Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo impressions thread
- Thread starter Tizoc
- Start date
I can somewhat agree.
Having the QTEs disabled just show how much they fucking sucks. I'll play with them disabled.
But seriously... I can't really praise the optmization of this game enough. It's fucking incredible seeing this game running well on my shitty PC.
There's much more to the weapons than what is shown so far. They each unlocked new combos that take advantages of their respective brute strength and draining abilities, and also they weapons have projectile secondary attacks.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Not liking what I'm hearing, but I'm gonna try it for myself since it's there's a PC demo.
Not a fan of the first, but it was hard for me to even give it much of a chance because I hated the camera, QTEs, and performance, and never bothered trying it on PC.
I'm fascinated by the concept of being able to turn QTEs off though just to see what exactly that translates into and if it improves the game's flow. I might be more fascinated if somehow it doesn't
Not a fan of the first, but it was hard for me to even give it much of a chance because I hated the camera, QTEs, and performance, and never bothered trying it on PC.
I'm fascinated by the concept of being able to turn QTEs off though just to see what exactly that translates into and if it improves the game's flow. I might be more fascinated if somehow it doesn't
a secret-boss
Banned
is it me or is there a delay of button presses on those stupid jumping puzzles
Played on PC
Played on PC
Video started black screen with just audio and I could have sworn it was a Jawa video.
I feel terrible now.
Looks great though.
Yeah that was my problem with the demo. I didn't like all the slow pans to objectives or it focusing on certain objectives multiple times. It interrupts the flow of the game sometimes.
I didn't really like all the slow-mo in some parts of the combat either. I'd prefer without it. The combat was alright though, love the quick weapon switching. Doesn't feel like there's much depth to it but maybe that'll change in the final product when you unlock more moves and different enemies to fight. The platforming was okay but I didn't like some bits of it when you climb up the giant titan/robot.
Dominic_Shade
Member
Demo rocks. Love beating down cornered enemies with the Chaos Claws' Heavy Attack (hold). It ain't a DT'd Kick13, but it looks just as brutal. =D
A few things that irked me:
1) The attack special effects on hit are a bit blinding, making it hard for me to see what's going on in front of Dracula whenever I'm hitting stuff, which leads to my next point...
2) Normal enemies seem to have hyper armour when attacking. I've only seen this happen with the Shadow Whip, so I don't know if I can interrupt attacking foes with the Void Sword or Chaos Claws, but it's kind of annoying when I'm hitting something and can barely tell if they're still coming or not. I excuse it for the boss fights, but I find it harder to swallow when enemies do it too.
3)
Basically this. I hope the rest of the game lays off on screeching a fight to a halt to zoom in on important objects that need breaking. Just a quick two-second glance at said object would be fine.
This game was an instant-buy before, but now I'm definitely getting hyped. Loving Dracula's new moves.
A few things that irked me:
1) The attack special effects on hit are a bit blinding, making it hard for me to see what's going on in front of Dracula whenever I'm hitting stuff, which leads to my next point...
2) Normal enemies seem to have hyper armour when attacking. I've only seen this happen with the Shadow Whip, so I don't know if I can interrupt attacking foes with the Void Sword or Chaos Claws, but it's kind of annoying when I'm hitting something and can barely tell if they're still coming or not. I excuse it for the boss fights, but I find it harder to swallow when enemies do it too.
3)
Basically this. I hope the rest of the game lays off on screeching a fight to a halt to zoom in on important objects that need breaking. Just a quick two-second glance at said object would be fine.
This game was an instant-buy before, but now I'm definitely getting hyped. Loving Dracula's new moves.
Senor Whopper
Neo Member
gameplay is ok but that music is amazing, will buy later
Okay I'm getting worried now. Starting to consider shifting my pre-order to Stick of Truth
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
DJ Lushious
Member
I thought it looked good on the PS3. Solid frame rate, not too much texture compression artifacts, and good lighting and depth-of-field effects. Resolution aside, what is so wrong with the PS3 version? Or is this just more "Master PC Race" drivel?
Net_Wrecker
Member
I'm not a fan of the new camera system. I didn't have an issue with the fixed camera in the first game aside from some odd placing during platfoming sections, but I don't think the free camera feels good with this combat system. It doesn't auto focus well enough and I found enemies to constantly be out of frame either by my own doing or when they jump away from attacks. Just feels weird. EDIT: Just to be clear, I didn't check if you can adjust this.
The panning + long stills, and all the other tutorial hints are much too intrusive as well making for a not very replayable demo. Good for them, bad for players. I'm still keeping my eye on the reviews + player impressions as a fan of the first one though. Hoping for the best.
The panning + long stills, and all the other tutorial hints are much too intrusive as well making for a not very replayable demo. Good for them, bad for players. I'm still keeping my eye on the reviews + player impressions as a fan of the first one though. Hoping for the best.
I hate how the game treats you like you're an imbecile. It's one thing to have the camera pans initially, it's another to KEEP DOING THEM OVER AND OVER. Yeah, I got what to do the first few times, why are we doing this right up to the end? Hopefully the full game's better about this stuff but it's still irritating.
brandonh83
Banned
I see this a lot, with many games. I wonder if developers are just worried that their audience don't really understand the mechanics or something.
IIRC LOS1 waned off that type of shit later in the game.
It is but the moment I launch the game it switched to 720p and doesn't let me change it higher. Only lower.
princemarth23
Member
It definitely did. I'm pretty sure the same will be for LoS2 and it's just a demo thing.
I'm almost certain it will be.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
I dunno about that... the friggin' DLC kept holding my hand and telling me puzzle solutions. -_-
Admiral Snackbar
Member
I liked the combat way more than the initial stages in LoS, having camera control was a huge plus.
But god. I better be able to disable those bats that tell me where to go all the time. The "Now you can proceed' short zooms held for about four seconds too long, as well. And you don't need to just toss out Rondo of Blood/SoTN quotes all the time, game. I know you're Castlevania, that
line was totally without context.
But god. I better be able to disable those bats that tell me where to go all the time. The "Now you can proceed' short zooms held for about four seconds too long, as well. And you don't need to just toss out Rondo of Blood/SoTN quotes all the time, game. I know you're Castlevania, that
"What is a man..?"
Cyber Caesar
Member
I hope the final game looks better. The demo on PS3 was muddy and pixelated. I had just gotten done playing LOS1 and the lack of polish in the demo was very noticeable. I may be in the minority but I favor the old camera. Yet I'm looking forward to the final game. So far I'm skeptical Mercury Steam will be able to recapture their high production values set in LOS1. Art direction Is subjective, but this game feels slightly off in the clarity and detail. I probably shouldn't jump to conclusions and judge the final game based on the demo. Going more free roam comes with its drawbacks it seems.
I agree and I'm almost certain he got it wrong, it was missing a word.
thefreecheese
Member
I had high hopes for this after reading Dave Cox state: "The God of War comparisons really pissed us off."
Just finished the demo and...
I guess they didn't piss them off enough to change anything. I understand that weapon variety and combat changes throughout the game but what they offer in the demo is entirely reminiscent of the first game except this time you actually play in a castle instead of spending 2/3 of the game in daylight, in a forest.
Really dislike the giant Titan fights and overbearing QTEs, but I saw in the thread that you can disable QTEs so perhaps I should try that, although I don't think it will change anything.
I will commend the game for its atmosphere, it sets a nice tone for the story, and the music (particularly the soft piano pieces) is really well done.
I don't know if I've given up entirely on the game just yet but this demo did nothing to convince me that it is a Castlevania game and anything different than the first. I really hope it turns out to be extraordinary and doesn't tread the same ground as the first. I cannot wait to see where Konami takes the franchise next, hopefully back to the essence of what made Castlevania so special before.
Just finished the demo and...
I guess they didn't piss them off enough to change anything. I understand that weapon variety and combat changes throughout the game but what they offer in the demo is entirely reminiscent of the first game except this time you actually play in a castle instead of spending 2/3 of the game in daylight, in a forest.
Really dislike the giant Titan fights and overbearing QTEs, but I saw in the thread that you can disable QTEs so perhaps I should try that, although I don't think it will change anything.
I will commend the game for its atmosphere, it sets a nice tone for the story, and the music (particularly the soft piano pieces) is really well done.
I don't know if I've given up entirely on the game just yet but this demo did nothing to convince me that it is a Castlevania game and anything different than the first. I really hope it turns out to be extraordinary and doesn't tread the same ground as the first. I cannot wait to see where Konami takes the franchise next, hopefully back to the essence of what made Castlevania so special before.
dragonflys545
Member
The demo was underwhelming. I guess I'll pick it up when it hits the right price.
LowParry
Member
$40 is the right price with GMG ;D
My god. Just the title music that plays is so powerful. I liked the demo. I just hope the story plays out well. And goddamn the game looks gorgeous. Dem 60 fps feelings.
Edit: Found it. So so fucking good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvIw3J1hX4U
And...haha! What is a man!
He really said that shit? I would have thought he would have viewed it as a compliment. It's not like GOW was complete ass. LOS borrowed from a lot of games and did it well.
Slamtastic
Member
It kind of is though
LowParry
Member
After 2, yes.
thefreecheese
Member
Yeah, he stated it in an interview when talking about changes in the sequel and what they learned after developing the first.
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-god-of-war-comparisons-really-pissed-us-off
Fimbulvetr
Member
-Controlling Gabriel feels much smoother than the first game.
-The Chaos Claws' held direct attack combo is pretty ridiculous. Every big hit (the second hit on hold, then the next three hits that make up the rest of the combo) ignores super armor and does huge damage. The Blood Whips held area attack is pretty up there too. Of course, the former will be less of a big deal in the full game since well have to manage the weapon meters.
-Camera is a bit cumbersome; probably the result of its insistence on making accelerating, swishy movements instead of just showing the player what needs to be seen in the most efficient way possible. Seem as if they wanted the in-game camera to be cinematic more than they wanted it to be functional.
-The way health indication is handled is very nice, with the red borders growing as your health lessens, but only showing when you get hit. The problem is that it can be hard to tell that you've been hit if you're at high health if you aren't knocked down.
-Theres a plethora of enemy visibility issues: Attack effects often obscure enemies, enemy blockable attack animations are often very indistinct, standard enemy unblockable warning happens and ends before the actual attack windup even begins, making dodging awkward (especially when the enemy is off-screen), since the accompanying sound and voice also end early, the paladin's arrow explosions and wings obscure the battlefield.
-The paladin's arrow indicators glow once they've been present for a certain amount of time. You'd think this indicates that their position is locked, but they can continue to track you for some time afterward. This one's just embarrassing; even more so because its inconsistent with the climbing sections, where the arrow indicator never moves once it appears.
-The paladin's ground shockwave attack tracks you until the very last moment, making dodging it extra awkward at close range.
-Enemies often stay at a distance ideal for the whip, but there's no effective way of closing distance with the subweapons(hopefully they get some sort of Stinger equivalent).
-Enemies that are ready to be finished have to get up first, during which you can't grab them. You just have to wait if you want their blood.
-Dodging into an enemy will force them to block or knock them down, this is really strange and possibly exploitable?
-I really wish the demo had been a more vertical slice of the game to we could fight more interesting enemies; the knights got real old real fast.
-Platforming managed to be simultaneously dull and annoying. Like, they tried to make it an actual thing, instead of a minor distraction to pace out encounters and it all feels so needless.
-I went through the demo multiple times, and every time when I first came off the first monkey bar climb ring segment and motioned downward to move down I'd get back on the rings. Waiting a moment worked, otherwise it would happen correctly the second time.
-The gears on the titan that stop and start at set intervals have inadequate indicators for when theyre about to move, if they have them at all.
-You can get a head start on the first titan climbing segment if you move after the pieces of armor fall off its arm when it punches the castle. That's some pretty useless armor.
-The menu selection indicator is really poorly judged; it looks like arrows pointing to either side. In some cases, you actually can scroll left and right, though that's not what the indicator is meant to represent, but I thought the demo was locked to one difficulty setting because of this.
-You can't change settings in the PC version until you've actually begun the game. I assume this won't be the case in the final release. Still, defaulting to 720p? Come on, guys.
-The presentation of the tutorials is so tacky. I guess this is a tradition now, but having the first thing players see be "Welcome to the tutorial," especially when you're trying to engage them in a storyline, is just bad form. "Fail!!!" and "Awesome!!!" are pretty cringeworthy, especially the latter, especially when everything has three (three!) exclamation points after it.
-Gabriel's little summaries when you load the game continue even once you press start, so you get the sound effect and his speech at the same time, it's awkward.
-Gabriel is suuuuuuuch a dork. Like, that thing with him tossing the goblet and quickly picking it up again before the knights saw him, just so he could drop that mildly threatening line about drinking their blood and then toss the goblet a second time. It came off as him trying to look like a badass in front of them, and I cant tell if it was intentional, but awkward, humor on the devs part or they actually thought they were making Gabriel cool. Also, what is a man-ing to nobody in particular. lol
Overall I liked it, but it feels a lot like the first game, at least in the sense that its issues, while not individually damning, just kinda pile on. Here's hoping the full game is cleaned up a bit.
-The Chaos Claws' held direct attack combo is pretty ridiculous. Every big hit (the second hit on hold, then the next three hits that make up the rest of the combo) ignores super armor and does huge damage. The Blood Whips held area attack is pretty up there too. Of course, the former will be less of a big deal in the full game since well have to manage the weapon meters.
-Camera is a bit cumbersome; probably the result of its insistence on making accelerating, swishy movements instead of just showing the player what needs to be seen in the most efficient way possible. Seem as if they wanted the in-game camera to be cinematic more than they wanted it to be functional.
-The way health indication is handled is very nice, with the red borders growing as your health lessens, but only showing when you get hit. The problem is that it can be hard to tell that you've been hit if you're at high health if you aren't knocked down.
-Theres a plethora of enemy visibility issues: Attack effects often obscure enemies, enemy blockable attack animations are often very indistinct, standard enemy unblockable warning happens and ends before the actual attack windup even begins, making dodging awkward (especially when the enemy is off-screen), since the accompanying sound and voice also end early, the paladin's arrow explosions and wings obscure the battlefield.
-The paladin's arrow indicators glow once they've been present for a certain amount of time. You'd think this indicates that their position is locked, but they can continue to track you for some time afterward. This one's just embarrassing; even more so because its inconsistent with the climbing sections, where the arrow indicator never moves once it appears.
-The paladin's ground shockwave attack tracks you until the very last moment, making dodging it extra awkward at close range.
-Enemies often stay at a distance ideal for the whip, but there's no effective way of closing distance with the subweapons(hopefully they get some sort of Stinger equivalent).
-Enemies that are ready to be finished have to get up first, during which you can't grab them. You just have to wait if you want their blood.
-Dodging into an enemy will force them to block or knock them down, this is really strange and possibly exploitable?
-I really wish the demo had been a more vertical slice of the game to we could fight more interesting enemies; the knights got real old real fast.
-Platforming managed to be simultaneously dull and annoying. Like, they tried to make it an actual thing, instead of a minor distraction to pace out encounters and it all feels so needless.
-I went through the demo multiple times, and every time when I first came off the first monkey bar climb ring segment and motioned downward to move down I'd get back on the rings. Waiting a moment worked, otherwise it would happen correctly the second time.
-The gears on the titan that stop and start at set intervals have inadequate indicators for when theyre about to move, if they have them at all.
-You can get a head start on the first titan climbing segment if you move after the pieces of armor fall off its arm when it punches the castle. That's some pretty useless armor.
-The menu selection indicator is really poorly judged; it looks like arrows pointing to either side. In some cases, you actually can scroll left and right, though that's not what the indicator is meant to represent, but I thought the demo was locked to one difficulty setting because of this.
-You can't change settings in the PC version until you've actually begun the game. I assume this won't be the case in the final release. Still, defaulting to 720p? Come on, guys.
-The presentation of the tutorials is so tacky. I guess this is a tradition now, but having the first thing players see be "Welcome to the tutorial," especially when you're trying to engage them in a storyline, is just bad form. "Fail!!!" and "Awesome!!!" are pretty cringeworthy, especially the latter, especially when everything has three (three!) exclamation points after it.
-Gabriel's little summaries when you load the game continue even once you press start, so you get the sound effect and his speech at the same time, it's awkward.
-Gabriel is suuuuuuuch a dork. Like, that thing with him tossing the goblet and quickly picking it up again before the knights saw him, just so he could drop that mildly threatening line about drinking their blood and then toss the goblet a second time. It came off as him trying to look like a badass in front of them, and I cant tell if it was intentional, but awkward, humor on the devs part or they actually thought they were making Gabriel cool. Also, what is a man-ing to nobody in particular. lol
Overall I liked it, but it feels a lot like the first game, at least in the sense that its issues, while not individually damning, just kinda pile on. Here's hoping the full game is cleaned up a bit.
OMG I just played the demo on my totally not suited for playing laptop. Seriously, it's like sub bottom tier. Totally worth it; omg in playability it's all I wanted, a good sequel to LoS, not a DMC2 case. I have some issues with the camera in the golden paladin fight but that was all. This game, into my veins, NOW.
GravityMan
Member
Just finished the PC demo. It was decent. Still intend to get the full game.
+ Art direction is stellar
- Some inconsistent environmental texture work.
+ Music is good in the demo, but nothing really stood out to me. That said, I have a feeling there will be multiple standouts in the full game. The music in Castlevania games has been consistently great over the years.
+/- Free camera is much better than the fixed camera and jarring camera angle transitions of LoS1. However, LoS2's camera is not as functional and efficient as I'd like.
- Agree with others on attack effects creating enemy visibility issues. I took damage multiple times due to an enemy's attack being obscured by bright effects.
+ The design of the dual-wielding golden dude is really awesome. Loved the light reflecting off his armor.
+ Cool that you can turn off QTEs. That said, I didn't mind the QTEs too much in this demo.
- Fighting the knights got dull quick. I wish the demo had one or two additional normal enemy types to fight.
- The platforming segments felt too guided and not all that fun. It would've been nice if the platforming felt more like say...Darksiders.
+ Demo is well-optimized performance wise.
Overall presentation is inconsistent. Demo reminded me a lot of the demo of the first Lords of Shadow....many of the issues in the first game's demo are present in the sequel's. I liked the full first game a whole lot more than it's demo (especially once I got past the early areas), hopefully that'll be the case for the sequel too.
+ Art direction is stellar
- Some inconsistent environmental texture work.
+ Music is good in the demo, but nothing really stood out to me. That said, I have a feeling there will be multiple standouts in the full game. The music in Castlevania games has been consistently great over the years.
+/- Free camera is much better than the fixed camera and jarring camera angle transitions of LoS1. However, LoS2's camera is not as functional and efficient as I'd like.
- Agree with others on attack effects creating enemy visibility issues. I took damage multiple times due to an enemy's attack being obscured by bright effects.
+ The design of the dual-wielding golden dude is really awesome. Loved the light reflecting off his armor.
+ Cool that you can turn off QTEs. That said, I didn't mind the QTEs too much in this demo.
- Fighting the knights got dull quick. I wish the demo had one or two additional normal enemy types to fight.
- The platforming segments felt too guided and not all that fun. It would've been nice if the platforming felt more like say...Darksiders.
+ Demo is well-optimized performance wise.
Overall presentation is inconsistent. Demo reminded me a lot of the demo of the first Lords of Shadow....many of the issues in the first game's demo are present in the sequel's. I liked the full first game a whole lot more than it's demo (especially once I got past the early areas), hopefully that'll be the case for the sequel too.
CouchMaster
Member
Loved the demo, keeping my pre-order. But man, does the PS3 version look like ass. I dunno its because I've been spending too much time on PS4 or because of the PC screens posted here, but the graphics on PS3 looks downright fugly jaggied mess. And I remember being supremely impressed by the first game.
If you have a choice go with PC version, I don't so I'm sticking with PS3.
If you have a choice go with PC version, I don't so I'm sticking with PS3.
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