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[JohngPR]

stop hating on Dante's Inferno! I like that game

I wasn't hating on it. I played the demo and thought it was fun. But no one can deny that it's a GOW rip off. Thematically, stylistically, and even er....gameplay-listically.

:lol

 

[brandonh83]

Dear god the combat is so awesome. Just when I'm starting to get frustrated with an encounter, I start to find little things that wind up greatly pulling the battle toward my favor, be it attack combos that work better or finding ways to better exploit the light/dark magic attacks.

Seriously it is so good. It's different enough to where I don't feel like I'm playing God of War at all. I agree with John, saying it's a GOW clone is a very lazy statement to make because all the little things add up to help differentiate it.

Not to mention the atmosphere, vibe, art direction, stage layout, and a lot of other things go a long way, at least to me to make this not like GOW.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Dear god the combat is so awesome. Just when I'm starting to get frustrated with an encounter, I start to find little things that wind up greatly pulling the battle toward my favor, be it attack combos that work better or finding ways to better exploit the light/dark magic attacks.

Seriously it is so good. It's different enough to where I don't feel like I'm playing God of War at all. I agree with John, saying it's a GOW clone is a very lazy statement to make because all the little things add up to help differentiate it.

Not to mention the atmosphere, vibe, art direction, stage layout, and a lot of other things go a long way, at least to me to make this not like GOW.

I love the way the game flows. I mean they spent a TON of time on the production quality and how cutscenes flow to gameplay and so on.

 

[Canova]

I wasn't hating on it. I played the demo and thought it was fun. But no one can deny that it's a GOW rip off. Thematically, stylistically, and even er....gameplay-listically.

:lol

The game is actually good. the combat is decent, high production value, detailed environment and level design, cool bosses

 

[indigo-cyclops]

After some more time with it, I've gotta say the camera choice was fucking poor. Maybe it's just frustration with the constant restarts I'm enduring at the moment but if you're going to use a fixed camera at least frame the god damn shot right.

I also am starting to get the feeling that something is missing. I'm still early on in the game, so maybe as you get further in the setting gets that 'vania vibe. Overall though I still think there's a quality game here.

 

[brandonh83]

I love the way the game flows. I mean they spent a TON of time on the production quality and how cutscenes flow to gameplay and so on.

Yeah, definitely. You know, I keep spotting a few little details here and there that I'd almost wager money on being influenced by Kojima. That's one of them.

 

[luka]

One thing I love about the two different attack buttons is that instead of weak and strong attacks, as every single other game seems to split them, Castlevania splits them between direct and area attacks. Considering you're wielding a whip, that's a really great idea.

Yeah it really feels like a literal extension of the 2D CV mechanics. It's simple, and it works.

 

[brandonh83]

After some more time with it, I've gotta say the camera choice was fucking poor. Maybe it's just frustration with the constant restarts I'm enduring at the moment but if you're going to use a fixed camera at least frame the god damn shot right.

I agree. I don't have a problem with it a good amount of the time, but there's really no arguing that there are camera issues.

I'd rather it be fixed for a heavy combat game like this, but the problem is that the camera sometimes does a piss-poor job of giving you a solid look at the environment that the game is asking you to traverse.

I mean if you're hanging from a ledge, your next destination point should at least be visible on the frame, and sometimes it isn't.

Thankfully the platforming has been very easy for me so far and I haven't screamed at the game just yet, so I hope that continues.

 

[TheKaeptain]

So far, hard is fair and just the right kind of difficult. Also, you can die while platforming. Which is a plus in a game with platforming.

 

[K' Dash]

You can see they (developers) put sooo much love into this game, so awesome.

 

[andymcc]

You can see they (developers) put sooo much love into this game, so awesome.

this is love.

 

[burgerdog]

The credits were not 15 minutes long like all the recent blockbuster games. Mercurysteam is probably a small team. Here's hoping that they make money off the game. Need a sequel now.

 

[Phenomic]

About to finished up Chapter 1. The effects and the level of detail are so good.

Spoiler

Just got to the lake of Oblivion. The snow and ice that appears on your screen as it falls from the sky showing the impact of it landing, the wind blowing the trees as they slightly sway back and forth, the contrast of the white background with Gabriel's red coat.

 

[Dartastic]

I agree. I don't have a problem with it a good amount of the time, but there's really no arguing that there are camera issues.

I'd rather it be fixed for a heavy combat game like this, but the problem is that the camera sometimes does a piss-poor job of giving you a solid look at the environment that the game is asking you to traverse.

I mean if you're hanging from a ledge, your next destination point should at least be visible on the frame, and sometimes it isn't.

Thankfully the platforming has been very easy for me so far and I haven't screamed at the game just yet, so I hope that continues.

Yeah. I feel the same way. I'm kinda irritated by the framerate as well. It's not BAD, but I do wish that they dialed back some of the purdyness to make it a bit smoother at times. The most infuriating things however, are the invisible walls. MY GOD THEY'RE EVERYWHERE. Just about to fight the ice titan. Well, at least I think that's what I'm going to do. But man. INVISIBLE WALLS. SERIO. It'd be a bit better with a map, but man it's irritating.

 

[andymcc]

Yeah. I feel the same way. I'm kinda irritated by the framerate as well. It's not BAD, but I do wish that they dialed back some of the purdyness to make it a bit smoother at times. The most infuriating thing however, are the invisible walls. MY GOD THEY'RE EVERYWHERE. Just about to fight the ice titan. Well, at least I think that's what I'm going to do. But man. INVISIBLE WALLS. SERIO. It'd be a bit better with a map, but man it's irritating.

they're terrible. there was a jump earlier in the game and i kept falling and taking damage because the walls wouldn't let me jump at the very edge, had to keep on trying to see where to jump FROM.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Played for about an hour once I got home on the hardest. Finished Bog. Fuck awesome game!

 

[brandonh83]

Jaw just met the fucking floor. Holy piss.

Spoiler

Agharta. Super Castlevania IV waterfall music. Beautiful environment. Need to be held and fed breast milk.

 

[x3sphere]

I was a little worried but just got this for PS3 and the framerate is totally fine. Vast improvement in that regard over the build I played at E3.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Played for about an hour once I got home on the hardest. Finished Bog. Fuck awesome game!

Should spoiler that before people think it is a spoiler.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I was a little worried but just got this for PS3 and the framerate is totally fine. Vast improvement in that regard over the build I played at E3.

Yea framerate really hasn't been an issue for me either.

 

[brandonh83]

my gf stopped watching Dancing With the Stars to gawk at this fucking environment.

game developers, the bar has been raised because of this.

 

[~Kinggi~]

The thing that sells this shit so well, which i was concerned about before actually playing it, is they saturate everything with story and lore. In the book they got wonderful hand-drawn art and they have write-ups on every character and enemy you encounter, as well as some stat details. Before every level Patrick Stewert gives a "mood" narration. All of that behind the atmospheric art design make the world feel interesting.

 

[Zerokku]

Yea framerate really hasn't been an issue for me either.

I had a 2 second hang in one of the early early cutscenes (360 version) but besides that I haven't noticed anything.

 

[linkboy]

I have only played GOW3, and I like it, but I associate this more with the non-rpg Castlevania games. It feels like a 3D update of the old formula.

That's exactly how it feels to me. Before SOTN, Castlevania was straight up an action game. This game is pretty much the old style but in 3D.

Totally love this game.

 

[NeoUltima]

Hmm is the pre-boot screen audio on ps3 suppose to have some music and then say "don't you see Gabriel?" and then cut off and loop again.

Anybody?
Cause that's what mine does and it doesn't seem right. The demo just played epic music. This shit sounds weird. *plays music for 2 seconds* then "don't you see Gabriel" and then repeats.

 

[Dartastic]

they're terrible. there was a jump earlier in the game and i kept falling and taking damage because the walls wouldn't let me jump at the very edge, had to keep on trying to see where to jump FROM.

It's such a shame too, because the game BEGS for you to explore and look around these amazing environments, but then you just... stop. It's ridiculous. When you combine that with the framerate (which drops in some really weird, weird places) it's really frustrating. Which is such a shame too, because the game outside of these two things is of SUCH high quality. Haven't had many bad camera issues yet, however, thank god. The ones that have happened have been minor.

 

[Spike]

Safe to say that this runs on 3.41 firmware for the PS3?

 

[luka]

Anybody?
Cause that's what mine does and it doesn't seem right. The demo just played epic music. This shit sounds weird. *plays music for 2 seconds* then "don't you see Gabriel" and then repeats.

Mine's like that too.

 

[Jerk]

my gf stopped watching Dancing With the Stars to gawk at this fucking environment.

game developers, the bar has been raised because of this.

High praise.

 

[Sydle]

Plays like God of War and SotC. Looks amazing. Really loving it so far.

Playing on 360. Framerate is better than demo. Install it.

 

[NeoUltima]

Mine's like that too.

O ok, thanks. Seems really weird though.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Playing on PS3 and no frame rate issues so far.

 

[neojubei]

played a bit today, got to the swamp part and probably going to stop there until the long weekend. For now the game doesn't look as good as God of War 3 but does look better than most of the GOW clones like Dante's inferno. Hate to say it but i am already tired of Patrick Steward. At least in the God of War games Linda Hunt didn't rattle on and on and on.

Cannot wait to play more this weekend.

 

[~Kinggi~]

I find it pretty cool that in the extras section you can use all the extra experience you gain to buy artwork, but an addition you can modify your combat display so that you can have experience point and combat damage numbers pop over the heads of enemies and your guy just like in SOTN

 

[gunstarhero]

Anyone else getting STRONG Lord of the Rings vibes here? Music + environments are screaming Peter Jackson

 

[~Kinggi~]

Im on the 4th level in a forest that looks like a fairy tale crysis environment. Fucking crazy graphics.

 

[thetrin]

I find it pretty cool that in the extras section you can use all the extra experience you gain to buy artwork, but an addition you can modify your combat display so that you can have experience point and combat damage numbers pop over the heads of enemies and your guy just like in SOTN

Yeah, I turned on health recovery and EXP gain. I might turn on enemy health loss as well.

 

[geebee]

Damn ran into a pretty obvious graphical bug just 5 mins into the game. The time Gabriel is knocked off of the horse and is forced to fight enemies on foot... one of the enemies' jaw was really stretched to the point where it went through the floor of the level. :lol Has anyone else run into it?

The visuals are great aside from that little bug, though. The level of detail is crazy!

 

[Dartastic]

Plays like God of War and SotC. Looks amazing. Really loving it so far.

Playing on 360. Framerate is better than demo. Install it.

Does installing help with the framerate?

 

[george_us]

Back-flippy girl is awesome.

I hope Mercury Steam releases a patch that makes the game run at a solid 30 frames or higher. I think the framerate dips along with the sudden camera movements are making it hard for me to concentrate on the action at times. Or I could just be out of it. Either way, I'm too addicted to stop playing.

 

[Volcynika]

I just beat the second level, two questions

-I unlocked a trial but I'm not sure how to access it, how do I go about that?
-What are these 'jewels', I'm missing the one in the second level, not sure if it's just something you find or some event you have to do to get it.

 

[Ricker]

Wow this game is hard but not always ina good way...press down on the left analog to refill stuff?? hold LT,right in the middle of the action to switch to light magic? really? and I also don`t like not getting an auto save right after a particularly hard section,that I restart with half my health,with my little magic meter almost empty,and I had to retry many times only to finally beat it but dying after,not quite sure where to go or jump or hang somewhere,falling to my death and having to redo all that over again...at this point it`s almost impossible to do and I`m probably better off restarting the chapter over.....not digging this so much for now.

 

[Dark Octave]

360, no install. No real frame rate issues so far. Well one hang up while fighting the first wolves in the demo. :lol Still not sure if it was a two second long hang or if I did a really powerful Street Fighter IV style hit.

My quick thoughts:

Beautiful looking and sounding game. Fun gameplay with lots of variety.

I do hope there is more variety in the music. I'm hearing the same song into chapter two and while it's beautiful and powerful when it swells, it will get old after a while. They really should have reserved that particular theme for only the biggest moments during gameplay and cut scenes.

I hope they didn't spend too much money on Patric Stewart. He's cool, does as good of a job as you would expect him to, but I'm sure there are tons of other older British actors that would have done just as well. I don't get the goosebumps you guys do. He's just another character with another accented voice. But no hate on the guy at all. :lol "If you fonsey theh Jonahs brothas, cuva yo bellehhh..."

Gabriel's hair is stiff, which is strange looking for hair as straight and long as his.

Loving the little touches like the hand drawn animations that showcase the moves in the menu book. Everything has an explanation and a back story. The moveset is deep and a lot of fun to play around with.

The Shadow of the Colossus boss fight is great. I really miss that game and C:LoS has given me another taste of it I haven't had in years.

The two puzzles in chapter one are good and already vastly different from one another.

This game is Castlevania in name only. So far, the character name, the whip and the title screen are the only things I can honestly associate with Castlevania, but I'm not mad. Castlevania's 3D games never really worked out so great and frankly the series was becoming kind of hokey. I feel that this is the kick in the ass the series needs if it is to continue and compete with the big boys outside of Japan.

My girlfriend mentioned that she wishes it was open world. I don't mind linearity at all so that's not a knock for me. Then there's the fact that it's a 15 to 20 hour quest...wow.

This game is a lot and it does a lot right.

 

[thetrin]

I just beat the second level, two questions

-I unlocked a trial but I'm not sure how to access it, how do I go about that?
-What are these 'jewels', I'm missing the one in the second level, not sure if it's just something you find or some event you have to do to get it.

1) Just go back to that level. It's like an additional challenge for that level.

2) Jewels are like heart pieces to extend your health bar. You find them usually on

Spoiler

dead soldiers. Interact with R2

Also, holy fuck these titan fights are fucking dumb. It's like Shadow of the Colossus, except bad. I love SotC to death, and this shit is just fucking irritating. I'm finding sometimes the hanging mechanic just...doesn't work sometimes? Its fucking infuriating. Fuuuuck this shit.

 

[Victrix]

Played through the first chapter and most of the second - very, very impressed with this.

Early buzz was positive, but if it keeps this quality level throughout the game, consider my mind blown.

FPS is definitely a downer at times, but the game is good looking, with some downright gorgeous backdrops at times, and I haven't had any fps issues interfere with actual combat so far.

Looks like a lot of goodies to go back and track down, if that's your thing.

 

[alr1ght]

anyone else having a problem with the sound mix (360)? I'm playing with headphones and it seems very unbalanced, emphasizing the right.

edit: seems to just be a problem with the 5.1 mix. Set my 360 to stereo and it's fine now. This is the only game I've had that problem with.

 

[Canova]

I'm still in the forest level, what's up with the camera? is this the game version of the shaky camera?

I have to say first impression is not very good

 

[NeoUltima]

Damn ran into a pretty obvious graphical bug just 5 mins into the game. The time Gabriel is knocked off of the horse and is forced to fight enemies on foot... one of the enemies' jaw was really stretched to the point where it went through the floor of the level. :lol Has anyone else run into it?

I had a glitch in the bog stage. Somehow during combat I ended hundreds of feet in the air for like 30 seconds. Gabriel was climbing on air and shit. After mashing some buttons I eventually fell back down. Shit was weird, never experienced a glitch like that in a game in awhile.

 

[~Kinggi~]

Just beat chapter 1. I guess that was the tutorial chapter. There are like twice as many levels in chapter 2 :lol

Damn im loving this game so far. Playing on normal as to not get too frustrated the first time through.

 

[Snaku]

Picked it up from Kmart this morning, and beat Chapter 1 before I went to work. I cannot even begin to express how happy I am that Castlevania was finally delivered into the competent hands of a developer that obviously loves the series as much as I do. This series and its fans have had to endure Koji Igarashi's 13 year reign of countless cookie cutter rehashes of Symphony of the Night, and a pair of embarrassingly amateur 3D console entries. But no more. Gone is the low production value. Gone is the hand holding experience system. Gone are the effeminate Hot Topic protagonists (and antagonists for that matter). Gone is the phoned in story with no world or lore building. Gone is the self fellating keeper of the franchise, whom I'm convinced never had a creative bone in his body.

Enter: MercurySteam. These guys got it. By taking the base components of the original action titles in the series, and infusing them with an entirely new mythology rich with detail and modern action & platformer game design, they've not only made Castlevania relevant again, they've turned it into a premier console title. And I'm loving ever second of it. The world drips with atmosphere. The lore and attention to detail makes my imagination run wild. The combat system feels similar to recent hack n slash games, but with the focus & area attacks and skill progression it feels like a total different beast. The story is filled with interesting ideas, even from the start.

Spoiler

The One God moving in on the old gods' territory was particularly interesting, and I hope they flesh that out moving forward.

The graphics and music speak for themselves, though it is wonderful to play a Castlevania that actually feels like a living world rather than a series of empty corridors and room cubes.

Farewell Iga, you will not be missed.