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

I nearly freaked out last night. I picked up a new copy of the PS3 version unsealed (What do I care right?) from Gamestop. I got home and my PS3 wouldn't play the disc. I thought maybe the laser was dead or something, which is weird, because I haven't bought a game for it since 3-dot Heroes or FFXIII I think. Tried other games and they worked fine. Finally got it to work, though.

It topped off one of my worst weekends ever. My car's transmission blew out on the interstate just minutes before my cellphone battery died Friday. I ended up walking about four miles to get a tow truck. Now I need a new car a week after I decided to finance a $1,200 laptop. Then, after I thought my LoS disc was faulty, I decided to just play some Reach until I could return it. Can't do that now, because I accidentally stepped on and cracked the battery case to my controller. To top it off, the car I'm borrowing had a door jam last night. I started pulling on it and all of a sudden it swung open and hit me in the face, sending my lower teeth partially through my lip.

I'm just looking forward to getting off of work tonight and playing a little to get my mind off of the horrible crap that has happened recently.
 

Sidzed2

Member
_tetsuo_ said:
Chapter 3 boss is so bad. The last "form", at least when I'm fighting him, is seemingly completely random. This cannot be how it is supposed to go down.

What's so random about it? Are you talking about the form with the exploding pillars, or... ?

Anyway, I don't understand the issue. That boss was terrific, and difficult to boot.
 

george_us

Member
Man I must be the only person on the planet who was pretty much hooked from the word 'go'.:lol

Nothing in the game felt like filler to me.
 

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Y2Kev said:
After finishing it, I just totally reject the notion that this is not Castlevania. It's not IGAvania, and it doesn't and can't fit into his timeline, but we all knew that.

Seriously, the people nitpicking over superfluous things like lack of traditional axearmors and medusa heads and bloody tears and all that crap don't get it. This game embodies the spirit of CV and everything that makes it unique more than any of the recent Igavanias have done. All that extra nostalgic window dressing is great and I love to see more of it, but CV isn't defined by it's window dressing. This game is Castlevania to a T and if you're a fan of the series and not just one or two specific games you will recognize that.

george_us said:
Man I must be the only person on the planet who was pretty much hooked from the word 'go'.:lol

Nothing in the game felt like filler to me.

Nope, I was right there with you. :D
 
george_us said:
Man I must be the only person on the planet who was pretty much hooked from the word 'go'.:lol

Nothing in the game felt like filler to me.


...hey, I have been all over this game. My GOTY...so far
 

forrest

formerly nacire
luka said:
Seriously, the people nitpicking over superfluous things like lack of traditional axearmors and medusa heads and bloody tears and all that crap don't get it. This game embodies the spirit of CV and everything that makes it unique more than any of the recent Igavanias have done. All that extra nostalgic window dressing is great and I love to see more of it, but CV isn't defined by it's window dressing. This game is Castlevania to a T and if you're a fan of the series and not just one or two specific games you will recognize that.



Nope, I was right there with you. :D

I couldn't agree more. When Zelda went 3d and when Metroid went first person...

this feels like one of those moments to me and I couldn't be happier! This game is seriously great for so many reasons.
 
nacire said:
this feels like one of those moments to me and I couldn't be happier! This game is seriously great for so many reasons.

That's a good comparison to me. Metroid Prime was a lot different, with the new perspective and more of an emphasis on combat, but the basic structure of the series remained intact. It favored atmosphere over action despite the action having a bigger focus. I feel the same way about this game.
 

Volcynika

Member
Kinda lost here, where do I go? (Chapter 11)

I got the first key and moved forward, now I'm standing at the place I need two keys but this path has nothing and the path right (where there was a bag of holy water flasks) had nothing

D:
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Volcynika said:
Kinda lost here, where do I go? (Chapter 11)

I got the first key and moved forward, now I'm standing at the place I need two keys but this path has nothing and the path right (where there was a bag of holy water flasks) had nothing

D:
if i remember right, the cave looks like a dead end but you can go to the right.
 

bubnbob

Banned
uh...

Last level in Chapter 5, help please

The switch that raises the spikes and the gate. Why does it close when I reach the gate?
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
bubnbob said:
uh...

Last level in Chapter 5, help please

The switch that raises the spikes and the gate. Why does it close when I reach the gate?
turn around, enter shadow magic, throw knife at the switch

the bag of knives is the clue
 

Dartastic

Member
smenden18 said:
Had the save file corruption problem today. Was on Chapter 8...backing up my save file from now on :(
Is this only on PS3, or are there cases on 360 also? Also, I just beat chapter 8. Got the second piece of the mask. How much longer do I have?
 

GPsych

Member
Got this game on release day, but had to go to a psych conference for the whole week so today was the first time I got to play. I am actually a bit disappointed. Game is okay overall, I guess. Seems like something is missing. Walking around the
bubbles in the dead bog
was annoying as hell. I don't really care for the constant QTEs either. In all honesty, my expectations were likely just too high for this game. I've been hyping myself up for it for months and really had GotY hopes for it. It's still a good game, though. Reading through this thread, it also sounds like it gets better as you get further into the game.
 

Phenomic

Member
So have a question. Deals with Chapter 10.

The Music Box Level the song it actually plays is Vampire Killer correct? Or am I just going insane :D
Also is this the only place it's at in the game?
 

LaneDS

Member
Just finished it and was overall very disappointed with it. I knew it was going to be a reboot, but aside from a few things I still feel like this was another game that just got the Castlevania name attached to it mid-development. Aside from a few things it just never felt like CV to me (in terms of both gameplay and tone). It also overstayed it's welcome and most of the experience was very tired by the end (Chapter 11 boss was visually impressive and ridiculously tedious to play through).
 
Just beat the game a couple hours ago. MEGAWESOME!! One of my favorite action/adventure titles I played in a long time. Now I have to go back through and get all the gems I missed.
 
I am surprise how much I like this game. I like the fix camera as it doesn't give me vomit inducing feeling (like Darksiders).

I am playing on 360 and so far the framerate hasn't bug me too much. Though I don't know if I like all the motion blur and shaky cam thing.
 
I remember seeing a complaint about how you have to actually beat a level after getting a gem/upgrade. Actually, you don't. I'm doing a stage where I'm trying to get a gem and do a trial in one swoop.

I got the gem, messed the trial up, went back to the world map and the gem was registered.
 

john tv

Member
brandonh83 said:
I remember seeing a complaint about how you have to actually beat a level after getting a gem/upgrade. Actually, you don't. I'm doing a stage where I'm trying to get a gem and do a trial in one swoop.

I got the gem, messed the trial up, went back to the world map and the gem was registered.
Yeah, it saves whenever you get anything that affects your character's growth or inventory (i.e. gems, scrolls, weapon upgrades, etc.). You can exit out to the world map immediately and you'll keep whatever you picked up. Obviously with trials you need to finish the level though.
 

luka

Loves Robotech S1
LaneDS said:
Just finished it and was overall very disappointed with it. I knew it was going to be a reboot, but aside from a few things I still feel like this was another game that just got the Castlevania name attached to it mid-development. Aside from a few things it just never felt like CV to me (in terms of both gameplay and tone). It also overstayed it's welcome and most of the experience was very tired by the end (Chapter 11 boss was visually impressive and ridiculously tedious to play through).

So have you only played SotN or are you just insane?


Also the game could have had another 5 chapters tacked on before it ran the risk of overstaying it's welcome.
 

mjc

Member
I'm up to chapter 5 and I'm really enjoying this game. The framerate doesn't bother me at all, and actually Dead Rising 2 and Enslaved had worse ones IMO.
 
One thing that is making me think I'm crazy because I don't see other people mentioning it is the
MGS tune that plays in the butcher level. I haven't seen anyone bring it up.

brandonh83 said:
I remember seeing a complaint about how you have to actually beat a level after getting a gem/upgrade. Actually, you don't. I'm doing a stage where I'm trying to get a gem and do a trial in one swoop.

I got the gem, messed the trial up, went back to the world map and the gem was registered.

yeah, I found that out about half-way through the game (after most of them were already collected lol). It messes with your head because if you view the world map after you collected the item, it doesn't say that you did. You have to go to another level for your item progress page on the map to be updated. Only the trials seem to require finishing the stage.
 
luka said:
So have you only played SotN or are you just insane?

Played all of them myself except for the N64 games, and so far while I'm enjoying this game, it also to me really doesn't feel like Castlevania at all.
 

Barrett2

Member
I suck so bad at these kinds of games. Ch. 3 boss feels like I'm whipping a boulder. After 15 minutes, the only thing close to death is my thumbs.
 

john tv

Member
Actually maybe it doesn't save scrolls, but it saves the other stuff. The scrolls are kinda lame anyway tho, so whatever! I have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that all these people found time to write diary entries moments before their death while traveling through all these harsh environments. :)
 
john tv said:
Actually maybe it doesn't save scrolls, but it saves the other stuff. The scrolls are kinda lame anyway tho, so whatever! I have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that all these people found time to write diary entries moments before their death while traveling through all these harsh environments. :)

They also, apparently, drew inaccurate art of what they thought their corpses would look like.
 
john tv said:
Yeah, it saves whenever you get anything that affects your character's growth or inventory (i.e. gems, scrolls, weapon upgrades, etc.). You can exit out to the world map immediately and you'll keep whatever you picked up. Obviously with trials you need to finish the level though.

I just remember seeing some complaints about that, didn't know if they found out otherwise or not.

Fimbulvetr said:
They also, apparently, drew inaccurate art of what they thought their corpses would look like.

:lol
 

Aeana

Member
So I'm near the end of chapter 5, and I've bought all of the advanced moves... but I haven't bought any relic powers yet. Are there any that are exceptionally better than the others that I should go for first?
 
Aeana said:
So I'm near the end of chapter 5, and I've bought all of the advanced moves... but I haven't bought any relic powers yet. Are there any that are exceptionally better than the others that I should go for first?

I read the descriptions and picked moves that I felt may be the most useful to me at the time. I'd say you can just pick whatever and not really make the game any harder for yourself.
 

LaneDS

Member
luka said:
So have you only played SotN or are you just insane?

Been playing CV since the original on the NES and have been a fan of the series ever since.

Outside of them deciding to name the main character Belmont (a name he himself chose because he likes high places apparently? The hell?) and a few other elements sprinkled in, it never felt like CV to me.
 

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Fimbulvetr said:
They also, apparently, drew inaccurate art of what they thought their corpses would look like.

:lol wonderful

Aeana said:
So I'm near the end of chapter 5, and I've bought all of the advanced moves... but I haven't bought any relic powers yet. Are there any that are exceptionally better than the others that I should go for first?

Holy cross I found pretty useful throughout the game. The only other one I'd say is essential is Ultimate Light. God tier attack that demolishes even the final boss in seconds.

LaneDS said:
Been playing CV since the original on the NES and have been a fan of the series ever since.

Outside of them deciding to name the main character Belmont (a name he himself chose because he likes high places apparently? The hell?) and a few other elements sprinkled in, it never felt like CV to me.

So what would a 3D CV feel like to you? Could you give a frame of reference or is it just a matter of having all the staple music and enemies that defines how much "catlevania" it is? This sure feels a lot more like CV than any of the other 3D installments.

It's funny how people complain about monster arenas being a staple of "GoW clones" when a large part of CVs level design consists of massive rooms with waves of enemies and maybe a few stairs and platforms here and there. I'd like to get a visual of how people would imagine a 'true' 3D CV that's totally faithful to the 2D design methodology would work, because I really don't think they have any idea.
 

forrest

formerly nacire
HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

Just finished on Knight. This is seriously one of the most entertaining and engrossing games I've played in a long time. Serious kudos should go out to the folks at Mercurysteam. Technical issues and nitpicks aside this was an amazing experience. This has easily earned it's spot amongst my annual replays. Wow, just wow.

clapohgw.gif
 
luka said:
So what would a 3D CV feel like to you? Could you give a frame of reference or is it just a matter of having all the staple music and enemies that defines how much "catlevania" it is? This sure feels a lot more like CV than any of the other 3D installments.

It's funny how people complain about monster arenas being a staple of "GoW clones" when a large part of CVs level design consists of massive rooms with waves of enemies and maybe a few stairs and platforms here and there. I'd like to get a visual of how people would imagine a 'true' 3D CV that's totally faithful to the 2D design methodology would work, because I really don't think they have any idea.
If you feel the older Castlevania games were anything even remotely like "monster arenas", I'm forced to question if, in fact, you played them. I don't have any good ideas for how to translate the Actionvania gameplay to 3D. Luckily, that's not a requirement for criticism.
 

Vrakanox

Member
I just wish there was more to do after you beat the game. Sure I could go back and beat it on harder levels, or complete the trails. I found all the items on my first playthrough. It was a nice moderately long experience. But I don't really see any reason to play it again.
 
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