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[Ahasverus]

Hmm, gotta disagree here. #teamDracula all the way

Morrigan pls

 

[princemarth23]

As a lifelong fan and enthusiast of stylish action games, i am not shocked to find out how shitty the gameplay was. The first game was a decent but lazy copypasta of different games in the same genre but this one is just uninspiring and downright boring. You would think the devs would sit down after the first game and think about how to advance the battle system, how to improve it not by just making it playerfriendly but actually adding depth to it. I can't say i am disappointed, because my expectation were already incredibly low. But what we got here is so simple, one dimensional, flashy but no substance - literally a case of been there, done that. It brings nothing new to the table.

It's a fine game for people who are new to the genre, but for those, who grew up with this genre it's a dull and bland piece of shit.

Meh, I wasn't a huge fan of this demo but it's pointless to judge the combat system based on the demo. The first game had a ton of moves you could do, and the demo barely has any. It was just a mashfest basically.

 

[luca_29_bg]

someone has problem to set resolution correctly ?

 

[Krusenstern]

How do you guys go beyond 1080p? The max setting in the menus is 1920x1080 for me, and I use downsample quite regularly.

You need to change your desktop resolution to the one you want before the game lets you choose it.

 

[NoirVisage]

Is GoW that series which cloned pretty much everything it has not only from pre-existing Castlevania games but also games like 'Rygar: The Legendary Adventure'?

outside of rygar, that's a pretty long reach you have!

 

[Ragus]

You need to change your desktop resolution to the one you want before the game lets you choose it.

Thanks. Now it looks much better.

 

[Samir Sedlar]

I think it will be a good game, a game as Mercury Steam intended. So just expect an epic conclusion and possible GoTY contender for this trilogy, nothing less nothing more!

Totally agree on this.

 

[Dartastic]

So is this demo actually available now? Can't check my PS3 because I'm not at home.

 

[Levyne]

Finally able to download/try this out.

 

[Ahasverus]

outside of rygar, that's a pretty long reach you have!

Because whips in videogames were so common in gow 1 times.

 

[NoirVisage]

I was going to download the demo, but so far it sounds like a waste of time.

Because whips in videogames were so common in gow 1 times.

what does that even mean? do you even understand what you're replying to?

 

[QisTopTier]

I was going to download the demo, but so far it sounds like a waste of time.

Pretty sure at this point you are just trolling the hell out of any thread related to LoS

 

[ezekial45]

For anyone still bugged out by the usefulness of the weapons in the demo, just know that this is in the beginning of the game where you have unlimited energy for the sword and gauntlets. In the full game, they require light and dark magic, which can only be replenished in focus mode.

 

[NoirVisage]

Pretty sure at this point you are just trolling the hell out of any thread related to LoS

what is your problem, and why do you feel the need to come at me sideways as if i hurt your feelings?

I was responding to someone who swore God of war was a ripoff of past castlevania games, I tell him he's REACHING (long reach) and all of the sudden you get bold and try to get me banned for trolling by calling me out..that makes no sense to me..and I thought I was on his ignore list, wonder why he can see my text in the first place.

 

[Levyne]

Ran flawlessly for me on a 780 at 1920x1200. Will try again at 2880x1800 downsampled and see how the rig holds up.

 

[jett]

For anyone still bugged out by the usefulness of the weapons in the demo, just know that this is in the beginning of the game where you have unlimited energy for the sword and gauntlets. In the full game, they require light and dark magic, which can only be replenished in focus mode.

It's honestly exactly the same as LOS1 in almost every respect. And the new weapons don't really add anything of note to the movelist, either. All three weapons have virtually the same attacks. Hold square and then mash it to deliver a similar repeating direct hit combo with all three. Hold triangle for a similar continuous wide attack with all three. Square+square in the air will trigger the same downward move. They don't really deliver variety to the fighting other than the visual kind. I enjoyed the combat flow in LOS1 though, but I'm a bit miffed they didn't go further here.

 

[Shmuely Bully]

Pretty sure at this point you are just trolling the hell out of any thread related to LoS

He pretty much does, I've never seen him post other than to crap on the games.

 

[Facism]

i hate the handholding. It got on my nerves in the first game, too. Slow pans to objectives, cameras focusing on points like i'm a fool and don't know how to play vidyagames.

Do it without the need of taking control away from me or treating me like a fool.

 

[Zabka]

Looks beautiful on the PC but they went way overboard on the hit effects. It makes it hard to see what's going on at the default camera distance. Also I hope someone makes a mod that removes the bleeding eyeballs effect when you're low on health. It's embarrassing that it's still being used in games.

 

[Mechazawa]

I'm a little disappointed with the gauntlets, at least with the versions in the demo. Little slow for my liking.

As a lifelong fan and enthusiast of stylish action games, i am not shocked to find out how shitty the gameplay was. The first game was a decent but lazy copypasta of different games in the same genre but this one is just uninspiring and downright boring. You would think the devs would sit down after the first game and think about how to advance the battle system, how to improve it not by just making it playerfriendly but actually adding depth to it. I can't say i am disappointed, because my expectation were already incredibly low. But what we got here is so simple, one dimensional, flashy but no substance - literally a case of been there, done that. It brings nothing new to the table.

It's a fine game for people who are new to the genre, but for those, who grew up with this genre it's a dull and bland piece of shit.

As someone who adores character action games, your criticism doesn't make any sense.

This is the exact same combat system as LoS1. They didn't make any astronomical changes outside of giving you two new weapons and a better dodge. Which if you didn't like in the first place, this one probably won't sell you on, but the notion that it's worse now is hilarious.

If the combat is worse, this demo isn't a good indicator of that.

 

[Levyne]

Ran flawlessly for me on a 780 at 1920x1200. Will try again at 2880x1800 downsampled and see how the rig holds up.

I can keep it at 60 with the downsampling as long as I set DOF to Medium. Otherwise it dips to a low of 38-42 during cutscenes.

Edit: A couple images I took. I usually don't take screens so hopefully I didn't screw them up. More here.

 

[NoirVisage]

He pretty much does, I've never seen him post other than to crap on the games.

wow, and you never considered that maybe you just like crap games? I love alot more games than I hate on gaf, would you like to stalk me and see for yourself? you guys are awful protective of mediocrity.

 

[Levyne]

Alright, finished the demo.

I didn't like the "platforming". Holding the left stick in a certain direction, occasionally with some timing, bleh.

Combat seemed more or less the same as LoS1, only I remember loving some of the aerial combos in that game that I couldn't reproduce here.

QTE toggle is awesome.

 

[NoirVisage]

QTE toggle is awesome.

I hope this is the beginning of a trend, and ultimately kills QTE's completely, QTE's are one of the things that make replaying a game a chore.

 

[MoonLightWave]

Just finished the demo, I liked it. However it was a little bit to easy, I tried to change difficult setting but it didn't seem to get harder.

 

[GardenSirens]

I thought the graphics were lacking and overall play to be not quite as smooth as I had hoped. The boss fight was cool as hell and I definitely want to see more....but this game doesn't scream, "Pay 60 for me". I'll wait for it to be on sale for 30 possibly this summer.

 

[Hagi]

Demo outside of looking gorgeous was pretty dull to be honest. The throwing the cup, picking it up , making a joke and throwing it again was probably the most exciting thing that happened.

Not a fan of the camera position coupled with the nice attack effects it obscured the enemies making it hard to parry. Platforming is as horrible as i remember it being in the first game. I wish they had the gameplay down to meet the amazing art direction they have but the demo isn't really giving me that vibe.

Considering waiting till the next winter steam sale so i can buy that for a dollar.

 

[burgerdog]

Steam freezes when I try to download this

 

[Levyne]

Steam freezes when I try to download this

Steam went down for Tuesday maintenance, probably just that.

 

[Miker]

The demo was okay. Not much more than okay. Fairly pretty, although it really needs some stronger AA to clean up all the shimmering edges (which my 7850 can't afford boo).

I thought the combat was a bit clumsy, and way too zoomed out with too much effects going on. I kept on getting hit in the middle of combos because my red/blue/orange sparks and shit were obscuring the attacks from the tiny gray knights.

Platforming was par for the course for this kind of game. I appreciate the LT for path option - it doesn't hurt anybody and it makes the game less start-and-stop (where do I jump next...? oh.) in the middle of bombastic setpieces.

I also don't understand why the framerate plummets from 60 to high 30s when in a cutscene. It's still being rendered in real time, and doesn't really look any different/better than actual gameplay, but regardless, cutscenes chew up frames like crazy. (EDIT: apparently setting depth of field to medium fixes this? I've already uninstalled it though)

I think I'll wait until it's $10 or so in sale. I'm still waiting for the first to hit $5.

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

So far, not bad. But it may get worse later on.

I think it's pretty cool. I don't think it's a 6 though. GI was too harsh.

 

[Salih]

This is the exact same combat system as LoS1. They didn't make any astronomical changes outside of giving you two new weapons and a better dodge.

you just proved my point what is wrong with this game. sequel my ass.

 

[Kintaro]

So far, not bad. But it may get worse later on.

I think it's pretty cool. I don't think it's a 6 though. GI was too harsh.

Do you have the full game or something? How can you judge this from a demo? lol

 

[Intheflorsh]

you just proved my point what is wrong with this game. sequel my ass.

I assume you've played more than the 15 minute long demo if you've come to such an opinion.

 

[Skilletor]

Was this a shitty demo? Plays even more like GoW. Normal enemies seem to take a ton of damage for no reason. You have forever to get the guard move off into counter. Enemies with shields just seems like another type of color coding to get me to use different weapons in an arbitrary manner. Seemed really bad to me.

 

[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

Do you have the full game or something? How can you judge this from a demo? lol

I can tell by the quality of the demo, just a guess of course.

 

[Salih]

bu bu bu that was just demo - the full game is x-times better

ppl forget what a demo is supposed to be. Its purpose is to demonstrate the game and its gameplay. I played demos of other action games (NG2, Bayo, MGR, W101) - they all represented the full game decently enough to judge the full game.

 

[Skilletor]

bu bu bu that was just demo - the full game is x-times better

ppl forget what a demo is supposed to be. Its purpose is to demonstrate the game and its gameplay. I played demos of other action games (NG2, Bayo, MGR, W101) - they all represented the full game decently enough to judge the full game.

Yeah, definitely a pass for me based on this. Was looking for something a bit more indepth, but this is as boring as the first game.

 

[Sanctuary]

Was this a shitty demo? Plays even more like GoW. Normal enemies seem to take a ton of damage for no reason. You have forever to get the guard move off into counter. Enemies with shields just seems like another type of color coding to get me to use different weapons in an arbitrary manner. Seemed really bad to me.

I actually thought it playing more like God of War was actually a pretty big plus. The combat just felt more flowing this time around, largely due to the sword and claws though. The dodge was also less shitty, but it still doesn't appear to have any i-frames, which is garbage. Honestly, the combat in the first game was not actually that good anyway. 90% of the "combos" were useless due to being interrupted if an enemy sneezed on you, and you had to rely on two or three special attacks at most, while doing a hit, dodge, hit, hit, dodge rotation the entire game.

And I don't know what you mean about enemies taking a ton of damage for no reason either. The claws don't seem like they are there just to break shields, they simply do massive damage all around. Also, try playing on the highest difficulty. Enemies last a little longer.

I can tell by the quality of the demo, just a guess of course.

You might be able to tell if the combat and camera are good and that the game has sound mechanics, but you can't tell something like pacing from such a short demo. The first game was gorgeous to look at, and the combat was serviceable, but the pacing was really, really bad. And you wouldn't have known from just the demo.

 

[BennyBlanco]

i thought it was cool, especially the puke scene

will pick this up when it hits 9.99

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Was this a shitty demo? Plays even more like GoW. Normal enemies seem to take a ton of damage for no reason. You have forever to get the guard move off into counter. Enemies with shields just seems like another type of color coding to get me to use different weapons in an arbitrary manner. Seemed really bad to me.

I thought that even though the attack animations and VFX are improved over LOS1, the combat was ultimately quite boring. I couldn't help but perceive a glaring mismatch between the intense music during the titan portion and the fact that I was just standing around half the time.

I know it's just a demo and was probably pretty easy on purpose, but it didn't show me anything to suggest that Mercury Steam has improved on the foundation laid by the first game. Adding two weapons with largely interchangeable move sets doesn't cut it.

I better try this thing on hard and see what changes.

 

[Levyne]

Yeah the claws just do massive damage in general. My second go through of the demo I used only the claws on the demo boss and he went down a lot faster.

 

[Intheflorsh]

bu bu bu that was just demo - the full game is x-times better

ppl forget what a demo is supposed to be. Its purpose is to demonstrate the game and its gameplay. I played demos of other action games (NG2, Bayo, MGR, W101) - they all represented the full game decently enough to judge the full game.

So that's a no then.

 

[scitek]

Weird that the game would perform so much worse during cutscenes than gameplay, then, considering that the cutscene graphics aren't noticeably better than the in-game graphics. I thought cutting the the framerate in half was supposed to allow for massive graphical improvements? At least that's what the 30 fps apologists keep telling me...

I only got sub-60fps in the cutscenes when I was forcing SSAO, so I don't know how much worse it actually performs than the actual gameplay sections, but I'll disable vsync later and see the framerate differences for myself.

 

[Sanctuary]

I better try this thing on hard and see what changes.

Yeah, you should. Anytime someone says something like this or God of War are mindless button mashers, it's pretty clear that they are playing on the default difficulties. Play on the highest difficulty the demo allows and also keep in mind that the orb mechanic was disabled in the demo...so you have literally infinite light/dark magic. You'll have to build up hits and get orbs again in the full game.

 

[Levyne]

Yeah, you should. Anytime someone says something like this or God of War are mindless button mashers, it's pretty clear that they are playing on the default difficulties. Play on the highest difficulty the demo allows and also keep in mind that the orb mechanic was disabled in the demo...so you have literally infinite light/dark magic. You'll have to build up hits and get orbs again in the full game.

This is good to hear, because even though I wasn't really ever in risk of losing in the first game, the magic/orb mechanic rewarded good play, so you can't just button mash (too much) if you want to keep your magic filled.

I'll probably play on hard as well for the full game.

 

[Maedhros]

The game runs amazing on my very, VERY old PC, given the right settings for it.

Too bad it more of the same, really. The combat was updated to be faster, but still have shitty platforming sections and completely out of place Castlevania references... Don't know if I'll get this game on day 1 now...

Yeah, you should. Anytime someone says something like this or God of War are mindless button mashers, it's pretty clear that they are playing on the default difficulties. Play on the highest difficulty the demo allows and also keep in mind that the orb mechanic was disabled in the demo...so you have literally infinite light/dark magic. You'll have to build up hits and get orbs again in the full game.

Makes the enemies more agressive and make then hurt more. Artificial difficult, like any of these GoW-type games, really. =/

Finished LoS on Knight and hadn't a problem with it.

 

[Levyne]

Yeah those stupid references.

Guessing they were just having fun in the tutorial area. I'll afford them that.

 

[Mr. RHC]

I got really scared playing the demo at one moment:

Spoiler

High volume, then Dracula opens the book in the beginning, you press start... and then he is like........ LOOK AT MY FACEEEEEEEEEE, and stares at you and the music is like "DUMMMMMMMMMM".. haha

LOL, you can see it here 1:50 onwards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fexPmkAxRU

 

[Sanctuary]

Too bad it more of the same, really. The combat was updated to be faster, but still have shitty platforming sections and completely out of place Castlevania references... Don't know if I'll get this game on day 1 now..

It's funny. I posted about how much I disliked the platforming from the first game, and hoped that it was going to be toned down. Not even six minutes into the demo I'm bombarded with a bunch of platforming. At least it felt somewhat smoother than in the previous game, and the titan/transformer/batteringbot segment was as cool as it was annoying. I can tolerate the platforming as long as they don't add in equal amounts of "puzzles". The puzzles are what have no place in a Castlevania game.

I actually enjoyed what I saw of the combat too. It's definitely not Bayorising caliber or anything, but not every game has to be. Aesthetically it looks like it's going to be a nice trip, and I'm really just going to be playing it to have something to play until Dark Souls 2.