Die Squirrel Die
Member
I've completely been out of the loop on this for a while, there's DLC? Nice. Now I just need to finish the it. I stopped playing because of the PS3 save wiping bug, has that been fixed?
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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow |OT| The MercurySteam has Vanquished the Horrible Night
- Thread starter brandonh83
- Start date
As planned, I finished this last night and look forward to the DLC. My biggest complaint of the game was during the final section of the final boss with
......WTF! That part made me want to throw my controller, especially if you cross and then like 3 circles converge and it throws you into that loop damage animation and you cant get out of it. Was so relieved when I finally got through it.
the moving magic tiles
WickedLaharl
Member
Die Squirrel Die said:
yeah it has been fixed.
DLC sounds great but april is so far away. wonder who the notorious enemy is?
SlasherJPC
Banned
One of my favorite games released this year. Looking forward to more with the DLC.
brandonh83
Banned
aparisi2274 said:
More than that too. A few tracks from Castlevania IV appear as well, and to really good effect if I may add.
brandonh83
Banned
brandonh83
Banned
I'm... pretty sure that's the last of the musical connections, I've listened extensively to the score, even music ripped from the game that doesn't appear on the album.
So hopefully the DLC has some stuff like this. The way I can see it working out is something akin to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. In Begins, Zimmer wrote the full Batman theme, but only kept traces of it in the first film so that it would serve as a sort of musical buildup for when the full theme is unleashed in Dark Knight.
I'm hoping this kind of thing happens in Castlevania. Have traces of some familiar tunes here and there, but with it's own themes, like The Hunting Path and Belmont's Theme. It's like what they did with the castle itself. I like how you happen upon the castle during the journey, instead of the journey being to the castle from the get-go.
Introduce things in the first one, and keep building as you go. I don't think MercurySteam should ever quite turn their series into what we already know of Castlevania, but in the sequel and even sequels after that, more and more things can work their way into them, as long as it fits in seamlessly with the direction.
That's what impressed me about Lords of Shadow, instead of having tons of things for the fans, it takes subtle elements and works them into its own thing.
So hopefully the DLC has some stuff like this. The way I can see it working out is something akin to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. In Begins, Zimmer wrote the full Batman theme, but only kept traces of it in the first film so that it would serve as a sort of musical buildup for when the full theme is unleashed in Dark Knight.
I'm hoping this kind of thing happens in Castlevania. Have traces of some familiar tunes here and there, but with it's own themes, like The Hunting Path and Belmont's Theme. It's like what they did with the castle itself. I like how you happen upon the castle during the journey, instead of the journey being to the castle from the get-go.
Introduce things in the first one, and keep building as you go. I don't think MercurySteam should ever quite turn their series into what we already know of Castlevania, but in the sequel and even sequels after that, more and more things can work their way into them, as long as it fits in seamlessly with the direction.
That's what impressed me about Lords of Shadow, instead of having tons of things for the fans, it takes subtle elements and works them into its own thing.
brandonh83
Banned
If you guys haven't already, go in the GAF Soundtracks of the Year thread and vote for this, whether it's 1st or 3rd place. Or even an honorable mention. It needs the attention.
It needs the attention.
If every game had boss battle music this incredible, the world would be a much cooler place to live in.
It needs the attention.
If every game had boss battle music this incredible, the world would be a much cooler place to live in.
RPGCrazied
Member
Love this game. I own only 2 360 games right now. This and Tales of Vesperia. Oh man, I'll dust off the 360 for that 2nd DLC. If its only like an 1 hour long and priced at 10dollars though, no thanks.
brandonh83
Banned
subversus said:
Don't worry about the story so much. It's kind of dull, but it's a videogame, and does a good job of building its own mythos and starting the series over fresh.
Framerate, eh, different people will say different things. It bothered some, but didn't others. I noticed it but it didn't bother me because I was so into the game. Sometimes it's more obvious than others.
But yes, the game gets considerably better after chapter 2 and 3. Spikes around chapter 6 and on.
brandonh83
Banned
Foffy said:
Which makes me wonder how much content the first one will have. I'm not even sure which one I'm looking forward to more. They're both intriguing for their own reasons.
It had a few nice tracks but overall it wasn't cohesive and barely fit within the context of the game IMO. I liked it (I really did), but it felt very amateur to me. After the game was over, I wound up just playing the final battle music over and over -- that's the best track in the game by far.brandonh83 said:
brandonh83
Banned
You can have your opinions, but amateurish? It has to be one of the most well written and composed scores for a videogame I've ever heard.
To be fair though, the actual implementation of the score into the game wasn't so hot. They could have did a better job in that regard. However, I'm merely speaking about the quality of the actual music and compared to a lot of "orchestrated" game scores, it sounds a lot more professional with a more robust orchestra.
The only other games with orchestrated tracks that compare, to me, would be Shadow of the Colossus and a few select tracks from the Mario Galaxy games, Shadow of the Colossus more so than Mario, however.
I think if you're speaking from an implementation point of view as I noted above, yeah, I wouldn't entirely disagree, but the composer can't help how his music was used in the game.
To be fair though, the actual implementation of the score into the game wasn't so hot. They could have did a better job in that regard. However, I'm merely speaking about the quality of the actual music and compared to a lot of "orchestrated" game scores, it sounds a lot more professional with a more robust orchestra.
The only other games with orchestrated tracks that compare, to me, would be Shadow of the Colossus and a few select tracks from the Mario Galaxy games, Shadow of the Colossus more so than Mario, however.
I think if you're speaking from an implementation point of view as I noted above, yeah, I wouldn't entirely disagree, but the composer can't help how his music was used in the game.
Probably one of the most amazing fucking videogame scores of the past 10 years. Belmont's theme, how it weaves in and out of bloody tears, is legendary in its own right. My only complaint is that not more tracks were composed, but considering every piece is a fully orchestral rendition (for a videogame, i might add), it was obviously a matter of time and money. i guess you have to be musically inclined to appreciate something like this.
I cannot give this game enough praise. It WOULD be my game of the year 2010, but i'm gonna have to give it to Demon's Souls by a small margin.
I cannot give this game enough praise. It WOULD be my game of the year 2010, but i'm gonna have to give it to Demon's Souls by a small margin.
Psyched for the DLC, and didnt really think we'd be getting anything this cool, just a couple of new Trials or something. But I'm worried that this is being released because Mercury Stream/Konami dont think the sequel is worth doing... 
Theres so many directions a sequel could go in. It could continue where Gabriel left off after defeating the Final boss and show us his
or pick up where the epilogue left off - which would be completely rad. Do we want to see that Epilogue potential wasted on a quick DLC send-off. I guess it's better than getting nothing at all or like someone said here - wait years to see it continued...
Theres so many directions a sequel could go in. It could continue where Gabriel left off after defeating the Final boss and show us his
eventual downfall
Ah, yeah that's exactly what I'm talking about. It's not that the music itself was bad, it's that it didn't really gel with the game at all. It felt like the game was made in room A, the music was made in room B, and then when both were done, they mashed it together as best they could. As a result when I'm listening to it I really don't get any kind of emotional feeling from the game the way I do when I listen to, say, the Super Castlevania IV or Symphony of the Night soundtracks.brandonh83 said:
brandonh83
Banned
I understand that. When I played through the game I thought several times how poorly implemented it was with the material.
The music fit the game just fine, but what I'm talking about is how random the music plays throughout. It's like each stage has its own playlist from the entire score, instead of each stage having its own musical identity.
This isn't true in every case, some certain areas of the game have their own tracks, but it's like the composer writes this amazing score that could have been broken up for each stage or boss encounter, but instead, again it feels like it's playing someone's iTunes playlist or something.
That being said, the score itself still blew my mind compared to every other soundtrack I've heard this year. Some runners up were Mario Galaxy 2 and Bayonetta, but I feel that Lords of Shadow stands tall over the rest, musically speaking.
Honestly, kind of. I'm not one of the people who hated the epilogue, but I do think I would greatly, greatly dislike it if the next Castlevania were in
. I mean, fuck the hell out of that. Do not want. :lol
The music fit the game just fine, but what I'm talking about is how random the music plays throughout. It's like each stage has its own playlist from the entire score, instead of each stage having its own musical identity.
This isn't true in every case, some certain areas of the game have their own tracks, but it's like the composer writes this amazing score that could have been broken up for each stage or boss encounter, but instead, again it feels like it's playing someone's iTunes playlist or something.
That being said, the score itself still blew my mind compared to every other soundtrack I've heard this year. Some runners up were Mario Galaxy 2 and Bayonetta, but I feel that Lords of Shadow stands tall over the rest, musically speaking.
Jetman said:
Honestly, kind of. I'm not one of the people who hated the epilogue, but I do think I would greatly, greatly dislike it if the next Castlevania were in
modern times in cities
To me, Lords is more like Legacy of Darkness in that the music largely creates a tone of ambiance and attempts to craft an atmosphere for the game. It works for the games scale, sure, though a number of songs repeat often. Initially on my first run through the game I realized the Waterfall song in the tower stage, only to realize it played in many other areas in the game too on a more recent run. It has a hard time comparing to some of Michiru Yamane's works in other Castlevania games, as her music often sets the tone for an area pretty directly in terms of audio, and you can get a strong vibe of the scene or the area almost immediately. Lords doesn't really do that because not only is it not directing a melody directly out there but relying more on buildup to create a more "organic" atmosphere, some songs are reused and placed in different areas, which helps detract the tracks from creating an "identity" with the locations they're encased in, due to popping up in a variety of locations.
Imagine if for example Bloody Tears played at one particular point in the game, at some kind of boss fight. Now, imagine that song instead being played during every other fight, or in an area where danger lurks. Which instance seems to strike a stronger sense of identity in the sense of potentially making a particular area memorable or scenario when it plays? Lords tends to do more of the latter and less of the former. The standout songs amongst the soundtrack happen to be the songs rarely used outside of one or maybe two instances and indicate isolated scenarios, like Final Confrontation and The Hunting Path, while the more repeated songs may barely stand out in very few areas, if at all. That's not to say the music is incompetent, it's just not usually presented in a way to make it and whatever it's playing for really stand out most of the time, which detracts from the atmospheric tempo the whole score attempts to encompass. It ends up becoming a bit of background noise a lot of the time, which is a bit disheartening as a Castlevania fan to say.
I ended up listening to a lot of the tracks after I beat the game, and I was actually confused as to where most of them played. Most didn't really stand out in context to the game and its events, and the ones that did I can actually name the tracks. The only two repeating songs I can firmly remember now are Waterfall and The Warg. All of the other songs are boss themes or one-hit-wonders in the game, like The Hunting Path and Besieged Village.
Imagine if for example Bloody Tears played at one particular point in the game, at some kind of boss fight. Now, imagine that song instead being played during every other fight, or in an area where danger lurks. Which instance seems to strike a stronger sense of identity in the sense of potentially making a particular area memorable or scenario when it plays? Lords tends to do more of the latter and less of the former. The standout songs amongst the soundtrack happen to be the songs rarely used outside of one or maybe two instances and indicate isolated scenarios, like Final Confrontation and The Hunting Path, while the more repeated songs may barely stand out in very few areas, if at all. That's not to say the music is incompetent, it's just not usually presented in a way to make it and whatever it's playing for really stand out most of the time, which detracts from the atmospheric tempo the whole score attempts to encompass. It ends up becoming a bit of background noise a lot of the time, which is a bit disheartening as a Castlevania fan to say.
I ended up listening to a lot of the tracks after I beat the game, and I was actually confused as to where most of them played. Most didn't really stand out in context to the game and its events, and the ones that did I can actually name the tracks. The only two repeating songs I can firmly remember now are Waterfall and The Warg. All of the other songs are boss themes or one-hit-wonders in the game, like The Hunting Path and Besieged Village.
brandonh83
Banned
What you say isn't wrong in the slightest. However, Michiru's musical style would not fit Lords of Shadow. At all. I tried to make a playlist out of more traditional Castlevania style tunes from various albums, and it was incredibly jarring.
Lords of Shadow is this more... sweeping style of fantasy adventure, where your character is engulfed in the atmosphere, so having super upbeat music simply wouldn't work. Not even some of the more ambient tracks worked when I was playing the game with those on the playlist.
So yeah I think it's important that Arajuo's score fits the atmosphere of the game instead of trying to emulate Michiru's work. That's why they got a Spanish film composer, one that could take the environments, atmosphere, and gameplay style into consideration. I think his music accompanies what's going on in each level just fine, I just don't think the random playlist style was a good direction to go in.
What I'm saying is, thematically and structurally, and compositionally speaking, it's mind-blowing. How it's actually used in the game, however, is arguable. Whatever the case, I think the score would work better than had they used Yamane's style. It's just too fast paced for Lords. Lords and the Igarashi games are so incredibly different that it needed a different musical style.
Personally, I'm a fan of both so it's a win-win for me.
Oh, and one more thing, there is so, so much more music to be heard from the game than what is on the soundtrack album. In the soundtrack voting thread, I linked to several fuller tracks with music not on the released album. If I only heard what was on the album, I probably wouldn't be as defensive about the soundtrack as I am, but like most film/videogame albums, they do not do the entire scores any justice.
Lords of Shadow is this more... sweeping style of fantasy adventure, where your character is engulfed in the atmosphere, so having super upbeat music simply wouldn't work. Not even some of the more ambient tracks worked when I was playing the game with those on the playlist.
So yeah I think it's important that Arajuo's score fits the atmosphere of the game instead of trying to emulate Michiru's work. That's why they got a Spanish film composer, one that could take the environments, atmosphere, and gameplay style into consideration. I think his music accompanies what's going on in each level just fine, I just don't think the random playlist style was a good direction to go in.
What I'm saying is, thematically and structurally, and compositionally speaking, it's mind-blowing. How it's actually used in the game, however, is arguable. Whatever the case, I think the score would work better than had they used Yamane's style. It's just too fast paced for Lords. Lords and the Igarashi games are so incredibly different that it needed a different musical style.
Personally, I'm a fan of both so it's a win-win for me.
Oh, and one more thing, there is so, so much more music to be heard from the game than what is on the soundtrack album. In the soundtrack voting thread, I linked to several fuller tracks with music not on the released album. If I only heard what was on the album, I probably wouldn't be as defensive about the soundtrack as I am, but like most film/videogame albums, they do not do the entire scores any justice.
ShockingAlberto
Member
Yeah, the soundtrack was a good fit for some game, but not this one.john tv said:
brandonh83
Banned
ShockingAlberto said:
It fit the style and the atmosphere of the game just fine. It was just utilized incorrectly.
revolverjgw
Member
Well recorded and professionally done soundtrack, but total wallpaper music. When I tried listening to it outside the game, it conjured no memories or moods. There was some damn striking and bold art direction in this game, scenes and images I'll never forget, but that just seemed to make the music seem even more boring.
ShockingAlberto
Member
If you say so. I don't really see much of a difference between pounding a square in to a circle and pounding a circle in to a square.brandonh83 said:
brandonh83
Banned
I fail to see how the music itself doesn't fit with the tone of the game, but to each his own.
aparisi2274 said:
It's Romanian and means devil. It's pretty interesting though looking at Wikipedia; Dracula means "son of the dragon" and was the name of the real life Dracula, Vlad the Impaler. His father was called "Vlad Dracul", or "Vlad the Dragon". This could mean that the guy who wrote that line didn't care about the details that much, OR it could be a hint that Gabriel has a son :O
Neuromancer
Member
How hard would you guys say this game is? I'm interested in it but I'm not that good at GoW type games. I was thinking about playing it on easy. Thanks.
Fimbulvetr
Member
Violater said:
It's okay.
We still love you.
I started playing last night. The game feels great on the Knight setting. My only complaint so far is the tutorial doesn't do a great job of explaining what to do during the QTE events, either that or I glossed over that part because I got stuck on the second boss battle not knowing what to do during the circle QTE events. Figured it out now but an on-screen queue to remind us what we need to be doing would be great!
WickedLaharl
Member
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_lords_of_shadow_dlc_have_a_date-10345_en.html
screens from the first DLC at the bottom. looks like you can
screens from the first DLC at the bottom. looks like you can
play as laura
Minamu said:First half can be really annoying, but it gets a lot easier and you'll probably wonder what the fuss was about later on. Don't play on Hard from the get go, of course
I'd say Knight (Hard) is the perfect difficulty level to start on. Not so easy that it's boring, but not frustratingly hard. Just right. But I guess if the guy isn't good at these types of games he could try normal or even easy.
If you know how to parry, Knight is kind of a cakewalk.Minamu said:Debatable to be honest
brandonh83
Banned
CcrooK said:
Yeah, most of the time DLC doesn't do much for me but I imagine this will.
evilromero
Member
I had no idea we were getting DLC. Have they fixed that game-ending bug yet? The one where your game disappears right at the final boss?
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