Topic: One word to describe the state of the franchise.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Thank you. I stand corrected, and rather pleased to be so corrected in this case.
If nothing else, it proves there might be something left in the Castlevania name yet.

Too bad there's no way to reliably track who actually kept their copies. That would be an ultimate judge.

[meanguyjones]

Thank you. I stand corrected, and rather pleased to be so corrected in this case.
If nothing else, it proves there might be something left in the Castlevania name yet.

Too bad there's no way to reliably track who actually kept their copies. That would be an ultimate judge.

Since someone took care of the sales thing for me, I checked twitter, went back quite a bit and all I see are a bunch of people either praising it, announcing achievements or that they're playing it, and of course the advertisements.

Are you really shocked that a game thats over a year old is now on clearance and stores are advertising it?? Not every company is Nintendo, keeping their games at 50 for eternity.

Laughed at the ultimate judge part. Come on man. Its almost like you have an agenda or something. 

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I was amused to see the clearance prices apply to the Limited Edition as well. Under $30 for that. Seeing as I ditched my old copy, I may as well pick that up, if only for the pretty cover art. 

Also, the fact that Lords did better than Other M brings warm fuzzy feelings to my heart.

[Charlotte-nyo:3]

Those numbers are VGChartz numbers though, which many have decried as not credible, supposedly because of incidents where they've posted sales data for games that were delayed right before release. I'm not saying they're not accurate in this case, but I wouldn't trust them too much given what I hear about them. It's kinda sad though that there's almost no other source in the way of publicly available game sales numbers that actually follow specific games (instead of just "what games are in the top 10 in sales this week").

[Hiryu]

Milked.

[The Silverlord]

Are you really shocked that a game thats over a year old is now on clearance and stores are advertising it?? Not every company is Nintendo, keeping their games at 50 for eternity.

Agreed.  Can only speak for the UK, but every decent, well-produced console game (e.g. Dead Space, Darksiders, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Enslaved, Lords of Shadow) are all set with high pre-order prices which are slashed within weeks (not even months, let alone years) after release.  It appears to be the trend for modern console games.  And marketing must be a nightmare in this day and age, with the choice available for gamers.  That cannot be easy for Konami.  Lords has done just fine I think when you compare it to those other "mainstream" games.

And I thought neogaf and rllmuk were generally very, very positive of the game.  Fantastic environments, the combat was challenging, some even said innovative (light/dark guage usage).  The criticisms were still there, but it wasn't quite as overcast as some like to paint it.

[JR]

I was actually pretty surprised that it stayed at full price as long as it did, especially compared to Enslaved. But then again, everyone knows how Enslaved fared...

[K.G. Morder]

And I thought neogaf and rllmuk were generally very, very positive of the game.  Fantastic environments, the combat was challenging, some even said innovative (light/dark guage usage).  The criticisms were still there, but it wasn't quite as overcast as some like to paint it.

The full list from wikipedia:

Aggregate scores
Aggregator   Score
GameRankings   83.05 (PS3)[71]
81.94 (X360)[72]
Metacritic   85% (PS3)[73]
83% (X360)[74]
Review scores
Publication   Score
1UP.com   B[75]
Computer and Video Games   9.2/10[76]
Edge   8/10[77]
Eurogamer   8/10[61]
G4   4/5[78][79]
Game Informer   9/10[80]
GameSpot   7.5/10[81]
GameSpy   4/5 [82]
GamesRadar   9/10[83]
GameTrailers   7.9/10[84]
IGN   7.5[85][86]
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK)   9/10[87]
Official Xbox Magazine   9/10[88]
PSM3   94%[89]
VideoGamer.com   9/10[60]
Awards
Entity   Award
GamesMaster   Gold Award[90]
Xbox World 360   Star Player Accolade[90]
Film Music Critics Association   Best Original Score for a Videogame

[Ahasverus]

Calling LoS a failure is foolish.. even Konami's boss gave thanks to fans after the million milestone was reached after two weeks! (Shipped yes but that's all that matters to Konami) And in the fiscal year results.. Konami praised the game for its revenue streaming.. it was fine.. especially for Konami with so few stong million seller franchises

*excuse me for "..." this.. my comma key is dead

[GummiCandyful]

LOL, at GameSpot, GameTrailers, and IGN scores. And people wonder why no one takes them seriously. They have no credibility whatsoever because according to their logic, if you're not a Call of Duty game or FPS, that instantly warrants you a bad review and title of so-called "bad game".

Seriously, this reminds me of the review score GameInformer (whom I might add are starting to become like the former three sites) gave to Sonic Generations.

[Ahasverus]

I still remember the IGn review:
-"There is no castle"
-"There is no Dracula"
-"There is no old music"
- "Levels are in plain daylight"
-"It butches everything that CV has always been it doesn't have exploration and backtracking like SOTN"

lol

[Neobelmont]

LOL, at GameSpot, GameTrailers, and IGN scores. And people wonder why no one takes them seriously. They have no credibility whatsoever because according to their logic, if you're not a Call of Duty game or FPS, that instantly warrants you a bad review and title of so-called "bad game".

Seriously, this reminds me of the review score GameInformer (whom I might add are starting to become like the former three sites) gave to Sonic Generations.

Gamespot is though sometimes just out there, gametrailers just has alot of money got bored of them, but I would say that IGN is the worst I remember hatfield just gave a bullshit review on lords that could be sumed up like this ahem drum roll please

This game is not a metroidvania nor does it have to do with anything with cv bam(subjective) 7.5. Not only that he said something along the lines like it's short but has tons of replay which made me go wtf not only that nothing good was really  said about it I got nothing about the review A lot of people called bs on him and Iam not crazy when I know that the review that was written was edited so much bullspit, and they gave God of war ghost of sparda a 9.0 with one line saying if it is not broken do not fix it Gow does not need to improve so 9.0 for everyone. Sometimes there are goodreviews and shocking ones like bloodrayne getting a 9.0 but otherwise if it is a "mainstream" title bam 9.0-10.0 period so boring lesser games get almost nothing while big games get all praise. Oh and destructroid sucks major as well. Jim sterling is a troll I know of being a though reviewer but that gut is a purple dildo holding jackass saw some of his reviews and some just get unreasonably low scores like damn and I think somepeople believe him which is sad. Then again reviews are an odd bag if you do not base your choices of them I do not really follow them for I choose for my self if not I would be playing not but the "popular" games if I followed reviews.

I still remember the IGn review:
-"There is no castle"
-"There is no Dracula"
-"There is no old music"
- "Levels are in plain daylight"
-"It butches everything that CV has always been it doesn't have exploration and backtracking like SOTN"

lol

"- Not Castlevania" this was part of the final say the final part was just so wow it was just a bs review and he got called out on it anyone with a brain could see the no smell the bullspit from a mile away.

[Vampire Killer]

I still remember the IGn review:
-"There is no castle"
-"There is no Dracula"
-"There is no old music"
- "Levels are in plain daylight"
-"It butches everything that CV has always been it doesn't have exploration and backtracking like SOTN"

lol

LOL, I know right. It seems like LoS reviews came mostly in two flavors. People who's first Cv was SotN or later who mostly had the opinions stated above, and really old-school players of whom mostly "got it" and though it was great.

*puts on flame-retardant suit*

[K.G. Morder]

Wow- those ARE BS...

"There is no castle"

There certainly is. Apparently he didnt play past too far.

-"There is no Dracula"

Certainly is. You may not like the way he comes about, but he's still "there"

-"There is no old music"

At least 2 old tunes.

- "Levels are in plain daylight"

Only some of them. It actually followed a more or less day and night system. as you progressed, the stages became nighttime stages. This is MOST apparent in Wygol, with the Abbey.

[GummiCandyful]

Gamespot is though sometimes just out there, gametrailers just has alot of money got bored of them, but I would say that IGN is the worst I remember hatfield just gave a bullshit review on lords that could be sumed up like this ahem drum roll please

This game is not a metroidvania nor does it have to do with anything with cv bam(subjective) 7.5. Not only that he said something along the lines like it's short but has tons of replay which made me go wtf not only that nothing good was really  said about it I got nothing about the review A lot of people called bs on him and Iam not crazy when I know that the review that was written was edited so much bullspit, and they gave God of war ghost of sparda a 9.0 with one line saying if it is not broken do not fix it Gow does not need to improve so 9.0 for everyone. Sometimes there are goodreviews and shocking ones like bloodrayne getting a 9.0 but otherwise if it is a "mainstream" title bam 9.0-10.0 period so boring lesser games get almost nothing while big games get all praise. Oh and destructroid sucks major as well. Jim sterling is a troll I know of being a though reviewer but that gut is a purple dildo holding jackass saw some of his reviews and some just get unreasonably low scores like damn and I think somepeople believe him which is sad. Then again reviews are an odd bag if you do not base your choices of them I do not really follow them for I choose for my self if not I would be playing not but the "popular" games if I followed reviews.


"- Not Castlevania" this was part of the final say the final part was just so wow it was just a bs review and he got called out on it anyone with a brain could see the no smell the bullspit from a mile away.

Exactly. It seems those three sites I have mentioned only favor mainstream titles (Call of Duty, God of War, ect), and anything else is considered a crappy game. But IGN's review certainly takes the cake on blatant ignorance, and the fact that they compare a RE-IMAGING of the series to the Metroidvanias is even more ridiculous. Have they not kept up with the game when it was first announced and were seriously expecting it to be done in the vein of SoTN/produced by IGA? Wow, those guys are REALLY stupid, I swear.

Funny how you mention Destructoid; I never really considered them a game review site, but you are certainly right when it comes to that Jim Sterling guy. I actually remember when Sonic The Hedgehog 4 was first announced and he decided to take a stab at the fanbase. Okay, I know that the Sonic fans are reputed for being dissatisfied with every game SEGA has made since Sonic Heroes, IIRC, but to me, that was pretty uncalled for. Not to mention, he's a big 360 fanboy who hates Sony for no reason. Another gamer site I absolutely loathe is GamesRadar, which would take pages to describe why they suck so much.