Topic: I knew it! Castlevania: Lords of Shadow!(SPOILERS HERE, PLZ USE THE SPOILER TAG)

[e105beta]

Yeah, I think they probably added in QTEs later like with candles. I kinda feel the enemies in this have a bit too much health in general now that I'm thinking about it. Eep. Not fond of all the flashing indicators telling you where to go. The game seems to like it's tasked with telling the player what to do just in case, but it's rather naggersome.

That's my biggest gripe. If you're going for cinematic goodness, don't keep flashing instructions at the player. I hope that's not in the final game build. Goodness.

EDIT: Mr. Cox! Mr. Alvarez! If you are reading this, please remove the nagging messages telling you what to do! Your gamers aren't stupid and it's annoying. Even God of War isn't that dumbed down.

[DragonSlayr81]

Not happy with the generic hollywood style crappy music. Had to listen to some classic songs after watching that gameplay to erase the lingering foul stench of that music I had to hear.

I have to agree. The music we've heard so far is pretty blah. Really symphonic equivalent of elevator music. But, who knows, maybe some of the tracks will pick up the pace. I'd love to hear some toccatas and fugues in there.

Besides that, I actually like what little platforming they have there. It's SIDE SCROLLING. Interesting to see the camera turn to a 2.5D perspective for the traditional platforming parts, then revert back to a more 3D fixed position once you're finished. The use of both 3D and 2D gameplay reminds me of the new Splatterhouse game.

My only real gripe is that, in the final portion, with the troll(or whatever the hell tha thing was), the camera started to suffer from horrid angles, and there seemed to be a stuttering in the framerate. They'll probably fix it in the final version, though. Everything else looks nice. It actually doesn't look that different from LoI. The combat looks like a general evolution from IGA's 3D games, like they took LoI and CoD, then said, "We are going to do the fixed cameras of LoI, the free roaming countryside exploration of CoD, but let's add the variety in location design that was seen in the older CV games up to SotN(which had pretty good variety for a castletroid) and actual 3D vertical maneuverable space, like the N64 CV games.". Though, like I said, I'd love to hear some Yamane-styled music, progressive rock, toccatas and electric guitars. I'd even love to see this type of exploration applied to an IGA produced game(with Ayami Kojima characters and a more Victorian setting). Hell, now I'm wanting an IGA + Cox collaboration(do an ULTIMATE 1999 game)!! It probably will never happen, but this game, as it is, isn't looking so bad after all.

[Rugal]

I've made myself sad..

After hearing the music in that video, I starting playing some Order of Eclesia music. "1514 Hard Won Nobility" Started playing, and reminded me how we'll probably never hear any more new tunes as good as this one is.

[crisis]

I think everything about Lords of Shadow is pretty much set in stone at this point; highly unlikely they're going to make adjustments now, save for a few glitches here 'n there. But i'm hoping there'll be an option to shut those tutorial messages off in the pause menu or something.

[e105beta]

I think everything about Lords of Shadow is pretty much set in stone at this point; highly unlikely they're going to make adjustments now, save for a few glitches here 'n there. But i'm hoping there'll be an option to shut those tutorial messages off in the pause menu or something.

We can only hope.

What I'm finding surprising is how much I like some of the mechanics I said "meh" to originally.

The silver daggers killing the wolves in one hit feel very Castlevania. One hit, it's dead. Pretty much like every weak unit in Castlevania before. Very much unlike God of War where even the weakest enemies need to be whittled profusely.

Building on that feature, I like how the enemies have weaknesses. Cox specifically stated the lesser lycanthropes were weak to silver daggers, but you could see from the book they were also (I'm assuming more so) weak to flame enhanced silver daggers. That's a throw back to the Metroidvania's, what with their weapon attributes and enemy weaknesses. I'm glad they put this kind of thought into the game so it's NOT like GoW, which is essentially:
"Look, skeletons!" *Cut the until they die*
"Look, a cyclops!" *Cut it until it dies either with more cuts or a stronger weapon*

EDIT: Looking at the bestiary, I've noticed two enemies previously unannounced:

Naiads and Swamp Trolls.

[Rugal]

Wasn't the Silver Dagger one of those special weapons in CV2? I can't remember..

Edit: HELL YEAH CV3 BEGINNING JUST STARTED PLAYING BITCH! I WOULD TURN UP THE VOLUME TO MAXIMUM BUT ILL WAKE THE DEAD

[e105beta]

Edit: HELL YEAH CV3 BEGINNING JUST STARTED PLAYING BITCH! I WOULD TURN UP THE VOLUME TO MAXIMUM BUT ILL WAKE THE DEAD

...wut?

[Aridale]

yeah silver and gold daggers in CV2... well "knives"

[GummiCandyful]

Something tells me that with the RIGHT orchestral score, that battle could be epic, though the CV purest in me also thinks, had they opted to use rushing guitar riffs and organ with a mixture of metal and progressive rock, that might be just as awesome(though it would NEVER happen).

Just saw the video, and just under it, near the description, it turns out the awesome music is actually a Judas Priest song, added by the person who uploaded the video.  Man, if that was the real music, that would've been sweet, but sadly, it isn't.

[Oralox]

Edit: HELL YEAH CV3 BEGINNING JUST STARTED PLAYING BITCH! I WOULD TURN UP THE VOLUME TO MAXIMUM BUT ILL WAKE THE DEAD

Yeh Rugal, what are you talking about?

[crisis]

Just saw the video, and just under it, near the description, it turns out the awesome music is actually a Judas Priest song, added by the person who uploaded the video.  Man, if that was the real music, that would've been sweet, but sadly, it isn't.

That music made my ears bleed x_x

[Rugal]

Yeh Rugal, what are you talking about?

My playlist.

[uzo]

I think everything about Lords of Shadow is pretty much set in stone at this point; highly unlikely they're going to make adjustments now, save for a few glitches here 'n there. But i'm hoping there'll be an option to shut those tutorial messages off in the pause menu or something.

If they fix anything, it'll be in a patch download. At this point in the development cycle they are already pressing out disks to meet retail demand.

And yes, I've been concerned about the generic bland music from the very beginning. If we get a sequel, it better have a much higher quality score.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Daggers, Silver Daggers, and Golden Daggers, were used in Simon's Quest.
They also called 'em knives, but they were still in the 'dagger' category, as throwables.

[Danial]

Did anyone else think of Monster Grant when they saw that giant harry troll boss?

Man, this game's looking awesome.  I love the drawn pictures in the bestiary.