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Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 - |OT| - Dead and Loving It!

The bosses here shit all over the first one. Without a shadow of a doubt. LoS1 had fucking terrible bosses. I'd say about 85% of the bosses in this game are superb. The rest are passable.
 
I actually really like the exteriors of the modern setting; a lot of the vistas are just as beautiful and grand as the castle itself. Sure some of the generic industrial interiors are kind of bleh, but like you, they don't bother me. I'm mostly indifferent to it.

Despite that I do think the open world was a missed opportunity. I do agree with jett and some others that there is a sense of jumbled level design; it could have been far more coherent.

Def true, but I still would say this game is the closest to a proper SOTN in 3D versus the other 3D games, so that's cool in my book. I'll talk a bit more about that in my review video! :D
 

Tecl0n

Member
Finished it.
Castle levels are, in general, better than what LoS1 has to offer with the improved combat. At first i thought the lack of hit stun on enemies was faulty design, but when you start mastering weapons you get insanely strong and that would make it EVEN easier. Too bad modern stuff is so...oddly designed, paced and straight up boring sometimes. Boss battles are a joy to play and watch, but still fall a bit on the easy side. Stealth sections have no use in this game, there are many other (better) ways to show a lack of power. Also, LOLPLOTWAT.
I can't make sense of the timeline, aside from the terrible plot, if the prologue happened many years after the end of MoF when Dracula is "defeated" by alucard and simon, i thought the castle crumbled? Still, a game that has Dracula riding an ignited fuel container into a wall is....something to talk about.
 
The bosses here shit all over the first one. Without a shadow of a doubt. LoS1 had fucking terrible bosses. I'd say about 85% of the bosses in this game are superb. The rest are passable.

I thought the bosses in the first were amazing, specifically: Brauner, Carmilla, Olrox, Pan, and Satan. Olrox in particular was a lot of great fun. However, yeah, the bosses in this game trump those without a doubt, and that's saying a lot.

The final boss in this game is phenomenal.
fighting a Satan-possessed Alucard on a falling Leviathan in the earth's atmosphere with the sunset is just godlike
. I cannot wait to do that on Prince of Darkness difficulty.

I dunno. I had some problems with this one, but I definitely want more. I want more 2D Castlevania, but if we're to get another 3D one anytime soon, I'd want it to be a follow-up to this.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I think I'm approaching the endgame here, with the toymaker done and dusted. This thing has its moments, but man its...its just a really sloppy video game in so many aspects. I can't give it a higher than a 6/10, I wouldn't call it "good", despite every now and again it really does come alive and its very good(usually in a boss encounter or a particularly inspired enemy encounter). But so much of this is...IDK, I'm gonna have to write something lengthier down after this is done and thought about the experience as a whole.

How about dat agreus.
 
I thought the bosses in the first were amazing, specifically: Brauner, Carmilla, Olrox, Pan, and Satan. Olrox in particular was a lot of great fun. However, yeah, the bosses in this game trump those without a doubt, and that's saying a lot.

The final boss in this game is phenomenal.
fighting a Satan-possessed Alucard on a falling Leviathan in the earth's atmosphere with the sunset is just godlike
. I cannot wait to do that on Prince of Darkness difficulty.

I dunno. I had some problems with this one, but I definitely want more. I want more 2D Castlevania, but if we're to get another 3D one anytime soon, I'd want it to be a follow-up to this.

The penultimate boss was waaaaaay cooler than the final boss. That was a super fun fight. I didn't like the final boss as much, they should've exploited
Alucard's powers
better in that fight.
 

Grisby

Member
Still just going through the city getting secrets. I got the castle down but f you science district and your 30 items.

Backtracking through the city definitely makes you realize the flaws in the level design. The sections feel cobbled together and there are so many loading sections (at least they aren't terribly long.

Going to beat it tomorrow hopefully, looking forward to the last few bosses considering most have them have been great. Kinda wish this game had a boss rush mode of some sort.
 

Levyne

Banned
Is there an in-game reward to 100% or 110% that people know of? I don't care about achievements, but if there's something in game, I might shoot for it.
 
Feels like I just took a real gut punch, I'm pretty POed with Mercurysteam for how poorly they treated one of the characters.
Victor Belmont. How do you introduce a Belmont of all people with an awesome fight like that and then just kill him off without even having him defend himself? Fuck that!
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Feels like I just took a real gut punch, I'm pretty POed with Mercurysteam for how poorly they treated one of the characters.
Victor Belmont. How do you introduce a Belmont of all people with an awesome fight like that and then just kill him off without even having him defend himself? Fuck that!

I loved his design too. Really weird how quick that all went.
 

ironcreed

Banned
I got passed Carmilla earlier and really have no desire to keep going. It pains me to say it, but I'm just not enjoying this game at all. I'll probably go back to it before I send it back to Gamefly, but I popped in Thief and am enjoying it way more right off the bat. Severely disappointed with how this turned out after waiting so long and being so hyped.
 

Mindman

Member
Need help again guys...

Just got the chupacabra out of the cage, and crossed over into the area with the flying medusas or whatever the hell they are, lol. Got to the fight at the top of that area with the two big guys, and then there's a door to which I don't have the key. Back in the chupacabra room there was also a door to which I didn't have the key, and back in the Room of the Damned there was a door above the wolf portal to which I didn't have the key!! Is this all the same key? If not, where's the one I need to proceed in the area were I defeated the two big guys??
 

Sanctuary

Member
The penultimate boss was waaaaaay cooler than the final boss. That was a super fun fight. I didn't like the final boss as much, they should've exploited
Alucard's powers
better in that fight.

He looked way cooler, but the fight was a lot easier from the very beginning.

Need help again guys...

Just got the chupacabra out of the cage, and crossed over into the area with the flying medusas or whatever the hell they are, lol. Got to the fight at the top of that area with the two big guys, and then there's a door to which I don't have the key. Back in the chupacabra room there was also a door to which I didn't have the key, and back in the Room of the Damned there was a door above the wolf portal to which I didn't have the key!! Is this all the same key? If not, where's the one I need to proceed in the area were I defeated the two big guys??

Do you mean
harpies
? Anyway, those
keys drop off of the Jailers (huge guy in armor with a hammer). They have plenty of chances to spawn on the path that leads to that castle like structure, and beyond that you reach by travelling across one of the chains that connects to it. That's actually past the Chupacabra room. The Jailers also *sometimes* spawn in that circular room that has the blood pool in the middle. There's a really easy path to take to farm keys later on, but you aren't at that point yet. And yes, the locks all require the same key.
 
Feels like I just took a real gut punch, I'm pretty POed with Mercurysteam for how poorly they treated one of the characters.
Victor Belmont. How do you introduce a Belmont of all people with an awesome fight like that and then just kill him off without even having him defend himself? Fuck that!

pretty much sums up this whole game. everything feels so rushed.

that was definitely my favorite boss fight of the game though.
since you were essentially facing LOS1 gabriel belmont
 

Cryst

Member
Why did they give GUNS to the enemies? Argh!

Is there an easier way to deal with groups of them all firing at me at once? I feel like if I block, something will come at me with an unblockable attack that forces me to "dodge" (which really means, leave my open to getting shot). I don't have a way to close the distance either, and every gun hit makes me flinch, or knocks me down only to allow some other demon to keep taking shots at me when I'm already on the ground.

That last bit is particularly frustrating because the opposite is not true whatsoever. Trying to pull off a Yx8 to completion is near impossible when enemies hardly flinch at all, or just proceed to chain red unblockable attacks at me.

What am I missing?
 
Why did they give GUNS to the enemies? Argh!

Is there an easier way to deal with groups of them all firing at me at once? I feel like if I block, something will come at me with an unblockable attack that forces me to "dodge" (which really means, leave my open to getting shot). I don't have a way to close the distance either, and every gun hit makes me flinch, or knocks me down only to allow some other demon to keep taking shots at me when I'm already on the ground.

That last bit is particularly frustrating because the opposite is not true whatsoever. Trying to pull off a Yx8 to completion is near impossible when enemies hardly flinch at all, or just proceed to chain red unblockable attacks at me.

What am I missing?

Your not missing anything, this game was designed by monkeys.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
At what point is this game suppose to get ugly and bad?
Just recovered the Void Sword and so far it's been pretty great.

Gorgeous with lots of diversityVariety so far, and its only been like three hours.
 
At what point is this game suppose to get ugly and bad?
Just recovered the Void Sword and so far it's been pretty great.

Gorgeous with lots of diversityVariety so far, and its only been like three hours.

If you like it at this point, I imagine you'll like it even more by the end.

This is a good, yet terribly flawed game. It's not bad really.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
Why did they give GUNS to the enemies? Argh!

Is there an easier way to deal with groups of them all firing at me at once? I feel like if I block, something will come at me with an unblockable attack that forces me to "dodge" (which really means, leave my open to getting shot). I don't have a way to close the distance either, and every gun hit makes me flinch, or knocks me down only to allow some other demon to keep taking shots at me when I'm already on the ground.

That last bit is particularly frustrating because the opposite is not true whatsoever. Trying to pull off a Yx8 to completion is near impossible when enemies hardly flinch at all, or just proceed to chain red unblockable attacks at me.

What am I missing?

Most of the gun enemies are weak. Clear them out with an AOE Chaos attack (L2+Triangle & Counter+Triangle both great and high damage). Alternatively, dodging works against shotguns, as does mist form. Most of it can be blocked. Bullets also stop if there's something between you, so move behind other enemies or pillars and they'll take the hits for you. As far as closing distance goes, you have void projectile to slow/stop them and bats to distract them so you have time to get in close. Alternatively drop an hourglass so you can just run and dodge. There's also a mist + chaos move that covers long distances.

Game gives you a lot of tools, you just have to think about what's right for the current situation because there's a lot to consider. General strategy is to quickly clear out weak/projectile enemies with Chaos, recover any damage with Void then kite/counter the last 1-2 enemies to build back your meters. If you allow yourself time to get mobbed, you'll die.
 

Tizoc

Member
Just reached Agreus, it's not that hard form what little I played just need t be quick about your movements.
 

Cryst

Member

You know, I hadn't even considered using the bats in combat. I'm still a little stuck in the LoS1 combat where reading patterns and counter spamming got me through the hardest difficulty, while even the small guys in LoS2 with the assault rifles can be a real nuisance with that brute force strategy. Thanks for the tips!
 

Levyne

Banned
Stuck at 97% lore. I see there's a diary near where you defeat the
second acolyte
in the Overlook Tower, but I'm unsure you can get back there..

I've gotten to the point where seeking the lore out has gotten quite unfun, so I may just stop there and call it a wrap. Or go into PoD mode and worry about it later.
 
Stuck at 97% lore. I see there's a diary near where you defeat the
second acolyte
in the Overlook Tower, but I'm unsure you can get back there..

I've gotten to the point where seeking the lore out has gotten quite unfun, so I may just stop there and call it a wrap. Or go into PoD mode and worry about it later.

It seems somebody on ps3trophies.org is going to compile a lore list within the next couple of days, you could wait for that.
 

ezekial45

Banned
∀ Narayan;102815105 said:
Just beat it. I gotta say, they really dropped the ball with the story on this. It just fizzles out so quickly. The end boss was alright.

Yeah, for real. By far the biggest fuck up was
not fighting actually Satan. That fight with Alucard seemed like a warmup to a final fight more than anything. I mean why the hell did they bulk him up anyway?
 

Levyne

Banned
It seems somebody on ps3trophies.org is going to compile a lore list within the next couple of days, you could wait for that.

Hmm, it would be cool if they manage to line up which lore pick up is which entry in the menu, that way you could know what exactly you need. Could take a while, though.

I feel that the game should give you some idea of where to look. It doesn't have to "dodo bird" directly to them, but maybe put an icon on the mini map indicting when you've got them all, ocarina of time skulltula style. But in the grand scheme of things it's not important. Just a number in a menu.
 

Mask

Member
Just finished it.

Stealth sections were bullshit. I could kinda understand having to avoid the guards at the beginning, but it gets stupid once you get to the point of having punched a hole through a giant demon a few minutes before. Agreus was an asshole, didn't take me much longer than 7-8 minutes, but still very annoying. Some of the bosses were pretty cool, but some were also pretty boring.

Stealth shit aside, it was pretty fun. Not the best thing I've played this year, but not the worst. Fuck the shotgun demons though. Fuck them and the train they rode in on.
 
Yeah, for real. By far the biggest fuck up was
not fighting actually Satan. That fight with Alucard seemed like a warmup to a final fight more than anything. I mean why the hell did they bulk him up anyway?

I figure they kept us from directly fighting Satan in this title because Gabriel fights him in LoS1 as a human and royally fucks his shit up. Obviously Satan stands no chance against the Dragon when he's recovered his full strength, so he has to go the cheap route and possess Alucard to go toe-to-toe.

Still, the outcome was definitely not what I expected.
I suspect we will get some DLC for a true conclusion. Total bullshit.

Overall, I enjoyed the game about as much as LoS1. If I were a reviewer, I'd definitely give this a 7-8.
 

Jacob4815

Member
Dave Cox, months ago:

This will be the end of Dracula’s story and we don’t intend to do any follow up. This is our take on the Castlevania mythology and we want to go out with a bang and create something memorable for those who have invested in our story. It wont be a conventional story though, there will be lots of twists and surprises. We want the players to think and to debate the game for years to come. We want to leave a legacy.
 
How about dat agreus.

yeah that was uh

Anyway, I got to this
Storm Riders
part and I think...I think I'm done. I am finding no more joy out of this thing in just about any aspect. Its just such a clumsy, incoherent, often stupid little video game, and I think I've had just about enough.

Goodbye, MercurySteam.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Bullets also stop if there's something between you, so move behind other enemies or pillars and they'll take the hits for you.

Bullets/acid spit can shoot through cars and walls. I also love it how the wraith type enemies have sniper like accuracy and can hit you two or three times after you've entered a new area from below, before you can actually see them. They are easy enough to kill one on one, but en masse are annoying as hell. Yeah, you get "the tools" to take them out quickly after you're actually able to reach them through their projectile spam. Those mini Abaddon's also have that ectoplasm/telekinetic skull attack that goes right through any enemy (and does nothing to them) while hitting you if you're too close.
 

Yuterald

Member
This is so the Matrix Reloaded of Castlevania. I feel like I'm Neo fighting in courtyards whenever that brass instrument/horn ques the battle track. This game is really funny to me.
 

Neff

Member
I'm always hesitant to label bad game design without at least figuring out all alternatives and exploring all possible redeeming qualities...

But this leaves section is just an unmitigated disaster of logic, mechanics and player agency.

Other than this one blip, the game ain't bad at all.
 

ShinAmano

Member
Ok need help at an early boss that name starts with M
At medusa...when she sticks her hand into the ground what am I supposed to do? I tried jumping on it hitting it with all weapons and watched a youtube...where he froze her hand...how exactly do I do this? I am on 360...cant seem to get the void power to work...don't know how to do it I guess.
Help please...this fight has been going on way too long.
 

Kysen

Member
Trevor in his original armor looks like such a badass, why couldn't we play as him instead. Dat blade...
 

Maedhros

Member
Finished. The Final Boss sucked hard.

Never will touch this game again. It wasn't that fun at all. It's definitely playable, good combat system, but the low points bring this game to a non-essential/regular score for me (6~7/10). Something that I should have never wasted all my money on.

The story is terrible. Good for people who love the twists (which you can see coming from a mile, every single one of them except who's the final boss on the first game) and all, but it's just as bad as any old Castlevania game (I think that at least it's maintaining the tradition of having shitty story allied with serviceable gameplay).

I won't even talk about the music. 5 pieces that I still remember after I finished the game, 4 of them being battle themes and the other one being the Chupacabra shopping theme.

Alucard and Victor, completely useless characthers. COMPLETELY USELESS. Why the hell are they even on this game?

There's 0 extra content after you finish this game. No need to replay it at all. Finished it with 100% and I don't want to play it ever again.

Shitty ending, that doesn't isn't really a ending at all.

The Castle areas are fantastic, they should be longer, though. Also, the level design could be a lot better. Lot's of shit platforming (AKA shimming, fuck you POP, for destroying skill based 3D platforming forever). The bosses are the best part of this game, pretty fun to kill. Wish they had a boss rush mode on this.

Well, at least LoS is finished after this game (and the promised DLCs). Can't wait to see what Castlevania will be next. I'll conveniently forget everything about Lords of Shadow.
 
Ok need help at an early boss that name starts with M
At medusa...when she sticks her hand into the ground what am I supposed to do? I tried jumping on it hitting it with all weapons and watched a youtube...where he froze her hand...how exactly do I do this? I am on 360...cant seem to get the void power to work...don't know how to do it I guess.
Help please...this fight has been going on way too long.

Maybe you forgot to select the ice projectiles by pressing "up" on the d-pad when equipping the Void Sword.

As for my part I'm loving this game. How anyone can give this game a mediocre score is beyond me.
The quality is inconsistent though. The boss battles and castle areas are the where the game really shines, but the modern day areas lack behind. Not to speak of the enemies in the modern world (
Mutants with shotguns and police squads equiped with jetpacks and robotic armor.
Gave me a good laugh sometimes, holy crap)

What I really liked was the whole section with the T
oy Maker
. It was so very well done in my opinion.
I can't enforce enough how good the music in this game is. Some tracks are real earworms. I need to find out what the name of these songs are.
 

Voror

Member
Nevermind, found a way.

By the way, I have to say that
Victor was such a wasted character. You introduce him in this awesome sequence and boss fight and he dies five minutes later? And what about that antidote I gave him? I didn't see him hand that to anyone.
 

Elginer

Member
Whoever decided this game needed stealth sections needs to be kicked in the balls. Hard. UGH. Terrible, just terrible.
 
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