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Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2's reveal is one of gaming's most underrated trailers

A

Alex_Mexico

Member
First let me get this out of the way: I love Castlevania Lords of Shadow 1. I think its by far the best 3D Castlevania ever made (it is also the franchise's best selling game ever) and it was my 2010 GOTY. LoS2 on the other hand? Not bad but mediocre and dissapointing. But I'm not here to judge the game itself. I'm here to sing the praise for its unsung reveal trailer which never got the attention it deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKsEPoJMuKY

Clocking at 3 minutes this may be my favorite videogame CG trailer of all time. Thats right I said CG. If Gametrailers can give Bioshock's CG trailer the title of the best trailer of all time then I can shower this one with praise as well.

Its a trailer entirely driven by Oscar Araujo's exceptional music. Not a single sound effect or line of dialogue is heard. Everything depends on the music and how perfectly it syncs with the images. Of course it helps that the animation and CG quality if top notch with thousands of soldiers storming the castle at the same time and seeing how Dracula destroys hundreds from each whip attack is a sight to behold.

When this was released we didnt know anything about the sequel and this trailer successfully tells you, without words written or spoken, who youre playing as, how he'll fight, where and when-ish its set, mechanics (the sucking on enemies' blood), turning into a dragon, and even shows an early boss from the game (wooden giant).

Oh, and then there's Alucard at the end.

Fucking fantastic reveal trailer that wasn't appreciated back when it came out and it certainly isnt appreciated today and I cant understand why, especially back when it was new since now I get it'll be overshadowed by the cold reception the game got but I'll be damned if this trailer isnt one of the best CG trailers gaming has ever seen.

What does GAF think?
 
Laplasakos

Laplasakos

Member
One of the best trailers of all time. It made an impression to me the moment i saw it and i still remember it today.

Too bad the game didn't live up to the trailer.
 
tauroxd

tauroxd

Member
Sure but the game ended up being a huge disappointment (IMO) and it reduced eveything about that reveal for me.
 
kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
eh, the super hero landing, blood whips, and giant robot were too silly for me to take seriously. I found it to be a pretty boring trailer with a focus on epic fantasy battles that don't really interest me when it comes to Dracula or Castlevania.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
kunonabi said:
eh, the super hero landing, blood whips, and giant robot were too silly for me to take seriously. I found it to be a pretty boring trailer with a focus on epic fantasy battles that don't really interest me when it comes to Dracula or Castlevania.
Click to expand...
C'mon you've gotta admit when whips hundreds of soldiers three times in a row while disappearing from one place to another with the music providing the feedback of those lashes was pretty fucking fantastic!
 
LowParry

LowParry

Member
Didn't the game go through some development hassles? Game started out good then just sort of fell apart.
 
1

120v

Member
yeah my hype levels were up there. even though i didn't really care for LoS1

felt like a punch to the gut when reviews came rolling in. never got around to playing the game
 
K

~Kinggi~

Banned
What is the composer Óscar Araujo up to these days? Does he work exclusively with Mercury Steam? That guy could make some music.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
LowParry said:
Didn't the game go through some development hassles? Game started out good then just sort of fell apart.
Click to expand...
Yes but that's not the point of this thread. The initial reveal CG trailer in arguing its as close to perfection for what it is. It was also a very balsy move to give to your composer the bulk of the trailer's success by having it be entirely supported on Araujo's music.

And now I can't help but think that if my suspicions that MercurySteam is indeed working on a Metroid Prime 4 that we could get a little of Araujo's music in the game. And I'd be all for it.
 
G

Godcannon

Member
Hell yeah this trailer was the SHIT! I had beaten LOS1 and Mirror of Fate, was totally tied up in the fantastic story, music, graphics, and characters. I probably watched this 50x. Then I played it..... It wasn't the worst thing ever, but the trailer got my hopes too high, and the production issues/changes really stopped this from being one of the GOAT.


That announcement trailer was epic, but my favorite is the story trailer.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2pMDbF8_uFo

It has the plot, starts of creepy, then goes full epic! It's better than most movie trailers.
 
Y

Ydelnae

Member
Rushed to the store to buy the first game the day after and loved it. The reveal was amazing and I was honestly hyped for the sequels. Then ended up not playing any of them.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
Laplasakos said:
Imho, only the prologue is good.
Click to expand...
Nah. The castle parts were also pretty good. Too bad the story never made sense as to why Dracula kept going back and forth between the city and inside the castle (was he physically there? Is he traveling to the past? Why is his son he never knew he had in there as a kid?).

Also everything outside the castle was shit though.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I feel like they skipped a game in what should have been a trilogy. Going right to modern era and saving the medieval Dracula stuff for the prologue was a mistake. Right from that jump the game felt like it skipped way too much, even with Mirror of Fate taken into account.
 
Mister Wolf

Mister Wolf

Gold Member
It was a great trailer. The story of mirror of fate should have been Lords of Shadow 2. They messed up making it modern day setting.
 
L

Legend of Aims

Member
I knew the second game was going to suck after playing the dlc of the first game. LoS set up everything so well and then it's like they didn't know where to go with the story. Fanfics had better reason as to how he became dracula.
As much as I liked the trailer I couldn't get hyped for the game.
(Man I cried with Gabriel after the first game)
 
M

mindsale

Member
Funny you mention this. I thought for sure this thread was about the ORIGINAL game's trailer, which had Kelly MacFarland if I recall. I remember loving that game's trailer.
 
Laplasakos

Laplasakos

Member
Mister Wolf said:
It was a great trailer. The story of mirror of fate should have been Lords of Shadow 2. They messed up making it modern day setting.
Click to expand...

Modern day setting isn't the problem of the game. The game suffers from bad level design, bad writing, bad bosses (
Zobek
battle was nice though), terrible final boss and forgettable plot. The funny thing here is that the first game nailed all these and that's why it is considered a good game.
 
A

Alex_Mexico

Member
Laplasakos said:
Modern day setting isn't the problem of the game. The game suffers from bad level design, bad writing, bad bosses (
Zobek
battle was nice though), terrible final boss and forgettable plot. The funny thing here is that the first game nailed all these and that's why it is considered a good game.
Click to expand...
Don't forget the whole Toymaker part. That was the brief 10/10 high point for LoS2 for me. The boss battle was inventive, original, constantly changed and it was even humorous before the fight began. Easily the best part of the whole game. If LoS2 could've maintained that level of quality we'd be talking about a GOTY contender.
 
F

Firenze1

Banned
OAdO6cC.jpg
 
Mister Wolf

Mister Wolf

Gold Member
Laplasakos said:
Modern day setting isn't the problem of the game. The game suffers from bad level design, bad writing, bad bosses (
Zobek
battle was nice though), terrible final boss and forgettable plot. The funny thing here is that the first game nailed all these and that's why it is considered a good game.
Click to expand...

I loved the first game, bought and stopped playing the second game. How could the same director fuck up the sequel so bad. Its Devil May Cry 2 level of bad sequel.
 
Laplasakos

Laplasakos

Member
Alex_Mexico said:
Don't forget the whole Toymaker part. That was the brief 10/10 high point for LoS2 for me. The boss battle was inventive, original, constantly changed and it was even humorous before the fight began. Easily the best part of the whole game. If LoS2 could've maintained that level of quality we'd be talking about a GOTY contender.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, you are right. This and the castle levels you mentioned before was good (although story wise it didn't make sense). Too bad it was a small portion of the game.
 
A

AlexFlame116

Member
I really want a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Collection port for the current gen. Yeah the two sequels were not mad good as the first but I still want it all.

Plus add that amazing music from the Mask website that was available during E3 when Metal Gear Solid Rising and Peace Walker were also being teased.

You know, that Konami countdown site that kept getting worse with the weather.
 
bumpkin

bumpkin

Member
I quite enjoyed LOS1 too, OP. I loved everything about it, despite how unapologetically derivative it was of it contemporaries (i.e. God of War, DMC). I liked the story, the setting, the main character, the soundtrack; pretty much everything. I never played LOS2, mainly because I heard it wasn't anywhere near as good, but partly because I didn't like that Gabriel wasn't the same as he was in LOS1.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
Alex_Mexico said:
Don't forget the whole Toymaker part. That was the brief 10/10 high point for LoS2 for me. The boss battle was inventive, original, constantly changed and it was even humorous before the fight began. Easily the best part of the whole game. If LoS2 could've maintained that level of quality we'd be talking about a GOTY contender.
Click to expand...
Agreed. That part was probably made before the development fuckery as it was teased on MoF.

Damn, the wasted potential.

bumpkin said:
. I never played LOS2, mainly because I heard it wasn't anywhere near as good, but partly because I didn't like that Gabriel wasn't the same as he was in LOS1.
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He was pretty much the same. Dissapointingly so. He was more Dracula-y un MoF.
 
Synless

Synless

Member
I fucking loved the first LoS. The sequel though... Jesus what a let down. However the trailers were phenomenal just like the first games.

The game wasn't terrible, just mediocre.
 
Laplasakos

Laplasakos

Member
Mister Wolf said:
I loved the first game, bought and stopped playing the second game. How could the same director fuck up the sequel so bad. Its Devil May Cry 2 level of bad sequel.
Click to expand...

That is my question as well. I think some serious things happened behind the scenes, otherwise i can't explain how they falied to deliver in every aspect of the game.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
Laplasakos said:
That is my question as well. I think some serious things happened behind the scenes, otherwise i can't explain how they falied to deliver in every aspect of the game.
Click to expand...
They did. There's a gaf thread and everything.

The graphics were good tho, one of the first games (the first?) with PBR, on last gen consoles (!).
 
1

13ruce

Banned
Game was pretty great imo kinda a guilty pleasure but i got it for like 9 bucks.

LOS 1 is still a masterpiece imo really enjoyed that one alot.

But yea looking at that trailer damn they really fucked it up.....
 
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