Topic: Castlevania Lords of Shadow review

[demonspur]

Hey there guys, used to be a regular on ForumPlanet before it moved over to here, and didn't realise it till I tried to go and post today.

I just saw this pretty awesome review of Catlevania: Lords of Shadow and now for the first time since...well the last time my hopes and dreams got crushed by Konami, that this new 3D game might actually be good.

Check out the review here http://www.hookedgamers.com/x360/castlevania_lords_of_shadow/preview/article-608.html

I kinda disagree with him about the soundtrack of the earlier 3D versions being lacking, but otherwise it's a pretty good review, and possibly features some spoilers for thos who don't like em.

[corneliab]

I believe the word you're looking for is "preview"...

Anyways, I saw this on Cox's twitter yesterday. Pretty bleh article honestly- not much is said aside from what's already been widely known.

Also, what's all this nonsense about the series being in decline? The past years have resulted in a steady stream of well-recieved handheld titles (one of which was a remake and port of a popular title to never hit the states) and a retro-revival effort that's been met favorably as well. 3D Castlevanias have been very few and far in between, and can hardly be considered the lifeblood of the series.

That complaint about the 3D games' music is just stupid though. Some of my favorite tracks in the whole series are from those games (Curse of Darkness in particular is just masterful in this regard).

[The Silverlord]

Has he actually played the game, or a demo?  It reads like a review, and he seems awfully confident about how Lords of Shadow feels and plays.

Mind, one can level any accusation against the previous 3D entries, but even the worst detractor cannot knock the quality of each soundtrack ("the soundtracks of the 3D always seemed to me like they had a lot less polish on them in comparison to the 2D versions").

[Gunlord]

Yeahm I agree with both of you. The muzak for Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness was awsum, IMO. Particularly for CoD.

[The Silverlord]

Has he actually played the game, or a demo?  It reads like a review, and he seems awfully confident about how Lords of Shadow feels and plays.

Ah, Dave Cox (<-- does he need a fan nickname by the way, as new producer?) has cleared it up, apparently having being asked the same question: BaneWilliams hasn't played the game.

[Nox_A15]

I believe the word you're looking for is "preview"...

Anyways, I saw this on Cox's twitter yesterday. Pretty bleh article honestly- not much is said aside from what's already been widely known.

Also, what's all this nonsense about the series being in decline? The past years have resulted in a steady stream of well-recieved handheld titles (one of which was a remake and port of a popular title to never hit the states) and a retro-revival effort that's been met favorably as well. 3D Castlevanias have been very few and far in between, and can hardly be considered the lifeblood of the series.

That complaint about the 3D games' music is just stupid though. Some of my favorite tracks in the whole series are from those games (Curse of Darkness in particular is just masterful in this regard).

Exactly my thoughts.

[CastleDan]

I said this in the other thread the guy hasnt even played the game.

It's like one of us typing it out = pointless.

[BaneWilliams]

Hi there guys,

I'm really glad that none of you overly enjoyed my first ever published review! Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement for a Castlevania fan doing what he loves most and typing about videogames.

Now that the poorly received guilt trip is over.

The soundtracks for both games are very great by themselves, as soundtracks they are brilliant to listen to, and wonderful to behold. I own craploads of soundtracks for games I didn't really like because of this reason.

However the music in many places does not fit the Aesthetic in many places within each game. I hate to turn to one of those 'SoTN fanboys' (Which is exactly what I am, damn.), but in many places within SoTN you have a lot of music that matches the overall tone of the level you are playing in. To me, only a handful of places within both of those games were actually like that, unlike previous games.

I've often been found to be...yes...headbopping along to some of the great music of Castlevania whilst playing the games in the series. I don't remember just sitting back whilst playing Lament and going 'oh yeah, this is the sh!t'. Perhaps it was simply that the gameplay was so bad in one, and bland in the other, that I found myself disliking the whole experience, and it's quite possible...hell, probable, that it tarnished my preview considerably.

As for the lack of 'new things' I only have access to the exact same things you all have access to. Developer interviews, trailers, so on. But many of our readers don't go out there actively searching for this sort of content. That David Cox enjoyed my preview enough to tweet it is a damn honor, as far as I'm concerned, since he doesn't tweet every single preview that is out there. But I'm all for hate mail, and I'm all for criticism, so feel free to tear my article to pieces... because every time you do just improves my quality as a writer.

Oh btw, even someone here mentioned that they found a new tidbit of information they didn't already know about in the preview, so if I've increased even one person's knowledge about what's coming in the game, then so be it.

Also, how awesome will Jason Isaacs being Dracula be? Just saying.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

First off, thank you for posting at the Castlevania Dungeon Forums.  You're quite welcome to stick around and participate in the discussions we have got here.

I gotta say... although I LOVE the music for both of the PS2 3D games, I agree with you, in an odd way.  The music for those games is wonderful, but I cannot trudge along those levels without eventually feeling that the music is the only thing keeping me going.

However, even in those games, there are some pieces of music that do match the tone of the stage.  I believe the Ghostly Theatre (LoI) does match the music with its visuals.  There were some other places that did the same thing... but yeah there were some spots where the music was really cool, but did not completely match what was going on in the screen.

Oddly enough, I have heard other people say the same thing about Symphony of the Night.  Specifically, places like the Clock Tower with its awesome "The Tragic Prince" tune, even though you're just crossing a bridge that crumbles, or the Floating Catacombs with "Curse Zone" a tune that is so off-beat and angry at times, even though the section itself is rather bland in comparison to the more intricate areas.

[PFG9000]

Saying that a game's music doesn't match the areas is a completely different thing from saying that the game has a "grating soundtrack," which is what Bane says in the article.  I agree completely that a lot of the songs in Lament and Curse don't match the areas, but that explanation doesn't match up with the way he phrased the comment in the article.  Besides, there are some songs that match very well (Garibaldi Temple, Ghostly Theatre, Pagoda of the Misty Moon), and both the Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness soundtracks were very well tailored to their respective game areas.

Anyway Bane, ease up a little.  The crew here isn't criticizing you as a person.  This place is just filled with ravenous CV fans who are so hungry for new CV tidbits, they sometimes get carried away with their criticisms.  And we're not very accustomed to having game critics/creators making their presence known here.

[Kale]

Saying that a game's music doesn't match the areas is a completely different thing from saying that the game has a "grating soundtrack," which is what Bane says in the article. 

Indeed. While I don't love all CV music, the 3d ones didn't have bad or "grating" music.

[BaneWilliams]

I don't mind people criticising my work at all, in fact, I feel that it's the only way to improve as a writer.

Between writing that article and it being published, was a week and a half gap where I was told the editor would get back to me and I could make changes. I would have changed it to what I said in the commentary, had I of gotten the chance (unfortunately the Editor didn't see any problems with the article, and it went ahead without my chance to correct anything wrong on my end).

So yes, the comment is unduly harsh, and I agree that it isn't the intent behind the piece at all. I'm glad that people pulled me up on it, because that allowed me to find this rather large community of CV fans! So my apologies for being a blasphemer, I hope you will accept my humbled figure into the fold

Seriously though, since that article was written, I've changed so much as a writer. I intend to write another follow up article when I eventually get a review copy of the game, and I hope that you guys will keep your eyes peeled for it.

I'm also moderately hopeful that Igarashi's (I never remember if that's his name) next game, featuring Alucard, will be successful - but I think that it will depend heavily on the outcome of LoS as to the amount of funding he gets, or if the game gets canned completely.

[Kale]

You're willing to admit things, which is good enough for me. But I'll end up hating you anyway, atleast... if you get that review copy ... I wanna play it!

And yea, it's Igarashi. Itakgaki's Ninja Gaiden, Kojima's MGS, um......... yea.... Inafune is I think either Megaman or DMC... always gets me confused...

[The Silverlord]

I'm really glad that none of you overly enjoyed my first ever published review! Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement for a Castlevania fan doing what he loves most and typing about videogames.

We're a cruel bunch.  Death's cronies, you know.  And you should hear what some say in the shadows about IGA . . . Dave Cox himself will have it bad soon (already has in some ways *gulp*)

Welcome to the fourms.  For what it's worth, it's my opinion that your writing style is very good and flows very naturally.  You've definitely got talent there, and since that was your first published p/review, you're going in the right direction!

Let's hope Lords' turns out as good as you write her up.

[BaneWilliams]

Kale: I must not break NDA, I must not break NDA.

Silverlord - Thanks, I was being a bit self effacing there, but a lot of people have enjoyed my style, so I must be doing something inherently correct. Now figuring out what it is!

I really have high hopes for this game, higher than probably any previous 3D CV outside of the N64 ones (where I had JUST conquered SoTN and wanted more lovely wonderful CV crack). I'm hoping this delivers, and feel that it definetly has the potential.

Kojima not being involved in the dialogue, but stating that he approved of it, means that there is definetly a deep story experience behind it already, just hopefully not too lengthy. Say what you will about the length of the scenes in the MGS series, but it was the second game that ever made me cry, and whilst the second wasn't all that emotive, I felt many different emotions in III and IV - I would like to believe that LoS has the potential to take the player on a slight emotional rollercoaster - as that would be a good step for the franchise imo.