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[The_Darkest_Red]

Chapters 2-5 were way better than anything later in the game. I got really bored of fighting the same enemies that take forever to kill in the same boring castles and really missed the jungles, ruins, forests and swamps of the early game.

Interesting, I thought the environments improved significantly from Chapter 4 onward, with Chapter 8 being the real highlight for me. I'm kind of surprised that you describe the castle sections as boring, the art and some of the vistas throughout that section were as good as I've seen in any game. I enjoyed the beginning chapters as well, though.

I don't recall fighting any enemies other than the Titans that took a long time to defeat. I found the combat to be very satisfying and well paced.

 

[eloestmn]

All the chapters seemed pretty cool to me and the twist after the credits was a nice surprise, definitely didnt see parts of that coming.

 

[Thrakier]

I'd just wish for more castlevania in this...castlevania. Some classic tunes, something like "Stage 4-2 The Beast inside" stuff popping up, "A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS"...you know...just...it doesn't feel like CV.

Oh, and the framerate is awful.

 

[MoogPaul]

Was thinking about picking this up soon, was there ever a definitive answer on which version runs better? Obviously the PS3 will have better audio, but performance wise, do they differ much?

 

[Synless]

Was thinking about picking this up soon, was there ever a definitive answer on which version runs better? Obviously the PS3 will have better audio, but performance wise, do they differ much?

The PS3 version is the definitive one performance wise.

 

[Thrakier]

Was thinking about picking this up soon, was there ever a definitive answer on which version runs better? Obviously the PS3 will have better audio, but performance wise, do they differ much?

The difference between average 25 and average 23 isn't too big though...

 

[Philanthropist]

PS3 version is 1 disc while 360 is on 2 discs. The PS3 version is marginally better polished and more convenient.

 

[EGM92]

Anyone know when the second DLC will be out? the Reverie DLC was good I want to see how it goes from that ending to the ending after the credits.

 

[Philanthropist]

Anyone know when the second DLC will be out? the Reverie DLC was good I want to see how it goes from that ending to the ending after the credits.

Resurrection has been out for weeks already, but I read some people didn't get it in their region. Just make a manual search and find out.

 

[EGM92]

Resurrection has been out for weeks already, but I read some people didn't get it in their region. Just make a manual search and find out.

wtf ? really? I never saw it on Canadian PSN.

 

[diddles]

i'm really tryin to like this game but i'm still having a hard time with it. the combat is poor in my opinion and i notice it's really hard to see enemies. brown werewolves blend in to the brown background, especially in shadow, making it near impossible to see what they're doing and fight accordingly.

the camera is often horrific in its either a.) zooming in so i can't see enemies i'm fighting right next to me, or b.) zooming way out so everything is too small too see any detail in the action (compounded by my above enemy visibility complaints). it abruptly changes view angle as well many times, leaving me totally disoriented.

another little example of something that's driving me nuts... when you die, it asks you to if you want to continue from your last checkpoint. when you hit x, it asks you are you sure, yes or no, and by default highlights no, making you move over to yes. it's a little annoyance exacerbated by the fact that you're already pissed off for dying, multiplied many times by multiple deaths in a row. i'd like to shake the designer's hand and hand him his "banned from working in the game industry" notice for letting the game ship with this.

 

[Joei]

Wow, seems a lot of us are starting this game up. I just cracked open my copy the other day and just got done with the first world last night. That Ice Giant reminded me of SotC, a game I'm not too fond of, and I thought the battle was just a pain. It wasn't hard, I just wasn't into that game and hated the battles. Otherwise, I'm liking it so far. I wonder how motivated I'll be to go back and redo some levels to pick up some of the stuff I miss though.

 

[LevityNYC]

The game really picks up after Chapter 3.

Just beat the game tonight. I don't think i'm ready for the DLC yet, but i have 0 desire to go back through the old levels.

 

[LevityNYC]

Chapters 2-5 were way better than anything later in the game. I got really bored of fighting the same enemies that take forever to kill in the same boring castles and really missed the jungles, ruins, forests and swamps of the early game.

Complete opposite here. I couldn't wait to get out of the jungles. The castle was by far, the best environment in the game Love its.

 

[Ledsen]

i'm really tryin to like this game but i'm still having a hard time with it. the combat is poor in my opinion and i notice it's really hard to see enemies. brown werewolves blend in to the brown background, especially in shadow, making it near impossible to see what they're doing and fight accordingly.

the camera is often horrific in its either a.) zooming in so i can't see enemies i'm fighting right next to me, or b.) zooming way out so everything is too small too see any detail in the action (compounded by my above enemy visibility complaints). it abruptly changes view angle as well many times, leaving me totally disoriented.

another little example of something that's driving me nuts... when you die, it asks you to if you want to continue from your last checkpoint. when you hit x, it asks you are you sure, yes or no, and by default highlights no, making you move over to yes. it's a little annoyance exacerbated by the fact that you're already pissed off for dying, multiplied many times by multiple deaths in a row. i'd like to shake the designer's hand and hand him his "banned from working in the game industry" notice for letting the game ship with this.

Turn on enemy health bars/damage numbers in the options. Instant fix.

 

[diddles]

hmm i might regret this post but the scotch is telling me to go ahead, post away

tldr: this game is trash

ok i'm done, i'm out. i really wanted to like it, but fuck this piece of shit game. i thought mercurysteam was some japanese company, i just looked them up and found out they're in spain and the only other game they ever made was jericho. haha it all makes sense now. jericho was a first generation mess, and this game is another travesty of game design fit to follow in jericho's footsteps.

i can't really be mad at the company, i can see they're really ambitious and they bit off more than they can chew and failed miserably, hey at least they tried. it's really konami that i'm laughing at, giving castlevania to the company who's only other game is jericho. there's a brilliant business decision... why don't they give the next castlevania to the team that made the last few 3d sonic games?

fuck the shitty framerate, fuck the terrible camera during combat, fuck the terrible combat during level traversal, fuck the terrible controls, fuck the impossible to read enemies with their brown and grey textures that mix right in with every brown and grey background so you can never see what the fuck it going on, fuck the weak combat where i can never tell if i'm hitting or getting blocked or getting hit blocking, fuck the 80000 worthless moves i've already learned by stage 3 that don't help me at all, fuck the ridiculous use of every button on the controller for a different thing in every context, fuck the text on the screen telling me every 5 seconds what to do and what i can do at a later time if i come back when i'm more powerful like i'm some mom who's never played a game before while at the same time having cheesy ass confusing combat play so that same mom never has a chance of getting anywhere in the game anyway, fuck the invincible roll fest this game turns into because block shares a button with roll, fuck the horrible game designers behind this who need to be banned from the industry fuck IT ALL

this game is so bad i want to write a 3 page review pointing out how terribly flawed it is, but i'll just end this rant here because the game is a year old and nobody cares anymore. mercurysteam please stick with making 99 cent ipad or symbian apps. konami please go out of business.

 

[LevityNYC]

This guy may be a troll...

 

[diddles]

This guy may be a troll...

i'm not, if you'll see i've been trying to like this game over the past week or two. just really disappointed and utterly annoyed right now after playing it for about an hour.

Turn on enemy health bars/damage numbers in the options. Instant fix.

i might give this one more try tomorrow when i've cooled down.

 

[Finaika]

ok i'm done, i'm out. i really wanted to like it, but fuck this piece of shit game. i thought mercurysteam was some japanese company, i just looked them up and found out they're in spain and the only other game they ever made was jericho.

If MercurySteam was a Japanese company, would you like the game better?

 

[AppleMIX]

If MercurySteam was a Japanese company, would you like the game better?

I was wondering this to.

 

[LevityNYC]

i'm not, if you'll see i've been trying to like this game over the past week or two. just really disappointed and utterly annoyed right now after playing it for about an hour.



i might give this one more try tomorrow when i've cooled down.

I'm not one of those people, but at least get past chapter 4.... I know its a 3-4 hour commitment, but Chapter 2 drags on FOREVER and chapter 3 and 4 are a little slow as well.

 

[diddles]

If MercurySteam was a Japanese company, would you like the game better?

don't be so sensitive. i meant being a japanese company they would likely have had close relations with konami and whoever at konami is responsible for the series. this game feels like a pile of poo made halfway across the world that konami threw their name on sometime during the last three months of development.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

To be fair it's really not a Castlevania game. It's an adventure game w/the Castlvania name tacked on. I liked the game for what it was but would prefer the series to return to Japan where it belongs. I'm glad this game brought back some platforming so maybe game makers in Japan could take some notes from that and get the series back where it belongs.

 

[DarknessTear]

It is a Castlevania game. It's just a reboot. It doesn't really matter if Japanese people made it or not, it's still fucking awesome.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

It's a reboot, but they pretty much threw everything that made it Castlevania out the window. There's a lot they did right about the game, but the art direction and music were too drastic a departure from what made the series stand out.

It would be nice if Konami developed it internally and gave the series the funding it needs to really be a hit. This is something Japanese developers don't seem to understand lately. There's a growing trending of farming out classic and cherished franchises to western developers. That's not what makes their games stand out. There's room for both.

What they need to do is hire competent level designers with platforming and puzzles even if it means bringing in some western staff. Develop the game with a teen rating max and go for global appeal but keep the artwork, music and story consistant with the series/Japan. It can be done and it could be a critical and commercial success. A reboot doesn't have completely disregard what made the series great to begin with.

Mercury Steam did a good job at incorporating platforming and puzzles into the game, but they just copied off of other games like PoP, Tomb Raider, GoW and SotC. I enjoyed the game for what it was, but there are some things I would like to changed for the series in the future. Maybe there can be more collaboration between them and Japan in the future or they can keep this new game as a spin off like the Metroid Prime games.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

The NES/SNES CV games had a very Western fantasy style even though they were made in Japan. The series didn't start with SotN you know. And this game doesn't "borrow" from God of War any more than Iga's games "borrowed" from Metroid.

 

[DarknessTear]

It's a reboot, but they pretty much threw everything that made it Castlevania out the window. There's a lot they did right about the game, but the art direction and music were too drastic a departure from what made the series stand out.

It would be nice if Konami developed it internally and gave the series the funding it needs to really be a hit. This is something Japanese developers don't seem to understand lately. There's a growing trending of farming out classic and cherished franchises to western developers. That's not what makes their games stand out. There's room for both.

What they need to do is hire competent level designers with platforming and puzzles even if it means bringing in some western staff. Develop the game with a teen rating max and go for global appeal but keep the artwork, music and story consistant with the series/Japan. It can be done and it could be a critical and commercial success. A reboot doesn't have completely disregard what made the series great to begin with.

Mercury Steam did a good job at incorporating platforming and puzzles into the game, but they just copied off of other games like PoP, Tomb Raider, GoW and SotC. I enjoyed the game for what it was, but there are some things I would like to changed for the series in the future. Maybe there can be more collaboration between them and Japan in the future or they can keep this new game as a spin off like the Metroid Prime games.

I can understand maybe that they needed to bring back more of the old music and maybe even more references from the older games, but it doesn't need anime art, and also they have always been incapable of making a decent 3D Castlevania. That's why they got someone who could do the job do it correctly. This game is far beyond any other 3D Castlevania title.

A lot of Konami's staff seems to have left the company, anyway. I'm not really sure how much is left. They lost all of their dedicated composers, the Suikoden team, and Iga seems to be concerned for his job. He'd be smart to stick to making 2D handheld titles for the rest of his career.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

The NES/SNES CV games had a very Western fantasy style even though they were made in Japan. The series didn't start with SotN you know. And this game doesn't "borrow" from God of War any more than Iga's games "borrowed" from Metroid.

A lot of Japanese games have a global appeal. Metal Gear has a western theme and they've kept that internal. I'm not knocking taking a good idea like GOW or Metroid and building off of that. I'm just saying that they didn't have to completely change the series.

I can understand maybe that they needed to bring back more of the old music and maybe even more references from the older games, but it doesn't need anime art, and also they have always been incapable of making a decent 3D Castlevania. That's why they got someone who could do the job do it correctly. This game is far beyond any other 3D Castlevania title.

A lot of Konami's staff seems to have left the company, anyway. I'm not really sure how much is left. They lost all of their dedicated composers, the Suikoden team, and Iga seems to be concerned for his job. He'd be smart to stick to making 2D handheld titles for the rest of his career.

I'm not going say the 3D Japanese games haven't had their problems, but it seems like the steps they took were a bit drastic. The lore of the series has been lost under the current circumstances. I just think it would have been nice if they hired the staff necessary to keep the series in tact. Perhaps one day they'll do it again. It took years to get a true Metroid sequel on a console. I know it was flawed, but there will always be faults found in any game. Going for a global audience and trying to expand the series doesn't mean it has to be farmed out to a western developer. It's a problem with a lot of Japanese games right now. I'm just saying it would be nice if they could spend the resources needed to fix the problem instead of avoiding them. Japanese games have a lot to offer and it seems like they've been unable to adapt this generation. There's a reason people like games from them.

 

[Phonomezer]

The NES/SNES CV games had a very Western fantasy style even though they were made in Japan. The series didn't start with SotN you know. And this game doesn't "borrow" from God of War any more than Iga's games "borrowed" from Metroid.

Yeah, the GoW comparisons are silly.

CV:LoS has better combat by far in any case.

 

[diddles]

Yeah, the GoW comparisons are silly.

CV:LoS has better combat by far in any case.

i know everyone can have an opinion but this is factually wrong. GoW's combat has definite technique and a clear system of progression as you unlock stronger abilities. LoS's combat so far is a giant inconsistent mess of confusion. I keep unlocking new moves that are worthless, and it all comes down to roll roll roll roll, whip whip whip, repeat, while using the contrived and awkward magic system to try and heal from all the cheap shots you take. oh right, sometimes i block if i'm not getting attacked by 10 enemies at once... which is pretty much the whole game.

a more apt comparison for this game is that first gen conan game that came out back in '06, which was a mess itself. comparing this game's combat to GoW is scandalous. other than saying this game tried and failed miserably to copy it.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

I enjoyed the combat in LoS. They also did a good job at incorporating puzzles and platforming in the game. This has been sorely lacking in the previous 3D iterations. Mercury Steam did a lot right with the series. My main gripe with it is the art direction and music.

Edit -
diddles - I agree that combat from Japanese developers are almost always better. GOW borrowed from DMC so the argument is a bit silly since it's just gameplay evolution. Learning how to control your character is crucial though and a higher, more stable framerate is something I prefer in these types of games. There are combo systems you can learn in LoS though. I will say that the combat could have been more rewarding. It's too easy to grab some creatures and kill them.

 

[Finaika]

My main gripe with it is the art direction and music.

Wow. That's like the best thing about LoS imo.

 

[Stripper13]

i know everyone can have an opinion but this is factually wrong. GoW's combat has definite technique and a clear system of progression as you unlock stronger abilities. LoS's combat so far is a giant inconsistent mess of confusion. I keep unlocking new moves that are worthless, and it all comes down to roll roll roll roll, whip whip whip, repeat, while using the contrived and awkward magic system to try and heal from all the cheap shots you take. oh right, sometimes i block if i'm not getting attacked by 10 enemies at once... which is pretty much the whole game.

a more apt comparison for this game is that first gen conan game that came out back in '06, which was a mess itself. comparing this game's combat to GoW is scandalous. other than saying this game tried and failed miserably to copy it.

I would take the CV:LoS battle system over God of War's any day. There is an inexcusable lack of advancement and a small amount of cheap shots/enemies in both game - however CV kept me on my toes far more. By chapter 6-7 I had most of the enemies pretty much down, the moves/timing down, and the magic/combo system worked out. I was combo'g enemies/bosses relentlessly and had more magic than I knew what to do with... not to mention that the whip remained fairly interesting to use throughout the game.

I don't hate GOW. I think the battle system in GOW is decent for what it aims for - which is obviously a different target than the likes of NG/Bayo/DMC. However CV was far more strategic, interesting and fair-yet-challenging... at least in my experience. There were a few enemies (coffins, infinite-spawn health-sappers etc) that were annoying and difficult to predict - but outside of that it was a suprisingly competent system.

 

[Ledsen]

i know everyone can have an opinion but this is factually wrong. GoW's combat has definite technique and a clear system of progression as you unlock stronger abilities. LoS's combat so far is a giant inconsistent mess of confusion. I keep unlocking new moves that are worthless, and it all comes down to roll roll roll roll, whip whip whip, repeat, while using the contrived and awkward magic system to try and heal from all the cheap shots you take. oh right, sometimes i block if i'm not getting attacked by 10 enemies at once... which is pretty much the whole game.

a more apt comparison for this game is that first gen conan game that came out back in '06, which was a mess itself. comparing this game's combat to GoW is scandalous. other than saying this game tried and failed miserably to copy it.

It's not factually wrong at all, and I agree completely with the sentiment. GoW has an extremely mash friendly combat system that doesn't require much (if any) thought, while LoS rewards patience, good defense, timing and meter management. The mere fact that you think that you should "roll roll whip whip" in LoS means you haven't even understood the combat system. Parrying is basically the foundation of the whole combat system, and what you should be doing instead of rolling.

 

[Finaika]

Yeah. I'm actually playing through GoW HD Collection right now, and while I'm enjoying it tremendously, LoS' combat is much better. It actually kept me on my toes on almost every encounter, and timing the parry is very satisfying. In GoW I just roll a lot.

 

[Riposte]

I don't know, this sounds like a rage quit to me.

I know I am late to the party on this, but the whole "they copied this and this" and etc doesn't really say much one way or the other. The game is clearly different than God of War despite being in the same genre. (And that is the most credible comparison.)

 

[diddles]

Yeah. I'm actually playing through GoW HD Collection right now, and while I'm enjoying it tremendously, LoS' combat is much better. It actually kept me on my toes on almost every encounter, and timing the parry is very satisfying. In GoW I just roll a lot.

my only explanation is you're an alien from another planet where logic is backwards, or you're being a contrarian just for the sake of it. all i do in this game is roll. well sometimes i block if i can manage to hit the button without pressing in a direction. if i try any of the special moves i'm buying, i die and fail. they all seem worthless. oh i love how every big enemy does a "ground pound" move to stop you from just rolling all the time. without that ever so creative game play addition, you could literally just spam roll and never get hit. but noooo here comes the circular ground pound attack to change things up!!

also the platforming is very glitchy. sometimes i'm hanging from somewhere and can't trigger a jump to another platform, i error around a bit trying to figure out why, and after a minute all the sudden it works. i had a huge bug too where i seemed to shoot 10 miles into the sky, and i fell for about 45 seconds before i was back on the ground. somehow i wasn't surprised.

i think the game is trolling by the way. i've bitched about it holding your hand too much, telling you what to do all the time. i just got to this stage where the girl who speaks telepathically (so they wouldn't have to bother with facial animations for her) keeps repeating that i need to find the crystals every 60 seconds. lol. i muted all voice and turned off subtitles.

i'm still trying to find something i really like, can't say i'm not a trooper! i do prefer the game with combat damage and stuff on. by the way i'm playing on hard, so maybe that's causing a bit of my rage.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Just got this game today, hope it's good!

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

Yeah. I'm actually playing through GoW HD Collection right now, and while I'm enjoying it tremendously, LoS' combat is much better. It actually kept me on my toes on almost every encounter, and timing the parry is very satisfying. In GoW I just roll a lot.

God of War also has parrying, and as an added benefit the enemy attacks are actually legible and they don't hit you until the part of the animation where they look like they should hit you.

LoS is to be commended for having it's own combat system (people who say it's a GOW clone just aren't paying attention) but it lacks polish in certain ways; sometimes compared to GOW, sometimes compared to the action genre as a whole.

 

[diddles]

i think the camera might be about to give me a seizure. i'm running around this stage and at some points it's changing views every half second, snapping angles up to 180 degrees at a time. it should be a case study in how not to implement camera transitions in games. in the course of two seconds i get so hopelessly lost that it takes me another minute to get my bearings back.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Just got this game today, hope it's good!

It's real good. Super satisfying in length, as I'm sure you've heard.

As was just remarked upon, you should just pay attention to where enemy attacks *actually* deploy their hitbox for the purposes of dodge roll and parry. Really the biggest thing in the game that was poorly tested.

Otherwise, it's quite a blast.

 

[Mulligan]

Started a couple of days ago and having a blast. The atmosphere has totally sucked me in and the story seems really promising up to yet. Props to Mercurysteam as they've done an fantastic job with the production value for such an obscure developer, the graphics are probably the best i've experienced in a multi-plat and the art and music are superb. There are some minor gripes such as the sometimes clumsy camera but it's fine in most places. l'm only on chapter 5 but if the rest of the game holds out it may well be in my top 10 this gen.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Yeah, the combat system is really not good so far. I get tagged out of nowhere a lot of the time, especially when I jump. Jumping in general seems like a really bad idea, since enemies low swinging attacks randomly hit above their heads. That, and canceling into dodges seems really laggy, so I get hit since every enemy has crazy super armor and can just counter through my attacks. Why do they even have block animations when they can just absorb blows? I was playing on hard until I got to this Troll sub boss with no health and kept getting hit from off screen ground pounds. So I swapped to normal, which gave me free health and now I get way more reward for easier fights, and the AI is exactly the same, just lower health and damage :/

Another thing, the camera in this game is driving me insane. It flys from one dramatic angle to the next every 5 goddamn seconds and it's giving me a headache.

 

[Y2Kev]

Yeah, the GoW comparisons are silly.

CV:LoS has better combat by far in any case.

I just don't understand where this stuff comes from. It has to be a "feel" comment. GoW's combat is incredibly mature at this point and the rules are very firmly established. The combat system in LoS is downright unreliable by comparison. The framerate further complicates things.

It feels different, sure, but it's just really unpolished.

I liked LoS' combat because it wasn't directly comparable to GoW's. Otherwise I'd just play GoW.

 

[Philanthropist]

Sorry to quote myself. I just think this detail will get more appreciation here.

From the videogame facts thread:

I just found out about this. In Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, chapter XI:

Spoiler

Astrological puzzle

The first symbol you enter is Virgo (zodiac sign for August 23 to September 23)

The second symbol you enter is Day: 24.

I'm not sure about the third one, it might just be a simple part of the puzzle or it might have a meaning I'm not aware of. Suggestions are welcome.

Now guess whose zodiac sign is Virgo and was born on August 24.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideo_Kojima

 

[pakkit]

I love the combat system in this game to death. I'm in the final stretch now however, and countering isn't simply a means to survive, it's a necessity. But I can't nail the timing. Sometimes I'll think I've perfectly timed a counter only to get torn a new asshole. Any pointers?

 

[keltickennedy]

I love the combat system in this game to death. I'm in the final stretch now however, and countering isn't simply a means to survive, it's a necessity. But I can't nail the timing. Sometimes I'll think I've perfectly timed a counter only to get torn a new asshole. Any pointers?

No real advice but just to keep practicing. And always pay attention to reading the enemies attack tells. All the enemies have a certain animation or sound right before they are going to attack.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

my biggest beef with the combat in LoS was that the enemy tells are hard to figure out sometimes, especially when you are surrounded by a bunch of them. Can get frustrating to have a combo flow broken.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Wow, this thread got a lot of activity over the past few days.

Regarding the combat in LoS, I actually prefer it to GoW as well. The combat isn't as polished, that is basically inarguable, but I found the general flow to be more complex and enjoyable in LoS. diddles keeps mentioning that the combos in LoS are worthless but that is the complete opposite of my experience with the game beyond the first few hours. Strangely enough that actually seems like a more accurate description of GoW's combat to me as most of the more involved combos in those games are far less efficient than a steady stream of Square+Square+Triangles. In LoS I found myself referring to the combo screen quite often and soon afterwards finding a useful niche for each particular move in combat. The key is learning how each move affects a particular enemy and training yourself to use different moves depending on which type of baddie you're fighting. I also loved the use of light and dark magic in the game as it gave the combat another level of enjoyable complexity.

There is just so much depth in the combat system of LoS and I feel like a lot of that is lost on people who aren't willing to take the time to learn how to use the moves efficiently. Unlike GoW, LoS punishes you for sticking to the most basic attacks by reducing your damage output significantly, which probably leads to a lot of frustration. I can understand why some people never see past the simple moves in LoS's combat though, as the complexity does seem kind of hidden.

I will agree that there were some strange design decisions made regarding combat though. I don't understand why the roll button and block button are the same but for me it basically meant that blocking was out the window, and rolling became an essential part of my combat strategy. Oh well, I think that makes things more fun anyway. I also felt like it was weird how all of the combat display options defaulted to "off," but I guess that has to do with what most modern gamers expect out of this type of game. The health bars and numbers probably aren't for everyone but they improved the experience drastically for me.

 

[Genesis Knight]

So I beat this back when it came out but picked it up again last night. I was surprised there is no 'new game' option. I seriously would have to delete my save or move it to a flash drive or something to get that option?