Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo impressions thread
- Thread starter Tizoc
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brandonh83
Banned
Sanctuary
Member
Can we still be friends if I think the uploaded audio quality sucks ass?
I kind of like this better though: Descent into the Castle Dungeons (Battle).
Reminds me a bit of Mechanical Monstrosity and The Hunting Path from the first game.
brandonh83
Banned
That's good too, but just different from what I posted. Loved the violin.
But yeah all the music is just amazing so far but I'm sure people will just bitch about it not being Yamane.
well, in this footage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcPeA3Ou00E
it looks like he is all powered up already by looking on the hp bar the void and chaos claw bars fully, i guess the demo is an OLD BUILD and it will be alright once the game comes out
Samir Sedlar
Member
Keep in mind this is pure speculation, but I think in this demo the press were given a somewhat powered up version, if I recall correctly they played like 5hrs or something, no way you will be that strong by then, not to mention the amount of XP on screen, so yeah Dracul is kinda all powered up but not his weapons.
I think the powered up Void Sword would be it reaching its max level with mastery to every combo it has, making it as powerful as the tutorial/demo we played.
My issue with some of the direction in the music is not that it lacks Yamane, but it lacks a memorable theme that seems catchy. It's due to a change in musical direction that isn't particularly bad, but it ends up making much of the music forgettable in relation to other songs in the series.
That being said, Oscar seems to have tried to address this with some themes, which sounds something out of Lament of Innocence in a few ways.
??????
The music in these games are so good i'd wish Oscar would start scoring movies. He reminds me of a young Basil Poledouris/Joel Goldsmith. Look I don't want to offend you or any of the previous castlevania composers. But this music makes everything we've heard before sound like amateurs. I mean you have a REAL orchestra here, with real cues to follow.
I honestly hope the sequel LOS2 will have LESS puzzles and LESS platforming, I hope mercury have learned from the previous mistakes. NG/GOW is good because of combat not it's repetive puzzles that adds nothing but filler delays. The puzzles aren't even hard in LOS just so boring and kills any replay value, don't get me started on the broken platforming either.
Here's hoping LOS2 is a better game.
The music in LOS2 is again absolutely fabolous
Vampire Chess was pretty cool, though.
Rising_Hei
Member
That's the main issue i had with the first game, 50 % of it was pure filler...
It's a textbook example that too much duration can "kill" a game
Had almost forgotten about that. The idea was cool but talk about killing the pace...
F0rneus
Tears in the rain
I wouldn't compare Oscar Araujo with Basil Poledouris in any way whatsover. I think that the Lords of Shadow soundtracks may sound big and bombastic, but they are rather souless and empty. The only song that evoked anything for me, was the final boss theme in LoS1.
Poledouris, like previous CV composers, uses melodies and basic leitmotifs in his musical pieces that give them that little spark of life that I feel Araujo always misses. It's like he throws down notes at random, creates a melody and then just goes into another direction within the same song. It ends up being unmemorable and cacophonic. It sounds like a big epic score, but I just can't remember any of it a few minutes after I listen to his Castlevania work. I just don't find any substance in his songs unfortunately.
what
This sounds soulless?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEdSQ-QNO6w&list=PL2AE2A7956FCA6D9C&index=9
:/
Krusenstern
Banned
Can someone explain me what makes music sound soulless?
F0rneus
Tears in the rain
It all sounds artificial. Hollow. Like the emotion it's trying to conjure doesn't come from the composition but from the instruments. Like "Gabriel is sad, so here's sad violin and piano". If I feel like I can replace a song with almost anything from any drama score...It's souless.
It's mechanical and by the numbers to me. That's what I mean. It doesn't feel like Castlevania music. It doesn't feel unique to the game Lords of Shadow. It sounds like every sad and/or big bombastic score ever. And it's not even a particularly good one. Like I said...I can't remember anything of the song just posted other than it starts with sad violin. I just think that Oscar Araujo's music isn't memorable in the slightest. Again this is my opinion, and I stand by it.
Well it has already been dogged twice with the 6 in GI and the 4 in Edge... but yes, more should be coming soon.
I'll be buying in spite of the, well, bad reviews. Bought the first one due to the Castlevania name and came away with mixed feelings and imagine this'll be about the same, but the premise is interesting enough and the presentation looks incredible, so I'm in despite my mixed feelings towards MercurySteam's output (still mad at you MoF HD!).
I agree with a lot of this. The first LoS soundtrack was clearly very skillfully put together but I couldn't tell one piece apart from another. As such it didn't leave much of an impression on me. I like my CV music full of memorable melodies. Encouraged by the poster above who said they think the LoS2 soundtrack tries to remedy that somewhat.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Completely agree. The comparison to Basil Poledouris and Jerry Goldsmith would be almost offensive if they weren't so hilarious.
In a previous thread someone posted a 16-bit rendition of an LoS track, and it was pretty much terrible. It was kind of both funny and sad to see how flat and terrible the songwriting was without the expensive orchestral production values to prop it up.
lawl. I stand by that comment. DmC is a game without a single redeeming value to me. But that's off-topic.
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
I'm not an expert in composition or orchestras, but my gut tells me this statement is utterly preposterous.
Are you perhaps being overly influenced by the use of a "real" orchestra and letting that sway your judgment of the compositions themselves?
brandonh83
Banned
Lords of Shadow had a handful of themes though. Gabriel has a heroic theme that is pretty much the main theme of the game that is first heard during the horse/wolf chase and is sprinkled out throughout the soundtrack as a whole. It doesn't lack themes, or soul. It has coherent themes and leitmotifs throughout the score.
Also, the track from Lords 2 I pointed out earlier has a motif from
Castlevania 64
It isn't.
Sanctuary
Member
I can totally understand the argument that just because it's using an orchestra, that doesn't make it special. While I do think the music is good at setting a mood (intent), I do agree that a lot of the tracks from the first game were unmemorable, but then there are many games where only a handful of tracks really stand out to me anyway, even if they all have some kind of redeeming quality.
Here's an example of a full orchestra track that is unforgettable, and not just because we've all heard it a billion times.
But it also has an easy to follow beat.
Here's an example of a full orchestra track that is unforgettable, and not just because we've all heard it a billion times.
But it also has an easy to follow beat.
Wonko_C
Member
Lords of Shadow felt very much like Super Castlevania IV to me: A journey that took place most of the time outside of the castle: Swamps, caverns, mountains, ruins, forests, etc. The music in SCIV was more "ambient" in some places, and LoS was a lot like that too.
There are two pieces that were most likely directly inspired by Super Castlevania IV: Agharta and one that plays in the Fire Cemetery (I couldn't find it without SFX, sorry)
There are two pieces that were most likely directly inspired by Super Castlevania IV: Agharta and one that plays in the Fire Cemetery (I couldn't find it without SFX, sorry)
brandonh83
Banned
I'm a huge fan of Oscar's stuff but it's not because of the orchestra or ensemble-- which is impressive-- it's because I find the music to be memorable, gorgeous, and a match for the style of the games. Those of us who like the music shouldn't be using that as a defense, but rather the music itself.
That's subjective which is fine. I however can play several of his cues in my head. Sure they are not as memorable as the previous simple melodic tunes from 8-16 bit, but really? Are we really suprised by that.
I have most of the castlevania scores on my collection, none of them holds a candle in MY OPINION to LOS, none.
Offensive? They are my favorite composers. I can compare them to whomever I decide regardless of what you find offensive. BTW I said J-O-E-L, nice of you to bold your own error. Also said a younger Basil...
Are we now comparing a classical piece rendered trough a simple machine code, is that how you judge music? Now that's souless and monotone.
Belmont's Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Uqy9L_xtk
"souless and empty" is not the words i'd choose to use here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Hgr9yqFSc&list=PL21791DA20B55E7E9
Agharta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXJpniZYkHg&list=PL21791DA20B55E7E9
The Evil Butcher
Whole cue, movement lasts 4 minutes.
I can mention several scores that are hard to memorize a simple tune, does that in anyway mean they are simple? Hell Mozart have written several movements which are hard to follow.
Of course, at least you gave input as to why you don't like the score, I respect that. Bombastic and forgettable to me would be most work of Tyler Bates, his work on Conan was just a loud and boring mess
Don't get me wrong I used to stop and listen to the music back in SNES/PSX era of castlevania, they were very catchy, but they didn't evoke the same feelins a range an orchestra can pull off.
I found LOS to be very mediocre, but thanks to the actors AND the musical score, it wasn't a chore. Found my self pausing my actions just to listen to the music. You know a score is good when you can use it everywhere. Bought the CD (thank god no SHITTY itunes enforced garbage) and have been listening to it for hours ever snice.
I couldn't disagree more.
I'm usually not fond of orchestra music, I don't care for generic LotR type music at all but very rarely a composer comes along whose compositions catch my ear. Araujo's music in LoS1 was one of these rare instances, exactly because I recognized themes, melodies and they connected with me. Another example would be SotC's soundtrack.
Calling Araujo's work "soulless", "unmemorable" and "cacophonic" is as far as it could get from my own assertion. I feel exactly the opposite about his work.
brandonh83
Banned
Are you saying you think LOTR had generic music?
MagnaderAlpha
Member
Isn't that the thing about liking music, though? What the music says might speak to you differently than what others hear? I might like something that you might consider vapid and plastic, though I might find something that really makes me feel emotion despite you not getting the same thing from it. That's taste, in a nutshell.
My own opinion regarding the music, it's not all bad, but I would've liked more variety. There's a place for movie-like game music, but it shouldn't dominate everything. I still firmly believe there's a place for any and everything as long as you are smart about incorporating it. People say, "This is the evolution of game music! This is how it's going to be! There's no turning back!". I think that's short-sighted regarding music. Music is art and art is not definitive. It invokes different emotions for different people, and the road for an artist to do that isn't a sole "right way". There are many ways to achieve such a result.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Going to guess he is talking about LoS 2 on this tweet. I can feel it.
The entire LOTR soundtrack is one of the most impressive bodies of work done in the history of film music. Putting generic in the same sentence should be considered a punishable crime.
That said, it breaks my heart to say that after reading the EDGE review I cancelled my amazon preorder of LoS2 to get Stick of Truth instead. If that turns out to be generally seen as a mediocre game too I might have to use the money for therapy
I'll get LoS2 for sure at some point though...sigh
That said, it breaks my heart to say that after reading the EDGE review I cancelled my amazon preorder of LoS2 to get Stick of Truth instead. If that turns out to be generally seen as a mediocre game too I might have to use the money for therapy
I'll get LoS2 for sure at some point though...sigh
LoS2 music is still very boring for me, overall. People who agree with me aren't really wrong, just as people who don't agree aren't wrong too. Music is that much subjective.
I prefer my videogame music to be memorable, cool, videogame sounding. For that, you need some strong sense of melody there. There's, like, 3 or 4 musics from Oscar Araujo that I can call memorable.
For me, it's the worst Castlevania ever sounded.
----
BTW: Why the hell did they named the city
? WTF were they thinking? (Don't worry, very weak spoiler there)
I agree. Some very nice music there. But there's many pieces that I can't even remember.
I prefer my videogame music to be memorable, cool, videogame sounding. For that, you need some strong sense of melody there. There's, like, 3 or 4 musics from Oscar Araujo that I can call memorable.
For me, it's the worst Castlevania ever sounded.
----
BTW: Why the hell did they named the city
Castlevania City
I agree. Some very nice music there. But there's many pieces that I can't even remember.
In regards to your spoiler, it's probably in response to people who (like myself) were bothered that there isn't actually a castle called Castlevania in LoS1. MercurySteam likes tossing misguided bones at their fans.
Soon I'd guess? The game is out in just over a week now.
brandonh83
Banned
Me and Ahasevreresh (sorry man) are doing some last minute things to it; I think all that's left are some headers which I'm working on now.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Played the demo on PS3 and was pretty surprised at how nice it looked. Felt a little too much like God of War though.
rocketskates
Member
I'm playing the first one for the first time to get ready for 2 and just got to The Bog. I don't even know why this level was needed, I thought we were collecting mask pieces :/
Is the 3DS/PSN/XBLA game needed to know what's going on in 2?
Is the 3DS/PSN/XBLA game needed to know what's going on in 2?
Bob Dobalina
Member
Skip it and read wikipedia for information on the characters (or youtube it)
I know what you mean, I played Halo 7, and it played just like the previous 6 titles, I mean wtf?
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
Wow Edge gave it a 4?
I'm very interested to see what other reviews will say.
I'm very interested to see what other reviews will say.
Or build your own opinion by trying the DEMO?
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
I did play the demo, and it wasn't bad. I played the PS3 and PC demos. It's light years better on the PC.
Which is why I'm interested to see what other reviews say. Edge giving it a 4 seems pretty harsh because I know first hand what 4 games are!
As bad as RE Racoon City? Inversion better than this game? As bad as Venetica? Can't be that bad.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Is there a better digital EU deal for this game than pre-ordering on Steam (35,99)? I was thinking maybe GMG would do something, but they don't even have the game listed.
Hmm but isn't EDGE usually giving out very odd scores to games that aren't call of duty or was that another magazine?
Yeah a 4/10 game is garbage for most of us. Agreed thank god they put effort into PC version. I had LOS on ps3, and those dips to 16 fps we're gamekilling.