maniac-kun
Member
why ps+ 
Castlevania Demo Impressions Thread of EU PSN+ Exclusivity
- Thread starter glaurung
- Start date
brandonh83
Banned
maniac-kun said:why ps+
Letting Plus members have it a week early is pretty cool.
Letting only European Plus members have it a week early is absolutely not.
BattleMonkey
Member
maniac-kun said:why ps+
They got to sell + memberships somehow.
brandonh83
Banned
Maffis said:About time European gets something first. Deal with it
That's cool and all, but European Plus members aren't the only ones paying for the service.
black_vegeta
Member
Maffis said:About time European gets something first. Deal with it
Savior the flavor, because this shit doesn't happen all the time.
brandonh83
Banned
Violater said:
European Plus subscribers this week. Everyone else, next week. I mean if things like this are going to happen, it makes it hard to justify paying for it. You pay for a service like that to get exclusive deals and such, so what about American Plus subscribers who are also shelling out the cash because they want early exclusives like this? even if you pay for Plus, you're not guaranteed stuff like this depending on your country and that's pretty lame.
I'm not saying this one incident is worth writing off the entire service over, I just hope it doesn't become a staple.
My impressions of the demo;
Goddamn this thing is polished. It opened with a difficulty selection (4 levels of difficulty), and then kicked off with a narration by Stewart, on a story book page. Very well done. It also masks a loading screen, which is nice. Once that's done, it launches into a full blown cut scene. My initial impression is that the story is very prominent. Also, the game looks bloody good, with a nice color palette and gorgeous character models. The rain is outstanding, doesn't seem to just be a screen filter.
Once I actually got into the game, it certainly gave me the impression that the developers had been playing a lot of god of war. It does, however, feel slightly sluggish at times, like the game is struggling to keep up. I didn't notice any tearing, so this could be vsync making the game feel this way. It didn't happen often enough for me to care.
I got my first sub weapon, daggers of course. The enemies drop them, and also experience too, which is nice. This is definitely the tutorial I'm playing. However, the presentation as a whole is downright great. There are little hand drawn animations in the upgrade menu, with a pencil drawing of how the move you just bought will look in game. Its all very well done.
Soon as that was over, a larger enemy jumped me, and I had to mash a button (yay!) to get free, which will certainly get old fast. There is a block + dash mechanic in place, similar to Ninja Gaiden, rather than using the right analogue stick. This boss battle quickly grew tiresome, though I suspect it is because the character is underpowered at this time. I ended the fight by tricking the enemy to jump onto a spike (which was kinda cool, I actually had to time it right in order to get it to work, so its my fault the battle went on for as long as it did :lol
Fight over, and a cut scene went and happened. This drew the first part of the demo to a close, and started a loading screen for the next part of the demo.
Interlude - The music in this game is your standard "fantasy epic", which is nice and all, but I was hoping for more classic themes. They are definitely there, but in more of the form of a leitmotif, little touches that remind you of the older titles.
Right, back to the game. There was another cut scene, and I found myself in a forest, with a horse that looks like the bastard child of Epona and Raiden from MK... Cut scenes can be skipped, by the way.
So, I found myself on a horse, battling evil. That didn't last long, I was thrown off and into another combat scene. I'm getting the distinct impression that this is a linear game, though that could just be due to the fact that this forest looks suspiciously like a corridor... Back to the combat. It seems extremely dynamic, and far more timing based, which makes for interesting fights. Imagine if you stuck EBA (yes, elite beat agents) into Ninja Gaiden, and you have a fair idea of how the QTE's work. Rings get smaller, when they overlap, hit a button to do something cool. Oh, there are invisible walls in this battle too. Its still a tutorial, teaching me to counter now. Once that's over, its back to the horse riding.
Ugh, got knocked off again, and its back to the combat. Nice that the enemies wait their turn while you use the conveniently placed healing fountain. Once that fight is over, its back to the horses, but only a cut scene. Again, its all very well done. No QTE's in the cinemas, which is nice.
And, with that Cut Scene, the demo is over. All in all, its a solid game. Hopefully the final game is a lot less linear than the demo showed it to be. It was literally the tutorial, and the demo ended with Gabriel truly setting off on his quest, which shows me that the game truly starts after the demo ends, which is both nice and annoying. But I suppose that this was the best area to turn into a demo, as it was fairly self contained, and it does a good job of setting up the story and gameplay. There was about 15 minutes of cut scenes in total, and I played for about 45 minutes, so the ratio is fairly good.
Any questions?
Goddamn this thing is polished. It opened with a difficulty selection (4 levels of difficulty), and then kicked off with a narration by Stewart, on a story book page. Very well done. It also masks a loading screen, which is nice. Once that's done, it launches into a full blown cut scene. My initial impression is that the story is very prominent. Also, the game looks bloody good, with a nice color palette and gorgeous character models. The rain is outstanding, doesn't seem to just be a screen filter.
Once I actually got into the game, it certainly gave me the impression that the developers had been playing a lot of god of war. It does, however, feel slightly sluggish at times, like the game is struggling to keep up. I didn't notice any tearing, so this could be vsync making the game feel this way. It didn't happen often enough for me to care.
I got my first sub weapon, daggers of course. The enemies drop them, and also experience too, which is nice. This is definitely the tutorial I'm playing. However, the presentation as a whole is downright great. There are little hand drawn animations in the upgrade menu, with a pencil drawing of how the move you just bought will look in game. Its all very well done.
Soon as that was over, a larger enemy jumped me, and I had to mash a button (yay!) to get free, which will certainly get old fast. There is a block + dash mechanic in place, similar to Ninja Gaiden, rather than using the right analogue stick. This boss battle quickly grew tiresome, though I suspect it is because the character is underpowered at this time. I ended the fight by tricking the enemy to jump onto a spike (which was kinda cool, I actually had to time it right in order to get it to work, so its my fault the battle went on for as long as it did :lol
Fight over, and a cut scene went and happened. This drew the first part of the demo to a close, and started a loading screen for the next part of the demo.
Interlude - The music in this game is your standard "fantasy epic", which is nice and all, but I was hoping for more classic themes. They are definitely there, but in more of the form of a leitmotif, little touches that remind you of the older titles.
Right, back to the game. There was another cut scene, and I found myself in a forest, with a horse that looks like the bastard child of Epona and Raiden from MK... Cut scenes can be skipped, by the way.
So, I found myself on a horse, battling evil. That didn't last long, I was thrown off and into another combat scene. I'm getting the distinct impression that this is a linear game, though that could just be due to the fact that this forest looks suspiciously like a corridor... Back to the combat. It seems extremely dynamic, and far more timing based, which makes for interesting fights. Imagine if you stuck EBA (yes, elite beat agents) into Ninja Gaiden, and you have a fair idea of how the QTE's work. Rings get smaller, when they overlap, hit a button to do something cool. Oh, there are invisible walls in this battle too. Its still a tutorial, teaching me to counter now. Once that's over, its back to the horse riding.
Ugh, got knocked off again, and its back to the combat. Nice that the enemies wait their turn while you use the conveniently placed healing fountain. Once that fight is over, its back to the horses, but only a cut scene. Again, its all very well done. No QTE's in the cinemas, which is nice.
And, with that Cut Scene, the demo is over. All in all, its a solid game. Hopefully the final game is a lot less linear than the demo showed it to be. It was literally the tutorial, and the demo ended with Gabriel truly setting off on his quest, which shows me that the game truly starts after the demo ends, which is both nice and annoying. But I suppose that this was the best area to turn into a demo, as it was fairly self contained, and it does a good job of setting up the story and gameplay. There was about 15 minutes of cut scenes in total, and I played for about 45 minutes, so the ratio is fairly good.
Any questions?
Ewwwwwww. That ratio is terrible IMO. I'm sure the beginning/tutorial will have more cutscenes on average than the rest of the game though.V_Ben said:
Wasn't there some previewer a while ago who said he played the game for something like 10 hours and it said he was only about 30% done? Is there any indication in this demo that this will be a long game?
I NEED SCISSORS
Banned
It's probably easier and cheaper just to buy the EA/US special edition and listen to the soundtrack on Youtube.
SenorDingDong
Member
I had no idea this game is coming out in just over two weeks. For some reason I had it stuck in my head that it was a November release. Quite a few great games over the coming 4 - 5 weeks.
brandonh83
Banned
Majine said:
I did say that the service shouldn't be written off just because of this one thing. I just don't see why they should segregate content like this between countries. NA Plus members get stuff, sure. Didn't say otherwise. But I think it's pretty lousy that they only released this for Euro Plus members. It works both ways too, I don't think that stuff NA Plus members should be kept from Euro members either. My argument wasn't a one-way train. Point being, you pay for Plus, you should get things that other Plus subscribers get as well. It's like, well, I paid $50 for this service but I can't play the Plus-exclusive Castlevania demo because I'm not in Europe.
Finished my first play through the demo. Hell yes.
First, the menu screen with the floating travel book is already so nice that I let it idle there for some time. I did not get a difficulty setting screen, but maybe I just missed it. Anyway, the graphics at the beginning of the game already blew me away. Sure, you can still see that these are rendered in real time and there is some aliasing in play that is noticeable during cut scenes, but the models and textures are just awesome. The only moment that looked weak was when Gabriel was getting off his normal horse, then it looked like the horse had no texture at all. But that was probably because of the wet shader in play. The tutorial battle was nice, but already here I can see how some situations with this fixed camera could get ugly. Sometimes the only way to see where the remaining enemies were was by looking at the direction of the local farmers.
The warg boss has an insane amount of hairiness detail. The animations were fluid, the battle a bit hectic but otherwise excellent. When the camera pulls out from the end of the battle, the level of detail with the rain is crazy.
The ghost horse section was a bit more awkward. I managed to kill off the first batch of wargs without getting knocked off, but the second phase had me knocked off and fight a warg that managed to kill me. Here I figured out how vulnerable Gabriel actually is. The combos might be insane (like hit triangle eight times in a row) and the purchasable extra moves could make a difference like night and day, but the warg here could easily interrupt my aerial combos and ravage me. So I died once, but the second time around I was a bit more careful and the warg was history.
The ghost horse jumped me over the ravine that was a slow motion cut scene straight out of Hideo Kojima's handbook. Superior. Game trailer and end of the demo.
Oh, and the travel book. I could buy the game for this feature alone. The art in this book (bestiary and character pages) is beyond awesome. And the little animations that show you standard and extra actions and attack moves are just a delight to look at.
So in conclusion: the graphics are way above average and they serve the game greatly. Music is epic. And by epic I mean go to YouTube and search for the epic music mixes of movie and game soundtracks. The control was precise and responsive, though that is really not a surprise here. The only major problem was the camera.
October cannot come quickly enough.
First, the menu screen with the floating travel book is already so nice that I let it idle there for some time. I did not get a difficulty setting screen, but maybe I just missed it. Anyway, the graphics at the beginning of the game already blew me away. Sure, you can still see that these are rendered in real time and there is some aliasing in play that is noticeable during cut scenes, but the models and textures are just awesome. The only moment that looked weak was when Gabriel was getting off his normal horse, then it looked like the horse had no texture at all. But that was probably because of the wet shader in play. The tutorial battle was nice, but already here I can see how some situations with this fixed camera could get ugly. Sometimes the only way to see where the remaining enemies were was by looking at the direction of the local farmers.
The warg boss has an insane amount of hairiness detail. The animations were fluid, the battle a bit hectic but otherwise excellent. When the camera pulls out from the end of the battle, the level of detail with the rain is crazy.
The ghost horse section was a bit more awkward. I managed to kill off the first batch of wargs without getting knocked off, but the second phase had me knocked off and fight a warg that managed to kill me. Here I figured out how vulnerable Gabriel actually is. The combos might be insane (like hit triangle eight times in a row) and the purchasable extra moves could make a difference like night and day, but the warg here could easily interrupt my aerial combos and ravage me. So I died once, but the second time around I was a bit more careful and the warg was history.
The ghost horse jumped me over the ravine that was a slow motion cut scene straight out of Hideo Kojima's handbook. Superior. Game trailer and end of the demo.
Oh, and the travel book. I could buy the game for this feature alone. The art in this book (bestiary and character pages) is beyond awesome. And the little animations that show you standard and extra actions and attack moves are just a delight to look at.
So in conclusion: the graphics are way above average and they serve the game greatly. Music is epic. And by epic I mean go to YouTube and search for the epic music mixes of movie and game soundtracks. The control was precise and responsive, though that is really not a surprise here. The only major problem was the camera.
October cannot come quickly enough.
dark_inferno
Member
glaurung said:
Cant say much more. A really really great demo.
brandonh83
Banned
Good to see the really positive impressions, though again I'm sure the game will get much better beyond the demo point.
brandonh83
Banned
daaaaaamn @ pre-load screen.
The Faceless Master
Member
they have to help people feel their $50 wasn't worthlessmaniac-kun said:why ps+
SiegfriedFM
Member
And that section sucks compared to much of what is to come 
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Don't get all bothered about it just yet. Nothing even says this will be like that. Not yet at least.Requeim said:
LowParry
Member
I was really hoping they'd of done a different section of the game as a demo. It's something we've already seen (but not played of course). I fear this demo is going to scare away people when the whole package is well worth it. And all the snide remarks will come ten times fold (I'm looking at you Iga Cultists!).
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Just for that little crack, I'm not buying this til November.CcrooK said:
one of my friends offered to buy it for me for a late birthday present, he's visiting in november, and just wants to bring it then
British Monsoon
Member
So why can't I control the camera? I know this game is trying to ape God of War's gameplay mechanics in every single way, but the fixed camera angle was never a problem in that series, I already found it a problem twice in this demo. I could understand it if the areas were particularly enclosed, which might cause problems with the camera running through objects, or if dodge was mapped to the right stick - but it honestly seems like a decision made just because fixed camera angles are 'epic' and 'that's how God of War does it'.
The gameplay itself seems ok, I enjoyed the riding section and the combat has a nice, meaty feel to it, but i'm not the biggest fan of God of War-style action adventures. Also, I guess I shouldn't have taken it too seriously when the developers made such a big deal of mentioning how inspired by Super Castlevania IV they were and the epic platforming sections that game featured - I keep expecting to see some platforming in the same vein featured in the scant few gameplay videos released, but i'm worried it'll be more 'press button to initiate crazy QTE jumping sequence' than 'perfectly timed precision platforming'.
The gameplay itself seems ok, I enjoyed the riding section and the combat has a nice, meaty feel to it, but i'm not the biggest fan of God of War-style action adventures. Also, I guess I shouldn't have taken it too seriously when the developers made such a big deal of mentioning how inspired by Super Castlevania IV they were and the epic platforming sections that game featured - I keep expecting to see some platforming in the same vein featured in the scant few gameplay videos released, but i'm worried it'll be more 'press button to initiate crazy QTE jumping sequence' than 'perfectly timed precision platforming'.
Nizz
Member
Question for people who've played the demo, is there only one default set of controls? I was wondering if there was a set up similar to God of War where block is L1 and magic is L2? It's no deal breaker for me but I was just wondering.
Impressions sound great so far. Game looks awesome in previews for it so far. Presentation sounds ace.
Impressions sound great so far. Game looks awesome in previews for it so far. Presentation sounds ace.
British Monsoon
Member
Brera said:
Like any dark fantasy action adventure film. With Patrick Stewart narrating.
Brera said:
No, it's God of War.
Brera said:
The score seems competent enough, but it's indistinguishable from any other epic fantasy orchestral movie score and while it does fit the game, you won't find any familiarity with classic CV tunes here.
Genesis Knight
Member
jigglywiggly said:
Out the ass = bad?
brandonh83
Banned
Bootaaay said:
Too early to make that call but I've seen a clock tower gameplay video that was all platforming.
Here's some gameplay from TGS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-sKON0lCk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-sKON0lCk