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

The cutscene in the
castle sewers where the skeleton is sneaking up on you while you're turning the gate apparatus
was very gnarly.
 
Segata Sanshiro said:
I'm about to radically bust a gnarly nut.

So am I.

Ch. 5 and the build up to the big reveal is just fucking fascinating. The art direction is fantastic in this, the lore well-detailed and a pleasant edition.

I'm ready to continue on in Ch. 5 and be blown away by scenery.
 
Oh yes I forgot to mention, the very first screen at the beginning of the
castle sewers... that backdrop. That backdrop. I have never. That is some real gothic, Castlevania shit right there, especially when the bats came flying out. All of this right after that incredibly well-done boss fight with Brauner.

This game rocks.
 

Glix

Member
Game is SO GOOD. I'm only on 3-1, and I've been playing whenever I can. Hard and difficult and beautiful.

The story is already going in unexpected places
End of Chapter 2 was NUTS!

Love this game!
 
WTF? I just woke up and see that I posted in this thread a few hours ago. Man, nyquil Fucks me up. Anyways, time to play some more CV, have class tonight so I can play for the next few hours.
 

MrMephistoX

Gold Member
Damn positive GAF impressions. I thought the demo was mediocre and was ready to write it off for the Journey to the West the Game (Enslaved) but I might have to at least gamefly this now.
 

forrest

formerly nacire
Square Triangle said:
I'm caving in and getting the guide. I'm tired of missing out on life gems and trial requirements.

Once you beat a level you can see what you have left. Just go back replay it, complete the trial and pick up anything you may have left behind. Many of the weapon upgrades can't be picked up until you upgrade your abilities though. It's not too bad as long as you just try all your nooks, crannies and possible paths.
 

AKS

Member
Zeal said:
IGN will cry bloody tears before this this night is over...

The fact that IGN has the sound rated a 7.5 as one of its weakest attributes tells me all I need to know about this review.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
CaptYamato said:
Hella is California speak for many things.


Wait, how old are you?

Don't insult us Southern Californians. Only people from NorCal ever used hella. The rest of us think it sounds dumb as hell. ;)
 
AKS said:
The fact that IGN has the sound rated a 7.5 as one of its weakest attributes tells me all I need to know about this review.

I hope the sound design picks up. I'm still less than an hour in, but so far there hasn't really been any music and the voiceovers sound like they're just straight microphone dumps from the sound rooms without any EQ or processing done to make the characters sound like they're speaking in the actual environment.
 

Guts Of Thor

Thorax of Odin
I wanted to like this game but it just sucks. That IGN review is dead on balls accurate. Everything just felt like a chore that I just could not bring myself to play it anymore. Glad others are enjoying it though. Graphics are fucking superb by the way!

Hopefully I can get my money back.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
Figured I'd throw in my first impressions. Completed a few levels in Chapter 1.

- The framerate can get a little distracting at first. BUT if you were able to slog through Shadow of Colossus it shouldn't really bother you. Especially since the game is so pretty.

- I wish there was more "oomph" in combat. I know there are visual indicators but sometimes I feel like its hard to tell when I'm hitting an enemy and or getting hit. I also kind of think that block and dodge should maybe be different buttons. Tons of times I would accidentally do one thing when I meant to do another. I probably just need to get used to the controls though.

- THIS GAME IS BEAUTIFUL. Art direction is amazing. I sort of think the facial models of the human characters needs work though. Seem a lot less detailed than the environments themselves.

- Soundtrack has disappointed me so far. Kind of seems like the same track has been playing throughout most of the levels in Chapter 1. There's something about the music that plays when you die and get the restart from checkpoint screen that also bugs me. Maybe its just that I've died a lot on Knight difficulty mode and I'm hearing it too often. :lol

- The lack of a controllable camera is kind of annoying as enemies can just disappear off the screen. I'd also like to be able to look around since the environments are so pretty.

- Did I mention how good this game looks?

Btw. is there anyway to quit into the main menu? I was trying to quit my game last night and I couldn't figure out how. I just ended up exiting to the dash using the guide button. :lol
 

LowParry

Member
Valkyr Junkie said:
I hope the sound design picks up. I'm still less than an hour in, but so far there hasn't really been any music and the voiceovers sound like they're just straight microphone dumps from the sound rooms without any EQ or processing done to make the characters sound like they're speaking in the actual environment.


Yeah. You're not very far in.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
CaptYamato said:
BS most of my friends from So Cal say it too.

Your SoCal friends probably have NorCal friends who used it so much, it spread to them. Like a disease. :D

I never once heard the word hella in SoCal until I went to UCLA and started interacting with students from NorCal.
 
Just finished my first play-through a few hours ago. Game was hella awesome. Ending cut scene was a nice surprise. Now to go for that platinum trophy :D
 
ezekial45 said:
I feel like i made a HUGE mistake starting on Hard. I'm not doing so bad so far, but i think that it's gonna come back to bite me later.

Does anyone know where the 2 life gems are at the 4th stage in Chapter 1? I still haven't upgraded it and i'm at Stage 3 in Chapter 2.

You know you can change the difficulty on the fly. just go to option and difficulty. seems like a nice option to be able to replay boards on harder difficulty without having to start over.
 
This is one of those not so good games that makes me appreciate other similar games so much more. And I'm only on Chapter 2 of what looks like way too many.

Does it get good if I keep playing? or at least are the bosses not all this boring?
 
Played to chapter 3 straight in one sitting (~4 hours) and the game is just awesome, beatuifull, and very well done. Can't wait to play more tomorrow <3
 

Tokubetsu

Member
This game man. I'm always speechless in pretty much every new area. When you finally get to the castle? Just, wow.
jmGIH.jpg
 

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
Y2Kev said:
Super Mario world made those adjectives good again

Gnarly
Tubular
Outrageous

Don't forget radical.

FrostuTheNinja said:
Yeah yeah, I get it,
two magic types
but it doesn't change the fact that you're using two buttons to do the same exact thing.

You aren't using two buttons to do the same thing. You are using two buttons to charge two separate magic meters. The combat meta game of collecting the orbs on time and trying to keep focus up makes the game that much more involved nad fun for me. Also that much more frustrating when I get hit D:
 

Jinaar

Member
Linkzg said:
This is one of those not so good games that makes me appreciate other similar games so much more. And I'm only on Chapter 2 of what looks like way too many.

Does it get good if I keep playing? or at least are the bosses not all this boring?

It will probably only get worst for you. Take the game out and break the disk over your knee. If you cannot enjoy the first 7% of the game(or any game), there is no chance the next 93% will be any better for your tastes.
 

Jinaar

Member
Genesis Knight said:
MercurySteam has some talented artists.

I was pretty spell bound at the purchase new combo/move screen with the animated 2D drawings of Gabriel. Who ever did all those, props! Which then led me into the area to view the characters and bestiary, to see more of the artwork. Then went into the Extras to view the artwork I unlocked. Great concept artwork and more. Usually I'm pretty neutral on these sort of things in games, but being how it was presented, I enjoyed the art immensely with any text that has been so far provided.

Copied from Indigo's avatar - Seriously... so good :)
anim_castle.gif
 

george_us

Member
Genesis Knight said:
MercurySteam has some talented artists.
I really want to know how much this game costs. This has the best art I've ever seen in a game. I'm struggling to come up with a game who's art looks this good and is this consistent through out.
 

Teknoman

Member
Jinaar said:
I was pretty spell bound at the purchase new combo/move screen with the animated 2D drawings of Gabriel. Who ever did all those, props! Which then led me into the area to view the characters and bestiary, to see more of the artwork. Then went into the Extras to view the artwork I unlocked. Great concept artwork and more. Usually I'm pretty neutral on these sort of things in games, but being how it was presented, I enjoyed the art immensely with any text that has been so far provided.

Always like when games actually have detailed information on the enemies.
 
Genesis Knight said:
MercurySteam has some talented artists.

The visuals carry this game. The combat doesn't hook me, the music is bland wallpaper, the story is nothing, but I just love the feeling of traversing this land and seeing everything. It's damn beautiful and I'm glad there's so much of it.
 

Enojado

Member
revolverjgw said:
The visuals carry this game. The combat doesn't hook me, the music is bland wallpaper, the story is nothing, but I just love the feeling of traversing this land and seeing everything. It's damn beautiful and I'm glad there's so much of it.

Sums up my feelings of the game thus far.
 

Jinaar

Member
For a name that almost a quarter of a century old, sad if the name alone can't pull this out of sleeper hit status. Castlevania. Come on!
 

x3sphere

Member
Valkyr Junkie said:
I hope the sound design picks up. I'm still less than an hour in, but so far there hasn't really been any music and the voiceovers sound like they're just straight microphone dumps from the sound rooms without any EQ or processing done to make the characters sound like they're speaking in the actual environment.

I'm mostly impressed with LoS but the music is a snoozefest, every other CV title has had an incredible score except this one. Really detracts from the experience for me. I'd knock it down a whole point just for that. I feel the 7.5 IGN gave it was honestly deserved. This game excels in certain areas and falls flat on its face in others. It's an odd mix of quality.
 

LowParry

Member
You don't think the music has some sort of copyright behind it. Does it work that way? Mercury not having the permission to use the older sets of music?
 

D2M15

DAFFY DEUS EGGS
Tokubetsu said:
The music is bland wallpaper? WHaaaaaat

I imagine the travelling theme every time I need to go anywhere from the office, and for this alone the (beautiful) soundtrack has enriched my life.

Otherwise, I love this game far too much to talk about it on the internet.
 
Jinaar said:
It will probably only get worst for you. Take the game out and break the disk over your knee. If you cannot enjoy the first 7% of the game(or any game), there is no chance the next 93% will be any better for your tastes.

The next level was better, actually. In general, there are a lot of games that have a boring period until they pick up. Sometimes because of tutorial reasons and others because there is an ability that makes everything flow a bit smoother. I'm hoping that is the case with Castlevania. I like the music and visuals enough to keep playing. It doesn't hurt that Castlevania is one of my favorite game series.

But it sounds like you have a double threat with that short attention span and an anger problem. I'm sure you'll work those problems out on your own, but at least don't go breaking games you spent money on :)
 

LowParry

Member
Linkzg said:
The next level was better, actually. In general, there are a lot of games that have a boring period until they pick up. Sometimes because of tutorial reasons and others because there is an ability that makes everything flow a bit smoother. I'm hoping that is the case with Castlevania. I like the music and visuals enough to keep playing. It doesn't hurt that Castlevania is one of my favorite game series.

But it sounds like you have a double threat with that short attention span and an anger problem. I'm sure you'll work those problems out on your own, but at least don't go breaking games you spent money on :)


I actually had this experience. I believe the first couple of chapters I felt the game was starting to drag. Sure I got to go through some cool bosses but I felt like it was missing something. Then chapter 3 rolled by and I got hooked and have been since cause the story starts to progress and get interesting. Currently I'm towards the end of chapter 5 but taking a small break from it to get in my WoW time.
 
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