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

[crisis]

TL;DR version: Lords of Shadow is a good game, despite its awful opening levels, shitty Titan boss fights, dull platforming, and really bad storytelling!

You forgot to mention the awesome soundtrack 

[SomaCruz90]

I liked the soundtrack, although its usual orchestrated stuff that you instantly forget about away from the context of the game, with none of the catchy melodies the CV series usually has.

[Rugal]

You forgot to mention the awesome soundtrack  

The soundtrack is good, but nothing fits. The only memorable music ironically are the 3 remixes from older games. If I want Hollywood style orchestrated music, I'll go watch a movie.

Oh, and I wish Cox didn't take creatures out of J.R.R Tolkien novels and throw them in the game. What was wrong with Medusa heads?

[Wallachia]

Holy shit Soma.. well written. I agree with a lot. LOL at Tolkien hooker line. And yeah, the music, while cinematic and compelling, was often misfitting and over repeated. I bet that will be addressed at the next go round.

Is this the general "post your opinions about Lords of Shadow" thread? I didn't want to make another topic so please indulge the ranting. Warning: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD

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The main thing I took from this game was the name "Castlevania", or more importantly, what the heck it had to do with anything. Lords of Shadow is a reboot, so I don't expect Bloody Tears and whipping candles for hearts or a red orb to drop down when you beat a boss. But geez, it still needs to be CASTLEVANIA at the end of the day, and I think its a total failure in that regard. There's a few CV name drops like Belmont, Carmilla, Brauner, etc and you get some subweapons like the good old days, but that's really about it. You could have just as easily called it "Lords of Shadow" and be done with it.

But as an original game doing its own story, that shit is awful too. Patrick Stewart is a fine actor, but all thespians in the world couldn't make the incredibly melodramatic hamfest sound good. It keeps telling us about how tired, insane, and monstrous Gabriel has become, but we never actually see any change. He's still the same boring one-dimensional character we saw from the intro, slashing up monsters and wanting to bringing his wife back. The plot twists are insulting in their executions and predictability, elements of the story kinda just happen for no particular reason(where the fuck did Satan come from? What the heck was Gabriel doing with all the light and stuff flowing out of him? Why are we fighting these titans, again?), and I can't make heads or tails with that modern-day ending. Mercurysteam's interpretation of interesting characters is making them repeat the same 3-4 lines in a boss fight every 20 seconds.

Although the thrust of the game's plot has all the energy of a geriatric hooker mumbling about Lord of the Rings, the actual gameplay itself is what keeps me playing through the surprisingly lengthy 20 hours LoS takes to complete. Many have said it rips from God of War, but that's just lazy armchair critic talk. Its a 3d action-adventure game with the main character has a whip, fights monsters, does crappy "platforming", earns EXP to upgrade moves, uses magic, and redeem the actions of his dead wife. What the fuck was the game suppose to look like? Even saying that though, I think even Mercurysteam wouldn't deny the gameplay being derivative. Luckily for us, its all about the execution, and for the most part, Lords of Shadow is a success.

The first couple chapters won't let you know that though. The combat system is stuck at a pretty boring stage of mashing square with the occasional triangle for good measure(especially that horse scene), and the actual levels are tedious affairs. The platforming is hand-holdingly rudimentary as best and frustratingly stiff at worst, and holy hell those Titan boss fights are atrocious. I seriously don't even want to go into it right now they're so bad. Eventually though, the layers of the game start to open up and the fun starts flowing. The light/shadow magic strikes the perfect balance between the defensive/offensive mindset, and throw in the neutral orb meter and its functionality, and the game has an interesting strategy to every fight. It rewards careful, skillful play with more tools in the form of Light/Shadow magic, which leads to you having more fun. Throw in the HUGE list of combos for the various weapons, relics, and magic you obtain, and it makes pretty much every battle in LoS more thrilling than the opening chapters let on.

Yet even when the game is forcing you to wander around similar-looking corridors looking for dark crystals while funny-accented girls remind you every 45 seconds to look for said dark crystals, its oh-so-gorgeous. Its a testament to Mercurysteam's incredible artists that they managed all the visuals LoS throws at the player for its lengthy duration(and on a pretty modest budget, so I hear). Normally I would decry all the daylit forests and cliffsides in a Castlevania game, but A. this thing is hardly Castlevania anyway and B. its some DAMN fine looking forests and cliffsides! A shame the framerate is pretty uneven throughout, many times dipping into the 20s in the more hectic areas.

I remember Mercurysteam said something about not having QTEs interfering with the combat. I don't know what happen, because the game is chokeful of 'em. Luckily, they are all pretty easy to do, and many of them quite fun to watch. My particular favorites being Carmilla staking scene(seriously, awesome visuals there) and Gabe vs the Butcher(the sly smile Gabe gives him before letting the Butcher have did more for his characterization than all the droning Patrick Stewart could muster). I'm not personally against QTEs when they are this enjoyable and not of the "instant-death" variety.

When Gabe isn't abusing monsters with Shoryukens(L2 + X, best move!) or grappling about, he's probably doing some puzzle solving. The brain teasers in Lords of Shadow are varied and entertaining, stepping in for a change of pace from the vampire slaying to make you stop and think. They aren't Zelda quality or anything, but they are fun diversions that reward you with EXP and a welcome addition to the game.

The bosses oftentimes boil down to "dodge attacks, mash square, dodge attack, mash square", but several of them are actually pretty fun and inventive in their concepts and executions(the fight with Pan in his angelic armor form being a cool example). Even the last fight, completely out of left field and alarmingly easiness not withstanding, is an enjoyable and appropriately epic encounter. But holy fuck, those titan battles...just some of the worst boss fights I've ever experienced. At best they are chores that require very little skill and lots of memorization, and at worst they are finicky trial-and-error bullshit with some of the worst camera angles known to man.

Man, this rant came out a bit more negative then I expected, since I still probably give the game an 8/10 overall and I like it more than acclaimed CVs like SCIV or CV3, but it seems for every thing the game gets right, there's another nagging thing slapping me in the face. I'm not even sure I can say its the best 3d CV since its hardly a CV game...but I CAN say its a good game!

TL;DR version: Lords of Shadow is a good game, despite its awful opening levels, shitty Titan boss fights, dull platforming, and really bad storytelling!

[Rugal]

catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can catch this if you can   

[X]

Okay Rugal, now that's just playing with my eyes! 

-X

[Kingshango]

Man this game really is the Starfox Adventures of this generation, the similarities are uncanny:

Both games may or may not have started off as another game, in Starfox adventures case it was clearly another game called Dinosaur Planet before Rare turned it to a Starfox game with a full gameplay trailer and all. Lords of Shadow had just a small CG teaser trailer that looked like Castlevania but was surprsingly not called Castlevania.

Both have beautiful visuals.

Both  have voice acting boardering on average/bad.

Both Wonky gameplay mechanics.

Both had shoehorned elements.(Arwing missions)

Both had bait and switch final boss.

Both had orchestal soundtrack(In Starfox Adventures case it was the best part of the game.)
 
And finally the biggest similarity of them all: Both games are a big love it or hate it game's with one side saying "This game is pretty sweet for what it is" and the otherside saying "This game sucks, why did they have to mess with my favorite series with this tripe?"

[Dremn]

Been playing LoS for a couple of days since Christmas, finally had the pleasure to play through this game for myself instead of going by livestreams/playthroughs. Holy shit I have 6 chapters to go and I'm raging my balls off, the room with the knight and 4 skeletons in the castle after the Butcher fight=fuck you.

Just fuck you. I had to use a crystal to pass that shit because it was so difficult.

This game is really awesome but as I've said before there is still so, so much I wish it had that made it feel more like an actual Castlevania game. I feel like they purposely went against tradition because Konami told them to do so. With everything that works, there is also things that simply don't. Right off the bat, enemies have far too much health. It gets really annoying having to hack and slash through the same enemy for a good 5 minutes defensively. The skeletons are just unfair. :{

Obviously there is a lot I could list here that I wish LoS had but I'm not going to bother, there's just no point to it.
 
All in all, it's a really fun game, I'm having a great time, but I feel like after all of this I'm being put through, seeing Gabriel turn into Dracula is going to feel like the biggest punch in the gut. All that work just to ruin a character for the sake of the plot, feels bad man. :[

Also, a thought occurred to me.

Rereading the description for Resurrection:

"In this DLC, which is the epilogue of the game, Gabriel continues his story directly after the end of the game. The DLC gives some insight into the dramatic epilogue seen by players upon completion of the game. Gabriel will confront a very well-known Castlevania foe in an epic final battle, changing his destiny forever. "

Gabriel will fight his dark side that becomes Dracula and lose...?

[GummiCandyful]

^This, but with Alucard and Simon already "confirmed", I really doubt we'll see Trevor, Soleil or Christopher, unless this timeline also became a convulted emss of different-era-releases.

When and where was this confirmed? If this is indeed true, I will be absolutely pissed if he makes an appearance and Trevor doesn't. Well, maybe it won't be that bad if they give him a fugly makeover, and I'll be laughing as some people will start crying at how he doesn't resemble his Kojima counterpart.  

Who do you think you are to speak for everyone like that?

Seems like I'm not the only who still considers LoS a Castlevania title. That's reassuring.

[Thunderbrand]

LoS definately had it's little issues/annoyances, but EVERY game does. What it really boils down to is that LoS is simply FUN to play and gorgeous to look at. Those 2 things outweigh all the others IMHO.

Plus, the scene at the end of Chap 5 level 1 where you see the castle for the 1st time, the music changes and you head down the snowy path...that scene alone makes the game an instant win in my book 

[Beowulf]

Gabriel will fight his dark side that becomes Dracula and lose...?

I think that will end up to Gabriel winning but starting the cycle of Dracula vs. the Belmonts, like Simon

[Belmonto]

That's the most EPIC thread ever!

[Sindra]

The soundtrack is good, but nothing fits. The only memorable music ironically are the 3 remixes from older games. If I want Hollywood style orchestrated music, I'll go watch a movie.

Oh, and I wish Cox didn't take creatures out of J.R.R Tolkien novels and throw them in the game. What was wrong with Medusa heads?

I actually watched LotR's over the holiday weekend, saw the ogres and wargs and was like "Hey....those look.....exactly like the LoS ones. Dammit.That's just lazy."

[Rugal]

I actually watched LotR's over the holiday weekend, saw the ogres and wargs and was like "Hey....those look.....exactly like the LoS ones. Dammit.That's just lazy."

You see? the Castlevania series has a giant selection of awesome creatures that Cox could have used in Lords of Shadow but chose not to.. You know what really pisses me off? The whole god damned game I was waiting to fight Slogra. I was livid when I found out that he is just some inanimate statue that appears on screen for 10 seconds. Why even waste they time making him then?

All Cox had to do was go to Mr P's Castlevania site and review the enemies list and then make them beautiful in Lords of Shadow.

[Kingshango]

One can hope that the DLC's will have some more familiar enemies.