Topic: Lords of Shadow 2 may include some classic Castlevania themes

[Pfil]

According to 3DJuegos spanish website, so it seems.
Here's the article:

For its creators, it would be a good homage to its fans.

Promising game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow II may include in its soundtrack some of the classic and most representative themes of this veteran franchise, as a homage to its fans.

So it has assured producer Dave Cox, who has left open the possibility of classics like Vampire Killer -which was kind of present in the original Lords of Shadow- and Bloody Tears to come back.

Melodies that would be translated to this work with the orchestral style Araujo has impregnated this opus.

Original article (in spanish): http://www.3djuegos.com/noticia/135603/0/lords-of-shadow-2/incluir-temas-clasicos/

[Pfil]

As always when I translate an article, I will add my opinion in a second post.

Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears? Again? Why don't they just include something a little different, like one from the Game Boy games? That would be a true homage to Castlevania fans.
It's like when Final Fantasy music is mentioned and everybody talks about FF7 soundtrack (which is mediocre, out of place and boring) and they forget about the masterpieces of the 6 first games and some other excellent tracks from FF8, 9 and 10.
Castlevania fans are so used to listen to VK and BT that, by now, I guess I'm not the only one that don't care much for those tracks and would wish for another classic or not so classic to be re-arranged for a new game.
This seems more like a wish from MS to include the 2 most representative tracks and a way to present something about Castlevania music to new fans, but nothing else.
The positive thing about this is that at least Araujo will be forced to use the right chord progressions for Castlevania if he is in fact arranging these tracks. I don't think his usual musical mannerisms will stick to these tunes, because they are so different to what he does.

Edit: some minor typing errors.

[The Puritan]

Well the classic remixes were the only things I ever found noteworthy about the current trilogy's music anyway. SCV4 Dracula Battle in MOF, Waterfalls of Agharta in the first, even that music boxy take on Vampire Killer. Everything else was... mostly forgettable.

[crisis]

Eh, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Like the article says, it'll probably just be a few notes tied to a new orchestral composition or a short jingle or 2, similar to the Vampire Killer Music Box in the original Lords of Shadow.

btw, I love FFVII's soundtrack but I hated FFVIII's & FFIX's. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to find 2 Final Fantasy fans that like the exact same stuff about the series, lol.

[Maedhros]

I hope for some SOTN shit in there this time.

[Pfil]

Well the classic remixes were the only things I ever found noteworthy about the current trilogy's music anyway. SCV4 Dracula Battle in MOF, Waterfalls of Agharta in the first, even that music boxy take on Vampire Killer. Everything else was... mostly forgettable.

Of course it was forgettable, at least in those tiny little parts he based on something about CV, but it was just a few notes incorporated to his music. Not enough to overcome two soundtracks of nothing.

I hope for some SOTN shit in there this time.

I'd like that too, but I doubt it will happen. Araujo using Yamane's tunes? I don't see it happening.

Eh, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Like the article says, it'll probably just be a few notes tied to a new orchestral composition or a short jingle or 2, similar to the Vampire Killer Music Box in the original Lords of Shadow.

btw, I love FFVII's soundtrack but I hated FFVIII's & FFIX's. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to find 2 Final Fantasy fans that like the exact same stuff about the series, lol.

I think the same, if Cox said "maybe" I'm tempted to think it's almost 0% chance, but maybe this time he is telling the truth, who knows?
I personally found the music box thing a little irritating, because it was like teasing me, all the game with nothing that sounds like CV, and now I find VK reduced to a music box? This theme I listened to a million times is the only CV sound I find? And in a music box? Really? I remember I was particularly annoyed.
I hope they'd choose some obscure tracks and re-arrange them. Something from Game Boy, or from Rondo or X68000, something it was never remixed or re-arranged.

It's OK, FF7 was for me to FF what LoS was to Castlevania. I'm aware many fans don't like 8 and 9, and that FF7 has a huge fanbase. I'm personally fond of the first 6 games, though my favourite is FF6 and about the first 2 games I like the soundtrack especially, more than the game. FF6 is also the first one I played. I can't tell about 11 because I didn't play it, but I played the rest (most of them when they were already old, or in remakes like the PSP or NDS ones) and it's been a while since I don't hope to get another SNES type FF game anymore (or soundtrack, for that matter). But the FF fanbase is way more mixed than the CV fanbase. Here we have ClassicVania, MetroidVania and LoS, and fans are usually fond of one or the other, maybe 2 kind of games out of 3, sometimes Classic and MV but not LoS, sometimes Classic and LoS but not Iga... some even like them all... but it's pretty simple, the fanbase is still not too divided. With FF is a lot more complicated than that. It's as you say, every fan is different and likes/dislikes different games.

[Flame]

I liked music box Vampire Killer. It really brought a smile to my face. I thought it sounded sweet, or cute, as an homage to CV1.

Vampire Killer (Music Box) - Castlevania Lords of Shadow BEST QUALITY + MP3

It caught me totally off guard.

[Rugal]

Smells like bullshit.

[Kingshango]

They'll probably be interwoven into other songs like in the first Lords of Shadow. Not going to expect any full blown remixes.

[Chernabogue]

Anything will be good.

[Pfil]

I liked music box Vampire Killer. It really brought a smile to my face. I thought it sounded sweet, or cute, as an homage to CV1.

It caught me totally off guard.

Yes, I liked the fact of having one CV theme at least.
What annoyed me is that it seemed they were teasing me, I was all the game complaining to myself of how it didn't sound like CV, and then I encounter a little CV homage inside a box and nothing more.
The remix itself was OK. You'd have to be very ignorant to make a bad remix of a CV original tune, to be honest. And something I won't argue about is that Araujo studied music and knows what he does, the problem is he have bad taste and what he does is somehow inappropriate for CV, nothing more.
But the remix in question was good, indeed.

They'll probably be interwoven into other songs like in the first Lords of Shadow. Not going to expect any full blown remixes.

I believe the same. What I imagine is the first 7 notes of Bloody Tears with the first chord in a very orchestral style merged with some other ideas from Araujo's mind (which are not very Bloody Tears-alike).

[uzo]

SCV4 Dracula Battle in MOF

?? Which track? / Got a link?

Smells like bullshit.

Agreed. Even if it is true, three notes of the original song meshed in with the rest being bland lifeless garbage (typical LoS "arrangement" of old tunes) doesn't make me look forward to it.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I am not optimistic with this news.

[A-Yty]

Not falling for that again. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Or was it the other way around? Anyway..

And even if it has versions of classic CV tunes - so what? The soundtrack of LoS did not need the copying or revisit the works of others. It was forgettable. That was its weakness. You can't fix that by remixing. ESPECIALLY if the remixes are going to be the most ubiquitous or best known CV tracks available.

Wanna surprise me in any way with remixes? Then go for the rarer gems like Battle of the Holy Man or New Messiah. And on a side note - and you can throw eggs at me for saying this - but I think the Legends versions of Vampire Killer and particularly Bloody Tears  are totally shiny. Too bad Bloody Tears is so damn short.

[Bergaron]

If you put your music is bad, if you put classical music is bad. Good luck to the next development team take CV ..

Sometimes I have the impression that the community of CV fans are like some older women in the salon reading magazines.