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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow |OT| The MercurySteam has Vanquished the Horrible Night

LowParry

LowParry

Member
Salz01 said:
They had a concert?! Holy crap.
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Yeah they did. Really fun to watch though I wish I could find a full version of the entire concert instead of clips of particular songs. All that I've listened to is really good.


And where the crap are the rest of the reviews?
 
A

andymcc

Banned
canova said:
damn looking at all the hype, looks like we got new king in the action genre. who the hell needs that Capcom franchise
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at less than 30fps, it's not going to be the king of action. sorry.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Yeah, that would rock in a 20 hour game.
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That's what I've been saying since the Wii was announced. Everyone wanted Zelda with 1:1 motion control sword action but I can't imagine it being enjoyable to use for such a long game. I guess we'll find out when the new Zelda hits. :\
 
B

bone_and_sinew

breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
The shimmering hints can be turned off right? Looks way too easy if it's on and I'd rather figure simple shit out on my own that have my hand held by it the entire way.
 
F

Ferrio

Banned
Genesis Knight said:
IT'S HARD! IT'S HARD! IT'S HARD! IT'S HARD! IT'S HARD! BUT FAIR! BUT FAIR! BUT FAIR! BUT FAIR! BUT FAIR!
Click to expand...

god-hand-spanking-o.gif
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
canova said:
is that what really matter to you fps, pixels, etc?
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they're not simply statistics or minutia, the frame rate has a huge effect on the experience of the game. I couldn't stand SOTC due to its ungodly frame rate.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
canova said:
is that what really matter to you fps, pixels, etc?
Click to expand...

Don't be obtuse. Action games depend on how they feel and how they feel depends, in part, on frame rate.

When you say "king of action" are you not talking about action games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden and God of War?
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUck.

I was going to wait until more reviews came out to pull the trigger on this offer. Looks like Gamefly will be getting my money instead. *sad trombone*
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Teknoman said:
Hey brandon, either its just me, or the images for your video links in the OP have been removed.
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yeah, I've been reworking that section, should be back now. I changed the images for the videos, removed the demo gameplay video since everyone will be playing it today and added the 11 minute gameplay trailer.
 
D

Defunkled

Member
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...

DAMNIT
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
polyh3dron said:
they're not simply statistics or minutia, the frame rate has a huge effect on the experience of the game. I couldn't stand SOTC due to its ungodly frame rate.
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Let's be fair here, the framerate in this game is in no way comparable to Shadow of the Colossus. Go watch the high quality HD vids hosted on Gamersyde. It looks very nice in motion and is much smoother than SOTC.

I definitely agree that framerate is very important, of course, but I think you're expecting too little from this game in that regard.
 
V

vermadas

Member
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...

Whew... that was close. I was going to wait until both demos came out so I could decide on the platform. Then I decided to just pre-order the PS3 version this morning and switch if I needed to.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...
good thing I got my order in last night..

yessssssssss
 
DryvBy

DryvBy

Member
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...

I'll be ticked if they remove this. I preordered a month or 2 ago when I first saw that promo. Amazon's got amazing customer service though so... I'm hoping at least they let me keep my $20 promo credit.
 
R

Relaxed Muscle

Member
Meristation: (spanish web...probably not biased...like Edge.. :lol J/K)

http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_analisis.php?pic=GEN&id=cw4ca1c504b7324&idj=cw48abddb9ac773

Score:9

The best

- Stays faithful to the saga.
- Great variety of situations.
- Long duration for the genre it belongs.
- Challenging difficulty and original puzzles
- Great replayability.

The worst

- Framerate problems.
- Some notorious jaggies.
- Some jumps are tricky due imprecision.
- Great VA, but only in english. (yeah, that something bad for us.)
 
F

FreedomFrisbee

Member
hey_it's_that_dog said:
Don't be obtuse. Action games depend on how they feel and how they feel depends, in part, on frame rate.

When you say "king of action" are you not talking about action games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden and God of War?
Click to expand...

How they feel depends on how things move, mostly. As I've said, it is very possible for framerate to have no bearing on actual gameplay. As long as everything looks smooth (as many undoubtedly felt this game was until someone came up with statistics) the framerate doesn't matter. Generally smooth is 24 fps. At least, thats what an entire industry thinks.

Before I went over this whole concept of having visible frames be de-coupled from underlying process 'frames'. Having something be visibly 24 fps, but process things at 60 fps or some such. If a game does that, then anything over 24 fps becomes pure eye candy. Which is 1 frame every .04 seconds. Which is more than enough time for someone to react (human reaction time being .1 seconds to visual stimuli) or 'anticipate a pattern' (which is an odd argument to bring up because that just makes fps matter even less because it becomes muscle memory and not reaction to visual stimuli).

Do note that even though you're not seeing it at 60 fps, you won't somehow be impaired by latency (really, I don't even remember how latency came into this). Even then, the game's visuals can be adjusted to compensate for latency between the console and the screen. Rock Band and Guitar Hero do this. And outside of that, if you're TV is causing reaction time issues, there isn't a whole lot the game maker can do about that.

Now, if anyone is concerned about this, please let me know and I can make an interactive sample to demonstrate the de-coupling of framerate and processes. Please do remember that I have no real way of telling if a game is using this technique, I just know that it is a standard engine capability. There are several different ways to go about handling when to put things on screen, this technique among them.

So might I suggest PMing me if you have further concern, lest we mire a fairly nice thread.
 
R

Relaxed Muscle

Member
rvy said:
Whatsho mean? Unlockables? Classic Castlevania costumes for Gabriel? Please?
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I think it means getting the 100% of all stages, the reviewer talks about secret zones and mysteries.

Also, the full review mentions, no visual differences between both versions, take that as you want.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
. Generally smooth is 24 fps. At least, thats what an entire industry thinks.
Click to expand...
This does not look good in most games.

If it were really locked to 24 fps (and we know it fluctuates) you would need to use some sort of 3:3 pulldown technique to smooth out the judder.

The biggest issue is motion blur. Films have natural motion blur and Castlevania seems to sport some pretty high-end blur as well. Without it, however, 24 fps looks like dog shit.

Most displays simply don't handle those odd framerates all that well. My Pioneer plasma does a great job with its 72 Hz mode when it comes to playback of 1080p24 content, but most TVs really don't.
 
R

rollingstart

Banned
Nelo Ice said:
fyi for anyone looking to order this off amazon they took down the $20 promo credit no idea if its coming back

though if u already preordered while it was still there then u should be good to go
Click to expand...

I was waiting for the demo and info on 360 vs PS3 versions before setting my order.

Oh well, I'll get it eventually now.
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
FreedomFrisbee said:
How they feel depends on how things move, mostly. As I've said, it is very possible for framerate to have no bearing on actual gameplay. As long as everything looks smooth (as many undoubtedly felt this game was until someone came up with statistics) the framerate doesn't matter. Generally smooth is 24 fps. At least, thats what an entire industry thinks.

Before I went over this whole concept of having visible frames be de-coupled from underlying process 'frames'. Having something be visibly 24 fps, but process things at 60 fps or some such. If a game does that, then anything over 24 fps becomes pure eye candy. Which is 1 frame every .04 seconds. Which is more than enough time for someone to react (human reaction time being .1 seconds to visual stimuli) or 'anticipate a pattern' (which is an odd argument to bring up because that just makes fps matter even less because it becomes muscle memory and not reaction to visual stimuli).

Do note that even though you're not seeing it at 60 fps, you won't somehow be impaired by latency (really, I don't even remember how latency came into this). Even then, the game's visuals can be adjusted to compensate for latency between the console and the screen. Rock Band and Guitar Hero do this. And outside of that, if you're TV is causing reaction time issues, there isn't a whole lot the game maker can do about that.

Now, if anyone is concerned about this, please let me know and I can make an interactive sample to demonstrate the de-coupling of framerate and processes. Please do remember that I have no real way of telling if a game is using this technique, I just know that it is a standard engine capability. There are several different ways to go about handling when to put things on screen, this technique among them.

So might I suggest PMing me if you have further concern, lest we mire a fairly nice thread.
Click to expand...

I posted two links that, as far as I can tell (as a non-expert), argue for why frame rate affects the feeling of responsiveness in games.

You really need to stop trotting out this "24fps is good enough for the film industry!" bullshit. It's a non-interactive medium so it means fuck all. The argument is about frame rate and controls, not about the appearance of smoothness. At least that's what I've been talking about.

Besides, I believe you that's it's possible to decouple a 24fps from 60hz processing of inputs. That's not the issue. The issue is how frequently this happens in practice. If you can tell me that, I will have learned something.

I'm going to try not to shit up this thread any further with this nonsense.
 
Z

Zeal

Banned
Epic Thread has Vanquished the Horrible Night

changed to the LE version at amazon. demo should be up soon.
 
DryvBy

DryvBy

Member
FreedomFrisbee said:
How they feel depends on how things move, mostly. As I've said, it is very possible for framerate to have no bearing on actual gameplay. As long as everything looks smooth (as many undoubtedly felt this game was until someone came up with statistics) the framerate doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I think people are reading "statistics" rather than checking out how it plays. Does framerate matter? Of course it does. No one wants a sluggish game to play. However, I think some people might be missing the picture. This isn't a fighting game. If the game is fully responsive, looks good, etc... then what difference is that going to make? This isn't a shooter of fighting game. A milisecond isn't going to effect you that much. By all means, use that "evolutionary eye" to predict the next move during the animation of the current move. I don't really get the big deal IF the game works/looks good, that statistic is just that: a statistic. IF it is more than that, then it is an issue.

My cousin is something of how I've seen some of the writers responding to this and the other forum that was dragged down into FPS rants. He has a computer that is perfectly captible of performing 50-60 FPS in WoW but wants to upgrade for more. Why? If the game is playing fine for you, then be happy. I had a blast with Dungeon Siege I and I swear the cap on that game in the ice levels was 17fps. I didn't notice it that much until I saw those numbers from Fraps.
 
R

Ridley327

Member
I had mentioned before that Best Buy's pre-order bonus was a redeemable token for SotN for either system, but the deal actually gets better than that. Every first run copy of the game at Best Buy will come with the token, so you're not left out in the cold. I believe it's also inlcuded with the LE, so that sweetens the deal a bit.
 
R

Relaxed Muscle

Member
Hydrargyrus said:
Please, don't read Meristation, independently of the scores, is pure shit...
Click to expand...

Well, I don't read Meristation, but since people where posting reviews from all the places, I thought I'd share it.

DevilWillcry said:
Lead SKU PS3 development prevails again. Everyone wins!
Click to expand...

I should have noted that they probably didn't do a full check on both versions, so I'd say at least that there aren't any noticiable differences.
 
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