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

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

The question if the castle really is Castlevania is kinda absurd when you think about it... and so is Cox's answer. I mean... hello??? This game is called Castlevania. The castle Castlevania should, y'know, be a given. So it is there, but not really. But yes. Except only a little.

I would love to agree, except for a few things:
1. CotM's Castle is Carmilla's Castle in Austria.  Not Dracula's Castle.
2. DoS's Castle is Celia's Castle... somewhere in the Netherlands? (I spot windmills in the ending).  Not Dracula's Castle
3. LoI's Castle is Walter's Castle... though to be fair, it's possible that this castle 'becomes' Castlevania in the future.
4. CoD takes place... 'somewhere' near old Castlevania but I can't for the life of me figure out where exactly.

[Harrycombs]

I would love to agree, except for a few things:
1. CotM's Castle is Carmilla's Castle in Austria.  Not Dracula's Castle.
2. DoS's Castle is Celia's Castle... somewhere in the Netherlands? (I spot windmills in the ending).  Not Dracula's Castle
3. LoI's Castle is Walter's Castle... though to be fair, it's possible that this castle 'becomes' Castlevania in the future.
4. CoD takes place... 'somewhere' near old Castlevania but I can't for the life of me figure out where exactly.

But you get to explore the real Castlevania in CoD at the end, so you might as well strike it from the list.

[Thunderbrand]

Yes, Drac's castle appears toward the end of CoD. The Abandoned Castle at the start of CoD could MAYBE be assumed as the castle from CV3 I suppose, but not real sure.

Another to add to the above list is Bloodlines. Castle Prosperpina was Elizabeth Bartley's castle in England, not Drac's. However the 1st stage is the ruins of Castlevania, so technically Drac's castle is in that game.

So there have definately been a couple games where Drac's castle (Castlevania) was NOT in the game.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah that's why I was all 'somewhere' for CoD.
My point stands though, using 1,2, and 3.
And I didn't put in Bloodlines for Thunderbrand's reason (you to 'see' Castlevania, but it's not the final stage).

[Aridale]

Im pretty sure the abandoned castle from CoD is spose to be the ruins of CV from CV3. The rest of the areas beyond that... I have nfc

[DragonSlayr81]

Im pretty sure the abandoned castle from CoD is spose to be the ruins of CV from CV3. The rest of the areas beyond that... I have nfc

That's the strange thing about CoD. The Abandoned Castle "felt" more like Dracula's Castle than Dracula's Castle did. Just feel of it was more consistant with something you'd see in most CV games. The layout of the specific areas within the castle was modled closely after the area decor of the first game's castle, complete with various details shining through. Like in many games, there was a courtyard leading up to it, and the stairway to the keep was very classic in look. The keep, itself, had the long room before the actual "throne room", too.

Now, Dracula's Castle, the big thing in the middle of the lake, looked nothing like any of the castles we've seen in ANY of the CV games. The shape was wrong. The inner area look was different, as well. The final staircase, strangely enough, looked NOTHING likek any staircases seen in any games, either. The whole strange, long winding staircase, felt so "un-Castlevania", and how it lead to a rather "out in the open" throne room, it seemed like an entire castle that tried to be different for the sake of difference.

[crisis]

The shape was wrong. The inner area look was different, as well. The final staircase, strangely enough, looked NOTHING likek any staircases seen in any games, either. The whole strange, long winding staircase, felt so "un-Castlevania", and how it lead to a rather "out in the open" throne room, it seemed like an entire castle that tried to be different for the sake of difference.

I bet that's how LoS' castle will look, too 

[Thunderbrand]

The Abandoned Castle in CoD is my favorite area in that game. IMHO, it's a good 3D recreation of the castle in CV1, (even though you don't go through the clock tower.) But that area is a lot of fun to play through. I always assumed the Abandoned Castle was supposed to be the ruins of the castle from CV3, which is why you found Trevor there. But the castle in CV3 was destroyed so it shouldn't be there, at least not the upper levels & the keep...but it was intact anyway...but whatever. It was still a cool level 

When Drac's castle appears later in CoD, the cutscene makes it look more like a big cathedral than the traditional 'Vania as we're accustomed to. It had a whole gothic church look and there were no huge towers and no keep. I also agree that the layout wasn't exactly "normal" and that THE staircase was rather wacky with it's twisting, broken design. But then again, it's a creature of chaos and it takes a different form every time it appears, so I can deal with it that way. The castle in the N64 games had a goofy,  non-traditional layout as well...

As for THE castle in LoS...the new trailer shows 4 big castles (or are they just gigantic towers?) all sort of connected by long causeways. It instantly reminded me of Dracula's castle from the Van Helsing movie. In that film, the whole castle was basically 4 enormous towers (basically castles themselves) all connected with long causeways. The new trailer for LoS shows a very similar design.

[GummiCandyful]

One my favorite areas in CoD was The Abandoned Castle, because, like someone had pointed out earlier, it was basically a 3-D rendition of Castlevania from the very first NES game. However, Dracula's Castle at the end of the game, was my probably my second least favorite area (The Infinite Corridor is the first), due to it's  church/cathedral-like design, as well as the fact that it was too long and overly repetitive.

LoS' castle, on the other hand, looks totally gargantuan in the new trailer, and I'm pretty confident that all the areas will look different and house the many unwelcoming stages (like the torture chamber) from the older games.

[Gunlord]

The Abandoned Castle had some *fantastic* music IMO.

[GummiCandyful]

I agree, Gunlord. Also, an update from Cox's Twitter:

Does anyone remember the red orbs you used to get when you defeat a boss? Well, we have that too

Is this great news, or what?

[DragonSlayr81]

That seems to be a consistant staple in the series, but it's nice to hear such a classic feature is making it's way into this game.

[Kingshango]

Good to hear that red orbs will remain.  Also I've was watching the Gamelab footage of the game and I got a look at the names of the first 12 stages.

1:Prologue
2:Labyrinth(Prboably Pan's)
3:Labyrinth 2
4:Mountain Fortress
5:Isolated Village
6:Vampire Castle
7:Vampire Castle 2
8:Vampire Castle 3
9:BabaYaga's cottage
10:Necromancer's Abyss
11:Nercomancers Abyss 2
12:Necromancers Abyss 3

And the levels all have diffrent chapters within.

[Ahasverus]

They don't say they are the first 12 stages, if they are... why is the Vampire castle so early in the game?

[Thunderbrand]

They don't say they are the firt 12 stages, of they are... why is the Vampire castle so early in the game?

There's probably more than one castle in the game. Maybe you go through the "Vampire Castle" early on and then later THE castle appears.