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[jacob armitage]

I'm glad this thread is a little more positive than the demo thread. I knew i was picking this up regardless as i love even a bad castlevania, but this has turned my excitement up a bit.

I'm sad i have not had a chance to get it.

 

[matmanx1]

My second hour of gameplay is so far much more fun than my first hour was. The atmosphere is really keeping me engaged and the I'm enjoying the soundtrack as well. Some of the new moves that you unlock by leveling up are great additions to the base combat so that's also good. I'm glad I picked this one up.

 

[Mideon]

Just finished up 100% completed. Took just over 9 hours. Loved the story, loved the atmosphere, the only problem was the level layout on the 3rd Act made it a bit hard to backtrack for hidden items but overall I loved the game and cant wait fot LOS2. Oh and the bosses are awesome.

 

[darkjedi187]

Finished act 2 the final boss was wonderful. Act 3 has been a blast also.

 

[DSmalls84]

Just got to chapter 2 and I'm really enjoying it so far. I just wish it ran a little smoother.

I don't really see why anyone who liked Lords of Shadow would dislike this. On the flipside if you're expecting a Metroidvania I could see how someone would be disappointed. Seems like a solid game so far and I'm interested to see where the story goes.

 

[Y2Kev]

The little bird enemy with the sword really sucks. Bird angel demon thing.

 

[Nekki]

So did this game do a complete 180º here?? All I hear are good comments on it.

 

[NateDrake]

So did this game do a complete 180º here?? All I hear are good comments on it.

The game is good. It may not be a 2D Castlevania akin to Symphony of the Night or the Igavania titles, but it is solid and fun in its own right.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Someone fill me with spoilers. Is

Spoiler

Trevor really Alucard, and if so, how does that happen?

 

[brandonh83]

I'm about halfway through Act II. I have absolutely no idea how this isn't Castlevania. The bosses and puzzles are awesome, the platforming is pretty good, and there are a lot of little clever nods to the history of the series. I like how it takes things about the series and gives them its own spin. But it very much feels like Castlevania. I see what Cox meant about it having Metroidvania aspects, but it isn't a Metroidvania. It doesn't really feel like Metroidvania but takes a few things from it, and has plenty of staples from even the earlier titles.

What I'm actually surprised by are the environments. A lot of the early game has the brown tones, the cavernous places, the dungeonesque places, but the further you play into it, the art direction gets considerably more vibrant. Where I am now is very visually pleasant. The graphics are just great overall. I wish the framerate was a bit better, but at least its playable and consistent.

I really think MercurySteam has an awesome development team that respects the series while making their games not feel like a rehash. But they fit into the overall series perfectly fine just as the Metroidvania games nestled into the series. Going by my opinion of the first game and now this, I'm more than a little excited for LOS2 than I was before, if that's even possible.

One final comment: some of the music could have been a little better, but it still fits with the style of the game, and the music is getting noticeably better the further I get. I've been hearing a really beautiful motif a lot. The soundtrack suffers the same exact problem as LOS1 though -- while the music itself is good, the implementation could have been a lot better. I don't like how it just kind of comes in, plays for a bit and then drops out into silence, only for the same track to return a bit later.

edit: oh and IGN is full of their own shit

 

[Maedhros]

I'm about halfway through Act II. I have absolutely no idea how this isn't Castlevania. The bosses and puzzles are awesome, the platforming is pretty good, and there are a lot of little clever nods to the history of the series. I like how it takes things about the series and gives them its own spin. But it very much feels like Castlevania. I see what Cox meant about it having Metroidvania aspects, but it isn't a Metroidvania. It doesn't really feel like Metroidvania but takes a few things from it, and has plenty of staples from even the earlier titles.

What I'm actually surprised by are the environments. A lot of the early game has the brown tones, the cavernous places, the dungeonesque places, but the further you play into it, the art direction gets considerably more vibrant. Where I am now is very visually pleasant. The graphics are just great overall. I wish the framerate was a bit better, but at least its playable and consistent.

I really think MercurySteam has an awesome development team that respects the series while making their games not feel like a rehash. But they fit into the overall series perfectly fine just as the Metroidvania games nestled into the series. Going by my opinion of the first game and now this, I'm more than a little excited for LOS2 than I was before, if that's even possible.

One final comment: some of the music could have been a little better, but it still fits with the style of the game, and the music is getting noticeably better the further I get. I've been hearing a really beautiful motif a lot. The soundtrack suffers the same exact problem as LOS1 though -- while the music itself is good, the implementation could have been a lot better. I don't like how it just kind of comes in, plays for a bit and then drops out into silence, only for the same track to return a bit later.

edit: oh and IGN is full of their own shit

What Castlevania is isn't the same to everyone. Don't expect everyone to agree with what Castlevania means to them.
MS vision of Castlevania isn't what I think Castlevania is.

 

[FrostuTheNinja]

So did this game do a complete 180º here?? All I hear are good comments on it.

I think the people who didn't care for it bailed on the thread and are letting others enjoy it. Well, at least that's what I did. It's always the worst to have someone shitting on everyone else's good time.

 

[brandonh83]

What Castlevania is isn't the same to everyone. Don't expect everyone to agree with what Castlevania means to them.
MS vision of Castlevania isn't what I think Castlevania is.

My thoughts are my own. I won't understand everyone that doesn't think it's CV the same as they don't understand my viewpoints. But I think if this isn't CV, neither is Metroidvania.

 

[Maedhros]

Well, I've been playing the series for more than 15 years now. Of course my concept of Castlevania will be different from other people who are new to the series. Castlevania was an action platformer gamer initially. With Metroidvanias, they were still action-platformers, with the emphasys on the exploration instead. And they gave variation to the combat, but it still felt like Classicvanias on this point.

LoS isn't an action platformer game. It's an action game. Even if you argue that the game HAS platforming, this wall/ledge jump and automatic grappling and shitty jump isn't platforming for me. It needs to be tight.

---

Anyway, the Castle in MoF looks fantastic. Kudos for Mercury Steam, they did one of the best Castles in the series.

 

[brandonh83]

LoS isn't an action platformer game. It's an action game. Even if you argue that the game HAS platforming, this wall/ledge jump and automatic grappling and shitty jump isn't platforming for me. It needs to be tight.

I'd argue that the Metroidvania games lack good platforming as well. It seems to me like you're saying "well it has platforming but I don't really like it so it's not really Castlevania to me," but to each his own I suppose. I started the series day one with the original, so to me whenever someone says something is or isn't Castlevania, I don't go by Symphony of the Night or even Simon's Quest, but the very first. It has changed in many ways since then, so I don't see how this doesn't have the right to be called CV, but Symphony of the Night does, when SOTN is much different than the original no matter how you spin it. A lot of the tropes are securely in place regardless and the atmosphere is suitably gothic.

We're entitled to our thoughts clearly, but we'll just have to leave it at that I guess.

 

[evilromero]

So did this game do a complete 180º here?? All I hear are good comments on it.

Players seem to be really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of the ZombiU reactions.

I definitely plan on picking this up since I'm a big fan of LoS and Castlevania 4, which was an inspiration for this game I understand. Any good deals on this?

 

[scytherage]

Someone fill me with spoilers. Is

Spoiler

Trevor really Alucard, and if so, how does that happen?

Spoiler

Yes. Well, Trevor goes in there and fights Dracula and doesn't tell him that he's his son at the start. Epic battle commences, and when you beat Dracula, the camera zooms out and all you see is this big splat of blood in the distance. Cutscene plays and it turns out that Trevor is the one that gets hit with the killing blow, not Dracula. Only then does Trevor tell Dracula that he is his son. Dracula goes nuts, gives him some of his blood, then puts him in a coffin that says 'ALUCARD' on it. Trevor wakes up later on as Alucard which marks the start of the Alucard campaign.

 

[Maedhros]

I'd argue that the Metroidvania games lack good platforming as well. It seems to me like you're saying "well it has platforming but I don't really like it so it's not really Castlevania to me," but to each his own I suppose. I started the series day one with the original, so to me whenever someone says something is or isn't Castlevania, I don't go by Symphony of the Night or even Simon's Quest, but the very first. It has changed in many ways since then, so I don't see how this doesn't have the right to be called CV, but Symphony of the Night does, when SOTN is much different than the original no matter how you spin it. A lot of the tropes are securely in place regardless and the atmosphere is suitably gothic.

The characters in Metroidvania controls good and jump on platforms/move boxes/graple/super jump. It isn't the emphasys, but it IS platforming. The only difference is that they don't really insta-die, since the game is non-linear. They are different, but still got lots of things from the originals.

 

[Meatvillain]

I think Mirror of Fate feels a lot more like "a Castlevania game" than Lords of Shadow did, but it's totally a different take on the series, a different take that I have been really enjoying. Declaring if something is or isn't Castlevania is a bit silly, really, if you're not using the term in some form of jest you should maybe re-evaluate how you think and talk about games. It's fine to have preferences, but those shouldn't demand you run around proclaiming a game is "not Castlevania".

 

[brandonh83]

The characters in Metroidvania controls good and jump on platforms/move boxes/graple/super jump.

That's... in this game as well, regardless how you personally feel about the implementation. Look, I think we're just going to have to lay this one to rest. Nothing I say is going to convince you and vice-versa, but it's always nice to have discussion about anything in the series.

 

[matmanx1]

Well, I've been playing the series for more than 15 years now. Of course my concept of Castlevania will be different from other people who are new to the series. Castlevania was an action platformer gamer initially. With Metroidvanias, they were still action-platformers, with the emphasys on the exploration instead. And they gave variation to the combat, but it still felt like Classicvanias on this point.

LoS isn't an action platformer game. It's an action game. Even if you argue that the game HAS platforming, this wall/ledge jump and automatic grappling and shitty jump isn't platforming for me. It needs to be tight.

---

Anyway, the Castle in MoF looks fantastic. Kudos for Mercury Steam, they did one of the best Castles in the series.

I've been playing Castlevania since the very first one. That sucker (and most of the original games) was very hard. I'm of the opinion that Mirror of Fate is a good "now" Castlevania. It's not a Metroidvania but neither is it one of the oldschool tough as nails games either. It's combat focused but still has enough Castlevania story and flavor to be recognizable. The more I play it the more I'm appreciating the different direction that Mercury Steam took. And I sure as heck think it's more enjoyable than the original Lords of Shadow which just annoyed me to no end.

Looking back, we've actually had many different "flavors" of Castlevania. Just because this one is different does not make it bad. Quite the contrary actually.

 

[Maedhros]

That's... in this game as well, regardless how you personally feel about the implementation. Look, I think we're just going to have to lay this one to rest. Nothing I say is going to convince you and vice-versa, but it's always nice to have discussion about anything in the series.

Except the good controls, it's like the character is made of lead. It's beyond me why could they implement good air control to the character. This one has a lot more focus on platforming than the first (which was the one I was talking about). It's still not good enough for me.

I've been playing Castlevania since the very first one. That sucker (and most of the original games) was very hard. I'm of the opinion that Mirror of Fate is a good "now" Castlevania. It's not a Metroidvania but neither is it one of the oldschool tough as nails games either. It's combat focused but still has enough Castlevania story and flavor to be recognizable. The more I play it the more I'm appreciating the different direction that Mercury Steam took. And I sure as heck think it's more enjoyable than the original Lords of Shadow which just annoyed me to no end.

Looking back, we've actually had many different "flavors" of Castlevania. Just because this one is different does not make it bad. Quite the contrary actually.

I'm still on Simon's chapter, so I still don't see any flavor from the original, except the names and nods to the original series, just like LoS did. It feels like a different game, totally.
There a lot of older Castlevania games that I don't really like. Like Simon's Quest, Castlevania 64 and the "sequel", Curse of Darkness and Lament of Innocence, and the fighter one. Never had a problem with any of the other games, they felt pretty much the same for me.

 

[evilromero]

Except the good controls, it's like the character is made of lead. It's beyond me why could they implement good air control to the character. This one has a lot more focus on platforming than the first (which was the one I was talking about). It's still not good enough for me.

I would also point to the first four Castlevania games, which all had very similar character controls.

 

[Maedhros]

I would also point to the first four Castlevania games, which all had very similar character controls.

The jump was fixed, but the game design (enemy placement, level design) was made with that limitation in mind. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Reading through the comments it would seem that some have vastly different memories of playing classice Castlevania than I have. This game is much closer to what I remember than the IGA series as much as I love those.

Which Castlevania game had tight platforming? Every one of the classic games I played had a protagonist that felt like they had rocks in their shoes. Maybe Super IV was a bit different but that wasn't the norm.

 

[brandonh83]

Except the good controls, it's like the character is made of lead. It's beyond me why could they implement good air control to the character. This one has a lot more focus on platforming than the first (which was the one I was talking about). It's still not good enough for me.

Everything just feels heavier, including the combat, and I think it works beautifully. It just has more weight to it. I've never associated how heavy the gameplay feels with Castlevania so I guess I just can't relate there. I've had zero issues with the controls or platforming, in fact I'm having a blast with the

Spoiler

whiptracks

and swinging and such.

 

[Maedhros]

Reading through the comments it would seem that some have vastly different memories of playing classice Castlevania than I have. This game is much closer to what I remember than the IGA series as much as I love those.

Which Castlevania game had tight platforming? Every one of the classic games I played had a protagonist that felt like they had rocks in their shoes. Maybe Super IV was a bit different but that wasn't the norm.

See my above answer.

Everything just feels heavier, including the combat, and I think it works beautifully. It just has more weight to it. I've never associated how heavy the gameplay feels with Castlevania so I guess I just can't relate there. I've had zero issues with the controls or platforming, in fact I'm having a blast with the

Spoiler

whiptracks

and swinging and such.

Good for ya. Didn't like these in GoW, I wouldn't like them here.

 

[evilromero]

The jump was fixed, but the game design (enemy placement, level design) was made with that limitation in mind. Nothing wrong with that.

I agree with you on that. I haven't played beyond the demo so I can't really comment much more on the gameplay. But I do think there's plenty of room to grow with this series.

 

[Blue Submarine No. 6]

I would also point to the first four Castlevania games, which all had very similar character controls.

This. Half-way through the first Act I was thinking "this controls like Super Castlevania IV"... it doesn't really, of course, but somehow my feeble video-game distracted brain made that connection somewhere. I think I'll play through that again when I'm done this one...

I'm well into Act III but had to put it down for the night because my battery's red-zoned and I don't feel like tethering to the outlet... my eyes needed a rest anyway. But I'm really enjoying this game. It's not "classic" Metroidvania - which has been the defacto style of good Castlevanias for years now - but it is a good Castlevania game nonetheless... Lovin' it!

 

[Incitemaybe]

Well, I'm giving in and picking this up tonight I'm sure ill appreciate it.

 

[GolazoDan]

Think I'm gonna get this. I like the story of the series and, although I didn't really dig the demo, I'm presuming there are people here who also didn't like the demo yet enjoy the full game?

I'm guessing nobody liked the demo, btw.

 

[Mejilan]

I'm about 50% through the game now, and though I don't like the game one bit, it isn't nearly as horrid as that demo was. Digging the environments and exploration, but the combat and platforming are pretty terrible. Crappy framerate doesn't help either.

 

[XaosWolf]

100%'d it tonight. Feelings are... mixed.

I was sceptical about the LoS reboot when it first came about, but I enjoyed it after all, especially when they threw in references to the older titles.

I also LOVE the modern explorey 2D titles to pieces, I can play pretty much any of them wherever and whenever.

This mash-up of the two though... It just turned out pretty average.
I enjoyed playing it from Act 2 onwards, (Simon's act was pretty darn boring, gameplay-wise) and just as it got up to a point where all the traversal mechanics and such were coming together -- End Boss; Done; Credits.

Just was over far too quickly, with a pretty bare-bones story that could have been fleshed out with some extra length.

Would've liked it better with a more consistent artstyle, (Cell shaded Vania would not be bad at all) but the graphics are nonetheless some of the best on the 3DS, ESPECIALLY the backgrounds and use of 3D.

I enjoyed it there for a bit, but it really does seem to end too quickly, and as others have said, the combat still doesn't quite feel right. A little too much maybe? I dunno.

EDIT: Oh, the demo really sucked, by the way. Get past Simon's part in the full game though, and you'll enjoy it better from there.

 

[DashReindeer]

Damn, this thread is starting to make me question my decision to skip this game. I really didn't care for the demo, but I do see what Mercury Steam was trying to go for with this title, and I'd like to see how the final product turned out. Maybe I'll download it overnight.

 

[Meatvillain]

Damn, this thread is starting to make me question my decision to skip this game. I really didn't care for the demo, but I do see what Mercury Steam was trying to go for with this title, and I'd like to see how the final product turned out. Maybe I'll download it overnight.

I really really like it, but if you're unsure it couldn't hurt to hold off until it's cheaper or something.

 

[dark10x]

Man Mercury Steam hit it out of the park visually! LoS was pretty godlike visually and they managed to make MoF just as impressive. The sense of depth and scale is just amazing! I really like the small hints at previous Castlevania memories (the carousel ride stuck out to me as a nice nod to classic enemies and the frustrations of dealing with them.)

I dunno, I feel as if Mercury Steam makes the wrong decisions in regards to visuals. Their games LOOK nice enough, sure, but both Lords of Shadow games run at very low, unstable framerates. The animation quality is also a bit spotty with some bits looking great while others feel floaty and disconnected. Jumping, for instance, looks and feels terrible.

Still, despite that, it is a nice looking game. It's just a shame it's so poorly optimized.

 

[DSGamer]

I think the people who didn't care for it bailed on the thread and are letting others enjoy it. Well, at least that's what I did. It's always the worst to have someone shitting on everyone else's good time.

Yep. I checked in today to see if I was the only crazy person that hated this game. Otherwise I've moved on.

 

[DSGamer]

Well, I've been playing the series for more than 15 years now. Of course my concept of Castlevania will be different from other people who are new to the series. Castlevania was an action platformer gamer initially. With Metroidvanias, they were still action-platformers, with the emphasys on the exploration instead. And they gave variation to the combat, but it still felt like Classicvanias on this point.

LoS isn't an action platformer game. It's an action game. Even if you argue that the game HAS platforming, this wall/ledge jump and automatic grappling and shitty jump isn't platforming for me. It needs to be tight.

Yeah, one of the closest analogues for Castlevania, to me, is Dark Souls. It's not as hard as Dark Souls, obviously. But it's checkpointed, pretty difficult, much of the narrative is told through the design of the castle, you explore and there's a huge emphasis on competency of the player playing the game.

LOS2 is none of these things to me. It's checkpointed, but it's fairly easy, has silly narrative in the form of those scrolls or whatever and it's not as interesting to look at it. Most importantly, though, it's not tight to play at all, in terms of the controls.

 

[campfireweekend]

Yeah, one of the closest analogues for Castlevania, to me, is Dark Souls. It's not as hard as Dark Souls, obviously. But it's checkpointed, pretty difficult, much of the narrative is told through the design of the castle, you explore and there's a huge emphasis on competency of the player playing the game.

LOS2 is none of these things to me. It's checkpointed, but it's fairly easy, has silly narrative in the form of those scrolls or whatever and it's not as interesting to look at it. Most importantly, though, it's not tight to play at all, in terms of the controls.

Dark Souls being more Castlevania than Lords of Shadow? Is this just a case of that whole "dark souls is more Zelda than modern Zelda" thing but for Castlevania or do you actually believe this?

 

[KevinCow]

Mirror of Fate isn't LoS2.

 

[DSGamer]

Dark Souls being more Castlevania than Lords of Shadow? Is this just a case of that whole "dark souls is more Zelda than modern Zelda" thing but for Castlevania or do you actually believe this?

No. I meant that Metroidvania is more Dark Souls than this version of Castlevania is. I love Dark Souls and part of what I love about it are the things I mentioned above. Those things aren't the sole domain of Dark Souls, but Dark Souls did it really really well. Some Zelda games have this as well, certainly. Just throw you in a world and say "figure it out" with a lot of implied narrative. I'm playing Ocarina of Time for the first time ever right now and it's one of the closest games ever to Dark Souls. That may sound crazy, but while Navi is talkative much of the game can be played in a manner that is just you exploring. Same thing with Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

So in the end what I meant is that I love to look for those Dark Souls-like qualities in games and I feel like the Metroidvania games have it, whereas this game doesn't.

 

[brandonh83]

The game has its central narrative about the Belmonts and Gabriel, but the castle itself has its own lore that you learn about by reading the fallen soldiers scrolls. It isn't anything deep, but honestly, while Dark Souls is my game of the generation, I didn't particularly care about any of the lore in that game. I'm just saying there is some of that in this game.

 

[DSGamer]

The game has its central narrative about the Belmonts and Gabriel, but the castle itself has its own lore that you learn about by reading the fallen soldiers scrolls. It isn't anything deep, but honestly, while Dark Souls is my game of the generation, I didn't particularly care about any of the lore in that game. I'm just saying there is some of that in this game.

I didn't care much for the Lore of Dark Souls either. What got me about the game is that the world (buildings, creatures, etc.) was so rich that I felt like I was looking at the ruins of a once great civilization. The Lore was almost immaterial to me, honestly. The implied narrative was much more interesting.

 

[brandonh83]

I didn't care much for the Lore of Dark Souls either. What got me about the game is that the world (buildings, creatures, etc.) was so rich that I felt like I was looking at the ruins of a once great civilization. The Lore was almost immaterial to me, honestly. The implied narrative was much more interesting.

Yeah it was definitely cool how it was presented. Maybe next time I play it I'll try to pay some attention to it.

Anyway I think I'm nearing the end of this. Been a good ride so far. It's pretty much what I expected, LOS gameplay in 2D but with more of an emphasis on platforming than LOS1 mainly due to its perspective. It isn't amazing, but more than a few moments really stood out to me and I remain impressed an entertained by MS' take on the series.

4.7.

 

[infinityBCRT]

Honestly the one thing I thought Lords of Shadow 1 needed the most was trimming the fat a bit and some tighter pacing.

They could've cut the first 4 hours out of LoS and it probably would've been a much better game. I loved LoS but I had to get through the bland beginning before I started enjoying it.

 

[PumpkinPie]

This wasn't on my radar at all, but I downloaded the demo yesterday and thought it was excellent. I'm really interested in buying the game now

 

[brandonh83]

They could've cut the first 4 hours out of LoS and it probably would've been a much better game.

Cut completely? Nah, although it should have been shorter and tighter. I loved the environments in those chapters, just not as long as they went on. It's definitely one of the biggest problems with the game though, and why I won't mind if the sequel is a bit shorter.

At this point I kind of expect LOS2 to be a 3D version of Mirror of Fate albeit on a bigger scale and with more content. I think MOF was made to sort of let Mercury test the waters of a game that fully features the castle instead of relegating only a third of the game to it.

 

[MoogleWizard]

Would you recommend this game to someone who's really tired of all the copy-pasted Metroidvanias and more of a fan of old-school Castlevania like Super Castlevania 4 and Rondo of Blood? The reviews don't seem to be that great, so I'm not sure if I should bite.

 

[jaz013]

I'm finding this game more fun and compelling that the original Lords of Shadow. I get bored after 30 minutes of the console version, the 3DS one? I find difficult to put it down.

I hope LoS 2 keeps the pacing this one has.

 

[brandonh83]

Would you recommend this game to someone who's really tired of all the copy-pasted Metroidvanias and more of a fan of old-school Castlevania like Super Castlevania 4 and Rondo of Blood? The reviews don't seem to be that great, so I'm not sure if I should bite.

I think so. Some will obviously disagree, but the castle here isn't the copy/paste style of the Metroidvanias. There isn't as much to see and explore as in those, but it's still decently large, there are at least limited secrets, and the whip platforming is IMO a bit closer to something like Super Castlevania IV. It doesn't have the large emphasis on tight platforming as the older games, but it's still there and some parts have a pretty big focus on it.

When it comes to length, it's anywhere from 8-10 hours on average I guess, but the Metroidvanias, while having more content, could be beaten in a similar frame.