Topic: Critic's Corner -Mr Cox(or team) please read for honest fan feedback.

[Apolake]

I wish they would minimize some of the npc dialogues, especially with Claudia and the bosses.  I feel that they are nagging and trolling me to death.  Dialogue on loop kinda dented some of the feeling while playing this game, it's a just minor gripe of mine.

[Munchy]

I wish they would minimize some of the npc dialogues, especially with Claudia and the bosses.  I feel that they are nagging and trolling me to death.  Dialogue on loop kinda dented some of the feeling while playing this game, it's a just minor gripe of mine.

Seriously. I wanted to use the stake upgrade on Claudia's skull when she kept mouthing off about fucking crystals. SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH! OR SEND YOUR DAMN ARMOR OVER HERE TO HELP ME FIGHT! I think Gabe SPOILER stabbed her in his sleep END SPOILER because of this too. He just won't admit it.

I'm going to post Kurt Kalata's criticisms here, because if anyone deserves to be heard, it's the creator of the awesome and expansive Dungeon.

"Castlevania is about rhythm. Think about the way, in the older Castlevania games, how you jumped, how you timed your whip slashes to hit the candles, that pleasant little sound when you grabbed a heart. In the post-Symphony games, the rhythm is still there, but it's much less strict. Every action flows beautifully together. There's still consistent actions to attack candles and grab stuff. The PS2 games had this, to an extent. Lords of Shadows does not have this. It can't, because it runs at a sub-30 frame rate. It feels choppy, discordant.

There are items to pick up. Tons of them. Tons of things to hit and destroy. Technically many are meaningless, but each gives a pleasant sound effect and makes a number go up, somewhere. Lords of Shadows has...well, the whole hearts system that has defined practically every game is gone, so all you get are daggers, at least so far.

The platforming. The platforming does not require timing. It requires hitting the jump or whip button when the game tells you to. It works exactly like Uncharted. It was not a problem there, because Uncharted is not about platforming challenges, it is about the feeling of scaling massive walls and dangling for your life. Castlevania is not. It is about, I'd better make sure that I've positioned myself correctly and timed myself correctly so I don't overshoot things, and time my attacks so a medusa head does not hit me.

Many of these ebb and flow in each title. The platforming is not part of the Metroidvanias, nor the PS2 games. The exploration and loot hoarding is not part of the classic series. Many are exclusive to the feel of 2D. But there's still a consistency about them. Even the N64 games sort of controlled like the NES games, despite their clumsiness, and not exactly to the game's favor.

The music. The music might be more important than anything, because it is consistent across all titles. Even the worst Castlevania games have some worthwhile soundtracks. (Exception: Legends.) This is...well, it's generic Western orchestral that, while technically pretty decent, thinks that it's in a movie and not a video game. Areas are identified by their soundtrack as much as their visuals. Even intensely boring places like the endless dungeon corridors in Lament, they feel, because I identify instruments and melody. And rhythm. In LoS there is nothing to identify with the forest, besides the birds chirping, and some random chanting, whenever there's something happening. Every area sounds like every other area.

It does not have the monster movie horror theme of the classic series. It does not have the pseudo-anime gothic styles of the Metroidvanias. It has...well, something, and it actually is quite well done. But it's also probably more like Lord of the Rings, if anything, and definitely not Castlevania.

What it does have is a competently executed action game that seems to exist for little reason than to keep the Castlevania name from becoming a total joke. In that respect, it does a pretty decent job, since it is not a potential embarrassment like some of their more recent projects."

[crystos]

I personally think the game is great. People complained that the game isn;t inside a castle well none of the original vanias with belmonts were entirely in a castle. This game does well with new environs and such..

However!!

Music.. this games music really doesn't evoke feeling the alot of the others

sucks that it's not cannon...

that's pretty much all I have to say  up to his point in the game.

[Alutwon]

Sequel:
Change the music, I want video game music not the score from the dark knight (The music box was my fav part of the game, i wonder why)
Take Chapters 5-8 and make the sequel based on these, ONLY on these.
Stop holding my hand while I'm trying to platform. more whip based platforming too.
Wheres my damn axe and boomerang? (just add a little more from the old Castlevania)

Other than these things MS has made one hell of a game that I thoroughly enjoyed

On second thought MS did just fine, the game is a prequel and a reboot after all and since

(click to show/hide)

Dracula isn't the villain and his castle isn't in the game

certain things have to be omitted.

But still the music could have used more melody and please let go of my hand, I see the ledge.

[cecil-kain]

This game grows on you the more you play it...  Indeed it's growing into its Castlevania shoes nicely...

[Munchy]

This game grows on you the more you play it...  Indeed it's growing into its Castlevania shoes nicely...

I agree. Saw my brother get to the second dark forest area and cheered out loud when a Headless Burrower came up.

[Thunderbrand]

none of the original vanias with belmonts were entirely in a castle.

CV1.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Harmony of Dissonance, too.

[Dracgou]

Music:  look at gothic horror music and horror music in general ( 70s horror music)

Wojciech Kilar - Vampire Hunters ( Bram stroker's Dracula)

Dracula by Wojciech Kilar

[eternal night]

My only real gripe with this game is that I felt it was a little heavy on the puzzles at times. I would of appreciated more open-area combat thrown in instead.

[e105beta]

Music:  look at gothic horror music and horror music in general ( 70s horror music)

Wojciech Kilar - Vampire Hunters ( Bram stroker's Dracula)

Dracula by Wojciech Kilar

Wow, that sounds a lot like the Lords of Shadow soundtrack

[Oralox]

I'd like some organ in mah castlevania!
That's whats making this anti-vania

Use this for example
Toccata & Fugue in d minor (BACH, J.S.)

My only real gripe with this game is that I felt it was a little heavy on the puzzles at times. I would of appreciated more open-area combat thrown in instead.

Yeh whats the deal with that? SCV4 and SOTN never had puzzles to solve, so why should this one?....


but I guess you could consider some parts of cv2 a puzzle.

[eternal night]

I'm not complaining that it had puzzles, as they can obviously provide a nice break from combat. Certainly IGA's 3D attempts could have used more puzzles thrown in. But IMO, parts of this game were very heavy on the puzzles. Some levels you'd finish one, only to find that the start of the next your having to solve another right away. a lot of these puzzles were very well thought out though. kudos on that.

This game just oozes creativity everywhere though! No more cut & paste level design that IGA's team was famous for. After I heard that this game was being dev'd outside of his team, my worries of another castlevania game that had repetitive design were pretty much alleviated.

Take for example, Curse of Darkness. Near the end of the game Dracula's castle appears and it's pretty much devoid of anything "fun" or "creative". It feels very incomplete and rushed. The castle is handled so much better in this game. So much thought and effort was put into it. This is the best it's ever looked and I'm not talking about the 720p aspect of it. Merely the design and architecture.

[Dracgou]

Well anyways, they still should look at 70s horror music  ( more specifically at  Fabio Frizzi's and Goblin's works)

70s horror music

Lucio Fulci Zombie Theme

[impulse]

I'm not really that far into the game yet, so I'm not going to comment to much on the game as a whole, but there are a few things which are obvious from the get-go.

The game needs a minimap, badly. It's sometimes hard to tell where you're supposed to go. Certain paths seems almost obscured by the fixed camera angles and a minimap would have aliviated this problem immensly.

The fixed camera can also be a troublesome during combat. I think the game would have been better served using a dynamic camera during combat and exploration segments, while retaining the fixed camera for platforming and cinematic sequences.

Lastly, the interface elements seem a bit far spread out. It's hard to get a quick overview when the bars are located in three different corners of the screen. I also think the focus bar could been reduced in size? What's the point of having the runes light up from both sides of the center?

Other than that, I am liking the game a lot. The titan being my favorte part so far.