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

[Kingshango]

I came here expecting news about the DLC, a trailer or more screenshots or something.

And I come here disappointed at the revolving door dicussions about the games music......once again.
(BTW congrats on the nomination Oscar)

Lets at least "try" to summarize  what we know about the upcoming DLC:

Gabriel's going back to the castle

Laura returns and is playable at certain sections

Something evil is on the loose, so evil even Carmilla was scared of it

There is a time machine in the castle, question is, will it serve as a gameplay mechanic that will only affect the castle? Or is it a deus ex machina that Gabriel will use to save everyone? (Most likely it's the former rather than the latter that everyone is leaning on)

Will we see new ememies? or will we just have the castle full of the same enemy roster from the full game?

Will we hear new music or the same OST from the full game?

And now for the million dollar question everyone wants to know:

How much is this gonna cost and why has Konami been so damn silent about it?



Now to sit back and watch as my suggestions get buried under the revolving door dicussions.

[JR]

Now to sit back and watch as my suggestions get buried under the revolving door dicussions.

You'll have to take a number.   

But yeah, I was wondering the same thing earlier about Konami being so tight-lipped on this. They're not really building any anticipation for this at all. But then again, they kind of squandered all of their E3 '09 buzz, and failed at promoting the release of the game. It's frustrating how they've claimed that they need to reach a new audience, but they make no attempt to do so outside of the game itself.

[VeteranVk]

Maybe they're hoping word of mouth would be enough. They barely advertised Metal Gear Solid 4 and somehow managed to attract more MGS newcomers.

[Kingshango]

Maybe they're hoping word of mouth would be enough. They barely advertised Metal Gear Solid 4 and somehow managed to attract more MGS newcomers.

Actually MGS4 was advertised alot especially during sports shows.

[JR]

I remember all the hype surrounding that game...people were hoping that MGS4 would finally be the game to bring people to the PS3. A Metal Gear Solid game practically sells itself regardless.

I just wished Konami could've done more to promote LoS. It was stressed how much the series needed to change to appeal to a broader audience, but it didn't come out with much fanfare. Not only were there no commercials, but Konami didn't really seem to give much to the gaming press to see them get involved, either. They could've rode the hype from E3 '09 all the way to the game's release date with a small but steady series of info to get people excited. Instead, it's like you heard pretty much nothing new until a matter of months before the game's release.

And now it seems like there's not much more than a half-hearted attempt to gear people up for the DLC, whenever that comes out, and I have a hunch it won't be this month. Could be wrong, I hope so.

Lolz, maybe Konami will give a press release on the DLC two weeks after it's released.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I came here expecting news about the DLC, a trailer or more screenshots or something.

You should've gone to this thread instead.
That thread should start to kick in more any minute now since it's all about the DLC now.

[Flame]

Music was great, really was amazing. But truth is that it WAS somewhat repetitive. I can understand the movie feel idea, but that doesnt mean you need to use the same few tracks... in fact maybe at least a few unique tracks would have been nice. Such as for example, if Waterfalls of Agharta was used only in the Clockwork tower. It would make the tune a bit more unique and give a stronger feel to the level it is used in. I mean, WFoA was a great tune either way, (m favorite in the game) But when it's relegated to "calm enemy free beautiful areas" it looses something.

Although if anything, while may people complain about the movie approach with the game, i feel that it actually pulls it off much better than many games nowadays that are criticized for the same. Instead of simply making it a cutscene heavy disc with more movie than game, they make the GAMEPLAY itself look like part of the movie. the camera does this well. The aesthetic of the levels and overall "blockbuster epic" feel helps, the camera does the rest. The imitation "action cam" finishes this effect to make you feel like you are really following the movie through a camera (such as when you get rain and snow  on the lens)

I honestly feel other "movie games" should be taking NOTES from LoS.

Lol, actually my mother was actually quite drawn in by the game's movie like presentation. (And actually became interested in the story) She thought that Gabriel reminded her of Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings. And to be honest, I can see the slight resemblance.

[Dtritus]

Let's hope that Mercurystream learns its lesson in regards to making CV games.  It is my opinion that Konami develops the stories and chooses the music for the CV games whereas MS handles the programing.  I mean out of all the 3D CVs, LoS has the best graphics.

mmm.. I haven't seen you in the studio during Castlevania LoS development. But please consider yourself invited from now on. This way you could see how things really are in a game development and also you could teach the whole team those lessons you mention. I'm serious, let me know when you want to come  

[Nagumo]

If that means we would get a different composer for the next game I would be all for that idea.

ZING

[Dremn]

However good LoS's score was it still didn't sound like Castlevania music. No pipe/church organ anywhere didn't help it at all either.

[Foffy]

Not that I have anything against the soundtrack itself, it just feels absolutely nothing like a Castlevania soundtrack. For the first time in the series, we have music that doesn't really complement the environments and almost works as background noise a good percentage of the time. I couldn't imagine that happening, when listening to some of Konami's older albums with orchestral Castlevania music it seemed like an impossible thing to do...

I liked most of Lords, so I'd consider the music to be priority number one to fix for future titles. Make it more like a Castlevania game and less of background noise for a majority of the events in the game. I didn't mind the recycling of tracks, but that's because a whopping majority of the soundtrack didn't even resonate with me. That's how 'behind-the-scenes' most of the music felt.

[bobby digital]

I wouldn't say I'm on the same boat as the people wanting more castlevania remixes and saying the soundtrack was flat out bad, but the music was my least favorite part of the game.

There were some songs I really liked, but there was far too much repetition.  The game made a big deal about the different moods Gabriel was going through as well as 3 very different lands travelled through, and yet after dying enough times I could've sworn the same song played multiple times in every chapter.  Oscar is a good composer, but the game felt very soulless at times when every level had similar music-for me at least, musical themes and moods help characterize a level/area and when the same music repeats, it doesn't really work for me, even if the current music fits with the level.

If I had to make a suggestion as for what I would've liked to see (and I would hope Dtrius understands what I'm trying to say) all 3 areas (land of the lycans, land of the vampires, and land of the necromancers) should have had their own specific musical vibes and compositions woven in with the central themes of LoS.  Repetition of songs is fine between the chapters in each of these areas, but to really highlight the descent Gabriel was going through as well as characterize the different lands, there definitely needed to be more music, as well a better ratio of mellow to fast paced compositions (there were too many of the former in my opinion).  

For example, Waterfalls of Agharta is beautiful and mixed well with the chapter it was named after as well as the 3 towers stage...but I didn't appreciate it as much in the machine tower...or the underground cave that you teleport into after baba yaga's quest...or the final portion of the necromancer's land.

I noticed songs like Belmont's Theme were never played until reaching a certain point (in this case, the sun-moon puzzle) but then I died and heard the waterfall theme upon respawn which made me unhappy (mainly because belmont's theme was one of the better songs and the tune and area meshed together well and that's what imprints in my brain, not the individual quality of the tracks!).  I think with a little creativity could go a long way towards making this better for the next game

[Ahasverus]

If that means we would get a different composer for the next game I would be all for that idea.

ZING

You sir are a troll :jk:

I agree, the repetition of themes was uncanny, however the game did had a different atmosphere musically, the beginning was too epic, because gabriel wsa a badass hero, the further the game the slower the music got, land of necromancers was pretty deppressive, final confrontation felt like the last dip of heroicity that Gabriel had, and then, the last song is the saddest ever (seriously that final three notes with Gabriel screaming.. Oscar my friend, tears were shed )

[Dremn]

Soundtrack sounded too much like Lord of the Rings, and recycling tracks was kinda lame too.

[Ahasverus]

Soundtrack sounded too much like Lord of the Rings, and recycling tracks was kinda lame too.

I think the LoTR feeling dissapeared at the (marvelous) Chapter 3 (mountain fortress)