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

[Vatican29]

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Always have to respect walking into Death's presence.  He's rather enigmatic, and I thought it was great to have him as LoI's final enemy.  I like this art you found.  I agree with not having him so stylized.

Also, I saw Alucard in a CV art gallery...or at least it is labeled that way...anyone else know if he's making an appearance in LoS?  

[Kingshango]

According to a Neogaf poster, the game got an 8 from GamesTM.

And for refrence, since it's being compared to GOW, GOW 3 also got a 8.

[Vatican29]

According to a Neogaf poster, the game got an 8 from GamesTM.

And for refrence, since it's being compared to GOW, GOW 3 also got a 8.

That might be because of the type of game it is...

It's sort of like how Ace Combat always got an 8 because it was geared for a specific type of player. 

Despite the fact that this forum is so big, you all are the only other people I know that actually play CV titles.  All of my friends are sport game sickos.  They'll WATCH someone play a game or series like this, but won'y pick it up for themselves, which is foolish.  Unforunately, sometimes the wrong people put together reviews.  Maybe they lack historical reference or appreciation.

Most of the greatest games take an 8 or a 9.

[Ahasverus]

Most of the greatest games take an 8 or a 9.

I agree.
Seirously, modern warfare 2 94?? that was barely a reskinned MW1 that was itself a reskinned CoD3 that was already a kinda reskinned Medal of Honor (psx). But God Bless America, they just think it's "awesome how guns sound" and "Captian Price is so badasss, look at his mustache!  - 10/10". This industry is just not serious. have you played Alan Wake? Darksiders? Those games are nothing shor of brilliant, but sadly they were not under a big name and guess what, they've got a 8 slapped on their foreheads. But zOMG left 4 Dead 2 is barely a LFD1 expansion but it's a shooter with awesome desmemberings so 89/100!!

And then it comes. Call of Duty...*sigh*

[Munchy]

I heard LoS will be out same day as Ninja Theory's Enslaved. I wonder which one will come out on top, sales-wise... Personally I strongly dislike the character design in Enslaved. I love the genre though so I'll probably get it eventually. LoS is first day buy though.

LoS will be the only game I get that day, and not just because of the heresy Ninja Theory committed against Devil May Cry. (I'm also pretty poor.  )

[Vatican29]

I agree.
Seirously, modern warfare 2 94?? that was barely a reskinned MW1 that was itself a reskinned CoD3 that was already a kinda reskinned Medal of Honor (psx). But God Bless America, they just think it's "awesome how guns sound" and "Captian Price is so badasss, look at his mustache!  - 10/10". This industry is just not serious. have you played Alan Wake? Darksiders? Those games are nothing shor of brilliant, but sadly they were not under a big name and guess what, they've got a 8 slapped on their foreheads. But zOMG left 4 Dead 2 is barely a LFD1 expansion but it's a shooter with awesome desmemberings so 89/100!!

And then it comes. Call of Duty...*sigh*

  My title games range quite a bit.  But, being an especially applied American, LOL, gun sounds are interesting, but historical reference is the stuff.  My interest in FPS's nearly died after Medal of Honor unleashed the opening assault on the Beaches of Normandy.  After that, Darkwatch was probably the last shooter I liked. 

I cannot bring myself to support Microsoft any further than software on my PC, so I have not had the opportunity to plat Alan Wake.  Dark Siders was pretty cool.  I am not sure if you have ever played a series called Armored Core, but it mimics the types of experiences I had with Dark siders.  Those who played it loved it, and loved that it was sort of "underground."  I had a couple buds give their mixed reviews, but for a game to rank an 8 or so with hardly any downright negative things to say is, well, as you said brilliant. 

I no longer subscribe to the opinions of others in terms of games.  There have been very few games I latched onto that were wildly popular.  Consider Bethesda's works of art in The Elder Scrollls and Fall Out.  The only downside I see to those games beyond certain things everyone disliked.  The amount of depth involved, especially for a console game, it was great.  Maybe at some point, a Belmont could go on a truly amazing trek across Europe in a free roaming fashion.  But, not every game can incorporate every single aspect of what interests every single gamer.  So I will continue to love the poor mislead souls who sign a game off into being "above average" and know that that is probably the title that is going to be fricking amazing.

So, Let them paste an 8 on this installment of CV.  I hope it keeps the people that don't need to play away, opens the doors for new and curious blood, and keeps old schoolers drooling with epic memories, reminiscing of the past and looking forward on a new, bright future for, overall, one of the best series in gaming.

[thernz]

I thought 3D action titles in the vein of GoW, DMC, and Bayonetta were usually very well received. An 8 isn't that bad anyway. I wouldn't even mind if it got a 3/10 if it ends up being a good game when I play it.

I wouldn't actually like a free roaming Castlevania. To me, it's always been about the enclosed and tight environments, even in natural areas. I don't want there to be an excess of space. I want my Castlevanias very lean. Kinda why I prefer OoE over many of the other Metroidvanias, though it didn't really use the limited space it had to good effect at times. Ruvas Forest, uguu.

I'm pretty sure that despite the "epic" scale LoS has, that its level design will still be fairly tight, even though that's more of because of how linear it looks in the videos than anything else.

[Nagumo]

The idea of there being multile universes, each different, yet existing together, is something I've always been a fan of, as well. 

 

I wouldn't mind either, but that would depend on how they would handle it from a storyline perspective. You can just say this COX Castlevania game is set in universe 489357309676, and the IGA Castlevania games are universe 389796736, end of story. But I think that would be kind off the easy way out if you know what I mean.

If they would such a thing as incorporating alternate universes into the series, they should at least try to make it less, uh, random. Why exactly are their other universes, what is their purpose, why does Brauner show up in timeline x, looking completely different, and pretty far away from the time period his orginated from? If they won't answer stuff like that, as silly as it may sound, it would just be stupid.

On top of that, I'm not really a fan of the idea that the Castlevania series is some kind off multiverse, I rather much prefer they would have one main timeline, and sometimes have artifical created parallel dimensions that get dismantled after a while. A good example of that would be Judgment.

I don't want dimension hopping Belmonts, or weird cross-overs, but I just think that would make the entire thing seem less like 'I pulled this explanation out of my ass on the spot!'. Not that they should do it right now, but they could come back later and retcon this game.

so yeah                       

[Dremn]

I'm alright with this game having it's own canon. I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a one shot deal anyway, it's not going to do anything to the main canon.

I'm sure more games in the main canon will be made.

[Ahasverus]

Happy news everyone! LOS got ANOTHER 90+score from PSM, 9/10! 
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266653

[DragonSlayr81]

If they would such a thing as incorporating alternate universes into the series, they should at least try to make it less, uh, random. Why exactly are their other universes, what is their purpose, why does Brauner show up in timeline x, looking completely different, and pretty far away from the time period his orginated from? If they won't answer stuff like that, as silly as it may sound, it would just be stupid.

I think the easy answer to why Brauner is there is because Cox wanted him there. Cornell too. Though, you could always speculate that they are a different "Brauner" and "Cornell". It's like, I know this guy named John. Go back a hundred years and I can bet there was another guy named John living during that time. Go back a few more centuries and there were probably other Johns that lived back then. While the reason Brauner and Cornell's name were chosen by Cox was a nod to the mainline series, they could possibly be different characters named those names. I mean, "Brauner" IS a surname, and there's probably a family with that surname that goes back for a while.

As for dimensions, the possiblities are infinite, but to the point that eventually, you'll go past multiple dimensions that are nearly identicle with a few differences to dimensions that no way resemble each other, with great differences in landscape, history and such. If the gap's THAT big, I don't mind it. It's like the Golden Compass books, which take place in an alternate universe where the world is more steampunk, with magic and such. Countries have grown differently, and this likely results in a difference in dimensional counterparts. If something was drastic in one dimension, the ramifications could result in a whole slew of people not being born because such events(perhaps, let's say a war that was never supposed to happen, or an invasion of a country) would result in many people from not meeting, wedding, and baring children the way it had to be to create a parallel generation to our own. Maybe, it would cause my father to go fight in the war. My mom would never meet him and fall in love with someone else, give birth to a new set of children, while my father would either die in the war, or return home, fall in love with someone else and start a family with them. That would result in no dimensional counterpart to myself(and my siblings) would exist, and likely, no dimensional counterparts to others, as well. But you could even go back further, making it so common ancestors don't meet, and entire family histories cease to exist. Maybe that's what happens in this one. This a a theory:

Maybe the Brauner of the original canon doesn't exist in LoS's canon because the Brauner in LoS is the ancestor. Due to specific events(perhaps everything revolving around the Lords of Shadow and the darkness engulfing the land, he became a vampire(where as in the classic canon, these events never happened, and he never became a vampire, meaning he had children as a human man and his family lasted for generations up until PoR's Brauner in early 20th century).

It's just a kooky theory, though. Just shooting ideas out.

[Dremn]

Happy news everyone! LOS got ANOTHER 90+score from PSM, 9/10! 
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266653

Awesome, only 2 more days to go until the media/review embargo is lifted too.

[Vatican29]

I thought 3D action titles in the vein of GoW, DMC, and Bayonetta were usually very well received. An 8 isn't that bad anyway. I wouldn't even mind if it got a 3/10 if it ends up being a good game when I play it.

I wouldn't actually like a free roaming Castlevania. To me, it's always been about the enclosed and tight environments, even in natural areas. I don't want there to be an excess of space. I want my Castlevanias very lean. Kinda why I prefer OoE over many of the other Metroidvanias, though it didn't really use the limited space it had to good effect at times. Ruvas Forest, uguu.

I'm pretty sure that despite the "epic" scale LoS has, that its level design will still be fairly tight, even though that's more of because of how linear it looks in the videos than anything else.

I think it needs to be tight for this launch, agreed. 

Free roam for CV still would be OK with me.  Maybe not as large as an RPG altogether.  On second thought, you're probably right.  But less linear and more than raoming around the castle.  IDK if that makes sense, as I am not sure there is any happy medium.

[shelverton.]

Free roam for CV still would be OK with me.  Maybe not as large as an RPG altogether.  On second thought, you're probably right.  But less linear and more than raoming around the castle.  IDK if that makes sense, as I am not sure there is any happy medium.

I'm thinking Zelda: Twilight Princess. The overworld layout would fit a Castlevania game very well, with one huge world with graveyards, villages, mansions, forests and a swamp or two.

[Dremn]

So you guys want Simon's Quest 3D?