The first acolyte had more presence in the game than the 2nd one and I'm willing to bet the same for the 3rd one.
Heck everything involving the search for the 2nd acolyte was done so fast, it makes the stealth portion prior to them be completely pointless.
We could've fought them then and there and that'd be the end of it.
I also find Alucard's plan during the flashback to be hilarious and just plain downright . Dude went all 'Just as Keikaku' thinking that up
Wow that was fun and looked great. I just saw a glimpse of a man who I'm assuming is Victor. Still having a great time but damn it seems at this point it been boss battle after boss battle. I'm getting really close to the end now right?
Finished it last weekend. Apart from the ending i thought the game was amazing. The boss battles were top notch and the inbetween stuff was pretty good. The stealth sections aren't near as bad as people say and I can't believe how you can get so focused on maybe 30 minutes in a ~12 hour game.
And one criticism I REALLY don't undestand is the "you can't go there yet". Have the people complaining about this ever played a Metroidvania before? The whole premise of these games is that you can't go anywhere from the start and need to get abilities and backtrack.
LOL that these came in one right after the other. It's getting to the point where I really almost want to do a case study on both groups and asking what made the game so horrible for some/ and compare it to the thoughts of those that really enjoyed it.
Naw man, it's deep. The video game community will never be the same after LOS2, and will be discussing and analyzing it for months, nay, years to come.
This game was, on the whole, awful to me, and that's my opinion. You just best deal with it.
Naw man, it's deep. The video game community will never be the same after LOS2, and will be discussing and analyzing it for months, nay, years to come.
LOL that these came in one right after the other. It's getting to the point where I really almost want to do a case study on both groups and asking what made the game so horrible for some/ and compare it to the thoughts of those that really enjoyed it.
Well there is no need. I enjoy most (all) games I play to finish, why should I bother when I don't enjoy myself. I also liked Mirrors of Fate, it was fun for what it was. Neither LoS2 nor Mirrors of Fate are SotN level, but when I compare every game to the best of the gerne/series and start nitpicking about everything that is not as good I won't enjoy being a gamer anymore. So I just have fun with the games for what they are and if I don't like them I will sell/shelve them.
This game was, on the whole, awful to me. If you can't deal with that opinion, then that's your problem.
Naw man, it's deep. The video game community will never be the same after LOS2, and will be discussing and analyzing it for months, nay, years to come.
Well there is no need. I enjoy most (all) games I play to finish, why should I bother when I don't enjoy myself. I also liked Mirrors of Fate, it was fun for what it was. Neither LoS2 nor Mirrors of Fate are SotN level, but when I compare every game to the best of the gerne/series and start nitpicking about everything that is not as good I won't enjoy being a gamer anymore. So I just have fun with the games for what they are and if I don't like them I will sell/shelve them.
I fall into the same line of thinking. People can say this is one of the worst games they have ever played. Fine by me. Though, not even close for me, but then I've played truly HORRID games. Magus, Ride to Hell, Damnation, Quatume Theory. Now those games... are complete piles.
Put this on again yesterday evening. Played about 20 mins and then the PS3 threw a weird error and threw me back to XMB *sigh* Hope it's not on the way out...:/
Finished it last weekend. Boss fights were fun (though I actually found LoS1's boss fights to be better), and I get where they were going for in terms of making a 3D version of the SotN exploration, but overall the game felt very meh to me.
I found myself not liking several of the same sections a lot of people have been complaining about. It's not that I couldn't deal with them, but most felt contrived. Stealth sections were generally small, but at the same time, just pointless. The best I've heard about those sections have been that they were tolerable. Worst has been that it completely broke the game for others. If that's the range, you probably need to edit it out if it adds nothing to the experience.
And the end...seriously? The main reason why I stuck around for the game was that I geniunely liked where the story was going (I really liked LoS1's story too) and was hoping for a great climatic finish. I've thought about the ending, and there's nothing there. It felt like someone kicked me in the nuts and stole my lunch money. I literally sat there going, 'this can't be it, can it?'. I've been trying to sell the game but haven't gotten any buyers either. Feel like a fool for spending the full amount on this instead of waiting for the price to drop like a rock or end up on PS+ or the like. My advice for fans of the first would to just skip this one and let the saga finish where LoS1 did. If you just want a decent action platformer, then try it out, but I would certainly rent or wait for the price to go down first. Not worth the full entry price.
Stealth wasn't too bad, just silly from a narrative point when you
fight Agreus right after having to sneak by him
, and it was annoying how you
never actually get to fight a Golgoth Guard.
Combat was fun, not DMC or Bayo, but Darksiders or DmC tier. Controllable camera made it a huge leap forward over GoW/the first LoS for me personally. If I were to change up the combat to improve it, I would add i-frames on the dodge, make it so like in MGR both blockable and unblockable attacks have a warning, with different colors (and a less annoying sound and less frequency for the unblockables), and add new skills for the command block + grab, a get over here grab for the whip, a Stinger (DMC) for the sword, and something for the claws, to close the distance after you dodge and attack, without having to use the dodge to get back in.
Although a full open world action game is one of my dreams, the Metroidvania overworld of the game worked well for it. It had the feel of the Metroidvana game style, in 3D, fairly well, beat by Dark Souls and Arkham Asylum, but it was still fun to revisit areas for the tantalizing items that were just out of reach the first time through. Too bad about all those stupid door opening animations and slow walking between the two overworlds, though.
I still liked the Dracula in modern day idea, and at some points when you get a scenic view of the city such as
during one part of the train sequence
, the art direction is fine. I think a "true" open world would have handled the city better, with more outside areas and rooftops with views of the Gothic architecture and skyline and less indoor areas.
I didn't care for the overall story, not as in I didn't like it, but because I was indifferent. I had the premise of the game (Devil May Cry esque game where you play as Dracula in an open explorable modern city with dark Gothic architecture), and that was enough to entice me, while the gameplay kept me going. Obviously you could do a lot better with that premise, but I'll take what I can get.
The ending was okay, if I were to change it I would make it so
Satan exploded or something instead of just leaving a body, destroying the Vampire Killer in the process. Then have Gabriel remember young Trevor's "choose your family" line, then turn and face Alucard and smile before giving his one liner and walking (together) into the church. That way you explain why Dracula doesn't use the VK to kill himself like he wanted all along, but still give him a happy ending where he can be (one of) his family. (And then make a sequel where good guy Dracula and cyborg ninja Alucard fight more mechs)
As someone who though the first one was terrible (It starts you out with a very unfun fight against werewolves, which I chalked up to being unfun because it was the tutorial, then makes you play that QTE/minigame with the horse riding, also bad, then has you walk super slowly through a swamp doing QTEs as you get grabbed, then makes you fight a bunch of little enemies with projectiles who don't react to your hits, with a fixed camera that's too far back (and at this point I gave up on it), this game was comparatively much better.
I agree that unblockable attacks were a little too frequent. I mean, it wasn't in such a way that it was hard, just annoying that you had to worry about "okay, I'm done getting out of the way like a scurred rat, can I attack you now?" Well, they were too frequent on normal enemies. For bosses I think it was fine.
schwing
schwing
schwing
that annoying noise...however you would write it out
a vampire Hunter like Gabriel was with a combat cross
not that I had a problem with the city areas but the quality in design just jumped , perhaps its because it more the city area and the buliding are bigger and older but I'm liking it as much as the castle areas at the moment, and damn the music in this game is fantastic just like the first
I really am loving this, probably my current GOTY, I do hope they continue the series on next-gen I'm a CV fan again after 10 years and I want more! lol
BTW, I did that 4:4:4 chroma thing like the other thread on here suggested and the blocky effects in the console version aren't that noticeable anymore
The story is shit. It they knew they couldn't cobble something (semi) interesting together for the sequel , LOS2 should have been freaking Mirror of Fate. The storyline from MOF is way more interesting than LOS2.
My philosophy on this game's story is basically... I thought the central story between
Gabriel and Alucard was great, I found it to be very touching how his son tried so hard to help him and how they ended up collaborating, and the whole "when I put my hand on your shoulder" twist... I loved all of that big time
.
That being said, the end of the series is kind of a waste unless they do a third one and actually resolve everything. As it stands it feels very unfulfilling and I agree with the negativity in that respect, but again I thought the main story was pretty terrific so I had no major qualms with it.
And I didn't find Victor
or his death to be pointless. I loved how Victor and Alucard were both seemingly trying to help Gabriel, had some of the same goals, and that their roles in the story un-Vader'd him. I think the point was that Victor sacrificed himself and died to show Gabriel that he wasn't alone and that the Belmont lineage is still going strong and that he shouldn't succumb to his curse. I'm not saying it had the greatest writing, but at least I was, you know, engaged
. That, and I'm not the biggest asshole when it comes to criticizing videogame plots, yet alone Castlevania plots.
Nvm, I finished it. The modern parts of the game are still kinda poop tho.
And fuck Agreus. So terrible.
If the original was a solid 8, this game is so far a 6 that may arguably be closer to a 5.5. It's just a badly designed and ugly Frankenstein's monster of a game. Glad I had a coupon that gave me 20% off the retail price.
The story is shit. It they knew they couldn't cobble something (semi) interesting together for the sequel , LOS2 should have been freaking Mirror of Fate. The storyline from MOF is way more interesting than LOS2.
Just finished it. I mean the plot set out to do what it was supposed to do really. I thought the ending was going to be way worse due to how everyone was talking about it in here honestly. Seemed just as most endings these days. Quick, simple, and to the point.
Overall my personal experience with this game was great minus just a few things. I'll be working on my video review this weekend. I can totally see why people dislike this game and it's so hard to know who would exactly enjoy it because you have to enjoy or be able to look past a few key things. Either way, total time was almost 16 hours and this game will be sitting right next to the original.
Beat this earlier today. Ending was pretty underwhelming, and it sucks that
you don't directly fight Satan in that form as he looked great
.
I'll have to write a bigger post over the weekend on how I feel about it. Briefly for now, after LoS1 I was hoping a sequel would grind out the negatives and become a really great game as that one had a lot of warts. What I got was definitely not that--though they did fix some issues I had, they still retain others(mainly with pacing), and added some new ones. Disappointing compared to what it could/should be, but I do think overall I liked it more as a game.
OK, been playing various games this morning and got up to the part Kotaku bitched about and just switched it off for a bit as I fancied a break. I've just done the section basically from
Carmilla to Agreus
and man, aside from the stupid scientist/trogs area again, this has been my favourite part of the game so far.
They really need to make the D-Pad functions more visible like in Dark Souls. That was perfect and illustrated what you had equipped. I've often dropped the wrong relic just because I can't see it as it's so tiny.
The modern sections have no redeeming features, it's that simple. They are bland and aside from one or two nice gothic buildings don't really fit. The grunt enemies are shockingly poor and generic and look like they were lifted from some videogame 101 course. On the flip side
Carmilla, Agreus, Satan's daughter, that thing you fight on the train, knights, clerics and armoured knights
are all fantastic.
Whoever was lead director or game designer really wanted to shoehorn stealth into this game for some reason...just really tedious most of the encounters. At least it's only modern day that's an insta-fail though.
Having said that, I've just managed two hours or so and throroughly enjoyed the game for the first time. I'm missing the puzzles though - none seem as grand or of the same scale as LoS1 as of yet, just copy/paste elevator and traversal quandries. I also have the dread fear that I'll soon be back in modern day which bums me out a little.
There's still far too much waiting round in the game. A door to open, a switch to activate, a lift to elevate, a rat transition etc. I'm still convinced the enemy design and range dependence is cheap as well. Thankfully with relics and abilities, you become completely OP which I'm guessing is where some of the tedious slog comments come from. I don't see the need for such an advanced moveset either. They carry a lot of risk but not much reward when dodge, dodge, spam/relic/void/chaos decimates anything.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
You will need Void Magic here.
. Dude went all 'Just as Keikaku' thinking that up
