Topic: Which is Better ?

[Gecko]

Lords of Shadow by far, in my opinion. I prefer the stage-by stage setup, ACTUAL PRESENCE OF PLATFORMING, art direction, atmosphere(not the same thing as art direction) and combat setup.

CoD does have a badassly revamped Trevor Belmont, a killer soundtrack, an AMAZING Dracula battle at the end, and continuity with the past storyline.

I just like LoS better. As a Castlevania game, and as a general game. These two are vastly different games though. As others have pointed out, LoS vs. LoI would have made more sense, since the have a lot more in common.

[JR]

LoS by a mile for me.

Curse of Darkness is definitely one of my least favorite games in the series. For me it was fun from a collectible/forging standpoint, but that's about it.

Not to say I was completely happy with LoS, but that would be beating a dead horse at this point.

[darkwzrd4]

Gameplay-wise, Lords of Shadow shits all over Curse of Darkness.

Music-wise, Curse of Darkness shits all over Lords of Shadow.


LoS has chain-swinging similar to Super Castlevania IV
CoD has a wide variety of weapons to use, including a baseball bat & a guitar (seriously)
LoS has substantial platforming but too much wall-shimmying & plank-walking
CoD has little-to-no platforming & Hector runs too slow
LoS has unlockable combos
CoD has devil forging, "familiars" that you can & must use in battle

Personally I enjoyed the overall narrative in CoD, LoS' was okay but too predictable.


Trevor Belmont is & always will be a cooler Belmont than Gabriel Belmont.

Agreed.

[Vrakanox]

I'll go with Curse. I've played through both games a couple of times and Lords is cool but once you've beaten it there isn't really any reason to go back, where as with Curse I'm always finding new stuff I never found the first time. Also the soundtrack is just infinitely better in Curse, so much so that I bought it when I was in Japan. Of course thinking about it I did enjoy the battle system more in Lords mostly because it was just faster and more chaotic. Maybe somehow they can mix the two together and come up with something good. I'm pretty sure Mercury Steam is well on with LoS2 at this point so we will have to wait and see where they take it.

[Munchy]

LoS. While CoD has a few fun ideas about it (weapon forging and ID leveling), the level design instantly sucked most of the fun out of the game.

LoS isn't flawless, but the levels actually have colors other than brown and grey, not to mention *gasp!* vertical depth! What a concept!

The only thing I'd say that neither game really exceeds the other is the music. LoS for reasons stated a jillion times, and CoD because Yamane (as much as I like her stuff) was really phoning it in. It's easily the least imaginative of any of her works, especially with tracks like Followers of Darkness being composed almost entirely of the same goddamn arpeggios. Don't get me wrong, this is Castlevania and even its worst music is still pretty good, but Yamane's other soundtracks are much better IMO.

[Harrycombs]

Lords of Shadow is the better game, by far.

Curse of Darkness is more Castlevania than Lords, though.

I gotta agree with this. If they actually hired a level designer for CoD, that could have been a great game. Combat was great, customization was fun, and so on, but my god who the hell designed that game's levels. It ruined everything.

LoS is still a pretty weak game overall though. It really fails to stand up to other action games like Devil May Cry. Being the best 3D Castlevania game in recent years is hardly a notable feat.

[Ridureyu]

Hey guys, which is better?  Eating a conch shell, or eating a sea urchin?

[X]

My mom owns a conch shell and seeing how dense it is my teeth would shatter from just trying to bite through it. The sea Urchin is more edible then the shell but you have the poison to worry about. Although it's nothing an experienced chief couldn't fix.

[Kingshango]

A better question is:

Which is better, three sea shells or toilet paper?

[shelverton.]

I wish I knew why we're comparing these two at all.
Are we really that bored?

Dear Konami, please announce something asap.

(And I pick LoS. It's the better game, which doesn't say much, unfortunately. CoD has a killer soundtrack and that's pretty much it.)

[uzo]

Hey guys, which is better?  Eating a conch shell, or eating a sea urchin?

Never had uni before?

[Kaori]

For me, CoD is better. I just couldn't get into LoS. I tried MANY times, but I just couldn't do it. LoS did have the better gameplay though. CoD had better everything else in my opinion.

[GuyStarwind]

CoD. Mostly because I haven't played LoS and have no desire to... unless I find it for 20 bucks or less.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Curse is the one I'm biased towards, since it's the game that interested me in the series in the first place.

Lords is better constructed, but FUCK if I ever go against the origin of my fandom.

[Green Stranger]

Despite the lack of more enjoyable and memorable music LoS is superior.

The stages in LoS are beautifully done and you just want to stop and admire all the hard work they put into it. CoD in contrast is a pile of garbage and it is laced in borning repetative level designs with very poor lifeless color choices.

With the gameplay there is no contest. LoS brings back the classic whip swinging platforming we see in CV4 (as mentioned earlier). Brutal combos that give you that enriching feeling when you're beating the crap out of enemies, a variety of interesting mounts and the most unique and gratifying expiriences with whip combat. CoD is just endless farming and looses it's appeal after a while. I don't think I even used all weapons and innocent devils, just waaay too much. Not mention the insane amount of running around you need to do.

Character designs...how can you even compare the androgynous ladyboy prostitutes to Gabriel Belmont? Finally Castlevania returns once again to the rugged, humble looking testoterone fueled brute thats dressed for battle. No more of this lavish bitch boy with fancy buckles, sashes and high heel boots. Oh and let's not forget and leather pants that expose half of the pubic and inguinal regions. Disgusting and over the top. Good to see Gabriel looks like a real warrior and doesn't have his hair dyed strawberry red, or flat white. *Alucard, Richter and Juste are the exception to this, but Issac and Trevor are just way too fruity.

How about storyline as well? LoS of shadow has to be one of the few games in the franchise that DOES NOT have some cheesy cookie-cutter plot filled with horrible voice acting and dialogue. CoD is boring, unremarkable and you just feel like Issac is going to come out of the screen and molest you. LoS has an unique retelling of the Castlevania world and shows how the Belmont's and Dracula are so intertwined and really sets the tone for the rest of the proceeding games.

LoS is a fine game and very decent addition to the series.