Castlevania: Lords of Shadow |OT| The MercurySteam has Vanquished the Horrible Night
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abstract alien
Member
Its really hindering my enjoyment so far. All of this graphical detail means nothing to me without a good framerate. Shit feels like I'm trying to drive a Ferrari with no engine :^(Dartastic said:
Mine too. I honestly thought that it wouldn't be that big of a deal after playing the demo... I guess I just forgot what playing games with shitty framerates felt like. I could deal with the invisible walls and lack of a map and allabstract alien said:
that other shit. The frame rate though... It really is a genuine problem, at least on the 360.
Can someone please explain to me how grabbing works?... for example when you try to get the granade from the goblin or in the beginning when you fight the swamp thing?
I must have tried killing that swamp thing like 20 times already. What does it mean when the circle things start showing or blinking? All it says is hit RT to grab but what am I supposed to do then? Do I just hit X or Y? I grab and then I get kicked off or get hit and die. If I try to hit x or y or hold down RT it seems to be intermittent tha I hit the beasty. Am I missing something here? I Am I supposed to time the hits? WTF? This can't be this hard...Please help!!!!!
BTW the game rocks...excellent music, very epic and great graphics/gameplay. Very happy with my purchase. The framerate does dip and of course it moves no where near as smooth as ninja gaiden. The game has its own sense of awesome. Well worth the purcahse price.
Anyway if someone could help me out and explain how grabbing and subsequently hitting works I would really appreciate it. I can't kill that swamp thing.
I must have tried killing that swamp thing like 20 times already. What does it mean when the circle things start showing or blinking? All it says is hit RT to grab but what am I supposed to do then? Do I just hit X or Y? I grab and then I get kicked off or get hit and die. If I try to hit x or y or hold down RT it seems to be intermittent tha I hit the beasty. Am I missing something here? I Am I supposed to time the hits? WTF? This can't be this hard...Please help!!!!!
BTW the game rocks...excellent music, very epic and great graphics/gameplay. Very happy with my purchase. The framerate does dip and of course it moves no where near as smooth as ninja gaiden. The game has its own sense of awesome. Well worth the purcahse price.
Anyway if someone could help me out and explain how grabbing and subsequently hitting works I would really appreciate it. I can't kill that swamp thing.
Saint Gregory
Member
I'm about an hour in and I have to say IMO that this is the best art I've seen this gen, just so incredibly beautiful and I haven't seen a sign of an ugly model or texture anywhere. But the hand-holding is driving me crazy, the gameplay doesn't seem very Castlevania and the music, while great, isn't giving me any nostalgia so I'm a little disapointed overall although I can't imagine not finishing this just to see the eye candy. I may slow play it in the hopes that Konami at least releases a patch to take off the training wheels.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
The one you drew yourself. You have been drawing maps, right?Dartastic said:
So, I'm done for the night. I just finished level 2-6, or wherever it is where you take the wargs and jump a bunch of gaps and stuff.
I totally understand where everyone is coming from in regards to this game. I understand the 9's, and I understand the 7.5's. The thing is, the 9's are wrong. The game simply doesn't have the polish to support such scores.
Firstly, there's the (obviously) most talked about issue, which is the framerate. It is a problem, at least on the 360. Now, the degree of how problematic it is will depend on the individual, but for me it is a large problem. The game seems to be skipping all over the place, and it's horribly distracting. It is by far, my biggest problem with the game. But I'll leave that be, as it's been beaten to death a million times.
If the frame rate alone was the only problem with the game, I could understand the 9's. But there are too many other problems that are holding this game back. The most frustrating thing is, NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS ARE MAJOR. There are just so many MINOR "Game Design 101" problems, that they stack up and make the experience wayyyyy less fluid than it should be.
Example 1- the camera cuts/panning. You'll be running through an area, and it'll just... cut to a different camera angle. In games like Uncharted (which is obviously what they're going for) it'll smoothly make that transfer. Here it just... cuts, and you'll be kinda left wondering at times even where you are. It's horribly clunky, and it makes no sense. Luckily I haven't had many problems with it inside combat. It also does the same damn thing at the end of a stage, where it'll just END. You'll be running along and instead of fading to black or anything like that, it'll just CUT. It's jarring, and really, really weird.
Number 2- Invisible walls. They're everywhere. The game is disgustingly beautiful, but i can't continue to run along this flat plane because there's some fake wall designed to keep me guided along a goddamn path. Why should I even bother trying to explore and come back to alternate routes if a route that I might take is constrained by these arbitrary guidelines? No thanks. Sadly, it also hurts the platforming because you'll be jumping and you'll hit random crap that'll mess up your jumps. Yeah...
Also, since i'm talking about exploring... (number 3) where are the in stage maps, even if they're rudimentary as hell? SERIOUSLY? Wtf. I just even encountered a Knight that implied that there were supposed to be in stage maps. What happened to that? They should be there.
FOUR! I hate climbing down something with my whip, and holding down only to die because I didn't know where I was supposed to stop. COME. ON. That's just stupid.
There are more, but I don't feel like typing about them right now. The thing is, the fundamentals are there. The art and art direction is brilliant, the story seems quite good and involving, and it really does successfully grab that epic feeling that it's trying to achieve. The sad thing is, it just doesn't feel polished. It feels like another 3 or so months could have benefited it immensely. I'm going to keep playing it because I'm a Castlevania nut. But... MAN, so sad that they messed up the basics. :/
I totally understand where everyone is coming from in regards to this game. I understand the 9's, and I understand the 7.5's. The thing is, the 9's are wrong. The game simply doesn't have the polish to support such scores.
Firstly, there's the (obviously) most talked about issue, which is the framerate. It is a problem, at least on the 360. Now, the degree of how problematic it is will depend on the individual, but for me it is a large problem. The game seems to be skipping all over the place, and it's horribly distracting. It is by far, my biggest problem with the game. But I'll leave that be, as it's been beaten to death a million times.
If the frame rate alone was the only problem with the game, I could understand the 9's. But there are too many other problems that are holding this game back. The most frustrating thing is, NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS ARE MAJOR. There are just so many MINOR "Game Design 101" problems, that they stack up and make the experience wayyyyy less fluid than it should be.
Example 1- the camera cuts/panning. You'll be running through an area, and it'll just... cut to a different camera angle. In games like Uncharted (which is obviously what they're going for) it'll smoothly make that transfer. Here it just... cuts, and you'll be kinda left wondering at times even where you are. It's horribly clunky, and it makes no sense. Luckily I haven't had many problems with it inside combat. It also does the same damn thing at the end of a stage, where it'll just END. You'll be running along and instead of fading to black or anything like that, it'll just CUT. It's jarring, and really, really weird.
Number 2- Invisible walls. They're everywhere. The game is disgustingly beautiful, but i can't continue to run along this flat plane because there's some fake wall designed to keep me guided along a goddamn path. Why should I even bother trying to explore and come back to alternate routes if a route that I might take is constrained by these arbitrary guidelines? No thanks. Sadly, it also hurts the platforming because you'll be jumping and you'll hit random crap that'll mess up your jumps. Yeah...
Also, since i'm talking about exploring... (number 3) where are the in stage maps, even if they're rudimentary as hell? SERIOUSLY? Wtf. I just even encountered a Knight that implied that there were supposed to be in stage maps. What happened to that? They should be there.
FOUR! I hate climbing down something with my whip, and holding down only to die because I didn't know where I was supposed to stop. COME. ON. That's just stupid.
There are more, but I don't feel like typing about them right now. The thing is, the fundamentals are there. The art and art direction is brilliant, the story seems quite good and involving, and it really does successfully grab that epic feeling that it's trying to achieve. The sad thing is, it just doesn't feel polished. It feels like another 3 or so months could have benefited it immensely. I'm going to keep playing it because I'm a Castlevania nut. But... MAN, so sad that they messed up the basics. :/
DevilWillcry
Member
My Impressions so far:
Okay, so after many hours of playing (still not even half-way through the game yet :lol) I think I've gotten a pretty good feel for the game play. First off I just want to say that this game has some of the best production values I've seen in a game for a while. Amazing soundtrack, great art direction (this game has tons of it and trust me it adds to the atmosphere like crazy), and an all star voice cast.
In terms of game play, the combat is very similar to God of War but with some Classicvania throwbacks to it. For example aerial combos, blocking, dodging, and attack range all differ in execution from the God of War combat engine. Castlevania also features a sort of "devil-trigger" style magical relic power up. What separates Castlevania's "devil trigger" from other games is the fact that you have a light and dark transformation, each with their own power bars. It takes a little getting used to, but you find mixing these transformations mid-combo in combat can be very helpful in the more challenging combat areas. My only complaint with the combat is that the camera can be a bit jerky at times during hectic battles. It's nothing game breaking, it's more of a minor annoyance to be attacked by an off-screen enemy that you can't really do anything about.
In Classicvania style the game play contains a good amount of platforming as well as puzzle-solving in addition to the combat. The platforming is inconsistent but not bad overall. There are times where Gabriel falls to his death while he is swinging on his whip :lol. There are also time where he just misses a jump and instead of reaching up at a ledge he will smack into the wall and fall to his death. There are also invisible walls EVERYWHERE, but they don't generally effect the game play, but rather any exploration you'd want to do. I've only run into a few instances so far where these issues are really noticeable. There are times where the platforming has been great, swinging from hook to hook in Classicvania style while the camera changes up and epic music plays in the background, you just gotta love it
.
The climbing mechanics take a little getting used to, but they are fairly solid once you get it. The climbing borrows from games like Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus. You have a sort of auto climb you can do by pushing the analog stick in any direction when the ledges are close enough. Gabriel will look around to let you know where he can and cannot jump. Ledges blend into the environment in a similar fashion to Uncharted, so you are going to want to be sure you are paying attention to Gabriel's animations so you know where to leap next.
As I mentioned before there is also a good amount of puzzle-solving in this game. The problem is, it's all been rather simple or shallow puzzle solving so far. Which explains why most of the puzzles are able to be completely skipped. I've yet to skip a puzzle, but I noticed the option when I was doing the first puzzle and it's been on every puzzle since that. This is probably the weakest portion of Castlevania. The puzzles have all been shallow time consumers, or tired gaming cliches. None of them are very satisfying or clever and it makes complete sense why they've opted to make the puzzles "skipable".
Overall: I like it. The presentation and graphics are INSANE and the game play is generally top-notch. It definitely had it's flaws. There's nothing game-breaking or horrible to the game play, just some strange design choices. But I can't say I don't recommend it, it's been a pretty epic and rewarding experience so far. If you can look past some of the annoying little design choices it's one of the better action adventure titles to hit the market.
Okay, so after many hours of playing (still not even half-way through the game yet :lol) I think I've gotten a pretty good feel for the game play. First off I just want to say that this game has some of the best production values I've seen in a game for a while. Amazing soundtrack, great art direction (this game has tons of it and trust me it adds to the atmosphere like crazy), and an all star voice cast.
In terms of game play, the combat is very similar to God of War but with some Classicvania throwbacks to it. For example aerial combos, blocking, dodging, and attack range all differ in execution from the God of War combat engine. Castlevania also features a sort of "devil-trigger" style magical relic power up. What separates Castlevania's "devil trigger" from other games is the fact that you have a light and dark transformation, each with their own power bars. It takes a little getting used to, but you find mixing these transformations mid-combo in combat can be very helpful in the more challenging combat areas. My only complaint with the combat is that the camera can be a bit jerky at times during hectic battles. It's nothing game breaking, it's more of a minor annoyance to be attacked by an off-screen enemy that you can't really do anything about.
In Classicvania style the game play contains a good amount of platforming as well as puzzle-solving in addition to the combat. The platforming is inconsistent but not bad overall. There are times where Gabriel falls to his death while he is swinging on his whip :lol. There are also time where he just misses a jump and instead of reaching up at a ledge he will smack into the wall and fall to his death. There are also invisible walls EVERYWHERE, but they don't generally effect the game play, but rather any exploration you'd want to do. I've only run into a few instances so far where these issues are really noticeable. There are times where the platforming has been great, swinging from hook to hook in Classicvania style while the camera changes up and epic music plays in the background, you just gotta love it
. The climbing mechanics take a little getting used to, but they are fairly solid once you get it. The climbing borrows from games like Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus. You have a sort of auto climb you can do by pushing the analog stick in any direction when the ledges are close enough. Gabriel will look around to let you know where he can and cannot jump. Ledges blend into the environment in a similar fashion to Uncharted, so you are going to want to be sure you are paying attention to Gabriel's animations so you know where to leap next.
As I mentioned before there is also a good amount of puzzle-solving in this game. The problem is, it's all been rather simple or shallow puzzle solving so far. Which explains why most of the puzzles are able to be completely skipped. I've yet to skip a puzzle, but I noticed the option when I was doing the first puzzle and it's been on every puzzle since that. This is probably the weakest portion of Castlevania. The puzzles have all been shallow time consumers, or tired gaming cliches. None of them are very satisfying or clever and it makes complete sense why they've opted to make the puzzles "skipable".
Overall: I like it
. The presentation and graphics are INSANE and the game play is generally top-notch. It definitely had it's flaws. There's nothing game-breaking or horrible to the game play, just some strange design choices. But I can't say I don't recommend it, it's been a pretty epic and rewarding experience so far. If you can look past some of the annoying little design choices it's one of the better action adventure titles to hit the market.
LowParry
Member
Man. I just finished Chp. 4. And I gotta say, this game is one the best looking games to date. But fuck Mercury. If you love the fan, please make some sort of patch to up the frames. Chp. 4 in particular is godly of how faster it runs. This is probably going to be my game of the year. And the story I've really enjoyed so far. Twists o'plenty!
Damn, this is one seriously beautiful game, and I only just finished chapter one! I've got a pretty high tolerance for slowdown, since I've always had weak computers, so that doesn't bother me. And having just come from Enslaved, the absolute lack of tearing is glorious.
I've even been spending experience points on unlocking concept art before new moves :lol
I've even been spending experience points on unlocking concept art before new moves :lol
Lonesome_Raod
Member
Any news on the limited edition in the UK? No retailers both out in the public and online have heard anything? I know it was expected to release AFTER the standard edition but still not heard anything at all.
Lonesome_Raod
Member
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-06-castlevania-collectors-ed-pulled-game
Actually this news post just went up. Seems it isn't happening at all now. Pulled at the last minute.
Actually this news post just went up. Seems it isn't happening at all now. Pulled at the last minute.
I feel like an idiot, but I'm stuck and need help.
First part of the Titan Graveyard. Just killed the two skeletons and all the little zombie monsters that try to grab your feet. Proceeded up the stone stairs to the left and found a dead knight in a little cave area below me. Now I cannot find one freaking place on the map to go. No grapples and invisible walls. Am I missing something simple or wtf?
eXistor
Member
So, does anyone know if the European CE (with the mask) is cancelled? I've been hearing this today (not on the internet or any credible source, so take that how you will) I know it's supposed to come out after the normal release, but it not coming out at all would suck. I had a nice spot for the mask in my room and everything.
/edit oh shit, already got posted I see, well that sucks.
/edit oh shit, already got posted I see, well that sucks.
Speedymanic
Banned
Lonesome_Raod said:
So pretty much what David Cox said a few weeks ago... it's coming, we don't know when/how long after release, but it's definitely coming.
:/
Segata Sanshiro
Member
oh man david cox stretched the truth again i am so surprised
My copy was sent out today as well, from the UK. But since the local post office is a bunch of retarded butt-monkeys, I will not be getting it into my mailbox until late next week, if that.
Weird crap with the collector's edition. Almost feels like the gog.com scam for more traffic and money.
Weird crap with the collector's edition. Almost feels like the gog.com scam for more traffic and money.
Really, it almost doesn't matter. They both have shitty framerates. PS3 version is seemingly a touch higher, but that doesn't really translate to a smoother experience. The game stutters and skips all over the place in an incredibly ungraceful manner.twdnewh_k said:
Segata Sanshiro
Member
I think someone in this thread tried the retail copy and it didn't require a firmware update.Aklamarth said:
memecomplex
Member
twdnewh_k said:
PS3 for the uncompressed PCM audio. So lush, so epic.
Oh yeah, that is one benefit. The sound is really really good on PS3. Full 7.1 with a fantastic range.memecomplex said:
I'm enjoying Enslaved more than this, but there is a pretty significant gulf between Enslaved and Castlevania when it comes to audio. I'm playing Enslaved on 360 and the audio, while well produced, sounds a bit more flat and compressed. Some of the voice samples are particularly rough. CV produces a much fuller soundscape.
Combat is surprisingly great. Way better than first expected. There's a point where the enemies start to become pretty brutal and simply attempting to mash your way through the battles will result in lots of death. You really have to become skilled with the system here. Parrying attacks, dodging, and managing both singular and area attacks are way more important here than in, say, God of War. It's pretty clear why the right stick was not used for evading once you start to dig into this game. The Ninja Gaiden approach is much more appropriate here.
manzo
Member
memecomplex said:
Thank fucking God I'm practically deaf when it comes to uncompressed vs. dolby digital. I'm running a Onkyo SR605 5.1 LPCM setup with Monitor Audio BX1's + audiopro sub and I can't hear a difference in Dolby Digital and uncompressed audio. Being an audiophile in a house when you have a wife who hates loud noises would be a match made in hell! :lol
> is a beta male who plays with headphones on unless home alone
But if there is a 1 pixel difference in video quality then hell breaks loose.
Eh, the difference between uncompressed and compressed is very subtle. There has been a lot of debate over whether it really makes a difference or not. At the very least, you'd need a high-end sound system to even begin to appreciate it.manzo said:
With games, however, it's a touch different. Many 360 games use audio much more compressed than what you'd hear in a DD soundtrack included with a DVD movie. All compression is not created equal and a lot of games use some pretty awful compression.
The sample quality in a multiplatform title is usually the same between both versions (since after all it's a matter of memory), so the only difference is when the console it outputting to the receiver, via either DD with the 360 (640 kbits/s), or DD (640)/DTS(1536)/LPCM(whatever) for the PS3. If the original sample is overcompressed, it will sound horrible on LPCM toodark10x said:
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