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[Pyramid head]

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.

Where did I swear anything? I'm fairly certain my comment was phrased as a question, just like the other post I was replying to. I'm interested though; what has LoS taken from GoW that actually originated in GoW? Fixed camera? Whips? Chains? Monsters? Double jumps?

 

[XAL]

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'?

haha

holy shit I can't believe I forgot about Rygar

God of War IS pretty much a clone of that game - setting aside, the way the camera moves around the environment and the sling-y weapon, etc...pretty unmistakable.

It's pretty difficult to look at the two side-by-side and not come to the conclusion that the God of War team played Rygar and said "we can do this - but faster, better, more epic, more gore, etc".

Copying is only bad if you don't make improvements to the formula, the God of War team definitely made improvements to what the Rygar team accomplished.

I haven't been a fan of GOW/DMC type games for a long time - but LOS2 is kind of intriguing. Might go back and play LOS1 to see if it interests me.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

It really doesn't make sense when you think about it.

I'm fucking Dracula. I can turn into a cloud of bats or smoke/mist. Why am I crawling up a wall nathan drake style? Why am I doing an epic slow-motion running jump complete with a just-barely-hanging-on ledge grab onto the titans arm when everything around me is simply playtime and I can cooly teleport onto that arm and proceed to beat the shit out of brotherhood knights?

Is it that hard to build new gameplay concepts and systems instead of picking what's widely used and trendy?

 

[princemarth23]

It really doesn't make sense when you think about it.

I'm fucking Dracula. I can turn into a cloud of bats or smoke/mist. Why am I crawling up a wall nathan drake style? Why am I doing an epic slow-motion running jump complete with a just-barely-hanging-on ledge grab onto the titans arm when everything around me is simply playtime and I can cooly teleport onto that arm and proceed to beat the shit out of brotherhood knights?

Is it that hard to build new gameplay concepts and systems instead of picking what's widely used and trendy?

Well the game does say that he lost a lot of his power and is trying to gain it back. It makes sense if you think about it that way.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

Well the game does say that he lost a lot of his power and is trying to gain it back. It makes sense if you think about it that way.

I am okay with powerless gabriel being mechanically similar to human Gabriel from LoS1. However, the demo sequence takes place during a period of time where he has all his powers.

It didn't really sink in until I played the demo how uninspired this feels.

 

[Valnen]

Demo is amazing, as expected. Perfect blocks seem to be easier to pull off, and that's a good thing.

 

[Dalibor_San]

This is just night and day compared to when I was playing the first on the PS3, I shrugged and ignored the framerate for the sake of the game.(I'm glad I did as it was a great game)

However...playing on PC at 1920x1080,maximum settings and hitting 144fps(v-sync on a 144mhz monitor) to 95fps is just glorious.(I capped it to 72 and now no fluctuation)

I did notice cutscenes dipped...is this normal for everyone else on PC? However gameplay never dropped a single frame below 72.

I was going to wait until it got cheaper, I might as well pick it up now as this demo sold me, I'll try GMG.

 

[Rizzi]

Cutscenes dipped for me too.
Demo was good stuff. Looking forward to next fortnight.

 

[NoirVisage]

Where did I swear anything? I'm fairly certain my comment was phrased as a question, just like the other post I was replying to. I'm interested though; what has LoS taken from GoW that actually originated in GoW? Fixed camera? Whips? Chains? Monsters? Double jumps?

Play dante's inferno and ask again,
It gave most 3d action brawler games (not called devil may cry) , breathe.
I'll download the demo because the blood vomitting gif screams for context, If this demo sucks, I intend to yell it from the mountaintops. With a megaphone. Behind a giant megaphone.

 

[Pyramid head]

Play dante's inferno and ask again,
It gave most 3d action brawler games (not called devil may cry) , breathe.
I'll download the demo because the blood vomitting gif screams for context, If this demo sucks, I intend to yell it from the mountaintops. With a megaphone. Behind a giant megaphone.

Sorry, I didn't see 'Dante's Inferno' in the thread title.

GoW gave most 3D action games breathe? Do you mean it gave them breath/room to breathe? What does that even mean?

 

[KingpinZero]

Maxed out, 1080p@120fps vsync'ed galore, dont know why for some of you "dips" in cutscenes,but its a bit heavy on gpu with those effects.

anyway when i heard those iconic "sentences" ive hyped up at the point that ive insta-bought it.

Demo is short but for sure is onto another league compared to the first.

WHAT IS A MAAAAN...DIE MONSTER, YOU DONT BELONG IN THIS WORLD

Thank you Mercury Steam, thank you.

 

[NoirVisage]

Sorry, I didn't see 'Dante's Inferno' in the thread title.

GoW gave most 3D action games breathe? Do you mean it gave them breath/room to breathe? What does that even mean?

My bad, that should have been "breath" meaning they wouldn't exist without the breath of life GOW gave them,

I'm glad you can read, I truly am, but if I'm giving you an answer to your question in the form of something that will shed some light on why people who have played gow exhaustively are picking up from this game, maybe trying another game in the same vain will help it click with you.. The demo is free and should be available on both consoles.

 

[matrix-cat]

I'm interested though; what has LoS taken from GoW that actually originated in GoW?

For me it's just the basic feel of the combat, chipping away at enemies from a distance with weak chain/whip slices. You never really stagger enemies, so you have to routinely dodge around a lot just to stay at the right distance, rather than because you're having frantic back-and-forth fights. That dodge/chip/dodge/chip thing is something I grew to really dislike about God of War, and the first Lords of Shadow gives me the exact same feeling, unfortunately. I actually find myself getting irritated at enemies that block because I feel like they're just wasting my time.

I've been pretty close to giving up on the first game for a while now, but I'll probably give this demo a try all the same.

 

[Spike]

It seems that they have included the entire soundtrack in the PC demo. 4 hours of music once the music.pack file has been extracted.

Warning: If you do manage to extract this, the song titles have spoliers.

 

[Pyramid head]

My bad, that should have been "breath" meaning they wouldn't exist without the breath of life GOW gave them,

I'm glad you can read, I truly am, but if I'm giving you an answer to your question in the form of something that will shed some light on why people who have played gow exhaustively are picking up from this game, maybe trying another game in the same vain will help it click with you.. The demo is free and should be available on both consoles.

I've played Dante's Inferno and I'm very much aware that that game is little more than a GoW clone. I don't agree that LoS is though. Nor do I agree that GoW "gave life" to "most" 3D action games. Or even 'Many' 3D action games. I'll give you Dante's Inferno though.

For me it's just the basic feel of the combat, chipping away at enemies from a distance with weak chain/whip slices. You never really stagger enemies, so you have to routinely dodge around a lot just to stay at the right distance, rather than because you're having frantic back-and-forth fights. That dodge/chip/dodge/chip thing is something I grew to really dislike about God of War, and the first Lords of Shadow gives me the exact same feeling, unfortunately. I actually find myself getting irritated at enemies that block because I feel like they're just wasting my time.

I've been pretty close to giving up on the first game for a while now, but I'll probably give this demo a try all the same.

I understand the 'feel' of the combat being similar, but I don't think that's enough to label LoS a "clone". I think it has more to do with the weapons themselves. Whips/chains tend to lack the impact of axes or hammers. The whip weapon in Bayonetta feels similarly 'soft'. Conversely, the hammers, spears and swords in God of war (back in GoWII when they actually used to offer a variety of weapons) don't have the soft feeling of the chains

 

[b0uncyfr0]

Ok first up i did enjoy the demo. I also enjoyed the first game immensely since we didint have anything quite like it on PC at the time.

Graphically its solid. Textures are dated compared to more AA PC titles but because they've used some very nice lighting it doesnt really show. And besides thats what we have Sweetfx for, to make the textures pop. I do agree that the block mechanism introduces too much light and limits your view. Maybe we should let the devs know about this.

Gameplay wise its basically identical to the previous game. Anyone who complains about having too much time to block should increase the difficulty, it really makes a difference and you have to concentrate a bit harder with parrying and dodging.

I DONT believe you would start the game with the abilities in the demo, because some are way to powerful already.

A few tips to the lazy asses who havent read the thread. Set your resolution to what you want to use in-game, then set it in-game. Hopefully the release isnt like this. Also set Depth of Field to Medium. It costs wayy too much fps for absolutely nothing.

Id say to anyone whose still undecided about the game, you shouldnt look into this demo too much because from what ive seen and read, this demo doesnt even show half the amount of elements that influence gameplay. There are apparently relics you can focus on (like different abilities to increase in skyrim) and different powers not even shown. My guess is Mercury Steam is saving it for release day/reviews to show that they've actually imporoved the game in some way.

There is no way the full game will be like the Demo; that means they didint include anything new for what ...4 years?? Thats plain suicide, no matter how good/popular the first was.

Now onto a question thats bugging me about the storyline (im new to castlevania so im hoping the more knowleageble can answer); It seems to me that this this demo takes place before the ending of Los 1. Is this correct?

From a trailer i saw it seemed Dracula was recollecting how he was powerful and the gameplay in that trailer is basically this demo. So do you think we play him when he was most powerful and then switch to his frail form that 1000 years later as some of the earlier trailers show? Im trying to establish some sort of timeline or period cause i will understand it better.

 

[Juras]

Anyone with PS3 screen captures?

http://imgur.com/a/6N6yG#0

 

[matrix-cat]

I understand the 'feel' of the combat being similar, but I don't think that's enough to label LoS a "clone". I think it has more to do with the weapons themselves. Whips/chains tend to lack the impact of axes or hammers. The whip weapon in Bayonetta feels similarly 'soft'. Conversely, the hammers, spears and swords in God of war (back in GoWII when they actually used to offer a variety of weapons) don't have the soft feeling of the chains

Yeah, I don't disagree. GOW 2 is pretty much the only game in that series I really like, and your other weapons in Bayonetta are only a button press away. I guess I just don't enjoy using that particular weapon type, and unfortunately it's the only one on offer in LoS1. I was happy to see that Gabriel would have some new weapons in LoS2, but hearing that you have to be burning magic to use them is pretty disappointing.

For the record, I wouldn't call Lords of Shadow a GOW clone. I think it's a much more interesting combat system, easy access to launchers and other command-type moves instead of having to memorise a hundred button-string combos. It's just that reliance on the same whip/chain weapon that just isn't for me, unfortunately.

 

[Feindflug]

http://imgur.com/a/6N6yG#0

Wow the IQ in those shots looks really bad, only played the 360 demo and while the IQ was a tad on the soft side (probably because of some post process AA) it definitely looked sharper than this.

I'll download the PS3 demo later and see how it compares.

 

[DiscoJon]

Fun demo, but I hate, HATE when "block" is a assigned to a trigger button (L2 on PS3). My old hands aren't as quick as they used to be, and jamming down a trigger is a pain in the butt.

 

[Pearlito's Way]

Fun demo, but I hate, HATE when "block" is a assigned to a trigger button (L2 on PS3). My old hands aren't as quick as they used to be, and jamming down a trigger is a pain in the butt.

I just watched a video of the demo on youtube and have a quick question. Is the blocking/parry system a timing thing or do you have to block in advance? I only ask because the person playing seemed to hold down the block button for a while to parry some of the attacks. sn: whoever was playing was awful!!

 

[Dragon1893]

I enjoyed the demo. It doesn't win any points for originality but the same was true for the first game.
I agree that for traversal they could've thought of something more original instead of joining the club of Uncharted clones, he's friggin' Dracula for god's sake.

Mercury Steam seems to be a very competent developer but it looks like they can't come up with a single original thing in their games to save their lives.

Combat feels good though.
Will pick it up during the steam summer sale.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

I just watched a video of the demo on youtube and have a quick question. Is the blocking/parry system a timing thing or do you have to block in advance?

To parry, it has to be timed with the incoming attack. If you try to parry too early, this ends up blocking and i dont think you lose any health.

 

[Pearlito's Way]

To parry, it has to be timed with the incoming attack. If you try to parry too early, this ends up blocking and i dont think you lose any health.

Ok thanks. Truth be told I'm going to pick up the game and play it just like the GOW franchise for the same reason. I'm more interested in the story than anything else. I want to see where they're planning to take this franchise next.

 

[DJ Lushious]

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.

I really do think the anti-PS3 posts border on great exaggeration and sensationalism. Yes, the resolution makes the IQ better on the PC, but to say the PS3 version looks bad? I can't say that I agree.

 

[hengyu]

Hmm. The negatives:

The jump from yellow dot to yellow dot sequences feels really contrived and "unfun" after awhile. The fact that he teleports to the previous checkpoint when he fails also hurts immersion.

The "get the Paladin to shoot the rivets!" mechanic is simply the dumbest thing I've come across in a hack n' slash game since forever. By second time I had to do it, I hated it.

 

[ZeroX03]

I played the demo on the PS3 a while ago, but playing it again on PC at maximum settings...was utterly jaw dropping. I cannot wait to sink my fangs into this.

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

Thanks to a very positive review from a finnish video-game mag Pelaaja, I pre-ordered the game from Steam without a second thought. You guys being a bit underwhelmed by the demo worries me, though. I liked the previous game but didn't exactly love it.

 

[Eusis]

I really do think the anti-PS3 posts border on great exaggeration and sensationalism. Yes, the resolution makes the IQ better on the PC, but to say the PS3 version looks bad? I can't say that I agree.

It seems to have a dynamic resolution that can get nasty at times (or at least so with some of the effects going on), but the frame rate doesn't seem to ever dip below 30 (not significantly anyway) while still looking very good, so I definitely think at a minimum it's ahead of the first game on PS3.

 

[Currygan]

didn't know it came out for PC, downloading the demo now. as someone who liked the first a lot i hope this is at least as good

 

[Foffy]

Well the game does say that he lost a lot of his power and is trying to gain it back. It makes sense if you think about it that way.

This is all well and good, but isn't this scene really at an instance where he is at full power?

 

[Triggerhappytel]

My bad, that should have been "breath" meaning they wouldn't exist without the breath of life GOW gave them,

Nope, Devil May Cry jump-started that whole sub-genre.

 

[kudoboi]

tried the demo. loved it but sadly i won't buy the full game because i can't

 

[LeleSocho]

Played the demo yesterday...

...

steam christmas sale 2016 it is.

 

[Kontergurke]

Not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but when does this tutorial scene take place chronologically?

Mirror of Fate spoilers:

Spoiler

At first I thought this is set after Trevor's death but before Simon and Alucard killed Dracula.
But at the end of the demo a CG trailer seemingly showing off other parts of this epic battle shows us Alucard at the end, which means this whole scenario could not have been set before Dracula's death.
So I guess it must have been another "resurrection cycle" at a later time.

 

[eshwaaz]

Something that really bothers me about the combat is that the impact effects are so huge and flashy that I can't see enemy tells that they're about to attack. If I'm going to do a successful counter, I have to just stand there and wait for an attack instead of getting into a satisfying rhythm of strike-strike-strike-COUNTER-strike etc.

 

[CyanideFuse]

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

Just about to ask about this!

I played the demo (PC) for about 10 minutes - everything on max settings and the game runs absolutely fine but the cut scenes drop a few frames and have a lot of tearing.

Not sure if it is me but does the game (the characters and weapons effects etc) look pixelated in fast combat sequences?

 

[GavinUK86]

Not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but when does this tutorial scene take place chronologically?

Mirror of Fate spoilers:

Spoiler

At first I thought this is set after Trevor's death but before Simon and Alucard killed Dracula.
But at the end of the demo a CG trailer seemingly showing off other parts of this epic battle shows us Alucard at the end, which means this whole scenario could not have been set before Dracula's death.
So I guess it must have been another "resurrection cycle" at a later time.

It's set after Mirror of Fate but before Lords of Shadow's epilogue.

 

[KorrZ]

Enjoyed the demo, the platforming was eh, but it was meh in LOS1 too and that didn't stop me from enjoying it. Combat felt great, very fluid (love that PC 60FPS after playing the original on console). Oh, and of course them graphics..runs/looks amazing on my PC with all settings maxed at 1080P.

One thing that seemed pretty annoying though...did anyone else have trouble with the weapon effects? The void sword in particular smears so much blue glowing light all over the screen that I couldn't tell when the enemy I was attacking was going to retaliate...

 

[Messofanego]

It really doesn't make sense when you think about it.

I'm fucking Dracula. I can turn into a cloud of bats or smoke/mist. Why am I crawling up a wall nathan drake style? Why am I doing an epic slow-motion running jump complete with a just-barely-hanging-on ledge grab onto the titans arm when everything around me is simply playtime and I can cooly teleport onto that arm and proceed to beat the shit out of brotherhood knights?

Is it that hard to build new gameplay concepts and systems instead of picking what's widely used and trendy?

There really needs to be flying sections.

 

[Samir Sedlar]

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.

Remember that you are overpowered here, plus got all the magic unlimited.

Now onto a question thats bugging me about the storyline (im new to castlevania so im hoping the more knowleageble can answer); It seems to me that this this demo takes place before the ending of Los 1. Is this correct?

From a trailer i saw it seemed Dracula was recollecting how he was powerful and the gameplay in that trailer is basically this demo. So do you think we play him when he was most powerful and then switch to his frail form that 1000 years later as some of the earlier trailers show? Im trying to establish some sort of timeline or period cause i will understand it better.

Spoiler

The ending of LoS.2 in set in the future/present, the demo is set after Mirror of Fate events, so basically yeah

Not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but when does this tutorial scene take place chronologically?

Mirror of Fate spoilers:

Spoiler

At first I thought this is set after Trevor's death but before Simon and Alucard killed Dracula.
But at the end of the demo a CG trailer seemingly showing off other parts of this epic battle shows us Alucard at the end, which means this whole scenario could not have been set before Dracula's death.
So I guess it must have been another "resurrection cycle" at a later time.

I am not sure about this, but I think

Spoiler

that after Dracul died in MoF, he was resurrected, so the tutrioal takes place some years after MoF, and we don't know for sure, but his fight against Alucard -the one that we didn't get to play in this demo- will be the reason that puts Dracula to sleep for all those years till he awakens in the present/future where LoS.1 ended.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

Ok so Los 2 continues from Mirror of fate. How in the h*ll are PC gamers supposed to follow the stroyline when we didint get Mirror of fate? Thats unacceptable from MercurySteam. I will be dissapointed if Los 2 doesnt come with Mirror of fate now. I mean i just read about Simon from wikipedia and i had no idea who he is, but hes definitely in Los 2.

For a team thats always going on about immersion and consistency, this is the opposite.

 

[Mr. RHC]

Ok so Los 2 continues from Mirror of fate. How in the h*ll are PC gamers supposed to follow the stroyline when we didint get Mirror of fate? Thats unacceptable from MercurySteam. I will be dissapointed if Los 2 doesnt come with Mirror of fate now. I mean i just read about Simon from wikipedia and i had no idea who he is, but hes definitely in Los 2.

For a team thats always going on about immersion and consistency, this is the opposite.

I'm not a fan either of splitting the story on different platforms, initially only on 3DS now on consoles as well.(like Kingdom Hearts uh).

But I think MoF's story is pretty straight forward, so that should not be a problem.

 

[Wonko_C]

I will wait until they release the PC version of MoF before buying this game.

 

[Ahasverus]

Sooo guys, ready for some handy leaks from the audio files?

Spoiler

0. Menu (Dracula's Theme)
1. Throne Room
2. Brotherhood Breaks
3. First combat (4)
4. Paladin of God I
5. Siege Titan (2)
6. Paladin of God II (3)
7. Down on the Street (3)
8. A Nightmare (2)
9. Zobek Information
10. First Acolyte (2)
11. First Return to Castle (2)
12. Power of the Void (5)
13. Back to the Present (2)
14. Hunter and Prey
15. Descend to the Dungeons (4)
16. Lair of the Gorgon (2)
17. Underground Forge (2)
18. Next Stop, Castlevania (4)
19. City in Flames (2)
20. Carmilla's Spell (eight, you f*cking smiley)
21. Carmilla's Fight (2)
22. Second Acolyte (2)
23. The Toy Maker (7)
24. Underground Gardens (2)
25. The Hooded Man
26. A Man of God
27. Fighting on the Streets
28. Enough Talk! (3)
29. The Stronghold (2)
30. The Invocation
31. Revelations (2)
32. Setting Old Scores
33. Exploring the City (6)
34. Satan (4)
BONUS TRACKS
35. Alucard DLC
36. Atmospheres (5)
37. Combat Medium (5)
38. Combat Maximum (5)
39. Music Box (Vampire Killer from LoS1)
40. The Rats
41. Credits 1
42. Credits 2

Yep,

Spoiler

Alucard DLC

confirmed.

 

[infinityBCRT]

Ok so Los 2 continues from Mirror of fate. How in the h*ll are PC gamers supposed to follow the stroyline when we didint get Mirror of fate? Thats unacceptable from MercurySteam. I will be dissapointed if Los 2 doesnt come with Mirror of fate now. I mean i just read about Simon from wikipedia and i had no idea who he is, but hes definitely in Los 2.

For a team thats always going on about immersion and consistency, this is the opposite.

MOF had SOO little story. Just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. That being said, MS should have included it as a prologue movie or something.

 

[Ahasverus]

MOF had SOO little story. Just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. That being said, MS should have included it as a prologue movie or something.

They will include a cgi prologue in the final game.

 

[Ambitious]

What's the context of the vomiting scene? Can't play the demo before tomorrow.

 

[Ahasverus]

What's the context of the vomiting scene? Can't play the demo before tomorrow.

He uses his taunted blood to destroy the crystal that powers the Titan.

 

[Grisby]

Just reading through some of the comments. Want to go into the game fresh.

Not so far off now.