Well look who came crawling back?
You... I remember you. You were one of the Vampire Killers that sealed me.
... you've aged.
What are your takes on LOS2 so far since your last appearance?
I've played the demo, and from the looks of it, LoS2 is going to be a fucking amazing experience. For one, I absolutely adore
Dracula's Theme. It's perfect and sets the mood for the entire game. No complaints in the graphics department, obviously. Dracula controls how he should be; swift and responsive, switching between abilities is super easy and I can't wait to see what else he'll have. MS really stepped up their game and I believe many people here that were turned off by LoS1 would be happy with LoS2. I just don't see any glaring flaws that'll make me say "this isn't Castlevania." The epic intro with Dracula battling & climbing that wooden titan structure just screams God of War (to clarify, the presentation of it), whether you look at that as a bad thing is up to you. I think it's awesome.
I recall Cox saying a while back that they have a segment that was inspired by the "3D rotating parallax" effect seen in that castle stage in Super Castlevania IV (if anybody's beaten the game, you'll know what I'm talking about). Looking forward to that. As for my theories about that plot? They're not that dissimilar from everyone elses, except for a few things: I believe the dream/flashback stuff that Dracula sees involving Carmilla and chibi Trevor is all just a ruse devised by the Toy Maker, for whatever reason. I also believe the Toy Maker might turn out to be Rinaldo; now I know in LoS1 it's hinted that he's disguised as an old beggar living in a swamp, but from what I gathered from MoF, I don't believe that. MoF says the Toy Maker was Gandolfi's apprentice, and was able to create a replica of the Combat Cross. But he was then "cursed" into what he is today. But they also say that it's possible he can be "un-cursed." For some reason I'm thinking that he's gonna turn out to be Gandolfi himself. I dunno why.
As for the ending, Cox said that they've created a finale that no one will expect. Therefor, the cookie-cutter "Dracula repents, reverts to his Gabriel-self, defeats Satan and goes to Heaven" ending is just too predictable and I agree that's the most logical way it could end, HOWEVER I've thought about something completely different, but possible. What if, at the climax, in order for Dracula to defeat Satan and free himself from immortality (I don't believe Zobek will do it, despite what he "promises"), he uses the old time machine in his castle to travel back before the events of LoS1 and causes a time-rift of sorts, destroying all that has transpired in the LoS universe thus allowing for the canon timeline, Lament of Innocence events to take place instead? Pretty bizarre, I know, but it will indeed be a "shocking" ending like Cox promised. Just thought I'd throw that possibility out there.
I'm just a bit confused on the timeline of events, perhaps one of you can clarify for me. At the end of MoF, the castle is clearly destroyed upon Dracula's "defeat" at the hands of Simon & Alucard. How then, is it still fully in-tact by the beginning of LoS2? Does it in fact take place several decades after MoF (Alucard is there, so it happens after MoF's events)?