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

[DingusBelmondo]

In Reply To #702

very nice find. I never thought of it as a mask... but maybe masks have more to do with Castlevania history than we thought.

[LoneChild]

Ok guys, I'll tell you what I recently knew about this proyect. I will not give any information about the source though, so you can take it or not as valid information:

Lords of Shadow was far into developement at the moment Konami took interest on it: originally it was not a Castlevania game.
There was another Castlevania game in developement, this game was cancelled or indefinitely postponed. Chances are that this game was Igarashi's (but this is something i really don't know for sure).
The Kojima implication in the developement/production process of LoS has been almost unexistant up to the present moment, as far as I know.

[UnManuel]

In Reply To #699

But that could be said about most, if not all 2D CV games. All the character faces lack any distinguishing features. They all must be wearing masks!! Especially the earliest ones, where the Belmonts just have a blot of flesh for their face. He was wearing a potato sack!!!

I've seen pixel art faces far more detailed than Dracula's and with smaller size in the same game (the Dhuron's heads for instance).

[Reinhart77]

wow, if the mask really is Dracula's mask, then it explains why Dracula is only vulnerable in the head in the first game.

[Marcus Hardle]

Is there a link to an official site? JP and EN alike.

[Reinhart77]

The official page is supposed to be at

http://www.lordsofshadow.com/

That page right now just redirects to Kojima's E3 site, but I think in the future it will be its own page.

[Oralox]

Hi,

After watching LOS trailer I can figure out some interesting thoughts which you could find them quite interesting too.

The lines " I loved you then and I love you now " and

[cecil-kain]

In Reply To #709

I was looking but couldn't find it...

[Oralox]

In Reply To #710

Same here.
Couldn't find one at my barnes and noble.

[cecil-kain]

C'mon who's got the goods?

[A n t r a x x]

Interesting theories...

[Oralox]

Any luck on finding that PSW issue?

[Danial]

I don't think it's out yet.  At least it wasn't at my Hastings or Books-a-million.

[Oralox]

It's a UK gaming magazine.
Could it be unlikely to be in the states?

[Giz]

Interview.
http://www.meristation.com/v3/video_player.php?id=cw4a395a9398c40

He doesn't reveal anything new. He talks mostly about Mercurysteam's previous project (Clive Barker's Jericho), and his experience with Hideo Kojima.

First, he mentions that we shouldn't expect the game to return to the franchise's root, because this is a reimaging. He does say that they are taking previous elements they consider interesting, and adding many other that are very fresh. So, apparently, this game's design was not set in stone when they slapped the Castlevania title on it, which is a relief.

He says that the situation is better with this project, because the project is more interesting, and they have more time, resources and experience, not to mention Kojima's involvement, who is very pleased with the game so far. There are around 60 people in the internal development team, and he keeps praising them.

When asked if this Castlevania game was going to be like Devil May Cry, he said that it will have enough personality for people to play it with enjoyment, and that the game is going to fly or not, regardless of its similarity.

Finally, he says that we should look well at the trailer, because everything that happens in it is in-game.

Translation provided by AkumajouOtaku.

GIRL
In the last day of E3 in LA, we had an exclusive interview with Enrique Alvarez "Project Boss" of the new Castlevania - Lords of Shadow, that the spaniards of Mercury Steam are working on under the
supervision of Kojima Productions. "Enric" told us about aspects that we didn't know about of the development and "transmit" us his impresions about how's working with Hideo Kojima.

Nacho Ortiz (NO)
Good afternoon everybody, we still here in LA. Well today we won't talk about conferences, for we have a very special guest. he's Enriq Alvarez. (EA) Design leader of the new CV LoS, and co-founder of MercurySteam.

NO: Good afternoon Enric.

EA: Good afternoon.

NO: Well, we're gonna start with the easy question... we are so proud because this' the very first time that a spanish "studio" is working a CV, so tell us about how's the experience of re-taking a classic video game saga?

EA: Well, like it is say in English... "excitement" and un-excitement at the same time, because obviously there's a lot of expectations... even more since yesterday! And we're conscious about what people expect. But we shouldn't expect a return to "the roots", like Dave mentioned yesterday at the press conference... This is more like a rebirth of the saga, and we're taking what we believe are "thee" important elements from it, and we're adding a lot more new ones... That I hope people will like.

NO: Now tell us how you ended up being working for Kojima?

EA: Well, like you mentioned before, we did our last project with Codemasters. Clive Barker's Jericho. um... at the end of the project we felt the necessity of a change... it was a bit hard, but at the very end, I think that we chose the right decision, because that was the logical next step to take, so I believe that what happened yesterday, prove us right, because we had the confidence of what we do on Mercurysteam. (when "they" let us do what we want) and that's more than enough to be at a good level, in order to make a cool game. So, I think that this CV will surprise everyone, and like you said, this could be the beginning of a long colaboration, or the beginning of a nice friendship.

NO: So, working with Jericho has been a good experience? I mean, because as we know this is a dark,
horror... and even very "gore" title. So how do you feel now, about had been working with that style, and now working with a... let's say... A "Vampiric" style?

EA: You learn a lot from all the projects, so the more you problems you have, the more you learn. So... with Jericho we faced for the very first time a development-style that was called (and still being called) a "NEXT GEN" so, MercurySteam faced that for the very first time, and I have to say that you can actually count with your fingers the amount of games that were released simultaneously for PC, XBox and PS3
back then... But we did it, so we learned to solve a bunch of problems. Not only technologically, but with the design, and we also learned what it means to be dealing with a big publisher.

NO: Jericho was under development for around 18 months... That was a year and a half, so I supposed that these are adversities that you have to deal with, but now you have it all... you have time, you have a good comunication, so you think that this is the right time for you to give/deliver your 100%?

EA: Well, this is in fact a way better situation... I'd say very close to "Ideal" and also the type of game is something more appropriate to what MercurySteam can offer.

NO: So, the situation is very different ah?

EA: The situation is better... The situation is better because we have taken another step, the project is more interesting... eh... Hideo Kojima is involved... so and don't really know what else you could ask for. This is a project that belongs to a very loved saga, with a lot of "past" So the challenge is immense, just like our will to work on it, and with the talent that lies on MercurySteam, well, that's vital to do it right.

NO: Now, talking about having somebody like Kojima as a supervisor... That's like a having double-bladed knife... on one side you have somebody that will lead you for the right way, but on the other you know that he was born a perfectionist, so he won't accept mistakes. Have you suffered his harshness already or not yet?

EA: Let me surprise you... he's actually delighted with what are we doing... very very delighted. I don't know about later, but so far the game is "running" more than good.

NO: So you already had a bunch of meetings with him... Can you tell us something about him? an anecdote maybe?

EA: He's a pleasant guy, he's very modest, and a bit shy. It is very easy to have good comunication with him. He is very passionate about everything he does... He recently said that he will never get to retirement, and now that I know him I actually believe it... And he's also very special.

NO: How many people are in the team?

EA: The MercurySteam counts with around 60 people... "Internal" . and we also have some remarkable "external" colaborators for example, Oscar Araujo, who's in charge of the Music. He's working on the spectacular Soundtrack. You have a sample of that, in the trailer that's been published.

NO: by the way, How's the "working mechanism" this time?

EA: Here in MercurySteam we always work with very talented people... we give'em a lot of confidence. They're people who have very important places. The hierarchy of Mercurysteam only have a couple of levels... no more than that. I think that we have created a pleasant working-inviroment where responsible people with initiatives are well appreciated. In fact I can tell you a small anecdote... When Kojima came to see us, he told us that his work inside a studio was very similar to ours, because we have the same dependencies. I mean we also depend on very creative people... people that we're lucky to have.

NO: I know that due to the "rules" of the channel, if I wanna ask something about weapons, monsters, or crucifixes I have to go to Konami, so I just wanna ask you this... Well, Dave mentioned that this is a new Castlevania, with less exploration, and with more action. This is where Castlevania "meets" Devil May Cry?

EA: This'gonna be a CV, with enough personality... enough, so people could play it independently of if it looks like any other game... in other words - It will be a HIT or NOT! that's it! So we can analyze this in a deeper way you know... like, if this'gonna be a good game, why? how? what it lacks or what it has extra?

NO: Man I just wanted to give more info to our readers, something like hey, this is an action CV in 3rd person view with enormous monsters.

EA: Thee only answer that I can give you at this moment, is that you have to pay close attention to the trailer, because the trailer IS PURE In-game.

NO: Ok then... we will be anxiously waiting to put our hands on this game. Thank you very much Enrique, good luck, and just to let you know we're very proud about this here in Spain... because, oh man, we saw it coming long ago, first with Scrapland, then with Jericho and now with Castlevania... So, thank you so much, and we'll see you when mr Kojima want us to go visit you.

EA: Thank You... Now I'd like to tell the whole world that we're so glad with this project. We're doing this for the people... so everybody can enjoy the best "game" possible... of a Castlevania made in Spain. And... the only thing that keep us moving foward is our passion, which is to make games... to create stories... and play'em.

NO: Alright then... good luck.

EA: Thanks.