Finished it 100% in hard mode. (not the extra hard mode) I thought that extra scene played post credits? did they change it?
Either way, I still like it better than LoS2, and IMO, it's the best written LoS game.
As a whole it just feels more cohesive than either of the other 2. 1 is just fine, but doesn't really have quite a Castlevania atmosphere until you leave the foresty ruins areas of the Lycan territory. And even then, thats gone too once you leave the Bernhard Castle and Carmilla behind.
overall, while IMO, LoS was just fine as a Castlevania, it IS very much a different beast in atmosphere since it switches between 3 major areas with different styling and mood.
LoS2, is like, half in modern times with shitty stealth sections and factories and poorly made ruins and boring demon enemies, and half in a beautifully gothic castle with all of the atmosphere and frills you'd come to expect from Dracula's castle. Same for the story. The family stuff you get in the Castle is amazing. The whole concept of the castle rejecting Dracula as it's master and trying to "keep him" as it is a living entity who it and it;s inhabitants rely on his power to live, could have served as it's own plot. The whole game could have been that. That whole section in Carmilla's wing, with marie, was beautifully done. Then the plot in the modern sections just gets boring as you go through boring locations, and the plot halts abruptly, only to fast forward and cop out at the end. Then there's Revelations, which again, is amazing. Half of the game is perfect Castlevania, the other half is a monster that doesn't belong in this world.
Then there's Mirror of Fate... as a whole, it;s far more cohesive and stable than LoS2, and has a single castlevania mood all throughout, re-interpreting classic CV areas like graveyards, chapels, abandoned mines, the works. The characters were also really good. LoS1 had good characters, but the only real ones were Gabriel and Zobek that had any consistency. Claudia and the Black Knight die almost immediately after meeting them, and Laura appears maybe 2 times tops, not counting the DLC.
MoF has 3 main characters. Simon, Trevor, and Alucard. All of them have their own story mode that develops them one way or another. Simon is played totally straight as a brutish barbarian, Trevor is literally Gabriel junior in everything but name, and Alucard is vengeful and depressed. he's also much more crude than he used to be as Trevor, due to his now being a predatory creature. Each one is pretty distinct, and has their personal feels and emotions, even if all of them are revenge.
Even Dracula feels pretty fleshed out, and Trevor's ending is just plain beautiful. Being Gabriel truly is suffering.
Then I saw the credits and realized why MoF is so different from loS1 and 2. 2 especially, since MoF still more or less fits with 1.
Alvarez has NO involvement! The director and one of the writers, of MoF, is Jose Luis Márquez.
While I know MS has said they will make no more CV games... If they did make one or two more, i'd want that guy back. He knew what he was doing.
EDIT:
Also, I REALLY Like Dracula's battle music. Fucking love it.
Reaver's theme is great too.