps when you were holding on to ledges controlled poorly, with Gabe just letting go of the ledge instead of the jumping. Also the flashing ledges could get annoying. The hand holding is rather excessive.

The camera was great for getting dramatic shots and generally worked well for platforming. However, a lock on function (like Devil May Cry) would have made focusing on a specific enemy a lot easier and a smarter camera during battle would have made the fighting a lot better. Most of the deaths in combat I found were generally due to poor camera control because the guys killing you were off screen.

The soundtrack was also pretty poor. It never really helped establish atmosphere because the music sounded the same no matter where you were.

Also, just drop the QTEs. They aren't necessary and they aren't fun. If you want to keep similar scenes in the game, just make them cutscenes. Also, the QTEs when grabbing enemies just made me never bother using them unless I had to. Look at how Devil May Cry 4 handled its grab function, it was very fast and served the same purpose.

Other than that, I really loved the game from the Abby onwards. I also really enjoyed the level with the crows and the music box level was very creative and one of the better levels we have seen in a Castlevania game recently.

Overall I really like what MecurySteam did with the game and I hope they make the sequel, but there are still a bunch of flaws in the game that need to be worked out.

[X]

I can totally agree with the above. I'm still not very far into the game (Still in chapter 2). I haven't been playing it all that much either because I feel like I'm grinding my way through the whole time (not in a good way). These current chapters I'm on do nothing to give me that old famillier CV vibe that would force me to stay awake till the wee hours of the morning from playing the game all night. So far it's been way too much SotC (A good game that shouldv'e stayed in the ICO universe and shouldn't have leaked into CV). I will give MercurySteam points for being allowed to ride those giant spiders. Creepy but wicked!

-X

[Munchy]

Here's yet another bit of criticism from Kurt that mirrors some of my complaints about the game:

"Are there any more titan battles in this game? Because I'm at the second one, and if there any more, I'm just going to shelve it. Or maybe just download a save game, if the PS3 will let me. They're so ineptly handled that I really want no part in them. I'm tired of hitting one of them weak spots, then getting to that point where I need to dodge their swipe, but the hit detection is so awful that I end up falling off despite not being anywhere near the danger zone.

Other observations:

-The whole light/dark magic thing, the countering, and the focus gauge is by far the best thing the game has going for it. It provides a good sense of reward for performing well, and it's pretty satisfying to boot. But they tend to falter in practice, because...

-Combat would work better if the larger enemies were actually stunned to an extent, or at least if you could cancel out of moves. I'm sick of unlocking combos and finding them nearly useless against anything but popcorn enemies, because I just keep getting knocked out of them anyway.

-The frame rate is a good indicator of how seriously the developers want me to take their game. It it's 60, then it's about speed, reflexes and skill. If it's 30 or less, it's all about graphics. Guess where Castlevania falls.

-The level design is incredibly counterproductive. The natural inclination to explore and find the hidden stuff is cut down because of all of the invisible walls. Except some of them aren't! It seems entirely at the discretion of the level designer. If you're going to render a hole in that mountain wall, and then not let me go through, then don't render it! They seem to prefer obscuring areas with the set camera angles too. They also make the "run around this area and find these items" quest way too tedious.

-Same goes with the platforming. Sometimes they'll guide with you the glowy ledges, other times it's up to you to figure out which of the identical looking platforms is your goal and which will send you flying into an abyss. At least the penalty for falling is light.

-At one point I walked up to a ledge and the game told me "This route is impassable, go another way." Then why is it there, jackass! Don't just put in pretty scenery, make it functional!

-People are saying this game lasts 15-20 hours? Good GOD this is padded out. This goes back to the whole criticism of modern design sensibilities, but I'd rather a game stick everything in five hours instead of making me through the same types of scenery, defeating the same types of monsters, and every-so-slowly introducing important mechanics. The fighting doesn't even get good until a few hours in. When people dismiss your games for being a shallow button masher because, for the first hour or so, it IS a shallow button masher, then that's an issue.

-In keeping with the frame rate discussion, what the hell is with Western developers and not locking frame rates? There are actually a few scarce times where it dips up into 60s, then the minute anything happens it falls back into the sub-30 range. One part actually triggered quite a headache.

-Did the game seriously just give me a "guide the light with the mirrors" puzzle? I'm not sure if that was more insulting than that one where you need to rotate those circular platforms. This is Castlevania, not The 7th Fucking Guest.

There are just...ugh, so many just LITTLE things wrong that they end up adding into a lot. There's just so much that's unpolished."

Definitely some good points here, especially about the misleading level design and the wonky-ass framerate.

[Ahasverus]

I would like not to feel "scripted jumps". I'll explain them like this:
You play the game, find a big abyss, use a big wolf to pass through it, great.
Replay the stage, now you have double jump, try to play the abyss... an invisible wall hits you WTF?
That's it, I'd like the platforming to be receptive, not scripted, with adaptable physics. The combat is brillaint, the scope is brillaint, the sense of decay is great, I love the first shint stages and I love how the scenery turns to hell itself at the end. The castle was stellar, most atmspheric part of the game.
Please keep with the "explain everything!" tone it's the best thing ever happening to CV. Why is there electricity in the castle? Doctor Frankenstein lived before. Why is Carmilla a Vampire? She loved life and restoring it, her dark side drains life and it's not even living. Why is malphas a giant crow? she casted a spell to restore her body and crows felt attracted to her. BTW I loved how they wrote a little story to each enemy, keep up that Mr Alvarez!

And the most important thing, polish, add... don't cut, a bit. Some people dfidn't like titan fights? Screw it, keep with them, polish them but keep with them. SOme people didn't like daytime areas? Screw it, keep with them if they serve to narrative. The graphis need AA easy or not, do it, even if it takes 6+ months of work, do it. Keep oscar, he's a great composer, make a little more memorable music this time BUT keep the "change song middle stage" tone, I'm tired of 1:30 songs repeating themselves over and over again (I'm looking at you Castlevania pre-LOS). Music has to serve narrative, it's not intented to go to everyone's iPod, it myst to be there serving the game. Also, keep the music-less moments, they were creepy, excellent, some of the chill I got from the game came from them  
And obviously, the camera was kinda unpolished, fix that, the right triggger is unused!

Overall, keep innovating and polishing everything you can MercurySteam, now more than ever ever ever, we trust you  

[Death]

Are there any more titan battles in this game? Because I'm at the second one, and if there any more, I'm just going to shelve it. Or maybe just download a save game, if the PS3 will let me. They're so ineptly handled that I really want no part in them. I'm tired of hitting one of them weak spots, then getting to that point where I need to dodge their swipe, but the hit detection is so awful that I end up falling off despite not being anywhere near the danger zone.

I found both titan battles very enjoyable (up to 9-2 anyway, that's how far I am). It's pretty obvious where to move to after you destroy a titan's weak spot to dodge their swipe attack. People just need to learn how to not suck at this game.

Combat would work better if the larger enemies were actually stunned to an extent, or at least if you could cancel out of moves. I'm sick of unlocking combos and finding them nearly useless against anything but popcorn enemies, because I just keep getting knocked out of them anyway.

It's called strategy. You can't expect the enemies to just stand there while you unleash your most powerful combo's on them. You need to pick and choose which moves and combo's to use on certain enemies at certain times. Again, people just need to learn how to not suck at this game.

The frame rate is a good indicator of how seriously the developers want me to take their game. It it's 60, then it's about speed, reflexes and skill. If it's 30 or less, it's all about graphics. Guess where Castlevania falls.

30 fps is good enough for any game, no matter how fast the action is. As long as it's locked at 30 fps it doesn't effect gameplay at all. I'll take 30 fps with amazing graphics over 60 fps with mediocre graphics any day.

The level design is incredibly counterproductive. The natural inclination to explore and find the hidden stuff is cut down because of all of the invisible walls. Except some of them aren't! It seems entirely at the discretion of the level designer. If you're going to render a hole in that mountain wall, and then not let me go through, then don't render it! At one point I walked up to a ledge and the game told me "This route is impassable, go another way." Then why is it there, jackass! Don't just put in pretty scenery, make it functional!

Nitpick much? I suppose you should be able to explore every polygon on the screen huh?

People are saying this game lasts 15-20 hours? Good GOD this is padded out. This goes back to the whole criticism of modern design sensibilities, but I'd rather a game stick everything in five hours instead of making me through the same types of scenery, defeating the same types of monsters, and every-so-slowly introducing important mechanics. The fighting doesn't even get good until a few hours in. When people dismiss your games for being a shallow button masher because, for the first hour or so, it IS a shallow button masher, then that's an issue.

WOW, you can't be serious. When a game's under 10 hours long everyone complains about it being too short, yet when a game finally comes around that's 20+ hours long people complain about it being too long? Would you REALLY want this game to only be 5 hours long? I think there's enough variety here to justify 20+ hours. You're always exploring new scenery and fighting new enemies, it's not like you're exploring the same looking enviorments and fighting the same enemies the whole game. I'm about 15 hours in and I wish the game would last another 15 hours.

In keeping with the frame rate discussion, what the hell is with Western developers and not locking frame rates? There are actually a few scarce times where it dips up into 60s, then minute anything happens it falls back into the sub-30 range. One part actually triggered quite a headache

When you got a game this beautiful and combat this fast paced you're bound to get a few framerate hiccups here and there, deal with it.

Did the game seriously just give me a "guide the light with the mirrors" puzzle? I'm not sure if that was more insulting than that one where you need to rotate those circular platforms. This is Castlevania, not The 7th Fucking Guest.

Most of the puzzles in this game are pretty damn cool and creative if you ask me. Like the board game, the blood maze puzzle, and the one where you drop the marble down the slots to rotate the triggers.

Same goes with the platforming. Sometimes they'll guide with you the glowy ledges, other times it's up to you to figure out which of the identical looking platforms is your goal and which will send you flying into an abyss. At least the penalty for falling is light.

Be glad the penalty is very light and resets you right back where you fell, because every other game puts you all the way back at your last checkpiont. The platforming is easy and the ledges you have to jump to are pretty obvious anyway.

[eternal night]

Here's my small laundry list of things that I feel need to be addressed in the next game.

1. It needs more castle exploration. Please open the castle up so that it's not confined to just a few rooms per level. It feels like we were only shown mere glimpses of it before it was all said and done. I'm sure it's possible to design an entire castle and have nearly every corner of it be explorable in this day of age.

2. The combat needs tweaking. All enemies and the non-titan bosses should be launchable into the air allowing for more diversity in the fights. Most combat boils down to whip, side roll, whip which is repetitive and boring and the system doesn't allow for much creativity or style unless your fighting the smaller enemies. Most boss fights consist of this same repetitive strategy. A power-upgrade that Gabriel could attain at later levels allowing him to juggle larger enemies would have been greatly appreciated. The ability to cancel out of a combo via side roll or perfect guard, *and continue* the combo where it was left off at, would of been greatly appreciated as well. (I'm not asking to turn this into a DMC clone by any means but it does need some minor tweaking here and there.)

3. Ditch the fixed camera perspective. I don't like controlling an extremely small Gabriel Belmont when he's way off in the distance. As a gamer, it makes me feel like more of an observer "Looking in" rather than being the one in control and in the story. (If that makes any sense..)

4. Fewer puzzles, more action/exploration/platforming