Topic: Castlevania Lords of Shadow Mirror Of Fate HD

[Gecko]

I've reached the Nightwatchman.  I'm surprised though, as I think that they've removed his dialogue when he enters in the HD version as opposed to in the 3DS version.  Anyone else spotted this?  Does it happen elsewhere as well?

Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe his saying "Who dares enter my domain?" made it seem like too much like he owned the castle or something. It seems like an odd omission.

Also, I don't know if it's just me, but I think they powered down the double jump for Alucard and Trevor's adventures. I don't think the second jump is as high as in the 3DS version.

[TatteredSeraph]

Cheers for the heads up.  I'll take a look and compare it to videos of the 3DS version.

Speaking of Alucard, one of my main criticisms for Al was how much darker his skin was animated than Gabriel's.  I get that yeah, they're undead, however, Al looks very drow-like with very dark grey skin, whereas even outside of the cutscenes, Drac's skintone doesn't get quite so grey.  It just doesn't make sense for Al to get quite so dark, unless it's something to do with him having not fed for roughly 30 years.  I also noticed it somewhat in the earlier trailer where you first saw his face properly.  I'm just glad that now they appear to have rectified that in the Vengeance tariler for LoS2.

[TatteredSeraph]

Okay, I've just gotten throug the Necromancer fight, which was a lot easier than the Nightwatchman.  I've noticed that yet again, at the star of the fight, dialogue's been cut.  This time it was a rather significant line which was omitted: Simon proclaiming "This is the combat cross my father carried!' as he finds it.  It's a bit of a strange one.  I've asked why this is on the LoS fb page.

[Ahasverus]

Why? Really? That's disgraceful

[flyingchai]

This time it was a rather significant line which was omitted: Simon proclaiming "This is the combat cross my father carried!' as he finds it.

It wasn't omitted, you're looking for the line in the wrong place. Simon never said this he found Trevor's combat cross, he said this when he met Fate for the first time in the caves.
When he sees it in the mirror fragment he's wearing, he says "that's the battle cross my father carried. Is it still in the castle?"

[TatteredSeraph]

Oooops, mea culpa, my mistake.  *Shuffles foot, embarrassed*.  I'd sworn that was when he'd said it. Ah well!  Either way, they still omitted the line for the Nightwatchman.  It's just puzzling.

[crisis]

Yes, I re-purchased this game for PSN and yes, my opinion on it hasn't changed much. Superb graphics aside, I found myself getting bored for the majority of the game. I beat the game on Hard and it still wasn't that hard. But it does have it's good moments and ideas. Although the enemies are a step up from what LoS1 offered, there's still a severe lack of variety. There's several sections in the game which would have been perfect for flying Medusa Heads. I rarely used any subweapons, unless at points where I was literally forced to. Design choices like this just defy logic to me. However I was happy to see [a version of] Bone Pillars return. The floaty jump physics should've been addressed; I know some people are okay with it and others aren't, but there were several instances where the wonky double jump caused me to die. There are some areas where it's awkward & you have to time it just right, but it doesn't feel as natural as it does in previous Castlevania titles. The fixed "whip-swinging" was just lazy; they could've really took a cue from Super Castlevania IV (their supposed "bible") and implemented that game's whip-swinging to outstanding effect here. Just one of many missed opportunities. The music, while good in it's own right, is still severely lacking. Why am I running through this fantastic-looking corridor in SILENCE?! This is just an absolute crime in Castlevania, there's no debating this. There were several times where I had to just play Castlevania tunes on my computer just so I can get in the mood, most notably Crystal Teardrops during the underground cavern portion of the game. But to be fair, the ambient tracks it did provide were indeed catchy and I had no real problem with them. But just, c'mon guys, whyyy were they repeating over & over & over. Such a disappointment, when you have a vast history to live up to. Oii


Why the hell is Zobek omitted from the game? He's only mentioned once, in passing, and that's it. For a character that's supposed to represent this universes version of "Death," this really doesn't make any sense to me. The Lost Soul was being marketed as an "important character" in MoF, but it turns out he/it is just the manifestation of the mirror, and nothing more. It literally would've been the same exact game story-wise if the Lost Soul wasn't present. Maybe I'm overlooking plot details but I really see no point to his/it's presence. St. Germain was a better character in just about every aspect (personality, outfit, voice, purpose). I like how the Toy Maker is portrayed, and I'm really looking forward to his role in LoS2. I believe that he's responsible for Dracula's visions/dreams. And I'm not sure but the game possibly hints that he may in fact be Gandolfi himself; it would be an interesting and somewhat believable twist. Anywho, I don't mind Simon's barbarian look, the giant belt is a little silly but eh whatever. Trevor is how Trevor should look, and I still hate how they made him and Alucard one in the same. I remember like a year ago people here at this forum were teasing the name "Alucard Belmont" and how utterly ridiculous that would be. And now I'm reading some people saying how it "makes sense." Ugh.. sorry, no. Had I been in charge, I would've just had Alucard be Dracula's offspring from a different woman he met during his exile, a woman similar to Marie that echos Mathias' relationship with Lisa. Humans killed her, pissing off Dracula, yadda yadda. Could've made for an interesting subplot for LoS2, and good conflict for the characters. OR, just keep it mysterious and let the players wonder who Alucard's true mother was. Anything other than Trevucard Belmont. But whatever, what's done is done, it's an amalgam universe, I accept it, agree or disagree it's just my personal view on the matter.

Those are my thoughts on the game. Despite my criticisms it's not as bad as most people think and I'm glad I had the opportunity to play it on my TV this time.. too bad I really have no reason to re-replay it, once I unlocked everything with relative ease :/

[Lumi Kløvstad]

So, just bought and downloaded MoF HD last night. I'm pretty well hooked. I cleared Act I and I'm well into Act II.
I like the gameplay. I find it to be a pleasant mix of Castleroid and Lords of Shadow fighting and platforming, though I dislike the floaty jumps. With Alucard, it seems more tolerable because he's a vampire and ergo supernatural, but Simon didn't carry the midair heft of a guy his size, and it routinely bothered me.

That said, I also like that replenishing health is more difficult than it was in Lords of Shadow. Simon pretty much has the health he has until he hits another font or checkpoints back to life, and Alucard's mist form was a neat way to do that, but also of limited use because it takes so much magic. Definitely an improvement to make the game just a bit more challenging-- I honestly thought Lords of Shadow was kind of easy, even compared to most Castleroids. The fact that I actually manage to die in battle, even when I'm at the top of my game, is refreshing. It's no Dark Souls, but it's pretty good.

...the Lords of Shadow 2 demo wasn't half bad either.

[DoctaMario]

So I just got through my first run of the game and I have to say I enjoyed it. $15 well spent IMO.

The graphics are GORGEOUS! I LOVE 2.5d and when it's a 2.5d CV game even better. The. Castle looked spectacular and they did a really great job of carrying over the gameplay and vibe of LoS to 2d. There were elements that worked a lot better than I thought they would so I was pleasantly surprised by some things.

The music felt a bit better in this game too. I liked LoS' OST but I actually enjoyed this one more. The song that plays for the ending credits is fantastic!

Story-wise, I thought this game was a bit easier to understand than LoS. It almost seemed like they tried to do too much in LoS, but here, they had a good economical storyline and didn't introduce too many characters which was good.

The one thing that bummed me out was that Simon, Trevor, and Al all played pretty similar. I'd have liked to see Simon's combat a little more rudimentary seeing as how he's just comin up (maybe it being a simple nod to the original CV games), Trevor being a more stylish and refined version of the vampire hunter moveset, and Alucard doing what he does. I know why they gave Al a combat cross but it still felt like Simon Part 2 when I was playing as Al. I agree about the floaty jumps too and again, had they made each character jump differently, it might have been a cool touch.

Still it's a good game and I'll definitely play it more. I'm just glad I got to check it out without having to buy a 3DS.

[Trevorcard]

I agree with you on this being better then Lords of Shadow story in way. I think the reason is lack of narrations. I love Patrick Stewart but I think what hurt the story may been too much narrations and lack of cutscenes where Gabriel shows what he feels instead of Zobek telling us

[Nagumo]

Now I imagine Gabriel and Marie sitting at couple's therapy, Zobek elaboratingly explaing Gabriel's feelings, while he just grunts and makes hand gestures.

[Trevorcard]

I could imagine him narrating other things before the start of the game about Gabriel and Marie the creep   

[kadosho]

Mirror of Fate is a lesson in what this series is capable of, retracing its steps. But I do digress the limitations are a bit much, but once you get over them it can be an adaptable experience. Being a CV classic fan, this re-design bugged me at first. But experincing this side-quest does show that the new team is capable of many things. We can progress from here, and there are many possibilities for more CV tales like this one. I do hope they make more, but really they could have asked us fans to add some fun tunes to mix it up!

(yeah I play remixes while playing, adds more umph that quiet atmosphere!) 

[EstebanT]

Do I hear "Ghostly theatre" in the theatre area? Am I having metroidvania withdrawals? Am I hallucinating?

[crisis]

Do I hear "Ghostly theatre" in the theatre area?

no

Am I having metroidvania withdrawals?

yes

Am I hallucinating?

not the only one, playing MoF with LoI themes in the background is good form sir